Chapter 194

Burn Scars (の Shakunetsu no kizu) is the one hundred and ninety fourth chapter of Koyoharu Gotōge's Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Summary
Yushiro and some Demon Slayers make their way towards Chachamaru's mangled body and the demon reattaches the cat's head to it's body, cradling it in his arms as it recovers. The accompanying Demon Slayers are taken aback at this and ask Yushiro if Chachamaru is also a demon and he replies in the affirmative, saying he had turned it into a demon shortly before the battle, before snapping at the pair to stop dawdling and tend to the injured. They run off with vials of Tamayo's anti-Muzan serum and get to Inosuke Hashibira, Kanao Tsuyuri and Zenitsu Agatsuma.

Walking over to Gyomei Himejima, Yushiro assesses the damage on the Pillar and notes that he has lost a lot of blood in addition to his leg. Tying up the wound to stem the bleeding, Yushiro begins to worry as he declares that Gyomei is in no position to fight even if he does regain consciousness in time as the blood loss and lack of equilibrium will hinder him too much. With over 50 minutes left till sunrise, he thinks of Tamayo and asks her to help Tanjiro Kamado in his battle with Muzan Kibutsuji, saying there is no way the boy can last on his own.

Meanwhile Tanjiro continues to connect the different forms of Sun Breathing to defeat Muzan. As he matches blows with the demon his left sleeve is ripped off and he dodges back to avoid the attacks. Seeing that it is not enough to merely connect the forms, Tanjiro realises he must accurately target all of Muzan's hearts and brains to effectively use the 13th Form, however just as he attempts to see through Muzan to be able to do so he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. Shocked at this, Tanjiro quickly attempts to regain his bearings and sniff Muzan out instead but slips and is almost done in by an attack from the demon before Obanai Iguro intervenes and scoops him out of harm's way. Deftly dodging all of Muzan's attacks, Obanai successfully carries Tanjiro out of danger with the demon left angrily exclaiming at their dogged resistance, asking why they just wouldn't die. Tanjiro's vision clears up and he is able to see his rescuer and he is overjoyed to recognise the striped haori of Obanai.

This quickly transforms into horror as he sees the Snake Pillar's face has been mutilated with slashes across his face and through his eyes. Mortified, Tanjiro asks if Obanai was injured while saving him but the Pillar hastily explains that it was during Muzan's attack from before which had knocked out all the Pillars. Continuing to dodge attacks from Muzan, Obanai tells Tanjiro to quit worrying about others as the boy offers to help out and says the vision impairment will not affect him greatly as one of his eyes had always been weak and that this was why he kept his snake Kaburamaru. Confirming that Tanjiro has recovered, Obanai lets go of the boy and quickly engages in battle with Muzan, who had jumped towards them with great fury and tackles him one on one, to Tanjiro's shock. With Kaburamaru's aid Obanai dodges all of the demon's attacks as the surrounding building is destroyed and Tanjiro rushes to use Sun Breathing again to help split Muzan's attention.

Muzan notices that the snake is relaying information to Obanai which is allowing the Pillar to dodge his attacks and is infuriated that such a simple animal is able to read through his attacks. Tanjiro and Obanai match Muzan's attacks in tandem and the demon is further annoyed at being unable to kill such seriously wounded humans, realising that it is due to the aging potion. Continuing to evade Muzan's blows, Tanjiro sees that the demon has gradually gotten weaker but is also barely hanging on himself, trying his best to avoid oxygen deprivation. Resolving to help Obanai who has helped him so much already Tanjiro is suddenly shocked to see Muzan's body begin to change as old scars appear all over it. Realising that these were the wounds Yoriichi Tsugikuni gave Muzan so long ago which the demon was never able to recover from. Seeing that the demon had been burnt at the cellular level and that the wounds were his weak spots, Tanjiro says that Yoriichi was still showing them the way.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Chachamaru
 * Yushiro
 * Murata
 * Inosuke Hashibira
 * Kanao Tsuyuri
 * Gyomei Himejima
 * Tamayo
 * Muzan Kibutsuji
 * Obanai Iguro

Events

 * Yushiro helps Chachamaru recover as it is revealed that he turned the cat into a demon before the battle.
 * Over 50 minutes left till sunrise.
 * Tanjiro is unable to see through Muzan anymore due to lack of oxygen.
 * Obanai rejoins the battle but is unable to use his eyes anymore.
 * The aging potion continues to weaken Muzan as the old scars of his battle with Yoriichi resurface.