Muzan Kibutsuji ⁵

appearance

Muzan usually dresses in a business suit, wearing rather sophisticated Western attire for the time, highlighting a white fedora hat and a red tie. As for his physical appearance, Muzan has the appearance of a young man whose age is around 20 years old; he has short hair styled in curls with some strands hanging on his forehead. Like all Devils, Muzan has eyes similar to those of a feline, in his case, plum-red in color. When he was a human, Muzan dressed in the style of the Heian Era using a traditional hitatare, had longer hair reaching the lower part of his back and his eyes were completely devoid of brightness. Muzan has the ability to change his physical appearance to disguise himself, appearing as either a woman with black hair dressed in a kimono or a small child. His ability to disguise himself was so perfected that he could even change his presence and confuse his own subordinates. It is later revealed that Muzan has a series of scars across his body due to the wounds inflicted during his first battle against Yoriichi, which were burns caused at a cellular level that never fully healed despite the hundreds of years that passed since their confrontation. These wounds are not visible to the naked eye and come to light as he grows weaker.

The most prominent trait Muzan possesses is extreme narcissism, megalomania, and an obsession with becoming the perfect being possessing immortality. The latter behavior is derived from his own Thanatophobia having experienced close contact with death literally since his own birth, both in his days as a human and in his later encounter and confrontation with Yorīchi Tsugikuni, the first Demon Slayer to use Sun Breathing; an encounter which nearly ended his life and which ended up leaving Muzan with severe PTSD causing him to have a violent reaction when he recalls his own near-death experiences. As he has had nearly 1000 years to live and observe, along with almost no real challenges, his extreme egocentrism is almost expected. He considers almost nothing to be his concern except overcoming his inability to walk in the sun, which is his main drive. His long life and primary obsession with achieving immortality have led him to want every plan he concocts to be absolutely perfect, and his megalomaniacal behavior blinds him to his own failures. His belief that he is the closest thing to a perfect being causes him to have zero tolerance for any failure, brutally punishing those who fail him or those he deems weak, even if the failures are minor.

Muzan is callous, ruthless, and exceptionally intelligent. He sees no value in any human he has encountered and shows little value in his own subordinates. Rarely visually upset or happy, he appears completely drab and aloof on most occasions, even when he is cruelly murdering his own subordinates. The only times he shows emotion is when his vision of perfection advances or when his subordinates completely submit to his will. The manga shows him to be more expressive, particularly when enraged and his facial features are exaggerated to show this as such.

His egocentrism and delusional sense of self-worth are so great that he cannot stand being mocked or corrected in any way, believing that others only exist to serve him. It also means that he rarely takes any opponent or threat seriously. He brutally killed a pair of drunk men simply for being rude to him, and killed the woman accompanying them when she had done nothing, all the while proclaiming his own perfection and superiority over them. This event hints that Muzan has unpleasant memories of his weaker human past, and is acutely aware of his unnatural sickly appearance, coming on the heels of a long denial that he is not healthy, sick, let alone on the verge of death. In all likelihood, a bitter reminder that he is still imperfect. When he finally managed to confront Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the man responded to Muzan in a tone of pity and sadness for the life he had led. In Muzan's mind, this only registered as insults and threats, which he used to justify his hatred towards humanity and Demon Slayers.

Being someone so obsessed with the idea of perfection, Muzan despises the very concept of change; be it change of circumstances, physical, emotional, or change of any kind. He equates change with decay, and thus evidence of imperfection. In his own words, he loves things that remain unchanging, constant, and in a state of permanence. At the same time, he views one's humanity as a sign of weakness, believing that Gyutaro had lost because he was still attached to his sister Daki, even mocking the Upper Moons, stating that they were now ranked in order of how much humanity they had left. Gyutaro's defeat at the hands of the Demon Slayers noticeably angered Muzan as he saw how the Upper Moons' status quo was altered after 113 years causing him to lash out and demand more self-sacrifice from the remaining Upper Moons. This could also help explain his brutal execution of the Lower Moons, as their membership was in a constant state of flux and he grew tired of managing them. On the contrary, he is pleased whenever he sees progress, and is glad for Nakime's growth after becoming the Fourth Upper Moon.

In addition to all of the above, his megalomania and sense of considering himself an indestructible omnipotence is such that he compares himself to natural disasters, i.e. something far beyond what humans can compare to and combat. As a result of this, he believes Demon Slayers to be a group of deviants who are unable to accept the natural order of things and resume their lives as normal when other people simply move on after a tragedy. His analogy evidences his complete inability to feel sympathy or remorse for his actions, given that none of the murders he committed (directly or indirectly) were the result of an accident, but rather carefully organized acts of pure evil.

Despite the many facets of his personality that he displays throughout the work, completely compensating for his insatiable ego and lust for perfection, Muzan is incredibly cowardly. He always avoids conflict whenever possible, as evident in his encounter with Giyu Tomioka and Tanjiro Kamado. He claims that the duo who managed to survive should already be enough and that they should just live to earn their pay and stop the cycle of revenge. This trait also complements his manipulative nature, bending many Demons to his will to do his bidding while not getting his hands dirty. In the final showdown between him and the Demon Slayers, Muzan attempted to escape numerous times, either by splitting up or simply running away, even demanding multiple times that the remaining Slayers simply die and stop fighting, once again cementing his cowardly nature. However, upon being utterly defeated, in his final moments of life as he was consumed by the sun's rays, Muzan showed a more vulnerable side to his personality. It is revealed that Muzan's true fear of dying and immense desire to live and survive was due to him being born "dead", where his heart would constantly stop in his mother's womb and he was assumed to be stillborn until he struggled to breathe before his cremation. Muzan's desire for "life" and his near-constant struggles while human built up his obsessive ambition to survive, and he genuinely felt vulnerable whenever he was reminded of his human frailty. However, even when he is on the brink of death, he still has no regrets about murdering and devouring humans for a thousand years, stating that he could not remember a single person he ever killed.

When not hiding behind a facade, his malice and overflowing violent intent are so great that others can sense them. In particular, Yorīchi Tsugikuni described him as someone resembling boiling magma pouring out of an erupting volcano ready to consume everything. As proof of his high level of cruelty, he curses his subordinates in a terrifying manner so that none of them can speak his name, or else they will be instantly killed in a rather ruthless manner so that the Demons he creates, even those who become his subordinates, including the Upper Moons refer to him as that man carefully measuring his words to refer to the Demon progenitor for fear of being cruelly killed. Interestingly, this almost paranoid sense of self-preservation contrasts with his megalomania. When cornered, the collapse of Muzan's typically calm, arrogant and superior stance paves the way for panic and fear to take root as he desperately fights for his life, adopting more drastic measures to protect himself, being described by Obanai Iguro as someone who does not possess any samurai-like sense of honor, but as a despicable being capable of doing anything in order to stay alive during their final showdown. This obsession with survival could well explain the brutal murder of three civilians after meeting Tanjiro for the first time, as he was made to remember his sick past with the first, and his encounter with Yoriichi with the second, due to his hanafuda earrings, the two important events where he almost lost his life.

Being the first Demon, Muzan's powers surpass anything seen before. Muzan is so strong that he was able to withstand a fight with five Pillars and Tanjiro at the same time. So strong is he, that he was able to leave Tanjiro on the brink of death, as well as several Pillars, were it not for the timely intervention of Chachamaru and the antidotes he gave the Pillars and Tanjiro so they could survive the effects of the poison present in their blood. After 30 minutes of combat, Muzan manifested whips from his legs, which increased his attack speed exponentially, to a point where he instantly defeated five exhausted Pillars: Gyomei, Giyu, Sanemi and Obanai, as well as Zenitsu and Inosuke at the same time, while leaving Kanao paralyzed with fear and with her sword broken. [9] It is later revealed that Muzan was becoming increasingly slower due to the effects of the aging medicine provided by Tamayo, which accelerated his age massively. Despite all this, he was able to subdue the pillars that faced him, as well as Tanjiro who was just learning how to use Sun's Breath. [10] His strength, speed, endurance, and regeneration are superior to any conventional demon, as well as his unique number of unique abilities; below is a list of his powers.

Biological Absorption: Muzan has shown the ability to absorb, assimilate, and dissolve organic and inorganic objects. This was first seen when Muzan absorbed the Flesh Seeds that pierced his skin to nullify their effects. [37] He later also accidentally absorbed Tamayo's arm, as well as a drug that turns demons into humans. [38] This is also seen in how he planned to eat and assimilate Nezuko Kamado in order to gain her immunity to the sun. He is also seen absorbing the bodies of Kamanue and Mukago during the meeting of the lower ranks. Combat Form: In his final confrontation with the Demon Slayer Corps, Muzan takes on a more monstrous, battle-like form, with a dark red scale-like mass covering most of his body (prominently on his limbs, his forehead, and the entirety of his lower body), wide mouths with sharp teeth all over his body, and longer pale white hair. The jaws with sharp teeth located all over his body in this form not only serve as his main form of offense in battle, but also serve the purpose of helping him recover faster, as he can use the jaws to tear apart his opponents and eat their flesh, simultaneously killing his opponents and recovering his strength at the same time.

Arm Whips: Muzan can drastically elongate both of his arms, growing red or white spiked coverings around his outstretched limbs and transforming his hands into blade-like protrusions, which he swings like whips to slice his targets into pieces. Each of these whips range from 90 centimetres (3 ft) to 10 metres (32.8 ft) in length. When swung with killing intent, they were extremely fast, precise and accurate, with even the extremely powerful Yoriichi Tsugikuni commenting that seeing them nearly hit him was the first time he felt fear, and that even a single scratch could kill him. [40] He can also spin his arm whips at immense speeds to slice up anyone in their attack area. [41] [42] Due to their extreme reach and lack of a set shape and length, it is very difficult for his opponents to discern how he will attack. Muzan can also further increase his width and size, even developing mandibles throughout his arm to bite his targets in combination with slashing them.[43] Mouth Suction: Muzan's arm whips also possess numerous mouths filled with sharp fangs all over them. Muzan primarily uses these mouths to inhale with immense suction force, causing anyone near them to be sucked into his sharp jaws and sliced into pieces. This also further increases his attack range. These abnormal mouths will prove to be very detrimental to his targets, as avoiding them will consume much more stamina.

Back Whips: Upon arriving outside of Infinity Castle, Muzan grew nine thin extensions, each four meters (13 ft) long, similar to spine-like protrusions from his back that extend into bladed whips. With these, Muzan can increase the number of attacks he can unleash in a single moment, allowing him to slaughter dozens of Demon Slayers in an instant and contain the combined power of 5 Hashira. [18] Furthermore, they are fast and it is difficult to read their trajectory, making it unpredictable. Thigh Whips: After the Demon Slayers began to gain the upper hand, Muzan unleashed eight new whips, four on each side of his thigh, each of them seven meters (23 ft) long, in order to easily overpower them. [22] Muzan was able to accomplish this as unlike his rear whips, they are much faster and can be projected from his body and retracted. This also allows him to attack from his target's blind spots, making him extremely difficult to counter. These thigh whips alone were able to overpower four Marked Hashira and three Hashira-level Demon Slayers in a single attack.

Near-Absolute Regeneration: As the Demon King, Muzan possesses the fastest and most advanced regeneration of all the Demons, recovering so quickly that it seems as if attacks pass through him and he was never injured in the first place. He displayed his impeccable regenerative ability on multiple occasions. Most prominently, Muzan has overcome the weakness of decapitation by Nichirin swords, as shown when he fully regenerated his head moments after it was pulverized by Gyomei's spiked flail. [45][46] After being caught in a large explosion orchestrated by Kagaya Ubuyashiki, Muzan was able to instantly regenerate his body after it was extensively damaged and also manages to bypass the metal spikes added to the explosion meant to slow down his healing speed.

Later, in their battle against Obanai, Mitsuri, and Giyu, they landed multiple slashes on the Demon King, but seemingly to no avail, as Muzan had regenerated the moment his body was cut, making it seem as though their attacks had not landed in the first place. [48] Furthermore, his regenerative power was still functioning even when he was slashed by the Hashira with their glowing red Nichirin Blades, though the recovery process was slower than usual. Muzan's greatest feat involving his regeneration was when he completely recovered his body from a chunk of flesh the size of a human's head, [49] even after being slashed by Yoriichi Tsugikuni's glowing red Nichirin Blade which burned him at a cellular level. Furthermore, Muzan stated that normal glowing red Nichirin Blades and slashing attacks would have no effect on him due to his advanced regenerative ability. [50] Demonic Blood: After the experimental treatment gave him a new body and physiology, Muzan's blood develops special mutagenic properties that can transform humans into creatures known as Demons. His special blood also seems to give rise to a plethora of special abilities to those who assimilated his blood, such as powerful and rapid regeneration, the power to control their flesh, immortality, an accelerated growth rate, enhanced physical prowess, and even supernatural abilities called Blood Demon Arts.

Demon by giving him more of his blood, enhancing his pre-existing abilities. [51][52] However, this is limited to how much blood the recipient can handle and adapt to. If a human were to take too much of Muzan's blood, their body would mutate faster than it could handle, causing it to self-destruct into a giant mass of flesh before disintegrating into ash. [53] The same would also presumably happen to a Demon if they were unable to withstand the effects of the blood, as implied by Muzan. [52] It was later revealed that Muzan had learned to weaponize this particular trait of his blood. By coating his whips in his blood, he can inject an opponent with blood when damaged. [54] The high potency of the blood means that even small doses would be too much to handle, and would instead act as a poison to destroy the cells of the human body soon after they enter. It is later implied by Kokushibo that users of Total Concentration Breathing resist the effects of Muzan's blood more than normal humans. [55] Those who have awakened the Demon Slayer's Mark further resist the cell-destroying effects of the blood, though Muzan himself stated that it will take no more than five minutes for their bodies to disintegrate.

Blood Memory Transfer: In his final fight for survival, Muzan is able to transfer the remainder of his blood along with his memories into a suitable body, turning his new host into a Demon and exerting his influence. [31] He successfully did this with Tanjiro when he was on the brink of death, reviving him after his death. Additionally, this technique also allows the host to transfer their abilities, as seen when Tanjiro makes use of Muzan's whips and regeneration. This transfer, however, is not perfect as Tanjiro was reduced to a feral state, only attacking as per Muzan's wish to kill the Demon Slayers. Muzan is also known to have unknowingly used this ability whenever he created another Demon or shared his blood with them, as seen when the Upper Ranks, Daki, and Hantengu were able to glimpse Muzan's memories of Yoriichi Tsugikuni during his battles against Tanjiro Kamado.

Consciousness Implantation: Muzan can implant a portion of his consciousness into a demon he creates using his blood, provided he injected it with gigantic amounts of his blood during its creation. As seen, a portion of his mind was still present within Tanjiro's mind despite being killed by sunlight, and he later attempted to influence, control, and persuade Tanjiro to "inherit" his will and remain a demon. [60] However, one clear difference between his power to "control" a demon and "possess" it is the fact that he could no longer forcibly take control of a demon and make it do what he wants and must instead convince them to do his bidding, giving his victims a chance to resist him and escape his grasp. Demon Manipulation: Muzan can control demons to a certain extent, as seen when he was able to take control of Nakime's body to try and force an absorption of Yushiro's cells to stop his interference when he attempted to usurp control of the Infinite Castle. However, this ability requires great concentration as Muzan immediately lost control of it the moment he lost focus due to needing to defend himself while in the midst of battle. Other demons are also able to regain control of him. The Curse of Kibutsuji: Kibutsuji's curse affects Susamaru

Muzan places a curse on all demons who have assimilated his blood. If any demon divulges his surname "Kibutsuji" out loud, the curse activates, causing their bodies to stop regenerating and allowing Muzan's cells within the demon to take over and kill them, regardless of their original intent. This was seen with Susamaru, who had accidentally said his name despite having no malice or ill intent towards him and was still destroyed by the curse, implying that the curse is automatic. [61] However, the curse can also be intentionally activated by Muzan. This was seen when he killed Nakime, who was manipulated by Yushiro. [16] Because of this, many demons regard Muzan with great fear and respect, simply referring to him as "That Man" or "Him" so as to not trigger the curse, while demons within the Twelve Kizuki refer to him as "Lord" or "Master". However, it has been shown that if Muzan is weakened or someone has enough willpower, demons can break free from the curse, which has been seen with Tamayo, Yushiro, and Nezuko. Accessing the daemon's memory: Muzan reviews Tamayo's memories

Muzan can "see" the memories of the demons he absorbed, as seen when he was able to "ask" Tamayo's cells that he had obtained from absorbing her for information on what kind of drug he had injected her with. [62] Upon being denied and insulted by Tamayo's surviving consciousness, he also displayed the ability to forcibly reveal desired information by "watching" her memories, as seen when he was able to see her memories of her developing the drug alongside Shinobu Kocho and Yushiro. [63] Demonic Power Nullification: As explained by Tamayo, as the creator and progenitor of the Demon Race, Muzan is the only known Demon capable of inflicting life-threatening wounds capable of completely destroying the cells of other Demons without the need for Nichirin Swords or sunlight. [64] This was demonstrated when he punished Akaza by causing his cells to break down throughout his body without the Upper Rank being able to regenerate from it like he would with any other wound. [65] Telepathy: Muzan has the ability to read the thoughts of those he has shared his blood with by looking at them. [66] It was later shown that he could also send telepathic messages and have full conversations with other demons, as seen when he appeared in Akaza's mind to convince him to continue fighting, [67] as well as communicate with Kokushibo to check how many Hashira he had defeated and order him to hold them off until he finished recovering from Tamayo's poison. [68] Muzan has also stated that he can sense the location of all demons. However, the further away they are from him, the harder it is for him to interact with and track them. [66] Muzan can also see through the senses of other demons. [69] However, this ability is strictly limited to what is in his perception, so if a demon's senses are fooled, Muzan is also unable to discern the difference.

Immeasurable Speed and Reflexes: Muzan is unfathomably fast, possessing movement speed and reflexes that surpass even the upper ranks of the Twelve Kizuki. His immense speed was first displayed at the Lower Rank Meeting, where Muzan decapitated a fleeing Wakuraba from a great distance away, even returning to his original position before Wakuraba processed what had happened. [70] He later decapitated his pretend mother when she was in her child form without the maid beside him realizing what had happened. [71] After awakening from his flesh cocoon, Muzan instantly annihilated dozens of Demon Slayers before they had a chance to react. [72][12] Furthermore, Muzan was so fast that Tanjiro Kamado, who could keep up with Akaza, and Mitsuri Kanroji, who could keep up with Zohakuten, could not even perceive his attacks and could only rely on pure luck and instinct to evade them. [15][20] He was also able to constantly damage and outspeed Giyu, Obanai, and Mitsuri, and later Gyomei, Sanemi, who kept up with Kokushibo, Zenitsu, who attacked Kaigaku, and Inosuke, and Kanao, who fought Doma. After being cornered, Muzan unleashed hidden thigh whips so quickly that all of the aforementioned Demon Slayers, with the exception of an already injured Mitsuri, were completely unable to react in time and were easily overpowered and injured.

Immeasurable Strength: As a Demon King, Muzan's physical strength is superior to that of all Demons in existence. Even the strongest among the Twelve Kizuki, such as Akaza, who can punch through buildings with his bare fists and knock a Nichirin Sword into pieces, Doma, who can form true blizzards by waving his fans at high speed, and Kokushibo, who wields an immense katana in a manner that is imperceptible even to marked Demon Slayers, all paled in comparison to Muzan. His immense physical strength is first displayed when he casually killed a grown man with a single punch to the face, causing him to fly backwards, hitting a building and causing cracks to form in it. [73] He also managed to kill a larger man simply by kicking him. [74] Even after being significantly weakened by the Anti-Kibutsuji Drugs, he still possessed enough physical strength to destroy large sections of buildings, create massive craters in the ground, and lift the rubble of buildings that trapped him with relative ease. In his infant form, he could crush vehicles and could only be restrained by the combined efforts of Gyomei Himejima, the Hashira with the greatest physical strength, and dozens of other Kakushi, and still had trouble keeping him from moving. [75] The force he exerted was also able to break Gyomei's chain which not even Kokushibō's katana was able to cut through.

Unlimited Stamina and Endurance: Like all Demons, Muzan possesses infinite stamina and endurance, never tiring or feeling pain. [77] This was shown when he did not flinch or show any signs of pain or agony when a sword was pierced through his head. [78] Even after being cut and pierced by the Hashira's bright red Nichirin Blades, which were shown to cause pain even to Kokushibo, Muzan did not show any signs of discomfort. [79][80] The only time Muzan showed any evidence of exhaustion was during the later stages of the final showdown against him, but even then, the drug developed by Tamayo and Shinobu had been in effect for nearly five hours and his body was biologically aged by over 9,000 years. Despite this, he continued to press on and maintain the upper hand as he pushed the Demon Slayers to the brink of death.

Extrasensory Perception: Muzan possesses extremely keen senses that even allow him to perceive things outside the normal range of perception, which he demonstrated by easily discerning the presence of humans instantly even when they were scattered around a mountain,[47] and detecting injured Demon Slayers regaining consciousness despite being far away from them.[81] This was also demonstrated when Muzan was able to discern the locations of Zenitsu, Kanao, and Inosuke with great accuracy solely by the rising clouds of dust and the sounds they made.