Demon Slayer: I am a Demon.

Although the hesitation was very slight, and others might not have noticed it, he sensed it; at that moment, he sensed the other party's reluctance.

"I probably won't live past thirty. Being with me isn't actually good for you. If you stay together, you'll be entangled with ghosts and bound to this place... Actually, you can refuse. I'll explain to others that it was my own decision that I disagreed, and I won't let anyone blame you..."

After saying a lot, he had already assumed that the other party was ready to agree, so he stood up, ready to go back and continue to handle his own affairs and continue to shoulder the responsibilities that belonged to Ubuyashiki.

I'm already waiting for her to reject our marriage.

"I accept."

She said something different from what I had imagined, and for a moment I thought I was hallucinating.

But not.

She really accepted it.

I found it hard to understand and asked for the reason.

"Because you are the first person who is willing to listen to my thoughts."

After listening, I suddenly realized that I was actually the same kind of person as Tianyin.

As the daughter of a priest, everything about Tianyin was arranged from birth. What clothes she wore every day, what she did, and even who she married were all predetermined. Like a chess piece on a chessboard, she was always manipulated by others and could never act according to her own wishes.

On their wedding day, the wisteria blossoms were in full bloom. When they were alone together, Tianyin still remembered saying, "Please take care of me in the future."

The days that followed were very happy.

Soon after, they had their own child.

When I held my child's tiny hand, feeling the new life and its fragility, I suddenly realized that the curse of Ubuyashiki, which had lasted for thousands of years, had a deeper meaning.

She could endure any curse, but she would never allow her child to suffer the same short life as her.

All I want is for my child to live a good life.

But such a simple request is something that the Ubuyashiki family could never fulfill.

If Muzan Kibutsuji is not killed, the children will suffer the same fate as him, dying as his father was cursed, and facing the same curse he will have to face.

So he began to work even harder every day, searching for powerful swordsmen in various places, and investing in the Demon Slayer Corps, hoping only that the Demon Slayer Corps would become stronger, and hoping that the demon named Muzan would die sooner.

He thinks about how to deal with Muzan every day.

He thinks about how to kill Muzan every day.

But they didn't even see a shadow of Muzan... there was no hope of killing Muzan at all.

Until one day, he was able to divine the future and see himself, his wife, and his two daughters perish in the explosion.

Such a future is terrifying and makes people unwilling to accept it.

But in the end, he accepted it calmly. If he could kill Muzan Kibutsuji, he would be willing to sacrifice himself. The only thing he was reluctant to do was see Amane and his two daughters with him.

However, for him, there was no choice.

To kill Muzan Kibutsuji, far too many people have already sacrificed themselves, far too many sacrifices have already been made, and even if they are unwilling, they will eventually have to do it.

But everything that seemed to be going forward suddenly began to change at some point.

Seeing no future of Muzan's destruction, only his own death, he could no longer allow his wife and daughter to suffer the same fate.

Gently stroking the purple hibiscus on my face, feeling the aging of my skin, I suddenly longed to continue living, to watch my children grow up, get married, and have their own happy families.

I'll grow old with Tianyin, until we can't see anymore, until we can't hear anymore, until we can't walk anymore.

But all of this will ultimately remain just a pipe dream.

The ravens flapped their wings and flew away from the 'Ubuyashiki' mansion, sending out a sharp message.

"Ubuyashiki Mansion attacked. Ubuyashiki Mansion attacked."

At that moment, all the swordsmen fighting the demons around them raised their heads.

"My lord!"

Gyomei Himejima found Hantengu's true form, "Kageki," and struck Kageki's head heavily with his meteor hammer, beheading him. Hantengu, the fourth Upper Moon of the Twelve Demon Moons, was declared dead. This was the first Upper Moon demon truly slain by the Demon Slayer Corps.

After a fierce battle, Himejima Gyomei was already panting heavily, but upon hearing the news of his lord's attack, he rushed to his lord's aid almost without hesitation. He had communicated with his lord before and understood that if the Ubuyashiki mansion, which was covered with wisteria trees, were to be attacked, it would only be Kibutsuji Muzan. Other demons would find it difficult to tolerate the scent of wisteria.

The 'Wind Pillar' Sanemi Shinazugawa, who was with his younger brother Genya Shinazugawa to rescue a Demon Slayer Corps base, heard the news and almost immediately stopped what he was doing and headed towards the Ubuyashiki mansion.

"My lord."

Upon hearing the news, 'Sound Pillar' Uzui Tengen also rushed to the road.

'Flame Pillar' Kyojuro Rengoku, 'Serpent Pillar' Obanai Iguro, 'Class A' swordsman Mitsuri Kanroji... they are all rushing towards the Ubuyashiki Mansion.

…………

Under the dim moonlight, Muzan Kibutsuji stepped into the Ubuyashiki mansion. The fragrance of wisteria flowers around him weakened him with every touch.

Ordinary evil spirits would find it almost impossible to walk in such an area, which is almost entirely planted with wisteria trees.

but

For Muzan Kibutsuji, the first demon, the cost was not unbearable.

With each step he took, the intense collision of the ghostly energy generated by the contact between the surrounding wisteria flowers and his body caused Muzan Kibutsuji to stir up a cloud of mist with every step he took.

quickly

Muzan Kibutsuji then saw Kagaya Ubuyashiki leaning against the wall.

This family, which had opposed him for a thousand years, a family that always caused him trouble, established the Demon Slayer Corps, which was as insignificant as ants, and passed it down from generation to generation, relentlessly seeking trouble for him.

Holding their so-called Nichirin Blades, shouting slogans of slaying demons and eliminating evil, they considered themselves a righteous force, and came forward one after another.

By what

Why would someone want to cut off their own path to survival?

Kibutsuji Muzan looked at Ubuyashiki, who had been his enemy for a thousand years, and saw that the other's fragile body and dying posture were very much like his own past when he was a human.

"Look... what an ugly person!"

He was speaking to Kagaya Ubuyashiki.

It seemed to be addressed to Ubuyashiki, who was bound by a thousand-year destiny; it seemed to be addressed to Kagaya Ubuyashiki before him; and it seemed to be addressed to his past self, who had once lived through such a human era.

Chapter 225 Explosion

Under the faint moonlight, the cool glow fell like a thin veil, filtering through the sparse branches and leaves in the courtyard and casting dappled shadows on the ground.

The moonlight fell on Kagaya Ubuyashiki, who was sitting with his back against the wall, making his frail figure appear even thinner, and even his breathing seemed so slow and labored.

As Muzan Kibutsuji walked through a grove of wisteria blossoms, the wisteria flowers drooped in the night, and the rising mist around him, like pale breaths surging from the ground, swirled around his feet and slowly spread across the stone pavement.

Kagaya Ubuyashiki leaned against the wall, his withered fingers gripping the cracks in the stone, supporting his frail body as he stood up, his back arched yet managing to straighten.

A pair of eyes, not yet completely blind, look at the stain on the Ubuyashiki family.

There was no fear in his eyes, only a solemnity accumulated over thousands of years, and his chapped lips were slightly pursed.

Because of this stain, Ubuyashiki has been burdened with a curse for thousands of years, and countless members of the Ubuyashiki clan have died prematurely because of this curse.

"Ugly, you are utterly ugly."

Muzan Kibutsuji stopped and looked at Kagaya Ubuyashiki with pity. His fragile body would die with the slightest exertion, like an ant that could be crushed at any moment.

It's ridiculous; it poses almost no threat to me.

"Why does the extremely weak Ubuyashiki have the audacity to confront me? Why do they have the courage to cause me trouble?"

Kagaya Ubuyashiki simply looked calmly at Muzan Kibutsuji, the first demon and the root of the curse that had plagued Ubuyashiki for centuries. His half-blind eyes reflected the other's image, but remained as still as a stagnant pool.

Only by eliminating this demon can the evil spirits be completely eradicated. This thought lingered in my mind for countless days and nights.

I really, really want to kill this ghost.

But for Kagaya Ubuyashiki, it was simply impossible; his opponent was so powerful that it was despair-inducing.

But... this kind of ghost wantonly destroys human happiness, never cares about the beauty that belongs to people, and so easily destroys one family after another.

Is it only because of human fragility that ghosts treat humans as food and trample on life at will?

"What...do you consider humans to be?"

These words, though spoken weakly by Kagaya Ubuyashiki, were clear and distinct.

The clarity of the words caused Muzan Kibutsuji to pause slightly, and the question that human had once posed to him involuntarily flashed through his mind: "What do you take life for?"

"what……"

At this moment, Muzan Kibutsuji only felt amused, with a sense of absurdity bordering on madness.

These people, like Yoriichi Tsugikuni in the past, have no idea about his past, which is why they act so recklessly and target him so much.

He lowered his eyes, and the pity in them transformed into something more complex—like an instinctive rage after an old wound was touched.

All he did was try to live.

Just existing.

But these people keep stubbornly looking for trouble.

Why did he abandon his human identity? Thoughts surged like a tide, dragging him back to that bloody and mangled starting point.

This is because he was never able to live a proper life in the first place.

From the very beginning, while still in the mother's womb, she was practically a stillborn child. On the day of her birth, she was defined as a stillborn, and it was only when she was cremated that she was able to cry, which is why she was not thrown into the fire.

From that moment on, his human life had already ended; his ability to live was merely an unwanted resurrection.

Even if they were to revive, they would mostly be bedridden, drinking and smelling the medicinal soup every day, feeling their bodies grow weaker and their breath grow fainter. The bitter medicine permeated every morning and evening, and even breathing felt like swallowing shards of glass; every rise and fall of their chest was accompanied by the dull pain of impending death.

Until the doctor arrived, under his treatment, he stood up for the first time, experienced a healthy human body for the first time, and saw so-called hope.

The warmth of the sunlight on his body, the solidity of the ground beneath his feet, the strength of his outstretched limbs... all of these felt so real that they almost brought tears to his eyes.

But soon, he found that his condition began to relapse, and even worsened. His skin would be scorched by the sun, and he was constantly filled with a bloodthirsty desire. All human senses were flowing out of his body.

The warmth, sustenance, and peace that once belonged to humanity have slipped through our fingers, replaced by a thirst for blood and a fear of the light.

At that moment, there was only anger. It had brought him hope, but it immediately brought him despair.

He was furious, but even more so, he was terrified—terrified that the doctor would continue to bring him negative changes. So, in a fit of anger and fear, he killed the doctor.