When she saw Marcus and Kanao staring at each other, Shinobu understood everything.
She watched Marcus in silence for a few seconds, her expression unreadable. Then she turned to Kanao and, gently, took her hand between her own.
"Kanao-chan~"
The girl seemed to snap out of a trance and lifted her gaze to Shinobu, her cheeks flushed red.
Shinobu looked at her with a gentle smile, and in her eyes shone a genuine sweetness that only surfaced when she was looking at Kanao.
"That person… is he the friend you met during the Final Selection?"
"Huh?!"
"My my~ So he is." Shinobu narrowed her eyes with a knowing smile. "So that's why you've been so distracted these past two months… and why you've been smiling in that different way. It was because of him, wasn't it?"
Seeing her feelings laid bare, Kanao glanced over at Marcus and the blush on her cheeks deepened.
Even so, she wasn't going to hide anything from Shinobu. Lowering her eyes, she bit her lip and nodded heavily.
Shinobu's smile grew deeper.
"I'm so happy."
Her sincere tone left no room for doubt.
"That you've been able to make a friend… that you're capable of changing… it truly makes me immensely happy."
!
Kanao was stunned.
She raised her gaze slowly, and looked at her.
In those sweet eyes, tears trembled, shining like tiny fragments of light.
Shinobu stroked her hair with emotion. "Don't cry just yet. I'm not against you making friends, but even so, I'm responsible for giving them my stamp of approval on your behalf."
She turned her gaze back to Marcus.
"Marcus-kun… may I call you that~?"
"..."
Marcus stayed silent.
That shift in attitude had been awfully quick… Just knowing he was a friend of Kanao's had been enough to make all of her hostility evaporate.
Even so, he nodded.
"Of course."
"Then, would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions?"
"... Go ahead."
"What exactly is going on with the demons traveling with you?" Shinobu narrowed her eyes. "I trust Kanao's judgment and I know she can tell a good person from a bad one. However, when I arrived, I heard you asking Tomioka to turn a blind eye and let you leave with them… I hope you can explain that to me."
!
Marcus was stunned. It all clicked at once.
That was why Shinobu had stuck a sedative into him the moment she arrived. She didn't have the faintest idea about the experiment he was carrying out — she had simply believed he was trying to escape with demons.
The first thing she must have heard when she showed up was that Giyū's attacks couldn't pierce through his defense, and right after that, his attempt to talk him into letting them go. And if Giyū was incapable of breaking his [Crimson Veil], the odds were she couldn't either. That's why she had acted fast and seized the chance to knock him out.
Once he realized it, he let out a bitter smile.
What a fucking coincidence!
If he had shown up just a minute earlier and she had heard the word "experiment" — given how sensitive she was about that subject, it would have changed things completely, and his ass probably would've been saved.
Shaking his head, he fixed his eyes on her.
"Tamayo… does that name ring a bell?"
"Tamayo?!" Shinobu's eyes flew wide open. "The fugitive demon?"
"That's what they say," Marcus nodded, "but she was actually a physician, and she's an expert in that field."
"…I already knew that. But what does she have to do with the demons traveling with you?"
"Nezuko, Tanjiro's sister, isn't like the others." Marcus pointed at her. "She doesn't eat humans, and she doesn't need them to gain strength. Tamayo has been studying her for a while now."
"She's looking for a way to give them their humanity back."
"Turn a demon… into a human?" Shinobu froze. "Is that idea even realistic?"
"And why wouldn't it be?" Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Don't you spend your time looking for a way to kill them with medicine?"
"It's not the same thing." Shinobu's tone turned serious. "Killing a demon and reversing the demonification are two completely different things!"
"Everyone has their specialty," Marcus shrugged.
Hearing this, Shinobu's eyes lit up with a spark of interest. "Are you telling me the experiments are bearing fruit?"
Marcus shifted his gaze toward the two demons at his side, drooling and staring at his ass with their eyes sparkling.
"If there weren't any progress, do you think I'd be out here hunting for test subjects?"
"Test subjects…" Shinobu eyed Ivy and Pearl. "So that's what you're taking them for?"
"That's the plan."
After shoving aside Pearl, who could no longer resist the temptation and was trying to sink her teeth into his ass, Marcus sighed.
"If it goes wrong, tough luck for them. If it works, everybody wins… and it'll be their way of making up for it. After all, they did what they did because this Lower Moon Five forced them to."
With those words, every pair of eyes landed on Rui, who looked like he had aged all at once and could barely keep his eyes open.
The two columns of blood that had been gushing from his body earlier were almost dry now, and the test tubes collecting his essence were practically full.
At that moment, Rui was on the brink of vital collapse.
He wasn't going to die — all it would take was devouring a human to get all his strength back — but as long as he had nothing to feed on, he was nothing more than a wreck.
Blinking, Marcus pulled him closer. He removed the test tubes without the slightest rush and, right after…
Swish
He cut off his head.
With his head separated from his body once again, Rui, who had been motionless for a good while, snapped his eyes open. And with the little breath he had left, he spat out with hatred.
"Damn… you…"
He fixed his gaze on Ivy and Pearl, who were standing behind Marcus, without the slightest hint of fear at the thought of ceasing to exist.
As he watched him slowly turn to ashes, Marcus turned his eyes back to Shinobu.
"Ask the second question."
"..."
Seeing him finish off the Lower Moon Five with such ease, Shinobu's eyes gleamed.
If up until that moment she hadn't understood why Marcus was taking the demons with him, now that she knew it all came down to experiments, she got it.
She looked again at Ivy and Pearl, who seemed to have been reborn, and shook her head.
"Second question… How were you able to immobilize that demon?"
As for this, Marcus had no intention of hiding it either.
"I'm a Demon Devourer, and maybe because a special kind of blood also runs through my veins, both things mutated."
"I can steal their abilities by eating them… though, up until now, it's only happened to me once."
!!!
The revelation left everyone slack-jawed: Shinobu, Giyū, and even Kanao.
Even Ivy and Pearl, who were still celebrating their new life behind him, froze in place, and without thinking, took a couple of steps back.
"Eating demons…?"
"Taking away…?"
"Their abilities…?!"
As he noticed how Shinobu's gaze shifted from bewilderment to excitement, and as he saw the massive sedative needle in her hand start twitching with impatience, Marcus took a step back.
"STOP! I'm not about to be your guinea pig!"
"I'm not asking for much—"
Shinobu was about to insist when she felt a little hand tugging gently at her arm. Turning around and finding Kanao on the verge of tears, she let out a sigh of resignation.
This girl… either had no feelings, or her feelings ran too deep…
She had no choice but to swallow her urge for the moment. At worst, she could just track him down later to… take a sample in private.
And then she fired off the third question.
"Are your intentions with Kanao serious?"
"!?"
What the hell kind of question was that all of a sudden?!
Marcus unconsciously glanced at Kanao. The poor thing was so nervous she looked like she wanted to sink into the ground.
"Is it hard to answer?" Shinobu tilted her head.
Since she had never had any experience in that department, she didn't even realize how awkward her question was.
"If it's hard to—"
"They're very serious." Marcus nodded firmly. "Kanao… is a good girl."
Shinobu nodded, encouraging him to go on.
"When I took part in the Selection with her, we spent quite a few days together," Marcus said, with an unusual seriousness. "She's calm, very detail-oriented, and she has a kind of courage that very few people have. She didn't back down a single time."
"That's why I admire her so much." He looked at Kanao. "And, if she wants to… I'd like to be her friend."
"The very best kind there is."
!
Kanao lowered her head even more, but the blush in her ears had already reached her neck.
"..."
Shinobu stared at him in silence for a long moment.
"Last question…" The playful tone drained from her voice. "Marcus-kun~, what is your real goal?"
"..."
Marcus held her gaze.
"To kill Muzan."
Hearing him, Shinobu cracked a smile.
"You really are a one-of-a-kind person."
"... Is that a compliment?"
"Of course it is~"
Her eyes swept over Ivy, Pearl, and Nezuko.
"Although… your current situation looks a little tricky to handle~"
As she spoke, she slipped into a combat stance. She gave the blade a light shake so the tip of the sword would release a bit of the sedative.
At the same time, she shot a look at Giyū.
Catching the signal, Giyū nodded and raised his sword without saying a word.
Marcus sighed.
"I'm never going to understand women."
He had thought he'd convinced Shinobu. But no, apparently the fight was unavoidable.
That said, this time was different. With Rui out of the picture and all of his Arrows recovered, he felt he could stand up to both Hashiras at once.
Drawing his swords, the pink aura bloomed once more.
The very next instant, Shinobu and Giyū lunged!
CLANG!
And the moment the blades clashed, Marcus's eyes went as wide as saucers.
"WHAT THE HELL!"
And he wasn't the only one. Everyone present was speechless.
Giyū included!
"What do you think you're doing… SHINOBU?!"
Watching her block him firmly, he furrowed his brow hard.
The two blades crashed against each other with force, neither giving an inch.
Under Giyū's incredulous gaze, Shinobu flashed a forced smile and tilted her head back.
"Marcus-kun, I'm really sorry about that attack on your ass a moment ago… I'll handle this. Go on ahead with your demons."
"..."
Marcus was stunned.
Shinobu picked up on his bewilderment, and her smile widened.
"Don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm helping you."
"It's just that…" A spark of longing lit up her face. "If this war that's been waged for centuries can end in a different way… that would be something wonderful."
"After all…"
She looked at Kanao tenderly.
"I also want her to live in a world without demons."
Kanao looked back at her with teary eyes.
______
SHINOBU BLOCKED GIYŪ. 🦋
💎 Did you enjoy it? You know how to show your thanks:
FLOOD IT WITH POWER STONES!
Let's hit 300 PS and another chapter drops today.
More chapters ahead of time? Find me: P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790