"Di-Did we succeed?"
Despite the crumbling surroundings of the place called the throne, Riezel's beheading of Muzan was closely observed throughout the battle by Tamayo and Yushirou, who refused to retreat despite their injuries.
Yushirou shielded Tamayo amidst various debris, pulling her down from the collapsing surroundings.
As Yushirou watched the scene where Riezel beheaded Muzan, he sighed with audible relief.
However, Tamayo wasn't as optimistic.
"No! It's not over yet!"
Tamayo's gaze remained fixed on Muzan.
No one understood Muzan better than her, and no one knew better than her how afraid of death he truly was.
With his nature, there was no way he would simply die from having his head cut off.
Demons who survived beheading by Nichirin Swords were not unheard of, as Akaza was a prime example.
Only a few powerful demons could break the limits of their kind when on the brink of death from the beheading by a Nichirin Sword, making their necks no longer a weakness.
Muzan was undoubtedly one of them.
"AAAAAHHHHH—!"
Muzan's head, cut off by Riezel, not only disappeared in an instant but also transformed into a huge demon head in mid-air, biting Riezel.
As the progenitor of demons who had lived for thousands of years, Muzan not only possessed a transformative ability that surpassed all other demons, but he could also transform into any shape and mutate into all sorts of physical forms, making his changes unpredictable and endlessly unfathomable.
When Muzan transformed his head into that of a huge, vicious demon and lunged at Riezel, his attack was extremely sudden. Most people would not have had time to react and would have been bitten to death.
Fortunately, Riezel was not just anyone.
"Sun Breathing - Third Form - Raging Sun."
A divine sword emitting high temperatures traced a trajectory of an infinity symbol, releasing symmetrical sharp slashes at the demon head approaching to bite.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
Two cutting sounds rang out, and the huge demon head, burning in flames, was neatly sliced into flying ashes and vanished.
Among the ashes, Muzan's head emerged and flew back to his body with a somewhat mortified expression.
*Psss—*
With a sound like steam, smoke began to emanate from the severed neck between Muzan's head and body, apparently preparing to regenerate.
However, compared to his earlier injuries, when the Hashira had cut his neck, which normally regenerated in the blink of an eye, this time, they were slow to recover.
"Tch!"
Muzan made a frustrated sound.
He had long sensed that Riezel's slash, like Yoriichi's Bright Red Nichirin Sword, had the effect of delaying his regenerative abilities.
With his regenerative abilities, even if struck by an average Bright Red Nichirin Sword, he could regenerate immediately. In his eyes, the Bright Red Nichirin Sword, which typically inflicted significant damage on demons, seemed somewhat inadequate before him, the progenitor of demons.
From this, it was clear why Muzan desperately sought the Blue Spider Lily.
Since sunlight was his only weakness, everything else was merely a nuisance to him. Whether it was a Bright Red Nichirin Sword or a standard Nichirin Sword, it was impossible to truly kill him or even inflict significant damage.
However, Yoriichi's Bright Red Nichirin Sword was an exception.
After all, Demon Slayers proficient in Sun Breathing could emit the same level of killing power as sunlight with their Bright Red Nichirin Sword, making Muzan, who had sunlight as his only weakness, unable to ignore it.
For this reason, the injury Yoriichi inflicted on Muzan during the Sengoku period didn't fully heal even after several hundred years. It was only recently, when he devoured thousands of people in one go, greatly increasing his power, that the injury finally began to heal.
Nevertheless, what surprised Muzan was that Riezel's slashes inflicted injuries on him equal to, or even greater than, Yoriichi's Bright Red Nichirin Sword from that time. Even with his current power, these injuries couldn't regenerate as quickly as usual. Otherwise, he wouldn't have hidden in the throne earlier to buy time.
In Riezel's eyes, Muzan's attacks were all lethal.
Whether it was the arm whips, thin whips, or the shockwaves from his Blood Demon Art, a mere touch was unbearable for the human body, either destroying cells or disrupting the nervous system to the point of instant death.
Likewise, in Muzan's eyes, Riezel's attacks were equally lethal.
Even though Riezel wasn't using the Bright Red Nichirin Sword, his normal slash could almost nullify Muzan's regenerative ability in a short time, something that should have been impossible.
'Is it because of that sword?'
Muzan noticed that the sword in Riezel's hand was no ordinary sword.
Indeed, as a first-class special equipment, Hermit's blade gathers highly concentrated sunlight energy, enough to restrain demons effectively, rivaling the Bright Red Nichirin Sword, and capable of easily cutting through even the scales of Upper Five Gyokko, which were as hard as diamond.
However, what truly nullified Muzan's regenerative ability was actually Riezel's skill known as 'Pioneer of the Sun', which delivered a special attack capability against evil entities, exerting a restraining effect that prevented creatures like demons from demonstrating their racial advantages in his presence.
Unaware of this, Muzan believed that Riezel's ability to inflict such terrifying damage on him was solely due to his special sword.
'I must destroy that sword!'
A very ruthless emotion surfaced in Muzan's eyes as he thought this.
Clearly, he would not allow a weapon capable of restraining him to exist in this world.
Now, with his neck unable to regenerate and even his severed arms not yet regrown, his body covered in fiery sword wounds, he could only fight using his thin whips.
After making a decision, Muzan unleashed another Blood Demon Art.
"Black Blood, Brambles!"
In the next second, many black thorns extended from where Muzan's arms had been severed, whistling as they charged toward Riezel.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Where the black thorns passed, all the rubble blocking their path was pierced through and exploded on the spot, causing a shower of flying sand and rocks in the air.
Floating in mid-air, Riezel followed the pull of gravity in free fall, watching the torrent of black thorns rush toward him like a black wave, his eyes flashing.
"Sun Breathing - Eleventh Form - Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance."
Once again, Riezel transformed into a dancing dragon of fire, charging forward.
As the fire dragon surged through the torrent of black thorns, it burned everything in its path and incinerated the thorns completely.
From a distance, the fire dragon danced in front of collapsing buildings, first burning away the black thorns, then breaking through countless pieces of rubble, bursting through flying sand and rocks, and finally opening its blazing jaws to swallow Muzan.
Seeing this, Muzan reacted not with alarm, but with anticipation.
'Good, now is the time!'
In the next moment, a shockwave appeared.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Accompanied by lightning and thunder, hurricanes and explosions, the indiscriminate shockwave bombarded everything around Muzan for the second time, destroying everything in his vicinity.
*Rumble—!*
At the same time, the collapsing throne was directly shattered by this shockwave, completely turning into ruins and crashing to the ground.
Surprisingly, the fire dragon lunging toward Muzan was also annihilated by the shockwave. Starting from its head, the flames were gradually scattered inch by inch until only insignificant sparks remained.
Riezel emerged from within the fire dragon, blown away by the hurricane and shockwave.
"DIE!"
Muzan's entire body swelled up, continuously sprouting many flesh resembled tumors, ultimately transforming into a giant baby, throwing a punch toward Riezel.
*WHOOSH!*
His punch was like a descending meteorite, creating a sonic boom and storm the moment it was unleashed, causing the front of his fist to ignite with flames due to intense atmospheric friction.
In the face of this punch, Riezel's small figure appeared as though Sun Wukong were about to be suppressed by the palm of Buddha, pressed toward the ground.
Even so, there was never a trace of panic in Riezel's eyes, he even closed them.
"Sun Breathing consists of thirteen sword forms."
Echoing in his ears was a voice he had heard in his dream before, light and ethereal.
It was the voice of the swordsman who taught him Sun Breathing.
During the practice of Sun Breathing, this was a sentence the swordsman repeatedly emphasized.
However, in his dreams, that sun spirit-like swordsman never used and demonstrated the thirteenth sword form, only endlessly using the other twelve sword forms without interruption.
'Dance', 'Clear Blue Sky', 'Raging Sun', 'Fake Rainbow', 'Fire Wheel', 'Burning Bones, Summer Sun', 'Sunflower Thrust', 'Solar Heat Haze', 'Setting Sun Transformation', 'Beneficent Radiance', 'Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance', and 'Flame Dance'.
From beginning to end, the swordsman only used these twelve sword forms, while the thirteenth sword form never appeared.
Riezel, who knew the original work well, naturally understood why.
Because the thirteenth form was actually hidden within these twelve sword forms.
'Sun Breathing - First Form - Dance.'
'Sun Breathing - Twelfth Form - Flame Dance.'
It was clear that the pronunciation of the first sword form and the twelfth sword form of Sun Breathing was similar.
In other words, the first form and twelfth form could actually be linked together.
'By rotating through Sun Breathing's twelve sword forms in succession, a cycle is formed, thus constituting the thirteenth sword form of Sun Breathing.'
It was a sword form that Yoriichi temporarily comprehended after encountering Muzan, instantly severely injuring him.
"..."
Riezel finally opened his eyes.
At this moment, a radiant flame like the sun appeared on his body, an endless radiance transforming him into a true sun.
In the next second, the sun rose and flew toward the giant baby's fist.
*BOOOOOOM—!*
When the sun collided with the giant baby's fist, a deafening roar resounded.
Without even a moment of struggle, the giant baby's fist and arm, under the power of the sun, were instantly purified and turned to ashes, disappearing.
Countless flaming slashes burst forth within the sun, slashing through the giant baby's fist, arm, and body, causing it to collapse, crumble, and dissipate on the spot.
Immediately after, the flaming slashes, like the rising sun in the east, arrived at the center of the collapsing giant baby.
Over there, with wounds covering his entire body, Muzan wore a grim expression, barely realizing what had happened.
*Pu-chi!*
Countless flaming slashes instantly fell upon him, severing his head once again and completely incinerating the rest of his body.