Muzan kept retreating as bullets poured into him like a storm, tearing apart the flesh that had only just regenerated.
By now, there was nothing remotely graceful or composed left about him.
His body barely even resembled a human shape anymore. He looked more like a writhing mass of blood and flesh, constantly healing only to be shredded apart again.
The guards under Chinatsu were using specially made bullets tipped with Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand.
They might not be especially effective against Muzan in his current state, but the sheer kinetic force of the rounds was still enough to slow his regeneration even further.
"Hold the formation! Keep him suppressed!" the captain of the guards shouted.
Chinatsu called out as well, "Don't let up! That monster is extremely dangerous. We cannot give him a chance to get close!"
In truth, she was worrying unnecessarily.
Muzan had no intention of fighting these guards head-on.
Shinobu's poison was still raging through his body, and the burning agony made every second feel as though he were being roasted alive.
Right now, all he wanted was to get away.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, Muzan smashed straight through the wall of an alley using brute force, escaping through the opening and out of the guards' line of fire.
Chinatsu's eyes sharpened.
"Nohara! We cannot let that monster escape!"
Captain Nohara immediately nodded.
"Understood!"
He swiftly issued orders.
Dozens of guards split into several squads and pursued Muzan in the direction he had fled, while Chinatsu followed closely with Nohara's group, her fists clenched tightly.
...
Meanwhile, Muzan fled in a panic through the shattered wall, never noticing that a pair of eyes had already locked onto him from a corner of the ruins to his right.
Buzz!
A piercing shriek tore through the air.
A razor-sharp blade came hurtling toward Muzan's head almost at the same instant as the flash of its edge.
Muzan's powerful senses as the Demon King allowed him to react just in time.
His body, which had only barely regained human form, stopped abruptly.
The Nichirin blade skimmed past the tip of his nose and buried itself deep in the ruins to his left.
Muzan snapped his head around and growled through clenched teeth.
"Who is it now?!"
Crimson eyes met black ones.
One pair burned with fury.
The other remained almost unnervingly calm.
Shinichi Moriki.
Muzan's pupils contracted sharply.
Not far away, Shinichi lowered his now-empty right hand. He had been the one who threw the Nichirin blade he had picked up.
Unfortunately, the attack had missed.
"Shinichi Moriki," Muzan snarled. "You cling to life even better than a sewer rat."
The insult was harsh, but there was a faint tremor hidden beneath his voice.
Shinichi did not answer.
He casually shook out his hand, then rested it on the hilt at his waist and smoothly drew his bluish-green Nichirin blade.
Light flared across the steel in an instant.
Deep, condensed bluish-white radiance.
Pure life force.
"Life Breathing, First Form: Blade Radiance."
There was no elaborate sword form.
No thunderous declaration.
Only a simple horizontal slash.
Yet the instant the blade cut through the air, Muzan felt it.
It was as though life itself had been given form.
Blazing like sunlight.
And to him, utterly lethal.
Muzan immediately tried to evade, but between Shinobu's poison and the recent barrage of gunfire, his body had been weakened to its limit.
His reaction came half a beat too late.
Pshk!
The bluish-white blade light tore violently across Muzan's torso, cutting from his left ribs down to his right hip and nearly severing him in half.
Dark-red blood erupted like water from a broken dam.
Every piece of flesh touched by that life force hissed as though scorched beneath the blazing sun, collapsing and disintegrating wildly.
Muzan staggered several steps backward.
He clutched the horrifying wound with both hands, only to discover that no matter how hard he pressed, the injury refused to close.
The life force clinging to its edges felt like countless tiny blades, continuously cutting and eroding his flesh, preventing every attempt at regeneration.
"What...?"
For the first time, genuine terror entered Muzan's voice.
He stared at Shinichi, at those frighteningly calm black eyes.
"That power... How is that possible?!"
Shinichi raised his Nichirin blade again.
Bluish-white light flowed along its edge.
Inside Muzan, Shinobu's poison and Shinichi's life force were now tearing through his body at the same time.
Only moments ago, Muzan had been reveling in what he called his "perfect body."
Now he could feel it breaking down piece by piece.
The shadow of death descended over his heart.
For only the second time in his existence, Muzan clearly understood that he might truly die.
"W-Wait!"
His voice carried an urgency and panic he had never shown before.
He retreated while raising both hands in what looked almost like a placating gesture.
"Shinichi Moriki! We can talk!"
Shinichi did not stop walking.
Only the faintest ripple passed through his black eyes—perhaps mockery, perhaps pity.
Muzan continued backing away, speaking faster and faster.
"You possess power this great. Are you really satisfied with remaining an ordinary human? Don't you want more? Eternal life! Limitless power! I can share all of it with you! Together, we can become the ultimate beings who rule this world!"
His voice became seductive, trying to worm its way into Shinichi's mind like a poisonous snake.
"A human body has limits! How much more can yours endure? After all these battles, how much longer can you even live? Fifty years? Sixty? Then you become nothing but a handful of dirt, and everything you had disappears!"
"But I can give you immortality! I can let you remain this powerful forever—for all eternity! So..."
"Submit to me, Shinichi Moriki!"
Muzan spread his arms. Blood was still seeping from the terrible wound across his body, but madness gleamed in his eyes.
"Submit to me! We can rule this world together! If you and I join forces, no one in existence will be able to stop us!"
Muzan's words finally made Shinichi stop.
A strange expression appeared on his face.
"Immortality?"
He repeated the word softly, with unmistakable disdain.
Then he tilted his head slightly.
An icy look flowed through those black eyes, cold enough to send a chill down Muzan's spine.
"That doesn't tempt me at all."
The corner of Shinichi's mouth lifted faintly.
"You really are adorably stupid."
The moment the words left his mouth, Shinichi vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of Muzan.
His Nichirin blade, wrapped in devastating life force, slashed viciously toward Muzan's neck.
Muzan's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
He knew it.
If that blade landed cleanly, he might truly die.
But just before Shinichi's edge could reach his neck, a final mass of dark-red energy that Muzan had been quietly accumulating erupted from within his body.
He had used his desperate offer to distract Shinichi just long enough to gather a little more strength.
Now Muzan forcibly detonated his own body.
Boom!
The resulting shockwave blasted Shinichi's sword aside.
Huge chunks of flesh scattered through the air like petals thrown to the wind.
And among them, one seemingly insignificant fragment flew into the distance—
carrying Muzan's consciousness with it.