KANJI 鳴女 RŌMAJI Nakime ALIAS Biwa Demon (琵琶鬼 Biwa Oni?) Nakime Otokawa (音川 鳴女 Otokawa Nakime?) (Kimetsu Academy) CHARACTERISTICS RACE Demon Human (Formerly) GENDER Female AGE >113 (Chronologically) HAIR COLOR Black EYE COLOR Pink AFFILIATION AFFILIATION Twelve Kizuki OCCUPATION Biwa Performer (Formerly) COMBAT STYLE Infinity Castle Manipulation BASE OF OPERATIONS Infinity Castle PERSONAL STATUS STATUS RELATIVE(S) Unnamed Husband Nakime (鳴なき女め, Nakime?) is a recurring character and a supporting antagonist in the Infinity Castle Arc of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. She is a demon who owns and controls the Infinity Castle and serves directly under Muzan Kibutsuji. Some time after Hantengu's death during the battle in the Swordsmith Village, Nakime attains the position of Upper Rank Four (上じょう弦げんの肆し, Jōgen no Shi?) in the Twelve Kizuki.[1] Appearance Nakime is a pale woman with a grayish complexion, who has sharp, blue-stained nails and notably dark pink lips which sharply contrasted the tone of her skin. She has glossy, hip-length hair of a black color, which she wore falling down her back in slight waves that cut off sharply at the ends, with two chin-length strands left to frame her face and long bangs that obscured her large eye set in between them, swept to either side of her nose. Nakime dons a plain-loose black kimono with a white loose yuban underneath, secured with a striped pale brown-striped obi, white socks and no shoes or clogs. She was always seen holding a four-stringed wooden biwa with a large bachi pick. Since becoming an Upper Rank, Nakime took to wearing her bangs as to not obscure her face, showing that she possessed a single large, pink-colored eye with the daiji for "Four" (肆し, Shi?) engraved into its iris. The upper portion of her face was also revealed, and appeared to be a darker gray color than the rest of her pale skin with prominent veins surrounding her one eye. In addition, her hair would grow extensively and resembles roots on a nearby wall. Personality Nakime rejecting Doma's invitation Nakime's silent and aloof demeanour. Unlike most demons, Nakime was not particularly violent or sadistic, and instead is aloof and taciturn, almost never speaking and displaying little to no emotion or will outside of obeying orders. She was extremely loyal to Muzan, listening and following his every order faultlessly, something he appreciated; in fact, her unwavering loyalty to him marks one of the very few instances Muzan ever complimented an individual, though it seemed more likely that he was satisfied to have a powerful tool to use at his disposal. Despite this outwardly one-sided relationship, Nakime graciously accepted his words and told her master she was honored to be of great use to him. She showed little interaction with other demons and seems to be mostly disinterested in their presence. During the Lower Ranks Meeting, she calmly sat by and observed with the same stone-faced expression as the demons were all ruthlessly killed, almost paying them no attention and simply waiting for Muzan to give her another order. Similarly, in the Upper Ranks Meeting later on, she only speaks during two instances; answering Akaza's queries and rejecting Doma's invitation to be at his temple. Despite this, in her battle against Obanai Iguro and Mitsuri Kanroji, Nakime appeared to be very confident in her powers and did not regard the threat the two posed on her; not even speaking to them and remaining unmoving as the Hashira launched numerous attacks against her that would prove futile due to her vast and highly unorthodox powers. Ironically, she displayed the stereotypical murderous behavior of demons when she was a human. This was shown when she flew into a blind rage and murdered her husband after he lost her favorite kimono while gambling. In addition, after she successfully played her usual Biwa performances following her husband's death, Nakime had a habit of murdering people before performances, because she was anxious and her finger trembled which produced an effect on the strings of the biwa that the audience liked. History In the past, Nakime was an obscure amateur biwa musician struggling to make ends meet. The man she married to was hopelessly addicted to gambling who squandered her earnings and savings while contributing nothing to improve their lives. One night, she was scheduled to play her biwa at a particular stage but discovered that her husband stole her only kimono that she used for biwa performances and gambled it away. Enraged, Nakime murdered her husband using a hammer. Shortly after she killed her husband, Nakime realized that the appointed time to play was fast approaching, and she was forced to wear a worn-out, tattered kimono. The crowd did not appreciate her shabby looks and gave her disapproving looks. With the traumatic sensation of committing murder for the first time still fresh in her mind, her hands shook in nervousness as she played her biwa. But surprisingly, the sound coming from biwa as Nakime played with utmost tension, was so beautiful that her audience loved her performance and shouted for an encore. Both her customers and the stage owner were pleased with the unexpected outcome and Nakime was paid handsomely. Since then, Nakime developed a disturbing habit of killing people before performing for large audiences. Every time the sound of her biwa was highly commended and her performance would receive extraordinarily positive feedback. During a fateful day, when she had a routine appointment to perform at stage again, she randomly chose a new person to kill and the target happens to be Muzan. She tried to kill him but failed. Muzan was impressed with Nakime's searching skills and pleased with what she did, so he spared her life and offered to make her a demon. Nakime accepted his offer, became a demon and climbed the ranks quicky and became one of Muzan's top servants Synopsis Rehabilitation Training Arc Nakime in her fortress Nakime waiting for Muzan's orders. Following the death of Lower Rank Five Rui, Nakime was ordered by Muzan to summon the remaining members to the Infinity Castle.[3] She summons them in order: Enmu was the first to be transported to her space, followed by Rokuro, Wakuraba, Mukago, and finally Kamanue. Once all members were present, she takes them all to a platform that stood before her and a disguised Muzan. Nakime sat and silently observed as Muzan proceeded to admonish and kill each member of the Lower Ranks. After he spares Enmu and gives him his blood, while providing a chance at receiving more, Nakime shortly after transported Muzan to the top of the castle near the surface, while manipulating Enmu's position to take him to an undisclosed town through supernatural doors.[4] Swordsmith Village Arc Nakime once again plays her biwa to summon the Upper Ranks to a meeting after Daki and Gyutaro's deaths.[5]When Akaza asks her where Muzan is, she replies straightforwardly that he has not yet arrived. She is also questioned as to where Upper Rank One is, to which she replies that he has always been inside the castle, as Kokushibo was the first to arrive.[6]During the meeting, she once again sat quietly as Muzan berated the Upper Ranks for their continual failures to find the Blue Spider Lily and kill the Ubuyashikis. After he gives the Upper Ranks final instructions to push themselves harder, Nakime summons doors to close off Muzan's presence, ending the meeting. After a short confrontation between Akaza and Kokushibo ends with both demons leaving on their own accord, Nakime plays her biwa again to transport Gyokko and Hantengu to their assigned mission. When Doma is left last and attempts to invite her back to his residence, she bluntly refuses Doma's offer and immediately sends him back to his temple.[7] Hashira Training Arc Muzan orders Nakime to look in a new area Nakime helps Muzan form a map of the Demon Slayer Corps's locations. Nakime, now the new Upper Rank Four replacing Hantengu, is shown to be with Muzan. Using hundreds of small eyeball familiars, she has been tracking down the Demon Slayers and determining their locations and hideout. During this time she was able to stalk several unwitting demon slayers on night patrol,[8] as well as the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito.[9] Expressing her honor at Muzan's compliment for her rapid growth, she uses her technique form a map of the location of the Demon Slayers, of which he had succeeded by 60%, with the ultimate goal of locating both Kagaya Ubuyashiki and Nezuko Kamado.[10] However, one of her eyeballs strayed too close to the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, who instantly crushed it with his hands. Sanemi realized that Corps had been infiltrated but by that time it was too late, as Muzan had successfully found the Ubuyashiki Estate, meaning that Nakime presumably accomplished one of her goals off screen. When the Demon Slayer Corps then arrived at the Ubuyashiki mansion to try and stop Muzan, they are all transported into the Infinity Castle and separated from one another by Nakime. Infinity Castle Arc Obanai Iguro and Mitsuri Kanroji are the first to encounter her, but find it extremely difficult to land blows on her due to her control over the environment.[11] Later on, after Kokushibo's death, Nakime becomes the only remaining Upper Rank and the final member of the Twelve Kizuki During the beginning of Tanjiro and Giyu's fight with Muzan, the latter reveals to the Demon Slayers that Nakime has successfully defeated both Obanai and Mitsuri by crushing them both to death using the rooms of her castle. However, he is taken by surprise when the supposedly dead Hashiras launch a surprise attack on him, still very much alive, and angrily asks Nakime what she is doing. Muzan is shocked upon learning that Yushiro has completely taken control over Nakime's vision, and with it, the Infinity Castle, which he begins to use against the Demon King as revenge for his killing of Tamayo.[13] Muzan immediately begins countering Yushiro, using his own mental powers in order to take back his final Upper Rank, which kicks off a fierce battle of wills between the two demons. This mental fight causes the castle to completely spiral out of control as both wrestle for dominance, and, just as Muzan appears to have taken the upper hand, Obanai and Giyu launch an attack on the Demon lord. He has no choice but to counter, which causes his hold on Nakime to slip as he tries to defend himself and ward the Hashiras off with his own attacks. [14] Yushiro quickly begins to fight back while Muzan is distracted and manages to have Nakime change the battlefield again, leaving Muzan and the Hashira falling.[15] Soon realizing that he can't take back Nakime and fight the Demon Slayers at the same time, Muzan uses his powers to kill his final Upper Rank by crushing her head, which prevents Yushiro from using the castle against him and allows him to fully focus on killing the remaining Hashiras and Tanjiro. As Nakime doesn't immediately disintegrate, Yushiro manages to use her body to push the castle above the ground in an attempt to protect the Demon Slayers. Abilities Overall Abilities Nakime blocks Mitsuri's attack with her Blood Demon Art Nakime uses the Infinity Castle to fight back against Mitsuri Kanroji. Despite not displaying much in terms of fighting ability, as the holder of the fourth highest position in the Twelve Kizuki, Nakime is nonetheless an extremely powerful demon. She was capable of using her unorthodox Blood Demon Art to thwart the efforts of Obanai and Mitsuri at beheading her and stall the two Hashira for most of their battle, with neither of the two skilled combatants being able to so much as scratch her. Talented Biwa Player: Nakime was an expert at playing the biwa, garnering attention from others when she performed while she was still a human girl. Unfortunately her skill seemingly did not translate as a demon, as her biwa playing as the keeper of the Infinity Castle is reduced to random and off-key plucks. Demon Abilities Flesh Manipulation: Though never seen, Nakime is presumably able to create a Biwa out of her flesh, as is the case with the Upper Ranks and their weapons of choice. Nakime's eyeballs swarm an alley Nakime’s eye detachments Eye Detachments: Later, upon obtaining the rank of Upper Rank Four and presumably receiving more blood from Muzan, she was able to detach several eyeball familiars from her body.[17] There is likely no limit on how many she can detach as she is shown to be able to detach hundreds at one time.[9] This allowed her to spy on others from a long range. With this new ability, she was able to successfully find and locate the positions of nearly all members of the Demon Slayer Corps as well as the hidden mansion of Kagaya Ubuyashiki, who had gone to extreme lengths to hide its location from even the highest-ranking members of the Demon Slayer Corps. Nakime checking out a new location Nakime changing her current visual. She has the ability to switch which eyeball she is currently looking through by strumming her biwa. Additionally, Nakime also required the usage of her anchored hair root-like extremities attached to the wall of the Infinity Castle to remotely control her eye detachments spread across Japan, as it is been implied that they act as something akin to additional nerves in order to allow Nakime to process all the visual information sent to her by her numerous eyeballs and manipulate them remotely from vast distances. Should an eyeball become significantly damaged, it will disintegrate.[18] Hair Manipulation: Upon becoming an Upper Rank. Nakime demonstrated the ability to root her hair to the walls of the Infinity Castle as a way to remotely control the information she receives through her numerous eyeball familiars. Supernatural Abilities Extrasensory Perception: Being able to teleport anyone she wants to wherever she is directed to, Nakime is able to sense the presence of anyone inside the Infinity Castle. This can be used to either help give demons easier transport, like controlling the castle to escort Akaza to the Upper Ranks Meeting. Offensively however, Nakime can also force Demon Slayers into the presence of powerful enemies, best shown when she manipulates the Infinity Castle offscreen to both forcefully separate Muichiro Tokito from Gyomei Himejima and bring the Mist Hashira into the presence of Kokushibo, and later escorts Muzan so he could personally face Tanjiro Kamado and Giyu Tomioka. Physical Abilities Immense Speed & Reflexes: Nakime was shown to possess a level of speed comparable to the Hashira, namely of Obanai and Mitsuri, reacting to and successfully evading the former's Venom Fangs of the Narrow Head technique and the latter's numerous attacks without any effort. Fighting Style Blood Demon Art Nakime's Blood Demon Art Nakime displaying her Blood Demon Art. Infinity Castle: Nakime's Blood Demon Art is an alternate dimension that houses a fortress of immense scale called the Infinity Castle. As its owner, Nakime possesses complete control over the space, being able to manipulate and alter it at will by simply strumming her biwa. In her fortress, there are countless rooms with seemingly endless variety, like an open room filled with giant pillars where the fight against Kokushibo took place; a small garden where the fight against Doma took place; a corridor leading to several other rooms where the fight against Akaza took place. Nakime sits at the center of the Infinity Castle, with the entire space being distorted around her.[19] Nakime has also displayed the ability to use her unorthodox Blood Demon Art for offensive purposes. She achieves this by shaping rooms into gigantic pillars and ramming it into her enemies to crush them, as well as tricking opponents into falling to their deaths, as she tried to with Mitsuri.[20] By binding and rooting her hair to a nearby wall inside the castle, she could control the castle's positioning as she likes: shifting and changing the positioning of various rooms and walls as if they were her own limbs. However, doing so renders her immobile since she never tried to actively evade Mitsuri and Obanai. Teleportation: Nakime can also teleport individuals within or out of the Infinity Castle. She first demonstrated this by transporting the Lower Rank demons in order to face Muzan at his behest during the Lower Ranks Meeting, with Kamanue being caught off-guard by his sudden presence inside the dimension.[21] After the meeting concluded, she instantly took Muzan from deep within the Infinity Castle to the surface.[4] The same occurred during the later Upper Ranks Meeting when it concluded, as Nakime teleported Gyokko and Hantengu to out of the castle after being assigned by Muzan to destroy the Swordsmith Village; she also teleported Doma back to his domain within the castle when she became annoyed by his invitation to be with him.[22] Murata and other Demon Slayers are transported inside the Infinity Castle Tatami doors open beneath the Demon Slayers. Tatami Door Portals: Nakime can also spawn portals to transport people outside her fortress or to anywhere within it in the form of tatami sliding doors. She can use her portals for offensive and defensive purposes as well, displayed when she created a portal to negate Mitsuri Kanroji's attack.[23] One of her main duties was to act as a mode of transport for the other Upper Ranks when they are sent on missions and presumably assist Muzan in moving around the country undetected. During the first major confrontation between Muzan and the Demon Slayers, Nakime spawned her portals beneath the attacking Hashira to trap them inside the Infinity Castle.[24] She would do the same to the rest of the active members of the Demon Slayer Corps.[25] Equipment Biwa: Nakime is always seen carrying a four-stringed wooden biwa on her lap. A biwa is a short-necked lute which Nakime used in performances when she was a human, being particularly talented in playing it as well. Her biwa is used as a medium for her Blood Demon Art, as she is required to strum to instrument using a single large bachi pick to use it. As a demon, it's possible that her biwa and bachi are fashioned from her flesh and blood, similar to other tools and weapons used by demons.