The scene before my eyes was too vivid to be called a dream.
But it was too sudden to be reality.
"I know that feeling. I understand it deeply. When I lost my brother, I wanted to keep going like that too."
"……"
"But in that state, it will be painful. For those children, and for you. Won't it be pitiful if you don't pray for their peaceful rest?"
"……Ah."
A small house. The stench of decaying blood. The corpses of a woman and a newborn baby swarming with maggots.
A young man crouching, embracing them. Swaying earrings. A man I don't know.
"The breathing technique that person taught is truly amazing!"
"Thanks to that, our combat strength has increased, so hunting demons will be much easier."
"I also want to manifest the Demon Slayer Mark soon and behead demons."
"Oh, you must be a noble. It's Lord Yoriiichi."
"Idiot. Look carefully. That is my older brother, Lord ——."
The structure of an old mansion. Men with topknots engaged in discussion. A man walking in the garden.
A kimono dyed in indigo with black patterns. A stern countenance.
"Lord ——, wouldn't it be good to rest soon? Even training can become harmful if overdone."
"Thank you. But if I don't quickly make up for the experience of falling behind everyone, even for a moment, I won't be able to be as active as Yoriiichi."
"What are you saying? It hasn't been long since you became a demon hunter, yet you've already manifested the Demon Slayer Mark and created a new sword technique, haven't you? You're already doing more than enough."
"I can't be satisfied. With this, I can never reach him."
The man was never at ease. He always drove himself to the brink. As if trying to find a way out in a dead end by pushing and pushing, he was immersed in training to the point where watching him made me hold my breath.
The man's gaze was always directed at his younger brother, and thus, he never looked back at himself.
"Have you heard? Lord —— brought a child attacked by a demon."
"That one with a strange appearance and hated by the sun, you mean? It could be a demon's spy, how careless."
"It's not too late even now. Shouldn't we behead it?"
"What do you think, Lord Rengoku?"
"Lord Yoriiichi guaranteed it's not a demon, and Lord —— is taking care of it. Yet, why are you gentlemen so anxious?"
Rengoku. My surname. But this statement is not mine, and this voice is not mine either. Among those here, no one knows me. This conversation does not exist in my memory.
"Lord ——! Haven't you seen Young Moon?"
"……Young Moon?"
"Ah, I mean the child you brought. The talk of naming him after the recent incident was left vague, but it seemed inconvenient without a name to call him, so I temporarily gave him a childhood name."
"Why such a name……"
"One, because he's still young. Two, because he uses the same breathing as you. Hmm, I think it's a quite fitting childhood name, don't you?"
Even if I try to move my hands, they don't obey, and though I don't think of walking, my feet move on their own. What is this that my unfree consciousness is experiencing?
"Young Moon~! Where are you, you rascal! Come out, Young Moon! Even if you had your dumplings stolen, kicking someone in the face crosses the line as a man…… Ah, Rengoku! Haven't you seen Young Moon?!"
"I haven't seen him."
"Grr, not here either! Young Moon~ Don't be scared, come out~ I'll just give you a light knuckle tap, I'll end it with one solid hit!"
"……Now, Lord Myouju has left. It's okay to come out now, Young Moon."
Through the slightly opened sliding door, white hair peeked out. Calm eyes, unsmiling lips. In this unfamiliar world, I saw the figure of the boy I know only in that child's face.
I tried to call his name, but my mouth uttered a completely different sound. In this world, nothing goes as intended.
"Today as well, Lord —— is instructing Young Moon. His passion is truly remarkable."
"It seems he has already mastered all the techniques he can learn, so it must be the final adjustments."
"Truly, Lord —— has an excellent successor. With this, Moon Breathing is secure."
"All that remains is Sun Breathing, but finding a successor for that won't be easy."
Sun Breathing.
I've read about it in ancestral records. The era of the 21st generation, the Sengoku period story.
In the Meiji era of now, it's the beginning breathing whose only name remains.
Moon Breathing.
This I know. The breathing used by Rei, the boy Urokodaki picked up long ago.
A breathing whose name and existence were unknown until he came, not even recorded in literature.
I see. Suddenly, I realized.
This is the past. What my ancestor experienced.
"It's certain that Lord —— became a demon hunter because of Lord Yoriiichi."
"He only looks at Lord Yoriiichi and never turns to look at himself."
"In chasing Lord Yoriiichi, he even seems ashamed, thinking that the Moon Breathing he created himself doesn't measure up to Sun Breathing."
"No matter what we say, it probably won't reach his heart. But if it's your heart, using the same breathing, it might reach him someday."
"The moon is never inferior to the sun──and that it is also a beautiful existence, please teach him that."
Listening to the words my ancestor wished for, the boy looked up silently. His doll-like expression didn't move at all. Only his red eyes blinked slowly instead of nodding.
"Let's decide Young Moon's name by tonight! Come on, come on, Lord ——!"
"I understand, so don't thrust the brush at me. The ink might splatter. Don't rush too much. What if you write it wrong?"
"But if we don't decide before Young Moon returns, we'll be late for his first mission celebration!"
"Don't shake the desk! The characters will distort. Rengoku, I never thought you were such an impatient man."
"Understood. I'll be quiet like Lord Yoriiichi."
"Stop it. It's already been revealed that he seems quiet but is not at all."
"Ah, you mean the incident during the New Year's Eve where Young Moon and Lord Yoriiichi battled with lung capacity blowing noisemakers?"
"Don't explain the whole story just with the incident name."
The man still had a stern expression. Only the wrinkles on his brow softened slightly, and a bit of warmth tinged his voice. The strangely uplifted brush tip passed over the white paper.
I know because I've experienced it too, that everyone becomes like that when thinking of a person's name. I struggled with it during Shōjuro's time and Shinjuro's time.
The man, the ancestor, even I, just consciousness, believed without doubt in an unchanging tomorrow.
But no such promised tomorrow exists for us demon hunters.
"I heard they were attacked by a demon ambush."
"They went to support but were too late, I heard."
"To lose a successor right before their eyes."
"They said the body was taken by the demon, so they couldn't even hold a funeral……"
"Yet Lord —— maintains a composed attitude, truly admirable."
"Another Demon Slayer Mark bearer died, I heard."
"Even though they hadn't finished passing on the breathing."
"At this rate, the breathing techniques will be severed."
"If it's a breathing technique with many users, there's hope……"
"Sun and Moon are hopeless, I suppose."
"After Lord Kagaya, Lord Myouju and Lord Suuju too"
"No one can defy the lifespan of the Demon Slayer Mark."
"If we lose any more combat strength, the Demon Slayer Corps' existence will be in peril."
"While the remaining Pillars are alive, we must definitely defeat Kibutsuji Muzan in our generation!"
"Demon Slayer Mark bearers alone, those without the Mark in pairs, somehow find Kibutsuji Muzan!"
──Before setting out shouting for Kibutsuji Muzan's defeat, the man called the ancestor.
And he sporadically brought up the story about his disciple, something he had kept buried in his heart all along.
Why he chose the ancestor for this audience was unknown. It might be because they were together when thinking of the disciple's name. Or because almost no one was left to share memories with as the Demon Slayer Mark bearers died one after another.
The man's tone while talking about memories was stumbling and fragmentary, unimaginable from his usual logical self. It seemed as if he was barely spitting out torn pieces of emotion.
"Kōgetsu."
In the midst of reminiscing, the man suddenly whispered. Quietly, as if calling a sleeping infant, he uttered the light that illuminates the night sky for thousands of miles.
"I wanted to call him that."
With the wrinkles on his brow gone, in a voice sunk into emptiness, calmly. His face, where the whereabouts of emotion were unknown, resembled his biological younger brother more the more one looked.
"He died smiling, saying the moon was beautiful."
The ancestor swallowed his breath. Even I, just consciousness, lost my words.
The man's face, filled with void, had no expression at all, and only his eyes were a window revealing emotion.
"But now there is no child to succeed."
Despair, nothing but darkness, presses down on the crimson gaze.
It felt like glimpsing the back of the moon.
"Now it will only decline and fall."
The man was the moon. A crescent moon that endlessly carved away its body through training, constantly wearing away at the difference in skill with his younger brother.
And he had lost the young full moon that perfectly fit that waning crescent.
It wasn't long after that I heard the news that the man who had bid farewell wishing each other luck had fallen and become a demon.
Everyone doubted their ears. But only the ancestor and my consciousness were filled with certainty and turned pale.
The wish the ancestor had entrusted to the young child for the man who didn't acknowledge the moon's beauty. The beauty he had wished the man to recognize was conveyed to him in the worst form.
For the successor who smiled at the moon's beauty, he had fallen and become a demon.
To shine brightly forever as the moon illuminating the night.
To ensure that sword technique would never be severed.
＊
"Rengoku!"
When the name was called, consciousness awakened.
Is this a continuation of the ancestor's memories? When I tried to move my hand with force, excruciating pain rushed in. No, it's reality.
"Are you awake? You're awake, right?! Then use breathing to stop the bleeding immediately!"
Rei shouted desperately, carrying me on his back as he ran through the forest, severely injured.
The sound of footsteps from the right and left rear. The footsteps of a four-legged beast. We're being chased. The rough breathing was similar to a dog's, but what attacked me were no dogs.
"First time seeing wolf demons, I guess, and actually, it's my first time seeing wolves themselves!"
As Rei said, where we headed after receiving a report of beast demon appearances, there were wolves turned into demons. I regret now that I should have been more suspicious of only seeing one.
I was trapped in the fixed notion that demons don't form groups, forgetting that wolves hunt in packs. A mistake shameful for a Pillar. I wanted to bury myself in the ground right then.
As soon as they spotted me, the wolf demon that charged was a lure, and beyond it, an ambush by the pack was waiting.
Compared to humans becoming demons, I had no idea the physical abilities when animals become demons could be this terrifying.
Sharp claws that tore the corps uniform, which should block demon attacks, like paper. Leg strength that closed the distance in an instant even from far away. With such monsters maintaining pack intelligence and swarming, I was helpless.
After beheading a few, I was bitten and instantly suffered severe injuries. What would have happened if Rei hadn't come?
But.
"Leave me. ……Go on without me."
That's the best plan for now. Surviving by burdening the next generation is disgraceful. If he sheds this burden called me, Rei can handle those demons.
"No way?! I'd refuse even if you offered all your wealth?!"
"These injuries are this severe. Even if I use breathing to stop it……"
"Shut up! You can recover! If I say so, it must be true!!"
That's why. Because you prioritize reckless compassion over your duty as a demon hunter like that, you keep missing that position even while being called a future Pillar.
I wish I could roll off Rei's back by force, but with these severe injuries where I can't even hold my body properly, that's impossible too.
"It's a superior's order. Hurry and leave me……!"
"Ah~ ah~ I can't hear you~~~!! If Rengoku dies, mother and Shōjuro, Shinjuro, and everyone else will be sad. Including me!"
"Everyone…… is prepared."
"Sorry, but I'm not prepared yet!"
After shouting at the top of his lungs, Rei soon clicked his tongue. He who was heading straight suddenly changed direction sharply. Was there a demon in the path?
Shortly after, the sound of footsteps from behind increased. I felt something strange.
Since earlier, the wolf demons only chase Rei without trying to pounce. Hunting prey carrying a burden on its back should be easy, but it seemed like they had some ulterior motive.
"Aaaaah, don't follow me you doggies! You live in the forest you live in the forest you live in the forest, I'll live in the Demon Slayer Corps!! Die, you are not beautiful!!"
Since earlier, Rei has been continuously shouting, but it's not out of desperation. It's to call the reinforcements the crow went to bring here.
"You can only be arrogant for now! Tails up at twelve o'clock, just wait till I find a bamboo forest! I'll drop you to the bottom of the six o'clock abyss!!"
But the crow hasn't returned, and there's no sign of reinforcements coming.
"It's hard to think while shouting! Do I have no choice but to shout a song ready to get hit by a copyright hammer?! You get hit by the copyright hammer!"
At that moment, the direction tilted slightly askew again. As I thought, my预感 was right.
"……Be careful. We're being…… led."
"I know! Ah~! Please, reinforcements come quicklyyy!!"
The wolves, why don't they eat the prey they've found with such effort and instead herd it? There's only one reason. That one reason, Rei had also noticed.
"The pack leader is close!!"
Through the torn hood, white hair is sparsely visible. The fox mask that covered his eyes broke long ago.
The wolves intend to offer the supreme prey with red eyes to their leader.
＊
"An unexpected piece of luck. I'll leave the guiding to you…."
＊
With no way out, chased by wolf demons, I soon reached a slightly open space.
A man is standing there.
"I'm truly honored that you've come to find me like this."
The man with a long-faced impression spread his arms and bowed like an actor.
Silk hat, tailcoat, slacks. This man wearing formal attire that doesn't suit this dense forest must be the leader of the wolf pack that attacked Rengoku and herded me here.
"I believed you would surely come if I caused a commotion."
His golden eyes had no numbers engraved. Not one of the Twelve Kizuki, but he exuded an eerie, unknown presence that couldn't be taken lightly.
"I desperately wanted to meet you, white-haired red-eyed one."
"……Have we met before? I think it's the first time seeing you."
"Yes, actually facing you is the first time. But once, when you were exterminating a demon, I saw you fighting an Upper Rank from afar."
……Ah, that time when the mask broke.
Wait, so you were peeking then? What, you're just a creepy stalker.
Judging by the demon's tone, the series of beast demon incidents seem to be all this guy's doing. I thought only Lord Muzan could increase demons, but are there exceptions?
"Ah, white-haired red-eyed one I've dreamed of……"
The demon covers his cheeks with both hands, sending a fascinated look. Don't strike that yandere pose. Don't lick your lips either. It's creepy.
"A taste you can never forget once you've eaten it……"
Heh, is white-haired red-eyed that delicious? A taste you can't forget once eaten.
Huh, does that mean the cult leader from my past life who didn't eat me was actually holding back tremendously? Seriously? Could it be that the cult leader's stock is rising across eras.
"It still comes vividly to mind. The fragrant scent of charred bones, the rich flavor of a decaying neck!"
"How did you end up eating such a悲惨 state."
"The nourishment that bestowed immense power like rare blood to me, a helpless fugitive who had to dig up graves to quell my hunger!"
Not even pretending to hear my retort, the demon continued in a dreamy voice, then opened his eyes wide.
"And this time, I can taste it in perfect condition with blood dripping!"
"No one said they'd quietly let themselves be eaten!"
Even so, on my back is Rengoku, battered and bruised. The reinforcements I trusted never came.
To this demon, I must look no different from a dog rushing in covered in miso paste.
"Rei, leave me. If it's just you, this much……"
"……You're right."
In this situation, there's no choice but to do that. Rengoku, laid on the ground, sighs in relief, and the demon makes a voice as if surprised.
"Oho. I thought you'd surely carry him and run, but you plan to run away alone?"
"No, I won't run. I'll stay here."
Aiming the drawn Nichirin Blade, I concentrate my awareness in all directions.
"Scold me after we return alive, Rengoku."
I ignore the loud sigh from below. The wound is deep and bleeding heavily, but if I don't give up, it's a wound I can survive, Rengoku.
"……My, my, do you think you can defeat my cute children?"
"As long as you don't die, it's not a defeat. If we hold out until reinforcements come, it's victory."
Without taking my eyes off the demon before me, alert to the growling sounds behind, I breathe, pouring tension into the entire gap. The demon bared his teeth and laughed mockingly.
"Expecting reinforcements is futile. My children are patrolling the forest on a large scale elsewhere too. If ordinary demon hunters are attacked by wolves that even a Pillar falls behind to, they'll die instantly without a chance to call for help."
"Then we just need to hold out until morning."
I want to shout boldly, asking if the beast's stamina is sufficient, but there's no room for that. If there was a Reality Marble UBW (Unlimited Bamboo Works), odds would be visible, but unfortunately this is a forest. Not a bamboo forest. No blessing from the old man Taketori.
But engraving in my heart Urokodaki's wise admonition, 'Don't think you can always fight in favorable situations,' that alone settled my resolve.
At my appearance without losing fighting spirit, the demon lightly clicks his tongue, puts the back of his hand to his forehead, and looks up at the sky with an exaggerated gesture. Every single attitude is irritating.
"Sigh, I don't want to waste white-haired red-eyed blood unnecessarily…… but it can't be helped. Well then, children."
Long fingernails point at me.
"Go."
With that one word, the fierce assault began. An attack that shows the essence of the words pack function and coordination. Blocking claws and teeth charging from positions lower than my waist, I immediately understood why Rengoku was severely injured. They're devilishly hard to cut.
The tuxedo demon stops at a distance outside my range, not moving a single step. It seems he plans to leave the dirty work to the wolf demons only.
Beheading the beast demon leader is the quickest solution, but the wolf demons' teeth don't allow it.
Against the wolves that attacked, I deployed the Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon - Incessant. Cut three, severed the necks of two.
I was truly grateful that the breathing I can use is Moon Breathing. Barely holding out against multiple beasts is thanks to Moon Breathing's slashing range.
The principle is similar to the shockwaves created by Wind Breathing. Not as vicious as True Gale, but if you draw the arc correctly with all your might, the slash extends beyond the blade tip.
"Hoh, still holding out."
The demon who widened his eyes then grins the next moment.
"But now the burden at your feet must be starting to get in the way."
That must have been a command to the wolf demons as well. The wolf demons crouched even lower and charged.
"You may eat that. First come, first served, so bite wherever you want."
I cut the wolf demon aiming for Rengoku's head. Almost simultaneously, I barely cut the one trying to bite my leg. ……Only cutting.
The blade was too shallow, not reaching the neck, only serving as a deterrent.
"……!!"
Focusing all nerves on protecting Rengoku, the wolf demon's claw I couldn't properly cut digs deep into my left arm.
At the gushing flowing fresh blood, the tuxedo demon lets out a pained voice, "Ah!"
Dangerous. The wound was deeper than I thought. I stopped the bleeding with breathing, but my left arm doesn't move as I wish.
Noticing my movements have noticeably slowed, the wolf demons' attacks grew even fiercer. With no chance to catch my breath under the continuous onslaught, my hands can't keep up.
I somehow perfectly block the teeth aiming at Rengoku, but there aren't enough hands to block all the claws targeting me.
From below, Rengoku says something. A voice close to a wheezing, rustling sound is probably telling me to leave him or abandon him. So I shouted from the depths of my heart and stomach.
"No way!!!"
No matter what, I won't do that. I don't want to either.
Once, Shōjuro let my mother go without killing her.
It's impossible to run away leaving his father like that.
But deciding that doesn't reverse the unfavorable situation. The claw I couldn't block this time dug into my leg. Of all places, the leg I use as a pivot. It didn't reach the tendon, but with the excruciating pain and fatigue, my knee buckled deeply.
"What a waste! How can it be such a waste, bleeding like that!"
The tuxedo demon noisily exclaims like a monkey screeching. Meanwhile, the wolf demons charge. I barely managed to cut and bring down the ones pouncing, but I intuitively knew I wouldn't be safe if the same thing repeated.
The tuxedo demon knew that too. He ordered the wolf demons, "Wait," then showed me a sticky smile.
"Ah, please surrender. White-haired red-eyed one."
While speaking in a soft voice, the demon carefully maintains distance, never entering my domain.
"You yourself know well how reckless it is to fight while protecting a hindrance, don't you? If you're fated to die anyway, you'd want to end it comfortably. Now, put down the sword and offer your neck."
"………"
I don't put down the sword; I aim the blade tip at the demon's smile.
The demon frowns. A look seeing something foolish pierces through me.
"Give up. Struggling now won't bring any allies to your side──"
"If there's an enemy of yours here."
Immediately after, a storm raged.
A roar of overwhelming violence like an earthquake erupted.
'Something' that violated the gap I was guarding with all my might in an instant, without any warning.
I aimed the blade at the back of that 'something', unable to even react, throwing the demon before me and Rengoku at my feet out of my consciousness.
The roar sounded, and even though it was a reaction in less than a moment, 'something' was no longer there. Only the torsos of the wolf demons, the same number as their heads, and legs amounting to four times that were flailing, covered in dirt.
The wolf demons were all cleanly beheaded without a single one left, but since none reached their demise, this is not the work of a Nichirin Blade.
"I should have taught you how to abandon compassion……"
Right beside me. Gust of wind. Afterimage. A voice that shouldn't be here.
The lingering image of the beloved moon passes by.
Chasing that afterimage only by its presence, I turn back to the demon.
There, I saw the moonlight.
A horizontal slash swung wrapped in layers of crescent moons.
Cutting the tuxedo demon's torso in two── First Form: Dark Moon, Palace of the Night.
The form I first learned from my teacher.
Moon Breathing, known to no one but me and my teacher.
The darkness is deep, the stars distant, and there is no moon.
Even in the world of night covered in pitch black, only that figure was still vivid.
His rock-like stern demeanor revealed him as a swordsman.
But the ominous blade in his hand clearly tells that he is a demon while being a swordsman.
I lost my words. I even forgot to breathe.
Over his composed back, his black hair tied high, the figure of someone overlapped.
I knew the name of that moon.
"……Teacher?"
The demon with his back turned. Only the eyes embedded in the blade in his hand all stare at me at once.
The demon's, shoulders exactly like my teacher's, tremble. A secret sigh drops precisely into the gaps of the night.
That voice, soaked not in disappointment or lament but relief, was also familiar to me.
Scraping the soil with straw sandal soles, the demon slowly turns his body.
Eyes piercing through me. Eyes whose color and shape, as if cut straight from old memories, loosen and form a faint smile.
"Young Moon."
The demon calls.
The name of my past self, who died hundreds of years ago.
In the voice of the beloved teacher who should have left this world long ago.
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