"Tanjiro! Wake up! It's me!" Zenitsu's cries were anguished and desperate. Unable to accept what he saw, he struggled to crawl over.
"Gonpachiro! What the hell are you doing?! Change back already!" Inosuke roared in anger too, but his voice carried an unmistakable tremor.
Their friends' calls sank like stones into the sea.
Tanjiro, transformed into the Demon King, had a vacant, bewildered human left eye, while his demonic right eye coldly fixed on Zenitsu and Inosuke, who were closest to him.
He turned around without expression.
The next instant, his back abruptly split open, and several sharp whips made of bone, gleaming a sinister white in the sunlight, shot out like venomous snakes!
This was Muzan Kibutsuji's ability!
More despairing still, as those bone whips danced through the air, their trajectories bore faint traces of Sun Breathing. Their speed and power matched, if not surpassed, what Muzan himself had displayed!
"Get out of the way!"
Kyojuro Rengoku bellowed, burning through the last of his life force as he held his broken Bright Red Nichirin Sword across his body. Giyu Tomioka reacted at the same time, handing the unconscious Sasuke to a nearby Kakushi member before drawing his sword with his remaining left arm and moving to meet the attack.
"Flame Breathing, Second Form: Flame-Heaven Ascension!"
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
The two battered Hashira exhausted the last of their strength just to barely sever those bone whips. The tremendous recoil drove them both backward, their sword arms drenched in blood and the flesh between their thumbs and forefingers split wide open.
Just a casual strike had left two Hashira-level fighters in such a sorry state!
"His power... is still rising..." Kyojuro looked at his trembling arm, and for the first time, an emotion called helplessness showed in his