Tamayo clutched the vial tightly, the glass suddenly feeling like a burning coal in her palm.
An Immortality Elixir?! Wasn't this exactly what Muzan Kibutsuji had been obsessively hunting for over a millennium? It was Muzan's insatiable greed for eternal life that had birthed countless tragedies across centuries.
She stared daggers at Suyan. Immune to sunlight, no longer hungering for human flesh, living like a normal human but possessing eternal life. Despite her burning desire for vengeance, she refused to sell her soul. Annihilate Muzan, only to pave the way for an even more perfect, terrifying monster to take his place?
Tamayo lifted her chin defiantly, thoroughly unafraid of death. "Kill me. I will never help you create this so-called Immortality Elixir."
She braced herself, fully expecting Suyan to fly into a humiliated rage and slaughter her where she stood.
Seeing this, Yushiro panicked and leaped in front of her. "Lady Tamayo, wait!"
He had once been bedridden with a terminal illness, helplessly waiting to rot away. Tamayo had turned him into a demon, gifting him near-eternal life. To him, her actions were no different than granting the exact elixir Suyan was asking for. He couldn't comprehend why she would rather die than agree to the man's request.
"Say no more, Yushiro. My mind is made up," Tamayo said softly, refusing to elaborate.
Her reasoning was complex, yet simple. She had personally turned Yushiro into a demon. If he ever showed signs of becoming a monster like Muzan, she had the means and the failsafes to put him down. But Suyan was entirely different. He was unfathomably strong—perhaps even stronger than the Demon King himself.
Considering how easily he had broken an Upper Rank, and his terrifying ability to literally harvest magic... if he were granted the same thousands of years that Muzan had, hoarding countless Blood Demon Arts into one perfect, sun-immune body? She couldn't even begin to fathom the apocalyptic horror he would become.
"I understand!" Yushiro ceased his pleading. Squaring his shoulders, he stood firmly between Suyan and Tamayo. "But Lady Tamayo, your greatest wish has always been to avenge yourself against Muzan! Please, run! I will hold him off with everything I have!"
"Huh?" Shizuka blinked, thoroughly confused. Watching the dramatic display, she felt like she was watching a cheesy soap opera where the tragic characters insisted on throwing their lives away over a misunderstanding. She murmured meekly, "But... Little Suyan never said anything about killing you guys, right?"
Unfamiliar with the lore of the Demon Slayer world, Shizuka didn't grasp the historical trauma tied to Muzan's quest for survival. Thanks to Suyan's Dimensional Gate bridging worlds, she had already seen that 'demons' in this reality were essentially just another mutated branch of humanity—only vastly superior to the mindless zombies back in their own world. To her, wanting to extend your lifespan so you could stay with your loved ones forever was perfectly normal.
With the Greed Island hub linking to infinite dimensions, they were bound to encounter countless mythical races and wonders. Extending their lifespans shouldn't be a taboo. It was just that the current demonic iteration—requiring human flesh to survive—was a disgustingly flawed evolutionary path.
Since they were young, and their bodies were locked at peak vitality thanks to their Nen training, there was no immediate rush. Hell, if Shizuka wasn't so incredibly lazy, she could probably use Muzan's blood and the Blue Spider Lily to synthesize the elixir herself. But since she was lazy, Suyan sought out Tamayo. Tamayo was a demon who had intimately studied her own biology for hundreds of years. Having her do the heavy lifting would save them massive amounts of time. All Shizuka had to do was act as an assistant, offering a few futuristic medical concepts to spark inspiration.
"That..." Tamayo faltered, glancing back at Suyan. He really didn't look like he was about to attack them.
"You misunderstand my intentions," Suyan said gently, realizing the root of her fear. "I don't desire to become a monster. We just want the time to explore the vastness of the universe together without aging into dust. But I can see why you'd be terrified of inadvertently creating a second Muzan."
He paused, letting a slight smirk cross his lips. "How about I offer you a piece of information? Something that will make you feel infinitely better."
Tamayo remained guarded, though her curiosity was piqued.
"The Blue Spider Lily," Suyan said smoothly. "I know exactly where it is, and under what conditions it blooms."
Tamayo froze. The sheer impossibility of his words hit her harder than one of Sekido's lightning strikes. "T-That's impossible..." She stared at his face, desperately searching for a lie, but his expression was as placid as a calm lake.
Muzan had scoured the earth for a thousand years for that flower. Had this young man really just stumbled upon the answer so easily? If he possessed both Muzan's blood and the Blue Spider Lily, he didn't even need her! He could just consume them both and ascend to a perfect being on his own! Her mind tangled into knots.
"It's actually quite simple," Suyan continued, unbothered by her shock. He didn't bother hiding the truth, knowing it was the ultimate bargaining chip. "The Blue Spider Lily only blooms during the daytime. Furthermore, it only opens during the absolute hottest time of the year, bathed in direct, scorching sunlight."
"No wonder..." Tamayo whispered in awe.
It made perfect, twisted sense. That was exactly why Muzan and his legions of demons had scoured the earth for a millennium and found nothing. They were creatures of the night, forever barred from the very sun that coaxed the flower to bloom. It was a cosmic irony so biting, she felt an overwhelming urge to mock her ancient tormentor.
"Oh, I'll give you one more detail," Suyan added, deciding to throw fuel on the fire of her joy. "The flower naturally grows right around the gravesite of Yoriichi Tsugikuni's wife."
"Ah... Hahaha... HAH! HAHAHA!"
Tamayo finally broke. She doubled over, laughing so hard that tears streamed down her pale cheeks. To think that Muzan's salvation bloomed under the fatal sun, right beside the resting place of the only man who had ever made him experience true, absolute terror.
If she could just see the look on Muzan's face when he realized he had been playing the ultimate clown for a thousand years...
Wiping a tear from her eye, Tamayo looked at Suyan, a fierce, almost unhinged grin on her face. "I agree. I accept your terms. But I have one condition of my own!" She gritted her teeth. "When you kill Muzan, you must tell him the truth about the Blue Spider Lily. I want him to die choking on his own regret!"
"Deal," Suyan agreed instantly.
With a thought, a glowing parchment detailing the Equivalent Exchange materialized in his hand, and he offered it to Tamayo.
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