…
The sun touched my skin.
But… I didn't burn.
I didn't scream. I didn't evaporate. I didn't even feel a sting.
Instead… I felt warmth.
A comforting, strange warmth, as if the sun had finally… accepted me.
I closed my eyes for a moment and lifted my face toward the light.
The rays gently fell upon my skin.
"I'm… under the sun?"
I raised my hand in front of me, watching the light pass through it, and yet… no fire.
My skin remained intact.
In fact, it looked as though a faint green aura surrounded me… barely visible, but undeniably there.
> [System: Sun Immunity… Activated.]
[Classification updated: "Hybrid—Quasi-Human".]
[Note: No demon in recorded history has ever survived direct sunlight.]
[You are the first.]
I laughed again.
But this time… it was a quiet laugh. Heavy. Like someone who had finally found the truth.
> "So this is what everyone was running from? This… is beautiful."
I stood there for a moment, under the open sky, watching the trees dance in the morning light.
Then I looked at my hands… and remembered Muzan—his blood, his fear of the sun, his obsession with immortality.
> "You were looking for this, weren't you?"
"But I found it first."
I can't believe how foolish I was… how could I have ever considered giving it to someone else?
I exhaled deeply and started moving forward.
My purpose had changed.
No longer bound to the night.
No longer hiding in the shadows.
> "It's time…"
The Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.
That's my destination now.
To keep myself away… from Muzan.
I don't know what he'll do to me now that I've consumed the elixir.
But then…
I stopped.
My eyes.
"Damn it…"
I placed my hand over my left eye.
There it was—still engraved in a demonic hue: 『three』
Even if my body had changed… become immune to the sun… wouldn't these markings still raise suspicion?
Before I could even ask, the system responded:
> [System: Visual concealment anomaly detected.]
[Suggestion: Activate partial concealment for embedded identifiers.]
[Do you wish to hide the "three" insignia from your eyes?]
I smiled.
> "Finally… you're thinking ahead."
> [Confirm concealment?] [Yes] – [No]
"Yes."
> [Activating…]
[Complete.]
A small sting in my eye… like the air itself was reshaping my features.
I opened my eyes again and looked at my reflection in a nearby pool of water.
Nothing.
No symbol. No title. No rank.
Only an empty pupil… hollow and lifeless.
Akaza—unchained, shadowless.
I smirked slightly and whispered:
> "Now… I can go."
---
The plains stretched endlessly before me.
A carpet of green grass danced in the gentle breeze.
I took my first step out of the shadows.
The ground beneath me grew softer.
Everything here felt alive.
Even the air… welcomed me.
I walked alone.
No shadows trailing me, no footsteps echoing—only the crunch of grass underfoot.
I continued walking for nearly two hours… until I saw it.
A dense, towering forest.
Massive trees… a thick green wall.
The Forest of Passage.
Its trees were unlike any I had seen before—trunks thick as towers, limbs weaving into a living canopy of shifting shadow and light.
I moved lightly, feeling as though the earth itself was inviting me in.
I leapt.
My foot landed on the first branch, then I rose upward.
I started gliding between the branches, nimble as wind.
Every leap lifted me higher, every branch became a stepping stone beneath me.
The wind's whisper. The rustling leaves. A startled bird's call… everything came back to life.
> "I've changed…"
My speed increased.
My jumps grew longer.
My breathing became steady, natural.
My heart beat in a rhythm I had never known—as if something deep inside had begun to harmonize with the world.
And then…
Suddenly, the forest ended.
In front of me—nothing but open sky.
The branches behind me gone. The ground beneath me no longer.
But I didn't stop.
I jumped.
One leap… but it was more than that.
I flew.
fluttering into the air behind me.
I landed softly on rocky ground—smooth, sloped, rimmed with dry grass.
I looked around.
A range of ridges stretched before me like a natural wall.
Heavy white clouds gathered on the horizon, as if the sky itself were holding its breath.
Still, I walked on.
No paved road… only shattered stones, thorns, and harsh slopes seemingly built to test my resolve.
But I didn't slow down.
Every step took me closer to one goal:
The Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.
…
I passed through a narrow ravine, descended through its jagged rocks, and emerged to face desolate hills, then a withered forest—its leaves dead while still standing.
No one was here.
It was as if the land itself knew I was coming… and cleared the way.
And yet… I kept going.
This wasn't the loneliness of weakness.
It was the solitude… of a hunter.
> "There's no turning back now."
Hours passed… or maybe more.
The sun began to drift westward.
The sky bled slowly into red.
And then… I saw it.
Atop the opposing mountain—
A massive, majestic structure carved into the stone,
unlike anything I'd ever seen.
"The Demon Slayer Headquarters."
End of chapter
Demon Slayer Headquarters photo in the comments