At midnight in a vast forest, a bird with pitch-black eyes silently flapped its wings among the trees. It navigated the branches with ease, as if it had known the forest for a long time, maintaining its rapid pace.
This bird is a black crow. However, it's not just an ordinary crow one might see flying in the sky. It's a special type known as a kasugai crow.
The kasugai crow's intelligent eyes scan the forest, then focus into the distance. There, one can see Ikari running swiftly, his eyes darting around his surroundings.
Ikari is, of course, oblivious to the kasugai crow flying far away. Even if he were aware, he wouldn't be able to track it, as the crow's speed far surpasses his own.
As Ikari moved at high speed, he suddenly sensed something and quickly slowed down, dodging to the side. In doing so, he avoided a sharp wooden stick that had suddenly emerged from the leaf-covered ground.
After dodging the life-threatening trap, Ikari continued at his pace as if nothing had happened. In fact, he had already encountered several traps like this along the way.
Meanwhile, seeing Ikari avoid another life-threatening trap, the kasugai crow flying among the trees strongly flapped its wings, gaining sudden speed as it maneuvered around the branches and soared into the sky.
Flying above the forest, the crow continued toward a mountainous region. With no branches obstructing its path, it could muster much greater speed, making it nearly impossible to see with the naked eye, especially at night.
The kasugai crow flew toward the distant mountainous region. After a while, it arrived at the edge of the area. Dark clouds loomed above, occasionally flashing with lightning and producing thunderous sounds. The mountainous region's vegetation is also few and far between.
On one of the mountains in this region, a figure of a mansion could be seen situated at the top. The kasugai crow continued its flight toward the mansion and, after a while, arrived at it, entering through an open window into one of the rooms.
The crow flew inside and landed on a wooden stand at the side. It then fixed its pitch-black eyes on the center of the hall.
At the center of the room was a figure sitting on its knees. This figure was Himiru, the old man who had abruptly left Ikari with only a letter.
Himiru sensed the crow's presence in the room and opened his eyes. He turned his head to where the crow was and asked, "How is he?"
The crow fixed its gaze on Himiru and then shook its wings before opening its beak. "He's already in the forest. He's improving quickly and can now easily avoid some of the stupid traps you've set," the crow said in a peculiar voice, mimicking the old man's tone.
Throughout the day, the crow flew high above and observed Ikari from a distance. It would then return to report Ikari's progress to the old man.
Himiru kept his gaze fixed on the crow, ignoring its mockery. After a while, he rose from his sitting position and walked over to a table in the room where a cup of tea sat. He picked up the cup and took a sip.
After a while he turned his head and look outside the window. He set his sight on the direction of the big forest where Ikari is at.
"Reaching the forest before midnight, I've truly underestimated his capabilities."
"I initially thought he could barely reach this place in two days. However, now I estimate he might arrive by the time of sunrise."
"What a lad. Always surpassing my expectations," he said, still holding his cup of tea.
A glint appeared in his eyes, and a slight smile formed on his lips. He hadn't expected the young man he encountered and brought with him to always surprise him with his talent. With this, he can now realize his dream through this young man.
"Truly... worthy of becoming my successor," Himiru said, taking a sip of his tea. Afterward, he turned his gaze toward the crow and instructed, "Rushi, go back and observe him."
"Tsk!" The crow complained and flew off the wooden stand, irritated by the sound of the name the old man had given it. It then flew outside the room and headed toward the forest.
A while later, it arrived above the forest and scanned the area until it spotted Ikari running swiftly. The crow then kept it's distance and continued following Ikari through the forest.
Inside the forest, Ikari was in the process of getting up from the ground, gritting his teeth. He had recently triggered a trap without realizing it, resulting in a hard fall.
Gritting his teeth, Ikari surged forward with a sudden burst of speed. Traversing the forest had taught him how to accelerate from a standstill to full speed in just a second, while just barely doing the opposite.
His whole person is in a mess. His gray robe was torn and covered in dirt, and his long hair was flying wildly behind him.
On his face, a trace of dry blood was visible from a scar. He had got these scar after docking under a large branch of a tree when a sudden small branch smack his face out of nowhere.
Ikari still felt the pain on his face, but it was minimal compared to the pain in other parts of his body. In this trap-filled forest, he sometimes couldn't avoid certain traps and had to take them with his body.
After entering this vast forest, he encountered minimal traps that were easily avoidable. However, as time went on, the traps became harder to notice and would be triggered suddenly without him knowing why.
Enduring these various traps, Ikari used the opportunity to sharpen his sense of danger and heighten his sense to the extreme. By doing so, he was able to quickly react to sudden traps and avoid some of them.
Thus, As time passed in this vast forest, Ikari can now able to run swiftly while maintaining his speed.
Although the numerous trees still hinder him, he maneuvered around them smoothly, as his control over his body movements improved.
Time past by, it's currently midnight and the time is close to dawn. Inside the vast forest, an occasional faint sound of beating and various trap that triggered could still be heard.
Throughout this time, Ikari continued running through the forest while his sense is widely spread around him for any traps that might trigger by his presence.
Ikari was nearing the edge of the forest. His gaze pierced through the many trees, spotting a clearing ahead. A short while later, he emerged from the forest and arrived at the clearing.
Stepping foot on the clearing, Ikari slowed his pace and looked at the mountainous region up ahead.
It was now dawn, the light of dawn lit up the sky. Ahead is a region of mountains with a dark clouds above it.
Seeing this, one would think that it might be raining soon. However there's no rain one would expect. But one could see a flash of lightning coursing through the slightly dark clouds.
Standing far away, Ikari could barely see the deepest part of the mountains where the lightning strikes is entense and would make a thunderous sound in its wake. Displaying a scene of destruction.
Ikari stopped and looked at the spectacular phenomenon far away. Looking at this natural display of destruction, a strange feeling course through him. This feeling came from the deepest part of his blood.
He suddenly remembered the words his mother said to him when he ask about his name. His mother then told him the he was born with a thunderous phenomenon above the sky. As if the sky is angry, showing its wrath.
He sometimes doubted this saying of his mother as he see nothing special of the occasional thunderstorm that would sometimes past over their house.
However, this time its different. What he sees now is not a thunderstorm. But a pure natural thunder and lightning displaying its destructive power when struck on the ground.
Admiring the scene for a moment, Ikari remembered he still had to complete the task the old man had given him and continued on his way.
In no time, he reached his maximum speed within seconds. Though the mountainous region was still far away, he estimated that, at his current speed, he could reach it by sunrise.
As the sun had already show half of it's frame, lighting up the area around the mountainous region, Ikari arrived at one of the mountain on the outer area.
He choose to go to this mountain as the river is also where it goes. Moreover, a while ago he sees a mansion situatied at the top of this mountain. He suspects that the old man is living there.
Arriving at the foot of the mountain, Ikari suddenly spot a black bird slowly flapping it's wings toward the top. Then, he forget about it and ascending the path toward the mountain top in a slow steady pace.
Stepping foot at the top of the mountain, the sun already hung above the sky. Although there's no light on the top of the mountain as the dark clouds covered it, Ikari could still see that the forest far away were bathed by the sunlight.
Ikari stopped on his feet and stood in place, looking at the mansion ahead. Outside the mansion, there was a figure of an old man sitting on a big rock.
This old man is Himiru.
Himiru opened his eyes and looked at Ikari far ahead, whose figure is a mess. A moment later, he smiled and get down from the rock. He then walked toward Ikari in a slow manner.
"Admirable... Truly admirable." Ha faintly said.
"My name is Himiru Kayushiki, former thunder from the Demon Slayer Corps. What is your name?" Himiru said in a grand voice.
Ikari looked at the old man in surprise. He didn't expect that the old man would introduce himself in this manner. A moment later, he said, "Ikari Hakai."
Himiru stopped in his tracks, eyes widened in surprise, "Hakai..!?" Gasping, he quickly gathered his composure, as if nothing happened.
Ikari notice the sudden change of the old man in his sharp eye. Confusion brew within him as he think of the reason why the old man is acting like this after hearing his name.
A while later, however, he forget about it as he see nothing special about his name. Although he find one, it's just a meaning, nothing special.
"What is Demon Slayer Corps? Is this an organization that hunt demons?" Ikari ask.
Although he already caught a meaning of it by just the name, he wanted to hear it directly from the old man.
"Yes, it is. It's the duty of the corps to purge the demon in this world." Himiru said, still not completely recovered by his shock.
Ikari nodded his head after hearing the old man's words. He then ask out of curiosity, "Why are you acting strange by just hearing my name. What's so special about it?"
Looking at Ikari's eyes, Himiru ask, "What do you know about your family name?"
"It's just a family name? My father said it's quite special, but I see nothing special about it." Ikari said after thinking for a moment.
"What do you know. The word 'Hakai' is nothing special if just only a word with a special meaning. However, it's in your name, your family name." Himiru said seriously.
"What do you mean?" Ikari is confused by the old man's words.
"In the distant ancient era, where demons ran rampant, there's exists a family clan that have the power to destroy them all in this world."
"That clan is Hakai Clan."