How many years has it been? Three hundred? Four hundred?
Kibutsuji Muzan could no longer remember how many centuries it had been.
For hundreds of years, aside from that man, not a single human had made him bleed, not even the strongest human swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps with the title of Hashira.
But now! Now! This lowliest of humans before him, a beggar!
A despicable creature lower than an insect, had actually made him bleed? How was this possible?
Boom! Crack! Thud!
The ferocious spiked whip suddenly erupted, countless blades instantly springing out from it.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Innumerable blades instantly pierced and tore through Shinichi body.
"DAMN YOU!!"
Surrounded by an intense sense of shame, Muzan roared in fury, the spiked whip wrapped in countless blades dancing wildly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire dilapidated temple was almost instantly razed to the ground.
Plop!
A thin hand holding a rusty ordinary dagger fell to the ground just like that.
Kibutsuji Muzan stared at the dagger that had cut his cheek, expressionless.
Although the insignificant wound had healed in 0.0001 seconds, bleeding was still bleeding, even if it was just a negligible drop.
"Humans!" He muttered, his disgust for humans deepening once again in his heart.
In an instant, Kibutsuji Muzan figure had already disappeared, as if he had never been here, leaving only a flattened ruined temple.
Moonlight fell, and after an unknown amount of time, beneath the rubble of countless bricks and stones, a blurry mass of flesh suddenly began to move slowly.
Blood vessels grew out at an extremely slow pace, stark white bone fragments, crimson muscles, bit by bit, slowly, slowly grew out.
The stench of flesh and blood under the temple ruins attracted countless flies, the buzzing of their wings incessant.
Buzz!
A lucky fly landed on a small piece of flesh, its slender mouthparts greedily licking the bloody meat.
Bang!!
Stones scattered, a clean white arm suddenly stretched out from the ruins, sharp blackened nails, twisted blood vessels bulging on the back of the hand, muscles swelling.
The next second,
BOOM!
The temple ruins exploded, and amidst the billowing dust, a frenzied roar rang out in the night.
"ROARR!!!"
Through the swirling dust, a pair of crimson eyes could be vaguely seen.
As the dust gradually cleared, a figure was half-kneeling on the ground, hunched over, clothes tattered and torn, barely more than strips of cloth remaining.
Chest heaving violently, throat emitting beast-like growls, the originally black eyes had now turned completely crimson, bloodshot, with no trace of rationality in their gaze.
Bulging veins protruded one after another on the skin exposed to the air, fingers unconsciously curled into claws with sharp black talons growing out, slightly opened mouth revealing gleaming sharp fangs.
This appearance closely resembled the monster Toshiro had once spoken of - a demon!
This "demon" face was extraordinarily young.
If Muzan were still here, he would be shocked to discover that the human who had made him bleed earlier hadn't died!?
But at this moment, Shinichi was completely unaware that he had become the legendary monster.
Now, his mind was devoid of any thoughts, filled only with rampant, brutal killing intent, and from the depths of his soul, a craving for human flesh and blood.
He was now a newborn evil demon!
The newly born demon twitched its nose and turned its stiff head. It seemed to have caught the scent of blood in the air.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the demon body disappeared from its original spot like lightning.
"Flesh! Blood! Hungry! Blood!" A stuttering, hoarse voice came from the evil spirit's mouth. Its seemingly slender arms frantically dug through the ruins.
Whether it was hard bricks or thick wood, everything crumbled like tofu before those black claws.
Finally!
After a bout of digging, a bloody human limb appeared before the demon. The thick scent of blood made the demon throat convulse repeatedly, and the bloodshot in its eyes grew more intense.
Without any hesitation, the demon picked up the limb, opened his big mouth, and was about to take a large bite.
"Woof! Woof!"
A sudden noise from behind attracted the demon attention.
Its fierce eyes looked back, only to see a black Shiba Inu in the ruins, barking at the evil spirit in confusion. Its face was still that of the familiar owner, but the terrifying aura emanating from the owner made the little Shiba Inu tuck its tail in fear.
It could only bark at its owner, hoping the owner would come over and pick it up as usual, but the thick smell of blood in the surroundings seemed to ensure that this was no longer possible.
Sure enough, in the next second, the demon rushed in front of the little Shiba Inu and grabbed its neck in one swift motion. The sharp black claws easily pierced through the dog fur.
The intense pain and the owner terrifying appearance made the little Shiba Inu let out a pitiful whimper, its four short legs futilely twisting in mid-air.
Just as the demon was about to squeeze the life out of this Shiba Inu that had disturbed its meal, a flash of clarity suddenly appeared in its bloodshot crimson eyes.
"No! Can't! Mustn't!"
An inexplicable feeling of resistance surfaced, making the demon extremely agitated.
He was hungry! He wanted to eat human flesh!
If he killed this damn beast, he could enjoy the delicious fresh meat.
"Roar! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Terrible roars came from the evil spirit's mouth, but those sharp black claws somehow couldn't exert any force.
Thud!
The little Shiba Inu body fell to the ground, and the demon also collapsed, convulsing.
The sharp black claws actually started tearing into his own flesh.
Soon his body was torn and bloody from the claws, but strangely, the ghastly wounds made by the black claws were also wriggling with flesh buds, slowly self-healing.
"Blood! Flesh! Want! No! Don't eat! Eat!... Roar! Eat! No!"
Two frenzied thoughts were fiercely battling in the demon brain: one was the violent, murderous urge from the depths of its soul and blood, and the other was the last shred of rationality.
"Woof woof!"
The black Shiba Inu, disregarding its own bloodied neck, ran straight to its owner side when it saw him fall to the ground, struggling and convulsing frantically.
Looking at the owner face full of bulging purple veins, the little Shiba Inu anxiously licked its owner face with its small tongue, as if hoping to alleviate its owner pain.
As the demon struggled violently, from within its already tattered clothes, half a dorayaki suddenly rolled out. The dorayaki, emitting a sweet aroma, happened to stop right next to the demon head.
Abruptly, the demon body stiffened.
Staring at that half of a dorayaki, the demon desperately widened his eyes, the corners even cracking and oozing thin streams of blood.
The monstrous madness in his pupils was continuously dissipating, replaced by a painful clarity.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
What came from his mouth this time was no longer a beast-like roar, but a human scream.
The "demon" had turned back into Shinichi!
*******
Stumbling, enduring the knife-scraping, burning hunger in his stomach, Shinichi, now a demon, laboriously dug through the ruins.
The mangled bodies beneath the rubble emitted an extreme temptation to him.
If Shinichi hadn't been desperately suppressing it, his demonic instincts would have made him pounce and tear into them with large bites long ago.
After digging for who knows how long, Shinichi finally saw the child he was looking for. But just one glance, and Shinichi closed his eyes, crimson blood tears sliding from the corners.
"Toshihiro..."
The black Shiba Inu, Maru-ni, looking at the small broken body in the ruins also let out a sorrowful whimper.