"What… the hell is that thing…?"
Even for Ryuji, this was something beyond anything he had ever seen. He had faced seas of the undead stretching to the horizon, battled other horrors —but this…
This was something else entirely.
The monster before him stood eight or nine hundred meters tall, its tentacles easily stretching a full kilometer in length.
If the last two creatures they fought had been opponents the Demon Slayer Corps might conceivably overcome, this one was something else entirely. Was it even possible for human hands to bring down such a thing?
Ryuji honestly wanted to know.
His flames were powerful—devastating, even—but against something of this sheer size, he couldn't hope to engulf its entire body. Those massive, endlessly whipping tentacles alone were beyond anything he could block.
The Hashira looked down at their Nichirin blades, then back up at the distant monster, falling into grim silence.
It was like trying to kill a blue whale with a toothpick—no amount of technique, resolve, or love could bridge that kind of gap. Only overwhelming, godlike force could.
"This thing… you'd need a nuke to take it down," Mai muttered, mouth agape.
She'd thought coming with Ryuji would mean she could help in the fight—but now it seemed her greatest contribution might be lying in bed for him and let him hit the butt.
"Even a nuke wouldn't be enough," Ryuji replied evenly. "And you can't guarantee the scattered flesh wouldn't cause even worse contamination. You'd need an exceptionally powerful nuclear strike—one that vaporizes it completely—to be sure."
The creature was like something out of a Cthulhu myth—best to assume the worst possible scenario.
Mai's face paled at his words. She looked at the monster again, unable to fathom any way to bring it down.
"How do you even kill something like that…?" she whispered.
Its kilometer-long tentacles swayed and coiled with unsettling agility—more than one, each moving independently.
She wasn't the only one at a loss. Everyone there could see no path forward.
Ryuji's gaze locked on the mountain of flesh, staring straight into its massive eye—when he noticed something wrong.
The clouds above…
They weren't moving right.
He quickly raised his binoculars, scanning the sky—and froze.
Above them floated countless chunks of rock and soil… and the limp bodies of birds.
The debris and corpses circled in the air in an eerie, unnatural pattern, like some obscene halo.
But then…
"Anti-gravity?"
That was the thought that struck Ryuji.
Looking at the multi-kilometer-long tentacles swaying freely in the air, he formed a hypothesis.
A creature of this size—if it were bound by normal biology—should be crushed under its own weight. That enormous eye alone shouldn't be able to withstand the planet's gravity and atmospheric pressure.
Even if the main body somehow could, what about those tentacles?
Octopus limbs get their flexibility from the buoyancy of seawater. This thing—Cthulhu-spawn or not—had to have something supporting its structure and movement.
Couple that with the floating debris and corpses in the sky, and Ryuji had reason to believe anti-gravity was what allowed this monstrosity to exist and move in the physical world.
Of course, there could be another explanation. The first of these abominations had warped ecosystems, the second had altered natural environments… so maybe this one was here to change the very structure of the planet.
Seen in that light, anti-gravity made perfect sense.
After weighing the thought, Ryuji decided to test it for himself.
If this mountain of flesh really depended on anti-gravity, perhaps he could attack from beyond its influence.
Getting close? That was out of the question.
One look at the hundreds of writhing tentacles convinced him some things weren't worth "testing."
"I'm going to scout it—verify a few suspicions," he said, moving toward the flesh mountain.
The Hashira began to speak up—Mitsuri even seized his arm.
"I'll go with you."
Ryuji shook his head. "No. I'm better off alone. I have ways to escape instantly if it goes bad. You don't."
Mitsuri froze, and before Shinobu or Kanae could speak, Ryuji was already a blur, hurtling toward the monster.
The closer he got, the more he felt it—an oppressive, alien vitality. Just approaching made the air feel thin, his lungs struggling as though the oxygen had been sucked away.
But the sensation was… off. He was afraid, yes—but this was more than fear.
"Wait… if it's anti-gravity… could it be pulling the air away too? Then what's the mechanism?"
The flesh mountain's massive eye turned to meet his own.
So much for a surprise attack.
As breathing grew harder, Ryuji switched tactics—summoning his full speed.
Earth, water, wind, fire—heed my call!
Two jets of fire burst from his back, scorching through his shirt and rocketing him forward like a living missile.
The method had drawbacks—poor maneuverability, dangerous acceleration—but for a direct charge and a quick escape, it was perfect.
And sure enough, the closer he came, the lighter the air felt—not just from oxygen loss. The drag on his body vanished, and the dust and debris he kicked up floated down at a crawl.
"As I thought… the gravity's dropping! The closer you get, the weaker it gets!"
With the intel confirmed, he prepared to fall back. Oxygen alone made this a fight for another day.
But then… the mountain moved.
The ground shook as the colossal mass advanced, splitting the earth under its step. Caught off guard by the tremors and the strange physics, Ryuji stumbled.
And then he saw it—the thing had four legs beneath all that bulk.
This thing can still move?!
He'd expected tentacle strikes, but watching an entire mountain charge him was something else entirely.
And it wasn't done.
The mountain jumped.
Ryuji watched in disbelief as the horizon rose, blotting out the sun—then plummeted toward him.
No tricks, no exotic abilities. Just the pure, brutal, undeniable act of smashing him flat.
Adrenaline surged through his veins. Lightning and golden dragonfire roared to life around him, his strongest attack flaring in the face of the impossible.
But the air pressure from the monster's descent shredded his flames and scattered them to the wind before they could even reach it.
What little lightning-laced fire touched its hide had no effect.
The mountain crashed down, swallowing his light and his body whole.
The shockwave blasted the Hashira off their feet, hurling them into the dirt and leaving them seriously injured.
Even Mai was no exception. The shockwave hurled her high into the air, her beautiful, voluptuous figure spinning helplessly as jagged rubble hurtled toward her—ready to smash her into a bloody mist.
Yet, Mai felt strangely calm.
"Ryuji… is he dead? Maybe… I was never meant to survive in the first place."
Her mind wandered back to the moment she first entered the world of 7 Days to Die, recalling her earliest, most desperate days. She closed her eyes, watching the boulder bear down on her, ready to accept the end—
—when a dazzling arc of sword-light cleaved through the air, shattering the rock before it could reach her. Her body fell into a pair of familiar arms.
"Giving up already? That's not what I'd expect from a fighter," Ryuji said, swinging his arm in a smooth motion. With the world's energy coursing through him, his strength recovered rapidly. Flames surged from his hands, blasting away the incoming rubble that threatened the other Hashira who had also been flung across the battlefield.
As Mai landed, her eyes widened in shock and joy. She had been certain Ryuji was dead—yet here he was, alive and breathing.
"You're still alive!" she blurted, gripping his arm in disbelief.
"Of course I'm alive. Didn't I tell you?"
Ryuji took a deep breath, forcing his body to recover as he stared at the enormous, mountain-like mass that still glared down at him. He tossed a ball of dragonfire to heal the nearby Hashira, but deep down, he didn't believe they stood a chance.
This monster was simply absurd.
"There's no beating this thing," he muttered. "Right now, the only option is to run."
He sighed. The Hashira were little more than dead weight against a foe like this—it wasn't their fault; even he was surviving only thanks to a mix of luck and special abilities. And his attacks barely scratched it.
But this world had a way of throwing curveballs.
While Ryuji supported the battered Mai and Shinobu, a figure slowly rose beside the unconscious Tanjiro. Bathed in sunlight, she glanced at her bloodied brother and then at Ryuji, trapped under the monster's weight. Her eyes burned with feral resolve.
She had not been thrown by the blast, and so she hadn't seen Ryuji saving Shinobu and the other Hashira. To her, he was still pinned, helpless—and in that instant, she lost all restraint.
Strange markings blossomed across her pale skin, and two jagged oni horns erupted from her forehead. Her body lifted off the ground, wreathed in crimson-gold flames. Earth, sky, even the sun, moon, and stars seemed to respond to her presence.
Ryuji froze mid-step. Something was awakening. The world's power that had been clinging to him suddenly surged toward her, golden motes spilling from the Hashira as well, drawn to the same figure.
It was unmistakably the power of the world—and the figure was Nezuko.
"The world's power… Why now?" Ryuji wondered aloud. It had never been so responsive when bonded to him—but then again, she was the 'true daughter' of this world, while he was just a hired hand. Naturally, the treatment was different.
Still, why hadn't she activated this form the moment the monster appeared?
"Does it require… a heavy price?" he guessed.
But Nezuko gave no answer. One heartbeat she stood on the ground—then she was gone. The next instant, she was on the monster's mountainous body, her flames streaking toward it like guided missiles.
A sudden gale swept across the field as her fire spread over the creature's entire form.
And watching it all, Ryuji could only mutter:
"…Yeah. This is definitely a QTE battle now."
{T/N: In video games, a Quick Time Event (QTE) is a gameplay mechanic where the player must press a button or perform an action in response to an on-screen prompt within a limited time frame. QTEs are often used during cinematic sequences or action scenes to add a sense of urgency and interactivity.}
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