"Muzan suddenly realized with horror that his body was no longer under his control. Though he could still struggle, his movement was now being forcibly directed.
Just… by a few glowing threads.
Those few threads of shining light had easily taken control of his body.
Kairo Retsu, now using Wirebug Silkbind Riding Technique, raised his voice and roared, "Naofumi Iwatani! Wall!!!"
"Understood!" Shield Hero responded immediately and activated the skill he'd already mastered within the Infinity Castle. "Energy Shield… Multicast!!!!!!"
Sturdy Energy Shields materialized in midair not far from Muzan, combining together into a massive wall of pure defense.
Exactly what Kairo Retsu wanted!
"Muzan! Let's see just how hard your skull is!" Kairo Retsu's face twisted into a vicious grin. "Now run!!"
Under Kairo Retsu's control, Muzan's massive form began to move, and with deliberate force, was driven straight into Naofumi's reinforced wall.
The jarring impact brought on a wave of dizziness within Muzan's mind—one that terrified him.
These were supposed to be expendable meat sacks! So why did crashing into a wall in this form disorient him like this?!
"Still not down? Then one more time!!" Kairo Retsu cackled madly, yanking the silk lines like reins. After dragging Muzan for a full loop around the battlefield, he once again slammed him into the wall with full force.
With a thunderous crash, Muzan could no longer bear the vertigo and collapsed.
Kairo Retsu released the wire and jumped from Muzan's back. "Attack! Attack! Everyone, all in!!"
"Naofumi Iwatani! Muzan's all yours! Don't let him… get back on his feet!!" Kairo Retsu shouted furiously.
"Got it… I'm more than ready."
Naofumi Iwatani grinned and pounded his armored gauntlets together. He had already switched out his equipment after his last cat cart.
Gone was the Wide-Range support set—his current loadout included:
Slugger Secret Art
Artillery
Partbreaker
and his special Layered Armor: Impact Mantle
His item pouch was now full of Cluster Bombs and all necessary bomb-crafting materials.
Impact Mantle—a special armor piece that rapidly builds up stun damage from a hunter's attacks.
"Opening fire!"
As soon as he donned the Impact Mantle, Naofumi Iwatani began bombarding Muzan's "head" with a hail of explosive rounds.
"Damn it…"
Flat on the ground and writhing, Muzan clearly felt the external shell being damaged. He forced himself to try rising up once again.
But just as he regenerated and started to push himself up through the attacks of the Demon Slayers, the familiar wave of vertigo returned.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM—
One after another, Cluster Bombs exploded atop Muzan's skull, not only damaging him but also stacking stun effects. He had no way of regaining his footing and could only flail impotently on the ground.
Watching Muzan wail and squirm so helplessly brought a strange sense of catharsis to many of the Demon Slayer Corps members.
Most of them bore deep hatred toward demons. No matter what Muzan was subjected to now, they all agreed—it was nothing less than what he deserved.
"Find Muzan's core… locate his true body inside that massive meat husk!"
Tanjiro, at this moment, was pushing himself to the limit, focusing entirely on locating Muzan's actual body within the grotesque shell.
The Sun Breathing forms—First to Twelfth—formed a cycle. This was something the hunters had already passed on to Tanjiro.
He remembered Mr. Joseph Joestar had said that once Muzan was defeated, Kairo Retsu would tell them the full story of Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
The one who created Sun Breathing.
The one who had nearly destroyed Muzan, only for Muzan to escape at the last second.
If it were Yoriichi here, perhaps he would have already located Muzan's true body and killed him outright.
But even now, Tanjiro couldn't find it.
He kept thinking, adjusting his breathing, recalling all he'd learned—especially the things his father had taught him in childhood. He followed the hunters' clues, drawing upon those teachings.
The mark on Tanjiro's forehead expanded further, burning away his life force—yet it also made the Nichirin Sword in his hand burn ever brighter.
The world before Tanjiro's eyes began to sharpen.
He could now see everything—from clothing, to skin, to muscle and even bone beneath.
His sense of smell also grew sharper, and in one flash of intuition, Tanjiro caught Muzan's intense scent. The world in front of him turned transparent.
He could do it.
From this angle—if he just swung the blade using Sun Breathing—he could carve Muzan out of that grotesque shell.
In the next moment, Tanjiro's Nichirin Sword had already slashed open a massive portion of the meat armor.
And before it could regenerate, another even faster slash followed in the exact same spot.
Tanjiro focused every ounce of attention on Muzan—and in return, his flame-like mark spread wider, and his Nichirin Sword made contact.
Muzan had thought these swordsmen and hunters wouldn't break through his regenerative armor so quickly. But then came a pain so sharp it brought back memories of Yoriichi—the kind of pain that made him recoil.
"Muzan!"
Before the flesh could mend, Tanjiro roared and swung down, carving Muzan's entire body out of the mass and flinging it into the air with sheer force.
"You won't escape! You won't hide! You won't vanish again!!!"
Tanjiro shouted with fury, "Not until you stop breathing—we won't let you go!!"
"Nice job, Tanjiro!" Kairo Retsu called out, exhilarated. "We finally dragged you out of your meat suit!"
With Muzan now airborne, Kairo Retsu jumped up using his Insect Glaive and drove its tip deep into Muzan.
The impaled Muzan, now staring face-to-face at the man he thought he had finally killed, let out a wretched scream.
"Why… WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"