Night.
Forest.
Masashi lay on the bone-chilling ground, his body twitching constantly from the intense pain.
His vision was blurred—the world before his eyes veiled in a red haze.
His own blood.
And crouched atop him was a hair-raising monster.
This demon was small and thin, with gray, mottled skin.
Its back hunched high, like a stooped beast, and it was greedily tearing at Masashi’s flesh.
Every bite was accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of bones cracking and flesh ripping—each noise harsh and distinct in the quiet forest.
Masashi was an ordinary doctor who ran a small clinic.
That day, in order to find rare medicinal herbs for several patients in urgent need of treatment, he had risked venturing deep into this desolate forest.
Everything had gone smoothly at first—until the sky began to darken and he still hadn’t found the key herbs he needed.
For the sake of his patients, he gritted his teeth and decided to search a little longer.
He hadn’t expected that this momentary lapse in judgment would lead him to encounter this legendary, terrifying existence: a man-eating demon.
“Ugh…”
Masashi wanted to scream, but only a weak groan escaped his throat.
Intense pain surged like waves, crashing against his nerves, but his heart was filled more with resentment and despair.
The faces of the three patients in his clinic appeared in his mind: a child with a high fever waiting for medicine, an elderly person with a broken leg in urgent need of bone-setting herbs, and a young mother, gravely ill and pale.
They were all waiting for him to return.
Waiting for him to bring back the life-saving herbs.
“Please… spare me…”
Masashi used all his strength to squeeze the words from his throat.
His eyes were filled with pleading as he looked at the demon currently feasting on his body.
“In my clinic… there are still three patients… waiting for me to treat them… They… cannot do without me…”
The demon stopped tearing and slowly raised its head.
Fresh red blood and scraps of flesh still hung from the corners of its mouth.
Its murky, yellow eyes flickered with a playful, cruel light.
It tilted its head, studying Masashi’s gaze—a gaze filled with both despair and desperate hope.
“Saving people?”
The demon’s voice was hoarse and harsh, like two rusty iron plates grinding together.
“You say you want to save people?
But… I am about to starve to death right now.”
The demon extended its gray, sharp claws and gently stroked Masashi’s face, twisted with fear.
“Why don’t you save me too, hmm?”
The demon grinned, revealing a mouthful of uneven, jagged teeth—its smile twisted and hideous.
“I am hungry.
Very, very hungry.
If you don’t let me eat, I will die too. Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
As a doctor, shouldn’t you save the dying and heal the wounded?
Since you want to save those patients, why can’t you sacrifice yourself to save me—the one about to starve to death?
Use your flesh, your bones, to feed me full.
Hehehe.”
Listening to these absurd, cruel words, the light in Masashi’s eyes gradually faded.
He understood: the monster before him had not a shred of humanity left.
It was simply a demon that fed on humans.
“No… no…”
Masashi shook his head in despair.
Tears mixed with blood flowed down his cheeks.
The demon watched as the despair in Masashi’s eyes grew thicker, and the pleasure in its heart intensified.
It remembered that it, too, had once worn such a look—the powerlessness and despair in the face of tyranny, hunger, and death.
Later, when it became a demon and gained great power, it found itself deeply infatuated with that very expression.
Watching weak humans struggle and beg before it, only to die in despair—this pleasure of controlling life and death intoxicated it more than any delicious flesh.
“Yes… that’s the look.”
The demon excitedly licked its lips, the red light in its eyes intensifying.
“Filled with fear, resentment, and deep despair.
Truly wonderful.
This will make your meat even more delicious.”
With that, the demon ignored Masashi’s pleas and buried its head again, resuming its frantic feeding.
Masashi’s consciousness gradually blurred.
Amid endless pain, he thought of the patients waiting for him one last time—his heart filled with endless regret and remorse.
Time passed.
The forest fell silent.
On the ground, the once-living doctor, Masashi, was now reduced to an incomplete skeleton and a solitary head.
The demon let out a satisfied burp and reached out to pick up the head.
Its eyes were still wide open, pupils dilated—freezing the despair and fear from just before death.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk… what a perfect expression.”
The demon held the head up before its eyes, examining it carefully in the faint moonlight as if appreciating a rare treasure.
“Look at this desperate gaze—so pure, so moving.
Compared to those who die without any awareness, a soul like yours—carrying such strong resentment and despair—has so much more chewiness when eaten.”
The demon stuck out its tongue, licking the remaining blood from the cheek of the head, a look of intoxication spreading across its face.
It not only enjoyed the physical satiety but also reveled in this mental abuse and devastation.
It seemed as if it could feel, through this head, the trembling and collapse of Masashi’s soul in his final moments.
“What a pity.
The demon muttered to itself, tossing the head into the nearby grass like a piece of trash.
“Still, it was passable as an appetizer.”
The demon stood up and stretched.
It turned around, preparing to leave this place and search for its next prey.
After all, one thin doctor was not enough to fill its insatiable appetite.
“Let’s go for a stroll around the nearby town… Perhaps I might encounter a more tender and delicious young girl…”
The demon muttered to itself, taking steps out of the forest.
Just then, a cold, clear voice sounded behind it.
“Demon.
Stop.”
The demon’s steps faltered.
It slowly turned around, a flash of violence in its eyes.
Standing in the shadow of the trees not far away was a young girl wearing the Demon Slayer Corps uniform.
She had long black hair, purple butterfly hair ornaments on both sides, and was draped in a colorful butterfly-patterned haori.
Her face was beautiful, and her eyes were clear and gentle—but at this moment, those beautiful eyes burned with raging anger.
Kanae Kocho’s gaze crossed over the demon and landed on the head in the grass—the head that had died with eyes wide open.
“You…”
Kanae’s voice trembled slightly as she gripped the Nichirin sword at her waist tightly.
“You actually… murdered an innocent person.”
She had always hoped that humans and demons could coexist peacefully—hoping that there would be no more slaughter and tragedy in this world.
Every time she saw such a scene—humans being cruelly killed by demons—her heart ached as if it were being cut by a knife.
She could not forgive this act of wantonly trampling on life.
Nor could she forgive this brutal behavior of treating humans as food.
“You deserve to die.”
Kanae raised her head, staring at the demon with a gaze like a torch.
The gentleness in her eyes had been replaced by sharp killing intent.
“To satisfy your own gluttony, you casually deprive others of their lives, causing them to fall into despair… Such behavior is absolutely unforgivable.”
The demon looked at the angry Demon Slayer Corps swordsman before it and did not show much fear.
On the contrary, it tilted its head, a mocking curl at the corner of its mouth.
Although it could feel that the aura emanating from this young girl was much stronger than that of an ordinary human—even stronger than an average member of the Demon Slayer Corps—it did not take her seriously.
Because it was not yet full.
“Deserve to die?”
The demon sneered, sticking out its tongue to lick the remaining blood from the corner of its mouth.
“Little girl, your words are truly interesting.
When humans eat chicken, duck, fish, and meat, it is only natural and right.
Why is it that when demons eat humans, they deserve to die?
This is nothing more than the law of nature: the law of the jungle.
Survival of the fittest.”