The handsome man walked toward me step by step. I struggled to brace myself against the corridor pillar, feeling only relief that my sister-in-law had taken her child back to her family's home two days ago. At least the bloodline of the Tsugikuni Clan remained.
[Stop.]
Was it truly my elder brother?
[He's just a fragile human with a short lifespan. Leave him, and he'll die soon enough. Think of this as my last act of mercy.]
No—it wasn't my brother. It was only a demon, one who hadn't yet cut himself off from emotion entirely.
[Very well. Since you say so… I am, after all, a considerate superior. But only this once, Kokushibo.]
The footsteps receded again, and I lost consciousness.
...
When I awoke, passersby who had discovered the Tsugikuni Clan's slaughter had carried me to a clinic. Staring at the wooden ceiling, I couldn't comprehend why such horrors had unfolded around me, nor did I know how to handle the clan's aftermath.
It was the first time I truly broke down. I cried until I could cry no more. Once I calmed myself, I asked the staff for paper and ink. I wrote a letter to my sister-in-law, telling her of the attack on the Tsugikuni family.
But I hid the truth about my brother. I claimed the killers were roaming bandits.
When I was strong enough to move again, I took stock of what remained, sold everything for cash, paid my medical fees, and carried the rest to my sister-in-law.
She said she had already gone back to her own family, the Tokito clan, and was no longer a member of the Tsugikuni household. She urged me to take the money and make a new life for myself, refusing to accept even a coin.
Still, I left her eighty percent.
After all, I was alone now, a grown man. But she had a child to raise in her family's house. Without money to support her, she would be forced to live at others' mercy, and life would surely become harsh.
With the remainder, I set out in search of Brother Yoriichi.
...
Along the way, I encountered many demons and many Demon Slayers. Most bound the demons and waited for the sun to rise and burn them away. A few, however, could kill them outright by severing their heads.
I saw demons gnawing on human limbs while sneering at mankind. Sometimes, they weren't even eating to survive, but for amusement alone—treating humans as worms beneath them.
But weren't you once human too?
Having seen my own brother stand before me again as a demon, I knew better than anyone how absurd it was.
How could they consume their own kind so easily?
How could they scorn the very race they once belonged to?
What did they think life meant?
I hated demons, yet for the first time, I was curious about them.
I began learning the ways of demon slaying, studying their habits and weaknesses. In time, I discovered that sunlight harmed them most, followed by the wisteria flower.
Extracts of wisteria could disrupt their regeneration, weakening them to the level of ordinary humans. At high enough concentration, it could kill them outright.
To study further, I settled at the foot of a remote mountain. I aided passing Demon Slayers and asked them to search for my brother, Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
To my surprise, many knew his name. When they learned he was my brother, they asked after Tsugikuni Michikatsu as well.
But how could I tell them?
These warriors staked their lives night after night to protect humanity. I couldn't admit my brother had abandoned his honor and become a man-eating demon.
So I deflected their questions—and worked even harder.
...
After extensive research, I found common traces in demon blood. Using this, I created a powder that could, in theory, turn a human into a demon.
But I dared not take it. I feared it failing. I feared it working even more.
Still, I kept it with me, refining its formula over and over. If danger came, at least I'd have a choice.
If it worked, I could drag my enemies into death with me.
If it failed, perhaps I could at least die quickly, without suffering.
Half a year later, a group of nearby demons tracked down my dwelling. I wasn't afraid. I simply thought it fitting to use my last moments to test the powder.
I pulled out the packet I always carried and forced it down.
The demons sneered, but my body grew cold. Agonizing pain surged through my bones, as though they were regrowing. My teeth jutted past my lips. My nails sharpened into claws.
'It hurts!'
'Am I going to die?'
'I'll die, won't I?'
'What a shame… I never got to see my brother again…'
'At least I'll drag these demons to hell with me.'
'Yes… kill them.'
'Slaughter them all!'
'How dare they offend me!'
Hunger ripped through me, twined with a desperate urge to destroy.
The demons' mocking smiles twisted into rage, then fear. And I felt their fear clearly.
[So this is what it means to be a demon?]
I looked at the claws glowing faintly gray on my hands, felt the surging power coursing through me—power I'd never known. At that moment, I began to understand why my brother had chosen this path.
Demons were stronger than humans. And he had desperately wanted to surpass Yoriichi, to prove himself.
[Between family… is that truly so important?]
I felt lost. Yet I also realized one thing with absolute clarity.
I had become a demon.
On the day of my nineteenth birthday.