"Muzan Kibutsuji."
Higashino Makoto's voice echoed in the quiet courtyard.
"Make all your demons commit suicide."
Muzan Kibutsuji raised his head, his dark red eyes looking at him.
"What did you say?"
"I said, make all your ghosts commit suicide."
Higashino Makoto crouched down to look him in the eye. Those golden eyes were so close that Muzan Kibutsuji could see his own reflection in them.
Feeling disheveled and humiliated, like a wild beast with its neck tethered.
"You the Unassailable; I'll kill you, and those ghosts will die anyway. But if you cooperate, I'll prolong your death, and maybe you can escape?"
Muzan Kibutsuji stared at him for a long time.
He quickly considered the current situation, whether there was any possibility of escaping or negotiating terms.
What if I don't cooperate?
"I've already said, if you die, won't all the ghosts you create die too? Besides causing me some trouble and forcing me to kill you as soon as possible, it doesn't seem to do me any good, does it?"
Higashino Makoto's voice was calm, but every word was like a knife.
"Or perhaps I should subject you to various forms of torture? In that case, your long life will become the cruelest instrument of torture at this moment."
Muzan Kibutsuji's fingers trembled slightly at his sides.
For a thousand years, he has rarely been afraid.
Rather, it's a more primal, instinctive reaction.
He wanted to escape.
But his body wouldn't cooperate.
The chain suppressed his power, and the man suppressed his will.
He can't escape.
What exactly do you want?
His voice was hoarse.
"Your karma."
Higashino Makoto stood up and took a step back.
"The karma you carry is the greatest I've ever seen. Moreover, a part of your karma is very special, and it's very similar to mine."
Muzan Kibutsuji's brows furrowed slightly.
"What's the meaning?"
"It means your karma isn't just the sin of killing, but also something else. Fear, faith, will... these things mix together and become something I'll temporarily call divine remnants."
Higashino Makoto turned around and looked at the pillars in the courtyard.
"If my guess is correct, when this remnant of divinity accumulates to a certain extent, it might be able to shake the authority of the gods."
Kagaya Ubuyashiki's pupils contracted slightly.
"Mr. Higashino, you mean—"
Higashino Makoto's golden eyes gazed at the Muzan Kibutsuji's head, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Don't you think it's incredibly absurd that a pharmacist from a thousand years ago could grant someone immortality with a single potion?"
"Leaving aside immortality, can all sorts of absurd blood demon techniques really be achieved with just a single potion?"
The pillars looked at each other, unsure how to refute.
Yes, a potion, a pharmacist from a thousand years ago—how could they create such a terrifying being as the Ghost King?
"Do you think it's possible that Muzan Kibutsuji's ability to live for a thousand years and become the Demon King was part of the 'god's' plan for this world? Perhaps he possesses some kind of talent or something that brought him closer to the realm of the gods?"
Higashino Makoto paused.
"Although he himself didn't know it."
Muzan Kibutsuji knelt on the ground, his dark red eyes churning with complex emotions.
What are you saying?
"I said, you're an idiot."
Higashino Makoto turned around and looked at him.
"A thousand years, you've lived for a thousand years. You've eaten countless people, killed countless people, created countless ghosts, done so many things, accumulated so much karma, but you've never thought about... what exactly this karma is?"
Higashino Makoto quickly provided an answer.
"That's true, you don't understand, after all, you can't see it at all."
Muzan Kibutsuji's lips trembled.
"I don't understand?"
Higashino Makoto chuckled softly.
"Yes, I know better than you, because I can see it."
He reached out and touched Muzan Kibutsuji's forehead with his fingertips.
"How many people have you killed in this past thousand years? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? You yourself probably don't even remember, but God remembers. All that fear, all that hatred, all that pain you brought to this world, has become your karma."
"But besides these, there's something else."
His finger lightly touched Muzan Kibutsuji's forehead.
"The fear those demons had of you became your power. The fear those humans had of you also became your power. Even the hatred those Demon Slayer Corps members had for you became your power."
"Fear, hatred, faith... these things are food for God. And you, with these accumulated over a thousand years, have transformed you from a sinner into a vessel, or rather, a seed."
Muzan Kibutsuji's body was trembling.
"A container? What's that? What kind of seed?"
"Have no idea."
Higashino Makoto withdrew his hand.
"That's why I still need you to live."
He turned around and looked at the pillars in the courtyard.
"Muzan Kibutsuji, let's begin. Make your demons commit suicide."
Muzan Kibutsuji knelt on the ground, remaining silent for a long time.
Then he spoke.
"All the ghosts."
His voice was hoarse, but it reached the ears of everyone present clearly.
"In the name of Muzan Kibutsuji, I command you... to commit suicide."
The sound did not travel through the air, but through the blood.
Whether it was the Upper Ranks, the Lower Ranks, or the ghosts hiding deep in the mountains and forests, they all heard their master's voice at the same instant.
Some ghosts are sleeping, some are hunting for food, and some are fighting.
But the moment they heard that voice, their bodies froze.
Then, they began to commit suicide.
Some ghosts pierced their own hearts with their hands.
Some ghosts chopped off their own heads with knives.
Some ghosts walk directly into the sunlight.
Because commands are absolute.
Engraved into their very blood, an irresistible suppression.
Higashino Makoto estimated that, apart from Nezuko Kamado, Yushiro, and Tamayo, who had broken free from Muzan Kibutsuji's control, all the demons would die.
In the courtyard of the Ubuyashiki Estate, Higashino Makoto had his eyes closed.
His consciousness permeated the entire Honshu, tracking the souls of those ghosts through the perceptions of Huginn and Muninn.
When each ghost dies, its soul floats out of its body and then dissipates.
Go to hell.
Business is declining.
"Higashino Makoto," he said in a low voice.
The black mist above Muzan Kibutsuji's head was dissipating at a visible speed.
Only the core part remains, something very similar to the top of Higashino Makoto's own head.
Those karmic debts were originally attached to Muzan Kibutsuji.
But at the moment he commanded all the ghosts to commit suicide, a portion of his karma detached from him.
Higashino Makoto opened his eyes, a flash of understanding appearing in his golden pupils.