Chapter 36: The Despair of the Demon

Leaving Asakusa in Tokyo, Zero returned to his assigned territory to continue patrol.

But he found his territory in perfect peace—not a single demon in sight!

Even after scanning every hidden corner with his [Analytical Glasses], he found nothing. This left Zero puzzled: “Strange? Not a single demon? Did they all flee to other territories?”

After thinking it over, he still couldn’t figure it out, so he gave up and decided to patrol once more. If he still found nothing, he’d return directly to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.

Just as he was about to leave, he spotted a demon sprinting through the nearby forest, as if something were chasing it from behind.

“Finally, a demon!”

Seeing the demon, Zero felt as if he’d reunited with a long-lost friend and charged forward with his scythe.

“Stop!” Zero appeared before the demon in the blink of an eye.

The demon halted, and upon seeing the demon slayer, was instantly filled with despair: “Death… Death God!”

Just as Zero raised his scythe to end the demon’s life, another voice came from behind the demon: “Hold it, old man! This demon pest is my prey!!”

Seeing the newcomer behind the demon, Zero understood why the demon had been running—it was another Pillar, wielding a Nichirin Blade, hunting it down.

Zero: “Jyubei!?”

The newcomer was none other than the Wind Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps—Jyubei Shinobu!

Zero: “Why are you hunting demons in my territory?”

Jyubei Shinobu: “Tch, you bastard—you wiped out all the demons in my territory! I didn’t even know what to do next! This demon pest is mine—I’m the only one who gets to kill it!”

Zero: “But this is my territory. If a demon appears here, I’m the one who handles it.”

Jyubei Shinobu: “Didn’t you wipe out all the demons in my territory already?! And what about the ones in other Pillars’ territories?! You killed them all too, didn’t you?!”

Zero: “Like you haven’t done the same!”

Jyubei Shinobu: “...”

It turned out that after Zero wiped out all demons in his own territory, he got bored and went to other Pillars’ territories, clearing every demon he encountered.

This ignited Jyubei Shinobu’s competitive spirit—he copied Zero’s method and began hunting demons in other Pillars’ territories too.

The other Pillars were left speechless: every time they responded to reports of demon attacks, they arrived only to find Zero cleaning up the scene.

Sometimes, they even saw the demon’s ashes still drifting in the wind…

They’d never seen two people so obsessed with competition.

Zero was understandable—he had his own methods, and at least half of the Demon Slayer Corps’ intelligence and battle strategies came from him, drastically reducing casualties.

He was also the examiner at Mount Fuji’s Tōshōzan, injecting fresh blood into the Corps with every examination.

But no one expected Jyubei Shinobu to be the same—leaving the other Pillars wondering if they’d become redundant…

Zero and Jyubei Shinobu stared at each other across the distance, the demon caught helplessly between them, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

Bad luck—he’d run into a Death God, and now another Demon Slayer? Judging by this, the one chasing him was probably a Pillar too…

After a moment of silence, Zero spoke first: “Then let’s change the rules, how about that?”

“Go on.”

“We both fight unarmed. Whoever kills this demon first wins.”

Jyubei Shinobu thought for a moment, then replied: “Fine! Even without my Nichirin Blade, I can kill this demon pest!”

Jyubei Shinobu plunged his Nichirin Blade into the ground, holding only the scabbard—he clearly intended to torture the demon with it.

Zero planted the handle of his Nichirin Scythe into the earth and pulled a large gold brick from his Nano Space, engraved with the character “De”.

This gold brick had been given to Zero months ago by a wealthy man he’d saved from a demon—the “De” character was the name of the man’s trading house.

Jyubei Shinobu: “...?!”

He glanced at his own scabbard, then at Zero’s massive gold brick—were they both this extravagant when killing demons!?

The demon: o Shang 0

Zero held the gold brick; Jyubei Shinobu held the scabbard. They slowly approached the demon from opposite sides.

Seeing this, the demon trembled violently, his legs giving out. He collapsed onto the ground, unable to bear it any longer, and screamed: “Lord Yamaoka!!”

Pfft! Pfft!

Two grotesque, monstrous arms burst from the demon’s belly and mouth—one gripped his head, the other crushed his torso—then with a loud *pop*, they exploded into ash, dissolving into the air.

Zero / Jyubei Shinobu: …………

It happened too suddenly—neither expected the demon’s mental fortitude to be this fragile…

“Tch, Zero, I won’t lose to you!” Jyubei Shinobu yanked his Nichirin Blade from the ground, sheathed it, and headed off to hunt demons in other Pillars’ territories.

Zero was left standing there, expressionless.

“This demon really disgraced Yamaoka…” Zero thought.

He tossed the gold brick back into his [Nano Space], picked up his scythe, and resumed patrol.

…………

In the blink of an eye, two more months passed.

One day, Zero followed his usual straight-line patrol route and arrived at a location far beyond his assigned territory.

He didn’t know how he’d ended up here, but since he was already here, he decided to wander around—maybe he’d find something unexpected.

This was a remote village, sparsely populated with scattered households.

After walking a distance, he came upon a ruined site. The broken roof still bore a tattered sign, faintly legible: “Sword Dojo.”

Standing at the entrance, he smelled a musty odor inside, mixed with a faint, acrid stench.

It had once been a martial arts dojo specializing in swordsmanship, but something had clearly caused its ruin.

He paused briefly, then continued forward.

But soon after, he encountered another ruin—this one even larger than the previous Sword Dojo.

A broken sign blocked the entrance. Zero blew away the dust, revealing two characters: “Suli.”

“So this was another dojo… What happened? Why did both dojos end up like this?”

And earlier, at the Sword Dojo, he’d caught a faint stench—likely diluted by time, but still detectable.

“Suli… Hmm… Let’s see.”

[Search “Suli”]

[Searching… Search successful]

[Suli: A hand-to-hand martial art, divided into: Suli. Hand Form, Suli. Foot Form]

“Hmm…” Zero stared at the [Analytical Glasses]’ description, lost in thought. He felt something was missing—but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t pinpoint what.

“Forget it. I’ll keep walking.”

After walking further, he reached a dense forest path. In a nearby open clearing stood several raised mounds.

“What’s this?” Curious, Zero approached—and found three small graves.

Decades of weathering had left them crumbling, overgrown with moss and weeds.

Zero knelt, cleared away the weeds and moss, revealing the inscriptions on the graves.

“Tomb of My Beloved Wife, Rensnow.”

“Tomb of My Master, Keizō.”

“Tomb of My Father, Yozō.”

Crouching, Zero studied the names—and noticed a small line beneath each: “Komaichi erected this tomb.”

“Komaichi… There’s a story here.”

Moreover, beneath “Rensnow’s Tomb,” he spotted a carved pattern. Running his fingers over it, he felt it resembled a twelve-pointed snowflake—what did it mean?

As Zero pondered, a woodcutter emerged from the forest, carrying his load, ready to descend the mountain.

The woodcutter spotted a girl in a hooded cloak and shouted: “Hey, little girl! What are you doing here? Leave quickly!”

Zero turned, looked around—no one else was nearby. Was he talking to him?

He pointed at himself and asked: “Are you talking to me? I’m male.”

The woodcutter realized his mistake—but Zero’s appearance, without close inspection, truly resembled a girl.

“Oh, sorry—I thought you were a girl. But this place is dangerous at night. Leave before dark.”

Zero wasn’t offended—he knew the woodcutter had only mistaken him, and meant well.

But one detail stuck: the woodcutter said this place was dangerous at night.

If it was dangerous, there had to be a reason—like demons?

Zero decided to find out more from the woodcutter.

He walked up to the man and said: “Uncle, I’m a traveler, new here. I wandered in by accident.”

The woodcutter, seeing Zero’s attire and unusual aura, didn’t doubt him: “Ah, I see. I’ll guide you down the mountain.”

“Thank you, Uncle.”

Under the woodcutter’s guidance, Zero left the forest path. As they passed the ruined Suli Dojo again, Zero feigned curiosity: “Uncle, what was this dojo for? Why is it like this?”

At this, the woodcutter sighed. “There’s a legend about this place.”

“What legend?”

“I only heard fragments. It goes back over two hundred years. Back then, there were two dojos here—one you see now, and the other, the Sword Dojo up ahead…”

The woodcutter began recounting the legend.

Long ago, this area was prosperous. Two dojos stood out: the Sword Dojo, with many disciples.

The other was the Suli Dojo—but it had almost no students, only its master and his daughter living there.

One day, the Suli Dojo’s master encountered a boy with extraordinary talent and took him as a disciple, teaching him everything he knew.

But the Sword Dojo, despite having far more students, occupied a smaller space, while the Suli Dojo—only three people including the master, his daughter, and the apprentice—occupied a space several times larger, fueling the Sword Dojo’s envy.

Lately, they have been constantly causing trouble for the Suli Dojo.

But each time, the dojo’s master had taken in a single disciple who defeated them all alone.

Years later, the boy grew into a strong young man, and the Suli Dojo’s master betrothed his daughter to his only disciple, hoping he would inherit the dojo with him.

After that, the two confirmed their relationship and decided to marry.

One day, after paying respects to his father and returning home, the young man discovered his master and his beloved were dead!

The cause of death was poisoning—someone had poisoned the well at the Suli Dojo.

After investigating, the young man learned the truth: the one who poisoned the well was none other than the Suli Dojo’s rival—the Ken Dojo.

The reason? The Ken Dojo had long coveted and resented the Suli Dojo, which possessed vast land despite having only one disciple, but could not defeat the Suli Dojo’s master or his disciple, so they cowardly poisoned the well.

Upon learning the truth, the young man’s will shattered; consumed by rage, he went to the Ken Dojo and began slaughtering everyone.

The young man, unarmed, killed all 67 people in the Ken Dojo—including its students—leaving only one maid alive.

But the maid, having witnessed that scene, went mad.

After that, the young man vanished without a trace.

“That’s the legend,” the woodcutter sighed. “But now, few probably believe it anymore—after all, to them, legends are just legends. Sigh…”

Even so, Zero recorded every detail, planning to analyze it carefully after returning to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.

“We’re here—this is the exit. Follow this road straight ahead, and you’ll leave the town.” The woodcutter brought Zero to the town’s exit and pointed down the path.

“Thank you, sir. I really appreciate your help.”

“No trouble at all, but be careful traveling alone at night.”

“Understood. I will.”

After waving goodbye to the woodcutter, Zero walked a distance, took out his motorcycle; at this rate, it would take several days to return to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.

Still, the information gathered today was decent. Deep down, Zero felt the young man from the legend hadn’t vanished—he had… become a demon!

The exact details? He’d have to wait until he returned to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters to analyze them properly.

…………

(1603 Edo period—early, 1912 Taishō period—early, over two hundred years ago, roughly between the middle and late Edo period—I’m not entirely sure.)