Some people can tell at a glance that they are the same kind.
They are wounded in the same way, pitiable in the same way, and like young beasts, even if they meet, they will not huddle together for warmth.
Mount Fujikasane. The second night of the Final Selection. A full moon hung high overhead.
"Hey! Woman! You've already circled around this place three times!"
Sanemi barked irritably, and with that face of his, he looked all the more vicious. He was thoroughly dissatisfied. He had thought that following Sui around would mean hunting demons left and right, but they had wandered until midnight now without seeing even a single one.
The mountain was empty. Moonlight barely filtered down through the black forest.
That was wrong. This was Mount Fujikasane, the site of the Final Selection, a place where demons should have been gathered in droves.
If they could make several loops through the area without seeing the shadow of a single demon, then something had to be wrong with this part of the mountain. Sanemi was hot-tempered, but his mind worked just fine. He began privately thinking through what could possibly have caused every demon in this area to disappear.
Then, all at once, he remembered something hunters in the village used to say.
If an entire mountain has no trace of beasts left on it, then perhaps a stronger predator has arrived.
At that thought, Sanemi instinctively tightened his grip on the handles of his iron shears. Only a weapon gave him any sense of safety.
Meanwhile, the woman leading the way ahead of him strolled as casually as if she were out enjoying the scenery, carrying her long sword loosely in one hand. She did not look like a swordsman at all.
Tap.
Sui stopped.
Sanemi immediately went on guard, scanning the surroundings, his gaze sweeping over every blind spot between the trees.
There was nothing.
"I'm tired of walking," Sui said, turning back to him.
Sanemi froze, and the next moment veins bulged across his forehead.
"So I've decided to switch to a more efficient method. Though it's going to make quite a scene," Sui added before he could blow up.
That single line doused the flames of his anger, though his expression only grew more ferocious. He seriously suspected this woman was just messing with him.
"You damned woman! Wait—what are you doing?"
Sanemi stared as Sui drew her sword and lightly cut across her fingertip.
She smiled at him.
"That demon from before, the one who kept trying to eat you, reminded me of something. These creatures lose their minds over people with rare blood."
A thin line opened across the tip of her finger, and a drop of blood fell to the ground.
Elsewhere on Mount Fujikasane, one of the candidates had already fallen into danger. His Breathing Technique was not smooth enough, and his swordsmanship was not sharp enough. Only now, facing a demon's attack for real, did he understand why, no matter how well he trained, his cultivator had always worn such a grim expression and had never held much hope for him.
"Kid! Your swordsmanship couldn't kill a chicken!"
The demon snarled hideously. After sidestepping one slash, it whipped around and tore into the candidate's shoulder with a claw. The pain was so immense that the boy screamed, but even then he clung desperately to his Nichirin Blade.
That blade was the last bit of clarity left to him through the pain.
If he let go of the Nichirin Blade, then he would be throwing away the only means he had to fight a demon.
That would be the same as suicide.
The candidate slashed back, but to the demon his counterattack was painfully slow. After dodging him a few more times, the demon grew bored of toying with such a weak prey.
"You're complete trash. Just die already and become my dinner!"
With a savage grin, it lunged, claws raking straight toward the candidate's throat.
No good! I can't block this in time!
The candidate screamed inwardly—
"Huh? Wh-what?"
He opened his eyes.
The death he had been bracing for never came.
The demon's claws had stopped a few inches in front of his face.
Its whole body was swaying. Its deathly pale face had flushed a strange red, like a drunkard deep in his cups.
Drool hung from the corner of its mouth. Its gaze on the candidate was unfocused and dazed.
What demon slayer would let a chance like this slip away?
The candidate tightened his grip on his Nichirin Blade and slashed at the demon's neck—
But the demon dodged.
Its eyes were fixed on something in the distance, and in the next instant it plunged into the forest and vanished.
The candidate looked up and saw black shadows rising beneath the full moon.
They were all demons.
Every last one of them was running in the same direction.
"What... what is going on?"
The candidate had never seen anything like it.
"So many demons?"
"Drip—"
Sanemi felt the ground beneath his feet begin to tremble.
A strange fragrance spread through the air, strong enough that even he could smell it. It was floral, yes—but mixed into it was something else, something medicinal. His mother had been beaten often enough by that bastard father of his, and Sanemi had treated her wounds often enough, that he recognized the medicinal note at once.
He frowned.
"You're rare blood too?"
"Going by a demon's standards, if you're worth a hundred men," Sui said lightly, "then I'm worth a thousand."
A thousand?
That had to be a joke.
Sanemi's eyes widened. He had never heard of anyone with rare blood on that level. If a person with blood like that really existed, then how strong would a demon become after devouring them? A tiny cut alone would probably be enough to draw every demon's attention.
How had she survived until now?
People get hurt as they grow up. With rare blood this potent, a single wound should have doomed her. Demons across mountains would have picked up the scent and never stopped until they had eaten her.
Sanemi shook his head. This woman only became more mysterious by the minute. Combined with her flawless beauty, she gave him the eerie feeling of some ancient spirit or demon stepped straight out of a folktale.
As Sanemi was thinking, more eyes appeared in the forest.
They shone in the dark, fixed greedily and obsessively on the girl whose blood had just touched the ground.
That strange fragrance spread farther and farther. Birds burst shrieking from the mountain. The ground trembled, as if ten thousand wild horses were galloping through the woods—
but they were no horses.
They were demons.
Demons racing in from every direction, jaws open and claws outstretched, desperate to drink her rare blood.
The girl had not lied.
Her blood had drawn nearly every demon on Mount Fujikasane to her.
Sanemi's expression changed sharply.
This... this was what a thousand men's worth of rare blood could do?
The demons could no longer restrain themselves. Even weakened as they were by Mount Fujikasane and the constant torment of the wisteria blossoms, every trace of pain had vanished from their minds the moment they looked upon the girl beneath the moon.
They wanted only one thing.
To eat her.
If they could eat her, then this prison would never be able to hold them again.
The demons rose. They advanced. They crowded together into a moving wall of black, drooling hungrily as they closed in.
Low, mindless growls rumbled from their throats.
Any normal person faced with that many demons would already have been scared out of their wits.
"Hah—"
The girl exhaled softly.
Sparks burst at the crimson corners of her eyes. Dark violet lightning coiled around her haori as she lowered herself, one hand settling on the hilt of her sword.
The activation of her Breathing Technique brought a flush to her cheeks as well. On a face so pale and perfect, that bloom of red should have been the kind of lovely sight that lifted the heart at a glance.
But the only ones seeing it were the demons, who kept advancing with jaws spread wide.
At least Sanemi, standing behind her with a healthy sense of beauty, could only see the back of a figure wrapped in rising lightning.
"Hey! Woman!"
Sanemi took up his iron shears.
"You really know how to cause trouble!"
That was what he said, but his grin was even more savage than the demons'.
No one answered him.
"Thunder Breathing, Second Form: Rice Spirit."
Thunder Breathing, Second Form: Rice Spirit—
a technique that unleashed five lightning-shaped slashes in the instant the Breathing began, carrying the signature speed and swiftness of Thunder Breathing swordsmanship.
And in Sui's hands, it became something even more absurd.
She bent low, dark-violet lightning flashing around her, ten serpents of thunder lashing out and crashing into the wall of demons. Terrifying shockwaves burst outward. Each serpent of lightning shattered a demon apart, and Sui stepped through the collapse, her blade drawing across another demon's neck.
The seemingly impenetrable wall broke apart in an instant.
"Beautifully done! You woman! That was incredible! Too damn incredible!"
Sanemi threw up an arm and roared in delight.
Sui spun low against the ground, her haori fanning out like butterfly wings. She paused for only the briefest heartbeat—
and then thunder roared again.
"Hahahahaha! Now this is the kind of demon hunt I came for! Wind Breathing, First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!"
Sanemi leapt into the demon pack with iron shears in hand, crashing down with gale-force pressure. Three demons were sent flying at once, and the blades of wind he kicked up tore their heads clean off.
"They're all trash! Die already! Ahahahaha!"
Laughing wildly, Sanemi hacked and tore through the crowd, demon blood soaking his sleeves.
And still the demons kept coming.
Drawn ever closer
to the storm raging in the heart of the mountain.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter95)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 55
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 45
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 32
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 31
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 31
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin