Kokushibo

Kokushibo is a major supporting antagonist of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a demon affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki, holding the highest position, Upper Rank One (の).

During the Sengoku Era nearly five centuries ago, Kokushibo was a human by the name of Michikatsu Tsugikuni, a former Demon Slayer, and the older twin brother of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the strongest Demon Slayer that had ever existed.

Kokushibo is also the ancestor of Muichiro Tokito and Yuichiro Tokito and the one responsible for turning Zenitsu Agatsuma's senior, Kaigaku, into a demon and joining the Twelve Kizuki.

Appearance
Kokushibo is a tall man with a muscular build and pale skin complexion. He possesses long, spiky black hair with red tips that he keeps in a ponytail. His most notable feature is the three sets of eyes on his face with yellow irises and red flesh sclera that have black straight lines diverging from each iris. His middle set of eyes has the daiji of "Upper Rank" and "One" engraved in them while his other sets of eyes feature black pupils and a cracked pattern in the irises. Kokushibo also has red markings resembling flames on the top left side of his forehead and the bottom right of his chin. His appearance is described to be profoundly majestic and dignified by Muichiro Tokito.

Kokushibo wears a purple-and-black hexagonal patterned nagagi kimono and black umanori-styled hakama pants tied with a white uwa-obi. He carries a fleshy katana at his waist that has eyes in the space between the tsuka ito wrapping of the handle of his sword. The tsuba and blade are shown to have eyes and veins. The scabbard is also fleshy in appearance.

As a human, Kokushibo's look was almost identical to his demon form, except for the amount of eyes, his eminent eyebrows, and less light skin. His eyes had dim purple irises and normal, white sclera as a human. As a child, he was normally seen wearing a white kimono as opposed to the purple-and-black patterned one he's seen wearing as an adult.

After being beheaded by Sanemi Shinazugawa and Gyomei Himejima, Kokushibo evolves into a more grotesque and monstrous form, with protruding fangs and mandibles, large white horns on the front and and back of his head, pointed nails, red outgrowths on his face, his pupils looking at different directions, shorter and messier hair, several thin tubes poking out of his body, and numerous black and red scorpion tail-like appendages haphazardly sprouting all across his entire body.

Personality
Kokushibo is reserved, silent, and aloof, maintaining an aura of unnerving tranquility and mystery that compliments his position as Upper Rank One. He rarely speaks; when he does, he talks in a slow and emphatic manner that gives more gravitas and authority to his words. He is an adamant rule-follower, punctual, and he shows a great deal of respect to the hierarchy of the Twelve Kizuki, as seen at the Upper Rank gathering. Kokushibo is shown to be humble as well, and he did not hesitate to admit his failure or complain of any difficulty.

Kokushibo demonstrates unwavering loyalty towards Muzan Kibutsuji, as he carries out his actions solely to fulfill Muzan's objectives. Despite his outward display of reservation, dignity, and humility, there exists a cold and unforgiving side to his personality. When reprimanding individuals, his words can be harsh, bordering on cruelty. His threats are severe and demand absolute obedience.

Kokushibo is shown to be genuinely delighted when the opponents he faced challenged him; such as helping dress Muichiro Tokito's amputated hand over his talented swordsmanship, praising Gyomei Himejima for his unparalleled human abilities and sparing Akaza because he enjoyed the challenge of battling him. However, due to this, he also felt irritation after he realized Akaza had died and he pities Gyomei for his impending death from unlocking his Demon Slayer Marks.

He possesses a complex relationship with his human past. He shows something of warmth towards his descendant, Muichiro, commending his skills and resolve, and being moved to convert Muichiro into a demon to spare his life. When their battle comes to an end Kokushibo displays his regret at having struck down his descendants. At the same time, he refers to Muichiro and his abilities as the natural result of his "cells" being passed down.

In his duel against Gyomei, the demon's banter suggests a fear of death. When Gyomei's marks appear, Kokushibo preemptively bemoans the loss of a talented fighter and he urged him to become a demon to continue honing his skills. He seemed surprised when Gyomei vehemently rejected his offer and called his mentality pathetic.

It is revealed that as a human, Kokushibo harbored an immense sense of envy towards his younger twin brother for his natural talent and incredible abilities. These feelings of jealousy and contempt only became stronger upon seeing his brother become a peerless warrior of unmatched caliber among even the Demon Slayer Corps, with none of the Hashira coming close to his level of strength. This envy peaks when he discovers that Yoriichi was still alive and in old age, despite the curse of the Demon Slayer Marks supposedly killing him before he turned 25.

However, despite this immense jealousy, spite, and the outright hatred he harbors for Yoriichi, he still deeply cares for his brother, as seen when he was touched by Yoriichi treasuring the handmade flute he had made for him as children; Kokushibo sheds tears over his brother's death, and even goes as far as keeping the flute itself for the following centuries as a memento.

Kokushibo's fear of defeat stems from his inferiority complex and desire for strength. This fear causes him to become increasingly aggressive and desperate in battle, relying on his demon powers. However, as he faces off against the Hashira, Kokushibo realizes the heavy cost of his pursuit of strength. He becomes a grotesque monster, far from his idealized vision of becoming the strongest samurai like his brother, highlighting how his ambitions and resentment have twisted him.

In his final moments, he is filled with regret, sorrow, and rage, lamenting his life choices. He questions if the path he chose was truly the right one. As he disintegrates, Kokushibo angrily asks his deceased brother why he was even born, expressing his frustration at not achieving his desires.

Overall Abilities
As the highest ranking member of the Twelve Kizuki, Kokushibo is an extraordinarily powerful demon, second only to the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji himself. He has battled countless Demon Slayers and has amassed vast experience and knowledge over his near 500-year long life. His abilities have been refined to the highest level as he is not only a master of Total Concentration Breathing, but also a marked individual who has gained access to the Transparent World, as well as the demon that possesses the highest concentration of Muzan's blood in the organization.

His overwhelming power is first displayed when he slashes off Upper Rank Three, Akaza's arm before he could even react, and it is later stated by Doma that Akaza would never be able to surpass the both of them despite having improved his skills for 113 years prior to their meeting. During his battle in the Infinity Castle, Kokushibo effortlessly outpaces the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, a prodigious Demon Slayer who singlehandedly defeated Upper Rank Five, Gyokko. Later in the clash, he easily slices off Muichiro's hand before he could react and is able catch his sword mid-swing before proceeding to stab Muichiro with it.

Genya Shinazugawa, who played a major role in the defeat of Upper Rank Four, Hantengu, also stood no chance against him and was sliced to pieces without resistance. Although the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, was able to fair better than the former two due to his greater experience and capabilities, he too was quickly overpowered when Kokushibo exerted himself, making deep cuts all over the Hashira's body. Even when Gyomei Himejima arrived and momentarily stalled the battle by matching his strength and speed, Kokushibo quickly forced the Stone Hashira to use his Demon Slayer Mark. As further testament to his power, Kokushibo could simultaneously hold back Gyomei and Sanemi, even when the latter also awakened his own Demon Slayer Mark.

Ultimately, it took the combined effort and abilities of all four Demon Slayers, the former three who were marked, to even land a significant injury on him. Moreover, Gyomei and Muichiro also needed to see into the Transparent World. Despite that, the only way that the Demon Slayers could win was to immobilize him, which took the lives of Muichiro and Genya, the former sacrificing himself to leave Kokushibo in the open and the latter needing to utilize a new Blood Demon Art to restrain the Upper Rank. Even then, the Demon Slayers still met resistance due to Kokushibo's unnatural durability and needed to turn their blades bright red in order to behead him.

Despite all that, he managed to regrow his head through sheer will, making him virtually invincible with the exception of the sun. Kokushibo's demise is left up to interpretation. It can be argued that Kokushibo only fell due to the realization of how ugly he had become in his pursuit of strength causing him to lose the will to fight and hence forcefully stopped his own regeneration. Alternatively, it can also be argued that Kokushibo did not lose the will to fight, but only lost because he could not regenerate nor fight back in the first place, and not because he lost the will to fight.

All in all, Kokushibo's defeat required the combined efforts of three powerful Marked Hashira (two of which awakened the Transparent World) with Bright Red Blades, a Demon Slayer capable of using Blood Demon Arts, and even then, the battle was narrowly won and cost the Demon Slayers' two lives, a feat that truly exemplifies the might of Upper Rank One.

Indomitable Will: Stemming solely from his goal to surpass his younger twin brother Yoriichi, Kokushibo possesses tremendous willpower and an indomitable spirit. Despite his decapitation at the hands of Gyomei and Sanemi, he forced his regeneration to evolve and regrew his own head, all because he didn't allow himself to die until he accomplished his goal.

Tactical Intellect: As a talented swordsman who has existed for nearly five centuries, Kokushibo has experienced countless battle situations and threats which he has learnt to overcome. This was displayed during his battle with three marked Hashira and a demon-enhanced Demon Slayer, where he was able to adapt to their unique fighting styles and tactics almost instantly after witnessing it. After Muichiro unleashed his first attack against the Upper Rank, he was able to determine he was a user of Mist Breathing. This was further accentuated through Kokushibo being able to take on Sanemi and Gyomei simultaneously despite both of them being marked and being users of different Breathing Styles, meaning he’d have to deal with 2 vastly different opponents at once, which he did so successfully, even overwhelming them multiple times.

Demon Abilities
Biological Absorption: Kokushibo possesses the ability to absorb human and demon bodies through physical contact. Although this trait has never been displayed, it was stated that Kokushibo would absorb the demons that challenged him and were defeated. He presumably used this method as a faster alternative of consuming humans as well.

Flesh Manipulation: Like all demons, Kokushibo possesses the ability to manipulate his own flesh to a high degree. In terms of changing his body, he can alter his face into possessing two more pairs of eyes while also elongating his forehead. Most notoriously, he uses this ability to create an extremely durable and sharp katana, complete with a tsuba, tsuka, and its own scabbard. Because of this, his katana can never be destroyed as he can regenerate it like he would with normal wounds. He also displayed the ability to grow and protrude dozens of blades from his body, allowing him to perform a multitude of slashes from them without a swinging motion. From its activation alone, Kokushibo not only managed to blow away Sanemi and Gyomei, but slice apart Muichiro, Genya, the trees from Genya's Blood Demon Art rooting him down, and numerous pillars in his surroundings. After being decapitated, Kokushibo greatly morphed his body to adopt a more beastly and grotesque appearance, growing appendages, thin tubes, sharp mandibles and horns.
 * Sword Manipulation: Due to his katana being made of his own living flesh, Kokushibo is able to easily regenerate parts of the blade should it be destroyed or damaged, which was shown numerous times when the blade returns to its original shape when Gyomei or Sanemi damaged it with their attacks. Furthermore, he can freely manipulate the shape of the blade, as shown when he grew three additional blades from the original blade to increase its reach and size, turning it into a weapon similar to the Shichishito (Seven-Branched Sword).

Immense Regeneration: Kokushibo possesses one of the most powerful regenerative abilities in existence, second only to the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji. His regeneration speed is even faster than Akaza and Doma, regrowing his ear and right shoulder effortlessly. After being decapitated by two marked Hashira, Kokushibo is able to regenerate his entire head and successfully conquered death from a decapitation via Nichirin Swords, a feat considered impossible for demons and only accomplished by two other demons: Akaza and the Demon King himself. However, while the speed at which he regrew his head was far faster than the former, his regeneration after being decapitated became unstable, causing him to take on a monstrous visage.

Monstrous Transformation: After regrowing his head while battling Gyomei and Sanemi, Kokushibo undergoes a transformation that causes him to take on a more monstrous and grotesque form, with protruding fangs and mandibles, large white horns on the front and back of his head, pointed nails, red outgrowths on his face, his pupils looking at different directions, shorter and messier hair, several thin tubes poking out of his body, and numerous black and red scorpion tail-like appendages haphazardly sprouting all across his entire body. Kokushibo states that any attacks thrown at him in this state would be meaningless, and that the sun would be the only way to defeat him.

Demon Slayer Abilities
Demon Slayer Mark: Kokushibo awakened his mark when he trained under Yoriichi. The Demon Slayer Mark drastically improves the abilities of an individual, making them much stronger and faster than what they can achieve normally, though at the cost of being cursed to die at the age of 25. However, by turning into a demon and gaining immortality, Kokushibo is no longer bound by the curse.
 * Transparent World: Kokushibo has the ability to access the Transparent World, allowing him to see the muscles, blood flow, and joint movements of his opponents, as well as accurately predict and anticipate their movements and attacks. Through this ability, he was able to identify Muichiro as his descendant, immediately discern that Genya consumed demons to gain strength, as well as determine Muichiro, Sanemi, and Gyomei's strength, even being able to tell that the latter two's bodies and techniques are at their peak.

Physical Abilities
Immense Durability: Due to having an extremely high concentration of Muzan's blood, Kokushibo possesses incredibly high durability. His neck is so resistant that a marked Sanemi barely succeeded in cutting him despite swinging his sword with all his might. Furthermore, Gyomei's massive spiked iron ball was similarly ineffective in damaging his neck despite the Stone Hashira slamming his flail on Kokushibo's neck from above. Even when a marked Sanemi slammed his katana down onto Gyomei's spiked iron ball, the Demon Slayers only successfully sliced off Kokushibo's head when both of their weapons turned bright red.

Immense Speed & Reflexes: Kokushibo possesses immense levels of speed far surpassing that of the other Upper Ranks, as first shown when he slashed off Akaza's arm before he, or any of the other demons present, realized. He displays his phenomenal speeds on multiple occasions while fighting. Firstly, he is able to effortlessly outpace Muichiro's Mist Breathing techniques, moving so fast he appears to teleport. Muichiro even remarked that Kokushibo's speed was in another dimension compared to his own, despite his abilities being amplified by his Demon Slayer Mark. When Genya fires his shotgun at the Upper Rank from a distance, Kokushibo manages to suddenly appear behind him before the pellets could reach where he initially was, before slicing his arm off the moment he arrived. He then slashes off his other arm and his torso so fast, his arm didn't even appear to move.

In his clash with Sanemi, Kokushibo could easily keep up with the Wind Hashira's techniques and movements despite Sanemi exerting himself to the limit in order to stay alive. When he uses his brother's shotgun to shoot at the Upper Rank, Kokushibo is quick enough to block the pellets even when it was fired point-blank. After feeling the need to try harder, Kokushibo subdues the Wind Hashira with a single technique that he couldn't evade in time, delivering numerous cuts and slashes all across his body. Even against Gyomei, the strongest Hashira of the Taisho era, Kokushibo is still more than capable of keeping up with his highly unorthodox fighting style. Even after both Hashira became marked, an enraged Kokushibo could unleash attacks that even they couldn't fully react to and he handily outpaced them throughout their battle. His imperceptible speed posed such a threat towards his opponents that Muichiro had to sacrifice a leg in order to stop the Upper Rank from moving so that Genya can fully immobilize him with his Blood Demon Art. After transforming, Kokushibo is able to move so fast, he appears as a blur to a marked Gyomei and Sanemi when they attempted to finish him off.

Immense Strength: As a transformed Demon Slayer who has gained the Demon Slayer Marks, Kokushibo possesses immense physical strength. He is able to crack the ground just by stomping on Sanemi's sword, and is capable of wielding a gigantic sword much heavier than a regular katana and swinging it incessantly at immense speeds without rest or much effort. After transforming, Kokushibo was able to slice off Muichiro's arm with his bare hands akin to a blade.

Unlimited Stamina & Endurance: Like all demons, Kokushibo possesses infinite stamina and vitality, never tiring and always remaining in optimal physical and mental condition all the time as well as being able to endure waves of onslaught as if it were nothing. Despite having his limbs and whole chunks of his body being repeatedly torn off and destroyed, he never once showed a sign of pain or agony. Even when his head was being crushed by Gyomei Himejima's spiked iron ball, he remained steadfast.

Supernatural Abilities
Extrasensory Perception: Kokushibo can detect the presence of others outside his normal range of perception, as shown when he dodged Genya's gunshots and appeared directly behind him despite Kokushibo looking at the opposite direction. Kokushibo also seems to be able to keep track of the locations of his peers around the Infinity Castle, evident as he no longer felt Akaza's presence when he died.

Menacing Aura: Kokushibo possesses a menacing and overwhelming presence that startled even Akaza, the holder of Upper Rank Three and an extremely vindictive and aggressive demon, into silence and temporarily made Muichiro Tokito, a Hashira who has faced and defeated an Upper Rank on his own, lose the will to fight and caused his body to tremble uncontrollably.

Fighting Style
Master Swordsman: Due to training and refining his swordsmanship skill for almost 500 years and getting a major boost to his physical capabilities, Kokushibo has become one of the most powerful and skilled swordsmen to have ever lived. As a Demon Slayer in the Golden Age of Demon Slayers, his swordsmanship was already outstanding as he learnt many of his techniques from Yoriichi himself. According to himself, his techniques were so refined and legendary that they have no hopes of it being passed down for future generations.

Kokushibo's skill with his sword allowed him to defeat Akaza, a prodigious hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. With his exceptional sword wielding skill, he could singlehandedly take on three Hashiras, Sanemi, Muichiro and Gyomei when they were marked as well as Genya when he assimilated his blood to gain a small portion of his power and develop his own Blood Demon Art. Kokushibo's swordsmanship is further empowered with the development of his own Blood Demon Art, which greatly improves the lethality and power of his techniques, making every single one of his sword swings incredibly deadly.

Breathing Style
Moon Breathing (の): Kokushibo is the first demon that utilized Breathing Styles. His Breathing Style, in particular, is one of the most dangerous and powerful ones displayed thus far. Enhanced with his Blood Demon Art, he can create many chaotic crescent moon blades when slashing that vary in length and size in crescent shaped sword attacks. Kokushibo had continued to develop this Breathing Style and had created over a dozen techniques over the centuries he had lived.

Blood Demon Art
Crescent Moon Blades: Complementing his Moon Breathing, Kokushibo's Blood Demon Art allows him to create and manipulate dozens of sharp blades shaped like traditional crescent moons from his flesh katana. They are implied to be created from his blood and can be either a bright yellow or a bright blue in color. These crescent moon blades are extremely chaotic, constantly changing in size, length and speed, making Kokushibo's attacks extremely unpredictable and unreadable as they have no set pattern. This Blood Demon Art greatly enhances the power of his techniques, making every single one of his sword swings extremely deadly and dangerous. He also seems to be capable of using his Blood Demon Art as long as his katana is unsheathed, allowing him to create crescent moon blades even without swinging his sword or unleashing a technique. The volatile nature of his Blood Demon Art makes it extremely challenging for Demon Slayers to circumvent. Sanemi stated that if not for his years of experience in the field of demon hunting, he wouldn't have been able to defend himself from Kokushibo's attacks.

Kokushibo's Blood Demon Art seems to have a secondary ability which allows him to manipulate the shape and range of his sword slashes when unleashing his Moon Breathing techniques. His slashes usually create and are surrounded by a red/orange crescent shape that carry his crescent moon blades. Kokushibo seems to be able to control said slashes to a certain extent, increasing their range and shape to attack his target in impossible ways under normal circumstances. When he distorted his katana into its branch-like appearance, his slashes turn into a light purple color. Kokushibo displayed the ability to exponentially increase the range of his sword slash with his Moon-Dragon Ringtail technique and shape his slashes into a circular drill-like shape with his Drilling Slashes, Moon Through Bamboo Leaves technique.

Techniques

 * First Form: Dark Moon, Evening Palace (ノ　・の) - Kokushibo draws his katana and performs a singular horizontal slash following a crescent shape, creating numerous chaotic crescent blades along its path, before sheathing it back into his scabbard. This technique is extremely reminiscent of Iaijutsu.


 * Second Form: Pearl Flower Moongazing (の　ノ) - Kokushibo performs three crescent-shaped slashes while releasing a multitude of crescent moon blades along with them.


 * Third Form: Loathsome Moon, Chains (ノ　・り) - Kokushibo performs two extremely broad crescent-shaped slashes directly in front of him, from which a storm of smaller crescent moon blades are released.


 * Fifth Form: Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddy (ノ) - Kokushibo creates multiple long and curved slashes layered over one another, essentially creating a vortex of crescent moon blades. As stated by Sanemi Shinazugawa, this technique was performed without Kokushibo swinging his katana.


 * Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon - Incessant (ノ　・) - Kokushibo rapidly performs a multitude of curved slashes several meters in front of him that releases a wild barrage of crescent moon blades capable of slicing up the surroundings.


 * Seventh Form: Mirror of Misfortune, Moonlit (ノ　・え) - Using his altered katana, Kokushibo performs a frontal crescent-shaped slash that unleashes numerous straight and curved slashes that expand outward.


 * Eighth Form: Moon-Dragon Ringtail (ノ) - Using his altered katana, Kokushibo performs a massive long-ranged curved slash that leaves dozens of crescent moon blades along its path.


 * Ninth Form: Waning Moonswaths (ノ　り・) - Using his altered katana, Kokushibo performs multiple curved slashes, all in close proximity, that leave numerous crescent moon blades along its path.


 * Tenth Form: Drilling Slashes, Moon Through Bamboo Leaves (ノ　・) - Using his altered katana, Kokushibo creates three rotating circular saw-like slashes with crescent moon blades following their path.


 * Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe, Tenman Crescent Moon (ノ　・) - Using his altered katana, Kokushibo performs a multitude of curved slashes which expand outward in every direction that incrementally grow in size, essentially creating an omni-directional vortex of crescent moon blades that surrounds him.


 * Sixteenth Form: Moonbow, Half Moon (ノ　・れ) - Using his altered katana, Kokushibo swings upward, sending six curved slashes crashing down several meters in front of him, powerful enough to leave craters in their wake.

Equipment
Flesh Katana: As a former Demon Slayer and user of a Breathing Style, Kokushibo wields a warped version of a Nichirin katana. Created from his own flesh and blood, his body's immense durability and hardness allows it to be just as sharp, if not more so, as a normal Nichirin weapon made from Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Scarlet Ore. Its blade is blood-red, with a veiny appearance, and numerous eyes cover the blade and the tsuka. However, it is unknown whether those eyes can be used to extend his vision. His katana's tsuba is circular with four slight indentations, a center with three eyes and several black veins and a golden border. He carries it inside a saya at his waist that shares a similar fleshy appearance. According to the second databook, Kokushibo named his weapon Kyokokukamusari.

Standard Nichirin Katana: When Kokushibo was a Demon Slayer, he carried around a traditional Nichirin katana that was light purple in color and had a handguard that is rectangular shaped with 4 angular indentations, with a black center and a golden border. Along with it, he also carried a standard sword sheath that was black in color.

Trivia

 * Kokushibo's alias contains the On'yomi/reading of the kanji for "black" and the Kun'yomi/reading for "death" and "eye".
 * Kokushibo's human family name contains the Kun'yomi/reading of the kanji for "to inherit, succeed" and "country", while his first name contains the Nanori of the kanji for "sterness, severity" and the Kun'yomi reading for "to prevail, victory". His father was the one who named him, as he believed Michikatsu would be strong and successful.
 * Kokushibo has been challenged three times for his position. One of these battles involved Akaza. While Kokushibo would usually absorb the demon he defeated, he let Akaza live because he enjoyed the challenge.
 * Kokushibo was the first Demon Slayer to become a demon.
 * He became a demon in his early 20s and lived as such for an additional 460+ years.
 * Kokushibo once killed a leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. This caused the Corps to put extreme effort in hiding the residence of future leaders. This event was also the one that caused the Kakushi to be formed.
 * Kokushibo ranked 14th in the second popularity poll with 2938 votes.
 * Kokushibo is considered to be a "business partner" by Muzan.

Quotes

 * (In regards to Akaza) "Akaza's presence is gone. He has fallen. Akaza... weren't you going to defeat me? A path had open for him to attain further heights... but he renounced it himself. How exceedingly weak."
 * (To himself) "The old and ugly creature that was once my little brother had pity for me. But... I wasn't angry. Even though 60 years ago, he had been such an eyesore. The voice calling me "brother" was terribly hoarse. My brother had never shown the slightest emotion... so at the sight of him shedding tears, something welled up in me for the first time since birth. I was confused... at my own unexpected unrest. But I must kill... this part of me from when I was human... This old man of brittle flesh past his prime... He was a Demon Slayer, and I must cleave anyone who turns a sword upon me. But his odd sentimentality... disappeared the next moment."
 * (In response to Yoriichi Tsugikuni's statement about future generations) "Yoriichi... when you smiled, I couldn't help it... but I always found it disturbing. And when we were talking about how there were no successors for the various breathing techniques you suddenly started viewing things with strange optimism and you smiled. In my conceit I believed that only our generation was special. I felt sick with disgust and irritation. What did you find so amusing? [...] What is so amusing about imaging such a future? Just thinking about losing makes me boil with anger."
 * (To himself) "The ugliness of not admitting defeat even though they took my head, chopped me up and crushed me. Living in disgrace. Have I lived hundreds of years for this? Was I so afraid of defeat that I became a monster? Did I want to be strong even if it meant eating people? Did I become this miserable creature because I didn't want to die? No. Yoriichi... I just wanted to be you."
 * (To himself) "I could never grab hold of anything. Anything at all. I abandoned my home. I abandoned my wife and children. I abandoned my humanity. I cut down my descendants and abandoned being a samurai. But even all that wasn't enough? You said that those who master their paths all reach the same place. But I never did. I could not see the same world that you did. Why could I not leave anything behind? Why could I not become someone known? Why are we so different? Why in the world was I ever born? Tell me... Yoriichi."

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