Tatsuki glanced back.
"Exusiai—are you all right?"
Realizing she'd been protected, Exusiai lowered her arms and checked herself over. Then, donning her familiar carefree smile, she gave Tatsuki a thumbs up.
"Totally fine."
"Great. Now, time to deal with this scumbag."
"Who are you?!" Muzan ground his teeth, glaring at Tatsuki with the utmost loathing.
"Can I finally go all-out?"
A voice came from the distance—Esdeath, barely suppressing her anger. Toying with a weakling shamed her.
"Yeah, no problem now." Tatsuki ignored Muzan's question.
"Very well. You ready to die buried in ice?"
A savage grin spread across Esdeath's face. At once, a mighty, long-subdued power of extreme cold seemed to erupt, raging over the demons. In a blink, hundreds—thousands—of demons froze solid.
"Wha—! How… flamboyant!"
Tengen exclaimed, his eyes shining with awe. In that moment, Esdeath was the true 'God of Festivals!'
"C–c–c…that woman…!"
Sanemi trembled. Days of "discipline" had instilled in him a deep, visceral fear of Esdeath. With a fierce shout, he lunged at Gyokko, seeking to vent his frustration upon at least some foe.
Meanwhile, Tatsuki's gaze briefly swept across the battlefield, then locked onto Muzan again.
"Damn you! I'm the Demon King! I order you to release me!"
Feeling cornered, Muzan roared in impotent rage, then switched tack.
"You can't kill me! My body regenerates infinitely! I'm immortal!"
"Tatsuki, need me to step in?"
Aqua hopped over, face bright with expectation. 'Heh heh, that dummy Tatsuki will have to beg me for help now!' She pictured Tatsuki pleading, Please, Goddess, save me. The smug grin already tugged at her lips.
'What a silly goddess…'
Tatsuki's mouth twitched. Her abacus beads were practically falling in his face. If not for the fact that handling a simpleton might be criminal, he'd have taught her a lesson.
His eyes swept over Aqua's figure, momentarily sizing her up. Aqua tensed.
"!! W–what are you doing?!"
She reflexively covered her skirt in embarrassment.
"…"
Tatsuki sweat-dropped. 'Still…at a second glance, Aqua's figure wasn't bad. A goddess's appearance indeed had its merits. Perhaps it wouldn't be that bad? Cough… Time to lower my moral baseline. Someday, messing around with the "Monkey King" might be illegal, but this is just a dim goddess…' He'd keep his conscience "flexible."
Anyway, no, he definitely wouldn't beg Aqua.
He raised his hand lightly, and Muzan's body lifted into the air upon a current of wind, exposing him for all to see.
At this moment, everyone saw Muzan—the supposed king of demons.
"Lord Muzan!"
One hapless demon cried out, only to have its head abruptly explode with a bang. Everyone stared in dumbfounded silence at the corpse. Does that fool not know shouting Muzan's name leads to a curse?
Then they realized how pained Muzan looked. They all halted combat, sensing that whatever happened next would mark the end of this war.
With a final crash, the ice statue remains of Kokushibo's shredded body fell to the ground. Esdeath stood, feeling wonderfully refreshed, and turned her attention toward Tatsuki.
"What are you planning to do?" she asked quietly.
"What do you plan to do?! You can't kill me! Release me, and I'll grant you eternal life!"
Muzan's threatening tone now shifted to bribes. Yet part of him strained to split his body and flee—but the mysterious pressure blocked any division. He was fully sealed inside this intangible barrier, unable to move or dissolve.
"You know what happens if we gather all the wind in one spot?"
Tatsuki mused, ignoring Muzan entirely.
"Huh?"
Confusion rippled among the bystanders. 'Gather all the wind? What does that mean?'
They only had a second to wonder. Suddenly—whoooosh—the shriek of a fierce gale rang out.
"Wind?"
Someone muttered. A stream of wind, tangible as ribbons, converged at Muzan's location.
"What are you doing?!"
A shiver of panic ran through Muzan.
"All the wind in one place… forcibly compressing the air at an ultra-high density," Tatsuki calmly explained. "We forcibly break apart the 'atoms' in that air, splitting them into positive ions and electrons—creating the phenomenon called plasma."
As he spoke, everyone saw his words become reality. The swirling wind converged on Muzan, intense pressure crushing his body.
"Aaaargh!"
His flesh tore as unstoppable compressive force pinned him, preventing any spillage outside the swirling vortex.
The furious wind roared toward the sky—blue light coalesced into a searing sphere. People felt a wave of heat.
'So hot…!'
Someone gasped. The air itself distorted violently from the extreme temperature. Those watching in the chat:
Half-Elf: "Wh-what's plasma…?"
Tushan Honghong: "No idea."
March 7th: "Uhh… I just asked Uncle Yang—plasma can exceed the temperature of the sun's surface, tens of thousands of degrees Celsius!"
Half-Elf: "That's… horrifying!"
Sword Saint: "Are we seeing him… create something hotter than the sun?"
Ainz: "As expected of the big boss. I always suspected the space-station fight wasn't near his full power."
Nami: "Hm, indeed, Tatsuki's strength is no joke."
Saeko Busujima: "…"
Saeko silently clenched her eyes.
"I have to hurry and grow stronger too."
***
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