Mountain Child

A month later, at the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters.

Ubuyashiki Kagaya brought Miss Tamayo to Kujo Tachibana's residence.

Seeing the two of them arrive, Kujo Tachibana paused for a moment, then smiled.

He looked at Miss Tamayo and asked,

"Have you made it? The drug that inhibits the body from splitting?"

Miss Tamayo nodded and took out two vials, one black and one red.

"The red one is for Muzan, and the black one is for Kokushibo. I don't know whether Kokushibo, as a Demon King, has this ability, but better safe than sorry!"

Miss Tamayo had used the Demon King's blood inside the demons and Martial Demons to tailor these two drugs specifically for the two Demon Kings.

Kujo Tachibana took the two glass vials and asked, "How do we use them? Inject them?"

Miss Tamayo explained in detail:

"If you're sure you'll use them within half an hour, you can draw the drugs into syringes ahead of time. Or you can simply let the drugs touch their wounds; that will work, too."

After saying this, Miss Tamayo hesitated for a moment, then asked,

"Mr. Kujo, are you really confident you can face Muzan and Kokushibo at the same time?"

Hearing this, Kujo Tachibana stroked his chin and thought it over, recalling the details of the battle in the Infinity Castle from the manga.

A moment later, Kujo Tachibana looked solemnly at the two before him and promised,

"If Muzan takes the bait because of the Blue Spider Lily, he'll die!"

"Of course, the same goes for Kokushibo."

"But the details of the plan will be up to you, Master."

Kujo Tachibana had already told Ubuyashiki Kagaya about the Blue Spider Lily the last time he returned.

Although Kujo Tachibana hadn't explained where he had gotten this information, Ubuyashiki Kagaya trusted him and didn't press for details.

A few days after they returned to headquarters, the vines Kujo Tachibana had brought back earlier bloomed with more than a dozen blue flowers in broad daylight.

Fortunately, Miss Tamayo had preserved the flowers with a special solution, though they didn't know how much of their medicinal effect remained.

Still, no matter how much of their medicinal effect remained, Kujo Tachibana wouldn't give Muzan or Kokushibo the chance to find out.

Ubuyashiki Kagaya nodded. Once the Blue Spider Lily, which Muzan had sought for over a thousand years, appeared, he was sure neither of the two Demon Kings would stand idly by!

After all, the flower could help them grow even stronger and overcome their only weakness: sunlight!

Besides, the Demon Slayer Corps shouldn't pose a threat to the two Demon Kings at this point, as long as Tachibana's true strength remained hidden.

Then this would be a trap they couldn't resist!

The Blue Spider Lily would be something Kibutsuji Muzan and Kokushibo would both fight to claim!

There could be only one flower, but there were two Demon Kings.

Would Muzan yield?

Or would Kokushibo display such generosity that he let the other have it?

Thinking that the curse on the Ubuyashiki Family, which had lasted for a thousand years, was about to end at his hands, Ubuyashiki Kagaya could no longer contain his excitement. It showed plainly on his face.

After witnessing Kujo Tachibana's strength, which surpassed anything he could have imagined, Ubuyashiki Kagaya had never felt so certain.

Three days later, on the outskirts of Kumagaya County.

Kujo Tachibana, Ubuyashiki Kagaya, and the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps all gathered in a vast canyon.

This was the battlefield Ubuyashiki Kagaya had chosen!

Everyone carefully inspected the canyon.

Then they each offered their suggestions.

Some proposed placing boulders atop both ends of the canyon, while others suggested setting traps along the canyon floor. There was no shortage of ideas.

They spent another ten days modifying the canyon.

Only then did the plan targeting the two Demon Kings officially begin!

"Mountain Child" was a demon Muzan had turned over a hundred years ago. Naturally timid and cautious, Mountain Child had never once ventured into a large human settlement.

Just as his name suggested, he had lived deep in these mountains for years.

His "food" consisted of the hunters and farmers who entered the forest.

In his first few decades, the humans would occasionally band together to fight back.

Once, more than a hundred men from over a dozen villages around the mountain had gathered, carrying bows, long knives, and even farming tools, and marched up the mountain.

But no number of ordinary people could make up for the gap between humans and demons.

To their eyes, Mountain Child moved like a phantom. One punch from him could shatter a boulder, and his body recovered from injuries in an instant. The ignorant villagers were left in despair.

But Mountain Child didn't kill all the men. It wasn't because he was "merciful." He simply didn't want to waste food.

If he killed them all at once, he couldn't eat them all. They would only rot there. It didn't matter if he let them go. To survive and avoid starving to death, the humans would have to enter the forest again!

After he let the men go, the humans seemed to have gotten the wrong idea about him...

They not only stopped resisting him altogether, but every so often they even brought several human children to the entrance of the cave where he lived.

This had gone on for more than eighty years.

But Mountain Child, whose caution and discretion had become instinct, ultimately failed to escape the notice of his boss, Muzan...

After the Lower Rank Demons among the Twelve Kizuki died one after another, Muzan hadn't yet rebuilt the ranks when Kokushibo went off on his own and turned one powerful Martial Demon after another!

Faced with the pressure Kokushibo brought, Muzan couldn't simply grab a few demons and fill the vacant Lower Rank positions as he had before.

This time, Muzan used the blood he had left in them to sense the six strongest demons.

Then he summoned them to the Infinity Castle and gave each of the six another dose of his blood.

In the end, four demons survived Muzan's blood and rose to become Lower Rank Demons among the Twelve Kizuki.

Mountain Child was one of the lucky ones. He was now Mountain Child, Lower Moon Three of the Twelve Kizuki.

And today was once again time for Lord Mountain Child's weekly meal.

Mountain Child ambled toward the cave entrance on his short, thick legs.

But when he stepped outside, he felt puzzled.

He stared at the middle-aged man before him, whose forehead bore a faint scar.

Mountain Child wondered,

"Are those humans that bold? They dared to change Lord Mountain Child's menu without permission!"

"Today they've brought me a man with tough, stringy meat!"

But after thinking it over, Mountain Child decided that after eating children for more than eighty years, a change of taste now and then might not be so bad...