*A FEW MONTHS EARLIER*
Laying against the railing of a staircase casually, with a sadistic smile spreading across his face, a small laugh escaped Miryoku's mouth when his eyes roamed all around him. He had heard the sound of a single biwa strike in his head and he suddenly teleported to a new domain. He wasn't doing anything important at the moment so he didn't mind being taken wherever someone pleased.
He was indeed intrigued by where he was taken. It looked like he was teleported to some sort of warped-shaped castle that stretched so large he couldn't see the end of it. Staircases, halls, corridors, bridges, and blocks of rooms were everywhere erratically except there was a twist. They were all twisted and turned in different angles. Up was right, down was left, left was up, right was down, and the laws of gravity didn't seem to apply anywhere. Five demons roamed the stairs and corridors, and yet they haven't fallen to their deaths. From where Miryoku laid, three demons should've fallen into the void, never to be seen again, and the remaining two shouldn't be standing at a perfect 90 degree angle. They remained perfectly fine.
On the staircase he laid where he nonchalantly ran an eye, he noticed something in the very center. Sitting in a room where the entire place seemed to warping around them was a demon.
She held a four-stringed wooden biwa in her lap and a single large bachi pick in her right hand. Her long shiny dark brown hair obscured the top half of her face as it rained elegantly down her back to her waist. He could see her pale-gray complexion shining under the lights, her sharp blue-colored nails picking at the strings of her biwa, and her tiny lips a striking red. She wasn't noticeable or stood out considering she wore a drab, plain-looking black kimono with white lining. Yet, he felt such a powerful presence from her that he can't ignore. It was... delicious.
His duduk twirled in between his fingers expertly, he rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically as he waited for something to happen.
Then, the Biwa Demon lifted her bachi pick and strum her biwa. Such ominous and dark cords echoed throughout the void. It made Miryoku excited for what was going to happen next because he finally noticed that all of the demons summoned were the Lower Rank Kizukis. A soft cackle left his mouth at the excitement that would be ensuing.
She lifted her bachi pick once more and strum a single cord.
Miryoku suddenly found himself and the rest of the demons gathered in one single area. Except they stood across from him, not with him. He knelt on the ground beside the Biwa Demon and frowned when he gazed at the rest. Up close, he could see how disgusting the Lower Ranks looked; they were sweating like filthy animals, their fear etched clearly across their faces, and the shallow quickness of their breaths gave away the terror that was striking through their bodies. They were pathetic and weak fools.
It was clear when their eyes widened in terror seeing a tall woman standing before them. The woman was elegant and she wore a long black yukata adorned with flowers of deep colors. Her hair was braided up in a bun with small curled bangs framing the sides of her face. They must've not noticed the slit, plum-red color of her eyes. To see the confusion and lack of recognition... Miryoku knew he was in for a treat.
"Lower your heads and kneel down. Prostrate yourselves," The woman growled in such a cold monotone voice that definitely belonged to a man. Not just any man, the Demon Lord, Muzan Kibutsuji.
The domain growled, hissed, and screeched all around them, creaking with anger, until all of them, all at once, slammed their knees and hands to the ground, bowing low and shakily. Large droplets of sweat dropped from their bodies and down to the wooden floorboards beneath them, their tries of stilling the whimpers of horror from their lips failed horribly, and they kept their shaking, wavering eyes to the ground. They wouldn't dare look up and face the cold, menacing, ruthless glare of their master.
Lower Four whimpered out, "P-Please forgive us, Master! Since you've assumed a different form and aura, we-"
"Who said you could speak?" Lord Muzan casually, coldly, interrupted her with a slight scoff. "Don't presume to voice your worthless thoughts. Answer my questions. Nothing else."
Lower Four immediately dropped her head again.
Keeping his voice consistent, never changing from its cruel and monotone voice or raising it above that of a normal speaking range, Lord Muzan announced greatly upset, "Lower Five Rui was killed." Turning his nose upwards, he added with a growl, "I have but one question to ask of you. Why are you members of the Lower Ranks so pathetically weak? You shouldn't be satisfied merely being among the Twelve Kizuki. That is only the beginning. To devour more humans, to become stronger, that is the path to becoming useful to me."
Lord Muzan's body was still. He didn't move a muscle, flinch, wince, grimace, or make a show of how angry he was. Not even his face contorted to show such fury. Instead, all of it was in his eyes. The slits of a cat that stared hungrily, furiously, and menacingly down at the Lower Ranks. Nothing in his body, face, or voice changed when he spat, "For over a century, the members of the Upper Ranks of the Twelve Kizuki remain unchanged. It's always been the demons of the Upper Ranks who've disposed of those Demon Slayer Hashira. But what about you demons of the Lower Ranks?"
It was quiet for long periods of time, Miryoku laying his taunting eyes over all of them-
""That's easy for you to say, but we..." What? Go ahead and say it," Lord Muzan suddenly hissed narrowing his eyes on Lower Six. The demon didn't dare lift his sweaty fearful head. Not even when Lord Muzan addressed him specifically. "What is bad? Finish your thought!" He hissed brandishing his fangs and the veins protruding from his skin.
He didn't give the little demon a chance to speak.
Lord Muzan lifted up an arm and let it mutate into a large tentacle, twisted with red bloody meat and covered in dozens of eyes and mouths. He then casually plucked the terrified demon from the ground.
"Please forgive me, Master Kibutsuji!" Lower Six immediately began to plea and cry for his life. Even as he dangled upside down, his body twisting and contorting with the tentacle, he never stopped screaming, "Please! Please show me mercy! I'm sorry! I'm truly sorry! I'm truly sorry! Please-! AH!"
A waterfall of deep, dark blood rained down on the four remaining Lower Ranks. It splashed everywhere, soaking their clothing and hair, and was definitely going to leave a nasty stain on the nice wooden floorboards. It shook the Lower Ranks to the core, so much they even flinched and trembled at the sound of one of Lord Muzan's mouths burping from its delicious meal. Their shaking became violent when Lord Muzan returned his arm to its normal state, even relaxing his demonic features back to that a human woman.
"Are you more afraid of the Demon Slayers than you are of me?" He accused them coldly.
They all flinched. They shouldn't have done that...
"No!" Lower Four gasped out.
"Every time you run into a Demon Slayer Hashira, the only thing on your mind is to flee," He accused them further with more poison dripping in his voice.
Lower Four immediately cried out, placing a hand to her chest, "Oh, no, I'd never do that! I would put my own life on the line in order to fight for you!"
"Are you contradicting what I say?" He snapped at her with eyes narrowing further.
She didn't have time to cry or gasp. Disconnected entirely from emotions such as remorse, mercy, and despair, Lord Muzan lifted an arm casually once again and let it shoot out towards Lower Four. One of its many mouths opened wide and clamped down on her head, killing her instantly. They watched the dead demon girl get swallowed whole, drinking and draining her of its flesh and blood. The fluids moved and slithered inside the tentacle arm and back towards Lord Muzan.
Miryoku wasn't confused nor have the need to ask why he was killing them and draining them of their blood. He was simply taking back what was his.
In a brash, frantic, and futile move, Lower Three jumped from his spot and began to try and find the exit. Caked in blood, his body bounced from staircase, to corridor, to room, and to another staircase. The whole domain groaned and creaked in response. Not in anger or frustration, but in a mocking, taunting tone. The Biwa Demon didn't move to strum her instrument. In fact, she didn't look bothered at all at the demon rushing and jumping around in her home. Instead, she sat there patiently with her bachi pick ready.
Miryoku should've known better than to let some small, pathetic demon trouble his thoughts.
In a split second, before Miryoku could blink or even have a trace of a thought, the head of Lower Three was grasped firmly in Lord Muzan's grip. The blood that didn't even touch the ground yet finally spilled in a large wave at his feet. The demon was still alive but not for much longer. He died after the realization of his head cut off hit him.
He didn't seem bothered, tired, or as if he hastily raced after the demon and sliced his head. It was as if Lord Muzan was undisturbed, that killing the demon was nuisance he had foresought, and kept his menacing glare on the last two as he said, without a care in the world, "I believe that the Twelve Kizuki are better off consisting of just the Upper Ranks. I am now dismantling the Lower Ranks." With that, he tossed the head of the dead demon in front of the remaining Lower Ranks.
"Do you have any last words?" He asked them but Miryoku didn't detect a trace of genuinity in his words.
Lower Two quickly sat up and thrusted out his fist, pleading, "I can still be of use to you! If you could give me just a little more grace, I swear I'll be of use to you!"
"Precisely how much grace?" Lord Muzan rhetorically asked with a slight hiss. "How do you intend to be useful? What exactly can you accomplish at your current strength? Your skills are meager at best, and that is not saying anything."
Lower Two held out his hands and exclaimed desperately, "Your blood! If you could give me a share of your blood, I will not fail to make good use of it! I will fight for you as an even stronger demon!"
"What makes you think you can order me to give you my blood?" Lord Muzan immediately growled as his demonic features began to make a reappearance. "How impudent. You will remember your place."
"You misunderstand me! I just...!"
"Silence. I understood nothing," Lord Muzan hissed just barely above a whisper. The top-half of his face was covered in darkness and the only thing visible were the demonic eyes that held unmistakable fury. "I'm never mistaken about anything. All authority is mine. My word is absolute. You have no right to object. Whatever I say is right... is right. You tried to tell me what to do. You deserve to die."
Miryoku watched eagerly, his smile never fading, when he saw the wooden floorboards was almost done finished coating in its crimson, bloody-red hue.
Lord Muzan then set his eyes on Lower One, the last standing demon. "Do you have any last words?" He asked him almost amused.
Lower One didn't react the same way the other ranks did. When they gasped, cried, screamed, and ran, he kept his head bowed to his master and didn't move nor react to anything unless he was directly spoken to by Lord Muzan. He didn't sweat or whimper at the prospect of his near death. Instead, he stared up Lord Muzan in a daze-like gaze with a heavy blush on his cheek.
Putting his hands together thoughtfully, he spoke dreamily, with a large smile on his face, "Let's see... This is all like a wonderful dream for me. To die by your hand in person. And I so enjoyed hearing the other demons' dying breaths! How truly fortunate am I. I revel in the despair and agony of others. So much that I dream about them. I thank you for leaving me last!"
Lord Muzan didn't immediately execute him like he did with the rest. Instead, he stayed silent for just a few moments and seemed to have been... amused.
Without waiting a moment more, instead of a tentacle covered in eyes and mouth, a needle-like appendage at the end of a tentacle struck him in his throat. Lower One was immediately taken back and fell to the ground paralyzed, choking and gasping for air with the needle stabbing into his jugular artery. A rush of fluids, of blood, poured into the demon's body all at once without remorse and was ripped from his neck with the same kindness. The stab wound on his neck turned dark gray, scaley, and his body flopped left and right along the bloody floor. He choked on his own breath, gasping for air, as Lord Muzan's blood rushed through his entire body.
With a small smirk, Lord Muzan purred, "That's what I like to hear. I'm going to give you an ample share of my blood. Although you might not be able to withstand the volume of blood, and die. Still, if you do manage to acclimate, you're sure to gain even greater strength. Make yourself useful to me, then. Kill a Hashira of the Demon Slayers! If you can kill the Demon Slayer wearing hanafuda earrings or the last living Dragon Breather, perhaps both, I'll give you even more of my blood."
Miryoku almost growled at Lord Muzan's offer to Lower One.
The Dragon Breather was the marechi he had been hunting for the longest time! Ever since he caught wind of her scent from the mansion of his pathetic fallen demon brother, former Lower Six, he had been salivating at the thought of her blood. The sweet, delicious taste of the power of 100 humans in a single person's body made him eager. It made him excited. He almost drew her in once before, at a mansion with the Wisteria Family Crest, and nearly succeeded. It was so easy to prey on girls like her and she would've been dead at that point, but he was interrupted by the Demon Slayer with hanafuda earrings.
No matter. Miryoku loves to play games. It just seems like he has to hunt her down first before Lower One can get his hands on her. The thought of drawing her in with his music, good looks, and charisma made him even more excited to get started.
"I sense you're unhappy with my offer, Miryoku," He suddenly heard Lord Muzan snap at him.
As his plum-red eye slits stared down at him, Miryoku didn't sweat, cry, nor get scared. He bowed his body to the ground and chuckled lowly under his breath, "Not unhappy, Master. I love a good chase, and I've been eager for a challenge. I will hunt down the Dragon Breather and every last Hashira for you, Master. I will be the one to do so first. All of them, every single one of them, has a weakness."
Lord Muzan was quiet for a moment, his menacing cold glare staying firm on his head, then huffed, "This was considered a warning for you, my new Kizuki. Pray that you don't disappoint me, Upper Rank Seven."
Miryoku smirked and nodded his head.
The Biwa Demon beside Miryoku strummed her biwa. Lord Muzan had disappeared towards the end of the domain at the outside world. As she strummed her instrument faster and more, he disappeared behind hundreds of doors, getting his location and trace lost within the labyrinth before she forced Miryoku out.
He landed on his feet in the middle of a large city and smirked wider. He twirled the duduk in his hands and walked towards a nearby shop, glancing at himself in the mirror. His striking white hair with black tips fell down in his face tickling the eyelashes of his eyes. There, twinkling proudly at him, was the kanji for Lower Seven embedded in his left bright blue sparkling eyeball staring right back at him. He reached in the pocket of his black pants and grabbed his blindfold.
In one swift movement, he wrapped the blindfold around his eyes, covering his newly marked eye from the world. Pressing the tip of the duduk against his lips, he began to blow softly. His fingers delicately and expertly covered the holes blowing out dark, haunting, yet beautiful notes that echoed through the air. Until he meets her again, he will continue to feed. Until her blood was shoved down his throat, he will continue to search for her.
"I'm coming for you, marechi," Miryoku purred to himself then sauntered away, already hearing the footsteps of young women trailing behind him.