After seeing off the Kasugai Crow, Mizuki returned indoors.
Tamayo waved to her: "Mizuki, come with me."
"What is it?"
Mizuki obediently followed Tamayo, and the two went to the basement.
The room was filled with various professional medical instruments.
Tamayo motioned for her to sit down, and Mizuki, not knowing what she was going to do, sat down properly.
Tamayo took out a syringe and gave her an injection in the arm.
Mizuki stared at her with wide eyes. Was she being treated as a mobile blood bank, or was Tamayo asking her to pay back the rent for the room and board she provided back then?!
She had clearly paid it back with her labor!
Tamayo ignored her resentment, dripped the blood onto a vessel, and placed it under a microscope to observe.
After a moment, Tamayo looked up.
"As expected..."
Mizuki looked over in confusion: "Hmm?"
Tamayo's eyes lifted slightly, meeting hers: "Mizuki, how many years has it been since you last drank human blood?"
Mizuki hesitated: "Since I parted ways with you, I guess."
"You should know that for a demon to achieve eternal life, there's actually a condition that needs to be met, right?"
"That is consumption, which means obtaining energy."
"After two hundred years without consumption, the cells in your body are rapidly aging, and their division speed has become extremely slow."
"Perhaps you haven't noticed, but your regenerative ability has undoubtedly deteriorated significantly." Tamayo knew very well that with Mizuki's strength, there weren't many beings who could force her to use her regenerative ability.
"No, look." Mizuki bent her finger, and her nail cut a gash in her palm.
As soon as blood oozed from the gash, it quickly healed.
"Just like before."
Tamayo glanced at it and said lightly: "For such a minor injury, a normal person would almost be healed by the time they reached the hospital."
"...W-well, it's not that bad."
Tamayo couldn't help but ask: "Don't you feel anything yourself?"
Mizuki nodded seriously: "Yes, sometimes I feel very hungry and want to eat."
"Then why don't you eat?"
Even if she didn't want to eat humans, just a little blood would be fine.
Mizuki shared her feelings: "Because sometimes if I just endure it, the hunger goes away on its own."
Tamayo's eye twitched: "That's your body's cells trying to save themselves, which is why your cells are becoming increasingly senile."
"If this continues, within ten years, your hair will start to turn white, and you will officially enter the human elderly stage."
Mizuki was momentarily speechless. Thinking of Nezuko, she quickly argued: "Look, Nezuko hasn't drunk blood either, has she?"
"But Nezuko has been in a deep sleep, and changes are happening within her. She might become the second demon, after you, to overcome the sun." Tamayo said, opening the refrigerator behind her and taking out several blood bags.
Mizuki raised her hand to refuse: "No, I don't..."
Before she could finish, Tamayo said: "I know you're unwilling, but in your current state, if you encountered Muzan, how would you fight him?"
Mizuki opened her mouth but couldn't speak.
She had indeed become weaker... because she hadn't eaten for too long... and because she hadn't encountered any strong enemies, she had never thought about this problem.
Tamayo, without explanation, shoved the blood bags into her hands: "You can't win a battle on an empty stomach."
"After you're done drinking, just take more from the refrigerator. I need to help Yushiro pack some things."
Tamayo pulled the door shut and left. Mizuki looked at the blood bags in her hands, her mouth watering continuously.
She swallowed.
Just... just a little bit should be fine, right? Meanwhile, on the other side.
Infinity Castle.
The white-haired boy with Lower Rank Five carved into his pupils calmly looked around him.
'Hey, hey, what's going on, where is this? Why are all the Lower Ranks here?' Kamanue, Lower Rank Six, watched the other demons, sweat beading on his forehead.
'Is it that woman's Blood Demon Art?' The Lower Ranks cautiously looked at the female demon with a biwa, sitting high above them.
Clang!
Accompanied by a clear biwa sound, the space shifted, and the demons appeared on a platform.
Upon seeing the figure standing before the platform, all the demons uniformly knelt down.
"Lord Muzan!"
Kibutsuji Muzan was in a very bad mood.
Although he was mentally prepared, when those two useless demons died at the hands of those two Demon Slayers, Muzan still couldn't help but feel angry.
It wasn't anger that they failed their mission, but rather... 'That monster's technique... has actually been passed down...'
Kibutsuji Muzan, appearing in the form of a young man in a black suit, looked lividly at the kneeling Lower Rank demons.
Muzan reined in the anger in his eyes and said in a low voice: "Kill the Demon Slayer wearing hanafuda earrings for me. Whoever brings me his head, I will grant them power equal to an Upper Rank."
Those two useless demons didn't die in vain; at least they showed him something.
Unexpectedly, the woman who initially gave him a sense of crisis actually made him feel a bit relieved.
Although she had some talent, even comparable to Hantengu, in Muzan's eyes, she was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.
In comparison, that Demon Slayer wearing hanafuda earrings... that technique... he remembered it clearly, even after several centuries.
Without a doubt, it was that monster's swordsmanship.
It had actually been passed down.
Although it was still somewhat immature now, a type Muzan would normally never pay attention to, as long as it was connected to that monster, he could not tolerate it and would lose sleep over it.
He absolutely had to... kill that Demon Slayer.
The demons' impression of Muzan was primarily fear, and then everything else.
But upon hearing the grand promise Muzan offered, the previously fearful demons eagerly looked up: "Understood! Your subordinates will surely bring that Demon Slayer's head to you, Lord!"
For a Lower Rank demon to become an Upper Rank, unless Muzan highly valued them, it was almost impossible to advance by consuming humans and through ranking battles.
Among the demons, only the white-haired boy with Lower Rank Five carved in his eyes seemed uninterested.
Compared to power, family was definitely more important, but Lord Muzan's command still required some attention.
Hearing Rui's thoughts, Muzan was somewhat displeased but didn't say much.
Having been physically weak and destined for an early death as a human, Muzan's goodwill towards Rui was unparalleled among other demons... Mizuki was unaware of the meeting on the demon side; she was currently facing an awkward situation.
"Lady Tamayo! This is bad! There's a thief in the basement!" Yushiro burst through the door, panting.
"Pfft~" Mizuki, who was leisurely sipping a blood-colored drink, almost spat it all over Tamayo.
Mizuki sheepishly lowered her head.
It's over.
She really hadn't eaten for too long; after one sip, she couldn't stop.
By the time she realized it, the blood bank was empty.
This was different from a hungry person stopping when full; a demon's body converts this blood into energy, and it's impossible to feel full by drinking blood.
Tamayo paused for a moment, then smiled: "It's fine, that blood was going to expire anyway."
"How could that be! I just..."
Tamayo suddenly interrupted: "Yushiro."
Yushiro's words trailed off.
"Have you finished packing?"
"...Yes."
Tamayo looked at the bright moon outside the window: "Then let's go."
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