Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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The atmosphere in the meeting gradually turned icy.
Akaza looked around in a daze. His mouth opened in disbelief at the insinuation. His brows furrowed as his eyes trembled with emotions.
"Oi!"
"Say something! Where's the Upper Moon One!"
His loud voice echoed through the castle, but Nakime didn't respond to his question. Other moons were also getting agitated except for one.
Doma tilted his head at Akaza's outburst. His rainbow-like eyes were devoid of any emotion.
As he could not feel emotion, he didn't understand why Akaza had such a big reaction.
It's just death, after all.
Seeing Akaza's anxious look and hearing the unstable tone of his voice, Doma had a thought in his head.
'So... I'm supposed to be surprised by death news?'
Just as Akaza is about to attack Nakime...
Dang!
"Quiet."
Nakime plucked her biwa, and her tone of voice was much firmer than before.
"Muzan-sama has arrived."
The next moment, a pressure from the depths of the very being of every demon in the vicinity erupted. Akaza subconsciously knelt down along with his peers.
Dang!
Muzan appeared in front of them dressed in his black suit and sitting in his grandiose throne. One of his hands supported his chin as he looked at his subordinate with disdain.
Muzan looked at Akaza, and his cold voice gave chills to those who heard it.
"What racket are you making now, Akaza?"
The weight of his stare pushed down on the kneeling Upper Moons. None of them were stupid enough to speak out of turn, as they value their survival, especially with Muzan in a bad mood like this.
Akaza has also kept his head down. He bit his tongue to keep himself from speaking because it was useless to do so.
He knew that even if he didn't speak, Muzan could hear his inner thoughts.
"Yes."
"Kokushibo is dead."
Muzan announced to his subjects high on his platform, crossing his legs. He was especially settling his sight on Akaza.
The world was silenced.
All the Upper Moons present, except for Doma, were shocked at the news they heard.
"Oh~, that's unbelievable." Doma took out his copper fan and opened it to hide behind. His voice was making a mockery of a sad friend who lost their best friend.
The Upper Moon One, the demon that existed before the ranks were even created.
The Twelve Kizuki have been shuffled several times in the hundreds of years of their formation, but the position of the Upper Moon One has never wavered.
To think that now...
"The Kizukis have been crippled in strength." Muzan's suppressed, angry voice rang out. "This is a change."
He straightened up as he put down his propping hand and clenched his armrest until it cracked; his knuckle turned even whiter.
"This hasn't happened in over a century..."
"A change for the worse!"
Crack!
The armrest finally gives in as Muzan's hand clenches so tight it destroys the armrest into smithereens.
Muzan's form disappears in an afterimage.
He stood next to the kneeling form of Akaza the next moment, gently stroking the man's head, belaying to rain down his wrath.
"...What I hate most is change."
Rage veins covered his entire body and prominently showed up on his face and arms. His fangs grew longer to express how pissed he really was at this situation he found himself in.
Puchi!
Suddenly, the head of Upper Moon Five, Gyokko, appeared in Muzan's hand. The blood dripping down on Akaza's head.
"Ah?" Gyokko was too stunned to process his beheaded form. He was shaking and kneeling in front of his king, his master, his benefactor. He was trying to make himself less present to survive this wrathful king and go back to his art.
The small hands on his head twitched uselessly, feeling Muzan's hand gripping his head.
After he focused his gaze on Muzan's face, his eyes, his mouth, and his cheeks. Gyokko blushed at the sight.
'Muzan-sama... is stroking my head! This is great! I'm so excited!'
Gyokko's expression gradually turned to bliss.
Muzan frowned slightly, then threw Gyokko's head away with a backhand, launching it into the depths of the Infinity Castle.
"Do you understand?"
His eyes swept over all of the Upper Moons.
Gyokko's head arrived back in front of Hantengu, who was beside Gyokko's body.
"Yes!" Hantengu responded in a trembling voice. He is doing every kowtowing that he learned over the years to not have Muzan's wrath directed at him.
"Muzan-sama." Akaza finally speaks.
"May I know who the demon slayer who killed Kokushibo is...?" He firmly asked.
Muzan only glanced at Akaza, not even deigning to answer his question.
"From now on..."
"All existing Upper Moons here will be rotated upwards." Muzan declared.
As the words left his mouth, several twisted and ferocious flash whips burst out from the platforms near the Upper Moons.
Puchi!
The sharp chitin stabbed into their backs, and blood gurgled out.
"...Ho..AH!" Daki covered her bloodshot eyes; black miasma eroded the whites of her eyes as she screamed under this torturous injection.
A new kanji was carved directly into her sight as it slowly twisted and deformed.
Eventually, it turned into the number [伍]. (Five)
Drip, drip.
Sweat poured out from her forehead and her whole body as it dripped down the floor. Every vein in her body bulged out from her skin as power coursed through her whole being.
The whip behind her slowly withered as it completed its objective and disappeared into ashes.
'The blood...! The blood in my body is boiling!' Daki gritted her teeth as she gasped one last time.
She looked at Nakime, who was also looking at her. The number on her eye still hadn't changed.
The numbers in the eyes of the other Upper Moons also changed.
Muzan turned his sight to Doma, his new aide and the strongest demon he had at his disposal. The kanji in his eyes has turned into [壱]. (One)
Doma obediently sat on his knees waiting for Muzan.
"Doma!"
"I'm here, Muzan-sama."
Doma raised his head and looked reverently at Muzan. His mouth was smiling in that fake cheerfulness of his and exuberant tone of voice. Wiping away the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Muzan reached out and pointed with his black nails, his face stoic as he ordered.
"Develop your believers."
Doma's eyes widened a bit. He waved his copper fan in front of his face, covering his nose and mouth.
"Muzan-sama! You are truly generous with your subordinate!"
He expressed his gratitude exaggeratedly. Doma snapped his fan shut as he tilted his head.
"...Is it okay to have more than 500 people in my cult?"
Doma, the founder of the Eternal Paradise Faith.
He had founded this religion when he was still a human.
In the past, Muzan-sama always reprimanded him when his cult exceeded 500 people, so he had to eat his precious followers one by one.
This is also the reason Muzan looked at Doma with such displeasure.
"Yes." Muzan replied.
He withdrew his gaze from Doma and addressed the whole room.
"Do your best to find the blue spider lily."
With that, Muzan finished this meeting of the Upper Moons... when a movement caught at the corner of his eyes.
"Hm?" Muzan turned to see Gyokko's head struggling to roll over to Muzan's sight. His body was still upright in his kneeling position.
Muzan sees that Gyokko seems to want to say something in his eyes. "What is it, Gyokko?"
Gyokko perked up at being addressed. He uses his baby hand on his head to prop himself up to look at Muzan.
"Ah... Muzan-sama." His tone was full of glee.
"I have news for you..."