Demon Slayer: I am a Demon.

The evil spirits, who can only hide in the darkness, are powerful, but after the sun rises, they are no more than rats in the underground tunnels.

The ghost, which could not be seen in the light, was pulled into the sunlight by ordinary people. The terrifying evil spirit, which had always regarded humans as food, was now powerless to resist its once delicious food.

Amid cheers and celebrations, the cruel demon was exposed to the sunlight and eventually turned to ashes, disappearing completely and leaving behind only a foul stench.

…………

Scenes like this are playing out all over the world.

One evil spirit after another was found by ordinary people, then dragged into the sunlight, and eventually died from being exposed to the scorching sun.

It's fair to say that the number of demons the Demon Slayer Corps has hunted in the past year is less than the number of demons who died from being exposed to the sun in the last two days.

……

Nada Spider Mountain

Lei, known as the Spider Demon, quietly closed his eyes under his mother's constant gentle coaxing.

In the dim light, past memories seemed to resurface once more.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I couldn't give birth to you with a healthy body, I'm so sorry."

The woman, who should have been called 'mother,' knelt on the ground, using only her last breath to apologize to him repeatedly.

After saying this, the person referred to as 'mother' breathed her last and died.

"It's okay, I'm tired, I'll die with you."

The man called 'Father', with tears in his eyes, held a sword and pointed it at him.

Then, he killed his father as well.

He suddenly opened his eyes, sat up in the horrified gaze of his ghost mother, raised his hand, and stared intently at the hands that had killed his father and mother in their human days.

“I once heard a story…”

He was tired and talking to himself.

"What story is this? I'm tired."

The ghost mother suppressed her fear and put on a gentle expression, patting the tired back softly and tenderly.

"A father drowned while saving his child, but the child was saved..."

After saying that, Lei raised his head and stared at his mother with his eyes marked with the characters 'Lower Moon' and 'Lu': "Mom, tell me, shouldn't family members sacrifice everything for their children?"

"Yes...yes."

The ghost mother's body trembled.

"But Mom, why are you so afraid of me? I'm your child! You should love me..."

A child's tender face revealed an innocent smile.

The ghost mother's eyes were filled with fear, and she involuntarily took a step back, but she immediately froze, as spider silk had somehow wrapped around her body.

"We're family, why are you afraid of me?!"

Exhausted, he gripped the spider silk with his five fingers, his expression one of anger.

"I'm not...I'm not afraid...I'm not afraid of being tired."

The ghost mother hurriedly retorted, but her body was trembling.

"Crack!"

Spider silk sliced ​​across the ghost mother's neck, severing her head amidst her cries of pain. Lei stood up, looking at the ghost mother's head rolling to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

The ghost mother, lying on the ground, dared not cry out in pain. She kept apologizing to Lei and begging for his forgiveness, but the spider silk binding her tightened more and more, and the pain deepened.

"Da da..."

A flurry of footsteps approached, and a white-haired girl rushed in with a panicked expression. Upon seeing the state of the room, she immediately lowered her head.

Like Rui, the white-haired girl also has silver-white eyes. However, compared to Rui's strength, she is just an ordinary and weak demon. Because she is afraid of demon hunters, she has been looking for companions to huddle together for warmth. Then she was found by Rui and became Rui's 'family'.

However, the situation here is not the kind of mutual support and warmth that the white-haired girl wanted. All the ghosts here must follow the "family rules" of "Rai" in order to survive in "Natagumo Mountain".

Those who did not follow the rules would have their heads cut off, be tied to a tree, and then burned at sunrise.

This is not what the white-haired girl wanted; she had actually been looking for an opportunity to escape.

"What's wrong, sister? What happened? Why are you so panicked?"

Lei raised his head, revealing an innocent and naive look.

Within these established rules, Lei is the youngest brother in the family, and everyone needs to protect him.

"There were... a lot of humans who broke into Natayama. They started cutting down trees, destroying the wooden houses in the mountains, and digging up all the tunnels. Many ghosts... no, many brothers and sisters were dragged out into the sunlight and dried up to death..."

The white-haired girl's eyes were filled with terror.

Tired, he clenched his fingers slightly, raised his head, and looked outside.

A burly, tall demon strode in.

"Dad, if enemies come, everyone will protect me, right?"

"Yes, I will protect Lei and my family with my life."

The ghost, referred to as the father, clenched his fist.

"But it's daytime now."

Another white-haired girl said softly.

"Then we'll wait until nightfall and kill them all."

At this moment, a ghost known as 'Little Brother' spoke.

"Now...now, shouldn't we hide...hide?"

The ghost mother, whose head had fallen to the ground, let out a trembling voice at this moment.

As the youngest oni in the game, Rui was protected by his family and led to a very deep cave in Mount Natagumo. The cave walls were mostly made of rock and were extremely hard, making it almost impossible to break open the cave and let sunlight in.

A group of ghosts with snow-white skin and hair formed a circle, protecting the youngest child in the family, 'Lei'.

"That's what family is like. You'd even sacrifice yourself for your family."

A smile appeared on her tired face: "Dad, Mom, sister, brother... they will all sacrifice themselves to protect me."

"I will protect my brother with my life."

"Me too, I will always protect Lei."

Whether it's an older brother, an older sister, a ghost mother, or a ghost father, at this moment, they all answer without hesitation.

Lei's innocent face broke into a smile of enjoyment. He loved this game. Just as Lei was about to say something, a sweet fragrance wafted over. All the ghosts who smelled it were intoxicated. Even Lei felt as if he had been drinking, and he felt like he was about to pass out.

At that moment, all the ghosts seemed to forget their 'family' game and, following the scent, frantically headed out of the cave.

…………

"Whoosh! Clang!"

The sharp blade sliced ​​through the spiderweb, and a spider, almost the size of a fist, lying on its web, was cut in two and fell to the ground.

A greenish sap flowed down the spider's split body, staining the grass and making a hissing sound.

"Such venom! Genmi, be careful not to get bitten by these poisonous spiders."

A man with silver, spiky hair, wearing a white haori and covered in scars, who looked agile, spoke to the boy behind him.

It was none other than the 'Wind Pillar', Sanemi Shinazugawa.

As for the boy, he was his younger brother, Shinazugawa Genya.

"Brother, is the injury on your hand really alright?"

Genya looked at his brother Sanemi with concern.

At this moment, Sanemi's palm was slashed open, and crimson blood dripped continuously. This wound was not caused by an enemy, but by Sanemi himself.

"This injury is nothing, but there's still no news. Could what Mr. Su Mu said be true?"

Su Mu recently passed on information to the Demon Slayer Corps about the existence of Rui, the Spider Demon, Lower Rank Six, in this area. Not only this area, but also information about the existence of Doma, the Ice Demon, Upper Rank Two, in the Eternal Paradise Cult.

Knowing that a Lower Rank demon existed here, Sanemi Shinazugawa rushed here with his younger brother almost immediately. As for the Upper Rank demon, they needed to gather more information before they could deal with it. After all, ordinary Pillars were hardly a match for Upper Rank demons, let alone Upper Rank Two, which was among the top Upper Rank demons.

"It will definitely exist. Since you said so, it must be true."

Shinazugawa Genya spoke seriously.

Shinazugawa Sanemi turned around and glanced at his younger brother. His brother clearly held Su Mu in high esteem, and the trust he showed even stirred a hint of jealousy in Sanemi's heart.

"But I've been bleeding for so long, and there's still no sign of anything happening."

Sanemi Shinazugawa said something.

His blood is a rare and exotic blood, which is extremely attractive to any demon, even the Twelve Demon Moons.

If evil spirits truly existed, there would be no disturbance around them.

"Roar……"

A deep roar suddenly rang out, making Shinazugawa Sanemi's spirits lift: "It's the voice of a demon."

They almost immediately followed the source of the sound.

Soon, Shinazugawa Sanemi stopped at the entrance of a cave. In the darkness of the cave entrance, many demons gathered together, their mouths dripping with viscous fluid, staring greedily at the blood dripping from Shinazugawa Sanemi's palm. If it weren't for their fear of sunlight, these demons would probably have rushed out.

"So many ghosts."

Shinazugawa Sanemi looked at the demons gathered at the cave entrance with excitement in his eyes, his bloodstained hand gripping the hilt of his sword.

"call"

Shinazugawa Genya also arrived, standing behind his brother, panting heavily. His gaze followed his brother's as he looked towards the cave, landing on the shortest of the demons and noticing the 'Lower Moon' and 'Sixth Moon' markings on the demon's eyes.

“Brother, look, it’s Lower Moon Six, it’s a Lower Moon demon. I told you, Mr. Su Mu wouldn’t be wrong, Lower Moon demons really do exist here.”

Shinazugawa Genya excitedly spoke to his older brother in front of him.

"I didn't expect Mr. Su Mu's intelligence to be so accurate. It seems that the news that the Upper Moon Two, Doma, exists in the Eternal Bliss Cult must also be true. After killing this Lower Moon demon, we will immediately gather the others to wipe out the Upper Moon Two together."