'... What? Where am I?'
In the dark place, a lonely soul drifted aimlessly.
'What did I do before I ended up in this place? Did I die?'
The lonely soul keeps moving aimlessly without a destination... Without ending.
'If I die, why am I here? Shouldn't it be Hell or Heaven?'
'... But, when will it end? Did I get trapped in here? Foreve-'
But then.
A faint light flickered in the endless dark.
Blinding. Overwhelming.
And then... consciousness returned.
But what greeted him was not Heaven's gates, nor Hell's inferno.
Instead, a nightmare.
A firestorm raged, consuming a village in roaring crimson. Houses collapsed one by one, reduced to ash and embers. The stench of charred flesh clung to the air, suffocating and heavy.
Bodies, human bodies, lay scattered in the flames.
And among them… movement.
Not the living. Not survivors.
But people, no, things, hunched over the corpses, tearing into them with claws and teeth, gnawing, devouring. Blood soaked the earth, steam rising as it met the fire's heat.
It was not Heaven. It was not Hell... It was something far worse.
"…Nightmare?" the drifting soul muttered. After so long in the Void, even this sight stirred no fear upon his face. Not yet. "But… didn't I die? Can I still dream?"
Perhaps it was his voice, fragile, echoing strangely, that drew attention.
The thing, crouched over a mangled corpse, slowly turned its head. Its crimson-stained mouth glistened wet in the firelight.
The soul's gaze met it without flinching. For a moment, there was only silence.
Then, the thing smiled.
"…Oh~ there's still a pig that survives? Good~"
It wiped its mouth with the back of its hand. The firelight revealed its face, and in that instant, clarity struck.
The features were human, yet wrong. Skin too pale, eyes too hungry, smile too wide.
The soul whispered the only word that fit. "…Demon-"
The demon moved before words could follow, blurring forward with inhuman speed, claws slashing through the smoke and fire.
Instinct took over. The soul's body, though he had no memory of regaining one, lurched to the side. The attack missed his throat by a breath, but his footing gave way, and he crashed hard onto the scorched earth.
A hot sting burned across his cheek.
He touched it. Wet. Warm. Blood.
His breath caught. The searing pain wasn't fading like in a dream. It throbbed, alive, real.
'No… this... this isn't a dream?'
For the first time since awakening, his eyes widened, trembling.
The fire roared. The corpses stank. The demon's shadow loomed over him, claws dripping red.
And in that moment, fear, sharp and merciless, sank its teeth into his soul.
"Ahh~" The demon's grin widened, savoring the tremor in the boy's expression. "That's it. That's the face you should've shown from the start, boy~"
The soul, no, the child, looked down at his own trembling hands. Small. Fragile. A body no older than four or five. His breath hitched, words lost in his throat, but his wide gray eyes betrayed everything: confusion, terror, disbelief.
The demon licked the blood from his claws, chuckling low.
"Don't worry~" it crooned, leaning closer, its breath reeking of iron. "Soon, you'll become one with me… help me reach a higher level~ okay?"
The boy's lips quivered. His voice cracked, thin as paper. "N-no… I don't want to die!!"
The boy's tiny fingers clawed at the dirt, scraping against the scorched earth until they closed around a fistful of ash and gravel.
With a trembling cry, he hurled it into the demon's face.
The debris scattered, some of it stinging the monster's eyes.
It froze. Then blinked.
Then it smiled again, wider, sharper.
"Ohh~? You dare?"
The playful lilt in its voice cracked, replaced by a guttural snarl. Rage twisted its features, veins bulging across its pale skin.
"Filthy little brat!"
Its claws slammed into the ground beside the boy, inches from his head. The earth split, sending a shock through his small frame.
The boy's chest heaved, heart hammering like a trapped bird. He could barely move. The earlier defiance drained into pure, paralyzing terror.
The demon leaned closer, lips curling, its bloodstained breath hot on his cheek.
"I'll tear you apart slowly… until you beg me to end it"
The demon's claws hovered, twitching with anticipation, when-
*Shhhkt!*
The sharp rasp of steel sliding free cut through the fire's crackle.
A human voice followed, low but burning with conviction:
"Honō no Kokyū… Ichi no Kata: Shiranui"
The air split.
In the space between heartbeats, a searing line of flame carved through the darkness. The night blazed brighter, drowning the demon's shadow in incandescent fire.
The monster barely had time to snarl before its arm was severed, the scorched stump hissing in the firestorm.
"GHHHAA!!" The demon reeled back, shrieking, its voice twisting between agony and rage.
But the boy's gray eyes, wide and trembling, fixed not on the demon's horror… but on the figure now standing before him.
A swordsman.
Back straight. Blade raised. Flames dancing along the edge as though the sword itself breathed fire. His haori, patterned in red and orange like flickering embers, rippled in the heat.
And when the man spoke again, his voice was steady, unwavering, so different from the chaos around them.
"You will not touch him again"
For the first time since the nightmare began, the boy felt something cut through the suffocating smoke and fear.
Not salvation. Not safety.
But a flame, burning bright enough to pierce even the endless dark.
The demon's twisted grin faltered as the firelight grew unbearable. The heat was suffocating, choking even for a creature born of blood and night.
That man is Shinjuro Rengoku.
Shinjuro Rengoku stepped forward, his blade trailing embers like a comet's tail.
His eyes, sharp and burning, locked onto the demon with unshakable fury.
"Flame Hashira…?!" the demon hissed, its voice cracking. "Tch! Why would one of the Pillars waste his time in this wretched village?"
Shinjuro didn't answer. His silence was heavier than words, his flames louder than any declaration.
The demon lunged, its body blurring into the smoke, claws aiming to rip through Shinjuro's chest.
But Shinjuro's blade moved faster.
"Honō no Kokyū: Ni no Kata - En'en no Shō" (Breath of Flame, Second Form - Rising Scorching Sun)
His katana arced upward, a blazing crescent. The flames roared with it, splitting the night sky with heat. The demon's claws melted before they could touch him, severed clean, its shriek piercing through the inferno.
"GRHHHAAA!!"
It stumbled back, its body writhing as the fire clung to its wounds, refusing to let them heal.
The boy watched, trembling. His small hands clutched the dirt as if holding on for dear life. The suffocating terror in his chest… was now mixed with something else. Awe.
Shinjuro advanced, each step leaving cracks in the scorched earth. His voice finally broke through the demon's wailing:
"You dare feast on the innocent in front of me? I'll reduce you to ashes"
The demon, cornered, tried once more to flee, dashing sideways with monstrous speed.
But flame was faster.
"San no Kata - Kien Banshō!!" (Breath of Flame, Third Form - Blazing Universe).
Shinjuro brought his sword down in a single devastating strike. The air itself roared, igniting as the blade descended.
The demon's scream was swallowed in the explosion of flame. Its body split, burned, and reduced to drifting ash within moments.
Silence followed. Only the crackle of the dying firestorm remained.
Shinjuro lowered his blade, exhaling slowly, steam rising from his skin.
Behind him, the boy sat frozen, gray eyes wide, smoke curling faintly from his trembling lips.
Shinjuro turned, his gaze softening slightly as he sheathed his sword. "...You're safe now, boy"
The words barely reached the child's ears. All he could hear was the pounding of his own heart, and see the image burned into his soul:
A single man, standing tall, wreathed in flames, burning brighter than the night.