The night was as dark as ink.
Marumori Village was located in a small mountain hollow on the way to Sendai, appearing even more dilapidated and desolate tonight.
Taka leaned against a mud hut with a thatched roof, holding his Nichirin Sword as he waited quietly.
He had arrived here at dusk and, led by Sakae, found this half-dead worker.
To be honest, even without any shadow sickness, his condition wouldn't have allowed him to survive the winter.
His skin clung to his bones, his sunken eye sockets were like a skeleton's, every cough was heart-wrenching, black threads and bloody froth in his phlegm, his whole body exuding a deathly aura.
'Although I never saw Asano Shigeru, judging by his brother's description and this man's condition, it's probably similar.'
'It doesn't seem like ordinary consumption or dye pollution... is it the influence of a demon?'
Recalling that his mission from the Demon Slayer Corps was to go to Sendai to find a demon, Taka suddenly felt he was starting to see some clues.
As he was thinking, Taka suddenly sensed a wave of intense malice in the air.
'It's here.'
The dying worker lying on the tatami mat suddenly had his shadow, already as thin as morning mist, violently writhe. Then, as if it had come alive, it was torn and pulled away from the worker's body!
How could that severely ill person endure such torment? He immediately burst into violent coughing, nearly losing consciousness.
Without a moment's hesitation, Taka's figure vanished from his spot in an instant and, like a gale, appeared inside the yard, directly drawing his sword and charging towards an abnormal shadow in the corner outside the mud hut!
"Wind Breathing: First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!"
The Nichirin Sword hummed, tracing a crescent moon in the air. Its speed was so fast that Sakae, hiding in the dark corner of the yard ready to help, couldn't see it at all!
Sensing this sudden burst of killing intent, that patch of shadow convulsed violently.
Black matter rapidly coalesced and shaped itself. A shadow figure, composed of pure shadow, separated from it.
It had no facial features, only a blurred outline of a head and human-like limbs and torso. It was completely black, as if it could absorb all the surrounding light.
Shrrk!
The anticipated sensation of cutting through a body did not occur.
Although the shadow figure hadn't had time to dodge Taka's swift slash and was solidly hit in the body, Taka felt a strange sense of emptiness in his hand.
Like a cloud dispersed by the wind, the shadow figure's abdomen instantly collapsed into a cloud of black mist.
Then, as if pulled by threads formed by invisible air currents, the sliced body of the shadow figure slowly merged back together, restored to its original state.
'No physical form, or is this a Blood Demon Art...' Taka couldn't be sure, and could only vigilantly observe its movements.
After recovering, the shadow figure, like a mass of black mist, slowly approached the wall and merged into it at incredible speed!
Seeing the demon about to enter the house, Taka didn't hesitate. He directly kicked open the wooden door and dashed inside.
The shadow figure had already penetrated the wall, sometimes extending a demonic hand from the roof, sometimes pulling at the worker from the floorboards.
Taka's Nichirin Sword danced up and down, nearly tearing the mud hut to pieces, but he still couldn't find the shadow figure's main body.
He could only passively protect the worker, preventing the demon from seizing his remaining life energy.
Seeing the withered worker's breath growing weaker and weaker, his complexion becoming increasingly pale, Taka knew he couldn't keep entangling like this.
"Sorry, this is also to save your life!"
Taka lowered his stance. The powerful, forceful breath surged through his entire body. A domineering and brutal power began to gather in his arms!
"Wind Breathing: Fourth Form: Rising Dust Storm!"
The Nichirin Sword was swiftly swung up from below!
The spiraling, rising strong wind swept up everything inside the room, forming a clattering, violently rising spiral tornado!
With this form unleashed, the fragile thatched roof was directly blasted apart by Taka!
The shadow figure's form was also cut out of the wall by this strike, tumbling backwards miserably.
Strangely enough, this shadow figure had been focused entirely on the withered worker from beginning to end. Against Taka's attacks, it only defended, never attacked, even though its defensive capability didn't seem weak....
The shadow figure slowly drifted down to the ground along the chaotic air currents, like a bedsheet blown by the wind, or a willow branch swaying in the breeze. It gave Taka a strange feeling.
"Is this your main body? Or is this just an illusion?"
"..."
Since coming to this world, this was the first time Taka had encountered an existence that spoke even less than he did. The opposite shadow figure, whether it didn't want to talk or for some other reason, hadn't engaged in any verbal communication with Taka from start to finish.
Taka glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye at Sakae, who was tending to the worker, and the worker, whose complexion was growing increasingly ashen...
'No good. This thing was still draining his life force. I had to resolve it quickly!'
"Since you won't come to me, I'll come to you."
With a light push off his toes, Taka shot out again. The colorless Nichirin Sword in his hand danced up and down, continuously tracing one precise and sharp slash after another under the moonlight.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
But these slashes, when they hit the shadow figure, aside from kicking up clouds of dust and strong wind, merely tore its mist-like body apart, which then rapidly healed, completely ineffective.
But suddenly, when Sakae revealed his intention to care for the worker and carry him away from this place on his back.
The shadow figure's reaction intensified markedly. For the first time, it made a move to actively attack Taka, as if trying to force him back to prevent Sakae?
'Why...'
Clang!!
Taka's Nichirin Sword collided with the shadow figure's suddenly solidified body for the first time, emitting a violent impact sound!
'What was it worried about?'
Thoughts raced through his mind. Taka suddenly felt a flash of inspiration. His gaze suddenly shot towards the back of the worker being carried by Sakae.
'It's the shadow!'
He remembered those three children he had seen during the day. There was the smell of a demon in their shadows, meaning the demon marked its prey.
And this worker had reached the time for harvest... so the smell on him must be the strongest!
Taka quickly activated his Reiatsu Perception to probe for abnormalities on the worker.
Just as he thought-
There, in the worker's thin, mist-like shadow, a mass of intensely malicious black shadow was tightly pulling at him, as if grabbing his feet!
"There you are!"
Taka suddenly changed his approach, no longer fixated on intercepting this elusive shadow figure.
His blade light withdrew, his body swiftly turned.
He flashed and descended from the sky!
The Nichirin Sword, carrying a killing-intent-laden wind pressure, stabbed straight down at the almost-vanished floor projection beneath the worker!
Thud!
"Ahhh—!!"
A bloodcurdling scream instantly rang out!
The shadow figure, which had consistently been unharmed, suffered its first real injury!
It convulsed and rolled madly! The black mist forming its form fluctuated violently, and its edges even began to show unstable disintegration!
Seeing this, Taka didn't waste words. He concentrated all his wind pressure into a single point and viciously stabbed it into the ground!
Boom!!
The ground instantly cracked open, but Taka didn't stop. He continuously attacked every patch of shadow on the ground.
The shadow figure let out even more bloodcurdling screams, its entire body trembling! Its form grew increasingly thin!
'Now!'
When all the malice in the area was completely swept away by Taka, the shadow figure's illusory form finally could barely maintain itself. And Taka finally saw clearly… this thing might not even be a real demon at all!
It had a dense demonic aura, but no physical form. Now, a single gust of wind would be enough to scatter it!
"Begone!" Taka barked, his sword momentum howling forth!
Whoosh—!!
Like a gale passing through, the shadow figure was completely shattered by Taka's blade wind!
"Cough... cough..."
Almost simultaneously, violent coughing came from the worker in the yard.
Taka sheathed his sword and looked back. He saw that amidst the worker's violent trembling, his shadow was slowly regaining its color. In a few seconds, it turned as black as ink!
Then, his deathly pale complexion slightly regained a trace of color, though his breathing was still weak.
The shadow had returned, but the life force already taken from him was like spilled water, impossible to recover.
'What exactly is going on here...'
Looking at the damaged yard and the faint demonic aura lingering in the air, Taka felt something was wrong....
At that moment, at the Osaki Hachiman Shrine in Sendai City.
A small jade talisman shattered.