Chapter Forty-Four: Annihilation and Departure

Even after Chu Fan severed Muzan Kibutsuji’s head, the demon did not die.

Muzan’s fallen eye stared at this man who had slain two of his most valued subordinates. In just over ten seconds, from a distance even Muzan couldn’t sense, this man had rushed to the battlefield. Clearly, he was no ordinary foe.

Yet, from this, Muzan Kibutsuji also realized what he ought to do.

“White Phantom, do you really think you’ve driven me to the brink?” he sneered. “The Ubuyashiki is dead, and you can join him in hell.”

A manic grin twisted across Muzan’s face as he finished speaking. The path to the Infinity Castle opened, and Chu Fan entered alongside Muzan.

“At last—we’ve arrived. Infinity Castle.” Even Chu Fan’s cold demeanor melted into a faint smile at this moment.

Muzan, hearing these words and seeing the smile on the White Phantom who had entered Infinity Castle with him, felt an unexplainable chill.

But Nakime quickly transported Muzan away.

The castle began to rotate; immense corridors surged forth. Nakime tried to send the White Phantom to the assembly point of the Upper Moons. For those unaware of her abilities, or if their strength was just a bit lacking, they might easily fall prey.

But Chu Fan was fully prepared and well-informed of all the Upper Moons’ abilities and intel.

His left hand gripped the Nichirin blade, while his right conjured the cursed kitchen knife. With a single slash—

A thunderous crash.

Every bit of the advancing architecture was cleaved in two by Chu Fan’s blade. The force was so terrifying that Nakime’s body was torn apart outright, yet because her head was not severed by a Nichirin blade nor exposed to ultraviolet light, she did not die.

But with a resounding bang, Chu Fan shot towards Nakime like a cannonball, and his Nichirin blade sliced her head clean off.

Hiding deep within Infinity Castle, Muzan Kibutsuji suddenly felt Nakime’s presence vanish, and his eyes narrowed.

This White Phantom’s strength far surpassed what he had imagined—perhaps even comparable to Yoriichi Tsugikuni.

“Tamayo, let go already!” Muzan realized he’d brought a monster into his stronghold and, in a panic, glared at Tamayo, who still had her hand embedded in his body. With a swift motion, he sliced her body apart and barked furiously.

But Tamayo, determined to perish alongside Muzan, clung to him even as her body was torn asunder, delaying his recovery to full strength.

“It seems someone very important has died,” she said with a smile. “Kagaya Ubuyashiki did not deceive me. Master Hanyu truly is the strongest Hashira.”

Despite her grievous injuries, Tamayo’s heart swelled with satisfaction at Muzan’s panic; she realized something profound.

[You have slain Upper Moon Six, Nakime. Reward: 5,000 Chosen Coins, one blue chest.]

[Current Chosen Coin total: 27,650.]

Hearing the Chosen Paradise’s voice, Chu Fan’s mood lifted further. With Nakime dead, the entire Infinity Castle began to tremble and collapse.

Yet Chu Fan showed no fear as he surveyed the chaos. Seizing the final minute or so before total collapse, he quickly navigated the trembling castle, heading toward the densest concentrations of demonic energy.

Like a god or demon, Chu Fan moved unimpeded. At every encounter, in a single breath, thirty-seven demons lost their heads to his Nichirin blade.

To conserve his magic for Muzan, Chu Fan did not, as usual, incinerate their blood with fire. Thus, his once snow-white flame cloak was now dyed crimson with blood.

Muzan’s plan was to use these demons to wear down the Demon Slayer Corps—but for Chu Fan, they were nothing more than walking bags of Chosen Coins. Dozens slain, and 3,700 coins earned in an instant.

Eager to absorb Tamayo quickly, Muzan transformed his body into a grotesque mass of flesh. At the same time, he sensed the demonic auras vanishing at an unimaginable pace.

He understood: after centuries, the world faced a new monster akin to Yoriichi Tsugikuni—perhaps even stronger, for Infinity Castle itself was on the verge of collapse.

And yet this monster, seemingly oblivious to approaching death, became a bloodthirsty asura, reaping demon lives without pause.

With Nakime dead, Muzan could no longer share her vision, but the speed of the slaughter terrified him. He wanted desperately to flee, but in his wounded state, escape was impossible.

“You’ve finally met your match, Muzan Kibutsuji!” Tamayo, her body slowly absorbed, felt his terror and laughed aloud.

In just over a minute, Chu Fan had slain more than a hundred demons, his Chosen Coins surpassing forty thousand.

Infinity Castle collapsed with a thunderous roar.

In the streets of a certain city, a skyscraper toppled. Wreathed in flames, Chu Fan activated elementalization and the beginning of fusion. At the outset, he drank his only bottle of inferior mana potion.

As the collapsed castle’s debris fell, Chu Fan unleashed half of his magical reserves, igniting the ruins in a towering inferno.

The few Upper Moons who survived the collapse were instantly engulfed in searing flames, their bodies wracked with agony and left in shreds.

In this one-minute burst of his utmost strength, Chu Fan commenced his slaughter: with each swing of his Nichirin blade, an Upper Moon fell. In just twenty seconds, the final five Upper Moons were annihilated.

Within the blaze, a massive, fiery tumor writhed and screamed. Muzan, sensing the last Upper Moon’s demise, watched as a blood-soaked figure—left hand gripping a Nichirin blade, right hand wielding the cursed kitchen knife—strode through the flames, expressionless, advancing toward him.

That look, that gaze—Muzan knew it all too well. He had regarded countless feeble, dying ants with the same cold indifference.

And this was the last sight Muzan Kibutsuji would ever see.

The cursed kitchen knife sliced cleanly, carving up the mass of flesh and exposing Muzan, hidden within, to Chu Fan’s gaze. Noting that Muzan’s stats matched his own before activating the fusion, Chu Fan realized he could have slain Muzan before entering Infinity Castle.

But to maximize his rewards, he had chosen to wait.

Now, with ruthless efficiency, Chu Fan shredded Muzan’s body into over a thousand pieces. Still, Muzan did not die, struggling desperately to escape. But within that horrifying sea of fire, his flesh was reduced to ashes in seconds.

[You have slain Muzan Kibutsuji. Reward: 10,000 Chosen Coins, two gold chests.]

[With Muzan’s complete demise, the main mission—Survival—has been completed. You will leave this world in thirty seconds. Please prepare, Chosen One.]

Standing amid the sea of flames, Chu Fan closed his eyes and took in the scene.

With the building’s collapse and the inferno blazing against the night sky, people rushed from nearby homes to put out the fire—but as they emerged, they witnessed a sight they would never forget: a blood-soaked figure standing amid the flames, untouched, godlike.

The vision lasted only a few seconds before vanishing, leaving some doubting their own eyes, while others believed it had been no illusion.

Meanwhile, through shared vision, the Demon Slayer Corps witnessed Muzan Kibutsuji’s death.

“Father, is this the one you said would bring victory and hope to humanity?” The only surviving son of Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the eight-year-old Kiriya Ubuyashiki, saw the scene through a crow’s eyes, his heart shaken to its core.

News of Muzan’s death, and Lord Hanyu’s departure, swept through the Demon Slayer Corps.

Of the nine Hashira, only Shinobu Kocho—who had stayed behind due to Chu Fan’s warning—had not fought. The remaining eight were left in disbelief: a single man had slain Muzan Kibutsuji. Who was he, truly?

Whatever his identity or origins, when they arrived at the scene and saw the scorched ruins, they all knew: their duty had ended. There was no need to continue hunting demons.

With Muzan’s death, all demons perished as well.

The only survivors were Nezuko Kamado and Yushiro, who had reverted from demonhood back to humanity.

“Lord Hanyu truly is remarkable,” said Kogiku with pride and tears in her eyes upon hearing the news from the Chrysanthemum House.

Muzan was dead, and Lord Hanyu had departed.

The following day, in the Butterfly Estate, there was no longer the sound of Lord Hanyu’s relentless training—no matter how powerful he’d become, he had never ceased striving. Today, it was silent, and Shinobu Kocho understood: this time, unlike when he had suddenly left for Yudon, Lord Hanyu might never return.