In the dead of night, just as the man-eating demons identified their targets and began to stir in the darkness, the brilliance of the sun suddenly illuminated the earth, rendering everything bright, clear, and visible down to the last detail.
"Ah?"
The ones blinded in that instant weren't the Chat Group members, who were protected by screen filters.
It was all the members of the Demon Slayer Corps, kneeling in neat rows below the high steps in front of Su Mo.
Everyone was blinded by the sudden light.
Only after several seconds did their vision return, allowing them to witness the miracle before them.
"Am-am-am I going crazy? It's the middle of the night, why is there a sun?"
The Flame Hashira stared blankly up at the cloudless sky and the blazing sun, his expression completely dumbfounded.
"Is it Mahavairocana? Amaterasu? Or Donghuang Taiyi?"
The Stone Hashira beside him was also stunned. Though blind, he could hear the crowd's exclamations and could distinguish the heat of the sun. As a former monk, he was more knowledgeable about foreign mythologies. Even so, he couldn't identify which revered god stood before them.
But while he didn't know much else, he could answer Kyojuro Rengoku's question.
"Day and night reversed... what other possibility could there be, other than a miracle from the venerable one before us?"
Only a god could accomplish something so beyond common sense.
"Ahhh! O, God!"
At that moment, their master suddenly let out a fervent cry. He stretched out his arms and kowtowed to Su Mo, his movements so vigorous he nearly toppled over.
"Master!"
Kyojuro Rengoku immediately scrambled forward on his knees, intending to support him. But as soon as he reached out, Kagaya Ubuyashiki pushed him back with surprising accuracy.
"Do not worry, and do not help me, Rengoku. Only by kowtowing personally can I express my piety and gratitude!" Kagaya Ubuyashiki's voice was unusually fervent.
Hearing this, Kyojuro looked at his master's upturned face and was instantly stunned.
"Master! Your face! The scars on your face are all gone! And your eyes... your eyes?!" he exclaimed, his expression one of utter disbelief as he looked into Kagaya's eyes. They were so clear, completely different from before.
"Yes! Have no doubt! Under the venerable god's divine might, my curse has completely vanished! Even my blinded eyes have regained the light!" Kagaya Ubuyashiki declared with a vigor he had never possessed before.
His ailing body had healed almost instantly under the sun's embrace. He, who had been blind, could once again see the world bathed in sunlight.
He had thought the god's descent would, at most, put an end to their long-standing feud with the demons. He never imagined that the chronic illness that had plagued him for so long would be swept away in an instant.
Forget the curse that guaranteed an early death; he felt that with his current physical condition, he could live to be a hundred and twenty.
And who else could have bestowed this grace upon him but the man before them, Su Mo?
In the face of such immense grace, how could he not be eternally grateful? How could he not kowtow in piety? If he didn't, he wouldn't feel at peace even living.
"Waaahhhhhh! O, God! The mercy of the gods and buddhas!"
While Kyojuro was still moved by the grace his master had received, Gyomei Himejima suddenly let out an emotional roar. Tears streamed from his eyes as he knelt piously and kowtowed, his head shattering a stone slab.
"Wait, Stone Hashira, you... hold on, your eyes are healed too?"
Kyojuro was about to ask what was wrong when he noticed something amiss. This blind man... had also recovered?
Their master's blindness and illness were from a curse, but Gyomei Himejima's was not. If their recovery had nothing to do with curses, then—
A possibility bloomed in his mind, and Kyojuro turned to look.
Sure enough, amidst the cacophony of wailing kowtows and thanks, he saw several people he knew who had been seriously injured or even disabled. But now, they had either regrown lost limbs or were full of life, all restored to perfect health.
The god's grace was universal!
Feeling the god's mercy and power once again, Kyojuro also prepared to kowtow alongside his master and Gyomei Himejima.
However, just then, he saw his master suddenly freeze. Not only that, but silent tears were streaming down his face.
"Hm? Master, what's wrong?" Kyojuro asked, confused. Had Gyomei's crying been contagious?
"..."
Kagaya Ubuyashiki's mouth opened and closed. He took more than ten seconds to compose himself before he could finally speak properly.
And the first thing he said left all the Hashira, and indeed the entire Demon Slayer Corps, stunned once more.
He said—
"I can feel it. Kibutsuji Muzan is completely dead!"
His words left everyone in a daze.
The Demon King who had lived for a thousand years, the shadow that had loomed over every member of the Demon Slayer Corps, was dead, just like that.
"Perhaps it's because of my family's bloodline connection, but I saw his final moments... He was in a room in a basement. But the sunlight descended from the sky like a sharp arrow, turning him to ash on the spot. Not even a ghost was left behind!"
Now, he would willingly die.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki's personal confirmation was the final straw that broke the camel's back for everyone.
And just then, Kanae suddenly spoke up, adding, "It's not just Kibutsuji Muzan. All the demons have been eliminated by Lord Su Mo!"
The divine priestess's words were like a divine oracle, putting the final, most important piece of reassurance in everyone's hearts.
"Oooohhhhhh! All hail Lord Su Mo!"
The entire Demon Slayer Corps—no, the entire Mount Fuji—erupted in a frenzy at this news.
No one had imagined that the Demon King's demise would be so easy. The god hadn't even targeted him specifically, yet all the demons had been slain.
In an instant, everyone began to cheer, praising the god's grace. Their reverence and worship for Su Mo reached a pinnacle.
So much so that even when they later learned that the night's sunlight had not only burned all the man-eating demons to death but had also incidentally destroyed the entire Imperial family and several militaristic strongholds, no one thought of it as a massacre.
On the contrary, they were all convinced that those damned nobles must have been colluding with the demons, forcing Lord Su Mo to step in and completely annihilate those "demons."
In the presence of a god who had personally descended, what were mere nobles and royalty?
For one thing, just by her status as a divine priestess, if Kanae wished it, she and her two sisters could serve as empresses in the name of serving the god. After all, the origin of the "unbroken" imperial line was the so-called sun goddess Amaterasu.
After Su Mo's display of divine power, there was no existence in Japan with a higher status than the three Kocho sisters.
---||---
Rin Tohsaka: "So that's how it's done! I've learned something I'll never have a use for!"
In the group chat, watching Su Mo end the battle in the blink of an eye, the twin-tailed girl finally understood what Shiroyasha meant. For an enemy that could be finished off with a bit of sunlight, there was really no need for any calculation.
For Su Mo, who held the Sun's Sovereignty, all he needed to do was slightly enhance the penetrating power of sunlight. Even if Muzan hid in the earth's core, it would be useless. This was a wide-area automatic-targeting spell, completely effortless.
March 7th: "So he summoned the sun... If I could do that, the Astral Express would never lack a power source!"
If nothing else, that move was really cool! Once she saved up enough points, she wanted to buy an Authority too!
Jibril: "No, what Lord Su Mo just did wasn't something as simple as summoning the sun, which a mere Tier 3 could do."
The Flügel's observation was clearly more meticulous.
Rin Tohsaka: "Mere Tier 3..."
Madoka Kaname: "Mere Tier 3..."
Shiroyasha: "That's right. Su Mo didn't summon a new sun. He moved the Earth's rotation, reversing the sun's trajectory to eight hours prior."
As a Celestial Star Spirit of the sun, she was the most sensitive to the sun's trajectory and the changes in the starry sky.
Shiroyasha: "To put it in another way, have you ever played an astrolabe game? It's like reaching out a hand into space and turning back the clockwork on Earth's orbit."
Shiroyasha used a not-so-vivid analogy.
Madoka Kaname: "Never played it."
Rin Tohsaka: "Never played it +1."
Rin Tohsaka: "Who would play with a cosmic astrolabe as a game?!" the twin-tailed girl retorted forcefully. Did these powerhouses have no common sense?
Shiroyasha: "I used to play it all the time!"
Shiroyasha: "Okay, fine, let's try another analogy. It's like... it's like..."
The Celestial Star Spirit racked her brain, trying to come up with a fitting analogy.
Just then, someone who had been lurking this whole time finally couldn't help but speak up.
Tendō Kisara: "...It's like the hand of God, turning the gears of the universe."
Shiroyasha: "Yes! Exactly!"
Shiroyasha: "Eh? Newcomer? You're finally willing to come out?"