"The scent of blood! And... the presence of a Demon!" Shinichi pupils instantly contracted.
In the next moment, his body shot forward like an arrow, leaving behind an afterimage where he had stood. The half-eaten dorayaki fell to the ground with a splat.
***
Butterfly Mansion, half an hour earlier.
Night had long since fallen.
After a busy day, Yakushin was tidying up some tools at the counter.
Feeling slightly weary, he turned to his wife and said "Yuki, could you make me some tea? I'm a bit tired."
His dutiful wife naturally didn't refuse and immediately stood up to head toward the backyard.
Yakushin added "Oh, and make sure the children go to bed early. It's already late."
"Alright, I understand. But Yakushin, you've worked hard today too. Don't forget to rest early as well" Yuki replied.
Yakushin smiled and nodded.
A while later, seeing that the area outside the medicine shop was pitch black and eerily silent, he assumed no more customers would come.
So, he stood up from behind the counter and moved to close the shop large wooden door.
But just as Yakushin shut the door, a forceful knocking erupted from outside.
The wooden door rattled violently under the pounding, Yakushin frowned—whoever was knocking had no manners.
Still, he didn't dwell on it.
Perhaps the person outside had an urgent medical emergency.
As he reopened the door, he called out "Just a moment! I'm opening now. Is there an urgent?"
There was no response from outside.
When Yakushin finally swung the door open, all he saw was a shadowy figure standing in the darkness—disheveled, with wild, unkempt hair obscuring its face.
Without scrutinizing the visitor appearance, Yakushin hastily invited them inside, turning to gesture toward the seating area.
"Please, have a seat over there. Can you describe your symptoms to me—"
He didn't see it—the figure outside lifted its head.
Under the light from inside the shop, a grotesque, greenish face was revealed.
Savage, emerald eyes radiated pure brutality and hunger. Black veins crawled across its face, and its slightly parted mouth was filled with razor-sharp fangs, glistening with drool.
It was the visage of a monstrous Demon.
"Hungry... So hungry! Meat!" A guttural growl tore from the Demon throat.
"Pardon? What did you— AHHH!!!" Yakushin had just turned back in confusion when, in the next instant, a gaping maw clamped onto his neck!
Warm blood sprayed out, instantly drenching the entire medicine hall.
Yakushin agonized scream startled Yuki, who had been carrying a teapot in the backyard.
When she rushed into the hall in panic, she was met with the most horrifying sight of her life.
A terrifying, green-faced Demon had her husband, Yakushin in its grasp, savagely tearing into his neck. Blood splattered across the hall, soaking the floor.
Thud!
The copper teapot crashed to the ground, scalding tea spilling everywhere as Yuki let out a piercing wail.
"YAKUSHIN!!"
The sudden commotion drew the attention of the green-faced Demon, who had been feasting ravenously on flesh. It jerked its head up from Yakushin mangled neck, its bloodthirsty emerald eyes locking onto the wailing woman.
The commotion in the front yard had long since alerted the two girls in the back and their mother screams filled the children eyes with terror.
Kanae Kocho, trembling with overwhelming fear, cautiously cracked open the door just a sliver—only to witness a scene that would haunt her nightmares for life.
A monstrous creature was tearing into their mother body with ravenous bites, while their father corpse lay sprawled in the medicine hall.
The thick scent of blood was unmistakable even from over ten meters away.
Without hesitation, Kanae immediately withdrew into the room, wrapping her younger sister Shinobu tightly in a blanket and clutching her close.
Her body shook uncontrollably, her voice wavering unsteadily.
"It's... it's okay, it's okay. Don't be afraid, Shinobu. It's okay. Big sister is here, big sister is here..."
Shinobu Kocho was clever and the heavy scent of blood in the air quickly led her to guess what had happened.
Yet for a child not yet ten years old, the sheer brutality of the scene was unimaginable.
"S...Sister... what happened to Father and Mother? Sister... I'm scared..." Shinobu violet eyes shimmered with tears as she huddled beneath the blanket.
Kanae own pale purple eyes brimmed with tears as well. But tears were no weapon against a Demon.
The scent of living humans was an easy lure for the long-starved green-faced Demon—especially the tender, delectable flesh of children.
The green-faced Demon, its mouth clamped around a half-eaten, bloodied arm, suddenly lifted its head.
Its grotesque nose twitched violently before locking onto a direction.
There! That way!
A far more fragrant scent—more tender flesh!
Without a moment hesitation, the Demon discarded the arm in its jaws and charged toward the room where the Kocho sisters hid.
Inside, Kanae held Shinobu tightly, praying with unprecedented fervor.
In that moment, Kanae wished with all her heart that the gods truly existed—that they might protect her family.
How she wished this were all just a nightmare.
That she would wake to her mother gently rousing her, her father stern yet loving voice and the familiar routine of washing herbs by the stream with Shinobu.
But the sound of the sliding door being violently torn apart shattered that hope.
A clawed hand ripped through the paper door, followed by a grotesque head—far more terrifying than any stage monster—thrusting into the room.
Staring at the horrifying Demon, Kanae breath caught in her throat.
Shinobu, still wrapped in the blanket, also saw the dreadful green-faced creature.
Alongside her paralyzing fear, an indescribable rage surged within the little girl heart.
The green-faced Demon, upon seeing the sisters, grew equally frenzied. Saliva dripped uncontrollably from its jaws.
"So fragrant!!"
Just as the Demon lunged, Kanae screamed "NO!!" Instinctively, she shielded Shinobu beneath her, turning her own back toward the monster.
Shinobu, voice trembling with tears, cried out "Sister!"
Yet the expected pain and bloodshed never came.
As the sisters braced for death in their terror, a cold, sharp voice suddenly cut through the air.
"You bastard! What have you done?!"
The voice—both familiar and unfamiliar—made the sisters turn, their faces numb with fear.
The green-faced Demon froze in place, its body still locked in a charging stance.
A broken emerald blade had plunged deep into the back of its neck, emerging through its grotesque, foul-smelling maw. Demon blood dripped continuously from the fractured edge of the blade.
Behind the Demon, a figure stood bathed in moonlight, radiating waves of seething fury.
Eyes of peach-pink and jade-green shimmered under the moonlight like mesmerizing gemstones.
With a forceful twist of the Nichirin Blade gripped tightly in hand, the green-faced Demon let out a scream of unbearable agony.
"DAMN IT!!"
Shinichi furious roar echoed through the blood-scented halls of the Butterfly Mansion.