"It changed?"
Shinobu Kocho looked up. The illusionary forest around them had vanished. In its place, a simple wooden house suddenly appeared. The Demon Slayers walked inside together.
The scene in the house immediately stunned everyone.
Thick bloodstains covered the room, and there were traces of a battle everywhere. It seemed the fight had just finished, as some of the demon corpses had not yet fully dissipated. Someone had killed all these demons before they got here.
"Who did this? Did another Hashira come here ahead of us?" one Slayer asked.
"This is amazing. There were so many demons here! Who on earth did this?" another whispered.
"This crater is huge! The sword marks look like someone just hacked this floor to pieces!"
The Demon Slayer Corps members were astonished. They gathered around the marks left by the battle, admiring the unknown swordsman's power.
Shinobu Kocho walked around the room. For some reason, all of this felt strangely familiar. She stopped in front of one corpse. It was headless, with an eyeball lying on the floor nearby. The kanji for 'Three' was carved into the eyeball.
Shinobu's eyes widened. A member of the Twelve Kizuki had been killed?
But the Corps had only sent her, a single Hashira. The other Hashira all had their own missions. Who could have killed a Lower Rank demon?
"This is...?" Shinobu noticed something unusual on another corpse. The demon's muscles were bulging strangely. Its skin had turned blackish-purple and was covered in blisters.
Wisteria poison! Someone had used wisteria poison to kill these demons.
But in the entire Demon Slayer Corps, only she used wisteria poison. Who else... Wait.
Shinobu remembered someone. Su Chen.
A few days ago, before she left, Su Chen had shown her his Bee Breathing. He had emphasized that it was a Breathing Style that could also use poison.
Could Su Chen have killed all these demons? The poison part made sense; he used the formulas from her lab. But how did he get up the mountain and kill these demons before she did?
Too many questions filled her mind, and Shinobu felt overwhelmed. Her eyes searched the room, but she didn't find Su Chen's body. Good. He should be fine.
"There's human blood here!" a Corps member suddenly exclaimed.
Shinobu moved swiftly to his side. "Move aside! Let me see!"
Her sharp tone startled the Slayer. It was the first time he had seen her show any expression other than a calm smile.
Shinobu, looking flustered, knelt and carefully examined the blood on the ground. She wasn't just the Insect Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps; she was also a master pharmacologist. Her medical skills were just as sharp as her sword techniques.
With just a glance, Shinobu knew the blood wasn't Su Chen's. This pool of blood was yellowish-brown. It meant the person had liver disease and was probably older. Su Chen was young and healthy. This blood wasn't his.
"Phew." Shinobu let out a sigh of relief.
Her smile was just starting to return when she heard a voice from the next room: "There's more blood here!"
Whoosh! Shinobu flew over again.
She only needed one look. This pool of blood was almost certainly Su Chen's. The bloodstains were fresh but had a dark tinge. It was healthy blood that had changed color after leaving the body. The dark red color meant a lack of oxygen.
Su Chen was injured.
Shinobu's face went pale, and her body trembled. A teammate noticed her strange reaction. "Lady Shinobu, are you alright?"
Hearing his concern, Shinobu forced her usual smile. "I'm fine, I'm fine~ Since the demons have been eliminated, let's head back."
With that, she disappeared in a whoosh. Shinobu rushed off, not waiting for the other members.
The Slayers left in the house just looked at each other. They all felt that Lady Shinobu was acting different than usual. After a moment, they slowly followed her.
...
Inside the Infinity Castle.
Muzan looked at the only two remaining Lower Ranks before him. He was lost in thought. For a moment, he wondered if he had misremembered. Had more than just Rui died on Mount Natagumo?
Fortunately, Muzan could share the memories of his demons. He closed his eyes and quickly searched the final memories of the three dead Lower Ranks.
The space fell silent. In the Infinity Castle, the towering buildings twisted and rotated. The sounds of grinding structures echoed through the vast, empty city.
Kamanue, Lower Rank Six, cautiously raised his head. He could barely hide his smile.
Who could believe this luck! He had just been taking a nap, and he woke up in Lord Muzan's home. And almost all of his superiors were dead!
He was about to get a huge promotion. He would go from Lower Rank Six all the way to Lower Rank Two. Four ranks at once! That was like skipping fifty years of work. Such great fortune... and it was all his.
As he thought about his promotion, Kamanue couldn't stop a small laugh.
"What are you laughing at?"
A cold voice suddenly came from above his head. Kamanue's laughter stopped instantly.
"I asked what you are laughing at," the voice continued.
It was Lord Muzan's voice. Kamanue was terrified. He pressed his head firmly to the ground, and sweat instantly poured down his forehead.
At that moment, Muzan had finished seeing the memories of the dead Lower Ranks. He was even angrier than before. Veins bulged on his face. "Lower Ranks Two, Three, Four, and Five have all been killed."
"I only have one question. Why are the Lower Ranks so weak?"
Kamanue kept his head down, not daring to look at Muzan. Inside his head, he was thinking: Just let us go already! Why tell us this...
"Why tell you this...?" Muzan's voice suddenly echoed Kamanue's thought.
Kamanue froze. I'm doomed! He had forgotten that his boss could read his mind.
"How are you doomed? Keep talking." Muzan was almost laughing with anger. His employee wasn't even paying attention during a meeting.
Snap!
Kamanue's head instantly exploded.
Nakime, playing her biwa upstairs, didn't even look up. Another layoff, she thought. I must work hard.
Next, Muzan turned his gaze to Enmu, Lower Rank One. "And you? What do you have to say?"
Enmu looked stunned for a moment, then gave a captivated, dreamy smile. "I am ready!" He then gave a long, eloquent speech about how much he loved to see the suffering of humans and how he worshiped Muzan.
Muzan's face brightened with pleasure. He gave Enmu more of his blood.
Nakime, upstairs, silently noted the exemplary employee's speech.
"When you have time, go and kill this person." Muzan transmitted an image from the dead demons' memories to Enmu.
It was a young man in a black robe, with a black veil covering his face. All the footage of Su Chen's battle was sent to Enmu's mind.
Enmu processed the information for two seconds. Then he nodded obediently. He remembered.
The next moment, at Muzan's command, Nakime strummed her biwa. The strengthened Enmu was sent out of the Infinity Castle.