In the evening.
A gentle breeze swept through the trees as Ren, Kasumi, and Miyuki arrived at a quiet village nestled at the foot of the mountains.
At its edge stood an old shrine.
Inside, Buddhist monks sat in a circle beneath the lantern light, their robes glowing orange in the dusk.
The trio approached the steps of the shrine. The scent of incense lingered in the air. Ren stepped forward first. He pressed his hands together and bowed respectfully.
"Konnichiwa," his voice was humble.
One of the monks looked up and asked gently, "Are you travelers?"
Ren nodded. "Yes. We've heard… a demon has been haunting this village. Is it true?"
The monks grew still. One of them gave a slow nod.
"Yes," he said. "It comes at night. The villagers live in fear."
Before Ren could respond—
An elderly monk stepped forward—his posture dignified despite his age, his presence quiet yet immense. The other monks immediately lowered their heads and made space for him.
The priest's eyes fell upon Ren—and widened, just slightly.
A silence stretched before he murmured to himself.
"…This aura… this presence... It's… divine."
Ren looked at him curiously.
The priest's lips curled into the softest smile, weathered by time but warm with recognition.
"I've been waiting for you," he said.
Ren blinked. "But… haven't we just met?"
The priest gently shook his head. "Perhaps in this life, yes."
Then he closed his eyes, as if recalling something long buried.
"My master once told me… that one day, a soul would come—bathed in light, burdened with sorrow—one who would bring the demons to their end. He said I would know when I saw him."
The priest opened his eyes again, clearer now.
"And now he's standing before me."
———————————————————————
At night.
In the sky above the Demon Slayer hideout.
High above the clouds, where moonlight dared not reach, two figures floated in silence—still, unmoving, like an omen carved into the sky.
One was draped in flowing black robes that seemed stitched from the night itself. The other, in white, glowed faintly, ethereal like moonlight reflected on water.
Jigen and Eliza.
Their presence alone bent the air around them. The stars above dimmed near their forms, as if reality itself hesitated to behold them.
Jigen's crimson eyes burned with detached malice. Eliza's azure gaze shimmered like frost on glass. Both pairs of eyes radiated light, casting an eerie glow across the skies.
They hovered effortlessly, like gods preparing judgment. Watching.
Jigen tilts his head below, his movements calm, deliberate. "So… they were hiding here?" His voice was deep, inhumanly cold. "Pathetic slayers…"
Beside him, Eliza floated without a sound, her body still and poised like a divine statue. Yet her eyes scanned everything—piercing the ground, the walls, even the breath of life within the hideout—as if dissecting existence at the molecular level.
Jigen's voice broke the silence again. "I'm amused by her deduction about me as X. Still, we're ten steps ahead of them."
Eliza finally spoke, her lips barely parting, the sound like silk torn delicately.
"Jigen-sama… Shall we end them?"
He remained still for a moment. Then—he says, his voice coldly strategic. "They don't stand a chance. Not a single one… But this isn't the time."
She turned to him, her eyes slightly widened. "Then why the hell are we here?"
He answered without a flicker of emotion. "I wanted to see where they sleep. Where they cling to hope."
"We just wasted our time. Can't we kill at least some of them?"
His voice is eerily calm. "Don't worry, we'll kill at least some of them."
Eliza grins. "Small meteorites are enough to—"
"Never do that," his voice calm yet commanding. "You'll end up summoning a giant asteroid to destroy this world."
She chuckles, taunts. "You care so much about this world, don't you?"
"I hate this world," he said, his voice flat and hollow. "I hate humanity… But we're not fighting to destroy the world... We're fighting to own what remains. If it's reduced to ash, what's left for us to rule?"
She pouts. "At least one meteor—"
Suddenly, he raised his hand.
And gently… placed it on her head.
Her entire demeanor changed in an instant. She melted into his touch, nuzzling his palm like a kitten lost in warmth.
Jigen's expression didn't change.
Controlling her is both simple… and impossible. Even I may not be enough to stop her if she truly loses herself.
Still nestled in his palm, she asked softly, "Why not now, then? Why not end them tonight?"
He says, his voice calm and empty as always.
Jigen's gaze turned downward again, toward the hideout. His voice returned to its usual lifeless calm.
"It's not the slayers I'm concerned with. Not the Hashira. They'd fall in seconds. Even the Stone and Thunder Hashira… they'd crumble, eventually."
He paused. The sky seemed to darken with the weight of the name about to be spoken.
"It's Ren Hajime."
Her eyes twitched slightly at the name.
"Yoriichi himself," Jigen continued. "He will come. The moment we bring devastation… he'll appear."
"And if he does?" she asked, quietly.
He looked her dead in the eyes.
"Then you will die. All of you—every Upper Moon… Kokushibo included...
All except me. Because I cannot die.
But I don't want you to die."
"How caring of you," she teases. "But do you know how Yoriichi was born?"
Jigen doesn't turn. "I know the tale. It's absurd."
"It's not absurd. Let me repeat the story once again—
Five hundred years ago.
Muzan Kibutsuji wandered alone near a great Buddha statue.
He had never seen God. Never felt the divine.
He believed he was divine.
So, he destroyed the statue. Shattered it into dust.
Not long after… Yoriichi was born.
Some say—he was the reincarnation of the Sun God himself."
Jigen shows no reaction. Not even a blink. "Sounds more of a fictional story."
"No, it's not. I saw Muzan's history with my powers, and that's all accurate."
His voice sharpens a bit. "If that's true, wouldn't Kokushibo be considered as the reincarnation of the Moon God?
And more than that, it's a lie. Muzan had only destroyed one statue. But I have destroyed countless statues, temples, and shrines.
I wanted to experience the same as Muzan did, someone to come and kill me, especially the Godhimself.
But nothing happened…
If we compare all the sins Muzan had ever committed, he's a child next to me."
She laughs darkly. "You're so eager to be punished, don't you?
Don't worry, I can punish you if you—"
"Fair Enough… Let's focus on our mission."
She nods.
He speaks again, like a machine reciting death.
"There are 2,176 slayers and Kakushi remaining.
Six will die… now."
Near the hideout.
Six demon slayers walk the path back from their mission.
"Today's mission was easy."
"Yeah, no demon was able to fight us."
"I was expecting a stronger demon to arrive, but I guess they're scared."
They laughed.
Suddenly.
"Ara… You were waiting for us?" A feminine, angelic voice echoed from behind.
They turned back.
An otherworldly, heavenly girl is standing before them. Her beauty paralyzed their movements.
Their eyes widened, jaws dropped, paralyzed by her presence.
She smiles, her smile too beautiful and captivating.
And then—
Swoosh!
In a blur of white and black—
Jigen and Eliza strike.
Limbs snap. Necks twist. Blood explodes in silent spurts.
Their bodies are torn apart like paper, their heads ripped clean off.
No swords. No claws. Just hands.
Their movements are inhuman, flexible.
———————————————————————
Meanwhile…
Near an old shrine on the village outskirts—
The moon hung low, the sky quiet, painted in deep violet.
Ren, Kasumi, and Miyuki stood in patient silence, surrounded by cicada hums and rustling leaves.
"It's been so much time since we're trying to find the demon," says Kasumi.
Miyuki glanced around, her voice barely a whisper.
"Maybe… it's not a demon. What if it's something worse? An Upper Moon?"
Kasumi's face twitched. He remembered the dream he had that morning.
He shook his head, "If there's any upper moon around, we're doomed. The remaining upper moons are beyond our powers."
Then his gaze shifts to Ren. "Oh, how can I forget that we have Hajime-San?"
Suddenly—
A crackling sound echoed through the trees. Branches shifted. Something crawled closer.
They turned.
A grotesque demon slithered from the dark. Eight legs, long tongue, bulbous eyes.
"Tch… Ugly!" muttered Kasumi.
Moments later.
The demon hung from a thick tree, bound in ropes, Miyuki's spear driven deep into its chest.
Its form trembled in agony, blood pooling beneath it.
"Seriously… is this what we had been waiting for?" said Kasumi.
"But you didn't want to encounter an upper moon." Miyuki chuckled softly.
"Yeah, but I was expecting Upper Moon Six, at least… not a higher demon like Upper Moon 4, or 3 or above. But this? A lowkey demon? What a shame…"
The demon sobbed, clawing weakly at the ropes. Its wide, terrified eyes locked with Ren's.
Ren stepped closer. His maroon gaze bore into the creature's soul. Cold. Unblinking.
He spoke softly, but his words cut like thunder.
"We must kill it. Now."
Miyuki and Kasumi turned to him, surprised.
"Why?" Kasumi asked.
Ren's voice remained gentle, but something dark stirred beneath it. "He's sharing information about us."
Their eyes widened.
Slash!
Without hesitation, Kasumi drew his blade. In one swift motion, the demon's head rolled from its shoulders.
It dissolved to ash before it even hit the ground.
The next morning.
As sunlight filtered through the trees, the three arrived at the village. Warm faces greeted them—villagers bowing, surrounding them with gratitude.
"You saved us…"
"Thank you!"
"That monster haunted us for months!"
Kasumi smiled. "All thanks to him," he pointed towards Ren Hajime.
The crowd turned—and gasped.
Mesmerized by his mythic appearance.
Ren stood quiet, haori glowing faintly in the golden light.
Beautiful long hair with bangs and long ponytail, maroon eyes and hair. His skin, fair as porcelain. A towering presence with a calm, gentle face.
"Ar-Are you God?"
"I've not seen anyone like you before… so strong, ethereal, and divine…"
"Do you always walk around the world and save it?"
Ren slowly shakes his head. "I'm no God. I am a mere wanderer, trying to walk the world without breaking it."
Miyuki softly smiles, her voice soft. "He breaks the world when he needs to. But he always fixes mine."
Ren bowed gently, palms pressed together.
"Thank you for your kindness. We must go now."
And with that—
They walked away, quiet as the wind.
No more words. No farewells.
Only the silent awe of villagers left behind, watching as their silhouettes faded into the morning mist.
…
At night.
The entire daytime later.
A storm brews in the heavens. Thunder cracks. Rain falls like shards of glass.
And the village—
The peaceful village from before…
Is gone.
Annihilated.
Houses torn to splinters.
The shrine reduced to rubble.
Blood washes into the mud with the rain.
Corpses lie still—some with eyes wide open, some without heads.
Even the monks—once protectors of sacred ground—are butchered, bodies twisted in prayer.
The air reeks of smoke, blood, and divine abandonment.
Upon the crumbling shrine's rooftop, lightning strikes.
Two figures sit beneath the storm.
Silhouetted in darkness.
Outlined in flickering silver.
One has two burning crimson eyes, glowing like molten fire—emotionless, watching.
The other bears six golden eyes, arranged like a curse—staring into every realm at once.
Jigen and Kokushibo.
Jigen's body is wreathed in shadow—his form almost fluid. A void in human shape.
Dark tendrils ripple from his body like smoke from a dying star.
Beside him, Kokushibo's aura cracks the air itself.
Every breath he takes sounds like the tearing of flesh and the splitting of time.
His long black hair floats unnaturally, drawn by winds that don't belong to this world.
Their presence alone warps the world.
Jigen's voice is dark, inhumanly deep. "We're too late… he's gone…"
Kokushibo remains still.
Silent.
The storm rages.
The corpses rot.
Then—
He finally speaks.
His voice cuts through the thunder. Serrated. Hollow.
"Jigen… how many years are left..?"
Jigen doesn't answer at first.
He turns his head slowly, eyes gleaming like dying stars.
Then, he replies—
"Six years left…
Till the carnage begins."
Lightning crashes.
Behind them—
A statue of the Buddha, cracked in half, weeps rainwater down its face like tears.