Demon Slayer: The Ninjago Chronicles

Part 12: Ghost Stories

Resting Wu against the stairs of the courtyard, Tanjiro could sense the infamous pain his Master was enduring. The Sensei contorted his snapped arm into his pocket, retrieving a satchel of tea leaves at the expense of his wrist dislocating clean from his bone.

"Take... the leaves." Wu spluttered, blood funnelling out of his mouth like a tap, "Burn them over a fire."

Wu gasped for air as blood pooled out of his mouth and legs, his femur piercing out of the skin like a stake in the ground. Tanjiro nodded in affirmation as he hurried inside the Monastery to obtain a flickering lantern. Rushing back into the courtyard, he grabbed a few twigs off the ground and smashed the lantern into the stone face of the courtyard, the twigs erupting in flames.

"Now... the leaves." The Sensei choked, "Find... the... wind."

Tanjiro froze with his hand hovering over the fire, he couldn't bare the weight of leaving his father to die alone, but this was something he had to do. The Green Slayer slammed the satchel into the open flames as the amber fire sloshed into a thorny-purple, then a possessed-green. Blinding smoke engulfed Tanjiro's vision as his body was dragged into an opening wormhole over the fire, he had opened a portal to a different realm.

"Go, Slayer... go." Wu coughed, collapsing to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

Tanjiro felt as if a blade was scoring beneath his skin, ripping apart his flesh from his bone, his mind from his body, his physical vessel from his mental state. Reality warped around him as a small opening concurred, he was projected into a darkened abyss full of cages made of Vengestone, spirits of the damned locked behind the bars. The Green Slayer tried to walk, but he couldn't move anywhere, he peered at his hands and legs, he was a ghost in this realm; Tanjiro had no choice but to float around.

"Hey." A soul grunted, urging Tanjiro towards him.

"Hey?" Tanjiro spoke back.

"You gotta help me out, man. I've been here for centuries." The ghost grunted, again.

"Who are you, exactly?" He asked.

"Name's Arcturus. The Anacondrai King." Arcturus wheezed.

Tanjiro glanced his body up and down, the ghost was a large translucent snake.

"My appearance is not much to enjoy, but you are not cursed, are you?" Arcturus asked, "How are you here?"

A frozen blast of wind silenced the Serpentine as Tanjiro was dragged forward by the wind. He passed many cages, many filled, many empty, the realm appeared endless and full of cursed souls. Eventually, the wind released Tanjiro, who was hovering face-to-face with another free ghost.

"What business do you attend, traveller?" The ghost croaked, his voice rusty and gravelly.

"I don't fully know, my Sensei journeyed for some tea leaves and I ended up here." Tanjiro answered, honestly.

"Green, huh. Like the prophecy stated. Tell me, who is your Sensei?" The ghost questioned.

"My father, Wu Kamado." The Green Slayer spoke.

"WU!" The spirit roared, the realm shaking from his very anger, "Wu has a child and is the fabled Green Ninja!" He roared, "What is your name, child?!"

"Tanjiro Kamado, and you?" He asked.

"Morro, the Master of Wind. The ruler of the Cursed Realm. The Pre-eminent!" Morro cackled.

"Okay, Morro. I think you're the key to our help." Tanjiro began speaking, "The realms are under attack by Muzan, the First Spinjitzu Master. He seeks to take back the power of Time and reset reality. My powers linked my mind with his, I have heard his thoughts, he is trying to spawn all of the realms inside his Infinity Castle."