Chapter 265: The Price of the Castle

Boom!

With a brutal roar, Muzan was struck down out of the air.

He crashed through a ceiling and slammed into the floor of a room.

Makomo crouched, pressing down hard on the hilt with both hands.

Blood gushed from the wound, staining the tatami mats beneath a dark red.

With his face crushed against the floor, Muzan’s features convulsed violently, betraying his intense humiliation.

"GET OFF!!"

Swish

His whips began to lash out violently, sweeping across the room indiscriminately.

The floor was torn to pieces; splinters and fragments flew in every direction, leaving deep holes in the walls.

Without putting up any resistance, Makomo was flung dozens of yards through the air.

Muzan seized that opening to get to his feet and yanked the sword out of the back of his neck in a single pull.

Holding it with both hands, he slammed his knee against the blade with force.

Boom

He couldn’t even bend it.

With a grim expression, he tossed it aside.

Right after, he dropped onto all fours.

And with his whips replacing his limbs, he drove them into the walls on either side, racing toward the deepest part of the Infinity Castle.

He had become a beast out of control.

Behind him, Makomo called the sword back and tried to continue the pursuit, but Kokushibo and Douma stepped in, blocking her path.

The two Upper Ranks stayed on maximum alert.

They could slaughter anyone, but they had no idea how to deal with an entity like Makomo.

Wiping the blood off the sword, Makomo smiled faintly and didn’t press on.

The time she needed to buy had already been won; without the element of surprise, she was no match for both demons at once.

She simply stayed where she was, watching Muzan’s figure vanish into the distance.

"I’m leaving him to you, Marcus-kun..."

...

At the absolute center of the Infinity Castle.

Marcus stood on an empty platform.

Before him, wrapped in a traditional kimono, a young woman with silky black hair waited kneeling on the floor.

The atmosphere was so strangely calm that the distant rumble of the destruction Muzan was causing echoed clearly.

Marcus watched her in silence, shifting between surprise and bewilderment.

This sudden deal had caught him completely off guard.

"So... you want to hand me the Infinity Castle in exchange for joining me?"

Nakime shook her head gently, her voice cautious: "To be precise, I want to hand over the Infinity Castle in exchange for the chance to become a vampire."

Marcus fell silent. "In other words, you don’t want to be my subordinate."

She looked at him serenely.

"Why would you want me as your subordinate? You don’t need me, do you?"

"You can completely devour my Blood Demon Art. All I’m after is an identity that lets me live under the sunlight. Besides... would you really accept the Infinity Castle not being under your control? Or rather, would you be willing to trust a traitor?"

Each of those questions struck squarely at Marcus’s calculations.

He fell silent, unable to refute her.

"...You really do have it all figured out."

This woman was alarmingly lucid. She had analyzed herself down to the marrow and had gauged Marcus’s distrust perfectly.

She was right.

If he wanted her ability, it was because that power was a very dangerous anomaly.

In anyone’s hands it posed a threat, and only by keeping it inside his own body would he be at ease.

Besides, who could guarantee that a demon capable of betraying Muzan wouldn’t do the same to him in the future?

Nakime regarded his silence.

"Your thoughts... or rather, the way you all think, isn’t hard to figure out."

Marcus came back to himself. "What do you mean?"

"Muzan-sama tried it once too," Nakime lowered her gaze to her fingers. "He wanted to extract my Blood Demon Art to take control himself... That’s why I assumed you’d have the same idea."

Marcus understood at once.

That coward Muzan would never tolerate his lair depending on someone else.

’So he wanted to seize this ability too... he just failed.’

Marcus turned his head and looked into the distance.

Muzan was approaching in desperation, terrified by the thought of losing his fortress.

"Looks like Muzan didn’t manage it in the end."

Hearing his words, Nakime’s body shuddered.

And to hide the faint flicker of panic in her eyes, she lowered her head in a hurry as Marcus turned to look at her.

"So... do you accept the deal or not?"

Marcus studied her with great interest.

"But right now you’re my prisoner... why should I negotiate instead of just taking your ability directly?" He crouched down, coming level with her eyes. "Wouldn’t it be easier to kill you, devour your ability, and save myself the trouble?"

Inhaling deeply, Nakime raised her gaze to him once more.

"You won’t do that."

"Give me a reason."

"This place wasn’t always like this." She gestured with her hand at the complex web of structures around her. "I’m the one who expanded it little by little until it became this labyrinth. I don’t know exactly how you take abilities, but of one thing I’m certain: if I lose mine, this dimension will collapse, and all you’ll get is a completely new space."

Nakime continued firmly.

"Maybe it’ll keep this form, maybe not. But it definitely won’t be the dimension we’re in right now."

Marcus fell silent.

He really hadn’t considered this detail, but... it made total sense.

The Infinity Castle was a space derived directly from Nakime’s Blood Demon Art; what he would devour was the ability to "create" a castle, not to "inherit" the existing structure.

The instant Nakime lost her ability, the pillar of this dimension would break and everything would collapse.

Even if he activated the ability a second later, he would only build a new fortress instead of taking control of the current one.

"In other words..." Marcus stroked his chin. "If I want to keep Muzan trapped here until he rots... I can’t devour your ability yet."

Nakime’s tone didn’t change. "Or you could devour it right now. Of course, Muzan and his demons would return to the world along with the collapse."

The roar in the distance was growing louder and louder.

Muzan was moving at blind speed, advancing on all fours while his whips tore apart everything in his path.

The mental link with Nakime had gone completely dark, but the fortress still stood.

And he knew perfectly well what that meant.

This castle was his last refuge. If he lost it, he’d never have a single second of peace again.

’Faster... More! MORE!! THERE’S STILL TIME!!’

No matter what had happened to Nakime, as long as he could get her back, nothing would be lost.

And in the worst case... he would kill her before letting this fortress fall into Marcus’s hands!

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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎

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