Ten years ago.

“Nagare-kun! Nagare-kun! Let’s go play!”

Nagare: “Ok!”

Back then, Nagare was the youngest of the three children in his family.

The eldest brother, Shin Shirosaki would often train with their father, Kurin Shirosaki, for he was the one who would eventually inherit the position as the head of the house. Essentially, the eldest son would be the one to inherit the silver sword passed down from one family head to the next.

Nagare’s older sister was betrothed to her childhood sweetheart and they were to marry within a month.

As the youngest child, Nagare would often spend his time completely alone if it were not for his best friend.

Shinzo.

Unlike other kids, Shinzo did not have a family name, as far as Nagare knew, he was conceived out of wedlock and was born to a prostitute.

Shinzo was an apprentice to a blacksmith in their village and would often show Nagare the results of his growing craftsmanship. Though, no matter how hard he tried, he could never forge a decent sword.

Nagare knew that despite being born into nothingness, Shinzo had a bright future ahead of him.

He always seemed to shine like the sunlight, his smile illuminating everything along the way.

Nagare would often sneak out of the house just to play with Shinzo.

Unlike his friend who aspired to craft great swords, Nagare had no big ambitions of his own, instead, he saw himself as a giant waste of space.

In one of their many rendezvous, Nagare shared his concern of not having much of a purpose in life and how everything seemed bleak and colorless.

Shinzo: “Nagare-kun, you think too much, you know. This world is so big, so many sights to see, smells, and tastes….”

Shinzo’s mouth ended up drooling just thinking about it.

Shinzo: “What I mean is, there is something for everyone. Oh, yeah, also, I have a present for you!”

Nagare: “?”

Shinzo proceeded to hand Nagare a scabbard.

Nagare: “A scabbard?”

Shinzo: “Yeah, I tried to make you a sword, but I kind of failed at it. So I thought, I would make you the scabbard for the future sword I will forge for you. I know it is a little shoddy work so it is fine if you throw it away…”

Nagare: “Thank you, Shinzo. I will treasure it”

Shinzo: “Really? I mean, it came out all sorts of wrong. Just look at its crooked and uneven edges…”

Nagare: “It is something you made for me. That alone makes it worth keeping”

Shinzo: “*Sighes*, you sure are a weird one, Nagare-kun”

In response, Nagare simply smiled.

They could not have known that would be the last time they would speak.

The very next day, a swarm of demons attacked their village.

Paralyzed with fear, Nagare could only watch in terror as the demons resembling insects devoured everyone in the village.

The demons resembled hornets, roaches, slugs, worms, and centipedes.

But it was not the deaths of his parents or older brother that broke Nagare.

No…

It was seeing the disembodied head of Shinzo, dangling from the jaws of a demon that looked like cross between a roach and a centipede.

With a crunch, the head was crushed into a pulp between demon’s mandibles.

Not waiting a moment longer, the demon swooped in downwards to devour Nagare.

Had it not been for Master Hiromasa’s timely arrival that would have been the end of Nagare’s short life.

Master Hiromasa and the squads of Demon Hunters of the Order of Protectors pushed the demons back, fighting non-stop until the morning.

The demons retreated before the sunlight could reach them.

Only a few villagers survived the demon attack.

His parents and older brother were killed. The only way Nagare could recognize them now was by their clothing and the silver sword in his elder brother’s hand.

Even his elder sister was not spared their fate.

The demons had taken their time with her and had torn her apart, with only one of her arms remaining.

Nagare recognized it right away.

It was the hand that she wore a tiny rope around her ring finger because they could not afford a ring yet.

As the last remaining member of their family, Nagare took his brother’s silver blade and sheathed it in in the scabbard that Shinzo had made for him just day before.

Left with nothing but silver sword and a scabbard, Nagare became Hiromasa’s disciple….

* * *

Luckily, silver sword, along with Holy Swords, was one of the few things that could hurt demons.

With Master Hiromasa’s teachings, Nagare learned the art of flowing his chi through his sword and hunting demons.

And hunt demons he did, lots of them.

By now, he had been killing demons for almost six years, starting at the tender age of eleven.

Even then, he never completely let go of his trauma of insects.

Fortunately for him, most demons he encountered were of humanoid or non-insectoid kind.

But now, Nagare truly found himself in hot water.

Shaking all over, he kept about a meter distance away from Shoyo, holding his sword between them.

It truly was that bad.

Shoyo: “Well, more for me then”

Nagare: “How can you eat that?”

Shoyo: “It’s meat, tastes like chicken, really. Surprisingly, many things taste like chicken. You expect toads and frogs to taste like fish, but they still taste like chicken. Same thing with bugs”

Nagare: “Totally not the same thing!”

Then he heard a rustling in the leaves.

Nagare: “Shoyo, please tell me that is as big as they get…”

Nagare was practically begging for Shoyo’s confirmation.

Shoyo: “I am not sure you are gonna like this, buddy. But these ones…”

Shoyo pointed at the shell of the bug he just ate.

Shoyo: “…are only about a day or two old. They are practically newborn. As far as how big they get ….you might want to look behind you”

Nagare slowly turned his head.

What he saw made his jaw drop in horror.

They were surrounded by giant monster worms; smallest one was a meter long while the bigger ones were more than ten meters in length. Their bodies were wide enough to swallow several people whole and their mouths had countless teeth growing in circles on the inside. Anyone who would get caught by those teeth would be ripped to shreds.

Nagare: “We are getting out of here!”

Grabbing hold of his silver sword, Nagare made a run for it, with Shoyo following after.

Nagare: “Why are they swarming us?!”

Shoyo: “The bonfire must have attracted them to us. They are attracted to heat”

Nagare: “You couldn’t have told me about it beforehand!”

Shoyo: “Slipped my mind”

Nagare: “I hate you!”

With a giant worm monster in their way, Nagare slashed through it, screaming all the while.

But the swarm did not stop.

They kept coming and coming.

Nagare kept cutting them down, swinging his sword for his dear life.

The monster worms were relentless, coming at Nagare one after another.

To say this was Nagare’s nightmare come true would be an understatement.

Shoyo: ‘Wow, he is crying, screaming, and fighting all at the same time’

Shoyo: “I am telling you, Naga-kun. These bugs are nothing to be scared about….” One of the worms proceeded to bite off Shoyo’s left arm.

Shoyo: “See? Cute right?”

Nagare: “Cute my ass! It just ate your arm!”

Before another insect ate any more parts of Shoyo, Nagare pulled him away.

Considering they could not keep fighting so many of them, Nagare and Shoyo ran from them as fast as they could.

They ran for at least an hour before stopping.

Now there were no more insects in sight.

Shoyo: “Well, at least now my arm is back”

He slowly regenerated it along the way.

Shoyo: “That sure was fun, was it not?”

Nagare: “Like hell it was!”

Shoyo: “Ok, I am going to sleep, what about you?”

Nagare: “Sleep?! Are you crazy? Insects might come here any second!”

Shoyo: “Whatever you say, but as long as you don’t make another bonfire, the insects should stay away from us.”

Nagare: “How can you be so carefree about this…Wait, he is already sleeping!”

Before Nagare realized it, Shoyo just dozed off to sleep, at least as far as Nagare knew.

Shoyo: ‘Most of those bugs are not really that powerful’

Unfortunately, Nagare then found himself surrounded by three meter tall giant slugs.

Shoyo opened one eye: ‘I think he can handle them. If it starts to get bloody, I will intervene. But until then, I will enjoy my nap’

Nagare fought them all night long, in the morning the slugs retreated back to their nest.

Shoyo: “*Yawn* It has been a while since I got such a good night of sleep. Hmm? Naga-kun?”

Nagare was shaking and trembling all over, his clothing torn up, he was breathing heavily, and his right eye was twitching like that of a madman.

He was sitting in a fetal position, holding on to his sword for dear life.

It has been about a few hours since morning came, but the mental impact the giant slugs made was enough to make Nagare a little shaken up.

It was safe to say that the experience ended up re-traumatizing him all over again.

Nagare: “This world is scary. I am not moving from this spot, there might be another bug waiting to attack me”

Shoyo: ‘Insects were huge, but they all were fairly low level monsters. Nagare should not have had any trouble with them, so why does he look like he saw the end of the world?’

Shoyo: ‘Perhaps I went too far by letting him fight all night. I thought he had it handled…I guess I was wrong’

Nagare was obviously not in the right state of mind.

Shoyo: “C’mon buddy, time to go”

Shoyo grabbed Nagare’s hand and led the way, with Nagare repeatedly muttering “worms, slugs, bugs are everywhere….”