13 Training the Healing Skill.

Early morning…

Tanjiro was at the backyard, gazing at the rising sun in the distant sky.

He stood before a plant that was withering, dying.

"Dragon's Healing… it should work on every life forms. A plant shouldn't be an exception." Tanjiro muttered under his breath.

He extended his right palm towards the wilting plant. With a glow of light, a green mist-like energy spread out from his palm, covering the plant.

What happened next would shock any normal human, if they were to witness this sight.

Under the influence of the green mist-like energy, the withering plant which was almost brown, was regaining it's original green colour. The wilting flowers of the plant changing its colour to violet, blooming beautifully.

"This skill… it not only uses my mana but also my life force, specifically my dragon life force."

Dragon's Healing uses Dragon energy or, in simple terms, the life energy of a Dragon along with mana to form a unique type of energy, which has an otherworldly healing effects on life forms.

In Tanjiro's body are two types of life force, Human and Dragon. Because of this, he is technically a hybrid dragon. Due to this, he not only possess the traits of humans, but also that of dragons. Though, his dragon traits haven't showed itself yet, due to Tanjiro living his life as a human as far as he remembers.

Tanjiro had a look of awe on his face at seeing the effects of Dragon's Healing skill, also thankful that he got this skill.

"I like this ability… Such a convenient skill… First I need to improve it."

Tanjiro repeated the same process on the other flower plants in the garden.

After an few minutes…

*Ding!*

[The skill 'Dragon's Healing' has levelled up. Currently level 3.]

"Targets for training this skill is all over the world, so I won't have any problems with that. But there must be a limit on how much I can improve with just using this skill on plants. I'll have to use this skill on other life forms as well. I hope everything goes well." Tanjiro made a plan of how to train this skill, in his mind.

"Y-young master, what are you doing?!" Tanjiro heard a startled cry from behind him. Turning around, he saw Juki looking at him with a expression of shock.

Tanjiro, seeing this, smiled brightly and firmly said, "Juki-jiisan, I'm training the technique that will cure you."

"…." Katakiri Juki just stood there with a look of disbelief. He saw with his own eyes, how those nearly dead plants were returned to the peak of their condition.

"My mastery over this technique is basically at novice level, which is insufficient to heal an injury as complicated as you have. So I need to train it further and understand it's usage properly." Tanjiro said.

"A healing technique of that calibre… Did young master create it? Great master (Tanjiro's grandfather) was right about young master being the reincarnation of First Evil Slayer. But even then, it is still far inferior to all the miraculous healing items I had tried in an attempt to extend my life." Juki thought to himself.

Katakiri Juki, with amazement, looked at all the plants that were now brimming with life.

But still, he believed that this technique was not enough to save him. After all, seeing was believing.

"Juki-jiisan, can I try using this technique on you now? It might not work with my current mastery over this technique. But I need to properly know of what is causing your ill condition." Tanjiro asked.

Juki saw Tanjiro looking at him with expectation and eagerness. Seeing this, he couldn't help but feel touched. His young master was doing all this for his sake.

"Go ahead." Juki agreed easily. He didn't have anything to lose at this point. At his last moments, if he could be of help to Tanjiro, he would gladly do anything necessary.

"Okay. Here I go, Juki-jiisan."

Juki lightly nodded in response.

Tanjiro put his hand on Juki, and used his Dragon's Healing skill. The green mist-like energy seeped into Juki's body.

At the same time, Tanjiro activated his 'Transparent World' skill to observe any changes occurring to Juki's body.

Suddenly, the green mist-like energy was forcefully pushed out of Juki's body by something unknown.

In Tanjiro's 'Transparent World' vision, he could clearly see a reddish brown energy forcibly repel his Dragon's Healing power from Juki's body.

"So this is… the energy of the other world monster!" Tanjiro exclaimed in a low voice. But soon, a smile hung on his face as he observed Juki's body.

"But from this, it's obvious that my skill will completely cure your injury, Juki-jiisan. I just need to increase my mastery of it." Tanjiro spoke softly.

"…." Juki was utterly shocked. Even though his injury wasn't healed, he was feeling a bit better now. Before the Tanjiro's green mist-like energy was pushed out of Juki's body… in the mere seconds the energy of Dragon's Healing remained in his body, a small part of his life force was restored.

The technique he assumed to be ineffective on his injury, turned out to be this miraculous. And according to Tanjiro, this technique was still in its early stages. If this technique was further mastered, then…

As he thought of this, Juki could not help but feel much respect towards Tanjiro. At the same time, his desire to live was ignited again. He felt a bit expectant towards the future.

…..

In the underworld… House of Gremory.

Serafall was walking in the hallway along with a silver haired woman in maid clothing.

The silver haired woman had an indifferent expression, as she lead the Satan Leviathan to the meeting room.

She was a beautiful young woman appearing to be in her early twenties with back-length silver hair that features a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest is let down which ends in twin braids and red eyes.

Serafall was humming some tunes of magical girl songs, seemingly in a very good mood.

The silver haired maid seemed curious about this, but didn't say anything.

"Hehehe☆. Grayfia-chan… So-tan came to me yesterday and slept with me at night☆. She was having a nightmare and mother wasn't home as well, so she came to me☆. I was truly lucky☆." Serafall giggled in a childish manner.

The silver haired maid called Grayfia, slightly smiled at Serafall's innocent childish behavior.

"It all happened after meeting Tanjiro-chan☆. Not only is he adorable, but also gave me such luck☆."

"..!!...T-Tanjiro?!" Strangely, Grayfia seemed startled after hearing the name of Tanjiro from Serafall.

"Are you referring to Kamado Tanjiro? Lady Leviathan." Grayfia asked in a polite tone.

"Yes? Do you know Tanjiro-chan? Grayfia-chan☆." Serafall asked in a surprised tone. It's rare to see this indifferent maid to lose her calm.

"… N-no… I have.. heard of some things regarding him from Lord Sirzechs."

"… Have you ever met Kamado Yosuke in the past, Grayfia-chan? Even I haven't got the chance to meet him☆."

"No, I personally never met him. Among devils, only a few individuals have come into contact with Kamado Yosuke."

"Hmm…" Serafall stared at Grayfia, musingly.

Soon, they were in front of a room, of which Grayfia opened the door for.

"Lady Leviathan has arrived." Grayfia announced to the people within the room.

In the room, there were two men with majestic presence of their own, which surpassed even that of Serafall.

One was Sirzechs Lucifer, the current Satan Lucifer. He is a handsome man appearing to be in early twenties with long red hair.

The other was Ajuka Beelzebub, the current Satan Beelzebub and also the creator of Evil Pieces. He was also fairly handsome with short green hair.

"Hello☆. Sirzechs-chan and Ajuka-chan☆. You guys didn't wait too long right?" Serafall asked sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. I myself just arrived here." Ajuka said in a helpless tone. In truth, he had been waiting along with Sirzechs for more than an hour for Serafall. Though, he is a bit curious about why she is late, as she is usually quite punctual.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Grayfia bowed her head slightly, and walked out of the room.

"Still no progress with her?" Ajuka asked Sirzechs, who was silently staring at the spot Grayfia was a few seconds ago.

"…." Faced with his friend's question, Sirzechs remained silent. But a helpless smile adorned his face.

"So? Any clues about the remnants of old Satan faction?" Sirzechs asked Serafall in an attempt to change the subject.

"None☆. They were gone by the time I reached there☆." Serafall said.

"I see. But why did you not report it to us yesterday itself if you didn't find anything?" Ajuka asked, curiously.

"I had something to do at the Human Realm☆. I met a very interesting boy there☆."

"Oh? That's rare." Ajuka mused.

"You'll also feel Tanjiro-chan to be interesting if you meet him."

"Tanjiro?" Both Ajuka and Sirzechs looked confused.

"You don't know about Tanjiro-chan? Sirzechs-chan☆." Serafall asked, feeling puzzled by Sirzechs's reaction.

"Am I supposed to know?" Sirzechs asked with a wry smile. He was used to Serafall's weird antics, so he wasn't very bothered by her confusion.

"What is going on…? Grayfia-chan knew about Tanjiro-chan, but Sirzechs-chan doesn't? Hmmm…. So confusing…" Serafall thought with a puzzled look.

"Do you guys really not know about Tanjiro-chan? He's said to be the reincarnation of the legendary Kamado Yosuke☆."

"Kamado?! Ah! I vaguely remember hearing such a rumour… I never paid attention to it because rumours often tend to be fake. I only believe in facts." Ajuka said with a thoughtful look.

"…." Sirzechs, on the other hand, was quiet after hearing the name Kamado Yosuke. He remembered the dangerous individual, the first Evil Slayer, that struck terror into the supernatural factions during his lifetime.

"So? How was he? The so-called reincarnation of Kamado Yosuke…" Ajuka asked with a half interested look.

"He's very interesting☆. His way of speaking is way different from what a child of his age should be capable of☆. His voice was kind and warm, it felt somewhat soothing to hear his voice. By the way, he's a year younger than So-tan and Rias-chan. He's also fairly strong for his age. His magic power was very refined☆."

"Oh?" Ajuka looked surprised, "For you to say that… He must have fairly good potential. How strong was the child's magic power? He might be a good rival for some of the younger generation Devils. Did his magic power reach higher stages of Low-class level?"

"Hm? Not just low-class☆. He's easily at High-class level☆." Serafall said with a big smile.

"…." (Ajuka)

"…." (Sirzechs)

A strange silence pervaded the meeting room.

"Serafall, how old was he again?" Sirzechs asked in a low voice.

"Like I said before, 7 years old☆."

"…."

…..

A few weeks had passed since then. Most of Tanjiro's time was spent on training 'Dragon's Healing'. But he did not stop training in his other skills as well.

However, due to this, he didn't get to spend much time with his little friends… the Hyoudou siblings and Irina shido. Though, it didn't really affect their friendship. To Tanjiro, saving Juki came first before everything else.

During these times, he did meet a rather unique individual.

A tall man appearing to be in his twenties with an average build, black hair, golden bangs and black goatee.

A Fallen Angel named Azazel, who is the leader and creator of Grigori, which is an organization run by Fallen Angels. He came to Tanjiro's place to ask for some artifacts of Evil Slayers, for a certain research he is working on currently.

To Tanjiro's surprise, Juki agreed and lent the Fallen Angel some of the Evil Slayer's artifacts.

According to Katakiri Juki, Azazel was a close friend of Tanjiro's late grandfather.

Tanjiro was kind of fascinated by this Fallen Angel. Despite sensing many sinister thoughts from Azazel, Tanjiro didn't feel that he was particularly evil. If anything, it was as if Azazel would talk his way out of conflicts instead of resorting to violence. A pacifist, so to speak. Which he did with Juki, as Katakiri Juki didn't seem to be fond of the Fallen Angel.

"Hello, Tanjiro-kun. My name is Azazel. You might not remember me, but I've met you when you were just a toddler." Azazel said as he looked at Tanjiro with interest. Or rather, he was looking at the brownish flame-like mark on his forehead.

"Its not red yet. He is still a child, so it's understandable. But his magic power... Even though it's very well hidden, I can still measure it with my device. It's at Cadre/Ultimate-class level already. He's already such a monster at such a young age. I wonder how strong he will be when the mark awakens? Truly something to look forward to…" Azazel thought to himself with an amused smile.

After talking with Tanjiro and Juki for a while, Azazel left Kamado residence with a smile.

Seeing that Azazel had left, Tanjiro looked at the blue screen in front of him which showed…

[You have currently completed a hidden mission.]

[Hidden Quest.

Task: Meet a Fallen Angel.

Reward: Skill Advancement Card (x2) (Grade of the Card depends on the rank of the Fallen Angel.), one random Anti Fallen Angel Skill.

Penalty: None

Time Limit: None

Quest Type: One-time

Quest Status: completed.]

[Encountered a Twelve-Winged Fallen Angel, the governor of Fallen Angels, Azazel.]

[Extracting Rewards from Creator's roulette…]

[You have obtained a 'Skill Advancement Card'.]

[You have obtained the Authority-type skill 'True Pure Realm'.]

[Skill Advancement Card (Item)

-Class: Support/Enhancement

-Type: One-time use

-Grade: Unique.

-Description: After use, can increase the mastery level of any skill by 10 levels. Can be used only once on a skill.]

[True Pure Realm (Innate Ability)

-Class: Offensive/Spiritual

-Type: Divine Authority.

-Grade: Divine.

-Description: A divine authority that you can utilize to forcibly seal the soul of the target in a unique spiritual realm within themselves. The soul is forced to undergo infinite trials and only three outcomes are possible.

First is 'Certain Death', which is due to refusing to participate in the trials, causing their soul to self-destruct. There is 30% chance of this outcome when the skill is used. Though, this outcome can be forcibly excluded by the user if you wish to.

Second is 'Self Acknowledgment', which is the result of the targeted soul truly accepting their good and bad aspects of themselves, thus realizing their true selves. This essentially causes the said target to become a better individual. There is 10% chance of this outcome when the skill is used.

Third is 'Pure Soul', which is the result of forcibly erasing any forms of negative emotions, desires and impurities in soul. This will turn one's soul into a 'Pure Soul' void of any sense of mortality and also erase any possibility of regaining their former selves. If used against Fallen Angels, in case they attain 'Pure Soul', they revert back into Pure Angels. Though when used against other creatures, the result of possessing a 'Pure Soul' can be quite tragic for them. There is 60% chance of this outcome when the skill is used.]

"Scary!!"

Was the only thought Tanjiro had when he saw the description of the skill he got.

Tanjiro didn't know what to do with this skill… it seemed quite ominous to him. He was sure that unless absolutely necessary, he probably wouldn't rely on this skill.

However, he was still happy with the other reward.