Cutting through the cold night air, Kanao was running through the forest where darkness had descended.
Her sword gleamed with a cool silver under the moonlight, and her footsteps were quieter than the rustling of leaves.
'Already the fifth one.'
The demons blocking her path were no match for Kanao.
"Kieeeek! A human! A woman!"
A demon sprang out from the darkness, baring its claws and lunging. But Kanao twisted her body gracefully as if dancing, evading the attack.
"Flower Breathing, Second Form: Dancing Plum Blossom."
Her sword traced a trajectory like scattering plum blossoms, wrapping around the demon's neck. The demon was beheaded before it could scream, turning into black ash and disappearing. It was an all-too-easy hunt.
By her side, invisible like shadows, Okita Souji and Ushiwakamaru were guarding her.
"They're really weak, these demons here. It's enough to make me yawn."
Okita brushed dust off her hakama while grumbling. To her, the demons here were less than toys.
"As Master predicted. Although it's a test to weed out unqualified swordsmen, the level of the demons isn't very high either."
Ushiwaka spoke calmly while keeping watch on the surroundings. The three of them crossed the forest leisurely, as if on a stroll.
But their footsteps stopped in a deep part of the forest, in a clearing blooming with Wisteria.
A fishy smell of blood stabbed at their noses.
There, one participant with a still-youthful face had turned into a cold corpse.
His chest bore terrible claw marks, and his torn abdomen spilled out intestines.
His face was etched with pure terror of death.
Kanao knelt before the corpse and clasped her hands in prayer. Then she looked around. The stench of decaying corpses wafted from various places in the darkness.
'They must have learned Breathing, received their cultivator's recognition, and come here. They must have held their swords with dreams—family revenge, justice, their own aspirations. To end so meaninglessly….'
Akira's mansion, that clean and fragrant space, flashed through Kanao's mind.
Akira thoroughly protected his family and organization members.
He pathologically hated his people getting hurt and poured vast capital and power into eliminating danger factors in advance.
Delicious food, safe sleeping quarters, and perfect protection. That was the duty of a ruler that Akira had shown.
And the trading company he led? In this era, it provided rare good welfare and generous wages, treating even its employees very well.
But the Demon Slayer Corps here was different.
"This… is the examination site?"
Kanao muttered softly. An absurd system with no supervisors, no food support, pushing children into mortal danger without even verifying their ability to subdue demons.
It was a cruel and inefficient method where you die if you're unlucky or lack skill.
"There's no concept of management at all. No, it should be called neglect."
Ushiwaka clicked her tongue as if disgusted.
"It's a strategic failure too. The pretext of weeding out rookies is good, but driving them into mortal danger without minimal safety measures or supervisors is just wasting troops. If it were Master, he would have beheaded the person in charge."
"Right, right. It's like throwing new employees into a beast cage under the guise of training and telling them to survive on their own~?"
Okita shrugged her shoulders as if amazed.
Contempt for the Demon Slayer Corps sprouted in Kanao's heart. For an organization that had fought demons for hundreds of years, it was too shoddy and inhumane.
Madness, grinding children's lives like consumables under the grand cause of hunting demons.
'I think I understand why Father called the Demon Slayer Corps a group of lunatics.'
This wasn't an examination site. It was no different from a barbaric arena where demons and swordsmen were thrown feed, and survivors were sorted out.
'It's so different from where Father is. Father worries day and night to protect us… but the adults here are pushing children into mortal danger and just watching.'
Kanao bit her lip. Compared to Akira's benevolent rule, the Ubuyashiki family's method seemed cruel beyond stupidity.
Did such an organization have the right to discuss justice? Her loyalty toward Akira only grew stronger.
For the next few days, Kanao's group roamed the forest, cutting down demons they encountered and staving off hunger with tree berries that demons couldn't eat. They helped other participants too, but more had already met their deaths.
On the night of the sixth day of the examination. In the deepest, darkest valley of Mount Fujikasane, an otherworldly energy different from anything before was felt.
"This smell…."
Okita frowned. It was an unpleasant stench mixed with rotting corpses and concentrated malice.
"Be careful, Kanao-sama. There's something here on a different level than the rabble we've faced so far."
Ushiwaka warned, placing her hand on her sword hilt.
The three of them suppressed their presence and approached where the smell came from. There was a huge pit where moonlight didn't reach, and inside, the form of a grotesque monster writhed.
"Kheh kheh… You've come again. You've come again. My prey."
The monster's body was covered entirely with dozens of large and small arms and hands. Each hand moved independently, tearing at surrounding trees or making bone-crushing sounds.
'That's… a demon? But why is such a thing in this examination site?'
Kanao was astonished. An overwhelming size and demonic energy incomparable to other demons.
That was not a level that children taking the entrance examination could handle. It was clearly an out-of-spec existence.
"What year of Meiji is it now?"
The monster, the Hand Demon, asked in a hoarse voice. Instead of answering, Kanao sent a cold gaze. The Hand Demon giggled to itself, writhing its numerous arms wrapped around its body.
"Don't tell me the era name has changed again? Changed again!? I was captured during the Keio era! Damn it! Damn it! How much time has passed!"
It went berserk, smashing surrounding rocks with its giant arms. With a loud sound, the rocks shattered into pieces. Its power was close to that of a demon using Blood Demon Art.
"Keio… that's the end of the Edo shogunate, right? And why does it have Andersen author's voice?"
Okita's eyes widened.
"No, isn't that Pharaoh's voice? Anyway, so this guy has been here for 47 years?"
Ushiwaka muttered coldly.
"This monster has been trapped here for at least 40 years, eating children who came for the examination and growing stronger. You're saying the Demon Slayer Corps neglected this creature all that long time?"
"Kkkk… That's right. Do you know how many brats I've eaten? Over 40! Every year, fresh meat walks right in!"
The Hand Demon bragged proudly, patting its stomach.
Kanao's pupils cooledly settled. Fear? No way. It was disgust as if looking at filthy filth, and deep disillusionment with the organization called the Demon Slayer Corps.
Over 40 years. For nearly half a century, the Demon Slayer Corps had neglected such a monster growing in their own front yard, the Final Selection site.
How many children, talents who could have been future pillars, had disappeared into this monster's stomach during that time?
This wasn't a simple mistake. It was the incompetence and clear dereliction of duty by the Demon Slayer Corps leadership.
"A place that can't even manage the examination site…."
Kanao spat out softly.
"To leave such a monster to slaughter children. It's truly a hopeless organization."
"What are you muttering, brat! Come into my stomach too!"
The Hand Demon stretched out dozens of arms to cover Kanao. Each arm writhed like a giant snake, emitting killing intent.
But Kanao didn't retreat. She pushed up the sword guard with her thumb.
'Filthy.'
This forest, this system, and that arrogant monster. Filthy lumps too far removed from the clean, beautiful world where Akira was.
"In Father's world… such weeds are unnecessary."
Kanao quietly drew her sword.
Her sword tip pointed at the Hand Demon. This wasn't a subjugation for the Demon Slayer Corps.
It was because she couldn't tolerate the fact that such an unreasonable and disgusting existence was breathing on this land where her beloved father Akira lived.
Kanao's breathing changed. As she inhaled clear air deep into her lungs, her vision became extremely sharp.
"Flower Breathing, Fourth Form: Scarlet Flower Garment."
She gracefully kicked off the ground and soared. Above the night sky of the absurd examination site, slashes like red petals began to dance.
At the time Kanao was smelling blood in the cold mountains, in the bedroom of the Akatsuki Trading Company mansion in Tokyo. Here, the air was peaceful and drowsy.
On the wide bed, Akira was resting sprawled out.
Acting as his right arm pillow was Kocho Kanae with an elegant smile, and his left arm pillow was taken by Kocho Shinobu with a mischievous expression.
Today was the day they promised to just sleep soundly. The three were quietly spending time feeling each other's warmth.
It was Kanae who broke the silence. She playfully poked Akira's chest with her finger and asked softly.
"Hey, Akira-san. Something suddenly made me curious."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Akira-san, you've now become an existence transcending humans, right? Then… how does reproduction work? Is it still impossible, or… can you make us pregnant?"
It was a rather sensitive and important question. Demons have no reproductive ability, but Akira was a perfect being transcending demons.
Akira fell silent for a moment, then answered frankly without hiding.
"It's possible. Since I can manipulate my body structure at will, from sperm production to gene combination, if I put my mind to it, making you pregnant is no big deal."
At those words, Shinobu's eyes sparkled. She sat up and looked down at Akira with a bright smile.
"Really? Wow…! Then we can become mothers too? A child resembling Akira-san and me, just imagining it seems so cute! Make one for me, okay?"
At Shinobu's coquettish request, Kanae also sent an expectant look.
Having the child of the man she loved was one of the biggest dreams a woman could have.
But Akira shook his head firmly.
"No. I won't make children."
"Eh…? Why not?"
Shinobu's expression quickly soured. Akira stroked the sisters' heads and calmly explained the reasons.
"There are three problems. First is the mother's safety."
Akira's gaze became serious.
"My genes are too strong. If the child inherits my traits and is conceived in a state close to a perfect being, the fetus will require enormous energy from the womb. Your human bodies can't handle that energy. You might wither and die before the child is born, or be eaten from inside the womb."
At the gruesome story, the sisters' faces turned pale.
"Second is this world's problem. Even if born safely, if my children with transcendent power increase one by one, the world will fall into chaos. They might cause accidents or fight each other. And I don't want to curse my children like Muzan to control them. That's not what a parent should do."
"That's… certainly true."
"And the last third. Even if the child is born as an ordinary human… that in itself is a sad thing."
A bitterness seeped into Akira's voice.
"I will live for eternal time. But a child born human will grow, age, and eventually die before me. There's no greater pain than watching a child go before their parents. I don't want to suffer such sorrow."
He paused to catch his breath, then added with a wry smile.
"Besides, if I have children with all of you, it would soon exceed 100, and I don't have the confidence to handle that childcare hell."
At Akira's logical explanation, Kanae and Shinobu had no choice but to accept. Although disappointment remained, they couldn't complain since they felt how much he cherished and worried about them.
"Hmm… It's disappointing, but if it's because Akira-san is worried about us, there's nothing we can do."
Kanae mumbled, burying her face in Akira's chest.
"Then… instead of not making children, you have to love us that much more, okay?"
Shinobu pretended to pout and reached her hand between Akira's thighs.
Over the thin pants, Akira's heavy and firm thing was grasped. She began stimulating it, tracing its outline with her fingers.
"Shinobu, wasn't today the day to just sleep?"
"Hmph, Akira-san said disappointing things first. Comfort me."
Kanae also stroked Akira's thigh from the other side with a mysterious smile. The atmosphere quickly became sticky.
"Sigh, there's no helping it. Perfect timing… there was something I wanted to test, so this works out well."
"Test?"
Akira curled up the corner of his mouth and flicked his finger.
Snap!
Then the bedroom door slid open, and Kiyohime and Tamamo-no-Mae, dressed in kimonos, entered.
"Oh? Are you two joining too?"
Kanae asked as if pleased, but soon felt a sense of incongruity. The two's eyes were different from usual. Their focus was hazy, and within them, the same red glow as Akira's began to shimmer.
"The atmosphere is… a bit strange, isn't it?"
Shinobu tilted her head.
At that moment, Kiyohime opened her mouth in a tone different from usual.
"I'm connecting my consciousness to control their bodies. It's a kind of possession and physical extension."
"What?! Akira-san is… controlling them?"
Akira said with a mischievous smile. He could have used it originally, but since he rarely did, even the Kocho sisters who had lived with him for years didn't know. There needed to be a reason to use it in the first place.
"My cells exist everywhere and can transform freely. Now, look at this."
Kiyohime and Tamamo simultaneously lifted the hems of their kimonos.
"Kyaa!"
"Oh my…."
The sisters' eyes widened.
Between their smooth legs, in the place where a woman's secret part should be, hung male genitalia shaped exactly like Akira's, thick with bulging veins.
It wasn't grotesquely attached but rose naturally as if it had been part of their bodies from the beginning.
Akira had transplanted his cells into their bodies, creating genitalia like his own分身.
"I detached a part of my body and made it grow. Well, they can also use transformation to make it themselves, but if it's not mine, it feels strangely like NTR play, right? So I planted a part of me separately inside their bodies. The sensations are shared too. How is it? This kind of play isn't bad, I think."
Kiyohime approached the bed. Her face was Kiyohime's, but her expression and aura were unmistakably Akira's.
"Is, is this really okay?"
"They all said they were fine with it. They said living as one with me is good too. And now that it's grown from me, it feels like we've truly become one, they're excited inside right now, they say?"
"So their consciousness is awake…."
Kiyohime pushed the thing hanging between her legs in front of Shinobu's face.
"Now, Shinobu. Check it directly. Whose it is."
Shinobu brought her face close as if entranced. From the red tip writhing before her eyes, Akira's unique thick male hormone scent and musk odor vibrated.
"Sniff sniff… Haa, this is…."
Shinobu's cheeks flushed red.
"No doubt about it. Akira-san's smell… I bet it tastes like Akira-san."
She felt unbearable excitement from the betrayal of the thing hanging from Kiyohime's body and the fact that it was her beloved man's分身.
"Oh my, oh my… My goodness. On Tamamo-san's body too…."
Beside her, Kanae was carefully touching Tamamo's thing. Hot heat and a pulse transmitted through her palm.
She gulped down dry saliva and slightly spread her already moist lower half.
"Akira-san… you're really mischievous. But I don't dislike it. No, rather…."
Kanae's eyes loosened and shone seductively.
"Fine. Today, I'll fill you up tight. Might even run out of holes."
Akira, three; women, two. The bed was instantly filled with a strange and lewd heat.
Kiyohime pushed the thing into Shinobu's mouth. Simultaneously, Akira spread Kanae's legs and thrust in.
"Ugh…! Chulup, chup♡!"
"Haaang♡! Akira-san! Full, it's filling me…♡!"
The night deepened, and in the Akatsuki Trading Company mansion's bedroom, the promiscuous and hot relations of beings transcending common sense continued all night.
Instead of making children, they were etching each other's existence deep into their bones.
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