Demon Slayer: Breath of Desire

"SENPAAAAAI!!!"

In the streets of Yoshiwara, Tanjiro let out a heart-rending scream, staring fixedly at the flying head.

"SIR!!!"

"HASHIRA-SAMA!!"

Amid the shouts of horror and grieving rage, Marcus, who was experiencing absolute freedom... finally understood.

That’s why Daki was in such a hurry to find me.

That’s why she suddenly dragged her brother out.

That’s why the two of them kept saying there was no time left.

He knew the entire plot of Demon Slayer, but knowing the canon wasn’t the same as predicting the future—well, yes, it was, but not once you’d already changed the plot. All he could do was deduce from what he knew.

And tonight’s ambush, Daki’s strange behavior, Gyūtarō’s urgency... it all finally made sense.

’Muzan was here. He came after Daki got into my house.’

’Something happened in between. An order they couldn’t carry out, something that left them with no way out... and that’s why they came looking for me.’

On top of that, they knew for a fact that Muzan would come the moment night fell, which was why they were so impatient.

’...Tsk.’

’Pair of idiots.’

Though, come to think of it...

’I guess they were afraid that if I found out, I’d take off running and leave them to die.’

’Mmm... it was reasonable for them to think that.’

In an instant he had understood everything. But it was already too late.

His head was still spinning through the air. And without veering off by a single millimeter, it landed in Daki’s arms.

She looked down and held it with both hands.

Marcus’s eyes were still open, and a trace of surprise could still be made out on his face.

For a moment, Daki’s mind went blank.

Everything that had happened over the last two days flashed before her eyes.

Whether it was embarrassment, annoyance, or even hatred...

In hundreds of years, no man had ever put her through emotional swings that big.

NEVER!

And now, watching the light in those eyes slowly go out, her own turned red.

At first she wouldn’t have been able to say what she felt for him.

But now, with his head in her hands, it was clearer to her.

Because in her heart there was nothing but grief and absolute rage!

And in that instant, she wasn’t the only one consumed by pain and fury.

"MUZAN!!"

Roaring in desperation, Tanjiro gripped his katana and threw himself at him.

Hakuji was the second to move. Old grudges and new ones made his face horrifying.

"BASTARD!!"

He set out later, and even so, he arrived first.

Tengen looked at Marcus’s decapitated body, his face falling apart.

But without thinking about it any further, he pulled several bombs out of his pocket and smashed them against the ground in front of Gyūtarō.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The smoke rose and blocked his view. A second later, Tengen was throwing himself into the attack as well.

Inosuke tried to charge, but Zenitsu yanked him back.

"What are you doing?!"

Zenitsu’s eyes were wide, and he was shaking all over, with no way to tell whether it was from terror or from rage.

Marcus... the invincible Hashira of his heart, was now a corpse.

Even so, he didn’t let go, and planted himself out front to cover the near side of the smokescreen.

"If we go in... we wouldn’t be much use either... A-At least... at least we have to watch their backs..."

Inosuke looked at him, then looked at the headless body, gritted his teeth, and turned around to stand guard alongside him.

Out of the smoke, however, nothing came: Gyūtarō still hadn’t moved.

The ones who did come back were the three who had just attacked, sent flying at an even greater speed.

Tanjiro slammed heavily into the ground; all that was left in his hand was the hilt of the nichirin, the blade torn clean off.

Hakuji crashed into a pile of ruins, the debris coming down noisily and burying him halfway.

Tengen crossed his blades in front of himself and was driven back more than ten paces. The skin between his thumb and index finger had split open from the impact, and blood was streaming down the handle.

Both of them looked up at the same time, their eyes overflowing with incomprehension.

Behind them, Muzan was still standing there, calm, as four pointed whips of flesh slowly unfurled from his back.

He was just standing there, motionless... And even so, the pressure radiating off him was truly terrifying!

"Fufu~..."

A smile of relief formed on Muzan’s lips.

He looked at the three who had been sent flying, and then at the headless corpse.

"In the end... it seems I worried over nothing."

To ambush Marcus, he had used his full strength. He had no intention of repeating the mistake of the first time, when he’d taken him for a nobody and thrown a careless attack at him from over a hundred meters away.

This time he came out of the Infinity Castle and struck without hesitating for a single second.

’Not even I could have defended against that. And he was nothing more than a human.’

And then there was the boy who had kept him on guard all this time.

Just an instant ago... facing Tanjiro’s frenzied attack, he had frozen.

He had even felt fear!

His whole body had tensed up, ready to flee at any moment.

But... it was nothing to make a fuss about.

’So what if he looks like Tsugikuni Yoriichi?’

’Fufufu... scaring myself over nothing.’

Muzan let his gaze wander around the place.

Two brats paralyzed by terror.

A freak resembling someone, with a broken sword.

A former subordinate who had rebelled by faking his own death.

A Hashira.

Plus two useless pieces of trash with delusions of rebellion.

Though it was a little embarrassing, he had to admit he felt much more at ease...

Then it was time to put an end to this whole circus.

Tonight everyone present would die.

But first he had to deal with his own disgrace.

"Daki."

"I didn’t expect you’d dare to betray me."

Daki was cradling Marcus’s head while her sashes writhed frantically around her and her eyes, red, burned with hatred.

"W-Weren’t you the one who wanted to get rid of us first?!" Her voice broke with sobbing. "Since I’m going to die anyway, why should I—UGH?!"

Before she could finish, her body froze.

Muzan barely moved a finger, and his cells inside Daki stirred like countless worms forcing their way through her blood vessels.

Daki couldn’t speak anymore. Her body began to convulse uncontrollably, and even her hands curled up without her being able to stop it.

Marcus’s head slipped out of her arms, bounced a couple of times against the ground, and came to rest among the rubble.

"LET GO OF MY SISTER!!"

A roar rang out from behind everyone.

Gripping his sickles, Gyūtarō launched himself at Muzan like an arrow, passing over the top of the group.

In that attack there was no hope whatsoever of coming out alive. Only the desire to die before his sister did.

He never imagined he could hurt Muzan.

But at the very least, he wanted his sister to know that if she died, he would go with her!

Muzan turned around without any expression, murmuring.

"I thought the Lower Moons were the only trash..."

He glanced at Hakuji, who should have been dead but was now out of control, and then at Gyūtarō, already almost on top of him.

"I didn’t expect the Upper ones wouldn’t be much better."

With just a look, Gyūtarō dropped out of the air.

And immediately his body began to swell; countless cells proliferated beneath his skin like tumors and wrapped him into a ball in the space of a blink.

’ONII-CHAN!’

Tears ran down Daki’s face, but there was nothing she could do.

Tengen, who had only just gotten his breathing under control, was stunned at the scene.

"...Are they fighting each other?"

Hakuji got up out of the ruins and shook his head.

He didn’t understand it either.

But it was a good opportunity.

He looked at Tanjiro and drew a sword from his waist.

It was the Nichirin Sword that Marcus had given him for killing demons, the one he always carried with him.

"Take it."

He threw it to him.

Tanjiro caught it and gripped it tight, his eyes red.

Hakuji clenched his fists and the blue aura flared to life again; beneath his feet, the snowflake pattern emerged.

The battle was about to break out!

And just as Muzan reached out his hand to finish Gyūtarō off with a Dematerializer...

Just as the other group gathered momentum, ready to charge with Inosuke and Zenitsu consumed by fury...

A somewhat curious voice rang out among the rubble.

"So this is what getting decapitated feels like?"

"Mmm... it’s a little dizzying."

__________

Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎

And don’t forget to comment, I wanna know if you liked the Chapter 👀

______

And if PS aren’t your thing but you still want more Chapters...

P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790