Hesitation, guilt, self-doubt, pain, sorrow… various emotions assailed Chiba Yo's heart, causing him to lose himself for a moment.
"There's only one guy who can turn people into demons, and that's the progenitor of all demons, Kibutsuji Muzan."
Recalling what Kyoujurou had told him earlier, all of Chiba Yo's emotions transformed into pure rage.
"Kibutsuji… Muzan!!!" Chiba Yo clenched the nichirin blade in his hand, trembling all over from anger.
Although they had never met, Chiba Yo's hatred for Muzan had reached its peak at this moment.
"Even if I have to chase you to the ends of the earth, I will definitely cut you down!" Chiba Yo forcefully plunged his nichirin blade into the ground, making a vow.
"Caw! Caw! Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen are fighting demons to the north! Swordsmen have already fallen! Go support! Go support!" The Kasugai Crow's cry rang out again.
Before Chiba Yo's emotions could calm down, the second mission had already been given. He silently retrieved his nichirin blade, knowing he had no time to hesitate here. He placed the clothes in his hand on the ground, offered a silent prayer for the deceased siblings and those killed by demons, and then immediately headed north, guided by the Kasugai Crow.
Although he knew there was nothing wrong with slaying man-eating demons, the thought of the young man who died because of it always made Chiba Yo uneasy, a feeling as if he himself had killed the boy.
Are these the responsibilities, the pains that swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps like Rengoku-sensei, Shinazugawa-san, and Shinobu-jie jie bear…? The self-reproach for failing to protect humans, the sorrow at witnessing the suffering in the world, the silent endurance of being misunderstood…
Compared to that, physical pain must be the most insignificant to them…
For Rengoku-sensei, who takes protecting others as his life's principle, seeing the state of the village must have filled him with immense self-reproach… Yet, he was still able to comfort me with such warmth…
Now, I should also pull myself together…
Chiba Yo's emotions gradually calmed down, and he began to focus on his journey.
Soon, a small mountain appeared before him, and the screams emanating from within it confirmed that this was the place the Kasugai Crow had mentioned.
He rushed into the mountain without hesitation. The smell of blood permeated the air around Chiba Yo from the moment he entered.
Further in, fragments of Demon Slayer Corps uniforms and nichirin blades also appeared, surrounded by bloodstains, though there were no bodies.
"Hahahahaha, are all you demon slayers so weak? And so brainless, daring to draw your swords at me after seeing the numbers in my eyes. I am Rokuro, the Lower Moon Two of the Twelve Kizuki!"
An extremely arrogant voice rang out from ahead. Hearing it, Chiba Yo immediately rushed in that direction.
In the forest on the mountaintop, a demon resembling a middle-aged man with a thick beard and the upper half of his face covered in blood-like markings was laughing while clutching a Demon Slayer Corps swordsman by the neck. Two characters, "Lower Two," were carved into its left eye.
Lower Moon Two, Rokuro.
On the trees around him, many human corpses hung, impaled by a thick rope. Most of the bodies were in extremely bizarre and twisted positions, legs wrapped around heads, arms twisted into spirals, the entire person curled into a disc.
"The Hashira… will kill you…" The Demon Slayer Corps swordsman, choked by Rokuro, managed to utter these words with difficulty, glaring at Rokuro.
Rokuro heard this and showed a disdainful expression.
"I've lost interest in you. Fewer and fewer humans are passing through here, so it's time to move somewhere else. If the Hashira you mentioned can find me, then let him come."
After saying this, the Demon Slayer Corps swordsman in Rokuro's hand began to twist, all his bones starting to crackle.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!" The intense pain made the Demon Slayer Corps swordsman scream, bloodshot eyes bulging, while Rokuro wore an expression of enjoyment.
Suddenly, a figure rushed in at an extremely fast speed. A cold light flashed, and the arm Rokuro was using to grip the Demon Slayer Corps swordsman was severed. It immediately leaped back a large step, then instantly regenerated its broken arm.
To avoid harming the captured human, Chiba Yo did not use a sword technique.
"Can he still escape?" Chiba Yo asked the swordsman, shaking off Rokuro's severed arm.
"Don't let it touch you…"
However, the swordsman did not answer Chiba Yo's words, but instead warned him first.
On the other side, looking at Chiba Yo, who had rescued the swordsman, Rokuro smiled and said, "Do you think you've saved him just like that?"
As its words fell, the neck of the swordsman Chiba Yo had saved rotated 360 degrees, and then his body slumped softly to the ground.
"Hahahahaha, what a pity, he was exposed to me for too long." Rokuro mocked Chiba Yo.
This feeling of controlling others' life and death was very addictive to it, allowing it to alleviate some of its fear of a certain demon.
"You must be a demon slayer too. As a demon slayer, you should know the meaning of the numbers in my eyes, right? My strength is not something you small fry can handle. How about this?
If you can help me find more humans to be my food, I'll let you go, how about it?" Rokuro shouted at Chiba Yo.
As a demon, he naturally wouldn't let food that was already in his mouth escape. The reason for saying this was merely to insult the demon slayers.
Chiba Yo said nothing, gently laid the Demon Slayer Corps swordsman's body on the ground, stood up, and slowly walked towards Rokuro.
He naturally knew what the numbers in a demon's eyes represented; Kyoujurou had already told him. Demons with numbers in their eyes were members of the Twelve Kizuki, direct subordinates of the demon progenitor Kibutsuji Muzan, and their strength was exceptionally great. But none of this concerned him, nor did he care about it. All he wanted was to kill these evil demons.
The human corpses hanging from the trees constantly pricked his nerves, igniting his fury.
"Why trample on life?"
Although his heart was filled with extreme anger, Chiba Yo's voice was slightly calm, but beneath that calmness lay endless rage.
Chiba Yo knew he might not get any answers from the demon, and he knew he would soon engage in a life-or-death battle with this demon, but he still wanted to ask these questions.
"What?" Rokuro called out with some confusion, not understanding why this demon slayer would ask him questions.
"Life grows old, life gets sick, life gets hurt, life perishes. Simply existing is already difficult. Why take others' lives so easily?"
His low voice echoed through the vast forest. Moonlight spilled over Chiba Yo, making the flame Breath Styles / Marks on his forehead even more vivid.