Chapter 1 - Kamado

"That marks the tenth corpse." The methods for final selection seemed questionable to me at best. Sending inexperienced trainees into a demon infested forest for a week wasn't the best way to reduce casualties, but at the same time I couldn't understand how the other examinees could be so inept. The location of final selection is kept secret until you're deemed ready by a trainer or another slayer. They should have been far more skilled than these weaker demons. I couldn't imagine many would survive until the end given everything I could hear happening in the distance. I decided I should try to help where I could, the demons out there were far too starved to listen to reason.

I started running in the direction of the closest skirmish. It sounded like they were putting up a decent effort, but I could tell they were losing ground. I arrived to see the boy get launched over my head and into a tree; he was left alive but unconscious. The demon didn't give me a moment to ready myself before pouncing onto me. Blinded by hunger, the demon went straight for my neck and bit in deep. The pain was extreme initially, enough to send a regular person into shock, but as I shifted my focus back on the demon and the regeneration kicked in, the pain quickly went numb. He failed to restrain my arms and legs which made it easy to regain control. I ripped his head out of my shoulder, tucked my legs under his torso, and pushed him with enough force to shatter his ribs and send him tumbling through the dirt. He struggled to recover as he waited for his regeneration to heal him, long enough for me to get to my feet and draw my sword. The flesh on my neck began to regrow which created visible confusion for the demon.

"Surprised huh? Probably thought you'd just won yourself a feast? Unfortunately, you won't land another attack like that." The wound quickly finished healing; It was now my turn to go on the offensive. I took the stance of form three, Retributive strike, and burst forward, closing the distance between us in an instant. The demon braced his neck with his arms, hoping to endure my attack, but the force behind this strike was more than enough to cut through ten demons of his strength. The attack passed cleanly through his arms and neck allowing his corpse to fall to the ground.

I went back to the fallen slayer and examined him. Several bones in his arms and back were broken and there was a fair bit of bruising; nothing inherently fatal, but he wouldn't make it through the rest of the test in that state. Fortunately he was unconscious, so I was able to treat him without fear. I sat him upright against the tree and tilted his head back. Before I continued I listened closely to make sure no other demons were in the area and then ran my blade across the palm of my hand. I held his mouth open and let a few drops of blood drip down his throat. I knew it started to work when the pain in my hand returned. For those next few minutes I was just as vulnerable as a normal human. I checked the kid again to confirm that his bones were healed and the bruising had cleared up. He would be fine provided he avoided any more fights. I always found it funny, my power healed others faster than I could heal myself. I stayed on high alert as I waited for the effects to wear off and soon enough the pain in my hand died off and the blood stopped dripping. I woke my friend up and quickly left before he recovered from his daze.

There wasn't much I could do to help others during the test. Sure I could intervene in skirmishes as I was and save someone's life in the moment, but if they couldn't survive on their own, they were likely to die anyway. That was one truth that stuck to me, this profession, being a slayer was something the members expected to die doing and because of who I was, I didn't have to deal with the same sense of fear. I felt like I was cheating all of their bravery, but even still this was the necessary step forward. So for the rest of the exam, I saved as many people as I could with the hope that at least some of them could make it to the end with a little push. That wasn't to say all the participants were unable to perform. There were several who were more than skilled enough to survive, but one I encountered on the fifth night changed everything moving forward.

That night I found far more corpses than usual, but no demon to accompany any of them. If they were all killed separately, then surely I would have encountered at least one demon in the act. Regular demon's take a while to feed, so the number of cleaned and abandoned corpses didn't add up. That told me one thing, there was a much stronger demon residing on the mountain. Before the start of the trial, they had told us the demon up here had eaten one or two humans at most, but for this level of efficiency, a demon would have had to eat at least a dozen or more. A demon of that caliber would outrank most if not all of the trainees. It needed to be killed and fast.

My body kicked into overdrive, I didn't have time to contemplate, no time to negotiate, every demon I passed fell as I blitzed through on my hunt. Every scream, every clash, every amiss sound; I searched them all. While we were expected to deal with the fodder, this was not something they should be expected to handle and they should have to lose their life to it. Eventually I caught a hint of it, one clash sounded much fiercer than all the others, several people were present which didn't happen for slayers unless it was needed. It was far, however; it would take time to get there and several would die in the time between. As long as one survived though, it would be worth it. At full speed, with disregard for any who might have noticed, using every once of demon blood in my veins, I charged forward.

I drew close as several others passed by in the opposing direction, completely driven by fear. They stumbled with no composure having been drained of every ounce of courage they had, but even still I could hear the fight continue. I reached the clearing and was surprised by what I saw. The demon was massive with pale green skin, fat from its gluttony, and possessed a dozen arms; For junior slayers, it was an impassable mountain. Before the demon only one slayer stood, but from this boy dawned in a blue robe, emanated an insurmountable aura of courage and determination. It went against my better judgement, but I stood there out of sight and watched the battle unfold. The boy was talented; he moved with elegance, no wasted movements, and his instincts were sharper than most could have dreamed. One attack after another this boy deflected and countered. The battle appeared to be drawing to a close, after that attack, they would have an opening to end it, but something didn't feel right. The demon was only using ten of its arms, two couldn't be accounted for. I took a second to notice that down by its feet, two arms were buried in the ground, unknown to the boy. As the boy defended and prepared for his final attack, the ground behind him started to crack. I dashed into action, my heightened senses slowing the scene to a crawl around me, I wasn't sure if I would be fast enough to catch it in time. The demon's arms broke through the ground and sped towards the boy. Just barely, within inches of the boy I made it; With my sword drawn, the demon's arms fell to the ground. The boy noticed my action and took the opportunity to continue his attack. After a moment the demon's head fell to the ground and fizzled away.

With the battle over, the boy approached me. I was able to get a better look at his features. His hair and eyes were a dark blackish red and he had a large scar plastered across the left side of his forehead. "Thank you for that. I was so focused on my opening, I neglected my defense a little. I may have been in a bit of trouble if you hadn't shown up."

"No, if I had acted sooner, you wouldn't have been in danger in the first place. Watching you fight, I was hesitant to intervene. You were incredible."

"Thank you, I had a good teacher." He turned his head to where the demon once lied and his smile turned somber, "Do you know if anyone got away."

"I passed a few people on the way here, but they had lost their swords."

"I see, I hope they stay safe." His expression rebounded, "Well thanks again, I wish you good luck."

"You too." With that he left, leaving me standing there in awe. He had a unique gentleness in our exchange, however brief it was, that was in stark contrast to his fighting spirit. It reminded me of my father. I felt if I hadn't been there, he would have comforted the demon in death; I just hoped that gentleness wouldn't be his downfall.

The rest of final selection was uneventful. The last two nights there was no one left to save, just more corpses to offer my respects to. Out of the hundred or so participants, no more than ten could have survived. I spent my time waiting until finally it was time to descend the mountain. I was the last to arrive; including me in total there were six present, and the boy from the fifth night was one of them as well as the one I saved on the second night. It made me happy to know that I made at least some difference.

I approached the rest of the group and the ceremony began. The twins congratulated us on surviving the trial, they mentioned that seven had passed and that one graduate had rushed down the mountain. They explained that corps ranking system and provided each with our own kasugai crow which delivers orders to us. One graduate grew impatient and took hold of the one twin's white hair.

"Enough with the formalities, just give us our nichirin swords." I feared that if the boy continued, his crass nature may lead to the girl's injury. I prepared to intervene in hopes of de escalating the situation, but the blue robed boy stepped in first. He took hold of the agitated boy's arm and slowly began to crush his arm until he was forced to withdraw. I chuckled a bit under my breath at the rather straightforward approach he took to resolve the incident.

The ceremony drew to a close and we were instructed to choose an ore that would be forged into our own blade. A small deformed ore in the corner stuck out to me. It was rugged and cracked with very little luster to it, and ore that didn't belong with all the others. I chose it to become my new blade.

"Really, you're going to choose that one, I don't you'll get anything more than a paperweight from that." The rude boy scoffed.

"True it's not a shining gem like the rest of them, but I think this one suits me just fine." I responded. With that we were given our slayer uniforms and were permitted to leave. Our blades would be delivered to us once complete, until then I would return home. We all began to descend the mountain and one by one every one went their separate way until it was just me and the red-haired boy. We continued on until he broke the silence.

"So, where are you heading now that you're a slayer? My master lives in the mountains to the east, so I'll be returning there.

"Home. About a month's travel south. I've been away for so long that it's probably gotten a bit run down. The graves are probably falling apart."

"Graves? Are they family?"

"My parents, and a lot of people I consider to be family."

How did they die?" He asked somberly, already knowing the most likely answer.

"My father was a retired slayer, he died on an emergency mission he was requested to take. We only learned of it when his crow returned to tell us, my mother wasn't the same after that. One day after running errands in town, I came home to find her dead due to a rogue demon."

"What happened to the demon that killed her."

I paused for a second to ponder my answer. "I caused its death," I answered half-truthfully.

"I see, so why did you choose to become a slayer." His question stopped me dead in my tracks. I remembered the letter my mother left me and the promise I made to my father.

"My father was different from most slayers, rather than hating demons, he wanted to save them, to restore their humanity; It was his life's goal. I promised to continue his dream."

"Restore their humanity?" He looked confused for a second before his expression lit up. "Your father probably would have loved to meet my sister."

"Your sister?"

"Yes, she's part of the reason I became a slayer. Similarly to you, my family was killed by a demon while I was away from home, but my sister was turned into one."

"She turned into one?"

"Oh uh… don't be afraid," he started to panic at what he said, "she's never hurt or tried to eat anyone. I'm trying to find a way to turn her back into a human and find the demon that did it."

"Don't worry, I find it admirable that you're protecting her despite what's happened. I would like to meet her if possible."

"Unfortunately she's been asleep for the past two years. My master said it's her way of regaining strength without eating."

"Maybe if we cross paths in the future then."

"Of course." We continued to talk as we descended the mountain. We shared more about our families. Hearing his story caused my past regret to resurface. I knew I bore no responsibility for what happened to him, but I felt my existence was antithetical to him. Despite that suppressed regret, I had a promise to keep, and the slayers were the only way to pull it off. It wasn't much longer before we reached the base of the mountain and we parted ways.

"Oh, I almost forgot. My name's Kamado Tanjiro. I hope to see you again." His late introduction caught me off guard, I couldn't help but laugh for a moment. The thought completely escaped me. We were talking for hours as we came down the mountain, but the fact that we never exchanged our names was very funny to me. I recomposed myself and gave my response

"Im Sodatsu Sukarabe, I'm sure we'll meet again." With that we went our separate ways. At the time I wasn't sure what would happen next, where my mission would take me, but I never would have imagined how intertwined our stories would become and that Tanjiro was an important key to the future.