Lower Rank Three

The sorrow of witnessing a family torn apart by life and death did not linger long in Haruto's mind.

Life and death had always been the central themes of battling demons. Those too prone to empathy could never become excellent swordsmen.

Haruto arrived at Muyun Mountain, the location mentioned in his mission, while it was still early.

Muyun Mountain boasted beautiful scenery, with steep slopes, overlapping ridges, and vines billowing like clouds. It was a fine place to watch the sunrise.

But a warning sign had already been erected at its foot: Dangerous beasts on the mountain. Visitors, keep out.

He had no idea whether the local authorities or the Kakushi had put it there.

Haruto stepped past the warning sign. The first thing he saw was a large patch of withered plants.

They looked as though they had been ravaged by pests or disease, their surfaces covered in spots. They were thoroughly dead.

The moment Haruto's geta stepped on them, the dry leaves crumbled into powder.

He studied the withered plants beneath his feet, lost in thought.

"There's a demon's scent..."

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

His geta pattered through the woods. Before sunset, he made a circuit along the mountain's foothills and found many more patches of withered vegetation.

The scent of human blood mingled with these plants, further confirming his suspicion that a demon capable of controlling plants lurked here.

It did not hunt with claws and fangs alone-it had awakened a Blood Demon Art. Demons like that were usually harder to deal with.

As darkness approached, he found a shrine dedicated to Inari in the mountains and stopped to rest.

The shrine appeared to receive plenty of worshippers, suggesting that the demon had only recently arrived in the area.

Haruto removed his mask before the statue as a gesture of respect, but skipped the elaborate series of worship rituals.

He did not believe in gods-or rather, he did not believe in this world's so-called gods.

No god had stepped forward to stop Muzan Kibutsuji when he was born. No god had punished him when he slaughtered the innocent...

Instead, they had heaped all the punishment and suffering upon the Ubuyashiki Clan, forcing generation after generation to endure illness and early deaths.

What laughable gods.

There were no priests inside the shrine, but the scent of wisteria lingered. Perhaps they had only recently evacuated.

Haruto settled comfortably on a cushion and took food from his back basket to replenish his strength.

It was a clear night. Countless stars hung overhead, granting him boundless strength.

The boy planted his Nichirin Blade against the ground and formed a hand seal before his chest.

"Star Breathing, Third Form: Star-Counting and Dipper-Worship."

Star-Counting and Dipper-Worship originated from a Taoist ritual of paying homage to the stars, intended to commune with them, banish evil, and cure illness.

Haruto's consciousness seemed to leap up into the starry sky. Every blade of grass and every tree around him entered his perception. Even a mantis clinging to a grass stalk was clearly discernible.

His perception spread outward like a tide-Found it!

At the center of a patch of freshly withered plants, a dark figure had knocked down someone heading down the mountain and was hunched over his chest, feasting.

Haruto gripped his blade and raced toward the spot.

[Here we go! Time to watch our little white-haired hubby kill demons.]

[The fangirls are online. Another day spent swooning over Haruto's face.]

[Little Haruto, hurry out and cross swords with me.]

[No way, no way. Are there actually gay guys watching Haruto's spin-off?]

[Can we focus on the plot? Haruto's promotion battle is so hype. Could you all keep your pants on?]

Comments began scrolling before his eyes. Haruto struggled to pick out the key phrase from the sea of eye-searing remarks.

A promotion battle? What did that mean?

Haruto glanced at the back of his hand, where his Demon Slayer Corps rank lay hidden.

He had originally been "Lower Rank," but after completing the mission in Takinogawa Village, he should advance to the next "Lower Rank." That pace was hardly fast.

The promotion mentioned in the comments probably did not mean a simple rise through the Corps' ranks.

Did it mean... becoming a Hashira?

Haruto dismissed the idea the moment it surfaced.

From the founding of the Demon Slayer Corps to the present day, its elite "Hashira" had numbered only nine.

There could be fewer, but never more than nine.

That was because becoming a Hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps was extraordinarily difficult.

Kill fifty demons, or kill one of the Twelve Kizuki. Either requirement was incredibly difficult to fulfill.

Few demons operated openly in the first place. Killing fifty usually took three or four years.

Encountering one of the Twelve Kizuki was even harder. They generally kept to themselves, and members of the Demon Slayer Corps could not track their movements.

Even if one did encounter them...

Whether the demon slayer would succeed in the hunt or simply become another kill for the Twelve Kizuki remained uncertain.

Over the past year, because of his injury and his research into Star Breathing, Haruto's demon kill count had only just reached ten.

Sabito and Giyu had already become "Middle Rank" swordsmen, while he was still stuck at "Lower Rank."

But while the comments joked around, they did not lie.

Could it be...

Haruto's heart lurched. The answer was all but obvious.

He had reached the place where he had sensed the demon eating a human. Another large patch of withered vegetation lay before him, and a scrawny demon crouched on the ground, the sound of chewing unceasing.

"Someone's here," he said leisurely.

The scrawny demon turned around and wiped the blood from his hands on the white priestly robes of the man beneath him.

Was he a priest from the shrine?

Had he lit the wisteria incense, only to encounter a demon on his way down the mountain...?

Haruto's gaze rose. The instant he saw the demon's face, his pupils contracted.

The demon had short black hair and three intersecting scars across his face, looking much like marks left by a ninja's shuriken.

His ears were long and pointed, like a pair of elfin ears, with two gold earrings in each.

What made Haruto's heart jolt was the inscription in the tiny pupil of his right eye, surrounded by a vast expanse of white-

"Lower Three"!

One of the Twelve Kizuki, Lower Rank Three!

Haruto's breath seemed to freeze in his abdomen.

A Lower Rank demon?

Why was one of the Twelve Kizuki here?

"A Demon Slayer Corps swordsman, huh?" Lower Rank Three twisted his neck and twitched his nose. "Did you smell it?"

Haruto did not know whom he was asking, so he simply remained silent.

Fortunately, Lower Rank Three did not seem to expect an answer. He appeared to be slowly loosening up his body, which puzzled Haruto.

[That priest had rare blood, right?]

[Yep. If Byōha hadn't eaten that priest with rare blood, Haruto would probably have died here.]

Haruto's gaze flicked across the comments, and realization dawned on him.

So Lower Rank Three's name was Byōha.

And his strange movements were because he had just eaten someone with rare blood.

Rare blood was an exceptionally uncommon constitution in the world of Demon Slayer. To demons, people with it were a premium source of food.

One person with rare blood was worth a hundred ordinary people to a demon.

The flesh and blood of such people gave demons a hangover-like sensation, reducing their movement and attack speed after feeding.

In that case... Haruto's gaze grew even more solemn as he looked at Byōha.

After consuming someone with rare blood, Byōha's strength would increase rapidly if left unchecked, and he might commit even more slaughter in the future.

And right now was the one perfect opportunity to slay him!