Higashikuze Akiho's very existence was thought to be taboo among demons and humans alike: she was a half-demon, the first of her kind. But being taken in and rasied by a former pillar with a strong sense of justice and a hatred for Kibutsuji Muzan...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
第四十三话
Kibutsuji Muzan was dead.
Yet, there was truly no rest for the wicked.
His flesh was destroyed by the sunlight, but his fear was indestructible. Kibutsuji Muzan's fear of death, of being erased, was what drove him for centuries to hide in the darkness from demon slayers and feed his blood to the pitiful, fragile things called humans.
Kamado Tanjirou turned out to be just like the Sun Breath user who nearly ended him centuries ago. And his sister, Nezuko, had conquered the sun.
So, he thought, he will entrust his feelings to this dying boy in front of him.
You will not die, Kamado Tanjirou. You will become the strongest king among demons.
The last ounce of Muzan's blood pulsed into Tanjirou as he disintegrated.
Make my dream come true. Destroy the demon slayers in my stead.
⚔
The kakushi had surrounded Akiho and her friends to treat the heavily wounded. Sanemi had knocked out cold, but was alive. It was at this point that she allowed her body to feel the entirety of her pain, too.
Twin gashes throbbed from her shoulder blades to the middle of her back. Her right leg, still barely holding from Kokushibou's vicious slash, gave way beneath her. The muscles on her arms were shredded with torn muscle and overexertion. Everything hurt, and all she wanted to do now was to go back home with her friends.
"Anyone who can move, grab your weapons and get over here now!" Giyuu's voice shattered the breath of silence. "Tanjirou has been turned into a demon and we must kill him before he kills someone!"
The cry was not a command, but a plea, and it struck her deeper than any blade could.
She grabbed her sword with just a stub left of the blade and wondered how she could even do this. Not because her sword was broken—because she would hack away with bare hands if she had to, but because it was Tanjirou.
Her dear friend.
But as Tanjirou conquered the sun and snarled with his claws extended out at innocent people around him, she forced herself to move. Insouke and Zenitsu lunged at their friend as well, trying to scream and shout the reason back into him because they couldn't bear to use their swords.
"Tanjirou!" Akiho shouted, watching as the boy's plum red eyes focused in narrow slits. She slammed her broken sword against his chest, the flame guard thumping hard against his heart in a desperate reminder. "We have to keep walking on the right path! The path that others have given us in sacrifice! Please, Tanjirou... Don't forget who you are!"
