A shadow fell over Kamanue as an enormous tentacle studded with eyes seized him and suspended him in the air.
"Please forgive me! Lord Kibutsuji! Please... please! Spare me! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so..."
Kamanue begged Muzan for mercy at the top of his lungs, apologizing over and over, but none of it changed Muzan's mind.
The next instant, the enormous mouth on the tentacle bit down. With a scream from Kamanue, flesh and blood rained down, splattering the other three Lower Ranks. Then the mouth opened and let out a satisfied burp.
All the Lower Ranks except Enmu were too terrified to think straight. Cold sweat dripped from them, drop by drop, pattering into the pool of blood on the floor.
Muzan spoke again.
"Are Demon Slayers more frightening than I am?"
Koyuki shuddered at those words, her fear reaching its peak.
"No!" Koyuki immediately looked up and denied it.
"Whenever you encounter a Demon Slayer, you always want to run away, don't you?" Muzan asked, staring at Koyuki.
Tears streamed from Koyuki's eyes in terror. She hurriedly shook her head. "No, I don't think that! I've risked my life fighting for you!"
"Are you contradicting what I said?"
Yet her declaration of loyalty did not move Muzan. Instead, he questioned her in a low, devilish voice.
At Muzan's words, Koyuki had nothing left to say. She knew that no matter what she said, she could not escape dying here today.
Sure enough, the next instant, the enormous tentacle swallowed her in one bite. The blood that splattered out had already stained most of the remaining Lower Ranks' bodies red.
Watching Muzan kill his fellow Lower Rank demons one after another, with nothing they said changing their fate, Lower Rank Three, Byōga, began thinking of escape.
While Muzan was devouring Koyuki's corpse, Byōga rose slightly, then sprang away, darting through the Infinity Castle.
But Byōga had overlooked one thing: the entire Infinity Castle was under Nakime's control. Escaping Muzan's pursuit within it was nothing but a fool's dream.
Enmu clearly knew this. His eyes filled with amusement as he watched Byōga flee.
The next instant, Muzan reappeared before Enmu, the last Lower Rank, holding Byōga's head.
"I think the Twelve Kizuki only need the Upper Ranks. The Lower Ranks will be disbanded. Do you have any last words?" Muzan asked Enmu.
Enmu's face was flushed as he spoke in a soft, sickly voice. "I feel as though I'm dreaming. To have you personally kill me, to hear the dying cries of the other demons-that alone is enough to make me happy.
"I'm truly blessed~"
Enmu spread his arms in a display of utter bliss. Hearing his words improved Muzan's mood somewhat.
"I love watching other people's misfortune and suffering. I love it so much that I even dream of it. So thank you for leaving me until last." Enmu pressed his palms together as he delivered his final words.
A fingernail pierced Enmu's neck.
"I've taken a liking to you. I'll give you some more blood. But you might die because you can't withstand this much.
"However, if you can 'adapt,' you'll become even stronger. Then you can help me kill the Demon Slayers' Hashira.
"If you kill the Demon Slayer wearing hanafuda-like ornaments on his ears, I'll give you even more blood." Muzan smiled at Enmu, transmitting his memories of Tanjiro into Enmu's mind.
The biwa strings were plucked again. To their sound, the doors of the Infinity Castle closed one after another. Muzan left the castle, and Nakime threw Enmu out as well.
Night fell.
Crowds flowed through the bustling streets. Chiba Yo looked around like a country boy-no, he really was a country boy-curious about everything he saw.
He held a bag of dumplings, eating as he walked.
A family he had just saved by slaying a vicious demon had given them to him. He had initially wanted to refuse, but their hospitality was too earnest to turn down. They had also said they would welcome every Demon Slayer like him in the future.
The joy of protecting people and helping others made the dumplings in his hand taste even sweeter.
I wonder when my next mission will be. I really hope I can arrive in time on every mission, so no one gets hurt by demons...
Chiba Yo thought as he ate the dumplings.
Soon, Chiba Yo finished the bag. After throwing the bag and bamboo skewers into a trash can, he decided to find a meal. To arrive in time, he had eaten only a few rice balls on the road and had not had a proper meal in two days.
He had barely taken a few steps when he suddenly felt a chill run through his body.
What's going on?! I've never felt anything like this...
The unusual sensation instantly put Chiba Yo on guard, sharpening his focus.
Then his gaze locked onto a woman ahead of him wearing a black patterned kimono.
Five brains and seven hearts! A demon disguised as a human! And an incredibly powerful one! An Upper Rank? Or could it be... Muzan Kibutsuji...
Through the Transparent World, Chiba Yo instantly recognized what the female-looking demon was.
The unprecedented pressure narrowed this demon's possible identity to an Upper Rank or Muzan. He had not felt even a trace of pressure from Lower Rank Two, Rokuro.
I probably can't kill him instantly. In that case, I'll have to...
Looking at the dense crowd around him, Chiba Yo abandoned the idea of attacking here.
"As long as you don't let a demon discover you're a Demon Slayer, it's easy to lure them away!"
Remembering Kyojuro's words, Chiba Yo decided to lure the demon ahead to a deserted spot before fighting him.
My Nichirin Blade is hidden under my kimono. As long as I act natural, he'll never realize I'm a Demon Slayer.
With that thought, Chiba Yo walked up and tapped the kimono-clad figure on the shoulder.
A pale but exquisitely beautiful face turned toward him, with plum-red eyes and an expression of extreme impatience.
"Excuse me... beautiful miss. There's something I'd like to tell you. Would you mind spending a little time alone with me?"
Suppressing his disgust and hatred toward demons, Chiba Yo did his best to put on what he thought was a warm, friendly smile, speaking to the demon before him as gently as he could.
But to his surprise, the demon before him suddenly began trembling like a leaf. His plum-red pupils quivered violently, and he did not say a single word in reply.
Impossible, impossible, impossible! That face!!! That face!!!
The fear etched into his cells-into his very DNA, even-awoke once more. The face before him almost perfectly overlapped with that of the man he dreaded in his memories, the man he had spent nearly a century avoiding.
"What do you think... a life is worth?"
That man he could never forget, those words, that scene surfaced in his mind again. The scars that could neither be erased nor healed throbbed faintly, burning more fiercely than ever before.
Yoriichi... Tsugikuni!
Muzan screamed that name inwardly. The face of the person before him stripped away all his composure, confidence, and pride in an instant, simply because it resembled that man's.
"Miss, may I invite you to spend a little time alone with me?" Chiba Yo asked the demon before him again.
Chiba Yo had no idea why the demon was reacting this way. He was growing impatient himself; the reality was rather different from what he had imagined.
What's going on? Why is he reacting like this? Shouldn't he agree immediately because he wants to eat me? Could demons find the Demon Slayer Mark on my forehead repulsive too? Don't be so picky! Just say yes already!
Just as Chiba Yo's impatience reached its peak, something completely unexpected happened.
Pop!
The demon before him suddenly burst apart, countless chunks of flesh scattering through the air and fleeing at tremendous speed...
Before you continue