Yoriichi, Am I Correct

Yuko had a nightmare where Kokushibo had become a demon after all.

She woke up suddenly, her body drenched in sweat.

Yuko panted slightly, her mouth dry and her throat parched.

She fumbled in the dark for the teacup on the table and took a gulp, finally feeling a little relieved.

Truly, what you think about during the day fills your dreams at night.

Yuko let out a long sigh, estimating the time Kokushibo would be back from his mission.

The place Kokushibo was sent to this time wasn't far, only a two-day journey on foot.

He had been gone for a week already, and if things had gone smoothly, he should be returning around now.

Could it be...

Yuko shook her head, not quite clear-headed, and gave a self-deprecating laugh.

I'm quite good at scaring myself.

She got back into bed, about to lie down, when a faint breeze suddenly blew in, and a figure abruptly appeared in the room.

Yuko's hair stood on end. She pushed herself up with her hands on the bed, scrambling to the corner of the wall and drawing her blade.

Facing the dark figure, Yuko shouted fiercely, "Who's there!"

The dark figure ignored her and walked to the table, lighting an oil lamp.

With the help of the faint lamplight, Yuko saw the visitor's clothing and silhouette. It was Kokushibo.

"Big Brother, you're going to scare people to death doing that! Sneaking into a girl's room in the middle of the night will get you labeled a pervert!" Yuko couldn't help but relax and retort.

However, just as she was about to put her Nichirin Blade back on its stand, Kokushibo, holding the oil lamp, turned around. What appeared before Yuko's eyes was a demon with six eyes.

Yuko's pupils contracted sharply, her body turning ice-cold, as if she had fallen into an icy cave.

Am I still dreaming?

But why am I so clear-headed right now?

After a long silence, Yuko's teeth chattered, and she squeezed out a few words.

"Why?"

Kokushibo's face was... no, at this moment, his face was covered by six eyes, and the expression of a human could no longer be seen.

Kokushibo's calm voice rang out, "Yuko, you should become a demon too. That way, whether it's your lungs..."

"I asked you why!"

Yuko's angry voice interrupted him. Like a ferocious tiger about to go mad, the hand holding her sword trembled, almost unable to resist drawing it.

As a modern person, Yuko was very open-minded.

She could understand demons like Nezuko, who were forced to become demons, and demons like Tamayo, who, after becoming a demon and eating many people, had awakened and were atoning for their sins. Yuko was friendly towards them.

Only the act of actively choosing to become a demon was absolutely unforgivable.

This was different from the struggle between good and evil in martial arts novels. Even among the so-called evil factions, there might be people who had never done a single bad deed.

But demons were different. Demons would definitely eat people!

This was something no one with a normal outlook on life could accept!

Looking at Kokushibo's hideous appearance, Yuko didn't feel scared, but rather intensely angry.

What followed closely was an emotion called heartbreak.

Having spent over twenty years together, did Yuko truly have no feelings for her family?

Of course, she did.

Although Kokushibo was too stubborn in many aspects, making Yuko constantly frustrated and wanting to hang him on a certain social media platform, he, as an older brother, had his kind and gentle side towards his sister.

The emotionally slow Yoriichi had always viewed Kokushibo as a gentle older brother.

And yet, I tried so hard to guide him...

Yuko's nose stung, and sensing the tears about to well up in her eyes, she gritted her teeth and forced them back.

Kokushibo ignored the anger on her face and spoke again, "If you become a demon, you will have endless years to hone your Sword Skills, and the pain in your lungs will be easily healed."

Snap~

Yuko slowly drew her Nichirin Blade, her expression gloomy. "I wasn't born into this world to become a demon."

She wanted to... sever Kokushibo's neck!

Yuko softly exhaled a puff of white breath. "Snow Breathing: Sixth Form: Endless Snow!"

Her Nichirin Blade, held high, slashed down with immense power. A terrifying white wave of the sword reached Kokushibo in an instant, as if it would cut him in half the next moment.

Clang~

A crisp sword sound.

In Kokushibo's hands, a sword made of flesh and blood, reeking of decay, forcefully stopped Yuko's Nichirin Blade.

This was Kokushibo's longsword, forged from his own flesh and blood, named Vast Sorrows, God Forsaken.

The stench of decay emanating from the sword almost made Yuko faint. The gloom in her eyes was about to overflow.

"You! You've eaten people, haven't you!"

Only a demon that had consumed humans would possess such an aura.

Without giving Kokushibo a chance to answer.

"Snow Breathing, Fifth Form: Snow Run."

Yuko's figure vanished into the night like a streak of white light, scattering like residual snow in the wind.

Snow Run wasn't an offensive sword form, but rather a footwork technique that concealed one's movements.

However, the next moment, Kokushibo thrust Vast Sorrows behind him without looking back.

Clang!

Yuko's pupils contracted slightly. Her wrist, which was slicing towards Kokushibo's neck, trembled uncontrollably, yet it couldn't advance an inch.

Kokushibo gently deflected her attack, and the sliver of shame in his heart dissipated along with it.

I've grown stronger.

He could feel it clearly.

The repelled Yuko adjusted her posture in mid-air. She landed and pushed off the ground, charging towards Kokushibo like a human cannonball.

"Snow Breathing, Seventh Form..." A tickle in her throat as she inhaled deeply, accompanied by a sharp pain in her lungs, caused Yuko's vision to blacken as if she were anemic. Dazed, she crashed into a nearby table.

"Cough, cough..."

A few drops of blood trickled from the corner of Yuko's mouth. She had no time to tend to it and quickly got up, looking towards Kokushibo.

However, Kokushibo was no longer in his original position. Yuko was startled and quickly turned her head.

"One day, you will understand."

This was the last voice she heard before losing consciousness.

Kokushibo had lightly tapped her neck, knocking her out.

Yuko was only twenty-three years old, with three years left before the limitations of the Markings. The closer one got to death, the more they feared it.

Yuko, who dreamed of being the strongest swordswoman, would surely choose the same path as him at the brink of life and death.

Yoriichi, I am right.

Almost at the same moment Yuko fell unconscious, Yoriichi, who was on a mission outside, encountered the Demon King in a bamboo forest.

The Demon King was dressed in flamboyant attire, with a woman trailing behind him, her expression tinged with a faint sadness.

Just by meeting him, Yoriichi understood.

Perhaps it was precisely for this reason that he was born with talents far surpassing ordinary people – to defeat this so-called progenitor of demons.

The Demon King was filled with a violent life force, like magma erupting from a volcano, boiling and threatening to consume everything.

"I'm no longer interested in swordsmen who use Breathing Styles," the Demon King, Kibutsuji Muzan, said with an arrogant smile upon their first meeting.

The moment the Demon King spoke, his arm tore and transformed into a whip, slashing towards Yoriichi. The astonishing speed and power severed the surrounding bamboo in the blink of an eye.

It was the first time since his birth that Yoriichi felt a chill run down his spine.

Almost simultaneously, Yoriichi's eyes saw through the truth of Muzan's seven hearts and five brains.

The thirteenth form of Sun Breathing was completed by Yoriichi. Rampaging, orange-red flames instantly engulfed Muzan with terrifying power and speed.

When the flames subsided, Muzan supported his severed head, his eyes filled with confusion.

Yoriichi slowly approached, holding a red Scarlet Blade. He had one question he absolutely had to ask.

"What do you consider life to be?"

Muzan's face, turned red and black with rage, was covered in bulging veins.

Yoriichi suddenly shifted his gaze to the girl brought by the Demon King. She hadn't moved to help, but instead watched the beheaded Demon King with eager anticipation.

Just as Yoriichi was about to deliver the final blow to Muzan, the sound of Muzan grinding his teeth echoed. He instantly split into one thousand eight hundred pieces of flesh, scattering in all directions.

In his haste, Yoriichi instinctively swung his blade, shattering one thousand five hundred pieces in an instant.

However, over three hundred pieces, which combined to about the size of a human head, escaped.

Due to the sudden turn of events, Yoriichi stood frozen, dazed.

The girl's crying beside him brought him back to his senses.

"So close, it was so close, and yet he overcame the weakness in his neck."

The girl knelt on the ground, gritting her teeth and saying it, fiercely pulling at her hair.

"Why don't you just die! You filthy man!"

"Kibutsuji Muzan!"

Overwhelmed by grief and indignation, the girl stared blankly at her own hands.

"I'm not dead? Why am I not dead?"

Perhaps it was because Muzan was so weakened that she was temporarily freed from his control.

"She's too unlike a demon," Yoriichi soothed the panicked girl named Tamayo.

From her, he learned much about Muzan.

Furthermore, she also said that the progenitor of demons, Kibutsuji Muzan, would likely not reappear until after his death.

After making an agreement with Tamayo to help defeat Muzan, Yoriichi's Demon Slayer Corps comrades found him.

The swordsman from the Rengoku family, the Flame Hashira, shook Yoriichi's arms. "Kokushibo became a demon and killed the master. Yuko fought him and is still unconscious."