"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
With a ferocious roar, the flesh of Muzan's arm twisted and expanded, sprouting a monstrous, oversized limb that met Gyomei Himejima's descending flail head-on.
CRASH!!!
A piercing shriek of metal on bone echoed as a massive shockwave erupted, stirring up a blinding cloud of dust.
The terrifying force of the impact recoiled along the chain, sending even Gyomei's mountainous body flying backward through the air.
Before the dust from the blow had even settled, Muzan's cold gaze swept across the cratered battlefield.
The strange, corrosive feeling of the poison in his veins was infuriating, but a cruel arc still rose on his lips.
"You overestimate yourselves!"
He would soon pay for that arrogance.
The time for games was over.
"MUZAN! YOU BEAST!"
A roar like that of a wounded, rabid wolf tore through the night from the east.
A figure as fast as a bolt of lightning, wreathed in a visible green whirlwind, slammed into the battlefield.
It was the Wind Hashira, Shinazugawa Sanemi.
He had been the first to arrive, just in time to witness the horrifying explosion that had consumed his master.
Now, his eyes were bloodshot, the scars on his face twisting as if alive with his boundless rage.
He looked like a demon of vengeance crawling out of hell itself.
"Wind Breathing, Seventh Form: Gale - Sudden Gusts!"
There was no preamble, no hesitation.
Sanemi immediately unleashed one of his most powerful techniques.
A vortex of emerald-green tornado-like slashes instantly enveloped Muzan, while Sanemi himself became the eye of the storm, vowing to tear the Demon King to pieces.
At the exact same moment, a second figure, as calm as a placid stream but with a turbulent, deadly undercurrent, appeared silently behind Muzan.
The Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, had arrived.
His normally stoic face was now a mask of unprecedented, cold fury.
"Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust."
The fastest thrusting attack of the Water Breathing style was unleashed without a sound, aimed directly at Muzan's neck.
"I will not forgive you! MUZAN!"
A voice like a roaring bonfire erupted from the south as Kyojuro Rengoku charged in, golden-red flames billowing around his resolute face, their scorching heat pushing back the demonic cold.
"Flame Breathing, Fifth Form: Flame Tiger!"
A blazing tiger of pure fire roared to life, pouncing on Muzan with the intent to devour him.
"To do that to Oyakata-sama! That ugliness is beyond flamboyant, and you will pay for it!"
Uzui Tengen made his own magnificent entrance, a sonic boom heralding his arrival as his twin blades swung out in a brilliant, deadly arc of explosive power.
"Sound Breathing, First Form: Roar!"
Then, a purple figure fluttered in, as graceful as a butterfly but carrying an endless storm of grief.
It was the Flower Hashira, Kanae Kocho.
There was no time to mourn; her eyes were filled only with an overwhelming hatred for the source of all tragedy.
"Flower Breathing, Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility!"
A deadly cyclone of cherry-red petals filled the sky, each one a razor-sharp blade aimed at Muzan's vital points.
"…Unforgivable…" The Snake Hashira, Iguro Obanai, and the Love Hashira, Kanroji Mitsuri, arrived as one.
Iguro's attack was a savage, coiling strike, as ruthless as a viper.
Tears streamed from Mitsuri's eyes, yet the Nichirin blade in her hand, as flexible and powerful as a whip, had never been more resolute as it slashed to cut off Muzan's escape.
In a single, breathtaking instant, seven Hashira had descended upon the battlefield.
The news of their master's sacrifice had pushed their rage and power to an absolute fever pitch.
This was a war of vengeance.
This was the final battle.
Facing the storm of attacks, Muzan's pained, distorted face broke into a hideous, joyful smile.
"Hehe… hehe… HAHAHAHA!" He let out a low, ecstatic laugh, as if this desperate, all-out siege was exactly what he had been waiting for.
Though the poisons were slowing his regeneration, his absolute power was still terrifying.
"Excellent timing!" His crimson eyes flashed with a cruel excitement.
"Kagaya… you truly did prepare a 'grand gift' for me! You used your own life to gather all of these annoying insects in one place!"
Kagaya's trap had also been his trap.
An opportunity to wipe out the Demon Slayer Corps' strongest fighters in a single, glorious battle.
"Today! Right here! I will eradicate your kind… completely!" Muzan roared, and instead of retreating, he advanced into the heart of the storm.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Dozens of bladed whips and thorny appendages erupted from his body, dancing wildly with unprecedented speed and density.
He met their offense with an indiscriminate, all-out storm of death.
The battlefield became a maelstrom of color and destruction.
Flames were extinguished, water was vaporized, wind was scattered, flowers were shredded, and sound was silenced.
The Hashira's combined, desperate assault was met and held back by the power of one demon.
Several were thrown back by the sheer force, blood trickling from the corners of their mouths.
The gap in strength was still despairing.
But they did not retreat.
They could not.
Fueled by rage and grief, they pressed the attack, and the battle instantly devolved into a brutal, intense meat grinder.
Though powerful, Muzan was not invincible.
The toxins were working, and under the relentless siege, he could no longer move with flawless perfection.
A sharp Nichirin blade would occasionally slip past his guard, leaving a sizzling cut.
The wounds healed quickly, but the simple feeling of being hurt only made him more furious.
"Ants! Annoying ants!" Muzan roared, the speed of his whips increasing.
A black lash of lightning caught Mitsuri, sending her flying.
In his haste to protect her, Iguro was caught by another, a deep gash tearing open his arm.
"Mitsuri-san! Iguro-san!" Kanae cried out.
"Don't get distracted!" Kyojuro roared, his flame blade descending on Muzan's head once more.
The battle raged, a desperate stalemate held by the Hashira's numbers and their willingness to die.
After another moment of pure fury, a cold calm returned to Muzan's eyes.
"It's time," he snarled, "to end this farce."
Clang.
The sound was faint, almost lost in the chaos of battle, but the eruption of several new, terrifying demonic auras on the battlefield was impossible to miss.
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