Ikebukuro, Tokyo Prefecture.
In a daze, Tetsuya Kamihara stared up at the blood moon hanging high in the sky, an eerie chill permeating the air around him.
He had arrived in this world a little over half a month ago. In his previous life, he had spent a whole week cooped up inside his apartment during a holiday before finally deciding to take a walk. Exhausted and spaced out, he walked right through a red light—and got instantly wiped out by a fully insured semi-truck. He didn't have much holding him back in that life anyway, considering he was an orphan.
Yet, against all odds, the heavens had granted him a chance at reincarnation. As an avid web novel reader in his past life, Tetsuya accepted his new reality quickly enough. What he never could have anticipated, however, was the specific world he had been dropped into.
Demon Slayer.
A terrifying world where flesh-eating demons roamed freely through the night. If an ordinary person wasn't careful, their only option was to be more careful in their next life.
As for how Tetsuya knew he was in the Demon Slayer universe? That had everything to do with the demon currently standing right outside his door. Peering through a narrow crack in the wooden walls of the shack, Tetsuya watched the scene unfolding outside.
It was a male demon with spiky pink hair and golden eyes. He had deathly pale skin covered in dark blue, criminal-like tattoos, and blood-red fingernails. He wore a short, purplish-red vest and had large beaded anklets wrapped around his ankles. Carved directly into his irises were two distinct kanji characters: Upper Rank and Three.
Tetsuya's hands and feet turned ice cold. 'Running into Upper Rank Three Akaza right at the start? What kind of twisted luck is this?!'
"Do you recognize this flower?" Akaza demanded, casually hoisting a middle-aged man into the air by his throat. He shoved a crumpled, yellowed drawing right into the man's face.
"I don't know it! Please, I beg you, I have a mother and kids to feed—" The man thrashed wildly, sheer terror contorting his features. But before he could finish his desperate plea, a sickening snap echoed through the night. Akaza's terrifying grip crushed the man's cervical spine effortlessly. The man's eyes rolled back into his head, instantly dead.
Tetsuya flinched. A living, breathing human had just been snuffed out right in front of him, as easily as snapping a twig.
"How boring. The weak have no right to live," Akaza muttered, not bothering to hide his absolute disgust. A second later, the demon shifted his golden gaze directly toward the wooden shack.
Tetsuya's heart leaped into his throat.
At that exact moment, a rigid, mechanical voice chimed in his mind.
[Death-Seeking Mission Initiated!]
Tetsuya's mouth twitched, a heavy sense of dread washing over him. 'Please, not now. Don't mess with me right now!'
Like any decent reincarnated protagonist, he had his own cheat ability: The Unlimited Death-Seeking System. It handed out deadly missions on a timer. As long as he completed them, he got rewarded—essentially pushing him to become the ultimate daredevil.
Until now, the tasks had been mostly petty nuisances—like kicking a widow's door down in the middle of the night or digging up some ancestral grave. Thanks to the system, he had actually built quite the notorious reputation around the neighborhood over the past two weeks. Even the stray dogs avoided him so they wouldn't catch a random kick.
But this situation was entirely different. That was Akaza out there—one of the Twelve Kizuki serving directly under Muzan Kibutsuji.
'What, am I supposed to fight Akaza? Would I even win?'
[Congratulations to the host for encountering Upper Rank Three, Akaza, of the Twelve Kizuki! The target is radiating killing intent, and the threat of death is imminent. Death-Seeking Mission released!]
[Task: Provoke Akaza! Based on the level of his resulting fury, you will be rewarded with a special ability!]
[Failure Penalty: The system will uninstall itself!]
Tetsuya wanted to reject it with every fiber of his being, but there was no stopping this damn system from handing out tasks. His expression darkened. 'Are you kidding me? What the hell is there to congratulate about running into Akaza?!'
He could barely keep himself alive as it was, and now he had to actively provoke the demon? Did he have a death wish? And what was up with this brand-new failure penalty? 'Buddy, is there something wrong with your programming? Other systems usually threaten to obliterate their hosts if they fail! Why are you so different? If I fail, you just pack up and leave? You're going to abandon me in this death trap of a world to fend for myself?! Great. Now I have to pamper you like a king just so you don't run away!'
'You're amazing. You're so noble. You dragged me all the way here, but did you ever think about bringing me back?!' Tetsuya screamed internally. When luck decided to abandon you, even drinking cold water could choke you to death.
But the thought of Akaza standing just outside the door brought him back to reality, instantly kicking his brain into maximum overdrive. Fight or flight?
'Screw it,' Tetsuya resolved, gritting his teeth. 'I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place anyway. Might as well bet my life on a sliver of glory!'
Creak.
Tetsuya pushed the wooden door open.
A hint of surprise flashed across Akaza's eyes. The demon had noticed someone hiding in the shack long before this. Judging by the timing, the human must have watched him murder that man just seconds ago. Yet, the kid actually had the guts to step outside and show his face.
"Do you recognize this flower?" Akaza asked, holding out the crumpled, yellowed drawing once again.
Tetsuya looked at the strange blossom sketched on the paper. A Red Spider Lily. Back in his old world, they grew like weeds out in the suburbs. But Akaza wasn't looking for a red one. He was looking for the Blue Spider Lily.
In this world, the sun was the absolute bane of all demons. The moment sunlight touched their flesh, they would instantly disintegrate into ash—Muzan Kibutsuji included. The Blue Spider Lily was the legendary, elusive ingredient needed to help Muzan conquer the sun.
Tetsuya actually knew a few things about the Blue Spider Lily, but he wasn't about to use that intel to bargain for his life. Explaining it would just be way too complicated. Instead, he gave a slow shake of his head. "I don't know it."
That response was exactly what Akaza expected. They had been searching for hundreds of years without a single clue; obviously, some random passerby wouldn't know anything about it.
"Oh. Then die," Akaza said, his voice entirely devoid of emotion as he casually threw a punch.
Whoosh!
The ferocious pressure of the wind shrieked as a massive fist completely filled Tetsuya's vision.
Boom!
At the absolute final fraction of a second, Tetsuya agilely lunged forward, dodging the strike. Akaza's devastating punch connected with the wooden shack behind him instead. Ripples of force warped the air itself as the terrifying shockwave shredded the entire building into splinters.
A deafening explosion roared behind him. Tetsuya glanced over his shoulder, his adrenaline spiking off the charts. The sturdy shack he had been hiding in just moments ago was completely wiped from existence, replaced by a massive crater over twenty feet wide. The backdraft of the wind tore past him like physical blades, leaving shallow cuts across his cheeks, his clothes, and his arms.
"Hm?" Akaza furrowed his brow, genuine surprise coloring his features this time. Sure, it was a casual punch, but it was fast enough to obliterate most Demon Slayers. Just who was this kid?
Tetsuya forced a strained smile onto his face. Well, at least the last two weeks of courting death hadn't been a complete waste. Thanks to the system's body enhancements, his physical reflexes were already exceptional by human standards. But it wasn't enough. He needed real power.
Keeping his voice steady, Tetsuya looked the demon in the eye. "Please, let me become one of you!"