Doorway to the Demon Lord
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter for Breath of the Rifleman! Got it out a little later than I meant too, but the 4th of July is a time for celebration, and thus I celebrated. But now here it is with a slight announcement: for those of you who haven't heard yet, the first side story for my new story series 'A New Crusade IF' has been posted, so feel free to give it a read to see some other possibilities for the Crusader, Sir Ulric. And as always a big shout out to LoneTaker, groche9655, and Noble Eight for their contributions to this story! Now then, with no guest reviews for now, onto the story!
The Infinite Fortress
"Yushiro, what the fuck is going on?!" Exclaimed Subaru as he and everyone else felt the area they were in shaking in response to Nakime's howling.
"I don't know," grunted Yushiro while trying to keep ahold of the Upper Moon, "I know I removed Muzan's influence, but now it's like something rabid and bloodthirsty is kicking around in her head now!" Unfortunately for Yushiro, it wouldn't be just in her head for long as Nakime reached up and grabbed Yushiro's hair before yanking violently, pulling his whole body over her shoulder and slamming him on the ground. It was enough to pull the demon boy's hands out of her temples too before she stomped on his head hard enough to crush it.
"Wretched, lowlife, miserable, abominable man!" Yelled Nakime as she stomped on Yushiro a few more times, "I'll tear you limb from limb!" Everyone readied their weapons as Nakime's Biwa flew to her hand where she hit the strings with her bare fingers. A sudden gust of wind alerted everyone to an incoming attack as they moved just in time to avoid a large gash forming where they'd been standing merely a second before.
"Now what in the world is this!" Exclaimed Ozaki as she struck back with her sectioned sword, only for Nakime to jump backwards off the platform and into a sliding door she created with another strum of her Biwa. The new Upper Moon 4 then appeared on another nearby platform where she struck a few more chords by hand.
"Scatter!" Exclaimed Obanai as the group all leapt off the platform which was nearly destroyed by more suddenly forming gashes.
"Subaru," said Momiji in his mind as she used her Willow's Windpath in an attempt to discern what was going on, "I'm not sure how to explain this, but that demon is somehow partially summoning her doors to create distortions that are causing those gashes. It's like she's unleashing cuts and slashes from out of nowhere!"
"Well isn't that just peachy," exclaimed Subaru as he fired his rifle at the Biwa demon who dodged out of the way and leapt into another portal. She didn't stay gone for long as she emerged from a nearby door and aimed her next attack at the rifleman.
"Die you filthy man!" Shrieked Nakime as she strummed her biwa. Subaru managed to catch a glimpse of the attack coming this time and was able to evade it thanks to Willow's Windpath. But the Upper Moon was far from done as she unleashed several more attacks, tearing up the platform behind the Matagi as he leapt to another one. Fortunately, Mitsuri was able to make it up to strike from the demon's blind spot. Or at least it was almost her blindspot as Nakime raised her biwa to block the blow intended for her neck.
"You won't escape," proclaimed Mitsuri, "we're taking you out now!"
"Out of my way!" Growled Nakime as she jumped back, strumming her Biwa to tear up the area between her and Mitsuri. The Love Pillar easily avoided the attack but it did succeed in giving Nakime a chance to open and disappear into another door.
"Crap, where'd she go," Kanroji wondered aloud as her eyes scanned the area frantically. Her answer came in the form of another platform being torn up. "Iguro, she's after you!"
"I know!" The Serpent Pillar called back as he jumped and dodged out of the way of Nakime's attacks. 'Went straight for my back,' he thought, 'but thanks to Kaburamaru and my own instincts, I won't be caught by such a cheap trick, moreover,' he leapt and bounced around the platforms to change his direction back towards the demon, 'I've got a few tricks as well!' He slashed at his opponent who quickly retreated into another doorway. 'Now let's see you dodge this,' thought the Hashira as another door opened behind him.
"Breath of the Serpent Fourth Form," said Iguro as he changed direction and jumped towards his foe, "Twin-headed Reptile!" Nakime was taken slightly by surprise with this tactic but still managed to block with her Biwa. Obanai didn't let up as he maneuvered around behind her. "Not sure what your deal is but you'll have to do better than that, Breath of the Serpent Second Form: Venom Fangs of the Narrow Head!"
He aimed for her head as he attacked from behind and succeeded in, cutting off some of her hair as Nakime strummed a note that opened a door beneath her feet and dropped her through the floor. "Shit," cursed Obanai as the demon appeared on a platform a little distance away.
"Your disfigured faces reveal your true selves," snarled Nakime, "nothing but contemptable bastards!" She hit several notes on her instrument then, assaulting Obanai, Subaru and the newly regenerated Yushiro as the three dodged, dived and occasionally jumped to other platforms to avoid her onslaught.
"Breath of the Serpent Third Form," said Ozaki as she came up behind the string player, "Coil Choke!" Nakime dodged into the air and through another summoned door, forcing Ozaki to stop herself from accidentally going over the platform. "Jinora, Mukago now!"
"Breath of Thunder Fourth Form," said Jinora as she landed on a central platform, "Distant Thunder!" She unleashed several electrified slashes in all directions as Mukago added to her assault.
"Ain't got a name for it, but eat these!" Exclaimed the Former Upper Moon as she pulled the pins on and threw several grenades which she returned to normal shape while they were in midflight. The duo were rewarded for this bombardment with a shriek of pain as a now damaged Nakime leapt out of a cloud of smoke.
"You two are complete assholes," said a regenerating Yushiro as Subaru and Obanai peaked out from behind him, "what would you have done if that lightning girl had cut my head off?"
"Her name's Jinora, and if you've seen her fight for even a minute you'd know her aim is better than that," said the Matagi, "and by the looks of it, she noticed the same thing we noticed."
"And that would be?" Questioned Yushiro before Nakime started shrieking again.
"Why do you help them?" Seethed the Upper Moon demon, "what have they promised you, what have they given you?!"
"I feel like she's talking to just the four of us," said Mitsuri as she and the other girls gathered nearby.
"It's all lies, all of it," continued Upper Moon 4 as her instrument began to shake on its own in her arms, "they make promises, give you gifts, say they love you, but the moment you can't please them they toss you aside! The world is better without the ilk known as MEN!" She strummed, or perhaps jammed is a better way to put it, on all the strings of her Biwa then, distorting the air and tearing up several platforms around her.
"Yep, that's the issue," said Obanai as he and the other two boys leapt off the platform right as it was completely destroyed by the distorting waves of Nakime's technique, "she hates men."
"I can kind of see where she's coming from," said Ozaki, "this world could use one or two fewer perverts in it."
"I can tell you're looking at me when you say that," said Subaru as he returned fire with his rifle before slinging it over his shoulder and pulling out both revolvers. Nakime focused more attacks in his direction as the others attempted to move around behind her. As she was about to unleash another attack, Kanroji landed in front of her before flipping forward with another technique.
"Breath of Love First Form," said Kanroji as she gracefully guided the blade of her whip sword, "Shivers of First Love!" Nakime howled in pain as the whip blade diced her up, though it still failed to destroy her Biwa. 'Now I just need to take her head,' thought the Love Pillar as she readied to swing her whip sword again. But she froze upon realizing something. '"..cutting off her head might cause this whole place to collapse with us in it."'
'Oh right,' recalled Mitsuri, 'we can't cut her head off.' "MITSURI MOVE!" Yelled Jinora as Upper Moon 4 jammed on her Biwa again, tearing up the floor in front of her and blasting the Love Pillar back.
"I've got you," said Obanai as he caught her in midair and landed on another platform.
"Thanks Iguro," said Kanroji as she got back on her feet, "I nearly forgot we can't decapitate her."
"We're having enough problems just finding her right now," said the Serpent Hashira as he noted she wasn't on the platform anymore. "And we still need a plan for controlling her, assuming that's even still possible."
"If we can get her to hold still for a bit, I might have a plan," called Subaru from his own platform.
"The only ones who shall be still at the end of this is you men," said Nakime, "cold, still, dead corpses!" The floor beneath Subaru exploded then, tearing up the revolver in his left hand and even taking a bit of his index finger with it.
"Shit," thought Momiji, "Willow's Windpath is most effective when we've got a line of sight. I can't anticipate attacks from below like that one."
"No we can't," said Subaru, grimacing in pain with grit teeth as he holstered his other weapon and quickly wrapped his semi-severed finger, "but maybe we can anticipate where she'll be."
"We got a one in three pick on who she wants to attack," said Momiji, "We'll need to minimize that."
"I got just the thing," said Subaru before yelling out to the others, "Obanai, stay with Mitsuri. Yushiro, if you haven't already get your disappearing act on!"
"And what are you gonna do?" Questioned Jinora and Mukago as they came into step next to Subaru while he continued to avoid attacks from Nakime.
"First things first," said Subaru as he spoke in a quieter voice, "I need you two to spread the word. Nakime's gonna go for me, so when she does I need all of you to move in and restrain her. We know her target isn't any of you, so use that to your advantage."
"And then what," said Jinora, "Yushiro's trick didn't work to control her."
"No it didn't," admitted Subaru, "but mine just might. All I need is an opening to close the distance."
"I think I know what he's got in mind," said Mukago, "and it might be the only shot we got left that doesn't involve cutting her head off."
"I hate that I'm agreeing with a demon on anything," Said Jinora, "but it's not like we got a lot of room to be picky right now, so try not to die Genjuro."
"It's been my whole night so far," quipped the Matagi as he split off from the two women and kept jumping from one wall or platform to another. 'Just got to keep out of her line of sight long enough,' he surmised as the sounds of destruction continued to follow him. Eventually, he got around to an open area that seemed to be a blind spot for Nakime's attacks. 'Alright I'm here,' he thought while his eyes rapidly scanned the area around him, 'now what are you gonna do next?'
The answer to his internal question appeared in the form of yet another pair of sliding doors materializing and opening behind him to reveal the enraged Upper Moon. "Your flesh isn't even worth eating," snarled Nakime as she went to strum her instrument again, but was interrupted as a sectioned sword wrapped around her arm.
"Can't believe we're going along with this," said Ozaki as she pulled with all of her might. Nakime didn't have time to respond to this interruption as Kanroji's sword wrapped around her Biwa before the Love Pillar began pulling with her full strength. This gave the Upper Moon plenty of trouble as she tried to keep hold of her weapon while also wrestling against Ozaki. The distraction caused by the two slayers also made it easy for Yushiro to pounce on her and pull another tag over her large, single eye.
"Whatever you're gonna do, Genjuro, DO IT NOW!" Yelled Yushiro. 'Don't need to tell me,' thought the Matagi as he launched forward and grabbed ahold of the struggling demon.
"DOMAIN!" Proclaimed the Hunter as the familiar, mountainous forest appeared around him and the demon. "Alright, now what's going on in here?" He took a quick look around, his eyes widening upon discovering the problem. "Now what the fuck is this supposed to be about?"
Before him was a type of giant, pot-bellied demon with partial resemblance to an oni called a Gaki, though this one came with translucent skin that allowed him to view Nakime herself, who seemed to be floating inside of it. "I think it's the reason behind her rage," said Momiji as she materialized into existence, "if we can take it out, she should at least be a little more cooperative."
"If that's the case," said Subaru, holstering his revolver before unslinging his rifle, "then we'd best not waste any time." He broke into a run then as the apparition before him ripped out some nearby trees to use as bludgeons.
"MOMMY!" Yelled the Gaki as it attempted to smash Subaru with one of the trees. The Matagi was quick to move out of the way as Momiji created a wooden dragon head from the ground to get him closer to the demon's face. Naturally the Gaki wouldn't allow that and swung for the protrusion, destroying it as Subaru leapt up and onto it's other bludgeon, quickly running down it before he could be shaken off. "Mommy what happened?!"
The Matagi jumped forward to avoid the demon swatting its arm before jumping again towards its face. But the Gaki moved faster than expected and swung upwards, knocking Subaru into the air. His vision swam for a moment as he worked to reorient himself. Fortunately, Momiji was there using her Daitengu wings to fly as she grabbed her host's hand, spun around and threw him back towards the monster below. Their foe went to swing its tree bludgeons again, only to be stopped by a few more wooden dragon heads wrapping around its limbs.
"Breath of the Rifleman First Form," said Subaru as he readied his bayonetted weapon, "Soaring Thrust Barrage!" Under normal circumstances, the improved attack was already powerful. But in the confines of his Domain technique, it took on the power and full force of an Upper Moon, in this case, the Thrusts of Raining Tears attack. And the Gaki demon felt every bit of it as the translucent body was riddled with holes.
"It hurts Mommy, make it stop!" Yelled the demon as Subaru dove into its mouth, feeling an odd sensation as if he were swimming through water. 'Now let's see what happens if I do this,' he thought upon seizing the curled up Nakime and swimming downward towards one of the holes he'd created. But as he grabbed ahold of the Biwa demon, images began to flood his mind.
At first, they were of a relatively normal life depicting a young girl growing into a fine woman. After her marriage, though, things took a horrid turn. The man she was married to turned out to be a complete bastard, the type of shit that would beat his wife whenever he lost his temper or got too drunk. It all came to a head when he hurt her so badly at one point, it caused a miscarriage of the baby she was carrying at the time.
Nakime snapped after that and brutally killed the bastard in his bed. She went basically feral afterwards, making her prey any man that looked even slightly mean. In her fractured mind, that was most of them, leading her to one night attack Muzan Kibutsuji who turned her into a demon. He later would have to suppress her murderous rage to keep her from tearing through entire villages and potentially leading the slayers to him. So he kept her by his side, making use of her ability to cast a demon domain to create his Infinite Fortress.
Or at least, it was his fortress. "Alright Momiji," said Subaru as he yanked Nakime out of the Gaki demon, "Get us out of here!"
"On it!" replied Momiji as she ended the domain technique, returning them to the confines of the Infinite Fortress.
"What in the fuck was that?" Questioned a confused Obanai as he noted everything was back to normal now.
"So that's how you knew about demon domain techniques," commented Yushiro, "seems you've got more than a little explaining to do when this is all over, Genjuro."
"He does," said Jinora, "but first things first, do you have control of her this time, demon boy?"
"Yes, she doesn't seem to be having any more outbursts like before," said Yushiro as he pulled her back up to a sitting position with his hands on her head once again, "it seems Muzan put a little extra control over her because of how vicious she is. I'll try and root out any other surprises he might have planted in this one, but in the meantime," a door appeared then as he spoke, "take this path. It'll lead you straight to Muzan Kibutsuji himself."
"You'd better be right about that," warned Obanai as the group turned and headed through the passage at a fair pace. It took them only another minute to reach the apparent entrance to the room Muzan was currently in. It was also where they happened to run into a familiar face.
"Ah, Subaru Genjuro, you're just in time," said Izayoi as he appeared to be finishing up work on some wiring, "a group of slayers is already in there. Though Oyakata has declared they fall back and remain on standby, or at least he's trying too."
"Then we'd best get in there now!" Proclaimed Mitsuri as she raced ahead with the others following her.
"Kanroji be careful," said Obanai, "we don't know when Muzan is going to emerge!" Subaru was about to say something to that until he looked ahead and noticed one or two things was wrong. He saw red matter flying through the air, along with other bits and pieces. That's when he registered the sound of panicked voices as his eyes widened. 'Oh no,' thought the Matagi as the horrid realization of what he was witnessing meant.
Jinora also noted the change in the atmosphere with her own abilities as her skin paled. Obanai's snake, Kaburamaru, even tensed up as they all entered the room and found their worst fears to be confirmed. All the slayers who'd made it there first, were dead, with only their hardly recognizable corpses and uniforms remaining. "It seems you're too late to save any of the fodder," said an unwelcome voice from the past, "but you're just in time to become my next sustenance." Muzan Kibutsuji was moving now, and his sights were already set on his next prey.
And so at last our heroes have come face to face with the demon lord himself, Muzan Kibutsuji! But will they last long enough to even worry about getting him to the surface? It's gonna be quite the spectacle, so in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as the true battle against Muzan finally begins! 'Til then.