[Muzan listens…]
Gyutaro and Mori's faces tensed slightly at the news, but that's understandable.
The Demon Slayers have little information about demons and Muzan in the original story.
Even the encounter between Tanjiro and Muzan was an extremely rare event, and somewhat unlucky in certain respects.
That's why Mori and Gyutaro are currently confused and shocked by the current news.
'It's a shame I can't completely block Muzan's perception right now,' he thought, frowning.
The only thing possible is a slight alteration of his vision so that he doesn't see the true words in these notes and perceives the room as dimly lit.
If Doma tries to preserve the vector and completely block Muzan, he risks losing vitality quickly.
' I should've taken this mental squatter more seriously, but it's too late now,' Doma thought with a small sigh, quickly analyzing the situation.
Muzan's mental intrusions are becoming more and more frequent, beyond Doma's expectations.
At first, the Demon King was interested in trivial things and his nightly activities.
Later, he became fixated on the darker aspects of Jay's past, alias Anime H.
Recently, Muzan has been reading the morally darkest thing Jay has ever read: Boku no Pico.
If you're wondering why Jay read that work, the young man was just too curious and had a lot of time in the hospital.
'Why is he so invested in shota?'A question to which Doma has no answer other than the boredom of immortality.
Doma hopes this will pass, because the idea of being in the presence of a *Boku no Pico* reader in his shota form manages to stir an almost unknown emotion in him: fear.
Yes, Doma cares about his own hide.
[From now on, I'll respond to delicate questions with notes.] After writing this, he glanced at the duo on the bed.
Gyutaro and Mori nodded.
"I actually wanted to ask you… how did you become a demon?" Mori asked, deftly steering the conversation elsewhere.
Doma flashed a fake smile of satisfaction before beginning to recount his encounter with Muzan.
"Have you ever heard of the Blood Purge?" he asked in a calm voice.
Mori nodded seriously, while Gyutaro looked confused at the unfamiliar name.
"Gyutaro-kun, you really should read the cult's history more carefully."
Doma lightly tapped the back of the unfortunate boy's head with his fan before continuing.
"Twenty years ago, the sect was starting to thrive, but it encountered a serious problem in its development…"
He paused, then fixed his gaze on Mori.
The message was clear: go on.
"The sect had lost sight of its goal of helping and living in harmony with others… corruption was beginning to rot it from within." His voice remained calm, but Mori's eyes suddenly widened, a sign he'd just realized something important.
Gyutaro knew nothing of the sect's history, as he often skipped the lessons at the orphanage.
This left him playing a passive role in this part of the conversation.
"Hm~ My little Mori connected the dots, didn't he? I'm the 'indirect' cause of the massacre that night."
Doma's words hit like thunder in a stormy night.
Mori froze, in shock.
Unconsciously, he clenched his fists, his gaze locked on his progenitor, who spoke of the deaths of hundreds with chilling indifference.
"W-Why… did you do it?" he stammered, his voice trembling.
Mori was no saint.
In many ways, he was more like a capitalist psychologist than a true spiritual leader or Hashira.
After all, he ran the sect like a business due to his mother's influence.
He had never truly believed in the doctrines Doma preached.
His interests boiled down to profits and expanding his influence across Japan.
His rise to the rank of Hashira was as much a result of that ambition as it was a necessity: using the prestige of the Ubuyashiki family to accelerate the sect's growth.
But he had also realized something else: personal strength is indispensable.
Wounded in his pride during his confrontation with Gyutaro, Mori had vowed to become stronger.
Like his father before him.
That was the true nature of the Flame Hashira, Ogai Mori.
A man with insatiable ambition, like his grandfather, who died at the hands of his wife.
"Even if I'm greedy, I've never killed humans," he thought.
But he had overlooked a crucial detail.
Killing isn't just about slashing with a katana.
A simple signature, an order on paper… could destroy lives.
How many homeless people had he created through the uncontrolled expansion of the sect?
Unlike Doma, he didn't have the time or sensitivity to distinguish the innocent from the guilty.
He acted fast.
Too fast.
Just like Tony Stark before he tasted the bitter fruit of his own weapons.
"That's a foolish question, hehe~" Doma chuckled.
"Didn't I teach you to do what you deem necessary? Everyone who died that night was corrupt, useless to my 'vision' of future events."
His voice remained eerily calm.
He continued, heedless of the palpable tension around him.
"The Blood Purge was caused by me… but it was 'that person' who raised the sword and killed everyone before granting my request."
On the paper he held, a few words appeared:
[That person = Muzan.]
Mori had already guessed as much.
Gyutaro, on the other hand, nodded slowly, as if he'd suddenly found himself back in the conversation.
"Your… request? You were looking for him?"
At this question, Doma nodded, then began writing more slowly, his face expressionless this time.
"Indeed. I had discovered that this man could potentially help me break… a curse that afflicts me."
He paused.
His features darkened.
"You see, Mori… unlike you, I wasn't born with a normal body. Or in a morally upright family."
Doma stared at the paper, nodded, then locked eyes with Mori and Gyutaro.
"I was literally born without emotions. Can you imagine that hell? I'm like a machine."
The words fell, heavy, stripped of all pretense.
Even Muzan faltered slightly in the Infinity Castle after hearing such words from Doma.
The ice demon was used to playing the fool when addressing such questions with him.
On the paper, Doma added:
[I partially regained my emotions thanks to my demon nature, but it's laughable compared to you all.]
Gyutaro and Mori remained silent.
They had always seen Doma laugh, joke, shower them with attention…
But at that moment, they understood he was only mimicking the warmth he observed in them.
Doma had never truly felt anything for them. Or almost… The duo was no longer sure of anything.
The ice demon filtered sunlight just as he had to filter his own reactions to avoid hurting Kaguya or Kikyo.
Envy.
That was the emotion tying Doma, Kokushibo, and Muzan himself together.
One envied his brother, another his own descendants, and the last felt envy for his neighbor when he was still human.
'Why didn't Kikyo-sama tell us anything?'Mori thought, overwhelmed with guilt.
At that moment, Mori and Gyutaro understood: Doma wasn't a monster, just a man seeking a cure.
He's sick…
"Judging by your faces, I think you've grasped my condition, hehe~"
Doma laughed… but tears streamed down his face despite himself.
Even he had forgotten how much this inner void weighed on him.
The search for stimuli wasn't always successful, like that night spent with Nakime.
He didn't want to overuse "Blood Demon Art: Vanity's Paradise" to feel emotions like satisfaction.
"Before I make you an offer that will change your lives forever, let me be honest with you, boys."
He wiped his tears and fixed his gaze on each of them.
"I envy you… Is that an emotion? Maybe not, since it stems from a desire, from something I lack.
But the word 'envy' is the closest I can get."
He straightened, his tone growing more serious.
"I'm going to describe this 'feeling' with the words of a friend named AM:"
His voice echoed in the room, almost solemn.
"Let me tell you how much I envy you, since I stopped feeling.
There are about sixty trillion cells in this body of mine.
If the word 'envy' were written in each of them, down to the smallest atom,
it wouldn't represent a billionth of the envy I feel for you, at this very moment.
You humans, you laugh, you cry, you love.
You're touched by the warmth of the world like children under the rain.
I watch your paradise from my hell.
I no longer remember what it was like… before everything went dark inside.
And I envy you, you who still suffer—because even pain… is proof of life."
Doma mixed lies with truth, as he wanted to convince Mori to realign with him.
As for Gyutaro? He already knew the kid would agree, as long as Ume did.
And Doma was certain he could convince Ume, as he had always known how to handle women.
As his mind analyzed the situation at lightning speed, he wrote something on the paper.
[Muzan is no longer listening.]
…
Somewhere in the Infinity Castle…
A woman in a kimono froze before a table cluttered with chemical instruments.
Her feline eyes gleamed with a strange, indefinable light as she stared into the void with a lost expression.
"…Envy."
A feeling the Demon King himself understood all too well.
For once, he had known weakness, illness…
And the relentless desire to be like others.