Far beyond the influence of the Demon Slayer Corps, and far outside the reach of Muzan Kibutsuji, there was a forgotten patch of land hidden deep within the Kizaki Province. Nestled in the dense wilderness, surrounded on all sides by towering trees and thick underbrush, stood a small hut. It sat quietly near the edge of a large river, where the water flowed slow and steady, brushing against smooth rocks and tangled roots. The sun barely broke through the thick tree canopy above, and what little light did make it through scattered across the old wooden roof in soft, uneven patterns.
Inside the hut, a man slept on a crude wooden bed made of uneven planks and held together with rope and cloth. The mattress beneath him was nothing more than bundles of dry straw wrapped in stitched fabric. He lay on his back, his breathing calm and shallow. His hair was a bright yellow color, tied loosely at the top of his head in a messy bun. Stray strands fell across his forehead, and his face was turned slightly toward the small square opening in the wall that served as a window. His eyes were shut tight, but if they were open, they would have revealed a warm brown color.
Sunlight filtered through the open window and barely touched the floor. Dust floated in the air, dancing slowly above the man's chest as he slept, unmoving.
Then suddenly, he gasped and sat upright, his chest rising and falling fast as if he had just escaped a nightmare. His hand shot to the center of his chest, fingers spread wide across his pale skin as he tried to steady his breathing.
"Haah… hahhh… what the hell kind of dream was that?" he muttered, voice raspy and dry. His brown eyes scanned the room quickly, darting from one wooden wall to the other, then to the window, and finally to his own hands resting on his lap.
"Where am I? Did I get kidnapped or something?" he asked himself out loud. He shifted his legs off the bed and slowly stood up, only for a sharp throb to shoot through the side of his head. It was not enough to bring him to his knees, but it made him wince and rub his temple with one hand.
As the pain dulled, something strange started to happen. It was like puzzle pieces sliding into place in the back of his mind. He began to recover fragments of memory, not from his old life but from the one tied to this body. His name… yes, the name in this body was Hisen Kenzuki. He was from this world, this province, and it was clear now that this world looked a lot like the kind of ancient Japan he had only seen in shows and games.
People here wore traditional clothing. Men and women walked around in flowing robes and layered coats. The buildings were made of wood and stone, and the roads were packed dirt. It was a place completely untouched by modern time.
In these memories, Hisen had parents, though they died when he was seventeen. He had just turned eighteen recently. And not long after, something terrible happened. A demon appeared and ambushed him without warning. That part was still blurry, but he remembered the demon clearly. In the demon's eyes were the words upper moon three. Hisen could picture it even now, glowing bright and cold as the creature loomed over him. But it had not been Akaza. Hisen remembered Akaza from the anime. This demon felt older, different, not part of the current story but someone who came before.
The reason Hisen knew any of this at all was because, in his past life, he had watched every single episode of Demon Slayer. Even though he was a delinquent, the kind of kid who skipped class and got into fights, he still loved anime, games, and anything that helped him escape from the world. He was never truly bad, just lost. He never hurt people for fun. He just hung around the wrong ones.
And now, somehow, he was here. This body, this place, it all felt real.
From what he could gather, the demon had stabbed him through the chest and then forced demon blood into him. His human body could not handle it and died right there. But someone must have found his corpse, maybe thinking he could still be saved. Or maybe it was luck, maybe fate. Either way, he woke up. The hole in his chest was gone. His skin was unbroken. No scars, no blood, just clean skin like nothing ever happened.
As he stood by the window, Hisen suddenly felt something strange burning behind his eyes. At first, it was faint, like someone holding a match too close to his face. But then it grew stronger. He winced and blinked hard, trying to rub the heat away with both hands. If there had been a mirror in front of him, he would have seen the change. His brown eyes were slowly turning red, deepening in color until they looked unnatural and glowing. His skin lost even more color, fading into something colder, more lifeless. And his fingernails stretched longer, sharpening into pointed tips like small knives.
He looked down at his hands in disbelief.
"Fuck… I am a demon," he said, the words slipping from his mouth slow and quiet. He turned both hands over again, inspecting the claws where his fingernails had been. They looked sharp enough to cut through bone.
The demon that turned him had not failed after all. The blood was still in him. It just needed time. It waited for his death, and now that he was alive again, it had taken over. There was no going back now.
He wasn't human anymore.
(Picture Here)
Hisen did not get much time to stare at his hands. Just as he began to process what was happening to his body, the wooden door creaked open. An old man stepped inside. He wore a large straw hat that drooped slightly in the front, shading most of his face. The straps tied under his chin held the hat firmly in place, and beneath it, long gray hair hung past his ears. His green eyes locked onto Hisen with a steady, unreadable gaze, and in that brief moment, Hisen felt a strange pressure, like danger had just walked in and smiled at him.
The old man's lips curled upward in a calm, almost pleasant expression. "Young man… you must be hungry," he said in a slow, warm tone, taking a few steps further into the hut.
Hisen did not move right away. His body tensed as he backed up until the backs of his knees touched the edge of the bed. He made sure not even a fingertip reached the sunlight coming through the open window.
"I'm good," Hisen said cautiously, his voice low. "I'm not really hungry."
"You do not want to eat?" the old man asked, still smiling. There was something unsettling about his expression. It was too relaxed, too polite, like the kind of smile someone wore when they were about to offer you a deal you could not escape.
Hisen's eyes narrowed. "You are a slayer, aren't you?" He ignored the man's question on purpose. Something about this man was off. Hisen could tell he had seen the claws on his hands, yet the smile never faded.
The old man gave a short, amused chuckle. "Oh? For a demon, you are pretty sharp. Back in my day, most demons had no brain at all. Just muscle. They used to treat humans like food and nothing more. You would never hear one stop to talk."
"I do not want trouble," Hisen said. His voice was even, but his eyes stayed alert. "I just want to leave. That is all."
The old man stepped further in, looking genuinely entertained now. "So you are not looking for a fight?" His eyes were curious, not mocking.
"No," Hisen replied. "I was turned recently, and not by choice. So why would I try to fight you? I will be gone when the moon comes out. I just need to wait until then." He lowered himself into a corner where the shadows gathered, keeping far away from the sunlight.
The old man studied him for a moment, then gave a small nod and slowly made his way to the other bed with the help of a strange looking cane. "Alright then," he said as he sat down. "But tell me something. Which demon turned you? Back when I was young, only the upper ranks and that man himself had the power to do that."
Hisen leaned his head back against the wall and stared at the floor. "It was one of the upper ranks. The one marked with the number three."
The old man's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Ah! That stupid flame bastard Kagutsuchi. I did not know he was anywhere near this region. I thought he burned himself out years ago," he said, suddenly full of energy. "Haha, I am going to go look for him. I have not had a proper fight in a long time."
Without another word, the old man reached for the handle of his cane. With one firm motion, he pulled a long blade from inside the hollow wood. A nichirin sword. Its edge gleamed faintly in the soft light.
Then he ran straight out the door.
Hisen blinked. "Is that old man alright?" he asked himself quietly, eyes fixed on the now empty doorway. "I am pretty sure he is gone now. It is still daytime, after all."
He leaned back again, his glowing red eyes dimming slightly. "That guy is weird… I do not remember anyone like him from the show either," he mumbled, resting his head against the corner. "I wonder what breathing style he uses."
Eventually, Hisen closed his eyes, waiting for the sunlight to fade completely. His body relaxed as he let himself drift into a light sleep.
Several hours passed. The hut remained quiet, and the rays of the sun slowly disappeared from the window.
Then the door opened again.
The old man returned, stepping inside with a wide grin on his face. His shirt was loose at the collar now, and there was a small tear in the side of his sleeve.
"Did you find him?" Hisen asked, raising an eyebrow, curious but not alarmed.
"No, I did not," the old man answered, dropping onto the bed with a satisfied groan. "But I found a few other demons wandering nearby. A whole batch of them. Took them all down. Hahaha. Seems like this old man still has it."
Hisen tilted his head slightly. "What is your name anyway, old man?"
The man laughed and tapped the wooden floor with his foot in a steady rhythm. "You can call me old man Zuma. What about you, kid?"
"Hisen," he replied. "I have been meaning to ask. What breathing style do you use?"
"I use grass breathing," Zuma said proudly, puffing out his chest a little. "I made it myself. Haha, I know. I am amazing, right?" He caught the surprised look on Hisen's face and chuckled.
"Yeah," Hisen said with a nod. "That is actually pretty cool. Can't lie."
He leaned his head back again and let his eyes close. It was getting darker inside the hut, and the sun no longer reached the floor. Still, the moon had not fully risen yet, so he remained where he was.
After a few moments of silence, Zuma spoke again without looking over.
"Where will you go?"
Hisen opened one eye and thought for a second before answering. "Somewhere dark. Probably a big town, but I am not sure which one yet. I will just keep moving until I find a place that works."
Zuma nodded slowly. "Mmm. Alright. Can you do me a favor while you are out there? I mean, I did save you after all."
He was not wrong. If Hisen had stayed out in the sun, he would have died again. No question.
Hisen let out a sigh. "I guess. What kind of favor?"
"Find a lost little kid. Does not matter what kind. As long as they do not have anywhere else to go, bring them to me. I want to make them my student."
Hisen gave the old man a skeptical look. "And you are trusting me to do that?"
Zuma smiled again, but this time it held a strange weight. "I am dying soon, young man. I need to pass on my breathing style before I go."
Hisen adjusted his position in the corner. His eyes glowed faintly in the dark as he finally said, "It is Hisen, old man." Then after a pause, he added, "Fine. I will do it. Is there a time limit?"
Zuma leaned his head back and looked up at the dark ceiling. "Bring the kid to me within a month. I think I have about ten years left, give or take."
The moonlight started to seep into the room. The sky outside had shifted completely. Night had come.
Hisen stood up, stretched slightly, then turned toward the old man. He gave a short, respectful bow like he had seen done in anime, trying to get it right. "Thank you, old man. I will be back soon. Do not go out and get killed by some weak demon before I bring the kid to you."
Old man Zuma nodded slowly, saying nothing, but he did throw a scroll at Hisen as he walked out, it was a map.
Hisen nodded, stepped outside, and gently pulled the door shut behind him.
As Hisen pulled out the map and studied it under the moonlight, he spotted a large mountain range drawn along the eastern side. It matched what he had seen earlier when he looked to his left, confirming it as the very same one that loomed behind old man Zuma's hut. The old man's place sat right at the base of it. After tracing the path with his finger, Hisen turned himself around and began walking in the direction of Asakura Town. It was supposed to be one of the four major towns in the province, though there were several smaller villages scattered along the road leading there.
A few hours passed. Hisen moved quietly along the mountain's edge, following rough dirt trails that twisted through the woods. Eventually, warm yellow lights appeared ahead of him, flickering softly through the trees. As he stepped closer, he found himself at the outskirts of a small town, its streets glowing with lanterns that hung overhead, casting soft light across the narrow roads. The buildings were stacked tight, many of them two stories tall, with paper windows and wooden balconies.
He did not walk straight into town. Instead, he circled around the edges, staying out of sight, until he found a high stone wall that wrapped around one part of the residential area. Without hesitation, Hisen crouched, leapt into the air, and cleared the wall with ease. He landed in a narrow alley between two houses, the shadows swallowing him whole.
He sat there for a moment, crouched low and thinking.
"I do not have a single yen on me," he muttered. "What the fuck am I going to do now… sleep on a roof?" He tilted his head. "No, if I roll off that thing in my sleep, that is going to hurt like hell. Maybe if I find one of those flat rooftops, I can rest there. That would be better."
Midnight came quickly. The town slowly dimmed. Lanterns flickered out one by one until darkness settled completely over the rooftops. Hisen, still crouched in the shadows, blinked once. Even with no light, he could still see just fine. Demon sight, he figured. He moved quietly, stepping through alleys and scaling a wooden structure until he found a wide, flat rooftop with nothing resting on top of it. It was tucked away from view, a perfect hiding spot.
He landed on it softly, then sighed as he laid down with one arm folded under his head.
"Fuck, I keep forgetting. I am a demon now. I do not even need sleep," he muttered. Still, he decided to rest his eyes before moving out again. Maybe once the town settled completely, he could go find a cave at the base of the mountain to stay in.
But just as he closed his eyes, something strange started happening.
In his mind, he felt tiny flickers of energy begin to appear. Little dots started to light up one by one. Each one pulsed faintly, spread all around him like a slow-moving radar. He could not explain it, but he somehow knew exactly what they were. People. Every dot in his mind was a person, and they were all asleep.
He opened his eyes slowly and sat up.
"Why can I feel this?" he said softly. "this is weird."
Curious, he decided to investigate.
His body moved like a shadow as he sprinted across the rooftop and slipped back into the alleys. He moved so quickly but he barely made a sound. Hisen stopped just outside the wooden frame of a small home where one of the dots felt closest. He peered through the window carefully. Inside, lying on a mat, was a middle aged man, fast asleep.
"Alright… that explains the dot. But what is that aura around him?" Hisen narrowed his eyes. Around the man's body, a strange black glow flickered faintly. The color shifted and pulsed.
Then suddenly, it changed.
The black hue turned to green, and a faint mist began to rise from the man's body. It gathered in front of Hisen's eyes, forming into a soft cloud of green smoke. It startled him at first, but he held still, watching. The mist took shape into a perfect square, floating in the air like a window, and within it, images started to form.
He recognized the man instantly. It was the same one lying down right in front of him. In the vision, he was running through a forest, screaming and stumbling. Behind him, a giant chicken with blood red feathers chased him at full speed.
"…Is this guy having a nightmare?" Hisen asked out loud. He turned and looked back at the real man inside the house. The man was sweating hard and mumbling under his breath.
Still stunned, Hisen ran toward another dot. He needed to test this more. As he followed the pulses in his head, he realized something else. The dots always started black. But when they turned green, that must have meant the person was dreaming. And black meant they were still in normal sleep.
Could this be part of his blood demon art?
He kept moving through the village. From what he could sense, the whole place was asleep. His ability only seemed to pick up signals from about five miles around him, still, the pattern was consistent.
Eventually, he arrived at another house. He crouched by the window and looked inside. This time, a young man was laying on a bed, a calm look on his face. Another green aura shimmered around him.
The moment it turned to mist, Hisen felt something stronger. A pull.
The green smoke formed the same floating square, and inside it, he saw the young man in the middle of a huge field, swinging a beautiful sword with ridiculous speed and precision. He looked confident, unstoppable.
Hisen stared into the image for a few seconds. Before he realized it, his body leaned forward, and without meaning to, he faded right into the dream. His entire form disappeared into the fog and reappeared inside the dream itself, now standing beside the boy.
The swordsman kept training, completely unaware that Hisen had entered his dream. Hisen looked around in shock. Everything felt so real. The grass, the breeze, the sound of the blade slicing air.
He watched for too long. His eyes were locked on the sword. It looked powerful. The way it moved was hypnotic.
But then Hisen made a mistake. He got too close.
The boy stepped forward and swung his blade again, and this time, the swing passed straight through Hisen's face. The edge of the sword sliced vertically through his eye. Hisen shouted and jumped back, grabbing his face.
It hurt. Badly. The pain was sharp and real. Even though his body had already started to regenerate, he still felt it all.
"The hell… that sword actually cut me," he muttered.
The swordsman never noticed. He kept training, unaware of Hisen's presence.
Deciding not to push his luck, Hisen slowly backed away. He turned and started walking across the dream field, curious about how deep the dream went.
After a few minutes, he reached a stone wall with a gate at the far end of the courtyard. He stepped through and found himself inside a house. It was plain, wooden, and simple. There was a table in the center of the room. On top of it were two cards.
One card showed the image of a sword glowing with light. The other card showed a man slashing his bare hands, sending out huge blades of wind with each swing.
Hisen walked toward the table slowly, drawn by instinct.
"I can only pick one," he said to himself. "If I choose one, I think I will be able to use it in the real world. That has to be what this is."
He stared at the cards for a few more seconds, then picked the one with the man slashing his hands. As soon as he touched it, the card dissolved into his palm, sending a small rush of energy through his body.
He felt something strange.
The technique was clearly designed for a sword user, but something in his blood reacted. His blood demon art adjusted it automatically, molding it to fit his body. Now the technique worked with his bare hands.
"This is so weird… but awesome too," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Alright. Time to get out of here… how do I leave?"
The moment he thought about leaving, his body melted away from the dream. In a blink, he was back in the real world, crouched outside the same window he had entered the dream next to. He blinked once, then raised his hand.
He clenched his fingers and focused.
The wind around his hand shifted.
"I actually kept it."
Hisen stood up and stretched slightly. "First thing is first… I need to find an empty cave to crash in. Then I can figure out what comes next."
He sprinted away from the village, running at full speed across the open fields toward the base of the mountain range. The wind rushed past his ears as the forest thinned and the cliffs grew larger in the distance.
About an hour later, he arrived at the mountain.
He spent thirty minutes checking every crevice and pass until he found a small opening in the stone. Inside was a cave, deep enough to hide in and wide enough to move around comfortably. It was surprisingly warm, dry, and empty.
"Perfect," Hisen said as he stepped inside. He walked to the back of the cave, sat down against the wall, and finally relaxed.
Then he decided to fall asleep for a little, and he did.
But while he was asleep, something strange happened. He woke up in some dark void, he found himself staring at his own body standing a few feet away. On the chest of his body was a glowing status panel, soft red light pulsing through it.
But what really caught his attention was the black line going straight up across his eye. It wasn't there before. He was sure of it. His memories never recalled anything like that.
He stepped closer and narrowed his eyes. Then it hit him.
"That slice from the dream," he muttered, squinting at the mark. It hadn't scarred his skin like a normal wound. Instead, it had burned itself into his flesh like a tattoo. A perfect black streak that climbed from his cheek to his forehead, dead center over his eye.
(Picture Here)
He frowned and touched his face out of reflex, then let his hand fall.
"Is that going to happen every time I get hurt in someone's dream? So troublesome…" His voice came out low and annoyed. He let out a long sigh and turned his focus toward the glowing status panel.
The panel shifted and displayed everything clearly.
(Hisen Kenzuki)
(Strength: D)
(Speed: D plus)
(Durability: D)
(Agility: D)
(Regeneration: C minus)
(Skills: none)
(Techniques: Crimson Rend Style)
(Items: none)
"Oh, so it was a technique and not a skill… cool," he muttered, tapping the line for Crimson Rend Style. The moment he did, a description faded in under the name.
[Technique, Crimson Rend Style:
A feral and brutal claw based combat technique created exclusively for demons.]
He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"So I can teach other demons this? Probably…" he mumbled, already mentally listing the possibilities. But sleep didn't feel necessary anymore. He didn't feel tired. So he blinked and forced his body awake.
When his eyes opened, sunlight flooded the cave. He groaned and leaned his head back against the rocky wall.
"Damn it… I should've waited till day to go to sleep so I could stay up at night," he said, kicking a loose pebble that skipped across the cave floor.
His stomach growled. Tight, aching, empty.
'I haven't had any blood yet… that's why.' His thoughts turned sour as the hunger crept in deeper.
'I should try eating someone in their dream first… see if that works before I think about killing anybody in real life,' he told himself. He was willing to kill if it came down to it, but only as a last resort. If there was another way, even a twisted one like dream feeding, he'd take it. He wasn't the type to kill just for fun. Not unless he had to.
He leaned back against the wall, exhaled slowly, and closed his eyes. Let the darkness take him again.
Hours passed.
Night fell once more, and Hisen was already moving. His figure shot across the landscape, quiet and fast, until he reached the village again.
He jumped over the wall and landed silently inside, crouching low as the familiar feeling returned. The presence of dozens of dots inside his head. Most were still black, some flickering green. They were falling asleep.
He headed for the closest green one.
When he reached it, he paused and peeked through the window. It was the same middle aged man from before.
Hisen stared with a deadpan expression. "Why is this man always the first one asleep? Is he that lazy and unoccupied?" he said to himself.
Just then, the familiar green fog appeared before him and twisted into a screen. It played the man's dream again.
This time he was frolicking through a field of flowers.
"What the hell…" Hisen tilted his head, baffled.
Still, he shook his head and stepped through the fog. The dream pulled him in, and he appeared behind the man without a sound.
His hands moved before he could even think. Claws extended, fingers gripping the back of the man's neck like a vice. The man didn't react at first. Not until the claws pierced his skin.
"Ahhh! Stoop!" the man screamed and thrashed, but Hisen didn't let go.
His mouth opened, fangs gleaming. He bit deep into the neck and ripped out a chunk of flesh. In the dream, the man died instantly.
Hisen didn't stop there. He devoured the man. Heart, flesh, everything. Bones were the only thing left by the time he was done.
He wiped his mouth and leaned back.
"Ahh, that was actually good. I feel full now," he said, licking his fingers clean as he ran and vanished into the edges of the dream.
A moment later, he appeared in a small house with a wooden table in the center. On that table sat a single card.
He raised an eyebrow and walked over.
Every time he left a dream area, this house appeared. Every time, there was something on that table.
He picked up the card without hesitation. It showed a strange seed, patterned like cracked bricks. The card dissolved into his palm.
Hisen blinked, and when he opened his eyes he was out of the dream. He felt fine, he had no more bloodlust, and no hunger.
He looked through the window and saw the middle aged man sitting up in his bed, clutching his throat with both hands. Sweat poured from his face.
'So it doesn't kill them… good,' Hisen thought, then turned away and left quietly.
By the time he reached the cave again, he felt full. He felt satisfied. And, more importantly, he had found a way to eat without hurting anyone for real.
He stayed awake until sunrise, then laid down again.
And once more, the void greeted him.
"I need a name for this place…" Hisen said aloud, rubbing his chin.
Then he smacked his fist into his palm and grinned.
"I'll call it the dream space… haha yeah I'm so good at naming things," he laughed, full of himself.
But his grin faded when he noticed something new.
Floating in the center of the dream space was the seed he had taken. It hovered slightly above the ground, glowing red with a faint brick like texture.
He stepped closer and focused on it. Instantly, its description appeared in his mind.
[Item, Blood Brick Seed:
A one time use organic artifact that grows into a fortified demon mansion when planted in blood soaked soil.]
Hisen's eyes widened.
"Hoh, I'm loving this already… hehehe. What's it gonna give me next, a housewife?" he muttered.
Then he paused. His face dropped.
"…Wait… am I that lonely?" he asked himself quietly, the thought hitting harder than expected.
He stood there for a few seconds, looking down at the ground, then finally let out a long, tired sigh.
"Fuck…"