In the middle of the night, on the path leading to Fish Scale Village, Tendo held a pig's trotter in one hand and a pig's elbow in the other, eating messily, his mouth greasy. He felt full and thought he could easily take down the Scrap Boss.
As he walked, Tendo suddenly felt a bone-chilling coldness creeping up from behind. He shivered and quickly turned around, seeing a figure standing quietly not far behind him.
In the clear moonlight, he could see it clearly; it was a strange combination, a human body topped with a shark's head.
Without a doubt, it was a demon.
The Shark Demon was entirely white, glistening as if coated in white latex paint, its eyes tightly shut, motionless.
Even the killing intent from a moment ago had vanished.
There was no sense of oppression, no threat; this demon was a genuine weakling.
This was Tendo's judgment of the Shark Demon, but he still felt something was off about its aura.
The two stood facing each other for several minutes, the demon keeping its eyes closed and not moving an inch.
In that time, Tendo finished gnawing on the pig's trotter and used the bone as a projectile, flinging it at the Shark Demon.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Under the immense strength of Tendo's grip, each bone fragment shot forth with a whistling sound through the air, swift as bullets.
In the blink of an eye, the bones rained down upon the Shark Demon's body, piercing through its tough hide and embedding themselves deep within.
Strangely, not a single drop of blood spilled from the wounds, and the demon remained as motionless as a statue.
An illusion?
Mind control?
Or a clone?
Tendo quickly formulated several theories, but then the Shark Demon opened its eyes—pale, pupil-less orbs, with the characters "Lower One" engraved in its left eye.
The moment he saw those words, Tendo immediately dropped the half-eaten pork knuckle in his hand, every cell in his body surging with excitement.
A Lower Moon?!
Could it be that my first mission will earn me a promotion to Hashira?!
At the same time, the Shark Demon moved. Like a bolt of lightning, it vanished from its original position in an instant, leaving only flickering white afterimages in its wake.
Similarly, Tendo also disappeared from where he stood. A deep blue Fighting Spirit radiated from his body as countless afterimages began to coalesce around the Shark Demon, eventually forming the shape of a Flood Dragon.
The dragon's head loomed above the Shark Demon, its maw holding a shimmering azure Blade Wind.
Way of Breathing · Water Form · Dragon Run.
Tendo hovered at the dragon's head, his sword gleaming coldly in his grip. With a powerful swing, a brilliant arc of sword light tore through the void, descending like a cascading galaxy.
All of this happened in mere seconds.
The Shark Demon's head flew off, exploding midair under the night sky—but instead of flesh and blood, milky-white water sprayed outward.
Tendo swiftly distanced himself from the demon's corpse. The moment he dodged a few paces away, the body detonated, splattering the ground with milky-white blood.
Something was off—the feel of the fight, the demon's strength.
Though Tendo wasn't entirely sure of his own capabilities, a member of the Twelve Demon Moons shouldn't have been this weak.
No Blood Demon Art, no instinct to evade—just seemingly extreme speed and mindless aggression.
This thing must have been a clone or something similar. After the fight, he confirmed his suspicions.
But that meant the real demon behind the Fish Scale Village incident was Lower Moon One.
Now that's interesting!
Tendo sheathed his sword. By the time he approached the scene, the pool of blood had vanished without a trace, as if nothing had ever happened.
"Tch!"
"Got my hopes up for nothing, and wasted half a pork knuckle too. Damn it!"
Without lingering, he dashed to the coconut tree at the village entrance and looked up—one Kasugai Crow had become two.
"Seiken, this is—" The moment he got a clear look, he gasped. "Holy crap, Kanzaburo?!"
Kanzaburo was Giyu Tomioka's Kasugai Crow, an elder among the crows, highly respected and of great age.
Its presence here meant Giyu was also nearby.
"Greetings!" Kanzaburo called out to Tendo, its voice steady and weathered like an old man's.
"Hey!" Tendo crossed his arms, scanning the surroundings, but no matter where he looked, he couldn't spot Giyu hiding anywhere.
This didn't make sense!
Giyu wasn't the type to play pranks or hide for fun.
"Where's Giyu?" he asked, turning to Kanzaburo.
"Giyu was knocked out by the villagers and locked up!" Kanzaburo replied calmly, its tone suggesting that Giyu wasn't in immediate danger.
"Ah, this!"
Kanzaburo's words left Tendo utterly speechless.
Why on earth would he be locked up by the villagers?
Then, Kanzaburo briefly explained the situation to Tendo.
Giyu had arrived at Uroko Village a day ago. While passing by the village's shrine, he discovered a fish-headed, human-bodied demon and destroyed the shrine while slaying it.
Giyu's reasoning was simple—the shrine enshrined a fish-headed, human-bodied monster, identical to the demon he had just slain.
But while he knew it was a demon, the villagers didn't. To them, it was just an outsider destroying their shrine.
Though Giyu argued his case, the villagers had no reason to believe him. And since he would never raise a hand against ordinary people, in the chaos, he was knocked unconscious by a sneak attack from the villagers.
"Ugh! (ˉ―ˉ?)" Tendo was momentarily at a loss for words. If you can't convince them, can't you just avoid them? Did he really have to argue with them?
That was just like Giyu—knowing he was right and acting for the villagers' sake, yet utterly incapable of expressing it.
Tendo could easily picture the scene: Giyu, after slicing the shrine apart with his sword, turning to the villagers with his usual deadpan "you owe me a fortune" expression and saying:
This thing is bad for you. It's a demon, not a god.
"Never mind. Just tell me where Giyu's locked up. I'll go save him."
Kanzaburo froze for a moment, then put on an expression of racking its brains. Clearly, it was trying hard to remember.
Well, that couldn't be helped. Kanzaburo was old, and its memory wasn't great—understandable.
After a while, Kanzaburo suddenly perked up and announced loudly, "Sorry, I forgot!"
Hearing this, Tendo instantly turned to stone.
Seiken, who had been watching from the side, couldn't take it anymore and chimed in, "That little girl might know where Giyu is being held."
"Seiken, how do you know that?"
"Kanzaburo-senpai told me."
Kanzaburo shook its head sheepishly. "I forgot."
Tendo was thoroughly exasperated.
Kanzaburo's memory was truly something else. But then again, if its memory had been better, according to the original plot, when Muzan attacked Tanjiro's family, Tanjiro would've had to dig one more grave for a stranger.
"How do we get to that girl's house? Take me there!"
"Alright!"
Seiken nodded and took flight, while Kanzaburo hitched a ride on Tendo's shoulder.
Under the cover of night, Tendo slipped into Uroko Village. Along the way, he could indeed see many destroyed shrines.
"Damn!"
"Was Giyu here for demolition work? He wrecked twenty-five shrines?"
After counting them, Tendo let out a long sigh, realizing that the guy getting knocked out wasn't without reason.
That was just like Giyu.
----------------
Hey there's 40 chapter ahead here : patreon. com/Pain1231
Dont forget to remove the space okay!