Since then, Ling Yuzi had inherited her father's "job."
She survived by stealing, and after every theft, she ran faster than her father ever could.
Running fast was her advantage. As long as she continued to hone that advantage, she believed she would never end up like him.
But in the end, Ling Yuzi was still caught.
Although she could run very fast, she was too weak. Once someone managed to grab her arm—even just her clothing—she couldn't break free.
Eventually, she was captured and brought before the authorities to be punished.
As a thief, she wouldn't be sentenced to death, but her hands would be cut off. To her, that was no different from dying.
Ling Yuzi didn't want to die… She truly didn't want to die, and she didn't want to lose her hands.
It was at that moment that the man appeared.
"Oh? How interesting? The determination to survive… perhaps that, too, is a kind of virtue."
He looked at Ling Yuzi and said something she didn't understand—then gave her a choice.
A chance to become a demon.
To survive, Ling Yuzi accepted.
She didn't clearly remember what happened after that. Most of her memories from the early days of becoming a demon were hazy.
All she knew was the endless hunger—how to eat, how to fill her stomach.
She captured humans, escaped unnoticed by the Demon Slayer Corps, and lived as a demon with instincts fully inherited from her human past.
She kept running, kept fleeing—and before she realized it, she had become one of the Twelve Kizuki.
If she continued escaping like this, she might be able to survive until the end… perhaps even become an Upper Rank Kizuki!
But…
Now, it seemed that escape was no longer an option.
Fear filled Ling Yuzi's pupils, where the numbers were etched.
She had never encountered a Demon Slayer like this before—or rather, this was her first time directly facing someone at the level of a Hashira.
Normally, she would have long escaped before a Hashira could even locate her.
No one could ever find her, because she never placed herself in dangerous situations.
But this time was different.
This boy seemed capable of tracking her, and his speed exceeded the limits of her reaction. Escape now seemed impossible.
Still, Ling Yuzi didn't want to give up. Even more than death, she feared the agony of being tortured until dawn.
She had to escape…
Ling Yuzi, think of a way—run! Run faster! Run farther!!!
"Twenty-six."
The boy continued counting, his voice sounding more like that of a devil than a demon.
"Ugh.." Ling Yuzi gritted her teeth. Even as she cried out in pain, she was calculating how far she needed to run to escape.
Physical pain, after all, meant little to a demon—still within her threshold of tolerance.
That meant Ling Yuzi still retained enough clarity to use her Blood Demon Art.
A faint red glow spread across her back. She had one final technique—one she had never used before.
It wasn't offensive. Its only purpose… was to escape.
If she used this move, even the boy before her wouldn't be able to catch up.
Clinging to that last shred of hope, just as the boy raised his blade again to slash her newly regenerated body, the moment he retracted his sword—Ling Yuzi took off!
Blood Demon Art: Rootless Wings!
Crimson wings unfurled beneath the falling rain. Before they could even flap, Ling Yuzi vanished—almost as if she had teleported.
This technique used Blood Demon Art to grant her speed nearly equal to that of an Upper Moon. It was her ultimate trump card—her hidden technique!
This time… he definitely won't be able to catch up with me!
Ling Yuzi was absolutely confident. With her wings at full spread, she soared into the sky, flying farther and farther away.
How could a human bound to the ground possibly chase someone flying through the sky?
Based on that alone, Ling Yuzi was invincible.
But even with her overwhelming advantage in the air, she had absolutely no intention of turning back to fight.
Only an idiot would do that!
There was no way she could defeat that boy. If she went back, it would only lead to death. Lord Muzan would surely understand!
Yes—Lord Muzan, who had taken a liking to her precisely because of her ability to escape, would definitely understand her decision to escape, right?!
Running away might not even be a problem. But if she turned around to fight that boy, she would be dead for sure!
Ling Yuzi reassured herself over and over as she continued fleeing at top speed.
Faster — faster — faster!
She kept urging herself forward.
Her body felt lighter with each passing second, and then—suddenly—her entire body became even lighter, unnaturally so.
And then— Eh..?
She fell from the sky.
"What..?"
In Ling Yuzi's vision, the sky and ground began to blur and reverse. The sky became the earth, the earth became the sky—and she was plummeting downward, straight toward the "sky" that had become the ground.
In her vision, her body—once soaring upward with outstretched wings—was still flying toward the sky. But the wings were no longer moving. Starting from the neck, her form slowly turned to black and red ash, scattering into the rain-soaked air.
That's my body…
Then—what about my head?
Ling Yuzi barely had time to form the thought.
The pain of her head slamming into the ground snapped her back to awareness.
Ah… so my head is still here…
Then that means… I got my head cut off?
The realization came too late. Tears welled up in the eye that still bore the engraved characters.
Because she knew—this time, she was going to die.
"No… no no no no… I don't want to die… I don't want to die! Why—why does it have to be like this?! I only wanted to live… I just wanted to live! Why is even that tiny wish too much?!"
"Dad! Dad, where are you?! It hurts so much… Dad!!"
Ling Yuzi—now nothing more than a severed head—cried and screamed on the forest floor.
But no matter how loudly she wailed or how many tears she shed, it couldn't stop her body from crumbling to ash.
The boy's figure appeared silently beside her—like a phantom made real.
He looked down at Ling Yuzi, who was crying, and for some reason, he suddenly let out a quiet sigh and placed his hand gently on her head.
"…Sorry."
That was what he said.
_________
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