In the abandoned warehouse, the firewood crackled with dry snaps, illuminating Marcus's slightly surprised face.
Seeing who had just entered, he sat up with a bit of bewilderment.
Tamayo wore her familiar purple kimono, and in her arms she held Nezuko, who peeked her head over her shoulder with the curiosity of a kitten.
Seeing Marcus, her eyes lit up and she started waving her little hands.
"What are you doing here?"
Marcus walked over, and right as he reached out his arms, Nezuko was already jumping from Tamayo's to cling to his chest like a tiny koala.
"Mmph~! Mmph-mmph~! Yeah!"
They had been apart for three or four days.
A rather obvious hint of reproach could be heard in Nezuko's little grunts.
The thing was, even if it was just those few days, ever since Nezuko regained consciousness, they had spent every single day together. The two of them lived practically glued to each other around the clock. Marcus, for his part, had long been used to having her squirming in his arms as a natural part of the scenery.
Smiling, he kissed the top of her head. She smelled good. She smelled like home.
"You missed me, right?"
Hearing him, Nezuko abruptly lifted her face for him to see.
Marcus tilted his head. Everything looked fine to him.
"Hmph!"
Huffing, Nezuko bared her little fangs and reached out her chubby hands.
With one she grabbed Marcus's nose and pulled down, while with the other she accusingly pointed at her own slightly darkened eye bags.
"Look! Look closely! I've been sleepless these past few days.."
"...Haha."
Holding back a chuckle, Marcus hurried to give her a kiss on the cheek as a truce.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I'm coming home today. Tonight we sleep cuddling, okay? Just Nezuko in my arms and that's it."
"Yah~!"
After calming her down, Marcus finally turned to Tamayo. "How is everything at home?"
"All quiet at home. Ivy and Pearl are on duty, and by now they must be cooking, getting everything ready to welcome you back."
"Shinobu and Kanao received a message from their crows yesterday. They said important information came up and a Hashira meeting was summoned, so they went back to Headquarters. They asked me to let you know."
"As for Yushiro..."
Reaching this point, she smiled slightly. "He acted totally out of control for a few days, but the second he found out you were coming back, he sulked back to the guardhouse."
Imagining Yushiro grumbling in his corner, Marcus smiled.
"And you? Why did you come in person? Tanjiro told you I just needed a shot, right?"
"He told me." Tamayo shook her head and looked at the locomotive behind him. "I came because I was a bit worried."
"About what?"
"..."
Staying silent for a moment, Tamayo looked at him. "What are you planning to do with Enmu?"
Marcus, who in the meantime had repositioned Nezuko on his shoulders, scratched his chin.
"Sever his connection with Muzan, detach him from the train, and lock him up in the basement to keep him in reserve. His ability to induce dreams is very useful, I will keep him as a tool."
"..."
Marcus noticed something was off. "What's wrong? You have another idea?"
"Yes..."
This response from Tamayo made his heart tense up.
Tamayo rarely questioned his decisions. And when she did, it was always for something major.
"Tanjiro told me what he is capable of. Enmu can pull a person into a dream leaving absolutely zero traces, and he can even control others from a distance, forcing them into a deep slumber through a medium." Her eyebrows gradually began to furrow. "And, above all... he is capable of possessing inanimate objects."
"…Is that so strange?" Marcus struggled to understand where she was going with this.
"This is my first time hearing of such an ability." Tamayo said with solemnity: "At least in my four hundred years, he is the only demon capable of doing this."
Hearing those words, Marcus was stunned. Only after a moment did he understand the implications.
"So, what you are telling me… is that this has to be a personal ability of his. Something of his own."
"I believe so."
Marcus's eyebrows furrowed. This possibility had never crossed his mind.
And, what was even weirder, in everything Hakuji had spilled earlier, he hadn't mentioned anything like it.
Could it be because the amount of blood Muzan gave Enmu is exceptional?
Of course, the exact cause didn't matter anymore. The important thing was the consequences.
If this fusion was part of his personal ability, then...
"Are you afraid that... he might not only be able to fuse with the train? That he could also sneak into the basement? Or even... into the entire mansion?"
Tamayo nodded. "I am not entirely sure that he is capable. But if he is…"
The meaning was more than obvious.
If he could really do it, then the Mansion they had so carefully turned into a safe haven wouldn't be a safe haven at all. It would be a ticking time bomb. Any given night, while everyone slept, they could find themselves trapped inside one of Enmu's dreams.
Marcus kept staring at the locomotive with an increasingly furrowed brow.
"However..." Noticing his hesitation, Tamayo smiled. "I know you want to keep his ability. But, in reality, it isn't strictly necessary to keep him."
"What do you mean?"
"Ivy and Pearl are the best examples."
Marcus understood. "You want me to rip the ability out of him and give it to them?"
Tamayo nodded, and right after, she shook her head.
"That is the idea, but they can't anymore. To be exact, any demon that already possesses a Technique cannot accept a new Technique that is completely foreign."
Marcus scratched his chin. "So, that means I would have to find myself another female demon. One that doesn't have any Technique of her own…"
Hearing this, Tamayo couldn't help but helplessly bring a hand to her forehead..
"I never said it absolutely had to be a woman."
"..."
Off to the side, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke were holding back their laughter as best as they could.
Seeing the situation, Marcus quickly tried to explain himself. "W-Well, the thing is, when it comes to building dreams, women are undoubtedly more detail-oriented."
"..."
Tamayo looked at him tiredly.
"Hmph, it's up to you how you handle it. But I must warn you that the one you choose has to be trustworthy, because afterwards there will be no chance to change her."
"The ability can only be transferred once?"
"Yes. Only Enmu, who is the true owner of the ability, can grant it to another demon. I ran tests with Ivy and Pearl's blood, and they no longer have any capacity to pass on theirs."
Marcus sank into his deepest thoughts.
He started rapidly reviewing the canon female demons, one by one.
Ivy? The same.
Pearl? The same.
Daki? She had one.
Tamayo? She had one.
Nezuko? She had one.
Nakime? She had one.
...
After sweeping the entire list from top to bottom, he came to a cruel conclusion.
Absolutely all the beautiful female demons that appeared with a minimum of relevance came with their own Blood Demon Art.
There wasn't a single one that was a blank slate!
After a moment of silence, another possibility occurred to him.
"What if I devour a female demon's Technique first, and then we give her Enmu's?"
Tamayo stayed silent for a moment. "...It should be possible."
She gathered her thoughts.
"When I examined Yahaba's blood sample after you ripped his ability out, I discovered that there wasn't a single trace of his old Blood Demon Art left in his system. As if he had never had it. So, in theory, your idea should work."
Marcus's eyes lit up.
His room to maneuver had just become much greater.
Thud
Inosuke, who was sitting cross-legged by the fire and had apparently been following the conversation far more closely than his face let on, gave the ground a good smack with his fist and asked with some bewilderment.
"What's with all the fuss? Markoro, can't you just steal his ability? If you like that whole putting people into dreams thing so much, why don't you just swallow him and be done with it?"
__________
Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
And don't forget to comment, I wanna know if you liked the chapter 👀
______
And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790