Wisteria Cage: Giyu's Awakening and the Bloodstained Far Shore

A dizzying jolt shook Giyu Tomioka awake.

Rapid breathing, the crunch of branches and leaves underfoot, and an overpowering stench of blood all rushed into his nose at once.

Giyu's eyes snapped open. His vision was still blurry, and he could barely make out swaying dark fabric and taut shoulder straps.

"Awake?"

A voice, breathless with exertion, came from beneath him.

"Don't move. We're almost at the foot of the mountain."

It was Murata, a fellow candidate who had spoken with him briefly before the selection began.

Giyu turned his neck as though it had rusted, and his broken memories came flooding back through the opened gates...

A demon's claws, a haori woven with yellow, orange, and green, and the figure who had stood in front of him!

"Sabito!!!"

Giyu's voice was as dry and rough as if his throat had been scraped with sandpaper. "Put me down!!!"

"What are you talking about? Your shoulder's hurt that badly, and the Hand Demon is still~~~"

"Sabito wiped out almost every demon on the mountain by himself!" Murata's voice was filled with awe and fear. "He said the Hand Demon was the last one, and told us to go on ahead!"

"His sword... is already about to shatter!!!"

If his sword shattered, he wouldn't be able to kill the demon!

The thought stabbed deep into his heart like a needle of ice.

Fear gripped him, leaving him unable to breathe. He was afraid of dying, but he was even more afraid of living in a world without Sabito.

He couldn't lose anyone else!

Giyu struggled to his feet and, paying no heed to Murata's attempts to stop him, started back the way they had come.

Just then, an icy voice, utterly devoid of emotion, sounded directly in his mind:

"Ding, transmigrator detected. Binding in progress... 1%... 50%... 100%!!!"

Giyu's feet froze as though nailed to the ground, every muscle in his body tensing. He gripped his sword hilt with his right hand and warily scanned his surroundings.

"A demon's Blood Demon Art?"

"Distributing the starter gift package... Ding!!

1. Heaven-Defying Comprehension: Greatly boosts comprehension, raising it straight to the ceiling of the Demon Slayer world!!!

2. Special physique: ???"

"Come out!!!"

Giyu let out a low growl, his Nichirin Blade already halfway out of its sheath.

An eerie silence suddenly fell in his mind.

Then the icy voice spoke again, but this time it seemed a little bewildered:

"System: ...?!?"

"Ding!!! Host detected as not being a transmigrator. Unbinding system..."

Giyu blinked, completely unable to understand what was happening.

"Ding, in light of the system's error, the rewards will not be reclaimed..."

"Ding, host... until fate brings us together again!! (Bye-bye~~)"

The voice vanished, as if it had never been there.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye.

Just as Giyu was still processing the strange incident, another roar came from the distance, angrier and more pained than the one before.

Sabito was still alive!!!

The thought snapped him back to his senses.

He sheathed his sword and broke into a run once more.

This time, an indescribable sensation exploded through his body with a boom!

In his mind, the ten forms of Water Breathing were frighteningly clear.

Every movement, every breath, every application of strength seemed to have been carved into his soul, becoming instinct! The searing pain in his shoulder became a stream of information that could be broken down, analyzed, and even temporarily blocked out.

Was this... Heaven-Defying Comprehension?

Giyu's stride changed in an instant. His breathing fell into a mysterious rhythm with his steps, and his body moved with an efficiency even he couldn't understand. He went faster and faster!!!

He raced through the last patch of wisteria and burst into a clearing.

The sight before him made his blood run cold.

(To be continued~~~)