"Yes, brother…" As Murakumo said this, he started releasing an eerie aura that made Yoshino tremble In fear while Bakorio simply narrowed his eyes as he asked "You are a demon?"

"You think a normal human can live as long as I did?" Spoked Murakumo with a smile while rubbing his long beard but Bakorio wasn't in a joking mood as he directly asked "Who's your brother?"

Murakumo wasn't bothered by Bakorio's seriousness and simply took a sip from his tea before he dropped a bomb "My brother's Shuten-Doji, I wonder if you ever heard of him?"

Bakorio's body froze and his eyes widened in shock as the image of Doji appeared in his head, those eerie abyssal eyes were similar to the current eyes that Murakumo was displaying, they only contrasted in the color of their hair, but a scene of Doji wielding a simple looking sword and murdering every single person that stood in his way suddenly became clearer in his mind as he stared at Murakumo…

"Oh, you seem to know far more than I thought, as expected of a genius that running the whole world behind the scenes" Spoke Murakumo calmly

"Explain yourself, and I hope I like the explanation otherwise today will be your end" spoke Bakorio calmly to which Raiko instantly retrieved his sword and placed it on Bakorio's neck before he said "Mind your words"

However, Bakorio wasn't in the least bit intimidated as he calmly sipped on his tea as if Raiko's threat was nonexistent and simply stared at Murakumo coldly

Seeing this, Murakumo raised his hand to calm Raiko down before he let out a sigh and said "Young people these days are quite overconfident, it's okay I don't plan on hiding anything anyways…"

"Master…" Raiko muttered quietly before he sheathed his sword and stood to the side while Murakumo started telling his story…

"Different than you short-lived humans, demons are a race blessed with long longevity, and thanks to it, we were able to create our own unique cultivation techniques way before the existence of chakra… We call it demon aura"

Bakorio nodded slightly as he already had a slight idea about this demon aura and the effects it had on the body…

"The demon realm was in constant wars after the discovery of demon aura, and those wars went on for centuries until a single demon become strong enough and along with his five loyal followers, he united the demons into creating a somewhat peaceful world… That demon who earned himself the title of demon king was Called Yamato, and he was my own father"

At this point, Yoshino and even Bakorio had shocked looks on their faces that only increased when Murakumo said "As for those five followers that helped him claim the throne of the demon world, they were his two sons, the dark demon Shuten Doji, the White demon Murakumo, and three known demons at the time who were very close to each other. The infernal Demon Enja, The peaceful Demon Suija, and the demoness of seals Aster… "

Bakorio's eyes flickered slightly as his thoughts run all over the place… 'The demon's aura grants them a certain gift… and the stronger their demon aura is, the stronger this gift will become… Is it possible that they are the descendants of… no I need to make sure first'

As Bakorio concluded his thought, he focused back on Murakumo's story "the peace of the demon world however didn't last long, and that's because of a single event we call the descent of darkness!"

'This must be similar to what happened in the beast world…' Thought Bakorio and his guess was correct as Murakumo calmly explained "My father and the five of us along with many strong demons under our rule tried our best to repel that darkness, yet just when we thought we were going to succeed, That bastard Shuten Doji betrayed us for some reason and stabbed our father in the back"

Murakumo's eyes were filled with an eerie stillness... clearly, his hatred has simmered for a long time to the point that it transformed into something much more heartless and terrifying for his own brother…

"At the end, father, Enja, and Suija sacrificed their lives to give us a way out and sent us to this world, then Aster used her mastery of seals to make sure that the bloodline of our fallen friends can at least continue here, although she made sure to hide it from the eyes of that darkness and even me since she didn't trust me after brother's betrayal, and she used the remainder of her strength to seal the passage of the demon world and left her bloodline here who inherited her gift in seals to keep an eye on the demon world's entrance.

However, after thousands of years, you can imagine how they probably already lost their purpose and they weren't even protecting the real entrance anymore…"

As Bakorio heard this, his eyes couldn't help but narrow slightly as he felt like he confirmed a guess of his before he calmly spoke "So, you hid here all this time while preparing to fight Shuten Doji?"

Hearing this, Murakumo had a wry smile on his face before he shook his head and said "Even if I can beat Doji, it won't be enough to defeat the darkness behind him… When we fought it, he appeared injured, which is why we were able to contend with him in the first place, but now I don't think we stand a chance… It's evident by how easily the Beast world that was attacked after us easily fell"

"Injured huh…" countless thoughts flashed through Bakorio's head before he calmly smiled and said "Don't worry, I will be dealing with that darkness… However, I will require your help to deal with the others"

Murakumo couldn't help but let out a chuckle when he heard this "Sorry young man, I'm not trying to underestimate you but you stand no chance against me, let alone against that monstrosity"

Yoshino stared at Bakorio worriedly but she only saw him smile calmly and he didn't appear to have any aggressive aura surrounding him but this time when he stared at Murakumo, the latter directly leaped away from him with a frown on his face

'This… What was that just now?' wondered Murakumo and Raiko was ready to strike as he said "Master are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" Replied Murakumo without averting his eyes from Bakorio who was still smiling as he said "Who do you think is more deadly… that darkness or the emptiness you just saw? I can't wait to see who will swallow who in the end..."

The grin on Bakorio's face was demonic to say the least, but it made Murakumo smile as he approached him and said "You... are crazy! Fine, if you think you can beat him, I will bet on you… I don't have anything to lose anyways"

Bakorio nodded at him and said "Please start by teaching me everything you know about swordsmanship"

Murakumo nodded before he said to Raiko "You better not let your new fellow students surpass you"

"Of course not" Responded Raiko confidently before they saw Yoshino whispering softly "Can I see my grandma first?"

"Sure, settle everything you have outside, your training will start in a week" Spoke Murakumo and Yoshino nodded fearfully, still not sure how to accept his identity as a demon despite hearing about his tragic past so Bakorio took her back to fulfill his promise to the old woman and alleviate her worry…

….

After they left, Raiko stared at his master and he couldn't help but ask him "What made you put some distance between the two of you?"

Murakumo remained silent for a while before he responded "I'm not sure… However, I felt my instincts screaming at me when I stared at his eyes, those weren't the normal eyes of a human… That man is a monster"

'For master to regard him so highly… It seems like I will need to observe him much more closely…' Thought Raiko while staring at the empty teacup on the table silently…