✦ EPIPHANY - BY -C3NTURIES ✦

― MITSURI HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO RUN. the ubuyashiki estate had been found? not only that, had it just been destroyed?!

"you fool! you absolute fool! how could you sacrifice yourself just as a decoy? how were you willing to kill yourself and your family just to end me?! you're a fool, kagaya ubuyashiki!" muzan yelled, attempting to heal the damage he had taken from the explosion.

he quickly gets immobilized by black spikes, and before he could react lady tamayo attacks him and impales him with a drug.

"you've been injected with a drug to turn you back into a human, muzan kibutsuji! your reign of terror will end today!" tamayo screams in a fit of rage.

"you dare try to drug me?! remember you killed your family, tamayo, not me!" muzan yells back, attempting to neutralize the drug subconsciously.

"i know i killed people to survive! i know i did! but i wanted to live as a human, and see my children survive! if we both killed people, we will atone for them at the same time!"

the hashira managed to reach the decimated mountainside, and gasped in horror at the sight before them. gyomei was the first to attack, easily decapitating muzan without even using a breathing style.

but muzan was quick to regenerate, and it was then that gyomei realized muzan would not die no matter how many times he was decapitated.

"muzan kibutsuji! what did you do to okayata-sama?!" sanemi screams at the distracted demon lord.

"my comrades! you must know this!" gyomei yells to the hashira. "muzan is the demon that infiltrated our headquarters, and he will not die no matter how many times he is beheaded!"

all of the remaining hashira, including tanjiro, knew exactly what had to be done.

all nine of them leapt forward, unleashing respective attacks and managing to drive muzan into a corner.

but instead of what they hoped for, which was a concerned look, muzan just smiled at them.

✦ EPIPHANY - BY -C3NTURIES ✦

― OBANAI AND MITSURI FELL THROUGH THE SPAWNING DOORS TOGETHER, both withdrawing their swords from above them and preparing to attack.

once the two of them landed on a platform, a horde of demons closed in on them. obanai was quick to protect mitsuri, killing them all within an instant.

"mitsuri! are you okay?!" he calls, to which mitsuri nods quickly.

"i don't see any more demons here... i think we're safe for now!" mitsuri notes.

the two of them carefully wander through the infinity castle, and soon enough notice a female demon holding a biwa.

"look! over there!" mitsuri whispers, pointing to the demon. "she's upper four!"

"i'm surprised the last upper four was replaced so quickly. i guess kibutsuji needed someone before this happened." obanai whispers back.

'shinobu has already sacrificed herself to kill upper rank two, and she was younger than me. this means i need to avenge her and do the best i possibly can! no matter how strong the demons are!'

mitsuri quickly jumps forward, preparing to decapitate the demon known as nakime. but, nakime was too quick for her, and blocked her with a wooden door making her fall.

'damn it! that was stupid!'

obanai manages to catch mitsuri before she fell to her death, pulling her back up onto the same wooden column as him.

"mitsuri, since we have absolutely no idea how this demon's art works, we should analyze it and proceed calmly." he says.

"right!" mitsuri nods with determination.

"now, all we need to do is-"

obanai is interrupted by the floor beneath the two opening, possibly in an attempt to separate them. they both managed to grab the doorframe they were standing on and jump away as doors continued to open and close to separate them.

suddenly, the columns next to them began to quickly close in, trying to crush them.

obanai was able to dodge, but mitsuri was distracted by concern for her fellow pillar's safety. she got caught by one, and was driven towards a ceiling.

"mitsuri!" the serpent pillar yelled to her in fear.

mitsuri easily slashed the column open, and jumped down to confront nakime.

"i know you can't hit me with the same attack twice, demon!" she yells, going to decapitate her for the second time.

she suddenly falls again, realizing nakime had spawned a door for her to fall into. she jumped up onto a platform quickly, but felt rendered useless as she watched obanai attempt to kill nakime but get thrown off completely.

'i have to keep fighting! no matter how frustrating this blood demon art is!'

✦ EPIPHANY - BY -C3NTURIES ✦

― "YUSHIRO!" mitsuri calls to the demon who suddenly appeared close by.

yushiro quickly confronts nakime, managing to activate his own blood demon art and control nakime's vision. he drilled his fingers into her skull, and was able to control the infinity castle to help obanai and mitsuri escape.

as the two pillars began to ascend back to the surface, the call of a kasugai crow echoes through the dimension.

"the demon king has been fully revived! all surviving hashira must gather at his location! repeat, the demon king has been fully revived! all surviving hashira must gather at his location!"

the two exchange a look of fear.

'what have we been doing this entire time while he's been revived?!' 

'what effort have i done, if both tokito and shinazugawa's brother have sacrificed themselves to kill upper one? this castle demon isn't even harming us, she's just stalling us for time so the least amount of hashira can fight kibutsuji!'

obanai takes mitsuri's hand, running as far as he could away from nakime.

"we've got to find a way to get out of here and get to kibutsuji!" he says, to which mitsuri nods.

meanwhile, tanjiro and giyu were fighting muzan as nakime had teleported him to them.

"if you're trying to stall me until the sunrise, you're fools. the sun can't penetrate into the infinity castle, and there is no way only three hashira are enough to stall me!" muzan yells.

"what do you mean, three hashira?! iguro-san and kanroji-san-" tanjiro tries to argue.

"both of them have been crushed! they're dead!" muzan interrupts, attacking tanjiro and giyu with his whip-like appendages.

suddenly, mitsuri jumps in from the ceiling and strikes muzan.

"love breathing, sixth form: cat-legged wings of love!" she yells, hoping her attack harmed the demon lord in some way.

muzan didn't even react, completely unscathed. meanwhile, obanai helped tanjiro stand back up and made sure he wasn't going to die.

"you need to back out of the fight if you keep getting knocked down, kamado." the serpent pillar says to a relieved tanjiro.

"nakime!" muzan screams in fury. "what are you doing?! you should have killed them!"

yushiro appears with nakime, his eyes blood-red.

"you have committed the gravest sin in the world, muzan kibutsuji. you have taken lady tamayo away from me! you will repent immediately and be erased from the face of the earth!!" he yells in grief.

giyu and obanai take the opportunity to attack muzan, and the demon lord stumbles in confusion.

everyone suddenly falls, and muzan crushes nakime's skull which resulted in the infinity castle finally collapsing. 

✦ EPIPHANY - BY -C3NTURIES ✦

➥TAISHO ERA SECRET
☆ the next chapter(s) are gonna be very angsty, please be prepared and for the second time BE CAREFUL. there are a LOT of spoilers since this story directly follows the battle Demon Slayers vs Muzan Kibutsuji: Part 2 in the Infinity Castle/Sunrise Countdown Arc of KNY. if you don't want spoilers, don't read this book. read the manga first.