The woman standing in the yard was Tanjiro's mother.
Or rather, she wore his mother's face.
The mont he saw her, Tanjiro froze.
His breathing caught. His eyes widened. Then, before he could stop himself, tears surged up and blurred his vision.
Even though he knew it was impossible, even though so part of him understood at once that this had to be false, his heart still lurched violently at the sight of her.
"Mother!"
The cry tore out of him before reason could catch up.
Inside the blade, Alex watched the reaction and decided to push a little further.
He manipulated the illusion, making the woman take a slow step forward. When she spoke, her voice was gentle and soft enough to sound painfully real.
"Tanjiro... why did you abandon us?"
There was no anger in her tone.
That only made it worse.
The words slipped into the deepest part of Tanjiro's heart like a knife.
Pain flashed across his face.
Then his expression changed. Tears still clung to his lashes, but his gaze sharpened with sudden resolve.
"You may look and sound exactly like my mother," he shouted, "but you are definitely not her! Don't impersonate my family!"
Alex let out a faint sound of surprise through the illusion.
"Oh? I aid straight for the weakest part of your heart, and you still didn't break. Interesting..."
Tanjiro stared at her warily, his fists clenching tight.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "Did you bring here?"
This ti, there was no answer.
The woman's mouth opened, and thick black smoke poured out.
It spread through the air in an instant, then hardened into countless black blades that shot at Tanjiro from every direction.
They pierced through him.
But there was no blood.
No pain.
Only paralysis.
His body locked up so completely that he could not move even a finger.
The black mist that had ford the blades gathered together again, rising and condensing into a vague humanoid mass nearly two ters tall. It had no clear features, only a pair of crimson eyes fixed squarely on him.
Then it spoke.
"I can feel it," the black mist said. "Your heart longs for power. Is it for revenge? Is that why you seek strength? To kill the demon who slaughtered your family?"
Tanjiro's face turned solemn.
The question had gone straight to the truth.
He did not deny it.
"I want power," he said at last, his voice tight but steady. "For revenge... and to turn my sister back into a human."
Inside the blade, Alex gave a silent nod.
That answer was exactly what he had expected.
"That is not an easy path," the mist said. "But if revenge is what you seek, I can grant you enough power for it."
Tanjiro's eyes lifted sharply.
"Really?"
He was kind, but he was not foolish. Even now, even in this place, hope had not erased caution.
The black mist drifted closer, its crimson eyes seeming to glow brighter.
"But from that mont onward, you would live for revenge alone. If your resolve is not strong enough, then I will not lend you my power."
As soon as those words fell, the towering mass of smoke dissolved.
Silence swallowed the yard.
Tanjiro lowered his head.
If he lived only for revenge, then what about Nezuko?
What would beco of her?
If hatred consud everything in his heart, would there still be room left to protect the one person he still had?
That hesitation lasted only a brief mont.
Because the woman's voice sounded again.
"Tanjiro... don't you want to avenge your mother?"
"That's not..."
He tried to deny it, but before he could finish, more figures appeared.
Small figures.
His younger siblings.
Dead children wearing the faces he knew better than his own.
They gathered around him one by one, each voice striking a different wound.
"Big Brother Tanjiro, why didn't you co back and save us?"
"Big Brother, are you trying to run away?"
"I knew it... you never cared about us, did you? Are you abandoning us?"
Tanjiro's body trembled.
"That's not true," he said, struggling against the black blades pinning him in place. "That's not it..."
But the voices did not stop.
"Aren't we family?"
"Big Brother Tanjiro, don't you want revenge for us?"
"Live for revenge."
"Live for revenge!"
The accusations overlapped, one after another, until they beca a chorus pressing in from every side.
Tanjiro's hands clenched so hard his nails bit into his palms.
Then, all at once, he shouted.
"Be quiet!"
The entire illusion shook.
His voice rang out with a force that even Alex had not expected.
"My family would never speak like this!" Tanjiro's eyes burned with tears, but his gaze never wavered. "The power I want isn't power for revenge alone. It's power to protect everything I still have!"
Inside the blade, Alex went quiet for a mont.
Then he could only sigh inwardly.
As expected of Tanjiro.
Even after being dragged through all this, the guy still refused to let hatred swallow him whole.
For one fleeting instant, Alex almost felt guilty.
Maybe he had pushed a little too far.
Then the system notifications began ringing one after another in his head, and whatever remained of his conscience died on the spot.
[Ding! Tanjiro Kamado has experienced pain. Emotional Value 7!]
[Ding! Tanjiro Kamado has experienced despair. Emotional Value 15!]
[Ding! Tanjiro Kamado has experienced remorse. Emotional Value 9!]
[Ding! Tanjiro Kamado has experienced sorrow. Emotional Value 11!]
[Ding! Tanjiro Kamado has experienced turmoil. Emotional Value 8!]
The notifications ca in crisp and rciless succession.
Alex listened to them in silence.
Then, in a very practical display of moral flexibility, he decided that yes, this had all been completely necessary.
Still, he knew when to stop.
He had tested Tanjiro enough.
With a thought, he wiped the illusion away.
The house vanished.
The family disappeared.
The black blades dissolved into smoke and lted into nothing.
At the sa ti, Alex pulled Tanjiro's consciousness deeper, dragging him directly into the inner space of the demonic blade.
When Tanjiro opened his eyes again, he found himself seated on the ground in a strange world.
Sky and sea t at the horizon.
Mist drifted in every direction, pale and heavy, blurring the line between heaven and water. The entire place felt quiet, empty, and unreal, like a dream suspended between breaths.
In front of him, the sa black mist gathered once more.
But this ti, its voice was different.
No longer eerie.
No longer sharp.
What ca from within it now was clear and lodious, carrying an oddly noble calm.
"I've taken a liking to you."
The black mist hovered before him, crimson eyes fixed on him without blinking.
"As long as your heart remains this strong, I will obey you."
Its voice lowered.
"But if you waver, even once, I will take your body for myself."
Tanjiro listened without interrupting.
"My na is Asuramaru," it said. "If you desire power, then call my na."
A brief pause followed.
"Do you have any other questions?"
Tanjiro slowly pieced everything together.
The illusion.
The voice.
The presence hidden within the blade at his waist.
Then one thought rose above all the others.
"Are you..." He hesitated for a mont before asking honestly, "Are you the sword that has been passed down through my family?"
"That's right," Alex replied without trying to hide it.
He had no reason to lie.
Tanjiro let out a long breath, as though releasing the last of the tension in his chest.
Then, to Alex's surprise, he smiled.
It was the sa gentle smile as before, warm even after everything he had just been put through.
He stretched out one hand toward the black mist.
"Then please take care of from now on, Asuramaru."
For a mont, Alex did not know what to say.
The guy had just been ntally tortured, emotionally shaken, and spiritually interrogated, and his first response afterward was still polite.
Honestly, Tanjiro was outrageous in his own way.
Without another word, Alex manipulated the black mist and let it drift forward, seeping into Tanjiro's body in strands of shadow. At the sa ti, the haze surrounding Alex's own figure began to thin.
Then his current form was revealed.
Tanjiro stared blankly.
Inside the mist stood a figure no taller than a child, less than one and a half ters in height. Long dark purple hair frad a delicate face, with half of it hidden beneath heavy bangs. Crimson eyes glead beneath the shadows. Long ears, almost elf like in shape, extended from either side of the head, and a pair of white horns curved from the forehead beneath a black hairband.
The outfit only made things worse.
Or better.
Depending on who was suffering.
A purple and white dress fluttered around the figure in the wind, elegant enough to belong at a grand evening banquet rather than inside a demonic blade.
Alex stared at his own appearance with the sa old resentnt.
This was not a form he had chosen.
It ca with the template.
Which ant this was the flaw that was not really a flaw.
A small problem.
A deeply annoying, impossible to explain, absolutely humiliating small problem.
Tanjiro, anwhile, had gone completely silent.
Alex raised his right hand and kept his tone as composed as possible, as though nothing about this situation was strange.
"The contract between us is complete," he said. "I will be your strength and the blade in your hand."
His crimson eyes t Tanjiro's.
"Now open your eyes, Tanjiro Kamado, and go fulfill your desires."
The world of sea and sky dissolved.
Tanjiro's consciousness returned at once.
On the forest path, beneath the fading evening light, Tanjiro Kamado abruptly opened his eyes.
The breeze still moved through the trees.
The road was still there.
For a mont, everything that had just happened felt like a dream.
Then his hand instinctively moved to the sword at his waist.
He hesitated for a second before speaking carefully.
"Asuramaru... are you there?"
Inside the blade, Alex answered at once, his tone thick with irritation.
"Isn't that obvious? If you have sothing to say, then say it already."
Tanjiro quickly smiled awkwardly.
"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to make sure."
Alex could not be bothered to argue with him.
Instead, he opened the system panel and checked his current status.
[Host: Alex]
[Template: Asuramaru]
[Demon Power: 100]
[Extracted Ability: Eternal Grade Buff [Unbreakable]]
[Template Ability: Blood Weeping] [Inflicts wounds that inhibit healing and cause continuous bleeding] [Unlock Cost: 5000 Emotional Value]
[Template Ability: Devour] [By killing living beings, you may devour them to strengthen yourself] [Unlock Cost: 5000 Emotional Value]
[Special Offer: The first unlock of the above two basic abilities costs only 1000 Emotional Value]
[Template Ability: Healing] [Can restore the Sword Master's injuries. As long as the target is not dead, Demon Power may be consud to repair them] [Unlock Cost: 10000 Emotional Value]
More abilities extended below, but Alex's gaze dropped straight to the very bottom of the panel.
The lottery.
It was divided into three tiers.
Silver, Gold, and Diamond.
A Silver draw cost 100 Emotional Value.
A Gold draw cost 1000.
A Diamond draw cost 10000.
The reward pool covered almost everything. Even the Silver tier had a chance to pull the highest grade rewards, including Eternal Grade buffs, though the odds were naturally far lower than Diamond.
The higher the tier, the greater the chance of pulling sothing truly valuable.
Alex read through the interface, and the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.
Now this was more like it.
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