Using the best natural pigments available, I carefully coated the petals with a deep, radiant blue—layered so precisely it appeared genuine, not artificial.
The disguised Blue Spider Lilies looked flawless to human eyes. But I wasn't dealing with humans.
That's where my advantage came in.
I closed my eyes. Magicules stirred around me, bending reality itself.
> "Athena: Analysis Complete. Simulated Blue Spider Lily structure generated. Magical reconstruction recommended."
With Athena guiding me, I infused the painted blossoms with layered illusions, each strand crafted from pure magicules. Not only did they look real, they carried the faint essence of life.
With all my preparation, even if Muzan himself dissected one, he would be forced to conclude: Yes. These are the Blue Spider Lilies I've sought for centuries.
Rumors spread quickly in the underbelly of Taishō society.
Whispers of a wealthy young noble with strange flowers in his private garden soon reached the ears of hidden watchers.
From there, they slithered upward through the web of informants until they landed in the lap of one man.
Kibutsuji Muzan.
The moment he heard of "blue spider lilies" in a villa owned by a foreign-blooded aristocrat, his heart surged with a rare, uncontrolled excitement.
But experience had taught him caution. A trap? A trick? A misunderstanding?
Muzan's expression twisted coldly. "If such a treasure truly exists, it will not be left to the hands of those imbecilic demons."
He handpicked one of his human agents—a lowly but loyal servant in the medical field. Into the man's hand, he pressed a carefully written description, not of the true Blue Spider Lily, but of the flower as Muzan imagined it should be based on centuries of half-remembered fragments.
"Go. Confirm it. If you lie to me, even your soul will not escape."
The terrified agent departed, trembling.
Days later, he returned. His voice shook, but his words were clear. "My lord… the description matches. Perfectly. They are as you said."
For a heartbeat, Muzan's heart thundered. He almost could not believe it. But the agent's terror was genuine, and his account was detailed.
A smile—cruel and radiant—spread across Muzan's face. "At last… the Blue Spider Lily."
Out of his mistrust of other demons, his personal greed, and his pride and confidence in himself, he decided to visit the villa himself.
That night, Muzan cloaked himself in his finest disguise—the guise of a famous aristocratic doctor, his reputation already rooted in human society.
Under the cover of moonlight, he arrived at Alex Kurogane's estate, his footsteps silent, his aura hidden.
As he stepped into the villa garden and laid eyes on the shimmering blossoms swaying in the night breeze, his breath caught. His centuries of longing, his endless obsession—everything he had sought—seemed to bloom before him.
His crimson eyes gleamed with unrestrained greed.
"Yes… yes… this is it. The Blue Spider Lily I have waited for. The key to perfection."
He saw Alex standing near the flowers, whom he had ignored earlier due to his obsession with confirming the authenticity of the information personally.
Muzan didn't waste words. His greed had already consumed whatever sliver of restraint he still held.
In a blur faster than human perception, his pale hand lashed out, claws forming as his body twisted into its predatory state. The strike was meant to pierce Alex's skull and claim the lilies in a single instant.
(Alex pov):
The instant Muzan lunged, I saw it. His arrogance. His absolute dismissal of me as nothing more than a fragile human standing in his way.
His claws slashed toward my skull in a blur. To him, it was over in that moment—no struggle, no resistance, just inevitability.
But his hand stopped cold, shrieking against the barrier of compressed magicules I had set in place. Sparks scattered across the veranda.
> "Athena: Defensive measure complete. Probability of fatal damage — 0%."
I didn't flinch. I let him see it—that I wasn't even impressed.
"Muzan Kibutsuji," I murmured, my voice calm, almost casual. "I was wondering how long it would take before you showed yourself."
His crimson eyes narrowed, a flicker of surprise breaking his flawless mask. "...You know my name?"
I allowed myself a small smile. "I know more than that. I know what you want. I know what you fear. And I know…" My eyes slid to the glowing lilies I had crafted with such care. "That you'd never resist this bait."
He stiffened for a breath, then arrogance crushed the hesitation. "It doesn't matter what you know. You're just another insect standing in my way."
His flesh writhed. In an instant, dozens of tendrils erupted from his back, lashing toward me with the intent to shred me to pieces.
I didn't move.
> "Beelzebub: Predator activated. Absorbing hostile projectiles."
The tendrils never touched me. They dissolved midair, consumed into nothingness.
His arrogance cracked the moment his tendrils dissolved into nothingness.
Muzan froze, eyes widening, disbelief etched across his pale features. For the first time in centuries, the "invincible progenitor" of demons was staring at something beyond his comprehension.
"W–What… are you?" His voice quivered despite his effort to sound commanding.
I tilted my head, meeting his crimson glare with bored amusement. "You're asking the wrong question. You should be asking yourself… how long do you have left?"
I stepped forward. Each pace carried no sound, no pressure—yet I could see his instincts screaming at him. He retreated a fraction, lips curling back in fury.
"You dare mock me?!" Muzan's flesh split and writhed, birthing countless grotesque appendages—fangs, mouths, claws, blades, each lashing out with chaotic violence. His aura surged like a tidal wave meant to crush me.
I raised a single hand.
> "Beelzebub: Predator—full activation."
The storm of flesh, the hundreds of killing strikes, all vanished upon contact. One by one, his attacks dissolved into streams of essence and were devoured before they even touched me.
Muzan staggered back, horror twisting his once-calm mask. He tried again, regenerating, splitting, multiplying, every trick in his arsenal unleashed in a frenzy.
But no matter what he created, Beelzebub consumed it all—his strength, his very existence, unraveling before his eyes.
I let out a quiet laugh. "Is this it? The great Kibutsuji Muzan? I expected at least… a challenge."
"Silence!" he shrieked, his voice warping with desperation. His body shifted into a massive, monstrous form, grotesque beyond recognition. A final gambit. A beast born of terror.
But I had already grown bored.
With a thought, I appeared before him—instantaneous, faster than his perception. My hand pierced through his chest, sinking into the very core of his being.
His scream tore through the night.
> "Beelzebub: Predation successful. Commencing absorption of target essence."
Muzan thrashed violently, trying to melt away, scatter, flee in any fragment of form. But Beelzebub devoured him whole. His flesh, his blood, his soul, his endless centuries of memories—everything was pulled into me, stripped bare.
For the first time in his existence, Muzan felt powerless.
His crimson eyes locked onto mine, wide with disbelief and dread. He tried to run—but every movement only hastened his consumption. Piece by piece, the so-called eternal demon was undone.
And then—nothing.
Silence.
Kibutsuji Muzan ceased to exist.
A flood of memories surged through me—his experiments, his obsessions, his failures, his rage.And hidden within them… the near-perfect formula for what he called perfect ghost serum. The very serum he had hoped would free him from weakness.
> "Athena: Memory integration complete. Extracting formula data."
I exhaled slowly, closing my eyes as Athena's calm, precise voice echoed in my mind.
> "Analysis underway… 72% complete. Errors detected. Correcting flaws… Optimizing formula."
"Finalization complete. Ghost Serum perfected."
I opened my eyes, a faint smile curving my lips.with Muzan gone, the path to further perfect myself lay before me.