"Muzan's power is still incredibly strong. Although he doesn't have particularly outstanding combat techniques, we are unable to defeat him simply due to his terrifying regenerative abilities," Shokyu said with a bitter smile as he sat on the tatami mat.
Half of his body had recovered, while the other half was still in an insubstantial black mist state.
"Is that so?" Tamayo, sitting across from Shokyu, furrowed her brow.
It wasn't that she doubted Shokyu's words.
In fact, Tamayo knew far more about Muzan than this.
After all, she had personally witnessed countless killings by Muzan, as well as seen him flee in a pathetic state after encountering that god-like man.
Tamayo was certainly well aware of how tenacious Muzan's life force was.
She even suspected that it would take quite a while to kill Muzan even if he were dragged out into the sunlight.
Shokyu shook his head, but then added, "But it wasn't entirely fruitless."
As he spoke, he extended his hand and raised a black claw.
Soon, a drop of crimson blood coalesced at his fingertip.
A familiar yet strange, intense demonic aura spread out.
Tamayo looked at the drop of blood with some shock.
"Is that...?"
Shokyu answered affirmatively, "Muzan's blood. Not the kind he infuses into other demons, but blood that genuinely comes from within Muzan's body."
.....
Meanwhile, in another room, Yushiro scowled as he tossed two bags of bloods in front of Maito and Lee.
Don't misunderstand - this bloods was obtained through normal means.
Tamayo would often take Yushiro out to conduct free medical checkups or pay to acquire some blood from human civilians in ways that wouldn't harm their health.
However, Maito and Lee remained unmoved by these two bags of bloods.
"We don't need to drink blood. Thank you for your kindness."
As the only two demons transformed by Shokyu, the second "Demon King" after Muzan, Maito and Lee's characteristics were already different from other demons.
They didn't need to devour humans like other demons, but instead, like Shokyu, could maintain their energy requirements by ingesting a special compound substance created by Shokyu himself.
Shokyu also couldn't accept eating humans, so he sought to solve the problem of the demon cannibalistic nature immediately after becoming a demon.
"Tch! Rude bastards!" Yushiro grumbled, glaring at Maito before picking up the blood bags and leave the room.
Lee, with half of her face hidden behind her long hair, also turned his head to look at Maito helplessly.
There was no helping it - the encounter with Kokushibo seemed to have dealt quite a blow to Maito.
Maito at full power and Lee when serious - the two of them working together were still suppressed by Kokushibo alone with a single sword.
For a battle maniac like Maito, this was hard to accept.
At this moment, although Maito's expression was calm, his inner thoughts were actually churning.
'Kokushibo...'
*****
"Tamayo-san, I entrust this drop of blood to you. I hope you can make something out of it." Shokyu said solemnly as he handed the glass vial containing Muzan's blood to Tamayo.
Tamayo was stunned and hesitantly asked.
"To me?"
Shokyu replied with some resignation and melancholy, "Yes. Although I'm reluctant to admit it, this drop of blood probably won't have much better use in my hands. My thousand years of research became a joke after that night when I encountered Muzan."
As he spoke, Shokyu directly placed the glass vial in Tamayo's hand.
"So, Tamayo-san, you are the one who can truly bring out the value of this drop of blood. Please, destroying Muzan is the goal of all of us."
"I understand. I will do my best. Thank you for your trust, Shokyu-san!" Tamayo nodded seriously.
Only then did a relieved smile appear on Shokyu's face, which closely resembled Muzan's.
...
"Damn it! Why? Curse it all! If I had known becoming one of the Twelve Kizuki would be this dangerous, why did I try so hard back then? Kill the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps ? they're called Hashira for a reason! Even Rokuro and Kamanue died. How could I possibly defeat those Hashira's?"
In a dim wooden cabin, a shadow curled up in a ball muttered incessantly, her tone full of resentment.
"Awooo!"
Suddenly, a shrill howl came from outside the cabin.
Swish!
A pair of blood-red eyes immediately lit up inside the cabin, with the characters for 'Lower Five' clearly visible in her pupils.
"So noisy! Shut up!"
Crack!!
A sound like a watermelon splitting rang out and the outside of the cabin immediately fell silent.
Looking outside the cabin, a headless demon's body fell to the ground with a thud, still twitching.
The flesh on its neck was slowly writhing and regenerating.
At the severed neck, thin vines could still be seen.
Around the headless demon stood several other demons, standing like puppets.
Their eyes were lifeless, expressions blank, bodies swaying slowly with the mountain breeze.
The demons' bodies varied in size, but whether they were ferocious large demons or small ones that looked like weaklings, their necks were all wrapped with thin, long vines without exception.
On the vines grew fruits that were tangled together.
Creak!
Suddenly, the cabin door was pushed open, and a petite figure walked out.
The moment this figure appeared, the several demons with parasitic vines on their necks all knelt down without exception.
Grayish-white hair, fair skin, two small horns protruding from the forehead, and a thick red kimono - it was none other than one of the Twelve Kizuki, Mukago.
However, in the Infinity Castle, she had barely warmed up her newly acquired rank of Lower Moon Three when she was forced into a life-or-death battle with Lower Moon Five - Oniguma for a position swap.
The result was obvious - the "Lower Five" in her pupils said it all.
If it weren't for Muzan's intervention, she would probably have become Oniguma's food by now.
But precisely because of this, Muzan was even more dissatisfied with her performance, stating outright that if she couldn't bring back the head of a Demon Slayer Corps Hashira within two years, she could go join Kamanue and the others.
Mukago, who had walked out of the cabin, looked at the kneeling demons before her.
These demons had all been parasitized by her Blood Demon Art, in other words, they were now her puppets and slaves.
But could she really kill a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps with just these ants?
Mukago raised her head, gazing at the bright moon in the sky.
At this moment, Mukago couldnt help but found herself praying to the gods.
"God, please bless me. Let me lure in the weakest Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps! Please bless me!"
.....
At the same time, several figures traversing a road suddenly stopped in their tracks.
A black-haired young man in the lead frowned and rubbed his nose.
The boy behind him asked with concern, "Master, what's wrong?"
Shinichi, "It's nothing, just felt like someone was talking about me."
Yuichiro, "Huh? Could it be Shinobu-san?"
Shinichi, "????"
--------------------------------
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