I Became a Demon Sword and Traveled the Anime Worlds Chapter 11 11: Muzan Flees

Those hanafuda earrings.

That voice.

That gaze.

The mont they overlapped, Muzan Kibutsuji's vision wavered.

For an instant, the person standing before him was no longer Tanjiro Kamado.

That figure—the one he had buried in the deepest part of his nightmare—seed to rise from the dead and stand in the street once more.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni.

His pupils shrank to pinpoints.

Fear seized him so violently that his chest began to heave. Every instinct in his body scread the sa thing.

Run.

Abandon everything and leave this place imdiately.

Then, just as the silence between them beca suffocating—

A woman's gentle voice ca from behind him.

"Oh my... what's wrong?"

The sound broke the tension for a split second.

Muzan turned slightly. A woman in a white dress was approaching, concern written across her face.

Seeing her, Muzan moved at once.

He set the little girl in his arms down, forcefully crushed the terror in his expression, and squeezed out a graceful smile.

"My apologies," he said, his tone mild and cultured. "I just rembered sothing urgent. I need to leave at once."

The mont the words left his mouth, he turned and disappeared into the crowd without a backward glance.

The woman called after him.

He ignored her.

The child looked up in confusion.

He ignored that too.

He stayed close to them for those few crucial monts, using them as living shields, forcing Tanjiro to hold back.

Then he fled.

Inside the sword, Alex watched the entire performance with deep satisfaction.

Because, at long last, the system notifications had arrived.

[Ding! Negative emotions detected from Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji. Obtained 5000 Emotion Points!]

[Ding! Fear detected from Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji. Obtained 3200 Emotion Points!]

[Ding! Panic detected from Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji. Obtained 2800 Emotion Points!]

...

In that brief exchange alone, Alex gained well over ten thousand Emotion Points.

The haul was ridiculous.

Tanjiro had spent seven straight days carving through Mount Fujikasane to earn that kind of total.

And now Muzan had practically dropped it into his lap in a matter of seconds.

Alex's mood soared.

Unfortunately, the star of the show had already bolted.

So Alex released Body Control and returned the body to Tanjiro. At the sa ti, he deliberately added fuel to the fire.

"The man who just ran," he said coolly, "is the source of all demons. Muzan Kibutsuji."

His voice sharpened.

"He's also the one who murdered your family. Didn't you want revenge?"

But Tanjiro barely seed to hear him.

He stood rooted to the spot, breathing raggedly.

His pupils shook. One trembling hand rose to cover his mouth, as though he were afraid sothing might spill out if he let it.

Pain.

Shock.

Fury.

All of it churned together so violently that even Alex could feel it through the blade bond.

Tanjiro was shaken to his core.

A demon—no, that demon—had been standing right there in the middle of a crowded street, dressed like a man, speaking gently, living among humans as though he belonged there.

And Tanjiro had done nothing.

His enemy had been right in front of him, close enough to touch.

Yet he had been powerless.

That helplessness stabbed deeper than any wound.

Inside the sword, the system prompt sounded again and again without pause.

[Ding! Negative emotions detected from Tanjiro. Obtained 25 Emotion Points!]

[Ding! Rage detected from Tanjiro. Obtained 30 Emotion Points!]

[Ding! Shock detected from Tanjiro. Obtained 18 Emotion Points!]

[Ding! Helplessness detected from Tanjiro. Obtained 22 Emotion Points!]

At the sa ti, Muzan—who was still fleeing deeper into the city—continued providing Alex with a few more scattered points.

Not as much as the first burst.

But still vastly more generous than ordinary demons.

Then, amid the flood of notifications, two new nas caught Alex's attention.

[Ding! Excitent detected from Tamayo. Obtained 10 Emotion Points!]

[Ding! Emotion detected from Yushiro. Obtained 8 Emotion Points!]

Alex's eyes narrowed.

So they were here too.

That made sense.

anwhile, Tanjiro slowly dragged himself back under control.

His hands still shook, but his gaze was changing. Shock was still there, but it was being burned away by sothing harder.

Sothing sharper.

His determination to kill Muzan Kibutsuji had not weakened.

If anything, it had only grown more absolute.

Through clenched teeth, he murmured, "Even if I have to chase you to the ends of the earth... I'll kill you."

Through the moving crowd, two figures began approaching at a hurried pace.

A woman in elegant clothing.

And a boy at her side.

The woman reached Tanjiro first. Her breathing was steady, but there was unmistakable excitent in her eyes.

"May I ask..." she said softly, unable to fully hide the tremor in her voice, "what is your relationship to Yoriichi Tsugikuni?"

She hesitated, then pressed on anyway.

"Or rather..."

She could hardly bring herself to finish.

Because the scene just now had stirred sothing she had not dared hope for in centuries.

Those words.

That pressure.

That manner.

For one impossible instant, it had truly felt as though Yoriichi Tsugikuni himself had returned.

As if a ghost had stepped out of the past.

As if reincarnation had appeared before her eyes.

But Tanjiro was not paying attention to her question.

His nose twitched faintly.

Then he frowned.

"That scent... you are—"

He did not finish.

Because Yushiro imdiately stepped in front of Tamayo, his expression turning sharp and hostile.

Tamayo, however, remained calm.

She had already realized she had let herself get carried away. Even so, she could also sense that Tanjiro did not harbor any malice toward them.

So she answered plainly.

"That's right. I am a demon."

Then, without evasion, she added, "And also a doctor."

Her voice remained composed.

"But my goal is the sa as yours. I want to destroy the source of everything—to kill Muzan Kibutsuji."

Tanjiro did not lower his guard.

"But you're still a demon."

Yushiro's face darkened imdiately at the suspicion in Tanjiro's tone.

Tamayo, on the other hand, did not seem offended at all.

"This is a matter of personal grievance," she said calmly. "And I have altered my own body. I do not need to eat humans. I require only small amounts of blood."

Her gaze remained steady.

"I have also freed myself from Kibutsuji's curse."

Tanjiro listened in silence.

Then he took a light breath through his nose.

There was no scent of deceit.

No stench of bloodlust.

What he slled was strange, certainly—but not false.

Little by little, his tension eased.

Tamayo glanced around at the crowded street and spoke again.

"This is not a good place to talk. There are too many people and too many eyes. Please co with . We should leave this place first."

Tanjiro looked around at the bustling city and only then seed to fully realize where he was standing.

He nodded, but added quickly, "That's fine, but my little sister is waiting for on a street outside town. Could you please wait a little?"

"Of course," Tamayo replied at once. "Then let Yushiro go with you. Once you find your sister, he can bring both of you to my residence, and we can continue talking there."

"All right," Tanjiro said with a small smile.

Yushiro, however, was clearly much less agreeable.

His expression had already turned stormy.

He imdiately turned back toward Tamayo, concern plain in his voice.

"Lady Tamayo, what about your safety—"

Tamayo raised a hand and cut him off before he could finish.

"Don't worry about . Go. Quickly."

That ended the discussion.

Yushiro had no choice but to swallow his complaints and follow after Tanjiro.

...

Elsewhere, in a dim alley far from the crowd, Muzan Kibutsuji stood alone.

The city lights did not reach this place.

Only darkness and the lingering echo of his fear remained.

No matter how hard he tried to steady himself, that figure would not leave his mind.

He muttered under his breath, voice low and ugly.

"Impossible... He's dead. That man is long dead..."

His breathing roughened.

"Then how do I explain it? That posture. Those words. Those earrings..."

His thoughts tangled into a knot.

Then one na surfaced.

"Tamayo..."

Muzan's face darkened.

By now, he had recovered so asure of calm, but only so.

Looking into the darkness ahead, he spoke again, his voice turning cold and venomous.

"No matter what his connection to that man is... he has seen ."

His eyes narrowed.

"So he needs to die."

He repeated it as though saying it twice could harden his resolve.

"Yes. Kill him."

Even then, Muzan's true nature did not change.

At the core of everything, there was only one word that defined him.

Cowardice.

If he had possessed even a shred of genuine courage, he would never have spent Yoriichi's lifeti hiding in fear.

So of course he would not act personally now.

No.

He would send others first.

Test the waters.

Probe the threat.

Coincidentally, there were two demons nearby.

A little blood from him, a little extra strength for them, and they could go do his work for him.

As soon as that thought ford, Muzan's sluggish panic-shaken mind sharpened again.

He raised his head slightly and summoned them at once.

.....

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