Tamayo personally tested a portion of the wisteria poison contained within the syringe. Almost imdiately, she could feel the cells inside her body beginning to break apart. Even the powerful regenerative abilities of a demon were unable to resist its effects.
"What a terrifying poison for demons…"
Tamayo's face turned pale as she slowly set the syringe down. Even though her body was being damaged from within, a faint smile appeared on her face instead.
"If this poison could be injected into Muzan's body… would it be enough to kill him?" Kagaya Ubuyashiki spoke with a voice full of hope.
Tamayo closed her eyes, quietly sensing the destruction the poison was causing inside her body. After a mont, she slowly shook her head.
"Against ordinary demons, it would kill with ease. Even the Twelve Kizuki would be affected by it. But against that monster… it still wouldn't be enough."
No one understood the terror of Kibutsuji Muzan more clearly than Tamayo.
Back then, even after Yoriichi Tsugikuni had sliced him into more than a thousand pieces, Muzan had still survived. Although the wisteria poison was incredibly potent, it still lacked the power needed to truly kill him. With Muzan's overwhelming strength, given enough ti, he would likely be able to purge the poison from his body on his own.
"However," Tamayo added, "even if it cannot kill Muzan, it would undoubtedly weaken him greatly."
"That alone is already enough." Kagaya nodded slowly.
Before now, such a possibility had been unthinkable.
As the group continued speaking, the sound of flapping wings suddenly filled the sky outside. Large numbers of Kasugai Crows flew overhead, crying out urgent ssages one after another.
"Requesting reinforcents! The Asakusa base has co under demon attack!"
"Requesting reinforcents! The Tokyo base is under attack by demons!"
"Requesting reinforcents! The Swordsmith Village is under attack!"
"Requesting reinforcents! The Butterfly Mansion is under attack by demons!"
…
Everyone looked up as the ergency reports echoed through the air. Their expressions changed instantly.
No one had expected the demons to suddenly erupt into chaos like this, and even more shocking was that attacks were occurring simultaneously across multiple locations.
This was sothing that had never happened in hundreds of years.
Although demons had always existed, most of them rarely caused disturbances on such a large scale. On one hand, demons could never escape the coming sunrise no matter how violent they beca during the night. On the other hand, Kibutsuji Muzan himself strictly suppressed large-scale incidents to avoid drawing too much attention.
A situation like the current one had only happened once before—
hundreds of years ago.
That ti, Muzan had personally made a rare move and even located the headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps. If the Sun Breathing swordsn of that era had not protected the Master with their lives, the leader of the Corps back then would have either been killed or captured by Muzan himself.
"Is this a sign that Kibutsuji Muzan is finally making his move?"
Kagaya raised his head. Though worry lingered in his eyes, there was also excitent.
For all these years, the Demon Slayer Corps had never been able to locate Muzan's whereabouts. Under those circumstances, speaking of killing him had been aningless. There had been almost no hope at all.
But now, with demons across the country suddenly mobilizing, it was obvious they had received Muzan's orders.
And that ant only one thing—
Muzan himself would very likely appear again.
As long as he appeared, there would finally be a chance.
At that mont, hurried footsteps echoed from outside.
A Demon Slayer quickly rushed into the room.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki accepted the letter from the swordsman and quickly opened it to read.
The news inside made his expression darken imdiately.
It was not only the Ubuyashiki family's businesses that were under attack. The wisteria families across the country—the families responsible for supporting the Demon Slayer Corps with supplies and shelter—were also being targeted.
And it was not only demons participating in the attacks.
Followers of the Eternal Paradise Faith had begun moving as well. Even ordinary humans were now helping strike at forces connected to the Demon Slayer Corps.
"They intend to wipe out the Demon Slayer Corps completely…"
After reading the report, Kagaya's eyes turned grave, yet his clenched fist trembled with determination.
"What foolish delusions."
…
At the sa ti demons were attacking various Demon Slayer Corps locations, the Corps itself began retaliating imdiately.
So swordsn died beneath the claws of demons.
So demons fell beneath Nichirin Swords.
With every passing mont, the number of casualties continued to rise.
…
Mount Sagiri.
Soma, who should have been resting, stepped outside instead.
Above him, a Kasugai Crow flapped its wings as it descended rapidly.
"Reinforcents! Reinforcents! Fifteen miles away, Wisteria Family estate! Demons present! Go now! Go now!"
"Fifteen miles away! Demons! Makomo, go now! Makomo, go now!"
Hearing the crow's voice, Makomo—already wearing her closed-eye fox mask and her Nichirin Sword—did not hesitate. She imdiately followed the crow's guidance and sped toward the location requiring aid.
"Reinforcents! Twenty miles to the west! Demons appearing! Attacking the village!"
"Tanjiro, go now! Go now!"
Tanjiro gripped his Nichirin Sword without hesitation and quickly ran off as well.
Not long after Tanjiro and Makomo departed, more cries filled the sky.
"Death! Death! Kinoe-rank swordsman, Tomoyuki Nagai, deceased!"
"Death! Death! Kinoto-rank swordsman, Yuji Nomura, deceased!"
"Death! Death!"
…
Kasugai Crows continued flying overhead one after another, endlessly delivering reports.
So ssages requested reinforcents.
Others announced the deaths of Demon Slayers.
Soon, everyone on Mount Sagiri began stepping out from their hos almost instinctively, gathering together as unease spread through the area.
Soma stood quietly at the doorway with his Nichirin Sword already fastened at his waist.
Yet even as the crows continued to pass overhead, bringing urgent reports of battles, reinforcents, and deaths…
there was still no order for him to move.
Not only had no orders been given to him, but none of the reserve trainees training on Mount Sagiri had received deploynt orders either.
A Kasugai Crow soon landed before him. Soma raised his hand and took the ssage it carried.
"Please protect the flas of hope within Mount Sagiri, Mr. Soma…"
The ssage had co directly from Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters.
They were not asking him to join the battle.
Instead, they wanted him to protect the young trainee swordsn currently training on Mount Sagiri—
to preserve the future of the Demon Slayer Corps itself.
It was easy to imagine that many other locations were likely receiving similar instructions. These young boys and girls had only just begun their training. Most had never faced a real demon before.
They were not ready to be thrown into a battlefield like this.
Clearly, Headquarters had already prepared for the worst possible outco.
At that mont, Kanao quietly walked over and stood behind Soma without saying a word.
Awakened by the commotion, Kie Kamado, Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, and the others also stepped outside. As they watched the Kasugai Crows flying frantically through the night sky and listened to the repeated reports of fallen swordsn, panic slowly appeared in everyone's eyes.
The sound of hurried footsteps soon echoed continuously from the entrance.
The boys and girls training on Mount Sagiri had all gathered together. Every one of them carried a standard Nichirin Sword at their waist.
Though a small number looked frightened, most of them wore determined expressions, as if they had already accepted the possibility of dying on the path of demon slaying.
After arriving, almost all of them instinctively turned their eyes toward Soma.
Soma lowered his gaze toward the ssage in his hand before looking back up at the countless Kasugai Crows flying overhead, urgently spreading news across the country.
This was never supposed to happen now.
Sothing like this should only have occurred during the final battle at the Infinity Castle.
But everything had completely changed.
Soma had originally planned to steadily increase the strength of the Demon Slayer Corps and use that power to slay Muzan Kibutsuji. Everything had indeed been developing according to his expectations—the inheritance of Sun Breathing, the Bright Red Nichirin Sword, the Marks, and even the "Transparent World" were set to reappear within the Corps.
The strength of the Demon Slayer Corps had been steadily increasing just as he intended.
But Kibutsuji Muzan would never simply allow all of this to happen quietly.
The future had completely changed.
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