The Culprit

The night was slightly cool, a bright moon hung at the edge of the sky, and stars glittered overhead.

The only piece of furniture in the Kocho home had been moved outside. There simply was not enough room in the house for four people, and there were no lights either.

On the battered wooden table sat a bowl of rice, a fish, and a plate of pickled vegetables. This was the sisters' first meal with meat in nearly two months.

To them, it was even more lavish than a New Year's feast.

But to repay Hiruma's kindness, they had brought out the best things in their home.

"Another bowl!"

"This is absolutely the best meal I've ever had!"

Watching Shinobu eat, even plain white rice somehow looked delicious—like the finest meal in the world.

That was what Hiruma thought.

"Tendo, you sure have a good appetite. Your stomach must be fine after all."

Shinobu Kocho smiled as she served Hiruma another bowl. She had always been worried about his stomachache.

After all, it had started hurting suddenly and then stopped just as suddenly. She feared it might be some illness not mentioned in any medical text, but seeing his appetite now, Shinobu was finally completely relieved.

Iguro Obanai shot Hiruma a glare. Any idiot could see how hard it had been for the sisters to prepare such a meal, yet he was eating like a pig. Speechless.

Kanae looked at the two of them and smiled.

Very quickly, Iguro Obanai realized something. Why were they lingering here in the middle of the night, eating at someone else's home? Did Hiruma want to take the sisters away?

Whoa!

What a perverted lecher.

"Hisss!"

Kaburamaru suddenly moved close to Iguro Obanai's ear and let out a rapid warning hiss. Its yellow slit pupils were fixed on a dilapidated thatched hut not far ahead, filled with vigilance and unease.

He put down his bowl and chopsticks. His green-and-gold heterochromatic eyes gleamed coldly as his gaze passed through the half-open door and beyond the window. He saw a ghostly figure flash past.

"Glutton, something's happening!"

Before Iguro Obanai had even finished speaking, a serpentine monster burst through the wooden house. More accurately, it was a head attached to an entire spine.

The head was pitch-black, with a sharp horn growing from the center of its forehead. Its skin had a strange texture, like a dried-up lake baked beneath the sun, its surface covered in countless dense cracks.

There was no time. Iguro Obanai swung the battered wooden table down at it. After several days of training, his physique had improved considerably.

In an instant, splinters flew everywhere. The demon head was smashed to the ground, while its spine coiled and twisted around Iguro Obanai like a python.

Though he would one day become the Serpent Pillar, he was still only a child now—and he had no weapon.

At the critical moment, a sharp crimson-gold blade flashed past like thunder. Iguro Obanai's ears rang.

By the time he came to his senses, the demon snake had already retreated. Unfortunately, the attack had been evaded.

"You two, hide!"

Hiruma stood beside Iguro Obanai and turned to warn the Kocho sisters.

"Glutton, were you trying to chop me to death?"

Iguro Obanai glared at Hiruma in complaint, his little eyes full of resentment.

"Oops!"

"You don't know my strength yet. I wouldn't hit you!" Hiruma said, patting Iguro Obanai on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Humph!"

Iguro Obanai grabbed half of the shattered table and stared fixedly at the distant thatched hut. That demon was still there.

Just then, a figure over two meters tall emerged from the other side of the hut. It had not passed through the wall—it had smashed straight through the entire house.

Under the cold moonlight, the two of them saw the demon in full.

It was a very gaunt-looking demon. Its skin was a horrifying corpse-white, and its lifeless eyes resembled two dried-up wells.

The spine-and-head demon that had just attacked them was coiled around this demon's neck like a grotesque snake.

"Wow, it dresses kind of like you!" Hiruma did not forget to mock Iguro Obanai.

"Not the same!" Iguro Obanai retorted seriously, the corner of his mouth twitching as the urge to beat this guy senseless rose within him.

"I am Bakotsu." The Demon gave a slight bow and introduced himself. Its voice was like a dry stick scraping across a blackboard, painfully grating.

"You two, it has been a long time!"

Hiruma: "???"

Iguro Obanai: "???"

The two exchanged looks, both wearing expressions that said, You know it?

"Ah!"

"Bakotsu, I'm going to kill you!"

A furious roar exploded like thunder, shattering the silence around them.

The voice seemed capable of piercing the clouds and shaking the entire world. No one could have believed that it came from the petite Shinobu Kocho.

Her eyes were wide with boundless rage and hatred.

Her body trembled faintly, but not from fear or nervousness. The anger in the depths of her heart had surpassed everything else.

"Shinobu, calm down!"

"Run! Mom and Dad aren't coming back. We have to live!"

Kanae sobbed uncontrollably as she held her younger sister tightly. She was just as furious, but they could not defeat that man-eating Demon. She did not understand why it had managed to find her and Shinobu again.

"Mr. Tendo, Mr. Iguro, please take Shinobu and run!"

"I can hold it off for a while. It came for us!"

Kanae pleaded, her gaze like a series of sharp blades that swept away all her gentleness and pierced the Demon's body.

Bakotsu—the name the Kocho sisters would never forget even in death. It was the name of their enemy, the one who had killed their parents and destroyed their home.

Hiruma waved a hand and said with a smile, "Forgot to tell you, but we're professional Demon Hunters!"

Iguro Obanai looked at Hiruma in bewilderment. I only joined two weeks ago. I haven't even received proper training.

Then he smiled and agreed with Hiruma's claim. This thing was like the Serpent Demon. Just looking at it made him sick.

Every single Demon deserved to die.

"Shinobu, do you want revenge?"

"I'll kill it for you!"

Hiruma asked, instinctively calling her by name.

"Tendo, help me kill it!"

"I want it dead!"

"Kill it!"

Shinobu Kocho screamed hysterically. She already had an easily angered side, and now the monster that had killed her parents stood right before her.

She wanted it dead. She longed for it to die. She wanted revenge. It did not matter who did it, as long as Bakotsu was killed.

Bakotsu looked at the four children before it and could not muster the slightest interest. Killing them would be effortless.

The only thing that motivated it was finishing its unfinished meal. It had craved those two little girls for a long time, never expecting to encounter them here.

"You two foolish human brats, leave as long as you do not interrupt my meal!"

Bakotsu slowly raised an arm as dry as a tree branch and waved it lightly. Its hoarse, low voice sounded like a call from the depths of hell, filled with the stench of death.

The sound echoed through the silent night, as though it would devour the entire world.

In Bakotsu's eyes, it had given the humans a chance to live. Those two human brats would surely cry and scream as they ran away.

Humans were such fragile creatures, even if they tasted delicious.

But contrary to its expectations, Hiruma's stubborn, defiant voice rang out.

"I'm not running. If you've got the guts, kill him!"