A shadow enveloped Kamanue, as a gigantic, eye-covered tentacle snatched him up and held him suspended in mid-air.
"Please forgive me, Kibutsuji-sama! Please… please! Spare me! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! So…!"
Kamanue loudly begged Muzan for mercy, continuously apologizing, but this did not change Muzan's mind.
The next second, the monstrous mouth on the tentacle bit down, and with a scream from Kamanue, flesh rained down, splattering onto the other three Lower Moons, and then the monstrous mouth on the tentacle opened and let out a satisfied burp.
The Lower Moons, except for Enmu, were completely terrified and unable to think clearly; cold sweat dripped down, hitting the pool of blood on the ground with a pattering sound.
Muzan continued to speak.
"Are Demon Slayers more terrifying than I am?"
Mukago's body trembled upon hearing this, her fear reaching its peak.
"No!" Mukago immediately looked up and denied.
"You always try to run away when you encounter a Demon Slayer, don't you?" Muzan stared at Mukago and asked.
Mukago was so scared that tears streamed down her face, and she quickly shook her head, denying, "No, I didn't think that way! I fought for you, risking my life!"
"Are you denying what I said?"
However, her words of loyalty did not move Muzan; instead, he whispered to her like a demon.
Hearing Muzan's words, Mukago was speechless; she already knew that no matter what she said, she could not avoid her fate of dying here today.
Indeed, the next moment, the gigantic tentacle swallowed her whole, and the splattering blood had already stained most of the remaining Lower Moons.
Watching their fellow Lower Moon demons being killed by Muzan one after another, and knowing that nothing they said could avert their fate, Lower Moon Three, Byoha, began to contemplate escape.
Just as Muzan was devouring Mukago's corpse, Byoha subtly stood up, then sprang into action, swiftly maneuvering and fleeing through the Infinity Castle.
But he overlooked one thing: the entire Infinity Castle was under Nakime's control, and attempting to escape Muzan's pursuit within the Infinity Castle was nothing short of a fool's dream.
Enmu was clearly aware of this, and a playful look filled her eyes as she watched Byoha flee.
The next moment, Muzan reappeared before the last remaining Lower Moon, Enmu, grasping Byoha's head.
"I believe the Twelve Kizuki only need the Upper Moons. The Lower Moon demons shall be disbanded. Do you have anything else to say?" Muzan said, looking at Enmu.
Enmu's face was flushed at this moment, and she spoke in a soft, yet morbid voice: "I feel like I'm dreaming right now. To be personally dealt with by you, to hear the dying wails of other demons, is enough to make me happy.
I am truly blessed~"
Enmu spread her arms, displaying an expression of extreme happiness. Muzan's mood improved somewhat upon hearing her words.
"I love seeing the misfortune and suffering of others, so much so that I dream of it, so thank you for keeping me until the very end," Enmu said, clasping her hands together in her dying declaration.
Immediately after, a fingernail pierced Enmu's neck.
"I've taken a liking to you. I'll give you more blood, but you might die if you can't handle this amount of blood.
However, if you can 'adapt,' you will become even stronger, and then you can help me kill the Demon Slayer Hashira.
As long as you kill the Demon Slayer wearing flower-patterned earrings, I will give you even more blood." Muzan said with a smile to Enmu, simultaneously transferring his memories of Tanjirou into Enmu's mind.
The biwa strings were plucked again, and with the sound of the biwa, the doors of the Infinity Castle closed one by one. Muzan left the Infinity Castle, and Enmu was also thrown out by Nakime.
...
As night fell, the bustling streets were filled with people. Chiba Yo looked around like a country boy—oh no, he was a country boy, curious about everything he saw.
He held a bag of dango in his hand, eating as he walked.
This was given to him by a family he had just saved from a demon. He originally didn't want to accept it, but it was truly difficult to refuse their overwhelming kindness. The family also said they would treat every Demon Slayer like him in the future.
The joy of protecting humans and helping others made the dango in his hand taste even sweeter.
"I wonder when my next mission will be. I really hope I can always arrive in time for every mission, and not let anyone be harmed by demons…"
Chiba Yo thought as he ate the dango in his hand.
Soon, Chiba Yo finished the bag of dango. After throwing the bag and bamboo skewers into a trash can, Chiba Yo decided to go eat a proper meal. To arrive on time, he had only eaten a few rice balls on the way and hadn't had a good meal in two days.
After only a few steps, Chiba Yo suddenly felt a chill run through his body.
"What's going on?! I've never felt this before…"
The abnormal change in his body instantly made Chiba Yo alert, and his focus immediately sharpened.
Then he fixed his gaze on a woman in front of him, wearing a black patterned kimono.
"Five brains, seven hearts! It's a demon disguised as a human! And definitely a very powerful demon! Is it an Upper Moon? Or… Kibutsuji Muzan…"
Under Transparent World, Chiba Yo instantly identified the female demon's true identity.
The unprecedented pressure made Chiba Yo narrow the range of this demon's true identity to between an Upper Moon and Muzan, because he hadn't felt even a hint of pressure from Lower Moon Two, Rokuro.
"It's very likely I can't instantly kill it. If that's the case, then I can only…"
Gazing at the dense crowd around him, Chiba Yo abandoned the idea of attacking directly here.
...
"As long as the demon doesn't realize you're a Demon Slayer, it's easy to lead it away!"
...
Recalling what Kyoujurou had said, Chiba Yo decided to lead this demon in front of him to an isolated spot before engaging in battle.
"My nichirin blade is hidden under my kimono. As long as I act naturally, the demon will definitely not discover I'm a Demon Slayer."
Chiba Yo thought to himself, walked forward, and then tapped the kimono-clad woman on the shoulder.
A pale but delicate and beautiful face turned around, with plum-red eyes and an extremely impatient expression.
"Excuse me… beautiful lady, I have something to say to you. May I have a moment alone with you?"
Hiding his disgust and hatred for the demon, Chiba Yo tried his best to put on what he considered a kind and sunny smile, speaking to the demon in front of him in the gentlest tone possible.
However, to his surprise, the demon's body suddenly trembled, like a sieve, and her plum-red pupils violently shook. She didn't respond to him with a single word.
"How is this possible, how is this possible, how is this possible?!! This face!!! This face!!!"
The fear etched into her cells, arguably even into her DNA, reawakened. The face before her almost perfectly matched the one she had feared immensely and avoided for nearly a hundred years in her memories.
...
"What do you… take life for?"
...
That person, that phrase, that scene she could never forget, resurfaced in her mind. The indelible, unhealable scars throbbed with a burning sensation more intense than ever before.
"Tsugikuni… Yoriichi!"
Muzan screamed the name in her heart. The appearance of this person before her made all her composure, all her confidence, all her self-esteem vanish in that instant, simply because his appearance resembled that person.
"Miss, may I invite you to spend some time alone with me?" Chiba Yo asked the demon again.
Chiba Yo didn't know why the demon in front of him was reacting this way; he was getting a little impatient now, as the reality was quite different from what he had imagined.
"What's going on? Why is it reacting like this? Shouldn't it immediately agree because it wants to eat me? Could it be that demons also feel disgusted by the Breath Styles / Marks on my forehead? Don't be so picky! Just agree already!"
Just as Chiba Yo was growing extremely anxious, an unexpected scene occurred.
Crack!
The demon in front of him suddenly exploded, countless pieces of flesh scattering into the air and rapidly fleeing…