Douma didn't fight many demons in his past life and Gyokko's attacks were different from the swords of demon slayers. He stepped, stepped and stepped and swept his fans, slicing through tentacles with ease, each of his movements flowing into the other. It felt like he hadn't gone through those movements in decades. He was always interrupted by a deflecting blade or an opponent who died too soon. It was alright, he'd never forget, but to finish the set gave him a great feeling of satisfaction.
Gyokko's Blood Demon Art had a lot of variety! It was interesting to be on the receiving end of it. Douma may not be able to freeze Gyokko's lungs but he could stab his little creations with shards of ice and blow them away with cold wind. As for his larger manifestations, Douma's lotus flowers were able to shatter their pots. Douma didn't have to do much to counter Gyokko's Blood Demon Art.
When it was clear that Douma could destroy his creations, Gyokko attempted to trap him in a vase made out of water. As much as Douma wanted to see what effect it would have on him and if it could truly keep him contained, he also did not want to get wet. He froze the water before it could take form and shattered it easily.
Close combat between Upper Moons was almost pointless unless you could cut or tear your opponent to pieces like Kokushibo with his sword and Akaza with his bare hands. Still, Douma closed the distance between him and Gyokko to see what he would do.
"You have so many different kinds of pots, Lord Gyokko!" Douma said as he sliced at the back of his head playfully. Gyokko ducked and teleported in an instant. Douma found his next location just as quickly and followed, crouching over the pot and peering inside before he had a chance to poke his head out. "They're really pretty! You must work hard."
The pot trembled. Douma jumped back just as hundreds of tiny fish with razored teeth burst out.
Freezing Clouds
His Blood Demon Art froze the first wave of fish but they kept coming. He closed one of his fans and swung his arm, throwing it between the fish and straight into Gyokko's pot, shattering it. He used his other fan to freeze the remaining fish that swarmed around him. The moment was long enough for him to lose sight of Gyokko and his pot. He destroyed the frozen wall of fish and hopped back onto a building to see if he could spot him.
His heels didn't get a chance to touch the rooftop. Tentacles burst out of the building, demolishing it and causing him to drop a bit faster than he expected. They curled in towards him. Gyokko was going to attempt to restrain him, then. The bottom of Douma's foot pushed against one tentacle and he was able to twist and swing his arm in a wide circular motion, cutting the tentacles close to their spawning point.
The cut, this time, was slower and more awkward. This was unusual since Douma's war fans were incredibly sharp every time he summoned them. He spared a moment to take a look. Slime was coating his fan. He brought it close to his face to see if it had any effect on it. He drew his head back almost immediately.
"Oh. Oh, this smells like fish!" Douma said, holding his fan away from himself between his thumb and forefinger. "That's… that's er…"
He dropped his fan and summoned a new one.
If he let Gyokko touch him, would he smell like fish?
"I think we're done now," Douma announced quickly and a little louder than he intended. "Your fish were really cute!"
"Done? We aren't done, Upper Six! You haven't seen my true form!"
Douma closed his fan with an audible snap. "Oh?"
He looked around and finally saw Gyokko's eyes peering at him from an alleyway. When he pulled himself out into the moonlight, he revealed his very impressive and large form. Most notably he was covered in scales and had regular sized arms and a long tail. He was surely more powerful in that form.
Douma watched as he slid forward threateningly. His sharp scales ripped at the wood of the buildings, splintering them with just a touch. When his webbed claws scraped across the pebbles along the ground, they burst into small clusters of fish. How interesting.
"Not even a demon is safe from my touch. Observe my speed and flexibility as I turn you into a flipping and flopping fish!"
Douma did not want to turn into a fish.
"So unique! No wonder you're Upper Five!" Douma said. He wiggled a fan towards Gyokko, then summoned his second behind it. "You're really giving it your all! Now it's my turn! Are you ready?"
He didn't need his Divine Children and he didn't need his Bodhisattva.
Gyokko was just that laughably weak.
It ended with Gyokko suspended several meters in the air above a lovely lotus flower made of ice. Icy vines pierced through the orifices of Gyokko's body and trailed along under his skin and around his bones all the way down his tail, forcing his body into a splayed-out position. Movement was impossible unless he tore his body apart and left his pieces at the mercy of Douma who waited below.
Gyokko yielded.
Muzan tore off Gyokko's head and dropped him to the ground to regenerate into his former form. He didn't even look at Douma as a tendril of flesh extended from his body and stabbed into Douma's face to change his ranking.
Douma's eyes regenerated almost instantly. Muzan was gone and he saw Gyutaro and Ume were coming towards him. It was a nice sight to see. He waved at them with his fingers and looked to Gyokko to thank him for the fight.
Gyokko had slumped over face down in his pot, infant limbs limp as his form trembled in rage and despair.
It probably wasn't the best time. Douma hummed and stepped away to meet the siblings halfway.
"You won so easily. He didn't even touch you," Ume said. She looked a little confused.
Gyutaro was staring at Douma's face intensely. His eyes, likely.
Douma raised his eyebrows. "They do say Upper Five, don't they?"
Gyutaro blinked. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, they do."
He was still staring and Douma pouted. He didn't believe him. "Hold on, let me see then." He raised his hands to gouge his eyes out to look at them himself.
Gyutaro's body stiffened.
Douma paused. He lowered his hands.
Gyutaro relaxed.
Huh.
Douma summoned a fan and angled it so he could see his faint reflection. Upper Rank Five was branded clearly across his eyeballs. There were still dark streaks of blood on his face from when Muzan had stabbed him. Had that bothered Gyutaro? He blinked a few times to clear it from his eyelashes and reabsorbed the rest.
"You said you haven't fought another demon before," Gyutaro said, his voice accusing.
Douma lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Between you and me, I am very strong… and Gyokko is very, very weak!"
"Is he going to be Upper Six?"
"In most cases when an Upper Moon loses a Blood Battle and isn't eaten, the demon has fallen out of favor and he'll have to fight for an Upper Ranking again. His Lordship usually has a stronger demon in waiting to take the new ranking. For Upper Six, there's Lower One to be considered as well." Douma tilted his head. "I think His Lordship likes Gyokko though. Perhaps he'll show leniency and give him Upper Six."
"He likes the ugly fish?" Ume asked, wrinkling her nose.
Douma shrugged helplessly.
"Ugly? Ugly?" Gyokko snapped.
"Oh, you're alright! I was worried for a minute there," Douma said cheerfully at the pot that had spawned next to them. Gyokko was glaring at Ume, 'Upper Rank Six' displayed in his eyes. "You weren't moving for the longest time…"
He was ignored. "Wench! Of course you wouldn't understand my beauty! The perfection of my form! My magnificence! My elegance! Look at the horrid company you keep!" Gyokko shouted. His body twisted to look at Gyutaro. "Disgusting, misshapen husk! Do you regularly roll in filth? Do you present yourself to our Master like this?"
Douma frowned.
"You're being very rude, Gyokko. You should know that I consider Gyutaro and Ume my friends, no matter what ranking they are. As members of the Twelve Kizuki, we shouldn't insult each other! We should get along."
He noticed Gyutaro and Ume appeared quite murderous. As for Gyokko, Douma didn't like the look in his eyes. Both of his mouths were baring their teeth and Douma suddenly felt Gyokko didn't seem as likeable as he did in the previous timeline. This wasn't right. Gyokko was supposed to be a friend. Was he angry about the fight? Douma hadn't killed or eaten him and he was still in the Upper Ranks! Why was he upset?
Douma felt very inclined to take the siblings home, far, far away from him. Why was Gyokko even focusing on them? It was Douma who had beat him. Was it because they were weaker? An easy target?
"Lord Douma, do you often foster the Lower Moons so that the Hashira they feed can fall by your hand?"
"Gyokko," Douma said. He didn't recognize his own tone.
"Did you not tell them? That's alright…" Gyokko leaned closer to the siblings. "Lower Moons are nothing but training fodder for Hashira in the making and the more Hashira an Upper Moon slay, the higher their rank can rise. Do you know what that means? I'll tell you. It means you're worth more to Lord Douma dead than alive. He's the one who turned you, isn't he?" Gyokko cackled. "What a miserable existence. Created only to die."
He felt one of the siblings move. A new pot had spawned in Gyokko's hands—
Something in the air shifted and Douma was abruptly aware of another presence.
Akaza.
Akaza had appeared between them. And Douma… Douma wasn't sure when he had moved.
Douma's left hand was pushed back against Ume's stomach, forcing her behind him and into Gyutaro's arms. His right arm's wrist was in front, being held up in the air by Akaza's powerful grip, fan splayed out. When had that happened?
Akaza wasn't looking at him. He was glaring at Gyokko whose pot he had shattered with his fist.
"Enough. You're out of line, Gyokko." His voice was low and cold. Douma recognized the tone as one he would use often to speak to Douma with in the past timeline. "You lost. Crawl back into your hole or challenge him again."
"Lord Akaza… this doesn't involve you," Gyokko said.
Akaza bared his teeth into a grin.
"Is that a challenge?"
Gyokko disappeared into his pot and reappeared in another one house away. "No, no…" he muttered. "Not today, Lord Akaza. Not today."
Akaza's smile dropped and Douma found himself sad to see it go. He looked back at his wrist that was still in Akaza's hand. The grip was firm, but he didn't think it was tight enough to cause pain. Just enough to stop Douma's swing. He absorbed his fan and Akaza let him go, barely looking at him as he did so. Douma smiled at him anyway.
"Gyokko, I understand you're upset about losing but you shouldn't take it out on those weaker than you," Douma said, turning towards him. "It's important for us to encourage improvement in our allies to better serve His Lordship."
Gyokko cackled. "I see." Both of his mouths had stretched into wide grins. "I'll make demons too, yes… They'll be better and beautiful. The Master will see their strength and beauty and worth and have them fill the ranks…"
Douma blinked. "That's not exactly what I meant, but if you think it'll serve His Lordship then…"
"Biwa woman, send me back," Gyokko demanded.
"I as well," Akaza said.
Douma stepped forward.
"Ah, Lord Akaza, wait—"
Douma pouted when he and Gyokko disappeared.
"Why'd he shove his nose in our business?" Gyutaro asked, scowling.
Douma cocked his head to the side. Good question. "He might have felt a responsibility to deescalate the situation as Upper Two," he suggested. "I wish he hadn't left so soon…"
"Why?" Ume asked.
"He's really cool," Douma sighed. He ran a thumb over the wrist Akaza had grabbed, marveling at the lack of the complete removal of his hand. He thought over what Gyokko said. Making new demons? He had never kept track of what demons the other Upper Moons made. He knew Kokushibo had attempted to turn other demon slayers before with little success. For Akaza and Gyokko, he didn't think they ever liked or hated anyone enough to turn. Hantengu screamed too much for Douma to ever get a good conversation out of him and find out… and the siblings would turn humans as a form of torture and the new demons never lasted long.
Also…
"His Lordship doesn't rank us by how many Hashira we kill."
"Eh?"
"Upper Moons naturally win against Hashira, so it's not an accomplishment. It's not something we get rewarded for. Gyokko was just upset and trying to provoke you," Douma said.
"It worked," Gyutaro grumbled. "I just hate when people talk to Ume that way."
"And I hate when people talk about Gyutaro like that!" Ume said, stomping her foot.
Douma laughed fondly. "Understandable! I just didn't want you to think that's why I turned you."
"Wouldn't have mattered if you did," Gyutaro said with a scoff. "Like I'd let some human kill me or Ume…"
"Of course not," Douma said.
Gyokko hadn't been completely wrong though.
Douma had witnessed their life in this timeline. The violence. The starvation. The unhappiness. All they had was each other. He had also seen their last moments in the other timeline through their link. The screams and insults. The anger and fear. Their lives and deaths were miserable. Their whole existence was.
And he brought them back for them to do it all over again.
"You two must still be starving!" Douma said suddenly. The siblings needed to be stronger. He put his arm over Gyutaro's shoulder who actually stumbled in surprise. Douma smiled and winked at him. "Hey, hey, do you think humans by the sea taste like seafood?"
"That's stupid," Ume snorted.
"I am hungry," Gyutaro said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. He didn't move Douma's arm though.
Created only to die, huh?
Douma wouldn't let that happen.
