The girl let go of her father's hand and stepped forward, gently holding the boy's face.
"You've done a great job, thank you Koji-nii..."
Tears welled up in his eyes, and finally, the evil ghost turned back into the boy he once was.
Koji hugged the girl in front of him tightly and cried loudly.
"I'm sorry! Lianxue!! I'm sorry! Master! I failed to protect you... In the end, I still failed to keep the promise!"
"well……"
Qingzang sighed softly, stepped forward and opened his arms to hug the boy and girl.
"Welcome home."
"I'm back……"
"..."
After watching the two ghosts disappear in silence, Yushiro's figure quickly ran towards the exit.
boom--
Amid the violent roar, Infinite City finally collapsed completely, burying everything unknown underground.
The pierced clouds in the sky have not yet recovered, and the sun shines on the earth without any hindrance.
Countless ashes were scattered in the wind, and it seemed that all the sins had disappeared.
This is an empty space in the middle of the woods. Nothing can block the direct sunlight, and just now Wuhan was wiped out in ashes.
"it is finally over……"
Seeing such a scene, Zhu Shi, who had been hiding in the shade of a tree, sighed slightly.
She has been waiting for this moment for hundreds of years.
In order to witness this moment with her own eyes, she had to linger to this day regardless of the sin she carried.
Today, this moment has finally arrived, and it is time for her to atone for her sins.
Everyone's attention is focused on Muzan's demise, because nothing is more important to everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps than this.
So no one noticed this side.
"That's good..."
Zhu Shi took steps slowly, walking from the shadows to the sunshine.
Let the sun burn every corner of your body.
According to her idea, she will disappear from this world silently, bringing an end to the era of evil spirits. From then on, there will be no more 'man-eating ghosts' in this world.
But it seems no one wants her to do this.
Under the sun, a figure that seemed to be on fire ran as hard as she could, ignoring everyone around her, and only ran as hard as she could in her direction.
"Lord Juyo!"
Hearing a familiar voice, Zhu Shi, who had closed his eyes and waited for death, opened his eyes.
She found that the sting caused by the sun was reduced because someone was standing in front of her.
"Yoshiro?"
She looked at Yushirou in front of her with a little surprise in her eyes.
Because...it's under the sun without any shelter!
And how did Yushiro, who was a ghost, arrive in front of her?
Before she could react, she felt her body being pushed away and retreating into the shadows where the sun could not reach her again.
Two figures stood face to face, one standing in the shadow and the other standing in the sunshine.
Tamashi finally saw clearly Yushirou's current appearance.
It was a body that had been burned by the sun, and a smile could still be seen on the broken face, as if he was relieved to be able to catch up with her and save her.
Even if the whole world leaves you, there will always be people running towards you.
Perhaps because there is 'dragon blood' in his body that is stronger than ghost blood, Yushiro is much more tolerant to sunlight than ordinary ghosts, so he can temporarily move even under the scorching sun.
Against the burning sun, Yushiro finally walked into the shadows, and the wounds on his body were slowly recovering.
He quietly looked at the slowly healing wound, filled with emotion in his heart.
Speaking of which, he had to thank that gentleman for having such power.
······
the other side.
"call……"
The slightly tired breathing drew everyone's attention back.
Looking at the old man's empty right arm, they gradually understood what had just happened. The miraculous scene was only caused by the man in front of them waving their fists.
"Mr. Xuanhao...your arm!?"
The first person to ask worried questions was Butterfly Ninja.
But in the face of her worries, the old man in front of her did not respond. Instead, he turned to look at the anxious Tanjiro among the crowd with a solemn expression.
He slowly shook his head helplessly and walked up to Tanjiro.
"Nezuko!? Nezuko!?"
Tanjiro shook Nezuko's body anxiously.
Just now, Nezuko suddenly fainted, her head covered in sweat and her face struggling.
The sudden change in his sister made Tanjiro very anxious.
"don’t worry."
The gentle voice calmed down the anxious Tanjiro.
He turned his head and looked at the old man in front of him who was looking at their brother and sister with a smile. Only now did he realize that the old man's right arm was missing.
"Teacher... Nezuko... what on earth is going on!?"
"Don't worry, nothing will happen."
Faced with Tanjiro's confused questions, Xuanhao slowly stepped forward, leaned over, and his bright golden eyes lit up.
"Hey, really... there should be a limit to overestimating one's abilities, right?"
He leaned over and observed the girl's changes, and his voice seemed to penetrate his soul.
The moment Wu Mei was blasted to pieces, he did some small tricks in a self-righteous way.
A drop of the scattered ghost blood fell into Nezuko's eyes. Perhaps others could not detect such details, but under Xuan Hao's perception, all the tiny details around him were invisible.
······
Wuxian never quite understood why he lost so completely.
He spent his whole life in fear, and the shadow of death hung over him almost every moment.
Therefore, 'eternal life' is what he has been longing for for countless years.
"But how can we truly be immortal?"
When he was forced into desperate situations by Jiguo Yuanyi and Xuanhao one after another, he began to doubt his own path.
Because he found that no matter how long he lived or how strong he became, more terrifying monsters would always appear in this world. Although he did not believe in gods and Buddhas, this world might actually have its own will.
Just like the so-called "destiny", there is a force in the dark that has been restraining and obstructing him.
So he found that he was not strong enough to break through such shackles.
Because there is always a limit to what a single individual can do, and the human world is constantly developing. It is simply impossible for him to compete with the world on his own.
He knew that if he continued like this, no matter how much he survived, as long as he was still a single individual, something would always appear that could kill him.
It's a simple truth, as long as everything is alive, it will be killed.
So what is immortal?
Finally, when he was about to die, he saw the figure of Enichi Tsukuni.
That is the will that has haunted him for countless years.
The members of the Demon Slayer Squad inherited this will and fought tenaciously with the sole purpose of killing him.
"I see."
At this moment, Wu Kai finally realized that only will can last forever.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha--"
He laughed wildly.
He looked at the human fist-waving in front of him with mockery in his eyes.
He wanted to speak, but the power of destruction had destroyed his body.
But this still did not hinder his inner joy.
"Thanks to you, I finally understand what eternity is!
If you can't kill me, you can't kill me!!!
You can kill my body, but now! My will will be eternal like you humans!"
Wu Kai's heart was filled with resentment.
"You value this child very much, right? I will pour all my will into the person you value most, and my will will be immortal through her!
Let's pass it on, even without me, there will be countless 'ghost kings' that you fear, constantly reborn in the darkness that you fear!"
"Go, child, take my place and drive out all human beings!"
Nightmare-like whispers echoed in Nezuko's ears.
Her eyes were dull and her expression was struggling a little, but she soon regained her composure.
After all, she is a human girl and cannot suppress the crazy will of the ghost king who has existed for thousands of years.
He clearly heard the calls of ‘Nezuko’, but was unable to respond.
In Nezuko's sea of consciousness.
She is in an old wooden house, which is her home in the mountains.
There were broken corpses all around, these were her deceased family members.
Nezuko seemed to have returned to that nightmare night.
She huddled in the corner, resisting everything here.
Because she knew that these were all fake, a 'trick', a trick used to break through her psychological defenses.
So no matter how many times the tragedy was repeated in front of her, she would curl up into a ball and not look at it.
"Brother...brother..."
There was a cry in her voice, and she called softly.
"I just want to go home with my brother... God, please... please let me go home with my brother..."
"God? Brother? It's useless to call anyone. Just give up."
A pair of plum-colored pupils suddenly opened in the void, with a smile in their eyes, and the sound of laughter echoed throughout the space.
"What will happen even if you go back? Your family members are all dead a long time ago. What will happen even if you return to that home with graves everywhere?"
"no!"
Nezuko retorted desperately, "I still have a brother!"
"elder brother?"
Wuhan's voice is still fearless.
"Are you referring to the young man who is as anxious as an ant on a hot pot? Just him? What can he do to me? No, it's not just him, no one can stop me now! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-"
He smiled crazily.
Yes, no one can stop him.
At this moment, he has turned into an eternal will. How can stupid humans understand such a perfect existence like him?
No one in this world can do anything to him now! He is invincible!
"No! I must go back, brother... he is still waiting for me..."
Nezuko's voice became weaker and weaker.
"It's useless, you can't go back."
Wu Mei continued to whisper, as if hypnotizing the girl in front of him, trying to make the will of the girl in front of him sleep forever.
"Quickly give up those meaningless thoughts, this is my world, no one can save you, and you will soon become the new ghost king, and your brother will also be killed by you!"
"No, how could I kill my brother?"
The girl's crouched body began to tremble, as if she was reminded of some horrific scene.
"Brother... he will definitely come to save me!"
Two overlapping voices said the same words, one belonged to Nezuko, the other... Muzan had never heard it before.
"Forehead?"
Those plum-colored eyes looked around suspiciously.
Wu Mei started to panic.
This was supposed to be his world, but the voice of someone he didn't know actually appeared.
"What's going on? Who is it? Who is talking!? Come out!!"
How could Wuhan, who thought he already dominated everything, allow unknown 'impurities' to appear in his world?
But he looked around and couldn't find anything.
In the end...he had no choice but to look at the only person in this space besides him again.
"It's you?"
He asked Nezuko with a sinister look.
But what resulted was a long silence.
What surprised Muzan was that Nezuko, who had been deep in fear, stopped trembling at some point, raised her head and stared at him with her cherry-colored pupils.
That stubborn look was completely different from before, as if...a different person.
"Why...dare you look at me like this?"
Muzan looked down at Nezuko with eyes filled with murderous intent and contempt.
He didn't understand where this girl suddenly borrowed the courage to stare at him with such eyes.
"Why haven't you given up? Why haven't you been swallowed up by my will?"
Wuhan's eyes showed a fierce look, and his speech speed increased, as if he was in a state of madness.
"Why? Why? Who are you!?"
His thoughts were completely confused.
Something is wrong, no, it should be wrong from beginning to end!
Is the person in front of me Nezuko? No, that look in his eyes is completely different!
Wumei suddenly began to doubt life.
"Why do people always come out to oppose me at critical moments? Who are you?"
He couldn't understand the situation in front of him, because this was obviously his world and his will dominated everything, but why did a strange guy appear here?
This is not good, because since unknown people can come in, it means that this place is not absolutely complete.
"What on earth do you want to do!?"
He questioned the girl in front of him.
"I'm just waiting for my brother to pick me up."
The girl replied like this.
"Brother? Brother!? Brother again!?"
Wu Ke went crazy.
"Nezuko's older brother is Tanjiro, who is your older brother!?"
He couldn't understand what the girl in front of him was talking about. Who was her brother, and who could come here to pick her up?
"!?"
As if thinking of something, those plum-colored eyes suddenly froze.
"Aren't you brave enough? Wu Pei."
Angry voices sounded.
"Click——"
The room where Nezuko was trapped was instantly shattered, and after the space was shattered, it became a blank.
The sudden, Wu Mei figure fell into this blank field as if it was pulled out of the void.
He turned around in horror and looked in the direction where the sound came from, and saw a pair of burning golden eyes staring at him indifferently.