You talk too much

He summoned the system panel again.

He had 1,300 gratitude points left.

He opened the equipment exchange menu.

An icon of a dark red battle axe hovered silently in the center of the screen.

[Shadow Battle Axe]

Exchange price: 5,000 gratitude points.

Effects: increased physical attack, increased cooldown reduction, increased maximum health.

Passive-cleave: greatly increased physical penetration.

Rokuya stared at the icon.

In this world overrun by demons, those monsters that possessed Blood Demon Arts had defenses and regenerative abilities beyond anything ordinary people could imagine.

An ordinary Nichirin Blade required finding an opening.

But he did not need to.

With enough physical penetration, he could cleave through any defense with brute force.

He closed the panel.

Outside the window, the night breeze rustled through the leaves.

Suddenly.

Bang!

A heavy crash came from the front courtyard.

It sounded as though something heavy had smashed through the wooden gate.

Rokuya whipped his head toward the sliding paper door.

Kanae's terrified scream came from the end of the hallway.

Along with her scream came extremely heavy, dragging footsteps.

Thud... thud... thud...

As the footsteps landed on the wooden floor, the entire house trembled slightly.

A strong, rank gust carrying the smell of rotting earth swept down the hallway into the room.

Rokuya stood up.

He reached back and gripped empty air.

An eerie blue light gathered in his palm.

The hilt of the Arcana Blade rapidly took shape within the light.

Rokuya stepped out of the room, his heel landing heavily.

An intense stench hit him square in the face.

The wooden fence in the front courtyard had shattered into sharp splinters scattered across the ground.

A burly man over two meters tall stood in the middle of the courtyard.

It could hardly be called human.

Its muscles had rocky contours, bulging outward in chunks.

Its once-loose hemp clothes had been stretched until they tore apart, leaving strips of fabric hanging from its body.

Its skin was a sickly blue-gray, carrying a deathly pallor beneath the moonlight.

Half-foot-long black nails grew from the tips of its ten fingers.

Dark red scraps of flesh were still packed beneath them.

Kanae sprinted through the courtyard.

She was barefoot.

Splinters had punctured her pale soles.

Every step left a glaring bloody footprint on the stone paving.

"Run... Shinobu, run!"

Kanae did not look back.

She clutched her kimono tightly in both hands.

Her frail body unleashed every ounce of strength as she desperately lured the demon away from the hallway.

At the corner of the hallway.

Eleven-year-old Shinobu Kocho sat slumped on the wooden floor.

She clamped both hands over her mouth, her fingers digging hard into her cheeks to keep herself from making a sound.

Her whole body shook.

Her legs had gone weak, drained of even the strength to stand.

A beastlike growl rumbled out of the demon's throat.

It kicked off the ground.

The stone slab beneath its feet instantly shattered.

Fragments flew everywhere, striking the walls with dull thuds.

The demon's massive body launched into the air.

It arced through the air, lunging toward Kanae's back.

It was too close.

The rank gust stirred up by the demon knocked Kanae to the ground.

She rolled once.

Turning over, she instinctively raised both hands in front of herself.

The demon opened its gaping maw.

Scraps of flesh hung from its jagged fangs.

Thick saliva dripped onto the tip of Kanae's nose.

Shinobu Kocho bit hard into the back of her hand, her nails digging into her flesh until blood seeped out, yet she could not make a sound.

Rokuya moved.

His sixteen points of constitution erupted into full force.

The wooden floor beneath his feet groaned under the strain, then instantly snapped in two.

He became a blur as he charged into the night.

"You've gone too far!"

Rokuya shouted in a low voice.

He clenched his right hand.

An eerie blue light gathered in his palm, forming the hilt of the Arcana Blade.

Wild Arcana Power boiled within him.

His bones gave off a rapid series of sharp cracks.

He poured all his strength into his right arm.

"Returning Blade!"

Rokuya swung his right arm out hard.

An eerie blue dart of energy tore through the air.

The dart spun at high speed, whistling shrilly through the air.

It traced a blue trail across the night sky and sliced precisely into the demon's back.

Cold, eerie blue light burst across the demon's body.

The demon's forward lunge abruptly stalled.

Its massive body sank into an invisible mire.

Its speed plummeted.

What should have been a killing blow grazed Kanae's scalp and missed.

Its black nails sank deep into the earth.

The demon roared and turned around.

Its single scarlet eye fixed on Rokuya.

"Boy, you've pissed me off."

Rokuya's cold face greeted it.

The single-target critical hit rule activated.

There was nothing in Rokuya's field of vision but the demon.

He gripped the hilt with both hands, bent his knees, and pushed off hard.

He leaped high into the air.

The eerie blue blade traced a perfect half-moon across the night sky.

"You talk too much. Survive one swing of my blade first."

The blade sliced into the demon's thick neck.

There was not the slightest resistance.

The sharp crack of breaking bone echoed through the courtyard at night.

The enormous head flew into the sky.

Black blood spurted from the demon's headless body as it crashed to the ground, kicking up dust.

A swordsman in a black uniform jumped down from the wall, his hand holding a Nichirin Blade frozen in midair, his mouth slightly open. Kanae sat dumbly beside the pool of blood, looking up at Rokuya.

The demon's corpse began turning to ash.

It scattered on the wind into the night sky.

Rokuya flicked the black blood from his blade.

The Arcana Blade dissolved into blue light and vanished into the air.

He turned and walked toward Kanae.

He held out his right hand to her.

Kanae froze for a moment.

She placed her small, dirt-covered hand in Rokuya's palm.

Rokuya pulled with his wrist and drew her to her feet.

Shinobu Kocho scrambled off the hallway floor and into the courtyard.

She plunged into Kanae's arms.

"Sister!"

The two held each other and burst into tears.

"Well done."

The black-clad swordsman on the wall jumped into the courtyard.

He had short hair.

A sword hung at his waist.

A white character meaning "destroy" was printed on the back of his uniform.

Rokuya turned around.

He stepped across, placing himself in front of the sisters.

He looked the newcomer up and down.

He said nothing.

The swordsman sheathed his blade.

He folded his arms across his chest.

"I'm a member of the Demon Slayer Corps."

"An organization dedicated to hunting these man-eating demons."

The swordsman pointed at the ashes on the ground, which had nearly scattered completely.

"I've been tracking this demon for three days."

"You beat me to it."

The swordsman stared at Rokuya's hands.

"You didn't use a Nichirin Blade."

"Nor did you use a Breathing Style."

"You cut through a demon's neck with nothing but physical strength and that strange weapon."

"Boy, you're strong."

Rokuya remained silent.

He did not trust this stranger who had suddenly appeared.

The swordsman spread his hands.

He took half a step back.

"Relax. I mean no harm."

"Demons have incredibly tenacious vitality."

"Only by cutting off their heads with a Nichirin Blade that has absorbed sunlight,"

"or by exposing them to sunlight, will they truly die."

"That blade you just used is very special."

The swordsman paused.

His tone grew serious.

"But there are far more demons in this world than you imagine."

"They're stronger than this one, too."

"If you keep staying here, you'll only end up dead."

Rokuya frowned slightly.

He turned to look at the two sisters behind him.

Kanae's home had already been destroyed.

Both her parents were dead.

Staying here was indeed unsafe.

In this world full of monsters, he needed more information.

He also needed greater strength.

"Where should we go?" Rokuya asked.

The swordsman pulled a rough map from inside his robes.

He handed the map to Rokuya.

"Go to Mount Sagiri."

"A Cultivator named Sakonji Urokodaki lives there."

"He was once the Water Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps."

The swordsman turned and leaped onto the top of the wall.

"If you want to protect those around you, go master the true Demon Hunting Technique."

Before his words had faded,

the swordsman's figure blended into the night.