Infinity Castle.
Inside a dark and silent room, a white-haired demon sat motionless.
His body was covered in wounds—so many that they formed a horrifying patchwork of torn flesh. Some injuries were deep enough to expose the organs beneath. If anyone were present, they would be horrified to see that within his body beat seven living hearts, while seven or eight whip-like tubes extended from his back.
And if someone could enter the Transparent World, they would witness something even more terrifying hidden inside his skull—five separate brains, each independently controlling different functions throughout his body.
The demon sitting there was none other than the progenitor of all demons, Muzan Kibutsuji.
The demon who had survived the great explosion…
And survived the siege of the Demon Slayer Corps afterward.
At this moment, the injuries covering his body were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Countless masses of flesh writhed and twisted as they regenerated.
This was Muzan Kibutsuji's complete form.
Long white hair draped over a body wrapped in blood and coarse flesh. Monstrous mouths lined with sharp fangs covered his body, while his limbs and lower half looked less human and more like something born from a nightmare.
Truthfully, this was the first time in many years that Muzan had suffered injuries like this.
But in reality, the damage was nowhere near as severe as the wounds he had suffered centuries ago during his battle against Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
With Muzan's regenerative abilities, he would likely recover fully within ten days to half a month.
Compared to his injuries, however, what truly occupied Muzan's mind was the outcome of that battle.
He had personally watched Kagaya Ubuyashiki—the Master of the Demon Slayer Corps—blown apart in the explosion.
Afterward, despite being surrounded and attacked by the Demon Slayers, including several Hashira-level fighters, none of them had been able to defeat him. If sunrise had not been approaching, he could have slaughtered every last one of them.
And yet…
None of this brought him satisfaction.
Instead, he felt fear.
Even now, as he reconstructed the fine details of that engagement in his memory, he found himself profoundly shaken by the absolute, unyielding desperation of those humans.
They had charged forward into the jaws of death without a fraction of hesitation, fully cognizant that their actions meant certain demise. Even the master himself had unhesitatingly triggered the explosives, perfectly content to burn to ash alongside him.
That absolute, consuming desire to see him dead—that bottomless well of pure hatred—remained so strong and clear he could almost taste it.
They were weak, pathetically weak, nothing more than primitive insects that he could effortlessly crush between his fingers at any moment. Yet, the sheer, unblinking resolve with which they threw their lives away struck a chord of primal terror deep within his soul.
"How thoroughly detestable! Ubuyashiki... why must your lingering phantom refuse to rot away?"
Muzan Kibutsuji slowly raised his head and looked around the Infinity Castle.
Within this endless fortress, sunlight could never reach him. And yet, despite hiding here, he still feared that one day those insect-like swordsmen would drag him into the morning light.
He slowly closed his eyes, and darkness rose in his mind—like the darkness within his mother's womb.
He saw the shocked face of the doctor.
He saw the tears of the wives he had abandoned.
And finally…
He saw the child lying helplessly on a sickbed long ago—
the trembling boy consumed by fear.
The person he once was.
"I only wanted to survive."
When Muzan opened his eyes again, the plum-colored pupils within them had become cold and distant.
His consciousness gradually spread outward, connecting with the countless demons beyond Infinity Castle.
Without his control over the past few days, the demons had become unusually active, slaughtering large numbers of humans.
And through those killings, many of them had grown stronger.
Demons could increase their power by devouring humans until they eventually reached a limit where consuming more people no longer strengthened them. At that point, the only way to continue evolving was to receive more of Muzan's blood.
Muzan could clearly sense it.
Many demons had already reached that limit.
Even from great distances, he could feel their hunger for his blood, their desire to obtain more of his flesh and power.
Every demon yearned for more of him.
That feeling—as though his own creations wished to tear him apart alive and devour him whole—made Muzan slowly clench his fist.
They had gained immortality because of him.
They had received strong bodies because of him.
And yet every single one of them constantly dreamed of consuming him.
None of his subordinates possessed even the slightest trace of loyalty.
If one day he ever showed weakness, Muzan Kibutsuji could easily imagine what would happen.
Those demons beneath him would throw themselves at him without hesitation and devour him alive.
"This madness must be brought to an immediate halt."
Muzan immediately issued new orders to restrain the demons under his control, forbidding them from hunting humans too frequently.
Part of the reason was to limit their growth. He feared that one day these demons might become strong enough to turn against him together.
But another reason was even more important—he did not want to draw any more attention from the world beyond.
No matter how powerful demons became, they were still creatures born from darkness.
They could never exist beneath the sun.
Even he was no exception.
Once daylight arrived, creatures like them could only hide in the shadows like rats crawling through filthy gutters.
Now that the Demon Slayer Corps had suffered such devastating damage, Muzan believed that, based on past experience, they would not pose a true threat to him again for at least another hundred years.
As for completely wiping out the Demon Slayer Corps, Muzan no longer cared much about that.
In the past, he had considered it.
In fact, Kagaya Ubuyashiki was not the first Corps Master to be killed. Previous leaders of the Demon Slayer Corps had also died at the hands of demons before.
But it had never truly mattered.
No matter how severely the Corps was damaged, it always returned like weeds growing by the roadside. Even if they were burned away completely one year, fresh sprouts would still emerge the next spring.
Compared to dealing with the Demon Slayer Corps, the thing that mattered most to Muzan was still the search for the Blue Spider Lily.
Only by finding the Blue Spider Lily could he become the perfect lifeform.
Only then could he overcome his final weakness and truly walk beneath the sunlight.
"The Blue Spider Lily…"
Muzan ground his teeth together.
He had searched for hundreds of years, yet even now, he still could not see the slightest hope of finding it.
…
Early morning.
The sun had already risen, and gentle sunlight filled the room. A soft breeze drifted through the window, brushing against the young girl's face and making her long eyelashes tremble lightly.
Shinobu Kocho slowly opened her eyes.
The pain from her injuries still lingered throughout her body, but it had already improved considerably. She carefully tried to move and realized she could finally do so.
Suppressing the sharp waves of pain that shot through her body, she slowly struggled against the sheets until she managed to sit up.
"I can actually stand…"
After getting out of bed and testing her balance, she slowly stood up. A quiet sense of joy rose in her chest.
At last, she could walk again.
As a physician, Shinobu could already roughly judge her condition simply from the state of her body.
"It looks like I'm recovering pretty well."
Dragging her still heavily injured body forward, she slowly walked toward the mirror in the room.
Looking at herself wrapped almost entirely in bandages like a mummy, Shinobu lightly bit her lip.
For the past two days, Mr. Soma had only seen her in such a miserable state.
She must have left him with a terrible impression.
But once her injuries healed, she would definitely look much better again.
The girl carefully examined her delicate reflection in the mirror.
Although her brutal battle against the Twelve Kizuki had left her critically injured, thankfully her face had not been ruined at all. It remained completely unharmed.
"Good thing my face wasn't injured… otherwise he really would've seen me looking ugly."
The girl murmured softly to her reflection in the mirror, already thinking about seeing Soma again soon.
Today, she would definitely cooperate properly with him. She would drink her medicine without complaint and focus on recovering as quickly as possible.
She wondered if Mr. Soma would be happy to see how much better she looked today.
Just thinking about it made anticipation quietly bloom in Shinobu's heart. Every so often, she lifted her eyes toward the door.
Based on the past few days, this was usually the time he arrived.
"Tap… tap… tap…"
Familiar footsteps approached from outside.
Joy immediately appeared in Shinobu's eyes. Almost instinctively, she stood up and gently brushed the loose strands of hair near her forehead behind her ear before raising a hand to greet the person entering the room.
The door opened.
However, the one who walked in was not Soma.
Instead, it was Aoi Kanzaki, the petite girl with twin ponytails, carrying a bowl of medicine in her hands. The moment she saw Shinobu standing inside the room, Aoi's eyes widened with surprise and happiness.
"Sister Shinobu, you can already stand up!"
She looked so relieved that she was nearly in tears.
Seeing how genuinely happy Aoi was over her recovery, Shinobu should have felt happy as well.
But strangely enough, she did not feel nearly as pleased as she had imagined.
Instead, a faint sense of disappointment settled quietly in her chest.
Aoi hurriedly placed the bowl of medicine onto the table before carefully checking Shinobu's condition with excitement written all over her face. Feeling how quickly Shinobu's body was recovering filled her with joy.
"This is wonderful. At this rate, Sister Shinobu will probably recover completely very soon."
"Mm."
Shinobu nodded lightly, but her gaze drifted toward the bowl of medicine.
The previous times, Soma had personally brought it to her.
"Sister Shinobu, it's time to drink your medicine…"
Aoi carried the bowl over carefully.
This time, Shinobu no longer showed the same resistance as before. She quietly found a place to sit down and accepted Aoi feeding her the medicine.
As she slowly sipped the bitter liquid, she casually asked, "Where's Soma? Why haven't I seen him?"
"Oh, Mr. Soma?" Aoi blinked in surprise while feeding her another spoonful. "He already left yesterday. Didn't he tell you?"
Shinobu lowered her eyes slightly.
For some reason, her heart suddenly felt empty.
And dissatisfied.
He just left like that?
Without even saying goodbye?
Did Mr. Soma truly not say anything to you, Sister Shinobu?" Aoi asked softly after noticing her expression.
"No." Shinobu shook her head gently.
"He probably left while I was asleep."
As she said those words, the disappointment in her voice became impossible to hide.
Aoi secretly glanced at Shinobu again.
As someone who had always stayed close to her side as her assistant, Aoi could clearly tell that Shinobu's attitude toward Soma was very unusual.
At the very least, she had rarely ever seen Shinobu care so much about a man before.
…
After helping her finish the medicine, Aoi prepared to support Shinobu back to bed so she could continue resting.
But Shinobu stopped her.
"Take me to see Lady Tamayo."
Her voice was calm and steady.
Aoi looked up in surprise.
She knew better than most how deeply Shinobu hated demons. In the past, Shinobu had even refused to accept treatment from Tamayo herself.
That hatred toward demons had always been buried deep within Shinobu's heart.
"Sister Shinobu… Lady Tamayo isn't an evil demon," Aoi said cautiously. "And Sister Kanae also told us not to let you attack them."
"I'm not going there to kill them." Shinobu shook her head lightly. "I simply want to cooperate with Lady Tamayo."
Aoi Kanzaki still found it difficult to adjust to Shinobu's sudden change in attitude. She studied her carefully for quite a while before finally confirming that Shinobu truly did not intend to harm Tamayo. Only then did she relax slightly.
With Aoi supporting her, Shinobu slowly made her way to the place where Tamayo was staying.
It was a dim underground room filled with the strong scent of medicine.
The moment Shinobu inhaled, she instinctively identified many different medicinal ingredients mixed within the air.
Under the flickering candlelight, she saw the gentle woman standing nearby while holding a vial of medicine. Tamayo's calm and elegant demeanor made her seem nothing like a cruel demon.
And yet Shinobu knew very clearly—
Beneath that gentleness was still a demon she could not bring herself to stop hating.
Tamayo looked toward the approaching Shinobu and could clearly sense the hatred hidden within her eyes. Even so, that hatred was being forcibly restrained.
Truthfully, Tamayo admired Shinobu quite a bit.
Over the past few days, she had carefully studied the wisteria poison Shinobu extracted—poison capable of killing demons. Tamayo herself had attempted the process many times, yet she had completely failed to recreate it. Clearly, Shinobu had developed some unique method through her own research.
And beyond that, Tamayo had also learned much more about Shinobu recently. She had reviewed many of Shinobu's medical treatments and recovery methods for Demon Slayers.
Even for someone like Tamayo, who had lived for over a thousand years and reached extraordinary heights in medicine, Shinobu's skill was still worthy of admiration.
In truth, Tamayo had always hoped they could discuss medicine together and cooperate in developing drugs capable of dealing with Muzan Kibutsuji.
But after repeatedly sensing Shinobu's hatred toward her, Tamayo eventually gave up on that possibility entirely.
She no longer believed cooperation between them could ever happen.
Then several days ago, Soma had visited and confidently said he would persuade Shinobu.
At the time, Tamayo had almost found it amusing.
Clearly, he did not understand how deep Shinobu's hatred toward demons truly ran.
And yet today, Shinobu had really come.
Even though hatred still filled her eyes, she had forced herself to suppress it.
Soma had not lied.
He had genuinely convinced Shinobu.
To Tamayo, that felt almost unbelievable.
"I'm sorry," Shinobu said softly as she bowed slightly despite the strain on her body. "I can't completely hide my emotions. As you know… I hate demons very much."
"I understand." Tamayo nodded gently.
Though she did not know the details of Shinobu's past, she could roughly guess the reason. Hatred that deep did not appear without cause. Somewhere along the way, demons had undoubtedly destroyed something precious in Shinobu's life.
"In that case," Shinobu continued calmly, "let us begin cooperating. Mr. Soma told me before that you've already developed medicines capable of restraining Muzan Kibutsuji."
"Yes," Tamayo replied softly. "Although some are still in the experimental stage. My current idea is to create a medicine capable of turning demons back into humans. Once that happens, a demon's immortality, regeneration, and healing abilities would all weaken significantly…"
"What an incredible idea…" Shinobu could not help but praise her sincerely.
Even though Soma had already mentioned some of it before, hearing it directly from Tamayo still amazed her.
"And Miss Shinobu's ability to extract poison capable of killing demons from wisteria flowers is equally admirable," Tamayo replied warmly.
Tamayo spoke with genuine admiration.
And so, with Aoi supporting her, Shinobu entered Tamayo's laboratory and began discussing medicine with her.
Both women possessed extraordinary medical skill.
But when truly compared, Tamayo still held the advantage. After all, the knowledge accumulated over a thousand years was not something easily surpassed.
Even so, Shinobu's talent in medicine was astonishingly high. She constantly proposed unusual ideas and creative approaches that Tamayo found surprisingly effective. More than once, Shinobu's thoughts even helped Tamayo rediscover direction in research that had long since reached a dead end.
The more they spoke, the more admiration appeared in Tamayo's eyes when she looked at Shinobu.
Unfortunately, Shinobu was still badly injured. After discussing and researching together for only a short while, her strength was already beginning to fade.
"We should continue tomorrow," Tamayo finally said, though there was clear regret in her voice.
"Mm." Shinobu nodded lightly.
Deep down, she could not deny that she had begun to admire Tamayo somewhat.
Shinobu had always believed that very few people could compare to her when it came to medicine, yet Tamayo had truly opened her eyes.
Even if…
She was still a demon.
"Before you rest," Tamayo suddenly said softly, "may I satisfy a small curiosity of mine?"
"Please."
"Was it Mr. Soma who persuaded you, Miss Shinobu?"
Shinobu fell silent.
She did not answer.
Tamayo smiled faintly.
"It seems he holds a very important place in your heart."
Her gaze became gentler as she continued speaking.
"Your heart is filled with hatred toward demons. But… do you truly wish to live like this forever?"
Shinobu slowly lifted her head, narrowing her eyes slightly as she stared at Tamayo.
She hated demons.
She wanted to kill every last one of them.
That hatred would never disappear for as long as she lived.
"I'm not trying to stop you from hating demons like us," Tamayo said calmly. "What I mean is… even while hating us, you should still seek your own happiness. Those two things do not conflict with one another."
As she spoke, Tamayo looked at Shinobu with gentle eyes.
"Your sister deeply wishes for you to find happiness someday. And I believe… there were others in your life who once hoped for the same thing."
Shinobu pressed her lips together tightly.
Her father and mother had once hoped that she and Kanae would live happily too.
But they were gone now.
Cruelly murdered by demons.
"Don't let all that hatred destroy you."
Tamayo's voice remained soft and warm.
"Even while hating demons like us… even while killing us… you should still pursue the happiness that belongs to you."
After a brief pause, she added quietly,
"Because deep down, your heart is longing for happiness too, isn't it?"
Then Tamayo looked at her meaningfully.
"You like Mr. Soma very much, don't you?"
...
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