The next day, Oboro and his two handmaidens stopped at a small town along the road leading to Edo Castle.
By then, golden light was already spilling over the horizon. Dawn was breaking.
Because his body and blood had been transformed by Muzan's cells, looking at the brightening sky, an instinctive fear surged within him, urging him to flee indoors or into the shadows.
The stronger the sunlight became, the greater his terror grew.
Yet Oboro didn't run. He stood his ground, his expression calm and composed.
Early in the morning, the townsfolk were already busy going about their day.
As the sun rose, the darkness receded and the chill faded away... Golden rays of sunlight fell upon the people walking the streets, including Oboro.
A burning pain... excruciating pain.
It felt as though buckets of molten iron were being poured all over his body.
The skin on his face began to peel away and dissolve.
Seeing this, the two handmaidens covered their mouths in horror.
But Oboro remained perfectly calm.
No matter how strong his soul was, it still couldn't compare to what it had been when he roamed the Dark Continent in his previous world. His vulnerability to sunlight was a fundamental trait written into Muzan's genetic code.
Oboro's will could suppress the abilities granted by those cells, but he couldn't fundamentally alter their nature. Therefore... sunlight was still his natural enemy, something his soul alone couldn't resist.
Now, the only hope lay in whether the Blue Spider Lily he had consumed earlier would work.
Passers-by looked on in shock. To them, this noble-looking samurai in a black haori was literally melting away, as if he were being consumed by invisible fire. Terrified, they scattered and fled.
"Master..."
Chiyoko snapped out of her shock and rushed forward, wrapping her arms around him.
She tried to use her own body to shield him from the sun, desperate to stop his suffering.
Rina quickly followed suit, standing close and blocking the light as best she could.
"It's fine..."
Oboro smiled gently, patting their shoulders reassuringly.
Slowly, the burning sensation across his skin ceased. The smoke rising from his body vanished, leaving only faint scars where the damage had been worst.
Oboro could feel a warm, gentle power flowing through his veins, repairing and revitalizing his damaged cells. As they healed and regenerated, his body underwent a fundamental change—it was no longer affected by the sunlight.
The power of the Blue Spider Lily.
As expected, this flower was the key to everything.
However, there was a catch...
As the flower's energy washed through his system, it acted almost like a purifying agent, scrubbing away the parts of his biology that were 'demonic'.
He was reverting back to normal. As a result, all the physical enhancements he had gained from becoming a demon were instantly stripped away.
He no longer possessed the powers of a demon.
While the flower took effect, Oboro had used sheer force of will to preserve a tiny fraction of Muzan's genetic material.
But he could only keep a very small amount. If he retained more than a certain threshold, the reaction would reverse, and the sunlight would begin to burn him again.
So now, his condition had returned to that of a human being.
The only difference was that the tiny fragment of demon DNA left behind made his physique slightly stronger and more resilient than an average person's, though the difference was barely noticeable.
He could no longer regenerate limbs or heal fatal wounds instantly.
Still, Oboro had achieved exactly what he wanted.
The illness that had plagued him was gone, cured completely through this transformation.
Now, he could train and refine his body without any restrictions or worries.
What surprised him most was the girls' reaction. He had assumed that after witnessing his cold, ruthless side—slaughtering the villagers—they would be terrified of him.
Even if they continued to follow him, he thought it would only be out of necessity and fear.
But clearly, there was more to it than that...
Humans were emotional creatures.
The bond formed from growing up together since childhood was incredibly deep and hard to break.
This... was the warmth of humanity.
Unconsciously, the image of Phylis Lily flashed through his mind—the woman from his past life. Her feelings toward him had been similar.
Back then, he hadn't paid much attention to it. Their relationship had started out based on mutual benefit and exchange, so he had always valued people for what they could do or offer, rather than for who they were emotionally.
Preserving just the right amount of Muzan's cells while purging the rest... was something only he could pull off.
When a being from a higher-level world descended into a lower one, it was always possible to pull off these kinds of miracles and tricks.
"Even with the Blue Spider Lily... it seems you can never truly gain eternal life."
Oboro chuckled softly.
Such was the nature of fate. The properties of the Blue Spider Lily were fundamentally opposed to Muzan's blood.
If Muzan were to consume large quantities of it, he might very well revert from a demon back into a human.
For someone obsessed with power and immortality, that fate would be worse than death.
Besides, Muzan was currently the only viable 'seed' left capable of pushing this world's power system forward—since Yoriichi was long gone.
Therefore, the World's Will was subtly guiding everything to ensure Muzan never found the flower.
If Muzan took the Lily, he would lose his value as a catalyst for evolution.
"The doctor who treated Muzan hundreds of years ago... his prescription was actually the same logic I used. He wanted to use demonic power to restore Muzan's failing life force, then use the Blue Spider Lily to turn him back into a human. The doctor's intentions were noble... but he never realized that the patient he was trying to save was, deep down, nothing but a monster..." Oboro mused inwardly.
Muzan had killed the doctor just before he could finish the treatment.
Actually, it was possible for someone like Tanjiro in the future—who eventually absorbed Muzan completely and became the new Demon King—to achieve true immortality and walk in the sun.
But Tanjiro's will was too weak; even after becoming the most powerful being, he couldn't maintain his own personality and mind. Muzan's consciousness would simply have overwhelmed him completely.
Of course, Oboro could have easily used the flower to remove his weakness to sunlight while retaining all the demonic powers and genetics.
He simply chose not to. He already possessed power more than sufficient for his needs.
His mindset now was very different from what it was back in his previous world.
If his first transmigration had been into this world, perhaps he would have tried to replicate the state Tanjiro achieved later—absorbing Muzan and evolving into that ultimate form.
But in the end, it wouldn't have been much different from the evolution paths available in the Dark Continent.
Even there, Oboro had never actively chosen to pursue extreme biological evolution.
He had always preferred to maintain his human form and identity as much as possible... even though, in truth, he had long since ceased to be human in the biological sense.
Tanjiro could have become the new 'Demon King', but Muzan never could, not even if he obtained the flower... The reason was simple.
Even though Muzan was the progenitor of all demons, Oboro had looked deep into his soul... and found it empty and hollow.
Muzan had deep obsessions, great desires, and overwhelming ambition... but his spiritual fortitude was pitifully weak. He couldn't even compare to many of the Pillars, let alone someone like Tanjiro.
Obsession was not the same as strength of will.
Put simply, Muzan had no inner strength. All his power came externally from his biology and blood. It wasn't something cultivated from within.
Especially after experiencing the effects of the Blue Spider Lily himself, Oboro was absolutely certain: if Muzan were to take it, the result wouldn't be evolution... it would be regression.
"If this world wants its power system to advance, evolution is necessary... but we'll need a different vessel."
Oboro whispered softly to himself.
"Let's go."
He turned his gaze away from the rising sun and smiled warmly at his two handmaidens.
____________________
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