Ch.4 Heaven

Shinji walked to the window and looked out at Hidden Leaf Village under the night sky, mentally reviewing the layout of the village once more.

Regarding the "invasion," he had analyzed many possibilities over the past few days and thought of some countermeasures.

For instance, he had memorized the layout of Hidden Leaf Village—the location of important institutions like the Hokage's office, the ANBU headquarters, the hospital, and so on. He could identify them even with his eyes closed.

If any "invasion" actually occurred, he could respond immediately.

After all, this was Hidden Leaf. Regardless of what kind of invader it was, Hidden Leaf wouldn't sit idly by, so he could definitely use this to his advantage to deal with the "invasion."

Additionally.

During the two days he spent living alone, he gradually adapted to the state of the Mangekyo Sharingan and carefully explored its techniques without excessively consuming his eye power.

With the Mangekyo Sharingan in hand, he felt somewhat confident.

Finally.

To be safe, he had also spent money on a variety of ninja tools.

Twenty shuriken, four finely forged kunai, and thirty explosive tags were all neatly packed in the pouch at his waist.

Whether or not they'd be useful, it was better to be prepared.

Time passed, minute by minute.

Click.

With a soft sound, the clock's hour hand finally pointed to midnight.

Shinji gripped a kunai in his hand, warily scanning his surroundings, searching for the possible "invasion," but nothing happened.

After a few minutes, he frowned slightly: Could this be a prank?

Before he could finish his thought, whoosh, he vanished from the room.

...

Boom, boom, boom!

When Shinji regained his senses, he found himself in a strange palace, with explosions echoing in his ears.

He crouched and moved to the window to look outside.

In the palace courtyard, hundreds of guards armed with bows and swords were attacking a massive, dark green, bloated monster with countless arms sprouting from its upper body.

"Stop it!"

"Protect Her Highness!"

"Don't let it get near the main hall!"

Amid the shouts, the guards continuously launched attacks on the monster.

Arrows rained down like a storm, with some even carrying lit explosive tags.

But these attacks failed to slow the monster in the slightest.

The monster's body was covered in arrows, but it didn't care. The limbs blown off by the explosive tags quickly regenerated before their very eyes.

Clearly.

Ordinary attacks were useless against it.

Every time one of the monster's countless arms extended, it would precisely grab a guard and drag them toward it.

Then, it would devour them in one bite!

Isn't this the Hand Demon?

Hiding in a side hall of the courtyard, Shinji immediately recognized the monster as the Hand Demon from Demon Slayer, the one that devoured Tanjiro's fellow trainees at the trial grounds.

However, the Hand Demon before him was much larger than he remembered. It was not only bloated but also emitted an unbearable stench.

The courtyard quickly filled with the pungent smell of blood, with severed limbs scattered everywhere, resembling a scene from hell.

This isn't right!

Although his heart was pounding, Shinji, hidden in the shadows, noticed something strange.

He observed that as the Hand Demon continued devouring the guards, it grew larger, its attack speed, strength, and even its regeneration ability all noticeably improved.

Undoubtedly, devouring the guards made it stronger, and the improvement was quite significant.

Demons in Demon Slayer could indeed grow stronger by eating people, but this strength usually accumulated over time.

Shinji suspected that the Hand Demon's rapid growth might be related to the chakra contained within the guards it was consuming.

A demon with terrifying regenerative abilities gaining chakra...

Just thinking about it sent a chill down Shinji's spine, making his scalp tingle.

In the courtyard.

Sensing its own rapidly increasing strength, the Hand Demon began devouring guards at an even faster rate.

It gulped down the guards whole, emitting disgusting moans: "So delicious! The people here are so delicious, oh~ ah~!"

Is this the invader?

Seeing the guards rapidly diminishing, Shinji forced himself to calm down.

If not targeted at their weak spots, ordinary attacks were largely ineffective against demons.

Like those fearless guards, no matter how many times they shot, slashed, or blasted the Hand Demon, they couldn't eliminate it.

Meanwhile, the Hand Demon could quickly recover by devouring them.

Fortunately, Shinji knew the weaknesses of demons from Demon Slayer.

The greatest weakness was undoubtedly sunlight; any demon exposed to it would normally disintegrate into ashes.

Apart from sunlight, another weakness was the neck.

Using a Nichirin Blade to decapitate a demon was the most common method used by the Demon Slayer Corps.

Additionally, demons feared a plant called Wisteria.

However, Shinji currently had neither a Nichirin Blade nor Wisteria.

And judging by the time, it was just after midnight, with sunrise still far away.

What should I do?

Shinji was at his wit's end as he glanced back at the courtyard.

Judging by the guards' attire and the explosive tags they used, this place seemed to still be within the Shinobi World, so he guessed it might be the palace of some daimyo.

This was also evident from the guards' fearless battle against the Hand Demon.

Analyzing the battle, the Hand Demon was indeed strong!

It's not that it couldn't be fought—after all, the guards had already severed and blown off its arms dozens of times, even blowing off half its body at one point.

But these injuries, fatal to normal beings, had no effect on the Hand Demon.

The Hand Demon, however, could rapidly enhance its power by consuming guards. In just this short time, its body had swelled again, making it look like a moving mountain of flesh from afar.

"Why do the people here smell so good? Ah... glug, glug, it's so sweet!"

The Hand Demon continued its massacre while making terrifying chewing noises.

"Damn it, what kind of monster is this!"

"Where's the backup? Why hasn't it arrived yet?"

"Don't eat me!"

Amid the angry shouts and cries, the guards' resistance weakened.

Hiss...

Watching the Hand Demon devour the last guard, Shinji's expression grew grim.

Even moving made the Hand Demon emit a rumbling sound, causing the ground to tremble slightly. The buildings in its path crumbled like tofu.

It seemed to have set its sights on the main hall not far away.

Dragging its bloated body, it slowly moved toward the main hall.

Shinji, hiding in the side hall, felt a bit relieved: "It seems like it hasn't noticed me..."

Swish.

Just as Shinji let his guard down for a moment, an arm suddenly shot out from the Hand Demon's back, accompanied by a foul-smelling gust of wind. The arm broke through the wall and grabbed the hiding Shinji in an instant.

"What?!"

Before he could react, Shinji was firmly caught by the Hand Demon.

The arm quickly retracted, lifting Shinji into the air and pulling him before the Hand Demon.

"Oh ho ho, I've been smelling you for a while. You smell better than all of them—so much better that I can't help but drool!"

The Hand Demon stared at Shinji with a crazed expression, and its mouth really began to water.

Shinji felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.

Suddenly, the Hand Demon seemed to sense something. Its already grotesque face twisted even more crazily: "So you are the 'light' of this world. Don't drive me away!"

Light?

Seeing the Hand Demon's reaction, Shinji realized that his identity might be very special.

With countless arms waving and dancing around, the Hand Demon became more frenzied. It held Shinji up above its gaping maw: "As long as I eat you, I can stay here forever. This place will be my heaven!"

"Heaven?" Shinji spat lightly and said coldly, "Do you have some misunderstanding about the Shinobi World? This place, is hell!"

Before he finished speaking, Shinji's eyes turned crimson...