The scene of the boy cutting down the two creatures in a fluid motion replayed itself constantly in Soji"s mind, his brain and body constantly imprinting the movement upon themselves.
As the young boy got down to seemingly pray for the creature's deaths, Soji approached, sword in hand, surprised at the boys' actions.
"Human...are you-"
"Argghhhhhg!!!"
A bloodcurdling scream rang from behind them, alerting both the boy and Soji.
Turning around quickly, Soji saw a large grotesque creature with deformed hands emerging from all over it. In one hand held the corpse of another swordsman, while the other had just grabbed the screaming swordsman by the leg, dangling him up in the air.
The boy quickly charged at the creature, seemingly trying his best to save the swordsman who still lived.
Using another move in the same fluid style of swordsmanship, the boy cut off the hand of creature that held the living swordsmans, freeing him from its wretched grasp.
All this time, Soji just paid attention to the boys movements, imprinting his swordsmanship within his mind.
WHOOSH!!
So the moment the creature started speaking to them, Soji rushed at it, appearing behind it in a flash.
CLANG! CLANG!
Deflecting the hands that tried to grab him, Soji quickly closed the gap and swung his blade twice, swiftly cutting off the creatures legs.
"Filthy human!!"
Ignoring the fact that his brain was getting close to adapting to the foreign language of the world he was in, Soji took a relaxed stance and watched as the creature sent out a plethora of grotesque arms at him.
"Whew..."
Replaying the scene of the boy using a sword in his mind, Soji took a deep breath, even emulating the way he saw the breathe at the moment.
Moving as fluid as water itself, Soji stepped forward and slashed through every single arm that the creature dared to grow.
"Argh!! Why wouldn't my body regenerate?!"
Continuing his movements, Soji simply landed square in front of the creature and performed a simple horizontal slash across the creatures neck, taking its head off as it's neck was made of butter.
THWIP!
Whipping the blood off of his sword, Soji sheathed it on his back and picked up the creatures' disintegrating head, holding it like a piece of garbage as he tried to figure out what it really was.
"Creature, can you understand me? If you can, what are you?"
Looking at Soji with irate eyes, the creature gave a simple but aggressive response.
"Let me die with dignity, human! Demons don't need your worthless sympathy!"
Raising an eyebrow, a look of realization washed over his face as he started to put everything together.
"Ah...so these swordsmen are demon hunters. Now it makes sense. But, the demons I know are pretty strong. Why are you, so pitifully weak?"
The demon screamed and berated Soji for his comment, but there was no change in his calm expression. It was like he didn't care for the demons' feelings at all.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, the boy from before approached Soji, grabbed his arm and said, "I don't know who you are and why you can use the Water Breathing Techniques, but demons used to be humans too. There is no reason to treat them so harshly."
Soji glanced at the boy, saw the resolve in his eyes and dropped the head of the demon to the ground.
"You are a fool, boy."
"No!"
WHOOSH!
Stomping the head of the demon into ashes, Soji threw the boy off to the side and turned around, preparing to leave the area. While the boy had interested him before, the formers recent actions revealed a form of naivety that would only bring trouble in the future.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!!"
The boy rebuked Soji, but the man paid him no mind. He wasn't going to tolerate foolishness.
Cutting all ties with the boy, within the following days, Soji refined his blade against any demon unfortunate enough to cross him within the forest.
Figuring out that the power and form of technique he used depended on the way he breathed was also an interesting discovery, causing him to eventually unlock something called the 'Opening Thread'.
Whenever a demon showed an opening, a thin thread would appear within his vision across the demons' neck, pretty much guaranteeing a kill against a weaker opponent.
His skill and understanding of swordsmanship grew rapidly with each passing moment, so much so that it seemed as if he was born to wield it.
SLASH!
"URGHH!"
Killing three demons with one fluid motion, Soji whipped the blood off of his blade and looked up in the sky, noticing that dawn was arriving.
"Hm, it's been about seven days now. This final selection thing the swordsmen told me about should be coming to a close."
Sheathing his blade, Soji put his hands in his pockets and slowly made his way out of the forest, shaking his head at the numerous corpses he saw on the way.
'Hm, how tragic. May your souls rest in peace.'
After several minutes of walking, Soji finally made it back to the Shrine, immediately seeing the twins from before waiting for him.
With them, Soji noticed four more swordsmen. The naive boy from before, a boy with an angry expression on his face, a girl that just played with butterflies, and one more boy with blonde hair.
These seemed to be the only survivors of the final selection.
"Welcome back and congratulations on becoming official Demon Slayers."
Ignoring the various comments made by the others, Soji continued listening to the twins, interested on where this was going.
"You will all be issued a uniform and have your ranks engraved upon them. The ten ranks are Mizunoto, Mizunoe, Kanoto, Kanoe, Tsuchinoto, Tsuchinoe, Hinoto, Hinoe, Kinoto, and Kinoe. Since you are all new Demon Slayers, you will be at the Mizunoto rank."
Soji was interested in this system.
What seperated the ranks from each other?
What would he have to achieve to rank up?
How fast could he rank up?
What was the power difference between the ranks?
These were all questions that Soji was about to ask, but a certain boy suddenly started shouting, interrupting his thoughts.
"Give me my katana now! I earned it!"
The boy demanded his weapon, veins popping out of his head.
The twins, unbothered by his childish outburst, simply responded in unison, "You will choose your ore now, and your sword will be delivered two weeks later."
Then, the group was assigned Kasugai Crows for communication.
On Soji"s shoulder though, wasn't a crow. It was a white-tailed eagle, a raptor of the skies. The animal looked at Soji with great interest, putting it's head in his flowing black hair from time to time.
Eyes twitching from annoyance, Soji said to the twins, "I thought you said crows. Most people got a crow. Why do I have this annoying eagle with me?"
One of the twins chuckled as she came closer and pointed to the bird, saying, "Well, we couldn't find a crow that was willing to bond with you. Similar to the boy with the sparrow, you're a bit different. This eagle has always been quiet, never listening to us when we asked it to accompany other Demon Slayers. But when it saw you, it immediately volunteered itself. Hm. I wonder why?"
Clicking his tongue, Soji let the bird do what it wanted. It wouldn't be bad to have a companion on his quest anyways.
"Since I'm already here, let's start with you. What kind of ore would you like for your nichirin sword?"
Immediately shaking his head, Soji gripped the katana on his back and responded calmly, "I don't need any other sword. This weapon has proven capable of destroying demons on its own."
The twins were dumbfounded at this statement. Could he already have a nichirin blade in his possession already?
"Hm. I wanna see it for myself, but I don't have the experience to make the correct judgment. For now, head to the Ubayashiki Mansion. Your eagle will guide you. My father will make the final decision. "