Tatsuya peered through the cracks at the women draped in priceless silks and jewelry that was almost blinding. "Maintaining an estate this massive, supporting so many servants and guards, and dressing like noblewomen... the expenses must be astronomical! Where is the money coming from?"
This family was rotten.
The Flame Hashira's words flashed through his mind: "Merchants and travelers vanish when passing through this area... three Kakushi specialists went in, and none came back."
Tatsuya gripped his hilt. He needed concrete proof of a demon, or the location of his missing comrades. He looked toward the highest point of the manor—the three-story central tower. That was the heart of the Iguro family, and likely the source of their secrets.
"...Monster, are you in there?"
Just as Tatsuya prepared to move toward the tower, two servants passed beneath his hiding spot pushing a cart. It was covered with a suspicious canvas, stained with layers of dried and fresh blood.
Tatsuya's ears twitched, catching their dialogue: "The three businessmen from today... I assume it's the usual routine?" "Yeah. Down to the pit."
Three people...
Tatsuya's gaze darkened. He immediately linked this to the three missing Kakushi. "Looking at the blood on that cart, those three are likely beyond saving... but I have to see what you're up to. Are you feeding them to the demon?"
Holding his breath, he trailed them like a wisp of smoke merging with the shadows. The servants reached a seemingly ordinary stone wall near the perimeter warehouses. One of them pressed a sequence of hidden bricks.
K-clack—
The wall slid open, releasing a draft far colder than the air above, thick with the stench of rot and musk.
"Hey, did you feel a breeze just now?" one servant asked. "Just push the cart. The draft in this place never stops. Shut up and move."
Tatsuya slipped inside behind them before the gap closed.
Descending the narrow stone steps, the smell became suffocating. When Tatsuya reached the bottom and saw the expanse of the underground space, even his steeled stomach churned.
Before him was a massive, man-made pit. The bottom was piled with an unquantifiable number of human remains, layered like a twisted terrace of death.
The bottom layer was ancient white bone; the middle layer consisted of semi-decayed or mummified corpses; and the top layer was "fresh"—or rather, bodies that had been meticulously carved and dismantled into bite-sized pieces and severed limbs.
The two servants pinched their noses as they threw the remains of the three men into the pile.
The air was so thick with the smell of blood, rot, and the sickly-sweet scent of death that it felt like a physical weight against his face. Most horrifying was the sight of countless snakes of all sizes and colors slithering through the remains. Their scales glinted with a wet, cold light in the dimness. They coiled around ribcages and slipped into the gaps of decaying flesh, competing for the fresh meat with sickening swallowing sounds.
"Using snakes to dispose of the evidence... and pre-cutting the bodies into pieces the snakes can swallow..." Tatsuya's knuckles turned white as he gripped his scabbard. A cold fury surged from his heart.
"Well played, Iguro family..." All the missing travelers and the three Kakushi—this was their destination. Tatsuya had come looking for a man-eating demon, but he had found a man-eating clan first.
Suddenly, Tatsuya noticed a servant in another direction carrying a lacquer food box. The aroma of high-quality food wafted from it. The servant was following a small path even deeper underground.
"Let's see what else you're hiding."
Tatsuya suppressed his rage and followed like a gecko clinging to the shadows of the stone walls.
The path ended at a solitary cell carved into the earth, sealed by heavy iron bars. Inside, the furniture was complete and looked high-end, but a thin boy of about thirteen or fourteen sat curled in the corner, ignoring the comfortable bed.
He had rare, heterochromatic eyes—one turquoise, one yellow—filled with emptiness and exhaustion. The corners of his mouth had been brutally sliced open into a wide, jagged grin and crudely stitched back together.
The servant pushed the food box through a small slot at the bottom of the bars and left without a word. Inside were delicacies: fish, stewed meats, and rice—far better than the servants' fare.
Once the servant was gone, the boy moved to the box, picking out only a few slices of pickled greens and plain rice, chewing mechanically. Eerily, he whispered to a pure white snake coiled in his arms. His voice was raspy and weak, as if seeking solace from the only friend he had.
Tatsuya weighed his options. This boy was an outlier—imprisoned yet given special treatment.
"He might have the answers. It's worth the risk."
Tatsuya appeared before the bars like a ghost. He purposely made a small sound. The boy jumped, his mismatched eyes wide with alarm. The white snake hissed, darting into the boy's clothes and poking its head out from his collar.
"Who are you?" Tatsuya's voice was low and steady. "There is a demon here, isn't there? And why are you locked in this cage?"
"...You should give your own name before asking others, suspicious stranger," the boy replied. "How did my 'sisters' not kill you?"
"I see," Tatsuya nodded. "So those women who chime like wind-bells are your sisters. You belong to this clan."
The boy frowned and fell silent.
"I am Izumo Tatsuya, a Demon Slayer. I am here for one purpose: to kill the man-eating demon." Tatsuya looked him in the eye. "So I ask you: where is it?"
At the mention of killing the demon, the boy's eyes lit up. He gripped the bars. "You're here to kill that thing?!"
The dam broke, and his words came like a torrent. "I am Obanai! Obanai Iguro! There is a demon... a monster, half-woman and half-snake!" His voice trembled with suppressed loathing.
"The Iguro clan—my family—has worshipped her for hundreds of years! The family... they can only produce girls. They never birth healthy boys... except for me."
He gasped for air, as if pouring out a lifelong secret. "To sustain the clan and buy the monster's protection and wealth, they offer her two newborn female infants every year! And the men who are 'invited' here..." His voice turned pained. "The women seduce them to ensure pregnancy. Once confirmed, the men are killed. The demon prefers infants, so the men's flesh is usually just thrown to the snakes!"
Tatsuya digested this horrific truth, a chill crawling up his spine. "A hundred years of sacrifice... infants and travelers... this clan is rotten to the marrow."
He asked the key question: "Then why are you here? Because you're the only boy?"
Obanai met his gaze with a mix of resignation and deep-seated fear. "Yes. I am a 'miracle'... an anomaly. The family views me as a curse, but the Snake Demon treasures me. She believes my flesh holds a special power, far more 'nourishing' than a normal infant's. So..." He touched the horrific scars on his mouth. "She marked me. She's keeping me here, 'raising' me until I'm older and my flesh is 'ripe' enough to eat..."
Tatsuya understood. This boy was no part of that clan; he was their ultimate prey.
With a flash of gold-red light, Tatsuya's blade sliced through the iron bars like they were rotting wood. He pulled the bars aside. "Get out. We talk later!"
Obanai, clutching his white snake, scrambled out. He tapped his feet on the ground, tasting a freedom he had never known since birth.
"The Snake Demon... do you know where she is now?" Obanai asked urgently.
Tatsuya looked toward the ceiling. "The central tower? That seems like the place for a 'god'."
"No," Obanai shook his head. "The top floor is just the 'Ritual Chamber.' It's a stone throne used once a year for the sacrifices. She doesn't live there."
"Then where?"
"She has her own tunnels," Obanai explained. "When she ordered my mouth to be cut, I saw how she arrived. It's a narrow, twisting serpent-path no human could fit through. Not even the family knows where she hides during the day."
"This is a problem," Tatsuya thought. "I haven't heard any movement from a snake either."
He rubbed his hilt. Obanai looked at him with a deathly calm. "Use me as bait."
"Bait?"
"Yes. I am the family's most important 'offering.' If I vanish, the entire estate will fall into panic. They can't afford to lose me." He paused, his voice resolute. "The chaos will alert the demon. She won't let her 'delicacy' escape. She will be forced to come out and find me herself!"
Tatsuya's eyes lit up. "A classic 'Draw the snake from its hole'! Great idea!" He grinned. "And I'll make sure the fire burns bright. The bigger the scene, the faster she'll crawl out!"
Obanai looked at him with a trace of worry. "Mr. Tatsuya... can you really kill her?"
Tatsuya met his mismatched eyes without hesitation. "I can. And if I can't, there is a legendary power waiting outside—the highest rank of the Corps. I promise you."
Obanai took a deep breath, his final doubt vanishing. "...Fine. My life is in your hands!"
He hugged his white snake. "If we fail, I would rather kill myself than go back to being her food."
Tatsuya felt a surge of respect for the boy. He squeezed Obanai's thin shoulder. "Don't you worry. I'm keeping you alive. That's a promise from Izumo Tatsuya!"
"Now, let's go and hack our way out of here. We're going to burn this place to the ground!!"