Clang—
Amid the ringing clash of metal, Luke was sent flying. It was not a sign of him being overwhelmed; he had deliberately relaxed his body and allowed himself to be knocked back to dissipate the force.
Kokushibo's Moon Breathing was truly formidable. Third Form: Loathsome Moon—Chains was a sword technique involving two wide, consecutive swings. Those lightning-fast consecutive strikes had clearly been honed over countless years. Even Luke had been unable to adjust his posture in that instant.
He could only barely use Prison Demon to protect his vital points. Otherwise, even with Armament Haki coating his body, Kokushibo's blade would absolutely have cut him in half at the waist.
After their brief exchange, Luke understood. Although Kokushibo was merely Upper Rank One—technically Muzan's employee—in a direct fight, Kokushibo might not be weaker than Muzan. He might even be stronger.
When Luke had slashed at Muzan earlier, he had seen Kibutsuji Muzan's attributes.
[Kibutsuji Muzan]
Constitution: 46
Strength: 41
Agility: 42
Spirit: 38
Charm: 10
Judging purely by attributes, Muzan was not much stronger than Kokushibo. He was simply tankier. As the Demon King, he possessed greater survivability; even having his head cut off would not kill him, and his super-speed regeneration was far superior to that of other Demons.
But Muzan seemed to have invested all his abilities into staying alive. His offensive power was merely average, and because he always sent his subordinates to fight for him, despite living for over a thousand years, he possessed no especially outstanding combat skills.
So Muzan was the sort of useless fraud who had nothing but stats. In terms of threat during battle, Luke considered him inferior to Kokushibo.
When Kokushibo used Moon Breathing, his attributes also received a slight boost. His offensive power was exceptionally fierce—if his blade struck you, you would either die or suffer grievous injury.
After being blasted away, Luke crashed into a door. He planted a foot against it, exerted force, and charged upward toward Gale.
His combat plan was simple: in a chaotic melee, kill the enemy's support-type powerhouses first, so they could not pull some underhanded trick later. Gale was also a powerful Explorer, and there was no telling what strange methods he might possess. Killing him first gave Luke the greatest peace of mind.
Watching Luke rush at him at extreme speed, Gale found it utterly ridiculous. No matter how many transparent threads he wove, he could not stop Luke.
His threads were transparent. He had never understood how Luke detected his setups; every time, Luke drew his sword just before the threads could cut him.
If his threads could not evade Luke's perception, then they were merely tougher and sharper lines. He held no advantage over the top three Upper Ranks, and in a frontal battle, he was even weaker than the original Upper Rank Four.
He kept leaping between platforms, trying to evade Luke's pursuit. But Luke was simply too fast. As he moved through this space, he was like genuine lightning flashing through the air, detonations booming without pause.
It was a terrifying fact. It meant Luke's current speed had broken the sound barrier. That was not a speed someone with forty points in Agility could possibly achieve.
"Damn it, what kind of footwork are you using?!"
Gale was beginning to panic. He deliberately fled toward areas crowded with Demons, but those Demons—including an Upper Rank Eight—could not impede Luke for even a moment. They were instantly cut down by him.
In Gale's eyes, he had come to this world to become a hero. How could he possibly be slain by a reactionary like Luke?!
As Luke steadily closed in, Gale could only shout, "Big Brother, save me!"
Kokushibo readily obliged. Or perhaps he had simply taken a shortcut and arrived at Gale's side. He slashed at Luke, and moonlight instantly filled the entire platform.
Because Luke was so fast, Kokushibo could not accurately predict where he would turn. So he unleashed countless vertical crescent slashes across the entire one-hundred-and-eighty-degree area in front of him, enough to completely destroy everything nearby.
Moon Breathing, Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon—Incessant.
Yet after Kokushibo unleashed that technique, dense metallic clashing echoed across the platform. Blinding sparks flashed at high frequency as Luke swung his blade, blocking every single slash in an instant.
And he did so while charging forward at extreme speed. Luke's own speed barely slowed at all.
The moment the metallic clashing ceased after he broke through Kokushibo's technique, Luke finished chanting. He raised his left hand and pointed at Gale, who was fleeing into the distance.
"Binding Spell #61: Six Rods Light Prison."
Six beams of light abruptly appeared, piercing Gale from six directions and locking down his movements.
Kokushibo was somewhat surprised by Luke's technique. In that moment of confusion, Luke broke through his blockade. His high-speed charge produced a sonic boom as he rushed toward the trapped Gale.
No matter how Gale struggled, he could not quickly break free from Six Rods Light Prison. Realization struck him, and his face twisted with despairing fury. "Fuck your mother! You're a Soul Reaper!"
He finally understood why the bodies of the Demons Luke had killed had not vanished. Luke was not wielding a Nichirin Blade, nor had he used poison. That motherfucker was using a Zanpakuto!
When Luke cut off a Demon's head, it was equivalent to severing its soul directly. Of course they were completely dead.
Luke did not answer Gale. As they passed each other, he simply severed Gale's head. His left hand swept downward, directly storing the dead man's treasure chest in his storage space.
The Infinity Castle was too chaotic. He was afraid that after the battle ended, he would be unable to find the treasure chests he had earned.
"What the hell are you? Human or Demon?!"
Watching this from afar, Muzan was so frightened that he lost all composure. Luke's strange Blood Demon Art-like technique, Six Rods Light Prison, terrified him even more than Luke's strength itself.
Because he began doubting his very existence. Was he not the only Demon King?
Could it be that the doctor from a thousand years ago had possessed an even more perfect formula, one that could create Demons immune to sunlight and not dependent on eating humans?
It seemed highly possible. Luke not only possessed a powerful physique that ordinary Demons could scarcely compare to, but he could also use such a powerful Blood Demon Art to restrain an Upper Rank Four. And Luke was not afraid of sunlight; he could move about freely beneath it.
After his terror came delight. Muzan suddenly realized that the perfect life-form immune to sunlight—the one he had been searching for all this time—was standing right before him.
If he could devour Luke, would he not become a perfect life-form?
Boom—
But the thunderous blast below quickly brought him back to his senses. After clashing blades with Luke, Kokushibo had also been sent flying, smashing through who knew how many doors before finally stopping.
Akaza, whose injuries had just regenerated, looked even worse after exchanging another punch with Luke. Luke had knocked his head clean off with a single punch.
If Kokushibo had not gone to rescue him, Akaza would absolutely have been finished off.
As Muzan looked over the brutal battlefield, he was deeply conflicted. Luke was extremely difficult to deal with—perhaps as powerful as Yoriichi Tsugikuni, whom Muzan had encountered centuries ago. Even if he joined the battle and attacked Luke, victory was not guaranteed. Instead, he would be putting himself in danger.
After an internal struggle, Muzan made his decision. He would place his hopes on the intelligence gathered by those new employees.
According to the now-dead Upper Rank Four and Upper Rank Eight, a girl named Nezuko had overcome sunlight. If he could devour her, perhaps he could gain an immunity to sunlight and become an immortal, perfect life-form.
Luke was currently trapped in the Infinity Castle. Muzan only needed his subordinates to hold Luke here while he went to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters and slaughtered those irritating insects.
Based on his deductions, Nezuko was most likely under the Demon Slayer Corps' heavy protection. That meant she would be located within fifty li of where Luke had been pulled into the Infinity Castle. Going there would be the easier shortcut.
Having thought through this key point, Muzan smiled. "Kokushibo, I'll leave this place to you. I'll go make myself more perfect first. Afterward, I will help you overcome sunlight as well."
As a boss, he naturally had to dangle a carrot before his employees. He could disregard the other Twelve Kizuki, but Kokushibo was an exceptionally powerful combatant. Muzan had to take him seriously and make him wholeheartedly help hold Luke back.
Of course, in Muzan's eyes, whether Kokushibo lived or died no longer mattered. So long as he kept Luke trapped in the Infinity Castle, then once Muzan absorbed Nezuko outside, Kokushibo would no longer be useful.
After that, perhaps the stronger Muzan would consider avenging Kokushibo by killing Luke, whose very existence irritated him.
Or perhaps, after becoming the ultimate life-form, he would no longer care about such matters and would simply find a pleasant place to live out a tranquil eternal life.
"Rest assured, my lord. I will personally cut him down."
Kokushibo emerged from the rubble. Luke had knocked him back during their blade clash, but he himself had suffered no serious injuries.
At the level he and Muzan had reached, so long as they were not beheaded, even if swordsmen who had mastered Breathing Styles severed their limbs, they could regenerate at super speed. Thus, Kokushibo believed they still held the advantage.
Luke had clearly used a secret technique similar to a Demon Slayer Mark to gain a massive surge in power. Such a method undoubtedly consumed tremendous stamina. In terms of endurance, Kokushibo was certainly stronger.
And there were still so many Demons in the Infinity Castle. Even if they could not injure Luke, they could still drain considerable stamina from him.
In fact, after Luke and Kokushibo each retreated from their blade clash, Luke did not pursue Kokushibo. Instead, he charged toward the other Demons and began cutting them down like vegetables, sweeping through them with unstoppable force.
"Nakime."
Muzan spoke, and Nakime opened a door for him. Following his estimated location, he stepped through it and arrived directly at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.
When the Explorers inside the Infinity Castle saw Muzan leave, they were dumbfounded. Then they could not help unleashing a barrage of curses.
"Fuck you, Muzan! You moronic excuse for a boss! You fucking—"
"Running away at a time like this? Is something wrong with your brain?!"
"Moron Muzan, couldn't you go after Nezuko at any other time? Did it have to be now?"
"You fucking piece of shit! Can't you stop being such a coward? Why not group up with Big Brother and fight?!"
"We're done for! Luke really isn't human! Even Big Brother can't stop him, and now that idiot Muzan has left us behind. Aren't we just waiting to die?!"
"..."
At this point, vast numbers of Explorers seemed to have given up all hope. They cursed Muzan furiously because they had already foreseen their side's defeat.
They had analyzed Luke's earlier achievements. He was the Demon Slayer Corps faction's ultimate carry, with profound combat skills that likely did not fall below Kokushibo's.
But now that they had seen the actual battle, Luke was not merely Kokushibo's equal. He had clearly surpassed him.
On top of that, Luke's stats were incredibly high. Doma and Gale had been cut down almost as soon as the fight began. At this rate, Kokushibo and Akaza could not stop Luke at all. Their defeat was only a matter of time.
Under such circumstances, if the extremely tanky Muzan had been willing to join the battle, they would still have had a very good chance of surrounding and killing Luke.
But why was this Demon King thinking of running away now?
His subjects were ready to fight to the death, yet their emperor had surrendered first.
The Explorers sank into profound despair. They finally recognized the fatal flaw of their faction: their leader possessed immense power but a coward's heart. He was the most useless kind of leader imaginable.
After their despair and rage, the surviving Explorers turned that despair into motivation. To survive, they now had no choice but to enter the battle and fight for their lives.
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