"This girl's fate is pretty tragic."
Vincent Fox shook his head and sighed softly.
In his memories, Kanao Tsuyuri was a child born under an unlucky star.
At the beginning she had been rescued from human traffickers by Shinobu Kocho's older sister.
But the suffering she endured before that had already crushed her will.
Even living in the Butterfly Mansion, she simply sat quietly and waited for orders.
Even when her stomach growled from hunger, she would just kneel there in silence.
Shinobu had once described her as "blank and dazed."
Under Shinobu's sister's guidance, Kanao was given a coin.
After that, every decision in her life was entrusted to that coin toss.
In the final battle, Kanao used the Flower Breathing ultimate technique, "Equinoctial Vermilion Eye," and nearly lost the sight in her right eye because of it.
Watching Kanao's retreating figure as she hurried away, Vincent let out another faint sigh.
If possible, he wanted to change this pitiful girl's fate as much as he could.
And not just hers.
If he had the chance, he would change the fate of the entire Demon Slayer Corps.
"But for now, my job is to learn some sword techniques. I should at least look more like a proper Demon Slayer."
Once the thought appeared, Vincent acted.
He stepped into the training room.
It was not empty. A few Demon Slayer Corps members were inside, honing their sword skills.
They were all injured soldiers recuperating from battle, training here while they recovered.
They refused to be dead weight in the next fight.
Vincent ignored the looks that drifted his way.
He walked straight past everyone and took a bamboo practice sword down from the wall.
"I will make do with this for now."
With that, he started clumsily imitating the movements of the others.
That immediately drew even more attention.
"What is with that kid? Swinging like that, can he really kill demons?"
"Maybe his injuries made him forget his sword technique for a while. But in that case, recovering his form is not going to be quick. He might just end up stuck in the Butterfly Mansion for rehab forever…"
"Is that lucky, or just sad…"
They watched Vincent swing the bamboo blade again and again, their eyes complicated.
There was pity.
There was envy.
And everything in between.
Vincent pretended not to hear a word.
He just kept swinging the bamboo sword, over and over, his movements gradually becoming smoother and more precise.
He slowly exhaled.
Then suddenly, his figure vanished from where he was standing.
He reappeared right in front of one of the training dummies and brought the bamboo sword down with a heavy slash.
Clang.
A piercing metallic ring rang out from the bamboo blade.
The bamboo body of the sword trembled lightly.
Behind him, the training dummy was split cleanly into two halves.
"What?"
"Wait, that dummy is made of metal!"
The others had been quietly pitying him a moment ago, but now they were all stunned by what they were seeing.
In that instant, Vincent's body had disappeared from their sight.
In the space of one breath, he appeared behind the dummy.
The bamboo sword quivered, giving off a clear sword cry that did not belong to it.
And the metal training dummy that had accompanied them through countless drills had just been cleaved from head to toe with a single strike.
"Hiss…"
"He just used a sword technique, but I didn't sense even the slightest trace of a Breathing Style from it. This is… I really do not understand…"
"Cutting a metal dummy in half with a bamboo sword, that is insane!"
"Maybe our earlier gossip reached his ears. This might just be his way of giving us a reminder."
They whispered among themselves, some even starting to shake.
The destructive power of that one strike was obvious.
It was not just speed.
It was not just strength.
In both aspects, he was far beyond them.
If Vincent wanted to kill them, not a single one would escape.
"What is going on here?"
A clear voice, tinged with irritation, sounded from the doorway.
Everyone turned their heads.
A girl in a blue Butterfly Mansion uniform stood there, hands on her hips, twin ponytails swaying as she glared at them.
"Why are you making such a racket? Do you not know there are a lot of injured people trying to rest?"
Aoi Kanzaki's tone was sharp and scolding, like a teacher lecturing a room full of disobedient students.
"Sorry."
When no one else dared to speak, Vincent stepped forward.
"The noise was my fault. That training dummy…"
He did not bother finishing the sentence.
He simply pointed at the dummy that had been chopped into two clean halves.
"What?"
Aoi's eyes widened. She strode over and crouched down to inspect it.
The cut surface was clean and neat, as if sliced by a master craftsman's blade.
She glanced at the bamboo sword in Vincent's hand, disbelief written across her face.
"So this is the strength of the Demon Slayer Corps, huh…"
Aoi shook her head slightly.
She was also a formally registered Demon Slayer, but because she had never been able to overcome her fear, she had never stepped onto the battlefield to kill demons.
Later, Shinobu took her in, and she began handling logistics and support in the Butterfly Mansion instead.
She stood up and walked over to Vincent, looking him up and down.
"Your body is fully recovered?"
"Recovered pretty well. I can handle basic movements just fine."
Vincent rolled his shoulders and flexed his joints, answering with a smile.
Everyone behind him fell into stunned silence.
You cut a metal dummy in half with one swing, and you call that "basic movements"?
What is next, taking down an Upper Rank demon as a light cardio session?
Just push a bit harder and you will solo Muzan Kibutsuji as a warm up?
Could you at least pretend to be realistic when you brag?
Their eyes now contained a new layer of exasperated disbelief when they looked at Vincent.
"In that case, it is time to get you ready for missions again."
Aoi gave him one last look, then turned and walked toward the door.
"Clearly this level of training here is not suitable for you anymore. Come with me to see Miss Shinobu."
The two of them left the west wing and headed back to the place Vincent had first appeared.
"That noise just now was you, wasn't it?"
Shinobu Kocho smiled gently at him.
"Yes."
Vincent scratched his cheek, a bit embarrassed, and nodded.
"Miss Shinobu, he cut the training dummy in the west wing right in half!"
Aoi hurried over to Shinobu's side to report, and did not forget to add one more detail.
"And he did it with a bamboo sword."
"A bamboo sword?"
Shinobu blinked, then stood up and studied Vincent more closely.
"My, I did not expect your strength to be that high."
"My strength is not much at all. I cannot even lift a normal Nichirin blade, so I always use this special type."
As she spoke, Shinobu drew her own sword.
Her Nichirin blade looked very different from the standard issue.
The tsuba was shaped like a four petaled flower, the blade long and slender, so thin it hardly looked destructive at all.
At the tip, there was a hooked barb that glinted faintly with something unsettling.
"The blade is coated with a wisteria based poison that is highly toxic to demons. For me, it is easier to use this way."
Shinobu smiled at her sword, then held it out to Vincent.
"Would you like to try it?"
Vincent froze for a moment, then accepted Shinobu's Nichirin blade without being polite.
"It is pretty light."
In his hand, it felt extremely easy to wield.
Looking more closely, he noticed that only the very tip of the blade was sharpened.
There was also a tiny hole near the point, clearly designed to inject poison into a demon's body.
"But it is still a little too light. In a direct confrontation, it would be hard to physically restrain a demon with this."
He returned the sword to Shinobu as he spoke, adding his thoughts.
"As expected of Mr. Fox. That is exactly right."
Shinobu did not mind his critique at all. She sheathed the Nichirin blade with a soft click.
Then she stepped closer and looked him over with genuine curiosity.
"May I see your Nichirin sword, Mr. Fox?"
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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