Chapter 50: Data Collection — Ikki Sō

Record some key information about [Upper Moon One], then begin reviewing the data on other Upper Moon demons.

“Now, let me see what information [Upper Moon Three] has.”

【Searching… Search successful】

【Name: Ikki Sō — Demon of Combat】

【Human Name: Kōji】

【Rank: Upper Moon Three of the Twelve Moons】

【Superior: Muzan Kibutsuji】

【Father: Nozō (deceased)】

【Fiancée: Rensetsu (deceased)】

【Master: Keizō (deceased)】

【Disliked Demon: Dōma】

【Age: 200 years】

【Abilities: Combat Qi, Breaking Boundaries (not yet achieved)】

【Blood Demon Art: Destruction Kill. Luo Zhen】

【Destruction Kill. Luo Zhen: The core of the Blood Demon Art, senses an opponent’s Combat Qi like a compass, making the user’s attacks and evasions as precise as if pulled by a magnet.】

【The stronger the opponent’s Combat Qi, the stronger the Luo Zhen’s reaction, resulting in higher intensity and accuracy.】

【Techniques: Destruction Kill. Chaos Form, Destruction Kill. Void Form, Destruction Kill. Foot Form. Flowing Flash of a Thousand Lights, Destruction Kill. Foot Form. Crown Cut, Destruction Kill. Foot Form. Flying Star Thousand Wheels, Destruction Kill. Shatter Form. Ten Thousand Leaves Fluttering Willow, Destruction Kill. Annihilation Form, Destruction Kill. Demon Core Eightfold Core, Destruction Kill. Final Form. Azure-Silver Chaotic Afterglow】

【Personal Information: …】

“Huh?! What’s this?” Zero saw the information on [Upper Moon Three], especially the human name, and felt a strange sense of familiarity—as if he had seen it before.

Including the names of the three people connected to him…

After much thought, he finally remembered where he had seen them.

“Those three small graves!”

Yes, Zero recalled wandering into a remote village where he had seen three small graves, each bearing the names of these three people—and the one who erected them was Kōji!

“That explains it!”

Originally, when Zero heard the woodcutter’s tale, he deduced that the missing youth had become a demon.

Yet… it was truly so!

He quickly flipped open his notebook to the page on the Twelve Moons.

Looking at the six lines beneath, he wrote “Kōji” below [Upper Moon Three], paused, then added “Ikki Sō” beside it.

As he wrote, Zero remembered another detail: during his battle with the Upper Moon demons in the Infinite Castle, Ikki Sō had summoned a twelve-pointed snowflake beneath his feet when activating his technique.

He had seen that same twelve-pointed snowflake pattern at the grave named [Rensetsu].

Thus, Zero deduced: Ikki Sō likely still clung to some lingering attachment.

His master Keizō, and the Su Liu Hall—perhaps Ikki Sō’s Blood Demon Art was composed of every technique his master taught him in life.

The opening forms, foot techniques…

As for the twelve-pointed snowflake, it was likely something his fiancée loved… perhaps.

“Heh, I’m foolish. Rather than guessing here, I should just check the data.”

“Again… my old habit.”

With that, he resumed reading the personal information displayed on the projection screen.

【Personal Information: During his youth, Kōji lost his relatives one by one, leaving only his father as his last kin.】

【But his father was gravely ill, forcing Kōji to find every possible way to buy medicine for him.】

【At the time, medicine was far beyond the means of a child from a poor family. To save his father’s life, Kōji resorted to theft to obtain money for medicine.】

【Driven by the instinct of a poor child, Kōji believed that if he remained weak, he would inevitably face retaliation from his victims and pursuit by the magistrates.】

【Thus, while stealing, Kōji relentlessly trained himself. During this time, he was caught multiple times by the magistrates for theft, but due to his youth, he was always released after punishment.】

【After years of this, Kōji endured a punishment of one hundred heavy blows—a beating that would knock even a strong adult unconscious.】

【Because he had trained since childhood to grow stronger, his body was tougher than an ordinary person’s, so even after such brutal punishment, he remained conscious.】

【Though Kōji had grown numb to such punishments, he never expected that upon returning home, he would learn from a neighbor’s grandfather that his father had hanged himself.】

【His father had been heartbroken by his son’s repeated crimes and believed his own illness was dragging Kōji down; to give his son a chance to become a good man again, he chose this end.】

【Soon after, Kōji was banished from Edo by the magistrates. Alone, he wandered the land as an outcast.】

【Recalling how hard he had fought to save his father—even at the cost of his soul—he realized his father had still died in such misery.】

【Kōji finally understood: it was this cruel world—where the rich could do as they pleased and the poor weren’t even allowed to live—that had driven his father to death.】

【To vent his grief over his father’s death and his hatred for the world, he brutally beat seven adults who had provoked him.】

【But at that moment, Kōji met the man who would become his savior—Keizō.】

【During Kōji’s fight with the adults, Keizō immediately recognized his martial talent.】

【Unwilling to let him sink further into ruin, Keizō demonstrated his strength, easily defeating Kōji, then took him back to his Su Liu Dojo.】

【Upon arriving, Kōji discovered the dojo had no other students besides himself.】

【Keizō smiled bitterly, explaining that due to his own lack of ability, he had made his wife and daughter suffer greatly; his wife had even drowned herself not long ago.】

【He also admitted that because he had to work to sustain the dojo and his livelihood, he had no time to care for his sick daughter, and thus asked Kōji to look after Rensetsu.】

【But Kōji, still seeing himself as a criminal, felt unworthy of such a task.】

【When he asked Keizō if he truly trusted a criminal like him with his daughter alone in the house, his master replied: “I’ve already destroyed the criminal. There’s no problem.”】

【After meeting Rensetsu, Kōji saw how her illness mirrored his father’s fate; determined not to let tragedy repeat itself, he chose to stay at the dojo and care for her.】

【During this time, Kōji’s gentle nature emerged while caring for Rensetsu, and she gradually fell in love with him through daily closeness.】

【But Kōji, convinced he was a criminal and never imagining anyone could love him, never noticed Rensetsu’s feelings…】

Seeing this, Zero felt a faint tremor in his heart—he felt he had encountered something like this before.

But he couldn’t recall where.

A fragile figure surfaced in his mind—faint, yet familiar…

“What… when did this memory occur? Why can’t I remember? How much have I lost?”

“Who were my parents? What happened to me as a child? Why do my memories feel sealed away?”

A flood of questions surged in his mind—sudden, searing pain struck!

His head felt like it would burst—as if something was about to shatter through the barrier!

He shook his head violently, forcing out the strange, familiar images, and forced himself to calm down—until the pain faded.

“Forget it. I won’t dwell on this. One day, I’ll recover these memories myself. Let’s keep reading…”

Huh…

He took a deep breath, his gaze returning to the projection screen.

【As time passed, Kōji grew into an eighteen-year-old youth.】

【Because nearby sword schools constantly harassed the dojo, no other students had joined in years besides Kōji.】

【Yet, through daily life with Rensetsu and his master, Kōji gradually returned to the person he once was—someone who fought solely to protect others.】

【One day, his master suddenly called Kōji to his bedroom and asked if he wished to inherit the dojo.】

【Kōji was confused at first, but Keizō then directly asked if he would marry Rensetsu, who had loved him all along.】

【Kōji, hearing for the first time that someone loved him, was stunned.】

【Then he remembered his father’s dying wish—that he become a good man again—and began to wonder if even a criminal like him could live a normal life.】

【Finally, Kōji accepted his master’s request, vowing: even at the cost of his life, he would protect Rensetsu and Keizō.】

【Shortly after they became a couple, Kōji and Rensetsu attended a fireworks festival. Rensetsu, frail since childhood, had never seen fireworks before.】

【Beneath the sky full of fireworks, Rensetsu confessed her heart: before meeting Kōji, she never imagined she’d live to see fireworks; Kōji had always encouraged her to keep living, as if he could see her future.】

【Rensetsu asked Kōji if he would marry her.】

【Kōji immediately declared without hesitation: he would become stronger than anyone else, and protect her for all his life…】

【A few days later, to inform his deceased father of his upcoming marriage, Kōji returned to Edo before the wedding to visit his father’s grave.】

【But as he returned to the dojo, a sense of dread suddenly gripped him.】

【Sure enough, upon arriving, neighbors told him the news: his master and fiancée were dead.】

【Overcome with grief and confusion, Kōji investigated—and uncovered the truth.】

【The nearby sword schools, envious of the Su Liu Dojo’s vast land despite having only one student, had been unable to defeat Keizō and Kōji, so they poisoned the dojo’s well.】

【Again, Kōji failed to protect those he cherished—his will shattered completely.】

【In the end, having lost everything, he wandered aimlessly, then attacked the sword school alone, killing sixty-seven men with his bare hands.】

【Now with nothing left to protect, Kōji lost his way. As he wandered nearby, he encountered that man—Muzan Kibutsuji.】

【Muzan had come to investigate rumors of demons appearing where none should exist, but he happened upon Kōji.】

【At first, Muzan was bored—finding the source of the demon rumors was merely a human.】

【But Kōji’s strength, far beyond ordinary humans, rekindled Muzan’s interest.】

【To create a powerful demon, Muzan easily defeated Kōji, then forcibly turned him into a demon.】

【Eventually, Kōji lost all his memories, leaving only the obsession to grow stronger. Later, he became Upper Moon Three, and renamed himself Ikki Sō.】

Click. Click.

The information ended. Zero clenched his fists, knuckles cracking.

He hadn’t expected his guess—though off-target—had somehow hit the truth.

But he never imagined that Kibutsuji Muzan was involved in the end of this matter.

But what he never expected was that the [Sword Dojo] would resort to such despicable tactics...

Heh...

No wonder he had smelled that extremely faint, almost imperceptible scent of blood coming from the [Sword Dojo] back then!

Although centuries had passed, Zero, having experienced thousands of battles, was highly sensitive to the smell of blood.

Combined with the information he now saw, Zero could only say the Sword Dojo had brought its own destruction upon itself!

Just like Kibutsuji Muzan envied his younger brother!

Yet Zero also noticed the phrase “[Boundary Breakthrough (Pending)]” mentioned in the information, and fell into thought...

"This so-called Boundary Breakthrough must be like Kibutsuji Muzan—overcoming decapitation. It’s just that they haven’t found the opportunity yet, hence the 'Pending' note."

“Since Akaza is the Fighting Demon, his opportunity must be tied to battle! I must be extremely cautious when fighting him in the future!”

Then, he selected some of the more important information about Upper Moon Three, recorded it on white paper, and marked the characteristics of Akaza’s Blood Demon Art and techniques!

After recording the key information about Upper Moon Three and double-checking it thoroughly, he finally relaxed.

“I never imagined every Upper Moon among the Twelve Kizuki was this formidable!”

Yet when he saw the part about Akaza’s hatred for a certain demon, Zero fell into thought again...

Doma—this guy was truly annoying: not only was he verbose, but he also had this arrogant belief that everyone adored him!

His smile was especially fake, always wearing that repulsive, provoking grin.

No doubt this was one reason Akaza despised Doma.

Moreover, Zero clearly remembered that when he first encountered Doma, the man had been incessantly chattering—and nearly got his Shinae killed!

“I recall something Xiao Yue and I uncovered back then—it was called... the Ultimate Bliss Sect! That must be Doma’s stronghold!”

“Heh, if that’s the case... Doma, when I have time, I’ll pay you a visit and teach you a lesson—just to avenge my Shinae!”

Then, he continued scanning the other Upper Moon demons’ information on the projection screen!

Wan Shi Ultimate Bliss Sect.

In a sealed, dimly lit room, a sneeze echoed.

Achoo~

Doma, who had been playfully interacting with a female disciple, suddenly sneezed—and a chill ran down his spine. He couldn’t fathom why he felt such a strange sensation.

“Strange? Why did I sneeze? Could it be... Lord Akaza is thinking of me? Oh my, I’m clearly not disliked by anyone!”

Confidently believing Akaza was missing him, he felt delighted.

“Lord, what are you thinking about?” the female disciple asked, puzzled by Doma’s vacant, smiling stare.

“Nothing. Let’s continue playing—and then I’ll grant you eternal life!”

“Yes!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the disciple was kissed—yet soon she felt something was terribly wrong.

A sweet taste filled her mouth, accompanied by pain!

She pushed Doma away with all her strength.

Plop!

As the disciple shoved Doma back, a torrent of blood gushed from her mouth. She stared in horror at what he held between his teeth.

It was her own tongue!

And right before her eyes, he swallowed it whole.

She tried to scream—but no sound came out.

In panic, ignoring her disheveled clothes and the blood streaming from her mouth, she bolted toward the door!

After only a few steps, she realized something was wrong—the room flipped upside down. Then she saw her own body lying stiffly on the tatami.

Her neck had been cleanly severed; blood spurted wildly from the cut like water from a broken dam!!

Only then did the disciple realize: her head and body had been separated.

So the leader of the Wan Shi Ultimate Bliss Sect was nothing but a man-eating demon!

Regret. Resentment. And... rage surged within her.

But it was all futile.

Slowly, the disciple closed her eyes, a single tear sliding down her cheek...

“Oh my, why did you run? Don’t worry—I’ll make you one with me, and grant you eternal life!”

Soon after, chewing sounds echoed through the dim room.