Night dragged on like a slowly bleeding wound.
The woods echoed with guttural screams and the sick crunch of bone beneath unrelenting force.
Demons—once thought invincible unless beheaded—fell like fragile insects beneath the Slayer's brutal hands.
His Shield Saw spun with savage precision, teeth tearing flesh from bone.
His Power Gauntlet crushed skulls with a single devastating squeeze.
Where blades alone were meant to sever heads, he pulverized limbs, snapped spines, crushed throats—mercilessly and without pause.
The air was thick with the coppery scent of blood and the wails of annihilated demons, each one wiped from existence as if they were nothing but flies.
One after another, the creatures fell, their bodies mangled and broken, destroyed without mercy.
By the time dawn began to bleed orange across the horizon, the forest was silent.
The only movement was the steady breathing of the Slayer, seated heavily on a fallen tree log, armor stained dark with gore and grime.
The father, eyes wide with disbelief and awe, stepped forward cautiously.
"Thank you," he said, voice hoarse from fear and relief. "Are you… one of us? A Demon Slayer?"
The Slayer lifted his visor slightly, revealing eyes sharp and cold as frozen steel.
"What is this world?" he asked, voice low and hollow, "This place… explain it."
The father hesitated, sensing the weight behind the question — no mere curiosity, but a demand for truth from a being far beyond human.
Slowly, he spoke.
"This is the world of humans… and demons."
He told of the Demon Slayer Corps, a secret order sworn to protect humanity from monsters.
Of the Hashira, the elite warriors who lead the fight.
Of the Demon King Muzan, the source of all evil and darkness, commanding the Twelve Kizuki, powerful demons bound to his will.
He described the terror of the lower rank demons, numerous and cruel, but nowhere near the true nightmare the Slayer had faced.
The Slayer listened, impassive, absorbing the words like cold steel drinking in fire.
When the tale ended, he said nothing more.
But in his heart, the question burned hotter — how did this world's evil compare to the hells he had already torn through?
And what part would he play in this fragile war between man and demon?