Nakime crawled forward with all her strength. Her arms and legs regenerated with agonizing slowness as she crawled, but the moment they grew back, a black slash descended and severed them again.
As Nakime struggled, Luke drove his sword into her throat, pinning her to the ground. He crouched, grabbed her by the hair, and forced her head up. In the process, the blade carved a long gash across her neck.
Luke stared straight into Nakime's single eye. "If you keep regenerating, I'll chop your head off. Understand?"
Nakime's eyes filled with bloodshot veins. She looked ready to cry. When she opened her mouth, all she could produce was a garbled scream, her windpipe having been pierced through.
Luke forcefully slapped Nakime's head back onto the ground. The blade scraped wildly through her neck as it did so. Then he grabbed her hair again, forced her to look him in the eye, and said, "I asked if you understood. Why aren't you nodding?"
Nakime felt that this man was more monstrous than any Demon—an absolute devil among devils. Terrified, she no longer cared about the pain. Even as Luke held her by the hair, she endured the pain of her hair tearing out and the blade cutting into her neck, then nodded.
"I want out. Take me to where Muzan just went. Open a door."
Luke gave the order. He still did not understand the structure or principles behind the Infinity Castle, but Nakime controlled it. He could not be certain that she was the Infinity Castle's creator. If he killed her directly, he might end up trapped inside.
And even if the Infinity Castle collapsed after Nakime died and spat him back out, he might not return to his original location. Besides, getting from where he had entered to the main battlefield would take considerable time.
"Mm... mmph..."
Nakime whimpered. Tears streamed down her face from pain and fear as she laboriously shook her head.
Leaving aside that she had always been one of Muzan Kibutsuji's more loyal subordinates, just thinking about the consequences of betraying him sent a chill through her.
Luke was an incredibly terrifying Demon Slayer in her eyes, but she still felt that Muzan was even more terrifying.
"Looks like I've been too gentle."
Luke gave her a kind smile. "Don't let this friendly face fool you. I know quite a few interrogation techniques."
In the past, while pursuing revenge, he had not always killed certain targets immediately. Sometimes, he interrogated them first.
Most martial artists had strong bones, but under the torturous techniques he had learned from ancient texts—methods such as tendon-splitting and bone-dislocating grips—they had all eventually talked.
Demons could regenerate at superhuman speed, but that did not mean they could not feel pain.
"Mmph... ngh! Mmph!! Aah...!"
In the dim room, Nakime's whimpers and screams continued without end. Roughly ten minutes later, Luke looked down at Nakime, who was sprawled in a puddle of saliva, tears, and other fluids, and withdrew his demonic hand.
"So, do you want me to keep giving you a massage, or will you open the door and gamble on your boss being able to kill me?"
Luke's voice was like a devil's whisper, making Nakime shudder.
She looked at the biwa in Luke's hand, then cautiously raised her eyes to seek his approval. Only after Luke nodded did she regenerate a hand and pluck one of its strings.
Twannng—
With the sound of the biwa, a door opened before Luke and Nakime. Beyond it were the nine Hashira, locked in a brutal battle against Muzan.
Amid thunderous explosions, Muzan unleashed his Blood Demon Art. Countless thin tentacles lashed through the air, forcing the nine Hashira, Tanjiro Kamado, and the others back.
By this point, Muzan had expended a great deal as well. Not much of Tamayo's medicine had entered his body, but it was enough to affect his stamina and staying power.
Though dawn was still far away, Muzan was already considering retreat. He felt that tonight's hunt was unlikely to succeed, so he intended to force back the nine Hashira and withdraw into the Infinity Castle.
As for Luke inside the Infinity Castle, he could simply have Nakime expel him. Then Muzan could hide in the Infinity Castle for a century or two, wait for this generation of Hashira to die off, and come out to search for Nezuko Kamado again.
In Muzan's mind, Nezuko had already become a Demon capable of overcoming sunlight. He did not know she had returned to being human, and he considered waiting a century or two perfectly acceptable.
Even if he had clearly known that Nezuko had become human again, it would not have shaken his resolve to flee.
The main problem was that the nine Hashira before him were genuinely terrifying. Especially that tall, blind monk—he was absurdly strong. Muzan felt that among his own subordinates, perhaps only Kokushibo could reliably defeat the Stone Hashira one-on-one. The other Upper Ranks would most likely lose against him.
Muzan believed that if he were in peak condition, defeating the Stone Hashira would not be difficult. But this was not a one-on-one battle, and these despicable Hashira had coated their blades in poison. His strength was steadily declining, and his regenerative ability had been severely weakened.
Every second, he had to devote immense power to resisting the aging of his cells while also withstanding the combined assault of the nine Hashira. It was exhausting.
What Muzan found most unacceptable was that, with the Stone Hashira leading the offensive, he had fought for so long without managing to kill even a single Hashira.
Not only that, he had failed to kill any of those little brats who had joined the battle. What the hell was this?
Boom—
The instant the Infinity Castle's door opened behind him, Muzan's first reaction was relief. As expected of one of his outstanding employees, Nakime had come to support and retrieve him without waiting for orders.
But when he turned around and glimpsed the interior of the Infinity Castle, he saw Nakime, tears and snot streaming down her face, looking utterly ruined as Luke held her up by the hair to face him.
Luke stood there with a broad grin, his teeth gleaming white, and met Muzan's gaze.
"Mmph... ahh... mmph..."
With Prison Demon lodged through her windpipe, Nakime could not speak. She could only make incoherent sounds at Muzan, trying to convey one message: Run!
Muzan had no time to consider whether Nakime had betrayed him. The instant his eyes met Luke's, his scalp went numb.
He did not see Kokushibo or any of the other Demons. Luke had taken Nakime hostage and forced her to open the door. What did that mean?
It meant everyone inside the Infinity Castle had been wiped out!
How long had it even been? Twenty minutes?
A nameless fury rose in his heart, and he immediately cursed, "All of you are useless trash!"
It had only been twenty minutes, yet Kokushibo and the other Upper Ranks had all been wiped out. They were so weak it made him sick.
He had placed high hopes on Kokushibo because he was Yoriichi Tsugikuni's older brother. Muzan had given him plenty of blood and treated him with courtesy. Yet when he was actually needed, he had proven completely useless.
Muzan was enraged, but that emotion was swiftly replaced by terror.
The moment Luke met his eyes, he launched forward at godlike speed, stepped out of the Infinity Castle, and charged straight at him.
Though Muzan inwardly cursed Kokushibo and the others for their incompetence, he was still deeply wary of Luke, who had cleared the Infinity Castle in twenty minutes. His instinctive reaction was to run.
He did not hesitate. Turning around, he burst into a sprint. Fine tentacles extending from his body planted against the ground and propelled him into the air. He was going to flee as far away as possible!
It was not that Muzan did not want to enter the Infinity Castle. He had seen that, the instant before Luke charged forward, Luke had exerted force with his sword and severed Nakime's head. With Nakime's control gone, the Infinity Castle had begun to collapse and seal itself off. Even as its true master, Muzan would need time to repair and reconstruct it.
"Muzan, don't run!"
Tanjiro roared as he charged forward. Using Hinokami Kagura, he swept out a great arc of flame to cut off Muzan's escape route.
Because the battle had reached a deadlock, he had asked Little Camellia to protect Nezuko and entered the fight himself. His coordination with Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke was well-practiced, and together they caused Muzan considerable trouble.
The other nine Hashira attacked as well. Under the power of their Breathing Styles, sword techniques of every kind descended upon Muzan, sealing every path of retreat.
After walking out of the Infinity Castle, Luke first swept his gaze over the nine Hashira. They were all injured to varying degrees, but none had died yet. That pleased him greatly.
Still, he had arrived just in time. Muzan might have been cowardly, but if he had fought a while longer, he would have realized that the nine Hashira had very little stamina left.
The sword techniques of Breathing Styles were inherently explosive burst techniques. On top of that, they had forcibly used [Demon God] to boost their strength, which drained their endurance even faster.
If the battle dragged on for a few more minutes, the nine Hashira would begin to run out of strength. The night was still long, and the Nichirin Blade system was not enough to kill Muzan. They could only find a way to stall until sunrise.
From that perspective, the [Demon God] Luke had taught the nine Hashira was not suited for a prolonged delaying battle. Demon Slayer Marks had severe side effects, but they lasted longer. The price was that older users might die after using them.
So if Muzan had been braver and continued the battle, he would have had a strong chance of winning—provided Luke had not arrived.
But Muzan had already been frightened out of his wits by the nine Hashira's fearless resistance. With Luke now here, he completely lost his will to fight.
"Damn Demon Slayer Corps! Why are you blocking me!? Can't you just obediently die!?"
After being forced back, Muzan snarled in frustration. "Other than your own families, what do the people Demons eat have to do with you? What is the point of killing Demons!?"
As he lashed the long tentacles around his body, he roared, "Compared to human wars, what do the few people I've killed amount to? Can't you just treat it like a natural disaster and accept your bad luck!?"
"Pathetic."
Luke's cold voice rang out. With one slash, he severed the many tentacles Muzan was swinging and reached the forefront of the battlefield, joining the Stone Hashira in blocking Muzan's escape route from both sides.
The nine Hashira's temples bulged with veins as well, clearly enraged by Muzan's shameless rhetoric. The Stone Hashira roared, "It is time to end the twisted life of this monster that has endured for a thousand years! We will never allow future generations to suffer your slaughter!"
"Muzan! I'm going to cut you down!"
Remembering what had happened to his family, Tanjiro was consumed by fury. While in his [Demon God] state, a Demon Slayer Mark appeared on his forehead. His blade drew a massive ring of flame as he slashed at Muzan.
Faced with Tanjiro's overwhelmingly powerful strike, Muzan actually did not dare to block it. He instinctively retreated and dodged. The scars from his old wounds throbbed faintly—the places Yoriichi Tsugikuni had once cut him.
But although Muzan evaded Tanjiro's slash, he could not completely avoid the attacks of the nine Hashira. With his room to maneuver almost entirely sealed off, there was one most lethal strike that he could not evade no matter what.
In that instant, Muzan saw nothing else. He could not see the nine Hashira's attacks, Tanjiro's Hinokami Kagura, Inosuke's Beast Breathing swordsmanship, or Zenitsu's faint lightning.
All he saw was a slash that seemed to split heaven and earth—a black blade wrapped in dark-purple mist, carrying golden lightning and incomparable killing intent as it descended diagonally.
Boom—
The slash came down from above. After cutting through Muzan, it also split the earth apart, carving a deep fissure more than ten meters long. The crack twisted across the ground like a bolt of lightning.
"Aahh—!"
Muzan screamed in terror. "Stay away from me!"
In his wail, he no longer dared to cling to any wishful thinking. Luke's slash had not merely severed his body; it had destroyed several of his internal organs and brains.
And the current of lightning seemed endless inside him, continually ravaging his cellular tissue and seeking to erase him on a microscopic level.
He had last experienced such tyrannical, overpowering force centuries ago. The man named Yoriichi Tsugikuni had cut him like this as well, and the wounds left behind had not fully healed even after hundreds of years.
Back then, he had immediately made the decision to self-destruct and split into countless tiny chunks of flesh that scattered in every direction. That was the only reason he had barely escaped with his life.
Now it was time to use that same trick again. To Muzan, Luke was a man as terrifying as Yoriichi Tsugikuni. No—he felt Luke was even more terrifying!
So Muzan stopped thinking. His body began to swell.
He was preparing to self-destruct!
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