Some time had passed since Gyokko's complete destruction, yet the suffocating oppression inside the Infinity Castle only grew heavier.
Nakime repaired the last hairline fractures in the space. Twisted corridors and upside-down towers steadied once more amid the trembling strings. After working through the night without sleep, she had finally restored something of the Infinity Castle's eerie grandeur.
Yet Muzan Kibutsuji, lying on his enormous silk bed, felt as though he had sunk into an ice pit.
A cool, silky silver-gray blanket wrapped his body. It was Muzan's favorite, but now the Demon King lay with his eyes tightly shut and his brows locked together, his body occasionally twitching nervously.
"Gyokko... boo-hoo, my Gyokko..." Muzan muttered to himself.
"That fellow... must have died... horribly!" He could even imagine those humans hacking Gyokko to pieces, or that terrifying Sapphire Star torturing him through some even more disgusting method.
"No! I didn't get him killed!" a thought roared in one of his brains.
"I am perfect! I have five brains and wisdom beyond mortal comprehension! My decisions cannot be wrong! Gyokko was stupid, lowly, inflexible, and useless! He couldn't even handle basic concealment. His death just cleared the trash out of our ranks. Mm~ that must be it!" He repeatedly hypnotized himself, trying to pin all the blame on the Upper Rank who had already been annihilated.
Despite those words, Muzan still tossed and turned irritably. Though demons needed no sleep, he desperately wanted to escape into slumber from the crushing pressure that threatened to drown him.
The Sapphire Star's intimidation, the gathering Hashira, those bizarre bright red blades, Gyokko's gruesome death... and the occasional nightmare...
*Well, at least I was smarter this time and severed the connection in time. Even if the Sapphire Star stabbed Gyokko's head with another nergigante spike,