Near a forest, in the courtyard of a large luxurious mansion, Itsuki was chopping wood and punching rocks. Suddenly, Kangiten shouted at him,
"Punch harder, Itsuki! Are you out of strength?"
Itsuki shouted back and gave a powerful punch. The force of the blow shattered the large rock into tiny pieces. Then he said,
"This is all the strength I have, Kangiten Sir."
Kangiten replied,
"Looking at your current strength and rank, this power is enough."
Tired, Itsuki said,
"Sigh… my ears were longing to hear that. But for the past two years, you've only been training my physical abilities."
Kangiten used healing magic to heal Itsuki. Then he said,
"Not for much longer. In just a few days, your real training will begin."
Just then, Neshima arrived and said with a smile,
"The training isn't that tough, Itsuki."
Hearing this, Itsuki shouted, surprised,
"It may be easy for you, but not for me! Everything seems easy for a Shatirō like you!"
Kangiten asked Neshima,
"Did Mayushi not come with you?"
Teasing him, Neshima replied,
"Why are you asking about her? Anyway, it's her choice whether she comes or not."
Kangiten turned his eyes to the side and said,
"It's just that I needed to talk to her about something, that's why I asked."
Laughing, Neshima said,
"Why are you being shy about it? She's coming from behind."
Kangiten, hearing this, asked Neshima,
"Did you tell Mayushi to come alone from behind? Are you crazy?"
Neshima, now serious, said,
"What's wrong with that? She'll be fine. I placed a shield around her."
Hearing this gave Kangiten some relief, but he was still worried. So he teleported to Mayushi.
When he arrived, Kangiten saw that Mayushi was standing still, scared, and staring in one direction. He looked the same way and asked,
"What happened, Mayushi? What are you looking at?"
Trembling, Mayushi replied,
"Big brother Kangiten… a demon just killed a human and carried them away right in front of me!"
Kangiten thought to himself,
"Mayushi is still afraid. First, I should take her to Neshima, then go after the demon."
Gently patting her head, Kangiten said,
"Don't be scared, Mayushi. This is nothing unusual. Go to Neshima; I'll take care of it. Come, I'll drop you off."
He teleported her to Neshima and, before leaving, said,
"Take care of Mayushi. I'll be right back."
Then Kangiten teleported to the location where the incident occurred. Using Presence of Magic, he sensed the demon's presence coming from within the forest. He quickly headed in that direction.
There, he saw a man trying to hide his face. Kangiten asked him,
"Have you seen any demons around here?"
The man, still hiding his face, replied in a weak voice,
"No… I haven't seen any demon. But why are you asking?"
Kangiten replied casually,
"It's my job to ask. But what are you doing in this dense forest?"
Hearing this, the man became nervous and said,
"My pet wandered into the forest. I came looking for it."
Kangiten warned him,
"Alright. Find your pet and head home quickly. There's a demon lurking around here."
As the man began to leave, he suddenly muttered,
"Humans are so stupid. He doesn't even realize that a high-rank demon is standing right in front of him."
Saying this, he attacked Kangiten. He used a Demon Slash, but when he looked again, Kangiten was gone.
Before the demon could understand what happened, Kangiten had already placed a sword on his neck. The demon quickly tried to attack again, but before he could do anything, Kangiten sliced his throat.
However, the demon didn't die—because he had taken possession of a human body after killing the man. The demon laughed and said,
"You can't kill me, human. You'd have to find and kill my real body for that. But you'll never find it!"
Kangiten laughed and replied,
"You think so? You're a high-rank demon, of course you'd hide your real body well… but such tricks won't work on me. Summon Magic Circle – Activate!"
From the magic circle, the demon's real body began to appear. Seeing this, the demon panicked and said,
"What is this? Why is my real body here? Who are you? How do you have so much power and magic?"
With a dark smile, Kangiten replied,
"I am death for demons like you. If you're ever reborn in this world, don't come back as a demon—or you'll meet me again. Magic of Destroy!"
With the Magic of Destroy, the demon was completely annihilated.
---
In a dark cave, a demon was sitting on a large rock. Another demon came running and said,
"One of our high-rank demons has been killed!"
Hearing this, the demon laughed and said,
"Who is the Demon Slayer who killed a high-rank demon?"