Late at night,
Headquarters.
Yoizumi sat in the room directly opposite the headquarters' main gate, his sapphire eyes as calm as the sea, fixed on the large gate of the courtyard.
His nichirin blade was placed beside him, and in one of his hands, resting on his knees, he held a charm given by Yushiro. He was a crucial figure in this expedition to subjugate Kibutsuji Muzan.
Yoizumi turned his head to look behind him; the Yoriichi Tsugikuni doll was right there. He couldn't help but feel a prickling sensation on his back.
That oppressive feeling, even from just a doll, Yoizumi couldn't ignore it.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki said that Kibutsuji Muzan would arrive at the headquarters in a few days. Yoizumi felt an inexplicable excitement at the thought of Kibutsuji Muzan's reaction upon seeing the doll.
After three hundred years, with his nightmare reappearing before his eyes, would Kibutsuji Muzan be stunned into a daze, or would he become enraged out of shame?
Yoizumi was looking forward to it.
The antidote for Kibutsuji Muzan had been given to Yoizumi by Tamayo yesterday. Perhaps Yoizumi's persuasion last time had worked, as Tamayo didn't suggest staying at the headquarters, but instead urged Yoizumi to be careful in all things.
When Yushiro saw Yoizumi off, he awkwardly called out to him. Ubuyashiki had already spoken with him, and Yushiro had agreed to help Ubuyashiki.
"On the account that you helped me persuade Lady Tamayo, I will help."
Extending the product of his Blood Demon Art, Yushiro explained with a cold face.
"This is my charm. If you stick it on your forehead, you can achieve shared vision."
"Thank you, Yushiro," Yoizumi said earnestly.
Yushiro turned his head and snorted softly.
"I already said, it's for Lady Tamayo's sake. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with you Demon Slayer Corps' affairs."
"You... your personality is really awful," Yoizumi said after a long moment of thought.
Yushiro gritted his teeth, fiercely raised a hand to point at Yoizumi's face, and argued loudly.
"I don't want to be told that by someone as infuriatingly naive as you!"
Back to the present.
Yoizumi stayed in the vast headquarters. Everyone else had already evacuated, so he wasn't afraid that Kibutsuji Muzan would grow suspicious.
Only Gyomei Himejima remained hidden in the shadows; he was one of the few who knew the full plan this time.
The opportunity he had dreamed of to conquer the sun was right before him. Yoizumi thought that with Muzan's arrogant personality, he wouldn't give up easily.
After all, in Kibutsuji Muzan's eyes, Yoizumi was perhaps even less than an ant.
"..."
Should he tell Shinobu and the others... Shinobu, Tanjirou, and Nezuko... they would worry, wouldn't they? Yoizumi looked up, the bright moonlight illuminating his face.
Yoizumi thought.
He still preferred a full moon.
The sun rose and set until it was Yoizumi's third night guarding the headquarters.
Yoizumi maintained his initial sitting posture, eyes closed, sensing his surroundings.
"Pat-tap..."
"Pat-tap..."
The sound of leather shoes on the flagstones grew from a distance to nearby. Yoizumi slowly opened his eyes, his blue gaze instantly turning cold, as if frozen with shards of ice.
He's here... With large plumes of smoke, a man in a suit slowly appeared in Yoizumi's line of sight. Yoizumi had expected a fierce confrontation between enemies, but unexpectedly... Yoizumi was very calm.
Even his heartbeat didn't quicken by half a beat.
He stared indifferently as the man approached him. Because a large amount of wisteria poison permeated the air, Kibutsuji Muzan walked while dissolving the toxins into smoke.
His attire was identical to that day.
A white suit paired with a black overcoat, pale skin, the appearance of a young man.
And... he looked very much like Kagaya Ubuyashiki.
Kibutsuji Muzan's magenta blood-red eyes looked at Yoizumi, a hint of mockery in them. His chilling voice was particularly distinct in the silent night.
"Yoi... zumi, you truly are fearless, to dare to appear before me like this."
Yoizumi remained seated, his sapphire eyes meeting Kibutsuji Muzan's gaze directly.
"That's a line I should be saying, Muzan... Kibutsuji."
Hearing this, Muzan frowned in displeasure, looking down at Yoizumi with an arrogant sneer, hands in his trouser pockets, disdainful.
"Insolent wretch, how dare you address me by my name!?
You should be grateful to me! It was I who allowed you to cling to life for so long."
"Heh..." Yoizumi scoffed, displaying a cold and malicious side he had never shown before.
"I don't mind, just like before, cutting off your head."
"As... a thank you!"
Yoizumi's emotionless blue eyes and Kibutsuji Muzan's red eyes, filled with irritation, formed a stark contrast.
"You!" Kibutsuji Muzan clearly recalled his past humiliation, and his face immediately showed overt anger, but he wasn't so far gone as to completely lose his guard.
He had only made it this far because he was cautious enough. Was this headquarters truly occupied only by this ignorant demon?
Kibutsuji Muzan simply wouldn't believe it.
Trying to provoke him?
Wishful thinking!
Muzan scanned his surroundings. That annoying Ubuyashiki wasn't here... Tsk!
Never mind, finding him was only a matter of time.
As long as he obtained this demon, and conquered the sun!
He would be a truly perfect being!
Nothing could threaten him anymore!
"You... displease me greatly!"
"Both your eyes and your very existence!"
"Be honored!"
"To become the stepping stone for me to achieve perfect being."
"Yoizumi."
A perfect being?
That truly is... wishful thinking!
Yoizumi no longer wanted to speak to him. In Kibutsuji Muzan's sight, Yoizumi slowly lowered his head.
Was he going to beg for mercy?
Reaching for the nichirin blade beside him, Yoizumi opened his mouth. Kibutsuji Muzan frowned. What was he saying?
Taking a few steps forward, Kibutsuji Muzan heard clearly... the words that had once made his blood run cold.
"Kibutsuji Muzan."
"What... do you take life for?!"
!
The Yoizumi before him suddenly vanished from his sight. Kibutsuji Muzan's eyes widened, because... why!
Why was Yoriichi Tsugikuni here!
An endless terror surged in his heart. In just an instant, Kibutsuji Muzan recalled the fear from that time. His hands, thrust into his trouser pockets, clenched abruptly, even trembling!
The century-long nightmare reappeared in his vision: deep red hair, a red outer garment, that deep red nichirin blade.
With just one glance, Kibutsuji Muzan felt his old wounds begin to burn with pain.
At the moment his body instinctively chose to split and flee.
A soaring blaze enveloped Kibutsuji Muzan.
"Boom!"
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