The two humans and one demon retraced their steps, moving much more slowly than they had on the way there.
It was still dark when they returned to the enormous underground pit. At the bottom, faint flames flickered in the wind, illuminating the devastation around them.
Shinobu Kocho knelt on one knee, fine beads of sweat covering her forehead and concentration filling her purple eyes. Her hands moved swiftly between the wounded.
Tengen Uzui, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira lay side by side on a level patch of ground. Tengen's face had the ashen pallor of poisoning, but his breathing had steadied. Zenitsu's chest was swathed in bandages, with spots of blood seeping through. Inosuke's boar mask lay off to one side, his delicate face covered in blood and grime, his eyes tightly shut.
"Shinobu, how are they?" Rokuya leaped down from the edge of the pit and landed steadily beside Shinobu Kocho.
At the sound of his voice, Shinobu Kocho's hands paused. She looked up, and seeing Rokuya unharmed, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. Her taut nerves relaxed as well.
"You're back." Shinobu Kocho's voice was soft, carrying a barely perceptible relief. "Thanks to the medicine you brought from Miss Tamayo, Mr. Uzui's life has been saved. His heartbeat and pulse have stabilized. That medicine forcibly sealed in his draining vitality. I've also treated Zenitsu's and Inosuke's wounds with the simplified medicine. The bleeding has stopped, and their lives aren't in danger for now."
Rokuya looked at the three lying on the ground and nodded. Tamayo's medicine really was potent. It had dragged Tengen back from death's door. The simplified medicine Shinobu had prepared with his blood had also produced immediate results in stopping bleeding and healing wounds.
"Thank you for all your hard work." Looking at