Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 128: Fate arrives all the same

[3rd POV]

(Location : Tokyo)

"I am going to miss you very much while I am away dear," said a woman wearing a purple kimono and expensive jewellery that showcased her unspoken wealth.

"I know, and I will feel the same," replied her husband.

"Are you sure you can't come with us? My father would very much like to meet you again, and so would my mother," the woman asked in an almost whiny tone, like a little girl begging for candy.

The husband smiles, "You know I can't do that. I have our business to take care of. You go without me, we will reunite when winter recedes,"

Winter was a time when farmers could rest as crops were harvested and you needed to wait for summer for the cycle to start again. Therefore, traditionally, Japanese people used this time to visit relatives and spend time with them. So even if you were not a farmer, the tradition sticks.

The woman was doing the same thing. She was going to spend the winter with her parents, but her husband could not join her because he had a business to run in Tokyo. Unlike agriculture, the business world had no moment of rest.

"Then do I have to go? I can spend the winter with you instead," the woman insisted.

"I know how much you've missed your parents. I would feel bad if you didn't go just because of me," the husband replied. He communicated gently, not only with the tone of his voice but also with his words.

"Besides, your parents would want to see their grandson. I couldn't possibly rob them of that," he said, looking at the little toddler, who was about three years old, sitting on the woman's lap.

The woman hummed, not arguing, but she did not like the answer either. In the end, her head dropped a little in defeat, and she hugged her child tightly.

"Say goodbye to Daddy," the woman said, waving the baby's chubby little hand. "Daddy we will miss you."

The man smiled, seemingly with heart but the emotion was as shallow as a foreskin. It was not a real smile, more like the pinching of skin that imitates a smile.

"I love you," the woman said at last. Her voice came out needy and vulnerable. There was a flicker of hope in the tone that hoped that he would say it back, but it wouldn't be the first time even if he didn't. History had let her down.

The husband popped a vein in his forehead and his tongue pushed the inside of his mouth. Then with barely hidden hesitance, he replied.

"I love you too,"

The woman smiled so brightly but the man looked like he ate shit. He seemed appalled that he had just declared affection to a lump of flesh he deemed imperfect.

The woman didn't see that. Maybe people had a clue when they coined the saying love is blind.

"See you soon!!" she said and no sooner the door to the car she was sitting in closed with a loud clanking noise of iron hitting iron.

And then the car left, leaving the man to remain stranded in his place while he watched them disappear in the horizon.

"Distasteful," he mumbled after they were gone.

It was out of necessity and convenience that he decided to live in a city populated by humans. But oftentimes, when the desire to rip them apart became too strong, he would wonder if it was even worth it.

The only entities that could harm him were long dead. If not for the convenience of human technology for his research, he wouldn't have bothered.

He did not feel fondness for his wife. She was just a human, a creature full of flaws compared to his near-perfect self.

Revolting.

But then again, the woman - his wife, would not have loved him either if she knew her real husband was dead and was replaced by a millennia-old genocidal demon lord who was about the vilest creature in existence.

Muzan turned around and walked in the opposite direction from where the car had left. The streets of Tokyo were busy even at night, pulsing with life which brought a sense of satisfaction to him. The growing population was a good thing for him, it meant more prey and it also allowed him to kill a dozen people with barely anyone noticing.

The streetlights and the noise though, were almost annoying to his sensitive senses. It was like a prickling sensation in the back of his mind. He made his way through the road, people looked at him with recognition as he did so.

A respectable business with wealth. That was the person Muzan was impersonating.,

He walked until he reached a different ward entirely, where the eyes of recognition from people stopped. He continued walking until the people got fewer and fewer.

Finally, he was in a part of the city that had barely anyone left. He made a quick turn to an empty alley. The smell of piss, human shit and garbage made his nose scrunch up.

Human waste. Such imperfect beings.

"Nakime," Muzan called out in the empty alley and in the very next moment, the sound of a single string being strummed was heard.

No sooner than later, the echo was followed by a paper door that suddenly appeared under Muzan's feet. The door opened and he allowed himself to fall through.

The sight of infinite rooms shifting and shuffling like the pieces of an endless puzzle greeted him. The dimension was an infinite room that was ever expanding yet contracting at the same time.

The infinity castle.

In this dimension, space followed the whim of a subordinated entity. Gravity shifted, right was down, left was down and sometimes up was down. Logic died the moment Muzan stepped into the dimension.

After less than a minute of falling, Muzan landed in a room where Nakime was sitting. She was a demon who worked directly under Muzan due to the sheer utility of her power.

The demon had one eye like a cyclops and she wore a loose traditional kimono. Her wet raven hair fell from her pale head and she held a biwa - a Japanese guitar.

"Lord Muzan," Nakime prostate in front of him, "What can I do for you?"

Muzan gazed at the demon for a long time, silence stretched and Nakime became nervous. Yet there was not a speck of emotion to be read on his face.

"Tell me, have done what I told you to do?" Muzan asked, "Have you found the Demon Slayer headquarters, or where the leader, Ubuyashiki is?"

The Demon Slayer Corps were not a threat to him. They had not been a threat since that man died of old age hundreds of years ago.

Muzan had tried more than once to kill them completely but they were like cockroaches - difficult to kill. Even if he killed hundreds, even if he killed their leader, there was always another human to take their place.

So he had decided long ago that they were not worth the effort. They were not worth taking his time to exterminate them once and for all. Humans were weak anyway, they could never hope to fight the Upper Moon much less himself.

But that had changed recently.

Now they were becoming too annoying in his plans. They had killed his favourites and valued subordinates and although he never had deep connections with them, it was a matter of pride for Muzan.

Those humans thought they could challenge him.

Espeically that purple Hashira. He was too certain of himself.

"Nakime. don't make me repeat myself," Muzan said once more and a deep pressure erupted from him. The ground cracked and screamed under the pressure of his presence. His killing intent was so thick it was palpable. A feat one could achieve only by killing millions throughout a thousand years.

He had instructed Nakime to find the hideout of the Demon Slayers while he was busy acting out as a human. His current disguise, a respected wealthy businessman in Tokyo provided excellent advantages so he did not want to destroy that.

He had a wife and a daughter, so his presence was constantly needed. At least until the wife stopped suspecting him. Therefore he could not afford to act out instantly when he learned that Lower Moon 6 and 5 were killed shortly after Douma's death.

But now he had freedom once more. His wife was in another town to spend the winter with her parents. Muzan would dedicate his free time this winter to eliminating the Demon Slayers.

He would rip out all their roots and put an end to them, once and for all.

"I have yet to find them, my lord. These humans, they are careful and secretive," Nakime said and she trembled when the pressure on her increased.

Every single cell in her body was owned by Muzan and right now, they were screaming at her. She felt indescriable pain as each cell ached, blood seeped out from her pores.

Yet she couldn't scream. Not when he did not allow her to do so.

"But..." she gasped out as the pain gave her respite, enough time for her to talk.

"I have found the clan that you were looking for. the Kamado family!" Nakime said.

Muzan pulled back his bloodlust and raised an eyebrow at that. The Kamado family was one that he looked for many many years ago. The family was the one Yoriichi was closest to so Muzan wanted to kill them just to spite the only man he feared.

And also, there was a possibility that someone would emerge from that family, someone who inherited what Yoriichi had. It was an unlikely possibility, especially now after hundreds of years.

But even if there was only a 0.01 chance of someone like Yoriichi to pop up again, Muzan did not want to give that chance.

So the death of the Kamado family was a must. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Okay, that is acceptable," Muzan said, "Take me there,"

Nakime clawed herself to her biwa and struck a single string.

"As you wish," she said and a door immediately opened under Muzan, taking him as close to the Kamado family as she could.

Even the Infinity Castle had its own limits.

When Muzan left, Nakmie felt breath coming back to her again. It was strange, she thought she was way beyond the need for air or water but in front of her king, anything was possible.

....

"Useless," Muzan muttered and a cloud of hot air came from his mouth.

The entire place was covered in a white sheen of snow, the temperature was beyond freezing but Muzan almost missed it. The temperature of the weather barely bothered him.

He looked around the forest he found himself in. He was annoyed that Nakime did not transport him to the front door of the Kamado family.

"But I suppose this is fine," Muzan said, his incredible sense spread out and found something kilometers away.

In the region, there was only one house and Muzan assumed that that was what he was looking for.

His ears caught the sound of a happy family enjoying dinner. His nose scanned the scent of his targets.

A man, a woman and five children. They sounded like a happy family.

Muzan began walking towards the house at a slow and steady pace. Every living creature in the vicinity fled when they saw him.

Eyes colder than the ice beneath his feet. Muzan was going to put out every annoyance in his life.

..

..

..

[IMAGE]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stone