Confusion, guilt, self-doubt, pain, sorrow…
A torrent of emotions crashed into Kazuki's heart, leaving him momentarily dazed.
"There is only one being capable of turning humans into demons—the progenitor of demons, Kibutsuji Muzan."
The words Rengoku had once told him surfaced in his mind, and all those tangled emotions instantly transformed into rage.
"Kibutsuji… Muzan!!!"
Kazuki clenched his Nichirin Blade, his entire body trembling from fury.
Though they had never met, the hatred burning in his heart toward Muzan surged to an extreme.
"Even if I must chase you to the ends of the earth, I will kill you!"
He drove the blade hard into the ground, making his vow.
"Caw! Caw! To the north—Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen are fighting a demon! Casualties confirmed! Provide support! Provide support!"
Before his emotions could fully settle, a second mission had already been issued.
Silently sheathing his blade, Kazuki knew he had no time to linger here. He placed the coat in his hand on the ground, offered a brief prayer for the fallen siblings and all those slain by demons, then immediately headed north following the Kasugai Crow's guidance.
He knew well that slaying man-eating demons was not wrong—yet the image of the boy who died because of it lingered heavily in his heart. It felt as though he himself had killed that boy.
Rengoku-sensei… Shinazugawa-san… Shinobu…
Were all Demon Slayer Corps members burdened with this same responsibility, this same pain?
The guilt of failing to protect humans… the grief of witnessing the world's suffering… being misunderstood and forced to endure it in silence…
Compared to all that, physical wounds were nothing more than trifles.
For someone like Rengoku-sensei, whose life creed was to protect others—how deep must his self-blame have been when he saw that devastated village? And yet, he had still warmly comforted me…
I need to pull myself together too…
Kazuki steadied his emotions and focused on his path.
Before long, a small mountain rose before him. The screams echoing from within confirmed that this was the place the crow had indicated.
Without hesitation, he charged into the mountain.
The stench of blood assaulted him the instant he entered.
Deeper in, torn fragments of Demon Slayer Corps uniforms and broken Nichirin Blades littered the ground. Blood was everywhere—yet there were no bodies.
"Hahahahaha! Are you demon hunters all this weak? And stupid too! You saw the number in my eyes and still dared to swing your swords at me. I'm Lower Rank Two of the Twelve Kizuki!"
A wildly arrogant voice rang out ahead. Kazuki immediately rushed toward it.
At the forested summit stood a demon resembling a bearded middle-aged man, blood-like markings covering the upper half of his face. He was laughing as he strangled a Demon Slayer by the throat. In his left eye were carved the characters:
Lower Two.
Lower Rank Two—Rokuro.
All around them, numerous human corpses were hung from the trees. Thick ropes pierced through their bodies, leaving them twisted into grotesque shapes—legs coiled over heads, arms spiraled unnaturally, each corpse curled into a warped disk.
"A… Pillar… will kill you…"
The Demon Slayer gasped those words with difficulty as Rokuro crushed his throat.
Rokuro sneered.
"I've already lost interest in you lot. Fewer humans pass through here these days anyway—it's time to move somewhere else. If the Pillar you're talking about can find me, let him come."
As he finished speaking, the Demon Slayer's body began to twist violently. Bones throughout his body cracked and snapped.
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
The man's scream tore through the air as excruciating pain wracked him. Rokuro, meanwhile, wore an expression of pure enjoyment.
Suddenly, a figure burst onto the scene at incredible speed.
A flash of cold light—Rokuro's arm, the one gripping the Demon Slayer, was severed. He leapt back at once, regenerating the lost limb in an instant.
To avoid harming the captive human, Kazuki had not used a sword form.
"Can you still get away?"
He flicked away the severed arm and asked the swordsman.
"Don't… let it touch you…"
Instead of answering, the man warned him first.
Rokuro chuckled as he watched the swordsman being rescued.
"You think you saved him just like that?"
As his words fell, the rescued swordsman's neck twisted a full three hundred and sixty degrees. His body went limp and collapsed to the ground.
"Hahahahaha! What a shame. I touched him for too long,"
Rokuro mocked.
The feeling of holding another's life and death in his grasp thrilled him—it helped ease the fear he felt toward a certain demon.
"You're a demon hunter too, right? Then you should know what the number in my eye means. My power isn't something trash like you can handle. How about this?"
He shouted at Kazuki.
"If you bring me more humans to eat, I'll let you live. What do you say?"
As a demon, he would never release prey that had reached his mouth. He said this only to humiliate demon hunters.
Kazuki said nothing.
He gently laid the fallen Demon Slayer's body on the ground, then rose and walked slowly toward Rokuro.
He knew exactly what the numbers in a demon's eyes represented—Rengoku had told him long ago. Demons bearing numbers were direct subordinates of Kibutsuji Muzan, members of the Twelve Kizuki, possessing terrifying strength.
But none of that mattered to him.
All that mattered was killing these demons.
The corpses hanging from the trees assaulted his senses, fueling the blaze of his anger.
"Why trample upon life?"
Though the fury in his heart had reached its peak, Kazuki's voice was calm—
a calm that concealed boundless wrath.
He knew he might never receive an answer from a demon. He knew this would soon become a fight to the death.
Yet he still asked.
"What?"
Rokuro uttered in confusion, unable to comprehend why this demon hunter was questioning him.
"Life grows old. Life falls ill. Life is wounded. Life fades away.
Simply to live is already difficult enough—so why do you take the lives of others so lightly?"
The low voice echoed through the open forest. Moonlight poured down upon Kazuki, making the flame-shaped mark on his forehead glow ever more vividly.
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