Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 70: Karma

[Seiji's POV]

I left the Flower Mansion the next morning after spending more time with Kanae and Kanao. Unfortunately, Shinobu was in her grinding phase so we rarely had time to interact these days. The spar we had a few days ago was a rare occasion.

I travelled towards the Mizuhara Village. The village was known for its huge production of rice and I went there to take rations for the Demon Slayer Corp before.

I had eidetic memory so I was able to trace my way to the village without being guided by a Kasugai crow.

The village was not far away and with my incredible speed, I was able to reach it before the afternoon rolled around.

When I entered the village, I was immediately met with a gloomy atmosphere. The place was quiet as if it was abandoned.

A quick scan of the whole village told me that most people had locked themselves inside their houses and they were mourning for the people they lost.

I walked around the village and I talked to the first person I met and asked him in detail about what happened to the village.

"A total of three families, including the head of the town had been brutally annihilated. It could not have been a criminal because nothing was stolen and we found no corpse of the dead. Many of us assume that it was an attack from a monster or a wild animal but..."

"But what?" I asked.

"But the only two survivors of the massacre, twin kids, they keep screaming it was a demon, an oni." the man said and from his face, I could tell that he believed them.

"Have they not asked for more details?"

"That's the thing. Both of them had gone deaf after the attack,"

The world stilled. My heart turned into lead in my chest and it weighs heavy and cold.

...

...

"Where can I meet them?"

"I don't think you should meet them but they are in the village hospital." the man said and I nodded my head in thanks.

I walked away and headed towards the hospital immediately which was quite neat. Most villages didn't have hospitals but I guess Mizuhara was not just any village with its rice production.

"Calm down," I said out loud while gripping my chest.

This was familiar. It was all too familiar.

...

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It was not only familiar.

It was exactly the same.

"A demon with the appearance of an old man. He had a hunched back and his body was full of wrinkles like it was decomposing. There was a mark in his left eye, Kanji and his scream robbed me of my hearing."

The image of the demon brought out my darkest memories. A demon with the appearance of an old man, holding down my naked sister as he devoured her.

"A Kanji in his eyes?" I asked before writing my question down on a piece of paper and letting the boy read it.

"Yes!! There was a mark on his left eye,"

A lower moon huh, that was surprising but at the same time not. It was stated in the anime that the ranks of the lower moon kept on changing while the upper moon remained constant.

So it was logical that the demon who attacked my family that night had now become a lower moon.

"Thank you for your help kid," I said and gave a pat to the eight-year-old child.

Just like he spared me, the old demon spared him and his twin brother too. I did not know why but that demon seemed to spare children, maybe in a weird twisted way that was beyond his moral code.

It had been a total of three days since the attack. The memory must still be new to the kid, I did not want to make him remember but it couldn't be helped. I remember being pissed that everyone kept asking me about it when it happened to me.

"Are you going to fight that demon mister?" the kid asked me with his big eyes with dark bags.

I paused. Then I smiled.

I took up the notebook and pencil again and wrote my answer.

Fighting was not the right word. He was not worth fighting.

Instead, I will do something far crueller.

"I am just going to talk to him. I will let him know all of the pain he has caused to you and everyone he has ever encountered,"

After that, I got up from the bed and left the room.

Everything was quiet as I walked out of the hospital and out of the village. The people looked at me but they only saw a stoic face which they could not read.

But after I left the village, when I was all alone in the forest. My facade broke and bloodlust rolled off my body, chasing away the insects, birds and any other being with sentience.

"Well, well, well, it all came back full circle." I chuckled at the ridiculousness of it all.

I thought the old demon was some small fry and that he would've probably died at this point. But it seemed not only was he alive, but he had gotten even stronger.

"Thank god you are alive. Thank you," I said and the emotions in my chest forced tears out of my eyes.

Then the purple orbs in my eyes started giving off a deep glow as I activated the transparent world at its full capacity and more.

I gazed upon the forest and the world bore her naked truth to me. I could see visions of the past with the help of the sheer details my eyes were able to see.

I saw a footprint of a deer and from the depth alone, I was able to deduce the size and weight of said animal and how it stepped on it.

The scene played in my mind as if reality rewinded.

I could tell the speed at which it moved, where it stopped and sniffed the air, which blade of grass he ate and so on.

It was like in the movies when a detective checked a crime scene and constructed what happened in his mind.

But unlike them, what was happening to me was not limited to one place but to the whole world around me.

I felt a buzz in my brain and my eyes worked like never before. This was the first time I had accomplished such feats.

My eyes really were more than the transparent world at this point, I was sure. It was evolving as I aged and gained experience.

Maybe it was similar to the sharingan with how they were responding to my hate. I thought to myself.

But I did not spare any time to linger on such thoughts. I walked around the forest, looking at the smallest detail of everything as my mind constructed scenes of what happened an hour before, three hours before, a day before...

Three days before.

Until eventually, I found a clue.

Dried blood on the leaves. It could've been the blood of any animal, impossible to distinguish but my eyes were able to do so. I looked closely at the blood, focusing my entire being on it.

From the dryness and the mix of water, I could tell that it was a few days old. Then from the size and shape of the red blood cells, I could tell that it was the blood of a human.

Most animals had larger cells than humans and those cells had nuclei. Human red blood cells were circular and without a nucleus. So it was not difficult for my eyes to differentiate them.

Then I changed my gaze to the direction of the blood and I saw broken twigs and plants, making a trail. From those things, I deduced the size of the creature passing through and it fit the size of the old demon I remembered.

I could vividly imagine the demon going through this forest after it had a good meal. His white hair drenched in blood left droplets of blood.

"Found you," I said and my eyes glowed brighter and my tears had turned red due to the overuse of my eyes.

It was going to be a wonderful reunion after 9 years.

..

..

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[3rd POV]

Lower Moon demon ranked second.

Onryoku.

He has the appearance of an old man with a hunched back. He had a balding head with sparse white hair falling from his head and skin that was wrinkled more than an old rag.

He was a demon who travelled around Japan, always moving. He would sneak into villages and slaughter whoever he wanted and eat them before continuing his journey.

Well, to call it a journey would be incorrect because he had no destination. Instead, he felt safer when he never stayed in the same place. He was at ease when he was always running away.

Running from who exactly?

He was running away from his Karma.

..

He was one of the oldest demons in existence. It could be said that from his travels, he knew the landscapes of Japan like the back of his hand.

That was why he never even had to hide, no one could find him.

But today, it was different.

Someone finally found him.

"Hummmmmm~ Hummmmmm~" A rhythmic humming noise left his mouth. He sent out sound waves that the human ears couldn't hear, they were ultrasound.

Then from the sound waves that reflected back to his ears, he could make a mental map of the surroundings in his head. It was echolocation, a special ability that animals like bats and dolphins could use.

And just like before, everything was fine except the human that was following his tail a little while way back was still there.

The demon had been changing his direction and tried his best to escape because he did not want conflict unless he was hungry.

But the human kept on following him. The man did not try to catch up to him and was seemingly satisfied with just following his trail.

Onryoku has had enough of playing cat and mouse.

'It's been four days since I ate my last meal anyways, I could use a snack.' he thought to himself, not taking the human as a threat.

He should've been more afraid and took the human seriously. Maybe then he would realize that he was being hunted.

Onryoku looked at the moon and determined that sunrise was still hours away. He could kill the follower and enjoy eating the human for as long as he wanted.

He picked up the best ambush place and hid behind a large rock with deep cover. He stayed hidden and waited for his prey.

...

A few minutes later, the human finally stopped. The man was a few meters away from the boulder where he was hiding.

"Finally, I caught you." the man said as if he could see through the boulder.

Realizing that he had been discovered, Onryoku jumped out from his hiding spot and landed on top of the boulder. He took a look at the human and he was shocked, to say the least.

Purple eyes locked on him immediately. They had blood flowing out of them which the man quickly wiped away.

'I've seen those eyes before but where?' Onryoku asked himself thoughtfully.

Then he saw the long sword carried by the young man in his left hand. He had already expected the human to be a Demon Slayer from the way he was being tracked so it was no surprise.

The man slowly pulled out his sword and Onryoku was finally hit with a surprise.

'Evil Demon.'

'Destroyer'

A Hashira?

No, that longsword and the colour purple.

It was him.

"I have so many things to tell you.."

And so, Karma finally caught up to the demon who always ran.

...

...

[IMAGE]

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Author : Next Chapter coming soon so throw stones!!