(Time returns to when Akihiro fled the bodies of his family)
Akihiro looked up at the sky, but he couldn't see anything.
The wind and snow were intense, stirring up the clouds, making the sky unpredictable.
Combined with his previous chaotic and blurry consciousness, he didn't know how long he had been running, and he couldn't even tell what time it was now.
The moonlight spilled onto the snow, and the glistening snow repeatedly reflected the moonlight, making everything around him bright, even though it was still night.
"I heard the elders say that demons are immortal, only fearing sunlight."
"When the sun rises and its light shines upon the world, even the strongest demons will turn to ashes and dissipate."
"If this wind and snow suddenly stop, and it happens to be daytime... then with the sunlight, I'll be dead, won't I?"
He wanted to figure out where he was and what time it was, but the hunger in his stomach erupted again, interrupting Akihiro's thoughts.
Reluctantly, Akihiro bent down and scooped a handful of snow into his mouth. The icy snowflakes melted into ice water in his warm mouth, then slid down his throat.
Akihiro felt a rush of coolness from his throat directly into his stomach, slightly easing the burning hunger in his belly.
But the next second, a feeling of nausea and sickness washed over him, and his stomach churned, rejecting the incoming snow water.
So, shortly after eating the snow water, Akihiro vomited it out again...
The hunger didn't lessen; instead, it grew even stronger.
Akihiro was helpless.
"Can demons not eat anything but humans?"
"Without eating humans, I have no strength, and energy is conserved. Even if they're immortal, demons should enter a dormant state from exhaustion, right?"
"No strength, how can I find the culprit and seek revenge? How can I kill demons... Does this mean I can only choose to eat people?"
At this moment, Akihiro was no longer the gentle, kind older brother he was when facing his family.
Now, he wasn't overly resistant to eating humans.
As long as it wasn't his own family, in order to gain strength, in order to find the culprit and avenge his family.
Akihiro wouldn't mind eating people.
"No, I can't just eat people randomly. If I must eat, I have to seek out evil people, or only eat those who have already died from other demon attacks."
"Otherwise, if I ever meet Tanjiro again, how can I face him?"
Even eating evil people would be a last resort. If there were any other choice, Akihiro would definitely not choose to eat people.
Let alone just being difficult, even the most heinous person wouldn't choose to eat their own kind.
That's not evil; that's depraved.
Although his body had become a demon, deep down, Akihiro still considered himself human.
The footprints he made on the snow when he arrived had already been filled by new snowflakes falling from the sky.
Akihiro looked around and found that this world of snow offered no discernible direction.
The continuing heavy wind and snow also deprived him of his ability to orient himself.
"I can't waste time. I can already feel my body getting weaker and weaker; I just want to fall asleep."
Severe injuries combined with extreme, long-distance travel, and the fact that Akihiro had only licked some of Kie's blood since becoming a demon, meant he was now extremely weak.
Although he possessed the physique of a demon, his body's surface was completely intact, even far stronger and more advantageous than before.
However, in reality, every cell in Akihiro's body was screaming for energy and nourishment; otherwise, they would simply cease to function until someday reawakened by flesh and blood.
Feeling that his situation was not optimistic, Akihiro could no longer stand idly, thinking and regretting.
"Now, I need to find 'food' to fill my stomach, and a temporary dwelling where I can avoid sunlight."
Unable to determine direction, Akihiro had no choice but to randomly pick one, walking quickly while contemplating what he should do next.
But even at a "quick walk," his speed was equivalent to a normal person's jog.
Even a newly born demon, even one weakened from lack of food, possessed a physique far superior to that of an ordinary human.
After all, demons are predators who feed on humans.
As he traveled, Akihiro silently counted in his mind. After about half an hour of walking quickly like this, he stopped.
He twitched his nose, and instantly, a large number of blood vessels spread densely across Akihiro's eyes.
He had to take a deep breath, allowing the cold air to fill his lungs, before his frantic mind calmed down.
This familiar sensation made it difficult for him to suppress the urges in his heart.
"Hoo."
"This smell... it's the smell of blood..."
"And a brutal, violent, chaotic scent... it must be a demon."
Being from the same family, their talents were generally similar.
Tanjiro's sense of smell had reached the point where he could discern people's emotions. Although far inferior to Tanjiro's, Akihiro's sense of smell had always been much better than a normal person's.
Now that he had become a demon, with all his bodily functions enhanced, Akihiro's already decent sense of smell became even more acute.
Although still incomparable to the current Tanjiro, it had already vaguely reached the level of Tanjiro's childhood sense of smell...
"Demon!"
Akihiro clenched his fist abruptly, his sharp nails digging deep into his flesh, but at this moment, he completely ignored the stinging pain.
Before Muzan appeared, Akihiro's head had been severely injured by the black-haired demon.
At that time, being heavily wounded, he hadn't seen Muzan's face clearly, only vaguely sensed Muzan's presence.
"That person can turn me into a demon, but I can feel that I don't have the ability to turn others into demons."
"Does this mean that only that person can create demons, or only a specific group of demons can create other demons?"
"But in any case, the one who can create demons must be very rare..."
"I'll proceed with this line of thought for now."
Akihiro's guess was spot on; only Muzan possessed the ability to create demons.
"Wait for me, one day, I will find you."
At this moment, Akihiro made a decision: he would go find that demon nearby.
Not only was he stimulated by the smell of blood, but more importantly, he wanted to find traces of Muzan...
And in Akihiro's mind, Muzan and demons must be connected. As long as he kept searching for traces of demons, he would surely have a chance to learn more about Muzan.
Moreover, Akihiro didn't want to let any demon escape...
Demon blood carried a certain transmission of knowledge.
This was also why Akihiro understood that he couldn't create demons.
And this demonic heritage allowed him, the moment he became a demon, to understand the essence of a demon.
It was an endless greed for human flesh and an infinite desire for slaughter.
No matter how kind and harmless a person was when they were human, once they became a demon, all their human goodness would be twisted...
Brutality and tyranny were the true nature of demons.
But Akihiro, unlike other demons, felt that he was somewhat special.
Although the craving for flesh and blood also existed, his human rationality had not faded...
A demon is a demon in body and a demon in heart.
But Akihiro, a demon in body, was human in heart.
"Tanjiro, I promised to create a world free of demons for you. This all begins with this demon."
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