Willow stood frozen, the steam from her untouched bowl rising in thin, ghostly wisps around her. Her mind was racing, screaming, clawing for answers.
This can't be happening.
No.
Muzan wasn't supposed to be here.
DAMMIT!
What do I do!?
Her breath hitched in her throat as Muzan took a step forward, his cold gaze sharpening like a dagger.
"Who are you?" he asked again, firmly.
Willow's lips parted, but no sound came out. The weight of his presence crushed the words in her throat. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to hide, to disappear.
But her body refused to move.
Muzan's expression shifted slightly, the corners of his mouth twitching downward.
"Well?" he said with rising irritation. "Answer me, Half-breed. Or are you so weak that you can't even speak?"
Willow flinched at the venom in his tone. Her legs trembled beneath her, and still, she couldn't move.
"Very well," Muzan said with a sigh of mock disappointment, raising a pale hand to her face. "Let's just look into your head and see who you are."
His fingertips glowed faintly as they neared her skin.
Then—
Shing!
A flash of light and a burst of wind.
Muzan's hand flew through the air, severed at the elbow.
"What?"
Kokushibo stood between them, his blade still humming from the swing, one arm held in front of Willow like a protective wall. His six eyes burned with fury.
"You… will not… touch her." Kokushibo growled, voice shaking with a kind of rage Willow had never heard from him before. "You will stay away… from my daughter."
Willow stumbled backward, her eyes wide with shock.
"Dad…" she whispered.
But Kokushibo's body suddenly buckled.
Cracks split across his skin like shattered porcelain. Blood poured from his eyes, nose, and mouth in violent streams.
He collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting, shaking. His sword dropped to the floor beside him.
"Dad!!" Willow screamed, rushing forward.
The Demon Lord's gaze was cold and merciless.
"You will learn not to defy your lord," he said calmly.
Within a second, the sound of a biwa shook the forest. A pair of sliding doors appeared beneath them They opened with a thunderous slam, swallowing both Willow and Kokushibo into darkness.
They fell.
Down and down, spiraling through a blur of walls made of wood and paper.
Then, impact.
Willow landed hard on the cold, wooden floor. She groaned, pushing herself upright, pain flaring in her back and shoulders.
Her vision cleared.
And her heart dropped into her stomach.
The Infinity Castle.
The ever-shifting, living lair of Muzan Kibutsuji.
She was here. Inside it. Trapped.
"Dad…" she whispered, crawling to Kokushibo's side.
Before she could reach him, something cold and slimy wrapped around her neck.
She gasped, fingers clawing at the mass of eyes, teeth, and muscle that had sprouted from Muzan like a grotesque serpent. It yanked her backward, dragging her across the stone and pulling her toward Muzan.
The flesh shifted, reshaping itself into a pale, clawed hand as he lifted her off the ground.
Willow cried out, grabbing his wrist in agony. Her skin burned where his grip touched her.
Muzan stared into her, eyes burning with hunger and calculation.
"If you cannot tell me who you are…" he said softly, his voice like poison laced with silk, "then tell me this."
He squeezed harder.
"Are you immune to the sun?"
Willow gasped, vision swimming with pain. She couldn't answer. She couldn't breathe.
But even through the agony… her thoughts screamed:
"How the hell am I supposed to escape this!?!"