I don't want to be an elf!

If other demons are to join Ratatosk, a way is needed to prevent them from being plagued by the curse.

Tamayo's medicine was indeed effective; she herself was an example of someone who got rid of the curse by constantly taking the medicine. However, removing the curse took too long.

Even if a ghost were willing to join Ratatosk, it would require a long period of recuperation before it could be considered a true member.

By the time they removed the curse, Kotori Itsuka would probably have already left this world.

That's why she needs a faster way to remove the curse.

Using her own self-healing flames to fight the curse was the idea that flashed into her mind.

Fortunately, this method did succeed.

Seeing the demon before her no longer troubled by the curse, Kotori Itsuka felt a sense of joy.

However, at that moment, the basement door was opened.

Looking back, I saw Tamayo, Yushiro, and Tanjiro Kamado all coming down.

The first two people didn't even have time to take off their white coats; it seemed they had hurriedly put down their work and rushed over on their research journey.

"What just happened?"

Tamayo's gaze shifted back and forth between Kotori Itsuka and the demon on the operating table. She tentatively asked, "We could hear the screams clearly from the second floor just now. What...did you do to this patient?"

"Don't get me wrong, I have no interest in torturing people."

Noticing the surprise and doubt in everyone's eyes, Kotori Itsuka said calmly, "I just conducted a small experiment on this person. The experiment went smoothly and everything is fine now."

"Experiment? What kind of experiment?" Yushiro's eyebrows twitched. "This is our patient. His family entrusted him to us for treatment. Don't try to pull any weird experiments."

"An experiment to help him remove the curse."

Kotori Itsuka stepped aside and gestured for him to enter: "The curse of the Muzan cells in his body has disappeared, thanks, of course, to me."

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.

Tanjiro Kamado was alright; he didn't really understand curses anyway.

But for Tamayo and Yushiro, who specialize in curses, this was simply unbelievable.

In this world, apart from Muzan Kibutsuji, there are probably no people who understand the curse on Muzan's cells better than them.

It took Tamayo over a hundred years to develop a medicine to remove the curse, and several years to completely remove the curse from her body.

Even if the man lying on the operating table has not been a demon for long and the Muzan cells in his body are still unstable, the speed of removing the curse will be much faster, but it is absolutely impossible to completely eliminate it in just a few minutes.

However, when Tamayo looked at the unconscious man, her gaze changed.

The curse that was once clearly present within the other party was now completely imperceptible.

Just as Kotori Itsuka said, it has completely disappeared.

"What did you do to this man?" Tamayo asked curiously. "How exactly did you manage to eradicate the curse in such a short time?"

"It's very simple. I exhausted the power of the curse, and the curse naturally dissipated."

Kotori Itsuka made no attempt to hide anything, extending a hand in which a purple self-healing flame appeared.

The reason why demons are killed by curses is essentially because once the curse attached to Muzan's cells is triggered, it will control the Muzan's cells to kill the host.

The demons' regenerative abilities come entirely from Muzan's cells; once Muzan's cells are controlled, they lose their regenerative abilities.

Without their powerful regenerative abilities, all that awaits them is death under the curse.

However, Kotori Itsuka's self-healing flames solved the problem.

The demon's body is destroyed by the power of the curse, but it is also repaired by the power of the self-healing flame.

This process is extremely agonizing.

Ordinary humans could never endure it, and even Pillar-level members could not withstand the extreme output of the self-healing flame.

Only a thick-skinned ghost can withstand it.

After explaining the self-healing flame and how he removed the curse, they understood why the curse had disappeared.

This disappointed Tamayo somewhat.

After all, this self-healing flame belongs to Kotori Itsuka's ability, which in her eyes is similar to the Blood Demon Art, and there is nothing she can learn from it.

However, even if we can't learn from it, having another way to eliminate the curse is always a good thing.

"Leave the task of taking care of him to me for now."

Tamayo approached the unconscious man and checked his condition.

"If he recovers, Ratatosk might welcome a new member."

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Meanwhile, in a luxury mansion somewhere in Tokyo.

In a laboratory filled with various equipment, a young child with black hair and red eyes, who was conducting some kind of experiment, seemed to sense something and raised his head.

A hint of doubt flashed in those eyes, which seemed to be made of congealed blood.

The child's name is Yamazaki Tomoo.

The adopted son of the chairman of Yamazaki Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

However, this identity is just one of his many identities.

With his ability to control his body at will, he can appear in the world in all sorts of guises.

His real name is Kibutsuji Muzan.

"The power I left on that man has vanished," Muzan Kibutsuji muttered to himself. "How strange."

A few days ago, his identity was exposed by a member of the Demon Slayer Corps in Asakusa.

In order to create chaos and leave unscathed, he injected his blood into a passerby, making him his kin.

As the progenitor of all demons, Muzan Kibutsuji can sense the power he leaves within each demon.

Or perhaps, a curse.

With the power of this curse, he can easily control the life and death of ghosts, locate their positions, hear their thoughts, and even share their five senses.

Just now, he felt the curse he left inside the demon in Asakusa disappear.

Moreover, it disappeared in an extremely bizarre way.

"It doesn't seem like they were defeated..." A strange light flickered in Muzan Kibutsuji's eyes. "What exactly happened?"

Generally speaking, if the curse disappears, it means that the other party has been killed by the Demon Slayer Corps.

In that case, the curse will immediately dissipate.

However, he had just clearly felt the curse he left among that passerby disappear at an average rate.

It was as if it was gradually dissipating due to some external force.

This feeling gave him an ominous premonition.

"Asakusa, it seems we need to investigate it."

Kibutsuji Muzan looked out the window in a certain direction of Tokyo and muttered to himself.

"However, the Demon Slayer Corps seems to be keeping a close eye on things lately, so I can't go there myself. I'll have someone else investigate."

Chapter Fourteen: There's Work to Be Done

A month later.

The morning sun was just right, not as scorching as at noon, but enough to dispel the chill of the night.

In Asakusa, in a mansion decorated with wisteria blossoms, Kotori Itsuka is reclining in a wicker chair, basking in the sunlight.

This is one of the Demon Slayer Corps' bases in Asakusa.

After learning that Kotori Itsuka would be staying here for a while, the Demon Slayer Corps lent the place to her as a temporary residence.

The families of the Demon Slayer Corps enjoy good benefits, and as the adopted sister of the current Flame Pillar, Kotori Itsuka, who comes from the Rengoku family, who have slain demons for generations, naturally receives even better treatment.

Kotori Itsuka couldn't help but think as she watched Tanjiro Kamado practicing his swordsmanship and breathing techniques in the courtyard.

How would others feel if they knew that a deserter from the Demon Slayer Corps had brazenly moved into the Demon Slayer Corps' base?

Yes, after visiting Tamayo and Yushiro, Kotori Itsuka took the Kamado siblings away.

After all, leaving those two guys there wouldn't do them any good.

Bringing them back would allow me to spar with them and try to improve their skills.

"Commander, I'm counting on you today as well."

After finishing his warm-up exercises, Tanjiro Kamado exhaled a breath of stale air and gestured to Kotori Itsuka, who was sitting in a rattan chair, that he was ready.

Then, Kotori Itsuka yawned and sat up from the rattan chair.

If she hadn't appeared in this world, and the story had followed the original plot, Tanjiro Kamado would probably be recuperating and learning more advanced breathing techniques.

However, her appearance has caused deviations in the original plot.

Tanjiro Kamado, who originally participated in the trial of the Pillars and was declared innocent, later joined Ratatoskr and became a defector of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Therefore, the only way to improve their strength is through Kotori Itsuka.

As a family member of the Flame Pillar, it wasn't too difficult for her to obtain some information from the Demon Slayer Corps.

After passing on the training method for the final stage of breathing techniques, "Total Concentration - Normal Centrality," to Tanjiro Kamado, Kotori Itsuka stopped paying attention to it.

However, this does not mean that she did nothing during this period.

"Come here on horseback."

Kotori Itsuka picked up the wooden sword beside her and pointed it at Tanjiro Kamado, who was not far away: "I hope you can improve today."

Just as she was Tanjiro Kamado's sparring partner, Tanjiro Kamado was also her sparring partner.

Because, after coming into this world, she also began to practice breathing techniques.

Although, judging from Kotori Itsuka's combat power, the only one who could pose a threat in this world was Muzan Kibutsuji after he was fully transformed into a demon, she still has one greatest enemy.