Chapter 56: Muzan in Action |
"A Devil Fruit..." Shinobu whispered, her mind struggling to process what had just happened, let alone the fact that according to Yeruashi, this so-called Devil Fruit was something he had copied from another world.
However, she soon cast aside her unnecessary thoughts and doubts. The origin of the ability didn't matter; what mattered was that it would help her achieve her revenge.
Concentrating on the changes within her body, the Insect Hashira slowly raised her graceful hand. It began to glow faintly before gradually transforming into a plant, with white flowers blooming at the tips of her slender fingers.
In a matter of mere moments, a whole bush of the exact same flowers sprouted from the spot where the original blossom had been plucked, rapidly spreading outward.
Whoosh!
Then, the bush withered just as quickly, retracting back into Shinobu's tiny palm at a single thought, leaving only a single flower behind.
'Incredible... power...' the Insect Hashira thought, her breath catching in her throat.
Shinobu could feel a vast power swirling inside her, one that could turn the entire headquarters into a forest if released without restraint.
But as immense as this power was, it was equally difficult to control. Just now, in releasing only a tiny fraction of it, she had already begun to lose her grip. For now, she could only manage to control the forest within a radius of no more than ten meters.
Since her Insect Breathing had been derived from Flower Breathing, it was an entire order of magnitude weaker than the original, which was closer to the ancestral Sun Breathing. However, her frail physique had previously forced her to rely on Insect Breathing.
Now, though, Shinobu felt no obstacles in using Flower Breathing. It flowed as smoothly as silk thanks to her altered constitution and felt far more powerful than Insect Breathing ever had.
Nearby, Yeruashi watched her.
'The Mori Mori no Mi pairs perfectly with Flower Breathing, but even a small fraction of a Devil Fruit's power far exceeds a Breathing Technique,' he thought with a satisfied nod. Seeing every fiber of the girl's body responding to the change, he silently turned away and began to walk off.
That was it.
He had granted the Demon Slayers not only the path of superior swordsmanship but also a Logia-type Devil Fruit, more than compensating for the loss of the Love Hashira. At this point, they were certainly no weaker than they would be in the later stages of the original story after manifesting several marks.
It was time.
*
Upon learning of what had transpired, Kagaya ordered without hesitation that the fact Shinobu had received a special power from Yeruashi be kept a strict secret.
As mentioned before, the Demon Slayers were masters of maintaining confidentiality. Therefore, aside from the leader of the organization, only the most trusted and reliable Hashira—Gyomei—was brought into the loop.
Even the Wind and Flame Hashira were told nothing.
Shinobu's subsequent training took place under conditions of maximum secrecy, and she continued to use Insect Breathing on missions to ensure she could catch Doma off guard when they finally met.
However, the Upper Rank Three had also become notably more cautious after his extremely dangerous encounter with the Kocho sisters. For several months, the Demon Slayers were unable to pick up his trail.
Being a highly intelligent and calculating demon, Doma began to act with deliberate certainty once he fully realized what a threat two or more Hashira posed to him.
The confrontation between the Hashira and the Upper Moons gradually reached a stalemate, while clashes between ordinary demons and slayers conversely became more frequent over time.
Muzan was losing his patience.
The search for the Blue Spider Lily had still yielded no results, and the moons under his command had failed to destroy the slayers. To this day, they hadn't even managed to locate the enemy's headquarters!
The progenitor felt the urge to purge the Twelve Kizuki more than once, yet he restrained himself each time, venting his rage on useless, low-ranking pawns instead.
Right now, Muzan needed strong subordinates; without them, he would be forced to fight all the Demon Slayers alone.
It wasn't that the progenitor of demons feared the Hashira; he simply had no intention of giving them even a ghost of a chance at victory.
Since hundreds of years of searching for the Blue Spider Lily had failed, Muzan was forced to shift the direction of his research. He began creating more and more demons in the hope that one of them would eventually be able to conquer the sun.
If that happened, the need for the Blue Spider Lily would vanish.
And he would become the true sovereign of this world!
To this end, Muzan even began to appear in public more often. The slayers noticed the growing number of demons, which led to an increase in Hashira activity despite the decrease in Twelve Kizuki sightings.
Inevitably, among Muzan's many mediocre creations, special demons on the level of the Twelve Kizuki would occasionally appear. These were too much for ordinary slayers to handle and could easily wipe out an entire squad. Only the Hashira, or perhaps high-ranking Kinoe slayers, could contend with them.
However, every cloud has a silver lining. Thanks to this, the Demon Slayers gradually mapped out Muzan's movement route. He was moving from north to south.
Kagaya immediately took action as soon as he learned of the progenitor's increased activity and his path of travel. By his order, the Hashira began to gradually converge on the regions where Muzan was most active.
However, they were instructed not to attempt to fight alone and to retreat immediately to call for support. An attack was only permitted if at least three Hashira were gathered together.
And no matter how much the Hashira hated Muzan, each of them understood perfectly that they had to act with absolute certainty, otherwise catching the alerted progenitor later would become exponentially harder.
But...
For a long time, not a single Hashira stumbled upon Muzan, let alone engaged him in battle.
It felt as though he possessed the ability to teleport instantly.
At times, it reached the point where the Hashira arrived at a crime scene right on Muzan's heels.
The closest anyone got was the Wind Hashira, who arrived to find the still-warm bodies of a slaughtered family.
But the progenitor of demons was long gone.
A sense of rage and helplessness gripped the slayers.
Yet, they drew their own conclusions from what had happened.
It finally became clear to Kagaya that ordinary methods would not corner Muzan. They didn't need to chase him; they needed to let him come to them, to lure him into a trap.
But what, or who, should be used as bait?
This was what the leader had to contemplate.
He didn't have much time left in this world.
However, he intended to finish what had been started!
Meanwhile, on the other side.
As if at another crossroads.
Muzan headed toward one fateful place.