Chapter 22: The Faceless Shadow Demon
Night fell like spilled ink.
Marumori Village lay tucked within a small mountain hollow on the road toward Sendai, looking especially desolate under the cover of darkness.
Asuka leaned against the outer wall of a mud-brick house roofed with thatch, his Nichirin Blade held across his arms as he waited in silence.
He had arrived at dusk. Guided by Asano Mori, he had found the half-dead worker living here.
To be honest, even without any Shadow Sickness, this man wouldn't have survived the winter.
Skin clung tight to bone. His sunken eyes resembled a skull's hollow sockets. Every cough tore through his chest, blackened phlegm streaked with blood splattering from his lips. A palpable aura of death hung about him.
Based on Mori's description of Asano Shigeru—and this man's condition—the two cases were almost certainly identical.
"This doesn't look like ordinary tuberculosis… or simple dye poisoning," Asuka thought.
"Is this truly the work of a demon?"
Recalling that his assignment from the Demon Slayer Corps had been to track a demon in the direction of Sendai, Asuka felt the pieces finally beginning to align.
Then—
A sudden surge of malicious intent rippled through the air.
It's here.
Inside the house, the worker lay barely conscious on his tatami mat. His shadow—already as thin as morning mist—suddenly writhed violently, as if it had come alive, tearing itself away from his body.
The dying man erupted into a fit of violent coughing, nearly choking on his own breath.
Asuka did not hesitate.
His figure vanished in an instant, reappearing like a gust of wind in the courtyard. He drew his blade in one smooth motion and slashed toward an unnatural shadow clinging to the outer wall.
"Wind Breathing—First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!"
The Nichirin Blade hummed sharply as it carved a crescent arc through the air, moving so fast that even Asano Mori—hiding nearby to help—couldn't follow the strike.
The shadow convulsed violently.
Pitch-black matter surged and condensed, forming a shadow demon—a being composed entirely of darkness. It had no facial features, only a vague head shape and humanoid limbs. Its body devoured light, as though it were a void carved into the world.
Shk—!
There was no solid resistance.
Although Asuka's blade struck true, the sensation in his hands was wrong—an eerie emptiness, as if he had cut through smoke. The demon's abdomen dispersed into black mist, then slowly reassembled, threads of invisible energy drawing its form back together.
"No physical body… or is this a Blood Demon Art?" Asuka narrowed his eyes, watching carefully.
The shadow demon, fully reformed, drifted toward the wall like a cloud of ink and sank straight into it.
Seeing it move toward the house again, Asuka kicked open the door and charged inside.
The demon melted through the walls, ceiling, and floor—its hands emerging unpredictably, clawing toward the worker. Asuka's blade flashed again and again, nearly demolishing the fragile mud house, yet he still couldn't find the demon's true core.
All he could do was defend—keeping the demon from draining the last remnants of the man's life.
But the worker's breathing grew weaker, his complexion pale as ash.
This couldn't continue.
"…Sorry," Asuka muttered. "This is the only way to save you."
He lowered his stance, his breathing deep and forceful. A brutal, overwhelming power surged through his arms.
"Wind Breathing—Fourth Form: Rising Dust Storm!"
The blade swept upward in a fierce arc.
A spiraling gale erupted, lifting furniture, debris, and dust into a roaring vertical vortex. The thatched roof shattered instantly, torn apart by the violent wind.
The shadow demon was ripped free from the wall, flung backward as it tumbled through the air.
Strangely, from beginning to end, the demon had remained fixated on the dying worker. Against Asuka, it only defended—never counterattacking—despite clearly possessing formidable resilience.
The shadow drifted down amid the fading winds, swaying like cloth caught in a breeze, or willow branches bending in the wind. The sight sent an unsettling chill through Asuka.
"Is this your true body?" he asked quietly. "Or just another illusion?"
No response.
Since arriving in this world, this was the first enemy Asuka had ever encountered that spoke even less than he did.
Whether by choice or nature, the faceless shadow demon remained utterly silent.
Asuka flicked a glance over his shoulder at Asano Mori, who was struggling to tend to the worker. The man's face had grown even more ashen, his breathing shallow and erratic.
No—this thing was still draining his life. It had to be ended, now.
"If you won't come to me," Asuka muttered, "then I'll come to you."
He pushed off the ground.
In a blur, Asuka shot forward once more. The colorless Nichirin Blade in his hands flashed up and down, carving precise, razor-sharp arcs through the moonlight.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Yet every strike landed the same way—tearing apart a body like mist, scattering black haze that reknit itself moments later. Aside from blasting dust and wind across the courtyard, the attacks dealt no real damage.
Then—
Asano Mori moved.
Seeing the worker's condition worsen, he tried to lift the man onto his back, intent on carrying him away.
The reaction was immediate.
The shadow demon surged violently for the first time, launching a sudden attack at Asuka—not to kill him, but to drive him back, as if desperate to stop Mori's movement.
Why…?
Clang!
For the first time, Asuka's Nichirin Blade struck something solid. The demon's body briefly condensed, meeting steel with a sharp, jarring impact.
What was it afraid of?
Thoughts raced through Asuka's mind. Then his gaze snapped to the worker slumped across Mori's back.
The shadow.
He remembered the three street children he had seen earlier—the demon's scent clinging to their shadows, marking them as prey.
This worker had reached the moment of harvest.
Which meant the stench on him would be strongest of all.
Asuka immediately expanded his spiritual pressure, focusing his perception on the worker's body—
There it was.
Within the worker's shadow—thin as fog—lurched a dense mass of malevolent darkness, clamped around his legs like invisible chains, anchoring itself to his very existence.
"So that's where you're hiding."
Asuka changed tactics instantly.
He abandoned pursuit of the elusive outer form. The blade's gleam dimmed as his body spun, redirecting all momentum—
He dropped from above.
The Nichirin Blade plunged downward, carrying murderous wind pressure, aimed not at the demon's shifting body—but at the faint shadow beneath the worker's feet.
Shhk!
"AAAA—!!"
A piercing scream tore through the night.
For the first time, the shadow demon was truly injured.
Its form convulsed violently, black mist writhing and collapsing in unstable waves, its edges tearing apart.
Asuka didn't hesitate.
He concentrated every ounce of wind pressure into a single point and drove the blade deeper into the earth.
BOOM!
The ground cracked open.
Again and again, Asuka struck—pinning every fragment of shadow, every remaining projection, erasing them without mercy.
The demon's screams grew shriller, its form thinning, trembling, on the verge of dissolution.
Now.
With the last traces of malignant intent swept clean, the shadow demon could no longer maintain its shape. In that moment, Asuka finally understood—
This wasn't a true demon at all.
It carried dense demonic aura, but lacked a real body. Now, it was so fragile that even a strong breeze could scatter it.
"Be gone," Asuka said coldly.
His sword howled.
WHOOOSH—!
Like a gale tearing through mist, the shadow demon was shredded completely—dispersed into nothingness.
"…Cough—cough!"
Almost simultaneously, the worker convulsed violently.
Asuka turned to look.
The worker's shadow—once pale and fading—was darkening, regaining its depth. Within a few breaths, it returned to a deep, ink-black hue.
Color crept back into the man's face. Only faintly—but unmistakably.
His breathing was still weak.
The shadow had returned.
But the life already taken would not.
Watching the ruined courtyard and the faint residue of demonic aura lingering in the air, unease settled over Asuka's chest.
"This isn't over…"
Far away—
Sendai City, Ōsaki Hachimangū Shrine.
A small jade talisman shattered.