The scream was like a terrifying alarm. It echoed across the entire mountain, so loud that some people's ears began bleeding from the sheer force of it. Demons and Demon Slayers alike clutched their heads as blood streamed from mouths, noses, ears, and eyes.
"Destroying every organ except the vital ones, at the speed as your Demon King's regeneration. At the same time, amplifying your nerves to feel maximum pain, forcing your own cells to devour each other from the inside, and scrambling your brain's systems. Let's see… how long can you last?"
Tetsuya's voice remained calm, yet it rang louder and clearer than anything else on the battlefield. Everyone heard every word, and a collective chill ran through them. Crimson lightning crackled violently around Muzan's body, inside and out, its pressure forcing blood to seep from every pore.
"AAAARRRGGHH!!"
Something inside Muzan burst with a sickening pop. Perhaps one of his useless extra brains.
His bones creaked and snapped loudly, only for his natural demonic regeneration, further accelerated by Tetsuya's deliberate enhancement, to knit them back together… just so they could be shattered again.
Destruction and recovery raced at equal speed, constantly overtaking one another. Blood vessels ruptured, healed, ruptured again. Wounds opened, closed, opened, closed, opened again. The cycle continued relentlessly, ignoring Muzan's increasingly pathetic, broken screams. Arm bones. Leg bones. Ribs. Spine. Thighs. Face. Nose. Ankles. Knees. Groin. Shoulders. Collarbones. Upper arms. Forearms. Hips. Wrists!
Every single bone in his body was methodically pulverized down to the last fragment, only to be forced back into shape and destroyed once more. Muzan's mind could no longer process the overwhelming agony. Yet he could not die. Tetsuya would not allow it. He was forced to remain conscious, forced to endure.
Everyone recoiled. Faces turned deathly pale. The Demon Slayer Corps felt a twisted mix of anticipation and awe beneath their fear. The remaining demons, however, wore only pure horror.
"So… terrifying!"
Someone gasped. The air temperature plummeted. The sky darkened further. Thunderstorms raged beneath black clouds.
[March 7th: Th-that's horrifying! Tetsuya is horrifying!!]
[Tsunade: Is he trying to defeat the boss or torture the boss to death?]
[Erza: This… Is this really his current power? Or is Muzan just too weak? No… every injury on that body is being cleaned away perfectly. He's simply being held there, forced to suffer the destruction of every limb and organ over and over.]
[Saeko: …]
Saeko closed her eyes in silence. A fierce determination ignited inside her.
"I have to become stronger… so I won't be left behind."
…
Muzan's torment continued.
Everyone on the battlefield, the Corps soldiers, Esdeath, Hancock, the remaining demons, and the group chat viewers watched the blood-soaked figure writhe in endless suffering.
Tetsuya observed with an utterly calm expression. Not indifference, not cruelty, just calm. Utterly detached.
"Muzan, you were so proud of your immortality, weren't you? Your only weakness is sunlight, right? So what happens if I reduce your entire body to nothing, not even a single drop of blood left? Can you still regenerate? I'm looking forward to finding out."
"AAARGGHH!!"
The heat from the lightning devouring him made Muzan's body seem to melt. Of his five brains, only one remained; the other four had liquefied and burst. His seven hearts pounded frantically under the unbearable stimulation, until five of them simply stopped, like engines running out of fuel.
His agonized howls echoed across the field. The demons felt true terror grip their hearts. They had to flee. If even Lord Muzan couldn't withstand this, they stood no chance at all.
Tetsuya ignored them completely. He clenched his fist just a little tighter—
CRASH!
"ARGGH!"
Muzan's right leg and left arm exploded simultaneously. This time, they did not regenerate. Only blood poured from the stumps.
Another slight clench.
CRASH!
BOOM!
His left leg and right arm detonated into sprays of gore.
Lightning exploded from the sky above. Black clouds spun violently directly overhead Muzan. All he could do was scream.
Rather than pity, the Demon Slayers felt grim satisfaction.
He deserved every second of it.
Even Kagaya, lying in bed supported by attendants, closed his eyes and listened to Muzan's screams as though they were the most beautiful music he had ever heard. To them, those cries were a symphony of justice.
The ordeal lasted a full ten minutes. Finally, it subsided. All that remained of Muzan was his torso and head.
"My body—! No! Stop…!"
"It's over."
BOOM!
Ignoring Muzan's final plea, Tetsuya clenched his fist once more. An unimaginable force crushed down on him, folding his remaining body into an impossible, grotesque shape before detonating it entirely, leaving not even blood behind.
Tetsuya had kept his word.
Every demon still trying to flee disintegrated into fragments at the same instant.
[All demons confirmed dead! Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji has been eliminated! Mission]
[Group mission complete!]
[Congratulations! Tetsuya earned 300,000 points! Congratulations! Esdeath earned 80,000 points! Congratulations! Hancock earned 50,000 points! Congratulations! Shinobu earned 50,000 points!]
"Three hundred thousand!"
Tetsuya's eyes sparkled. He hadn't expected to gain so many points just from killing Muzan!
Wait! Muzan's death!
"Kie, Nezuko…!"
He immediately turned to search for them. Seeing his gaze, the two women tilted their heads in unison.
"Why is he looking at us like that?"
"He was worried you two would disappear with Muzan's death," Tamayo said, covering her mouth with an understanding smile.
"Eh?"
He was worried about them! Warmth flooded both women's hearts as the realization hit.
Seeing them still standing there, perfectly fine, Tetsuya exhaled in visible relief. They truly had become independent demons, no longer bound to Muzan's existence.
Everyone stared at the empty space where Muzan had been.
He was gone. Completely obliterated.
"We… won! The demons are gone! We've won!!"
In that instant, thousands of voices erupted in joyous, victorious roars.
Esdeath was the first to approach Tetsuya. Her eyes burned with exactly what she had craved all along: the promise of battle. Killing intent radiated from every pore.
"Sigh…"
Tetsuya realized there was no avoiding this. Showing off his power had only fueled her desire even more. She had grown up believing herself invincible, so of course she wouldn't back down easily.
"You really want to fight. Is it Mahapadma?"
Esdeath raised an eyebrow, half surprised, half irritated. "You really do know a lot about me."
Tetsuya ignored the comment. He met her gaze calmly. "If you want to challenge me that badly… let's do it now."
"Hmph! Fine. As you wish. Mahapadma!"
A merciless glint flashed in Esdeath's eyes. An overwhelming wave of cold exploded outward. The world around them seemed to freeze in an instant, as though an indescribable chill had shattered its seal, blanketing everything in absolute zero.
In a heartbeat, all motion appeared to stop. Space and time themselves fell eerily silent. The Corps soldiers and Hashira froze mid-step.
Esdeath exhaled slowly. Her gaze locked on Tetsuya, anticipating an easy victory. He looked completely frozen, motionless. Victory seemed certain.
Before disappointment could settle in, the same crimson lightning flashed directly in front of her eyes.
"You lose."
A soft voice whispered right beside her ear. His face was now only a centimeter from hers, his warm breath brushing her skin. Before she could even react, she felt a warm hand gently grip her chin, tilting her face upward so she was forced to meet his glowing red eyes.
The already frozen air grew even colder.
Esdeath struggled to break free, but her entire body felt inexplicably weak. Powerless, she could only stare upward, feeling the heat radiating from where his fingers touched her chin.
"How… How did you do that?" she whispered, voice low. She was facing an impossible reality: somehow, the man before her had completely bypassed her time-freeze.
Of course it was Tetsuya, completely unaffected. Meanwhile, the spectators began moving again. Shinobu, Hancock, and the others blinked in confusion as they suddenly saw Esdeath and Tetsuya standing impossibly close.
Tetsuya smiled. Mahapadma wasn't true spatial-temporal freezing. It simply lowered the kinetic energy of atoms to absolute zero, halting all molecular motion. Tetsuya could bypass it in two ways: either manipulate his own atoms back into motion using electrical control… or simply shatter the freeze outright.
"Because I'm stronger than you. That's the only answer."
His voice was calm. The hand gripping her chin slowly slid to her cheek.
After a long silence, Esdeath opened her mouth and spoke three quiet words. "I… surrender."
"I hope you're satisfied. Don't worry, you'll get much stronger later. You can challenge me again after that."
With a satisfied chuckle, Tetsuya released her.
Esdeath stood motionless. Her eyes were hidden beneath the brim of her cap, lost in her own thoughts, perhaps experiencing true defeat for the first time. But one thing was certain: the way she now looked at Tetsuya had changed completely.