Three days passed in a flash and Shinobu finally decided to leave the Eternal Paradise Cult. Finding Douma wasn't hard, he was always lingering around like an insecure puppy.
"Douma, I want to go back to the Butterfly Mansion."
She said seriously, her sword hung by her side.
Douma turned away from admiring his wisteria flowers, then smiled at her.
"Ah? Shinobu-chan is leaving?" He spread his fans and covered the lower half of his face to hide a pout. "It's daytime so I obviously can't follow Shinobu-chan, ah, what a letdown."
He sighed dramatically, his handsome face portraying sadness.
"I bet you have something in mind for your former workplace, right?"
Shinobu nodded, still questioning herself about why she had to inform him that she was leaving. Well, there was no turning back.
"Mn, mn. Shinobu-chan is an extremely smart person. Come back safely okay?" His voice dropped low, "Or I might be forced to come looking for you by... myself."
A subtle chill spread as he mentioned the last word, reminding Shinobu that he was still a demon despite his humanly looks and attitude.
Very quickly, he adopted a cute but sad expression. "But living alone without Shinobu-chan is so sad..."
The Hashira's brows creased. She gave him a look of a mother looking at her grown up offspring acting childish.
'What am I even thinking...?'
Sighing, she ignored him and turned to leave. However, his arms suddenly embraced her from behind, his nose pressed to her neck. He took a deep breath of her scent and nibbled on her earlobes, sending a shiver through the demon slayer.
"Uh.."
After a minute of mental torture and body pleasure, he released her. Unwilling to further increase her embarrassment, she hurriedly ran out of the cult, nodding to the followers' farewells.
Left alone in the room, Douma's smile widened and his eyes became upturned. The sensation of holding his dear Shinobu and nibbling her ear was addictive.
'Oh my~ I should start doing this very often.'
Smiling with twisted joy, he descended into the underground palace of the cult.
He walked on the wooden pathway, watched flowers float on the clear waters in tranquil.
He found his corner and sat on his bean bag, lazily resting his chin on his palm.
The snowflakes in his eyes spun.
....
The world changed. Although the scenery and everything else was the same, Douma could tell. After all, it was his illusion domain.
Ume, Gyutaro, Saki and Nakime appeared with a single thought from him, looking astonished.
"We're in an illusion right, Douma-sama?" Saki voiced her doubts, looking around carefully. She had been trying to harness hamon when her consciousness was suddenly pulled here.
Douma nodded, confirming her conjecture.
Unlike her, Ume wasn't so reserved. The demon girl walked towards Douma and sat beside him, even resting her head on his shoulders.
"Big brother, it's strange." She said softly.
Douma hummed, prompting her to continue.
"When you first turned I and my brother to demons, I became a sadist." She started, earning a glance from the other demons. "I enjoyed it y'know. Watching those servants squirm under my gaze was thrilling, but now..."
She paused, then sighed. "Now, I don't feel like that anymore. And what is strange is that I find nothing wrong with that."
She looked up to him, her oceanic blue eyes locking his rainbow colored eyes.
Douma offered her a small smile, then patted her cheeks.
"Indeed, it should feel strange. However, the mind is a complicated matter so you shouldn't put much thoughts into it, hmn?"
He said comfortingly, admiring her beautiful face and silently enjoying the mass pressed onto his arm. He didn't have the energy to explain that his own emotionless self was the reason why they were losing their old twisted emotions so easily.
He sometimes wondered if they would become as emotionless as him. Probably not.
"Hmn. I understand." Ume nodded.
Clap! Clap!
Ever the siscon, Gyutaro clapped for his sister, praising her. "My little sister is so wise."
Even Douma gave him a weird look but remained silent. Finally, Nakime spoke, her voice echoing in the illusory chambers.
"Master, you summoned us for a reason, I presume?"
Douma's eyes lit up like he finally remembered something. "Ah! Thank you for reminding me, Nakime-chan. I totally forgot."
Nakime quietly rolled her eyes. She somehow felt like her new boss was too unreliable and unserious. Muzan could never be like this. However, she still preferred him over Muzan. At least he could smile all the time. If only she knew how many of his smiles were fake and hollow.
"I wanted to inquire, how is your training going?"
He had taught them how to sense hamon in the air and store it in their meridians, further increasing their energy reserves. And after that, he ensured they trained their new abilities in his illusions at least twice a day.
Before they could answer, he stood up and waved his fan, transforming the land into a plain field.
"Nevermind. Let's test it out instead."
The demons looked at each other, contemplating his words.
"Come on, don't worry. It's just an illusion anyway. And I'm sure you don't have the ability to injure me anyways."
He taunted with an annoying smile.
"You asked for it. Don't panic when I cut you." Gyutaro growled as his sickles spun to life.
"Oh, c'mon. Let's give it a try."
Douma beckoned for him to come, his smile growing wider.
"Ice Demon Arts: Freezing Sickles."
Gyutaro shot forward, his sickles creating deadly arcs of ice that tore straight at the demon progenitor.
Douma hummed in approval, then waved his fan. A massive gust of wind crushed the ice that came towards him, surprising the other demons. They hadn't expected him to get hurt by that, but still...
It had been so effortless.
"Well, you need to try harder, Gyutaro-kun. Those things barely tickle me."
Ume joined her brother, her sashes expanding into long stretches of metallic clothes.
"Ice Demon Arts: Malevolent Sash."
The sashes came crashing like heavy whips. Loud clangs rang out every time Douma blocked with his fans, though he barely felt the force.
"Hm. Not bad." He nodded at the siblings effort.
"That's not all, Big Brother." Ume grinned, then clasped her hands. "Ice Demon Arts: Wintry Domain."