Chapter 249: The Demon Who Sought the Sun

Three days later, in the underground laboratory.

A set of brand-new instruments lined the wall, while the glass containers gleamed under the light.

In the center of the room sat the experimentation table, and Sanemi lay upon it with his lab coat unbuttoned at the chest, baring his muscular torso.

Besides old scars, he now bore a striking red mark.

Sanemi kept his gaze fixed on the long sword Marcus held, his eyes revealing a mixture of intense anticipation and absolute resolve.

"Don’t miss," he said, his voice a little dry. "I still want to say a few more words to my family."

Marcus positioned himself at the side of the table and pointed the blade directly at the red mark.

"Don’t worry. I’ve done this many times."

Squelch

The blade sank into Sanemi, and blood gushed from the edges of the wound, sliding down his skin.

Letting out a strangled groan, Sanemi gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

Off to the side, Tamayo immediately approached, holding gauze and hemostatic forceps to treat him with the utmost speed. However, her intention wasn’t to save him. With that thrust, death was inevitable, but by tending to the wound, the outcome could be postponed a couple more minutes.

Sanemi closed his eyes.

Barely a few seconds later, his body began to tremble violently.

Muffled murmurs spilled from his lips, repeating endlessly in the midst of his delirium: "I’m sorry... I’m sorry..."

Seeing this, Marcus let go of the hilt and sighed.

"It worked."

He turned his gaze toward Tamayo, Ivy, and Pearl. Each of them held a vial with a brew: the red liquid of Marcus’s blood, the transparent blue of the Letter of Resignation, and the golden substance of sunlight.

"What comes next is waiting..."

The clock marked the time with a steady tick-tock.

Sanemi’s body gradually regained its calm. There was a chance that, comforted by his mother, he’d managed to make peace with his past. Or there was the possibility that he was about to go completely cold.

Marcus looked at the clock once more.

"It’s almost time." He nodded toward the three of them. "Get ready to begin."

But no sooner had he finished than something unexpected occurred.

Sanemi, whose breathing bordered on extinction, began to writhe abruptly.

With his eyes squeezed shut, his face reflected an agonized mixture of pain, rage, and resentment.

"IMPOSSIBLE!!!"

"HOW CAN THIS BE?!!!"

"I WON’T ACCEPT IIIT!!!"

His voice rose in pitch as his struggles grew more ferocious.

Ivy and Pearl stepped forward to hold him down; one grabbed his shoulders and the other his legs.

Seeing that the cuts were reopening from the strain, Tamayo frowned with evident urgency. "The wound has deepened—we can’t delay."

"Then let’s begin," Marcus nodded.

Tamayo didn’t hesitate. The tip of the needle pierced Sanemi’s neck, and the red brew penetrated his bloodstream.

At that instant, Marcus pulled out the sword.

The demonization began right then.

Sanemi’s old scars started to tear and spread.

The dark marks that had already scabbed over stretched outward, connecting with one another in a continuous web: from the shoulders to the chest, from the chest to the ribs, and from there to the sides of the waist.

They covered his skin in a dense, chilling weave, imbued with an indescribable ferocity.

"ROAAR!!!"

Sanemi let out a deep roar and snapped his eyes open.

His pupils had turned slitted like those of a beast, steeped in a bloody red.

And far from healing, the thrust in his chest worsened, releasing large amounts of blood that flowed through the network of newly joined marks.

In the blink of an eye, the blood completely covered Sanemi’s body, moving as if it had a life of its own.

"Blood Demon Art?"

Marcus’s eyes went wide, staring in disbelief at the blood-soaked scars.

The red lines coiled across his skin, resembling marks of some strange nature.

"His ability awakened the very instant he turned into a demon?"

Sanemi writhed and thrashed madly; his deep growl turned into a gut-wrenching shriek.

Blood raced through his body at full speed along the channels of those marks, as if the external scars were his true veins.

Boom

With a roar that reverberated through the room, the leather straps binding his body were torn to shreds.

The pieces shot off like bullets: the glass of the vials shattered into a thousand pieces, and wooden splinters flew after slamming into the tables.

It all happened in barely two seconds.

Before Ivy could inject him with the Letter of Resignation, Sanemi vanished toward the laboratory entrance.

"..."

Marcus stood motionless, observing the warped experimentation table.

Normally, after demonization there’s a process of adjustment to grow accustomed to the body and unfold one’s abilities little by little; even Muzan himself took it slow. Sanemi, on the other hand, broke every rule.

Was it due to his excessive control over his body, or his blood type?

Whatever the reason, he couldn’t allow him to run rampant.

It was daytime outside!

Two horns sprouted from Marcus’s forehead, while the flower markings turned a bloody red. At the same time, fluorescent blue lines lit up his entire body.

The next second, the brews Ivy and Pearl were holding vanished, and along with them Marcus himself disappeared.

With demonization, godlike speed, and the mark activated, he shot after Sanemi, following the trail of blood.

The blue glow cut off Sanemi’s path in the surface facilities.

The demon, robbed of reason, kept his back hunched at the end of the hallway, panting heavily.

With blood coiling around his body, he looked like a wounded, rabid beast.

Coming to a stop, Marcus watched him in silence, in no hurry.

Behind Sanemi’s back there was only a door, and beyond it awaited a radiant morning.

Given demons’ extreme sensitivity and dread of light, fleeing that way was impossible.

Tamayo, Ivy, and Pearl reached the spot with hurried steps. Seeing Sanemi cornered, they let out a sigh of relief.

"Marcus, inject him quick," Tamayo urged. "Sanemi’s strength is immense—Muzan must already be able to sense his presence."

Marcus nodded and took a step toward Sanemi.

He’d intended to keep him in this form a while longer to make it easier for him to assimilate his Blood Demon Art once he regained consciousness, but Tamayo was right: there was no waiting.

And just as he advanced...

Sanemi snapped his head up and let out a gut-wrenching howl.

—!

Marcus instinctively took a defensive stance, bracing for the attack.

But to his surprise, Sanemi spun around and charged.

"NO!"

"Don’t fuck with me!" Marcus roared in shock. "There’s sunlight out there!"

Too late.

Sanemi smashed through the wooden door with a single charge, and light poured in.

The sound of a sizzling crackle rang out at once. Without stopping, he leapt across the threshold, burst into the courtyard, and kept running under the direct light of the sun.

The sudden turn left everyone frozen.

Demons avoid light: that’s an instinctive rule, an instinct etched into the marrow.

None of them would hurl themselves toward the sun’s rays of their own free will.

Not a single one!

And yet, common sense had just been torn to pieces.

Sanemi hadn’t merely smashed through the door to be under the sun—he was spreading his arms, shrieking in pain as he absorbed as much light as possible.

His body began to smoke. His skin cracked and peeled under the sun, flaking off in scales like the ash of burnt paper.

Marcus wasn’t willing to lose someone so valuable, and in a flash, he appeared behind him.

Sanemi’s body had already begun to dissipate, its edges turning transparent as if he were about to melt away in the light.

Marcus drove the Letter of Resignation into his neck, pushed the plunger all the way down, and pulled it out.

He immediately injected him with the sunlight medicine, introducing the golden liquid into his blood vessels.

Even so, even after administering both compounds, Marcus remained on edge.

No one had ever received the injections under direct sun exposure; it was impossible to foresee the consequences.

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