Chapter Summaries

Oboro reflected on how inherited will and the Demon Slayer Corps’ Breathing Techniques might help him advance beyond martial arts. When Doma and Kokushibo arrived to bring him to Muzan, Oboro revealed his Sun Breathing and challenged them to fight.

• Oboro considered how the Kamado Clan’s and Demon Slayer Corps’ inherited efforts could help him develop his strength and explore the power of the soul.
• Oboro sensed the night grow unnaturally silent and ordered Chiyoko to go inside as he waited for the visitors he expected Muzan to send.
• Kokushibo appeared at the gate, and Doma entered Oboro’s residence, explaining that they had come on Muzan’s orders.
• Oboro mentioned the Blue Spider Lily, surprising Doma and Kokushibo, then refused to be drawn away by Doma’s offer to take him to Muzan.
• Oboro raised his wooden staff, began using Sun Breathing, and invited Doma and Kokushibo to fight.

Oboro fought Doma and Kokushibo at his estate, overpowering both demons and leaving them unable to move or recover. After asking Kokushibo whether he was happy, Oboro went inside to sleep, while the two demons remained helpless in the courtyard.

• Oboro swiftly overwhelmed Doma with his burning wooden staff, then used his power to stop Doma from attacking again.
• Oboro approached Kokushibo, who unleashed his Seventh Form, but Oboro evaded the slashes and fought him with a wooden staff.
• When Kokushibo pressed his advantage and nearly cut through the staff, Oboro discarded it and struck him with overwhelming physical power.
• Oboro repeatedly battered Kokushibo until his wounds stopped healing, then asked whether he was happy.
• Oboro picked up his haori and went inside to sleep, leaving Doma immobilized and Kokushibo battered on the ground.

Oboro extracted skill cards from Kokushibo and Doma, then altered their memories and discarded them before dawn. Elsewhere, Muzan killed Iron Pillar after testing the strength of the new Breathing Technique, and left reassured that it was not Sun Breathing.

• Oboro carved flesh and blood from Kokushibo and Doma to create cards, including Moon Breathing forms and Doma’s frost mastery.
• Oboro used his Blood Demon Art to alter Kokushibo and Doma’s memories, then threw them outside the city before dawn.
• Muzan watched Iron Pillar defeat Lower Rank Three, then attacked and killed the Pillar when he recognized him.
• Muzan concluded Iron Pillar’s Breathing Technique was not Sun Breathing and considered strengthening the Twelve Kizuki’s Lower Ranks.

Muzan tried to understand Oboro’s motives while keeping the Twelve Kizuki from provoking him. Oboro identified Muzan’s disguise as a daimyo, then learned that the head of the Tokugawa Family had been assassinated, allegedly by Zekawa.

• Muzan ordered Kokushibo and Doma to counterattack the Demon Slayer Corps after warning that Mireimaru’s failure to kill two Hashira could not happen again.
• Muzan decided to keep his distance from Oboro while gathering intelligence through the Shogunate and guarding his own identity.
• Oboro confirmed from an elderly man that the portrait he had drawn was Muzan Kibutsuji, a daimyo, and burned the portrait afterward.
• Oboro reflected on why the Shogunate had remained outside the conflict between demons and the Demon Slayer Corps.
• Daisuke Hayata told Oboro that the head of the Tokugawa Family had been assassinated and that the likely killer was Zekawa, who resembled the suspect described by people from the Entertainment District.
• Oboro calmly accepted the news and murmured that the time had come.

Oboro watched the turmoil spread after Zekawa killed the ruler, believing widespread suffering would help the world’s powers evolve and produce new inheritors of will. Months later, he began searching for candidates and approached a grieving survivor whose village had been massacred, offering him a new life.

• Muzan and the Ubuyashiki Clan pursued Zekawa as the shogunate publicized demons and the ruler’s death fueled war across the land.
• Oboro received reports of escalating conflict, disorder, and demon sightings while Little Tree challenged his role in the suffering.
• Oboro admitted he was experimenting to develop powers beyond Breathing Styles and sought to create conditions for new successors.
• Months later, Oboro left home with two maids to search for inheritors and planned to secretly help Muzan restore the balance between demons and demon slayers.
• After a village massacre, Oboro stopped a wounded survivor from taking his own life and offered him a new life.

Zekawa and Dark Ball fought the Hashira Shiwei and Tanjuro after Zekawa insisted his killings served a greater purpose. As Zekawa suffered grievous injuries, Oboro encouraged a battered woman to embrace her freedom and prove that she was the one who truly understood the world.

• Zekawa evaded Shiwei and Tanjuro's attacks, then fused with Dark Ball and transformed into a towering monster.
• Zekawa defended killing people as a way to end suffering, while Shiwei and Tanjuro challenged his beliefs and prepared to fight.
• Shiwei's Water Breathing and Tanjuro's Flame Breathing overwhelmed Zekawa, leaving him gravely wounded.
• Oboro spoke to a bloodied woman who had slaughtered everyone in a courtyard and urged her to claim freedom by acting against those who oppressed her.
• Oboro sensed what had happened to Zekawa and welcomed the world's rising difficulty as the woman took his hand.

Ubuyashiki Hideo analyzed Oboro’s manipulation of people and warned that he was reshaping the world, then summoned the Pillars to plan ahead. Muzan struggled to keep his demons hidden and feared that Oboro’s independent demons would eventually find him.

• Hideo concluded that Oboro had turned Zekawa’s warped beliefs into a weapon and was deliberately creating chaos.
• Hideo resolved to manage the shogunate’s pressure, protect the Pillars, and prepare for Oboro’s broader effort to change the world.
• Hideo called for a joint Pillar meeting after identifying breathing techniques and Oboro’s converted demons as possible paths to survival.
• Muzan noted that demons were being hunted by civilians, the shogunate, and the Demon Slayer Corps, forcing him to consider stopping conversions and lying low.
• Muzan recognized that Oboro’s demons were not affected by his blood and feared they would eventually seek him out.

Over several years, Oboro secretly orchestrated conflict among his demon inheritors, the Demon Slayer Corps, and Muzan’s forces to make each side grow stronger while keeping the shogunate intact. When Shiwei came to confront him at his estate, Oboro recognized that the Water Hashira had come alone to kill him.

• Oboro used his demon inheritors to intensify the conflict, secretly guiding the Demon Slayer Corps and Muzan’s faction to oppose them.
• The Demon Slayer Corps, demons, and civilian samurai grew stronger, while the shogunate remained under Oboro’s protection from collapse.
• Months later, Oboro gave candy and wooden-sword lessons to refugee children near his estate.
• Shiwei accused Oboro of causing the children’s suffering and said Ubuyashiki Hideo had revealed his intentions; Oboro warned Shiwei against seeking a fight with Muzan.
• Shiwei declared that Oboro was wrong and came to kill him for revenge and to remove a threat to the world.
• Oboro rose and led Shiwei away, understanding that the Water Hashira had settled his affairs and come without the Corps’ knowledge.

Shiwei confronted Oboro in the wilderness and proved that his training and new Water Breathing techniques could threaten him. Oboro revealed his terrifying true nature, crushed Shiwei’s attack, and left him alive with an order to train the next generation.

• Shiwei awakened his Demon Slayer Mark and challenged Oboro, insisting that he would fight despite expecting to lose.
• Shiwei used a restraining Water Breathing technique and relentlessly attacked Oboro, breaking his wooden staff and cutting his haori.
• Oboro praised Shiwei’s growth and revealed that he had taught breath control to sow seeds among the Demon Slayer Corps, with Shiwei as the only one to flourish.
• Oboro dropped his gentle manner and overwhelmed Shiwei’s blade force with a single attack before choking him.
• Oboro spared Shiwei and ordered him to become a trainer so younger Demon Slayers could build on his strength.

After overwhelming Kawai Shiwei, Oboro watched the Demon Slayer world settle into a fragile three-way conflict between the Shogunate, the Demon Slayer Corps, and his inheritors. When four of those inheritors attacked Edo Castle, Oboro confronted them and ordered them to fight him, testing whether they would put their inherited will above their feelings for him.

• Oboro defeated Kawai Shiwei with a single punch, and Shiwei admitted his failure while hoping that someone would surpass him one day.
• Over the next ten years, Oboro’s inheritors became a major force opposing the Shogunate, while the Demon Slayer Corps fought both them and Muzan’s demons; Kawai Shiwei retired to train successors.
• Oboro returned to Edo Castle and waited as Yasuhara, Takaya, Ueno, and Teshimaga led an attack on the city and reached the Shogunate grounds without meeting the Demon Slayer Corps.
• Oboro greeted the four inheritors and told them that their mission required them to kill him if they hoped to overthrow the Shogunate.
• The four stood and prepared to face Oboro after he urged them to cast aside their feelings and remember that will came first.

Oboro fought the four inheritors outside the Shogunate building, defeating them despite their Blood Demon Arts and their determination to kill him. As they lay wounded, they revealed that they had passed his will on to new candidates, then asked Yasuhara to eat them, leaving Oboro stunned and elated.

• The four inheritors attacked Oboro, and Yasuhara plunged the battlefield into darkness with his Blood Demon Art.
• Oboro overcame the darkness, injured Ueno and Teshimaga, and challenged Yasuhara when he sensed his fear.
• Yasuhara recovered his resolve and unleashed a massive, corrosive form, while Ueno returned to the fight and Chiyoko continued playing shamisen.
• After an hour, Oboro defeated all four inheritors, whose regeneration had stopped.
• Teshimaga explained that they had already passed their will on to more capable candidates and insisted they would not yield, even to Oboro.
• Takaya and the other inheritors told Yasuhara to eat them, and Oboro was overcome with fierce joy.

Oboro watched Yasuhara devour the other inheritors and mutate into a vast mass of flesh, gaining a deeper understanding of inherited will as his soul grew stronger. He defeated Yasuhara, who died believing the inheritors had failed to save him, then turned the surviving flesh into cards and gained new resources for the emerging power system.

• Yasuhara devoured Teshimaga and the other two inheritors, prompting Oboro to recognize their resolve and feel his soul grow stronger.
• Yasuhara transformed into a towering mass of flesh and attacked Oboro with hundreds of arms.
• Yasuhara swallowed Oboro, but Oboro’s body heat melted the flesh mountain before he destroyed it with a powerful strike.
• Yasuhara regained clarity and apologized to Oboro before dying in his hands.
• Oboro used the system to turn chunks of the remaining flesh into cards, creating new resources for his developing power system.

Oboro reflected on the silver-rank card made from Mireimaru’s flesh and the insight he gained from witnessing inherited will. Years later, Ubuyashiki Hideo confronted him before his death, and Oboro looked forward to the next era.

• Oboro examined the permanent silver-rank card and realized it could spread contamination and create demons in other worlds.
• The inheritors’ siege of Edo failed, and the survivors became more secretive as the incident faded from public memory.
• Oboro remained in seclusion while the Demon Slayer Corps, Muzan, and the inheritors grew stronger through their conflicts.
• Ubuyashiki Hideo visited Oboro and condemned him for manipulating humanity, predicting that a future Demon Slayer would kill him.
• Oboro accepted that the people of this world would resist him and hoped the next era would bring even more interesting events.

Oboro continued caring for the starving Gyutaro, whom he believed could become a powerful inheritor, while waiting for the future events of the Demon Slayer world. After Gyutaro accepted food and left, Oboro told Chiyoko not to interfere further, leaving the boy to follow his own path.

• Oboro reflected on his aging body and decided he might need to become a demon to live long enough for the plot to unfold.
• The children drove Gyutaro away with insults and stones, and Chiyoko brought food for the boy who visited every few days.
• Oboro recalled Gyutaro's abusive childhood and explained why he valued the boy's talent and potential as an inheritor.
• Gyutaro accepted the food from Chiyoko, bowed to Oboro, and ran away barefoot.
• Chiyoko asked whether she should do more for Gyutaro, but Oboro told her not to interfere with his destiny.

Oboro watched Gyutaro and Ume grow up while learning that Muzan had discovered how to influence the soul through changes to demon blood. In a bitter winter, he saw the siblings refuse to be separated, then noticed the Little Tree of this world beginning to recover.

• After Ume was born, Gyutaro began supporting her and became willing to fight back against people who hurt them.
• Gyutaro grew into a feared fighter, and after he nearly killed their mother for beating Ume, she became afraid of the siblings.
• Oboro learned that Muzan had altered the will in the blood cells of inheritors, while demons on both sides hunted one another to gain strength.
• The Demon Slayer Corps advanced its breathing techniques and began training Hashira in Demon Slayer Marks and the Red Blade.
• During a blizzard, Oboro saw Gyutaro and Ume promise to stay together, but he left without approaching them.
• On his way home, Oboro saw the Little Tree's branches turn green and its trunk grow thicker.

Gyutaro returned to find Ume burned alive, and the siblings’ neighbors refused to help them. Oboro arrived after Gyutaro collapsed in despair, took him in, and urged him to turn his anger against the human world.

• Ume blinded a samurai with a hairpin after he insulted Gyutaro, while Gyutaro became a feared debt collector.
• The samurai and the brothel madam burned Ume alive, and Gyutaro killed them after finding her and being attacked.
• Gyutaro carried Ume through Rashomon Riverbank, pleading for help, but no one answered as snow fell.
• Oboro and Chiyoko approached Gyutaro, and he begged Oboro to save Ume.
• Oboro draped his haori over Gyutaro, embraced him, and told him to rely on himself and turn the unjust world into hell.

Oboro turned Gyutaro and Daki into demons and inheritors, then began training them as the Demon Slayer Corps investigated Gyutaro’s massacre. Three Hashira traced the demons to Oboro’s estate but withdrew after Yuta recalled a warning that confronting its occupant required strength beyond even the Demon Slayer Mark.

• Oboro made Gyutaro and Daki inheritors, and Gyutaro slaughtered the people who had abandoned him and his sister along the Rashomon riverbank.
• The massacre shocked the city, but searches by the authorities and demon-hunting groups found no trace of the demons.
• Three Hashira arrived and traced the clues to Oboro’s estate, where they waited rather than force their way in.
• Oboro warned Gyutaro that the Hashira could easily kill him and began training him so he could protect Daki.
• Yuta recalled his teacher’s warning that Hashira must approach Oboro’s estate with extreme caution and that even marked Hashira would be powerless without a further evolution and the Corps’ combined strength.

Oboro sent Gyutaro and Daki to hunt every Upper Rank demon under Muzan as their final trial, while he expanded his plans to cultivate valuable cards from the Demon Slayer world. He resolved to gather enough resources before moving on to a potentially more dangerous world.

• Oboro trained Gyutaro in movement and close combat while the siblings stayed at his residence, watched by three Hashira who ultimately did not attack.
• Gyutaro and Daki left to hunt all the Upper Rank demons under Muzan, the task Oboro set as the condition for their freedom and completed training.
• Oboro reviewed his system inventory, noting its demon bloodline, Blood Demon Art, Nichirin Sword, and newly acquired experience cards.
• Oboro planned to use low-grade cards to accelerate the growth of the three factions and harvest stronger resources, potentially up to Gold-grade cards.
• Oboro decided to remain in the Demon Slayer world to gather resources and prepare for a harder next world, where its will might oppose him.

In the Taisho era, Oboro watched the Demon Slayer Corps and human forces adapt to a world where humans and demons lived side by side. After a demon-hunting battle, he appeared before a government commander as the God of Imperial Martial Might and gave him an Experience Card, leaving the commander empowered.

• Oboro reflected on the deaths of Chiyoko and Rina, Gyutaro and Daki's hunt for Upper Ranks, and Muzan's failed attempt to capture them.
• The Taisho political system kept human authorities in power, while the Demon Slayer Corps cooperated with the government and developed new ways to fight demons, including Demon Hand weapons.
• Government soldiers defeated demons belonging to the successors' forces on Sanyō Road, though at least a hundred soldiers died.
• The commanding officer recognized Oboro as the legendary God of Imperial Martial Might and knelt before him.
• Oboro told the commander to continue slaying demons and grow stronger, then used an Experience Card on him and vanished.

After a century of studying Oboro’s lingering will, Muzan learned to sense and attack souls, then erased Oboro’s remnant from an inheritor. He turned his attention to the God of Imperial Martial Might and sent the Upper Ranks to find him, hoping to uncover the secret of the soul and the Blue Spider Lily.

• Muzan used an inheritor to enter his consciousness and confront Oboro’s lingering will.
• After years of research and repeated contact with Oboro’s soul, Muzan formed the likeness of his own soul and struck down Oboro’s remnant.
• Muzan returned to reality and destroyed the inheritor, demonstrating that he could now control the demons among the inheritors.
• Muzan’s pressure stunned Kokushibo, Akaza, and Doma, while Doma noted that something interesting was about to happen.
• Muzan injected the three Upper Ranks with his blood and spiritual power, ordering them to find the God of Imperial Martial Might.
• Muzan sought the God of Imperial Martial Might because he believed the man knew about the soul and the Blue Spider Lily.