Let us return to a slightly earlier time.
In the small town, after parting with Mitsuba, Sumire—who had keenly realized that Mitsuba would likely encounter danger tonight—immediately turned and ran out of the clinic again.
Sumire subconsciously wanted to catch up to Mitsuba's footsteps.
But by the time she ran breathlessly to the town entrance, she suddenly realized—she had no idea which specific "neighboring town" Mitsuba was referring to?!
Although Sumire had heard Mitsuba mention this "neighboring town" more than once before.
But in order not to interfere too much with Mitsuba's affairs, she had never asked about it in detail!
Damn it, where should she go to find Mitsuba now?
"Calm down, calm down first..."
Standing at the town entrance, hands on her knees and gasping for breath, Sumire forced herself to quickly calm down.
She must not panic now. Grandmother had said that once panicked, one would easily have their thoughts influenced by the gods, thereby being induced to make wrong judgments.
Calm down, don't rush, first carefully analyze the current situation.
First, Mitsuba would definitely encounter danger tonight—that was certain.
Sumire, who had long resisted divine interference with her own will, was extremely familiar with this feeling.
She was absolutely certain that she had indeed been subjected to thought interference from the gods while in the clinic earlier.
The gods—since they hoped she would not concern herself with Mitsuba's affairs tonight, this conversely proved that Mitsuba would definitely encounter danger tonight.
Then what should she do now?
Yes, without question, she must go help Mitsuba now. She absolutely could not sit by and watch Mitsuba encounter dang...
Her expression froze.
The moment she realized this, Sumire suddenly laughed out loud, as if suddenly enlightened.
"Haha... hahahaha!"
Unrestrained laughter echoed through the deserted night, until after quite some time, Sumire finally slowly straightened her waist and looked up at the night sky above.
"So that's how it is, so that's how it was... So, You still had this trick waiting for me?"
Looking up at this patch of night sky like this, the smile on Sumire's face grew increasingly brilliant.
"Respected God, after Your initial interference with me failed, You quickly adjusted Your approach, instead using my worry for Mitsuba to try to induce me to rush to help her without regard for anything else.
You deliberately used my panic to make me unconsciously forget the crucial fact that I am merely an ordinary human.
Unconsciously overlooking the detail that with me alone, I couldn't possibly help Mitsuba at all.
Yes, how could I have forgotten such an important detail just now?
If it's a crisis that even Mitsuba would fall into danger from, then what could I possibly help her with, merely as an ordinary human, even if I really rushed over?
So, what I truly should do now isn't running off alone to search for Mitsuba.
But rather quickly notifying those who can truly help her... isn't that right, God?"
The gods remained silent as always, the quiet night sky unchanged as before.
Having finally eliminated all interference and found the only correct method, Sumire glared at the night sky above, her eyes filled with utmost provocation and mockery.
"You shall not deceive me! I will definitely save Mitsuba and show You!"
With those words, she no longer hesitated this time, but turned and ran straight toward another direction in the town.
She knew where to find help.
It was precisely Mitsuba's elder brother, that Mr. Tsugikuni Michikatsu who had recently come to the small town!
She had heard from her grandmother before that Mitsuba had two elder brothers in total. One was that legendary Child of God, Tsugikuni Yoriichi, who had brought breathing techniques to the Demon Slayer Corps.
And the other was precisely Tsugikuni Michikatsu—who, like Mitsuba, had chosen to become a demon and survived from the Warring States period until today!
Yes, the only one she could rely on now was this elder brother of Mitsuba's...
She must hurry!
"..."
When Mitsuba awoke again, she found herself lying in a wondrous space, upon an unfamiliar bed.
In this space, below her was a vast expanse of buildings stretching endlessly beyond sight, and above her was an inverted, equally vast expanse of buildings stretching endlessly beyond sight.
Looking around, it seemed that above and below her, left and right, were all buildings.
But strangely, there were no humans whatsoever within these buildings. All the buildings were empty—completely a dead city.
Mitsuba did not recall that such a bizarre place existed in this world.
"So, the afterlife actually looks like this?"
"It is not."
Behind her, a familiar voice answered Mitsuba's question.
"According to myth and legend, good people ascend to heaven after death, forever happy in the embrace of the gods.
While evil people descend into the eighteen layers of hell after death, suffering eternal punishment until their sins are fully atoned for.
But you, Mitsuba, will go neither to heaven nor to hell. You will simply live, forever happy and joyful.
No one can take your life from our hands."
"Little Sumire...?"
Hearing this familiar, calm and gentle voice, Mitsuba turned her head in disbelief, looking at Sumire who sat not far behind her.
Before Sumire was a small desk. She closed the "Blue Spider Lily Cultivation Records" on the desktop, looked at the finally awakened Mitsuba before her, and said with a smile:
"Congratulations on waking up smoothly, Mitsuba."
"Where is this place? Why are you here, Little Sumire?"
"This is the Infinity Castle, Nakime's Infinity Castle."
This time it was Michikatsu who answered Mitsuba.
With the sound of a biwa, two doorways suddenly appeared before Mitsuba, and Michikatsu and Muzan—dressed as a geisha—walked out together.
"Nakime? Infinity Castle?"
Thus, under Michikatsu's narration, Mitsuba gradually understood what had happened the night before last.
Nakime was originally Amei.
After she transformed into a demon, Muzan had given her this new name.
Mitsuba's luck was truly good.
The night before last, at the same time she was heading alone to the manor for her appointment, Nakime had also accepted Michikatsu's invitation and was willing to become a demon to accompany him.
Perhaps because she was truly very weak, or perhaps because Muzan had not given her much blood initially.
In any case, Nakime's transformation process was very rapid. In just a few hours, she had awakened from her coma and simultaneously awakened her Blood Demon Art.
___
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