Muzan Kibutsuji/Synopsis

## History

Muzan was born in Japan's Heian era, to a constant struggle to survive on account of his frailty. His heart stopped multiple times in his mother's womb, and when he first entered the world, he was deemed stillborn, having no pulse and not breathing. When he was taken to be cremated, he escaped death by releasing his first cries.

Throughout his young life, he struggled with illnesses and that led to his thanatophobia. As a young man, Muzan was diagnosed with a disease that would kill him before he reached the age of 20. The doctor treating Muzan gave him a special experimental medicine, but it appeared to have failed. Enraged by his worsening condition, Muzan killed him. However, it was only after killing the doctor did he realize that the medicine was actually working and had helped him acquire a strong body. He realized he needed to consume the flesh of humans to survive but was not bothered by this. However his new, more serious problem is that he was unable to walk in sunlight anymore, as doing so burned him severely, even realizing that it would kill and turn him into ashes.

He deeply resented the thought of having to spend the rest of his life avoiding sunlight during the day and having going out at night, and it was only then that he came to truly regret his foolish decision to kill the doctor before the latter had finished treating him with his medicine.

Upon conducting research on the contents of the medicine that the doctor had made for him, he discovered that it contained a rare component called the Blue Spider Lily. Believing that if he consumed one, it could nullify his weakness to sunlight, he searched the entire country for the flower, but couldn't find it as the only person who knew about them was the doctor he killed, and that Muzan was unware that it only bloomed during daytime for at most 2-3 days a year.

Obsessed with walking at daytime, even though he had obtained great power, Muzan considered himself to be imperfect and wanted to be rid of his weakness to sunlight. This desire eventually became an obsession that he would chase for the next 1000 years and with the search for the Blue Spider Lily going nowhere, he started to use his blood to turn people into demons, under his control, hoping that one of them would eventually find the Blue Spider Lily, or creating more demons, he hoped that one day, one of them would be able to withstand sunlight; once this happened, he could take their immunity to sunlight for himself by consuming them and then finally achieve his goal of conquering the sun and becoming truly immortal.

In his early years as a demon, Muzan settled down with five different women. However, because of his lack of empathy and sensitivity as a demon, he verbally abused all five of his wives to the point it drove them all to commit suicide.

Muzan found a young girl named Tamayo, who was afflicted with a disease that threatened her life. She encounters Muzan and, wishing to see her children grow up, allowed him to transform her. Unused to her new body, she inadvertently killed her own family to survive, as well as another group of people. This decision haunted her to no end and she became resentful and hateful of Muzan. But due to Muzan's immense power, she was unable to kill him with success. Muzan enslaved Tamayo and she followed him around as a lowly servant.

Sometime after, he finds Michikatsu Tsugikuni, a marked Demon Slayer and user of the Moon Breathing style. Michikatsu wanted to become more powerful than his brother and loathed the fact that his status of being marked meant his life would soon end. Muzan issued a compromise; he wished to have a breath using Demon and in return, he could live forever and perfect his skill. Michikatsu agreed and Muzan gave him an extremely high concentration of his blood, emerging three days later transformed and taking the name Kokushibo.

Later, Muzan and Tamayo would encounter Yoriichi Tsugikuni, who was Michikatsu' younger twin brother and another Demon Slayer. The moment the two met, Yoriichi sensed Muzan's malice and anger, comparing him to boiling magma. Simultaneously, Muzan found nothing in Yoriichi that resembled something dangerous and didn't fear his opponent. Already satisfied having Kokushibo as his subordinate, Muzan tried to kill Yoriichi without warning. He, however, was able to dodge the blows and discerned Muzan's weak spots, seven hearts and five brains that move freely around his body.Yoriichi combined all his forms into one strike and turned his blade bright red, enabling him to cut through all of Muzan's weaknesses and overpower him. For the first time in his life, Muzan became stunned, unable to heal, he sat in a pool of his blood and angrily stared at Yoriichi, ignoring his question on what he thought was the value of a life. When Yoriichi moved forward to kill him, Muzan used the remains of whatever power he had left and divided his body in a powerful burst. Though Yoriichi was able to destroy nearly all the fragments, the pieces he missed escaped and allowed Muzan to regenerate again.

Muzan was deeply scarred by this encounter and with Kokushibo's assistance, the two slaughtered anyone who used Sun Breathing, in the hopes of preventing another Demon Slayer that had the power to kill him. They were almost successful and able to nearly exterminate Sun Breathing entirely. Greatly fearful of the man he considered the real demon, Muzan never directly confronted the Demon Slayers again and sent demons to do his bidding for the most part. He remained fearful of Yoriichi even after his death.

Muzan hears news of a massacre involving the violent deaths of sixty seven people. He travelled to the village before meeting the culprit, an eighteen year old boy named Hakuji. He voiced his disappointment as he believed a demon had committed the act, instead of a human. Hakuji threatened him but was silenced by Muzan piercing his hand through his head. The Demon King spoke of his plan to form a faction of twelve powerful demons and asked the young man if he was able to withstand the amount of blood he was given. Hakuji, broken by his loss and with nothing else left, didn't resist and became the demon Akaza.

In time, Muzan eventually succeeded in creating his faction, which would eventually become known as the Twelve Kizuki. He transformed multiple demons and gave them the chance to join his group, rewarding them with a larger share of his blood to make them more powerful. Split into two groups of six known as the Upper Moons and Lower Moons, the Uppers remained unchanged for centuries. The Lowers on the other hand, constantly changed as they were frequently killed by the Demon Slayers, to his growing disappointment.

The Kizuki who he personally transformed were Kokushibo, Akaza, a nihilistic but convivial cult leader, a prolific and heinous criminal sentenced to death, a dying child murderer, a frail young boy, and a sadistic young man who he initially devoured but eventually transformed . In time, he allowed for the Upper Moons to be able to recruit humans by giving them their blood, but they had to be approved by Muzan himself before becoming full-fledged members. More demons would eventually join, such as a misanthropic brother and sister hailing from the red-light district slums, a twisted and murderous musician, a moody writer, and a traitorous former Demon Slayer.

Muzan often gave random civilians his blood in order to create at least one demon with the power to withstand the sun, as a backup plan in case he still hadn't located the blue spider lily. While some painfully died due to the immense power of his blood destroying them from the inside, others were successfully turned into demons but had lost all their memories as humans and became either cruel and murderous, or feral and beastly. This included a single mother of 7, who killed 5 of her own children while in a mindless state before being killed by her eldest.

During the Taisho Era, Muzan was able to locate the Kamado family who were keepers of the Sun Breathing technique. When Tanjiro Kamado was away at town, Muzan attacked and proceeded to inject them with his blood, hopping that he could turn them into demons that could withstand sunlight. However, he was disappointed when the family didn't survive, and believed that creating a demon capable of withstanding sunlight not so easy after all. He left their home, unaware that Nezuko Kamado survived and became a demon.

## Synopsis

### Kidnapper's Bog Arc

Muzan is first mentioned when Sakonji Urokodaki tells Tanjiro Kamado that he is the one responsible for the Kamado family massacre and that he might know how to turn Nezuko back into a human.

### Asakusa Arc

Traveling through a crowd in Asakusa, Tokyo with his "family," Muzan is accosted by an angry Tanjiro. Muzan's daughter asks him who the young Demon Slayer was, and he asks the youth if there was something he wanted from him. His wife then approached them, asking if Tanjiro was somebody familiar to their family. Muzan denies this, suggesting the boy had mistaken them for somebody else. He then quickly slashes a passing man, turning him into a demon. During the commotion, he and his family leave while Tanjiro is forced to tend to the demonfied man.

     Afterwards, Muzan sends his family home in a carriage without him, declaring he had some work to do. He wanders through an alley, where a drunk man bumps into him. The man then mocks and insults him, saying he doesn't like wealthy people like him. When the drunk man notes how pale his skin is, Muzan smashes him into a wall and also proceeds to kill the man's older brother with a swift upwards kick. He then turns to the cowering female companion and asks if he looks pale or close to death. Muzan answers his own questions and tells her how he is infinitely close to perfection. He then drills his finger into her forehead, injecting her with so much of his blood that her cells melt. Afterwards, he calls Susamaru and Yahaba and orders them to kill Tanjiro.

### Rehabilitation Training Arc

Since Muzan is able to discern the locations of Demons whom he has given blood to, he is seemingly capable of locating Nezuko at the Ubuyashiki Estate. However, he is unaware that Tamayo had removed his curse from Nezuko, making him incapable of detecting her whereabouts.

The Lower Ranks have a meeting, where Muzan appears in the form of a woman. He is very disappointed after Rui's defeat, so much so that he declares that he will disband the Lower Ranks and that he will now lead only the Upper Ranks. He kills Kamanue after reading his mind when he thought disrespectful thoughts and Mukago for contradicting him. As Wakuraba tries to escape, Muzan decapitates him and renders him unable to regenerate. Rokuro tries to plead with his master and asks for more of his blood to prove himself. Seeing the Demon as a failure, Muzan becomes incredibly angry and kills him for "ordering" his leader. Before killing Enmu, the Demon states how much he enjoys making humans suffer and thanks Muzan for letting him be his final victim. Seeing potential in Enmu, Muzan gives him a high abundance of blood. Enmu almost dies from the new load of power, but manages to survive. Muzan then gives him one last chance to prove that the Lower Ranks are not useless. However, Enmu failed and was killed by the Demon Slayer Corps, putting an end to the Lower Ranks permanently.

### Entertainment District Arc

Muzan leads another life among humans as a small boy named Toshikuni and pretends to have a skin condition which prevents him from stepping into the sun. After killing Kyojuro Rengoku, Akaza reports to Muzan and tells him of his victory. However, Muzan is not pleased enough by the death of the Hashira and instead shows anger that Akaza let all the other present Demon Slayers get away, additionally berating him for not finding more information on the Blue Spider Lily.

In the Entertainment District of Yoshiwara, Muzan visits Daki. He tells her how proud of her he is and that he hopes she will become even crueler and stronger. He also lets her know about Nezuko and tasks her with killing her.

### Swordsmith Village Arc

After the Upper Six siblings are defeated, he has the other Upper Ranks meet in the Infinity Castle. He is standing on the ceiling and experimenting, trying to heal his sun weakness. Muzan tells them that he won't allow any failures such as Daki and Gyutaro. Muzan regrets putting so much confidence in her and wishes Gyutaro had fought since the beginning. He tells them to serve him with more suicidal devotion and states how he hates change. He believes change only means decline and he didn't change for so long, since he is practically perfect. He then sent Gyokko and Hantengu to destroy the swordsmith village before departing from the meeting.

While in disguise as a small boy, Muzan feels through Hantengu that Nezuko is able to withstand sunlight, thus making his assault on the Sun Breathing family a success. His excitement alerts his foster mother and maid, who he immediately kills as he sets his mind on getting Nezuko and devouring her to finally become immortal.

### Hashira Training Arc

As Muzan prepares to battle the Demon Slayers Corps over Nezuko, he appoints Nakime as Upper Rank 4 and makes her more powerful. He uses her tracking skills to scout out the whereabouts of all Demon Slayers. He is quite impressed by her efforts and compliments her, as he is sure to find Nezuko and the Corps' leaders soon.

### Final Battle Arc

#### Infinity Castle Arc

Muzan appears at the Ubuyashiki mansion and sees Kagaya. He mocks him for his weak appearance. Kagaya tries to lecture Muzan and points out how the Hashira will never give up trying to kill him. Muzan laughs and proceeds to attack Kagaya. Before he can kill him however, the mansion explodes, with Muzan caught in it. The explosion, which was enhanced by spike traps, manages to injure Muzan. Before he is able to regenerate fully, Tamayo appears and uses her Blood Demon Art to keep him in place, while using a drug that can turn him into human. Using this opportunity, Gyomei Himejima appears and destroys Muzan's head. However he is able to instantly regrow his head. As all of the other Hashira join the fight, the Infinity Castle appears as if sucking in all the people nearby and scattering them. Muzan claims he will slaughter them all tonight.

As the Demon Slayers manage to beat the majority of the Upper Ranks and attempt to locate Muzan, several lower ranked members are able to find his cocoon. Emerging from it, he proceeds to eviscerate all the Demon Slayers in his proximity, as he tries to regain the stamina lost from his struggle against Tamayo. He takes her head and mocks her for being unable to kill him, ridiculing that the drug she designed was useless. Tamayo angrily demands Muzan to return her family to her, to which Muzan replies she should join them on the other side and crushes her head, which Yushiro senses. He further proceeds to slaughter Demon Slayers and reaffirms his vow to kill all of them.

Through Nakime's ability, Muzan is placed face to face with Tanjiro and Giyu. Muzan asks Tanjiro why he is so concerned with revenge against him, when he got out of the massacre of his family alive, and thus can resume his life if he wanted to. Comparing himself to a "Great Calamity" he states that it is impossible for humans to take revenge on natural disasters like rain, winds, volcanic eruptions or earthquakes take the lives of dear ones, humans keep on living, and that fighting him amounts to the same kind of folly. He thus concludes that the Demon Slayers fight him because they are a group of deviants, and that he has tired of dealing with them and is the only one who wants to truly put and it to the fight. An enraged Tanjiro claims Muzan should not have been allowed to exist.

A battle ensues with Muzan extending his arms into long bladed whips keeping Giyu and Tanjiro at bay, as the latter infuriated at Muzan's inhumanity Tanjiro navigates between Muzan's strikes and attempts at infiltrating but is ultimately unsuccessful and slashed near his eye. Giyu pulls Tanjiro away reminding the latter that Muzan's power is above any of the Upper Demons. Muzan wonders if they can defeat him with just three Hashira, as he declares that Mitsuri and Obanai were killed by Nakime. Muzan performs more sweeps that Tanjiro can hardly avoid due to his injured eye, as he stumbles. Before he can kill Tanjiro, Mitsuri appears smashing the walls and attacking Muzan with her **Love Breathing, Sixth Form: Cat-Legged Winds of Love**, but is unable to inflict any damage on Muzan, much to her frustration. Obanai also appears revealing both Hashira to be alive.

An angered Muzan demands explanations from Nakime only to learn that Yushiro has used his own Blood Demon Art to take control of Nakime and that he will force Muzan out of the Infinity Castle. Further angered by the opposition, Muzan tries to wrestle control of the Castle back from Yushiro as he tries to absorb his cells through Nakime, an attack from Giyu and Obanai, force Muzan in the defensive allowing Yushiro to win control, so Muzan remotely detonates Nakime crushing her head. While her remaining cells still alive, Yushiro uses them to take control of the Castle as it continuously shifts. Muzan performs more sweeps which manage to slash Tanjiro, as the Castle shakes being forced into the outside. Before Muzan can land a critical blow on Mitsuri, Tanjiro throws a broken Nichirin Sword which stabs Muzan in his head, causing him to miss. He grows furious with Tanjiro as the Castle breaks into the surface.

#### Sunrise Countdown Arc

Now at a city, the Demon Slayers are told to stall Muzan for one more hour and a half until sunrise. A furious Muzan now with whips from his spine, emerges from debris and dares them to try, wildly swinging his limbs. The Hashira seize a chance to slash him, but to their surprise he regenerates so fast that he cannot be decapitated. Before he can fatally wound them, hordes of lesser ranked Demon Slayers push the Hashira out of harm's way, ready to die as human shields as Muzan murders dozens of them. He muses that they were fortunate to die immediately and points to Tanjiro as an example of the contrary. Showing a horrible facial burn, Muzan reveals he injected his blood into Tanjiro on his earlier attack, and that his body will be destroyed, boasting that he is already dead.

Muzan and the Hashira exchange blows and notices that Demon Slayers with their mark activated can resist the effect of his demonic blood. As Muzan tries to land a killing blow on Mitsuri, Gyomei saves her. Sanemi takes the chance to slash Muzan from behind who reacts to the Hashira's attack. Sanemi tosses vials filled with flammable liquid and proceeds to set Muzan ablaze, to which the progenitor Demon protests as dirty. Sanemi proceeds to insult him and say he is the dirty one and vows to kill Muzan.

As the battle rages on the Hashira have difficulty in fighting Muzan who proves to be too powerful for them. An exhausted Mitsuri who does nothing but evade is ultimately injured and forced out of the fight despite her desire to battle. Obanai takes notice and tries to fight harder against Muzan, trying to slice and kick his severed member away to delay his regeneration, but only making a minimal difference. Remembering his own past, decides to fight for her sake and die to meet her in another life.

Muzan's blood begins to damage the Hashira, Giyu loses the ability to hold his Nichirin Sword, with only a little more than 15 minutes passing. When all seemed lost, Chachamaru, Tamayo's cat servant, appears and throws syringes at the Hashira, dosing them with a serum that counteracts Muzan's poison. Muzan kills the cat, and grows annoyed how Tamayo still gets in his way even after death. Obanai thinks in how Muichiro may have managed to get his blade to turn bright red, and puts all his focus and effort into his grip, turning it red, however, he starts to lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen, barely able to avoid Muzan's attacks and Giyu unable to reach in time. Obanai is sent mid-air and miraculously manages to avoid Muzan's attack as Muzan's right arm and spinal whips are sliced. Muzan is left wondering how did it happen and realizes it is impossible for any of the Hashira to have been able to cut him, he is then sliced in his left arm now which makes him notice the uneven cut he has in his arm. Muzan correctly deduces that somebody is attacking him while hidden through Yushiro's technique. Feeling the air around him parting, he narrows the location of his three attackers, being none other than Inosuke, Zenitsu and Kanao whom he manages to barely slash. Gyomei is surprised to see them alive and Inosuke boasts that he has an enormous supply of Yushiro's paper so whatever Muzan tries is useless but is scolded for chatting more than necessary.

Obanai takes the chance to slice Muzan's arms which regenerate slower due to his bright red blade, a fact Sanemi points out. Zenitsu and Kanao turn invisible again and attack Muzan in unison, causing the demon to complain in irritation at their small tricks. Gyomei is glad to have more support as he is able to clash his axe and iron ball to heat them through friction, increasing their attack power. Gyomei soon smashes the left side of Muzan's torso. Sanemi and Giyu follow suit and clash their blades turning them bright red. The Kasugai Crow proclaims that 1 hour and 3 minutes remain before dawn, with the Demon Slayers regaining advantage.

The Demon Slayers take advantage of Yushiro's papers allowing them to see one another and launch a relentless assault on Muzan. Gyomei concentrates and is able to discern Muzan's unnatural biology, advising them to concentrate so they are able to see them too. Suddenly Muzan performs an undisclosed technique allowing him to defeat all his attackers simultaneously, injuring and having them crash on nearby buildings, mutilating Gyomei's left leg and Giyu's right arm in the process. Kanao Tsuyuri is left with a broken blade kneeling in shock. Before Muzan can kill her, a recovered Tanjiro saves her slicing Muzan's arm leaving him shocked, and has her taken to a medic Demon Slayer for safety. Seeing Tanjiro's mutated face as a result of his poison, Muzan comments that he looks terrible, and wonders now who is the true Demon between the two of them. Seeing Yoriichi's image in Tanjiro, Muzan feels disgust at the Demon Slayer, while Tanjiro states it is time they finish things.

Their battle begins with Tanjiro remembering the forms of the Sun Breathing he witnessed during his dream, and his father's advice, he comes to realize that the forms must be employed consecutively one after the other, which will lead to the 13th and strongest form. Though he feels discouraged at not having Yoriichi's or his father's skill Tanjiro nonetheless ventures to attack Muzan who sees the ghost of his former enemy on the younger Demon Slayer. Tanjiro is able to discern Muzan's secret technique, an array of additional whips catapulted from his tights at immense speed taking his enemies by surprise after accustoming them to his current attack style. Turning his blade bright red, Tanjiro begins to unleash the Sun Breathing forms, trying to become stronger in the brink of death.

Muzan is unimpressed as Tanjiro's technique is far from Yoriichi's level, seeing him losing strength he tries to secure the chance to end Tanjiro once and for all who is weakening from exhaustion and his own injuries. Muzan, however is unable to land a finishing blow much to his own surprise and realizes he too is growing weaker. He deduces that it must be Tamayo's doing as he had absorbed her cells and tries to communicate with her essence in the cells to ask what was the drug she injected him with was truly about. Tamayo's essence merely mocks him, much to Muzan's irritation who proceeds to destroy what remains of her consciousness and scan her memories instead. Witnessing her memories he comes to learn the truth, that Tamayo, Yushiro and Shinobu Kocho did indeed develop a drug that turned Demons into humans but added an additional poison with a powerful aging effect that would trigger with greater potency on its own in the case the humanizing venom would fail, making Muzan age at a rate of 50 years per minute. Muzan realizes that his body has weakened as it is struggling to keep his body youthful. He begins calculating the time the drug has been active, for roughly 3 hours, meaning he has aged 9,000 years. Tanjiro keeps unleashing successive forms of the Sun Breathing, irritating the Demon King with his persistence. With 59 minutes left before dawn Tanjiro is able to connect all the twelve forms and resolves himself to reuse them all faster than before.

Chachamaru is revealed to have survived Muzan's attack as Yushiro had demonified the cat before the fight. He proceeds to nurse the injured Demon Slayers. He concludes that Gyomei is unable to fight any longer due to blood and limb loss, before treating the others.

Muzan continues to lash at Tanjiro who is slowly being overcome with oxygen deprivation and losing his footing, but is saved by Obanai who was restored to health by Yushiro and who is revealed to have lost his sight during Muzan's earlier use of his leg tentacles. Tanjiro is worried but Obanai reassures him he can see through Kaburamaru. The two split as Muzan chases after Obanai and obliterates a building trying to kill him but fails. Muzan is in disbelief that a mere snake can help the Demon Slayer read his attacks, as Obanai and Tanjiro combine attacks. As Muzan grows weaker from the aging venom and the efforts of the Demon Slayers, scars become visible across all of Muzan's body. Tanjiro realizes those are the wounds inflicted by Yoriichi, burned down to a celular level which never healed despite hundreds of years and which reveal his weak points.

Muzan grows horrified at the sight of his wounds, thinking that Yoriichi, a mere man who displayed no apparent hostility was in fact the true monster between the two of them by crippling him the way he did. Tanjiro and Obanai continue their assault on Muzan now with 40 minutes left before dawn. Muzan grows restless and tries to escape trampling over the corpses of the Demon Slayers he slaughtered. This enrages Tanjiro who proceeds to throw multiple Nichirin Swords at Muzan who deflects them reasoning that stabs are much worse than mere slashes now. Obanai stabs Muzan in the neck from behind, making the latter use his spinal whips which are stopped by Tanjiro, who tries to give Obanai a pair of Yushiro's blindfolds so he can share Kaburamaru's vision. Although Muzan wounds the two of them to block their efforts, Kaburamaru succeeds in fetching the papers allowing Obanai to fight in much better condition. Muzan slowly succumbs into panic as he is running out of breath as his strength is reaching critical lows. Their battle is witnessed from afar by Nezuko who cries out of her right eye.

Muzan is further pressured by the attacks of Tanjiro and Obanai and with 35 minutes before dawn, Muzan deems it an unnecessary risk to continue the fight and attempts to divide himself into lumps, escaping in the same manner he did against Yoriichi. Tanjiro alerts Obanai of this and panics at the idea that the two of them won't be able to destroy all the flesh lumps. However, Muzan is unable to split as a 3rd drug injected by Tamayo has the property to slow down cell division. Muzan communicates with the essence of Tamayo who gleefully alerts him that there were not three effects but four, with the fourth drug causing Muzan to cough blood as it triggers cell destruction after the 3rd effect activated. The essence of Tamayo taunts Muzan that the death he so much feared is coming for him, further elaborating she doesn't need to be stronger than him to kill him as weakening him suffices, taunting him that just as he will do everything to live, they will do everything to kill him.

Muzan ponders that normally the attacks used by the Demon Slayers shouldn't be threatening nor should prolonged regeneration prove tiring, but Tamayo's drugs have turned otherwise manageable attacks into lethal threats and that he is unable to fully get accustomed to the toxins in his body which are much different than those used to kill Doma. In a desperate attempt to live, Muzan opens a gaping mouth in his chest and unleashes a potent discharge against Obanai and Tanjiro, leaving the latter convulsing and stunned. With just 25 minutes left before dawn, the weakened Kiriya who witnesses the fight from afar begs for someone to stall Muzan. His pleas are answered when Inosuke attacks Muzan lunging at the Demon King furious for the previous thrashing and mourning the comrades Muzan has killed and injured. Muzan unable to further use his previous technique retorts to lunging his arm into the ground wrapping Inosuke with his tentacle.

Inosuke is saved by the timely intervention of Zenitsu who tells Inosuke that Tanjiro is still alive, begging the latter to remain alive for the sake of Nezuko who is returning to normalcy. Muzan swings his arm at Zenitsu crashing him into a building, but is saved by Inosuke who stabs his arm only to be swathed away by another swing in the process. Muzan is under heavy fatigue and irritated as the boys continue to stand up to fight him.

Inosuke and Zenitsu continue his assault on Muzan with the latter using his **Thunder Breathing, Seventh Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami** managing to slash Muzan but the attack was more shallow than expected. Inosuke keeps attacking Muzan with his techniques forcing the Demon King to employ its shockwave once more. Before he can attack Inosuke, Tanjiro recovers and unleashes successive Sun Breathing techniques realizing Muzan needs to recharge before using his shockwave attack. Tanjiro weakens after using the **Sun Breathing: Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance**, giving Muzan an opening, but has his tubes sliced by Inosuke. Zenitsu tries to join the fight but is unable to muster enough speed to use his techniques. Muzan swathes Inosuke away to a building and Tanjiro loses footing, but Zenitsu manages to recover enough to use one last attack, but is himself injured by Muzan. Tanjiro seizes the chance and stabs Muzan pinning him to a building, unable to use any more techniques as he gambles it all in keeping Muzan in place. Muzan tries to kill Tanjiro but a recovered Kanroji entagles herself to his tentacles while ripping his left arm tearfully yelling him to stop, while Muzan's right arm and tentacles are sliced by Sanemi. Left with little choice, a bifurcation appears in Muzan's front, revealing an enormous bestial mouth trying to eat Tanjiro who cannot do anything but remain in place. To protect him, Obanai puts himself in harm's way as he is mauled by Muzan, as dawn is breaking.

Muzan panics at the sight of the sun and desperately unleashes a powerful shockwave, catapulting his attackers away except for Tanjiro who loses his left arm but firmly stays in place trying to turn his blade bright red, when Giyu appears to aid him and together the blade changes injuring Muzan. In response to the sun's menace Muzan proceeds to enlarge himself, adopting a large demonic baby form and absorbing Tanjiro in the process. As Muzan tries to get into shade, hordes of Demon Slayers block his path by tossing bookshelves and ramming vehicles on him, as he fights back for a way through. He is soon blocked by another group of Demon Slayers pushing a bus on him to prevent his escape. Muzan soon begins burning from the sun forcing him to fight for his life. Before he can overwhelm the lower ranked Slayers, Sanemi appears and slices his right arm, cursing the demon's persistence and demanding him to die.

As he tries to climb over the bus blockade, he has a chain tied to his neck by Gyomei, aided by multiple Slayers who pull together to bring Muzan down. As he burns further Muzan resorts too digging as an escape maneuver forcing Giyu, Sanemi and Obanai to attack him to deplete his stamina. Soon the chains breaks in what appears to be a hopeless moment, but Tanjiro who remains within Muzan is able to ignite his blade and injure him from the inside causing Muzan to flinch from the pain as he begins disintegrating from the sun's light. As his body fully burns into ash, the once invincible Demon King who ruled the shadows of Japan, spreading misery and suffering for a millennia, finally laid in defeat, ending the seemingly eternal war with the Demon Slayers' victory.

### Legacy

Muzan's defeat, while significant, would prove to be a costly victory for the Demon Slayers, leaving scores of members deceased, dozens mauled and heavily injured, and many on the verge of death.

Additionally, despite Muzan's death, with his last breaths, he managed to turn Tanjiro into a demon. As Muzan transfers his blood and memories into Tanjiro's dying body, he is able to successfully revive him as a demon, deeming him the **King of Demons** he influences Tanjiro into conquering the sunlight and achieving his dream to end the Demon Slayer Corps.

Tanjiro's poisoned eye is restored along with regenerating his left arm, as the young Slayer rampages in a feral state against the rest of the Demon Slayers and successfully overcomes the sun. Although the new Demon King was fundamentally invincible, Tanjiro's consciousness would fight back for control with the help of Nezuko and Kanao, the latter who used the humanizing drug as a conduit for everyone's pleas to reach Tanjiro. The reminder of Muzan's will resorted to deception and psychological torture in order to convince Tanjiro to embrace his new demon heritage, but in absolute contrast to all the Demon King ever stood for, Tanjiro rejects the immortality and powers of demonhood in favor of living the few years he has left in peace as a human with everyone's company, leaving Muzan's spirit behind putting both a definitive end to his reign of terror once and for all, avenging their tragic victim's deaths and to atone his sins for eternity in Avici; the worst and the most torturous region of all hells.

## References

1. ↑ *Kimetsu no Yaiba* Manga: Chapter 201 (Page 1).
2. ↑ *Kimetsu no Yaiba* Manga: Chapter 127 (Pages 13-16).
3. ↑ *Kimetsu no Yaiba* Manga: Chapter 187.
4. ↑ *Kimetsu no Yaiba* Manga: Chapter 11 (Page 3).
5. ↑ *Kimetsu no Yaiba* Manga: Chapter 13 (Pages 13-19).
6. ↑ *Kimetsu no Yaiba* Manga: Chapter 52 (Page 2).
7. ↑ *Kimetsu no Yaiba* Manga: Chapter 180 (Pages 5-17).