The biting night wind tore at Akaza's eardrums, and the ground beneath his feet kept exploding and caving in under the force of his strides!
"Damn it! How is this woman so fast?!"
Akaza's heart hammered wildly in his chest, fueled not only by the frustration of forcibly suppressing his intense hunger for battle, but also by the primal terror of being marked by a predator.
The woman chasing him was practically ablaze with resentment and killing intent.
If looks could kill, Akaza was sure he would have died eight hundred times already.
Running away without challenging such a powerful opponent was not Akaza's style.
I can't take it! It feels like Doma's crawling all over me!
To hell with it! Fight! I have to fight!
Just as he was considering turning around to meet her blade head-on, even if it exposed his identity-
Whoosh!
The solid ground beneath his feet instantly collapsed, transforming without warning into a sliding door swirling with chaotic wood grain.
"Akaza! Were you just about to fucking fight back again?! Get your ass back to the Infinity Castle!!!" Lord Muzan's furious mental roar exploded in his head.
Akaza plummeted downward.
Splat~
He slammed into the floor of the Infinity Castle.
"Urgh..." Akaza groaned, hastily pushing himself up in a fluster and assuming a respectful posture.
Oh boy. That's it. I'm dead today. Better behave and wait for Lord Muzan's punishment.
Too bad I'll die before that bastard Doma. What a bitter pill...
But he waited a long time, and the expected attack never came.
Puzzled, Akaza cautiously raised his head.
A figure stood silently within his line of sight.
Tall and slender, he had long, dark hair that cascaded to his waist like a waterfall of ink. His six eyes betrayed no emotion as he glanced indifferently at Akaza, who had just fallen inside.
Upper Rank One, Kokushibo!
The strongest of the Twelve Kizuki stood guard outside his master's quarters.
The screen before the quarters was open a crack. Behind the curtain, a figure looked rather... petite.
It was the silhouette of someone who looked like a girl of sixteen or seventeen, a small, delicate frame wrapped in a simple, elegant pale-blue kimono, with the slenderness characteristic of a young girl.
Lord Muzan... you've left yourself wide open... Akaza muttered inwardly.
He had no idea why he would say something so suicidal, but he simply could not resist the jab.
The moment he finished that inward remark-
BOOM!!!
A powerful Mental Storm stabbed viciously into his brain!
"Akaza! Have you rotted your brain watching too much weird shit?!"
The voice still belonged to Lord Muzan, but its timbre perfectly matched his girlish form.
Akaza dropped heavily to his knees with a thud, pressing his forehead firmly against the cold wooden floor as every muscle in his body convulsed uncontrollably.
Yet the punishment he expected still did not come.
"You motherf-Ahem!" Muzan coughed, struggling to recover his composure.
"You said you cleared away your tracks?!" The petite Muzan slowly stepped out.
"Then tell me. Tell me! How did that person find us?! Answer me!"
Akaza did not dare answer. He really had cleared away the earlier traces; he had even uprooted every flower and blade of grass along the way...
"Didn't I tell you to run without attacking? Were you about to stop again just now?"
"Look me in the eyes! Tell me why. Why, Akaza..."
The Mental Storm in Akaza's head suddenly ceased, and Muzan's cold, girlish voice rang out again.
"When will you change that temperament of yours... Still... in light of that foolish attempt to sacrifice yourself, I'll spare your miserable life!"
Akaza bowed even lower. "Yes! Thank you for your mercy, my lord!"
In the shadows, Muzan briefly went blank, then swore so quietly only he could hear it: "Fuck."
He had not intended to release the Mental Storm just then.
He was simply too weak after blowing himself up, and could only feign composure to preserve his dignity.
Without Kokushibo protecting him, Muzan honestly would have feared Akaza charging over and eating him alive.
"Now, Akaza! Find every demon with a mental Blood Demon Art! Mind control, illusions, mind reading... even the slightest ability to interfere with someone's mind..." came the impatient, girlish voice.
"Bring them all back to me! Every last one! Understood?! Fail again, and you can piss off and become a Lower Rank all by yourself!"
"As you command, my lord! I will see to it immediately!"
Akaza sprang up, became a speeding crimson afterimage, and vanished into the end of the warped corridor.
Behind the curtain, the petite, girlish figure slowly exhaled a weary breath and closed his eyes in exhaustion.
He had to rest for a while. He had no idea how long it had been since he had felt this tired after becoming a demon.
His five brains were once again so full of regret that they wanted to fight one another.
For fuck's sake! I'd already seen the information on the Blue Spider Lily!
Why was I so lazy? Why did I have to catch my breath before reading it? Would those few seconds really have made a difference?
Great. Now the book's been destroyed again...
Maybe I should just forget it. I won't look for the Blue Spider Lily this century. I'll wait for those Demon Slayer Corps members to die off.
I'll hide somewhere else and come out once this whole batch is dead.
Hmm... Hiroshima and Nagasaki seem pretty good, for instance...
As those thoughts drifted through his mind, Muzan fell asleep.
In his dream, the sunlight was dazzling, and Muzan held a parasol.
He stood in a golden wilderness. Before him stood a flower radiating an eternal blue glow-the Blue Spider Lily!
Muzan's heart raced as he cautiously reached out to touch its petals.
"Pfft!"
The sacred flower withered instantly, turning into a smoking lump of charred sludge!
Amid the ashes filling the sky, two figures appeared:
On the left stood Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the killing god of the Sengoku era, as calm as stagnant water.
On the right stood the Sapphire Star, a Long Sword slung over her shoulder and a red owl perched there too, her smile radiant.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni began, "What do you take life..."
The Sapphire Star cut him off. "Akaza, eat my Helm Breaker Slash! Hyah!"
Muzan's head rang!
"Aaaah! Fuck, Yoriichi-stay away-!" On his bed, the girlish Muzan shot bolt upright as if electrocuted!
His little face was pale and twisted, his eyes unfocused with terror as he babbled incoherently, "The flower... burned... my ass... Helm Breaker Slash... Lord Yoriichi..."
BANG!
Kokushibo burst through the door! Even the sword in his hand wavered in shock!
He stared at the bed:
Muzan, curled into a trembling ball?
With tears in his eyes?
For the first time, all six eyes of the strongest Upper Rank displayed profound bewilderment at once.
"...My lord?" Kokushibo's voice held unprecedented hesitation, and he wondered whether he ought to get some sleep too.
"Kokushibo, you should set out as well. Find that man's grave and dig him up for me..."
Outside the largest recovery room in the Butterfly Mansion Estate.
All the Hashira had gathered there, along with Oyakata-sama, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, who rarely left the main residence.
There was only one reason:
The Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku, lay behind that door, gravely injured and unconscious.
Mitsuri Kanroji sat on the veranda steps with her knees drawn to her chest, her long pink-and-green hair hanging down. Her shoulders shook with violent sobs, and crystalline tears fell like pearls from a broken string, pattering onto the wooden floor.
"Mitsuri! Keep it down!" Sanemi Shinazugawa frowned and growled irritably. The injured needed quiet, but this girl's wailing could practically lift the roof.
He was seething too, itching to go out and cut down a few demons to vent his anger.
"B-but... waaah... Kyojuro..." Mitsuri Kanroji lifted her tear-blurred face and tried to defend herself between sobs, only to cry even louder. "I... I can't help it... Waaaah..."
Gyomei Himejima held his palms together, slowly rolling prayer beads between his thick fingers. Huge tears streamed from beneath his eyelids, closed over his sightless eyes.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki sat on a cushion on the veranda, his wife Amane quietly beside him. Both were filled with profound grief and crushing guilt.
"The responsibility for all of this lies with me..." Kagaya's voice was low and hoarse as he tightly held his wife's hand.
"I failed... failed to anticipate that the Twelve Kizuki would act in such rapid succession... and exposed Kyojuro to such danger..."
Giyu Tomioka leaned against a veranda pillar, still wearing his usual cold, everyone-owes-me-money expression, but his eyes never left the tightly shut door.
Flutterrr-!
A Kasugai Crow nearly crashed headfirst onto the veranda floor.
Its feathers were disheveled; clearly, it had flown for its life.
It abruptly raised its pointed beak and let out a hoarse shriek filled with terror:
"Urgent report! Urgent report! Something unbelievable-caw caw caw caw!!!"
Everyone instantly looked up, startled by the Kasugai Crow's sudden shriek.
Even the weeping Mitsuri Kanroji abruptly choked back her sobs, gave a loud hiccup, and froze with a bubble of snot hanging from her nose.
"Lady Sapphire Star! In the outskirts of Tokyo! Encountered-"
"The Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji! Caw!"
"And Upper Rank Three, Akaza!! CAAAAW!!!!"
BOOM-
"Pffft-!" Sanemi Shinazugawa sprayed out the tea he had just sipped to calm himself! Tea and flecks of leaves splattered all over Giyu's face in front of him!
Mitsuri Kanroji gasped at the news, and the enormous snot bubble burst with a pop.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki swayed violently, and Amane hurriedly gripped her husband's shoulders to steady him.
"Everyone... I..." Ubuyashiki wanted to say something, but no sound would come from his throat.
"In the end! In the end, the Demon King, caw! Blew himself into a skyful of flesh to escape-caw!! Two-thirds of the pieces were chopped into dumpling filling-caw caw caw!!!"
"Akaza! Used... used a massive ultimate move as a smokescreen to flee! Lady Sapphire Star chased him for three li with her sword-CAAAAW!!!!"
Everyone: ???
This was not quite what they had expected. Wasn't the Sapphire Star supposed to be gravely injured or something??
Then-
The tightly shut door was yanked open from inside with a tremendous CLATTER!!!
A figure with eyes blazing like flames stood there, stubbornly bracing a hand against the doorframe to support his upright body!
Kyojuro Rengoku!
His chest heaved from the violent movement and surging emotions, but his face shone with boundless excitement and pride!
With all his strength, he let out a hearty, powerful laugh that shook the entire courtyard:
"KU-HA-HA-HA!!!!"
"Did you see that, everyone?!" He pointed at the stunned people outside the door.
"That is our dear friend, Lady Sapphire Star! Why would she need our protection or lamentations?! She went straight-" Kyojuro sharply drew a breath, pulling at his wound and breaking into violent coughs.
"Cough! Cough, cough... kuha!"
"To Muzan's lair and blocked his door! She beat Upper Rank Three into using his ultimate move to escape! Such spirit, such might! Such a legend-" He broke into another fit of coughing.
Laughter mingled with coughing, pride with pain, yet it swept through like a storm, instantly dispersing the gloom hanging over the Butterfly Mansion Estate.
Obanai Iguro slowly raised a hand to his forehead, which ached from sheer astonishment. The white snake Kaburamaru tilted his head in Obanai's arms too, as if his entire outlook on life as a snake had been shaken.
Since when could demons be chopped into dumpling filling?
The courtyard fell into an even deeper silence.
Only Sanemi Shinazugawa's irrepressible choking coughs remained...
He cursed under his breath:
"Can't you damn crows ever finish a report in one go?!"
The messenger Kasugai Crow tilted its head, its tiny eyes filled with bewilderment, as though it were pondering:
Did my battle report... somehow produce a strange... time-freezing effect?
"Sapphire Star..." Ubuyashiki murmured.
"Your arrival has lit a clear path forward for the Demon Slayer Corps..."
Before you continue