Chapter 33: Swordsman Ranks
The promotion mechanism for the Demon Slayer Corps was, on the surface, remarkably simple.
Below the nine Hashira, the swordsmen were organized into ten ranks corresponding to the Ten Heavenly Stems: from the lowest, Mizunoto, to the highest, Kinoe. A slayer could advance one rank for every five demons they successfully exorcised.
Of course, the term 'five demons' referred to standard, run-of-the-mill creatures. Stronger variants, like the demon with special abilities Akira had slain on his first mission or the monstrous Hand Demon of Fujikasane Mountain, were worth two or three ordinary demons. For those even more powerful—demons who had mastered a Blood Demon Art—the value could range anywhere from five to ten, depending on their individual strength.
Specific details were carefully recorded by the Kasugai Crows and the Kakushi cleanup crews, with the master of the Demon Slayer Corps making the final judgment on the merit earned for each mission.
To become a Hashira, a slayer needed only to slay fifty demons or kill a single member of the Twelve Kizuki. However, there was a critical stipulation for those who ascended through sheer numbers: they must have slain at least five demons possessing a Blood Demon Art over the course of their career. Before reaching that pinnacle, no such requirement existed; any demon kill would count toward their advancement.
It sounded easy. Deceptively so.
Even the most common demon possessed physical capabilities far exceeding those of a normal adult, compounded by the fact that they had no fatal weaknesses beyond decapitation by a Nichirin Blade or exposure to sunlight. For the Corps' weaker swordsmen, every mission was a life-or-death gamble.
, the higher a slayer's rank, the more perilous their assignments became. For many, surviving an encounter was a victory in itself, but escaping without injury was a near impossibility.
Worse still, the intelligence provided before a mission was often nothing more than inferences pieced together by the Kakushi from preliminary investigations. Its reliability was limited, and misjudgments were a known and deadly risk. There was always the chilling possibility that what was reported as a standard demon could turn out to be one of the Twelve Kizuki, a fatal error that would send a low-ranking slayer straight to their grave.
This was the brutal reality behind the numbers. Though the requirement was only fifty demons—a figure that should theoretically produce a new Hashira every few years, even accounting for recovery time—the Corps was currently facing a severe shortage of Pillar-level swordsmen. Far too many promising members had died on missions or sustained injuries so grievous they could no longer wield a blade.
Until recently, the Flame Hashira, Rengoku Shinjuro, had been struggling to hold the line almost single-handedly. And while the formidable Gyoumei had recently ascended to the position of Stone Hashira, it was still not enough to contend with the surge of high-danger demons appearing across the country.
Now, Ubuyashiki Kagaya had received reports from both Kuwajima Jigorō and Urokodaki Sakonji. They both attested that Kanzaki Akira's strength was already comparable to that of a lower-ranked Hashira. Despite his youth, Kagaya knew he had to begin assigning him more missions—including some of the most dangerous ones.
For Akira's first assignment, caution had dictated pairing him with a strong teammate. Such arrangements would not be made in the future. It would be just as it had been for Gyoumei.
How had the blind monk become a Hashira in less than a year, with no record of him ever killing one of the Twelve Kizuki? The answer was simple: he was assigned mission after mission, faced demon after demon, and emerged from each battle either unscathed or only lightly injured. His recovery intervals were so short that he accumulated enough merit to be promoted to the highest rank in a breathtakingly short time.
While the missions grew deadlier with rank, the compensation improved accordingly. The fixed salary of a Kinoe-ranked slayer was enough to live comfortably in a prosperous town, and that didn't even include the substantial bonuses awarded for each mission, scaled to the strength of the demon slain. The Hashira, at the very top, were directly allocated entire properties. For them, any problem that could be solved with money was resolved the moment they asked.
The Ubuyashiki family was, without a doubt, immensely wealthy and more than willing to spend it.
...
Akira had long anticipated that the intensity of his missions would increase, so he wasn't surprised when his Kasugai Crow delivered his second assignment less than a week after the first. As he traveled toward his destination, he even found himself wondering if this next target would be enough to earn him a promotion.
This time, the location was not a village but an abandoned temple at the foot of a mountain. According to the intelligence provided, the site was connected to several recent disappearances. Anyone who passed by the temple at night had vanished without a trace.
Akira found he quite liked this kind of mission—the target's location was clear, and there was no need to waste time investigating.
He traveled the entire way without incident, arriving near his destination around noon.
Gazing up at the temple, which managed to appear eerie even under the full light of day, Akira couldn't suppress a flicker of pragmatic annoyance.
'What kind of person builds a temple facing north?'he thought.'It's positioned so sunlight can barely get in, from morning to night. No wonder it was abandoned.'
Even now, with the sun blazing high in the sky, the temple's interior was a pit of absolute blackness. The structure was so dilapidated it didn't even have a door, yet the shadows within seemed to actively repel the light. It was the perfect shelter for a demon.
Pushing aside his silent complaints, Akira drew his Nichirin Blade, the pale steel humming softly as he slowly approached the entrance.
"Since you see this Buddha, why do you not bow?"
The moment he stepped across the threshold, a deep, resonant voice echoed in his ears, seeming to come from all directions at once in a disorienting surround sound.
Akira ignored the subtle, mind-numbing power laced within the voice. His eyes swept across the temple's dark interior, his gaze finally locking onto the chipped, weathered Buddha statue at its center.
"Lay down your butcher's blade and become a Buddha on the spot!"
This time, the voice was even grander, rushing directly into his mind like a physical blow. The power it carried was immense, sending a wave of intense discomfort through him. His body swayed, and his brow furrowed in a mask of pain.
Sensing the attack, Akira immediately launched a counter.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash."
With a crackle of lightning, he vanished. The Buddha statue's head flew from its shoulders, severed in a single, perfect strike. But the voice did not stop.
"Lay down your butcher's blade and become a Buddha on the spot!"
Akira, still airborne from his attack, felt the hand gripping his blade tremble under the sonic assault.
In that precise moment, a dark figure shot out from the shadows behind the ruined statue. Cold, glinting claws aimed straight for Akira's chest, moving with predatory speed.
Simultaneously, the look of discomfort on Akira's face vanished, replaced by an expression of absolute calm. The hand that had seemed unsteady a second ago tightened its grip, his muscles coiling as he changed his form mid-air.
"Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash."
An incandescent, violent storm of lightning erupted from his blade, instantly swallowing the dark figure. The roar of thunder shook the dilapidated temple to its foundations.
When the light dissipated, Akira had already landed, his feet planted firmly on the dusty floor as he slid his Nichirin Blade back into its sheath with a soft click.
The dark figure's true form was now visible. It was a demon with the face of a shifty-eyed rat—literally, with no exaggeration. The head that Akira had just severed looked like that of a giant rodent, only with a slightly shorter nose.
"Why..." the slowly disintegrating head rasped, its voice choked with disbelief. It seemed to want to ask more, but Akira offered no response. He simply watched in silence as it turned to ash and vanished completely.
After a thorough sweep of the temple revealed nothing but a few scattered bones and no other trace of demonic presence, Akira turned and walked back out into the sunlight.
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