The forest was no longer just a distant whisper beyond the cabin's walls. It had become a looming presence, a living, breathing force filled with hidden dangers and ancient mysteries. The soft hum of the wilderness was a constant reminder that peace was fragile — fragile as the infant sleeping quietly in his cradle.
Reiji was just a few months old now. His bright eyes, a subtle shade between blue and green, held a quiet curiosity for the world around him, though his mind was burdened with echoes of a past life he could not yet fully understand. The faint blue glow of his core pulsed gently beneath his skin, invisible to the naked eye, yet a beacon to the unseen forces lurking in the shadows.
One evening, as twilight melted into darkness, a sudden rustling stirred the quiet forest edge. The air grew heavy with an unnatural tension. Kusanagi Daisuke was returning from a nearby village, his steps deliberate, sword sheathed but ready at his side. Aoi sat inside the cabin, humming softly as she prepared a herbal remedy, her gaze often drifting toward the crib where Reiji slept.
Daisuke's instincts were razor-sharp — years of hunting monsters and defending his home had honed his senses to detect even the faintest disturbance. That night, the forest whispered a warning, a flicker of danger just beyond the trees.
Then came the shrill cry — a goblin's snarl piercing the stillness.
A lone goblin darted from the shadows, small and wiry, eyes glinting with a feral hunger. It moved quickly, its claws scraping against the wooden planks of the cabin's porch as it lunged toward the cradle.
Daisuke's heart froze.
"Get back!" he shouted, drawing his sword in one swift motion.
But the goblin was faster, fueled by desperation and a strange determination. In a reckless panic, Daisuke reached out instinctively — not for his sword, but to shield his son.
His left hand shot forward, bare and vulnerable, intercepting the goblin's slash meant for Reiji.
A searing pain exploded through his hand as claws tore through flesh and bone. He heard a sickening snap, and the world seemed to slow.
The goblin hissed, wounded but alive, its eyes wild with confusion and fear.
Daisuke stumbled backward, clutching the bleeding stump where his hand had been. Blood pooled on the wooden floor, but his gaze never left the goblin, nor the cradle.
Inside the crib, Reiji's small chest rose and fell steadily. The infant's eyes snapped open as if stirred by the violence, his gaze locking onto the goblin with an intensity that belied his age.
In that instant, something extraordinary happened.
Though Reiji had not touched the goblin, a faint blue light — the core within him — flared brightly. Without warning, the goblin convulsed, its body trembling violently. Then, inexplicably, the creature collapsed, unconscious but alive.
Daisuke's breath caught. He had never seen anything like it.
"A core...?" Aoi whispered, rushing to her son's side, her eyes wide with both fear and wonder.
The goblin's core — the mystical essence that defined every monster's strength — had been absorbed by Reiji. But no one knew how or why.
It was a phenomenon without precedent. Human eyes could not see cores beyond a faint blue glow, and only the strongest monster hunters could sense their presence, much less understand their rank. Yet here was a baby, who had not even killed the creature, suddenly drawing power from it.
Reiji's small hands clenched, the faint blue radiance around him shimmering with newfound strength. The power coursed through his body, flooding his mind with flashes of unfamiliar knowledge.
His vision blurred, and images flooded in: memories of battles fought with tooth and claw, tribal councils beneath moonlit skies, and the heavy crown of a goblin king — Oni himself.
The cabin became a sanctuary and a battleground all at once.
Aoi tended to Daisuke's wound, wrapping the bloody stump carefully, while Daisuke stared at his son with a mixture of pride and dread. This child — their miracle — was no ordinary human.
"Reiji..." Aoi breathed, placing a gentle hand on her son's forehead. "What are you becoming?"
Reiji's eyes closed again, and the visions ebbed slowly, leaving behind a faint but undeniable imprint on his soul.
Outside, the forest settled back into silence, but a new force was stirring. Whispers of a newborn with an impossible power began to spread among the creatures of the wild and the humans alike. The fragile balance of the borderlands had shifted.
Days passed, and Reiji's parents grew increasingly aware of their son's uniqueness. The boy was healthy but seemed to carry a secret weight — a connection to something beyond the human world.
Daisuke, despite his injury, trained himself to use his right hand with greater skill, determined to protect his family from the dangers lurking beyond. Aoi poured over her collection of ancient texts, hoping to uncover any hint of what this "core absorption" could mean.
But the answer eluded them.
One evening, Reiji stirred in his crib, eyes wide open and fixed on the cabin window. Outside, the moon hung low, casting silver shadows across the forest.
His gaze was distant, lost in the fragments of his past life resurfacing like waves breaking against jagged rocks.
In those moments, the infant was not just Reiji Kusanagi — he was Oni reborn, the first goblin king, destined to unite and protect a world on the brink of chaos.