Anime/Manga: Bankai Starting with Demon Slayer

“I told my brother not to be foolish! How could we possibly give a fair chance to a heartless boss like that! We should raid the place and smash that damn company! But he wouldn’t listen!” Shi Ba said, his voice trembling with anger.

“He always says, what’s the difference between that and those bullies… follow the rules… what’s the point! Following the rules will only kill you! What good is it!”

Asuka interrupted Shiba's conversation, asking doubtfully, "You said that by joining forces... there are more than just Shiba in the workplace who suffer from work-related injuries."

"That's right... In order to save costs, the dyeing and textile companies provide very poor protection for their workers! And the government is on their side, which means that those who get sick can only wait to die at home. Of course, no one wants that!"

"I heard that last year in Russia, a worker-led uprising broke out, and they even became generals and emperors! These things are circulating in the factory now; everyone wants to unite and cause trouble for the boss, but this happened..."

Is it a coincidence...? Asuka pondered.

Besides the victims of the accident, there was another worker who suffered a workplace injury while working in Sendai...

All the clues began to converge, the stories connecting to each other, leading all the way to the Sendai Dyeing Company, which gave Asuka a bold guess:

Could it be that this ghost is targeting these workers? Or is it connected to them? Could the others be just a smokescreen or innocent victims caught in the crossfire...?

As for why it's a shadow...

Flesh, internal organs, and bones—these are the sources of power for demons.

Perhaps because the spirits of the demons have become so corrupted that they can no longer be used for food, when the demons kill, they can only create the so-called "shadow disease" to deceive others. Their true purpose is merely to conceal the demons' true intentions.

Perhaps that's true.

As her thoughts gradually became clearer, Asuka also made a plan.

"You said your brother colluded with others, so are there other villagers in the vicinity who have suffered work-related injuries?"

“...Yes!” Shiba asked, trying to recall the information in her mind. “...It should be in...Yamamoto in the north...no, Marumori Village! There’s a worker there who came back from Sendai with my older brother!”

Asuka stood up, and Shiba hurriedly stood up to look at him:

"Where are you going? To Marumori Village?"

"Not bad." Asuka nodded and placed her hand on the Nichirin Blade at her waist.

"If I'm not mistaken, he'll be there tonight."

Chapter 22 Faceless Ghost

Dark as ink.

Marumori Village, nestled in a small valley on the way to Sendai, appears even more dilapidated and desolate tonight.

Asuka leaned against the outside of a mud hut with a thatched roof, holding her Nichirin Blade and waiting quietly.

He arrived at the place at dusk and found the half-dead worker under the eaves.

To be honest, even without any shadow disease, his condition wouldn't have allowed him to survive the winter.

His skin clung tightly to his bones, his sunken eye sockets resembled a skull, and every cough was heart-wrenching, his phlegm containing black streaks and bloody froth, his whole being exuding an aura of death.

"Although I haven't seen Shi Ao, judging from the situation of the people there, I guess it's a similar situation."

"It doesn't look like ordinary tuberculosis or dye contamination... Could it be the influence of a ghost?"

Recalling the mission given to her by the Demon Slayer Corps to go to Sendai to find the demon, Asuka suddenly felt that she had some clues.

As the bird was deep in thought, it suddenly sensed a powerful surge of malevolent energy in the air.

They've arrived.

The worker, who was lying on the tatami mat on the verge of death, suddenly had his shadow, which was as thin as morning mist, wriggle and then seemed to come alive, being torn apart from the worker's body!

The seriously ill person couldn't withstand such torment and immediately broke out in a fit of coughing, almost passing out.

Without the slightest hesitation, the bird vanished from its spot in an instant and reappeared in the courtyard like a whirlwind, heading straight for the mud house. From the corner of the wall, an unusual shadowy figure drew its sword!

"Wind Breathing - First Form - Dust Whirlwind - Slash!"

The Nichirin Blade hummed, slicing through the air in a crescent moon shape, its speed so fast that even Shiba, who was hiding in the shadows of the courtyard preparing to help, was caught off guard.

Sensing the sudden surge of murderous intent, the shadowy figure twitched violently.

The pitch-black matter rapidly condensed and shaped, and a ghostly figure composed of pure shadows separated from it.

It has no facial features, only a vague head outline and humanoid limbs and torso, and its entire body is pitch black, as if it can absorb all the light around it.

laugh!

The expected sensation of severing the body did not occur.

Although the ghostly figure didn't have time to dodge the bird's swift strike and was hit squarely in the body, the bird felt a strange sense of emptiness in its hand.

Like a cloud blown away by the wind, a cloud of black mist instantly dissipated from the ghostly figure's abdomen.

As the invisible threads of air pulled the ghostly figure back together, its cleaved body slowly merged back to its original state.

"It has no physical form, or is this a Blood Demon Art..." Asuka couldn't tell, and could only cautiously observe the opponent's movements.

After the ghostly figure returned, it slowly approached the wall like a black fog and merged into the wall at an extremely fast speed!

Seeing that the ghost was about to enter the house, Fei Niao didn't stand on ceremony and kicked open the wooden door, rushing inside.

The ghostly figure had seeped into the walls, sometimes reaching out a ghostly hand from the roof, sometimes pulling at the worker from the floor.

Asuka's Nichirin Blade danced up and down, almost tearing the mud house to shreds, but she couldn't find the ghostly figure's true form.

He could only passively protect the worker, preventing the evil spirit from taking away his last bit of life energy.

Seeing that the withered worker's breath was growing weaker and his face was becoming paler, Asuka knew she couldn't continue entangled with him like this.

"I'm sorry, but I did this to save your life!"

Asuka lowered her body, her powerful breaths surging throughout her body, and a domineering and tyrannical force began to gather between her arms!

"Wind Breathing - Fourth Form - Rising Amidst the Sandstorm!"

The Nichirin Blade swiftly slashed upwards from bottom to top!

A powerful, spiraling wind swept up all the furnishings in the room, forming a clanging, violently rising spiral tornado!

With this strike, the fragile thatched roof was shattered by the flying bird! The ghostly figure was also slashed through the wall in this strike, tumbling backward in a disheveled manner.

Strangely enough, this ghostly figure focused entirely on the withered worker from beginning to end, and when faced with the bird's attack, it only defended and never attacked, even though its defensive capabilities seemed quite strong...

The ghostly figure drifted slowly to the ground along the chaotic air currents, like a sheet being blown by the wind, or a willow branch swaying in the breeze, giving the birds a strange feeling.

"Is this your true form? Or is this just an illusion?"

"..."

Upon arriving in this world, Asuka encountered a being even less talkative than herself for the first time. Whether the ghostly figure opposite her didn't want to speak or for some other reason, it didn't engage in any verbal communication with Asuka from beginning to end.

Asuka glanced out of the corner of her eye at the workers tending to the fence behind her, then looked down at the fence...

No, this thing is still draining his life force; we must deal with it as soon as possible!

"Since you're not coming, then I'll go."

With a light tap of her toes, Asuka shot out again, her colorless Nichirin Blade flashing up and down, continuously slashing with precise and sharp strikes under the moonlight.

Whoosh!Whoosh!

However, these slashes, when they struck the ghost, only stirred up a cloud of dust and a strong wind, and simply tore apart its misty body before quickly healing, having no lethal effect whatsoever.

But suddenly, when the workers at the Shiba Inu Frozen Carp Factory tried to carry him away from there...

The ghostly figure reacted much more strongly, making its first proactive attack on the bird, seemingly trying to force it back and thus stop Shiba.

Why...

Clang!

Asuka's Nichirin Blade collided with the solidified body of the demon for the first time, producing a violent collision sound!

What is it worried about?

Thoughts raced through her mind, and suddenly Asuka felt a flash of inspiration. Her gaze abruptly turned to the spot where the stone had been placed.

It was a shadow! He remembered the three little devils he had seen during the day; their shadows had a ghostly scent, indicating that ghosts were marking their prey.

And this worker, it's harvest time... so the smell on him must be the strongest!

Feiniao quickly pressed his senses to check for any abnormalities in the worker, and sure enough!

Within the worker's thin, misty shadow, a dark figure filled with malice seemed to be pulling at his feet, clinging tightly to him!

"So this is where it was!"

Asuka suddenly changed tactics, no longer fixated on intercepting the elusive ghostly figure.

The blade flashed and the body whirled around.

He descended from the sky in a flash! The Nichirin Blade, carrying a chilling wind pressure of killing intent, pierced straight at the almost vanished ground projection beneath the worker!

Pfft!

"what--!!"

A heart-wrenching scream rang out instantly!

The ghostly figure that had been unharmed until now suffered real injury for the first time!

It convulsed and rolled wildly! The black mist that formed the body fluctuated violently, and even began to collapse unstablely at the edges!

Seeing this, the bird didn't waste any more words. It gathered all the wind pressure and slammed it into the ground!

boom! !

The ground cracked instantly, but the birds did not stop, continuing to attack every projection on the ground.

The ghostly figure let out an even more piercing scream, its entire body trembling! Its form grew increasingly faint!

Right now!

After Asuka completely quelled all the evil thoughts in the scene, the ghostly figure was finally about to collapse, and Asuka finally realized that the other party might not be a real ghost at all!

It has a strong ghostly aura, but it has no physical form. Now, a gust of wind is enough to blow it away!

"Get out of here!" Asuka shouted, her sword aura whistling as it shot out!

call--!!

Like a raging storm, the ghostly figure was utterly shattered by the sword wind of the flying bird!

"Cough...cough cough..."

Almost simultaneously, a worker began coughing violently in the courtyard.

As the bird sheathed its knife and looked back, it saw that under the worker's violent trembling, the shadow slowly regained its color, turning as black as ink in a few breaths!

Then, his lifeless face regained a little color, but his breathing remained weak.

The shadow has returned, but the vitality that has been stolen is like spilled water that cannot be recovered.

"What on earth is going on...?"

Looking at the damaged courtyard and the faint ghostly aura lingering in the air, Asuka felt that something was amiss...

At this moment, Osaki Hachiman Shrine in Sendai City.

A small jade talisman shattered.

Chapter 23 A Greater Shadow

Osaki Hachiman Shrine was formerly the tutelary palace Hachimangu Shrine founded by Tamura Maro Sakaue in the Heian period in Mizusawa City, Iwate Prefecture.

In the twelfth year of Keicho, the Sendai domain lord Date Masamune moved it to Sendai and named it [Osaki Hachimangu Shrine]. After the Meiji era, it was renamed Osaki Hachiman Shrine.

The shrine was revered by successive Sendai feudal lords and residents as a place of prayer for warding off disasters, bringing good fortune, and ensuring safe childbirth.

The temple enshrines the guardian deity of the local Sendai region, who is especially revered by those born in the years of the Dog and the Pig.

By this time, the night was deep, and the pilgrims had long since dispersed.

As the ancient shrine sank into the night, it was no longer just the whispers of the breeze and old trees, but also the faint, labored hum of machinery emanating from within and outside the city, like the panting of a sick beast...

The innermost room of the shrine is a dimly lit Japanese-style room, next to a thousand-year-old sacred tree wrapped with a huge shimenawa rope, which looks particularly eerie.

Inside, a middle-aged man with long black hair, wearing a dark-patterned kimono, was leisurely playing with a jade talisman in his hand, scrutinizing the talisman and the other people in front of him with a pair of strange eyes.

"Master Priest..."

A shrewd-looking, obese man, who was fiddling with prayer beads, respectfully bowed to the man holding the talisman in the superior position, and then respectfully presented a register filled with names.

"These are the troublemakers at the dye factory who don't know their place, incite trouble, and collude with reporters..."