On the darkest night of all, no light is seen in a village near the foot of the mountain; no sound can be heard, except for the footsteps that occur every time a guard passes from one side to the other.
A black blur was seen piercing the arm through the stomach of one of the guards; before he could react, he lay dead on the ground. Other guards noticed nothing at that moment; only later, in the morning, did they realize that one of the guards had been killed and his body was missing, leaving only a pool of blood at the scene.
In a cave far from the village, a demon was seen chewing on a hand, the hand of the previously dead guard. Footsteps were heard at the cave entrance. The oni glanced quickly, recognizing oni hunters, and saw a human without a sword in his hands.
- (A normal human? No, something's strange. No human enters a cave and sees someone eating another human and doesn't react.)
- "What are you? You don't look like a Demon Hunter, but at the same time you don't look like a normal civilian."
The young human stared blankly into space. The demon couldn't tell what it was, as if he could see something he himself couldn't see, which was true. A floating scroll appeared in the human's vision, looking worn, like an old scroll after a long time of use.
Observing the moment when the human wasn't paying attention, the Oni advanced towards the human, using a kind of Kekkijutsu (Blood Demon Art), his limbs transforming into springs as he used the cave walls to advance, like a rubber ball.
Advancing against the human's right side as he slid backward, he pierced the demon's chest with his arm, using what appeared to be an abnormal Kekkei Jutsu. The body hair on his arm began to spin, turning the demon's torso into a mess of blood.
- "Technique Extension - Spinning Hair."
The demon was trying to aim for the head while trapped, only to have his neck severed by the man's hair, which spun like a sword, thus losing his head.
- (Looks like I still need to practice; I was aiming for the head on the first try.)
The man's hair stopped moving as the demon's remains began to turn to dust, demonstrating his death. The hunter quickly reported to his crow, which then flew to the nearest city to report the mission's completion.
(It's almost time to switch bodies again; this body is already 24 years old, it seems it doesn't have the potential to awaken the mark, it's become increasingly rare since that man died years ago.)
The Human then went back to checking the ancient scroll.
[Innate Cursed Techniques - Transplant, Helicopter Head, Missile Fists]
[Barrier Techniques - Curtain, Empty Barriers, Pure Barriers.]
[Anti-Domain Techniques - Simple Domain - New Shadow Style.]
The Human soon left the location after his raven returned, following him to a house far from the place. The house seemed old, as if it had stopped in time, a house in the middle of the forest, and all the surrounding crops seemed dead, as if no one had touched them for years, which was true.
He entered the house while his crow stayed outside, then flew away, while the young adult searched for something, quickly finding a lever that opened a passage to a secret floor.
- (This brings back memories, years ago when those boats stopped at the docks, we had a lot of work just to prevent any oni from getting on a boat and spreading that being's blood outside of Japan.)
He soon arrived at a dead body, visibly decomposing, with a green stain on its belly.
- (It decomposes quickly, perhaps because of the humid environment, it doesn't matter, I will simply heal it with reverse cursed energy, and I can always remove the organs and recreate them.)
While thinking this, he began to cut the head from the body, making a quick and clean cut, then he removed the upper part of the head, removing the single wire that connected them, thus, in a swift movement, his cerberus fell perfectly into the space of the head, rising and looking at his former body with a slight tone of melancholy and remembrance.
- (I wonder how many times I will have to do this until that oni dies, when I started he didn't have many under his command and rarely transformed oni, but after losing to that man, he increased and today it is very easy to find oni.)
He quickly reconnected the upper part of the head, holding a funeral for his old body while he checked his new cursed technique.
[Innate Cursed Techniques - Transplant, Helicopter Head, Private Pure Love Train*]
Looking at the technique's name, he was confused until an explanation of it appeared in his mind, which confused him even more.
He quickly reviewed the technique, the basics being the creation of train doors, which he honestly didn't fully understand, but had heard rumors about such things—a giant metal carriage, though he'd never actually been inside one.
Most importantly, a domain expansion of the technique. The only time he'd seen a technique with an expansion was one of the first he obtained, 300 years ago, an innate technique where he summoned a judge and had to discuss the crimes committed. It was useful, a pity he didn't retain any previous innate techniques; the maximum he could keep was three: his original, the one from his previous body, and the one from his current body.
More importantly, the effects of the expansion: a Jackpot of 4 minutes and 11 seconds, certainly small when battles can last for hours, but the effects of infinite cursed energy meant he could use the mastery expansion again after the time ran out, and 4 minutes and 11 seconds of infinite energy meant immortality with reversed energy.
After mentally noting that he should test that technique next time, the young man found his crow perched on the makeshift gravestone, looking at him.
"Kinoe Tsugikuni Kenjaku has been summoned by Lord Ubuyashiki Kagaya to appear at Sagiri Mountain. The Master requests that he proceed to the residence of the former Hashira Urokodaki Sakonji."
As always, it seems that this generation's Ubuyashiki has already noticed that I've switched bodies. The young man now picked up his yellow katana, noting that he needed to exchange it for a better one, after all, that weapon had been with him for over a decade.
Beginning his walk at dusk to have a chance to test his innate technique, unfortunately, he didn't get that chance. However, while passing through a forest, he smelled blood and quickly moved towards the location.
Finding a blood-soaked wooden hut, a man emerged from within, gazing at the katana in its sheath, looking directly into the hunter's eyes, his blood-red eyes with a black slit like a cat's, displaying unmistakable pride.
"Muzan, this is certainly strange. It's been a while since we've seen each other, and the first thing you do is kill a family before I even arrive?"
The Oni looked at the scar-like wound on the human's forehead, trying to remember where he'd seen that same scar before. In the back of his mind, he recalled a hunter he'd almost killed before this man appeared. With a click of his tongue, he replied,
"I really don't like things like this. This scar reminded me of that plague from years ago, but it's strange, certainly, the same scar in the same place as that insect millennia ago."
The man displayed a mocking smile, his crow already having flown away upon hearing the name of the king of the oni, while searching for any nearby Hashira-level hunter.
- (I probably can't defeat him yet, but it would be a shame to try to escape without at least seeing his power. I could try trapping him in a barrier...)
The human then watched the demon king disappear from his place as he reappeared in front of him with surprising speed, piercing the human's chest. Looking at him as he bled, he noticed another hunter approaching and passed through a kind of door that manifested.
Seeing the door closing, the hunter stood up with a serious expression, his wounds regenerating enough to not be a problem.
- (A teleportation technique, but where to? If he manages to escape freely, it will only be easier for him to escape in the future. I'll need to do more research.)
Footsteps were heard as a hunter with black hair and blue eyes that seemed empty appeared, the sky becoming a lighter blue, although still dark, his haori divided in half, with two different patterns.
- "I received news that Muzan was sighted here, where is he?"
The young Hashira spoke, his voice devoid of emotion as his gaze lingered on the hole in our protagonist's chest as he answered.
- "He left, a kind of door materialized in the air and he entered, most likely some kind of kekkijutsu that can create doors to another location, quite annoying to deal with."
- "How are you alive? I don't remember anyone surviving a fight against Muzan, much less him sparing anyone, every hunter died when they came into contact with him."
- "Certainly an interesting question, he simply didn't decide to double-check."
A couple more footsteps were heard as a 15-16 year old boy emerged from the middle of the forest in despair, smelling blood in the air.