Under the protection of the pendant, Esdeath's Teigu would not affect Jean, and likewise, the freezing effect of Mahapadma did not work on Jean either.
Therefore, just as Esdeath specifically called out the name of the technique, Jean, who had been waiting on the sidelines for a long time, had already moved, raising the nichirin blade and slashing toward Kibutsuji Muzan.
The neck was naturally not Kibutsuji Muzan's vital point; for him, form was meaningless.
Simply put, Jean drove the nichirin blade directly into his body, using the wind element to wreak havoc inside while searching for his weaknesses—the twelve weaknesses, namely his five brains and seven hearts.
Of course, Jean did not naively assume that Muzan's current weaknesses were still just twelve, but complete destruction was necessary. The exploration by the wind element precisely located all the organs within his body, and a total of twenty-one vital organs were thoroughly destroyed by Jean.
Then, a massive amount of wind element was pumped into his body, ready and waiting for Esdeath's skill to conclude.
With the precise coordination of the two, as the effect of Mahapadma dissipated, Jean diffused all the wind element inside and outside Kibutsuji Muzan's body into the ice attribute, freezing him from the inside out.
If there was no Red Blade with the lethality of sunlight or the specialized technique—Sun Breathing: Thirteenth Form—then wouldn't it be fine to just freeze him here and wait for the real sun?
That was what Jean thought, and that was what Jean did. If he were frozen while his body remained intact, it would likely be impossible to contain him.
But if every piece of his body tissue were fragmented and frozen separately, the result would be entirely different.
After all, even that Kars-sama eventually stopped thinking.
Through system verification, it was confirmed that this was indeed the main body of Kibutsuji Muzan, and after confirming that he had completely ceased all activity, Jean immediately ran over to check on Esdeath's condition.
The current state of Esdeath could no longer be described by the word "miserable." She had engaged in prolonged, extreme combat, used an ultimate technique that surpassed her own capabilities, and even released Mahapadma—a skill that could only be used once a day—immediately afterward.
She was only able to remain standing by using her willpower to freeze several blood vessels inside her body to support herself.
Jean picked Esdeath up, intending to take her to a house outside the palace to rest, but was refused.
"I want to see the end."
Although Esdeath no longer had the strength to break free from Jean's embrace, she still stared at Jean with that unwavering, resolute gaze.
Sighing, Jean realized that it was impossible to persuade the Esdeath before her, and at the same time, looking at her current state, a faint sense of unease stirred in Jean's heart.
Placing her on flat ground, Jean went into the ruins of a nearby palace to rummage for a few pieces of fabric that looked like they might have once been luxurious but were now unrecognizable, along with a box that looked tattered but, fortunately, was opaque.
Placing the box to the side and spreading the fabric on the ground, Jean held Esdeath, and the two waited together for dawn.
The storm that had shrouded the Imperial Capital had dissipated, and only a crescent moon was gradually setting in the west.
In this silent night, devoid of even the chirping of birds or insects, feeling each other's warmth and listening to each other's breathing, the sky finally turned pale, and the first ray of sunlight finally arrived.
Jean quickly wrapped the cloth around Esdeath while observing the condition of the ice sculpture known as Kibutsuji Muzan.
Sunlight penetrated the transparent ice, beginning to scorch the flesh and blood of Muzan inside, emitting a sizzling sound. Thus, the two watched as Kibutsuji Muzan turned into black ash bit by bit, thoroughly vanishing from this world.
Esdeath's expression also lightened, and she then simply manipulated the power of her Teigu: "Kibutsuji Muzan's curse has also been eliminated. Now, I don't need to divert the power of my Teigu to suppress this curse."
"That's truly wonderful. By the way…" Jean took out the ice block containing the azure spider lily and handed it to Esdeath: "Since the curse is gone, try to see if it can allow you to stand in the sunlight."
Seeing Esdeath holding the azure spider lily and lost in thought, Jean also opened the system, preparing to see how many points could be obtained for killing the Demon King.
[Task Objective 2: Successfully killed 'Demon King' Kibutsuji Muzan. Rewarding T-points based on participation level: 4800 points.]
[Notification: Special Task 1. Due to the failure of a certain participant's designated task, the target has acquired abilities such as: AT Field, Cognitive Distortion, and Multiple Existence. There are now multiple individuals existing simultaneously. The point reward increases with the number of kills. Remaining count: 23/29.]
Seeing this message, Jean was stunned for a moment, then immediately picked up the nichirin blade and looked toward Esdeath's direction.
A withered arm was seen reaching out from the shadows, stretching toward the azure spider lily in Esdeath's hand.
Jean shouted, "Watch out!" and swung the blade to cut at the arm, but just as it was about to strike, the entire blade suddenly stopped, unable to advance even an inch.
Esdeath also reacted, and a massive ice spike attacked the arm, but it was intercepted just the same.
However, the immense mass of the ice spike still caused a significant impact, and one could see hexagonal patterns appearing above the arm.
'AT Field.' Jean recognized the existence of this thing at a glance, but this could by no means be the key to breaking the deadlock; instead, it only fostered a deeper sense of despair.
Kibutsuji Muzan's figure appeared in the shadows, revealing a maniacal smile as he repeated over and over: "Finally, finally, finally, finally found it!" Then, he reached his hand toward the azure spider lily.
Seeing this, Esdeath prepared to destroy the azure spider lily.
But before she could even raise her hand, she suddenly felt the gravity around her increase sharply. Her already weak body became even more unable to move, and she could only watch helplessly as Muzan acted.
Jean was the same; it felt as if the whole body were carrying a burden of a thousand pounds, making it impossible even to breathe.
But as long as the brain remained conscious, Jean could still control the wind element, maneuvering the wind in an attempt to push Esdeath out of the gravity field.
Seeing the two's reactions, Muzan finally regained his rationality: "As expected, it's safer to kill you both first."
Then, his arm transformed into a massive blade, and he slashed down toward Esdeath's head.
"No!!!!!!!!!!!"
Accompanying Jean's wail, a small, childlike palm suddenly appeared, grasping Muzan's blade. No matter how hard Muzan tried, it did not budge.
The owner of the palm was revealed to be a dragonoid with pink twin-tails, beautiful blue eyes, and an utterly adorable appearance—Milim Nava—who used her other hand to make a 'V' sign at Jean.
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