You're Crazy

Black hair tipped with red, tied into a high ponytail; familiar red eyes and features; yellow clothes draped with a Red Haori; earrings painted with Sun-breathing Flowers swaying slightly; a long blade at his waist.

Muzan's face lit up with delight. "Yo, Yoriichi!"

"Muzan Kibutsuji..."

Hearing that, Muzan realized something was wrong with Yoriichi's expression. Yoriichi's face was solemn, his voice restrained, and he looked ready for battle. His eyes were even filled with killing intent toward Muzan, one hand already gripping the hilt of his blade.

Muzan frowned and cautiously took a step back. "What do you mean?"

Yoriichi abruptly drew the Nichirin blade at his waist. Whoosh—

Sun Breathing!

Blazing crimson flames erupted from the red blade as Yoriichi swung at him. Muzan hurriedly retreated in fright. There was no doubt about it—this little bastard was trying to kill him!

"Are you fucking crazy?!"

Muzan shouted as he tensed every nerve and dodged Yoriichi's attacks with all his strength. Compared to the Muzan of the original story, he had put in no small amount of effort over the past hundred years to improve himself. Although he still could not match Yoriichi, he could at least barely evade his blade.

Tsugikuni Yoriichi swung his long blade with complete focus, saying nothing. His dense barrage of attacks put immense pressure on Muzan. As Muzan dodged, the hem of his clothes behind him was cut by the blade, threads of cloth with scorched edges drifting to the ground.

The blade repeatedly grazed his skin, leaving Muzan with a dense, searing pain that refused to heal.

Taking advantage of a gap in Yoriichi's attacks, Muzan hurriedly retreated and opened the distance. He leaped into the air and landed on a high branch, warily watching Yoriichi below, who looked up at him with his long blade clenched in hand.

Yoriichi looked up at Muzan, standing on a branch several meters above the ground with the full moon behind him.

He did not know why the Demon King acted as though he knew him well, but at first sight, Yoriichi—who understood the terror of demons and regarded demon-slaying as his duty—had known that his inborn mission was to kill Muzan Kibutsuji.

Yet Yoriichi could clearly sense from their fight just now that the man before him had never taken the initiative to attack. Although he could feel Muzan Kibutsuji's terrifying, dreadful vitality, he could not sense any malice from him.

That faint sense of familiarity only made things more confusing.

He could not help looking at Muzan above him.

"Do you know me?"

Muzan: "?"

No, I raised you for five years!

Five whole years!

And you forgot me in the blink of an eye?

You're repaying kindness with enmity, huh?

But after a brief pause, Muzan immediately considered another possibility. Had Yoriichi lost his memory?

"Did you lose your memory?"

Yoriichi thought carefully about it. He did not believe he had lost his memory, so he once again assumed a stance as though he meant to kill Muzan. That supposed familiarity might have been something Muzan Kibutsuji had done to him!

Muzan froze. Damn!

You were just going to start fighting without a word, huh?

Seeing Yoriichi use the low branches as footholds to leap up after him, Muzan hurriedly fled.

After all, he had raised him for five years. He was still a little reluctant to hurt him.

Besides, Yoriichi clearly seemed to have lost his memory. Muzan had to hold back, but Yoriichi certainly would not. On top of that, Yoriichi had always been stronger than him.

In the original story, Yoriichi had crippled him with a single slash. The fact that he had held on this long was already an exceptional performance!

Why the hell would he fight?

Muzan directly used a Blood Demon Art to flee, vanishing from where he stood.

But Tsugikuni Kokushibo was still only Tsugikuni Kokushibo now. With no need to worry about his brother becoming a demon, Yoriichi relied on the Clear World and immediately began pursuing him.

Muzan already had over a hundred demons under his command, so his Blood Demon Arts naturally came in all varieties. He had more than enough abilities for escaping, but the problem was that none of them could take him very far!

Only after escaping Yoriichi's line of sight did Muzan finally let out a breath. He was already several towns away from the forest. Surely Yoriichi could not catch up now, right?

But in the next moment, he suddenly felt a wave of heat rush toward him. Muzan's pupils shrank as a red blade carrying the blazing heat of Sun Breathing reflected in his eyes.

Muzan: "!!!"

Terrified, Muzan instinctively sprang backward and twisted aside. Several strands of his black hair slowly caught fire.

Muzan's eyes widened as he looked cautiously at Yoriichi, whose fighting spirit blazed brightly.

"Fuck!"

Was that even human?!

He had long known that Yoriichi's strength was at the absolute pinnacle, but he had still believed that Yoriichi was human, no matter what.

But this was just—

Was that human?!

Who the hell was the demon here?!

He had used a Blood Demon Art to literally teleport away, yet Yoriichi had caught up instantly using nothing but his legs?

Muzan did not even dare imagine whether Yoriichi would still be able to chase him if he fled to Infinity Castle.

Was Yoriichi originally this strong, or had some legendary plot armor altered things?

The original story had never made Muzan's escape look this difficult!

Yoriichi did not care what Muzan was thinking. One slash missed, and another immediately followed.

Muzan frantically stumbled backward. His seven hearts hammered wildly from tension and terror.

At that moment, Tsugikuni Yoriichi was immensely oppressive. With the Scarlet Traces on his forehead, the heavy killing intent on his face, and the long blade stained with a few traces of Muzan's blood in his hand—

Compared with Muzan's miserable state, Yoriichi looked more like a demon instead.

Muzan could not beat him, nor could he escape.

In an instant, Muzan failed to dodge in time. A slash struck his arm, carving a deep wound across half of it, from elbow to wrist, blood pouring out without stopping.

Muzan could not recover from the damage dealt by the Crimson Blade. Enduring the pain, he continued to evade.

Finally, taking advantage of the gap after Yoriichi dodged one of his slashes, Muzan fled again.

Then his face suddenly brightened. He sensed that Tsugikuni Kokushibo was nearby too!

He did not care what would happen. Even if he had to use Kokushibo as a hostage, he would survive first!

Muzan flashed and suddenly appeared near Tsugikuni Kokushibo. Before Kokushibo could react, a claw was already at his throat.

Although Tsugikuni Kokushibo became Upper Rank One after turning into a demon, second only to Muzan among demons, he was not a demon yet. He was fundamentally incapable of resisting Muzan.

Tsugikuni Kokushibo instinctively tried to fight back, but the blade in his hand was easily taken from him. The faint pain at his throat immediately made him afraid to move again.

With his life in someone else's hands, Tsugikuni Kokushibo did not dare act rashly. He cautiously asked,

"What do you want?"

He did not even know who this person who had suddenly appeared behind him was. He had no idea what had happened.

"Your younger brother is chasing me down. I can only use you to save myself."

As soon as Muzan finished speaking, Yoriichi caught up. Seeing Muzan holding his older brother hostage, his expression darkened.

"Muzan Kibutsuji!"

Seeing this, Tsugikuni Kokushibo understood what was happening, but he became even more confused.

He remembered that many years ago, Yoriichi had told him that during the time Yoriichi had left home, he encountered Muzan. Muzan had saved him from a Half-Demon, and they had lived together for five years.

Yoriichi had even told him that the Demon King was not as he had imagined.

But what was going on now?

"Yoriichi, didn't you say Muzan was your savior? What is going on now?"

Muzan was also stunned when he heard Kokushibo's words. Yoriichi had told Kokushibo about that?

Yoriichi only looked puzzled. Had he said that?

And how could the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji, possibly be his savior?

"He lost his memory and is trying to kill me!"

Muzan instantly understood the situation. Tsugikuni Kokushibo was his lifeline!

But afraid that Yoriichi would suddenly rush over and cut him down, he did not dare remove the claw from beside Kokushibo's throat.

Held hostage, Tsugikuni Kokushibo understood the situation as well, though he did not know whether it was true. He looked at Yoriichi in confusion, waiting for him to speak.

Yoriichi was simply perplexed. Frowning, he asked his older brother for confirmation. "Did I really tell you that?"

Seeing that Yoriichi was confused too, his blade lowering as he no longer seemed ready to fight, Muzan let out a slight breath of relief.

He cautiously released Kokushibo and said,

"See? I told you he lost his memory!"