Chapter Sixty-Two: Because I Want That!
Enjoy~~~
The forest was submerged in an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of uneven breathing and the rustling of trees under the weight of a terrifying aura.
"Please, Tsugikuni-sama… free me from this torment!"
Tamayo knelt on her knees, her forehead touching the cold, damp ground, while tears poured heavily from her eyes, burning her cheeks like acid. Her body trembled violently, not from the cold, but from the overwhelming dread imposed by the being standing before her.
He was no longer just a "Hashira." He was something else… something older and darker.
Ron (Tsugikuni Ren) stood above her, looking down at her with emerald eyes that shone coldly in the darkness, while strands of his black hair with crimson tips swayed with an invisible current of energy.
[Hmm… it seems she cannot bear the idea of living after being freed from Muzan's control, and remembering that she killed her family with her own hands.]
Rina's voice echoed in Ron's mind, analytical and devoid of emotion.
Ron looked at his pale hand and felt something strange stir in his chest. "For some reason… I still feel pity toward her. Has the transformation not been completed? I thought merging with Muzan's cells would kill what remained of my humanity."
[Answer: This is normal, Ron. I cannot allow you to abandon your human emotions completely; doing so would destabilize your consciousness and the version may collapse. Additionally, your transformation into the 'Demon King' does not mean you will automatically lose your humanity. It means you will possess new dark impulses… bloodlust, absolute arrogance, and a desire for possession.]
Rina explained coldly as she floated around the collapsed Tamayo, observing her with scientific curiosity, as if she were a specimen under a microscope.
Ron exhaled slowly, and his features changed. His face hardened, and any trace of hesitation vanished.
"Whatever… I won't allow anything to restrain me anymore. And since she begs for death so desperately… so be it."
Ron's eyes flashed with a sharp, blade-like cold light.
He approached with light, slow steps toward Tamayo. He knelt before her and reached out, grabbing her jaw and lifting her face forcefully so she would look at him directly.
"Tell me, Tamayo…" he asked in a calm voice that carried the weight of mountains. "Do you truly want to die?"
Tamayo's lips trembled as she looked into those eyes that were no longer entirely human. "The reason I wished to live all these centuries was to take revenge on him… on Muzan. But it seems he is already dead, thanks to you."
She smiled a broken smile, filled with pain and relief at the same time. "I no longer have a place in this world… my hands are stained with the blood of my husband and children… please."
Ron said nothing at first. He simply stared deeply into her violet eyes, as if reading her soul.
"What is this feeling?" Ron thought irritably. "This heaviness in my chest… I hate it."
The thinking expression vanished from his face, replaced once more by that icy, emotionless mask. He rose slowly, standing like a towering pillar before the kneeling woman.
"Let's see…" Ron muttered tonelessly, his hand slowly extending toward his side.
"Ching."
With a clear, sharp sound, he drew the black Nichirin blade from its sheath. The blade gleamed under the moonlight, cold and lethal, embodying death in its purest form.
"Y-yes… please, end my torment yourself, my lord," Tamayo said as she closed her eyes and wiped her tears, adjusting her posture to receive death with dignity.
Ron placed the sharp edge of the blade against Tamayo's delicate neck. She felt the cold metal pierce her pores, followed by a burning sting.
"Do you not care about the fate of the world?" Ron asked suddenly, pressing the sword slightly until a thin line of crimson blood flowed down her white neck.
"After all, I have become the new Demon King… and I may be far worse than Muzan himself. Does it not frighten you to leave the world to a monster like me?"
Despite the sword threatening to sever her neck, despite her hot blood flowing, Tamayo opened her eyes and looked at him with strange steadiness.
"No…" she said in a confident voice, despite her trembling body. "I do not think you will do what Muzan did."
Ron narrowed his eyes. "And do you have proof?"
"If you were as evil as Muzan, you would not have killed demons and Upper Moons all these years… nor trained the Hashira, nor created the golden age of Demon Slayers yourself."
She swallowed and continued, "Additionally… you already know how to become the true Demon King, and yet you stand here speaking to me instead of killing me immediately."
"Do you mean I have no goal in turning humans into demons?" Ron laughed softly, frighteningly. "What if I do this purely for enjoyment?.. To see human suffering feed my narcissism?"
Ron's words echoed in Tamayo's mind, attempting to plant doubt in her heart, but she slowly shook her head.
"I have faith…" she said with a sad smile. "That you are not evil inside, Tsugikuni-sama."
Ron looked at her in long silence. The wind played with his hair and hers.
"I see…" Ron finally muttered.
With a swift motion, he withdrew the sword from her neck and returned it to its sheath.
"Click."
Tamayo opened her eyes in shock and raised her head to see him looking at her with a mysterious gaze. "Do… do you refuse to kill me? Or are you giving me permission to die under the sunlight when dawn rises?"
She asked anxiously. She knew she was still a demon and did not possess the ability to end her own life if the "king" ordered her to live.
"No…" Ron said coldly, slowly raising his hands. "I will simply… judge you fairly."
Ron's fingers interlocked slowly and steadily, forming a strange seal Tamayo had never seen before in any jujutsu technique or Blood Demon Art.
His emerald eyes glowed with a terrifying cold light, and he whispered words that made the air tremble:
"Ryoiki Tenkai (Domain Expansion)…"
Tamayo shut her eyes tightly, expecting to be torn to pieces in an instant. She felt a dreadful energy surround her, as if the world had turned upside down.
"Shiko Yuyo (Deadly Sentencing)!"
When she opened her eyes, she gasped in shock.
The forest was gone. The night was gone.
She found herself standing in a massive, imposing wooden courtroom, its walls covered in dark panels and surrounded by barbed fences. Above, a gigantic demonic being floated, eyes closed and mouth stitched shut, holding scales and a gavel. "Judgeman."
"W-what is this place?!"
She looked forward and trembled. Ron stood on a high platform, wearing the attire of both judge and executioner, looking at her with absolute coldness.
"We will begin the trial…" Ron said, his voice echoing through the hall as he waved a paper file that appeared in his hand from nothing.
"The defendant: Tamayo. The charges: killing her family, turning humans into demons, and assisting in spreading Muzan's curse for centuries."
Ron struck his hand against the platform.
"Let the judgment begin!"
…
Minutes passed that felt like hours within the domain, as Judgeman displayed Tamayo's memories and crimes, and at the same time, her suffering and regret.
Suddenly, the scene began to fade. The courtroom walls shattered like glass fragments, and the faint moonlight returned.
Tamayo collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily as if she had run hundreds of miles. Her body ached, and she felt a weakness she had not known for centuries.
She raised her hands before her face and looked at them.
"This…"
They were no longer pale and cold. They were warm. Natural blue veins showed beneath the skin. She touched her mouth… the fangs were gone.
"I'm… human?"
She whispered in a trembling voice. "Why… what happened? Why am I alive? And why have I become human again? Did Muzan possess the ability to do this… no, impossible!"
She raised her head and shouted emotionally, her consciousness fading from shock and exhaustion:
"Tsugikuni Ren!! What the hell is your goal?!"
Ron had already begun walking away, his steps calm yet covering large distances at strange speed. He stopped when he heard her shout and turned halfway.
His eyes were cold, but deep within them was something resembling hidden sorrow.
"Go search for the Tsugikuni clan and the Demon Slayer Corps…" he said in a strong, clear voice. "No… rather, go search for the 'twins' of the Tsugikuni family, Yoriichi and Michikatsu."
Ron looked at his hands, opening and closing them as if testing his new power.
"Deliver this message to them…"
He paused briefly, giving his words more weight.
"The new Demon King, Tsugikuni Ren, challenges them to a fight to the death. A battle to determine the fate of this world… They have only two choices."
Ron fully turned and began walking away, while his voice echoed in Tamayo's ears like a final verdict:
"Either they kill the Demon King by beheading him and save humanity… or die by his hands."
He stopped at the edge of the shadows and added words that made Tamayo's heart nearly stop from terror:
"And then… I will be the cause of humanity's extinction. I will turn all of humanity into part of my power. I will devour everyone, without exception."
Tamayo's eyes widened to the point of tearing.
"Madness…" she muttered.
Ren's words went far beyond Muzan's madness. Muzan killed to live and absorbed special blood to increase his power. He saw humans as insects, but he never considered exterminating them because they were his source of food.
But Ron… Ron spoke of a "complete harvest." Gathering millions of souls, absorbing the blood of the entire planet to strengthen his power even if only slightly.
Tamayo fainted from the shock, while Ron's shadow disappeared into the depths of the dark forest.
….
Ron moved at a speed exceeding sound, leaping over treetops as if flying.
[What are you truly planning, Ron?]
Rina asked in her mechanical voice as she floated beside him, her features expressionless though her tone carried rare curiosity.
Ron did not stop or look at her. His face was rigid like a mask, his eyes fixed on the distant horizon.
"It's simple, Rina…" he said in a low voice lost in the wind. "None of my family will accept becoming demons willingly. Michikatsu is too proud, Yoriichi is too pure, and my mother… 'Aki'…"
His voice paused briefly at the mention of his mother's name.
"Aki would never accept living as a monster that eats humans."
Rina looked at Ron's side profile. She saw the slight frown and the sorrow he tried to hide behind a mask of cruelty.
At that moment, Rina understood the truth.
There was no way to transfer the physical body of "Tsugikuni Ren" to another world. When the simulation ended, Ron's consciousness would return to merge with the original, but this body, this entity that had become the Demon King, would remain here.
He would be condemned to live forever in this world. He would watch his family grow, age, and wither before him. He would see those close to him die one by one while he remained young, strong, and alone in endless eternity.
Ron, whose memories and emotions were influenced by Muzan's eternal memories, could not bear the thought of that eternal loneliness. He did not want to live for centuries without gentle Yoriichi, without strict rival Michikatsu, and without his mother's affection.
[You know you are influenced by Muzan's memories and his fear of death and loneliness, right?] Rina said.
"Yes…" Ron answered with shocking honesty. "But I don't care. I don't want to see them die and leave me behind. I will find a way to convince them to become demons. I will force them into immortality with me."
He clenched his fist, and his eyes glowed red.
"And if they refuse… if they prefer death with honor as humans over living with me as demons… then I would rather die by their hands."
"I will make them the heroes who saved the world, and I will go to hell peacefully."
Upon hearing this, Rina understood Ron's plan. It seemed that in the end, he would not take the final step to become the perfect Demon King.
The Blue Spider Lily.
[He is giving them a chance to defeat him with sunlight, then…]
Rina fell silent and looked at Ron's back as he disappeared into the darkness, carrying on his shoulders the burden of immortality and the curse.
….
In the mental void of the original "Ren."
The room was quiet as usual. Rina (the original version) floated in the air, observing Ron through her copy.
She looked downward, where Ren sat in his favorite chair, closing his eyes and resting his face on his hand in deep contemplation.
[Ren…] Rina called softly. [Won't you speak to him? He is sinking into darkness.]
Ren slowly opened his eyes. There was no worry or fear in them. Instead, there was a smile… a mysterious smile, amused, and perhaps… slightly proud.
"No…"
Ren said as he closed the manga volume in his hand.
"This will be very entertaining. Let him write his story to the end."
Ren stood and stretched lazily.
"Besides… Ron is my 'desire for power.' And if power means sacrificing everything for those you love, or dying by their hands… that sounds like an ending worthy of a king, doesn't it?"
Ren laughed lightly and returned to focusing on Ron, who was preparing to face his fate.
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End of Chapter 62.
(The exams are over 😆🎉) (This means more chapters » and a return to the previous schedule)
[Every 50 Power Stones (maybe one day) = an extra chapter]