It was a crow.
A Kasugai Crow belonging to the Demon Slayer Corps, circling above the battlefield.
It seemed to have undergone special training. Its voice carried with extraordinary power, reaching everyone's ears clearly even through Muzan's furious roars.
"Caw-! Caw-!"
"One and a half hours until sunrise!"
"Repeat! One and a half hours until sunrise!"
Those simple words were like a ladle of cold water thrown into a still pan of oil, instantly bringing the atmosphere across the battlefield to a boil.
One and a half hours!
Ninety minutes!
Five thousand four hundred seconds!
That number held entirely different meanings for the two sides on the battlefield.
For Muzan Kibutsuji, it was a countdown to death. It was the last of the life he had left as the king who reigned over the night.
At that moment, the horror and fury in his eyes turned entirely into pure, undisguised madness and fear. His enormous body of flesh began to writhe uneasily, countless distorted human faces screaming without a sound.
He had to escape! At any cost! As long as he could find a patch of shade, a building that hadn't been completely destroyed, and hide until the next night, he could make his comeback!
But for the swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps, this was a clarion call of hope!
They had fought through blood for an entire night in that twisted space where daylight never reached, prepared to die as they faced a Demon King who seemed impossible to kill. Exhaustion, pain, and despair had clung to them like a disease eating into their bones, relentlessly eroding their resolve.
But now, they could see the finish line.
The ultimate goal they had pursued for centuries-slaying Muzan Kibutsuji-had been quantified into a specific stretch of time.
As long as