(Demon Slayer) -- CHAPTER 49: Final Battle Part 1

Kokushibo ferociously charged towards Yuri.

Yuri did the same and advanced towards Kokushibo.

The sound of clashing blades echoed throughout the room.

Suddenly, Kokushibo jumped back while sheathing his sword.

"Moon Breath - First Form: Dark Moon, Night Palace!"

Kokushibo immediately drew his katana and executed a singular horizontal slash following a crescent shape, creating countless chaotic crescent blades along his path, before sheathing it back into its scabbard.

"Hinokami Kagura - Fifth Form: Raging Sun!"

Yuri delivered two consecutive horizontal slashes in an arc around himself to deflect incoming attacks.

After defending himself from the most dangerous attacks Yuri immediately used another form of the Hinokami Kagura to defend and dodge the others.

"Hinokami Kagura - Eleventh Form: Fake Rainbow!"

Yuri performed twists and rotations at high speed, creating afterimages to avoid the attacks.

Once again the sound of clashing blades echoed throughout the room.

Yuri rushed forward with his flaming sword and performed a 5-move combo.

A low left strike, a low right strike that lifts the user off the ground briefly, followed by a spinning wave attack, a powerful forward and upward strike, and finally a downward strike above the head.

CLANG!!

Kokushibo defended each of the attacks with effort.

"Is that all you have, Kokushibo?" Yuri asked.

"I have to say I'm quite disappointed." Yuri sneered.

"AAHHH!" With a roar of rage, Kokushibo's sword began to transform.

Its size increased, while other blades appeared on the blade of his sword.

"Moon Breath - Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe, Crescent Moon!!"

Using his altered katana, Kokushibo performed a multitude of curved strikes that expanded outward in all directions and gradually increased in size, creating an omnidirectional vortex of crescent moon blades that surrounded him.

(If I remember correctly, it was like this...)

Before Kokushibo's attack could get close to Yuri, he crouched down in a stance that resembled the first form of Thunder Breath.

"Hinokami Kagura - First Form: Dancing Flash!"

Yuri instantly disappeared from his position as he shot forward at a breakneck pace towards Kokushibo.

Dancing Flash is a modified version of Dance developed and used only by Tanjiro Kamado. The user combines the fundamental technique of Thunder Breathing with the powerful blow of Dance by inhaling large amounts of oxygen, increasing the pumping of blood throughout the body, concentrating it in the legs and releasing everything to attack the target with one blow.

With a flash, before Kokushibo knew it, the world around him seemed to spin.

(I was... beheaded...?)

Kokushibo thought as he looked at his own body from another perspective.

(No!! It won't end like this!!)

Suddenly his body began to regenerate his head.

After regenerating his head, Kokushibo undergoes a transformation that makes him take on a more monstrous and grotesque form. With protruding fangs and jaws, large white horns on the front and back of his head, red protuberances on his face, and his pupils looking in different directions, several thin tubes coming out of his body, and numerous black and red appendages resembling scorpion tails sprouting randomly all over his body.

Daki and Hantengu who were watching the fight from afar were perplexed by what had just happened.

Any demon after being decapitated by a nichirin sword would die, that was a fact.

But not only did Kokushibo not die, he seems to be even stronger now.

"Yuri Winters, know that in this form, none of your attacks will affect me, only sunlight can kill me in this state." Kokushibo spoke as he prepared to attack again.

"You sure about that?" Yuri spoke with a smile.

"That's what we'll see..." Kokushibo said as he began to inhale a large amount of oxygen.

"Moon Breath - Ninth Form: Waning Moonswaths!"

Using his altered katana, Kokushibo approached Yuri instantly and performed several curved slashes, all close together, that leave countless crescent moon blades along his path.

"Hinokami Kagura - First Form: Waltz!" Yuri dodged Kokushibo's attack as he began to use each of the Hinokami Kagura's thirteen forms on Kokushibo.

Second Way: Clear Blue Sky

Third Form: Furious Sun

Fourth Form: Burning Bones, Summer Sun

Fifth Form: Transformation of the Setting Sun

Sixth Form: Solar Heat Mist

Seventh Form: Beneficial Radiance

Eighth Form: Sunflower Boost

Ninth Form: Dragon Head Dance with Solar Halo

Tenth Form: Wheel of Fire

Eleventh Form: Fake Rainbow

Twelfth Form: Flame Dance

Within moments, Yuri disarmed Kokushibo and cut off his arms and one of his legs.

The solar energy contained in the attacks prevented Kokushibo from being able to regenerate his limbs.

"Hinokami Kagura - Thirteenth Form: Total Solar Cycle!" Yuri continuously performed all twelve forms of Sun Breathing in repetitive succession increasing the precision and agility of his movements and attacks.

With one last attack charged with solar energy, Yuri once again decapitated Kokushibo.

In his last moments Kokushibo could only feel regret for becoming a demon.

All he wanted was to surpass his younger brother.

Kokushibo's entire body shattered and turned into black ash and dissipated into this world.

Among the clothes that remained on the floor, only two pieces of a broken flute that Yoriichi had given to him four hundred years ago fell to the floor.

After killing Kokushibo, Yuri sheathed his sword again and calmly turned to look at Daki.

The moment the two sides' eyes met; Daki was scared to the point of crying.

"Brother! Help me!"

A huge wound suddenly appeared on Daki's back, and then, a humanoid being walked out.

He was a tall man, with a very muscular but lean build, with light gray skin dotted with black spots. His anatomy was quite strange, as his upper torso, arms, and legs were all defined with musculature, while his waist was incredibly thin to the point of appearing skeletal, with his pelvis jutting out at an unnatural angle.

His spine was prominently visible across his back, and he was unusually hunched over. He possessed thin eyes that were drastically slanted down at the sides, giving him a permanently haggard look.

His miotic irises were green with a dark orange center, and the sclera were a bright orange-yellow with visible veins. The kanji for "Upper Rank" is carved into his right eye, and the daiji for "Six" is carved into his left.

He had unruly black hair that turned to a brighter lime green around the top of his head, worn sloppily in uneven bangs and multiple locks.

His body and limbs had noticeable ink-like markings in the form of black spots on its body and a water-like pattern flowing on its face. It also had a full set of sharp, interlocking teeth.

He wore little, just a pair of baggy blue pants and seven pieces of red patterned fabric to decorate his body, a large one around his neck and three smaller ones around each arm.

This was Gyutaro.

"You were the one who made my sister cry——!!!"

The demon holding two red flesh kama roared, and when he saw Yuri's face, his face began to contort.

"You...!"

Gyutaro looked at Yuri's face. Especially when he saw how handsome the other person was, he felt twisted jealousy and anger in his heart.

"What a beautiful face you have, right? What beautiful skin, right? No freckles, no birthmarks, no scars..."

"And your bones are covered in flesh as you can see... You're also tall... How envious... How envious...!"

"You must be quite a hit with women, right?"

"Why don't you do me a favor and die at once... Haha... In the most agonizing way possible..."

"Like having your skin peeled off, or even that little belly cut open from end to end... Haha... You meat sack... Haha..."

A malicious smile appeared on his face as he looked at Yuri and thought of various ways to kill him. Gyutaro scratched his face so hard that his skin tore as he repeated 'I'm so jealous' over and over again.

"I'm sure you'll be devastated if your face is ruined!"

When the voice came, Gyutaro was already flying towards Yuri and he directly used his Kekkijutsu…

"Kekkijutsu - Rotating Circular Slashes: Flying Blood Scythes!!"

Gyutaro released circular waves of sharp, solidified blood from his body.

The circular whirlpool-like waves released from his arm could destroy even a Nichirin sword with ease.

Yuri recognized Gyutaro's movements. In the original work, he used this move before he died, almost destroying the entertainment district.

"So, you don't have any memories of when you were in your sister's body, right?"

Faced with Gyutaro's Kekkijutsu, Yuri's expression became a little subtle.

Daki, who was scared and crying, looked at Gyutaro's figure and wanted to remind him...

Unfortunately it was already too late.

With a quick movement, Yuri drew his sword and made his own move.

CLANG CLANG CLANG

Yuri quickly delivered a series of quick strikes splitting each of the red blades in Gyutaro's arm.

Before Gyutaro knew it, Yuri kicked him in the chest, sending him flying.

"Hinokami Kagura - First form: Waltz!"

Yuri performed a single blow from top to bottom, dividing Gyutaro's body in half.

(End of chapter

Give me some power stones there you go~😉