Duang~!
Within a vast and chaotic empty space, the crisp sound of a biwa echoed.
A demon dressed in a military uniform with a black cloak draped over his shoulders quietly appeared.
"Hmm? This place is..."
Hairo froze briefly, his gaze turning toward the woman holding the biwa not far away.
Duang~!
The sound of the biwa rang out again.
Before Hairo's eyes, four figures appeared one after another on the surrounding platforms.
"A spatial Blood Demon Art? This is the first time I've seen one."
Shifting his gaze away from Nakime, Hairo looked toward the four figures who had appeared afterward.
Lower Rank One, Lower Rank Three, Lower Rank Four, Lower Rank Six...
With eyes engraved with the words "Lower Two" glancing around, Hairo quickly confirmed the identities of these four demons.
Just like himself, the four demons who had appeared later were all Lower Rank demons of the Twelve Kizuki.
Duang~!
The now familiar sound of the biwa echoed in Hairo's ears once again.
This time, a figure dressed in a white suit appeared on the platform.
"Lord Muzan!"
The moment they saw him clearly, Hairo and the other four Lower Rank demons immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, calling out his name with reverence and fear.
"Do you know why I summoned you here?"
Kibutsuji Muzan stood with his hands in his pockets, looking calmly at the five demons before him.
In the past, these demons had been elite talents he personally selected and granted his blood.
He had once placed high expectations on these Lower Rank demons, hoping they could eventually reach the same level as the Upper Rank demons.
But...
"Rui has been killed. He was Lower Rank Five."
With a mere thought from Kibutsuji Muzan, unfamiliar memory fragments suddenly echoed within the minds of Hairo and the others.
At the peak of Mount Natagumo, a black haired youth holding a Nichirin Blade slowly walked forward.
In the next instant, the black haired youth vanished, and the images within the memory began spinning violently.
At the very end, what echoed within the demons' minds was an extremely indifferent voice.
["Is this what they call a Lower Rank demon? It's even weaker than I imagined."]
"How disappointing."
The images within their minds disappeared, and Kibutsuji Muzan's voice echoed once again.
However, compared to his earlier calmness, his expression had now grown far more somber.
Although Rui had only been Lower Rank Five, his existence held special meaning to Muzan.
Out of pity for their somewhat similar childhood experiences, Muzan had not only granted Rui the right to create demons and form his own "family," but had also bestowed a considerable amount of blood upon him to strengthen his power.
Yet despite receiving such favor, Rui had still failed to satisfy him and had instead brought him disgrace.
"As Lower Rank demons, not only can you not kill members of the Demon Slayer Corps, you cannot even withstand a single strike!"
Looking at the five Lower Rank demons kneeling on the ground, a trace of killing intent surfaced in Muzan's eyes.
"Answer me. What use are you?"
"..."
The Lower Rank demons fell into complete silence.
Faced with Muzan's questioning, not a single one dared to reply.
The reason was simple. The memory fragment Muzan had shared was truly terrifying.
That brief strike still echoed vividly in their minds even now.
Especially for Lower Rank Four and Lower Rank Six, whose strength was not much different from Rui's, or perhaps even slightly weaker.
After witnessing that memory fragment, a certain emotion had quietly surfaced in their minds.
"Fear?"
Kibutsuji Muzan narrowed his eyes.
Looking at Lower Rank Four and Lower Rank Six, who had frozen in place, a vein bulged on his forehead.
"Fear before the battle. Being so intimidated by the enemy's strength that you already begin thinking about fleeing."
"Kyogai, Mukago. Is this the answer you two are giving me?"
"Lord Muzan! You misunderstand!"
Realizing that his thoughts had been read, Kyogai, whose body was covered with six drums, hurriedly tried to explain.
"I am not afraid. I simply need more time to grow stronger!"
"Grow stronger?"
Kibutsuji Muzan let out a cold laugh.
Bang! Bang!
Kyogai and Mukago's heads exploded without any warning.
"I have no interest in hearing nonsense like 'growing stronger.'"
Muzan then turned his gaze toward the remaining three Lower Rank demons.
Compared to Kyogai and Mukago, the performance of Hairo and the others had been far better.
After witnessing the memory fragment, they had not shown emotions such as fear or dread.
Instead of thinking about escaping, Hairo and the others had begun thinking about how they would fight if they were to face Cain themselves.
It was precisely because of this reaction that Muzan, who had originally lost faith in the Lower Ranks, decided to change his mind and give them one final opportunity.
"I will give you one month."
"No matter what methods you use, produce results that satisfy me."
"If you fail, then the fate of those two idiots just now will become your fate as well."
...
Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters.
At the same time that Muzan was enraged by the incompetence of the Lower Ranks and began his purge...
Cain spent an entire hour explaining his battle plan to the members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
However, after hearing the full explanation, everyone present, including Tomioka Giyu, frowned slightly.
The issue was not that there was anything wrong with Cain's battle plan.
The real problem was that when he introduced Tamayo, he mentioned a point that immediately drew everyone's attention.
"Cain, you want to cooperate with a demon?"
"To be precise, I want to cooperate with a demon who has betrayed Kibutsuji Muzan."
"Whether she betrayed him or not is not the important part. The important fact is that the woman named Tamayo is still a demon."
Uzui Tengen crossed his arms.
"We are the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. Asking us to cooperate with a man eating demon is simply not flashy at all."
"I agree with the Sound Hashira's opinion."
Himejima Gyomei spoke in a deep voice as he pressed his hands together.
"Based on the intelligence you have provided, there is no real need for us to cooperate with a demon."
"As long as we are given enough preparation time, I believe the Flower Hashira can also develop a drug capable of inhibiting Kibutsuji Muzan's regeneration and division."
"But that would take too long. I cannot guarantee how long such a process would take."
Kochou Kanae and Uzui Tengen clearly held different opinions on this matter.
"Compared to beginning research entirely from scratch, cooperating with Tamayo is a far better option."
"I agree with cooperating."
Tomioka Giyu's voice suddenly rang out.
He had remained silent until now, but at this moment he openly stood on Cain's side.
"Master, what is your decision?"
Seeing that the discussion had reached a stalemate, Uzui Tengen turned his gaze toward Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
"Tengen, my time is running out."
Ubuyashiki Kagaya did not provide a direct answer.
However, after hearing those words, Uzui Tengen, who had been opposing the plan, fell silent.
"Amitabha."
Two streams of tears flowed from Himejima Gyomei's eyes, and the aura surrounding him instantly became firm and resolute.
"I withdraw my previous statement."
"I support cooperating with Tamayo."
"I have no objections either."
Uzui Tengen followed and changed his stance.
At this point, Cain's battle plan against Muzan was approved unanimously.
T/N- Idk how many of you guys noticed, that the title for ch 44 was ch 45, but the chapter content was right, only ch number Was wrong. I have fixed it tho.
...
Read advance 60 chapters on p@treon
[email protected]/guilt_free_daoist
Join disc0rd link in synopsis.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.