Chapter 254: Fire and Ice

"Shinobu, your heart is beating so fast."

Marcus’s sudden words broke the silence, making her pulse race even faster.

"...are you done talking?" she asked, a little nervous.

Marcus lowered his head, burying it in her hair. "Relax, we talked everything through."

Shinobu’s body trembled—not only from that sudden intimate gesture, but also from the inner tension she felt about that conversation.

"What did you talk about?"

Marcus smirked mischievously and whispered in her ear.

"Ask her yourself."

Shinobu rolled her eyes. "So mysterious. Fine, I’ll ask her."

With that, she hugged the sword tightly and closed her eyes.

Ten seconds later, she opened them, confused.

"Why isn’t she answering me? Did you two fight?"

"She’s not answering?" Marcus was stunned.

Had Kanae shut herself away because of what he’d said?

He was about to touch the sword’s hilt to look into it, but he stopped halfway.

His eyes drifted aside and he chuckled under his breath.

"Of course we didn’t fight. If she’s not answering, it must be because she fell asleep."

"She fell asleep?" Shinobu looked at the sword in her arms, impatient. "But... why now? Why didn’t she say anything to me?"

"Maybe it’s because..."

Leaning down, Marcus made Shinobu let out a squeal of surprise as he swept her up into his arms like a princess.

"She knew what was coming and decided to run!"

He tossed her onto the enormous sixteen-foot bed and immediately covered her with his frame.

A strong masculine scent washed over her.

Startled, Shinobu put her hands on Marcus’s cheeks to stop him from coming closer.

"W-Wait! She’s still here!"

Her small hands struggled like a cat dodging a kiss from a human. But the nervous look on her face and the shy glimmer in her eyes only fed Marcus’s desire.

Without another word, he shrugged off his bathrobe, took the sword that was still between them, and set it aside.

And he leaned down again.

"Don’t worry, once she’s in a deep sleep she can’t see anything."

"B-But..."

There were no "buts."

Marcus lowered his head and sealed her mouth with a wet kiss.

"M-Mmh~"

Rational restraint gave way to passion, and the moans began to fill the room.

What they didn’t know was that, inside the cornered sword, Kanae’s face was completely red, gritting her teeth, not daring to look.

This man was despicable!

She’d only frozen in shock for a moment, not knowing what to say to Shinobu, and he’d already made up the story that she was asleep.

To top it off, he’d left her right there!

The movements of the bed made the sword sway in rhythm with them.

Inside, Kanae covered her ears as hard as she could, but the moans still slipped into her mind.

An unfamiliar sensation—something that couldn’t be described as heat, embarrassment, or anger—left her dazed.

She tried to do something.

But right now... there was nothing she could do!

’I give up!’

The next second, her figure inside the sword dissolved.

She hadn’t gone off to reincarnate; she simply couldn’t stand the sounds or the constant pounding of the mattress.

She’d been driven to truly fall asleep.

That night, Marcus and Shinobu let loose wildly until dawn.

The previous time, limited by her human body, Marcus had to finish quickly after unlocking the system’s reward.

But this time he would teach Shinobu what pleasure truly meant.

Meanwhile, in contrast to that scorching atmosphere, Infinity Castle was a wasteland of frozen silence.

An immense, endless space where only four figures remained motionless.

Kokushibo rested with his eyes closed, Douma smiled falsely, Nakime kept her composure... and Muzan’s face was twisted.

They’d been in the same positions for ten days.

Ever since they returned from Swordsmith Village, Muzan had gone mad.

He destroyed everything in his path, cursing nonstop for three whole days. He didn’t just punish Kokushibo and Douma for failing; innocent Nakime was hacked to pieces more than ten times.

That entire time, he kept repeating one question.

"Why?!"

He didn’t understand.

Where the hell had Marcus come from?! In less than two years, how the hell had he reached that level? How had he forced him to scheme and plot... only to end up outwitted?

The Upper Ranks, untouched for centuries, suffered two deaths and two abductions because of him. Had he not pulled the other two back in time, they wouldn’t have survived either.

But the losses weren’t the worst part. Muzan cared little about the Upper Ranks.

The real issue was his pride!

He had never felt so humiliated. Not even when Yoriichi was alive. Back then he hid because he knew he couldn’t win. If the opponent is invincible, you accept it and move on; hiding never shamed him.

But Marcus wasn’t stronger than him! That man’s strength was still far below his own. It was obvious Muzan could cut him to pieces if he set his mind to it, and that by devouring him, he’d achieve his desire.

But every time he opened his mouth... a visceral panic paralyzed him.

He couldn’t stop several questions from flooding his mind.

What if Marcus bit him first? What if he really did steal his ability? Even if he managed to bite him back and obtain the perfect body... what good would it do without his power?

In the past it would have been simple: hide and wait. With Yoriichi it was easy; if he couldn’t kill him, he’d let old age do it.

But he wouldn’t live to see Marcus die of old age!

Rage, humiliation, and suffocation.

The more he thought about it, the more he drowned in his own fury. Yet he couldn’t stop turning it over... until he finally understood.

"Go out... and capture people."

Kokushibo rose to his feet.

"Who do we capture? The Demon Slayers?"

Muzan lifted his gaze, fixing it on Kokushibo. "Any human!"

"How many?"

"ALL OF THEM!!!"

"Anyone you see, you capture! If you see a city..."

"You take the whole city!"

Muzan gripped the armrests so hard that his teeth began to bleed.

"Marcus likes killing Upper Ranks?"

"I’ll let him kill them!"

"If one isn’t enough, there’ll be ten! If ten aren’t enough, I’ll create a hundred!"

"A THOUSAND!!!"

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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎

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