Demon Slayer: The Second God Who Walks the Earth

Just then, several voices came from afar, and five other children came looking for them.

"found it!"

It was too dark for the group to see Xiaoying's change clearly, so they called out and ran towards her.

Hotaru, who had just become a ghost and was very weak, kept drooling when she saw the five children.

"Go," Muzan said coldly, looking at the five children.

Upon receiving Muzan's order, Hotaru immediately pounced on them.

The children then realized something was wrong, but it was too late. The child in the lead had his neck snapped in an instant, and his clothes began to corrode.

"A monster...a monster!!!" The other children immediately turned and ran away, trembling, but how could their physical strength compare to that of a ghost? Screams rose and blood splattered everywhere.

"To be able to use Blood Demon Art so soon after becoming a demon, that's quite a talent. Maybe he'll be able to join the Twelve Demon Moons in the future." Muzan commented lightly on the scene he had just witnessed, then lost interest and turned to leave.

The screams ceased, replaced by the sounds of flesh being devoured...

After some time, the child's parents came to the forest to look for their child. By then, the Corrupting Demon had finished eating, and her remaining memories allowed her to recognize her brother. So she didn't appear again. Instead, she took the unfinished corpse and jumped onto a thick tree. After corroding the trunk, she hid inside, thus avoiding the daytime sun.

It wasn't until three days later, after all its human memories had vanished, that it reappeared after smelling the scent of its blood relatives...

In the silent forest, only Chiba Yo remained, clutching the boy's coat, standing in the moonlight...

Chapter 18 Hatred / Lower Moon Two

Hesitation, guilt, self-doubt, pain, sadness... a variety of emotions overwhelmed Chiba Yang, causing him to lose his composure for a moment.

"There is only one person who can turn a person into a demon, and that is the progenitor of demons, Muzan Kibutsuji."

Thinking of what Kyojuro had told him before, Chiba Yo's emotions all turned into anger.

"Kibutsuji... Muzan!!!" Chiba Yang gripped his Nichirin Blade tightly, his whole body trembling with rage.

Although they had never met, Chiba Yo's hatred for Muzan had reached its peak.

"Even if I have to chase you to the ends of the earth, I will definitely kill you!" Chiba Yo made a vow as he forcefully plunged his Nichirin Blade into the ground.

"Caw! Caw! There are Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen fighting demons to the north! Some swordsmen have already fallen! Go to their aid! Go to their aid!" The crow's caw rang out again.

Before Chiba Yo could calm down, the second task was already assigned. Silently sheathing his Nichirin Blade, Chiba Yo knew he didn't have time to linger here. He put the clothes in his hand on the ground, prayed for his deceased siblings and those killed by the demons, and immediately followed the crow's guidance to the north.

Although he knew there was nothing wrong with slaying the man-eating demon, Chiba Yo still couldn't get over the thought of the boy who died for it, and he had a feeling that he had killed that boy.

Do all the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen like Rengoku-sensei, Shinazugawa-sensei, and Shinobu bear this kind of responsibility and this kind of pain...? The guilt of failing to protect humanity, the sorrow of witnessing human suffering, and the inability to bear being misunderstood...?

Compared to that, physical pain is probably the least important thing to them...

Teacher Rengoku, whose life motto is to protect others, must have felt immense guilt upon seeing the state of the village... Yet, he still managed to offer me warm comfort...

Now I need to pull myself together...

Chiba Yo gradually calmed down and began to focus on his journey.

Soon, a small mountain appeared in front of him, and the screams coming from the mountain confirmed that this was the place the crow had mentioned.

Without hesitation, he rushed into the mountains, and the stench of blood permeated the area around Chiba Yo from the moment he entered.

Further in, fragments of the Demon Slayer Corps uniform and a Nichirin Blade appeared, surrounded by bloodstains, but there were no corpses.

"Hahahaha, are all you demon hunters this weak? And so stupid, daring to draw your sword after seeing the numbers in my eyes. I am the Lower Moon Two of the Twelve Demon Moons!"

An extremely arrogant voice rang out from ahead, and upon hearing it, Chiba Yang immediately rushed in that direction.

In the forest atop the mountain, a middle-aged man with a thick beard and blood-stained upper face was laughing as he grabbed a Demon Slayer swordsman by the neck. The words "Lower Two" were etched in his left eye.

The second string of the lower moon is a well pulley.

Around him, many human corpses were hanging from the trees, their bodies pierced by a thick rope. Most of the corpses were in extremely bizarre and twisted positions, with their legs tangled around their heads, their arms twisted into spirals, and their bodies curled up into a round shape.

"Pillar... will kill you..." The Demon Slayer Corps swordsman, his neck being choked by Rokuro, managed to utter these words with difficulty.

Upon hearing this, Lulu revealed a disdainful expression.

“I’ve lost interest in you all. Fewer and fewer humans are passing through here. It’s time to move on. If the pillar you mentioned can still find me, then let him come.”

After saying this, the Demon Slayer swordsman in Rokuro's hand began to twist, and all the bones in his body started to crack.

"Aaaaaaah!!!" The intense pain caused the Demon Slayer swordsman to scream, his eyes bulging with blood, while Rokuro showed an expression of enjoyment.

Suddenly, a figure rushed over at lightning speed. A flash of cold light, and Rokuro's arm, which was gripping the Demon Slayer swordsman, was severed. Rokuro immediately took a big step back and instantly regenerated the severed arm.

In order not to harm the captured humans, Chiba Yo did not use his sword skills.

"Can we still escape?" Chiba Yo asked the swordsman, shaking off Rokuro's severed arm.

"Don't let it touch you..."

However, the swordsman did not answer Chiba Yo's question, but instead reminded him first.

On the other side, looking at Chiba Yo who had rescued the swordsman, Rokuro smiled and said, "Did you think you could get rid of him like that?"

As soon as it finished speaking, the swordsman that Chiba Yang had saved had his neck rotate 360 ​​degrees, and then his body went limp and collapsed.

"Hahahaha, what a pity, I've been in contact with him for far too long," Rokuro said mockingly to Chiba Yo.

It's addicted to the feeling of having control over the life and death of others, and it can alleviate its fear of a certain ghost.

"You must be a demon hunter too. As a demon hunter, you should know the significance of the numbers in my eyes. My strength is not something that small fry like you can handle. How about this?"

"If you can find me more humans to eat, I'll let you go, okay?" Rokuro shouted at Chiba Yo.

As a demon, he naturally wouldn't let go of the food he had in his mouth; he only said that to insult the demon hunter.

Chiba Yo didn't say a word. He gently placed the corpse of the Demon Slayer Corps swordsman on the ground, stood up, and slowly walked towards Rokuro.

He naturally knew what the numbers in the demon's eyes represented; Kyojuro had already told him. Demons with numbers in their eyes were members of the Twelve Demon Moons, the direct subordinates of Muzan Kibutsuji, the progenitor of demons, and were exceptionally powerful. But all of this was irrelevant to him, and he didn't care about it. All he wanted to do was kill these evil demons.

The human corpses hanging in the tree constantly agitated his nerves and ignited his anger.

Why trample on life?

Although he was furious to the extreme, Chiba Yo's voice was relatively calm, but beneath that calm lay endless rage.

Chiba Yo knew he might not get any answers from the demon, and he knew he would soon have a life-or-death battle with it, but he still wanted to ask those questions.

"What?" Rokuro exclaimed in confusion, not understanding why the demon hunter would ask him a question.

"Life will grow old, life will get sick, life will be injured, life will pass away. Just surviving is not easy enough, so why take away other people's lives so easily?"

A deep voice echoed through the vast forest, and moonlight spilled onto Chiba Yo, making the flame-shaped markings on his forehead even more vivid.

Chapter 19 The Fear Engraved into Cells

After my father abandoned us, my mother raised us without complaint. She was seriously ill, but she still did everything she could to ensure my survival. In the end, she even tried to commit suicide so as not to be a burden to me. We finally managed to persuade her to give up the idea, but then the village was haunted by ghosts. My mother was brutally murdered, and everyone in the village except me survived...

With so many children in Mr. Sanemi's family, survival was already extremely difficult. However, their most important mother turned into a demon, and only one of their six younger brothers survived. He was then forced to kill his beloved mother with his own hands...

And that brother and sister...

Ghosts are constantly taking away those we cherish. They treat humans as playthings, taking pleasure in human suffering, human sorrow, and the destruction of human lives...

Weren't they originally human? Why is it like this? Why do demons exist? Just how ugly and filthy must that guy named Kibutsuji Muzan be?

Rokuro, somewhat confused by Chiba Yo's words, replied nonchalantly, "What does this have to do with me? It's only natural for us demons to kill humans..."

Before Rokuro could finish speaking, he suddenly froze, watching Chiba Yo walk towards him step by step, when another voice rang in his mind.

"What's interesting about it? What's funny about it?"

The same voice, filled with suppressed anger, accompanied an image that appeared in his mind: a man who looked remarkably like the boy before him, with strange flame-like markings on his forehead, long black hair with red edges combed into a high ponytail, and dressed in red standing in the moonlight.

This is... Lord Muzan's memory...

Lulu instantly understood, and a few drops of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Weren't you once human? Why do you harm humans?"

Chiba Yo's voice rang out again, and the voice in Rokuro's mind also rang out again.

Why should we forget?

The Nichirin Blade was drawn from its sheath, its black blade gradually turning red...

Cold sweat poured from Lulu's forehead, and every cell in its body seemed to emanate fear, causing it to tremble all over.

"Damn it! You should just die!"

In a panic, Rokuro shook his head, trying to shake off the state, and threw a punch at Chiba Yo.

The sound of a blade slicing through flesh rang out, and Rokuro's four limbs were all severed in an instant. Although there were four cuts, the speed was so fast that only one sound could be heard.

"what!!!"

The winnowing wheel let out a miserable cry and collapsed to the ground.

Chiba Yo walked up to it with the Nichirin Blade in his hand. The black blade had turned completely red, becoming exactly the same as the blade in the man's hand in Rokuro's mind.

What does life mean to you?

What do you value life?

Two voices rang out simultaneously, overlapping each other. At this moment, the figure of Chiba Yang, holding a red longsword, completely overlapped with the figure in its mind. The fear emanating from the Rokuro cells reached its peak at this moment.

No... How could I be so afraid of a human? And how could Muzan be afraid of a human? This must be fake. Humans are just weak and pathetic creatures. They could never defeat us, who do not age, get sick, or get injured.

The windlass desperately tried to escape the fear in its body, but it couldn't stop trembling.

"Ha...haha, don't think you can beat me now. Your knife just touched my body, didn't it? I'll destroy it right now and see what you can do then. Blood Demon Art: Spin!"

Rokuro's voice trembled as he shouted, staring at Chiba Yo's sword.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly fell silent for a second, and nothing happened.

Chiba Yo slowly raised his crimson sword, his eyes calm, but the anger hidden deep within was exceptionally clear.

"Impossible! My Blood Demon Art can clearly control the spinning of anything I touch, so why is your sword unharmed?" Rokuro shouted incredulously at Chiba Yo.

Its Blood Demon Art, Rotation, can control anything it touches to rotate at its will. Unless it beheads something in one strike, the Nichirin Blade will be twisted into a circle and become unusable. Moreover, as long as it touches someone's body, its Blood Demon Art can cause the touched part to rotate until it dies. The longer the contact lasts, the longer the control lasts, and the stronger the control becomes.

With this Blood Demon Art, when facing a Demon Hunter, as long as the difference in strength between him and the opponent is not too great, his chances of winning are almost 100%.

However, its once invincible Blood Demon Art has now completely failed to work.

How is that possible? His knife cut off my limbs, my body must have touched the knife, so why didn't the Blood Demon Art work?

Rokuro was sweating profusely, its fear growing so intense that it even forgot to regenerate its severed limbs. However, even if it tried, it would be impossible. Being cut by the Crimson Blade would be difficult for even an Upper Moon or Muzan to regenerate, let alone a Lower Moon Two like itself.

Its Blood Demon Art is ineffective because of the Crimson Blade.

Chiba Yo naturally wouldn't answer Rokuro's question, and besides, he didn't know the answer to the question either.

Walking up to Rokuro, Chiba Yo asked his last question. He had only asked the previous questions out of his hatred for the demons and had no intention of getting the answers from them. But this last question was what he most wanted to know from the demons.

"Where is Muzan Kibutsuji?" Chiba Yo asked coldly, staring at Rokuro lying on the ground.

Chiba Haru didn't use his breathing technique to cut off Rokuro's head because he wanted to find out Muzan Kibutsuji's whereabouts. Other demons may have some reasons to be pitied, but Muzan Kibutsuji, who constantly creates demons, causes his own family to eat each other, and creates countless misfortunes, absolutely does not deserve any sympathy.

Looking at the figure before him, who seemed like a god under the moonlight, Rokuro's previous understanding of humans was almost completely absent in him. He was more like a being that surpassed demons, a being more perfect than demons.

The power of a ghost requires it to eat people and to forgo sunlight, appearing only at night. However, the power of this person before him is utterly unreasonable. Despite appearing to be only a teenager, his speed and strength far surpass those of this ghost that has devoured countless people.

He was like a god walking among men; immense power was simply a given to him, an integral part of him.

"I...I don't know...I don't know..."

Rokuro's eyes were filled with fear as he muttered to himself and moved backward, half fear of Chiba Yo and half fear of Muzan.

Chapter 20 Slaying the Lower Moon, the Pillar Meeting

"Don't say anything about me, understand?"

Under the moonlight, Muzan Kibutsuji raised his right index finger and spoke expressionlessly to Rokuro, who had just become a Lower Moon and was kneeling on the ground.

His slightly magnetic voice was devoid of any emotion.

Although Muzan didn't threaten what would happen if it spoke, the fear emanating from Rokuro's cells already told it that no matter where it was, this man could easily take its life.

"Yes...yes...I understand," Lulu replied repeatedly, his voice trembling.

The fear of that time is still etched into its cells, and can never be erased...