Chapter 1: Tamayo |
The Taisho Era.
Since ancient times, legends have spoken of man-eating demons that emerge once the sun dips below the horizon to hunt. Yet, there also exist hunters who track and exterminate these monsters to protect the common folk.
This is the world of the demon-slaying blade.
Darkness blanketed the firmament, obscuring the stars and leaving only the pale moon to illuminate the desolate land. Yeruashi walked leisurely along a narrow path in wooden geta sandals and a black kimono, his gaze distant and profound.
One could say he had arrived here entirely by chance. He was merely passing through and would not have paid much attention to such a world if it hadn't stirred vague, distant memories within him.
He continued stepping forward in his wooden geta for a while longer before coming to a halt in front of a bamboo forest.
There was nothing remarkable about it.
Or rather, nothing remarkable "now."
For it was here, several hundred years ago, that a man had struck his final blow before the breath of life left his body.
His name was... Yoriichi Tsugikuni!
Meanwhile, Yeruashi's gaze stretched back several centuries, witnessing Yoriichi's final and greatest strike.
Upon trying his hand at swordsmanship for the first time, the man had easily crushed an adult master and went on to create a unique Breathing Technique. With it, he later overwhelmed a nearly immortal monster—Muzan Kibutsuji—despite being a mere mortal himself. Even by the standards of Yeruashi, who had seen many worlds, the progenitor of Breathing Techniques possessed first-class talent.
Of course, in terms of pure power alone, Yoriichi was nothing in Yeruashi's eyes. However, that was not due to a lack of personal talent, but rather the ceiling of the world itself.
'A bit of a waste... but not entirely regrettable...' Yeruashi thought, shaking his head as he skimmed through the history of Yoriichi's life and fate.
It was a waste because the scale of his personality would have rivaled someone like Aizen had he been born in the world of Bleach.
Yet it was not regrettable because he had not only become the world's greatest swordsman but also blazed a trail for others, a feat truly worthy of such genius.
Just then.
A voice drifted out from the bamboo forest.
"And just what is it you regret?"
Two figures emerged from the shadows.
The speaker was an elegant woman dressed in a beautiful kimono. Her large, gentle rose-colored eyes fixed on Yeruashi, radiating a faint sense of curiosity.
She looked like a dainty, refined girl of about sixteen, but in reality, she had lived for several centuries.
Her name was Tamayo. She was a demon turned by Muzan. After his crushing defeat, she had managed to regain her sanity and break free from his control. Since then, she had spent every day, year after year, stubbornly studying a way to cure the demonic condition.
Tamayo had come here with her assistant, Yushiro, in search of a specific medicinal herb. She hadn't expected to encounter anyone else in such a remote location.
It was late at night in the middle of nowhere... any ordinary person would likely have been sent to the afterlife by now if they had encountered one of the demons still under Muzan's thumb.
These were Tamayo's initial reflections.
In fact, she had spotted Yeruashi immediately, but she had intended to wait quietly for him to leave before returning to her herb gathering.
To her surprise, the man had lingered by the bamboo forest for some reason and then muttered something incoherent.
An ordinary person would have dismissed the stranger as mentally unstable, but Tamayo vaguely sensed an ethereal spirit within him—faint and weightless, as if he might dissipate at any moment.
In her long life, she had felt such a thing only once before, from her savior who had completely overwhelmed Muzan—Yoriichi Tsugikuni!
Needless to say, Yeruashi had noticed Tamayo lurking in the bamboo forest, but Yoriichi's past was far more important.
Thus, he only slowly turned his head to look at the girl after she took the initiative to speak.
"Lady Tamayo, stay away from this guy! Something isn't right... I think he's dangerous!" Yushiro barked, stepping sharply in front of Tamayo and casting a wary look at Yeruashi.
Judging by the scent, the stranger definitely wasn't a demon, but he didn't smell like a "human" either!
Furthermore, the stranger's appearance could only be described as handsome, which only heightened Yushiro's sense of threat.
His lady must not associate with this dangerous element!
"Yushiro, do not be rude!"
Tamayo immediately rebuked her companion, continuing to gaze calmly at the stranger as she waited for a response.
Yeruashi looked at her for a few more seconds before turning his head back toward the spot he had been observing. "I am lamenting the master swordsman who died here," he said softly. "He could have reached far greater heights if not for the limitations of this world."
"A master swordsman?" Tamayo asked, her interest piqued.
Yeruashi looked back at her and said nonchalantly, "You knew him... Yoriichi Tsugikuni."
Tamayo fell into a state of confusion upon hearing that painfully familiar name. A multitude of thoughts instantly raced through her mind. How did this stranger even know that name? Who was he?
But in the end, she only sighed, refraining from asking any of those questions. "It is a pity he failed to finish that monster..."
As she spoke, the past flashed before her eyes.
A sword!
A simple sword!
A simple sword had completely crushed Muzan, for whom there had been no match in the entire world until then!
Only one fate awaited Muzan—death by Yoriichi's blade—had he not detonated his own body into 1,800 pieces of flesh at the very last moment.
Yoriichi hadn't expected his opponent to suddenly explode, but even then, he had managed to destroy 1,500 pieces of flesh, missing only 300. Unfortunately, that was enough for the progenitor of demons to survive!
There was no doubt that Muzan would have been utterly annihilated had Yoriichi been prepared for such a maneuver.
Tamayo sighed constantly, remembering that day over and over again.
After that escape, Muzan had gone into hiding, not daring to show himself until after Yoriichi's death. Once the swordsman was gone, the demon began his atrocities anew, nearly wiping out all the demon slayers of that era.
But Tamayo herself remained powerless, no matter how sad she felt watching it all unfold from the sidelines. With Yoriichi's death, there was no force left in the world capable of restraining the first demon. Thus, Tamayo had vanished, embarking on a quest to find a way to defeat Muzan—a search she continues to this day, hundreds of years later.