Chapter Title: Phantom in the Mirror
The reason Tomioka Giyu hadn't noticed it sooner was twofold: first, his vision was limited while fighting on the ground; second, the demon was unusually cunning.
The moment he leapt to the rooftop, he saw it clearly. From the back door of a nearby courtyard, a horde of identical demons had burst out. They scattered in different directions, circled around, and converged toward him from various corners.
Now that he had locked onto the source, Giyu's frown finally relaxed.
"It's time to end this."
"Water Breathing, Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow Turbulent!"
This was the perfect technique for this situation.
As the clones swarmed, Giyu's footsteps flashed like splashes of water. He weaved between houses and the demons with fluid grace. In just a few breaths, he arrived at the gate of the yard where the original demon lurked.
The demon clearly panicked. The clones that had scattered from the back door no longer bothered to hide and all rushed at him in a frenzy.
But it was too late. Though many still stood between Giyu and the house, none could block his advance.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
His body moved with the current, swift and elusive. Ghostly blue streaks danced behind him. By the time he reached the door, all the clones he passed had been decapitated—heads dropping and bodies disintegrating into ash.
Bang!
With a crash, Giyu kicked open the door, his blade already poised forward.
"Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust Curve!"
The technique combined offense and defense seamlessly, intercepting a barrage of glimmering objects before they could strike him.
"Glass?" Giyu murmured, glancing at the floor.
"Damn you, brat! Damn the Corps!" a voice shrieked from within.
"I was so close—so close to earning a position among the Twelve Kizuki! Once "he" one acknowledges me, I'll have a place among the Lower Moons! And then you show up, meddling at the worst time!"
"You'll pay for this, you damn human! I'll saw off your limbs and devour you piece by piece!"
Giyu didn't care for the theatrics. What caught his interest was the demon's face—two eyes, two noses, two mouths. No horns. The complete opposite of the clones he had fought earlier. He scanned the room: dozens of mirrors hung on the walls.
"Mirrors… it's the inverse of the copies. This must be his Blood Demon Art."
Before Giyu could move, the demon slammed both fists into the ground. The room trembled.
Dozens of mirrors burst from the walls, shining with crimson light.
"Blood Demon Art: Mirror Phantom Frenzy!"
With a violent clap of the demon's hands, all the mirrors pulsed blood-red. Clones began pouring from them—more and more, endless waves of the same grotesque figures lunging at Giyu from every angle.
"Hmph… it's useless. The moment I found your real body, your fate was sealed."
Giyu took a deep breath and gripped his blade in both hands.
"Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux!"
A spiraling wave erupted from his sword, forming a water dragon that roared with escalating momentum. Each rotation of the blade grew stronger, faster—directed straight at the original demon's neck.
"No—impossible!" the demon shrieked in terror, its confidence crumbling. "How is a human this powerful?! I can't die here!"
It panicked, eyes darting, and decided to escape. The remaining mirrors would be destroyed in a flash of force, giving it a window to flee.
But before it could act—Giyu was already upon it.
When the demon hesitated, even for just a second, Giyu had taken advantage of that mental gap. That was all he needed.
"Trying to run? Don't bother. Just Die..."
Shlick.
The Nichirin blade sliced clean through the demon's neck.
Its head fell, hitting the floor with a dull thud. Its eyes stared wide in disbelief, as if wondering why the world had turned upside down.
Giyu calmly flicked the blood from his blade and walked over to the fading head.
"As the first demon to die beneath my sword, I'll remember you."
"D-dam—" the demon tried to speak, but the rest of the words vanished with its body.
Huff— Giyu exhaled slowly. The demon hadn't been strong, but it had been a pain to deal with.
Though unscathed, he had exerted himself heavily. Ten more minutes of that and his stamina would have been drained. In the worst case, he could have been overwhelmed.
Afterward, he searched the village thoroughly and discovered a few surviving residents.
"Kanzaburo," he called to his Kasugai crow,
"inform the nearest Kakushi team that there are still survivors in this village."
The crow cawed in reply and flapped off.
The logistics squad would handle the rest.
As for Giyu? He stretched and yawned. His next destination was the nearest Wisteria safehouse to rest and wait for another mission.
In the days that followed, Tomioka Giyu lived a simple, brutal rhythm: eat, sleep, slay demons.
Half a year later, during an intense life-or-death battle, he finally comprehended the secret final form of Water Breathing.
Eleventh Form: Dead Calm.
With this, he could meet even the most devastating Blood Demon Arts head-on.
By the end of the year, he had slain his 47th demon and immediately moved to the next mission.
Fate, however, had a cruel sense of humor.
There, he encountered a real Twelve Kizuki—a Lower Moon Two.
At first, the demon had been arrogant, laughing gleefully at the thought of devouring another Hashira-in-training.
But after just a few exchanges, the demon's laughter died.
Its expression twisted from smugness to disbelief—then outright fear.
"How… How can a human be this strong?!" it shrieked. "I refuse to believe it!"
"Blood Demon Art: Thousand Bloodleaf Dance!"
A whirlwind of razor-sharp, blood-red leaves surged around Giyu, threatening to slice him into ribbons.
But Giyu stood still, expression cold.
"A year ago, this would have been a problem," he said quietly. "Now?"
The wind around him changed.
"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm."
The world hushed. The storm of leaves froze mid-air… then fell apart like droplets on still water.
The demon stood frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
And in that frozen moment—shhk— its neck was severed in a blur.
"You showed up too late," Giyu said, annoyed. "I really didn't want to deal with this now."
The demon's body disintegrated, its death unnoticed by the world, but marked in Giyu's quiet ledger of vengeance and duty.