Fujikasane Mountain
After climbing over a hundred stone steps, the final-selection candidates had gathered atop the mountain. Including Karasuma Reiyu and Shigaraki Genya, there were at least twenty Demon Slayer swordsmen in total.
"Ugh… that's a lot of people," Reiyu muttered, smacking his lips as he scanned the crowd for Tanjirou's familiar figure.
"My foolish junior still hasn't arrived, huh?" After searching without success, Reiyu let out a disappointed sigh. If Tanjirou had been here, he thought with a wry grin, he might have given him a few pre-selection "lessons." Habit had a funny way of shaping a person, and it showed just how much Reiyu had "trained" his junior over the past six months.
Without waiting for anyone to explain the rules, Reiyu bolted deeper into the mountain, ignoring the rest of the candidates.
Passing a weathered stone statue, a small figure suddenly appeared—a white-haired girl, delicate and childlike. Seeing Reiyu rush ahead before the selection officially began, she didn't stop him. Instead, she called out after his retreating figure:
"Stay on the mountain for seven days. Return here for the assembly afterward."
Reiyu ignored her, pressing on. His insatiable hunger to devour demons would boost his strength every time he killed. If he managed to take out every demon on Fujikasane Mountain, he might see his combat power skyrocket to Earth-level.
The thought alone made him tingle with excitement. But hearing the time limit, he realized he couldn't leisurely devour every demon. Time was short, and he would have to slaughter as many as possible before the selection ended if he wanted a transformative leap in power.
Meanwhile, climbing from the base, Tanjirou—wearing the blue haori given to him by Urokodaki—arrived, panting heavily.
"Hmm… I can't smell Reiyu anywhere," he muttered, sniffing the air. The faint traces of Reiyu's presence were already masked by the crowd.
Scratching his head, Tanjirou pushed the thought aside. Reiyu was his senior, yes, but he was hardly the kind to fall prey to some random misfortune mid-route. After all, few demons could actually pose a threat to him—so worrying about it was pointless.
High on the mountain, two demons' necks were almost simultaneously sliced by a cold, shining blade.
With a final shudder, their bodies and heads turned to ash, scattering across the moonlit forest. Faint glimmers of light, barely visible to the naked eye, were absorbed by the sword that had struck them down.
Naturally, the killer was Reiyu.
"Ding!"
System Notification:Congratulations, host. You have killed two low-level demons. Combat power +5!Total Combat Power: 377Overall Rating: Rank 3
Brushing the dust off his shoulders from darting through the forest, Reiyu muttered beneath his Tengu mask, "These demons on Fujikasane are pathetic… I wonder why that old man Urokodaki nagged us so much before the selection even started."
Before leaving Sagiri Mountain, Urokodaki had scolded Reiyu repeatedly to be extremely careful during the final selection. Reiyu had listened with a serious expression—but now, it all seemed like a joke. The demons here were far too weak.
Many of them had lost their minds from going too long without feeding, and they often fought among themselves over prey—practically asking to be killed.
Of course, this was only obvious to a veteran like Reiyu. Most of the selection candidates barely reached Rank 2, and even defeating a single demon was a herculean task. That was why so few ever passed the final selection in previous years.
Sighing lightly, Reiyu melted back into the moonlit shadows of the forest.
But as he passed a massive tree, a figure wielding two swords lunged at him at blinding speed.
There was no time to dodge—but just as the blades were about to strike, a flurry of purple light appeared around Reiyu.
In less than a single breath, the lights coalesced into a skeleton framework: a ribcage and one arm, shimmering with otherworldly energy.
The swords slammed down, only to collide with the spectral skeleton instead of Reiyu's body.
"Susano'o!" Reiyu's low shout reverberated as the skeletal arm swung like a hammer, flinging the attacker away before he could even react.
Reacting instantly, Reiyu activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, his black-and-white eyes transforming into twin crimson irises adorned with intricate black patterns.
"Mangekyō Sharingan!"
In the dark, unable to discern his opponent's face, Reiyu relied on the Sharingan to fight.
"A demon?" he murmured, but quickly dismissed the thought. Judging from the previous strike, this opponent was far stronger than any demon he had seen so far—and wielded swords. Demons rarely carried weapons.
As he focused his Sharingan, Reiyu's eyes narrowed slightly. His opponent wasn't a demon at all. It was a humanoid creature with a grey pig-like head, a deerskin draped around its waist, bear fur around its feet, and a bare, muscular torso.
"What the… are there creatures like this in Demon Slayer?" he thought, a flicker of curiosity crossing his mind.
Before he could ponder further, the humanoid let out a beastly roar and charged again.
"Pig Rush! Pig Rush!"
It swung both swords ferociously.
"Seriously, bro… you're not human, but you don't have to go this hard on me," Reiyu muttered with a shrug, realization dawning: this wasn't some weird humanoid monster. It was a human wearing a pig-head mask, probably another candidate who had rushed up the mountain ahead of time—just like him.