Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

Indeed, this was the case; the man was not human, and the inscription "Lower Moon Two" etched in his pupils clearly identified him.

The Oni clan, the current Lower Moon 2 of the Twelve Demon Moons, Enmu.

He is currently on the run from the demon hunters.

A hundred meters behind Yu Yanmeng, two figures were rapidly moving between the high-rise buildings, closely following his location.

The two figures were a man and a woman.

The man had long black hair tied in a small braid and dead fish eyes. No matter who he was facing, he always had that expressionless, lifeless look.

This person is none other than Giyu Tomioka, one of the three Water Pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps in the present day.

Giyu is a disciple of Sakonji Urokodaki, the former Water Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps. When he was very young, his family members died one after another, leaving him with only his older sister to depend on.

However, their good fortune was short-lived. Several years later, their only sister was killed by an evil spirit at her wedding, and only young Giyu survived because he hid in a closet.

After that, the distraught Giyu accidentally met Urokodaki Sakonji and was taken in by him, whereupon he began to learn breathing techniques.

Several years ago, he, along with his senior brother Sabito, who was also a disciple of Urokodaki Sakonji, and his junior sister Makomo, participated in the final selection of the Demon Slayer Corps and successfully passed the selection to become official Demon Slayers.

Now, several years have passed, and these three have successively been promoted to Water Pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps.

The woman beside Giyu is none other than Kanae Kocho, the current Flower Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Kanae has long, smooth black hair adorned with a butterfly hair accessory on each side. She has purple eyes and often wears a smile on her face. She is the gentlest woman in the Demon Slayer Corps.

Kanae joined the Demon Slayer Corps for a different reason than Giyu; she did not have any hatred for demons.

For some rather complicated reasons, Kanae left home with her mother at a very young age, breaking away from her original family.

Ten years ago, Kanae's mother had a chance encounter with a demon slayer.

Because of her outstanding medical skills, Kanae's mother accepted the invitation and not only joined the Demon Slayer Corps as a doctor, but also established the Butterfly Mansion, the most important medical institution in the Demon Slayer Corps today.

That year, Kanae was thirteen years old.

It was from this moment that she first came into contact with the existence of breathing techniques.

Kanae's dormant swordsmanship talent gradually emerged, and she mastered Flower Breathing almost without a teacher. She successfully passed the final swordsman selection a year later and became a formal demon slayer.

Several years later, she was promoted to Flower Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, becoming the only female Pillar-level swordsman in the Corps at that time.

However, in the same year that Kanae was promoted to Pillar, her mother passed away.

It was a sudden illness, and within just a few days, her mother went through the process from falling ill to passing away.

Several years earlier, when her family had just joined the Demon Slayer Corps, Kanae's grandmother, who had stayed in her hometown, also passed away from illness...

Does the butterfly family seem to have some kind of hereditary disease?

Kanae did not know.

All she knew was that, for the time being, neither she nor her sister had shown any symptoms.

That's right, Kanae actually has a younger sister who is four years younger than her, named Shinobu Kocho.

Completely different from her older sister Kanae, Shinobu Kocho's personality is not only far from gentle, but also quite irritable and quick to explode.

Her small stature, coupled with her fiery temper, makes her incredibly adorable...

Unlike her older sister Kanae, Shinobu Kocho did not choose the path of a demon slayer.

Although she was also exposed to breathing techniques at a young age, Shinobu Kocho did not show any outstanding talent in the practice of breathing techniques.

Her body is incompatible with any of the current Breathing Techniques within the Demon Slayer Corps.

When Shinobu heard the news that her sister had successfully passed the final swordsman selection, only two paths remained before her.

One option is to find a way to create a new breathing style that suits me, and then follow in my sister's footsteps to become a demon slayer.

Secondly, he completely abandoned the path of demon slayer and devoted himself to studying medicine, thus becoming a medical support staff member of the Demon Slayer Corps.

In the normal course of the story, fate might have wanted Shinobu to choose the first path and become a demon slayer like her sister.

But in the end, Shinobu Kocho chose the second path based on her own will.

With her older sister on the front lines, that's enough; after all, she doesn't have much talent in breathing techniques herself.

Since that's the case, it would be better to give up and instead focus on medicine, where she excels, and utilize her talents.

This way, it might be more helpful to everyone...

Subsequent events proved that this was indeed the right choice.

Today, Shinobu Kocho is not only the best doctor in the Butterfly House, but she also manages the procurement of medicinal materials for the Demon Slayer Corps.

Moreover, based on some related papers published in newspapers some time ago.

At the young age of eighteen, Shinobu Kocho was invited by the University of Tokyo and awarded the position of "Honorary Professor," and occasionally had to give lectures to students in the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Medicine.

She skipped all the relevant assessment processes and obtained dual doctoral degrees in toxicology and pharmacology, which is a promising prospect!

Considering that Shinobu Kocho herself has no foundation in any breathing techniques, and that exchanging ideas with others can also improve her medical skills.

Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the current leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, has given Shinobu Kocho special permission to move freely in the outside world without revealing information about the Demon Slayer Corps.

For the Demon Slayer Corps today, the Butterfly Sisters are of paramount importance...

Chapter 152 Nightmare

Stopping atop a clock tower, Yi Yong crouched down, scanning the dark street below with his dead fish eyes, his brow slightly furrowed.

"It's gone; we've lost track of it."

His words remained concise, and his tone was quite calm, as if he were merely recounting a trivial matter.

"That Lower Moon demon should still be around here; it couldn't have escaped too far."

Her figure landed gently beside Giyuu. After a brief moment of thought, Kanae made her decision.

"Yiyong, let's split up. You're in charge of the block on the left, and I'll take care of the one on the right."

Don't be reckless. We have half an hour. Whether we find it or not, we must return here to meet up.

Nodding slightly, Yi Yong leaped into the air, his figure quickly disappearing into the block to the left.

Kanae followed closely behind, leaping off the clock tower and carefully searching the streets to the right.

Not long ago, the Demon Slayer Corps received intelligence that a new private movie theater had recently opened in downtown Tokyo.

This movie theater is quite strange, as it only ever operates at night.

Moreover, it is said that every guest who has been to the movie once will become completely addicted and will want to go back again and again.

Some extreme individuals would even eat, drink, and relieve themselves inside that movie theater, refusing to leave no matter what.

That wouldn't be so bad, but the important thing is that customers have started going missing from this movie theater two weeks ago.

It wasn't death, but rather a sudden, unnoticed disappearance.

A bizarre movie theater, a mysteriously missing guest...

The combination of these two factors aroused Kagaya Ubuyashiki's high vigilance.

This movie theater may be in cahoots with evil spirits.

Realizing this, Kagaya Ubuyashiki immediately dispatched Kanae and Giyu, two Pillar-level swordsmen, to investigate.

Without any probing, they went straight for the trump card!

According to the Demon Slayer Corps' past practices, the Ubuyashiki clan does not usually send out Pillar-level swordsmen to a certain area if they suspect that there may be evil spirits there.

Normally, a regular squad of swordsmen would be sent first. If that squad could handle the situation smoothly, that would be ideal.

If the problem cannot be solved, then continue to send more supplies.

Only after multiple swordsman squads have failed to defeat them can the Ubuyashiki family be confirmed as such.

This evil spirit must be one of the twelve Ghost Months!

At this point, it is possible to officially dispatch Pillar-level swordsmen to subdue them.

In order to maximize the success rate of the expedition, the Ubuyashiki clan usually sends two Pillar-level swordsmen together at the same time.

Of course, the above are the old procedures.

As they sorted through historical records, the Demon Slayer Corps gradually realized that the demons' behavior patterns seemed to have changed since decades ago.

Although those weaker evil spirits still dwell in sparsely populated rural areas, they try to avoid frequent contact with human society.

But for those powerful demons, especially the Twelve Demon Moons, it seems they are gradually moving closer to human cities.

While there are still no records of Upper Moon demons, at least two-thirds of the Lower Moon demons killed by the Demon Slayer Corps in the past few decades lived in large cities such as Tokyo or Osaka Prefecture!

This is a very unusual signal.

Powerful demons are abandoning their centuries-old habits of inhabiting the world and actively integrating into human society, disguising themselves and living like normal humans...

What do they want to do?

Kibutsuji Muzan, what are you planning to do now?

Kagaya Ubuyashiki was unaware of this.

Regardless, this unusual phenomenon did provide him with some convenience in judging the strength of the evil spirits.

Those that operate in sparsely populated rural areas are most likely ordinary evil spirits with weak strength.

Those who are active in densely populated big cities are most likely to be in one of the twelve Ghost Months.

Following this logic, after suspecting that the new movie theater in Tokyo might be related to demons, Kagaya Ubuyashiki directly identified the demon as one of the Twelve Demon Moons and sent two Pillars to subdue it.

And indeed, things turned out exactly as he predicted.

When Kanae and Giyu arrived, they discovered that the owner of the movie theater was a demon who had recently been promoted to Lower Moon Two.

Its name is Nightmare, and it is a special evil spirit that possesses mental attack-type blood demon magic.

By allowing the target to come into contact with objects stained with their own blood, Nightmare can force the target into a deep sleep, creating various different dreams for them and tormenting their mind.

He can even invade his target's dreams with his own will, and completely destroy the target's mental will by destroying the "spiritual core".

This can turn a person who was originally determined into a mentally useless person.

Upon entering the movie theater, Kanae and Giyu, caught off guard, were both simultaneously struck by Nightmare's Blood Demon Art and fell into a deep sleep along with the other moviegoers.

Just as Nightmare was about to obliterate Kanae's spirit, she, who was deeply trapped in the dream, suddenly woke up in a strange way, scaring Nightmare into fleeing in panic.

Because she was worried about Giyuu, who was still asleep, Kanae did not choose to pursue him immediately.

After she awakens Giyu, Nightmare has already escaped from the movie theater, and the two of them and the ghost engage in a fierce chase through the streets of Tokyo at night.

As she sped through the night streets, Kanae caught a glimpse of a fleeting dark figure at the end of the street in the corner of her eye.

【found it! 】

Without hesitation, Kanae immediately put her hand on the hilt of the sword and chased after him at full speed.

As she rushed across the intersection ahead, she turned around and saw the dark figure stagger into a luxuriously decorated roadside building adorned with countless neon lights.

Oh no, what if there are humans inside...?

"Hey! Miss! Please wait a moment..."

"Sorry! I'll definitely pay for the ticket later!"

Without a second thought, Kanae quickly caught up, her figure nimbly slipping between the two servants who tried to stop her at the main entrance, and followed the shadowy figure into another world behind that heavy door.

The next instant, the melodious Western music surged in like a tide, instantly filling her eardrums.

A huge ballroom suddenly unfolded before Kanae's eyes, where elegantly dressed men and women paired up and danced to the rhythmic Western music.

The crystal chandelier overhead refracted countless tiny points of light, adorning their swaying dresses and adding a touch of brilliance to the entire ballroom.

The atmosphere in the ballroom was lively and bustling. Waitstaff carried iron trays and moved nimbly through the surrounding aisles, ready to serve drinks and snacks to the men and women who were indulging in revelry.

where is this place?

The nightclubs in Tokyo where the wealthy and powerful usually gather and have fun?

Suddenly finding herself in such an unfamiliar place, Kanae froze on the spot, somewhat at a loss.

“Councilor Yen Sheng, about that matter before…”

Just as Kanae was in a daze, two men suddenly walked past her.