Muzan Kibutsuji Was Afraid!
The sand flowed on and on, like a torrential downpour. Under the illumination of the surrounding lights, this almost continuous line of yellow sand faintly shimmered with a golden light, like a golden curtain cascading down from above the Infinity Castle.
"It was him."
Seeing this, Captain Guts immediately understood the situation, but the loss of his right arm left him feeling helpless, and he figured he would have to switch to working behind the scenes from now on.
Guts understood, but Muzan Kibutsuji and the others were still puzzled. No one knew what had happened or where the yellow sand had come from.
"Nakime, send this sand out!"
Muzan felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the sand accumulate, instinctively feeling that he couldn't let it go unchecked.
"Yes!"
Upon receiving the order, Nakime quickly played the biwa in her hand. Instantly, open sliding doors appeared out of thin air below the falling sand, with the other end of each door leading to the various territories of the 'Twelve Demon Slayer'.
Some were in a town, others in deep mountains and forests, but a strange scene appeared: just as the yellow sand was about to fly out of the sliding door, it seemed to have a mind of its own and automatically turned to avoid it.
At the same time, it spread rapidly, transforming from a line into a surface, blocking the sliding doors and completely sealing off the openings.
"This"
Nakime, Muzan, and the other demons were stunned. Suddenly, Kokushibo shouted, "This isn't ordinary sand! It's some kind of supernatural power!"
As soon as it finished speaking, the fallen yellow sand began to drift and swirl in the air again, and the sound of the wind gradually became more and more obvious in our ears.
In the blink of an eye, the air throughout the Infinity Castle was filled with a hazy yellow Dust.
"Ha ha ha ha--"
Just then, a series of gasping, maniacal laughs echoed through every corner against the backdrop of wind, sand, and the light filtering through.
"They're your people!"
Muzan Kibutsuji immediately realized that this must be a new monster sent by the World Government, which made him rush towards Captain Guts at the first opportunity.
He planned to swallow it whole, thus gaining access to all the memories within its mind and understanding what was controlling the yellow sand.
Such an obvious intention could Muzan be hidden from anyone. As soon as Muzan moved, a dense cloud of yellow sand gathered in front of Captain Guts, seemingly to block him.
"Hmph, a pile of worthless sand!"
Muzan Kibutsuji sneered, his right arm instantly transforming into a thorny Spiked Whip, a fierce sweep aimed at shattering the cloud of yellow sand.
[Bang--]
The yellow sand exploded and sprayed out as if it had been bombarded by artillery, but when the Sound Explosion boom subsided, the Spiked Whip was still in the yellow sand, and it did not blow it up completely as he had imagined.
The yellow sand transformed into a human shape at a visible speed, and it was a small Titans, estimated to be two or three meters tall. When its head was fully formed, it immediately emitted a thick plume of smoke.
"You're the 'Progenitor of Demons' who's lived for a thousand years?"
Crocodile, smugly munching on a cigar, first glanced at Muzan, whose arm he had trapped and Muzan was unable to move, then grabbed Muzan's neck with his right hand, which was covered in jeweled rings, and lifted him up to eye level with him, his eyes full of contempt.
"So weak~"
"You"
Muzan was absolutely furious; his already scarlet vertical pupils became even more vicious and malevolent.
"Let me go!"
While trying to crush the Titans's hand bones with his left hand, he frantically whipped the Spiked Whip on his back and legs, creating surging waves of air as he stabbed and whipped Crocodile all over, especially targeting vital areas like the head and heart.
[Bang bang bang bang.]
But as the fight went on, Muzan's face froze; he simply couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Every part of the 'Titans' that it attacked turned into clumps of yellow sand, including its head and chest, and the bastard's expression clearly showed that he felt no pain whatsoever.
Moreover, in those damaged areas, even more yellow sand was rapidly pouring out, and in the blink of an eye, all the 'wounds' were healed.
"This is his vampire... no, his superpower? The ability to turn his body into sand and ignore all my attacks?"
Muzan originally thought that his ability to infinitely heal and regenerate his body without expending physical energy was the most terrifying ability in the world.
But now that Crocodile has become an elemental, he's discovered that there are even more monstrous powers out there!
"You! Who exactly are you?!"
While verbally questioning him, Muzan also discovered that this person's strength was extraordinary. With the wrist strength that he could easily crush human heads, he was unable to do anything to the hand that was choking him.
He was also thinking that since the other party's body could turn into sand, he could break his arm and escape from that grasp.
No matter how hard he tried, the arm, which was much thicker than a normal person's, neither turned into sand nor was it broken by his own efforts. Instead, his breathing became increasingly difficult.
Fortunately, this wasn't difficult to solve; Muzan simply recreated a mouth and a nose on his bare back.
"Muzan!"
"Damn it, what's with all this sand? Get it away from me!"
"Moon Breathing, Fifth Form: Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddy!"
"Blood Demon Art: Scattered Lotus!"
Meanwhile, Kokushibo, Doma, and the other 'Eleven Demon Moons', as well as Nakime, were all attacked by increasingly fierce sandstorms. They could only use various area-of-effect techniques to constantly force back the surrounding sandstorms.
Only.
Muzan Kibutsuji to pay attention to them. He had lived for a thousand years; when had he ever been lifted up by the neck and looked down upon?
He was especially infuriated by the other person's gaze.
However, what he didn't know was that Crocodile's gaze towards him was no different from the way he usually looked at the 'Twelve Kizuki'.
"Aaaaaah!"
"Let go of me, you damn bastard!!"
Muzan Kibutsuji contain himself. He roared in fury, and instantly, an incredibly powerful and terrifying force field erupted from his body.
It was Shockwave was almost tangible, utterly pulverizing Crocodile's body, along with the ground, into a sky full of yellow sand and wood chips.
This scene surprised Crocodile, who was recovering his body by gathering sand not far away, with Captain Guts, who had lost his arm, still in his hand.
"Is this the Conqueror's Haki ability mentioned in the intelligence reports?"
It must be said that he did indeed feel a somewhat familiar mental shock from this Shockwave.
"Indeed, if it were an ordinary person or a low-ranking soldier from Sea Star, they might actually faint." Captain Guts nodded solemnly.
"Its range is a bit small, so it seems the main purpose of this move is to destroy matter; the mental impact should just be a secondary, incidental effect!"
"Ha--ha--ha--, this is quite interesting~"
Crocodile casually tossed Guts into the air, and soon a cloud of sand caught it there.
He himself transformed into his elemental form once more, Setsuna appearing behind Muzan, who had just released Shockwave, and his large right hand reached for the back of his neck.
Muzan's expression changed Muzan. He was about to move to dodge, but even in terms of speed, the difference between him and the former was too great. Unsurprisingly, he was grabbed by the neck again!
"Let me see how many times you can use that trick, or are you planning to try something different this time?"
Crocodile, with a cigar dangling from his lips, leaned down and brought his face close to Muzan's ear, who had been lifted up again, sneering mockingly. As he spoke, thick smoke blew into Muzan's face.
At this moment, fear had already appeared in Muzan Kibutsuji's eyes.
He was scared!
A huge thank you to reader zcrf6r for the 100 Qidian Coin reward! Thank you so much for your support and encouragement!