Argentum: Another chapter hoorah!
Shinobu: What was that about?
Argentum: No idea.
Giyu: Hmm.
Grel'Slyfer: Great the butterfly's stoic boyfriend is here.
Shinobu: I'm sorry but what did you just say?
Grel'Slyfer: I said oh great your stoic boyfriend is here.
Shinobu: He is not my boyfriend!
Giyu: True I am not.
Shura: Please don't argue.
Grel'Slyfer: Ah if it isn't spider mom.
Shura: Call me that again and I'll castrate you!
Grel'Slyfer: Noted...
Argentum: Wow… first time I've seen someone shut him up. Good work~!
Shura: Thanks?
Argentum: You're welcome, also just in case none of you saw it from the last chapter. We are now doing another poll! Go ahead and vote on that. Now can you start the chapter Shura?
Shura: Sure~! Ahem we here at the Dark Guard productions own nothing but Oc's and reality building concepts. Everything else belongs to their original owners. Now without further delay…
Everyone: Here's the story!
Argentum: Oh yeah as a side I found out I was spelling Inosuke's name wrong, and will now correct that from here on out.
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter Thirty Four: How I went on a rescue mission or… How I gained a spider phobia…
It's been about three weeks now since we first got back. It was a nice little bit of time that was fully used for training. Even got Zenitsu's, Tanjiro's, and Inosuke's swords fixed up. Though Tanjiro's blacksmith Hotaru tried to stab Tanjiro with a knife he personally made. Evidently he did not like how Tanjiro broke his sword. Calling the kid a weakling for breaking his precious blade. Also Inosuke got a new pair of dual swords, they looked rather nice and had actual grips and guards. They even turned a unique shade of indigo grey.
He then proceeded to smash in his blades with a rock, making the edges jagged. Had to hold back his blacksmith from killing him that time. Thankfully Zenitsu's blacksmith was rather calm about the whole thing. Even thanking Zenitsu, for allowing him to experiment with the new blacksmithing processes he had recently learned. I made a guess that he was talking about the enchanting Judan taught my blacksmith.
Unfortunately my girls had to leave last week, but spending two weeks together with them seemed to have recharged something in me. I did notice something about myself and Tanjiro though, for one we were now leaving the others in the dust. Sure they benefited heavily from training with us, and Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu all mastered Zen Shūchū Jōchū. However my dragon knight and I simply gained strength far faster than anyone else. In fact Tanjiro could now actually spar evenly with Kanao.
Guess despite how I'm feeling about it, it was the right choice to turn him. That thought had made me less guilty about what I did, but I still felt a bit bad. Shaking my head I thought of different things as I ate breakfast with everyone. For one everyone's magic lessons were finally taking off, even though they had to memorize the equations I show them. Even got Inosuke to learn something! If I'm honest I wasn't exactly surprised that he took to fireball so well. He's going to burn something down…
As I gave an involuntary shiver Tanjiro turned to me. "Are you alright Nii San?" I waved him off with a smile; however before I could say anything Oniki flew in.
"Oh? What do you have for me today girl?" Hopping over to me she turned around so I can access her backpack.
As I took out a syringe with some unknown fluid inside she spoke. "Caw! You, Tanjiro, Kanao, Nezuko, and Inosuke have a new mission! It will be a search and destroy mission with the insect and water pillars! Caw! Head to Mount Natagumo! You'll meet the two Hashira there!" Looking at us Mitsuri puffed up her cheeks.
"I can't help but feel a little gypped now! You're my cute batch of newbies! Not Shinobu Chan's and Tomioka San's!" I couldn't help but reach over and pat her head.
"There there… I'm sure Oyakata Sama has his reasons." She was still pouting but nodded her head as I stopped patting her head.
"I suppose, still wish I could come though. Ugh! I guess I'll head back to my area until you all come back, on that note please send me a letter when you're done. That way we can all meet up again as soon as possible~!"
I nodded as I stood up, now finished with breakfast. "Will do! You are a member of our squad after all." That got a bright smile from her.
"Right~!" With all that said and done, everyone quickly finished off their breakfast. After a few goodbyes and hugs to both Mitsuri and the butterfly girls. We left, following Oniki towards our destination. For most of us we were quite pumped. This would be a good chance to test out all the training we've done. Zenitsu on the other hand was nervous but was doing his best for Nezuko. The demon girl in question seemed to appreciate his efforts. It took a couple of days but we finally arrived at our destination. Looking forward we could see a few other demon slayers, along with the two Hashira.
Turning to us Shinobu waved at us happily. "Moshi mosh! Great to see you all made it on time~!" Giyu simply nodded at us as we approached.
Acting as leader since that's what I've simply been doing as of late, I approached them. "Great to see you two as well. So what are we doing here?" As I asked my question, I heard a voice I didn't quite expect.
"You're here to both save someone and eliminate a Kizuki, a lower moon to be precise." Turning to the voice we were surprised to see Mukago. "Yo~!" The other demon slayers looked a bit nervous around her, yet didn't quite seem to mind her. I smiled at that before turning back to her.
"I can understand the Kizuki part; I mean we've collectively defeated more than half of the lower moons at this point. But what do you mean by save someone?" At that she flipped some hair over her shoulder before speaking.
"Simply put I have a friend here I want to try and save. Currently she's under the thumb of that bastard Rui. She's like me only braver and a whole lot more abused. The poor woman has tried multiple times to die, yet Rui has a constant eye on her and stops her each time. Instead punishing her harshly each time she does something he perceives wrong." We all had our expressions harden at that, such a thing could not be allowed to continue.
As we stewed in anger Shinobu clapped her hands. "Normally I would be against this, but hearing the story, along with needing someone to test the demon cure on. We decided to take this chance to save her. I'm sure you were given a few syringes?" We nodded as she continued. "That will be what is used to save Shura, the demon woman we're trying to save. Made by me, Tamayo San, and Mukago Chan here, we created it to cut Muzan's connection from a demon." Tanjiro's eyes lit up as he spoke.
"I see! That's rather ingenious!" Both doctors seemed to puff out their chests a bit.
That's when a black haired female demon slayer approached a boy with short black haired. "Murata Sempai the perimeter check is done. No signs of demons from the edge of the mountain's forest." Murata nodded before smiling.
"Thank you Ozaki Chan, I'll tell the Hashira." I had a feeling only I, Tanjiro, and Zenitsu heard the conversation. However we didn't say anything as the young man walked up to Giyu. "Hashira Sama! The preliminary scouting is done. No demons sighted from the perimeters edge."
Giyu nodded at that. "Thank you for your help Murata San, please stand by and wait for any further instructions." Murata nodded with a salute as Giyu turned to us. "Seems as if we'll need to go deeper in, make sure to watch for traps." All of us gave a "hai!" In agreement as we followed the water Hashira in. "Since the mountain is so large we should split up, but first, Mukago San. You might want to describe your friend we're trying to rescue to those who don't know."
Clearing her throat my first knight spoke. "Well first off she uses her transforming ability to change her looks to Rui's specifications. At the moment she has long white hair. Secondly she uses webs like puppet strings, controlling little spiders to attach webs when she's far away. Thirdly she wears a rather beautiful white kimono. Fourthly, and this is something I'm actually jealous about. She has a fairly large bust." The guys and I couldn't help but blink at that, the girls in our group nodded in understanding of something. Us guys were left behind in confusion. "Finally she has red dots on her face. But that's about it, nothing more to describe her as. Unless you see a short, black haired girl with black marks on her cheeks and crosses in her eyes. That's what she actually looks like. She actually looks really cute like that."
Humming Giyu turned to us. "Since this is supposed to test your training, how would you all like to split up?" Blinking we turned to each other, thinking quickly on how they wanted to do this. As I noticed a few certain faces looking at each other I sighed.
Well I guess I know how this is going to go.
Itzy bitzy line break walked up the water spout! Down came the rain and washed the line break out.
Okay maybe not quite but still rather expectable. Our little party had split up into two groups. In mine were Tanjiro, Kanao, Mukago, and Inosuke. The other group consisted of Zenitsu, Nezuko, and for some reason both Hashira! Why? For reasons unknown to me, most of us split up with people we liked. I swear sometimes. Sighing we continued our hike deeper into the mountain. As we marched up Mukago looked around carefully. Noticing this I quickly questioned her on what she was doing.
"Oh! Well remember how I said that my friend Shura uses spiders to attach webs to things? Well right now I'm just looking for specific spiders. They're white and black with red spots on them. Also if you see one simply wave and say we've come to rescue you! She can both see and listen through the spiders." While I was a bit creeped out, I was still mostly impressed. Such a skill would come in handy.
Now armed with that little tidbit of information we started looking for spiders. "Found one!" Looking at Inosuke I gave him a bored look as he yelled at the poor thing. "Gura! I the great Inosuke Sama am here to save you!" Sucking in some air I tapped his shoulder.
As he looked at me I explained a couple of things. "Inosuke… that isn't one of Shura's spiders. That's a redback spider, a cousin to the black widow. In other words while it doesn't have a fatal bite, it would still be extremely painful to get bit by." For a beat he did nothing, but then he quickly clenched his hand, crushing the poor creature with no remorse.
"Huh?! We'll see how dangerous it is! No spider shall ever defeat me!" I couldn't help but sigh as Mukago patted my back. She was starting to see what I had to deal with, which was basically babysitting a bunch of kids. Moving on from that piece of insanity, we moved deeper into the mountain's forests. Eventually coming upon an area that was more or less covered in spider wbes. "Look!" We all turned to where the boar boy was pointing. "More spiders!" This time he was correct, as a bunch of white little spiders were darting around.
Mukago smiled at this. "Sweet! Alright let's track down Shura and save her from her abusive family!" Her piece said she started marching forward. Deciding not to waste time the rest of us followed as she knelt down and gently picked up a spider. "YO! While you might not be able to recognize me Shura, it's me Mukago! Former fourth lower moon and yadda yadda. We're here to rescue you and break you free from that prick Muzan's control! Even have something made by the runner Tamayo to help with that. So mind showing us where you are?" For a moment nothing happened, then the spider jumped from her hands. "Alright follow that bug!"
Walking slowly we followed the arachnid, following it to an open part of the forest. There we saw who Mukago described sitting on a rock. Looking at her I could tell that the poor woman was depressed. Turning to us she spoke a bit timidly.
"While I'll admit you look familiar, I don't quite know if you're my friend. Even if you're just tricking me to get my guard down that's fine. I'd rather die than be stuck here any longer." I could tell that all of us were feeling quite a bit of sympathy for the demoness.
Thankfully Mukago had this all covered. "We're not here to kill you Shura, I mean come on? Who else would know about all of this?" Shura only seemed partially convinced, so Mukago walked up to her, syringe in hand. "Well I suppose the only way for you to be sure is to trust us huh?"
The spider woman peered at the syringe before nodding. "I suppose you are correct." Holding out her arm she gave a small smile, the red circles at the far edges of her mouth stretching just a bit. "No matter what happens I thank you." With a nod Mukago injected the mixture, she and the other two doctors concocted into Shura's arm. The woman winced and rubbed the spot she was injected in from. "So how long is this-" Her eyes widened before falling over, thankfully Mukago caught her in worry.
"Geez… got to add in a pain reliever next time." Shura looked at her with gritted teeth and an unimpressed expression.
"You-you really are Mu-Muka-Mukago Chan." Mukago looked affronted that she was finally recognized because of a medical blunder.
"Why you..." Walking up to them I used my Lyb'Craeft to try and see exactly what was going on. I was glad I did because now that I was focusing on it, I could see exactly how Muzan's influence was being… for a lack of a better word, deleted from Shura's body. After a few moments, Shura could finally breathe easily and immediately went for the throat of testing.
"Muzan is a dick!" All of us except for Mukago looked at the woman in shock. Mukago on the other hand…
"Woo! Worked just like a dream! Glad to have you on board Shura!" The demon woman looked at her happily and hugged the former demon doctor. "Ahh, you always do give the best hugs." Hugging her friend back, Mukago patted her back.
Shura on the other hand started to tear up. "Thank you… thank you soo much!" It was a sweet scene and it was ruined for me when I heard some sniffling. Turning towards the source I saw Inosuke somehow crying from his mask.
"Dude, you're crying so much your mask is leaking." As I pointed that out he turned on me.
"I'm not crying! You're the one who's crying Aniki!" I decided to let him be after that. Simply smiling at the sweet scene, made me happy that we didn't have to kill all demons anymore. Then I remembered that she would be a test subject for a cure. I winced a bit at that, but at the same time understood that she needed to atone for the lives she took somehow.
"So you've turned traitor mother?" We froze and Shura shook in fear, looking towards the voice we saw a young white haired boy. He was up on what looked like some kind of wire, hovering above us in the air. "You do know what happens to traitors don't you?" Lifting some hair from his left eye, we all saw the number in it.
Narrowing his eyes Tanjiro spoke. "Lower moon five, guessing he's Rui Mukago San?" She nodded as she held the trembling Shura closer. For a moment there was surprise in his eyes as he turned to Mukago.
"Lower moon four… I was vying for your spot before your supposed death at his hands. I am truly surprised to see you still alive, though not too surprised to see you've betrayed us." The boy then grinned a rather malicious grin. "I suppose there's no better chance than this to put you in your place. Especially now that you've interfered with my family! For now I'm sure father will be enough to deal with you all." Jumping up he seemed to disappear as Shura trembled.
Knowing what needed to be done I turned to Mukago. "Mukago you need to get Shura San out of here, part of the whole reason we are here is to save her." She looked about ready to protest before I cut her off. "No arguing right now, your friend needs your help after all." With a sigh and an understanding nod she helped Shura up. As she did so I turned to the others. "Alright Inosuke, Kanao you go with Mukago and Shura to help protect them." Nodding they started hiking back to the basecamp as Mukago yelled at me and Tanjiro.
"None of you better die you hear me?!" The two of us nodded as we watched our comrades leave.
Smiling as the one last distraction left I turned to Tanjiro. "Well I suppose that's it then, let's go get this lower moon!" Tanjiro gave a cheer as we started marching back into the forest.
Itzy bitzy line break walked up the water spout! Down came the rain and washed the line break out.
About ten minutes later I had a moment of hindsight. Probably should've asked where the lower moon was before sending them off. Originally I was hoping to use Tanjiro's nose to track down our target. However not only was the wind blowing in the wrong direction, but there was also some kind of foul stench mucking everything up. I could barely smell it myself; however I didn't think anything of it at the time. Now we were just wandering around, hoping we'd get lucky.
"Think we'll run into Nezuko's group?" Turning to Tanjiro I just sort of shrugged, unsure of what was going to be happening. "I see, hopefully she and Zenitsu will be alright. Although seeing how they have Shinobu San and Tomioka San they should be fine. Not like we will run into another upper moon out here." At his words I glared at him. "What?"
Shaking my head I told him a very special rule one must always follow. "Tanjiro let me make something clear, what can go wrong will go wrong, and if you say something won't happen then it will happen. That is the way of the universe." He only looked at me strangely as I sighed in defeat. "You'll understand soon enough." As I said that we came to a river, and standing in said river was something that would haunt me for life.
"YOU WILL STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!" It was a giant ten foot tall demon with a literal spider face with white hair. It was also charging right at us.
Patting Tanjiro's shoulder I gave him a sparkly smile and a thumbs up. "Well you got this one~!" As I jumped back he turned to me wide eyed.
"WHAT?!" He probably would have yelled at me more, but had to dodge as the large spider demon punched at him. The what I could only assume, "father" of Rui's fake family missed and created a crater in the ground.
I whistled at that. "Absolutely terrifying and powerful, horrible combination." As Tanjiro dodged a bit more he yelled at me.
"Stop watching and help already!"
I gave a hum as I looked towards the big guy. "Nah you can handle him." That and he's freaking terrifying! My inner thoughts would never be said out loud. "Besides you're a bit stronger than your girlfriend now, you should be able to take him no problem. So do your job as a knight and finish off the monster!" No way can I even look at that thing! It's like his face is literally the worst parts of a spider magnified by a thousand! Tanjiro grumbled at that point but didn't quite refute what I said.
Getting some distance he took a breath and ran back in. "Hinokami Kagura!" As his sword caught fire he ducked under a punch from the demon and struck. "Shakkotsu En'yō!" With two large circular slashes he cut off the demon's arm before cutting off its head. Forming a spiral of flames that lit up the forest for a moment. As the demon disintegrated he turned to me. "There! It's done! No thanks to you!" I smiled and nodded my head, before the kid wouldn't have even been able to scratch that demon. Or at least not easily, now he could finish it in one move. "By the way…" I perked up a bit waiting to hear his question, a bit apprehensive on what he was going to ask. "What exactly is a knight anyways?"
I blinked and my jaw didn't quite work for a moment, when I did speak I uttered only one syllable. "Heh?" After a moment I finally got my bearings back. "Wait… you mean you don't know what a knight is… and still made me make you a dragonknight?"
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at this. "Well, I thought it just meant I'd be able to turn into a dragon one day. Is there more to it?" I sighed before giving the kid a small history lesson.
"A knight is essentially the equivalent of a European samurai. Though there are a noticeable amount of differences, their purpose is essentially similar. You've basically made me your lord, and you've become my vassal or samurai Tanjiro." His lips puckered up at this as realization came to him. Shaking my head I walked up to him and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry I'm not going to hold you to anything. You're my friend first and foremost."
He gave me a smile at that. "Thanks, guess I should've learned more before essentially cornering you into making me into a knight." I shrugged at that before I looked deeper into the forest.
"Hmm we should keep going; the father demon was standing across this small river. I'm guessing he was standing in-between us and the lower moon." Tanjiro nodded before his face lit up and he started sniffing.
"Hey that horrible smell has cleared up a bit." I grinned at that.
"Did it now? I guess the others must've taken care of it. Well lead the way my knight!" Grinning himself he simply started running. Shaking my head I followed, and thankfully now that we actually knew where we were going. It was now trivial to reach our target. Before we did reach our destination we heard something that quite frankly made my heart jump.
"AHH!" It was a scream from some unknown girl. Looking at each other for just a moment we knew what needed to be done. So without words we rushed forward, running at top speed. Following Tanjiro's nose that had picked up a scent of blood. We didn't quite expect to the see the lower moon torturing some white haired demon girl. Her white kimono had some blood on it as she held her face, multiple slash marks from the lower moon's webs dripping blood.
He barely even acknowledged us. "Do you mind? I'm currently teaching my sister a lesson. I'll deal with you two in a moment." While I'll admit what I was seeing angered me greatly. My anger was nothing compared to what was coming from Tanjiro.
"Sister?! How could you say such a thing?!"
The lower moon looked at him a bit annoyed. "She had her part in this family, she had a role to play and she failed. I'm simply dishing out the punishment she deserves. This is what makes our bond as family."
I couldn't help but look at Tanjiro in worry as his anger seemed to grow. "Bonds? Roles? Punishment?! Your so called bond is nothing more than a sham! A fake created by fear and pain! That isn't a true bond! Least of all a familial bond!" I couldn't help but look sadly at Tanjiro; I had no doubt that he was remembering his own family right now. Tanjiro was a true family man through and through.
Rui on the other hand looked enraged. "Who are you to come into my home and tell us who we are and are not? You could never understand the bond we all share." Tanjiro unsheathed his sword at this point.
"Again what you have is nothing more than a fake." The lower moon glared at him ominously, as the girl demon he was torturing looked at Tanjiro in a bit of awe. "True family never would never hurt one another!" There was a brief pause where the tension in the air was almost touchable. Then Rui raised his hands, wire like webs stretching from his fingers.
"If you take back what you said now, I'll give you a swift death."
Tanjiro held firm and gripped his sword a bit tighter. "I myself have people I love and care about. I too have a family, but our bonds were true. I will never take back what I said." That seemed to trigger the demon.
"Very well then… I suppose I'll just slice you to ribbons until you take back what you said!" As he lost his cool the lower moon swung a hand at us, five wire like webs slicing through the air.
Itzy bitzy line break walked up the water spout! Down came the rain and washed the line break out.
The fight was on now and we were forced to jump back to avoid the webs. They cut through the ground and trees behind us with ease, leaving five large gouges in the earth. I was about to charge in when Tanjiro yelled out to me.
"Nii San!" I looked at him; Tanjiro's face the perfect look of concentration and determination. "Please let me fight this battle alone." The two demons looked between us, wondering what I would say. Personally I felt something off about this demon; I knew he was hiding a large portion of his strength. And I was worried if Tanjiro was yet strong enough to take this one on. I could tell that Rui was stronger than the lower two we fought, meaning that Muzan had empowered the remaining lower moons even further.
However his look of determination won me over so with a sigh I acquiesced. "Alright but if I see that you need help I'm jumping in." Tanjiro nodded as I stood back, looking at the two demons. Or more specifically the spider sister Rui was just punishing. I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at her. I could tell that she wasn't a good person, yet she was looking at us with a bit of hope. I'll have to keep an eye on that one. So while keeping her in my field of vision I stepped back, out of the fight Tanjiro was about to have. Now that I was out of the way Tanjiro turned back to Rui. Both looking at each other with disdain.
For a few moments they both stood there, sizing the other up, trying to find any noticeable weaknesses. The tension in the air was rising, the battle spirits of the two seemingly rising with it. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure for just a brief moment. Then crows flew, cawing as they went. It was as if some signal was given and Rui attacked, his webs slicing through the air. At speeds faster than sound, however I wasn't too worried, seeing how Tanjiro had trained against those with much faster speeds. Namely Zenitsu and my beautiful goddess Eris to name just two, so he dodged with just a simple roll to the left.
I smirked as he jumped up and slashed at another web coming at him. His sword cutting through the wire like material, his opponent narrowed his eyes at this. I could tell that this one was a cautious enemy, one who paid attention to his foes.
Just what will you do to counter Tanjiro? The answer to my question happened to be overwhelming fire power. Throwing his hands out, multiple webs extended from his fingertips. Wrapping around tree branches before coming down on top of Tanjiro.
Seeing this Tanjiro swung his sword twice. "Hinokami Kagura! Retsujitsu Kōkyō!" His raging sun technique defended Tanjiro from all the incoming attacks. Burning up the webs as they made contact with his slashes. I was rather impressed on how Tanjiro managed to both remember, and learn to utilize his breath of the sun this last month. I could tell he was still rough around the edges, and it still took a lot of stamina. However he was beginning to master it.
No doubt becoming a dragon helped. Maybe it was for the best that I turned him? Those thoughts still left me a sense of guilt, but I shook my head, relieving myself of such worries for now. Refocusing on the fight I watched as Tanjiro rushed forward.
His sword blazing as Rui narrowed his eyes. "Hinokami Kagura! Gen'nichi Kō!" Right as Rui swung more webs at the kid, he seemed to shimmer as he twisted his body. Rui's webs seemingly fazing through Tanjiro, all of us there couldn't help but widen our eyes. The lower moon jumping back as Tanjiro slashed at his neck.
"You are dangerous… I can see why he and Kokushibo Dono wanted you dead above all others." Tanjiro narrowed his eyes before charging forward once more. "Oh and before you get too full of yourself, do you really believe these are the strongest webs I can create?" As soon as he said that his threads became red as his blood washed over them. Swinging his arm Tanjiro narrowed his eyes and swung his own weapon. The webs and the sword bounced off each other, much too both combatants annoyance. "Seems as if we're close to an even match."
Getting into another stance Tanjiro nodded. "So it would seem… I will admit you are the second strongest demon I've ever faced in battle. Kokushibo being the first." Rui actually chuckled at that before grinning mercilessly.
"I suppose that's a fair comparison, still your death will be at my hands!" Throwing his webs forward, Rui quickly pulled them taut. "Kekkijutsu Kokushiro!" Webs than came crashing down on top of Tanjiro. For a moment I felt the need to jump in when Tanjiro set his face firm.
Raising his sword high he brought it down. "Hinokami Kagura! Enbu!" All the webs burned as he rushed forward. His opponent grit his teeth as he ducked under a slash, countering he swung more webs at Tanjiro. Showing great agility Tanjiro rolled to the side, swinging his sword and thus cutting through more webs. The webs burning up as they flew in the wind, Rui rushed forward punching out as Tanjiro was now too close for him to use his webs.
Stepping to the left Tanjiro dodged the punch. Eyes never leaving Tanjiro's form Rui leaned back, barely moving out of the way of Tanjiro's slash. Turning around to regain balance he also struck out with his left hand. Webs whistling as they slashed through everything, back flipping Tanjiro used another technique to defend himself.
"Hinokami Kagura! Shayō Tenshin!" With an upended slash Tanjiro cut through all the webs. As he landed he yelled. "Time to end this!" Rushing forward he jumped up spinning around he yelled out another technique. "Hinokami Kagura! Kiki Onkō!" As flames converged on Rui he through forward a handful of webs. All of them caught fire and Tanjiro completed his maneuver. Landing behind Rui on one knee, sword held out to the side.
For a moment nothing happened then Rui's head fell from his shoulders. "Impossible." As his body fell forward Tanjiro looked back at him with sad eyes. Seeing how the fight was done I sighed, simply standing there as Tanjiro knelt to the fallen demon, patting Rui on the back.
"I hope you find peace in your next life, and have the family you so desperately wanted." For a few moments Rui said nothing as his head turned to dust. Then his eyes widened as tears came from his remaining eye.
"Thank you…" With those last two words, his head was gone as Tanjiro got out the tool Tamayo gave us. Using it he extracted blood from Rui's body. Sitting there he gave a small prayer before standing up. Seeing how he was done I walked up to him.
Looking at me he gave a small smile as I patted his shoulder. "You did good kid, you did good." He nodded as I realized something. "Now what to do with… and she's gone." Looking around we couldn't see where the spider sister went off to. "Oh boy, that can't be good." Tanjiro nodded an apprehensive look on his face.
"We have to find her!" I would've agreed when a cheerful voice spoke up.
"Ara ara~! No need to worry you two~." Turning as Shinobu landed on the ground in front of us we sighed in relief. "Already took care of her for you. Though next time please do pay more attention. After all a demon who's eaten eighty people, and only cares for herself, is a bad demon to have roaming around." We nodded seriously at her words as Giyu walked out from behind a tree.
Looking at Tanjiro he nodded. "On another note you have my compliments for killing that lower moon." Tanjiro beamed at his praise as Shinobu giggled.
"Ara, what the man who no one likes said~. Good work Tanjiro Kun~!" Giyu's eyes twitched at her words but was promptly ignored. "Let's all head back to base camp shall we?" She had no arguments from us and we all started making our way off the mountain.
Itzy bitzy line break walked up the water spout! Down came the rain and washed the line break out.
When we arrived we found everyone already there, all sitting around some fires and talking. Shura though a bit hesitant was also with the others. Sitting next to Mukago who was talking her ear off.
"And so that's when we thought of a drug that would melt Muzan's di-" She stopped talking about whatever she was explaining when she saw us. "AH! Welcome back you four! Glad to see you are alright. Take care of Rui while you were up there?"
Deciding to embarrass my "little brother" I wrapped an arm around his shoulders before grinning. "Yep~! In fact Tanjiro took out both the "Father" demon and Rui! I'm so proud of how far he's come." I wiped some fake tears from my eyes as everyone congratulated Tanjiro. Some of them such as Nezuko, Shinobu, and Mukago playing along with me. Talking about how brave and strong he's become. The poor kid's face became beet red at the praise. However it got worse when Shura stood up and walked over to him. Now she was a couple inches taller than him. So as I let got she hugged him into her chest.
"Thank you… thank you soo much for freeing me." She was crying tears of relief as she unknowingly suffocated Tanjiro. I for one took a few steps back as Kanao's right eye twitched.
Yeah not touching that with a five foot pole. That's when things went sour. For as Giyu gave the order for everyone to start packing it up, a presence seemed to chill the area. Hand on my sword ready to draw it at any moment I looked around. What is this? I could tell that whoever was doing this wasn't as strong as Kokushibo, yet it was fairly close. As I breathed I could see my breath as the temperature dropped. I knew that this wasn't a good sign.
As the cold grew stronger Shura had let of Tanjiro and was looking around scared. In contrast Shinobu seemed to start getting angrier. He hands clutching her butterfly kimono. Finally the presence made itself known as a cloud of frost burst out a few dozen meters away from out camp. Everyone who had weapons quickly unsheathed them. Giyu being the first to step forward to investigate, followed by me and Inosuke. After a moment Shinobu also stepped forward, her anger now more visible than ever.
"Oh my… when he told of us Rui's death, I didn't expect such an expedition. You really went all out on the child." As the frost fell I finally got a good look at our enemy.
I also couldn't help but turn to Tanjiro with a glare. "I blame this on you." As Tanjiro suttered, Shura in her fear seemed to transform, becoming shorter, and losing her white hair and spots on her face. The fear on her face was quite palpable. Tears coming down her cheeks, covering the two black marks on both sides of her face, she was back in her true form.
"Why? I just escaped from Rui! Why is he here?!" Our new foes rainbow eyes widened in sick glee. Holding up a metal fan, or as I knew it, a tessen. His golden long hair blew in a slight breeze he spoke once more.
"Oh? So this is what you really look like, you truly were the youngest of that bunch." Shura hid behind Tanjiro as he unsheathed his sword. "Ah! And the boy who Kokushibo Dono wants to kill personally. Normally I'd be inclined to let him at you; however he gave us orders to kill you. Said you were much too dangerous to let live." He then looked at me. "You are also on the… shall we say hit list? You're powers are maturing too rapidly for his liking." His eyes roaming he squinted at Shinobu. "You look oddly familiar, have we met?" That seemed to have snapped something inside of Shinobu.
For she charged the demon with a yell. "Name's Shinobu! And you killed my sister!" The demon's eyes widened in recognition. Using his fan to sweep Shinobu's thrust to the side with his fan.
"Ah! I remember the haori now! And that hair pin! Ah yes… shame I never got to eat her, oh well the sun has always been a menace." As the light of the moon shone down his eyes glowed, the kanji for upper two clear for all to see. "I think I'll have some fun with all of this."
Sighing I couldn't help but voice a complaint at Tanjiro. "And this I why I told you never to say things that could tempt fate! Thanks a lot Tanjiro..."
"Well I'm sorry! But how was I supposed to know this would happen?!"
I simply shook my head. "You have a lot left to learn kid." Watching the black and red clothed demon I waited to see what he'd do next I spoke up. "On the plus side we managed to survive against Kokushibo, and back then we were much weaker and only had Mitsuri. Now we have two Hashira! So if we play our cards right we shoul-" I was cut off by a shout from Shinobu.
"Don't interfere! I've been waiting for this moment for years! I'm going to avenge my sister and kill this monster!"
The demon laughed at this. "Haha! You'll kill me will you? I suppose we'll just have to wait and see then." Gripping his sword Giyu spoke up.
"Kocho San you need to calm yourself, this isn't an opponent you can take on alone." The insect Hashira didn't care for his words as she charged forward. "Shinobu!" That was first time I've ever seen Giyu panic a bit. Getting out a second fan the upper moon two grinned.
"Oh this will be fun." With that the insect Hashira stabbed forward, beginning yet another fight to the death.
Itzy bitzy line break walked up the water spout! Down came the rain and washed the line break out.
Argentum: Well that's that.
Doma: Oh such fun~!
Grel'Slyfer: Ugh… I hate this guy.
Doma: Why such cruel words Grel Dono?
Grel'Slyfer: Because I maybe evil but at least I'm not a creep.
Doma: Harsh…
Shinobu: I will kill you!
Grel'Slyfer: Someone's a bit cranky.
Doma: You do know I'm just an actor right? Please don't kill me…
Shinobu: Oh I know, still worked up from before is all.
Doma: Oh thank goodness.
Argentum: And that's what we call breaking character everyone.
Grel'Slyfer: Oops?
Argentum: Whatever… Doma go ahead and finish off the chapter please.
Doma: Sure~! This has been a beautiful Dark Guard production, now signing off!
Everyone: Goodbye!