District of Sashes and Sickles

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Breath of the Rifleman! Hopefully the site isn't going on the fritz at the moment, but even if it is I'll still be giving my usual shout outs to Noble Eight, LoneTaker and groche9655 for their continued support of this story, and a thank you to all my fellow readers as well for your continued support. Now then, since we've no guest review questions it seems, let us head on to the story!

Yoshiwara, Tokyo: The Red Light District

His father had told him a few stories about this place during his two years of training to learn demon slaying. One odd detail he'd noted during his time was that the whole district was shaped like a flower for some odd reason. Whether or not it was intentional was up for debate, but in a way, it seemed fitting as it was also a place where many little 'flowers' were plucked each night. Subaru could only imagine what Tanjiro must've thought of the numerous weird smells which were no doubt coming from each building, assuming he even knew what a lot of them meant.

One of the few upsides, however, was that because the place attracted all kinds of questionable people, no one so muched as raised a questioning glance at the sixteen year old boy with an eyepatch walking through the streets with a traveler's cloak and wrapped bundle over his shoulder. No doubt they assumed he was a debt collector or something of the sort, which was ironic, given that his true purpose for being there was far less reprehensible. "Now where did you say that safehouse was again," Subaru mumbled to himself as he reread the note Izayoi had attached to Shika's leg. Due to the current circumstances occurring from the Japanese government learning of, or rather finally acknowledging, the existence of demons the shinobi had been rather busy running around with all kinds of other important messages and information.

Hence, why the Matagi was given a note explaining that the shinobi himself, due to his absence, had stocked a safehouse with more weapons and ammunition as well as other devices that might aid in the investigation of the district. Izayoi didn't know how the investigation itself was going, save for the fact that one of the slayers had gone missing. What information he was able to supply Subaru with, thankfully, were which houses his friends were currently investigating for the presence of demons, and their apparent undercover names as women. 'I could see Inosuke doing weirdly well with that surprisingly femine face of his if not for his snarling voice,' thought Subaru, 'but Tanjiro and Zenitsu would make some ugly girls. Oh well, at least I'll have a good laugh for the start of this mission.'

"Technically the mission's been started for a few days," Azakeru pointed out from within his mind, "you just happen to now be getting here."

"It may as well be the start of the mission for me," Subaru thought back as he glanced around the streets. Due to it turning nighttime just a little while ago, the district was now engaging in its more intimate indoor activities, meaning the crowd was relatively thin at the moment. "What I don't get is why this was treated as an emergency summons. They have a hashira with them, after all, if they need back up then-."

His mental conversation was interrupted by several loud noises, all of which Subaru recognized. Collapsing buildings, screaming and the sounds of the injured crying. The Matagi wasted no time in unfurling his rifle before leaping up and clambering onto a nearby roof, scanning the numerous buildings for the source of the noise. It didn't take him long to locate the cause as he saw a few figures fighting on the roof tops. The Slayer quickly began to close the distance as he ran forward and leapt from one roof top to the other, glancing every so often at the intense combat that was unfolding on one of the higher roofs in the district.

As he approached, he noted one of the figures was wielding multiple sashes protruding from their back like some sort of tendrils to attack while the other was wielding a sword. The melee itself was moving at an incredibly fast pace, almost too fast for Subaru to keep up with due to the darkness of the night and his distance. One thing he did note, however, was at one point the fast-paced action of the demon and Slayer's duel ground to a halt with the sudden collapse of the swordsman. The Matagi stopped and attempted to aim his rifle at the sash-wielding demon but was interrupted by the arrival of another figure. It was a girl who was attacking the demon now, mainly with kicks and clawing strikes.

'That can't be,' thought Subaru as he recognized the movements of the newcomer and sped even faster over the rooftops, his eyes taking in more details the closer he got. And he saw, to both his joy and horror, that he was right in his deduction of the girl's identity. It was the little demon girl he'd come to love, fighting in defense of her brother. And, to his potential despair, it seemed she was losing. It became all the more clear when she was flung into the lower wall of a nearby building. "NEZUKO!" He yelled as he leapt down from the roof tops and onto the streets.

The demon she'd been fighting was already down there as well, somehow not hearing his shout from earlier as Subaru got a good look at her for the first time. She was a white-haired woman with a curvaceous body wearing an outfit that could only be described as scandalous due to resembling a one-piece swimsuit more than clothing with the top half barely concealing her front and back while leaving her arms completely bare. The only reason her legs weren't more exposed was due to some knee-high stockings she was wearing that, like the rest of the outfit, resembled snakeskin and flowers. But no matter the look of her face or body, ugly was the nicest word Subaru would use to describe someone who would bring harm to Nezuko, and he let his frustration be known as he took a knee and fired two shots at the demon.

To his mild surprise, they were both deflected by the demon's sash, which Subaru could now see were split into several sashes all originating from a single one wrapped around her waist. "And just what do we have here," said the demon as she turned towards the hunter, "another little pesky slayer, with a rifle-?" Any further statements were cut off as Subaru emptied his remaining rounds at the demon, all of which were deflected by her sash before quickly moving to reload. "It can't be, wisteria coated bullets? Then you must be that irritating Matagi that my master wants dead, how fortunate."

"The name's Subaru Genjirou, just for the record," he said as he slid his bayonet onto his rifle and moved slowly to his left, "and while it seems you know who I am, I have no idea who I might be talking too."

"I suppose you should at least know the name of the one who will kill you," said the demon as she flipped her hair off her neck, also giving Subaru a clear view of the number in both of her eyes, "I am Upper Moon Six, Daki!"

"You're an Upper Moon?" Said Subaru as he did his best to not glance at Nezuko, "you look like a whore."

"I'm an Oiran!" exclaimed Daki as she sent some of her sashes whipping towards Subaru at high speed. The Matagi was just able to leap and roll out of the way of them, surprising even himself at the fact that he just evaded an Upper Moon while returning fire in both bullets and words.

"Isn't that the same thing," Subaru pointed out as he reversed direction to avoid even more attacks from Daki, "I really don't know what the difference is!"

"Why am I even surprised that a savage from the mountains doesn't know the difference!" exclaimed Daki as she changed her attack pattern and began whipping her sashes at him from both directions. 'Breath of the Rifleman Third Form: Bayonet Dance!' Thought Subaru as he spun his rifle in numerous circles around his body to deflect the onslaught.

It was funny in a way, that despite the demon being an Upper Moon, Subaru was having an easier time keeping up with her than he'd had keeping up with Shuten Doji. That didn't mean it was easy to deflect her blows in the slightest as the continuous attacks also put pressure on his wounded leg, causing him pain as he tried not to buckle. In the end, thought it was a valiant effort, his leg did buckle slightly as the Matagi was knocked off balance, giving Daki the opening she needed wrap part of her sash around his rifle in an attempt to yank it away from him. She didn't succeed in that endeavor, but she did yank him off of his feet and fling him into the doorway of another building, collapsing part of the entrance onto him with the impact.

Nezuko cried out, the worry in her voice clear even through the muzzle on her mouth as she struggled to stand under the rubble she'd been buried in. "Oh, what's this," said Daki as she glanced at the demon girl with a wicked smile, "you seem quite attached to this one, and his blood most definitely doesn't smell like yours or your brothers." She took a thinking pose for a moment as Subaru managed to push his own, smaller pile of debris off of himself, his body saved from being scraped up thanks to his uniform. "Oh I know, I've never slept with a Matagi before even after all this time, so I think I'll show him what it is to feel the body of a real woman while you, little demon girl, get to watch."

She smiled deviously at the thought of it all as her gaze shifted to the Rifleman, who had a degree of fear in his eyes now. But his gaze wasn't directed at her. 'What's he looking at,' she thought before hearing the sound of wooden debris being pushed aside behind her. Looking back, Daki saw that Nezuko had somehow reconnected her torso and grown a whole new leg. 'That can't be, I was sure I cut her to pieces!' She thought with mild alarm.

The answer to her shocked inquiry came as Nezuko quickly produced a whole new arm in a matter of seconds as her body began to morph and change, becoming more like that of a grown woman. vine-like designs began to appear, wrapping around her skin as a horn also jutted out of the right side of her head. In the process, Nezuko's muzzle also came loose to reveal her gritted fangs as veins stood out on her body while she glared at Daki with a look Subaru didn't think he'd ever see on the gentle girl's face: absolute hatred. In that moment, Nezuko was one of the most terrifying and beautiful things Subaru would ever lay eyes on.

In the next instant, the demon girl closed the gap with Daki, throwing a powerful high kick at her head. The Upper Moon responded by slashing both her arm and leg off with her sash before aiming at Nezuko's head. The problem was, her leg was still moving and slammed into Daki's face, burying it into the ground with enough force to make a small crater. Nezuko continued to dig her foot into her enemy's back as a smile graced her lips.

But it was not the friendly smile Subaru was familiar with, but rather the type of smile a predator would give when it was toying with its prey. "Get off me brat!" exclaimed Daki as her sashes whipped upwards at Nezuko, slicing through all four of her limbs and her head. "NEZUKO!" Subaru exclaimed as he finally snapped out of the trance he'd been in and started to rush forward. His concern would turn out to be unwarranted, however, as the demon girl's blood somehow solidified and kept her limbs and head connected to her body, allowing her to grab onto and hold the sashes. Next, she ignited her blood demon art, causing Daki to cry out in pain as red flames burned her body where the little demon's blood had landed on her.

Nezuko took this moment to reattach her head and limbs, smiling once again as she raised her foot and buried it in Daki's face, slamming her head into the ground in the process. The demon girl then gave another powerful kick that sent Daki flying through the entrance of the same building she'd hit, through its back wall and into the front of the building behind it. "Wow, no wonder you got the hots for her if this is how she can get sometimes," commented Azakeru. Subaru didn't answer, though, as he slowly approached the love of his life.

"Nezuko," he said, holding his rifle in front of him like a staff, "can you hear me? Are you alright?" She turned her gaze on him then, her breathing a bit labored from all the effort she'd had to exert. Then, she began sniffing the air, turning her head to the inside of the next building before trudging off. 'Shit,' thought Subaru as he hurried after her.

And he was none too soon as the moment he caught up to her, the demon girl had discovered several frightened women in kimonos at the front entrance, one of whom was nursing a cut on her wrist. Nezuko, seeing this, lunged at the woman but was swiftly stopped as Subaru leapt on her and held the wooden part of his rifle over her mouth to keep her from biting into any flesh. "Nezuko, they're not the enemy, the Upper Moon is, you have to fight this!" He said, straining with effort to hold her down.

But Nezuko was being far more resistant this time as she struggled against the Matagi's grip, even managing to swipe at him with her claws and wound his right shoulder a bit. But the Rifleman grit his teeth and endured the pain while increasing the strength of his hold on the girl. "It's alright Nezuko, it's alright, none of them are going to hurt you. I'm right here, I'm sorry I went away for a bit but I'm back and I'm not going anywhere for a good bit, so please, be a good girl, for me."

His pleading seemed to strike a chord in Nezuko at first as her struggles seemed to cease. But then, the girl repositioned herself and leapt straight up towards the ceiling. 'Oh fu-GAAAHH!' Thought the Matagi as he felt his back break right through the ceiling before he lost his grip on Nezuko and fell to the floor. 'She jumped right through the ceiling to the second level,' he thought painfully as the inhabitants of that floor quickly rushed out of the room. But Nezuko's attention was now squarely focused on Subaru as she pounced on him.

The slayer reacted instinctively and put his rifle up right as the demon girl bit down, her teeth sinking into the wood once again as she thrashed about, clawing at either side of the Matagi. But her strikes were surprisingly off, as if she couldn't aim them properly. 'She's still in there,' Subaru as much hoped as he deduced before deciding to make a huge gamble and let go of his rifle in order to grab onto Nezuko's head with his hands, 'here goes.' "It's alright, it's really alright Nezuko," he said as he pressed his forehead against hers, "It's me, it's Subaru. I'm here, you don't have to worry because I'm right here."

Nezuko continued to growl but slowed her strikes a bit at his statement. "It'll be alright Nezuko," he said, deciding it was best to let some of his tears flow at that moment, "I'm here and together we'll also find your brother. Everything's gonna be alright, so please, come back to me, come back to the boy who loves you." The demon girl's eyes widened then as tears suddenly started flowing down her cheeks as well.

She put her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder then while Subaru lightly stroked her hair, whispering every calming word he knew into her ear. Somehow, it seemed to be working as Nezuko started shrinking back down to her child form as the horn on her head and the markings on her body receded. Before long, she'd cried herself to sleep in his arms. "That's good, Nezuko," he said as he held her lightly, "we'll figure this out, just rest for now. Everything's-BAAAAMM!"

The doorway to the room was slashed open then as Daki, bearing numerous burn scars on her face and body stepped into the room with her sashes held up threateningly. "So, you can use blood demon arts," spat Daki with a look of utter hatred on her face, "and it curiously only seems to burn demons. Not only that my healing isn't working so well for the scarring. So now I'm extremely, extremely pissed off!"

"I'd say I'm sorry to hear that," said Subaru as he stood up with one arm still holding Nezuko tightly too him while the other slung his rifle over his shoulder, "but you want my honest opinion, that look suits your awful personality way better."

"And do you want my honest opinion," said Daki as her sashes stood ready to attack, "I'm going to enjoy carving you and that little demon bitch up!" In that instant, Subaru made ready to move, knowing full well that he couldn't fight an Upper Moon and protect a sleeping Nezuko at the same time. But it turned out to be a problem that solved itself as a green and black blur suddenly charged in from behind Daki with his black blade swinging at high speed. Daki noticed at the last second and moved out of the way as Tanjiro let out a mild curse before landing and rolling up to where he was in between them and the Upper Moon.

"Subaru," said Tanjiro, who was currently showing quite a bit of battle damage with numerous cuts and was breathing a bit heavily, "when did you get here?"

"Oh, about five minutes ago, give or take," he replied, "I think that's a new record on things going to shit upon my arrival."

"No, this is on me," said Tanjiro, not catching onto the fact that his friend was joking, "I wasn't able to get a clean cut on her neck earlier, and now both you and Nezuko are hurt because of it."

"Something that won't happen again," said Daki, "and now that you're all in one place, I can have even more fun with you."

"That's unlikely," said another voice as Subaru and Tanjiro jumped a bit at the sudden appearance of a silver-haired man wearing a jeweled headband and carrying two, chain-linked swords on his back. It was the Sound Pillar, Tengen Uzui. "but more importantly, did Nezuko Kamado just go on an attempted rampage? After that big show you put on in front of Oyakata-sama, it still turns out like-."

"It might not've gotten this bad if you'd shown up earlier," an annoyed Subaru pointed out, "I thought you were supposed to be supervising Tanjiro and the others, so where the fuck have you been this whole time?"

"Making sure my wives and your other two friends were safe, along with rescuing the demon's other victims," Uzui shot back.

"Well you saved me some trouble showing up here, pillar," said Daki before being interrupted.

"Buzz off," said Tengen as he glanced back at Daki, "if you were really an Upper Moon, this battle wouldn't have been over so quickly." The demon oiran was about to ask what he meant by that when her head suddenly fell off of her shoulders and into her arms as her body collapsed to its knees. The look of shock on her face matched that of Tanjiro and Subaru's. 'He really is a shinobi,' thought the Rifleman, 'even if Tanjiro hadn't been blocking the view, I still probably wouldn't have seen that sword stroke.'

"Hey you two, the fight's not over yet," said Tengen, getting their attention once more, "this demon clearly wasn't an Upper Moon, so we need to find the real one. But first, get your sister somewhere safe, Kamado, we don't have time to babysit her and fight an Upper Moon. Genjirou, since you're supposed to be a hunter, you're with me. We'll track down the real Upper Moon together."

"R-Right," said Tanjiro as he took Nezuko from Subaru, who also passed him the map on where the safehouse was before he leapt out the window.

"Wait, where do you think you're going?!" exclaimed Daki's head, still lying in the lap of her body. "You can't just cut my head off and walk away! I'm going to make you pay for this!"

"How are you still grumbling over there?" Questioned Tengen, "I've got no business with a dying demon, so just pass on already."

"I'm not dead yet!" exclaimed Daki, "you not only cut off my head, but you said I wasn't an Upper Moon to my face!"

"But you're clearly not," said Tengen with a bored expression on his features, "I couldn't have cut your head off so easily if you really were."

"I AM UPPER MOON SIX!" exclaimed Daki as she actually started crying, "I'm super awesome and I've even got the number to prove it! And I can only get stronger from here!"

"That tantrum you're throwing isn't going to convince anyone," said Tengen.

"Uh, Uzui," said Subaru, "out of curiosity, how long is it supposed to take for an Upper Moon demon to disappear once they lose their head? Because she's still looking relatively whole despite the decapitation."

"You're all gonna die, die, die!" Exclaimed Daki as her body started moving again and began pounding its fist on the floor in frustration.

"It," Tengen hesitated for a moment as a thought occurred to him, "definitely shouldn't be taking this long."

"My head got cut off by a meanie!" exclaimed Daki, "it got cut clean off, help me Oni-chaaaan!"

"Ah shit," said Subaru as a growth suddenly erupted from the back side of Daki's body, quickly forming into that of a tall but malnourished looking demon with long, messy black hair, baggy white pants and one of Daki's sashes wrapped around both of his arms. Tengen, realizing what was happening, charged in first and swung his chained swords like a pair of nunchakus. But the strikes only met air as both demons were now over in the corner.

"I've told you before," said the new arrival as he carefully placed Daki's head back on her body, "crying's not gonna help with stuff like this. At the very least, you could work on reattaching your own head. Not to mention, you were born with such a cute face and it got burned." He moved his hand over the wound, causing it to heal up just a bit faster. But Subaru wouldn't allow that as he drew his revolver and fired.

But the lanky demon moved and deflected the bullet in an instant with a suddenly appearing sickle weapon before Uzui leapt in with an attack of his own, which was abruptly stopped as the demon moved past him at blinding speed. "A gun, now that's unusual for a slayer to be using," said the sickle wielder, "and you, the six foot tall guy with the dual blades, not bad stopping my attack there." Stopped was a bit of a strong word as Tengen still suffered a couple of cuts along his forehead despite his head band. "It really must be nice to be you, man, having such nice skin with no spots or wounds or even birthmarks. You must be real popular with the girls, man."

His attention shifted to Subaru then as the Matagi switched back to his bayonetted rifle. "You're not so lucky man, a scar like that over your whole left eye. You might not look out of place here, but I'll bet you make people nervous everywhere else. The rest of you is pretty rugged looking too, do you live in the mountains or something?"

"I do," replied Subaru, "hunting in the mountains for a living is kinda the staple of my people, the Matagi. But these apparent rugged looks weren't enough to scare off the woman I love, so I can't really complain."

"A guy like you managed to find a girl," said the demon as he began clawing into his own flesh, "The envy, aaaaaah, the envy. I'd say you should both just drop dead, but then I wouldn't get to inflict the painful death I have in mind for the both of you. I'm gonna skin you both alive and claw out your innards!"

"Don't stop with them Onii-chan," said Daki suddenly, "that Matagi's demon girl is the one who burned me, so go kill her too! They all got in the way while I was working super hard alone! They've been bullying me this entire time!"

"The two of us just got here," said Tengen, "I don't know what she's talking about."

"Don't try to deny it, I've seen bits and pieces of everything that's been happening so far," said Daki's apparent brother as he readied his sickles, "I'll kill anyone who tries to bully my dumb, cute little sister. So, it's time to collect the debts, one for every bruise you put on her." He attacked then, swinging his sickles in fast, deadly arcs aimed at the two slayers. "I'll spin you both round and round when you die, because my name's Gyuutarou!"

Subaru was just barely able to dodge out of the way of the first few slashes, losing his eyepatch in the process, before Gyuutarou threw both sickles at them, forcing the Matagi to slide underneath one as they tore through the wall and ceiling then curved back towards the two. 'Breath of the Rifleman First Form: Soaring Thrusts!' Thought the hunter as he leapt up from his slide with a charge at the demon. He was just the slightest bit too slow, however, as the sickles returned to their owner's hands and allowed him to bat away the numerous thrusts before countering with another slash at Subaru, who just barely managed to raise his rifle in time to take the worst of the damage as he was sent rolling back, still feeling pain from a new cut in his left arm.

"I've never seen a guy handle a rifle quite like that," said Gyuutarou, "you Matagi hunters must really be something else. And you seem to be a pretty nice guy after all, Hashira, protecting the humans and looking cool while doing it. No doubt you'll be showered with love and gratitude later on."

"That much should've been obvious from the start," said Tengen, ignoring the blood running down his face, "I'm an elegant, flamboyant lady's man. I've even got three wives who'll back me up on that."

"You're kidding me, three wives," said Gyuutarou as he scratched at his face again, "that's just unforgivable!" He held his sickles up then as some of the splotches of dried blood on his body moved to his sickles. "Blood Demon Art: Splatter Sickle!" He unleashed numerous slashes then, sending out several thin blades of blood that flew towards the two slayers and the other two people Tengen had been protecting.

"Heads up Subaru!" Exclaimed Tengen as he slammed both of his blades on the floor, somehow creating an explosion large enough to collapse it and drop them all to the first floor below. Subaru could still feel the wind from the missed attack as he landed on his feet with Tengen right next to him, holding onto the frightened civilians. "Run and hide, both of you!" The bystanders didn't need to be told twice as they rushed out of the hole in the wall. And just in time too, as the earlier attack wasn't over just yet.

With a tilt of his fingers, Gyuutarou redirected the blood blades down through the hole towards the two slayers. "They can track," exclaimed Subaru as he and Tengen managed to cut through the blades with their weapons, "you gotta be kidding me right now!"

"This does make things a bit more difficult," said Tengen as he cut through the last of the blades, "but there is some good news. I can't hear anyone other than those two on the upper floor anymore, which means," he took out some familiar black spheres and held them in between his fingers, "we can get a bit more destructive. You'd best hightail it for a moment, Subaru, this is gonna be a rather messy technique."

"But I can't just-," Subaru attempted to argue but Tengen had already thrown the orbs into the air.

"That's an order, slayer," exclaimed Tengen as he readied his swords, "now move!" Subaru quickly realized his intentions then as he turned and fled out of the hole in the building, exiting just as the Sound Pillar's blades met and cut through one of the spheres. The resulting explosion was enough to knock Subaru off his feet and onto his stomach as the front entrance of the building was reduced to rubble.

"*Cough**cough* Damn," said Subaru as he managed to work his way up to a kneeling position and looked upon the destruction that had just befallen the building, "For a shinobi, he knows how to make a fuck ton of noise."

"It's little wonder Izayoi recommended those explosives to you," said Azakeru suddenly, "now would probably be a good time to use them less sparingly. It'd be good not to have a repeat of Kume Island soo soon after all."

"I guess enough people have cleared out to avoid collateral damage," Subaru thought back, "what about you, feel like giving that blood demon art another go?"

"I might be able to use it in a bit," said Azakeru, "for now, though, about all I can do is warn you about sneak attacks."

"Well they say every good sharpshooter needs a spotter," replied Subaru as he heard the sound of another explosion, "and since it looks like this fight isn't over, we'll need all the help we can get." He could feel Azakeru 'nod' within his mind as he readied himself to charge back in but was stopped when he noticed two figures approaching. "Well I'll be, are you two really still alive?"

Inside the building, Tengen had been dealing with both Daki and Gyuutarou, the former of whom had protected them both from the larger explosion by wrapping her sashes around them like a cocoon. Thus far, the Sound Pillar had managed to separate the duo and slice off Daki's head again with the use of another explosion but had still failed to cut off Gyuutarou's head. "Hey, have you noticed it yet?" Asked Gyuutarou suddenly.

"Noticed what?" Questioned Tengen with a pained smile on his face.

"You're slowly dying from the poisoned cuts I gave you earlier," explained the Sickle Wielder, "so now, we're gonna tear you up slow and steady."

"Are you so sure about that!" Exclaimed Inosuke as he, Subaru and Zenitsu, who still had women's makeup on, all stood in the entryway. "Then you're clearly forgetting about us, buddy! Inosuke and his underlings are here!"

"What the heck," said Gyuutarou in mild confusion, "who're they?"

"You got me," said Subaru with a shrug as he leveled his rifle, "never seen 'em before in my life."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?!" Questioned Inosuke angrily as he waved his swords in the air. Zenitsu might've said something as well but he was, thankfully, sleepwalking at the moment.

"Well don't think a few underlings are gonna get you a happy ending, man," said Gyuutarou as he angled his gaze back towards Tengen, "you're all still gonna die."

"No, we'll win," said Tengen as he stepped forward, "we're demon slayers after all."

"Don't act all cool," said Daki as she turned her attention to the newcomers, "as soon as that pillar of yours dies from the poison in his system, the rest of you will drop like flies!" 'Poison,' thought Subaru as he glanced at Tengen. Indeed, he looked paler now and his body was covered in sweat from more than just the fighting. It also meant that the same poison in his veins might also be in Subaru's veins if they came from where he thought they came from.

"You're the underlings here!" exclaimed Tengen, "even with poison in my body, I'm running high! And don't look down on the other four slayers you've met because they're my prized successors! They've got guts, so don't count on them running away! And even if you do cut my limbs off, I'll just come biting after you! I've even figured out the simple way to beat you guys and that's to cut both of your heads off at the same time! I don't even have to split you two apart to take the weak sister alive!"

"Are we sure this guy's not off his rocker from the poison in his system?" Questioned Azakeru.

"He might not seem all there, but I think I see what he's really getting at," thought Subaru, "the big brother is clearly the more dangerous threat, so we need to isolate them." It seemed Inosuke might've caught onto the tactic as well given his next statement.

"Guhahaha! It really is simple!" Exclaimed the Boar Fighter, "Of course we're gonna win if it's like that!"

"You call it 'simple'," said Gyuutarou with an evil grin, "but you should know, I got fifteen pillars while my sister got seven. That 'simple' ain't gonna be so easy."

"That's right," added Daki confidently, "the long night is and will always be our ally. Before the sun comes up, you're all gonna meet your deaths!" The sash demon charged forward then as the battle between the slayers and Upper Moons Six resumed.

And thus, the Entertainment District Arc commences! It might not turn out as long as the arc did in canon, but hopefully everyone will enjoy it just as much. In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as our slayers fight desperately against their first Upper Moon Demon! 'Til then.