Shizen Village

'What do I do? Should I run? Can I even make it?'

'No, I can't. I have to fight. It's my only option!'

Agares didn't get into a stance because he isn't trained. He doesn't know how to use the sword properly. The only thing he can do with his katana with slash and stab. No elegance, no technique, just nothing that shows that Agares is a swordsman other than his katana.

For god's sake, he only has one eye and one arm! How can he fight against a demon who is many times stronger than a human?!

He is 14 years old, and he already might die. Agares knows he has many weaknesses. His right side is his biggest one since he doesn't have a normal human degree of vision. Also, if he gets attacked on his left side, it takes longer to bring his katana over to block.

So many weaknesses and almost no advantages!

"--!"

The demon started to run toward Agares with high speed!

"Damn it!"

With no more time to think, he put his utmost focus into his eye in order to avoid the hits. He raised his katana forward and took a step.

The demon threw a punch right at Agares!

Agares ducked and swung his katana as hard and fast as he can toward the waist of the demon to cut him in half.

"Got him!"

The katana went right through his left side and kept on pushing through.

"--!"

The demon's knee hit Agares' stomach and blasted him away like a ragdoll. Luckily Agares held on to <Rivers of Blood> tightly so the sword slid right out the demon's stomach.

"PUH! Cough! Cough!"

'That hurts! It hurts so bad.'

Unfortunately, the demon didn't give Agares rest as he ran toward him and did a roundhouse kick aiming to blow Agares' head off.

He immediately thought of the time he got teleported to another world to fight and rolled back which was a good idea as he successfully avoided the kick.

Right after he did a backward roll, he jumped forward and went right for his neck.

The demon saw this attack, but he didn't think it would do much damage against him even if it hit his neck as he knew nothing could kill him other than a demon slayer's sword and the boy he was fighting wasn't a demon slayer.

He took a step back and looked at the boy who was holding that blood katana.

He wasn't dumb. He could tell just by fighting the boy that he wasn't a hero and he couldn't have killed one demon much less two or more.

However, he was curious. Curious as to why the sword he was wielding was filled with blood. The amount of blood that sword spilled was more than any demon he ever met.

He was a newborn demon, but he did meet a few other stronger demons. He found that the stench of blood they had was no match for the stench of blood that the sword had.

"Hey boy, where did you get that sword?"

"Up your mom's ass," Agares said but then wondered why he made such a stupid joke.

"I killed my mother and then ate her. I found no sword in her." The demon seriously said.

'To think this demon even killed his own mother!'

Agares closed his eye, took a deep breath, and then sighed. He opened his eye and his golden eye gazed right at the demon's eye.

He gripped his katana and said... nothing. Agares didn't want to sound like a cringy hero he heard from the stories his mother told him and say, "I will stop you and I will save all these people!"

He cringed at the thought of it. He would save these people and kill the demon but that was all for survival. And besides, it's not like no one has treated him nicely in Shizen Village. Just like anywhere, people treated him well, and people treated him badly.

Agares and the demon looked at each other and came to a decision.

Fight!

They both rushed at each other. The demon threw many punches and Agares used the katana to block the punches but was still getting hurt due to the shockwave.

If he couldn't block, then he would dodge. Of course, he couldn't block and dodge every punch, he isn't a real swordsman. He ultimately suffered a few huts that shook his bones and broke his ribs.

Nevertheless, he sucked it up and gritted his teeth. It was the worst pain he has ever felt in his life but the adrenaline from the battle and his will to survive overcomes the pain.

With each exchange, Agares slashed the demon. None of them were particularly fatal.

'He regenerates! It's really slow but he does.' Agares cursed in his mind, 'I don't know long I can last. I need to do enough damage to immobilize him and then figure out a way to kill him.'

All of a sudden, the demon took a step back and fell on his knees and coughed up blood. His wounds that were regenerating opened up and a large amount of blood began to spill. Blood began to drip from his seven orifices.

"What is this? What happened to me?"

'I was regenerating and all of a sudden, almost all of the blood burst out from my body. Also, I can't move!'

Agares didn't know what happened either, but this was an opportunity he might never get again.

'Chance!'

Agares rushed toward the demon and went straight for the head.

"Hah!"

The demon picked up his head and saw a blood-red sword aiming for his neck.

WHOOSH--!

The demon couldn't believe his eyes as he saw a face of blood smiling at him.

'Is that sword... smiling at me?'

Blood flowed out from the katana like water dancing and cut off the neck of the demon.

The demon's body turned to ashes and disappeared.

"I did it? I did it!"

Agares raised his arm in the air and cheered for a second before he collapsed from exhaustion and injuries.

The villagers that stayed couldn't believe their eyes. A mere disabled 14-year-old killed a demon! Even the stories they heard about demon slayers had never been as crazy as this. The boy had one arm and one eye for god's sake!

--He did it!

--Crazy! How can the disabled boy do that?!

--Does it matter?! We are alive!

--MOM! Please wake up!

--Honey? Honey? Stop playing with me, open your eyes. I don't like this joke.

The surviving villagers were very few in comparison to those who died. Many died and now the surviving ones were left mourning for their lost loved ones.