Ep. 1: Lord Daigo recalls his pact with twelve demons while his son drifts away, reappearing sixteen years later as an armored youth.

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Lord Daigo Kagemitsu remembers making a pact with twelve demons in the Hall of Hell to gain power. When his son is born, the demons take their payment, resulting in a child without limbs, skin, or facial features. The infant is left to die in a river. Sixteen years later, he is a young man traveling alone with prosthetics crafted by Dr. Jukai. While hunting a sludge-like demon, he meets Dororo, a petty thief being beaten by three men. The demon attacks and eats the men, but the youth destroys it using blades hidden in his prosthetic arms. After the demon Deiki dies, the youth’s skin returns, and a statue in the Hall of Hell splits from lightning. Meanwhile, Daigo’s second son Tahoumaru returns home from hunting in Ishikawa, while his mother continues to miss her first son.