The air of the Infinity Castle changed at once.
The gaze Muzan turned on Kokushibo was so sharp it seemed able to freeze even moonlight itself.
"...Report on the matter of the Upper Ranks. The battle in the pleasure district, Kokushibo."
Kokushibo slowly knelt.
His hand rested on the sheath of his sword, still as still could be, but his six eyes never once looked away.
"I engaged a Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, the Water Hashira. An old warrior, but one who would not bend. Though human, he never let go of his sword to the very end. However—in the end, I took his life for certain."
The words were brief and plain. Muzan did not like the answer.
What only grew larger was his question of why Kokushibo had not eaten the Water Hashira. But Muzan did not press him further. No one knew better than he did that pushing too far would never end well.
Daki, who stood there, felt her breath shake heavily.
It was because Muzan's gaze had turned directly to her.
"Daki."
At that single word, Daki's shoulders jerked. She hurriedly dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to the floor.
"Y-Yes, Muzan-sama...!"
Muzan's red eyes stabbed into her.
"I heard you were there as well. Add to the report."
Daki's throat was so dry she could hardly choose her words, but she carefully opened her mouth.
"...I was, as usual, moving around the pleasure district while luring in other humans. During that time, Kokushibo-sama came to see me."
Her voice trembled, but she continued without daring to look away from Muzan's stare.
"Kokushibo-sama said... he had something he wanted to confirm about the Blue Spider Lily I had once offered to Muzan-sama. I couldn't sense it, but Kokushibo-sama detected a powerful presence in Yoshiwara. He said it clearly: a force too strong to be human—"
For a moment, Daki's voice stopped. Gyutaro, standing behind her, clenched his fist and ground his teeth. But with Muzan's gaze still fixed on Daki, he could not interrupt.
Daki took a deep breath and opened her lips again.
"...It turned out to be a Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps—the Water Hashira. He said that if a battle broke out in the pleasure district, innocent humans could get caught in it. Foolishly, he asked to change the location. Kokushibo-sama accepted the Water Hashira's request and moved to the graveyard. I had no choice but to follow after him."
The Upper Ranks listened quietly to her words. Douma covered his mouth with his fan, his eyes sparkling with interest, and Gyokko drew low breaths from inside the vase. Hantengu's clones crouched down and muttered, "The Water Hashira... the Water Hashira..."
Muzan's gaze remained sharp.
"—And then?"
Daki trembled all over as she finished.
"I couldn't properly see the fight. Kokushibo-sama and that human were... on completely different levels. But one thing was certain—in the end, the Water Hashira fell. What remained there was only the lingering scent of blood and steel. Kokushibo-sama personally took his life."
Silence fell for a moment.
Muzan narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.
"Daki, you merely watched from that place? Why did you not annihilate the other Demon Slayers?"
Muzan's low, cold question pressed down on the air of the Infinity Castle.
Daki's spine froze. The suffocating pressure made her voice crack.
"T-That is...! I thought it would be blasphemous to interfere in Kokushibo-sama's battle... so I did not dare step in. Muzan-sama... I—"
Before she could finish, Gyutaro leaned forward, grinding his teeth.
"Shut up, you. That one's my fault. Muzan-sama, I stopped her. I told her she'd only get in Kokushibo-sama's way if she barged in for no reason. So if there's any blame, then please—"
"Gyutaro."
Muzan's voice pierced the space. It was only one word, yet Gyutaro's shoulders were instantly crushed down as if slammed into the floor. Like a beast seized by the nape of the neck.
Gyutaro's face twisted. But he could only grit his teeth and tremble, unable to lift his head.
Daki hurriedly bowed and grabbed her brother's hand.
"I-I am sorry... Muzan-sama...! We were foolish. It is my incompetence. Even if you take our lives..."
In an instant, Muzan's red gaze stabbed deep into Daki's eyes. Yet his voice was unexpectedly low.
"Why do you think I placed the two of you in the position of Upper Rank? Why do you think I gave my blood to worthless things like you?"
Daki's whole body shook. Gyutaro bared his teeth and slammed his head to the floor. But he could not offer any rebuttal. The moment Muzan's gaze fell on them, no words were permitted.
Douma lifted his fan to hide his mouth, his eyes glittering as he suppressed his usual smile.
'Worthless things... Even Muzan-sama can say something that harsh. How amusing, really.'
Gyokko swallowed a wet, choking breath from inside the vase. His thick fingers scraped against the vase wall with a damp sound.
"Heh-heh... to hear Muzan-sama say such a thing..."
Hantengu's clones flattened themselves against the floor and wailed in terror.
"We're dead... we're dead...! Muzan-sama is angry...!"
Akaza stood there silently, grinding his teeth as he watched. But his eyes were on Muzan, not Kokushibo. No one in this place could defy Muzan's words.
Muzan stepped forward slowly. His shadow covered Daki and Gyutaro.
"Daki. Gyutaro. The two of you are an experiment to me. Nothing more than proof of how far weak flesh and ugly forms can be remade when washed over with my blood."
Daki's eyes wavered. Gyutaro clenched his teeth and swallowed blood.
"...We... we will grow stronger, Muzan-sama. We will, certainly..."
Muzan looked down at him without a smile.
"I've heard that line hundreds of times already. But the proof is still insufficient. The reason you are alive is only one—you have not been able to deny the possibility of my blood. Never forget that."
Daki pressed her forehead to the floor as if swallowing tears.
"We will keep it in mind... Muzan-sama...!"
Silence settled heavily over the room. Then, as if deliberately breaking it with something light, Douma gave a sharp tap of his fan, like applause.
"Ahhh, Muzan-sama. As expected, you are magnificent. To hear such words directly makes me shiver as well. Even meaningless experiments are worthy of being seated among the Upper Ranks... your judgment truly knows no end."
Akaza ground his teeth and muttered lowly.
"Are you serious, Douma?"
Douma smiled brightly and shrugged.
"Maybe I am, maybe I am not. But what matters is Muzan-sama's will, isn't it?"
Before the words were even finished, Muzan's gaze swept over everyone again.
"Enough noise. You are all nothing but my hands and feet. The Blue Spider Lily. That clue has surfaced again through this battle. Yoshiwara, the graveyard, the riverbank. Those three are certainly connected."
His voice echoed up from the abyss.
"If you lose the trail again this time... I may truly be disappointed in you."
In that instant, the air of the Infinity Castle froze.
Gyokko bowed his head at once, Hantengu's clones trembled in silence, and Gyutaro and Daki both lowered themselves, pressing their foreheads to the floor beneath Muzan's feet.
Kokushibo looked at Muzan in silence.
Kokushibo disagreed with Muzan. The Blue Spider Lily had nothing to do with Yoshiwara.
In the first place, there was even the possibility that the Blue Spider Lily did not exist at all. Muzan was searching for it with near-fanatical obsession.
Normally, he would have said that they needed to approach the clue to the Blue Spider Lily from the beginning again. But he did not.
No, it felt as though his body and mind were moving separately.
The body wanted to speak, while the mind's instinctive judgment crushed that impulse flat.
Kokushibo was confused. For hundreds of years, he had always possessed a strong heart and continued training without rest.
As a warrior who sought only strength, he had no reason to care about something like the Blue Spider Lily.
Besides, the ones who searched for the Blue Spider Lily in the first place were the subordinates beneath him.
Kokushibo's six eyes lingered for a moment at Muzan's feet.
His body tried to raise his head and speak, but his mind suppressed it as if cutting it down in a single stroke.
'...I must not speak. No questions, no objections. Not now.'
Even his moon-cold aura wavered for an instant. Muzan was the first to sense that tiny gap.
Muzan's red eyes pierced deep into Kokushibo's inner self. But Kokushibo quickly steadied his mind and looked straight back at Muzan with all six eyes.
"I believe this matter was regrettable, Muzan-sama. But I would ask that you understand my intentions as well, if only a little."
Kokushibo's words were low, yet they pressed down on the Upper Ranks like thunder from the abyss.
Douma swallowed a small laugh behind his fan. Gyokko held his breath deep inside the vase. Hantengu's clones were still trembling, faces buried in the floor. Gyutaro and Daki clutched each other's shadows and could not even lift their heads.
Only Kokushibo remained kneeling in silence, looking at Muzan as an equal.
"Kokushibo. I have always shown you generosity. Just how far do you expect me to yield?"
Muzan glared at Kokushibo for a short while, but nothing changed.
At Kokushibo's response of silence alone, Muzan did not bother hiding his irritated expression.
Then Muzan looked down on all the Upper Ranks and made his final declaration.
"There will be no next time. As those who received my blood, prove that you are worthy to survive."
The sound of the biwa rang out again.
The walls and floor of the Infinity Castle twisted strangely as space split apart. The forms of the Upper Ranks were swallowed one by one into the darkness and scattered. What remained was only Muzan's dark crimson presence.
And what lingered in Kokushibo's six eyes as he disappeared at the end was—
the question of the Blue Spider Lily, and the fetters of instinct that still forced him into silence despite it all.
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