Kokushibo's extreme hatred was no longer merely buried in his heart—it spilled directly from his mouth.
"Why…" Kokushibo's voice was low, thick with venom he could no longer suppress. "Why are you still so detestable even after death?! Why are you still so powerful?!"
Boom!!
The roaring blue-green giant dragon was severed in a single strike of Nichirin blade-light.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni tilted his head slightly and looked toward Kokushibo.
Clearly, he had heard what Kokushibo said.
His eyes were calm as still water, even carrying a hint of concern.
Looking at Kokushibo, he slowly said, "Excessive attachment is the greatest failure. Truly understanding your own heart is true success." Yoriichi Tsugikuni's voice was very soft, yet it entered Kokushibo's ears with perfect clarity.
"Brother, you are trapped by obsession."
That sentence—together with the word brother—was like a sharp blade stabbing viciously into Kokushibo's heart.
The hand gripping his grotesque blade began to tremble, and furious madness surged within all six of his eyes.
"Trapped by obsession?! How dare you! How dare you say that!" Kokushibo's voice was hoarse, carrying resentment suppressed for hundreds of years.
"You arrogant fool! I'll tell you right now—I am the strongest! And you are nothing but a useless ghost!"
Yoriichi Tsugikuni said nothing more.
He merely watched Kokushibo while, in the same instant, raising his sword in time to block Shinichi's next attack.
"Brother, I have always believed you were stronger than me."
Those words became the final straw that crushed Kokushibo.
"Shut up!!! I don't need your pity!!"
With a roar, Kokushibo slashed fiercely with his grotesque blade!
The sword aura of Moon Breathing transformed into countless full moons, hacking madly toward Yoriichi Tsugikuni!
"Moon Breathing, Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon — Infinite!"
Yoriichi Tsugikuni shifted slightly to the side.
With a light swing of his ancient Nichirin blade, he shattered every one of those full-moon blade-lights.
The motion was effortless and unhurried, as though he were merely brushing away a swarm of insects.
He even had time to lift his blade and say seriously to Kokushibo, "If you do this, the one controlling you will be displeased."
Kokushibo's body trembled, veins bulging on the hand gripping his sword.
That expression on Yoriichi's face—as though he were considering what was best for him—was truly, truly, truly… disgusting!
Boundless fury drowned Kokushibo's heart.
Almost grinding his teeth, he said, "After I send you back to the underworld, I will personally cut off the heads of everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps and present them to my lord!"
...
Meanwhile—
Shinichi wiped away a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at the scene before him.
'So… the two of them were having internal strife? Then… that counted as a good thing, right?'
The pressure Yoriichi Tsugikuni was putting on him was simply too great.
If there was discord between them now, at least Shinichi no longer had to worry about Kokushibo suddenly stabbing him in the back.
Still, Shinichi couldn't shake the feeling that the mighty Upper Rank One—Kokushibo, the monster who had terrified countless swordsmen—looked, in front of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, like a… child whose defenses had completely collapsed.
Taking a deep breath, he tightened his grip on his Nichirin blade.
Blue-green light flared once more, driving the strange thoughts from his mind.
The power of life within Shinichi's body continued to gather. He would never place his hopes on a demon's infighting.
The only thing he sought was to sever their heads completely!
And so, a bizarre scene appeared.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni stood there.
Before and behind him were one man and one demon, one grotesque blade and one Nichirin blade, one purple, one blue-green—both swords pointed at Yoriichi Tsugikuni at the same time.
Looking at this temporary "alliance" the two had formed, Yoriichi Tsugikuni's eyes flashed with a trace of amusement.
"It seems I'm rather disliked."
As soon as the words fell, all three figures vanished from where they stood!
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!!!
Dense, rapid sounds of colliding blades rang throughout the entire space!
Blue-green and white Nichirin blade-light, purple crescent-shaped moon blade aura, and the ancient yet profound Sun Breathing—all three forces intertwined, collided, and annihilated one another in a frenzy!
As Shinichi and Kokushibo launched a crisscrossing pincer attack on Yoriichi Tsugikuni—one from the left and one from the right, one from the front and one from behind—they displayed an oddly uncanny kind of "tacit understanding."
Kokushibo pressed the frontal assault, using the violent blade aura of Moon Breathing to pin Yoriichi Tsugikuni down.
Shinichi, meanwhile, relied on the agile perception of Life Breathing to search from the side and rear for openings, launching deadly attacks from time to time.
Of course, the blue-green Nichirin blade and the grotesque blade also collided savagely with each other, each trying to kill the other.
But perhaps because Yoriichi Tsugikuni's strength was simply too overwhelming, the latter two spent more time coordinating their attacks against the former.
As for Yoriichi Tsugikuni—even while facing the "combined assault" of two great fighters, he still handled everything in an orderly manner.
The ancient Nichirin blade in his hand seemed alive: at times fierce as a mountain crashing down, at times gentle as a spring breeze brushing the face.
Every attack from Shinichi and Kokushibo was resolved by him.
Clack!!
With one stroke, he knocked aside Kokushibo's grotesque blade while simultaneously shifting his body to evade Shinichi's thrust.
Then, with a backhand slash, Yoriichi Tsugikuni cut toward Shinichi's neck!
Shinichi's pupils contracted sharply.
He arched backward to the absolute limit, and the blade swept past the tip of his nose, slicing off a few strands of hair!
Seizing the opportunity, Kokushibo launched a side attack, his grotesque blade stabbing straight toward Yoriichi Tsugikuni's ribs!
At the same time, he did not forget about Shinichi—taking advantage of Shinichi's evasive motion, he flicked his hand and sent a crescent-shaped moon blade aura slashing toward Shinichi's back!
Attacked from both sides, while also having to guard against betrayal from an "ally"—that was the desperate situation Shinichi was facing at this moment.
But Shinichi had already anticipated this.
"Joining hands" with a demon was a helpless choice to begin with.
What was more, he never truly believed he was allied with Kokushibo at all.
From the very start of their three-way battle, he had never once lowered his guard against Kokushibo.
"Forest Breathing, Fourth Form: Dandelion Dance!"
In the face of mortal danger, Shinichi's body erupted with astonishing flexibility.
Like a dandelion scattering in the wind, he twisted and flipped at an unbelievable angle, narrowly evading Kokushibo's crescent moon blade aura at the same time!
That attack once again grazed past his body and carved a massive trench into the floor behind him!
The instant he landed, Shinichi did not pause in the slightest.
Blue-green light burst once more from his Nichirin blade, and with a backhand slash he cut toward Kokushibo's neck!
"That's for you!"
A trace of ridicule flashed through Kokushibo's six scarlet eyes. His attack just now had failed to injure either Shinichi or Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
At this moment, his grotesque blade was already returning to guard, meeting Shinichi's Nichirin blade in a violent clash!
Clang!!!
Sparks flew everywhere!
Both were knocked back half a step at the same time, but neither stopped attacking.
Shinichi's blade-light came like a furious storm, wave after wave without end. Kokushibo's Moon Breathing blade-light was likewise boundless and endless.
While the two attacked Yoriichi Tsugikuni, their blades also continually crossed—testing each other, suppressing each other, and threatening each other with death.
In the midst of battle, Yoriichi Tsugikuni dealt with attacks from two directions at once.
But astonishingly, as the fight continued, a faint smile—something rarely seen—actually appeared on his calm face.