^ Chapter 39 - Morning ^
Crashing thunder and shrieking wind filled the skies of the Swordsmith Village, as if heralding the end times. Tree tops billowed and the earth was upturned. It really did seem as though the world was entering its death throes and it was but a matter of time before all was extinguished.
It wasn't the end of the world however, and there was no thunderstorm or earthquakes present that could be written off the cause for these cataclysmic events. An enraged Tanjirō and the spiteful Zohakuten were engaged in a brutal slugfest, their attacks lighting up the sky and wreaking havoc on the surrounding forest ecosystem. The giant earth dragons that Upper Moon Four created were either burnt to a crisp or smashed to pieces by Tanjirō's incredible sword strokes, only for them to come back a second later. In his empowered state, pissed off by a demon calling him evil, the young slayer was fighting somewhat even with Zohakuten, enabling him to avoid most of the demon's strongest attacks and sustain only superficial damage thanks to his Iron Blood Armor. A ring of six flaming orbs of blood had appeared behind Tanjirō at this point, in a similar fashion to Zohakuten's drums, and the heat they were giving off coupled with that of his own body was causing the air to shimmer around him and the earth to heat up wherever he stood. The blood that had extended the reach of his blade was also glowing red hot and giving off steam, mimicking the effects that it had previously when Nezuko had used her own blood to light it aflame.
Back and forth their contest went ever since Tanjirō had transformed as a result of his powerful emotions, the two demons battling at the exact same time as Mucihirō and Gyokko had been dueling with one another on the other side of the village. Originally the young slayer had held a slight advantage over Zohakuten because of the devastating and explosive nature of his attacks, with both his Water Breathing and Hinokami Kagura countering the Upper Moon's wood dragon constructs more than effectively. Each time one head was destroyed, however, it merely regrew back and continued to harass Tanjirō for as long as it lived. That meant even with his enhanced speed and reflexes, he never was able to actually reach Zohakuten or the protected Hantengu because he was constantly trying to fend off the wood dragons.
"This scum, his power has grown exponentially to match mine...and he's figured out some of the limitations of my wood dragons." Zohakuten thought with a growl after Tanjirō destroyed another one of the constructs, then sustained half of another's sonic scream without showing much of a reaction to the pain. Despite the youth's newfound abilities, however, Zohakuten could see right through them to a weakness that even Tanjirō was unable to realize. "Before he was more refined, but after transforming his movements have started to turn sloppy. This must be his first time in an enhanced state, so of course...it shouldn't be long now."
Tanjirō grunted when, after destroying another dragon head, a second and third appeared behind him with blinding speed uncharacteristic of their size and blasted him with a focused double sonic scream. He cried out as blood shot out from his mouth when he felt his bones break and snap from the soundwaves, while his eardrums burst for the sixth time or whatever crazy amount that had been racked up until then.
His healing factor immediately went into effect and he was about to use one of the Hinokami Kagura techniques, before the fourth regrown head slammed into his body midair and sent him rocketing towards the trees. An explosion of wood fragments and dirt followed soon after, with the disorientated Tanjirō having just enough time to get to his feet and leap back to avoid Zohakuten's devastating wind blast. Even then he wasn't fast enough for the Upper Moon, with his right foot from the ankle down getting crushed even with his armor by the wind.
"Shit! I'm losing my grip…! It started off fine but my eyes are starting to spin, at this rate I'll lose what advantage I had and be at his mercy!" Tanjirō thought frantically as Zohakuten beat his drums, unleashing more of his primal emotions' attacks on the slayer to further drive him into a corner. "The strength of Upper Moon Four...it's overwhelming!"
His injured foot healed up and he used it to launch himself back from the dragon head closest to him, escaping to beyond the twenty meter range he had figured out each head had, before the deafening boom of one of Zohakuten's drums reached his eardrums and caused the dragon to open its mouth.
From within its maw shot out another smaller dragon, followed by three more heads of a decreasing size until the final one clamped down harshly onto Tanjirō's wrist and managed to bite through his armor. A second later he was yanked forward by the train of dragons, pulling him back towards the main head where he was then trapped inside of its mouth in the dark. The pressure set in soon after, his armor beginning to crack from how tightly the monster's jaws were clamping down on him.
Nezuko let out a muffled cry as she was lifted up by her bloodied right arm by another dragon and Genya grunted from where he was wrapped up in a dragon's coils. Both of them were at the mercy of the Upper Moon and Tanjirō was trying as hard as he could to break free. More chips appeared in his armor and he could feel his bones compress, nearing their breaking point. All of the strength his transformation had lent him was gone, the stark realization of the power Zohakuten had compared to the prior four emotion clones finally set in.
"I'm...gonna get crushed…!" Tanjirō thought when blood started oozing from his lips, his vision getting more spotty by the second.
Suddenly a green and pink blur soared out from the tree line and sliced through the dragon's with a series of rapid slashes, nabbed Tanjirō from inside and took off high into the sky with him on their back. Zohakuten's eyes narrowed as he watched the blur, a low growl escaping his lips at the sudden appearance of the newcomer.
"Uwaah! That is one big monster! What even is that?!" exclaimed Mitsuri as her sword curled around her once it returned to its more original size, the surprised Tanjirō blinking when he registered what had happened.
"K-Kanroji-san?! Where did you come from?!" he asked with a stammer, his horns shrinking a little as his transformation started to wear off.
"Don't worry about that, right now I wanna ask if you're okay! I'm so sorry for being late, good thing I made it in time." Mitsuri replied as she found a nearby secluded spot and set Tanjirō back down on his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But Genya and Nezuko aren't, they're still trapped by the Upper Moon!"
"Upper Moon!?"
Tanjirō quickly gave the Love Hashira a briefing on who he was fighting and everything that he had learned since they first were fighting the four primal emotions. Mitsuri absorbed every word that he told her, nodding at a few key pieces of intel before turning around towards Zohakuten's massive presence of bloodlust and taking a breath.
"Thank you, Tanjirō-kun. Now that I'm here, you're not alone in this fight any more! Let's go save our friends!" she exclaimed happily, her cheerful personality despite the situation causing his cheeks to turn a slight shade of red even through his armor.
"R-Right! I'll support you Kanroji-san!"
They then returned to the clearing of shattered trees and upturned earth left in the wake of Tanjirō's earlier confrontation with Zohakuten and saw the young-looking demon standing on top of Hantengu's protected wood cocoon, his eyes instantly darting to them. Mitsuri felt a tiny chill run down her spine from the demon but she steeled her resolve and remembered the teachings of her sensei, the very same person who had taken on Tanjirō as his Tsuguko.
She smiled internally with how Tanjirō was going to be taught by Kyōjurō just like she was, and she wished that they could finish this as soon as possible so that both of them could return to the Flame Hashira with Tanjirō's new sword in hand.
"Hey, you! Your pranks have gone on too far! I'm gonna have to take Nezuko-chan and Genya-kun now!" Mitsuri declared with a determined gaze, Zohakuten barely batting an eyelid as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Shut your mouth, harlot. I only take orders from one person in this world." he replied gruffly, a snort coming out of his nostrils.
"H-Harlot!? M-me?! He means me?!" thought Mitsuri, flabbergasted at the demon's harsh language. "Unbelievable! How could he say that when he looks just as young as my little brother! Rude!"
Even Tanjirō gasped when Mitsuri was referred to in such a slur, his heartbeat quickening in pace as his intense anger began to make a resurgence. He could feel the fire inside burn brighter, but rather than let it take control of him as it had previously, he channeled it and repaired his armor just in time for Zohakuten's advance.
One of his dragon's opened its maw with a crack of wood and fired a sonic scream right at them, their eardrums already beginning to pop before Mitsuri clenched her jaws and leaped towards it. In a split second before she and the attack met, her fingernails elongated by a marginal bit and her vision turned sharper.
"Koi no kokyū, San no kata: Koi Neko Shigure!" she bellowed, her body turning into a blur once again as she unleashed a series of rapid sword attacks that physically cut through Zohakuten's sonic scream, dispersing its effects and leaving both her and Tanjirō unharmed. "Now I'm mad. You may look like a kid, but that's still unforgivable. Tanjirō-kun was right about you, you are a vile demon that deserves repentance!"
"This girl cut right through the attack itself...something is off with this one. I can sense it." Zohakuten thought as he sent his other dragon heads after the Hashira.
Tanjirō watched in awe from the ground as Mitsuri elegantly weaved through the attacks, her body seemingly unhindered by all of the drastic maneuvers she was making while her sword carved through her enemies with ease. He had never seen such a unique sword before, with the metal bending and stretching out as if it were made of rubber and not something hard and solid like steel.
It was thin, even for a sword, but she could use it with such strength and dexterity that it was more like a whip than an actual Nichirin sword. What amazed him more was that with each slash of the blade he could the tiniest sparks of fire generated by her techniques, which could mean only one thing.
Her unique breathing style had to be associated with the Flame Breathing that Kyōjurō and his family had practiced for generations. That was enough to make him recognize he truly had someone special as his new teacher, if what he assumed about Mitsuri having been trained by Kyōjurō was correct.
"I can't just stand around here though, I have to help out Kanroji-san!" Tanjirō thought as he grit his teeth and waited for an opening, before leaping right into the fray and unleashing a blaze of fire with his sword that obliterated a dragon head behind his ally.
"Good job Tanjirō-kun! We'll have this guy beat in no time!" Mitsuri exclaimed with a smile as she easily leaped around from another dragon head, cleaving through its head and avoiding a sonic blast from another.
Zohakuten was watching them keenly from where he stood the entire time, his eyes narrowing and his brow furrowing when the hatred within him grew at their inability to submit. The same strength Tanjirō had previously had came back in a more refined state, and with Mitsuri now part of the battle, both of them were keeping up with the speed of his attacks and negating them with their breathing styles.
"They're keeping up with this speed...whatever. I can handle the Hashira myself, but that brat is going to make it difficult." Zohakuten told himself before he banged his fists against several of his drums, the earth around Hantengu's cocoon splitting open around him. "Kekkitjutsu - Muken Gōju."
Countless waves of endlessly spawning wood dragons surged forth from the upturned ground around their master, roaring as they crashed towards Mitsuri and Tanjirō like a tidal wave. Mitsuri gasped at the attack's wide range and destruction and Tanjirō grunted, his body moving on instinct as he threw himself off to the right in order to avoid being crushed by the mess of dragon bodies.
It became evident very quickly to him that he was the main target as the tidal wave of dragons kept pursuing him, upturning the earth and any trees they happened to run across. Mitsuri saw his plight and leapt into action once she found solid footing again in an attempt to rescue him, but found she had acted too late. Overwhelmed, not even Tanjirō's Hinokami Kagura could burn its way through Zohakuten's onslaught before he was crushed by their sheer combined mass.
The weight was too much for his body and in a similar fashion to Nezuko with prior injuries, his limbs were almost entirely liquified and a fierce cry of pain resonated from his lungs. It was enough to rile up both Nezuko and Mitsuri, who was close enough for some of his blood to spatter onto her right sleeve and cheek.
With a muffled shriek Nezuko tore herself free from the jaw of the dragon restraining her, leaving behind her right arm, before she leapt up high into the air with skulls in her eyes. Zohakuten saw her coming without even having to actually look at her and removed her as a problem with a well-timed blow from a dragon below. She was knocked out cold from the impact and her body was sent flying right over where Genya was still restrained, his curses filling the night air until she crashed down into the trees.
"Now then, for the Hashira." uttered Zohakuten as he turned his gaze to Mitsuri, his legion of wooden dragons following his will as they streamed towards her with mouths agape.
"Koi no kokyū, Go no kata: Yurameku Renjō Midarezume!" Mitsuri exclaimed while somersaulting back by throwing her bodyweight mid-flight, her sparking whip blade screaming into action. With dozens of long, sweeping attacks, she reduced the tidal wave of dragons to mere chunks of wood and splinters. "Now for the big, er, little guy himself!"
Mitsuri used the falling severed head of one of the Upper Moon's dragon constructs to propel herself forward right to wear the demon was standing, her whip blade curling around his neck.
It was when the demon's eyes turned blood red and his mouth opened wide that she remembered Zohakuten wasn't the real body of the demon. Her rationality had been overtaken by her own emotions when she had seen Tanjirō get crushed, and she was about to pay for that mistake.
Just like the prior emotion clone Urogi, Zohakuten's entire throat vibrated as he released a powerful screech of compressed sound waves that struck Mitsuri's body at point blank range. The scream was loud enough to push back all of the air in the surrounding area and create a miniature sonic boom, completely stunning Mitsuri and causing her body to lock up on her. Dropping to her knees her whip blade fell away from Zohakuten's neck, leaving only a deep cut right above his clavicle.
Once his eyes returned to normal and his wound healed, Zohakuten lowered his gaze and felt his heart skip a beat at the state Mitsuri was in. Her clothes were tattered and torn in some areas, with her white haori completely gone and her hair an utter mess, but she was still alive.
"Unbelievable! This girl! Not only did she just withstand that attack, she managed to stay in one piece!" Zohakuten thought with wide eyes, his jaw muscles clenched in a snarl. His eyes examined every inch of Mitsuri's body top to bottom, trying to figure out what had enabled her to survive an attack that would have utterly destroyed a normal human. "Did she tense up all of her muscles before she took that attack? No, no, even still...no ordinary wench could withstand that. I don't understand."
Mitsuri's right eyelid twitched as she lay there before him on her knees, body frozen in place with her mouth wide open and eyes glazed over as if she were in some kind of trance. Tanjirō's blood, not quite dry yet, dripped down her cheek towards her jaw line, with a single droplet rolling down the curvature of her lips and falling into her mouth onto her tongue.
As soon as the singular drop made contact with her tongue it was absorbed, which was overlooked by Zohakuten because he was too focused on Mitsuri's figure. Eliminating any and all possibilities in his mind, he eventually arrived at the conclusion that the woman in front of him was more than just some regular human.
"So that's it, this girl's strength doesn't match her frame...she must have a special constitution. That's good, strength comes hand in hand with eating high-quality meat. But I guess I should crush her skull and brains first." he thought before rearing back one of his arms, his fingers closing up tightly into a fist.
Right when his fist was about to land and end Mitsuri's life, cutting it short before she could even touch late adulthood, her life flashed before her eyes as fast as lightning. She remembered her first fiancé who she would have married if not for her hair color and her obscene, inhuman strength.
She had never truly understood why she was so strong, especially when compared to her other younger siblings and her parents, whom she thought were as normal as normal could be. She also had an appetite like no other, and for the longest time, it was her parents who told her that she was special, with traits that made her unique and separate from others. At one point she had even tried to hide them, to appear normal, just so that she could fit in with others.
But after hearing what her mother and father had to tell her when she was home, before her departure to the Swordsmith Village, all of that changed. Tanjirō's blood sparked an awakening inside of her, one that mixed with the flame she had inherited from Kyōjurō, and it screamed at her from the depths of her very being.
A thunderous clap echoed through the forest and Zohakuten was thrown for yet another loop when his fist was stopped a mere inch away from Mitsuri's face. His fist shook and his expression became more enraged when he saw that it was Mitsuri herself who had stopped him, her free hand having come up in order to block the blow.
"You're a special person loved by the gods. Be proud of your strength." echoed Ubuyashiki's words to her in the back of her mind, the smile he gave her when she joined the Hashira like a ray of sunshine. "Anyone who talks bad about it just fears your talent. They're only jealous."
"Dad, Mom, thank you for giving birth to me safely. And thank you to the Demon Slayers who took me in. All the people I protected thanked me with tears in their eyes."
Mitsuri's lips slowly came to a close as she came to and her glazed over eyes got some life back in them before closing shut as well. She felt her strength come back to her in droves, her hand holding Zohakuten's firmly without any signs of difficulty whatsoever.
The taste of Tanjirō's blood was still present on her tongue even though it had already been absorbed, and for a bodily fluid such as that, to her it tasted like something warm and sweet, rather than salty. Maybe it was her imagination, but she hardly cared if it was or not. Now wasn't the time for doubts.
"I wondered if it was okay for me to be strong since I was a girl, and if I could ever live my life without people calling me an inhuman monster. I suppressed my power out of fear, but I'll stop now." Mitsuri thought as she stood up, one foot after the other, until she was standing taller than Zohakuten with her grip on his fist tightening. His arm had started to shake now from how much strength she had, and he couldn't figure out why she was able to restrain him even if she had a special constitution. "I understand why I'm special now, Mom. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it."
Mitsuri's hand then crushed Zohakuten's in an instant, blood and bone spattering outward in all directions, leading to him jumping away and beating on his drums with his other hand to attack her. A wave of dragons came up out of the earth to attack her but just as quickly as they appeared they were reduced to splinters and ash as her whip-blade, now coated with glowing embers, swung around her faster than before.
Standing there amongst the debris was the newly awakened Mitsuri who opened her eyes and stared down the Upper Moon with an intense will to fight and protect blazing in them. She bared her teeth at him as well, and both the appearance of her sharpened fangs and eyes was enough to make him even hesitate a little.
"Those teeth...slit pupils...unbelievable…she's one of us!" Zohakuten thought with a growl as Mitsuri squatted down lightly, whip blade in hand.
"First things first, I need to make sure everyone is okay! Another one, just like that brat!?" said Mitsuri before she vanished in the blink of an eye, her departure causing a huge disturbance of wind to kick up a dust cloud big enough to distract Zohakuten.
A few seconds later his senses alerted him to several of his dragons being destroyed, before the dust finally settled and he was greeted with Mitsuri standing directly in front of a freed Genya, a transformed Nezuko, and a recovering Tanjirō, who was just finishing regrowing his legs after they had been shattered and liquified.
All three of them were shocked to say the least when they had witnessed Mitsuri rescue them, their surprise directed primarily on the fact that she now had demon eyes and fangs like them.
"Kanroji-san, how did…" Tanjirō started as Nezuko helped him up to his feet, the Hashira glancing back at him and smiling happily.
"It's because of you, Tanjirō-kun. Your blood...let's just say it helped me come to terms with something else I learned before coming here." she replied with a light giggle, before looking back at Zohakuten and exhaling slowly. "I should be feeling wild and out of control, but instead...this feels natural. From here on, it's only up!"
Mitsuri then ducked her head and grit her teeth as she sprinted towards her enemy, the sheer speed and power she had when she launched herself creating a gust of wind that nearly knocked over Genya, Nezuko and Tanjirō. Zohakuten responded to her explosive charge by unleashing a storm of lightning far more powerful than the anger clone could produce.
With her smoldering whip-blade Mitsuri slashed her way clean through the attack without so much as breaking a sweat, her agility practically doubled now, and only continuing to rise. She noticed her wounds had started to heal as well, and her vision was growing sharper by the second, but she didn't stop pushing herself. She had to take advantage of her transformation in order to press Zohakuten further into a corner and free her friends up to find the real body. Her heart had to beat faster. Faster. Faster. Stronger and faster, beyond her limits. Her friends were counting on her.
As she kept meeting and surpassing her limit, the trio were on their way for the now unprotected wood cocoon that Hantengu's main body had been cowering inside of since Zohakuten had sealed him. The Upper Moon saw them and understood exactly what they were trying to do, but even when he tried to stop them it was Mitsuri who foiled his plan by tearing through whatever he sent their way. After ingesting that one drop of Tanjirō's blood, she was moving even faster than before, enough to make even Zohakuten be more on his guard against her. The monstrous strength she possessed seemed to have been amplified by his blood, but even then there should have been some sort of limit she had to have encountered.
"This girl, even after undergoing her transformation, is moving faster than before! Her strength has practically tripled too, and it's only continuing to grow! Why is she not driven mad with a lust for human blood?! Just how in the fuck is she doing this?!" Zohakuten thought angrily as she watched her whip blade make short work of his dragons, reducing them to burning hunks of splinters and embers.
He looked at her closer and as she was flipping through the air he happened to catch a glimpse of some kind of birthmark close to her clavicle. Doubting whether he had seen the tattoo or birthmark there before, he was forced to push that thought to the side when Mitsuri took the fight to him. He beat several times on his drums to try and dissuade her from attacking him, but Mitsuri's flexible body and incredible agility allowed her to duck and weave through both his wood dragons and lightning blasts with ease.
Growling she twisted her body through the smallest of gaps between two dragon heads and threw her blade out, surprising Zohakuten with its reach. He moved at the last second, the blade only circling around and cutting off his right arm from the shoulder down, but the injury alone was enough for Mitsuri to smile confidently.
"You're not going to threaten my friends, mister! Your fight is with me, this is only just the beginning!" she declared as she bounded away to avoid Zohakuten's enraged counter-attack, his sonic scream harmlessly missing her.
"Absolutely detestable! Thanks to this wench, I can't finish off those fucking brats! And I can't count on her running out of stamina now either!" he thought after his arm grew back.
"This strength...after all this time, I had it inside of me, even more than what I thought...thank you Mom for giving me this gift! I don't care anymore about what people will think of me, as long as I can use this strength to protect those I care about!" Mitsuri thought to herself with a smile as she used her fist to punch clean through the face of a wooden dragon, the impact creating a shower of wooden shrapnel. "And it's because of you I was able to awaken this strength, Tanjirō-kun! Thank you, thank you, thank youuuu!"
As Mitsuri continued to battle with the Hatred clone, Tanjirō, Genya and Nezuko were embroiled in their own struggle with the wooden root cocoon that Hantengu was hiding inside. It was consciously growing thanks toZohakuten's influence higher and higher up from the ground, forcing the three of them to scale its winding neck in order to reach the top.
"Gyaaagh! Come on, come on! This is ridiculous!" yelled Tanjirō as he tried to swing his blade but fell off balance, nearly falling off the roots when they whipped him sharply to the left.
"We can't wield our blades like this if this damned tree root thing keeps bucking like some kind of fucking horse! I have no choice!" Genya thought as he opened his mouth wide and clamped down hard onto the root.
Growling with each bite he took, Genya began to chew his way through the wooden roots like a hungry predator scarfing down its most recent meal. His body was shaking a little uncontrollable as he swallowed the wood imbued with the power and flesh of the demon they were fighting. He heard Tanjirō shout something about his stomach, but he was hardly listening to anything around him, his sole focus being to get through what he was eating as soon as possible. He was the only one there capable of doing such a thing, anyhow.
Shinazugawa Genya was special among the Demon Slayers in a different kind of way than Tanjirō. He could temporarily gain demonic attributes by eating a demon or consuming some of their flesh. If he ate a strong one, he could gain regeneration and muscular strength equal to one. This kind of adaptation was what Genya had to adopt in order to compensate for his lack of physical talent and inability to utilize Breaths, the main source of the Demon Slayers' power. Without his bite strength and special digestive organs, he would be just as capable as an ordinary Kakushi.
With one final bite he severed the root coiled-up wood cocoon from its base, causing it and Tanjirō to careen towards the ground from at least twenty feet up in the air. Letting go he readied himself to cut through Hantengu's protection in order to end their fight once and for all, but Zohakuten intervened by willing the smaller roots and branches to lash out at him like whips. He hardly had time to activate his Iron Blood Armor and held off his attack in order to protect himself from getting diced up by the defense mechanism.
Nezuko was right there at a moment's notice though, using her Blood Demon Art to ignite the woo and Tanjirō's sword with her blood. With his sword once again glowing with a bright crimson sheen, decorated with Nezuko's flames, he grit his teeth and brought it down onto the cocoon full force.
"Hinokami Kagura: Enbu!" Tanjirō's blade cut clean through the toughened wood first with a vertical slash, followed by a horizontal one that left anything inside with little room to escape.
Once the cocoon was open, Genya, Nezuko and Tanjirō were ready to attack Hantengu if he had managed to survive the barrage, but hesitated when they found their target was nowhere to be found inside. Already ticked off, Tanjirō's head whipped around left and right while he looked and sniffed everywhere for the Upper Moon demon, eventually spotting the miniature creature running away from them.
"YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! STOP RUNNING AWAY! DON'T RUN FROM YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES!" roared Tanjirō at the top of his lungs, his anger being shown both vocally in his tone and visually in his expression and the veins bulging out from his skin. "EVERY SIN YOU'VE COMMITTED, EVER EVIL DEED, I WILL MAKE YOU TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR EVERYTHING! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM THIS!"
Tanjirō's words reached all the way to the fleeing Hantengu, piercing right through his toughened exterior to his small, shriveled heart. The past image of a man with a disgusted, fierce expression appeared in his mind, telling him to take responsibility for what he has done and to stop speaking lies.
His hands trembled slightly as his feet started to move a little faster, his diminutive eyes appearing for the first time from his overgrown, bulbous head while he ran.
"I haven't said a single lie since I was born. I am a virtuous coward. But despite my plight, nobody will sympathize with me." thought Hantengu to himself while forcing the image of the man to disappear, only for that to be interrupted by the sound rustling leaves and another inhuman roar.
"Cut it out, you dip-shiiiiiit!" Genya bellowed, the uprooted tree in his hands being flung at the fleeing Hantengu with such strength it smashed into the ground roots first, narrowing missing him.
Hantengu squealed as more trees followed suit, the enraged Genya doing everything he could to block the demon's retreat while an equally furious Tanjirō and Nezuko pursued him. Tanjirō swiped at him first with his still crimson blade, then Nezuko with her claws when the tip of her brother's blade only caught his arm. More blood flew from the tiny demon as when she got a hit on his back, but despite their efforts they were still unable to land a meaningful blow on Hantengu.
It further annoyed them to no end, especially because Mitsuri was counting on them to take care of the main body for her. She was distracting Zohakuten so that they could have no interruptions.
"I won't let Kanroji-san's efforts go unfulfilled. We won't let you win!" Tanjirō thought, the smile and cheerful personality of the Love Hashira fueling his inner fire.
Even though his determination wasn't waning any time soon, the effects of maintaining his demon transformation for such a long time and fully regenerated was taking its toll on him. His vision was starting to get blurry and the hunger he hadn't felt in quite a long time was beginning to nag at him like an incessant fly buzzing around his head.
If this kept up any longer, he may end up passing out entirely. That couldn't happen, he didn't want it to happen. Wincing, he willed himself to keep running forward despite the numbness in his legs, before he remembered something Zenitsu told him about his breathing style.
"Thunder Breathing makes you focus on your legs the most. So it's surprisingly hard to grasp, the size of every muscle you have. But once you grasp it, you can go into 'Full Focus' mode. My old man said that a lot." the young slayer had told him during one of their meals together at the Butterfly Mansion.
He hadn't thought about it before, but now that he was in this situation, it made perfect sense for him. The eight he was feeling in his legs and the tiredness of overexertion were wearing him down too much to worry about if he should or shouldn't, he had to take every chance in order to ensure victory.
"Every fiber of your muscles, every vessel of blood, get air pumping through them. Then put all the power into your legs. All of it." echoed Tanjirō in his mind, repeating Zenitsu's exact words back to himself as he tensed his legs up, feeling every part of his muscles from the very fibers themselves to the blood pumping through them from his heart. Holding onto his sword with just enough strength to prevent himself from losing grip, he then poured as much of what power he had left into his thighs and calves. "Then explode in a second. Like lightning ripping through the air."
Tanjirō's feet upturned the ground as he bolted forward with such great speed that Nezuko and Genya were nearly toppled by the air being pushed aside from his dash. In the blink of an eye, Tanjirō was right on top of Hantengu, his crimson sword cutting deep through the side of his neck.
"Go, go! No holding back!" Tanjirō thought while gritting his teeth, the searing hot metal causing such pain to Hantengu that he started crying.
"Heeeeeyyy….I am pitiful…can't you see thaaaat!?" bellowed Hantengu when his body grew to twice Tanjirō's size in an instant, his eyes turning blood red while a tattoo for 'Resentment' appeared on his tongue. Before Tanjirō could react, his large, burly hands wrapped tightly around Tanjirō's entire head and began to crush him, his breathing heavy and laced with fury. "DON'T BULLYYY THE MEEEEEEK!"
"Your logic is all fucked up, you dumbshit!"
Genya's hands then locked around Hantengu's hands as he started to pull with all his might in order to prevent Tanjirō's head from being crushed. Hantengu didn't stop pressing down on Tanjirō's skull, and it only took the timely arrival of Nezuko to make him stop. Leaping over him with her palms cut by her own nails, she splattered her blood all over the Upper Moon and ignited it.
The pain from her flames was enough to loosen his hold on Tanjirō and allow Genya, with a powerful roar, to rip both of his arms off from the biceps and fully free his comrade. Stumbling back with Tanjirō still holding onto his sword, they went through a couple of bushes and found a cliff hidden behind them.
"Oh crap! Tanjirō, Nezuko!" shouted Genya while he winced at Nezuko's flames when they nipped at his hand, since they actually hurt him because he could consume demons.
He scrambled to the cliff's edge and watched Hantengu's armless body, Tanjirō, and his sister slam into the earth below in a wider plains area that lacked the tree density of the forest above.
When the dust settled Genya could see Nezuko laying down next to the crater formed by Hantengu, who was slowly getting up to his feet with Tanjirō's sword in his neck, but no Tanjirō. His bloody arm sockets stained his clothes as he walked away with a slight limp, the regeneration of his wounds exceptionally slow for an Upper Moon like himself.
"Not good. My regeneration is slowing down. Zohakuten is using too much power...I need to get more human flesh…" Hantengu thought to himself with ragged breaths, his body feeling the heaviest it ever has in a long time. These slayers had pushed him further beyond any other opponent had before, and it frustrated him to admit that. Furthermore he had no idea if Gyokko was even still alive at this point, because he could have come to help him by now. "No matter...I sense humans nearby...near...I must…"
"Hold it...you bastard…you're not getting away that easily…"
Hantengu paused for a moment and glanced over his shoulder to spot a beaten and bloody Tanjirō slowly healing while he hung off the branches of one of the cliffside trees behind him, fangs on full display with both anger and exhaustion evident in his expression. It could be at any moment that he passed out, Tanjirō knew this, but his sheer will kept him going as long as it would take him to slay Hantengu.
Wheezing a bit he pushed himself off the tree and landed roughly on both feet, dropping to a knee and coughing out some blood while still staring down the Upper Moon with a gaze that could kill.
"I will chase you down...to the depths of hell...and cut your damn head off…" Tanjirō uttered, his threat doing little to stop Hantengu from continuing his slow march forward.
Up ahead he saw the rustle of bushes and soon after two masked Swordsmiths appeared, the two of them carrying several forged blades over their shoulders, most likely in an attempt to prevent them from being destroyed during the Upper Moon demon's onslaught. Speeding up as portions of his forearms finally began to regenerate, he begrudgingly talked to himself mentally about how bothersome they had been to his efforts.
Tanjirō and Nezuko, the two demon siblings, had been the most annoying of the bunch, even more than the Hashira even after Zohakuten had witnessed her demon heritage being revealed.
"Hurry, I have to hurry. Just one more time! One more push, one more dash, and I can end this!" Tanjirō told himself frantically as he willed himself to stay standing, a guttural growl escaping his lips.
As he readied himself to go one last time at Hantengu, sights set on his sword still trapped halfway in the demon's neck, a new sword then suddenly stabbed itself into the grass in front of him. Guessing it was thrown at him, he looked up back towards the cliff that he had taken a fall from and gasped to see Muichirō, appearing from a different spot that Genya was at, had been the one to throw the blade.
"Use that sword, Tanjirō!" he yelled out before Haganezuka's trembling hand grabbed him by the throat, the swordsmith being held back by Kanamori who pleaded with his friend to stop.
"Don't you dare use that sword! I'll kill you if you do! I only finished the first step, dammit! Give it back!" Haganezuka yelled over Muichirō, his colleague unable to pry him away from the Hashira.
"The sun is rising! He's gonna get away!"
"Shitty brat!"
Tanjirō watched Haganezuka backhand Muichirō right as Kotetsu appeared next to them, and he wished he could tell the man off for doing that, but he hardly could worry about that with Hantengu still alive.
Taking hold of the newly acquired blade, a final breath exited his lips as he fully concentrated on what he had to do. With a blaze of fire erupting from both his body and sword, he caught up to Hantengu in the blink of an eye.
"Enbu...Issen!" Tanjirō thought as the blade seamlessly passed through Hantengu's wrinkled neck, creating a fountain of blood as his head was separated from his body.
Tanjirō landed firmly on his feet a meter or two away from Hantengu's body, his eyes watching the demon for a split second before the light creeping up into the night sky took his focus away from him and back to his sister.
The long night was coming to an end, it would be morning soon. Completely forgetting Hantengu for the moment he half ran, half stumbled towards his sister, who was just now coming to from her falling off the cliff.
"Crap, the open field is bad! Soon it'll be day, and Nezuko is completely out in the open!" he thought frantically. He tried to get his voice out but all that came out was air. "Shit, my body...it's on its last legs…! I can't even get my voice out!"
Nezuko rubbed her eye and saw her brother running towards her in a worried state, which made her get up and think that he needed her help. Seeing her come towards him only made Tanjirō try harder to convey his warning to his sister, until Nezuko's eyes then widened at something happening behind him.
Eventually they met in the middle and Tanjirō found the strength to speak again, telling her to run for any shade around them. Instead she yelled something unintelligible from behind her muzzle and pointed over his shoulder, the terrified yell of the swordsmiths he thought he had saved alerting him to what was wrong.
"Run! Run! He ain't dead! Even though his head got cut off!" shrieked one of the men as they fled from Hantengu's headless body, the demon's near fully grown arms reaching out towards them like a zombie.
"What the-?!" stammered Tanjirō while whirling his head around, his gaze falling to Hantengu's head nearby. He looked closely at it and its shriveled tongue hanging out of its mouth and felt his heart fall into his stomach at the tattoo marked on it. "His tongue...it says 'Resentment'?! The real body is supposed to have 'Fear'...shit, I didn't realize it! We messed up!"
Tanjirō and Nezuko let go of one another and took a few steps in pursuit of Hantengu's body before the first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon, causing Tanjirō's new blade to twinkle with a maroonish red glow. Behind him Nezuko's face from the right side and part of her hair instantly began to burn and turn charcoal black, a scream of agony coming from her sealed lips as she crouched down in pain.
His love for his sibling taking over, Tanjirō immediately dropped to his knees and tried to cover his sister's body with his own as best as he could in order to protect her from the sun. He begged her to make her body smaller so that he could hide her better. Nezuko obliged but still she groaned in pain as the burn marks stretched more across her exposed forearms and face.
"The sun hasn't even fully risen, but she's already…!" Tanjirō said mentally before another yell from the swordsmiths reminded him of Hantengu again. Looking back he saw that the demon's body had began to deteriorate as well, but still that didn't stop him from chasing after his prey. "Someone…! Genya! Tokitō-kun…! Shit, they can't do it, we're too far from the cliff now. The demon's gonna get hit by the sun, but he'll get to the villagers before that happens! If I carry Nezuko with me, I won't make it...crap, crap, crap!"
Tanjirō started to hyperventilate at every single thought passing in and out of his head, causing his mind to go into overdrive to try and figure out what he could do. He wanted to protect his sister and the villagers at the same time, but he couldn't. They were too far away from any of their friends to help them, even though Genya was in the process of trying to climb down to get to them.
Options were running out fast, and with the sun just about to appear over the horizon, the lives of both his sister and the villagers were at stake. Before he could make a decision for himself however, Nezuko, despite her suffering, chose for him by using what strength she had left to kick Tanjirō off of her into the air. He gasped from the hit and he looked down as his sister was consumed by the full power of the sun, her body letting out gratuitous amounts of ash as her skin was cooked more and more by the second. And with so many other emotions she could convey, she chose to close her eyes and express a smile from behind her muzzle as her life slipped away.
Tanjirō felt as though a spear had been pierced through his heart, and as he flipped backwards in the air and landed on his feet, he started to cry. His brow furrowed and utter rage coursing through his veins, he located Hantengu's body in the distance, nearly upon the villagers, and began to run.
"Sniff him out. He didn't run that far. If the real body was far away, I would've smelled it, but he's close. Catch him using his scent. The shape, the color…" Tanjirō thought as each hard step brought him closer and closer to Hantengu's body, the unseen red cloud of vile miasma that the demon gave off guiding him towards his prey. He looked beyond the clothes he was wearing and saw the body beneath, then the muscles and the skeleton inside. "There. He's still in the demon. Closer, closer...found him."
Snarling Tanjirō wound his arms back and tightened his grip around his sword as he made one final leap, sending himself clear over the demon so that he could land between it and the villagers right as they were snatched by Hantengu's arms. Slicing them clean off yet again, the enraged Tanjirō stared down the demon before him, the location of the real body clear as day.
No more running, no more hiding. The game of cat and mouse they had played throughout the night and into the morning was coming to an end. For his sister's sacrifice, he was going to make Hantengu pay for it with his life.
"Atone for your sins, vile creature!" Tanjirō bellowed, where with one final strike, he cleaved through Hantengu's body from the shoulder and out through his waist, cutting clean through his heart and slicing his smaller, real body hidden within it in two.
Tanjirō, once his blade had fully exited Hantengu's disintegrating body, the real demon now truly dead, he collapsed to his knees before the three villagers he had rescued. His tears hit the grass softly as reality set in now that the battle had concluded.
"I won...but...Nezuko...the sun should've burned her to the point where her bones disintegrated…" Tanjirō thought, shuddering at the thought. His tears kept flowing freely down his cheeks, even when the villagers he rescued crouched down beside him to try and comfort him.
The third village remained standing, unsure of what to say or do, before he then gasped lightly and nudged the other two. They saw what he was seeing and they both began to say Tanjirō's name. He didn't hear them at first because of how consumed with sadness he was, before they finally got through to him and made him lift his head up enough to see them pointing at something behind him.
Turning around, assuming it would be Genya or someone else who had come down to them, he was instead shocked to find that he was wrong. With the morning sun radiating off her skin and her bright, pink eyes, his sister was standing right where he had left her without so much as a scratch on her body. Her clothes were tattered and stained with blood, but she was unharmed.
Her mouthpiece fell away from her face because the sash couldn't bear its own weight any longer, her full face was seen by her brother for the first time since she had been turned into a demon. Tanjirō couldn't process what he was seeing through his tears, but with the way his nose was reacting to her smell he knew instantly that it was no dream or vision. Nezuko was alive, and with a smile as luminous as the sun itself, she waved at him happily.
"M...M...Morning."
Sunlight stung Tanjirō's eyes as he started to come to, the young slayer finding himself in some sleeping clothes rather than his Demon Slayer Corps uniform. As his vision cleared with the fading of his grogginess, he recognized where he was rather quickly.
"The medical ward at the Butterfly Mansion...what happened after I killed that Upper Moon…?" he thought to himself while sitting up, his head spinning lightly. He definitely knew he must have slept for quite some time, since it took him a couple of seconds to acknowledge a knock on his door. "Ah, come in…"
His room door opened and Tanjirō was surprised to see the visitor wasn't one of the Hashira or one of his friends, but a Kakushi whom he recognized by his scent. It was Gotō, and seeing him brought a weary smile to the slayer's face.
"Yo, you're awake. That's nice to see." said the Kakushi as he carried in a tray of food, sitting down next to Tanjirō's bed and placing the tray on his lap.
"Thanks, Gotō-san...I'm starving…" Tanjirō replied as he started to scarf down the food rather quickly, surprising the Kakushi. He only got a couple of bites in before he had a sudden realization and he quickly set what he was eating down, whipping his head towards Gotō, and nearly scaring the color out of his skin. "What happened?! How long have I been out!? Where's my-"
"Oi, take it easy, take it easy! Calm down!" Gotō exclaimed while putting a firm hand on Tanjirō's shoulder, looking him in the eye as he did.
"Here, allow me, Kakushi-san."
Standing in the doorway of Tanjirō's room with his arms crossed and a warm smile on his face was Kyōjurō, a man that brought an instant wave of relief to Tanjirō with just his presence. Gotō nodded and let the Flame Hashira take his place next to Tanjirō before exiting the room by closing the door behind him.
Before Tanjirō could say or ask anything of him, Kyōjurō shook his head and tapped the plate of food while still smiling. Understanding what he meant, Tanjirō resumed eating, at a much slower pace than before, until all of the food was gone and his drink was the only thing left.
"How are you feeling, my boy? You've been out for quite a while, I must say." asked Kyōjurō while uncrossing his arms and resting them in his lap.
"How long…?" Tanjirō replied, the Hashira chuckling.
"Seven whole days, hmn. You were completely knocked out."
Tanjirō panicked a little bit from being told that, but Kyōjurō reassured him that everything was perfectly fine. He informed his Tsuguko that after Hantengu had been killed, preparations for the relocation of the Swordsmith Village were immediately expedited. With its location exploited by the demons, if they were to protect one of their most vital resources, they had to work quickly or more of their enemy would come knocking on the village doorstep.
It was unfortunate for the villagers because they couldn't pay proper respects for their fallen brethren, but Muzan and the demons wouldn't wait. Kyōjurō did say that even though they were besieged by two Upper Moons, it was thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, including Tanjirō, that casualties were kept to a minimum.
"Worry not, my boy. The Demon Slayer Corps have always expected the possibility of this happening, so a number of empty villages were built ahead of time just for this kind of situation." Kyōjurō finished while chuckling. Tanjirō sighed in relief, glad that the swordsmiths like Kanamori, Kotetsu and Haganezuka would be safe.
"What happened to Kanroji-san and Tokitō-kun? And about Kanroji-san, how did-" Tanjirō began to ask before he was once again silenced by Kyōjurō with the simple raising of his hand.
"Both are doing fine. Muichirō slept for two days upon his arrival here and was back to moving around normally on his third. Mitsuri on the other hand, well-"
"Ahhh, I can't wait anymore!"
Tanjirō's door was then kicked inward, almost coming clear off the hinges, and a beaming Mitsuri stormed in and went to his bed directly across from Kyōjurō in order to hug him. Tanjirō made a muffled yelp when he was smothered by the Love Hashira's chest, which made his face turn as red as Hinokami Kagura's fire.
A few seconds after Mitsuri's forced entry, a silent Muichirō made himself seen by Tanjirō, a small smile appearing on the young Hashira's lips. Kyōjurō was able to pry his former student off Tanjirō and keep her at bay long enough to allow him to breath, a hearty laugh coming from deep in his gut, before he became quiet to let them speak.
"You okay, Tanjirō?" Muichirō asked, Tanjirō's eyes widening as he detected a different scent coming from the Mist Hashira. He could even see that his eyes seemed a little brighter than when he last saw them, which told him that something had to have changed for the young boy after they had met. "Seeing you all healed up without any issues kinda makes me jealous…"
"Hehe, yeah, I'm okay. Thank you for throwing me that sword, Tokitō-kun...without it, I don't know if I could have killed that Upper Moon. I was practically on the verge of passing out…" Tanjirō said back to him before taking a sip of his tea.
"Thanks to you too, actually. With your help, I regained something really important to me."
"Eh…? But I didn't do anything though…"
Muichirō laughed a tiny bit at Tanjirō's bashfulness, understanding that he didn't know in what way he had helped the Mist Hashira regain the memories of his past. Leaving it at that, since he still wasn't fully at one hundred percent, he left with a wave and safely closed his room door again so that he could have some privacy with Mitsuri and Kyōjurō.
"He's so cool, Muichirō-kun, hehe. But enough about him, I'm so glad to see you're okay Tanjirō-kun! You were asleep for so long that I thought you weren't gonna wake up!" Mitsuri exclaimed when she threw her arms around Tanjirō again, shaking him side to side while squishing her chest against his rapidly brightening cheeks.
"K-Kanroji-san! Please stop, I can't take this right now, I only just woke up…!" Tanjirō spluttered to the Love Hashira to try and get her to calm down.
"But I can't, you'e just too cute~! Especially since we're the same now!"
"The same…? Wait, that's right!"
Mitsuri finally let go of Tanjirō and rested her hands in her lap while her arms ended up unintentionally squishing her chest together, emphasizing its size through the unbuttoned portion of her uniform. Seeing her up close for the first time since their fight against Hantengu's Hatred Clone, he clearly saw the feline-like slit pupils her light green eyes now had.
He couldn't see any other demon aspects visible to him as he observed her, which made her blush and giggle at him. Tanjirō finally realized that he was staring a bit too much as well and rapidly took his eyes off her while maintaining his own blush.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I am what I am now, Tanjirō-kun, and the answer's really simple...I was actually part Demon all along, and I never knew. It was your blood that completed that process." Mitsuri explained shyly, Tanjirō blinking a couple times in shock.
"This may shock you, Kamado, my boy, but it would seem as thought Kanroji-san's heritage is a rather interesting one. Her mother is actually a demon just like you and your sister, one that doesn't require human flesh." Kyōjurō added to remind Tanjirō of his presence and to supplant Mitsuri's rather outrageous-sounding statement.
What neither of them knew was that Mitsuri's statement didn't sound outrageous to Tanjirō at all, because as soon as she had mentioned her mother was like her sister and him, a certain friendly caretaker came to mind and brought a smile to his face.
"No, I understand...I do…" Tanjirō said before the tiredness he had felt earlier before his visitors came back to him, surfacing in a heavy yawn.
Kyōjurō, recognizing that the youth may need more time to rest even after an entire week of sleep, chuckled and stood up while motioning for Mitsuri to follow. With a pouty face she obliged, but not before she helped Tanjirō lay his head back down onto his pillow and sat by him until he was once again fast asleep.
She giggled silently to herself as she then got up and grabbed the tray still on his lap, bent over his head, and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead as thanks. The two Hashira then left Tanjirō to himself, counting on the next day to be when he'd be back up and moving around just like normal.
A/N Heeeeeeey guess who's back with a chapter just before things start getting crazy and I have finals later in next month! (cries) Got hit with a spark of inspiration and wanted to get this rolled out as fast as possible, because of what goes on for everyone! A lot of cool stuff has gone down, and my decision on what to do with Mitsuri has finally come to a head (in one way that is), so I hope you enjoyed the direction I went with!
Thank you guys for putting up with my delayed uploads, I can't really control how much school work I get and how much free time I'll have outside of it and baseball, so really! I appreciate it!
Thank you so much for sticking around, we're getting really close to that 400,000 word mark, which is just amazing to say the least. This is my second biggest story yet word-wise, and we're only just past the halfway point of the manga! With more on the way, I hope you stay tuned!
Please leave a favorite and a follow if you haven't already, as well as a review telling me what you think! See you in the next chapter!
EDIT: I have created a poll that is currently present at the top of my profile page here on Fanfiction! It's at the very top, you cant miss it! Please pretty please if you can, choose one of the options and vote! Thank you!
Translation(s):
Koi no kokyū, San no kata: Koi Neko Shigure
- Love Breathing, Second Form: Anguish Inducing Love
Kekkijutsu - Muken Gōju
- Blood Demon Technique - Karmic Wood of Avici
Koi no kokyū, Go no kata: Yurameku Renjō Midarezume
- Love Breathing, Fifth Form: Swaying Love - Wildclaw
Hinokami Kagura: Enbu
- Dance of the Fire God: Flame Waltz
Hinokami Kagura: Enbu Issen
- Dance of the Fire God: Waltz Flash