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Chapter 1: Evil has returned, who will save us now?
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Sumihiko ran as fast as he could while keeping the bag full of coal on his back. His family was going to need it to survive the winter, though it would have made things easier if he also had some meat. But he didn't get the chance and is now running for his live from three zombies. Because of the clouds and trees the sun wasn't out allowing the zombies to run faster. This was a known rule of all survivors the sun is your ally, as it keeps the zombies slow and weak, but once it sets the zombies get stronger, faster, and smarter. Unfortunately, everywhere was dark now so Sumihiko had no choice but to keep running as the zombies chased after him. They were growling at him live savage beasts and despite their muscles rotting like their flesh they were so fast.
Yet as Sumihiko ran he did so without fear as he knew they couldn't reach him no matter how fast they were. Soon he came across a ledge that was too high and too smooth for a normal person to crawl up. Thankfully Sumihiko saw two trees along the ledge, so he ran to them, jumped between them until he was high enough to reach the top of the ledge. Sumihiko kept running but made sure to look back and saw the three zombies trying but failing to get over the cliff. Zombies in darkness are smarter than those in sunlight but their still zombies at the end of the day. Sumihiko smiled as he faced forward again only to see a giant claw close to slashing him in the face.
Sumihiko only had a second to dodge, but managed to do so successfully, Sumihiko then stopped running to both catch his breath but see what just attacked him. It was a zombie but different his skin wasn't rotting but blue and the irises of his eyes were going crazy changing in size constantly. One of his hands was larger than normal and coated in crude metal plating and his nails were replaced with blades. His other hand was gone and instead replace with a pulsating mess of mutated flesh, in fact he had several patches of pulsated mutated flesh all over his body.
"What are you?" The mutant zombie just roared in anger and charged at Sumihiko with its claw raised to strike. Thankfully, as expected of a zombie, it was sloppy in its attacks and easy to dodge especially for someone as fast and agile as Sumihiko. Once Sumihiko dodged the attack he tried to run away but as he did the mutant zombie followed him. Despite its unbalanced body it was actually pretty fast, and it was watching his every movement showing intelligence. Sumihiko knew that even with the wall around his village this mutant zombie would be bad to have around, so he needed to get rid of it before he went home.
First Sumihiko tried grabbing a hard piece of coal from his bag and throwing it at the mutant zombie only for him to slap it away with his metal claws. It then raised its claw and charged again to stab him, thankfully not only did Sumihiko manage to dodge but there was a tree behind him. The mutant zombie ended up having its claw stabbed and therefore stuck in the tree preventing it from moving. Sumihiko had to think quickly to deal with the mutant, thankfully he saw a large rock nearby. He quickly picked it up, ran to the mutant zombie, and bashed his head with it. Doing so broke the mutant's neck and left his skull heavily fractured.
Sumihiko sighed in relief, the mutant wasn't dead but doing this was good enough, now he could return to the village with no worries. However, he was quickly proven wrong when the mutant zombie started changing. Its neck quickly regenerated, and its head started to mutate into a large blob of pulsating mutant flesh. Soom its head was double the size with the only thing recognizable being its lower jaw. It growled at Sumihiko and appeared to still be able to see him despite its eyes being covered by the mutant flesh. It then chased after Sumihiko and so he ran in the opposite direction hoping to eventually find something to help trap it.
Finally, Sumihiko found a strong river with a few stones that could act as a bridge to the other side. Sumihiko quickly stepped across the stones carefully but very quickly, all while the mutant zombie followed him and tried to claw at him. However, it wasn't stepping on the stones and as such it was slowly getting overpowered by the current. It quickly lost its balance and ended up getting taken by the current. Sumihiko then made it to the other side and watched the mutant zombie as it was being taken by the current.
"Argggh! Raaagh!"
"Sorry for doing something so disgraceful to stop you! But I can't have you harming my village! Also, I dropped my axe earlier so I couldn't put you out of your misery as a zombie! So again sorry!"
"Arrggrrh! Blood! The Blood Moon rises! The City of Lights! The Four Kings shall have their revenge! The Kamado bloodline will fall!"
"What?!" Sumihiko couldn't believe it, a talking zombie! This mutant zombie was obviously different from others but to actually be able to talk was unbelievable. Though the most shocking part was how it said, Kamado; Kamado being the name of Sumihiko's family.
"Wait, what do you mean the Kamado's will fall? What do you want with my family?!" The mutant zombie didn't respond and was instead taken by the river current and was gone in a matter of seconds. Sumihiko just sighed in defeat; he felt like he stumbled across something important only to lose it. But at least now the mutant zombie wasn't a worry anymore, so Sumihiko just turned around to go home and get the coal to his village. However as soon as he turned around, he saw a zombie screeching and running toward him only seconds from biting his face off. It would have succeeded if an arrow hadn't shot through its head killing it instantly.
"You need to be more careful, Sumihiko." Sumihiko sighed in relief and turned to his left to see his older brother Kanata. Like Sumihiko, Kanata had a large bag and was dressed in a thick leather outfit to both protect from zombie bites and keep him warm during the coming winter.
"Thanks for the save, Kanata!" Sumihiko ran to his brother to hug him, but Kanata instead welcomed him with a strong flick to the forehead.
"You could have killed them yourself, why didn't you use your axe?"
"... I dropped it." Kanata flicked him again on the head, while Sumihiko held his forehead in pain. Kanata looked at his brother with a bored expression.
"You at least got the coal right?"
"Yes, also I'm sorry I needed you to save me."
"... I'm sorry for getting mad, just be more careful next time." Sumihiko nodded and the two of them went back to the village. However, they stopped when they saw a zombie and the zombie saw them back. It started running and roaring towards them but stopped when the sun came out, it started screeching in pain as the sun made its skin burn. Once the burning stopped it started moving again only this time it was slowly limping towards them. Kanata put his bow away and pulled out a dagger, once the zombie was close enough, he stabbed it in the head killing it for good.
"We should avoid leaving the village from here on out, with winter coming there will be more shade for the zombies and less sun for us."
"I don't think that's our only concern."
"What?"
"I'll- I'll explain to everyone once we make it back." Kanata trusted his brother so the two of them continued home, thankfully they were already quite close, so it only took a few minutes. Afterwards the wall was made of logs, held together by crude metal plating. The wall surrounding the village was in sight along with a few zombies along the wall. Sumihiko sighed and picked up a rock, but Kanata stopped him and got his bow out but not before whistling at the zombies. These zombies were unfortunately under a cloud, so they were fast enough to run right towards Kanata after hearing his whistle. Kanata was still getting his bow ready, leaving Sumihiko concerned as they got closer.
The zombies made it halfway before stopping and screeching in pain as they got caught in rays of sunlight. Finally, Kanata was done and started shooting at the zombies while they were painfully weakening under the sunlight. Kanata managed to kill five zombies, but he ended up running out of arrows leaving the sixth one still alive. Once it was done drying up in the sun it started limping toward Kanata but Sumihiko quickly bashed its head with the rock he picked up earlier. Once it was one the ground Sumihiko stomped on its head killing it quickly.
"You should be careful too, Nii-chan!"
"Don't call me that." The two of them then walked to the wall and knocked on it.
"Hey, it's Kanata and Sumihiko! Let down the latter!"
"Don't need to! You Kamado's can get over the wall fine!" Kanata was about to argue but before he could Sumihiko ran to a tree, quickly jumped up using the branches, and jumped toward the top of the wall.
"What the- Hey!" Suddenly the ladder went down, and Kanata quickly climbed up it before more zombies showed up. Once Kanata was on the top of the wall Sumihiko pulled the ladder back up.
"Hey! You kids can't be doing that crap!" Sumihiko and Kanata were quickly confronted by the guard who was wearing crude leather armor with small bits of metal plating and a metal helmet covering his face.
"Sorry for breaking the rules but to be fair you were willing to leave us out there! Also, I need to get this coal distributed to the villagers for winter."
"He's right, you know." A larger guard came in with a badge on his shoulder showing that he was the captain. The captain slapped the guard on the back of the head with disappointment.
"You idiot, the Kamado's are the best hunter gatherers in the village. Even the Agatsuma's can't keep up with them. Also, their kids your numbskull, how could you leave kids out alone with all the zombies out there."
"Ugh... sorry Captain."
"Hmph, alright get down from the wall and get that coal distributed, also you kids didn't happen to collect meat with you, did you?"
"Sorry but-" Kanata then raised his hand in front of Sumihiko, pulled out his own bag, and showed all the collected dead rabbits he found.
"Hm, alright that should be enough for a few weeks at best. Good work kids, get inside now, night's coming." Kanata and Sumihiko bowed to the captain and got off the wall, now they were finally in Kibō Village. As they walked home, they passed by several villagers all of which were dressed up the same as them in leather clothing. They all had to start wearing animal skin leather as it lasted longer than fabric, is more durable, and much easier to clean. Everyone had to start adapting to the end of the world.
It was currently 2023 yet it had been two years since the world ended, or more like the new world of zombies started. A global organization known as the GRE that was supposed to save the world ended up destroying it. They claimed to be the ones to stop the Harran Virus that wiped out an entire city of the same name; instead, all they did was collect the samples and experiment with it. Trying to weaponize it to sell to the highest bidder, unfortunately the Japanese Branch took it a step further. A young scientist discovered a blue spider lily said to have mutagenic and healing properties within it.
Unfortunately, the child prodigy Aoba Hashibira who tried to cultivate the Blue Spider Lily failed to keep the flowers alive and thus the Japanese government entrusted them to the GRE instead, this was the biggest mistake ever made. No one knows which part of the world fell first but with the GRE being a global organization, all their facilities around the world experimenting with the Harran Virus fell, allowing it to spread everywhere. Japan was one of the countries hit the hardest, the Japanese GRE Scientists tried to use the Blue Spider Lily they cultivated to create a cure, but it instead made the virus stronger. It's because of them that zombies are weak only in sunlight but get stronger in the darkness.
Naturally people were furious, but they didn't have time to be mad as the infection spread quickly through Japan. Because the sun weakened the zombies the government foolishly believed that they were easy to deal with and that the JSDF didn't need anything more than rifles and good aim to take them all out. It was only when the sun went down, they were proven wrong and 90% of the JSDF was wiped out as well as a majority of the country. In a single night the entire country almost fell, so the government stopped focusing on pointless extermination and instead started reinforcing their cities by building walls and underground survival shelters. They tried rerouting the power and having the lights replaced with UV lights in order to weaken and even kill the zombies.
Unfortunately, Sumihiko and his family were attacked by zombies before the project could finish. Like most in Japan, the big cities were the ones that were hit the hardest. Large population to feed on, plenty of dark places to hide, and too large for the JSDF to control; it was perfect for the zombies. No one had time to evacuate so they instead had to run and fend for themselves. The Kamado's only barely made it out of their apartment alive all while watching neighbors and random civilians getting slaughtered in the night.
Nobody said it on the radio, TV, or even in person, everyone just somehow knew that the best way to survive now was to head into the woods. That's exactly what Sumihiko and his family did, as well as countless other survivors that managed to get away from the zombies out of sheer luck alone. Slowly but surely, they all managed to find one another and started building small villages while fortifying them with walls large enough to keep zombies out. It was hard living with leather clothing instead of fabric, without technology or internet, and having to constantly hunt for food and gather resources in order to survive but it was the only way to survive so no one complained.
It was still hard to believe that it had only been two years since the world ended, given how fast things fell apart and how few people there are left you'd think it was longer. But that's just life now, nothing can be done so best to just survive and make the best out of that. Sumihiko just went to the resource distributor and gave him the bag of coal.
"Thank you Sumihiko." Kanata then placed his bag on the counter as well, the distributor then looked through and nodded his head at the sight of all the rabbits.
"And you Kanata, here's your cut, a slab of deer meat and a bag of coal. Take care of your family this winter!" Sumihiko and Kanata bowed, took the bags, and headed home. On the way, Kanata was ambushed by Toko who ran up to him from behind and gave him a hug.
"Kanata! You're as handsome as ever! And you provide for everyone like your father! You're really an apocalyptic hero! Like one of those heroes in those lame manga Yoshiteru used to read!"
"Hey! Not lame! It's art! Now its historical art that's waiting to be rediscovered!" Toko groaned in annoyance and let go of Kanata to face Yoshiteru in annoyance.
"And how exactly are you going to find them with all the zombies everywhere?"
"It won't be hard, once I begin my sword training just like our ancestor Zenitsu I'll be able to slay the zombies with ease! Zombies are definingly weaker than demons!"
"Ugh! Demons aren't real you idiot! Also, you haven't even started training with a sword at all!"
"That's because it's hard!" Toko and Yoshiteru continued arguing for a while leaving Sumihiko and Kanata standing there in an awkward silence. Kanata then sighed and walked forward to address Yoshiteru himself.
"Yoshiteru-Kun, if you'd like I could teach you to hunt and fight against zombies." Yoshiteru instantly lost his colors at both the idea of fighting zombies right now and having to train under Kanata of all people. Toko on the other hand smirked at him mockingly.
"Yeah Yoshi-Kun, why don't you let Kanata-Kun train you?"
"Don't call me that! And uh... I just remembered I have to help mom with... something..." Yoshiteru then ran quickly back toward their family hut, leaving Sumihiko confused, Kanata disappointed, and Toko relieved he's finally gone.
"Sorry about that, Yoshiteru complaining has gotten worse since mom put him to work."
"I think that's for the best, anyways it's good to see you too. Toko even in the harsh winter you're still very pretty."
"Aaaahaha! Kanata always knows how to make a girl smile." Sumihiko just smiled at the two, it's the blossoming love between Kanata and Toko that reminded him that all hope wasn't lost. However, as he was thinking this he was quickly reminded of that mutant zombie, how it talked, and how everything it started talking about.
"Um excuse me, sorry for interrupting but we need to get our stuff back to our home."
"Oh! Sumihiko-kun! You're quite handsome today too! Oh, but yeah, sorry to keep you! Please tell your mom and dad I said hi!" Toko bowed and ran off to her family's hut, Sumihiko and Kanata then went to their family hut as well. There they saw their mother was sorting through their food storage.
"Hm? Oh! Where have you two been?"
"Mom, we got our portions for the winter!" Sumihiko and Kanata then placed their bags on the table, their mom was shocked but then sighed. Both brothers were confused but then their mother looked to the right of the room and when they followed her gaze, they saw their dad. There he was, at the makeshift fireplace of their hut already using a fresh set of coal to heat up stew made with chunks of recently collected deer meat. Their dad was stirring the stew for a little while before standing up and facing the brothers with a disappointed look on his face.
"Uh... hi Dad how-" Their dad then slapped the two of them on the head hard.
"Why did you two go out when I already told you that I was going to provide? Did you know how worried your mother and I were when we came back and you two were gone?"
"... Sorry father, we just wanted to help."
"Winter's coming so every little bit helps, that's why we did it."
"... *sigh* I'm sorry I hit you two but please try to rely on your father more. You're still young so it's not wise to do anything so reckless, especially Kanata. Just because you're 18 years old now doesn't mean you should risk your life like that."
"I understand father."
"You too Sumihiko."
"Yes dad, I'm sorry."
"Alright then, the stew should be about done now, let's go ahead and eat."
The family sat around the table at the middle of their hut, each one of them had a small bowl of stew. Since the stew was hot, they were all careful when eating but Sumihiko actually liked it hot and was chowing down right away.
"Sumihiko, remember your manners."
"Sorry mom, but I have to finish quickly to tell you all something important." Sumihiko then picked up the bowl and downed all of the stew instantly.
"Ahhh... Thank you for the stew! Now I have something I need to tell you all."
"Uh, of course Sumihiko what is it?"
"I... I came across a strange zombie today. It was different from the others; it was mutated." Sumihiko's mother and father were shocked to hear this and looked at one another in confusion.
"It also said something about the city of lights. four masters. and that the Kamado bloodline will fall." His mom was even more confused while his dad was shocked to hear that last part.
"Where is this zombie now?"
"It was taken down the current of a river, it's gone now."
"Hm..."
"Father? What's wrong?"
"Hm... I'm not sure, but tomorrow I want you two to go out and hunt that zombie down with me."
"Wha- Dear? You can't be serious!"
"I just want to confirm if it's true, if there's really a zombie that's mutating and can talk then we need to show everyone and convince the chief to either reinforce the walls or have everyone evacuate." Their mother still looked worried, but she calmed down and nodded in agreement. Kanata and Sumihiko looked at each other in concern one last time. Their father noticed this and sighed knowing he was causing the fear in the air around his family.
"Ahem, of course it could all just be a misunderstanding but just in case. Starting tomorrow I have something else I need to show you too, it's regarding the box in my room."
"Huh? But father isn't that box the whole reason you tell us to stay out of your room?"
"Yes, it's a family heirloom that's only to be accessed by those who have become of age. You both still haven't reached that age but you're close enough and I'd say the circumstances also say its time. So, starting tomorrow you will have access to said heirloom."
"But we already know Hinokami Kagura? Isn't that the heirloom of the Kamado Family?"
"Hm, it is an important tradition of our family but with the heirloom it will make it all the more special." Kanata didn't understand but Sumihiko's eyes started sparkling in excitement, he already liked the Hinokami Kagura but to think something their father had could make it more special was truly inspiring for him. Sumihiko couldn't help but stand up at attention toward his parents.
"I understand father! I will sleep well so that I can be rested enough for accepting the family heirloom! Thank you for this opportunity!" Sumihiko bowed and ran to his sleeping bag to start sleeping. His father was about to stop him since it wasn't really nighttime yet, but it was already too late, so he just sighed.
"Well, since winter's coming things are going to get harder as the shade will make the zombies stronger so might as well start sleeping earlier. but first." Their father ate another spoonful of the stew and continued eating. Kanata and his mother continued eating as well so that they could sleep with full stomachs.
That night started off quiet, as such Sumihiko was able to sleep soundly but as time went on, he started hearing sounds of scraping and scratching in his head. Slowly distant screams grew louder and louder and so did the sound of fire and destruction. Sumihiko woke up, then yawned and rubbed his eyes as he thought it was nothing more than a bad dream. However, he started hearing what was clearly human screams. He got up and looked outside the door of the hut to see villagers running around as zombies were chasing after them.
Sumihiko quickly got back into his hut before any zombies could see him and went to go wake up his family. However, as he turned around he saw his parents already there. He was relieved to see they were okay and ran over to hug his mother. His father went to the door and slightly peek outside, only to quickly look away when he saw what was going on outside.
"Dear? What's going on?"
"Go get our food and medicine reserves! Boys go and get some extra clothes, hurry!"
"Dear, please! What's going on I don't under-!"
"Please just go and get your things all of you! We're being attacked by zombies! We have to get out of here now!" Sumihiko's father then ran to his room and started backing, their mother tried to collect herself as she went to gather their belongings. Sumihiko and Kanata looked at each other, both saw the fear in each other's eyes. However, both also knew that standing around and doing nothing was not an option, and they could see that the other was thinking the same thing. The both of them quickly went to their rooms and packed their things, which thankfully wasn't much just sleeping bags, and some extra animal skin leather clothing. Once everyone was ready, they all met back in the middle of the hut.
"Alright before we go, here Kanta." Their dad gave Kanata an extremely old looking box that was just large enough to fit a child in it. Kanata took it and was surprised at how heavy it was. He could hold it well but any normal person would have collapsed instantly.
"Inside this box is our family's heirloom. Passed down for generations in case the demons were to ever return and wreak havoc on the world."
"Demon? Father, what are you talking about?"
"Kanata, we are-" Suddenly something broke through the hut and crashed down in front of them. It wasn't a zombie, for it had the body of a giant black tarantula yet at the ends of its legs were grotesque hands and its head was a mutated human head with dark skin, eight red eyes and disgusting spider pincers at the side of its mouth. It roared at them to which their mother quickly ran over and hugged Kanata and Sumihiko in protection. The father quickly pulled out a strange katana sword that had a red glow to it and started swinging at the mutant.
"What kind of zombie is that?!"
"It's not a zombie, it's a demon!"
"What?!"
"Take them out of here! Go somewhere the demons will never find them! Hurry!" Their mother nodded with tears in her eyes and ran out of the hut while leading Sumihiko and Kanata to follow her. Kanata just followed his mother but with the pain visible on his face, Sumihiko on the other hand looked back one last time to see his father trying to fight off the demon. However, the demon pushed him back and to make matters worse more zombies and demons were surrounding him. There was a demon made of shadows, another with blue ribbons all over its face, and one with crimson colored armor. They all surrounded their father and the last thing Sumihiko saw was his father smiling at him as they ganged up on him. Sumihiko's eyes were now filled with tears, but he kept running alongside his mother and brother out of the village.
Other villagers were trying to leave as well, as such the guards quickly opened the gates to let everyone out. The demons had led all the zombies inside so there were none outside, allowing them all to escape. However, the demons were fast and there were still quite a few of them so they managed to chase down the villagers. Even though the guards were using steel weapons and makeshift guns the demons either regenerated or were completely immune to the damage.
As heartless as it seemed, the best option for everyone was to fend for themselves and their own families. As such Sumihiko, Kanata, and their mother didn't do anything to help anyone that had fallen down, was hurt, or currently being attacked by the demons or zombies. They just kept running until they made it deeper into the forest, they also made sure to keep clear of other survivors. They had to separate as much as possible to prevent the demons from catching multiple prey at once.
Finally, after a good distance they stopped running and collected themselves. Kanata was in silence and so was his mother, Sumihiko was silent for a short while but then he started crying heavily knowing they lost their home and their father in a single night. It was unbearable but it was an undeniable truth. As such, neither Kanata nor their mother said anything to Sumihiko; they both knew he just needed time to grieve. Kanata accepted that death in this world was unavoidable and that to be killed by zombies happens every day; demons should not be an exception.
Instead of grieving, Kanata opened the box his father gave him and looked inside. There were several scrolls each one had a kanji for a different element such as 水 for water, 炎 for flame, 獣 for beast, and 雷 for thunder. Also in the bag were large blocks of gold each one was engraved with the words 鬼殺隊の財産(Property of the Demon Slayer Corps). That would explain why the box was so heavy, Kanata thought, it would also explain why mother and father never worried about expenses before the apocalypse happened. Kanata then sighed; he had no idea how he could use any of this but it was important to his father so it would be important to him too. Kanata then looked at his brother and faintly smiled at the sight that his brother was done grieving and by extent was done crying.
"Okay I think we're safe here!" Kanata, Sumihiko, and their mother had their guards raised as they heard voices. However, they were able to calm down as they saw it was the Agatsuma family. with Toko, Yoshiteru, and both their parents.
"Toko!" Toko looked over at Kanata and instantly became teary eyed at the sight and ran over to him to hug him.
"Kanata-kun!" The two hugged lovingly allowing Sumihiko to smile again as seeing those two together always brought him hope.
"Ah! Kamado-san! You're alive!"
"But wait where's your husband?" Sumihiko's mom had tears coming from her eyes and she shook her head. Both the Agatsuma's looked at one another in shock and looked back at Sumihiko's mom with sadness.
"We're so sorry."
"Don't be, more importantly! Did you give your family heirlooms to Toko and Yoshiteru?"
"Oh! We were just about too! Toko come here and... wait, Yoshiteru, where are your sisters?"
"Wha- wha?"
"Your sisters Yoshiteru! Where are they?!"
"Here." That voice sent shivers down the spines of everyone who heard it, they all looked in the same direction deep in the woods. They couldn't see anything, but they could hear a very large creature slowly walking towards them. Once it finally revealed itself, they were all filled with fear at how large and how strong it looked. It was a demon; it had a tall and muscular body, most of his body was covered in turquoise vein pulsating disgusting skin, the rest had shining steel plating, his two arms were completely covered in shining steel armor, he had giant steel claws, and finally the top of his head was gone and replaced with a metal head coated with layers of steel armor and steel spikes.
Sumihiko looked at the demon's head and quickly realized that he saw that face before, it was the demon he tricked into falling down the river. The demon kept walking forward until it was right in front of them afterwards and stopped to face all of them. However, it started making weird noises as if its mouth was choking on something. Its lower jaw started expanding and disgustingly another fleshy arm grew from its back stretched forward and reached toward its mouth. It then opened its mouth, had the fleshy arm reach in, and took out what looked to be chewed up and saliva covered leather clothing. It threw them to the ground but kept holding onto two pairs of little shoes large enough for two little girls.
Yoshiteru was silent in disbelief, Toko covered her mouth in horror, their father started crying as he clenched his hands in anger, and their mother fell to her knees while screaming in horror. The Demon smiled at the sight of their despair but then looked over to Kanata in his own horror, their mother who glared at the demon in anger, and finally the fear on Sumihiko's face.
"Hm? Oh... Hahahahaha! Remember me boy?" Everyone then turned to Sumihiko in confusion while he started shedding tears out of fear, regret, and anger.
"That's right, maybe if you had killed me during my weakened state your village wouldn't have been destroyed and so many like those two little brats wouldn't have died! Hahahahaha! You humans are fucking pathetic! You're nothing but livestock for the rest of us!" The demon just kept laughing at them while most of them were just frozen in despair or fear. However, Toko's dad pulled out a katana much similar to the one Sumihiko's father had and ran towards the demon.
"Hahaha- huh?" Mr. Agatsuma jumped in the air and landed on the Demon's leg and stabbed his flesh where the armor wasn't covering. The demon screamed in pain and tried to slash him but missed as Mr. Agatsuma proved to be faster. As he handed on the ground, he raised the sword high allowing the demon to see what it was.
"A Nichirin sword? ... Good so the information wasn't wrong. After we kill you there won't be any more TRUE Demon Slayer left." Mr. Agatsuma was confused at first but then he realized what the demon meant and quickly turned back to his kids.
"Toko! Yoshiteru! Get out of here now!"
"What?!"
"Dad?!"
"Just go! You must survive no matter what! Get out of here now!" Mrs. Agatsuma was still crying after hearing her father. She got back up on her feet and ran towards the demon with a large rock in her hands. She jumped up and threw it with all of her anger, forcing the demon back while it roared in pain from the impact.
"Toko! Listen to your father and get out of here!"
"Mom?!"
"Mama!"
"Just go!" Mrs. Agatsuma turned around with her eyes filled with tears and a warm yet pained smile on her face.
"Please just go, we can't lose you too." Toko started crying even harder but quickly put away her sadness, grabbed Yoshiteru, and started running in the opposite direction of the demon. Sumihiko and Kanata were still shocked and didn't move because they didn't want to abandon their mom but then she grabbed them both and hugged them tightly.
"You two, take your father's box and go with them. I'm sorry we can't leave you with any Nichirin Swords, but we need to make sure the demons don't follow you."
"Mother, what are you talking about?"
"Mom just come with us! All of you should come with us! There's no way you can fight that thing!" Their mother just kissed both Sumihiko and Kanata on the forehead and smiled lovingly at them both. She tried to show them a bright and warm smile, but it was quite obvious from the look in her eyes that this would be the last time they ever saw one another.
"Me and your father love you both, we'd hoped this day would never come but your ancestors knew it eventually would. I apologize on their behalf that it had to be you two that would take up the mantle, please forgive us for not preparing you fast enough and please just run and survive until you're ready to take on the demons by yourselves, you are humanity's last hope."
"Mom, I don't understand." Their mother continued to smile as tears fell from her eyes.
"Find the mountain bathed in sunlight, there you will find the material to kill the demons once and for all. Now GO!" Kanata then grabbed Sumihiko and ran after Toko to get away from the demon, Sumihiko still looked back at his mother as he was forced to follow his brother. However, as tears fell out of his eyes, he forced himself to look forward and started following his brother rather than dragging Kanata down. Their mother continued to smile as tears fell from her eyes, she didn't move until her boys were out of sight. Once they were she calmly wiped her tears away, got up, and stood beside the Agatsuma's.
"You raised two fine boys, Kamado-San" Mrs. Kamado looked at Mr. Agatsuma who was holding a Nichirin sword in one hand and another in the other hand though it was positioned in a way as to give it to Mrs. Kamado. She smiled and took it and held it like a seasoned warrior despite her not holding any kind of sword in quite some time.
"You did the same fine work for Toko and Yoshiteru... my condolences for your girls by the way." Mr. Agatsuma looked pained as a single tear fell from his eyes he quickly wiped it away and glared at the Demon with determined anger.
"They'll be avenged. If not by us, then by Toko and Yoshiteru." The two of them then turned to see Mrs. Agatsuma with a tear in her eye yet she was still smiling with determination. She even had two large rocks in both her hands to show she was ready to fight.
"It's a shame we couldn't get those kids any Nichirin swords."
"With most of the population turned to zombies or demons, how are they going to get more?"
"They'll find a way, remember, the Kamados and the Agatsuma's weren't the only survivors of the fight against Muzan Kibutsuji. I'm sure there are other Demon Slayers out there who preserved their family legacies and are waiting for my son to give them the scrolls so that everyone who is willing to learn can fight."
"Hehehe... might not be as easy as you think... since most of them are dead." The three of them got ready for battle as they heard and saw the demon get up and started walking towards them.
"The four lords knew that the Demon Slayers would rise up again, even in the zombie apocalypse. So, they created Demons like me to hunt you down before the real fight even started. The mighty Kamado and Agatsuma family were the only ones left, after your gone and your Nichirin swords are destroyed, there won't be anyone left to stop us from ruling over this world."
"Grrr! Even if we die here our children will stop you!"
"... HAHAHAHAHA! They'll die trying."
"Subete no akuma o horobose!" The three of them then charged at the demon, the demon just grinned in delight and roared in delight like a warrior ready to fight.
Sumihiko heard his mom and the Agatsuma's yelling and the demon roaring during their battle. Then suddenly it was silent and all that was heard was the demon laughing. Sumihiko clenched his fists in frustration as he knew what this meant, but he kept on running with Kanata as there was nothing else he could do. They ran all night and didn't stop until the sun finally came back up. It was even a miracle that it did since winter was so close the clouds were nearly covering every inch of the skies.
What further added onto the miracle was the fact that they were already so tired and needed some rest anyways, the sun being out allowed them to do so. Sumihiko just fell to his knees and breathed heavily even though his lungs felt so sore. He couldn't help it, he was so tired, he just looked at Kanata who was still standing there. Sumihiko couldn't help but admire his brother for still standing so strong despite the hell they just escaped from. However, Sumihiko quickly regretted his thoughts as he saw Kanata shedding tears from his eyes.
Sumihiko finally realized it, his brother was in pain like him, but Kanata was just better at holding it in than he was. Now that they were no longer in danger it was all pouring out, so Sumihiko quickly ran to his brother and hugged him tightly. Kanata noticed this and hugged him back as Kanata howled and cried in agony while Sumihiko shed his tears in silence. After a few minutes Kanata stopped crying, so Sumihiko let him go and they both stood up.
"So... what should we do now?"
"... We can't let our parents die in vain." Sumihiko's heart sank as he heard his own brother say that, but he said nothing as he had evidence to deny their deaths.
"You heard mom, go and find the mountain bathed in sunlight. I don't know where that is but maybe one of the scrolls in our family heirloom box has answers."
"Wait, maybe it's near the city of light."
"what's that?"
"I don't know... but the demons were talking about it, like they hated it or something. Maybe that's why it's called the city of light, because there's a mountain that's bathed in sunlight."
"Sumihiko, even if that was true, do you even know where that is? I really think we should look through the scrolls that father gave us. It's the only thing that can help us now."
"... You're right, sorry."
"It's okay Sumihiko, now help me open the box."
"Kanata you're alive!" Just as Kanata placed the box down, he looked into the forest to see Toko running toward him. She quickly wrapped her arms around him while crying tears of joy, Yoshiteru quickly followed with tears in his eyes out of fear.
"You guys made it too! Did you bring our parents?" Kanata and Sumihiko's hearts sank at Yoshiteru's question, Toko stopped hugging Kanata and remained silent as she already knew the answer.
"I'm... I'm sorry Yoshiteru, your parents... They gave their all to protect all of us." Tears fell from Toko's eyes, she quickly hugged Kanata again and this time he hugged her back to comfort her.
"No... No that... Oh god... This is the end, isn't it?" Sumihiko on the other hand looked at Yoshiteru who was filled with dread.
"We're all going to die, aren't we? It was bad enough with the zombies but now demons too? No... No, no, no! We're going to die! We're all going to die! We're all going to die!" Sumihiko quickly ran up to Yoshiteru and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Yoshiteru stop! We have to keep going!"
"What's the point?! We're going to die! Our parents died and we're next! We can't fight the demons! We're all going to get eaten by them! There is no hope! We're all going to-" Toko then showed up and kicked Yoshiteru on the back of his head, knocking him out quickly. Sumihiko then looked up from the knocked out Yoshiteru, to see Toko who was angry but still had tears in her eyes.
"Sorry, but we can't afford to start falling apart and panicking right now." Toko then wiped away her tears. Kanata then walked toward the two to join in on the conversation.
"Thank you Toko. Sumihiko, pick up Yoshiteru. I'll get the box we need to keep moving, we're not safe here." Sumihiko nodded and put Yoshiteru on his back. Kanata then picked back up their family heirloom box.
"But where else should we go?"
"I heard there's a forest toward the east of us that has wisteria trees. Apparently, the smell of Wisteria weakens zombies."
"Well yeah, but doesn't it also aggravate them and make them try to kill the trees? It's because of that, that there are barely any wisteria trees left."
"It's our best shot to survive a night without walls." Toko still felt skeptical about this, but she couldn't deny it was their best shot even if it was a little one. So, she remained silent as she followed the boys to their destination.
"Oh? So, you're going to the wisteria trees? Then it's a good thing I found you!" The three of them froze in fear as they slowly looked back to see the Steel demon standing there smiling at them. It was the steel demon, and it was smiling at all of them with joy.
"Hahaha! Your parent's made great meals but now I'm ready for dessert!" Sumihiko dropped Yoshiteru forcing him to wake up.
"Ow! Sumihiko? What is wrong with you! Why did you-?" Yoshiteru then turned around and saw the steel demon and quickly started screaming in a high-pitched voice. The scream hurt Sumihiko's, Kanata's, and Toko's ears, it even hurt the demon's ears. Kanata covered his ears in pain but was still able to notice that the demon was disoriented and quickly grabbed Toko and Sumihiko's hands.
"Yoshiteru come on!"
"AAAAH! Huh? Oh! Wait for me!" The four of them ran to the east toward the forest Kanata mentioned earlier. It would be quite a while before they reached it, but it was their only hope for survival right now. The demon's head was pounding so badly that it took seemingly an eternity for him to recover. Once he finally did the kids were nowhere to be found so he roared in anger but quickly followed their scent.
As the Demon roared the four of them could tell he was getting closer, but they couldn't do anything else but keep running and hope they would find the forest eventually. None of them knew how much longer it would take for them to find the forest, but they still kept running along regardless. Eventually they came across a long cliff and started running along it, though they managed to relax since they couldn't hear the demon anymore. However, the Demon unfortunately caught up with them and grew a metal tail to slash at the ground causing them to fall off of the cliff.
Thankfully the fall wasn't long so none of them were hurt badly, but before any of them could get up the Steel Demon jumped down to their level. He was right in front of them leaving them no way to get away from him. They were surrounded but then the demon noticed that in front of him was the box, it had fallen off of Kanata's back. The Steel demon looked down on the box, used his claws to open it and saw all the scrolls inside. He smiled when he saw the Kanji written on some of the scrolls.
"Perfect, then after I kill you all the Demon Slayers really will be finished!" Kanata quickly ran to the box to take it away from the demon. However, the Steel Demon proved to be faster as he raised his steel claw only seconds from slashing Kanata. Kanata looked up in horror but managed to throw the box back to Sumihiko who was currently trying to run toward Kanata to save him. Kanata smiled warmly at his brother knowing his death was inevitable, Sumihiko was hit in the stomach by the box, but tears filled his eyes as he was more focused on the fact that he was looking at his brother for the last time.
"Get away from them!" However, before the demon could slash Kanata, a girl in thick winter clothing jumped from the cliff and was quickly descending toward the demon. The girl pulled out a Nichirin sword and slashed the Steel Demon's arm, making his roar in pain. She then jumped off of him and faced him with a smile of determination on her face. As the Steel Demon started stumbling due to the pain, the girl looked back at Sumihiko, Kanata, Toko, and Yoshiteru.
"You guys, okay?" They were all shocked by the sight of the girl. First off, she was clearly blind with her gray eyes, she had a sword similar to the one's her parents had, and finally she was very beautiful.
"Ta- Ta- TAMAYO?!" The girl then looked at Yoshiteru in confusion.
"Who?"
"Ta- Ta- Tamayo! The beautiful girl that the artist Yamamoto Yushirou always draws! Your Tamayo!"
"... I have no idea who you're talking about."
"H- Hey! Watch out!" The girl tilted her head in confusion, but she could hear that the Demon was behind her ready to strike her down. However, she wasn't afraid, instead she smirked as she sucked in a lot of air and raised her sword to fight.
"Ice Breathing! Second Form!" The girl then got into a stand and strained her muscles to build up as much pressure as possible.
"Ice Shield!" She then raised her sword and made a strike at all of the individual claws of the Steel Demon, blocking each and every one of them from attacking her. The Demon roared in pain as he was forced to back off; Sumihiko, Kanata, Toko, and Yoshiteru were completely shocked at the sight. This was the Demon that slaughtered their village and yet this girl was fending it off all on their own.
"That... that was incredible."
"They way she moved her sword, it was like-"
"She created a shield of pure ice; one so strong that demons couldn't break it."
"... I'm going to marry her." Toko glared at Yoshiteru and slapped him on the back of the head. Meanwhile the Demon was still in pain as he looked at his claw in confusion. Augh! What is this? He thought to himself, my hand! It's like, it's frozen with ice! Who the hell is this bitch?! The Steel Demon roared in anger as it slashed its other arm towards the girl, but she quickly jumped up to dodge the strike. She then ran up his arm and slashed the sword once again, this time aiming for his neck. However suddenly a large lump of steel appeared in front of her blade causing her to feel the recoil of the slash. Her muscles now ached and worst of all several steel tendrils surrounded her to kill her. However, she still wasn't scared as she sucked in more air to attack.
"Ice Breathing! Sixth Form! Blizzard!" Suddenly she started spinning horizontally at a crazy fast speed causing all the steel tendrils to be chopped up into pieces. After the tendrils were gone, she quickly stopped herself and faced the now thick steel neck of the Steel Demon.
"Wha? How did you-?!"
"Ice Breathing! Seventh Form! Steel Cracking Frost!" Suddenly she slashed six times in with all of them aiming towards the neck of the Steel Demon. Doing so broke through the thick steel armor and left the Steel Demon screaming in pain. It then started walking around and thrashing around trying to get her off of him. However, the Steel Demon realized that his bones and muscles were getting harder to move and that moving felt painful. It was like his body was slowly getting consumed by ice, he was a demon immune to the cold yet right now this girl was freezing him to death. Worst of all, even though he reinforced his neck with steel, she managed to make an opening to get to his neck.
"Ice Breathing! Third Form!" I'm going to die... I'M GOING TO DIE! I'M GOING TO DIE! I'M GOING TO DIE! I'M GOING TO DIE! The demon kept screaming in his head to the point that his body was able to ignore the pain out of pure fear. He quickly moved his frostbite muscles to run away deeper into the forest and get far away from the girl. She ended up falling off of him, but she wasn't hurt as she landed gently on the ground. Instead, she just stood there as the Steel Demon ran away in fear, glaring at the demon in disappointment.
"Man, I really wanted to kill that demon, would have been a good start for me as a demon slayer. Oh, but since he's gone, I should probably check up on those other kids." The girl then walked over to them to introduce herself.
"Is everybody okay?" They all had scrapes and bruises but none of them could speak as they were still awe-struck by the girl. However, Yoshiteru quickly ran up to her and started hugging her by the waist leaving her extremely confused.
"Ah! Wha- What are you?!"
"Please marry me!"
"What?!"
"Marry me please! If you do, I'll always be safe! So please marry me! I'm begging you!"
"Get off of her!" Toko then kicked Yoshiteru on the back of the neck knocking him out, now that the girl was free she smiled at Toko.
"That was a nice kick."
"Thank you! All the women in our family have strong legs... wait how did you know I-"
"So, who are you guys? By my count there's four of you? You two right here and you two over there?" Sumihiko, Kanata, and Toko were surprised this girl was clearly blind, yet she managed to accurately count how many of them there were and where exactly they were at the moment.
"Um, excuse me!"
"Yeah?"
"How many fingers am I holding?" Sumihiko then raised his hand and had four fingers raised. Toko looked at him confused while Kanata looked at him in disappointment, they both knew there was no way a blind person could answer-
"Uh... Four! You're holding four fingers." Sumihiko was genuinely shocked, but Toko's and Kanata's jaws dropped in shock. Toko and Kanata always considered themselves logical people who followed reason and realistic expectations, so for a blind person to be able to count the people around them and also see how many fingers someone is holding was unbelievable to both of them. In fact, it should be unbelievable to any sane person, and yet it happened right in front of them.
"That's amazing! To be able to... Oh... wait I'm so sorry, you're not actually blind, are you? I'm sorry I just assumed that since your eyes were gray-"
"What? No, I actually am blind." All three of them were silent with confusion.
"Eh?"
"Yeah, I actually am blind. I mean, you guys can see my eyes are gray and dead right?"
"Wha...? But... Then how are you able to see us?"
"Well, I can't actually see you at all, I can just hear your voices and see your souls."
"Our... our souls? You can see our souls?"
"Yeah, I've been able to since I was little. You see, a demon sliced my eyes when I was just a baby and I guess he cursed me with the ability to see nothing but the souls of others."
"What?"
"How old are you?"
"About 15 I think?"
"But that's impossible? The zombies only showed up two years ago and these demons... they only recently started showing up. They must be some kind of mutation of the Harran Virus."
"Mm... No. Demons have been around for quite a long time. They only just recently started raising back up their activity because the Harran Virus made them stronger."
"I don't understand."
"Hm well then allow me to elaborate!" The girl then smiled proudly at all of them as she stabbed her sword on the ground.
"My name is Akane Anzai, and I'm the Ice Breathing Demon Slayer! My family has been Demon Slayers for centuries and now that the Demons have returned the world will fall to darkness once again! But thanks to my parents teaching me everything before they died, I have what it takes to take down the demons and accomplish my mission!"
"Mission?"
"Haha! I'm going to the city of Lights! There I'm going to revive the Demon Slayer Corps and kill off all the Demons and Zombies! So that leaves only one question for you four!" Akane then raised her Nichirin sword and pointed it at the four of them.
"Wanna be Demon Slayers with me and save the world?" Sumihiko's eyes lit up, he couldn't help but raise his fist with excitement. Akane knew about the city of lights and was going there, which proved that Sumihiko was right in thinking they should go there. Kanata smiled for the first time in a while as this girl, though strange, seemed to have the spark of hope that they all needed after their heavy loss of friends, family, and their home. Toko was happy that hope was returning to their small group, but she was also glad that it was another girl who was the source, she hadn't seen a girl close to her age in a while and it was refreshing to meet one. However, the moment was ruined when Yoshiteru woke up and started screaming.
"AAAAAH! SHE CAN SEE SOULS! SHE'S A WITCH! AAAAAH! WE REALLY ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!"
"... does he scream like that often?" Toko just sighed as she glared at her brother in disappointment.
"Unfortunately, yes."
In a dark room within an unknown location, there was a table and four chairs. Each of the chairs there was a person sitting in them but none of them could really be seen as the room was too dark. But they could all see each other, Then the Spider Demon that destroyed the village form earlier showed up and dropped three broken Nichirin swords on the floor. One of the people sitting raised their hand and the Spider Demon walked up to it only to get absorbed by her hand quickly.
"Hm... kekekekekeke. The Kamado and Agatsuma elders are dead. Included two young Agatsuma daughters. All that are left are the two Kamado sons and the Agatsuma daughter and son. Your Steel Demon should be just about done with them by now, Kinzoku."
"Don't let your guard down Nayamasa, even with the Kamado and Agatsuma blood lines wiped out there's still the son of the Hashibira bloodline we have yet to find."
"Not to mention all of those Demon Slayer wannabe's form the City of Light. They may not know a damn thing but that doesn't make them any less annoying."
"Hahaha... Man, even calling them annoying sounds too nice. I used to be so scared of the Demon Slayers back in the Taishō Period. Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Suddenly the four of them remained silent as they heard another Demon enter the room. It was the Steel Demon, and it was heavily injured, the four of them were shocked at the sight but didn't move. Kinzoku just extended his hand. The Steel Demon struggled to go forward and get absorbed by it. Once the Steel Demon was finally absorbed Kinzoku gritted his inhumanly sharp teeth in anger.
"The Kamado and Agatsuma children are alive, they were saved by a female Demon Slayer... Who knows Breathing Techniques." Now the other three were genuinely shocked.
"What?!"
"Who is she?!"
"Don't know, she wasn't related to anyone we're aware of. Be she was definingly taught by a descendant of a Demon Slayer or perhaps she was one."
"Fuck..."
"Unfortunately, there's more. Not only does she have a Nichirin sword, but the Kamado's have a box filled with scrolls on Demon Slayer teachings. These teachings include making poison for Demons, how to forge Nichirin Swords, different breathing styles, and so much more."
"NO!" One of the four then slammed his fists on the table in anger.
"Calm yourself Kurayami! We're not done yet...! Fine, they wanna fight, we'll fight, we'll raise an Army so large and so powerful they will never be able to stop us. And even if they do by some miracles find a way to cut through hundreds of demons it won't matter. Because very soon we'll have everything we need to be completely immune to Nichirin Swords... and soon, even the sun won't be able to burn us."
"Yes... For over a hundred years we have hidden and survived but now that we have grown so much stronger! Even IF the Demon Slayer's return, we have nothing left to fear! Kinzoku, the Demon King of Metal! Nayamasa, the Demon Queen of Plague! Kurayami, The Demon King of Darkness! And me, Arashi, the Demon Queen of Storms! We will accomplish what that fool Muzan Kibutsuji never could! We will conquer this world and become Gods!"