Brother, Experience the Pain of Defeat

By the time Kokushibo landed again, Yuko could clearly see the markings emerging on his cheeks.

Aside from the markings beneath his cheeks, the one on his forehead looked remarkably similar to Yoriichi's.

Before she could remind him, Kokushibo swung his Nichirin Blade and closed in at high speed.

Yuko struggled to block Kokushibo's Nichirin Blade.

After awakening his markings, Kokushibo's physical abilities had improved, and he had once again surpassed her in strength.

After knocking Yuko back with a single strike, Kokushibo saw the markings on his cheeks reflected in the blade.

Having never experienced anything so wondrous before, Kokushibo felt as though his entire body was brimming with power.

Excellent!

He was now in the best condition imaginable.

Under his fierce assault, Yuko retreated step by step, on the verge of defeat.

Clearly feeling this overwhelming power, Kokushibo roared inwardly again and again.

Yoriichi!

I am getting closer and closer to you!

Yuko calmly defended against Kokushibo's assault. White vapor escaped her lips as her cool, clear voice rang out softly.

"Snow Breathing—Third Form: Frost Sky Wild Dance!"

Unlike the defense of the First Form and the Second Form's attack that defeated the enemy by obscuring their vision,

the Third Form, Frost Sky Wild Dance, was a sword technique as fierce as a blizzard.

It swept toward Kokushibo like a storm filling the heavens and earth.

"What?!" Kokushibo's surging spirit froze beneath the frenzy of the dense, relentless sword strikes, while the blizzard-like attack battered him without pause.

Why!

His strength and speed were clearly superior...

"Brother." Yuko suddenly looked up.

Kokushibo looked toward her voice and saw a faint sadness on Yuko's face.

In a daze, her expression overlapped in his eyes with that of his younger brother, whose face was always calm.

"Experience the pain of defeat."

Defeat?

Anger surged across Kokushibo's face.

Aside from Yoriichi, he would never lose to anyone!

"Moon Breathing! Third Form: Loathsome Moon—Erosion!"

Two crescent-shaped slashes, threaded with countless tiny crescent moons, flew toward Yuko.

Yuko ignored the anger on her brother's face. The white Nichirin Blade she held aloft radiated a dazzling brilliance beneath the sunlight.

"Snow Breathing—Form Four: Warm Snow."

Speckled snowflakes suddenly began to drift through the air. They easily pierced through the two fierce crescent slashes, then fell one by one onto Kokushibo's body and cheeks.

Kokushibo's eyes widened slightly.

Warm.

No... It was the heat of blood flowing out.

Countless tiny slashes left innumerable small wounds across Kokushibo's body.

Kokushibo lay spread-eagled on the ground, staring blankly at the clear blue sky.

"Cough, cough..." Yuko endured the discomfort in her lungs and sheathed her Nichirin Blade.

She was not as relaxed as Kokushibo had imagined. The damage to her lungs had indeed affected her greatly. After swinging her blade only a few times, she already felt as though her strength had left her.

Her lungs' breathing... could not keep up with her body's exertion.

It felt like running five kilometers at full speed, only to have someone clamp a hand over her nose and mouth just as she began gasping for air. The pain was unbearable, and her vision blurred for a moment.

Enduring her body's discomfort, Yuko came to her brother's side and knelt down.

Even after twenty years, she still had not grown accustomed to sitting this way.

Yuko murmured, "Brother."

Kokushibo continued staring expressionlessly at the sky, as though he had not heard her.

He had lost.

He had lost so completely that there was nothing he could say.

Yuko knew exactly what her brother was thinking.

Had Kokushibo never lost before?

After joining the Demon Slayer Corps, nearly every sparring match between him and Yoriichi had ended in Yoriichi's victory.

But apart from Yoriichi, he had never lost to anyone else.

Yoriichi's talent was despairing. No matter how hard Kokushibo tried, he could not even see his back.

Even so, he continued to struggle forward.

Since Kokushibo cared too much about the back of the person ahead of him and had never turned to look behind, she would force her way into his sight from behind.

He had been defeated by the weak younger sister he had nearly ignored.

Kokushibo's state of mind had undergone a world-shaking change.

Yuko lowered her head slightly and forced her way into Kokushibo's line of sight. "What is your dream, Brother?"

His dream?

Of course it was to become the strongest samurai in the country.

Was that so?

That had been his dream originally, at least.

But at some point, all he had wanted was to surpass Yoriichi.

Those who had never envied anyone else had merely never happened to meet someone who possessed the favor of all the gods, someone as dazzling and scorching as the sun.

Before Kokushibo could speak, Yuko raised her head again, faced forward, and spoke to herself.

"My dream is to surpass both my brothers and become the strongest swordsman."

At that, Kokushibo's eyes finally moved, and he glanced at her.

You?

Kokushibo had thought that instinctively, but he immediately came to his senses. Yuko had already defeated him, so what right did he have to mock her?

Kokushibo sneered inwardly at himself, but then he heard the faint disappointment in Yuko's voice.

"That was what it should have been."

Yuko paused, then coughed twice. "Cough, cough..."

This lung ailment always appeared when she did not need it and interfered with her, yet refused to act when she actually needed it. She had to pretend a little.

"I was injured by a demon, and the damage left a chronic condition in my lungs. Perhaps I will never be able to advance any further in this life," Yuko said dejectedly.

"You are different from me, Brother. You have more talent than I do, and you are stronger than I am."

Kokushibo finally reacted and sneered. "Strong?"

Yuko gently explained, "I was only fortunate enough to defeat you once. It was because you had never seen Snow Breathing, while I understand Moon Breathing thoroughly."

"This was all thanks to your careful guidance in the past."

Kokushibo's expression shifted slightly, but he still did not react much.

Even so, the fact remained that he had lost to Yuko.

Seeing that she had laid enough groundwork, Yuko said, "So, I want to entrust my dream to you, Brother."

Kokushibo was utterly stunned. Her dream?

To become the strongest swordsman?

There was a great deal of risk in Yuko's words.

The resonance of the markings would allow countless powerful warriors to break through their limits. With Kokushibo's talent, awakening his markings was only a matter of time.

But...

Once the markings were activated, he would not live past the age of twenty-five.

Yuko had once seen a few scattered remarks about Kokushibo online. Some said he had become a demon because he was afraid of death.

But Yuko now felt that was probably not the case.

Kokushibo had not become a demon because he feared death. Rather, after awakening his markings, he would have no time left to chase after Yoriichi. Without awakening them, he could no longer improve.

His daily training made it obvious. At every moment, he wanted to surpass Yoriichi.

As long as Kokushibo's jealousy remained, as long as he refused to stop moving forward,

becoming a demon was inevitable.

Strictly speaking, there was only one way to solve this problem.

That was to end the life of Demon King Muzan during their generation.

Yuko had never read the manga. She only knew that Yoriichi had fought Muzan when he was young.

That scene of Yoriichi charging forward with his blade, asking in a brainwashing-like tone what Muzan thought life was, had been shown so many times that she had lost count.

Yet even Yoriichi had failed to kill Muzan.

Yoriichi certainly possessed the strength to defeat Muzan. It was probably Muzan's powerful vitality as a demon that made it impossible for Yoriichi to kill him, allowing him only to drive him back.

When a creature like a demon wanted to flee, it truly was not difficult.

After all, losing an arm or a leg barely affected their bodies.

Since the conditions above were difficult to fulfill, Yuko came up with a solution that was barely a solution at all.

That was to awaken the self-respect Kokushibo had left after being crushed before his younger brother.

Kokushibo was an extremely insecure man with an intensely powerful capacity for jealousy.

I want to surpass both my brothers and become the strongest swordsman.

The important part was not becoming the strongest swordsman, but surpassing both his brothers.

She had to make Kokushibo realize that he, too, was someone others could pursue.

There was only one sun, and the moon was likewise unique.