Duang~!
In a messy and vast empty space, the crisp sound of a biwa echoed.
A demon dressed in a military uniform with a black cloak draped over his shoulders quietly appeared.
"Hmm? This place is..."
Enmu froze for a moment, his gaze turning toward the woman holding the biwa not far away.
Duang~!
The sound of the biwa rang out again.
Before Enmu's eyes, four figures appeared one after another on the surrounding platforms.
"A space-type Blood Demon Art? This is the first time I've seen one."
Shifting his gaze from Nakime, Enmu looked at the four figures who had appeared later.
Lower One, Lower Three, Lower Four, Lower Six...
With eyes engraved with 'Lower Two' darting around, Enmu quickly confirmed the identities of these four demons.
Just like himself, these four demons who appeared later were all Lower Rank Demons.
Duang~!
The now-familiar sound of the biwa rang in Enmu's ears once more.
This time, a figure wearing a white suit appeared on the platform.
"Lord Muzan!"
The moment they saw him clearly, Enmu and the other four Lower Rank Demons present prostrated themselves on the ground, calling out his name with awe and fear.
"Do you know why I summoned you here?"
Kibutsuji Muzan stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at the five demons before him with a calm expression.
In the past, these demons were elite talents he had carefully selected and granted his blood to.
He had high hopes for these Lower Rank Demons, wishing they would become as powerful as the Upper Rank Demons.
But...
"Rui was killed. He was Lower Rank Five."
With a thought from Kibutsuji Muzan, unfamiliar memory fragments echoed in the minds of Enmu and the others.
At the peak of Mount Natagumo, a black-haired youth holding a nichirin blade walked forward slowly.
In the next instant, the black-haired youth vanished, and the images in the memory began to spin violently.
At the very end, what echoed in the demons' minds was an extremely indifferent voice.
['Is this what they call a Lower Rank Demon? It's even weaker than I imagined.']
"How disappointing."
The images in their minds vanished, and Kibutsuji Muzan's voice rang out again.
However, compared to the calmness from before, his expression was now much more somber.
Although he was only Lower Rank Five, Rui's existence was special to him.
Out of pity for their similar experiences during childhood, Muzan had not only given Rui the right to convert demons and form a family but also granted him a large amount of blood to strengthen his power.
Yet despite such help, Rui had failed to satisfy him and had even brought him shame.
"As Lower Rank Demons, not only are you unable to kill those from the Demon Slayer Corps, you can't even last a single move!"
Looking at the five Lower Rank Demons prostrate on the ground, a trace of killing intent surfaced in Muzan's eyes.
"Answer me! What use are you!"
"..."
The Lower Rank Demons fell into silence.
Faced with Muzan's questioning, not a single Lower Rank Demon present dared to respond.
For no other reason than the memory fragment Muzan had shared was truly terrifying.
That fleeting strike still echoed in their minds even now.
Especially for Lower Four and Lower Six, whose strength was not much different from Rui's, or even slightly weaker.
After watching the memory fragment just now, a trace of... appeared in their minds.
"Fear?"
Kibutsuji Muzan narrowed his eyes.
Looking at Lower Four and Lower Six frozen in place, a vein popped on his forehead.
"Cowardice before the battle, fearing the enemy's strength to the point of thinking of running away."
"Kyogai, Mukago, is this the answer you two are giving me?"
"Lord Muzan! You've misunderstood!"
Realizing his thoughts had been read, Kyogai, who had six drums on his body, hurriedly explained.
"I'm not afraid, I just need more time to grow!"
"Grow?"
Kibutsuji Muzan laughed.
Bang—! Bang—!
The heads of Kyogai and Mukago exploded without warning.
"I don't want to hear nonsense like 'growing'."
Muzan looked at the remaining three Lower Rank Demons.
Compared to Kyogai and Mukago, the performance of Enmu and the others was much better.
After watching the memory fragment, they hadn't felt emotions like fear or dread.
Instead of running, Enmu and the others were thinking about how they should fight when facing Lynn.
It was precisely this thought from Enmu and the others that made Muzan, who had lost faith in the Lower Ranks, change his mind and decide to give them a chance.
"I'll give you one month. Regardless of the means, produce results that satisfy me."
"If you can't do it, the fate of those two idiots just now will be yours as well."
...
Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters.
At the same time Muzan was enraged by the incompetence of the Lower Ranks and began his liquidation...
Lynn spent an hour explaining his battle plan to the members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
However, after listening, everyone, including Tomioka Giyuu, frowned.
It wasn't that there was a problem with Lynn's battle plan.
Mainly, when he introduced Tamayo, he mentioned a point that caught everyone's attention.
"Lynn, you want to cooperate with a demon?"
"To be precise, it's cooperating with a demon who has betrayed Kibutsuji Muzan."
"Whether she betrayed him or not isn't important; what's important is that the woman named Tamayo is a demon."
Uzui Tengen crossed his arms. "We are the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. For you to ask us to cooperate with a man-eating demon is simply not flamboyant at all."
"I agree with the Sound Hashira's opinion," Himejima Gyomei said in a low voice, pressing his hands together.
"With the intelligence you've provided, there's absolutely no need for us to cooperate with a demon."
"As long as there is enough time to prepare, I believe the Flower Hashira can also create a drug to inhibit Kibutsuji Muzan's recovery and splitting."
"But that would be too slow; I can't guarantee how long this process will take."
Kocho Kanae and Uzui Tengen had a disagreement on this matter.
"Compared to starting research from scratch, collaborating with Tamayo is a better choice."
"I agree with the collaboration."
Tomioka Giyuu's voice rang out.
He had been silent until now, but at this moment, he stood on Lynn's side.
"Master, what do you say?"
Seeing the topic reach a stalemate, Uzui Tengen looked toward Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
"Tengen, my time is running out."
Ubuyashiki Kagaya did not give a direct answer.
However, after hearing his words, Uzui Tengen, who had been opposing, fell into silence.
"Amitabha, I take back my previous statement."
Two lines of tears flowed from Himejima Gyomei's eyes, and the aura around him instantly became solid.
"I support collaborating with Tamayo."
"I have no objections either."
Uzui Tengen followed suit and changed his stance.
At this point, Lynn's combat plan against Muzan was passed unanimously.
...