Chapter 263: Nakime’s Deal

No screaming.

This time, Muzan was truly terrified.

Boom

His whips slammed into the floor and he was about to launch himself like an arrow.

Little did he know that a small hand had already gripped the hilt of the sword driven into the floor.

"Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust."

A whisper...

A flash...

The blade silently pierced the back of Muzan’s neck, emerging straight out of his mouth.

Muzan’s body froze.

His pupils contracted as he stared at the bloody blade jutting from his mouth.

A choked sound rose from his throat as blood began to run out of his mouth.

Huh...?

Marcus hadn’t left?

Boom!

A roar erupted behind Muzan: the burst of a slash unleashed by Kokushibo.

A figure flew backward in response, and the long sword that had run through its skull was pulled free.

Muzan looked back and saw dust rising. "Marcus... didn’t leave?"

"It’s not Marcus!" Kokushibo’s expression was grave.

The feel of his slash wasn’t right.

"Water Breathing, Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow."

This time Muzan heard it and saw it clearly.

A small figure, holding a sword nearly as tall as itself and wrapped in currents of water, emerged from the haze.

With absolute determination, it lunged at him.

...

At the central position of the Infinity Castle.

Marcus, with a smile, pressed his hand to the neck of a black-haired girl dressed in a kimono.

He didn’t strangle her or cut her; he simply laid his palm against her skin and, when he pulled it away, revealed a thin needle between his fingers.

"See, I told you it was just a shot. It doesn’t hurt."

Thud

The biwa the girl was holding slipped from her hands. The veins across her body swelled for a second, then subsided.

"Is this... the resignation letter?"

The girl’s voice was cold and serene.

Confused, she raised her hand and watched as her skin returned to its natural color and her sharp nails shrank down until they rounded off.

When she lifted her head, her long, silky black hair slid down both sides of her face, leaving Marcus stunned.

Thin eyebrows, small lips, and flawless skin, along with eyes as calm as water.

Yes, eyes.

There was no longer just one.

If one had to define Nakime in that moment, the word would be: gentle.

"Have you come... to take me with you?"

Nakime regarded him calmly, without panic or fear.

Marcus laughed, somewhere between surprised and delighted. He hadn’t expected Nakime to look like this after losing her demonic features.

"Why couldn’t I have come to kill you?"

Nakime looked at him calmly. "Because you’re a pervert."

"..."

"Besides, if you wanted to kill me, you wouldn’t have wasted the medicine on me."

"..."

Nakime’s voice was as expressionless as if she felt no emotion at all, yet it left the corner of Marcus’s eye twitching as he tried to relax.

"Doesn’t seeing me standing in front of you scare you even a little?"

Nakime tilted her head. "Are you scarier than Muzan-sama?"

"..."

"Are you more fickle than Muzan-sama?"

"..."

"Are you more—"

"That’s enough." Marcus waved his hand with a headache, letting a bitter smile show. "You’re right, in those areas I can’t beat him."

"Even so... doesn’t my arrival surprise you at all, or make you nervous?"

Hearing this, Nakime lowered her head, carefully picked up the biwa, and held it in her lap.

"I’m useful."

Watching her, Marcus turned serious. Nakime’s voice sounded calm, but it concealed a kind of... clarity that one shouldn’t have as a tool.

"Did it ever occur to you that one day I’d come looking for you?"

"It did...," she raised her face to look at him. "I even thought about going to look for you myself."

"What the fuck?"

If Nakime hadn’t been fazed by his intrusion, her words certainly left Marcus stunned.

Narrowing his eyes, he studied her seriously.

"Look for me?"

"Yes." Nakime looked at him with a serious expression. "When I sent my eyes outside to watch you, I thought about looking for you." A faint flicker of resentment crossed her gaze. "But since you’d frightened Muzan-sama to the point of forcing him to stay inside the Infinity Castle the whole time... I was afraid he’d find me out. After that, I didn’t dare think about it anymore."

Marcus stayed silent for a moment. "...What did you want to look for me for?"

Nakime lowered her head and, after a brief pause, spoke.

"I wanted... to make a deal with you."

"A deal?"

"Yes." Nakime lifted her head, curving the corner of her lips into a subtle smile. "Marcus... do you want the Infinity Castle?"

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