In the dark of night, a hungry demon and an injured Shiba Inu, Sanrou Oihira, walked aimlessly, one after the other.
Perhaps hearing Enni's whimper behind him, Shinichi stopped his numb steps, turned, picked up Enni, and gently apologized while stroking Enni's injured neck: "I'm sorry, Enni, I'm sorry."
Shinichi didn't know how he became a demon.
He had only heard of such legendary monsters for the first time a few days ago from Junbo.
What did it feel like to become a demon?
It was hard to describe.
First, Shinichi felt a heart-wrenching hunger and an extreme craving for human flesh and blood.
Shinichi saw his current appearance reflected in the stream.
His originally pitch-black eyes had turned crimson, and his sallow, emaciated face had inexplicably become full and exceptionally handsome, as if this was his true appearance.
Besides this, Shinichi also gained a pair of incredibly sharp black claws and long fangs in his mouth.
Becoming a demon also granted Shinichi a mysteriously powerful strength; he could easily tear apart trees as thick as a man's embrace and run dozens of meters in a second.
But at the same time, Shinichi also felt a sense of weakness, a constantly spreading weakness that his body was using to remind him: he needed to eat humans!
Only by eating humans could he curb the weakness and even become stronger.
But Shinichi resisted the craving for flesh and blood.
He buried all the corpses in the dilapidated temple and chose to leave.
Sanrou Oihira was dead, very fragmented, but even if he were alive, he couldn't stop the current Shinichi.
The dilapidated temple he had painstakingly tried to escape from had become ruins, but Shinichi's heart was filled with gloom.
The promise to take that child to Kyoto could never be fulfilled.
That smiling child would forever rest in peace on the small mound behind the ruined temple.
Whenever he thought of this, surging hatred filled Shinichi's mind.
That man in the suit! It was him! That man who called himself Muzan! It was him! He was also a demon!
Shinichi recalled when his waist was crushed by the bone whip from that man.
While his brain felt intense pain, he also entered a strange state.
Everything in front of him seemed to have been paused.
Shinichi could even see dust particles suspended in the air.
He could feel and even see the internal organs and muscles within the body of the man named Muzan.
That man, no, that demon!
It might have multiple hearts and brains!
It was in this miraculous state that Shinichi used a dagger hidden in his sleeve to cut Muzan's face, making Muzan bleed.
Shinichi's memory abruptly ended there.
Now, recalling the terrifying aura that enveloped Muzan, a trace of instinctive fear actually emerged from the depths of Shinichi's soul.
"No! Damn it! Why should I be afraid?
No matter who he is! I will definitely make him pay!" Shinichi roared in frustration.
It was at this moment that a glimmer of light began to appear on the horizon in the dark night sky.
Dawn was breaking.
Sizzle!!
Like the sound of raw meat being scorched, Shinichi's right hand, exposed to the sunlight, retracted as if electrocuted.
Intense pain stimulated his nerves.
After only a second in the sun, Shinichi's entire right hand was charred, and his incredibly sharp black claws had become dry and brittle.
Just like in the stories, demons cannot stand sunlight, no matter how strong they are, even the demon named Muzan.
Shinichi, holding Enni, hid in a cave.
The hunger in his stomach grew stronger and stronger.
Lying in the cave, Shinichi's consciousness began to blur from hunger.
A voice inside him constantly tempted and urged him to kill and eat humans.
Whether in his previous life or now, Shinichi's moral compass could not tolerate him eating humans.
If he really ate people, what would be the difference between him and the evil demons in the stories?
He didn't want to become a monster.
Shinichi closed his eyes, and in a daze, he seemed to see the evil demon named Muzan.
He stared with crimson eyes, countless sharp bone whips rising from his back, surging towards him like a tidal wave.
He himself was like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot, helplessly watching countless bone whips pierce his body.
"Weak human, since you are fortunate enough to become a demon, then make good use of your identity.
We demons are higher, more perfect beings than humans.
Go!
Kill humans to your heart's content, eat more humans!
The more humans you eat, the stronger you will become! Even becoming a supreme existence!!" A seductive voice echoed in Shinichi's ears.
But at this moment, Shinichi only felt irritated.
He bared his sharp fangs, desperately resisting the invisible temptation and restraint.
"Get lost!
I can't possibly become a monster like you!
And I will never eat humans!
Go to hell, you bastard!!" As he resisted, a faint greenish light seemed to appear before Shinichi's eyes.
With a roar, all the illusions before him shattered into pieces with cracking sounds.
Bang!
For some reason, Shinichi, who suddenly opened his eyes, felt as if some restraint had been removed from his body.
He felt an inexplicable sense of ease, and even the intense hunger in his stomach lessened by two points.
At the same time, in a luxurious mansion in Shimane Prefecture, a pair of crimson eyes suddenly lit up in a dark room.
The black vertical pupils were filled with murderous intent.
"What's happening?
This feeling of losing control? Tamayo?!"
Outside the room, the shattered bodies of the mansion's owners were scattered across the floor, blood staining it red.
.....
Night finally fell.
Shinichi, almost driven mad by hunger, left the cave with Enni, trying to find some food to alleviate his hunger.
But after wandering in the forest for a long time, whether it was fresh wild fruits, salmon in the stream, or even a rabbit Shinichi caught and tore apart, as soon as he swallowed them, the moment these foods reached his stomach, Shinichi would vomit violently, completely expelling everything.
The little Shiba Inu, Enni, on the other hand, happily gnawed on the plump rabbit leg, and the wound on its neck showed signs of improvement.
Stroking Enni's small head, Shinichi felt a little melancholic.
Could it be that, besides human flesh, demons couldn't eat anything else?
Was he going to starve to death?
Or… should he try to… there seemed to be bad people among humans, right?
Was it…
When the thought of eating humans suddenly appeared, Shinichi was startled.
What was he thinking?
No! Absolutely not!
He absolutely could not eat humans!
Not even bad people.
Once he opened the Pandora's box of eating humans, Shinichi couldn't be sure if he would completely fall into being a bloodthirsty demon.
But the hunger in his stomach was getting stronger and stronger.
How long could he last just enduring it?
.....
On the path at night, an extremely hungry Shinichi walked silently and aimlessly.
After some time, a light appeared on the road in the distance.
Getting closer, Shinichi saw a wooden house by the roadside.
Were people living there?
Thinking of humans, Shinichi swallowed a rapidly secreted mouthful of saliva.
No, he couldn't go.
His current terrifying appearance would surely scare the people there.
Holding Enni, Shinichi prepared to take a detour.
Suddenly, a faint scent of blood entered Shinichi's nostrils.
The extremely hungry Shinichi instantly recognized what this smell was!
It was the smell of human blood, and very fresh blood!
And the source of the bloody smell was that wooden house!