five

                                    

                                          





                          
"sir, head down!!"
                          
it was a cold and chilly midnight when a middle aged man headed down from a mountain not far from the swordsmith village to his house.
                          
not even the approaching dusk, the swordsmith insisted to search for more firewoods for his family's use. that night, he was sure that he will not stumble over traps set by demons, or even any kind of beast which drools over the sweet scent of human blood will be chasing after him.
                          
however, luck seems to defy to be by his side that night. upon having a sudden uneasy feeling, the man ran hastily towards his house by the foot of the mountain. 
                          
all he had to do is run down but it was not until the collar of his kimono was pulled back by a pair of stinky, demonic arms as soon as he passed by a narrow road of old cherry blossom trees.
                          
the grips of the demon lurking in the shadow manages to rip the back of his clothes. as he begged for help and reached for his knife and stab the demonic hands, a warm glow slashed it's way in between the struggling man and the demon.
                          
the demon growled loudly that it seems af it the earth was shaking and later revealed itself. it crawled and looks very exhausted for blood and at the same time pathetically hurt. 
                          
the man made his way for escape and hide behind a tree when a demon slayer appeared. clad in the demon slayer corps uniform with a dull, grey blade in her arms she charged forward and run her sword across the neck of the demon. 
                          
fear emgulfed the man until he plopped himself down, staring at his knees weakly. as he peeked from behind the tree, the dead demon slowly fades into thin air. 
                          
"mister, are you alright?"



                          
×


                          
timeskip 
                          
"the nichirin blade are made of jagged carbon from the top of mountain, the finest of its kind in which it is very durable against heat and also light. plus, i made a lethal strapped case so it's easier for you to carry around."
                          
"thank you very much, mister."
                          
"ah my name is satori sakamoto. by the way, it seems like you are a demon slayer. what's your name?"
                          
shigure bowed her head down, smiling widely at the sight of her forged weapon. at first, she prefers to order a nichirin blade but 
                          
"i am shigure urakashiki. been here since last few days to look for a swordsmith."
                          
"shigure-chan, i am very thankful to you to. well, thanks for helping me the other day. if you does not appear that time, who knows what will happen to me."
                          
the swordsmith was indeed extremely tall, even exceeds the height of the stone pillar. he has a somewhat cheerful attitude despite his raspy voice. the younger girl listened attentively as he introduced his family, his also tall wife and little son. 
                          
his name is satori sakamoto, formerly from the western mountain. most of his family member was haunted down by the government to serve the military because of their gigantic build and most of the clan people was originally from dirtblood of brothel pests. however, he manages to escape with his family and decided to become a swordsmith. according to his wife, satori is afraid of seeing bloodshed. 
                          
after visiting the swordsmith village, shigure headed back to the headquarter. it has been three days since she and some other kinoe ranked demon slayers was assigned to guard the swordsmith village due to a report on demon appearing by the foot of the mountain.
                          
however, none of the slayers except her encountered any demon. shigure happens to be patrolling around the swordsmith village when her keen sense of smell derives her to check up the forest area not far from the mountain. she miraculously helped a swordsmith to escape his death when the said demon appeared.
                          
in an instance, the demon's life was ended by her sheer strength penetrated into the dull blade. the man was very grateful that he offered shigure a night over at his house. his wife and three childrens are very kind to her too.
                          
turns out that the man was the one responsible to forge her nichirin sword. 
                          
on her way home, as she stared at her nichirin spear, shigure's memories replayed her conversation with the swordsmith, maeda last night.
                          
"when i saw you slain the demon, it seems like you're limiting your slash to the tip of the sword. the slash is capable of severing the demon's head. so, i highly reccomends you to use spear instead of sword."
                          
"spear?"
                          
"yes. there are very less people from the corps who has special nichirin. the other swordsmith forged axes, dual blades and even whipping blade for the pillars."
                          
"i will be alright with whatever you think suits me. in fact, last night i was just being cautious over the demon's attack. that's why my attack range is a little far."
                          
shigure sipped on her green tea, when maeda's wife appeared at the courtyard of the shanty house where maeda does his work as a swordsmith. 
                          
she initially watched how nichirin blade, in her case spear, was made. from as simple as using wisteria trunks to make a long pole to forging the material for it's blade until late at night.

                          
×



                          
shigure is already 14 years old by the time she is already one of the corps member to ever be promoted to kinoe rank after only three months of joining the corps.
                          
many things has changed over a year. a few months after shigure joined the corps, she and makio had to accept the faith the god has noted to happen upon them. their mother passed away.
                          
none of them got to listen to her voice for the last time.
                          
her sister, makio who recently got married to tengen uzui was busy preparing for her own life as a wife although emotionally broken by the demise of her mother. shigure herself rarely get the chance to visit makio and the siblings ties begins to slowly strain apart.
                          
at the brink of dusk of one day in her life as a fourteen years old teenager, she made a record by slaining the 50th demon witnessed by the many eyes of other demon slayers present during her moment of victory.
                          
it takes a year and half to adept to killing demon with no mercy by the name of humanity. shigure, being prepared head to toe to face demon forces marked her as a fearless fighter. 
                          
in the end, after the news of her glory spread around, the head of the demon slayer corps summoned her for a congratulation ceremony.
                          
therefore, shigure got promoted as a pillar. although being quite nervous of the heavy responsibility she has to take, shigure nodded in agreement.
                          
and the journey of the shadow pillar begin...



                          
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