First arrival

A rainy night.

All was silent.

Heavy rain, fierce winds, and thunder roared wildly through the mountain forest.

Inside a solitary wooden cabin, a little boy lay on his back on the cold, hard floor.

The patter of rain kept reaching his ears.

The little boy's brow furrowed, and his eyelids fluttered a few times before he finally forced them open.

He stared at the unfamiliar wooden ceiling overhead.

The little boy frowned deeply.

Where... was this?

He began searching his mind for fragments of what had happened before.

Hadn't I been at home-asleep at home?

How did I suddenly end up here?

"Ugh..."

Waves of pain kept radiating through his head, while exhaustion washed over him like a tide.

The little boy let out a muffled groan, setting his thoughts aside for the moment and breathing deeply to ease his physical condition.

"Crunch... crunch..."

As his mind gradually cleared, a grating noise reached his ears.

The little boy turned his head slightly, looking toward the source of the sound.

A figure knelt on both knees, back slightly hunched, holding a dark mass in both hands and repeatedly bringing it to its mouth.

With every chew, an unidentified liquid dripped down between its fingers.

What... was that person eating?

The little boy wondered, lowering his gaze to try to make out the food in the figure's hands.

But the dark, rainy night shrouded the entire world. No matter how hard he tried to focus, he could not see what the figure was eating.

Rumble!

Lightning flashed through the rainy night.

Its lingering light shone into the cabin, briefly illuminating the interior and allowing the little boy a fleeting look inside.

The light vanished in a flash, and the cabin fell into darkness again.

The darkness also concealed the little boy's trembling body.

That... was a person?!

Was this thing eating a person?!!!

No!

I couldn't stay here like this!!

I had to do something right now and get out of here as quickly as possible...

The little boy gritted his teeth, straining his body over and over as he tried to get up and run.

But his trembling body showed no sign of moving at all.

After struggling for a while, the little boy lay back down.

No, I had to calm down first. I couldn't keep trembling all over from fear like this.

With that thought, the little boy began taking deep, gulping breaths, trying to settle the panic and tension inside him.

As his breathing gradually steadied, his body slowly stopped trembling as well.

The little boy felt his condition improving, but waves of pain kept surging from his abdomen, hurting so badly he could barely bear it.

Enduring the pain, the little boy laboriously lifted his head and looked down at his abdomen.

A small, thin body, unfamiliar clothes, and...

Those hideous, terrifying gashes!

At that moment, the little boy finally understood why his body had not moved at all despite how hard he had tried.

It was not just because his body was afraid!

It was also because...

The wounds in his abdomen had left him without the strength to move!

The head he had just raised fell backward, as though it had lost every bit of strength supporting it.

"Thud..."

At the sharp thud, the figure that had been gulping down chunks of flesh suddenly stopped moving its hands.

Then it slowly turned its head, its gaze falling on the little boy beside it.

The corners of its mouth lifted slightly, stretching into a grotesque, ferocious grin, a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth gleaming coldly in the dark.

"Don't worry. It'll be your turn soon!"

The voice was shrill and grating, carrying a chill that made one's hair stand on end.

After saying this, the figure turned back and buried its head in the delicacies before it once more.

Wet chewing noises kept echoing through the cabin, sounding especially harsh.

"Hah... hah..."

The little boy lay helplessly on the floor, letting his body gasp instinctively for breath.

With these injuries, there was no way I could escape...

He slowly turned his head, directing his gaze toward the open doorway.

By the faint moonlight, the scenery outside the window gradually became clear before his eyes.

The downpour pattered outside the cabin.

The endless raindrops joined into threads of rain, shrouding the entire world.

At the farthest edge of his vision, he could vaguely make out rows of dark trees standing in the rain.

Some transmigration this was...

At least in my previous life, I'd had no parents and had been all alone. After struggling in society for so many years, I'd still amounted to nothing. There was nothing worth missing or worrying about.

But had I transmigrated here just to become food to fill someone else's stomach...?

At that thought, a bitter smile crept onto the little boy's lips.

Perhaps the pattering rain had gradually drowned out the fear in his heart.

Or perhaps, deep down, he had already silently accepted this cruel reality.

The little boy slowly grew calm.

A long time passed.

The figure came to the little boy's side.

The little boy gave the figure a calm glance, then continued looking outside.

Before dying, I might as well see a little more of this world!

What a shame. I'd only just transmigrated here, and I hadn't even seen what the world outside looked like...

The little boy stared outside with unfocused eyes.

Suddenly, the little boy blinked hard, struggling to bring his eyes into focus.

At the farthest edge of his vision, a blurry figure was approaching at tremendous speed.

What had been a tiny, indistinct dot became a clearly recognizable figure in the blink of an eye.

The boy's pupils contracted slightly.

Was this... someone coming to shelter from the rain?

Wasn't coming here now just courting death?

Using every ounce of his strength, the little boy laboriously raised his hand and waved it with his palm facing down, signaling for the person to leave at once.

"Don't come here... run..."

His lips trembled slightly as he tried to voice a warning.

But his strength was already completely spent, and his voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, almost inaudible.

Hearing the sound that emerged from his own throat, the little boy realized the other person could not possibly hear him.

He could only keep waving with all his strength, hoping the person would see and understand what he meant.

But the figure was still growing visibly larger.

Outside the cabin, the wind howled as though it would tear the entire world apart.

Kazeno Sho raced toward the little wooden cabin, frantic with urgency, the sound of the wind and the little boy's faint pleas to flee reaching his ears from time to time.

"Run... danger..."

The voice was intermittent, yet utterly clear.

That voice could not compare at all with the fierce wind, falling rain, and thunder outside.

Yet at that moment, it pierced straight into Kazeno Shoma's heart like a sharp sword.

He had not expected that, when someone on the verge of death saw another person-a stranger-

Rather than instinctively choosing to call for help, he would actually want the stranger to run.

What a truly... good child!

Kazeno Shoma murmured to himself, an indescribable flicker of emotion passing through his eyes.

Yet nothing would change. The demon had already reached a hand toward the little boy.

At the sight, Kazeno Sho's heart tightened, and he quickened his steps again.

Intense pain kept surging from his abdomen.

He did not need to look to know that the person had started eating him.

Though he had prepared himself for it, when the moment truly came, the intense pain still made the little boy groan involuntarily.

"Heh heh..."

"Children's flesh really does taste better. So tender and fragrant."

"This truly is a rare delicacy..."

"Perhaps I should change my diet to nothing but children from now on..."

Sick, savage words kept spilling from the figure's mouth.

But the little boy no longer had any attention to spare for them.

Overwhelming weariness kept rising like a tide.

His eyelids rose, fell, rose again, and fell again...

The sounds around him gradually faded, and his field of vision grew narrower and narrower...

Until, at the very end, a faint voice drifted into his ears.

The voice was distant and indistinct, yet carried an inexplicable power.

"Wind Breathing, First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!"