"Then, Tamayo-sama, Yushiro-sama. Please come this way. We've prepared a top-tier suite in the annex for the two of you."
Ubume gracefully gestured and guided Tamayo and Yushiro out of the chairman's office.
As the heavy door closed, a heavy silence and faint tension filled the room.
Only Akira and Mitsuri remained in the space. Mitsuri, as if she'd been waiting, tightly hugged Akira's arm and rested her head on his shoulder.
A sweet fragrance wafted from her cherry blossom-colored hair.
"Master, this is wonderful!"
Just as Akira smiled and patted Mitsuri's head, a shadow flickered in the darkness of the chairman's office, and blue flames rose like snakes.
From those flames, the alluring figure of a woman, Kiyohime, slipped out.
"Congratulations, Master. You've caught a big fish."
Kiyohime hid her mouth with a fan and gave a sly smile. Her gaze was fixed on the door through which Tamayo had just left.
"But I'm surprised. That woman Tamayo is quite elegant and beautiful. Why didn't you make her yours? With your charm and power, you could've easily turned her into a partner in the bedroom, not just a business partner."
At Kiyohime's words, Mitsuri also looked up at Akira with an expression that said, "Huh, now that you mention it?"
"I don't need to."
Akira answered calmly as he placed the documents in a drawer.
"She's a veteran who's endured for hundreds of years fueled only by hatred for Muzan. The weight of that time and obsession is too heavy. If I carelessly meddle and get emotionally entangled, it'll just be exhausting."
Akira paused briefly and chuckled.
"Besides, did you see that Yushiro next to her? The look in his eyes—it's a level of worship and obsession bordering on madness. If I touch Tamayo, he'd try to tear my throat out rather than cooperate. What I need is a competent pharmacist, not a love triangle. For now, keeping boundaries is the most efficient approach."
"My, so cold. But that calculating side is part of your fatal charm, Master."
Kiyohime gently embraced Akira from behind. Her cold body temperature transmitted through his back.
"Well… now that the guests are gone and there are no interruptions… shall we three have a cozy toast? Today, your scent is so intoxicating… I can't resist."
Kiyohime's hand slipped between the buttons of Akira's shirt, caressing his chest. Mitsuri also blushed and placed her hand on Akira's thigh with an expectant look.
"I want… to be with Master too…"
The two women's blatant seduction. Normally, he would have gladly accepted, but Akira gently yet firmly pushed them away.
"Sorry, but later. I still have work to do."
Akira stood up from his seat.
"I need to go check on the gifts Ubume caught. If I leave them unattended, they'll spoil. I have to see for myself if they're usable toys or just trash."
Akatsuki Trading Company, Basement Level 5, Special Containment Zone.
This was a prison and testing ground for demons, a place even regular employees didn't know existed. As soon as the elevator door opened, a blast of cold air made Mitsuri shiver.
Inside the warehouse, white mist hovered like a massive freezer. At the center stood two bizarre ice sculptures.
"I've been waiting, Master."
Mukago, who was guarding the warehouse, immediately bowed her head. She seemed frightened by Akira's visit yet maintained her decorum.
"Good work, Mukago. What's their condition?"
"Yes. At first, they were convulsing, so I froze them with my Blood Demon Art. I've frozen them solid with their limbs twisted so they can't regenerate. They'll stay docile."
Mukago pointed to the ice, where the wretched forms of Susamaru and Yahaba were trapped.
Susamaru's arms were grotesquely bent, and Yahaba, beaten by Kumoeimon, had his head smashed and body pulverized before being frozen solid.
"Thaw them."
"Yes! Understood!"
Mukago snapped her fingers, and the solid ice instantly melted into a puddle.
Splash! Gasp, gasp!
Susamaru and Yahaba collapsed to the floor, breathing raggedly. Already damaged physically and half-mad from Mukago's freezing, they were in a daze.
"Ugh… cold… where is this…?"
Yahaba couldn't speak as his head hadn't fully regenerated yet.
The two demons didn't even have the strength to look up at Akira. They looked worse than insects crawling on the ground.
"Trash level. But… the raw material isn't bad."
Akira looked down at them with cold eyes and bit his fingertip.
A drop of crimson blood welled up.
"Here, take this. It's mercy from your new master, and an invitation to hell."
Akira flicked his hand, and the blood drop fell onto the two demons.
Kyaaaaah!! Keeeek!!
As soon as the blood entered their throats, Susamaru and Yahaba let out beast-like screams. This wasn't mere pain.
It was agony as if every cell was being ground in a blender. Their bodies began to boil and disintegrate at a cellular level.
Bones melted, muscles twisted, skin burst, spewing black blood.
This was a forced erosion process where Muzan's existing cells were devoured and overwritten by Akira's cells.
"Ugh… just watching makes it look so painful…"
Mitsuri, who had followed, covered her eyes and hid behind Akira. Even Kiyohime frowned at the horrific sight.
"They have to endure that level of pain to be reborn. A chick that can't break its shell just dies."
Akira said indifferently and looked back at his followers who had come along.
"What about you? Kumoeimon, Kumonojo? At your current level, you could probably take more of my blood."
The two demons shook their heads vigorously and stepped back.
"We'll decline. We have trauma from when Rui gave us blood and remodeled us… We refuse any pain that twists our bodies."
"Our current strength is enough, Master. We don't want to go looking for suffering."
Their memories of being sacrificed and physically altered in Rui's family games were too terrifying. But then, the elegant Ubume stepped forward.
"If you desire it, Master… I will accept."
"Oh?"
"I don't care about pain. If I can become stronger and be more useful to you, Master, and if it means I won't be lacking in serving someone like Tamayo-sama… I gladly accept."
Ubume's eyes blazed with blind loyalty toward Akira.
"Good girl."
Akira smiled with satisfaction.
"This place is too humble for that. Come to the mansion later, and I'll give you special attention. The best power suited to your vessel."
"Thank you, Master."
Ubume bowed deeply, moved.
Meanwhile, the disintegration of the two demons rolling on the floor stopped, and reconstruction began.
Crack, snap, crunch.
The sound of bones realigning and muscles swelling echoed through the warehouse.
Susamaru's appearance remained the same, but Akira could see that his inner substance had changed. His muscles had become even tougher and more robust.
But the problem was Yahaba. His body, which had been pulverized by Kumoeimon, began to take shape again… but something was off.
His broad shoulders narrowed, and his sturdy chest rose perkily.
His hips widened, and his waist slimmed.
As his crushed face regenerated, the rough features of a man disappeared, revealing a seductive, sharp woman's face.
"...Huh?"
Akira's eyes widened. Mitsuri and Kiyohime, and even Mukago and the followers, gaped in shock.
"What… what the hell is this?"
Lying naked on the floor was clearly Yahaba. The eyeballs embedded in his palms were still there.
But… he was a woman. And not just any woman—she had transformed into a rather voluptuous beauty.
"Oh my god! The gender changed?!"
Mitsuri cried out.
Kiyohime watched with interest, resting her chin on her hand.
"Hmm. The genetic information must have gotten scrambled during the complete pulverization and reconstruction. Your blood is so powerful, Master, that it chewed up the original traits (male) and reshaped them according to your subconscious preferences (female), right? Master, deep down, did you want to expand your harem?"
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm not some pervert who'd feel lust looking at a pulverized guy."
"Or perhaps your Blood Demon Art has some influence. In our (Fate) side, gender changes are common, aren't they? Since becoming a perfected being, you've only given blood to women, so we didn't know."
"You're not serious, are you?"
"I'm glad I didn't take the blood."
Akira rubbed his forehead. In all his years, this was the first time he'd seen a demon undergo a gender change from blood infusion. The creative and mutative power of the perfected being's blood had veered off in an unpredictable direction.
Was it really the influence of the Blood Demon Art?
Meanwhile, Kumoeimon sighed in relief that his masculinity hadn't been castrated.
"Ugh…"
Susamaru and Yahaba groaned and slowly rose to their feet. Akira's blood acted to create and dress them in clothing.
Their pupils were unfocused.
Their brains had been scorched once from the forced evolution and physical remodeling, leaving them in a blank state.
Their memories and self were gone.
"Well… I wasn't planning to touch them anyway, so it doesn't matter. They're just toys—what does gender matter? If anything, being women might make them more useful for infiltration missions."
Akira gave a bitter smile and reached out to grab the two demons' heads.
Akira's vast magical energy flowed into their empty brains.
Their loyalty to Kibutsuji Muzan and past memories were erased without a trace.
In their place, absolute worship of Akira, advanced combat techniques, and a new personality as loyal hunting dogs of Akatsuki Trading Company were implanted.
"Your names remain the same. Susamaru, Yahaba."
When Akira removed his hands, vitality returned to the two demons' eyes.
""Master, your orders…""
The two demons knelt simultaneously and bowed their heads. Susamaru had become a muscular destroyer, and Yahaba a seductive woman.
It was the moment Akira's new limbs were born, possessing power on par with the lowest Upper Moon ranks.
"Enough, stand up. From now on, take orders from Mukago and move accordingly."
""Understood.""
Akira clicked his tongue and turned away. Mitsuri and Kiyohime looked at each other and laughed, while Mukago gazed at his back with eyes full of awe.
Deep beneath Tokyo, the army of monsters was growing in a bizarre, certain, and sometimes absurd manner.
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