Evening, Unnamed Outskirts
A quiet, uninhabited stretch of land on the edge of nowhere gradually filled with noise as hundreds of people moved through it.
"Do you really think Kibutsuji Muzan is out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"If Kaito-sama led us here, then he is. Didn't you notice the Hashira didn't say a word?"
"Right, right! I was overthinking it."
The Demon Slayer Corps members couldn't help murmuring among themselves as they took in the desolate surroundings.
Kaito paid them no attention. If the Hashira hadn't insisted on coming along, he would have handled this himself. And if he was being honest, after so many days away, he was starting to miss that adorable little creature back home.
'Rimuru should be up by now. Wonder what she's getting up to. The Goblin Village must be chaos with all that early construction going on.'
Slime World, Night, Dwarf Kingdom Elf Bar
"Wahahaha! Truly astonishing! A sword I forged with everything I had, and you mass-produced it in one go!"
Kajin, the dwarf in the pointy construction hat, sat in a booth with a wine glass in hand, exclaiming to Rimuru, who was currently being cradled in the arms of a golden-haired elf.
"That's because your prototype was excellent, Kajin-san. I just analysed it and replicated it using magic ore blocks!"
Rimuru, brainwave pad sitting on her head, replied with her own glass raised.
'Wow! An elf lady! This is amazing!'
Dog Author: Weren't you a girl in your past life?
Rimuru: None of your business ￣ω￣ =
Everyone present exchanged glances. Rimuru, catching the awkward silence, tilted her head.
"Did I overstep?"
Kajin recovered first. He raised his glass with a boisterous grin.
"Next time, I'll forge something so incredible even you won't be able to copy it!"
Rimuru lifted her own glass with a grin.
"Now that's the spirit! Cheers!!! Bartender, another round!"
The slender golden-haired proprietress in a purple dress, bottle in hand, smiled down at Rimuru with a charming tilt of her head.
"Oh my, little Slime, can you even taste it? (⌒_⌒;)"
Rimuru held out her materialised hand and raised her glass proudly.
"I can't taste a thing, but when a beautiful person is pouring, everything is delicious!"
The proprietress's smile brightened even further at that.
"Oh my, what sweet words. Here, drink up!"
"This is the life! Absolute heaven!"
"Another round!! ~ (￣▽￣)~*"
"Hai!"
Kaito: 'Sitting in a bar packed with elf ladies, being held in their arms… how enviable. No. How infuriating.'
Leaving aside Rimuru, who had completely lost herself in the warm embrace and forgotten Kaito ever existed, we return our attention to the Demon Slayer world.
"This is the place."
Kaito swept his divine sense across the whole of Japan and finally pinpointed it: the Infinity Castle, the pocket dimension opened by Nakime, was right here.
"Kaito-sama, is this really it?"
Rengoku Kyojuro, his flame-like hair catching the wind, turned to survey the empty surroundings and asked with a frown.
"It is. Muzan is hiding inside a separate dimension. There's nothing to see from out here."
Kaito summoned Tenkuu, raised his right hand, and answered without looking back.
"A separate dimension?! *9"
Every Hashira around him gasped.
"So that's why we could never find him no matter how hard we searched. He was in a whole other dimension the whole time! Is this a Blood Demon Art?"
"There's a Blood Demon Art that can open a separate dimension?!"
While the Hashira marvelled, Kanae was the only one watching Kaito closely.
"Kaito-sama, what are you doing?"
He didn't answer. He simply channelled spiritual power into Tenkuu's blade and drew it lightly from left to right in a single clean slash.
Zzzzz...
As though space itself had been cut open, a rift roughly ten metres wide tore open in front of them all. Through the gap, the interior of the dimension lay perfectly visible.
The space within was densely packed: ancient Japanese wooden architecture, pavilions, corridors, latticed window frames, every detail rendered with lifelike precision, layer upon layer stretching into the dark.
Nobody spoke.
"Is that Kibutsuji Muzan's lair?"
"Unbelievable."
"He found it so easily!"
"Is this really it? The final battle?"
Infinity Castle
Nakime's fingers stopped on the biwa strings. She felt it the instant it happened: the barrier had been broken. She shot to her feet. How? How could anyone find the Infinity Castle? How could her Blood Demon Art be broken?!
"Nakime! What's going on? Why are you so flustered?"
Muzan, who had been reclining with a drink in hand, opened his scarlet eyes and fixed her with a cold look.
Nakime dropped to her knees at once.
"I am deeply sorry, Muzan-sama! I sensed that the barrier around the Infinity Castle has been broken. Someone has intruded!"
"What! The barrier was broken?! How is that possible?!"
Muzan rose, his mind racing. Who could break the Infinity Castle's barrier? The Demon Slayer Corps? Impossible. They didn't have that kind of power.
Then who?
A face surfaced in his memory. A young man who made his blood run cold. The very reason he had retreated into the Infinity Castle and not dared to step outside.
'Could it be the one who killed Doma?! No. I need to move. The Infinity Castle is compromised. I have to leave now.'
"Nakime! Order the Twelve Kizuki to deal with the intruders!"
"Yes, Muzan-sama!"
One has to admit, the scumbag boss's instinct for self-preservation is truly something else. At the first sign of danger, he sends his subordinates out to die while he slips away. Unfortunately for him, it was already far too late.
Just as Kibutsuji Muzan turned to flee, a voice rang out across the entire Infinity Castle.
"Muzan! Come out and get some sun!!!"
Every demon in the castle froze.
"Who... is that?! How bold! Are they not afraid of what Muzan-sama will do?!"
"We're all dead if he gets angry. Every single one of us!"
"I haven't eaten nearly enough humans yet. I don't want to die like this!"
The Twelve Kizuki heard it too. One of them, a humanoid figure with six eyes, silenced the panicking demons around him with a single cold look.
"Anyone who doesn't want to die right now: shut up."
This was Upper Rank One of the Twelve Kizuki: Kokushibo.
Born Tsugikuni Michikatsu, he had joined the Demon Slayer Corps out of envy for his younger brother Tsugikuni Yoriichi's extraordinary swordsmanship. Desperate to surpass him, and terrified of the fate that awaited Marked swordsmen at the age of twenty-five, he had eventually betrayed humanity and become a demon.
He pledged his loyalty to Kibutsuji Muzan, took the name Kokushibo, and rose to Upper Rank One. His self-invented [Moon Breathing] made him second in power only to Muzan himself.
Kokushibo was still turning the question over in his mind when Nakime's voice reached his ear.
"Kokushibo-sama, Muzan-sama commands all Twelve Kizuki to eliminate the intruders."
Killing intent flared in all six of his eyes. His hand moved to the hilt at his waist.
"Let the intruder's blood fill you."