The Threads That Bind Us

The battlefield was a blur of blood, ash, and howling wind.

Mitsuri's blade struck once—twice—before Muzan's tendrils lashed out with monstrous speed. She didn't scream when they hit. She only gasped, her eyes wide in horror as both her arms were torn from her body.

She dropped to her knees, trembling, eyes locked on the dark sky above as blood soaked the earth around her.

Obanai saw it happen in a single, frozen heartbeat.

"Mitsuri!"

He was at her side before the next pulse of time could pass, catching her before she fell. Her breathing was ragged, shallow, but her eyes—those eyes—still held the light of the girl he loved.

"I—I'm sorry..." she choked, blood on her lips. "I can't hold... your hand..."

Tears stung Obanai's vision. He pulled her close, cradling her against his chest, his own injuries deep and burning.

"You don't have to," he whispered. "You've already held it... with your heart."

Muzan loomed above them, his body twisted, barely holding together from the relentless assault. But still, he laughed. "You die for nothing. You love for nothing."

Obanai didn't look at him.

He pressed his forehead gently against Mitsuri's, shielding her with his broken body.

"If I die beside you," he whispered, "then it's not for nothing."

Mitsuri's tears mixed with blood, and yet she smiled—a soft, radiant smile that broke Obanai's heart all over again.

"I'll wait for you," she breathed. "Wherever we go next."

"And I'll find you," he swore, voice cracking. "In this life... or the next."

As Muzan raised one final blow, Obanai gripped the hilt of his katana with fading strength, whispering the last breath of his will into the blade.

For her. For love. For a world without fear.

The strike fell—

—and the light swallowed them both.

Their bodies were later found side by side in the ruins of the mountain. Obanai's arms wrapped gently around Mitsuri's broken form. Her head rested peacefully against his chest. Kaburamaru coiled around them both, unmoving, as though guarding their rest.

They died as they lived:

Together.