The Demon Queen

The Kamado Massacre (Part 2)

TW: intense blood and gore, abuse of minors, death of minors, mishandling of corpses

Human blood was splattered all over the interior of the small house's living room. The stench pinched at my nose, being completely unappealing to my appetite. But somehow, I believed that if I found myself at such a site during my earlier centuries as a demon, I would have gone completely feral, devouring every last bit that was inside. Bodies hunched and flopped over each other lay against the room's back wall, staring with lifeless, blank eyes in my direction.

It was such a slaughter, and a rather unnecessary slaughter at that. It was as if Muzan found joy in torturing each and every one of them, as if that alone would symbolise his conquest over Sun Breathing.

"Muzan ..." I said. "Did you really have to do it like this?"

"Useless humans," he said. He looked at me. "Some servants to the Sun God, I say," he scoffed. "My blood was nothing but an absolute toxicity to them."

My eyes scanned over the scene again. "How much did you give them?"

"An overdose."

"And you're surprised that they're dead so easily?"

"I was expecting better from those connected to a Sun God ritual." Muzan walked over to the leftmost side of the carnage. He grabbed a toddler by his bowl-cut short hair and pulled him out from underneath the body of a young teenage girl. "Look how pathetic this small child is." He looked at the toddler. "I'm sure this child never came close to heart failure, never awoke to pains in the middle of the night, never had to rely on a medicine to keep it from slipping away and decaying." Muzan looked to me, his eyes flashing with a transparent anger attempting to hide the deep, stabbing personal pain underneath. "They all had healthy bodies. A perfect little family. And yet so pathetic. And useless." He released the boy's hair so that the body dropped to the floor.

"Muzan --"

"How could they all have been healthy ..." He grit his teeth, trying to conceal the slight shakiness creeping into his voice. "An ill father. A healthy mother. None of them were wasting away from some cursed inherited illness from that damn Sun God father --"

The sound of a light growling interrupted him. Muzan's eyes flashed red and widened. Slightly behind and to the left of him began to rise the teenage girl whose body had been on top of the toddler's.

"So, one's alive," Muzan said. He slowly turned his head towards her and stared at the girl with wide eyes.

The girl rose to her feet. Her long, dark hair draped over her body, covering most of her face. She wore a bloodied pink kimono with a hemp print on it.

"I see all your family's strength went to you," Muzan said.

The girl looked at Muzan, as if recognising him as the slaughterer of her mother and siblings. She bore her fangs, foaming at the mouth and cracked her knuckles.

Muzan scowled angrily. "You will dare come at your Master?"

The girl growled and lunged at Muzan.

Muzan effortlessly grabbed the girl by the neck, holding her up off the floor. Her body squirmed in his grasp.

"Naughty girl," he said. "And just when I was feeling pleased that one of you survived. The only reason I turned you into a demon is to serve me, you know. To see if your Daddy's ritual might allow you to walk into the sun."

A sinking feeling sat in my chest after hearing Muzan's last sentence.

"But if you would dare antagonise me, I suppose you may have to be put to sleep like the rabid animal you are," he said.

The girl continued to growl and flail her limbs in Muzan's grasp.

"Stop that," Muzan sneered and slapped the girl roughly across the head, knocking her unconscious. He dropped her to the floor. "New demons without having tasted human flesh are so weak. It's difficult to even call them demons." He looked to me. "Sakura, Darling, will you make an experiment with me?"

"Sure," I answered. "What kind of experiment?"

"We've tried it many times before to give a human doses of both our blood at the beginning of their transformation, and they always died," he explained. "Well --" He pushed the teen girl's body with his foot. "Let's try it again with this."

"Okay." I stepped over to the girl and squatted beside her unconscious, but alive, body. "Just inject it into her?"

"Precisely." Muzan squat down beside me. "But not an overdose. In fact, I'd say half a dose." He rubbed his chin. "I still think I want this one to live. If your blood doesn't kill her, we'll track her down and test her in the sun. But I want her to go out and eat some humans first. We can leave her here with all this." He gestured to the massacre surrounding us. "So, go on, give her some blood. I'll watch quietly."

I looked at the girl. Something didn't feel right about all of this. This house and this family always emitted an unsettling, peculiar energy. Disturbing their harmony felt like playing with fire. But maybe it was just my guilt. Maybe all the years with Gyutaro and caring for him like he was my own family made me soft.

For a brief moment, I could almost swear that the girl resembled Daki. But she didn't. They didn't look alike at all. They were only of a similar age.

I bent down to put the tip of my finger to the girl's neck. My fingernail grew in length and turned bright blue in colour.

I just hope that this works and Muzan can devour her to get what he wants, I thought.

I started to inject my blood into the girl.

I hope that through her Muzan can join me in the sunlight.

The girl's body started to shake and tremble as a reaction to my blood.

And then ... I won't have to hide anymore.

"I'd say that's enough," Muzan said casually.

I removed my finger from the girl's neck and stood up. Her body continued to react to my blood. It was an eerie scene, seeing the girl's body flop and shake against the wooden floor, all while she remained vocally silent. She couldn't scream. She was still unconscious and her transformation wasn't snapping her out of it.

"Let's leave her there," Muzan said. He put an arm around my shoulder. "Come on."

I left the house with him, refusing to look back at the scene we caused. We met up with Kokushibou and Gyokko, who were still waiting by the edge of the forest surrounding the house.

"Are you finished, Muzan-sama?" Kokushibou asked.

"Yes."

I picked up Gyokko's pot from the snowy ground and wiped off its bottom.

"We'll go home," Muzan said. He put his fingers on the brim of his hat and tilted it downwards. "I never wish to see this repulsive place again."