"It's all right now, Aunt Kie. I drove that monster away." Rokuya's voice had grown gentle again. He stepped forward and helped Kie up.
But when his gaze fell beside the sunken hearth, his heart sank.
Nezuko lay motionless on the floor, her eyes closed and her face as pale as paper. A horrifying bloody hole pierced her left shoulder, and black veins spread from the wound across her neck and cheeks like a spiderweb.
She was running a high fever, her body convulsing ceaselessly as painful whimpers escaped her lips.
"Nezuko! Nezuko, what's wrong?" Kie threw herself down beside her daughter, crying out.
"Don't touch her!" Rokuya immediately stopped Kie with a shout. He hurried forward, crouched beside Nezuko, and quickly scanned her condition with the System Panel.
[Warning! The target has been injected with an extremely high concentration of 'original demon blood'!] [Cells are mutating... The target is on the brink of death!] [Due to the host's intervention, the amount of demon blood injected did not reach the intended lethal/full demon transformation threshold. Furthermore, the target possesses an extremely strong will and is resisting the mutation!]
Rokuya's brow furrowed deeply. He reached out and gently pressed a hand against Nezuko's forehead. An exceedingly faint strand of nonaggressive azure arcana power slowly flowed into her body, attempting to help her suppress the raging demon blood.
"Lord Rokuya... Nezuko... Will she become that kind of monster?" Kie asked, her voice trembling.
"Not while I'm here." Rokuya made that promise, though he himself was far from certain.
He turned toward Kie and asked softly, "Where is Mr. Tanjuro? If he were here, perhaps he could use the breathing of Hinokami Kagura to help suppress it."
At the mention of that name, Kie's tears flowed even harder. She covered her