She smeared blood over the wounds on Namiko's hands and feet. The wounds quickly healed, and Namiko's breathing gradually improved.
Yuko, on the other hand, seemed somewhat weak.
She had only just transformed and desperately needed to eat. Not only had she not eaten anything, but she had also given away her flesh and blood.
Namiko's breathing gradually steadied. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes.
Yuko's face lit up. "Namiko, you..."
Before she could finish, Namiko saw Yuko's current state in the moonlight. The confusion on her face visibly turned to terror.
"Ah!" She screamed and kicked Yuko away with both hands and feet.
Yuko hurriedly explained, "Calm down! I still have my rea—"
Without giving her a chance to finish, Namiko scrambled out of the room and fled.
Yuko blankly watched her run out through the front gate, her outstretched hand slowly falling back without conscious thought.
After a long while, she sighed.
She did not resent Namiko. People of this era could never understand her.
That had already been proven with Kokushibo.
To be honest, the only reason she feared becoming a Demon was that she feared her consciousness would be twisted and that Muzan would learn what was in her heart.
If she became a ghoul and still had to eat human flesh, she would not be afraid.
That was because ghouls could control their own hearts, while Demons could not.
Once she learned that Muzan could not control her, she calmly accepted her current identity.
So what if she had become a Demon?
As long as she did not eat people or do evil, couldn't she still be a good Demon?
And she could regenerate after being decapitated and all that. It sounded incredibly awesome.
Yuko amused herself with those thoughts as she climbed up from the ground and slowly walked to the doorway.
Moonlight spilled into the courtyard, giving it a bleak sort of beauty.
She stepped outside, only for her head to suddenly jerk back. She nearly toppled over backward.
After steadying herself, Yuko could not help touching her head. Two long branches had actually grown from it.
Those two branches had caught on the top of the doorway just now.
Earlier, she had checked whether her face had changed. Who would have thought there would be nothing on her face, but something extra on her head?
How was she supposed to go out and meet people like this?
Yuko grumbled inwardly. If she remembered correctly, Nezuko could control the size of her body, so she should be able to do the same.
She touched the long branches on her head and concentrated.
Sure enough, with her effort, the branches slowly shrank back in.
Thank goodness.
Yuko let out a sigh of relief.
She looked down at her body. After confirming there were no other abnormalities, she stepped out of the room.
Yuko looked up at the cold moon in the sky, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath of the cool night air.
What was this feeling?
It was like walking through a cramped tunnel, only to see a spot of white light ahead and suddenly emerge into the open.
Since her lungs had been injured, she had never felt this relaxed.
Just then, a cold wind blew past and entered Yuko's nose.
It was... the scent of blood.
Not far outside the gate.
"Snow Breathing: Fifth Form: Snow Run."
Yuko's figure turned into a streak of white light and vanished from where she stood.
Her Breathing Technique flowed more smoothly than ever, and the usual congestion had completely vanished.
She had never felt anything so wonderful.
Her entire body... felt reborn.
Outside the gate, several Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen lay sprawled across the mountain path.
They were almost all missing limbs, their bodies mangled beyond recognition.
Yuko began salivating again.
These people should have been the reinforcements Namiko had brought back, but Kokushibo had not left immediately. They had run straight into him.
Suppressing her hunger, Yuko gathered their corpses and buried them off to the side.
Just as she was about to leave, Yuko suddenly realized something.
She had broken free from Muzan's control, which meant Muzan could no longer sense her presence.
Kokushibo might return to investigate. She should hide and wait for an opportunity to kill Demons.
Yuko returned to the residence and found several pieces of clothing in one of the rooms. They should have belonged to the warrior's wife and daughter, and they were still new.
She changed out of her own clothes and tossed them into the courtyard, making it look like she had been destroyed by sunlight.
That would explain why Muzan could not sense her presence.
As she tossed the clothes by the gate, she noticed her broken Nichirin Blade lying to one side.
Her companion, which had always fought by her side, gave off a faint cold gleam beneath the moonlight. Strangely, it sent a chill down her spine.
No wonder Kokushibo had abandoned his Nichirin Blade after becoming a Demon.
Even the so-called Scarlet Blade only had a special advantage against Demons. Its effect on humans was negligible.
Humans were such fragile creatures that whether it caused burns or not made little difference. One slash would kill them either way.
Kokushibo's peculiar Demon Blade had been formed from his own flesh and blood, so there was no reason she could not do the same.
But she was far too weak right now. If she separated more flesh and blood, she might become the first Demon to die from weakness.
After finishing everything, Yuko left the residence beneath the moonlight.
She needed to find something to eat.
Almost as soon as she left, Kokushibo and the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen arrived one after another.
Kokushibo calmly looked at the human-shaped pile of clothing placed before the gate. That was the shape left behind only when a body vanished from within.
Destroyed by the sun...
After receiving word from Muzan that he could no longer sense Yuko, he had already vaguely suspected this.
Could she really achieve such a thing through sheer willpower?
Or perhaps...
He looked toward the inner room. The woman who should have been completely devoured had vanished without a trace.
Kokushibo, who possessed an acute sense for presences, knew very well that she had not been eaten by Yuko. Somehow, she had escaped.
Kokushibo's expression shifted uncertainly. A moment later, he suddenly drew his blade. The overwhelming attack of Moon Breathing instantly destroyed Yuko's clothes along with the house behind them.
"This... this is Miss Yuko's sword. There's no mistake!"
One of the swordsmen who had trained under Yuko recognized the broken Nichirin Blade lying nearby.
His companion said painfully, "Then Miss Yuko, she..."
"Don't talk nonsense!" someone beside him barked, cutting him off. "Miss Yuko is a swordswoman who awakened both her mark and the Clear and Transparent World. How could she possibly die here?"
"But..." A Corps member looked despairingly at the utterly ruined house before them, its surface marked by several sword slashes like claw marks.
That was not something human swordsmanship could create.
If it had been a Demon with that kind of power, then even Miss Yuko...
By the time Yuko descended the mountain and found the nearby town, the sky had already begun to pale with dawn. Daybreak was close at hand.
She seemed to have eaten the Blue Spider Lily. Did that mean she was immune to sunlight now?
Yuko considered it, but she did not dare test it.
Using some money she had found at the warrior's home, she rented a room at an inn in town to avoid the sunlight.
The innkeeper brought her food. She took two small bites, but food she had never particularly liked now tasted even more like wax.
In Yuko's eyes, even the server delivering the meal smelled more appetizing than the food.
There was barely any nutrition in it. It could not replenish her strength at all.
Only after becoming a Demon did Yuko understand the agony of being unable to starve to death.
Before you continue