Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
---
On the cliffside.
The Kakushi was drenched in sweat and panting heavily; bent over, he removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose.
After wiping them briefly, he carefully lowered his head to observe the flower buds on the ground.
Beneath the moonlight, the clustered blue-green buds are swaying slightly, radiating a crystalline glow.
"Blue-green buds… are they flowers?"
"They're beautiful."
He crouched down, pulled out a notebook, and began recording meticulously.
"Not yet bloomed. From the buds, it's definitely a species I've never seen before."
"I discovered them," he muttered to himself, a hint of excitement creeping into his smile.
But then, his expression faltered. His smile faded as his excited tone grew subdued.
"No, there are people living on this mountain. I'm probably just a latecomer."
"What a shame."
After scribbling with his pen for a while,
The Kakushi closed his notebook.
"I'll take some back for detailed study," he said.
So, he pulled out a small trowel he carried with him.
He carefully inserted it into the soil beside the buds, skillfully avoiding the important roots.
Unbeknownst to him, he was being followed.
The withered eyeball swelled. Its bloodshot pupil, rooted to the box on his back, stared fixedly at his movements.
Within its gaze, it reflected everything before him.
The Kakushi carefully placed the blue-green buds into a bag, one by one.
When only the last bud remained,
He stopped.
"I'll leave one, just in case."
The Kakushi grunted as he stood up, briefly got his bearings, and headed down the mountain.
The eye watched quietly.
Finally, its gaze settled on the single bud the Kakushi had left behind.
The eye swayed gently with the movement of the kakushi's backpack as it gradually moved farther away.
---
At the Infinity Castle.
"!!"
Muzan suddenly snapped open his weary, crimson eyes from his fetal position on the floor.
He stared at something far beyond the ceiling of his room; a manic expression made its way into his eyes.
He couldn't help but tremble in excitement at what he had just seen.
"…Found it. Found it!"
Finally, the answer to all of his problems has been found!
His voice gained a little life from his previous state of despair.
"The Blue Spider Lily—!!"
Muzan stood up like a spring coil, hands covering his face as his fingers dug into his skull.
An indiscernible amount of joy welled up from his chest as his dream was within reach!
Bam!!
Muzan slammed his fist against the floor beneath him. "Ahahahaha!!!"
"A thousand years! The Twelve Kizuki couldn't find it, and it was growing in such an unremarkable place all along!"
He lifted his head, his crimson gaze sharp and resolute. "I will conquer the sun!! Tsugikuni Yoriichi!!"
His ecstatic shout echoed through Infinity Castle.
After his initial burst, Muzan fell silent.
Nakime is cautiously glancing toward Muzan from her platform.
"So... if I had just..."
"...not knocked on the door...
Muzan murmured to himself, turning the possibilities of a different future in his mind.
"...if I had just gone straight to the mountain behind the house..."
"...I would have... my elixir right now..."
The whispering was fast and disturbing to Nakime, who had to force herself to concentrate away from Muzan.
"My past self..." Muzan's shoulder was seen shaking, and an unhinged smile graced his face. "I am very disappointed in you."
It was the first time in her long demonic life that Nakime regretted becoming a demon.
Watching this pinnacle of evil and progenitor of demons slowly descend into madness...
...was the worst experience she had ever had to endure.
---
Unfortunately, for our resident evil MJ,
The single remaining flower bud slowly lost its blue-green luster as it inexplicably withered and shriveled up.
Perhaps because it was disturbed, perhaps it knew that it had been found; it remains a mystery why the bud suddenly died.
And Muzan didn't know of it until he made the trip to retrieve it.
---
Back to the Paradise Faith Temple.
Under the moonlight, several figures stood atop the ice Buddha's shoulder, light reflecting upward from beneath their feet.
All eyes were fixed on Doma, who sat cross-legged in the center, having just proposed "defection."
"Hmm, just as I thought."
Doma's gaze swept over those around him, finally settling on Tanjuro. "Under these circumstances, me expressing a desire to defect… as expected…"
A smile lingered at the corners of his mouth, his colorful eyes reflecting the soaring blood-red aura of the Undying Slash.
"It's not accepted, is it?"
Shaking his head, he sighed with resignation and spread his hands.
"Bastard… what did you just say…?"
Shinobu's expression was dark as she helped Sanemi to his feet. Upon hearing Doma's words, she unconsciously tightened her grip on Sanemi's collar.
"Defect?"
Her dull, deep-purple eyes glared venomously at Doma.
Veins of rage pulsed at her temples.
Shinobu's gaze shifted to Tanjuro, who stood protectively before them.
At some point, Tanjuro had come to carry significant influence in their eyes.
The next words from Tanjuro brought her an immense sense of relief.
Words that assured them that this demon in front of them won't live to see another night.
)—Ittō-ryū: Iai!—(
)—Fushigiri!—(
Tanjuro lowered his upper body, his legs spread wide, paying no heed to Doma's words.
The dense, almost tangible crimson energy coalesced around the katana, extending into a dark, red-black blade of light.
Three crumpled paper talismans fluttered from within his clothing.
The muscles in his arms tensed.
Without a moment's hesitation, he swung down fiercely!
Whoosh!!
Snick!
The crimson blade light tore through Doma's neck like a force of nature.
"..."
"Lightning, regeneration, and a sword infused with mystic origins."
"Muzan-sama, this truly is a fascinating human."
Doma's eyes shifted. Within his colorful irises, the blood-red blade light rapidly expanded.
He murmured to himself.
"Well…"
"Whether I live or die, it's all the same to me."
Sizzle.
His severed neck that tried to regenerate writhed for an instant.
Doma's head, sailing through the air like a bird with broken wings, plummeted straight down from the ice Buddha.
His head landed with a splash into the cold water. It began crumbling into ash as it floated back to the surface.
Doma remained expressionless, simply silently experiencing the passing of his own life.
"What the hell, what's this?!"
A figure blocked the moon in his field of vision.
Doma blinked at the sudden unintended interruption. His gaze shifted from the moon to the person before him.
Inosuke, tearing open his shirt, frowned by the sudden appearance of Doma's head.
"A head!?"
Inosuke stepped back cautiously, wielding a dull, chipped blade he had found in the chaos.
For two seconds, the human and the demon stared at each other.
Doma's eyes stared at Inosuke's appearance in surprise.
"Kotoha?"
His gaze stopped on Inosuke's bare upper body and stopped the words that were coming out of his mouth.
"…???"