The thin sunlight of early spring filtered past the eaves of the estate, sifting down into the courtyard in flakes of light like drifting snow.
The weather was growing warmer.
A Kasugai Crow delivered a letter.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki sat formally in place, pale fingers brushing over the scroll.
"Two children slew every demon on Mount Fujikasane."
Amane poured tea for Kagaya.
"That is hardly surprising. Miss Sui is the 'gifted prodigy' Lord Shinjuro himself praised as a 'once-in-a-generation talent.' Before those Mystic Eyes of hers, the demons of Mount Fujikasane likely fell the instant they met her blade. What interests me more is the identity of the other child. Was it Lord Urokodaki's disciple, Miss Kuroba? Or Narumi-kun, that new swordsman who uses Thunder Breathing..."
Amane paused.
Then she thought of one young man.
"Was it Shinazugawa-kun? The boy who hunted demons alone even before joining the Corps?"
Kagaya smiled faintly.
"It was him. That child whose eyes are full of hatred and fury. During this Final Selection, those two children got along quite well. Thanks to them, many more survived this year's selection than expected, and they also solved many mysteries for us."
"Do you remember Lord Urokodaki's two exceptionally gifted disciples? Sabito and Makomo. By Lord Urokodaki's own judgment, those two should never have died during the Final Selection. We suspected that an unusually powerful demon had been hiding on Mount Fujikasane, so we dispatched a Hashira to sweep the mountain, yet nothing was found. Now it seems our methods were far too shallow."
"There is an answer now?" Amane asked in surprise.
"There was a grotesque demon on Mount Fujikasane that had devoured at least fifty people, as well as a monk demon who possessed a Blood Demon Art and stood as a candidate for the Twelve Kizuki."
Amane rose abruptly, disbelief plain on her face.
"How could that be? The mountain is swept periodically, and years ago a Hashira carried out a thorough purge as well. How could demons of that level remain hidden on Mount Fujikasane?"
Enemies of that level were utterly impossible for candidate swordsmen to fight.
"There is an underground cave beneath the waterfall at the foot of Mount Fujikasane," Kagaya said, "one that passes through the sea of wisteria and connects to an underground river. The grotesque demon and the monk demon hid there, evading the sweeps. The Twelve Kizuki had already learned the location of the Final Selection. They ordered that grotesque demon to remain on Mount Fujikasane and quietly exterminate the Corps' new blood."
"Thanks to Miss Sui and Shinazugawa-kun, we now know the full truth."
"I will go to Mount Fujikasane and personally preside over the ceremony marking these children's completion of training," Kagaya said slowly. "And send word to Lord Gyomei as well. He can have the underground passage beneath Mount Fujikasane sealed, and notify the Kakushi to relocate the site of the Final Selection, leaving only an empty shell behind for the demons to watch."
"Yes."
Amane folded her hands and bowed.
Mount Fujikasane.
Morning of the eighth day of the Final Selection.
Morning mist, carrying the fading fragrance of wisteria, drifted over the mountain steps.
At the entrance to Mount Fujikasane stood a scattered group of a dozen or so candidate swordsmen, all wearing excited expressions.
"We survived! I can't believe we actually survived!" one of them shouted.
"There were barely any demons in the mountain at all. It wasn't nearly as terrifying as Master said," another said, shaking his head.
"What do you mean there weren't many demons? They were all killed!"
"Stop joking. Of course not. There just weren't that many to begin with."
"I saw it with my own eyes," one candidate said, voice trembling. "Every demon in the mountain started heading in one direction. It was terrifying!"
"I saw it too. It was like there was something inside the mountain drawing them in."
"Hey! Look over there!" someone said in a low voice.
All the candidate swordsmen present turned their eyes toward the exit of Mount Fujikasane.
Footsteps were approaching.
Along with them came the smell of roasted meat, and only then did everyone present realize just how hungry they were.
"What the hell, woman? You really can't even roast meat properly?"
A hoarse male voice rang out.
"I simply dislike getting grease on my fingers," came a cool female voice in reply.
"Oh, listen to that. Of course — a proper young lady who's never let her hands touch the work of common folk," the man mocked.
Then they came into view.
A savage-looking man covered in scars walked out first, and behind him came a striking girl in a crimson haori.
The girl's eyes were closed. In her hand she held a skewer of roasted meat, the aroma so rich that many of the swordsmen present swallowed hard.
Sitting in one corner, Kuroba Chiyo widened her eyes in delight at the sight of Sui again.
"It's them... it's them!" one swordsman stammered. "They're the ones who killed every demon in the mountain!"
"Oh?" Quite a few swordsmen who fancied themselves strong fixed their gaze on Sui and Shinazugawa. "They look ordinary enough. That woman doesn't even seem like she could swing a sword hard enough to cut through a demon's neck. How could she possibly have killed the demons in there..."
His voice abruptly cut off.
Shinazugawa had looked over.
The violent menace in that gaze washed over him, and the swordsman who had spoken closed his mouth at once.
"He looks fierce, sure, but their clothes are ridiculously clean. There isn't even any demon blood on them. Who knows whether they were actually out there slaying demons or just found somewhere to hide? And those skewers too — they really treated this place like some pleasure outing. If you ask me, go play somewhere else. This is no place for fooling around!" a tall swordsman said rudely.
"All right, all right. We'll be colleagues from now on, so there's no need to be this hostile."
Sui patted Shinazugawa on the shoulder. Perhaps because he had not grown up well-fed, he was, at this age, still just a little shorter than she was.
"Trash like this won't ever be my comrades. Sooner or later, they'll die at a demon's hands," Shinazugawa said darkly.
"You little bastard! What was that?"
"That's awfully rude, brat!"
Boys that age were like that — each one a powder keg, ready to blow at the slightest spark.
And boys who had just finished the Final Selection were even worse. The place became a powder magazine, and one sentence from Shinazugawa set the whole thing off.
The swordsmen who had arrived earlier more or less knew one another. They had no reason to show consideration for someone like Shinazugawa, who had come in later.
And Shinazugawa was volatile even among the volatile. His hand was already gripping the handle of his iron shears, and his breathing was beginning to quicken.
"Everyone..." Kuroba Chiyo tried to speak up for Sui and Shinazugawa, but no one was listening. One of the more provocative swordsmen even shoved her.
Sui sighed inwardly.
Then she tossed the skewer in her hand into the air.
No one present immediately understood what the girl was doing.
But in the next instant—
Sui vanished from everyone's sight.
"You—"
The first swordsman who had pointed fingers at her widened his eyes in horror, because Sui was suddenly standing in front of him, smiling.
Bang.
The scabbard smashed into his forehead. Sui spun and drove her knee into him, sending him flying backward. He only stopped after crashing into a tree ten meters away.
Sui helped the frail girl back to her feet and, at the same time, neatly caught the falling skewer.
Her pretty brows drew together.
"Ah... the grease dripped."
Then she looked at Kuroba Chiyo.
"Want some? I can hear your stomach growling."
Swordsmen who mastered Thunder Breathing possessed unusually sharp hearing.
The restless boys fell silent all at once.
The powder keg Sui had just snuffed out went dead in an instant.
Everyone here was a swordsman.
And yet not one of them had even managed to see how Sui moved.
That meant only one thing.
The girl could kill everyone here with ease.
Into that dead silence stepped a messenger of the Ubuyashiki family from the shadow of the torii gate, the gold-embroidered character for Destroy on the black of his uniform flickering in the wind.
"Welcome back, all of you, safe and sound."
It was as if he could not see the conflict at all.
He merely spoke those words in perfect calm.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter100)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 60
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 50
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 50
The Way the Umamusume Look at 31
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 26
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 26
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin