As night deepened, moonlight bathed a traditional Japanese estate, casting mottled shadows across the courtyard.
Rows of carefully tended wisteria trees stood on either side of the stone path, petals drifting down with the breeze like a silent rain of flowers.
In the stillness of the night, only the rhythmic tapping of the shishi-odoshi echoed softly.
A young man—his face above the nose severely disfigured, both eyes blind—tilted his head toward the sky, quietly feeling the gentleness of the night wind.
A woman of similar age knelt beside him, tending to her mobility-impaired husband. She had just poured a cup of fresh tea.
The young man accepted the tea from his wife's hands. They said nothing to each other, yet an atmosphere of quiet warmth lingered between them.
The cry of a crow shattered the tranquility.
Riding the night wind, it descended with a harsh caw, landing on a tree branch—and then spoke in human speech.
"Urgent report! The Final Selection at Mount Fujikasane has concluded! Urgent report! The Final Selection at Mount Fujikasane has concluded!"
The crow repeated the message again and again, causing both people below to stir slightly.
The blind young man tightened his grip on the teacup.
He hadn't expected this selection to end so quickly. Judging by the time it took the crow to deliver the message, from start to finish the selection likely hadn't even lasted half an hour.
His first thought was that the young candidates had been wiped out entirely.
He could only hope that many had fled back to the wisteria zones and withdrawn, rather than all being slaughtered by demons.
"What are the casualties?"
The Master of the Demon Slayer Corps, Ubuyashiki Kagaya, asked softly. Even with his calm disposition, hearing the results of each selection always pained his heart.
"Zero casualties. All forty-one participants in this selection have passed."
The crow replied.
"All… passed?!"
Ubuyashiki Amane, the Master's wife, exclaimed in surprise.
"But the selection only lasted half an hour, didn't it?"
As soon as she said it, realization struck her.
Passing the selection didn't necessarily require surviving seven days—if all the demons on Mount Fujikasane were killed, there would naturally be no need to wait that long.
"It seems an exceptional child has appeared," Kagaya said, smiling gently.
More than the emergence of a prodigy, what truly made him happy was that the news had turned despair into relief—at the very least, it meant the children hadn't been annihilated.
"It was Lord Kuwajima's disciple, a man named Kurosaki Rei. By his own strength, he cleared the entirety of Mount Fujikasane within half an hour. There are now no demons left on the mountain."
The crow added.
"So it was Kurosaki Rei of Kuwajima's lineage…"
Kagaya murmured.
"I've heard of him. He was taken in by Kuwajima ten years ago, and was said to have never mastered Breathing Techniques. To think he would be this powerful."
Amane wasn't surprised that her husband knew of Kurosaki Rei.
Kagaya remembered the name of every Demon Slayer—whether deceased, active, or even those who had yet to officially join.
"Do you wish to meet that child?"
Amane asked, implying whether someone of such ability should be directly assigned a higher rank.
Within the Demon Slayer Corps, the pinnacle of combat power was the Hashira. Below them were the Ten Ranks: Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoe, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, Tsuchinoto, Kanoe, Kanoto, Mizunoe, Mizunoto. Newly inducted members usually began at the lowest rank, Mizunoto.
"No," Kagaya said, shaking his head lightly. "With his strength, he'll surely rise to Kinoe soon enough. Better to avoid idle talk."
"And the others who passed alongside him?" Amane asked again.
In previous years, similar situations had occurred—when an exceptionally strong candidate appeared, many others passed as well. But later, once officially enlisted, those people were gradually killed by demons.
"Assign them under the Hashira for review," Kagaya said after some thought. "If their strength is insufficient, transfer them to the Kakushi."
"And the next selection?" Amane asked.
Like a secretary, she received instructions from her husband and passed them down layer by layer. Kagaya's health had deteriorated greatly; many matters now fell upon her shoulders.
"As for the selection…" Kagaya paused.
"I think we should suspend it for now."
"Demons have been unusually active these past few days. The Nine Hashira are all quite busy and have no time to capture new demons. And…"
He trailed off, his blind eyes turned toward the night sky.
"…I feel that the situation is about to change."
Meanwhile, after the selection ended, an awkward situation arose atop Mount Fujikasane.
"Please don't worry. More ore will be delivered soon—everyone will receive their own Nichirin Blade."
The two young twin girls seemed to be encountering such a situation for the first time.
The Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Scarlet Crimson Ore they had prepared for sword forging… weren't enough.
They had prepared thirty sets of high-quality forging materials—far more than needed based on previous years. After all, even among those who survived, many usually chose to withdraw at the end.
Fortunately, after this Final Selection, quite a few people had come to terms with their own limits.
After facing real demons, they realized they simply didn't have the courage to fight them—and decided to give up their qualification to become Demon Slayers.
"So these are the forging materials…"
Standing at the table, Kurosaki Rei examined the ore. After appraising it, he discovered that it was actually purple-quality forging material.
Those who had effectively been carried through the selection knew their place. No one stepped forward to compete with Kurosaki Rei.
Thus, Kurosaki Rei chose the highest-rated ore by the Space's quality evaluation—
—and gave it to Zenitsu.
He himself picked a fairly good piece, planning to have it certified later and sell it after returning to the Space.
Items obtained in mission worlds—unless they were quest rewards—couldn't be brought back directly. They had to be certified with Terminus Coins first.
Fortunately, certification costs were relatively cheap, often less than half the item's actual value, allowing Explorers to profit from the difference.
Of course, there was a limit: at most five items could be certified per mission world.
This was a Space survival trick Kurosaki Rei had only learned recently—from the sailor-uniform-clad girl who helped him forge equipment. She'd mentioned that if he could provide forging materials, she could give him a discount—and the best way to obtain such materials was through mission worlds.
When Kamado Tanjiro stepped forward to select his forging materials, he politely bowed to Kurosaki Rei.
"Hello, my name is Kamado Tanjiro. Thank you for taking care of us this time!"
"Yeah! Senior Brother Rei is the strongest!"
Zenitsu had now fully transformed into a hardcore Kurosaki Rei fanboy.
He never could have imagined that Senior Brother's promise of "guaranteed pass" would mean wiping out the entire mountain of demons. Well—if there were no demons left, wasn't that a guaranteed pass?
"Zenitsu," Kurosaki Rei said calmly, sensing that Zenitsu was getting carried away, "remember—after today, I won't be by your side anymore."
He deliberately reined him in. He didn't want Zenitsu becoming overly dependent because of his intervention.
Then he turned to Tanjiro.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kurosaki Rei."
Back when he read the manga, Kurosaki Rei had always liked Tanjiro's character. No one truly hated someone as gentle as Tanjiro—people only hated hypocritical saints.
"It's truly an honor to meet you," Tanjiro said earnestly. "I passed the trial thanks to you. I feel ashamed… but I still wish to become a Demon Slayer and fight demons, so I'll shamelessly choose my ore."
Tanjiro spoke politely as he stepped up to the table.
No one objected. Many had witnessed Tanjiro fighting demons—he was undeniably strong, having slain several already. It was just that before he could continue, the selection had ended.
After Tanjiro finished choosing, Kanao Tsuyuri—Shinobu Kocho's disciple and adopted sister—and Genya Shinazugawa, the Wind Hashira's younger brother, also stepped forward to select their materials.
With Genya's irritable temperament, he would have rushed up long ago—if not for Kurosaki Rei's presence. Something about Kurosaki Rei's quiet pressure kept him from acting rashly.
Once everyone finished choosing their ore, Kurosaki Rei turned to Zenitsu.
"Zenitsu, I suggest you go through some proper tempering, then start training again. Your Thunder Breathing is still far from sufficient—compared to that girl, you're lagging behind by quite a bit."
Zenitsu followed Kurosaki Rei's gaze and saw Kanao standing apart from the crowd.
Instantly, his eyes went wide.
In fact, they'd been wide for a while already.
Because of his fear of death, Zenitsu constantly wanted to find a girl to marry and leave behind descendants—an instinctive urge to reproduce when facing mortal danger.
"That girl really is strong," Tanjiro agreed from the side. "I saw her instantly kill a demon."
"Mm. You're all about the same age," Kurosaki Rei said. "You can try asking her how she trains."
He was deliberately guiding the protagonist group.
This world was no longer the original storyline. Tanjiro and the others likely wouldn't have the luxury of growing at a leisurely pace.
Once they officially became Demon Slayers and began operating, they would soon be targeted by Explorers from Muzan's faction—and potentially wiped out.
From his experience in the previous world, Kurosaki Rei understood that protagonists weren't invincible. Tanjiro could absolutely die.
Though Kurosaki Rei didn't expect to rely on Tanjiro to defeat Muzan, strengthening the Demon Slayer faction was still beneficial.
Thus, he hoped these kids wouldn't rush out recklessly. They should train properly at the Butterfly Mansion, reach Total Concentration Constant, and only then head out.
Otherwise, forget demonized Explorers—even the Lower Ranks of the Twelve Kizuki would be overwhelming for them.
"Huh? Senior Brother Rei," Zenitsu suddenly asked after nodding, "you're telling us to train… but what about you?"
"Me?"
Kurosaki Rei grinned.
"I'm going to pay a visit to the legendary Twelve Kizuki."
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