The transformation between Demons isn't easy, and many won't do it.
The fundamental power of a Demon comes from a thread of blood within their body. It's the blood of the Demon King, the source that created the Demon.
To transform one of their own kind, they need to give up a portion of this blood. But this means their own strength will be significantly weakened. If they're unlucky, the newly transformed Demon might awaken a powerful Blood Demon Art and could even accidentally kill them while in an unconscious frenzy.
Demons don't need Nichirin Blades to kill each other; they just need to eat their opponent bite by bite.
However, battles between Demons usually aren't fought to the death. Their fights can be brutal, with flesh, blood, and severed limbs flying everywhere, but ultimately, once it's clear one side can defeat the other, the winning side will stop. They rarely kill their opponent outright.
This is completely different from humans. Among humans, there are countless examples of people wiping out entire families over minor disputes, leaving no one behind.
"If that one really is a newborn Demon, what you said is very likely."
"Otherwise, the other one would have driven it away long ago and wouldn't leave it in its hunting ground." Kanae agreed with Kurozawa's idea.
Kurozawa stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "How about this? I'll go into the forest outside the village and take care of the slightly stronger one, and you handle the one in the village."
As soon as he finished speaking, Kanae said unhappily, "Leaving the one with the weaker presence to me? Do you think I need looking after? When it comes to hunting Demons, I'm your senior."
He hadn't expected Kanae to be a bit competitive in this regard.
Kurozawa tilted his head, glanced at Kanae, and said calmly, "I don't think that."
"It's just, think about it, as someone with Fighting Spirit perception, isn't it easier and faster to search for Demons in the complex terrain of the forest than someone who doesn't have Fighting Spirit perception?"
Kanae's breath hitched, then she nodded gloomily. "I understand. Let's decide that then. I'll handle the one in the village, and you go deal with the one in the forest."
Nodding in satisfaction, Kurozawa walked with Kanae towards the back of the village.
Since he was going to the forest at the very back anyway, he might as well point out the location of the Demon here to Kanae along the way.
In small villages in the mountains, people mostly believe in legends about Demons, so they were already planning to close their doors and stay inside as soon as the sky began to darken.
Therefore, there weren't many people on the road.
The few locals they occasionally saw looked at Kurozawa and Kanae with curious and wary eyes. In such a remote location, outsiders were very rare.
However, they only took a quick glance at Kurozawa and Kanae before lowering their heads and hurrying towards their homes.
During this time, a dark-skinned local stopped and shouted to Kurozawa and Kanae from a distance, "Hey, there are wild beasts out at night around here. You two should find a place to hide quickly."
But as soon as he finished speaking, he was pulled away by his companion, leaving the two no chance to ask questions.
"The people here seem a little too rushed and nervous." Kanae's attention was sharp; she saw many worried faces.
That nervous look likely meant they had recently experienced a death.
"Wild beast attack... it seems like ninety percent of Demon attacks are explained as wild beast attacks. Tsk, poor wild beasts, they can't explain themselves, they really have suffering they can't speak of." While Kanae was carefully observing the pedestrians, Kurozawa's thoughts had drifted off to who knows where.
The Demon presences he sensed weren't strong. The one in the forest was at most at the level of the female Demon he encountered on the train, so Kurozawa was very relaxed.
"When they say it's a wild beast attack, it looks like they don't even believe it themselves much."
"It's just that compared to believing it's a legendary Demon at work, the explanation of a wild beast attack is clearly more reliable."
When they reached a fork in the road, Kurozawa pointed to the right.
"The fourth house over there, there are two types of Fighting Spirit inside, one human and one Demon. Go check out the situation."
"If you take care of that Demon, we can rest here for a while."
Actually, dealing with this Demon with Kanae wouldn't take more than a few minutes, but Kurozawa preferred to work alone. He hadn't properly used his Blade of Despair yet and needed to find an opportunity to try out Sword Forms again.
Kanae had no objections and turned to walk towards the house. At this moment, her right hand was already touching the Nichirin Blade at her waist. If Kanae was fast, Kurozawa might not even be out of this small village before she had dealt with the Demon. But given Kanae's nature of liking to talk to Demons first, that was probably unlikely.
After separating from Kanae, Kurozawa clearly felt the air become much more free and refreshing.
It seems I'm still used to acting alone. Having someone around only affects me.
At the same time, it felt like someone was watching him in the dark. Kurozawa turned his head to look at the source of the gaze.
In a house by the roadside, someone was secretly looking at him through a crack in the window. After being discovered by Kurozawa, they quickly withdrew their gaze, and the window was closed tightly.
The people in this village seem to have been scared for a long time.
In the gaze directed at him, there was a strong sense of wariness and nervousness. Kurozawa's keen visual perception detected this.
Next, almost every time Kurozawa passed a house, the people inside would secretly look out, seemingly searching for traces of the "wild beasts" they mentioned.
Kurozawa paid no attention to these gazes and walked leisurely towards the forest behind.
The villagers' behavior seemed a bit strange, but Kurozawa knew that this was actually the norm under high-pressure environments. When he was a child, he would accompany Sakonji Urokodaki on missions, and some villages would observe Sakonji Urokodaki's arrival in the same way.
Because this was a Demon's hunting ground, people would occasionally disappear suddenly. The villagers were like startled birds, and no one knew who would disappear next. Over time, this would lead to the current situation.
Perhaps some people couldn't bear it and wanted to leave, but leaving such a remote place was very troublesome, and the real wild beasts in the surrounding forests wouldn't let go of a solitary meal either.
A few minutes later, Kurozawa had reached the boundary behind the small village.
He opened his Fighting Spirit domain and sensed that the human and Demon Fighting Spirits on Kanae's side were very close, already in contact, but their Fighting Spirits remained stable, showing no signs of active combat.
As expected, Kanae wasn't the type to just attack and kill a Demon without a word. She was probably trying to talk to the Demon at this moment.
Kurozawa shook his head and began to suppress his own Fighting Spirit, lowering his presence.
Demons' perception is mostly quite sharp. If they sensed his presence, they might escape beforehand, causing unnecessary trouble.
If I could completely shield my own Fighting Spirit fluctuations, then in the world of perception, it would be like I completely disappeared. That scene, it's truly something to imagine.
As the fluctuations in his Fighting Spirit subsided, Kurozawa's presence also steadily diminished. Soon, he felt like nothing more than a slightly tall ordinary person, the dangerous and deadly aura vanishing rapidly.
After leaving the village and entering the mountain forest, Kurozawa moved through it like a skilled hunter. His steps were usually powerful, but walking on the forest floor covered in leaves and twigs, he made not a single sound.
During combat, Kurozawa preferred to intimidate with his presence, so he never paid attention to such things. But when stealth was required, he could move without making a sound.
A large part of his strength came from Potential Points, but Kurozawa always incorporated training to help him master his rapidly increasing physical attributes. Thanks to the marvel of his Breathing Technique, he always gained control quickly.
It wasn't just Kurozawa; all Swordsmen who had mastered Total Concentration: Constant or higher Breathing Techniques had achieved an extremely fine level of control over all aspects of themselves. Otherwise, they wouldn't be capable of such miraculous feats.
In this part of the mountain forest, there were many tall trees with lush branches and extremely dense canopies, almost completely blocking out all moonlight and starlight.
Kurozawa moved slowly through the darkness, using the very weak light. Because he had specifically enhanced his Pupil Power, his night vision was excellent, and he moved in the dark like a fish in water, like a creature that naturally lived in darkness.
After more than ten minutes, stepping through a small, dim patch of light, Kurozawa looked at a thick tree in front of him.
On the branch of that tree, a figure was leaning against the trunk, looking down at the village below. It seemed completely unaware of Kurozawa's arrival.
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