[Prompt: "Monster Encyclopedia" expanded… detected four demons…]
[Lower Moon Five – Rui]
[Physique: 137]
…
[Lower Moon One – Enmu]
[Physique: 174]
…
[Upper Moon Three – Akaza]
[Physique: 387]
And also—
After Roy sat down with an easy smile, he casually glanced toward the corner of the carriage, where a single "eye" was staring at him without blinking.
[Eye Demon]
[Ordinary Demon]
[Physique: 10]
[Blood Demon Art: Passive Parasite]
[Note: A demon that feeds on human eyeballs, mainly used as the 'visual vessel' for Demon King Kibutsuji Muzan's gaze.]
"Fwoom—"
Two suns flared to life in Roy's pupils.
You stand on the bridge watching the scenery… not knowing that I'm upstairs watching you.
Sensing Muzan's gaze, Roy activated Eye of Truth. Through the eye demon, he reversed the line of sight, following it upstream, and in one look, pinpointed both Muzan and the man standing beside him—six eyes on his forehead, wearing a purple-and-black kimono with black hakama, wooden clogs on his feet, a long, thin katana at his waist.
What a sharp stare.
Kokushibo stiffened. His body reacted before his mind did, hand dropping to the hilt of Kyokokujitsugo.
"Muzan-sama was right. Those earrings are Yoriichi's…"
The flower-paneled earrings dangling from Roy's ears shivered without any wind.
Kibutsuji Muzan folded his arms over his suit jacket, frowning in silence.
In the corner of the carriage, the eye rolled once, fixing on Roy more tightly.
Akaza sat with his arms hanging down to his knees. Rui played cat's cradle with his spider threads. As the "host" of this train, Enmu, black hair fading to rose-red at the tips, spread his arms toward Roy and smiled dreamily.
"Please, my dear. We've been waiting just for you."
On his hand, a mouth opened.
Silent whispers of sleep poured toward Roy.
[Blood Demon Art: Whispers of Ordained Unconscious Mesmerism]
(Note: Enmu can create a mouth on the back of his hand. When this mouth mouths the words "Sleep now," it forcibly induces sleep, dragging the target into a dream of Enmu's making. Unless one commits suicide inside the dream, they cannot wake.)
"Sleep now…"
The little mouth mouthed the words soundlessly.
Roy's Aura Field pulsed.
"Hummm…"
A milky-white barrier like an upside-down bowl wrapped around the train. From the moment Roy boarded, every object, every person, every demon, even a single rat or cockroach, every drifting strand of hair—had all been taken into his perception.
His ears twitched, clearly catching Enmu's inner monologue.
At the same time, Enmu shot Akaza and Rui a meaningful look.
"Just like we planned. The moment he falls asleep, we kill him."
Roy went along with the act. He let his lids droop, body swaying as if losing consciousness—
And at that exact moment, he heard countless fine threads carving through the air, sweeping down over him like a net.
[Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Cage]
(Note: Steel-hardened spider silk that binds and slices the enemy in an instant, cutting them to pieces. The threads are hard enough that even Nichirin swords struggle to sever them.)
In the original story, Tanjiro had eaten a nasty loss to this move.
'At last… You killed my sisters, my mother, my father… you destroyed my family…'
Rui's bloodshot eyes burned red.
'I'm going to destroy you too…'
He had waited too long for this moment. If not for Muzan's command, Rui never would have had the patience.
The web of threads, sharper than swords, seemed slow but were as swift as lightning, and in the blink of an eye, sealed Roy inside a dome.
Rui's face remained expressionless, but glee shivered under the surface. In his mind he could already see Roy sliced into bloody chunks.
[Hardening]
Screeeee—
Threads that could carve apart Nichirin steel bit into Roy's body. But instead of cutting deep, they scraped against an invisible shell—a thin, hardened layer of Nen clinging to his skin—raising that teeth-itching screech of friction and even spitting sparks now and then.
Rui and Akaza both froze, eyes widening.
"What insane defense…"
Roy kept his eyes closed, letting the threads chew at him as if nothing was happening.
In the corner, the eye demon's eyeball twitched.
Muzan's frown deepened. He glanced sideways at Kokushibo.
"Do you see anything?"
As Lower Moon Five, Rui was the one Lower Moon Muzan valued most, treated almost like a son. Muzan knew exactly how sharp his threads were; he knew they could slice steel like paper.
Kokushibo stood with his sword at his side and said nothing at first.
All six eyes focused on Roy through the shared view of the eye demon, watching those threads grind against hardened Nen and throw sparks.
After a moment, he spoke:
"I can say for certain—that is not any Breathing Style."
As Yoriichi's elder brother, born as Tsugikuni Michikatsu, Kokushibo had once fought alongside him for the Demon Slayer Corps. He was among the earliest to learn Breathing.
His whole life had been devoted to martial skill. He wanted nothing more than to outshine his brother, to become the greatest swordsman alive. For that, he abandoned family, threw away the honor of a samurai, and chose to become a demon under Muzan, all to gain infinite time to pursue strength.
If anyone in this age understood Breathing Styles, aside from the dead Yoriichi, it was Tsugikuni Michikatsu.
Kokushibo narrowed his eyes, listening to the shriek of thread on hardened skin.
"Breathing Styles affect battle performance. They can temporarily elevate one's offensive and defensive output. But they cannot change the very structure of the body. They certainly cannot transform skin into something akin to steel. This…"
"Is something no one has ever achieved."
"Not even your brother?" Muzan asked tightly.
"He didn't need it," Kokushibo said bluntly. "He was a blade sharper than anything in this world. He never needed to defend."
Muzan's heart clenched, the memory of that first meeting with the flame-haired swordsman stabbing through him.
He ground his teeth.
"Enmu, what are you doing?"
"Why does someone supposedly asleep still have the consciousness to defend?!"
Kokushibo had no answer for that either. He spared one of his eyes to glance at Enmu—
And at that moment, both Akaza and Rui finally realized something was off.
"Where's your hypnosis?"
Enmu looked hollowed out, eyes vacant as he stared ahead.
Rui couldn't cut Roy, so he reached out to shake Enmu's shoulder—
Only for Akaza's hand to clamp down on his wrist.
"Don't touch him."
The golden-eyed demon with the kanji for "Three" carved into his skin sniffed once, sensing something unusual.
"Akaza," Muzan's voice slid into his mind through the eye. "What did you find?"
Akaza lowered his head respectfully.
"Reporting, Muzan-sama. I believe Enmu has… discovered something."
A demon whose primary method of battle was manipulating dreams and minds was fundamentally different from the usual claw-and-fang type. For him to be in such an odd state, it likely had something to do with whatever he'd seen inside this particular dream.
The realm of dreams was Enmu's second Blood Demon Art.
Once he had induced sleep, he could drag the target into a constructed dream.
Unlike ordinary dreams, Enmu's weren't infinite and sprawling; they were a closed circle, orbiting around the dream's owner. Outside that circle lay the person's unconscious domain.
Somewhere in that unconscious domain lay a "spiritual core." If that core was destroyed, the owner's consciousness would shatter and they'd become a living husk, unable to resist anything—not even death.
In the original timeline, Enmu had tried to send intruders into Kyojuro Rengoku's dream to smash his spiritual core. He'd failed only because Rengoku's will was so strong that his body attacked on instinct, restraining them even in sleep.
And usually, a normal person's unconscious world was empty, a blank expanse.
But for certain people—those with an exceptionally strong sense of self—other entities might exist there, waiting.
"Enmu's condition is likely tied to something he's seen," Akaza said. He'd done his homework.
He wasn't stupid; his talent for battle was why Muzan had handpicked him. Once given the order to kill Roy, he'd made it his business to understand exactly how Enmu's ability worked.
"If Muzan-sama scans Enmu's memories, the answer may be there."
Absolutely not.
Muzan rejected it coldly.
"I didn't call you here to waste time. While he's not fully awake, kill him quickly."
Once… twice… these "unexpected incidents" were exactly what he loathed most—anything that slipped beyond his control.
His tone iced over.
"If it's you, it shouldn't be a problem."
Akaza stood.
He clenched his fists.
"Gang tactics go against bushido, but… if it is Muzan-sama's command—"
[Technique Deployment – Disorder – Destructive Death!]
He threw a volley of punches, each fist a crushing shockwave like a barrage of artillery.
The webs peeled away as his blows ripped through the air. Rui yielded the lane with ill grace, threads withdrawing. The storm of punches rained down on Roy like cannon shells.
…
Inside the dream—
Roy had cooperated, stepping into sleep willingly.
He could sense his outer Hardening rippling with each impact, like rings on a pond. He nudged his Nen output up a notch, thickening the layer, then stood there, sword hanging at his side, watching the dreamscape from the edge of his unconscious domain.
All around him was a featureless expanse of white, directionless and depthless.
From somewhere in that blank, footsteps echoed.
Then Enmu's delighted, slightly warped voice curled around his ears, full of a sickly sweetness:
"I can feel Muzan-sama's cells trembling in fear. They're desperately screaming at me to kill you quickly."
"Roy Kamado, was it? Please try to understand. As a subordinate, I have to obey Muzan-sama's orders—even if it means dying for him…"
He spoke as if reciting a love letter.
Roy thought, not without amusement, that Enmu really was a perfect lapdog.
In the original, after Rui's death, six Lower Moons became one. Enmu had survived because he was very good at fawning—at licking Muzan's boots in every possible way. Muzan had rewarded him with blood; it wasn't undeserved.
It was just—
"Muzan isn't here," Roy said mildly. "All that licking? He can't see it."
"That's all right."
Enmu smiled faintly.
"If I kill you, Muzan-sama will know how loyal I was."
He tilted his head, eyes shining with twisted anticipation.
"So… won't you let me see your 'spiritual core'?"
As he finished speaking, a length of rope woven from misty dreamstuff flew from his sleeve, looping around Roy's wrist.
[Blood Demon Art: Dream Rope]
(Note: A special dream tether. By tying one end to a target and the other to himself, Enmu can invade the target's unconscious domain and manipulate them through their dreams.)
"Whoosh—"
The rope coiled around Roy's wrist and knotted itself.
So easy. Suspiciously easy.
Enmu raised a brow.
"You're not resisting?"
"Why should I?" Roy let him tie the rope, smiling. "An employee like you is rare. I've decided to give you a little bonus."
As he spoke, he spread his arms.
"Since you want to see my core… I'll show you."
A dim, chaotic sky split open.
A blazing sun rose behind Roy, flooding the dream with light.
It was bright. It was hot. It was blinding. It tolerated no filth, no shadow.
Enmu got exactly what he'd asked for.
Unfortunately—for him—it wasn't at all what he'd expected.
With a shriek that sounded like his soul tearing, his form was engulfed in solar flame, body turning into a blazing stick figure before crumbling to ash. Then he was gone, erased from the dream and the world alike.
"Gong—"
A bell toll rang out, heavy as a temple gong.
One by one, the slumped passengers in the real train jolted awake.
They rubbed their eyes, yawned, stretched. Some wiped drool from the corners of their mouths when they thought no one was looking.
A moment ago the car had been dead quiet.
Now it was suddenly full of life.
…
"Enmu, what are you playing at?!"
Back in the corner, the eyeball rolled wildly. In the Infinity Castle, Muzan watched passenger after passenger awaken and lost his temper.
He stretched out a hand, fully intending to detonate Enmu's cells on the spot.
But he didn't get the chance.
Without his consciousness to sustain him, Enmu's body slumped sideways like a puppet with its strings cut, then crumbled into dust, scattering on the floor by the window.
At the same time, in that swirl of drifting ash—
Roy "finally" opened his eyes.
He slipped free from the dream and back into waking reality, just as Akaza's barrage hammered his outer Hardening.
He swung his blade once, casually decapitating Rui, then tilted his head at Akaza.
"Done yet?"
~~~
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