Three days later, outside the Hayama Training Grounds.
With Miss Rika's help, Asuka had his hair trimmed into a neat black short style and carefully packed away the worn cotton clothes that had accompanied him for years, leaving them behind at the Hayama Training Grounds. In their place, he donned a fresh emerald-green kendo uniform.
Kenichi, who had come to see him off, seemed to realize only today that this kid was actually quite handsome. It was just that before, he'd always been gloomy and unkempt, so no one had really noticed.
Damn it… handsome and strong too. I'm seriously jealous…
"Asuka, remember what I told you. If you encounter an enemy you can't handle alone, try working together with your teammates. In this world, having companions to move forward with makes everything a little easier…"
His physical abilities had already far surpassed those of ordinary Demon Slayer Corps members, but his mental state… Arasaki thought to himself that perhaps letting him spend more time interacting with others before going would help.
"I understand, Teacher Arasaki," Asuka replied with a nod, tightening the straps that secured the Asauchi on his chest.
Rika handed him the prepared travel pack and reminded him, "Mount Fujikasane is quite far from here. You can follow the main road south for about seven days, or rent an ox cart at the town at the foot of the mountain. When you see a mountain covered in blooming wisteria, you'll know you're there… be careful."
"Thank you."
After Tetsushin Arisaki gave a few more brief instructions about the journey and the final selection, Asuka ran down the mountain without looking back.
This was the first time in two years that he had stepped beyond Hayama.
"Is it really alright, Teacher?" Rika watched Asuka's retreating figure and spoke softly. "Wouldn't it be good for Asuka to stay here and become a trainer?"
"…The winds beyond the mountain are roaring, Rika."
Arasaki's gaze didn't follow Asuka, but instead drifted toward the gloomy sky in the distance.
"The demons are growing stronger. The Twelve Kizuki are acting more frequently, while the overall quality of the Demon Slayer Corps is declining…"
"Time waits for no one, Rika. Asuka is a resilient child. He will be of help to the Master…"
"Let us hope so," Rika said with a slight bow.
The Final Selection.
The last trial before becoming an official member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Swordsmen who participate in the selection enter a testing ground known as Mount Fujikasane and must survive within it for seven days.
Imprisoned within Mount Fujikasane are numerous minor demons captured by the Demon Slayer Corps, ones that have only killed one or two people and are not particularly strong.
For powerful swordsmen, this is an easily achievable goal. As such, the final selection is more about eliminating ordinary participants who have not received formal training from certified trainers and rely solely on reckless bravery and brute force to join the Corps.
On the cruel battlefield of demon hunting, without absolute strength and the resolve to face death, one simply cannot be up to the task.
Several days later, following the route instructed by Teacher Arasaki, Asuka arrived by a stream.
Having lived two lives, this was the first time he had ever traveled such a long distance alone, and it stirred something within his long-sealed heart.
The wind in the forest, the wind by the stream, the wind through the rice fields—they were all different…
Sitting by the stream, Asuka increasingly felt that his previous life had been worse than a dog's, struggling every day just to stay alive.
"Aizen…" He had finally recalled the name of that bespectacled man.
Back then, in Rukongai, he had been tricked by a group of black-clad [Shinigami] into following them, under the pretense of assisting an investigation by the Gotei 13, lured in by a few meals and some water, and taken into Aizen's secret laboratory.
There, he felt his soul being torn apart and reassembled over and over again, even the very concept of time shattered.
In the end, he had been brutally thrown into this world, yet the man named Aizen left him without a single explanation.
How do I go back? What am I now? A human, or a wandering soul? Asuka had no answers.
He tightly gripped the Asauchi in his hand. For the past two years, whenever he was on the verge of giving up training, this had been his deepest obsession.
I will go back. Back to Soul Society. And I will kill that bastard!
"You look like you're very angry."
A sticky, chilling voice suddenly rose from the stream before him, and Asuka's expression changed drastically.
He leapt backward, instantly widening the distance between himself and the water, his hand already on the hilt of his sword as he stared warily at the writhing current.
Although he was not yet a Demon Slayer Corps member and did not possess his own Nichirin Blade, Teacher Arasaki had still found him a suitable old sword to use for passing the selection.
"Would you mind telling me about it, little one?"
Accompanied by a sound of distortion, an adult woman clad in a kimono caked with mud slowly rose from beneath the water and appeared on the bank.
Though her body was smeared with filth and her wet hair clung to her pale forehead, her facial features were strikingly well-proportioned and gentle, bearing an eerie kind of beauty.
Staring fixedly at the handsome Asuka with eyes that flickered with a blue-gray glow, the woman let out an unpleasantly sticky sound.
"What a lovely body… I'm so jealous… I want to take it for myself…"
A demon?
Asuka quickly accepted her identity.
He calmed himself and sensed the spiritual pressure emanating from her…
Tetsushin Arisaki had said that demons feed on humans. Generally speaking, the more people they have eaten, the stronger they become, awakening various terrifying abilities. One must never be careless.
And this demon before him… was strong… about on par with Miss Rika…
Looks like a major demon that has devoured many lives.
The female demon seemed pleased with Asuka's reaction. Sticky strands of saliva even dripped from the corners of her mouth. "So nice, so nice… Quick reactions, sharp mind… I really want to kill you…"
In the next instant, her body twisted in place and lunged straight at Asuka.
Though she didn't appear particularly fast, her entire form was suffused with an eerie agility.
Where her demon feet touched the ground, the earth instantly became loose and slick, as if it had turned into ice or been coated with soapy water, carrying her whole body sliding forward.
In the blink of an eye, the female demon was already upon him!
With a sudden snap, her pale arm lashed out like a whip. Several dark red fluctuations surged along it—hidden killing moves embedded within her physical strike—instantly captured by Asuka's spiritual perception!
The demon condensed countless bead-like blood arrows and fired them from the joints of her arm, attempting to seize Asuka's life in an instant while he was off guard!
"Breath of Wind, Third Form: Clear Storm, Wind-Tree!"
Almost the moment the blood arrows left her body, Asuka reacted.
He drew in a sharp breath, his lungs swelling like bellows as the airflow throughout his body was instantly mobilized.
Emerald-green whirlwinds sprang into existence out of nowhere, coiling around the blade with a hissing cry.
Centered on himself, Asuka unleashed a storm of sword winds rotating counterclockwise, shattering the dense blood arrows head-on!
Not only that—after the blood arrows were sliced apart by the wind blades, the female demon's descending arm was also cleanly severed by Asuka!
Her brow furrowed as she hastily leapt backward, widening the distance between them, her expression turning grave.
"Demon Slayer Corps? I just dodged one group and ran into another… how unlucky…"
Shaking her severed arm, the cut surface emitted a twitching sound. Then, flesh and blood began to frantically gather and interweave, rapidly recombining at a pace visible to the naked eye.
Within a few breaths, a long, pale, jade-like arm had regrown completely.
"You hurt me."