What do you take life for?!

"That useless Enmu was slain too, was he? And by an ordinary swordsman, no less. What a waste of all that blood I gave him..."

In the cold, gloomy tatami room, Akaza knelt on one knee, dark red tattoos winding across his pale skin like bloody streaks.

Muzan was leafing through books in the form of a young child, dressed in a smart suit.

Two faint dark circles showed beneath his eyes.

Akaza was certain he must have imagined them. How could his lord possibly have dark circles...?

Muzan was deeply irritated.

The Lower Ranks were all dead now. Granted, he had never expected those bottom-rung members of the Twelve Kizuki to rival the Upper Ranks.

But losing six in such a short span made Muzan wonder whether those Lower Ranks had deliberately scammed him out of his blood just to feed experience to the Demon Slayer Corps.

Are they throwing on purpose? I could have accepted losing one every few decades.

And then there was Akaza, who had started playing around with swordsmen again. He had killed no one, while their side had lost another Lower Rank...

Akaza lowered his head and said solemnly, "Lord Muzan, I went to the Mugen Train as you commanded and severely wounded a Hashira." His voice carried the gravity of a warrior reporting a completed mission, but he deliberately omitted his humiliating flight from sunlight.

A child's young voice sounded from the shadows, wrapped in the chilling pressure of a thousand-year-old Demon King. "Oh? Is that all?"

The black-haired child Muzan had become sat on a raised platform, wearily leafing through one book after another-he was using his human identity to search for the Blue Spider Lily.

Ever since destroying the book containing clues to the Blue Spider Lily, Muzan had spent days unable to enjoy food or drink. His five brains were so consumed by regret that they had practically started fighting each other.

So he had been poring over books day and night, hoping to find another clue to the Blue Spider Lily.

"I... failed to find any clues to the Blue Spider Lily." Akaza's throat bobbed. Before he could finish, the ink bottle on the desk suddenly exploded!

"Akaza."

"Akaza."

"Akaza! You fucking..."

The child's voice called his name three times, each one sending the demon blood inside Akaza surging! Agony gnawed at his marrow like countless venomous insects. He groaned and prostrated himself, dark red blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Muzan forcibly swallowed the rest of the curse.

"Isn't killing Hashira-level swordsmen part of an Upper Rank's duties? You have the nerve to report that you merely wounded one? Has the mighty Upper Rank Three fallen so low?" The Demon King's eyes looked down on the trembling warrior.

"I fucking... I wanted every Demon Slayer wiped out, including Tanjiro Kamado, the one with the hanafuda earrings-and you fled from sunlight like a rat!"

The air hardened like iron. Akaza's fingertips dug deep into the tatami as shame and fear spread beneath his tattoos.

Muzan's sneer broke the deathly silence. "You dare seek praise after such a disgrace? Akaza... you've disappointed me terribly. And... it seems you've been tracked. Go deal with that nuisance yourself, Akaza!"

The suppression in his blood receded like a tide. Akaza forced himself upright, and as he bowed and withdrew, he glimpsed his own distorted reflection in the moonlight-the very image of the "beaten dog fleeing with its tail between its legs" that Muzan saw in him.

As the sliding paper door closed, the ink bottle's fragments reflected the mockery at the child's lips.

Akaza always did love playing around too much!

I actually think very highly of him. Why does he have to be such a disappointment? Ugh!

In the Butterfly Mansion Estate's treatment room, the three youngsters' tears of relief mingled with Kyojuro Rengoku's steady but weak breathing.

The Sapphire Star felt the sounds around her blur until all she could hear was her heavy heartbeat and the question echoing over and over in her mind-Was this my fault?

"Hikigusa."

"Yes, Lady Sapphire Star." Hikigusa answered immediately. She had keenly sensed the killing intent radiating from the Sapphire Star, along with... profound self-reproach.

"Take me there." The Sapphire Star's gaze never left Rengoku's pale face and its sickly flush. "To where they encountered Upper Rank Three. Sorry for the trouble!"

Hikigusa immediately bowed. "Of course. Please follow me." She turned and headed outside, her steps swift and silent.

The Sapphire Star took one last, long look at Rengoku on the stretcher, then strode after Hikigusa. Her figure soon vanished into the morning light outside the Butterfly Mansion Estate, leaving behind a room full of unsettled emotions and three boys exchanging bewildered looks.

At the site of the Mugen Train's derailment, the Demon Slayer Corps' Kakushi unit had efficiently cleared away most of the wreckage.

The Sapphire Star stood in a relatively open area, its ground riddled with enormous impact craters and blackened scorch marks.

This had clearly been the heart of the battle, where the fighting had been fiercest.

Residual energy lingered in the air-raging flames, icy killing intent.

And a trace of the horribly unsettling, cold fighting spirit of an Upper Rank demon-faint though it was, it pricked at her hunter's senses like fine needles.

Hikigusa stood quietly at her side.

The Sapphire Star closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Cold air flooded her lungs, carrying rust, scorched earth, and the faint, distinctive reek of a powerful demon.

"Scoutflies, find that bastard's trail!"

Bzz-

Inside their jar, the Scoutflies that had been giving off a gentle green glow suddenly stirred into a frenzy!

Their light shifted from green to yellow, then rapidly from yellow to red!

This reaction... was more than ten times stronger than when they had tracked a Lower Rank!

A few seconds later, the Scoutflies' red glow abruptly steadied, gathering into a clear trail like a burning line of blood.

It led in the direction where Akaza had last disappeared-a cliff leading deep into the mountain forest.

That Upper Rank Three named Akaza... he was the cause of all this! He was the one who grievously wounded Rengoku, who forced him to swallow the secret medicine and burn through his life to fight!

"Hikigusa, thank you for going to notify headquarters. I'm going to clean up a few things. I don't know when I'll be back."

Before her words had faded, her figure became an ice-blue streak that tore through the air. Following the glaring blood-red trail left by the Scoutflies, she plunged into the forest, which remained deep and inscrutable despite the faint morning light!

The Scoutflies' red light pierced layers of tree shadows, then crossed rivers and villages... The trail wound constantly through shaded places, but none of it could shake the Scoutflies!

The Scoutflies finally pointed toward a carefully maintained area on the outskirts of a city.

The dense vegetation had been neatly trimmed. A cobblestone path wound ahead, ending at an elegantly designed Western-Style Mansion with a distinctly European air.

"Here?" The Sapphire Star was quite surprised. This little demon shit even copied humans and moved into a big villa? In a city, no less? How fucking brazen is he?!

If I don't twist your head off today, my name isn't Sapphire Star!

The Sapphire Star flicked her wrist. Her specially crafted hunter's slinger instantly fired a claw hook forged from fine steel. With a clang, it bit securely into the window frame and pulled her onto the windowsill.

Inside the room, Muzan Kibutsuji sat behind a broad desk.

Only moments earlier, he had clearly sensed through their blood pact that Akaza had arrived nearby and received his mental report: "All traces have been removed."

Good, good. Akaza might be a little arrogant, but he's still dependable when it comes to getting things done...

Suddenly, Muzan's eyes lit up!

Holy shit! Found it! This book mentions Blue Lycoris too!

Hahahahaha! Heaven rewards a demon's perseverance! Days without sleep have finally paid off!

After accidentally destroying the relevant book last time, Muzan had finally found the words in another book. Even the Demon King could not help humming softly.

Now that's a relief. Relying on myself really is better than counting on those useless Twelve Kizuki.

Muzan looked toward the window, intending to relax for the first time in ages before studying the book properly.

Then he raised his head...

Outside the window stood a tall figure covered in strange ice-blue scale armor. Behind her shoulder, an enormous, vicious-looking blade radiated a chilling aura, reflecting a heart-stopping gleam in the study's soft light.

The cold emanating from her and the overwhelming menace of an apex predator instantly shattered the room's quiet elegance!

"Fuck! Akaza-!!!" Muzan's roar was no longer transmitted mentally. It burst straight from his mouth!

His elegant mask shattered instantly. The child's voice turned shrill with overwhelming shock, rage, and disbelief, even cracking slightly!

"Where the fuck are you?! The enemy's right in my fucking face-!!!"

He could barely believe his eyes! One moment, Akaza had sworn through the blood pact that "all traces have been removed," and the next, this walking calamity was crashing through the window into his study?! What the hell was Akaza doing?! Had the Flame Hashira knocked him stupid?!

"So you're that bastard Akaza!" Sensing the thick demonic aura pouring from Muzan, the Sapphire Star punched the window to pieces.

"I'm going to add scallions, ginger, and water, then chop you into dumpling filling!!"

Meanwhile, beside a stream several kilometers away.

Akaza crouched at the water's edge, crushing the belly of the thirteenth fish between his fingertips. He had wiped away every trace of blood along his route, strangled every fish he passed, and cut every bloodstained earthworm in half. All that remained was to shake up the birds' eggs in the trees along the way. Surely no one can track me now. Hehehe.

Suddenly-

"Akaza!!! Where the fuck are you?!"

Muzan's roar, brimming with utter fury and murderous intent, exploded like thunder directly inside his head.

Akaza was so startled that he dropped the fish in his hand.

Along with that roar came fragmented images flashing across his vision like projections on his retinas: stained-glass shards flying everywhere, the study in ruins, and a tall figure covered in ice-blue scale armor tumbling through the shattered window frame.

Someone actually broke straight into Lord Muzan's residence?!

"My lord! I'll immediately..." Horrified, Akaza tried to explain and request orders through the blood pact.

"Shut up! Go slit your fucking belly open!" Muzan's thoughts roared.

Inside the study, the battle erupted in an instant!

"Clutch Claw!" The Clutch Claw shot out again, this time targeting Muzan Kibutsuji.

"Akaza!! You're taking this fight outside!" Sensing a faint human heartbeat in the next room, the Sapphire Star feared hurting an innocent and violently yanked the cable!

"Fuck-!" Even Muzan, a thousand-year-old Demon King, swore in shock at this utterly unconventional tactic.

Before he could recover from the surprise of being struck by the Clutch Claw, a tremendous, brutally overwhelming pull surged through its cable!

Muzan felt his feet leave the ground. Like a fish caught on a cast hook, he was helplessly hauled into the air by that immense force!

Crash-!!!

One after the other, they smashed out through the villa's elegant window amid a glittering shower of countless glass shards!

Suspended in midair, the Sapphire Star did not dodge Muzan's hideously twisted face or the several terrifying bone spikes shooting toward her.

Instead, she did something Muzan would never forget for the rest of his life.

"Armorskin! Demon Drug! Might Seed Lifepowder! Dash Juice!..." Her free left hand moved in a blur, frantically rummaging through the medicine pouch and powder bags at her waist... She stuffed glittering crystals and pills of every color into her mouth without hesitation, as though eating candy.

Boom-!

Surging streams of energy visibly erupted from the Sapphire Star's body, multicolored radiance intertwining and flickering around her.

Holy fuck, this woman... applies enchantments in the middle of a fight?! Multiple fucking enchantments, at that! Muzan's crimson pupils abruptly contracted.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

Muzan had not merely stood there gawking. Several bone spikes had already reached the Sapphire Star, shrieking through the air!

Those lethal attacks, powerful enough to pierce steel plates and tear flesh apart, slammed into the armor over her chest.

Clang! Clang! Clang!!!

"You dumbass Upper Rank, are you trying to scratch my itch?" The Sapphire Star made no attempt to defend herself. The demons of this world were nowhere near strong enough to break through Fatalis Armor!

"My turn, bastard!" Gripping the Clutch Claw cable wrapped around Muzan's shoulder with her left hand, she yanked downward. The immense force dragged his body uncontrollably toward her.

"One-Sheathed Slash!!!"

Using the opposing force from pulling Muzan toward her, the Sapphire Star flipped sharply backward.

Carried by that rotation, the Fatalis Blade swept upward from below, aimed straight at the neck of the forcibly dragged-in Muzan!

Muzan's crimson pupils shrank to pinpoints. For the first time in a thousand years, death's shadow engulfed him again! In panic, thorned whips burst from his whole body and wove into a shield-

Boom-!!!

Muzan smashed through three stone walls as though an Elder Dragon had charged into him. His suit shredded into strips like a mop. Coughing dust as he crawled from the rubble, he spat in mingled shock and fury:

"Fuck, it's like seeing Yoriichi again! How is this bastard so strong?!"

The Sapphire Star gave Muzan no time to breathe. She had already closed in, skimming low over the ground! Her blade tore through the air with a dragon's roar:

"Spirit Blade Combo! Die, you bastard!"

Swish! Muzan dodged sideways, and the blade sliced the heel off his limited-edition handmade leather shoe.

Swish! Another dodge! A section of his tie was chopped clean off.

Swish! A spinning upward cut tore open his bespoke, slim-cut suit trousers.

This woman from another world! Her speed might not match the very best swordsmen, but her strength is fucking ridiculous!

One hit might snap me clean through the kidneys.

"Akaza! Are you a fucking loach?!"

The Sapphire Star's furious triple slash sent stone chips flying, forcing Muzan into humiliating frog-like hops amid the flashing blade.

When he finally found an opening to fling seven bone spikes back at her-

Clang!

The Sapphire Star suddenly sheathed her blade and sank into a low lunge. Her scabbard hummed as blue light gathered. The instant the bone spikes flew past her face...

Ting! A clear metallic note rang through the night sky!

She had precisely knocked the last bone spike away with her sword guard, and her fully charged fighting spirit erupted:

"Great Iai Slash!"

Whoosh-!

A ribbon of blade light swept across! Muzan jerked backward, the edge passing barely above the tip of his nose and leaving a bloody line across his finely sculpted face.

"Do all you Twelve Kizuki love playing hide-and-seek?" The Sapphire Star suddenly bared a vicious grin and pulled out a Flash Bomb.

"Eat blindness!"

Bang!

Blinding white light exploded! Muzan screamed and covered his eyes. The retinal cells that had just seen information about the Blue Spider Lily suffered a brutal physical wipe:

"Despicable!! That's so fucking despicable! Aaaah!"

While Muzan reeled, the Sapphire Star circled behind him and deployed a Shock Trap.

"Ugh, what is this... aaaaaaah!!" The Demon King lost his footing, and a hundred thousand volts instantly crawled over his entire body.

The Sapphire Star's furious roar exploded beneath the night sky, crashing into the electrified Muzan with thunderous force:

"Hiding in a human home, pretending to be one of them! What do you find so amusing?! What do you take life for-!!"

That question! That tone! That damned sense of judgment branded into the depths of my soul!

Even clearer... were those eyes, still as an ancient well, as though reflecting the fundamental truths of heaven and earth!

Yoriichi Tsugikuni!

Fuck! Yori!!! Yoriichi is still fucking chasing me!

Those utterly calm eyes from a thousand years ago, those words of judgment, seemed to cross time and space, instantly overlapping with the contemptuous gaze of the golden-eyed woman before him!

"No-!!!"

A shriek beyond the limits of living creatures erupted, mingling absolute terror, despair, and madness.

Under that overwhelming shock, his crimson pupils lost focus completely, dissolving into a vacant stare!

The next moment, Muzan's entire body exploded from within like an ignited Barrel Bomb!

BOOOOM!!

Filthy blood sprayed across the sky, along with countless dark red chunks of flesh of every size that shot out like a torrential downpour!

The largest were the size of fists, the smallest no bigger than fingernails!

"Holy shit, you're self-destructing?" Startled, the Sapphire Star instantly drew his Long Sword.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Where the blade flashed, the air was sliced apart.

The rain of flesh hurtling toward him crashed into that icy black net of deadly steel.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

At least two-thirds of the chunks were obliterated in that storm.

"Shit, there's more! Move faster, you damn hand!" The Sapphire Star locked onto the fastest chunks that had managed to escape.

One of them unmistakably had a short piece of Aizen's bloodstained tie stuck to it.

Just then-

"My lord!!!" Akaza had only just arrived when he let out a horrified roar!

Oh shit! The boss has turned into mincemeat!

How could he spare any attention for the Sapphire Star? All he could see were the last scraps of Lord Muzan's flesh!

That bastard Doma can get hacked to death, but not the boss!

Driven by the instinct to protect his master's escape, Akaza hurled himself forward and punched straight into the path of the Sapphire Star's blade!

Boom!

His fist blast, blazing with Fighting Spirit, caught up despite being launched later and slammed into the side of the Fatalis Blade!

Although it could not shake the Sapphire Star as he unleashed his full power, it managed to shift the Fatalis Blade's trajectory by a mere inch!

The blade swept past in a ribbon of light!

A scrap of bloodstained tie and the tiny fleck of skin stuck to it were annihilated.

But another three or four slightly larger chunks, wrapped in dense demonic energy, shot even faster into the depths of the garden shrubbery and instantly disappeared!

Using the shrubs and terrain for cover, they vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, like worms burrowing into the soil!

"...Which bastard did that?!" The Sapphire Star's Fatalis Blade struck the ground heavily with a dull thud.

Shards of ice and ashes from the obliterated flesh drifted down. He had destroyed most of it, but the scraps that mattered most had escaped!

Akaza froze in place, his arm still extended from his punch, staring blankly at the area cleared by the net of blades in front of the Sapphire Star-

All that remained was a small patch of frozen blood, a few shredded strips of ruined cloth, and a stretch of ravaged, frozen soil.

The Sapphire Star whipped around, pointing his ice-cold blade at Akaza.

"So who the fuck are you, then? Do you know Akaza got away???"

An overwhelming aura locked firmly onto Akaza, its icy killing intent almost tangible!

Akaza: "..."

Huh? I got away? Didn't I just get here??