Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

She actually... had a trump card up her sleeve?

"That's right, Lord Muzan."

Having quickly ended her mental dialogue with Muzan, Mitsuha continued with a smile:

"If I use my Blood Demon Art skillfully, I am very confident that I can defeat my brother Yoriichi, even if he is facing him."

Of course, this opportunity only comes once, and if I fail, I will never have a second chance…

However, before Mitsuha could speak, Muzan interrupted her, frowning almost instantly and shouting sharply:

"This method is far too risky! Mitsuha, you have no idea how terrifying that monster is! Your so-called method is simply gambling with your life!"

"Hey—but I feel..."

"Alright! Let's leave it at that. In short, I disagree!"

"Yes, sir!"

Seeing Mitsuha's nonchalant, almost perfunctory attitude, Muzan's mind suddenly raced, and he added:

"And don't even think about trying it secretly in private!"

"Yes Yes Yes……"

After giving another perfunctory answer, Mitsuha quickly changed the subject before Muzan could continue dwelling on it.

"By the way, Lord Muzan, while you were recuperating, I kept thinking, as the Demon King, shouldn't you prepare some loyal subordinates for yourself?"

"A considerate subordinate?"

Having successfully diverted Muzan's attention, Mitsuha leaped down from the wall, raised her index finger, and earnestly explained:

“I understand. For the past five hundred years, demon hunters have been a very weak group, without breathing techniques, markings, or the Transparent World…”

With only his fragile body and an ordinary Nichirin Blade, he could fight the demons in a life-or-death struggle against an overwhelming odds.

During this period, even a demon that seems incredibly weak to us was a great threat to demon hunters.

But now, all of this has changed with the arrival of Yoriichi's older brother.

The breathing technique he created, along with the accompanying markings and transparent world, did indeed, to some extent, give demon hunters the power to rival most demons.

Considering that the Ubuyashiki family bloodline is not broken and the Demon Slayer Corps will inevitably be resurrected in the future, I personally believe that Lord Muzan should also create some powerful demon subordinates of his own.

And these subordinates will draw the attention of the demon hunters in your place, confront them, and even eliminate them completely, instead of you personally showing your face in public and being constantly watched by the demon hunters as before..."

"Yes, that is indeed a very good suggestion..."

Faced with Mitsuha's suggestion, Muzan subconsciously nodded in agreement.

Believe it or not, Muzan already had similar thoughts after being cut down by Yoriichi.

After all, the human world is indeed too dangerous.

Who knows when another monster like Yoriichi might suddenly appear?

Therefore, rather than waiting for some future day when you go out, you might be ambushed again by a seemingly ordinary but equally powerful "Yoji".

Muzan felt it was better for him to be a little more sleazy...

Of course, he wasn't afraid of Yoriichi.

He just felt that, after all, he was the Ghost King, so how could he not have a single ghost under his command who could fight?

Look at the Ubuyashiki next door, he looks like he's about to die, but he still has quite a few people under him. Compared to that, doesn't this make the Demon King look pathetic?

This is the pomp and circumstance befitting a Demon King; he is establishing a new order for the Demon race, understand?

That's right, that's it.

To reiterate, he wasn't afraid of Yoriichi.

As a powerful ghost king, and the closest thing to a perfect being in this world, he is not afraid of any human. Only humans are afraid of him. Don't get it wrong, understand?

At most, I'm just a little wary...

"So, Mitsuha, do you have any thoughts on this?"

"Yes, yes, yes! First of all, the name!"

A bright smile immediately appeared on her face, and Mitsuha sat down at the stone table, launching into a long and enthusiastic speech:

"While you were recuperating, Lord Muzan, I thought about it seriously. Since we demons can only appear at night, why not call it... the Twelve Demon Moons!"

Chapter 54 Can he really defeat such an enemy?

Thus, at Mitsuha's suggestion, with Muzan's additions and with Kokusatsu's oversight, the Twelve Demon Moons—a demon organization that would be entangled with the Demon Slayer Corps for hundreds of years to come and directly commanded by the Demon King Muzan—was born.

The Twelve Demon Moons have twelve seats, encompassing the twelve strongest demons in the world besides Muzan.

Upper Moon One is the strongest, and Lower Moon Six is ​​the weakest.

To ensure that the demons ranked among the Twelve Demon Moons always remain at their strongest, Muzan added a special rule called "position-swapping blood battles."

This means that any evil spirit in a lower position can challenge any evil spirit in a higher position to a "blood battle," and the higher-ranking evil spirit cannot refuse.

After the bloody battle, the victor can devour the blood of the loser to further strengthen himself. If a lower-ranking demon wins, he can directly obtain the ranking of a higher-ranking demon.

As the only two powerful demons currently following Muzan, Mitsuha and Mitsuki naturally earned the top-ranking position among the Twelve Demon Moons, "Upper Moon One".

Muzan originally intended to place Mitsuha and Mitsuha as Upper Moon One and Upper Moon Two respectively, but Mitsuha refused, and her reason was—

"No, Master Muzan, don't be fooled by how powerful my Blood Demon Art seems. It's completely ineffective against demons. I can only really fight humans~"

If you send me away now, and some particularly powerful evil spirit challenges me later, I'll definitely suffer a great loss.

So, let me and my brother Yan Sheng share the same spot. That way, if we encounter any evil spirits that come to challenge us in the future, my powerful brother can fight them in my place...

Muzan readily agreed.

After all, Mitsuha was telling the truth. Her Blood Demon Art was indeed only effective against humans, and her own strength was not actually that great. She was the type who was good at fighting outside the enemy but not good at fighting inside the enemy's territory.

If we just leave her alone in one place, she could easily die suddenly one day.

Five hundred years have passed, and it's only recently that Muzan has encountered a girl with similar experiences and personality to himself, who is also loyal, clever, and easy for demons to manage. Muzan doesn't want Mitsuha to die so early at the hands of other demons.

Thus, Mitsuba and Mitsuba, as the strongest demons in history created by Muzan, were ranked as Upper Moon One, a position that remained unchanged for hundreds of years thereafter.

Yan Sheng was renamed "Kuroshibo" by Muzan, while Mitsuha declined his offer to give her a new, evil, and domineering name under Muzan's slightly regretful gaze.

Among these factors, Muzan would always have a stress response to Miku's face, which was extremely similar to Yoriichi's.

He also specifically asked Yan Sheng to change his appearance, claiming that he was "not imposing enough," and added two pairs of eyes to his face.

These three pairs of eyes completely concealed Yan Sheng's original appearance.

[Kuroshibo?]

Looking at her older brother, who now had six eyes, Mitsuha silently complained to herself.

Hmm... Lord Muzan's naming skills are really terrible~

Mitsuha, I can hear you...

Under the sunlight, the Demon Slayer Corps' base was deathly silent.

"how come……"

After many days, Yoriichi finally returned to his camp and was about to report his experiences to his lord when he found only a scene of utter devastation.

Within the encampment, the corpses of demon hunters were everywhere, and because no one collected them, these bodies left to rot in the wilderness had gradually begun to decompose.

The entire encampment was permeated with the stench of corpses that could induce physiological disgust in humans.

"What on earth happened here... My lord... Right! How is my lord?!"

His pupils contracted sharply. Without thinking, Yoriichi rushed toward the mansion where Ubuyashiki lived, located in the valley behind the camp.

Behind him, Butterfly and Tamayo, who was holding an umbrella, exchanged a glance and quickly caught up with him.

The mansion in the valley was equally silent. Along the way, the corpses of demon hunters could be seen everywhere, as if someone had carried out a brutal massacre here.

"My lord?!"

Yoriichi ran quickly into the courtyard of the mansion, where he saw four corpses lying haphazardly on the ground.

Yoriichi recognized three of them at a glance: the Wind Pillar, the Sound Pillar, and the Water Pillar, whom he knew.

Although the face of the remaining headless corpse could not be seen, Yoriichi immediately identified it from its clothing.

"My lord... my lord?"

Yoriichi stopped abruptly, staring incredulously at the headless corpse of Ubuyashiki at his feet, completely stunned.

Who killed our lord?

Who did all this?

What kind of demon could possess such power, capable of defeating so many Pillar-level swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps at the same time?

Is it Muzan again?

But wasn't Muzan already severely injured by him? And how did Muzan find this place?

"It is Mitsuha Tsugikuni."

Behind him, Tamayo, who had followed closely behind, glanced at the corpse on the ground and directly uttered the answer that Yoriichi had subconsciously ruled out.

She walked up to the withered corpses of the Wind Pillar and the Sound Pillar, and said with absolute certainty:

"I've seen how she devours humans. With just a gentle poke from the flower in her hand, all the flesh and blood in her body will be instantly drained."

The final product was the same shriveled appearance as the two corpses before me… I can’t be mistaken.”

Upon hearing this, Butterfly stepped forward and curiously examined the two corpses.

The flesh beneath the skin was completely drained; how was that even possible...?

Yoriichi remained silent.

Tamayo didn't stop there. Instead, she squatted down and began to examine the corpse of the water column beside her.

"Yes, there's no mistake, it must be her."

After a quick and thorough examination, she spoke again:

"Although this person was missing an arm, this was not the fatal injury that caused his death. His real cause of death was the sudden failure of his cardiopulmonary function."

If I'm not mistaken, this person must have suffered this kind of injury at some point in the past, and this ultimately became the 'cause' that Mitsuha Tsugikuni used to induce his death, causing his sudden demise.

After calmly finishing her statement, Tamayo stood up and looked at Yoriichi, who was silent beside her.

"Mr. Yoriichi, this is the terrifying aspect of Mitsuha's Blood Demon Art."

No matter how distant the past, or even the slightest trigger, she could use them to ultimately bring about the other party's 'death'.

Almost every demon hunter has suffered some fatal injury in past battles.

Perhaps in these people's eyes, they have long been healed, but in the eyes of Mitsuha Tsugikuni, who can weave cause and effect, these fatal wounds have always been there and can become her deadly moves at any time.

Demon hunters... no, I should say humans, have absolutely no chance of defeating such an opponent.

Even you, I think, would be no exception…

The courtyard was deathly silent. Tamayo, with a very serious attitude, analyzed Mitsuha's Blood Demon Art for Yoriichi.

Powerful beyond imagination.

Having witnessed this scene firsthand, Yoriichi internally gave Mitsuha's Blood Demon Art ability a very high rating.

In terms of the threat to humanity alone, Mitsuba is even more threatening than Muzan, the Demon King.

It can arbitrarily alter cause and effect, manipulate fate, decide your future death from the distant past, and even interfere with your thoughts...

Can he really defeat such an enemy?

Yoriichi lowered his head and questioned himself inwardly.

Chapter 55 Parting Ways (Bonus Chapter)

"Miss Tamayo, Miss Butterfly."

After a brief silence, Yoriichi slowly raised his head, looked again at Tamayo and Chocho, and said earnestly: