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Chapter 99: What Exactly Are You Holding On To?
Hearing Suyan's sheer audacity, the hotheaded Sanemi instantly lunged forward, fully intending to violently discipline the arrogant outsider. But the Stone Hashira's vice-like grip locked him firmly in place.
Suyan didn't even spare the struggling Hashira a second glance. Instead, he looked directly at Tanjiro. "Tanjiro. Tell me. Do you have any objections to the Demon Slayer Corps' proposed handling of your family?"
Tanjiro was utterly speechless.
Perhaps because his family had never actively attacked anyone after turning, he lacked the visceral, traumatizing realization of what it truly meant for them to be demons. He had agreed to travel to the Corps' headquarters largely out of a naive, blind trust in the organization. He had assumed that since the Demon Slayers were all people who had suffered at the hands of demons, they would inherently understand his pain and show compassion. He had even clung to a desperate sliver of hope that the Corps possessed a medical method to turn his family back into humans.
But seeing the sheer, uncompromising hostility radiating from the supposedly heroic Hashira, Tanjiro finally realized how devastatingly wrong he had been.
Even though his family had been transformed purely because they wanted to survive, and even though they had never consumed a single drop of human blood, the Hashira viewed them with the exact same murderous disgust as they did any other man-eating monster.
If it hadn't been for his knowledge of the Hinokami Kagura, and the overwhelmingly intimidating presence of Suyan's female companion standing guard nearby, they never would have given him a single chance to explain himself. They wouldn't have even offered the compromise of imprisonment. They would have simply drawn their blades and decapitated his mother and two younger brothers on the spot.
"What about you, Nezuko?" Seeing Tanjiro hesitate, Suyan turned his gaze to the girl clinging to his arm.
Nezuko shook her head vigorously, her voice ringing out with fierce clarity. "I don't trust them!"
If Tanjiro still lacked a true grasp of the reality of demons, Nezuko had at least witnessed the horrifyingly feral, violently instinctual state her family had briefly entered the previous night before Suyan intervened. Because of that, she could logically understand why the Corps had decided to imprison them. In a twisted way, it could even be seen as a form of protection.
But looking at the Hashira glaring at them right now… she simply did not trust them. Handing her vulnerable family over to an organization that hated demons down to their very marrow? Who could guarantee that one of these swordsmen wouldn't sneak into the cells and butcher them the moment Suyan turned his back?
"Alright. I understand." Suyan nodded affirmatively. "I'll handle this."
Suyan had never actually intended to leave Kamado Kie and the boys in the care of the Demon Slayer Corps. The anime's Hashira Meeting had provided more than enough evidence of how dogmatic they were. Even though canonical Nezuko had existed as a demon for two entire years without consuming a single human, the Corps had still demanded her head. Had the two Water Hashira not put their lives on the line as collateral, she would have been executed on the spot.
That fundamental mistrust was exactly why he hadn't sent Busujima Saeko back to Greed Island. He had explicitly ordered her to escort Tanjiro's group to act as an overwhelming deterrent.
Suyan had only come to meet Ubuyashiki Kagaya for two specific reasons. First, to gather intelligence regarding Miss Tamayo's whereabouts. Second, to see if he could utilize the Corps as a temporary, secure holding facility for the demonized Kamados until he managed to track Tamayo down.
Once he found Tamayo and forced her into submission, he planned to hand Kie and the boys over to her. He would have her use them as test subjects to research a drug capable of reversing demonification, or, at the very least, a drug that successfully eliminated their biological dependency on human flesh.
Achieving either of those breakthroughs would be a massive strategic victory for him.
If he possessed a cure to revert demons back into humans, he could confidently ingest Muzan's blood during life-threatening situations. He could temporarily utilize the horrifying regenerative capabilities of a demon to instantly heal fatal wounds, then simply drink the cure afterward to revert back to normal. It would flawlessly patch the glaring lack of healing abilities currently present within their Nen combat system.
And the benefits of a drug that removed a demon's weakness to sunlight and hunger for human flesh? That went without saying. A demon without weaknesses wasn't a demon at all. It was an ultimate, perfect lifeform.
But since the Demon Slayer Corps clearly didn't welcome them, Suyan possessed absolutely no desire to press his hot face against their cold asses.
"I've heard a rumor. The Ubuyashiki family firmly believes that the reason every male in your bloodline dies young is due to a curse placed upon your family because you birthed the Demon King, Muzan." Suyan stared coldly at Kagaya. "Is that correct?"
"That is correct." Kagaya had no idea why Suyan had suddenly brought this up, but he answered calmly. "Kibutsuji Muzan is a man who shares the same bloodline as my Ubuyashiki family. Because he transformed into a demon and committed countless, unspeakable atrocities, our family was cursed in his stead. That is why we are plagued by short lifespans. It is a truth known to every member of the Demon Slayer Corps."
Hearing the expected, canonical answer, Suyan sneered without a second of hesitation. "Then why don't you all just go ahead and die?"
"Insolent bastard! How dare you insult Oyakata-sama?!"
The moment the words left Suyan's mouth, Sanemi—who viewed Kagaya as a father figure—completely lost his mind. Violently tearing himself free from the Stone Hashira's grip, he drew his blade and charged directly at Suyan.
Smack! Crash!
Two crisp sounds echoed across the courtyard in the span of a single second. Sanemi's body was sent hurtling backward like a broken doll, smashing violently into the distant courtyard wall.
"So fast!" The Hashira gasped in unified shock at the sheer speed of Suyan's counterattack. Aside from Shinobu, whose stance remained ambiguous, every single Hashira instantly shifted into a hostile combat stance.
But Kagaya gently raised his hand, gesturing for them to stand down. He looked toward Suyan, his voice as calm as still water. "Mr. Suyan, would you care to elaborate on your statement?"
Suyan voiced the core discrepancy that had irritated him for years. "It's very simple. Since you fundamentally agree that your family is taking on the curse meant for Muzan, and you believe this with absolute, unwavering conviction… then why don't you just die? If the Ubuyashiki family goes entirely extinct, there will be no one left to act as a surrogate for the curse."
"By your own logic, if you all die, the curse will have no choice but to rebound directly onto Muzan. You literally wouldn't have to lift a single finger. You could just sit back, end your bloodline, and let the curse magically assassinate the Demon King for you."
"But what exactly has your family been doing for the past thousand years?" Suyan's voice grew mocking. "I must say, I am genuinely in awe of your sheer perseverance. Generation after generation, you stubbornly insist on marrying and having children, forcefully passing down the suffocating, suicidal burden of killing Muzan onto descendants who are biologically doomed to die young."
"What I truly cannot wrap my head around is your obsession. Your island nation doesn't place nearly as much emphasis on direct bloodline continuation as my country does. Even if a biological bloodline is severed, as long as there is someone willing to inherit the family's will, they can easily inherit the family name and carry on the legacy. Hell, based on my understanding, even your Hashira utilize the 'Tsuguko' system to adopt non-blood successors for their Breathing Styles."
Suyan leaned forward, his eyes boring into Kagaya. "So, I really want to ask you: over the past thousand years of waging this bloody war against the Demon King… what exactly are you people holding on to?"
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