^ Chapter 43 - Pits of Hell ^
The urgent warning of a crow had quickly drawn every Hashira in the surrounding area towards the Ubuyashiki family household. Every single one of them were ready for a fight, regardless of what enemy was waiting for them. Their nerves were steeled, their senses sharpened. This was what they had trained for.
What they weren't prepared for was a resounding boom and the giant pillar of flame that rose up from where the house had once been. Hitting them next was the powerful shock wave caused by the explosion, and then lastly the even heavier wave of despair. All of the Hashira were struck harder than any physical injury they had ever sustained before. Most of all, Tanjirō had to cover his mouth and nose when the shock wave had carried with it a stomach-turning smell of burning blood and flesh, and a blood lust so noxious, so overpowering, there was only one thing capable of manifesting such a enormous presence.
Within the center of the inferno, the unsuspecting Demon Lord lowered his arms from his face as the sheer heat and fire licking at his skin tormented him during his body's regeneration. In the explosion he had lost all of his clothing save for his pants, half his right arm and a quarter of his face, with charred muscles and ligaments showing through his melted, charred skin. His right eye was completely exposed, his plum red pupil ablaze with fury at Kagaya's deception.
"Ubuyashikiiiii!" Muzan snarled gutterally through his charred windpipe while his face began to reform, his one fist clenched so tightly that he was hampering its regeneration. "That man's face! He had the smile of a buddha, but then...he, along with his wife, and kids, blew themselves up!"
His body kept slowly regenerating, his second eye returning his total field of view as he took in the burning hell scape around him. There wasn't a single trace left behind of Kagaya, his wife, or their two white-haired children, which meant they must've been vaporized by the explosion.
A quick way out, compared to having to suffer the burns and heat like Muzan. It would have been simple enough for him to regenerate himself after such a fruitless attempt on his life, but he growled at Kagaya's deception and cunning yet again. He had mixed in spike traps made from nichirin blade ore so that it would hamper his regeneration. That meant only one thing to Muzan. More was coming.
"I made a mistake. I figured he was planning something, but not something of this scale. There are human presences coming closer, most likely Hashira. But that's not all...that shithead used himself as a decoy!" Muzan mentally thought with bared fangs, his muscles rippling and tensing up in anger and frustration. "His hatred and anger toward me were like a viper, coiling in that dead, black stomach of his...how did I not sense it? Was he that skilled at hiding his murderous intent?"
Rather than bother himself with those kinds of thoughts, he instead pushed them aside and focused on the there and now with finishing up his regeneration and making his escape. He knew that his enemies would be upon him in an instant, and he wasn't quite yet ready to face them with his current form.
Once again he was caught with his guard lowered when miniscule items came blowing in on the turbulent wind created by the inferno, Muzan's eyes widening when he recognized what they were far too late. Instantly they grew into dozens of interlocking, interconnected dark red trees made up of razor-sharp spikes that pierced his body through his legs, abdomen, arms, and even through his entire head to restrain him.
Blood poured out from his wounds and the wind was knocked out of his lungs at the sheer impact of each spike hitting him, but he recovered rapidly and analyzed the situation as it developed. This had to be someone's Blood Demon Technique. Who's technique he had no idea, but that didn't matter. He could absorb it without any issue and soon be free.
A third surprise came upon him the instant a hand gouged itself deep through his abs right to his gut, the person revealing herself right in front of him being none other than Tamayo herself. Wearing dozens of Yushirō's specially made tags that worked to channel his Blood Demon Art, she winced when Muzan reacted and grabbed her right arm so tightly her bones cracked and shattered.
Wincing, with sweat beads dotting her face from the heat, she held her ground despite the overwhelming bloodlust dripping from Muzan's lips right over her head. This was her duty, and she wasn't about to shrink away from it.
"Tamayo! Why are you here…" Muzan snarled, his anger so volatile it could have easily manifested as a solid entity around him.
"These Blood Demon Spikes belonged to the man you turned into a demon in Asakusa. They worked just as I had hoped they would…" Tamayo replied with a little grin, her human eyes giving up their appearance to reveal her feline-like slit pupils.
"She got close to me using a smokescreen demon technique...what's her goal? Why did she willingly put herself this close to me? Why did this woman-"
"You've absorbed my fist, Muzan, I can feel that much...but do you have any idea what's inside of it? Do you? It's a drug to turn demons back into humans!"
"That's impossible, nothing can-"
"Oh, but i've done it! The situation's completely changed, though it would have been impossible for me alone."
Muzan's eyebrow twitched and he clenched his jaw muscles, the sincerity behind the words of one of his oldest former followers telling him that it must be true. A drug to turn demons back into humans? Did she really think that as the progenitor of all demons, a mere medication could turn him back?
There were ways to stop it, to remove it from his system, but he could worry about that later. Right now there was some punishment that he must issue, because this woman before him had evaded his sight for far too long.
"You are one stubborn woman, Tamayo...your hatred toward me is unjust. Who was it that killed your husband and children? Was it me? No, not at all…" Muzan said darkly as he let go of Tamayo's shattered right arm and placed his hand on top of her head, digging into her hair towards her skull. "No, it was not me. It was you, Tamayo, you devoured your family."
"If I knew that would happen, I wouldn't have become a demon! All I wanted was to not die from my disease! I just wanted to see my kids grow up, you bastard!" roared back Tamayo as tears of regret and pain started to pour down her cheeks.
Muzan's tainting did not stop there as he leaned down, pushing his upper body along the spike pierced through his chest so that he could bring his face closer to her's. He had a vile smile on his face as he ate away at Tamayo's moral compass, reminding her of her sinful past, reopening old wounds that had taken years to heal.
"After you killed your family, do you remember what you did after that? You killed a whole bunch more demons and devoured them too. From what I can remember, you even enjoyed that, Tamayo." Muzan said with a sneer, and even a little bit of a laugh. He was enjoying this far too much, and he was relishing the pained expression he was making her have.
"You're right, I did kill many people after falling to despair...but that doesn't define who I am today." replied Tamayo while lifting her head up, not even flinching as Muzan spitefully pierced his thumb straight through her right eye, making blood squirt out from it like a hydrant. "To atone for my sins in the past...you and I are dying right here, Muzan! Himejima-san! DO IT, PLEASE!"
Muzan's eyes widened when a second presence different from the ones he had sensed earlier on their way towards the compound appeared a few meters behind him. Turning his head he glared at the hulking body of Gyōmei swinging around a giant spiked flail that was attached by chain to a spiked axe.
He was covered in the same tags that Tamayo was wearing over her yukata, which told Muzan how he was able to mask his presence so well. Judging by the man's appearance and how he didn't even flinch upon making eye contact with him, Gyōmei had to be a Hashira. A strong one at that as well, one of the strongest he's seen in quite a long time.
"Namu ami dabutsu." uttered Gyōmei with a firm, strong tone of voice before he then expertly swung the flail forward and smashed it right into Muzan's head.
In an eruption of blood, bone, and brain matter, his head was turned to paste by Gyōmei's spiked flail in just the blink of an eye. As this happened, Gyōmei, in his mind, replayed a recent event that took place during the days leading up to this ultimate confrontation. Kagaya had called him into his personal room for a private meeting, in which he divulged unto him his plan for the foreseeable future. Ever since first meeting the Demon Slayer Corps' current master, Gyōmei had trusted him with his life. He saw through the false lie made about him being a murderer and had taken him under his wing, a debt that to this very day Gyōmei had been working to pay back.
As he looked upon his master while on his deathbed, Kagaya informed him of his plan to use himself as a decoy to draw their most hated enemy to them. He knew he didn't have much time left, and Gyōmei realized this too. During that meeting he also learned of the secrets behind the Ubuyashiki family's strength and status within the organization. Not only were their voices exceptionally powerful, but they had an instinct that could only be thought of as an otherworldly foresight.
For years the Ubuyashiki family had built their wealth and fortune by using this foresight to avoid disasters that could have happened to them in the future. It was an incredible skill, and it reminded Gyōmei once again why that fourteen year old boy he had been when he had been freed from prison was made the master of the Demon Slayer Corps.
"The other children probably won't accept...the fact that I'm myself as a decoy...you're the only one I can tell this to…" echoed Kagaya's voice in Gyōmei's head after he withdrew his flail back to his side.
"Oyakata-sama, if you are watching me right now...I hope that I'm able to finally fulfil my debt to you." he thought as he narrowed his eyes while watching Muzan's head and neck completely reform itself at the molecular level. "As he suspected...the only way to kill Muzan truly...is by holding him here until the sun rises!"
Lowering himself he gripped both ends of his weapon and rushed at Muzan, a resounding boom and upturning of scorched earth accompanying each one of his footsteps. The Demon Lord snarled as he freed his left hand from Tamayo's head and brought it up towards Gyōmei, the skin around his wrist parting as dark red blood swirled out, taking on the shape of barbed wire.
"Kokketsu - Kikyoku." thought Muzan as a sea of solidified blood tendrils formed like barbed wire rushed out to meet and mutilate Gyōmei.
Without even flinching, Gyōmei crossed his arms across his chest and gripped his chain and axe so tight his biceps bulged. "Iwa no kokyū, San no kata: Ganku no Hadae."
The powerful Stone Hashira then unleashed a whirlwind of attacks with his flail and axe that circled around his position, cutting through and deflecting Muzan's blood barbed wire before they could even get close to his body. Like the rocks that he trained with and the breathing style he used, his defense was strong and impenetrable.
Muzan had to begrudgingly respect that moment of self-defense by the Hashira as he was getting closer to absorbing the blood spikes that were stuck inside his body. Once his wire tendrils were repelled by the Stone Hashira, he became immediately aware of the circle of humans around him, with Sanemi being the first to announce their presence by drawing his sword and shouting at the top of his lungs.
"YOU BIIIIITCH! What the fuck did you do to Oyakata-samaaaa!"
"The other Hashira are here, wonderful…" Gyōmei thought with a little nod as he twirled his flail around him once more, white eyes set towards the sound of Muzan's breathing. "It's Muzan! Kibutsuji Muzan! He won't die even if you cut his head off!"
For a split second all of the Hashira who arrived first, Sanemi, Mitsuri and Obanai, froze in place with wide eyes and senses at their absolute highest. That sickening feeling in the pit of the stomach swept through them, one by one, as they laid eyes upon the person Tamayo was firmly stuck to by her hand.
Sanemi's lips quivered lightly, Mitsuri sweated profusely from the heat and the sudden onset of realization, and Obanai's eyes turned bloodshot. Giyū emerged from the burning wreckage of the building and saw their enemy next, his blazing plum-red eyes easily confirming his identity. Shinobu grit her teeth and she willed her legs to keep running once Gyōmei's shout reached her ears.
Kyōjurō along with Muichirō leaped through the flickering flames as well with their blades drawn, ready to fight, and bore witness to their greatest enemy's appearance as well. The only Hashira to not be surprised by Muzan whatsoever was Tanjirō, who with eyes full of unbridled fury and an aura that could very nearly match that of an Upper Moon's, glared at his enemy and shouted his name.
The following seconds happened in slow motion. Each and every Hashira were on top of Muzan, closing in rapidly, with their swords drawn and their most powerful techniques on the tips of their tongues. Muscles were clenched, adrenaline pumping, visions narrowed.
They aimed to attack at all angles while Muzan was still stationary, so that they could bring a swift and brutal end to their war. They weren't trying to behead him, they were aiming to so brutally decimate his body that nothing could be left behind. Despite these threats closing in on him, Muzan remained perfectly calm. In fact, he even lowered his head and smiled.
With a single mental order, the ground beneath all of the Hashira was instantly replaced by wide open doors connected to the Infinity Fortress. Shinobu, Sanemi and Kyōjurō were caught in mid-air individually, while the others were in pairs. Gyōmei was with Muichirō, Tanjirō with Giyū, and Mitsuri was right beside Obanai as the doorway opened beneath their feet.
A final doorway in that immediate area had also manifested below Muzan and Tamayo, revealing a downward fall that would take him to the central-most and deepest chamber within his abode that would separate them from his enemies. When the Hashira realized what happened, Muzan let out a laugh that would make any normal human quiver in fear for their lives.
"You seriously thought you all could corner me? Hahaha, fall! Fall into the deepest pits of hell!" he bellowed with wide, blood-shot eyes as they all began to fall through the doorways. "You pathetic demon slayer pests. I'm slaughtering all of you tonight!"
"You're the one going to hell, Muzan! You're not getting away! I"M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY! I WILL KILL YOU FOR SURE!" roared back Tanjirō as he made eye contact with Muzan one final time, the two mortal enemies locking gazes for a brief moment before their line of sight was cut off by the walls of the Infinity Fortress.
"Come and get me then, if you can! I'd like to see you try! Kamado Tanjirō!"
The doors then closed shut and Tanjirō was left to freefall with Giyū deeper down the pit before both of them corrected their position and by using one another as leverage, threw themselves onto a nearby balcony before they could careen any deeper. Ducking and rolling, they ended up next to one another on the right-side wall of a room that was flipped for them.
Almost instantly Tanjirō's nose was assaulted by the noxious fumes of demonic bloodlust and right behind him a set of doors slid open to reveal a horde of malformed demons of all shapes and sizes, their razor sharp teeth and claws poised to rip him to shreds.
With a roar of anger Tanjirō, with Giyū by his side, unleashed a duo of Water Breathing techniques that cut and tore through the wall of demons and killed them all. Kneeling down Tanjirō then sheathed his sword and took a few breaths to help himself calm down, lest he lose control of his emotions and go on an unnecessary rampage.
Back on his feet, Tanjirō looked at their surroundings with a careful eye, trying to make sense of what kind of wacky place they were now in before it hit him. His eyes widened and he froze, a black mist cast over the back of his mind beginning to disperse.
"Is something wrong, Tanjirō? You froze up." Giyū asked with a blank expression, the Water Hashira letting go of his sword once he sheathed it.
"This place...I remember it now, Tomioka-san. This isn't my first time here." revealed Tanjirō with a serious expression while turning to his friend. Giyū's black eyes then widened as a red flag went up in his mind, an event in the past that he had pushed aside surging back to the forefront of his mind.
"Are you saying-"
"Yes, this was where I was brought when I was kidnapped. My memories of my time here...they're starting to come back!"
"Hebi no kokyū, Go no Kata: En'en Chōda." Obanai said as he slithered and slashed his way through an oncoming crowd of bipedal demons, his snake-like sword curving through each and every one of their necks with ease.
His striped haori flapped behind him as he flicked their blood off his curved sword, his hands gripping the handle so tightly his knuckles were white. He was angry, but determined to protect Mitsuri, who had fallen down with him into the Infinity Fortress when Muzan had caught them in his trap.
"Amazing! Iguro-san is as cool as ever!" Mitsuri thought with a smile as she stood up, her friend coming to her side after confirming the area was safe.
"Are you hurt? Though, I guess if you were it would've healed already…"
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry! But enough about me, we gotta go find Tanjirō-kun and the others!"
Obanai's softened expression turned into a slight scowl at the mentioning of the older Kamado sibling's name, his brain still trying to deal with how and why Mitsuri cared so much about him. Was it because they were both demons? It couldn't be. Was it due to her caring nature? Possibly.
Deep inside he had a sneaking suspicion about the most likely reason, but he absolutely refused to even think about it because it would have made him throw up. Deciding that now wasn't the proper time to think of trivial matters, he stomached his own pride and moved with Mitsuri to investigate the nearby chambers in the Infinity Fortress.
At the same time in another part of the labyrinth, Muichirō and Gyōmei ran shoulder to shoulder, decimating any and all demons that even though to get in their way. They really had no idea where they were going, and were relying mostly on their senses to guide them in the right direction.
"So this must be where all the demons went...they were waiting for us here from the start so they could ambush us." remarked Muichirō while glancing down a hallway they ran past to see if there were any threats.
"It looks like they were designed to have the strength of a Lower Moon. I suspect he planned to wear us down…" added Gyōmei with a concerned expression.
"And Oyakata-sama? Did he…"
"He went to the afterlife ahead of us. It was a magnificent final moment…
Muichirō frowned a tiny bit as they leaped over a doorway that opened up beneath their feet in an attempt to swallow them up, the two Hashira continuing their sprint with little to no change in their speed.
"I can't imagine him getting discovered by the demons through his own mistake...did he make himself a decoy, Himejima-san?" questioned Muichirō of the hulk of a Hashira.
Silently for a moment, Gyōmei briefly nodded his head, confirming Muichirō's suspicions and saying, "It was because his days were already numbered...he wanted to be of use to the organization he cared so much for, one last time."
Muichirō suddenly found himself starting to tear up as he imagined Kagaya smiling at them from the deck of his home, speaking to them with his warm gentle voice. He treated every single one of them like his children, even going so far as to memorize not only their names, but the names of every single member of the Corps.
"When I was near the verge of death, he kept encouraging me. And he did the same thing to all the slayers even as he himself was dying...like a real father."
"Yeah...I know."
"Muzan didn't just take my brother, but he took our second father too." Muichirō growled as he cried tears of sorrow and hatred, his jaw muscles tightening up and his lips curling into a scowl. "That man, Muzan! I swear I'll kill him. I'll teach him what it really means to be in hell."
"Don't worry, Tokitō-san...we all feel the same." Gyōmei replied calmly, even when his own eyebrows were furrowed and his arms were tense. He wanted nothing more than to have another chance to beat Muzan into the ground, even if he had to use his bare fists.
Sanemi sat alone on his knees in the area that he had fallen to in the Infinity Fortress, his eyes staring down at a point in front of him. He was hardly moving, hardly breathing. The shock of seeing Kagaya's ruined home and Muzan standing there in the middle of it had ignited such intense emotions deep in his belly that it had briefly overloaded him.
He was coming to terms with the fact that he couldn't protect the one person who always believed and trusted in him, the one who spoke softly to him even when he was out of line. Kagaya had been one of the few good things he still had in his life, and now he was gone.
When a multi-eyed demon appeared on his left, aiming to rip his head off, Sanemi merely used one arm to shred him to pieces with his sword. He didn't wish to deal with any demons at that moment, but Muzan's plans had a different idea.
From multiple entryways into the chamber he sat in appeared dozens more demons of all kinds, their bloodthirsty gazes resting on the sitting Sanemi. They were starved and hungry for human flesh, and they had a target right there in front of them. It didn't matter that one of their brethren had just been murdered by the man. They didn't care. All they wanted was blood, and there was a source before them waiting to be snatched.
"They just keep coming, one after another, huh…" murmured Sanemi with a slight shudder in his voice, his lips slowly curling up into an unhinged smile. Lifting a twitching hand up to his face, he set his sights on the nearest demons and began to laugh through the tears. "Fine, ass-wipes...come and get me. I'll slaughter you all."
For the passionate Kyōjurō, his reaction to not being in time to save Kagaya and then the subsequent banishment to the depths of the Infinity Fortress was far more explosive. For the optimistic Flame Hashira, who blessed everyone with his smile and fiery enthusiasm, when he was surrounded by demons, like a bomb he unleashed his fury onto them. He had never wanted to let his emotions out in such a way, because he wanted to be seen by others as a beacon of hope and temperament. An example of the indomitable human spirit.
But for this one time, when he was met with nothing but despair at the loss of their leader, he couldn't keep it in any longer.
His fiery crimson blade ended the life of any demon who even thought about taking a step toward him, and in a flash, the room he had fallen into was made into a burning, charred wasteland with dozens upon dozens of disintegrating demon remains surrounding him.
"Calm yourself, Kyōjurō, breath...breath...steady this hurting, inflamed heart of your's...what would the young ones think if they saw you like this…" Kyōjurō told himself as he took slow, steady breaths from the center of his own self-created inferno.
He sheathed his sword and closed his one good eye, using his opposite arm to wipe away a few tears that had fallen out during his slaughter of demons. The mark over his closed left eye was burning, and his heartbeat was through the roof, but after a few moments of controlled breathing, he was soon back to his normal self.
Taking stock, he looked around and rested a hand on his sword hilt, wondering if the other Hashira were anywhere close and on their way to him because of his ruckus. Wanting to see for himself if that were true, with a leap and a bound he launched himself into a nearby hallway and started running with the hopes of running into someone sooner or later.
For Shinobu, the only remaining Hashira that had been separated from everyone upon entering the Infinity Fortress, she was walking alone down a rather unique part of the maze of rooms and chambers. The wood floor planks were of the finest quality and to her left was an open room that had a pool of clear water, with blooming flowers, lily pads and actual koi fish swimming around below the surface as if nothing were wrong.
It was strangely silent, and she half expected to be jumped, but nothing came. Her footsteps bounced off the walls as she kept walking, only to pause when she smelled the faint stench of blood from somewhere close. That smell was accompanied by the slightest sound that she could just barely pick up, and it was coming from a room beyond the hallway she was in to her right.
Sliding her fingers into the handle groove she slowly slid open one of the sliding doors with a creak, peering inside and freezing at what she found. Inside the chamber was a series of zig-zagging wooden walkways built over a floor of water just like the pool outside, with floral designs on the walls.
Near the very back was a veiled throne of sorts with a giant, comfy-looking pillow that acted as a seat-cushion, but that's what she wasn't focused on. Her eyes had immediately gone to the source of the sound she had heard. The blond, spiky hair that stretched down to the lower back, the striped pants, the pointed hat, and the dozen or so bodies of bloody females littered around them.
From the mere presence alone, she knew that she had stumbled upon not just any room, but one of the personal domains of an Upper Moon itself. When the demon heard the slight creaking noise, he paused while in the middle of chewing on something Shinobu couldn't yet see.
"Hm? Is someone there?" asked the demon before he turned his head, smiling with blood dripping from his tongue and lips. Shinobu and him met gazes and almost instantly her heart was set ablaze at the sight of the demon's rainbow colored eyes, with the marks for "Upper Moon Two" tattooed on them. "Whoa, it's a girl! A really fine and delicious looking one at that too! I'll have to thank Nakime-chan later."
^ St. Peter's Square, the Vatican ^
"Ah, Cardinal Torres! Such a blessing to see that you haven't yet left the Bascilica after your appointment!"
"The pleasure is all mine, my old friend. Of course I have not left yet, for I still have some things to take care of. Messages to send back home being the topmost priority, of course."
A much older gentleman wearing a bright red and white choir dress with a matching red zucchetto upon his head greeted the most recent member of the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, whose members were second in prestige and precedence to the Pope himself.
This newest member was most likely half the age of the former, but despite the age gap the two of them greeted one another like they were the closest of friends. The crosses that hung from their necks jingled lightly as they shook hands, and only afterwards did they turn towards the center of the huge square, where rising up towards the sky was a lone Egyptian obelisk dubbed "The Witness". Behind that was the eastern portion of St. Peter's Bascilica, the beating heart of Vatican City and the home of the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church.
Tourists from Italy and the rest of the world would always flock here to see for themselves the majesty and splendor of the square, the basilica, and everything else within.
In present times though, that was overshadowed by a tragedy that had befallen Europe as a whole, which to them was known only as the Great War. Starting first with the sudden assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the whole continent was quickly embroiled in a devastating war that became far more deadly as time went on.
Devolving into horrific trench warfare, useless infantry charges, massacres by machine gun fire and endless artillery bombardment, the Vatican remained a staunch critic of the conflict and under Pope Benedict XV constantly wished for peace talks to occur. The Great War had incurred casualties since its start in 1914, and it seemed like to most of the world that there was no end in sight.
"What a shame it is to see the square so devoid of pioneers and travelers that wished to see the wonder of the Lord here in the Vatican…" remarked Torres with a sad expression, his Cardinal friend nodding his head solemnly.
"This war that has so unjustly infected God's children has gone on for far too long...I pray every day that it shall come to an end soon." he replied, Torres agreeing silently.
"God weeps daily for his children that lose their lives in this senseless world...my friend, if you would like, why not offer a prayer right now?"
"That is a wondrous idea. Yes, let us, here in the presence of the witness."
The two Cardinals held their crosses in their hands and closed their eyes, bowed their heads, and began to pray. Torres, who made the offer, did all the talking, and once he finished they lifted their heads up and let go of their crosses.
"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen..." Torres concluded before turning to his friend and shaking his hand one last time. "I pray that God's Salvation doesn't come for you too soon, my friend. The Clergy still has use for a pure soul like yourself."
"And to you I second that notion. God bless you."
Cardinal Torres then waved as his companion left him for the Basilica, leaving him in St. Peter's Square with the brightly shining sun beaming down on him from above. It was truly a gorgeous day, and he closed his eyes while looking up at the bright blue sky.
He knew what had just occurred. His so-called partner had initiated his attack on their enemies, and as of this moment, all of the Demon Slayer Corps had been dropped head-first into the depths of the Infinity Fortress. The first step in his plan was coming to a close, and now he was relying on them to kill off as many of those pests as possible.
"Now that I've secured the total trust of the Cardinals and the Pope, I can proceed unhindered...the old fools...you revere God and his angels, yet fail to notice the angel right in front of you…"
As Torres walked away towards the exit, he dropped a singular black seed-like orb from his hand. It skipped a few times before coming to rest in a crack between two of the smooth stones that made up the plaza square, its solid surface then rupturing to produce dark black roots.
Digging into the crack it rapidly submerged itself, going deeper and deeper underground until it nestled itself in the dirt to await the time it would be used by Torres for his plan.
"All that I have to collect now is the catalyst...and I know just where to find it."
A young Shinobu with tears in her eyes knelt in the dirt with her dying older sister in her arms, the buildings around them completely silent. Shinobu hiccupped every so often as her tears made her vision cloudy, and it took every single ounce of her willpower to not break down entirely.
"Shinobu, leave the Demon Slayers. I know you're working hard, and you really, really are. But maybe you're better off…" Kanae said weakly as blood oozed from her hips, her breaths getting more labored by the second. She paused for a second and Shinobu's heart skipped a beat when she thought that Kanae had died right then and there, but she then coughed and grunted. "I just...want you to obtain happiness like any normal girl would, and live until you turn really old. That's...enough for me…"
"No! I won't ever quit! I'll avenge you for sure! Tell me, Nee-san! What was this demon who beat you! Just tell me Kanae nee-san I can't live a normal life after someone did this to you!"
Shinobu's hands slowly balled into fists in the present as she looked at the demon before her as he turned himself around and took his hat off, revealing a circular blood-stain of sorts in his hair that matched the long sleeve turtleneck he wore.
Kanae's description echoed in Shinobu's head as she looked at the demon sitting among the corpses of female humans, the bloody, chewed up forearm he was munching on being lowered into his lap. It had been a demon with a blood stain on top of his head, a carefree smile, and a voice that would make you think he was kind and friendly.
"Why, hello there! Very nice to meet you, little girl! My name is Dōma." he introduced with a light-hearted laugh as he returned his hat back atop his head after the friendly gesture, then licked the blood away from his jaw and lower lip. "It's a very nice night out tonight, isn't it?
Shinobu's hands trembled lightly before a quiet cry for help came out from among the bodies, her eyes immediately going to the source. One of the women was still alive, and she was reaching out to Shinobu while crying and shivering like crazy.
"Shhh, hey now, we're talking right now…" whispered Dōma with a light chuckle. Suddenly a whirlwind of ice and super-frigid air appeared around him when he swept his arms, his attempt on the woman's life seemingly failing when he noticed that Shinobu had saved the girl. "Eh? She vanished..."
"Are you okay?" asked Shinobu of the woman, standing to Dōma's left on an adjacent platform.
"Ah...aah…" murmured the young girl while Shinobu held her in her arms. She was certainly shaking, as would any human in the presence of someone like an Upper Moon.
All of a sudden a gasp, followed by sharp gurgling came from the girl's throat when her body then suddenly separated into several bloody pieces right in Shinobu's arms. Her eyes widened in shock as the young girl basically fell apart to the floor, the sleeves of her sister's butterfly haori becoming deep red as the girl's blood soaked into the fabric.
With a shudder Shinobu stared at her empty hands, flashes of her sister's death appearing in her mind again, before she swallowed those emotions of fear and steeled herself when Dōma started to speak again in that light, jovial manner.
"Ah, there we go! I thought I had hit her. Just leave her over there and I'll be sure to gobble her up later!" he said as he got up onto his feet, bringing his arms around while keeping that same friendly smile on his face.
Shinobu stood up as well and turned to face him, remembering the last fact that her sister had revealed to her about the identity of the demon who attacked her. They were a pair of sharp, gold fans with floral designs engraved into them. And upon seeing them in Dōma's hands, the link was finally established.
This was, without a doubt, the Upper Moon that had caused her sister's death. Knowing that caused the deep-rooted anger that she had been slowly letting out through her time with Tanjirō to come rocketing up to the surface, manifesting first in her evil glare.
"I am the founder of the 'Eternal Paradise Cult'. My duty is to make all my worshippers, including myself, happy. So I'll eat her up without leaving a single speck of meat." Dōma said cheerfully, Shinobu's right eye twitching a little at how cold he sounded.
"Make everyone happy? You're insane. This girl was crying for help right now." Shinobu rebuked, but Dōma remained steadfast.
"That's why I saved her, Hashira-chan~! She's not feeling any more pain, nor is she suffering. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore." he replied before motioning to the bodies littered around him with outstretched arms. "Everyone's afraid of dying, you know. That's why I eat them all up...all the feelings of my worshippers, their blood, their flesh. I make sure to accept, rescue, and guide them all to enlightenment. Now they get to live together with me...forever."
"There's no way you're sane. Are you even right in the head? You're actually going to make me vomit."
Shinobu's vile remark made Dōma actually gasp in surprise, with the Upper Moon Two even holding a hand over his mouth to emphasise his surprise. That made the Insect Hashira appear even more angry now, with a visible vein bulging in her forehead as she struggled to keep cool.
After years of not knowing who her sister's killer was, only to finally meet him face to face, she truly realized just how despicable the demons under Muzan's control could be. She believed in demons like Amai, Tamayo, Mitsuri, and most of all Nezuko and Tanjirō. Those like Muzan and Dōma though would receive nothing but her hatred, and it only infuriated her more to see this demon in front of her react so casually to her.
"How come you're being this harsh even though we only just met? If there's anything that's bothering you, I'll gladly listen, you know! Come on, speak up~" Dōma said with a warm smile, appearing as the kind and faithful leader he made himself out to be.
"Anything bothering me? Is that all you can say to me?!" Shinobu roared as more veins appeared the harder she clenched her jaw muscles. With the blood on her sleeves now dried she gripped her haori tightly while glaring at Dōma, her fist even beginning to quiver as her blood became like boiling hot lava. "Don't you recognize this haori? You're the one who killed my sister, right!?"
"Your haori, huh...ah! You mean that Flower Breathing girl from before? She was such a sweet and cute girl, haha! I couldn't talk to her more because of the sun, but I really did miss out on eating her all-"
Dōma was cut off right before he could finish his sentence by Shinobu appearing right in front of his face with such a menacing aura and expression, he was too late to block her stinger sword from piercing right through his left eye and out the back of his head.
"Mushi no kokyū, Hōga no mai: Manabiki." Shinobu uttered once she landed the attack, the sheer force she put behind her jab created by her spread creating a miniature gust of wind that made even Dōma stumbled backward slightly.
"Wow! That was one nice jab, I couldn't even stop it with my hand!" said Dōma with a laugh before his golden fans grew out from his hands, their tips sparkling with ice as he made his counterattack. "Kekkijutsu - Hasuhagōri!"
Shinobu swiftly pulled her blade out from his eye and backflipped to avoid the Upper Moon's fan sweep, cringing lightly when the super-cold air and ice caused tiny portions of her haori to instantly freeze over.
"That's freezing! The air must be cold enough to rip someone's lungs to shreds."
"Hmmmn...you really are super duper fast, huh? But that's just too bad, you know? You can't kill demons just with stabbing. You gotta aim for the neck!"
Dōma giggled lightly while tapping his healing left eye with the tip of his fan, his tongue reaching up to lap up some of the blood dripping down his cheek. Shinobu got back on her feet and sheathed her sword, slight clicking noises coming from within the hilt as the poison cylinder was then rotated.
He wondered what exactly she was doing before his throat almost instantly closed up and a gasp escaped his lips when his eye and most of his face turned purple and red, the veins beneath his skin bulging out to their breaking point. He coughed and staggered, gripping the side of his head as some of the veins burst, squirting out dark purple, rotting blood that quickly made his vision turn black.
"I may not be able to kill you with stabbing, but what about poison?" asked Shinobu as her poison wreaked havoc on Dōma's brain and central nervous system, causing internal hemorrhages that quickly spread throughout his body.
"Gyaaaaghh! Ahhck...well, this one certainly is a lot stronger...than the one you used on Rui-kun's mountain…!" exclaimed Dōma after vomiting up a pool of purple blood once he collapsed to his knees, his body quivering and shaking while he dealt with the poison.
"So they do share information...dammit, poison really is a double-edged sword." Shinobu thought with a growl.
"The mixture...can adapt to every demon, that's what that man said…" Dōma continued while coughing into his hand, before the poison's effects then started to wear off. He was adapting to the poison, nullifying its effects, before with a final gasp of air once his airways opened up, he laughed and brought his eyes back up to look at Shinobu. "Ooooh? It seems I was able to decompose your poison. Sorry about that, really...I know you worked so hard to use it!"
Dōma laughed again as he made his way back up to his feet, sharing with Shinobu his observation about her blade and the clicking sound it made upon being put back in its sheath. He correctly guessed that was how she changed her poison mix and marvelled at the prospect of fighting her.
Bringing his hands up like a giddy little school boy and smiled gleefully while exclaiming how much fun their fight was going to be. He had never fought a demon slayer who utilized poison, so to go against Shinobu was going to be a blast for him. In his happiness he even asked her to use more poison mixes on him to see if they'd work better than the first, which ticked Shinobu off to the point she drew her blade again and took her stance.
"If you want to taste my poisons so badly...that's fine with me. I half-expected this to happen anyways."
Meanwhile the lone Zenitsu, who he was for certain alone and not nearby any other slayers as far as his advanced hearing could tell him, slowly walked into a square shaped room consisting of a floor and ceiling made of other doorways. Ahead of him was a third set of doors that had square-pattern tile markings on them. Selfishly he had made his way solely to this point, but he hardly cared what anyone else would think.
This was what he had trained by himself to do, this very moment. Confirming with his hearing that his goal was just beyond those doors, he lowered his head slightly and looked just beyond his bangs as he clenched his fingers into fists.
"You're there, right? Come on out. I know you're there." said Zenitsu darkly, his tone more serious than ever before in his life.
"That's no way to speak to your senior, you shrimp...although I will say, you do look a little better than when I last saw you, but…" spoked an unsettling, familiar voice as a clawed hand opened up the door, the demon it belonged to stepping out into the light with a vile grin on his face. Wearing a black kimono with a blue obi over a custom Demon Slayer uniform with yellow markings, the man standing before him with a nichirin sword over his shoulder was none other than Zenitsu's former student companion under his old master. "As usual, you're still shabby. It's been a long while, hasn't it, Zenitsu."
"Kaigaku...now that you've become a demon and joined the likes of Muzan...I no longer think of you as my senior." Zenitsu replied with an unnervingly calm voice, his usual terror and cowardice nowhere to be found.
"Khehe, is that supposed to hurt me at all? I never even considered you my junior. You're just the same puny, weak chicken I remember. Can you use anything else besides the first form now?"
Zenitsu held his tongue for a few moments, silently glaring into his former senior's eyes that were now marked with the rank for "Upper Moon Six", the same position once held by Tanjirō, and before that Daki and her brother.
He had grown accustomed to seeing such a terrifying symbol of power among demons in the eyes of his best friend, but to see it on somebody that he used to look up to, even if their relationship was strained at best, was utterly detestable. Of course, he wasn't there solely for that reason. The contents of the letter he had received whilst training were.
"You sure do seem happy to play stopgap as the bottom rung Upper Moon, bastard." snapped back Zenitsu with a slight head tilt, the shadow cast onto his face by the ceiling light giving him a more menacing appearance.
"Hahah, would you look at that! You can actually talk back now! So the wimp can actually grow up.
"Why did you become a demon, Kaigaku?"
"Ha, well, you have no-"
"Why did you, the rightful successor of Lightning Breathing, become a demon? If you hadn't turned into a demon, GRAMPS WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED HIMSELF!"
Kaigaku was actually surprised by how loud Zenitsu shouted at him, the very room itself seeming to shake like the rumble of thunder itself. Zenitsu poured his heart out to his former senior, telling him of the contents of the letter he received. Their master had slit his own stomach out of shame for Kaigaku's defection, but nobody had been there to decapitate him as was standard with Seppuku.
He continued to bash Kaigaku, tears of resentment and pain for their master, a person who he looked up to as a father figure, yelling at him again and again about his death. And all of it was because of Kaigaku, all of it was his fault.
"That's not my problem. That old bonehead is better off dead anyways. Am I supposed to be sad? Must I repent? I have no intent to reflect on what I did, I just don't care." Kaigaku said with a vicious smile on his face, his humanity now and forever being locked away as his true colors finally came out to Zenitsu before his very eyes. "I worked so hard to please that shitty old man, but he never gave me the successor title. Doesn't matter if he's a former Hashira, I have no use for senile men that don't recognize true talent."
With lightning starting to crackle around his fingertips the tighter he clenched his fists, Zenitsu lowered his gaze even more and snarled under his breath. Never before had he been so angry, and it was only getting worse and worse the longer Kaigaku talked trash about their master.
"Gramps was not senile. If I'm dirt, then you're garbage. I can only use the first form, and you can use all but the first form. Gramps died a miserable death because he wasn't even lucky enough to have a proper successor!" barked Zenitsu while accusingly pointing a quivering finger at Kaigaku, the veins in his cheeks and forehead becoming so pronounced it seemed as though he was going to pop a blood vessel.
"Don't put me together with the likes of you! Kaminari no kokyū, Go no Kata: Enrai!" Kaigaku shouted as he unsheathed his blade and fired off a series of several swipes of his sword, generating a storm of black lightning that rushed toward Zenitsu faster than the blink of an eye.
Despite their speed, Zenitsu was faster still, taking hold of his blade and moving forward past Kaigaku without even so much as taking his sword out in the demon's eyes. When he noticed nothing had happened to him, he glanced back at Zenitsu wondering if he had missed, only to see the younger Lightning Breathing user staring right back at him with skulls in his eyes.
"Too slow. Trash." he snarled, Kaigaku then gasping as a severe gash opened up in his throat and over his chest, spewing his blood out on the floor.
"He cut me! He was fast enough to avoid my attack?!" Kaigaku thought as he stared Zenitsu down.
He gripped his blade tighter and growled, baring his fangs at the boy he had thought before was weak and never worth any of his time. In that moment the aura Zenitsu was giving off was of something else entirely. The coward he had once known was now gone.
Meanwhile Tanjirō and Giyū had penetrated deeper into the depths of the never-ending abyss of rooms and corridors, the Water Hashira and Blaze Dance Hashira running side by side with their hands at their hips.
As they ran Tanjirō was beginning to remember more and more of his time under Muzan's control, with his arrival at the Infinity Fortress and the training he had undergone. That itself was still hazy, but he was certain that with more time more of it would be revealed and he could finally know exactly what had happened. He looked to his left at the wider expanse of the Infinity Fortress, seeing the depths of the changing rooms and hallways and wondered how everyone else who had fallen in was doing.
He knew for sure that the Hashira had fallen in, but did Muzan ensnare more of his friends? Tanjirō wished he could smell them out, but because of the massive demonic presence, all he could smell was their bloodlust. It honestly was close to making him throw up, but he steeled himself and didn't let it get too overbearing.
"Cawww! Kochō Shinobu is engaged with Upper Moon Two! Caw!" screeched a Kasugai crow as it flew up to them from seemingly thin air, one of Yushirō's tags attached to its neck.
Giyū's eyes widened as did Tanjirō's, the latter whipping his head to the crow and almost shouted at it to tell him if it knew where they were and if he could be led there. When the crow cawed back an affirmative, he gave one quick look to Giyū before he then darted off the ledge and leaped after the crow as it led him towards a hallway across the chasm.
"Tanjirō! What're you doing?! Separating should be the last thing we-!" Giyū began to shout before suddenly a loud crash came from somewhere above him.
A huge demonic presence began rapidly approaching him along with the greatly increasing noise of wood being smashed to pieces, before the ceiling then exploded right above him and he had to leap back to avoid being crushed.
"Huh, I thought that brat was here, but I guess he dipped out at the last second…" murmured a voice as the dust settled and the figure who appeared before Giyū stood up, smirking at him. With Upper Moon Three tattooed prominently on his eyes, Akaza cracked his knuckles as he stared Giyū down. "Whatever, I'll play with you first before going after him. I wonder if you're as strong as that Hashira I killed a while back."
"Was it you who killed Uzui-san?" questioned Giyū as he widened his stance and drew his sword, ready for a fight.
"Uzui? Doesn't ring a bell. No, the Hashira I killed had flaming hair and kept spouting nonsense about the human spirit."
"You mean me, right?"
Akaza's eyes shot wide open as the voice he thought he'd never hear again struck his ear drums and made him nearly drop his guard. Slowly turning his head around, he looked down the way that Giyū had originally come from with Tanjirō and came face to face with a ghost.
Standing there a few meters away with his crimson sword drawn was Kyōjurō, his one eye blazing with passion and righteousness as he met his former opponent. The flame tattoo over his useless, closed left eye began to tingle as his fighting spirit ignited, manifested in literal flames starting to come off his haori and uniform, the air around him beginning to shimmer.
"You...you lived?! How?! I pierced your solar plexus! That should have ended your life!" shouted Akaza in disbelief, wondering if he really was seeing a ghost or not.
"I was dead, for a time. You trapped me in a coma that could have taken my life, but even that wasn't enough to kill me. But enough talk." Kyōjurō said before the flames around him burst to an even greater scale, burning the immediate area surrounding him and pushing back the superheated air so rapidly it nearly toppled Akaza over. "Tomioka-san, I'd like to request you assist me. I have a score to settle with this demon! Hmn!"
^ Personal Chamber of Upper Moon Two ^
From a young age, Dōma had always been kind and clever. He always helped people in need and made them happy, because that was the mission he held in his heart. Born with rainbows in his eyes and bright blonde hair, seemingly kissed by the gods, he was living and breathing proof of innocence and divinity. Even his parents believed that he could hear the voices of the gods.
He thought they were some of the most dim-witted people he had ever met. They created the cult that he was now the head of, which personally to this day he thought was ridiculous. Feeling sorry for them, Dōma played along with their games, even though he never heard any divine voices. At first it was awkward when everyone worshipped and prayed to him, with adults coming to him, a child, crying their eyes out and saying they were suffering. Truthfully he felt bored of them, and hardly ever listened, until they ended with him wanting to take them to paradise.
Dōma cried, not because of their sob stories, but because of how the paradise they sought didn't exist. It was all a farce. Pure Imagination. Gods and Buddhas don't exist, and he truly couldn't come to terms with knowing that these people who had been alive for decades didn't realize this.
When a human dies, they become nothing. They stop feeling. The heart stops, the brain stops, you rot, and then eventually return to the earth once the body decomposes. They could not accept something so difficult, and he felt terrible knowing this fact. He swore to make the people who he saw as pitiful happy and help them, he believed that was the reason for his birth.
"Humm, humm...that's the fifth time now, Hashira-chan~! And that was no good either, it didn't work, unfortunately." Dōma said with a laugh as the cut in his disfigured hand slowly healed when the poison injected into it became null. "It's getting less and less effective. How many more times can you make poison?"
"This is the strength of an Upper Moon...the poison isn't working at all. His speed in building resistance is absurd…" Shinobu thought to herself as she took soft, wheezing breaths. The pain in her lungs was beginning to build up because of all the frigid, icy air she had inhaled, and she knew that it was beginning to hinder her.
"Uh oh, are you having trouble breathing? Haha, that's because your luns are dying! Hard, huh? That's 'cause my Blood Demon Art sucked your blood." said Dōoma while waving a fan in front of his face while flowers made of pure ice formed in the air around him. "It turned your frozen blood to mist, and my fans scattered it. Breathing iself is now dangerous, you know!"
"This bastard...I'll use multiple attacks to inject a larger dost! Mushi no kokyū, Seirei no mai: Fukugan Rokkaku!"
Shinobu darted toward Dōma once again, using her smaller stature and speed to land several quick blows to the Upper Moon at all of his vulnerable areas. Each time her stinger blade pierced his body, a jet of poison was injected right into his bloodstream and muscle tissue, infecting him.
"Wow, you really are fast! Maybe even the fastest Hashira I've met so far...but not fast enough."
Shinobu gasped as her body was struck by a lightning bolt of pain as a deep gash suddenly appeared from her left shoulder down across her chest and out her lower right rib cage. She immediately collapsed to her knees and started to cough, her severed lung making it even more difficult to breath.
Her blood rapidly began to stain her sister's haori even more, soiling its beautiful colors and butterfly design, and her vision started to get spotty. She couldn't feel her left arm any more and guessed the slash through her left shoulder had severed the nerve endings and tendons connecting it to her spine. She couldn't move it even if she tried to.
"You should have cut my head off instead of using poison, Hashira-chan. If you're that fast, you might have actually beaten me." remarked Dōma snidely, laughing to himself in a cheerful manner. "Well, maybe not, because you're just so small! Ahaha!"
Shinobu coughed up more blood and hunched over, using her one good arm to support her body weight as her vision started turning more and more red. The pain was setting in and all she could think about was how small her hands were.
If she had been just a little taller, she could have taken Dōma's head and defeated him. Having strength from being physically larger was always an advantage, but she had been cursed with a small, petite stature. Kanae was delicate, but she was still taller than her. Thinking back at Kanae, she finally realized what she was going to say before stopping herself. She had prevented herself from telling her beloved sister she would lose to that demon, had she pursued him.
Quivering from her injury, she blinked a few times as things became hazy, before a pair of feet appeared before her. Without even having to look up, she knew who they belonged to, and why they were there.
"Pull yourself together. I absolutely will not allow you to cry." Kanae said to her younger sister firmly, authoritatively. Gone was her kind disposition. That was no suggestion, it was an order.
"Kanae...I can't...I've lost so much blood, I can't stand. My left lung is done for, and I can't breathe."
"That doesn't matter. Stand up...Insect Hashira, Kochō Shinobu. Once you decide to defeat a demon, defeat it. Once you decide to win, then win." Kanae said to firmly lecture her sister, her harsh words hitting Shinobu straight in the heart and making her start to tear up. "Win, whatever the cost. You made a promise with me and Kanao, right?"
Dōma, who couldn't see Kanae before her sister, slowly approached the fallen Insect Hashira with his arms by his side and a regretful expression on his face. He felt bad that he hadn't finished her off then and there, and apologized for it not being a thorough cut.
As he got closer with each step, his footsteps mixing with the gentle sounds of the water they were standing above, he pondered on how Shinobu would taste compared to the other meals he has had before. Unseen to him Kanae was know kneeling in front of her sister with her hands on her shoulders, crying as well as she consulted her sister.
"You have someone waiting for you too, remember…? The one you tell me about, everyday...the one who made you smile again, who promised to never leave you…" she said softly into Shinobu's ear, her words soon joined by the image of her sister and Tanjirō standing side by side, smiling at her. "Shinobu, you can do this. We believe in you."
With her entire body trembling, Shinbou's hand slowly curled up into a fist and she started to force herself up, light coughs escaping her lips. Ever single motion made her body scream at her, but still she kept going, until she was back on her feet looking down at the pool of her own blood before her.
She had barely any strength left that she wasn't putting into her legs to keep herself from falling over, and her breaths were so raspy it sounded as if she had smoked every day of her life. Even Dōma was surprised by her determination.
"You can stand? Wow...are you really human, Hashira-chan? I mean, I cut your collar bone, lung and ribs, but for your size and with that much blood loss, I'm surprised your not dead!" exclaimed Dōma while Shinobu slowly turned to face him, her chest heaving with each breath she took. Her uniform was ruined by her blood, as was her sister's haori, but she didn't care. Her sister's words and Tanjirō's smile was all that was in her mind and soul. "Please, don't be so stubborn! You're suffering so much right now, so just let me lop your head off so you don't have to feel pain any longer!"
"If I'm going to aim or something, it's got to be the key point—his neck. If I drive poison into his neck, I can win." Shinobu told herself as she gripped her sword tightly one handed, her limp left arm hanging uselessly by her side. With all her strength, she then dashed forward with enough speed to destroy the bridge she was standing on with each step. "Mushi no kokyū, Gokō no mai: Hyakusoku Jabara!"
"She's weaving around in all directions! She's so fast she sundered the bridge! I can't even predict her attack!"
Dōma was put on his heels by the sheer ferocity of Shinobu's assault, her nimble body a total blur even to him, until she was right underneath him. Aiming for her head with both his fans, he swiped them in an X-shaped attack, but to his surprise, she had managed to dodge the attack.
Not losing momentum even in the face of losing half her sister's haori as well as her arm and part of her shoulder, she sank deep into her legs and aimed straight for his neck. With a fierce leap she plunged the tip of her blade into the base of his neck and took both of them up to the very ceiling of Dōma's personal chamber. His larger body smashed into the roof and created a crater several meters wide, sending wooden fragments and splinters out in all directions.
"I once believed that the road of happiness continued forever and ever into the distance. When it was destroyed, I noticed for the first time...that happiness lies atop a thin sheet of glass. And just as we were shaved, there are those whose happiness hasn't yet been destroyed. I wanted to get stronger, and protect them."
Shinoub grunted as she felt her sword unhitch itself from the ceiling, leading to her and Dōma entering a free fall back towards the floor. Her sword came out of his neck afterwards, the last poison in her arsenal causing his neck, entire jaw and upper chest to become dark red and purple.
Blood gushed from his lips and his eyes glossed over for a split second, making it seem as though her last ditch gambit had paid off.
"Me and my sister, that's what we promised each other. We didn't want to let anyone else experience what we went through. Even if we were weak, and can't cut off demon heads, if we could defeat one demon, we could save dozens of people. And if we could defeat an Upper Moon, we could save hundreds."
Dōma then suddenly came to ice flowers formed by his Blood Demon Art manifested from the ceiling, their icy vines wrapping themselves around his torso so as to keep him from falling. He smiled at Shinobu happily, and she cursed him out as loudly as she could in her mind for being able to deal with her poison.
She cursed him, and cursed him, and cursed him. She damned him for never faltering, for killing her sister, and for the deaths of countless humans that she couldn't even begin to fathom.
"Shinobu-san...why are you so angry?" Tanjirō asked in her memories as she careened towards the ground, the air around her sending her hair and what remained of her sister's haori into a frenzy.
"I'm angry because of the suffering of others, Tanjirō. I've always been angry about that. My parents were killed, my older sister was killed, and all my Tsuguko except Kanao were killed." answered Shinobu back, her jaw tightening up, tears at the corner of her eyes. "If demons hadn't murdered...the families of Aoi and the girls...they'd be living happily with them right now."
Dōma's ice flowers spread out their vines and rescued Shinobu right before she could hit the floor, wrapping around her and yanking her all the way back up to him so that he could wrap himself around her small body and embrace her.
She grunted from the strength he put behind his hug and felt some of her rips crack, causing more blood to spurt out from her wound and from her lips. He wasn't going to let go of her, now that she had expended everything she had left.
"So admirable! You tried so hard! I'm so impressed that such a weak girl could do so much!" cried Dōma as he shed tears for Shinobu. Whether they were real or not, Shinobu couldn't figure it out, but as the world around her started to get darker and darker, the smile she could see on Tanjirō's face began to grow fainter. "You didn't have your older sister's talent, but you've done well as a Demon Slayer regardless! It's all pointless, sure, but you're stupid enough to keep trying! This is both the folly and wonder of humanity!"
Dōma hugged Shinobu tighter, and she started to feel his clothes and body morph and begin drawing her im, starting with her bloodied side that had been soiled by her severed arm. She tried to break free, but she knew it was pointless. She was going to die here, she knew that now. Shinobu was never going to see Tanjirō's smile again, or feel the warmth of his hands around her body.
"You really are worth eating, Hashira-chan, so let us live together for eternity! Any last words though? I'm listening!"
With her last gasp of air, Shinobu grit her teeth and said, "Go...to hell!"
Suddenly the main entrance doors to Dōma's chamber were thrown open and Kanao appeared in them, with Inosuke right by her side. They had met one another on the way there to the sanctum, following Inosuke's incredible senses to the dominating presence they knew had to belong to an Upper Moon.
Once they were inside though, they looked up to the ceiling and instantly saw Dōma hanging from above with Shinobu in his arms. A light gasp escaped her lips when she watched Shinobu's blade drop from her hand, her fingers and body going limp as the last light of life began to flicker out.
A sharp klang echoed out through the room when her stinger sword finally did hit one of the wooden bridges, and immediately on instinct Kanao drew her sword while crying out in despair for her master.
"Waaugh, what the hell are you doing you dumbass! At least don't rush him without Inosuke-samaa!" bellowed Inosuke as he followed Kanao in leaping up towards Dōma, the two brandishing their swords.
Landing two powerful attacks at the same time, they were both shocked to find the Upper Moon had already landed down below. Coming down a few moments later, they were both frozen solid when they watched Dōma lower a fan and reveal a horrifying sight.
Shinobu was in the process of being absorbed by his body, with one of her legs already gone and inside of his torso, as well as her bloody left side. She was completely unresponsive, and seeing that was enough to almost send Kanao into a fury.
"Hey now, that's dangerous...you shouldn't try to kill someone when they're in the middle of devouring someone, right…?" Dōma said with a deep, unhinged voice that contradicted his pure-looking smile.
"You bastard! What're you doing, stop!" shouted Inosuke while he waved his swords at him.
"Why should I? It's not like the two of you are gonna-"
Dōma's eyes widened when the entire right wall of his chamber was blown to smithereens by a massive explosion of fire, the pieces of wood being flung out by it so quickly that they were by him in an instant.
Another second later a darkened form with both flames and checkered green mixed into it was right next to him, eyes blazing with such intensity they could match the mantle of the earth in volatility. With a devastating punch unlike anything he'd ever felt before, Dōma's entire head burst apart into blood and brain matter, with his body then being swept away by the momentum and sent slamming into the adjacent wall. A hand had grabbed Shinobu's arm as he flew back and had pulled her body, or what was left of it, out from his torso, thereby halting the absorption process.
To Kanao and Inosuke's surprise, standing there with sword in one hand and Shinobu's body in the other, was Tanjirō himself. He was huffing with such rage contained in each breath, that literal flames were coming out from the sides of his mouth as he bared his fangs at the demon who dared to try and absorb someone he cared about.
Feeling herself in the presence of someone she knew, Shinobu slowly lifted her head up towards her savior and saw the face of the one she cared about looking as if he was about to slaughter anyone and anything in sight. Lightly she gripped his haori and she tugged on it, immediately drawing his gaze down to her.
"Ta...nji...rō…" she uttered in almost a whisper, her life hanging on by just a thread. She was barely alive, but still conscious enough to recognize what had happened.
Tanjirō had saved her, and with no strength left to hold it all back, she cried tears of joy despite the condition her body was in. Seeing this, his expression immediately softened up and he held her a little bit closer to him, letting her bury her face somewhat into his haori.
"I...I'm...so...rry..."
A/N Crisis...averted. Ahahaaaa...had you in the first half, didn't I? Super close call, super close call! But yeaaaaaaaa...FUCK Dōma. Seriously. FUCK him. Say it with me now! FUCK Dōma. XD. This chapter was really a doozy, and I honestly didn't know quite where to stop it at some points because of all that goes on! But I think I nailed it with how it ended up ending! Also, who's up for that Akaza vs Kyōjurō rematch? KICK HIS ASS FLAME BOI.
Hope you really enjoyed this chapter as much as me! Leave a vote in the poll if you can, and also if you haven't already, drop a Fav, a Follow, and a Review telling me what you thought! See you guys in the next chapter!
Translation(s):
Kokketsu - Kikyoku
- Black Blood - Brambles
Iwa no kokyū, San no kata: Ganku no Hadae
- Stone Breathing, Third Form: Igneous Reflection
Hebi no kokyū, Go no Kata: En'en Chōda
- Serpent Breathing, Fifth Form: Serpentine Coil
Mushi no kokyū, Hōga no mai: Manabiki
- Insect Breathing, Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter
Kekkijutsu - Hasuhagōri
- Blood Demon Technique - Lotus ice
Kaminari no kokyū, Shi no Kata: Enrai
- Lightning Breathing, Fourth Form: Distant Thunder
Mushi no kokyū, Seirei no mai: Fukugan Rokkaku
- Insect Breathing, Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon
Mushi no kokyū, Gokō no mai: Hyakusoku Jabara
- Insect Breathing, Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag