The Crystal's Whisper and The Wind's Embrace

Chapter 74: The Crimson Storm Begins

The world cracked the moment Muzan moved. One heartbeat—they were charging him.

The next—He was gone. And behind them.

"DOWN!" Giyu shouted, his blade flashing as the floor erupted in a ripple of blood-red energy. Tendrils shot out like whips, slicing through air, stone, and flesh alike.

Muzan's strike detonated against the floor, and a pulse of crimson energy rippled out in every direction. Red tendrils lashed like whips, tearing through stone, air, and flesh.

Sanemi twisted, blocking three with a single wild motion, the impact numbing his arms. "Faster than anything I've fought," he spat, lips bleeding.

Tsukiyo spun beside him, her crystal blade gleaming like fractured moonlight. She caught two lashes and pivoted with impossible grace, her hair snapping behind her. "Ugh, he's too strong. We'll fall one by one if we split up!" she called, breath ragged.

Rengoku was already moving—his fire igniting the hall in a radiant blaze. "Flame Breathing, Ninth Form – Rengoku!" He became a streak of flame, his blade screaming toward Muzan's core.

Muzan met him with a single hand. The shockwave cracked the walls, splintering the floor beneath their feet. Rengoku slid back, panting, his smile unbroken despite the blood on his lips. "His regeneration... it's instantaneous."

"Then we cut faster," Obanai said, darting in. "Serpent Breathing, Third Form – Coil Choke!"

Mitsuri followed, spinning her sword in a glittering pink arc. "Love Breathing, Sixth Form – Cat-Legged Winds of Love!"

Their blades moved in harmony—beauty and precision in motion. But Muzan moved like liquid shadow, twisting through their attacks with an inhuman grace.

"He's not fighting seriously," Obanai hissed. "He's toying with us."

"Thunder Breathing—First Form: Thunderclap and Flash... Sixfold!" Zenitsu blurred through the chaos, his strikes crackling with golden light. Muzan sidestepped the last bolt and caught his arm midair.

"Too slow." He flung Zenitsu like a ragdoll into the wall.

Before anyone could reach him, Giyu moved. "Water Breathing—Eleventh Form: Dead Calm." The chaos hushed under the tranquility of his motion. His blade slid across Muzan's side, buying just a moment—just enough for Tsukiyo.

"Crystal Breathing—Fourth Form: Luminous Whip!" Ribbons of crystal light coiled around Muzan's limbs, refracting his monstrous form into a storm of color.

Tanjiro charged through that brilliance, flame and water intertwining. "Hinokami Kagura—Dance of the Fire God!"

Muzan dodged, but his cloak caught fire—sizzling to ash. He paused, looked down at the burned cloth, then smiled. "You've improved."

The castle answered his voice, the floor groaning as the walls folded inward, dragging them deeper into its living heart.

"Formations!" Gyomei thundered. "We restrict his movement!"

Sanemi moved beside him, raising his sword. "Pair off!"

Tsukiyo staggered beside him, sweat and blood streaking her cheek, breath shallow yet fierce.

"Still breathing?" Sanemi growled, his voice roughened by exhaustion.

She tilted a faint smile toward him. "Only because you are."

He grunted, feigning annoyance. "Tch. You and your damn lines."

But the next instant, his sword angled to cover her side, their shoulders brushing, a fleeting touch in the storm, a promise he didn't have to speak.

And then Muzan moved again. And hell itself began.Tendrils erupted from every direction, walls and floor bleeding with monstrous life. Muzan's form split again, his body blooming into a grotesque bouquet of mouths, eyes, and claws.

"Watch out!" Giyu cried again as another wave of red lashes cracked through the air. Sanemi blocked two. Tsukiyo parried a third, shards of crystal flying as her blade caught the blow just in time. Her side screamed with pain from the earlier hit.

"Stay behind me!" Sanemi snapped.

"I told you—I won't just watch you die."

He growled but said no more.

"He's regenerating... too fast," Rengoku muttered, sweat pouring down his brow.

Their blades danced between Muzan's lashes, trying to get close enough to cut—but he shifted, rotating in midair like liquid shadow. "You can't touch me," he sneered.

Zenitsu flashed through the air, sparks trailing. "Thunder Breathing—First Form... Eighthfold!!" His eyes were wild with panic, but he kept moving, even as Muzan's claws grazed his side. "Why am I still doing this?! Why am I not asleep?!"

"Inosuke!!"

"I'm here, dumb yellow!" Inosuke bellowed, flipping over a crashing tendril. Dual blades in a blur, he slashed in zig-zagging fury. "Beast Breathing—Seventh Fang: Spatial Awareness!" He twisted his masked face.

"His hearts—they're shifting again!" Kanao appeared beside him, blade glinting. Her breathing slowed, the world narrowing. "Flower Breathing, Final Form – Equinoctial Vermilion Eye." Veins in her eyes burst as her vision sharpened beyond human limit. She darted in, each strike precise, targeting joints and nerve lines to try and weaken Muzan's monstrous form.

"Back her up!" Tsukiyo shouted.

"Already on it," Tanjiro replied, stepping in with water to cover her blind spots.

Amid the chaos, a whisper from the outside world. Far above, Tengen Uzui stood at a hidden platform in the upper rafters of the castle's outer structure, orchestrating rescue and healing operations. Though no longer a Hashira, his voice barked orders with perfect rhythm. "Kakushi Team 2—get Genya stabilized, use double pressure binding on his abdomen! And keep Tokito's airway clear—he lost too much blood!" His three wives moved like shadows around him—quick, efficient, silent. "Even if I can't fight," Tengen muttered, gripping a kunai in one hand, "I'll damn well keep them alive."

Back on the battlefield, Tsukiyo faltered as a tendril caught her side. Blood sprayed. "Tsukiyo!" Sanemi lunged, catching her before she hit the floor.

"You idiot," he snapped. "Why do you always take the hit for me?!"

"Because... I can't lose you," she breathed.

His jaw tightened. "Don't say things like that now." She smiled despite the pain.

Obanai ducked under another strike, his breathing sharp. "This isn't a fight. It's a war of attrition. We need a new plan."

"We delay," Gyomei said calmly, voice steady even as blood trickled from his temple. "And trust the sun to rise."

"That's a hell of a plan," Zenitsu said, panting.

Tanjiro stumbled, his breathing ragged. "He's not invincible. If he was—he wouldn't be so desperate to end this quickly."