Demon Slayer: How Did Gyōmei (Stone Hashira) Die? Here’s Who Killed Him!

When discussing Demon Slayer, one usually talks about the demon slayers themselves or the demons. And while the series has offered us a variety of other intriguing characters, we will talk about one specific Demon Slayer – Gyōmei Himejima, the Stone Hashira – in this particular article. Gyōmei is a very interesting character mainly because of his powers but also because of his physical handicaps. In this specific article, we will tell you everything you need to know about Gyōmei, his story, and his career in the Demon Slayer Corps, focusing on his final battle against the Demon King Muzan. In this article, you are, to be precise, going to find out how Gyōmei Himejima died.

Gyōmei Himejima, the Stone Hashira, participated in the final battle against Muzan Kibutsuji and perished alongside her friends and colleagues, Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira, and Obanai Iguro, the Serpent Hashira. The details of their deaths have not been revealed, as their deaths were discovered after the battle had already ended, just like the deaths of many other Demon Slayer Corps members who also died while fighting Muzan.

The rest of this article will focus on Gyōmei Himejima and his death in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series. Gyōmei Himejima had a very important role in the final fight against Muzan and his Demons, so we have decided to discuss his death in this article. This article will contain some spoilers from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga, so be careful how you approach it.

Gyōmei Himejima died in the fight against Muzan, but the details were never revealed

As we have said, the exact circumstances of Gyōmei Himejima’s death have never been revealed, as the author never gave us the necessary details to fully understand what happened. Namely, in the original manga, the battle between Muzan and the Demon Slayer Corps had so many participants. It was so chaotic that it was almost impossible to follow each character individually. Sure, Muzan was eventually defeated, but the battle was pure chaos from our perspective. This is why we never found out the exact circumstances of how Gyōmei died and why he had to die; we simply know that he did die during the battle with Muzan.

As for the battle itself, we can only confirm that it was a truly epic fight. All of the active Hashira and the whole Demon Slayer Corps charged at Muzan simultaneously; a weakened Muzan, we have to add, as he had already been exhausted from all the previous fighting, including all that he had to do in the Infinity Castle.

The goal of the Corps was to fight him and keep him there until sunrise, which would cause the sunlight to completely eradicate him. And they were close to their goal, but Muzan had enough time to do some damage and potentially fight his way out of this complex situation. We will now recap the battle, focusing – of course – on Gyōmei.

Early in the battle, Gyōmei was quoted as having said that Muzan cannot die by simply being decapitated, which influenced how the Corps approached the battle against an enormously powerful foe. But, at this point, Gyōmei was still not part of the fight. Namely, at the time, Gyōmei had been engaged in the fight against the Upper-Rank One alongside Sanemi (the two of them survived the battle, whereas Gen’ya and the Mist Hashira perished alongside the Demon) and no one really knew whether he would be coming back or not, not even Muzan, who was aware that his second-in-command was dead.

The battle was taking a turn for the worse, and Muzan was just about to kill Mitsuri Kanroji, the love Hashira, when Gyōmei appeared and blocked his attack, exhausted but ready to fight. The Corps were pleasantly surprised when they saw Gyōmei, where Muzan was shocked, commenting how he knew that he and Sanemi, who had also arrived on the battlefield, had killed his second-in-command, Kokushibō. Sanemi then cut him, but the Demon King simply regenerated, brushing off the attack as if it had never happened before, showing just how strong he was.

As the battle continues, Gyōmei comments on how he cannot access the Transparent World, which means that they will not be able to defeat Muzan except by mere luck, which was something they could not count on. In light of that fact, Muzan’s attacks keep getting fiercer and more dangerous, with Mitsuri, the slowest among the Hashira, getting the worst of it; as she is heavily injured, Obanai rushes to her aid, leaving Gyōmei to fight the powerful Demon by himself for a short while, while he takes care of Mitsuri. The fight then focuses on the other Hashira, and Gyōmei once again intervenes when Muzan is about to kill Giyū Tomioka, the Water Hashira.

The balance of the fight shifted a bit when Yushirō arrived with reinforcements who could damage Muzan before he could figure out what was happening. And while Muzan did figure out that they were invisible due to Yushirō’s powers, Tamayo’s assistant was able to help the other Demon Slayers become invisible too, which made Gyōmei quite happy, and also enabled the Corps to overtake the battle and force Muzan to actually defend himself rather than just attack.

Later, Gyōmei decides to try once again to enter the Transparent World, just as he was able to do in the fight against Kokushibō. This time, though, Gyōmei was successful as he listened to the echoes of Muzan’s body, just like he did in his fight against the Upper-Rank One. He then notices and observes Muzan’s unique body structure, something that Yoriichi was able to see four centuries before this fight.

Muzan, namely, can constantly create new hearts and brains, despite the complex structures of these organs, and they were moving around his body the whole time, which is why Muzan was able to avoid death so effectively. Gyōmei realized that it would be difficult, but they had to find a way to defeat him; soon, he was badly injured by Muzan, along with a string of other Corps members. He crashed into a building, and his left leg was completely demolished at that point. Yushirō would later try to heal him, but he was unsuccessful.

Still, dawn was nearing, and the Corps knew that they would have to hold out a bit longer to defeat the Demon King. But Muzan was also aware of that, and just as the sun was about to rise, he entered his final form, the demonic infant, which created a special flesh armor that gave him some amazing defensive abilities.

Now, we know three things about this form. First, it is the ultimate manifestation of Muzan’s Blood Demon Art, as described above, and it shows just how powerful it was. Secondly, this final form gives Muzan amazing strength. Finally, the form is a defensive fortress as well as a power boost, as it makes Muzan incredibly durable; it even allows him to resist the sun longer, although it doesn’t give him complete immunity. It is not known how it influences his speed.

Knowing that he would not survive the sunlight, Muzan tried to escape, but Gyōmei ultimately chained him down and prevented him from escaping. Gyōmei Himejima was the only one strong enough to stop Muzan from escaping in this form, which shows how powerful it really was.

Tanjirō continued his attack, and as the sun rose, Muzan finally disappeared. However, this would not be the last we saw of him, as he could infect Tanjirō with his blood and wanted to turn him into an immortal Demon whom he would control from the inside. The Corps would eventually defeat Demon King Tanjirō, but Gyōmei Himejima and Obanai and Mitsuri were dead. The author never provided any details. We just saw that he was dead after the battle. And this is how Himejima died in Demon Slayer.