Ascending the Throne from the Pillar of Destruction

Hongyue took a step back, avoiding the powerful punch that swirled with turbulent air.

She drove her knee up in a fierce strike.

Bang! Akaza's abdomen cramped, and his body was sent flying.

In mid-air, the demon hands on his body went wild, his fingernails like blades gleaming with a cold, sharp light.

Rip, rip, rip... Under Hongyue's control, the demon hands erupted, tearing off both of Akaza's arms with savage speed.

After Kokushibo and Doma died, her control over the single bloodline became more precise.

Basically, without anyone needing to lift a finger, that bloodline demon hand could slowly solo kill Akaza.

The bloodline that granted them their demon bodies was both a gift and a curse.

When the progenitor had no murderous intent, life was naturally peaceful, and they could enjoy the power of the Immortal Demon Body. But once the time for reckoning arrived, the bloodline rooted within their bodies would turn into a killing machine. Without exception, no matter how strong they were, they couldn't escape.

"Akaza, you are a true powerhouse."

Kurozawa expressed his appreciation for Akaza's consistently high fighting spirit, but his attacks remained utterly ruthless.

A sharp slash emanated from Mingzhou, instantly severing Akaza's head in mid-air, leaving him without arms.

Thump! His head separated from his body, and Akaza's remains fell to the ground, but under Kurozawa's gaze, they shakily stood up.

The beheading by Mingzhou had the same effect as a Nichirin Blade, even carrying significant mental damage, but Akaza tenaciously resisted the negative emotions.

Potential Points remained unchanged, and the Power of Despair didn't increase.

He was still alive.

Kurozawa was a bit surprised.

He focused his gaze, and Akaza's body trembled violently, his posture twisted and bizarre, but he remained standing.

His head turned into black and red Gray-White dust and flew up, then hovered above his severed neck.

Flesh and blood regenerated, and his spine formed joint by joint. "No, I won't die! I can still fight!"

Amidst the dense falling raindrops and the howling wind, Akaza's roars and bellows could be faintly heard.

At the same time, his regeneration speed noticeably increased, as if he could truly resurrect and reach another level of existence.

Hongyue's expression shifted slightly. "My bloodline is dissolving, he's about to break free from my control."

At this moment, Akaza was clearly in a state of evolution. If he succeeded, it might be another form of Demon King.

However, Kurozawa couldn't just let it happen, especially after Hongyue said Akaza was uncontrollable.

Another uncontrollable Demon King was better off dead.

He made a decisive move and extended his hand.

A mass of constantly twisting and changing Pitch-Black Flames solidified, burning fiercely in his hand.

Unlike the Pitch-Black Aura that usually enveloped Kurozawa's hand, this was a distinct fire sphere, hovering an inch above his palm and burning quietly.

Raindrops fell, passing through it unaffected, ultimately shattering into dust in Kurozawa's palm.

With the boost of nearly 500 Potential Points, the Pitch-Black Aura could now directly leave his body, solidify, and attack.

And in Kurozawa's perception, its lethality was extremely potent.

"It's over, Akaza."

Whoosh! The Pitch-Black Fire Sphere, like a dim shooting star, trailed a long tail of light, pierced through the rain curtain, and finally struck Akaza's remaining body.

Boom! The Pitch-Black Fire Sphere shattered and instantly swelled in size, engulfing Akaza's entire body, turning him into a dark and deep torch. If there was a world full of light like Mingzhou, this special Pitch-Black Torch would probably be the most dazzling existence.

At the same time, Akaza's continuous fighting spirit and extremely strong survival instinct were being burned away.

In a daze, he saw a woman beckoning to him.

She had a delicate and gentle face, with crescent-shaped eyes, and her black hair was tied up with a hairpin bearing a twelve-pointed snowflake pendant.

Akaza didn't recognize this woman, but the moment he saw her, his mind became peaceful, and his never-ending desire to fight receded layer by layer.

"Hakuji, let's go."

"Don't fight anymore."

The woman walked forward, raised her head, and affectionately stroked Akaza's cheek.

Her hand was warm, smoothing away the emptiness that had always existed in Akaza's heart.

At the same time, that translucent hand, being within the Pitch-Black Aura, rapidly melted.

Akaza felt a pang in his heart and instinctively took a step back.

Suddenly, the floodgates of memory opened, and scenes from his time as a human surged like a tide, filling Akaza's mind.

Akaza's eyes were slightly dazed, then became gentle.

He remembered.

After becoming a demon, Akaza pursued strength so relentlessly, training and cultivating desperately, simply because he failed to protect the person he cherished when he was human, thus developing a pathological obsession.

"Koyuki..."

Akaza, no, Hakuji, he remembered his former name, and he also remembered the name of the girl before him.

In that instant, everything else became unimportant.

The pitch-black flames were still burning, and the Akaza within them suddenly gave up resisting. The recovering aura rapidly weakened, completely vanishing after only a few breaths.

His body did the same, turning to ash within the pitch-black flames.

Potential Points +297, Power of Despair +30.

Kurozawa stood rooted to the spot, his brow furrowed slightly.

He had also seen that woman.

He saw her with his Fighting Spirit.

It seemed to be a spirit body, meaning a soul, ghost, etc. in the conventional sense.

Kurozawa knew that spirit bodies seemed to genuinely exist in the Demon Slayer World, but this was the first time he had truly seen one.

That woman's spirit body had probably been following Akaza all along, but it had been completely still on normal days, undetectable even by Fighting Spirit. It was only when strong emotions surfaced just now that Kurozawa was able to perceive it.

"Then are there any spirit bodies following me?" Thinking of the people and demons who had died by his hand, Kurozawa suddenly had this thought.

Most likely, there were.

But Kurozawa didn't care at all.

He was a firm materialist, or perhaps, every true executioner is a materialist. What was called a spirit body was just another form of life, and as had been clearly shown just now, the Pitch-Black Aura could harm spirit bodies.

He had killed the living, was he going to be scared by the dead? At worst, he would just kill them again.

At this moment, Hongyue's voice sounded through the pitter-patter of falling rain.

"Nakime can't hold on much longer."

Inside the Infinity Castle, the distance between Nakime and Hyuga Wu was less than a hundred meters. This distance was within Hyuga Wu's attack range. Nakime had been in precarious situations multiple times and had sent a distress signal to Hongyue.

At most thirty seconds, she would be caught and killed, and then the Infinity Castle would collapse, freeing Hyuga Wu from it.

"Are you confident?" Hongyue knew that Kurozawa could improve himself through killing and asked seriously.

Kurozawa nodded, clenching his fists loosely. "Absolutely confident."

He looked at the Gray-White panel.

Potential Points: 3421 points

Power of Despair: 500 points.

The five hundred points of Power of Despair gave Kurozawa a sudden realization.

No matter what, he would not die in the Demon Slayer World. Even if he was killed by Hyuga Wu, these points of despair would likely carry his soul to the next world, because Kurozawa had already reached the peak combat power of the Demon Slayer World.

He felt that he could also choose to leave actively, but Kurozawa hadn't quite figured out how to do that yet.

"Gray-White, perfect the Immortal Demon Body and distribute the remaining Potential Points evenly among my combat attributes."

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