While little Muzan was having his high school fun, "Uncle Toudou" had finally shed his disguise and returned to his real self.
Back in his adult form, Muzan set out for a side quest, one could say.
Of course, he wasn't just going around the floating island either.
He went down.
Down below the artificial city of Asterisk, below the clean roads, polished buildings, and glamorous academy culture.
He went to the real world.
And honestly?
The real world looked tired.
The farther one moved away from the floating island, the more obvious it became that the prosperity of Asterisk did not belong to everyone equally.
The cities below were crowded, old, and noisy, like most cities are. Maybe not old.
The buildings were packed together tightly, layers upon layers of concrete and rusted metal stacked into districts that looked as though they had been forced to grow upwards because they had long run out of room to expand sideways.
Rainwater stains streaked down apartment walls, mold growing in places, neon signs flickered weakly above narrow streets. Steam rose from vents and alleyways as if the city itself was exhaling in exhaustion.
Humans adapted quickly. That was one thing Muzan could say with certainty, and with a small pride as a former human.
Of course, humans aren't supernatural (mostly), so it's not immediate, but humans survive.
Even after a global disaster, after meteors fell from the sky for three days and reshaped civilization itself, humanity still crawled back up somehow.
'Like cockroaches,' Muzan thought with a smirk while standing atop a building.
Then he paused.
'...That sounds rude, I guess, but it's just a complicated compliment.'
His red eyes scanned the streets below.
Cars moved through roads that glowed because of the wetness and the glowing signs. People walked with tired expressions after long work hours. Vendors shouted from food stalls. Children laughed somewhere in the distance.
A normal, everyday human life.
And somewhere mixed into all of that were the people he was searching for.
Genestella.
Muzan took a step forward, stepping off the roof's edge.
But before he could fall off the roof's edge, the air distorted slightly as he stepped through an invisible door and emerged several streets away without a sound.
The Infinity Castle had become absurdly useful after evolving alongside him.
The doors no longer required a solid surface. He could just open a door in midair. The distance was barely an issue.
Not only that, as long as it remained within the influence range of the castle, he could connect spaces together, swap things, travel anywhere, anytime, and instantly at that.
Which meant traveling from the floating island to the surface was ridiculously simple.
He just had to open a door downward.
That's it.
Convenient? No.
Extremely convenient? Yes.
Muzan walked calmly through the nighttime streets, hands in his pockets.
His presence blended strangely well into crowds despite his appearance.
Maybe because confidence itself acted like camouflage.
People noticed abnormalities less when those abnormalities behaved as though they belonged. Something he'd learned from a certain game in his previous life.
But the game is beside the point right now, his thoughts returned toward his current priorities.
What did he want? He wanted resources, knowledge, samples, experience.
And most importantly, he wanted results. Results regarding Prana and Genestella.
Unfortunately, he only had one day.
One day before the academy conducted the Lux compatibility test.
He still didn't know exactly how they measured compatibility, but he was certain they would evaluate Prana output at the very least.
Questions would be asked, and questions were annoying.
Especially when the answer was technically:
"Yes, hello, I am a biologically immortal multiverse-traveling flesh monster."
That conversation would probably become awkward very quickly.
To avoid that, and to make quick work of all his objectives, he had made a list.
A very important list.
Inside the Infinity Castle, pinned to a wooden pillar using a kitchen knife, was a handwritten paper.
And Muzan stood in front of it, with crossed arms.
1. Find a bad Genestella for experiment.
2. Get a few Orga Lux weapons.
3. Gather resources.
4. Win tournament.
5. ???
6. Profit.
"...Perfect." Muzan nodded to himself.
The question marks were important.
Every protagonist needed mysterious future plans.
It increased aura.
Probably.
The first objective actually turned out to be easier than expected because apparently, this world doesn't lack lunatics.
'Who would've guessed?' he thought to himself while walking toward the screams coming from a few streets ahead.
People began running toward him, or at least the way he came from, all while he was walking toward whatever was the reason for their running.
The closer he got to the chaos, the more the atmosphere changed.
Panic spread through crowds with frightening speed. Humans truly were social creatures. Fear moved like a wave through them.
Muzan blinked as he finally spotted the reason for the panic.
"...Oh."
A man wearing a black hooded cloak walked out from the entrance of a damaged bank.
Several bodies lay nearby, blood slowly spreading across the pavement.
The man held a curved sickle in one hand while laughing loudly.
"Hahahaha!! Run! Keep running!! You'll never escape the pain!!!"
His voice was ecstatic.
The kind of laughter one gets when someone gets injured in a funny way. However, it was amped up to evil levels.
Muzan watched silently from the sidewalk.
The man advanced toward fleeing civilians at a leisurely pace, almost savoring their terror.
Every few seconds, he swung his Lux weapon casually, and purple arcs of energy sliced through walls, vehicles, and concrete.
An Orga Lux.
'Interesting.'
Police drones hovered overhead, broadcasting evacuation warnings, but none dared approach too closely.
The killer tilted his head upward toward the drones.
"Oh? You're not coming closer?"
His grin widened.
"Then keep filming! Let the whole world watch!"
Slash!!
Another purple wave erupted outward, cleaving through the drone, sending parts and sparks raining onto the streets below.
People screamed louder.
The man laughed harder.
Muzan stared at him quietly.
Then his expression slowly became strange.
"...This guy actually sucks. If you wanted the world to watch, why the hell would you destroy the cameras?"
He meant it sincerely. This guy was a dramatic dumbass, that's it.
There was no elegance here.
No style.
No ambition.
Just some lunatic with a superiority complex and an edgy cloak.
Even old Muzan had aesthetics.
The killer suddenly grabbed a nearby civilian by the neck.
A teenage boy. No reason, probably a random pick.
The boy trembled violently while clawing uselessly at the man's arm.
"You know what's funny?" the killer whispered loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear.
"The only thing that's truly equal for all, no matter if you're a human or a Genestella, is pain and death."
His grin twisted.
"Humans think they're still the dominant species, even though we Genestella surpassed them years ago."
The sickle rose slowly. He was aiming directly for the boy's face.
Muzan sighed.
'Ah, the revolutionary guys.'
Those were annoying because they always believed in their cause and their brains couldn't be changed.
Also! For some reason they thought that killing normal innocent people was the way to go.
The killer continued speaking proudly.
"My name is Jorge. Remember it well."
He spread his arms dramatically.
"We are the future rulers of this world!"
"...We?" Muzan repeated softly.
That was something. Was he talking about him and his group, which he 100% surely had, or was he talking about the Genestella as a whole?
The sickle descended toward the boy's neck.
And then stopped.
Jorge blinked.
His weapon would not move further.
Something invisible held it in place.
"What?"
Muzan stood several meters away now.
His hands remained casually inside his pockets while his eyes remained on Jorge.
Red arrows floated invisibly through the air.
Jorge couldn't see them.
But he could feel resistance pressing against his arm.
"What the hell?"
He immediately jumped backward while releasing the hostage.
Good instincts.
Not enough though.
The moment his feet touched the ground again, pressure slammed into his body from three different directions.
BOOM!
Concrete shattered beneath him.
Jorge crashed violently onto the street, forced face-first into the pavement by invisible force.
His eyes widened.
"Wha...?!"
Muzan approached slowly.
"Hm."
He tilted his head thoughtfully.
"So this is an Orga Lux user."
Jorge struggled violently.
Prana exploded around him as physical enhancement activated throughout his body.
The ground cracked further.
Yet the invisible pressure only increased.
"W-Who are you?!"
Muzan ignored the question.
Instead, his eyes fixed onto the sickle, and then on Jorge.
Prana truly behaved differently from ordinary life-force systems.
Very fascinating.
Muzan crouched beside Jorge.
"You killed five people."
"...So?" Jorge spat.
Muzan stared at him silently for a few seconds.
Then shrugged.
"Nothing. I was just checking whether you'd deny it."
His fingers tapped lightly against the sickle.
The Orga Lux reacted instantly.
Purple light pulsed violently across its surface.
The weapon rejected him.
'Hm, not surprising.'
It really wasn't. Lux weapons likely required some form of Prana synchronization.
Still annoying though.
Jorge sneered.
"You think you're stronger than me because you caught me off guard?!"
Muzan looked at him strangely.
"...No."
The invisible force suddenly intensified.
CRACK!
Jorge screamed as his arm snapped.
Muzan sighed.
"Statements like that make conversations awkward."
He stood up again.
The police drones had finally begun surrounding the area cautiously.
More sirens approached from the distance.
Muzan glanced upward.
Then he waved casually.
A door appeared beneath Jorge instantly.
The serial killer disappeared into darkness before he could even scream properly.
The door vanished immediately afterward.
The nearby civilians froze.
"..."
"..."
One person fainted.
Another started crying, and then another cried even harder.
Muzan looked around awkwardly.
"...Right."
Then he disappeared too.