One day, I would surpass all those who came before me!
Then I would sever this chain of sorrow stretching back a thousand years.
Yet the stronger he grew, the more he understood how terrifying Yoriichi Tsugikuni had been.
Where had that invincible power come from?
And what had he paid for it?
No matter how gifted someone was, he could not possibly reach such heights so easily.
What had happened to him must have been extraordinary, beyond imagination. Otherwise, he could never have been so strong.
Unfortunately, someone from a thousand years ago would never wake up to tell you what he had experienced.
That was the past, already scattered on the wind. Now, no one would ever know.
Not even Kibutsuji Muzan knew.
Perhaps Kokushibo had known... but he, too, had perished.
Many thoughts ran through Tetsu no Sosuke's mind before he recalled what Akaza had said just before his death.
Was I still no match for Kibutsuji Muzan, even now?
Was there really any need to ask?
After all, fighting Akaza alone had taken everything I had.
What about facing Kibutsuji Muzan, then?
If I couldn't do it alone, what if the others in the Demon Slayer Corps joined me?
Perhaps... that still wouldn't be enough?
Tetsu no Sosuke kept feeling that something lay hidden in Akaza's words—something he could not say, or perhaps something he had been unwilling to say.
Those words had not sounded like mere bluster meant to undermine his confidence.
He could not explain exactly what was going on, either. He simply felt that Akaza had been very strange...
Chapter 379: Afterward
Still, Tetsu no Sosuke soon decided to stop dwelling on Akaza.
Whatever Akaza had been thinking, there was no longer any point in discussing it.
He had perished. After battling Tetsu