The Demon Queen

Muzan's Sacrifice🌙

As we entered the corridors, we were met with the floor being blanketed by the corpses of lower-ranking Demon Slayers. The stench was unbearable. It felt like my eyes would pop out of their sockets from how wide they had opened due to the putrid stench shooting up my nostrils. The whole thing caused me to start to cough, to which Kokusuhibou advised me to cover my nose and mouth with my sleeve. I did, lucky that he was not as affected by the environment as I was. He had experienced such things before, many centuries ago, when he was a human samurai.

"These bodies mean that Muzan-sama was here," Kokushibou said. He grunted after speaking and put more pressure on his stomach wound.

"Be careful with yourself," I said and held him at his waist.

"It's nothing, I ..." He took a deep breath. "I'm closing the wound ... with Breathing ..."

He's not able to close it as smoothly as before, I thought. If he has to fight again, he'll open it up to the point that he won't be able to save himself.

I have to make sure he doesn't fight anymore.

We continued down the corridor of corpses.

"Sakura ..." Kokushibou said in a low voice.

"Don't talk. You don't have the strength."

"It's very quiet ... right now ..."

He was right. I hadn't taken notice of it before he mentioned it, but it was eerily empty and quiet. It was almost as if we were the only ones left in the Castle. I knew it to be impossible. We couldn't possibly be alone there. It only seemed that way because as humans, our abilities to sense others got weaker, and we had just been bombarded and burnt out by sensing the myriad of invaders that were dead now.

But then, as we neared the spot where one corridor met another, I was able to sense someone else.

"Muzan!" I gasped under my brath.

"He's still ... alive ..." Kokushibou said.

Muzan's energy was coming from the left. It seemed to be stable, and was planted in one place, rather than moving. He also appeared to be alone.

"We have to go there," I said. "Michikatsu, can you move a bit faster without reopening the wound?"

"Yes", he said with determination, and we set out in the direction of Muzan's energy.

We took a left, running down the corridor and pushing through the door at the end. Awaiting us on the other side was one of the Castle's large rooms filled with dead Demon Slayers. The corpses and their weapons were scattered everywhere. I could sense from the energy inside that they were of varying rankings, not like all of the inexperienced "cannon fodder" we passed by earlier. In the middle of the room was Muzan, sitting on top of a giant flesh cocoon he had suspended in the air. The moment we entered, he looked at us, an expression of worry on his face.

"Muzan," I said and stepped further inside, Kokushibou still beside me.

Muzan's eyes popped open and his jaw stiffened when he saw Kokushibou. "H-Human ..."

Kokushibou looked down to his feet in shame. He held his stomach to steady himself and bowed. "I failed to protect Sakura-sama ... from being turned into a human ..."

As Kokushibou was speaking, Muzan jumped down from the flesh cocoon and came over to me. "Don't bow to me," he said without even looking at Kokushibou. "I am no longer your Master."

Kokushibou's heart pounded roughly in his chest. "I apologise for my failures." He hesitated a bit before he carefully straightened his spine. "There is no excuse for this."