After sending off the kasugai crow, Yuko returned inside.
Tamayo waved at her. "Yuko, come with me."
"What is it?"
Yuko followed obediently as Tamayo led her into the basement.
The room was filled with various professional medical instruments.
Tamayo motioned for her to sit. Yuko didn't know what was going on, but she sat down properly.
Then—Tamayo took out a syringe and stuck it directly into her arm.
Yuko's eyes widened. Was Tamayo treating her like a walking blood bank? Or was she collecting overdue rent from centuries ago—room and board included?!
She had paid it off with physical labor!
Ignoring Yuko's silent complaints, Tamayo placed a drop of blood on a slide and observed it under a microscope.
Shortly after, she lifted her head.
"Just as I thought…"
Yuko blinked. "Hm?"
Tamayo met her gaze. "Yuko, how many years has it been since you last drank human blood?"
Yuko hesitated. "Since I parted ways with you, I guess."
"You should know that for a demon to remain immortal, a certain condition must be met."
"That condition is consumption—gathering energy."
"You haven't eaten for two hundred years. Your cells are rapidly aging, and their rate of division has slowed dramatically."
"You might not have noticed it yourself, but your regenerative ability is definitely declining." Tamayo knew well that with Yuko's strength, very few beings could force her to rely on regeneration.
"That's not right, look." Yuko bent her finger and sliced open her palm with her nail.
Blood barely welled up before the wound rapidly closed.
"Same as before."
Tamayo glanced at it. "A cut that small? Even a normal human would recover quickly at a hospital."
"…I-It's not that weak."
Tamayo couldn't help but ask, "And you really didn't feel anything yourself?"
Yuko nodded seriously. "I have—sometimes I feel hungry and want to eat something."
"Then why don't you eat?"
Even if she didn't want to drink human blood, a little bit of blood in general would help.
Yuko shared her experience. "Because sometimes the hunger just… goes away if I hold it in."
Tamayo's eye twitched. "That's because your cells are desperately consuming themselves to survive! That's why your cells keep aging!"
"At this rate, within ten years your hair will start turning white, and you'll physically enter the human elderly stage."
Yuko froze. Thinking of Nezuko, she quickly argued, "Look—Nezuko hasn't drunk blood either!"
"But Nezuko is constantly asleep, and her body is undergoing transformation. She might become the second demon—after you—to overcome sunlight." As she spoke, Tamayo opened a refrigerator behind her and took out several bags of blood.
Yuko immediately raised her hand. "No—I don't—"
Before she finished, Tamayo cut her off. "I know you don't want to, but in your current state, how are you going to fight Muzan if you run into him?"
Yuko opened her mouth… but had no rebuttal.
She had weakened. She hadn't eaten in far too long.
Because she hadn't encountered a formidable enemy recently, she simply never realized.
Without further discussion, Tamayo shoved the blood pack into her hands. "You can't win battles on an empty stomach."
"There are more in the refrigerator—drink as needed. I'm going to help Yushiro finish packing."
With that, Tamayo closed the door and left.
Yuko stared at the blood bag. Her mouth watered uncontrollably.
She swallowed hard.
Just… just a little should be fine, right?
…
Meanwhile—
The Infinity Castle.
A boy with white hair, "Lower Rank Five" engraved in his pupils, looked around calmly.
What's going on? Why are all the Lower Ranks gathered here?
Lower Rank Six, Kamanue, was sweating nervously.
Is this that woman's Blood Demon Art?
All the Lower Ranks glanced anxiously at the biwa-playing demon sitting above them.
TWANG—
A sharp biwa note echoed, and space twisted.
The demons appeared on a platform.
Seeing the figure standing before them, they all knelt simultaneously.
"Lord Muzan!"
Kibutsuji Muzan was in a foul mood.
Although he'd anticipated it, the death of those two useless demons still irritated him.
Not because they failed the mission, but because—
That monster's technique… had been passed down…
Dressed in a black suit, looking like a young man, Muzan stared coldly at the kneeling Lower Ranks.
Suppressing his rage, he spoke lowly: "Kill the Demon Slayer wearing hanafuda earrings. Whoever brings me his head will receive the power to reach Upper Rank."
Those two failures had not died in vain—they'd shown him something important.
Unexpectedly, the woman who first triggered his sense of danger ended up reassuring him instead.
She had talent—comparable to Hantengu's clones even—but in Muzan's eyes she was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.
The boy with hanafuda earrings, however…
That technique…
Even centuries later, he recognized it instantly.
Without question—it was that monster's sword style.
It had truly survived.
Still immature—barely worth noticing under normal circumstances—yet any connection to that monster was unacceptable.
He wouldn't be able to sleep at night until the boy was dead.
He must kill that Demon Slayer.
Fear always came first for demons who faced Muzan.
But the promise he offered made their eyes light up with greed.
"YES, LORD MUZAN! WE WILL BRING HIS HEAD!"
Lower Ranks becoming Upper Rank was nearly impossible without Muzan's favor; advancement through cannibalism or challenge was unrealistic.
Among them, only the boy marked Lower Rank Five looked unenthused.
Family was more important than strength. Still… orders were orders.
Muzan heard Rui's thoughts and felt a flicker of displeasure, but he said nothing.
Both he and Rui had been sickly as humans—born to die young. Muzan's goodwill to Rui far exceeded that toward other demons.
…
Yuko had no idea Muzan was holding a meeting. She was too busy dealing with her current crisis.
"Lady Tamayo! Something terrible has happened! There's a thief in the basement!" Yushiro slammed open the door, panting.
"Pff—" Yuko, leisurely sipping her blood drink, almost sprayed it all over Tamayo.
She lowered her head guiltily.
It was over.
She really hadn't eaten in too long, and after one sip, she couldn't stop.
By the time she regained her senses… the entire blood storage was empty.
Unlike a hungry human who stops after their stomach is full, a demon's body converts blood into energy. Drinking blood doesn't actually create a feeling of fullness.
Tamayo blinked for a moment, then smiled. "It's fine. Those bags were almost expired anyway."
"How could they be! I checked them just befor—"
Tamayo suddenly interrupted. "Yushiro."
He froze mid-sentence.
"Is everything packed?"
"…Yes."
Tamayo glanced at the moon outside the window. "Then let's go."
---
Currently at chapter 393 for advance chapters
https:// ko-fi.com/rabi08