Three days later, outside the Hayama training ground.
Today, with Rika's help, Taka had trimmed his hair into a neat black short style. He had put away the worn cotton clothes that had accompanied him all this time, leaving them at the Hayama training ground, and changed into a set of emerald green kendo uniform.
Kenichi, seeing him off, seemed to realize only today that this kid was actually quite handsome.... Previously, he had always been gloomy and unkempt, so he hadn't noticed....
'Damn it... handsome and skilled, so jealous....'
"Taka, remember what I said. If you encounter an enemy you can't handle, try to cooperate with your teammates! In this world, one always needs companions to move forward together, it makes things easier...."
'This child's physical abilities had already far surpassed ordinary Demon Slayer Corps members, but the psychological issues....' Tetsushin thought to himself, 'Perhaps letting him interact with people for a while longer before sending him off might have been better...'
"I understand, Arasaki-sensei." Taka nodded in agreement, once again tightening the strap across his chest that held the Asauchi.
Rika handed him the prepared travel bag and instructed:
"Mount Fujikasane is quite far from here. You can follow the main road south for about seven days, or you can rent an oxcart in the town at the mountain's foot. When you see the mountain covered in wisteria blossoms, you'll know you've arrived.... Be careful."
"Thank you."
After Tetsushin briefly gave some additional instructions about the journey and precautions for the Final Selection, Taka ran down the mountain without looking back.
This was also the first time in two years he had stepped out of Hayama.
"Are you really okay with this, Sensei?" Rika gazed at Taka's retreating figure, speaking calmly. "Wouldn't it be better for Taka to stay here and become an instructor?"
"....The wind beyond the mountains is howling, Rika."
Tetsushin's gaze did not follow Taka but looked towards the overcast sky farther away.
"The power of demons is growing stronger... the Twelve Kizuki are becoming more active, while the quality of the Demon Slayer Corps is declining...."
"Time waits for no one, Rika. Taka is a resilient child. He will be able to help Oyakata-sama..."
"Let's hope so." Rika bowed slightly.
…
Final Selection.
It was the final trial before becoming an official member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
The swordsmen participating in the selection would enter a testing ground called Mount Fujikasane and were required to survive there for seven days.
Mount Fujikasane held a large number of minor demons captured by the Demon Slayer Corps, demons that had only killed one or two people. Their strength was not great.
For powerful swordsmen, this was an easily achievable goal. Therefore, Final Selection served more to weed out ordinary individuals who, without proper instruction from a certified instructor, joined the Demon Slayer Corps relying solely on bloodlust and brute force.
On the cruel battlefield of hunting demons, without absolute strength and the courage to face death, one could not be competent.
A few days later, following the path Tetsushin had instructed, Taka arrived beside a stream.
In both his lives, this was the first time he had traveled such a long distance alone, which somewhat touched his secluded heart.
The wind in the forest, the wind by the stream, the wind over the rice paddies… all different....
Sitting by the stream, Taka increasingly felt that his previous existence was truly worse than a dog's, just struggling daily to survive.
"Aizen...." He had remembered the name of that man with glasses.
Back then, in Rukongai, he had been tricked by a group of black-clad Shinigami into Aizen's secret laboratory, lured by a few meals and drinks under the pretext of cooperating with the Gotei 13's investigation.
There, he felt his soul being continuously torn apart and reassembled, even the concept of time shattered.
Eventually, he was roughly thrown into this world, but that man named Aizen left him with no explanation.
'How do I go back? What am I now? Human or wandering spirit?' Taka knew nothing.
He tightly gripped the Asauchi in his hand. This had been his deepest obsession during the past two years, every time he was about to give up during training.
'I will go back, to the Soul Society, and kill that bastard!'
"You look quite angry?"
A sticky and cold voice suddenly sounded from the stream in front of him. Taka's expression changed dramatically in an instant.
He leaped backward, swiftly distancing himself from the stream, his hand already on his sword hilt, warily watching the water flow that was writhing before him.
Although he was not yet a Demon Slayer Corps' member and didn't have his own Nichirin Blade, Arasaki had still found him a suitable old sword to use for passing the Selection.
"Care to tell me about it, little one?"
An adult woman, wearing a kimono covered in mud and filth, accompanied by a distorted sound, slowly rose from the water and appeared on the bank.
Although her whole body was covered in mud and her hair was wetly plastered to her pale forehead, her facial features were exceptionally well-proportioned and gentle and beautiful, carrying an eerie kind of beauty.
The woman, her eyes flickering with a blue-grey light, stared intently at the handsome-faced Taka, her mouth emitting an unpleasant sticky sound:
"What a fine skin you have... I'm so envious... I want to take it so badly...."
'A demon?'
Taka quickly accepted the other party's identity.
He calmed his heart, sensing the Reiatsu emanating from the creature....
Tetsushin had said that demons fed on humans. Basically, the more people they had eaten, the stronger they became, and they would also awaken various terrifying supernatural abilities. One could not be careless.
And the demon before him... was strong.... felt about the same as Rika....
'It seemed to be a major demon that had devoured many lives.'
The female demon seemed very pleased with Taka's reaction, even drooling sticky strands from the corners of her mouth. "How wonderful, how wonderful.... Quick reactions, sharp mind... I want to kill you so much...."
The next moment, the female demon's body twisted on the spot and pounced towards Taka.
Although her speed didn't appear fast, her entire body was filled with a strange agility.
The ground where her demon feet stepped instantly became soft and slippery, as if it had turned into ice or been scrubbed with soap, carrying her entire body forward in a slide.
In the blink of an eye, the female demon was already upon him!
With a sudden flick, the female demon's pale arm shot out like a whip. Several dark red undulations surged on her arm, seemingly killing moves lurking within her physical attack, instantly detected by Taka's Reiatsu Perception!
The female demon condensed countless fine, bead-like blood arrows, shooting them from her arm joints! Trying to take his life while he was off guard!
"Wind Breathing: Third Form: Clear Storm Wind Tree!"
Almost the instant the blood arrows left her body, Taka had already reacted.
He took a deep breath, his lungs swelling like bellows, instantly drawing upon the airflow around his entire body.
Emerald green air currents were born from nothing, coiling around the blade and hissing.
With himself as the center, Taka instantly swung out a series of counterclockwise rotating blade storms, directly shattering the dense blood arrows flying towards him!
Not only that, after the blood arrows were cut and shattered by the wind blades, the female demon's swinging arm was also neatly severed by Taka!
Her brows tightened, and she quickly leaped back, distancing herself from Taka, her expression turning grave.
"Demon Slayer Corps? Just dodged one group and now I run into another... what rotten luck..."
Shaking her severed arm, a twitching sound came from the severed surface, and then the flesh and blood tissue began to madly coalesce, interweave, and rapidly reassemble at a visible speed.
In a few seconds, a slender arm as pale and flawless as porcelain had grown back.
"You hurt me."