Seeing Tanjiro successfully sever Kokushibo's head, the members of the Demon Slayer Corps were immediately roused with elation.
However, Joseph Joestar kept his breathing steady and delivered one final Hamon strike to Kokushibo's body—just in case he overcame his neck's vulnerability.
Only after watching Kokushibo's head slowly begin to disintegrate did Joseph finally let out a breath of relief.
"It's finally over! This guy was really a pain! Damn it… Kars must be even worse than this guy!" Joseph collapsed onto the ground, doing his best to recover his strength—and promptly chugged a Recovery Potion.
Not for himself, but for the others.
The group had taken considerable damage during the fierce offensive just now.
Muichiro Tokito had been bisected at the waist and lost an arm.
The Wind Hashira had lost nearly half his torso and part of his face.
Tengen Uzui had his leg severed and his abdomen cut open, his organs nearly spilling out.
Among those present, the only ones still in relatively good condition were Gyomei Himejima, who had only a few slash wounds and no missing limbs, and Genya Shinazugawa and Tanjiro Kamado.
Genya had been the furthest away, and thanks to Kazuma's earlier warning, hadn't been caught in the slashes.
As for Tanjiro...
He'd been protected by Kairo Retsu, who shielded him with his own body so Tanjiro could land the killing blow on Kokushibo.
As a result, Kairo had been hit by dozens of slashes—and was most certainly dead.
As for Kazuma...
"Kazuma-san!" Genya shouted in pained disbelief.
During Kokushibo's sword technique barrage, Kazuma and Joseph had been the closest to him.
Joseph survived thanks to grabbing his shield—but Kazuma had taken Kokushibo's Blood Demon Art attack point-blank.
Now, the ground was covered in what was left of Kazuma.
"Amitābha…"
Gyomei pressed his palms together, blind eyes weeping.
"This Guildmaster and young man… to go this far to slay a demon and protect others…"
At that moment, the Recovery Potion Joseph drank had begun to take effect, and the others' mortal wounds started to slowly regenerate.
"Guildmaster…" Tengen Uzui muttered, his expression conflicted.
He had been surprised earlier when a cat suddenly dragged Kairo in front of him, but that same man healed his arm and eye, allowing him to rejoin the battle.
So seeing Kairo's corpse now stirred no small amount of sadness in him.
"..."
The usually irritable Wind Hashira and the soft-spoken Muichiro Tokito were both silent, bowing their heads in mourning as they gazed at Kairo's fallen body and the remains of Kazuma.
Tanjiro, seeing this scene, felt somewhat odd.
He wasn't sure whether he should feel sad or not—after all, he'd already seen Kairo die once before.
"Mr. Joseph… Guildmaster, and Kazuma-san too…" Tanjiro asked helplessly, not sure how to react when everyone else was grieving but he wasn't.
"Don't worry about them. We're moving on to deal with Muzan next." Joseph replied coldly.
"As for their bodies… or 'scraps'… just leave them here."
"Namu… That's right. If we don't kill Muzan, more tragedies like this will only happen again." Gyomei, still weeping, nodded resolutely.
"They were flamboyant and brave… If you have something in mind, don't worry about us." Tengen gave Joseph an encouraging pat on the shoulder, interpreting his lack of emotion as prioritizing the mission over mourning fallen comrades.
"Enough! Don't look at me like that!" Joseph, now visibly flustered, shouted.
"I'm not the type of guy who just shrugs off the death of his comrades, okay!?"
And just then—came the sound of rumbling wheels.
While everyone was still reeling from the grief of losing Kairo and Kazuma—
They watched, in real time, as a rainbow-colored Palico came bounding over and loaded Kairo's corpse and Kazuma's "scraps" onto a cart.
The supposedly-dead corpses instantly came back to life.
Kairo immediately burst out laughing, pointing at Kazuma who had been reduced to pulp:
"Pffft—HAHAHAHA! Kazuma, you seriously couldn't dodge? You really got turned to mush! Hahahahaha!"
"Urusaiiiiiiii!!!! I did it for the team! And even though Aqua and the others aren't even here, why am I still the one getting sacrificed?!" Kazuma wailed in despair.
The sight of these two, one mocking and one wailing, being carted off by a rainbow Palico—
left everyone completely brain-dead.
"Th-That… what is that…?" Genya stammered, utterly shocked at Kazuma's resurrection.
"Kazuma-san got chopped to bits… and came back?!"
"?"
Muichiro didn't speak—but slowly typed out a question mark.
"A youkai?!!"
The Wind Hashira screamed.
Tanjiro, seeing Kairo and Kazuma alive and well, sighed in relief.
"So the Guildmaster and Kazuma-san really weren't dead."
"Alright. Let's not dwell on this any longer."
Joseph downed another Recovery Potion and stood up from the ground.
The voice that sounded just like Gyomei's gave the others a strange sense of peace.
"The Shield guy is holding off Muzan alone. Everyone else is headed to destroy the core of the Infinity Castle and deal with the new Upper Rank Five—Nakime." Joseph said seriously.
"You all understand, right? Once the Infinity Castle collapses or is dispelled—
what awaits us is the final battle."
His words sent a chill down everyone's spine.
The name Muzan…
Had been a looming shadow over the Demon Slayer Corps for generations.
Now they finally had a chance to face him directly.
While each person silently asked themselves whether they could truly kill Muzan—
Joseph declared:
"We won't let any of you die tonight."
"This is the decision of all four of us Hunters."
As Joseph said this, Kairo and Kazuma were once again dumped in front of Kagaya Ubuyashiki.
Having seen this once before, Kagaya remained calm this time.
He took a moment to bow deeply to Kairo.
"Guildmaster, thank you and your companions… for slaying Upper Rank One."
"Tanjiro landed the final blow." Kairo waved it off.
"We didn't do much."
"No. If not for you, the Demon Slayer Corps might have had to sacrifice many more lives to bring him down."
Kagaya bowed deeply to Kairo and Kazuma.
"But next…"
"You mean Muzan, right?" Kairo stood up.
"No need to say it! That's our target too!"
"Let's f@#%ing hunt!!!!"