"Lord Akaza, I'm glad you're safe. It's been over eighty years since we last met, hasn't it?"
"I thought you'd been killed. I was so overcome with emotion..."
"Ah... ah... My heart is breaking!"
A series of lewd voices came eerily from a white, flower-patterned porcelain vase on the ground.
The owner of the voice followed, wriggling out through the vase's narrow opening like a fat maggot.
The creature looked like a maggot, with a human-shaped upper body and eight short, infant-like arms evenly spaced along both sides of its shoulders and neck.
Its lower body resembled a snake's tail, with a third of it still curled up inside the vase.
This deformed creature was Gyokko, one of the Twelve Kizuki and Upper Rank Five!
Akaza folded his arms across his chest and didn't even glance at the deformed monster.
A gloomy, timid voice came from some corner of the Infinity Castle:
"How scary! How scary! It's been a while, and Gyokko can't even count anymore..."
"The last time we were summoned was clearly a hundred and four years ago..."
The owner of the timid voice was a strange creature, exceptionally short, with two horns on its head and a devilish appearance, yet an utterly cowardly demeanor.
This "creature" was Hantengu, Upper Rank Four!
Daki, Upper Rank Six, glanced around before looking away. She couldn't afford to provoke any of the demons here.
She simply took her brother Gyutaro's hand and asked softly:
"Brother... do I look pretty in these clothes today? Do you think Lord Muzan will like them?"
Gyutaro, also Upper Rank Six, had hair like a clump of seaweed and a pair of dead-fish eyes.
He looked at his younger sister, Daki, with utter indulgence and said:
"Of course. You're the prettiest, Daki!"
"I'm sure Lord Muzan will like you!"
"Really!" Daki cried softly, her cheeks flushed pink.
She looked as if she'd just climaxed!
Just then, a handsome young man in red, wearing a strange round hat, suddenly appeared beside Akaza.
The words Upper Rank Two were clearly etched in the young man's multicolored eyes.
This "demon" was Doma, Upper Rank Two!
Doma gently rested a hand on Akaza's shoulder, wearing a worried expression as he said:
"Oh, dear... Lord Akaza!"
"Do you know how worried I was about you just now?"
"Thank goodness you're all right. Weren't you worried about me?"
"After all, you're all my most important companions!"
"I wouldn't want to lose a single one of you!"
At the sight of Doma, Akaza's expression turned visibly sour!
His composure completely crumbled.
Doma!! Why aren't you dead yet?!
Doma's incessant chatter made Akaza even less able to tolerate him!
If he couldn't stand it, then Akaza wasn't going to put up with it today!
Akaza's motto in life was: I never indulge idiots!
And in Akaza's eyes, Doma was an idiot.
Akaza swiftly raised his left hand.
He threw an upward backfist, slamming the back of his fist into Doma's big face.
Smack...
Akaza's handsome face was instantly turned into a train wreck by the punch.
"Oh, Lord Akaza, you've gotten a little stronger than before!"
"Just a little, though. Too bad you still can't beat me."
As soon as Doma finished speaking, the wound Akaza had just inflicted on his face had already healed completely.
At those words, the anger Akaza had just managed to vent a little surged right back to the brim!
He was just about to attack...
Just then, Nakime, the female "demon" sitting quietly nearby with a biwa in her hands and controlling the Infinity Castle, spoke up:
"Lord Akaza, please stop!"
"The first person I summoned was Lord Kokushibo, Upper Rank One!"
"He's been here the whole time."
At her words, Akaza's pupils contracted.
He turned and looked around the Infinity Castle, searching for Kokushibo.
As for Kokushibo, Upper Rank One...
Akaza was infinitely wary of him.
Compared to Doma, Upper Rank Two, Akaza simply refused to accept that Doma was stronger.
There wasn't much difference between them, and Akaza believed he could catch up.
But Kokushibo...
Akaza still had no idea where Kokushibo's limits lay!
At that moment, Kokushibo was sitting seiza-style in a teahouse above the Infinity Castle.
He looked down at the other Upper Rank Demons below in the distance.
His long red hair was tied back, and his appearance was almost entirely human, except for the six eyes growing symmetrically across his face!
In addition, two patches of dark red markings spread across Kokushibo's forehead and chin.
Sensing Muzan's arrival, Kokushibo finally spoke to Akaza, who was far below:
"Stop looking. I'm up here."
"Lord Muzan has arrived."
At those words, the Upper Rank Demons on the platform all dropped to their knees in unison.
Gyokko had no legs, so he couldn't kneel. He continued floating at the mouth of his vase, getting a small advantage!
Kibutsuji Muzan, dressed as a woman, looked down at his useless subordinates and spoke in a frigid tone:
"You... have truly disappointed me!"
At his words, the other demons remained silent, kneeling.
Only Doma looked at Muzan with an innocent expression and asked:
"I'm terribly sorry. May I ask what you mean?"
Truth be told, Doma, who had no emotions, wasn't afraid of Muzan at all...
He didn't even feel fear. How could he be afraid?
Muzan gave Doma a long, hard look. If this useful tool still didn't serve some purpose, he would have killed Doma!
After a long while, Muzan finally spoke:
"Where is the Blue Spider Lily?"
"Why haven't you found it after hundreds of years?"
"And you still haven't destroyed the Ubuyashiki Clan!"
"Hundreds of years! This is the first time Lower Rank Demons have been slain one after another by the Demon Slayer Corps within a single year!"
"I'm beginning to question the value of your existence!"
Hantengu, the most cowardly of them all, had already started frantically begging for mercy.
"I have no excuse. The Ubuyashiki Clan... has hidden themselves exceptionally well," Kokushibo said calmly.
"I'm simply not good at searching for things! What am I supposed to do?" Doma brushed Muzan off, then stroked his face and began to ponder:
How many people should I eat tonight?
Only Akaza looked firmly at his boss, Muzan, and said:
"Lord Muzan, I will kill every member of the Demon Slayer Corps for you!"
Muzan looked at Akaza and said coldly:
"Oh, really?"
"Then go and bring me the head of the Rumble Hashira, the most active member of the Demon Slayer Corps lately!"
After saying this, Muzan vanished from before their eyes.