Hatred / Lower Rank Two

Confusion, guilt, self-doubt, pain, sorrow... all these emotions battered Chiba Yo's heart, leaving him dazed for a moment.

"There is only one being who can turn humans into demons: the progenitor of all demons, Muzan Kibutsuji."

As he recalled what Kyojuro had told him, all of Chiba Yo's emotions turned to rage.

"Muzan... Kibutsuji!!!" Chiba Yo tightened his grip on his Nichirin Blade, his whole body trembling with anger.

Though they had never met, Chiba Yo's hatred for Muzan had reached its peak.

"Even if I have to chase you to the ends of the earth, I will kill you!" Driving his Nichirin Blade into the ground, Chiba Yo swore his oath.

"Caw! Caw! Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen are fighting a demon to the north! Swordsmen have already fallen! Go reinforce them! Go reinforce them!" The crow's cries rang out again.

Before Chiba Yo's emotions had settled, his second mission had already arrived. Silently retrieving his Nichirin Blade, he knew he had no time to stand there lost in anguish. He placed the clothes in his hands on the ground, offered a silent prayer for the dead siblings and everyone the demon had killed, then immediately headed north, following the Kasugai Crow's directions.

Though he knew there was nothing wrong with slaying a man-eating demon, Chiba Yo could not let go of the boy who had died because of it. He felt as though he himself had killed that boy.

Was this the responsibility, the pain that Master Rengoku, Mr. Shinazugawa, Shinobu, and the other Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen bore...? The guilt of failing to protect people, the grief of witnessing the world's suffering, having to silently endure even when others misunderstood them...

Compared to all that, physical pain must have been the least of their burdens...

Master Rengoku lived by the principle of protecting others. He must have been overwhelmed with guilt when he saw that village... yet he still comforted me with such warmth...

It's time I pulled myself together, too...

Chiba Yo's emotions gradually settled, and he began to focus on the journey.

Before long, a small mountain appeared ahead of him. The screams coming from within it confirmed that this was the place the Kasugai Crow had mentioned.

He rushed into the mountain without hesitation. From the moment he entered, the smell of blood hung all around him.

Farther in, scraps of Demon Slayer Corps uniforms and Nichirin Blades came into view. Blood stained everything around them, but there were no bodies.

"Hahahahaha! Are all you Demon Slayers this weak? And you're stupid, too. You saw the number in my eye and still dared to draw your blades against me. I'm Lower Rank Two of the Twelve Kizuki!"

An outrageously arrogant voice rang out ahead, and Chiba Yo immediately rushed toward it.

In the forest atop the mountain, a demon who looked like a middle-aged man, with a thick beard and blood-red markings covering the upper half of his face, laughed as he held a Demon Slayer Corps swordsman by the throat. Two characters were engraved in his left eye: "Lower Two."

Lower Rank Two, Rokuro.

Human corpses hung from the trees around him, their bodies pierced by a thick rope. Most were twisted into grotesque positions, legs tangled over heads, arms wound into spirals, their entire bodies curled into flat discs.

"A Hashira... will kill you..." The Demon Slayer Corps swordsman in Rokuro's grip glared at him as he struggled to force out the words.

Rokuro's expression turned scornful.

"I've already lost interest in you lot, and fewer and fewer humans are passing through here. It's time to move somewhere else. If this Hashira of yours can still find me, let him come."

As he finished speaking, the body of the Demon Slayer Corps swordsman in his hand began to twist, every bone in him cracking.

"Aaaaaah!!!" The agonizing pain tore a scream from the swordsman, his eyes becoming bloodshot, while Rokuro wore a look of pleasure.

Suddenly, a figure rushed into the clearing at tremendous speed. Cold steel flashed, severing the arm Rokuro was using to hold the swordsman. He immediately leaped back a large step, then regenerated his missing arm in an instant.

To avoid hurting the captive human, Chiba Yo had not used any sword techniques.

"Can you still escape?" Chiba Yo asked the swordsman as he tossed aside Rokuro's severed arm.

"Don't let him touch you..."

Instead of answering Chiba Yo's question, the swordsman warned him first.

Across from them, Rokuro looked at Chiba Yo, who had rescued the swordsman, and smiled. "You think you've saved him just like that?"

As his words fell, the neck of the swordsman Chiba Yo had rescued twisted a full 360 degrees, and his body slumped limply to the ground.

"Hahahahaha! What a shame. He was in contact with me for too long," Rokuro said mockingly to Chiba Yo.

The feeling of holding another person's life in his hands was deeply addictive. It eased his fear of a certain demon.

"You're a Demon Slayer too, aren't you? Then you should know what the number in my eye means. Little nobodies like you can't handle my strength. How about this?

"If you help me find more humans to eat, I'll spare you. What do you say?" Rokuro called to Chiba Yo.

As a demon, he naturally had no intention of letting food escape his mouth. He had only said it to humiliate the Demon Slayer.

Chiba Yo said nothing. He gently laid the Demon Slayer Corps swordsman's body on the ground, rose to his feet, and slowly walked toward Rokuro.

Of course he knew what the number in the demon's eye meant. Kyojuro had already told him: demons with numbers in their eyes were members of the Twelve Kizuki, direct subordinates of the progenitor of demons, Muzan Kibutsuji. They were extraordinarily powerful, but none of that mattered to him. He did not care. All he wanted was to kill these vile demons.

The human corpses hanging from the trees kept tormenting him, feeding his rage.

"Why do you trample on life?"

Though his anger had reached its limit, Chiba Yo's voice sounded almost calm. Beneath that calm lay endless fury.

Chiba Yo knew he might never get an answer from a demon. He also knew that he would soon fight this demon to the death, but he still wanted to ask these questions.

"What?" Rokuro exclaimed in confusion, unable to understand why this Demon Slayer was asking him questions.

"Living beings grow old. They fall ill. They suffer wounds. They die. Simply staying alive is hard enough. Why do you take other people's lives so casually?"

His low voice echoed through the open forest. Moonlight spilled over Chiba Yo, making the flame-shaped Demon Slayer Mark on his forehead even more vivid.