There are fates far crueler and more tragic than mere death.
Blood gushed ceaselessly, each drop sliced by radiant emerald winds.
The Demon King wasn't numb to pain.
Three hours of flaying, enduring agony beyond human comprehension, his body literally torn to pieces, his soul chilled as if plunged into an icy abyss.
Yet no matter how tragic, how cruel, how excruciating, Muzan still clung to life.
To live!
If Kanae could hear Muzan's heart, she might not mind, in the future when capable, granting his wish.
Like a certain scummy boss, letting him savor the endless agony of 'forever unable to touch the truth of death.'
Alas, the current Shiraki and company lacked such power, so…
With Muzan's hideous, writhing struggle, Kochou Kanae's flawless, delicate face bloomed with an ever-brighter smile.
Countless emerald light particles swirled, forming a turbulent, ferocious tornado, contracting inward, blowing Muzan Kibutsuji higher into the sky.
Such pain!
Truly unbearable pain!
His soul seemed drowned by the raging winds, and as he ascended, Muzan was crushed by dread and bone-deep terror.
Muzan screamed, inflating his body, forming fleshy armor to shield himself.
But it was futile!
Emerald wind blades effortlessly pierced and shattered the armor.
His terrifying vitality, driven by survival instinct, forced the tattered meatball to keep swelling.
This form was Muzan's infant self, enveloped by death in the womb, called—the Fetal Corpse Pose!
The Rock Pillar, the strongest of the Demon Slayer Corps (excluding the cheating Miss Butterfly), wielded equally extraordinary weapons.
His meteor hammer and axe were forged from ultra-pure refined iron, their materials alone taking years for the Swordsmith Village and Hidden to procure.
Yet the Fetal Corpse's power could snap the axe and hammer.
Endlessly proliferating flesh, Muzan's Fetal Corpse Pose could even briefly withstand sunlight!
Its massive infant shell shielded Muzan, preventing instant annihilation by sunlight.
Twisted flesh writhed, swelled, stretched, morphed.
Crimson flesh opened pores, spewing wind and airflow Blood Demon Arts, propelling the Fetal Corpse, desperate to escape the tornado.
Still useless!
Light and razor-sharp emerald wind spirals freely sliced the giant infant, the hurricane lifting it higher.
Kochou Kanae rode the winds alongside.
Emerald winds swirled, flesh melted.
Shrill screams carried a millennium's regrets and venom!
Trembling pleas, tinged with sobs, were laughable.
"Oh my, oh my, no need to rush, Mr. Muzan~!"
Kochou Kanae's voice was like coaxing a child or warmly welcoming a long-awaited guest.
"Even as the Demon King, you've never seen the world from this angle, right? Come~ I'll show you. Soon, soon we'll watch the sunrise together, enjoy a sunbath, oh!"
Raven-black and wisteria-purple gradient hair fluttered and danced.
"It's a pity, I couldn't prepare wisteria flower tea to treat Mr. Muzan."
Emerald winds wreathed the butterfly girl, soaring above the clouds.
Clouds flowed like a sea, above the cloud sea, starlight faded, moonlight dimmed.
The fall of stars and moon meant…
"Sun!!!"
The chill receded, Muzan felt warmth, a warmth he hadn't known for a millennium.
Its name—sunlight!
Emerald winds scattered clouds and mist, their wake shimmering with soft dawn.
"Like sunlight piercing the night, dawn quietly streaks the horizon~♫" The gleeful girl sang cutely.
Dawn's warmth, golden threads crossed vast skylines to descend.
"No!!!"
Pale skin charred to black, just dawn's faint rays, not yet lethal, but if he didn't escape now…
"Nakime! Nakime!"
The tornado had ceased unnoticed, Muzan Kibutsuji roared, "What are you doing, Nakime!!!"
Blood Demon Art: Infinity Castle's paper doors bloomed, only to be shredded by emerald winds.
Various Blood Demon Arts—flame bursts, lightning surges, flesh projectiles—erupted.
All useless before the Seven Glittering Jewels.
This wasn't power of the same dimension.
"Worthy of being called Demon King, you still with so much strength left." Watching Muzan's struggle, Kochou Kanae couldn't help but marvel.
Charred patches spread, the giant infant thrashing, bloodshot.
"He wants to escape~♫"
"But he can't~♫"
Kanae sang a song from memory, perfectly fitting the scene.
"Oh my!" Kanae looked up, as if suddenly recalling something.
Raising a slender finger, she smiled at the still-struggling Muzan afar.
"There's one thing I forgot to tell you, Mr. Muzan."
"That ancient book you got, along with the blue Spider Lily info, was fake, you know!"
"I had it specially made, hehe~ Pretty convincing, right?"
Kanae blinked at Muzan, like a proud girl awaiting praise for a grand feat.
Muzan Kibutsuji trembled, on the verge of exploding!
Gazing at the stunned Muzan, a radiant smile bloomed on Kanae's face.
"But I do know about the blue Spider Lily~!"
"Blue… Spider Lily…"
"Yes, Mr. Muzan chased the blue Spider Lily for a millennium. To die like this, you must be so unwilling, right?"
"So, at your final moment, I'll grant your wish, take you to where the blue Spider Lily blooms!" Kanae's voice remained ever gentle.
That radiant, warm smile reflected in Muzan's wide eyes, stirring an odd warmth within him.
Like sunlight touching his heart.
A tiny hope burned stubbornly in Muzan's heart, a faint glow in his eyes.
If he could get the blue Spider Lily…
"Look, there, see? That's where the blue Spider Lily blooms."
Above high clouds, Kanae extended a slender finger, pointing to a clearing in the forest near the Kamado family's former home.
Muzan whipped his head around, eyes gleaming brighter, until he saw the lush green field, devoid of flowers.
"Where's the flower! The blue… Spider Lily!?"
"You… lied to me!?"
A piteous cry, like an old man on death's door deceived.
"No way! At this point, why would I lie to you, Mr. Muzan?"
Her lovely eyes curved into crescents, Kanae's cherry lips quirked, a faint smile.
"The blue Spider Lily, you see!"
With a lilting, melodious tone, Kanae raised a pale finger, explaining patiently and politely.
"It's a very special flower that blooms only around noon for two or three days a year, you know!"
Her warm, gentle words struck like thunder from the heavens.
Incredulous bewilderment, his heart's dam burst under a flood of emotions, sanity and spirit utterly collapsing!
"I'll kill you AAAAAHHH!!!"
Muzan Kibutsuji lunged, claws flailing, but couldn't breach the emerald wind cage.
Tears streamed, Muzan wailed hysterically, his piercing cries as if to rend the sky.
"Give it back… give me back my hope… give me back the meaning of my efforts… give it back… give it back!!!"
A millennium's pursuit, his every hope pinned on the blue Spider Lily, was but a mirage, a reflection in water.
How could Muzan bear this!
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"
Mental collapse paired with physical torment, a million warm golden threads grazed gently from afar.
His body felt submerged in the molten slag of hell's eighteenth depths, the grotesque infant melting.
The world's fiercest force enveloped him, leaving nothing behind.
Flayed for over three hours, then scorched by sunlight, the Demon King was weaker than ever, frailer than when Yoriichi nearly slew him centuries ago.
The infant fully melted, Muzan's true form began to ash, as if he saw hell's gates creaking open.
Kanae's gentle, water-like voice rang again.
"Oh my, I forgot—this world has souls, doesn't it?"
Muzan's final sight was Kochou Kanae's serene, infinitely kind smile, her pale, tender hand grasping his white hair, burning like a fuse.
"The train to hell's full, and reincarnation's off the table!"
Her slender fingers closed, Kanae tossed Muzan into a mysterious spatial channel, his soul crushed instantly.
His remains plummeted into the Elysian Realm, hundreds of meters underground.
"Yeehaw!"
Kiana, wearing white lab gloves, gripped Muzan's hair, dragging the Demon King with jaunty steps toward the lab.
"Dr. Mobius, I'm here to trade again!"
Mimicking Hu Tao's pitch, Kiana sold: "Just slip on a cute pink collar, and you get the progenitor of demons, the source itself!"
"Act now, don't miss out!"