Night of Demons and Slayers in Asakusa
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter for Breath of the Rifleman! But first, I got a little something to say: RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH, GAAAAAAAAAHH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! Ahem, sorry had to get that out of my system because if my information is correct, the Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 has been delayed until April of Next year. Now I'd like to think I'm a patient person, but even I feel like I've waited long enough. So, starting soon after I draw this story to a close, I plan on resuming Armory of the Forgotten Hero using the manga in place of the anime. Naturally I'll need to figure a couple of things out, but that shouldn't be too big of a problem. And as always I'd like to give a shout out to LoneTaker, groche9655 and Noble Eight for their contributions to this story. And to answer DCDGojira's question, perhaps she did, but we'll have to wait a bit to find out first. Now then, onto the story!
Nighttime: Hidden Demon Slayer Corps Base
"Where are they?" Questioned Kiriya as he pulled out and looked over the maps of Japan's many cities. The situation had grown tense in the command room for the young heir. They'd been closely monitoring the situation for some time and things seemed to grow more dire as time went on. First, it was the revelation of just how powerful Upper Moon 1, Kokushibo, was. It turned out he'd been one of the original demon slayers wielding an ancient style even more unknown than Breath of the Sun, Breath of the Moon.
It took the combined efforts of Sanemi, Gyomei, Tokitou, who was severely wounded early on, and even Genya to finally destroy him. That victory came at the cost of both Muichirou and Genya's lives and many severe wounds to Gyomei and Sanemi. Even more horrifying, though, was Muzan Kibutsuji's revival. Despite their best efforts, none of the Hashira were able to make it in time to attack him while he was most vulnerable.
A group of slayers had managed to arrive there and had been in the process of trying to cut him out of the flesh cocoon he'd been in, but they only succeeded in getting slaughtered and turned into food for the revived demon lord. Kiriya had been on the verge of panicking by that point as he watched the massacre of so many of his slayers though Yushiro's eye tags. Thankfully, his sisters had been there to literally knock some sense back into him. Shortly after that, something truly miraculous occurred. Yushiro, who'd gotten control of Nakime with some help from Subaru and the others, managed to force Muzan outside his now destroyed Infinite Fortress along with several other slayers and demons.
The circumstances weren't ideal, but they still had a chance. "How long until sunrise," said Kiriya to his sisters as he wiped some sweat from his forehead.
"Still an hour and a half," they replied with one looking at a pocket watch. They too were sweating from the anxiety of the situation. "But we managed to determine that they're in Asakusa."
"Miss Anita," said Kiriya as he glanced at the American woman who was also trying to keep her cool, "are any of our backup units close to that location?"
"I got one," said Anita as she took a deep breath, "I've already sent them in, but I don't know if they'll make it in time." 'Time,' thought Kiriya, 'the one thing working for and against us right now.' The question now was whose time would run out first.
The Same Time: Asakusa
"Unbe-fucking-leivable!" Exclaimed Ozaki as she decapitated three demons with her segmented sword, "there were this many still alive down there?!"
"Killing all of them wasn't the mission," said Jinora as she cut down another two demons before unleashing electrified slashes to repel a few more, "getting to Muzan as fast as possible was. I'm more surprised that so many managed to make it out!" Ozaki was about to reply to that when she heard an unfamiliar noise, the sound of multiple revving engines. Next thing the both of them knew, several motorcycles were spilling out of the alleyways with some type of cat demons riding them.
They waved weapons of various kinds in the air as they rode, cheering as they destroyed windows, doors and any other breakable object they could find, even going so far as to set structures on fire. "Now who in the world are these clowns," questioned a very irritated Ozaki, "the job of just killing Muzan was hard enough already!"
"Just don't let them interfere with the Hashira fightning Muzan," said Jinora as she fired her Heat Lightning technique at an overly eager cat demon, blowing up them and their bike in the process, "as long as we can buy time, that's all that matters!"
"It's already been the longest night of my life," said Ozaki, "but I guess I'll just have to put up with a few minutes more!" She and Jinora attacked together then, with the Serpent Breath user striking low to hit the bike tires while Jinora jumped up and used her distant thunder ability to strike the heads off of several of Muzan's demons. This succeeded in knocking several of the cat demons off their bikes, but the felines didn't slow down too much and instead focused more attention on the two slayers. Ozaki and Jinora cut down demon after demon that came their way, but they were getting boxed in as an especially large female cat demon leapt down from one of the rooftops above.
"Well look at this," purred the demon, "two delectable slayers have managed to make it out into the open air. Oh the look of fear and defiance in your eyes is just enticing." The demon raised its large weapon, a nagamaki with a red handle, and was about to bring it down when something suddenly came flying in from behind.
"Breath of the Rifleman Sixth Form," said Subaru as he spiraled into the back of the cat demon's neck, bayonet-first, "Stride of Yami No Kami!" His technique not only tore through the monster's neck, decapitating it, but his momentum was enough for him to tear through a few more demons who'd shown up behind Jinora and Ozaki.
"Hinokami Kagura," said Tanjiro as he quickly followed with his own technique, "Solar Halo Dragon Dance!" Several demons were decapitated by the flaming dragon produced by Tanjiro's movements as he seemingly glided around their ranks before he wound up standing next to the others. "Are you both alright?"
"I mean we had it handled," said Jinora, "but you did just make our lives a little easier."
"What's the situation with Muzan," asked Subaru, "have you heard from any other slayers so far?"
"It's just been us along with the Water, Serpent, and Love Pillars," said Ozaki, "and a whole load of demons we've been trying to hold off."
"If we kill Muzan then we can end this," said Tanjiro with determination in his eyes, "my techniques can slow demon regeneration and Subaru can back us up from a distance outside of even Muzan's range. If you two can keep the other demons off of us, we'd be extremely grateful."
"Buy me a new uniform and we'll call it even," said Ozaki, indicating her lack of a uniform shirt, "just make sure that bastard dies and stays dead."
"I will," said Tanjiro as he turned to his friend, "Subaru, I know I don't have to ask, but watch my back."
"Not like I ever intended to stop," said Subaru as he took a knee and aimed his rifle, "now get going, they need you over there." Tanjiro nodded and headed for the area being torn up where Muzan and the other Hashiras were. The head demon had sprouted eight extra tentacles on his back in addition to his arms, making his attacks far more wild and unpredictable than they already were. Subaru knew he'd need to shoot him during the lull in his attacks, but first he busied himself headshotting any demon that popped out of the rubble and tried to make a swipe for Tanjiro.
Naturally he glanced back from time to time to make sure none of the demons were getting past Jinora or Ozaki, but otherwise he kept his focus forward on aiding his friend's advance. 'Just a little further,' thought the Matagi as he shot one of the cat demons off its bike as it came out of a nearby alley, 'once he joins the fight using the original breath form, Muzan should instinctively go more defensive. As long as we can get him to hesitate or delay his movement, we can win this.' Or so he thought until Tanjiro abruptly slowed down, and vomited blood. "What the shit, TANJIRO!" Exclaimed Subaru as he broke into a run from his kneeling position, loading his rifle and shooting another couple of demons along the way.
It didn't take him long to reach his friend as he slung his rifle over his shoulder to examine the swordsman's condition. Upon turning him over, Subaru quickly saw why he'd collapsed so suddenly: a horrid red growth was forming on his face, like he'd been poisoned. What was worse, he appeared to be struggling to breath even normally. "Not good, hang on Tanjiro," said Subaru as he quickly pulled out several vials of demon antidote and was about to inject one into him when an enemy that looked like a goblin sprang up.
The Matagi quickly shot him down with his revolver before getting back to work. The first couple of antidotes didn't seem to be effective so he tried to move on to the next couple before shooting yet another cat demon that tried running him over with its motorcycle. It was by sheer luck that the shot demon swerved her vehicle to the side and crashed into a building instead of them. 'This is bad,' thought Subaru, 'even more demons are popping up than before and Jinora and Ozaki can't hold them all back.'
He shot two more demons before trying a third antidote, 'and I can't go much of anywhere while protecting and medicating Tanjiro. What's even happening to him right now?' "It's Muzan's blood," explained Momiji suddenly, "I can feel it in his body. But there's too much of it for a person to adjust too and become a demon, it's just gonna destroy his cells and kill him!"
"Well that's just fucking fantastic," Subaru said as well as thought while shooting another demon trying to attack them, "that means a single cut could kill just about anyone here!"
"We're just going to have to keep trying the antidotes," said Momiji, "it's too late to try draining it out of his body, it's already in his system." The Matagi's response to that was a string of unintelligible curses as he shot a few more demons before trying a fourth antidote on his friend. 'Come on, you are not dying on me now, not after everything we put ourselves through to get here! We promised we'd all go back home together and I will not allow Nezuko to endure the pain of burying the last of her family!'
He moved on to his second to last antidote which he held in his teeth while decapitating a demon who'd managed to get in close with his bayonet before reloading his rifle. As he was about to administer the antidote, a small sound drew his attention, the meow of a cat. For whatever reason, Subaru glanced down to see a calico cat, with a strange pack on its back and an eye tag on its front. 'That's Tamayo's cat,' realized the Matagi as she meowed again before reaching back and pulling a syringe of something out of her pack.
"If this is what I think it is," said Subaru as he accepted the item, "I'll make sure the Corps buys you top quality cat food for life." The cat meowed happily before rushing towards the area where the other Hashira were battling Muzan. 'Alright,' thought the Rifleman as he readied the syringe and found a vein, 'please work.' As he was about to administer it, another one of the cat demons came speeding towards him having somehow got past Jinora and Ozaki.
Subaru readied himself to pull Tanjiro out of the way, but just before the demon attacked, several shots rang out which tore the demon to shreds while also veering the motorcycle off course and into a nearby building. 'What the, gunfire,' he thought as he looked up to the roof tops to see where the shots had come from.
"God has shown us the way to a nest of demons!" Exclaimed a dark-haired man as he held one of his Colt 1911s in the air, the moonlight glinting off of them, "send them all back to hell from whence they came!" Multiple battle cries answered his declaration as several more figures appeared and opened fire with their own firearms on the demon horde.
"Brother Claudius," said Subaru in more than a little surprise. He was there with Rapheal, Mariela, Ignatius, Colizzi and the rest of the Catholic slayers he'd met on the Kume Island mission. And they were just as enthusiastic about demon slaying now as they were then.
"Subaru," said yet another familiar voice as a bullet and an arrow went whizzing by his head, hitting a demon which had come slithering out of the rubble.
"Yae, Isosange," said the again surprised Matagi as the hunter duo ran over and took up a position on either side of him, "what are you two doing here?"
"Been asking myself that same question since we got on the boat," replied Yae as she shot another demon. She was using the same Selbstlader that the demon calling herself Anastasia had used. She apparently expected her Mosin Nagant wouldn't quite cut it for this hunt, an expectation which was dead on.
"I'm still glad we decided to make the journey," said Isosange as she loosed a wisteria-laced arrow, "you look like you can use all the help you can get. Good news is, we brought plenty." As she said this, more and more slayers were emerging from alleys, buildings and the roadways. Not just the survivors from the fortress but also a unit comprised of firearm wielders brandishing Arisaka rifles.
"I hope that means we're also executing a plan for evacuation and containment," said Subaru as he quickly jabbed Tanjiro with the syringe he'd gotten from Tamayo's cat, "we can't let any demons escape from here."
"According to Anita," said Yae as she shot another demon, "the IJA are already working on that, now that they're here."
"Wait, did you just say the Japanese army is helping us?" Said a now very surprised slayer.
Further Out in Asakusa
"Do not let any of them through!" Proclaimed a Japanese commander as he and his troops formed a firing line, unloading their weapons on anything that looked even vaguely non-human. "Be they a foreign, domestic, or even inhuman threat, we pledged to lay down our lives for this Land! So remember to use the wisteria-laced rounds and don't let a single one of these monsters get past you!"
"Sir," said a Lieutenant who came rushing over to salute him, "we've cordoned off the entire area within a three mile radius and are proceeding to evacuate anyone who is present. Also, the European group has brought in mortars to assault the main threats."
"Tell them to hold off on the mortars until the evacuation of all civilians within a mile radius is complete," Ordered the Commander, "our responsibility here is also to lessen the loss of lives."
"Will we move in once the evacuation is complete, Sir?" Questioned the Lieutenant.
"Our main role is simply to contain the situation," replied the Commander, "the ones dealing with the demon lord now are the ones with the best understanding of how to fight him. Should they fail, we will stand as the final line of defense against him and the rest of Japan, possibly even beyond that. Whatever the outcome, I feel the world will be more than a little different after tonight."
"Then I pray that the slayers succeed," said the Lieutenant, "if what we heard about the Demon Lord's capabilities is true, our next orders may be to level this entire area."
The Emergence Point
"Hey look, it's Gyomei!" Cheered Isosange as she spotted the Stone Pillar busting out of a nearby building to swat away some of Muzan's tentacles with his chained flail. Sanemi showed up about that time too, slashing Muzan down the center from behind. The monster's regeneration was still too fast for the blow to have any sort of lasting effect, but Sanemi had a solution in the form of throwing glass containers of oil on the Demon Lord before setting him ablaze with a match. It might not have been able to kill him, but it certainly worked to piss him off.
"It's good to see he and Giyuu are still alive," said Yae, "what about Shinobu? Did she make it?"
"According to a report I got while in the fortress, she's okay," replied Subaru as he kept going between shooting at Muzan and checking on Tanjiro. Thanks to Yae, Isosange and the other reinforcement slayers, hardly any demons were getting close to him and Tanjiro, allowing the Matagi a chance to focus some long distance shots on their main enemy. "Though I got no idea where she could be right now."
"If all these others made it out of the fortress, then I'm sure she did too," said Isosange, "what about him, is he okay?" Subaru glanced down, noting the horrid, veiny growth on his friend's face had greatly receded. Though it wasn't completely gone and he hadn't quite regained consciousness, but at the very least his breathing appeared to be normal once again.
"He doesn't appear to be dying anymore as far as I can tell," replied Subaru after a quick check of his pulse while looking for any other signs of poison symptoms, "and if that's the case, I'll need you two to do me a huge favor."
"As long as it's not going up against another crazy ice dragon," commented Yae, "sure. How can we help?"
"This here is Tanjiro Kamado, my oldest and best friend who I mentioned once or twice," explained Subaru as he hoisted him up and passed him to Yae, "I need you two to get him to a safer location and make sure a Kakushi or one of the other slayers gets a look at him. As soon as he wakes up, tell him what's going on because he'll want to get back in the fight immediately."
"Okay," said Isosange, "but what are you going to be doing while all of that is happening?"
"About the most dangerous thing there is right now," said Subaru as he stood up and readied his rifle, "working to take out the biggest bastard here."
Nearby Tall Building Rooftop
"And what's this," said Shuten Doji as he spoke to the eyetag on the Kasugai crow, "it appears we have a whole lot of latecomers to this little game!"
"Aren't those some of the Catholic people who were packing a lot of heat at Kume Island," Questioned Ibaraki, also speaking through an eyetag.
"Right you are, my little dango," announced Shuten, "and not just them, but our young hunters from Hokkaido are here too, along with a mass of slayer reinforcements, the remaining Hashira, a slayer unit equipped with firearms and on the outskirts, we even have the IJA!"
"About damn time too," said Ibaraki, "I get coverups and records being lost over time, especially when we're talking about messy eras like the Heian and Sengoku periods. But it still took a thousand years for the Japanese government to actually acknowledge demon existence, or at least acknowledge that they couldn't keep sitting on their asses about the issue."
"Politics, modernization, changing time periods, each emperor wanting to do their own thing, what can you do," said Shuten Doji with a shrug, "but I can tell you one thing that is being done right now, a glorious massacre on both sides as human and demon heads roll!"
"And Hizuki and her cat demon bikers are just adding to the chaos with motorcycle wrecks, dragging poor souls around on chains behind them, and just flat out exploding when someone hits their bikes in the wrong spot."
"It's a fantastic warzone alright," continued Shuten Doji, "and in the thick of it all is one of the stars of the show, Subaru Genjirou, keeping his eye on the prize! Let's see what he's gonna do next!"
Down on the Battlefield
'This has gotten more than a little annoying,' thought Muzan as he whipped all ten of his tendrils in numerous random patterns around his body. Thanks to his demonic perception, he was keeping up just fine despite two more Hashira appearing to fight him. It wouldn't help them, though, as the moment he landed even a minor cut on any one of them, a large dose of his own blood would begin circulating within their bodies, destroying their cells until they eventually died. And they'd die long before the sun rose, which was still over an hour away.
One of the Pillars, a pink-haired woman, had already been forced to leave the battlefield due to his poison and the obvious concern of the man in the striped haori. And while the demon slayer reinforcements had proved a bother for a moment, the presence of his own demons and some other unknown demons kept their numbers from being a huge advantage against him. But most fortunate of all, was the fact that Tanjiro Kamado had definitely been felled by a lethal dose of his poison, meaning that bothersome Breath of the Sun wouldn't be a problem. And with him out of the way, there was no slayer on the battlefield possessing some kind of unique ability that might hind-.
His thoughts were interrupted then as a figure came spiraling out of nowhere, tearing through three of his tendrils with, that wasn't a sword. "Stride of Yami No Kami," said the Rifleman as he came to a stop a short distance away, his gun raised while he stood in a fighting stance.
"You," said Muzan with narrowed eyes, "I was certain I'd slashed you earlier?"
"I got a little nick, what of it," said Subaru dismissively as he adjusted the part of his uniform where he'd been hit. His cloak had been lost while they were being ejected from the fortress. "I've taken worse hits than that in rehabilitation training. Met scarier people there too."
"Oh look, the little slayer thinks he's cute now," said Muzan as he pointed with one of his tendril arms, "are you really ignoring the conditions of your pathetic friends?"
"Oh that, it's just temporary," said Subaru before whistling loudly. Suddenly, Tamayo's cat leapt up in the air, its backpack coming apart and firing four syringes into the wounded Hashira.
"What in the world is this?" Questioned Giyuu as he and the others pulled out the syringes. But their questions was soon answered as the veiny growths that had started sprouting on them from the cuts they'd received earlier quickly retreated.
"Well shit, look at that," said Sanemi with a manic grin, "I don't know what the fuck just happened, but a stray cat just saved all our asses."
"Tamayo," seethed Muzan as he raised his tendrils to attack again, "that damn woman even created a serum against my cell destruction. BUT THAT WON'T HELP YOU NOW, SO JUST DIE LIKE MEN ALREADY YOU OBSESSED FREAKS!"
"After you," said Subaru as they all readied to attack again, "and by the way bitch, I'm adorable."
And so the tides have turned once again as our slayers get their second wind with a good bit of assistance. Muzan has made a ton of enemies and now it's coming back to bite him, but will it be enough? Also, gotta love TeamFourStar and they're oh so quotable material. And speaking of quotable material, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as our heroes reach the possible apex of their battle against Muzan! 'Til then.
