Muzan, you absolute bastard.
Yoriichi hasn't even officially joined the Demon Slayer Corps yet.
And yet, because he knows he cannot win, he effectively bans Yoriichi from the board?
I clutched my dizzy head and looked at Tamayo.
"But... how can you be so certain?"
The information that 'Muzan will remain in hiding until Yoriichi dies of natural causes' was something even the fragment of Muzan within me had not revealed.
How could Tamayo be so sure of information that the man himself didn't seem to consciously acknowledge?
Actually, it wasn't so much that I wanted to know the truth; it was more a desperate denial of reality, wishing it weren't true.
At my words, Tamayo looked me straight in the eye and explained.
"Muzan is a coward who knows nothing but self-preservation."
A coward?
The tone of Tamayo's voice began to rise steadily.
"Muzan fears his own subordinate Demons might revolt against him. He forbids them from gathering in groups, even for mere social reasons, and he controls them through a curse. He even forbids them from speaking his name."
Now that I thought about it...
I had never seen those Demons traveling together.
No matter how strong one is, there is no defense against being outnumbered.
Furthermore, if they formed groups, they would become far more difficult for the Demon Slayer Corps to exterminate.
And even if Muzan was too arrogant to think he needed help, the thoughts of Demons are as varied as those of humans. Surely some must have wanted to band together.
I had often wondered why Demons never moved in packs—except during the Final Selection before it was restructured—and the reason was simply that Muzan was terrified of a rebellion from his own subordinates?
And another thing: when I first became a Demon.
'Just what kind of creature are you? How were you able to escape my dominion?'
Muzan had been obsessively wary of the fact that I had broken free from his control.
He wasn't some dark lord out of a fairy tale; the reason he killed anyone who spoke his name or cursed him, and the reason he monitored the internal thoughts of Demons in real-time, was simply because he was a coward?
.....
Wait.
Is Muzan actually... pathetic?
Every time I peel back a layer, more ghost stories about this man's ineptitude come out.
Or should we consider these 'good stories' from our perspective?
I can understand hiding his identity by banning his name, and perhaps monitoring their thoughts for surveillance.
But why on earth did he forbid Demons from grouping up?
If Demons fought together, the Demon Slayer Corps would be in a far more precarious position.
The Slayers would be cunningly picked off one by one, and if monsters on the level of an Upper Rank Zero or a Rank 'Sak' attacked in numbers, even the Hashira would be overwhelmed.
The Final Selection before the restructuring actually proved that.
It proved just how dangerous it is when Demons gang up on a target.
So why did this fool ban it?
Because he's afraid of a rebellion?
Did he trade his common sense for some cheap candy?
If he simply says, 'Split in half and die,' they would split in half and die, wouldn't they?
And he can supposedly read their minds too, can't he?
I suspect the only reason the Demon Slayer Corps survived against a being as strong as Muzan—especially back when they had no Breathing Styles—is because Muzan's own stupidity is so immense.
From this moment on, I shall offer my praise. All hail, the Great Muzan.
Please, continue being such a bird-brained fool.
"The reason a coward like Muzan has been able to act as he pleases for five hundred years is because of the power he possesses. But what if someone suddenly appears out of nowhere who can take his life easily? And what if he realizes he cannot kill that person?"
For a coward like Muzan...
"He would hide. No matter how strong Yoriichi is, he is a human with a finite lifespan, whereas Muzan is a Demon who lives for eternity. Time will always be on the Demon's side."
Tamayo nodded at my answer.
I have no idea why the Muzan within me didn't teach me this fact.
Since it's his own self, he should have known better than anyone.
'I believe... it is a case... similar to yours...'
Kokushibo answered from within.
Similar to mine?
What does that mean? What does the fact that Muzan didn't know have to do with me?
'No... forget it... It is better if you do not know...'
Kokushibo seemed like he was about to say something in response to my thought, but then simply let out a sigh.
**
We continued to exchange information about Muzan, and what she told me was almost entirely consistent with the information the internal Muzan fragment had provided.
Ultimately, it was confirmed that we could no longer use the nuclear weapon known as Yoriichi.
Of course, if I were the one facing Yoriichi as an enemy, I would have made the same choice as Muzan.
Still, to think such a pathetic fool is the final boss of the Demons.
To think humanity has been losing to such an idiot.
"It's actually quite disheartening to realize that such a pathetic creature is the leader of the Demons."
When I let out a deep sigh and grumbled, Tamayo's eyes widened.
Then, she let out a small, soft chuckle.
"You are right. An incompetent fool, selfish, disgusting, and a man so vile that even chewing him up and spitting him out wouldn't be enough. That is exactly who Kibutsuji Muzan is."
She agreed with me, firing off insults at Muzan as if a weight had been lifted from her chest.
Hearing such vulgarity from someone so elegant was a bit jarring.
But after talking with Tamayo, I understood one thing clearly: this woman is not on the side of the Demons.
At the very least, she harbored an extreme loathing and hatred for Kibutsuji Muzan.
I was curious about the story behind it, but since it was clearly painful enough to make her self-harm, it was better not to ask.
"Then, now..."
"Tamayo-san, would you like to work on a task with me?"
I cut her off.
Her face looked remarkably relieved.
As if she didn't care about dying now that she had passed on the information.
Her next words would likely have been a request for me to kill her.
However, the talent that Tamayo possessed was far too valuable to waste on death.
Her desire to die was unfortunate, but from my position, I needed every helping hand I could get.
Especially since she wasn't on the Demons' side.
Since we could no longer rely on Yoriichi—the easiest way to kill Muzan—we had to mobilize every possible means.
"A task?"
"Will you lend your strength to help me kill Muzan?"
Tamayo's eyes widened at my proposal.
She then shook her head, as if she lacked any confidence.
"I... wouldn't be of much help..."
That couldn't be further from the truth.
Pharmacological skills that even Muzan was wary of would surely be an asset in subjugating him.
Even the avatar within me—who could practically be considered Muzan himself—had said it would be better for me to recruit her than to kill her.
"You possess extraordinary skill in the creation of medicine, Tamayo-san."
"How do you... know that...?"
Tamayo blinked in surprise as she replied, stunned that I knew of her pharmaceutical expertise.
Now that I think about it, I hadn't told her about the Muzan living inside my mind.
"But that isn't what matters. What matters is that your pharmaceutical skills are enough for even Muzan to be wary of you."
I continued, looking straight into Tamayo's eyes.
"I cannot kill Muzan."
Moon Breathing, Final Form: Moonless.
A technique I created on impulse, yet powerful enough to cleave through a mountain.
However, it comes with a penalty that takes the user out of the fight once used.
"Even that single strike, into which I poured every ounce of my strength, could not kill him."
In the end, that technique had failed to take Muzan down.
"Then our only option is to pin him down until the sun rises, but the moment things look grim, he will try to flee. It is a method that is near impossible."
Muzan is the pinnacle of self-preservation and the world's best at running away.
Even Yoriichi couldn't kill him completely.
That means even if it's an ambush rather than a frontal assault, we must finish him in a very short time before he decides to escape. But where in this world is there someone capable of that?
Yoriichi is probably the only one who can pull that off.
But Yoriichi will never encounter Muzan again, so he is excluded from the equation.
However.
Hearing that Tamayo was a genius pharmacologist sparked a thought.
"But there is no law that says we have to catch Muzan when he is at his peak, is there?"
I had to change my way of thinking.
To catch Muzan, do we absolutely have to be stronger than him?
We don't need to accommodate his optimal condition.
Yes.
Pharmacological knowledge that even Muzan fears.
The card that can end this game—where balance is broken again and again—lies right there.
"We don't necessarily have to become stronger than that bastard to kill him. We just need to make him weaker."
There's no reason we have to be stronger than him.
If we cannot kill him as he is, we bring him down to a level where he can* be killed.
With medicine.
If there is medicine that can turn a human into a Demon, there is no guarantee that one cannot be made with the opposite effect.
"We'll give that bastard the ultimate humiliation. Using the medicine you brew, Tamayo-san."
"Using... my medicine?"
Muzan, you bastard, you were the one who started fighting dirty.
Since you keep playing dirty, we have no choice but to respond in kind.
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