Demon Slayer: Breath of Desire

In the second-floor laboratory, the air felt heavy.

Shinobu lay on the examination table, wearing a white lab coat.

The restraining straps wrapped around her waist and legs, securing her completely. It wasn’t out of fear that she’d try to flee, but to keep an involuntary movement from disrupting the process if the pain overtook her.

Tamayo held a syringe loaded with a crimson liquid, ready to administer it beside Shinobu’s neck.

On either side, Ivy and Pearl acted as assistants, carrying two syringes with different reagents.

Ivy held the "letter of resignation," whose transparent contents flashed a bluish tint under the light.

Pearl carried the sunlight medicine, a bright orange shade.

Two reagents, two colors.

Together with the vial of Marcus’s blood in Tamayo’s hands, the set made up the elements needed for the ritual of transformation into a vampire.

It was extremely tedious, but there was no other way.

Vampires were a species derived from demons, and Marcus didn’t yet possess the ability to infect others directly. If he simply injected his current blood, he’d only manage to turn the individual into a primitive demon.

That dominion belonged exclusively to the demon progenitor, Muzan.

Not even present-day vampires could bypass that rule.

Until Marcus plundered Muzan’s Blood Demon Art, the vampire race he’d devised wouldn’t be complete.

For now, the only way to achieve an exact equivalent of the "Embrace" was through a combination of drugs.

Under these conditions, Marcus’s blood would first turn Shinobu into a demon.

Immediately after, the "letter of resignation" would sever the blood curse and the tie that bound her to Muzan.

Finally, the solar medicine would complete the conversion into a vampire.

Laborious, but safe. A method where science came to the rescue of present-day limitations.

Marcus waited beside the table, holding his new Sword. Steeped in his Breathing Techniques, the blade bore a unique rosy-purple tint.

He lowered his gaze to Shinobu, who was staring at him intently.

"Are you ready?"

She didn’t answer right away.

She turned her head toward Kanao, who remained by the wall with her fists clenched, her lips sealed, and her eyes red and on the verge of bursting into tears.

Beside her, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke didn’t look away.

Watching too were those who would soon be her own kind: Ume and Gyutaro, along with Hakuji.

After running her eyes over her former and future companions, Shinobu turned her gaze back to Marcus.

"Really... will I be able to see my sister again?"

Marcus’s expression turned solemn. "I’m eighty percent certain."

Shinobu smiled.

It was no longer her usual standard smile, but a childlike smile that came from genuine happiness.

"Eighty percent... that’s more than enough..." she murmured. "I trust you, Marcus."

Marcus took a deep breath, gripped the sword firmly, and aimed at the center of Shinobu’s chest.

"I’m going to begin. Remember what I told you."

"Don’t worry." Shinobu’s voice was barely a whisper.

"Close your eyes."

Shinobu slowly obeyed.

Marcus’s voice rang out with absolute clarity.

"Shinobu, when you open them again, you’ll no longer be human."

Shinobu didn’t answer; only a complex yet relieved smile formed at the corner of her lips.

The very next second...

Squelch!

The tip of the blade sank into her chest. Accompanied by a stifled groan of pain, blood instantly stained the white coat.

Tanjiro and the others’ eyes went wide, and Kanao could only clamp her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Marcus’s thrust had been meticulously calculated.

As long as the blade stayed lodged there, it wouldn’t cause instant death.

But at the same time, after a wound like that, death was only a matter of time.

It was the only way to trigger the rush of memories before she expired.

There were two paths to reuniting with deceased loved ones.

The first was Makomo’s: by the whims of fate, after dying she’d found a temporary refuge without departing to hell or heaven. A unique situation, almost impossible to replicate.

The second path was this one: making use of the flashback at the brink of death to make contact with relatives who hadn’t yet reincarnated.

Marcus’s plan was simple.

When Shinobu sank into her memories and the countdown of her life began, Tamayo would use Marcus’s blood to turn her into a demon, then inject the other two reagents in order.

Demonic regenerative ability would heal the damage: the stab wound would scar over, and the marks on her lungs, shredded by the ice crystals, would heal completely.

That way she could see her sister and, at the same time, become a vampire.

Triggering the rush of memories while already a vampire was far too dangerous.

To put a demon at the brink of death, you’d have to decapitate it with a Nichirin Sword. And once decapitated, unless it overcame that weakness through sheer force of will like Akaza, not even Muzan could save it.

Before a human turned into a demon, as long as they hadn’t stopped breathing, Marcus’s blood could save them. But after a demonic decapitation, Marcus had no power to bring them back.

That was why this high-risk experiment had come about.

Suddenly, a murmur broken up by pain spilled from Shinobu’s lips.

"Onee-chan..."

"Is it really you?"

Though the voice sounded distorted, everyone present understood her.

"Have you really been waiting for me all this time?"

Seeing her eyelashes tremble and the tears well up without pause, Marcus relaxed.

The soul was still there!

He gestured with his hand to the rest of those present. "What comes next is a family matter of Shinobu’s—step out for a moment."

Ume and her brother were the first to leave.

Tanjiro and his companions exchanged uncertain looks for a couple of seconds before heading out.

Kanao didn’t want to move; she stayed fixed by the wall, her face bathed in tears as she watched Shinobu.

Marcus gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Do you want to stay?"

She looked up at him with a pitiful expression.

"I thought you’d feel bad watching this."

Kanao bit her lip and shook her head firmly.

Marcus let out a faint sigh. "Stay, then."

Hearing that, Kanao rushed to close the door before returning to her spot to sob quietly.

When she’d learned that Kanae had a chance to come back...

Her state of mind had been no calmer than Shinobu’s.

Shinobu was Kanao’s older sister and master.

Kanae, for her part, had also been her master and sister.

As the current sole heir of Flower Breathing, the bond that tied her to Kanae was something a stranger could never understand.

And in that moment, watching her only living family risk her life on the operating table to bring the other back, while she could do nothing but look on...

That feeling of helplessness made her feel profoundly wretched.

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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎

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