Chapter 19: Chapter 19. Scars (1)

The meeting hall at the Ubuyashiki estate still had not shaken off the air of mourning.

After Katane left with his head bowed, the remaining Hashira kept a heavy silence.

Kagaya was the first to speak.

"The reason I had Katane step down from the position of Water Hashira was not because of his strength. It was to fill his unfinished heart and sword."

The Wind Hashira gritted his teeth and asked, "Do you believe he can come back?"

Kagaya smiled, though it was not quite a smile.

"He is a child who inherited the will Ren left behind. If he grows while carrying that scar, he will surely return in a different form. Only then will he truly be worthy of being called a Hashira."

"I fear that my own impatience... that I raised the boy to Hashira too early, may have been a mistake."

"It frightens me to think that Ren met an unjust death because of me..."

The Flame Hashira lowered his head and said urgently, "No, sir! You have always been a warm man who cherished us like your own children! Ren would surely think the same!"

"That’s right, sir. Ren would never resent you. The reason we staked our lives and joined the Demon Slayer Corps was to kill Kibutsuji Muzan. That man."

The Wind Hashira echoed the Flame Hashira’s words.

At each of their replies, Kagaya nodded with a faint smile.

"Thank you. Without all of you... I fear how I am supposed to lead the Demon Slayer Corps from here on."

"So I ask this of you. You are the future, and you are limitless possibility."

With those words, the meeting hall quietly sank into stillness. Heavy, yet unmistakable, the meaning of his words slowly seeped in.

§§§

Meanwhile, Kokushibo had already returned to the deep darkness of the Infinity Castle.

The battle with the Demon Slayer Corps’ Water Hashira, and the boy-like gaze left behind at the end, would not leave his six eyes.

"...Human strength, is that thing truly so?"

Kokushibo sat in seiza with his eyes closed. The flames of the Red Blade seemed to have gone out, leaving only dying embers on the blade.

At that moment, the void split, and familiar footsteps echoed through the darkness. As always, the one who appeared before him was Yoriichi in his youth.

"Again... you, Yoriichi..."

Kokushibo’s six eyes snapped open.

Even if it was only an illusion, that sword strike was more lethal than reality itself. For centuries, he had never defeated that phantom. Every time, he was cut down, forced to his knees, and broken.

And yet today, he drew his sword again.

"...Yoriichi. Let me go already."

Red flames blazed once more across the blade. Moonlight-like silver and crimson fire mingled together, tearing the space apart.

Yoriichi’s illusion quietly took a step forward. It was a sword that did not even stir the wind, yet Kokushibo’s entire body stiffened with tension.

What he saw was the power of a perfected human. Not flashy in the slightest, but rather quiet—a sword that ended everything the instant it cut.

Kokushibo moved first.

The flames of the Red Blade erupted, scorching the walls of the Infinity Castle. Space split and warped, but Yoriichi’s sword severed every blaze with a single flow.

Clang—!

Kokushibo’s shoulder was cut. No blood flowed. It was only an illusory blade, yet the pain was clearer than reality.

He nearly dropped to one knee, but he clenched his teeth and forced himself back up.

"I will find out... what that power is!"

He kept charging. Dozens, hundreds of times.

The flames of the Red Blade burst endlessly, but each time Yoriichi’s sword scattered them.

Falling, rising, and being cut down again and again.

And yet Kokushibo did not give up. Rather, with every fall, his sword grew a little harder.

At last, for a brief instant, he blocked Yoriichi’s strike. The flames of the Red Blade scattered, and the entire space shook.

Kokushibo, breathing hard, felt his eyes flash.

"Hm... I am different from who I was before. Scars... human scars, you said, are what create strength. Then I will carve the scars within me into my sword as well."

His blade slowly began to change, as if taking in moonlight. The flames of the Red Blade were no longer merely fire, but began to overlap with Moon Breathing, creating a new texture.

Yoriichi’s illusion remained as calm as ever.

And yet before that calm, Kokushibo felt for the first time the sword that moved forward.

He raised the tip of his blade high and said in a low voice, "I have not reached it yet. But... someday, I will surely cut you down!"

In the darkness of the Infinity Castle, moonlight and flame rang out together.

Endless training.

Kokushibo’s obsession gnawed at him, and at the same time made him stronger.

Each time the flames of his crimson Red Blade flashed, the walls of the Infinity Castle twisted and tore apart.

His sword tip surged like a storm, yet Yoriichi’s illusion met every torrent with a single quiet flow.

"Kuh..."

His breathing grew rough. Even as a demon, in front of this illusion he felt his breath shortening. Two of his six eyes trembled faintly.

Clang!

His shoulder was cut again. Though it was not real, the pain felt even sharper. No blood flowed, but the wound seemed to be carved into his soul.

The moment his knee nearly buckled, he braced himself on his sword and forced himself to endure.

"I won’t... be broken by this, Yoriichi!"

In his field of vision, Yoriichi’s illusion quietly lowered his sword. He simply stood there, indifferent, as if telling him to begin again.

Kokushibo bared his teeth.

"Your illusion never stops... then neither will I."

He rose again. This time, it was not a moonlit sword strike, but the memory of scars, forced into the blade.

The power to rise from human pain, loss, and death.

He had seen it with his own eyes in the demon slayers.

Tsuyomi Ren’s final smile.

It remained within Kokushibo as a formless scar.

"If that is human strength... then I will surpass it."

The flames of the Red Blade overlapped with moonlight and writhed across the sword. As the tip trembled, even the air of the Infinity Castle shook and rippled.

Yoriichi’s illusion reacted for the first time, however slightly. His gaze flicked toward Kokushibo’s blade tip.

In that instant, a shiver ran through Kokushibo’s entire body.

"Hraaaah――!!"

He stepped forward and brought his sword down. Crimson fire and moonlight intertwined, exploding as they split the Infinity Castle apart.

KWA-AAANG――!

The space of the Infinity Castle shook, and pillars collapsed mercilessly. But Yoriichi’s illusion still stood. The strike was blocked. And yet this time, it was different from before.

The blade of Yoriichi’s illusion trembled ever so slightly. For the first time, his sword had wavered.

The slash Kokushibo had unleashed carried enough force to annihilate every Upper Rank and every demon slayer.

And yet Yoriichi’s illusion had casually blocked it, proving just how monstrous he was.

Still, even so, Kokushibo’s sword had begun to reach Yoriichi little by little.

At long last, he had begun to climb the wall that had stood before him for centuries.

"At last... even if only faintly... I have made your sword tremble!"

A sinister smile spread across his lips. Endless training, falling and being cut down again and again. That pain resembled human scars.

Kokushibo raised his sword high and whispered, "Yoriichi... if the strength you showed is human scar tissue, then I will transcend it and make it mine."

"Only then will I finally cut down your shadow!"

Crimson flames and moonlight intertwined, once again ripping through the space of the Infinity Castle.

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