The Demon Queen

The Eternal Paradise Cult

It was when Kokushibou came back with some information. He told us that there were some disappearances of young women who were involved with some cult called Eternal Paradise Faith. According to Kokushibou, several young women who were deeply immersed in the cult disappeared recently, but when authorities were brought to investigate the cult headquarters, there was not a trace of anything suspicious to be found.

"A cult?" Muzan asked with a raise of his eyebrow. "Why would I care?"

"I heard that the leader of this Eternal Paradise Faith cult collects flowers and decorates the inside of his temple with them," Kokushibou replied. "And, I've heard that he has a fondness for lotuses and spider lilies."

Muzan's attention immediately sharpened. "Is the Blue Spider Lily there?"

Kokushibou bowed his head. "Unfortunately, I have not been inside the temple myself, Muzan-sama. Besides, any extraordinarily rare items might be stored in a special place in the temple where visitors don't have access."

I nudged Muzan. "You know, he's right."

"I didn't want to be bothered going out to some cult," he said. He then sighed and brought his attention to Kokushibou. "Kokushibou, tell us how to get to this cult. I need to see myself if the Blue Spider Lily is there. And if it's there, I need to take it myself to be sure it's handled properly." He paused, smirking very slightly at the corner of his mouth. "If you brought the flower back and damaged it somehow, I might have to kill you, Kokushibou. I don't wish to have to kill you."

You didn't have to say that, I thought and rolled my eyes.

"Thank you, Kokushibou, for informing us of this," I said and nudged Muzan with my elbow.

"Ow! Stop that," he muttered to me.

That was how we ended up at the Eternal Paradise Faith Cult.

Muzan and I approached a generously-sized temple located in the outskirts of Edo. As would be expected at night, no one was standing outside the temple waiting to be allowed in. Some lanterns hung from the edge of the roof towards the entrance, but otherwise the windows were dark. When Muzan and I went to the door, we saw how it was ornately carved with decorations in the shape of lotus flowers.

"No spider lily," Muzan scoffed.

"I don't think they want to greet their visitors with a flower symbolising a part of the passage through death," I said. "The lotus means enlightenment and purity. It's better for business."

Muzan suddenly snickered. "Of course, you know about this scam and how to pull it off." He snickered some more. "Truly a scam, since neither of us have ever seen a Buddha or God over all these centuries."

"That's because it doesn't exist," I said and put my hand by the edge of the door to unlock it with my powers.

"That's what I just said. It's all a convenient lie to keep the humans under some sort of control."

The door clicked as it became unlocked.

"But we are real, Sakura."

I looked at Muzan. "I know." I pushed the door open. "Let's go. I want to check this place out."