Chapter 16: The wandering swordsman
Author : It's saturday, literally the worst day of the week for faithful readers because most authors took break today as well, making it so that there are barely any updates of books.
So here is a long chapter to make up for it.
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[Seiji's POV]
After the end of the final selection, Rengoku and I had to part ways. He had a home to return to and a father who was awaiting for his return.
He seemed enthusiastic about breaking the news to his father. He left the same day the trial ended and I was left to my lonesome self, again.
You truly feel the value of someone's presence in thier absence.
Rengoku was loud so it was too silent when he left. Which was strange coming from a deaf.
I contemplated what to do for the next 10 days. I could return to my own home but that felt like a bad idea when my house was around 14 days away.
I did not have any relatives nor a friend whom I could visit. Heck, I did not have a sensei who trained me to become a demon slayer, or else I would've ran to him for an embrace and pretend like I accomplished something significant.
In the end, it was just me and Raven who, by the way, had decided to make my hair her permanent nest. Luckily she was smart enough to be not shit and stuff on my head.
"I will shave my head if you get too annoying." I said while walking along the path that led to somewhere I did not care enough to know.
Raven gently tapped on my head and said I would never shave my head because I cared too much about my looks.
"..."
It was true. As I said before, I like beautiful things and I wouldn't like myself if I were not beautiful. And I did not mean that on a genetic level but on how I maintain my looks.
I was always clean and neatly trimmed. I wouldn't like it even if the tiniest hair was out of order in my body or the smallest blemish marked my clothes. All of which might seem redundant to most but not for me and my eyes.
I was also quite picky with how I dressed, preferring to wear things that suited me. Whatever I wore must be neat, and tidy and fit me perfectly. I was also called a poor fashion enthusiast in my past life.
So yes, I would never shave my head because I locked better with wavy exotic purple hair.
{Where are we going?} Raven asked by tapping her small feet on my head.
"Nowhere." I said, "We are going to roam around the mountains and forests like a ronin while waiting for my first mission and nichirin blade. And of course, we will also kill any demons we encounter." I said, continuing my journey.
Now a question might pop into your head. How could I communicate with Raven? The answer was Morse Code.
I learned Morse Code way back in my past life and in this life as well. When I was facing the examination of 'chugakko' which I took out of necessity for my inheritance, I actually chose Morse Code as a substitute for viva voice which was an exam I was not able to take due to being deaf. It was a special privilege to select any subject of my liking in place of viva voice due to my disability.
When I first met Raven, she sat on my palm and communicated through Morse Code. I did not realize it at first but I quickly caught on it later.
So yes, it had nothing to do with her eyes or her being a psychic.
I was kind of surprised the Demon Corp thought that far ahead. They not only selected a bird that would be able to communicate with me but they also knew informations about me, like the fact that I knew Morse Code and took it as a subject in my exams.
When I asked Raven about it, she said it was only a natural reaction. I was quite famous in Japan as a prodigious kendo master so when the Master heard I was going to become a Demon Salyer, he took special consideration for me.
The same goes for promising Demon Slayers recommended by Hashiras or retired Hashiras.
What else could I say, I was impressed with Ubuyashiki.
I spent days roaming around the mountains, sleeping during the day and travelling during the night like the demons I was hunting.
There was this universal rule about not finding something when you were actively searching for it. The same went for demons, when you searched for them you couldn't find them yet when you were most vulnerable and did not want to encounter a demon, you found them.
I was only able to slay a total of five demons in the span of ten days. Three of them I encountered in the mountains but I found the other two terrorizing a village and I slayed them while I stayed in said village.
There was nothing notable to say about these demons, they were strong for sure, likely in the same level as the hand demon but they were not strong to me. And they were not tricky to fight like the hand demon was.
The two of them who had blood demon art had very basic powers like the ability to grow blades in thier body and hair that could turn into sharp tentacles.
Nothing I couldn't handle.
But it was the sixth demon that was somewhat remarkable because he was able to completely hide his presence and I also learned in this encounter, the true value of my bird companion.
I did not have ears, and although I had sharp senses, they were limited. My eyesight was my greatest power and I could see everything in front of me but that was also limited to my field of vision, 180°.
That meant I had a very wide blind spot behind me. I could tell when something was coming close to me by the movement of the air but by then, it would usually be too late.
But luckily, I had another pair of eyes on top of my head.
Dash dot dot (_..)
It meant the letter D. But the way she tapped on my scalp told me everything I needed to know.
D.
Danger.
I pivoted on my heels and turned around just in time to pull out my katana and block the demon who tried to plunge his claws into my back and take out my heart.
His claws met my blade and a bright spark lit up the darkness.
With the alertness of a person close to death, I quickly redirected his hand and sliced at his neck. My movement was ever so perfect and swift even in times of panic.
But a weird sight greeted me. My sword went right through his neck but I didn't slice him, it was like cutting through a phantom.
!!!!
It was a blood demon art. I did not know how it worked, I was clueless, So the best action to take was running and making distance.
That was what I did,
I quickly leapt to the side and I swung three warning slashes to stop him from closing the distance. I stopped when I was around 5 metres away from him.
"You blocked that." the demon said and tilted his head in an odd mix of anger and confusion, "No one has ever blocked that."
I fear the day I have to be in an ugly competition with a demon. I would never win.
Because what the fuck was that?
"Can you wait for me while I vomit." I said, my plain voice laced with disgust. I felt bile rising up my throat.
In front of me stood a demon with crossed eyes with mucus in his eye sac. He had spiky hair, the colour of sand and he only wore an Obi and a torn yukata that covered up to his knees.
Putting aside the ugliness and the triggering asymmetrical shape of the demon - I analyzed him to determine his strength and blood demon art.
It was not difficult to see him for what he was. All truths laid bare before my eyes.
His body is intangible. I could tell this instantly because many indications point towards that. the first thing was that I could not see the inside of his body, and my x-ray vision failed.
The air was phasing through his body, I could see it clearly with my eyes. There was also this weird aura surrounding his body which told me something was going on with him.
His blood demon art was intangibility. That would explain the lack of sound in his steps and his non-existent smell. Both senses which I trained to make sure no one could sneak up on me from behind were meaningless to him.
"I don't like the way you are looking at me human. Do you think you will survive just because you are a demon slayer?" he asked, "I got news for you, I have a thing for demon slayers' flesh and I have killed countless of them."
He burst forward with incredible speed. He left cobweb cracks on the ground due to his powerful legs pushing him off.
The air exploded out and so did he.
The action was predicted but only at the last few seconds. The fact that I could not see inside of his body was clearly a disadvantage.
But when he pushed off the ground, that was when his intangibly ended and his body became visible. I learned many things from that and he also told me many things about himself.
He could become intangible but he could not attack while doing so. He also could not make parts of his body intangible, it was either all or nothing.
He had two beating hearts in his chest, which was not uncommon for strong demons as it boosted thier physical strength and made them a bit more durable to piercing.
A peek at his muscles told me that he was exceptionally fast and was built for speed. But he lacked the sheer strength of most demons his calibre.
"Flame Breathing : Second Form."
My breath turned into flames and my sword left a trail of fire as I swung vertically upwards. It created a perfect arc that went up like the sun.
"Rising Scorching Sun."
The demon's smile widened and he turned intangible. His movement became even bolder and he phased right through my attack and through me.
I immediately turned around to see him shoot towards the forest. He landed horizontally on a tree before he launched himself at me again like a cannon. The branch of the tree was blown apart due to the sheer force.
"You're dying!!" he screamed.
I turned my blade sideways and threw a horizontal slash at him but just like before, he phased through my blade and right through my body.
"Hahahahaha!!" he laughed like a hyena. He thought he had gotten to my head. He was infinitely amused seeing my attacks become void in front of his blood demon art.
My lips curved too.
This must be his usual strategy. Normal people could not differentiate when he was intangible or not so he would attack multiple times from different angles like this. He constantly put the opponents on edge until he found openings he could take.
Or better yet, he let his enemies tire themselves out. Humans were not like demons, exhaustion was a big issue for them. And it's not like they could ignore his bluff either since they couldn't tell if he was intangible and he was literally too fast to even get a thought across.
And in the case that they let their guard down, thinking he was about to fake another attack, he would make them regret that by taking thier head.
It was a flawless strategy as the enemy would inevitably fall.
Unless they're me.
Because I had an advantage, I could tell exactly when he was going intangible and when he was real.
He swiped his sharp claws at me and I barely had time to dodge it by moving to the side - the lack of air resistance made him move at extreme speed.
I drew my sword and managed to cut his leg as he shot past me but that was a minor injury for a demon like him.
"Be careful, fighting me is not the time to be lost in thought!" he said with glee before he sprang at me again. But this time, it was a fake attack.
He bounced around the forest, destroying many trees in the process. He faked another three attacks which I pretended to respond to.
Then he decided that he had a chance and he went for the kill.
"DIE!!!" he screamed, it was stupid to give out your location like that if you were truly to attack your enemy. Which was exactly why someone other than me would expect the demon to fake another attack.
But I saw it clearly.
I saw how his body turned into a physical body and resisted the air. He launched at me with the boldest and fastest movement. Everything was so exaggerated that you would think it was another fake.
But I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword.
"Flame Breathing, Esoteric Art : First Form."
My legs pushed me off like a bullet and my body left a trail of yellow fire that lit up the darkness with hope, as if to signify the victory of light against dark.
"Unerring Fire."
It was the ultimate attack of both precision and timing. My action was so smooth and perfect it looked like water breathing instead of flame breathing to spectators.
The demon could only stare and witness his own death upon the reflection of my blade. His ugly eyes met my purple eyes at the last moment and he found no mercy.
Even the tiniest fibre of my muscle did not hesitate while I chopped off his head in a single swing. It was at the perfect moment when he was not intangible, the exact angle from where he wouldn't see it coming and the right distance that gave him enough time to despair but not enough room to act.
"Disappear vermin." my final words and then his body disintegrated without even hitting the ground. Flame Breathing was extremely effective not only because it boosted the user's stregth but it also made the nichirin blade more effective.
I sheathed my sword and I synch the last of my breath with the gentle click of the sheath.
....
Then without another word, I continued my journey.
It was already eleven days since the final selection so I should be getting my first mission and nichrin blade soon.
And just like I thought, a swordsmith arrived in the morning.
.
.
[IMAGE of MC]
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Author : Raven have an important role of covering Seiji's greatest weakness - limited vision.
I thought hard on how I could realistically make him overcome this. The thought of giving him sensitive touch to sense vibration like elephants or snakes crossed my mind, and so does the thought of giving him strong instincts or sense of smell to be able to sense danger.
But in the end, I did not want Seiji to be so unreasonably overpowered so quickly. He will have weakness and strength and he will use every tool to make up for his weakness and capitalize on his strength.
Thanks for reading.
.....
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