Argentum: Alright time for another chapter.
Grel'Slyfer: Will there be more action?
Argentum: That would be telling now would it not?
Kyojuro: Spoilers are not acceptable.
Argentum: What he said.
Inosuke: Whatever it is bring it on! I'll beat any challenge sent before me!
Kyojuro: That's the spirit!
Grel'Slyfer: Oi vey…
Argentum: Someone's moody.
Grel'Slyfer: Because I want more death and carnage! Blood sports are always the best entertainment!
Kyojuro: That sounds awful!
Grel'Slyfer: Of course it is. I'm evil!
Argentum: Whatever. Kyojuro! It's been a while so could you start us off?
Kyojuro: Certainly! The Dark Guard productions only own Oc's and Reality building concepts. Everything else belongs to their original owners. Now without further delay…
Everyone: Here's the story!
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter Thirty Eight: How I helped crown a goddess or… How I realized I hate mazes…
After about eight days of cutting down trees we were quite literally kicked out. Something about deforestation, I wasn't really paying attention. Some things of note during that time is how I got my weights up to six and half tons. Tanjiro got his to five, and everyone else increased theirs by half a ton. I had also began experimenting on a new form. Still wasn't sure what to call it, but I was creating it to help me get up close to an opponent.
It was something I was lacking, and though I know Kyojuro modified the first form to accomplish what I'm trying to do. I was trying to make a form specifically designed for it. Too often have I been blown back and had no way of swiftly getting in close. Made me miss my bow, unfortunately even if I did pick up a bow, both it and the arrows wouldn't be able to do much against the opponents I've been fighting.
That's the drawback of most projectile weaponry. A sling or an atlatl could probably make up the difference. However I had no idea on how to use either, so for now I was stuck with a sword. Not that I minded I just missed my bow. I had put a ton of practice into my archery skill and it felt as if it was going to waste. So yeah I was creating a form to help me close the distance between myself and an opponent. Thanks mainly to Zenitsu's thunder breathing I had a good idea on what I was doing. Also my eyes helped quite a bit to get the right stance down.
It was still a work in progress but I felt I was getting closer. As for what we were doing now, well we were heading to a mining town. All of us instantly knew what Kyojuro was planning for us to do, and it wasn't just killing the demon taking up residence there. As far as trips went, it was a short two day hike out to the mountainous region the town was located in. Once we arrived we all could feel the despair and worry in the air. It was even worse than the last mining town I went to. People were muttering in the street, worried that they might have to move. It was understandable seeing how the mine was the life blood of towns like this.
As we got to the town square Kyojuro stopped and turned to us. "As you can see the people here need our help! Now I want each of you to go out and find something worth noting. If we can find any information on the demon it will make our jobs easier! Feel free to grab something for lunch while you're at it. Make your own groups and head off, we'll reconvene in three hours! Dismissed!" Seeing how we were quite literally dismissed we left to go find information. The pairings were mostly as you might expect, Tanjiro and Kanao, Zenitsu and Nezuko, Kyojuro and Inosuke, and Mitsuri and I.
Our first stop was a ramen shop, why a ramen shop? Well let's say a certain sign caught my eye. "A good place to eat and gather info, wouldn't you agree Mitsuri San?" She smiled brightly at me as she gave a thumbs up.
"Heck yeah! Plus I'm starving so I'm definitely going to grab some extra-large bowls!" I couldn't help but smirk at that while pointing at the sign I saw.
"Good thing they're having a special event today then." Looking at the sign her eyes seemed to gleam.
"Oooh yeah~! This will be fun~." As we walked in we quickly noticed a few passed out individuals. Half empty bowls of ramen in front of them. Mitsuri cracked her knuckles upon seeing their out cold forms.
Hearing the sound of cracking knuckles the man running the front counter turned to us. "Welcome! What can I get you two young folks today?"
Mitsuri grabbing my arm sat us down at the counter while smirking. "I'll be doing the fifty bowl challenge!" He raised a white eyebrow stroking his long beard. He was sizing up the love Hashira with a gleam in his eye.
"You do realize that if you fail you pay four times the amount of what you've eaten right?" Mitsuri nodded a gleam in her own eye. "Alright then! What kind of ramen will you like? We hav-"
He was cut off as Mitsuri slapped a hand on the counter. "All of them." The man's grin widened to where his teeth was showing.
"Oh I like you already~." He then turned to me. "And how about you young man? Want to participate yourself?"
I snorted and shook my head. "No I'm good, for unlike most people I know my limits. But unlike my friend here I'll just take a miso pork ramen. If I feel like more than I'll ask." The man nodded before writing down our orders.
"You're a smart one. Alright you're meals will be finished in ten minutes." We nodded as he ran into the back. "Alright one miso pork ramen and one super bowl! We got another challenger!" We heard a few cheers and I turned to Mitsuri.
"When do you think they'll come to regret this?"
She smirked at me with an evil look in her eye. "When I eat my thirtieth bowl." Now that got a laugh out of me.
Mining for ramen bowls and Line breaks!
As it turned out Mitsuri was absolutely right, for after her twenty ninth bowl the man in charge seemed to start getting nervous. Apparently no one had even gotten past their fifteenth bowl yet, and now the love Hashira had doubled that. I myself had two bowls before I was full. I will also say it was the best ramen I have ever had. During Mitsuri's feast, I had also talked to a few of the patrons and the ramen man himself.
I was able to learn that the disappearances had actually started about two months ago. However they were very infrequent until recently. It was actually about four days ago that the disapearances had skyrocketed. Before they thought it was just people getting lost in the mines, or getting into cave in's. There was enough evidence for both, so while everyone was sad they didn't think it was too big of a deal. Instead they spent a full month reinforcing the stability of the mines.
Now no one dared go into them, and because of that people were starting to vanish from the town itself. There were a couple people in the town's clinic that were missing limbs, and had bites on their bodies. As if a rabid animal had gotten to them. When I asked if we could talk to them, showing my fake badge to try and convince them we were here to stop the issue. He simply said they had gone mad, talking and screaming about infinite hallways, shadow monsters, and cannibals. Needless to say while we could probably trust most of what they would say. It would be impossible to know if everything they ranted about would be true.
Still it was a good bit of information, and Mitsuri congratulated me on my forward thinking. That was after she ate her last bowl though. Funnily enough the ramen shop employees didn't complain. Instead they started praising her as the ramen goddess. Much to the love Hashira's embarrassment, her face truly became red when one of the chefs proposed to her. As we left she continued to glare at my amused look. Didn't help that I kept teasing her about the incident.
"Soo… when's the wedding? And will I be invited?" In response she puffed up her cheeks and "humphed" before walking faster.
"Not with that attitude mister!" That got a hearty laugh out of me as well as more teasing.
"Oh? So you are getting married then?" She punched my shoulder for that one, and though it hurt I couldn't help but laugh harder. After that wonderfully light moment we questioned a few more individuals. Using my false I.D to get people to open up more.
A particular dark haired man proved to be insightful. "So they sent more eh? Well I wish you better luck than those previous investigators."
I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. "Previous investigators?" Thinking of a lie to get him to talk more I continued. "We were sent out under the impression that they were still around. Do you mean they've also disappeared?" The man sighed before nodding.
"I see… so you were already on route then. But yes your colleagues are among the missing, and thinking about what happened to those who survived… well I'm sorry to say that things aren't looking too good for them." It was a sad yet harsh reality. One where simple normal people just didn't stand a chance against a demon, it was just the way of things. Even armed forces couldn't kill them with their guns. Thanking the man we left to meet up with everyone around the town square. We still had half an hour left but decided that we had gotten everything we could.
The first to arrive was Tanjiro and Kanao who I quickly waved at. "Yo! Over here kiddos!" Seeing us they made their way over. "So find out anything? We mostly got that the demon could at least partially change the mines, and also can scare people with giant eyeballs." Tanjiro shrugged before answering me.
"While we didn't get that, we did figure out the demon can make copies of itself to attack people. Heard that from the one lucid survivor, said he was running when ten shadow monsters popped up. Said they looked exactly the same. He only survived by lighting a lantern and tossing it at them. Said it caused them to disappear."
I hummed at that. "So light is a big weakness then, good thing I have a few spells for that. Remind me to teach you all the light spell before we head in." They all nodded as we waited for the others. Second to arrive was Zenitsu and Nezuko, the latter of whom now had a bracelet on her left hand. I guessed that Zenitsu got it as a gift for her. Tanjiro on the other hand had to be held back a bit by Kanao, he didn't quite like how close Nezuko was leaning into Zenitsu. Finally Kyojuro and Inosuke arrived. After everyone told one each of us what they discovered, I taught those who could use magic the light spell, and then we headed out.
I for one was rather pleased that we didn't have to wait for night fall. The mines didn't allow sun in so the demon wouldn't be hiding out this time. Thankfully with my forgeries, we were able to convince the mine owner in charge to let us in. I was beginning to realize that everyone in the corps should be trained in both subtlety, and an extra fake role that went together with a fake I.D. Once inside the mines, we needed to try and figure out just where our demon was. The solution? Split up and search for clues!
I was honestly tempted to make a Scooby Doo joke; however no one would've understood what I was getting at so kept quiet. Also yes! Scooby Doo and even the Simpsons had survived up to the twenty two hundreds.
This time we split up by having Nezuko and Kanao go with Mitsuri, Inosuke and Zenitsu go with Kyojuro, and Tanjiro and I go in the last team. Our pair went down a right hand path, but not before Kanao kissed Tanjiro wishing him good luck. Poor kid was in a bit of shock and could only nod as I dragged him away. His sister and Mitsuri giggling at his reaction. When we were far enough away I patted the kid on the shoulder.
"Don't worry you'll get used to it."
He looked up at me giving me an unimpressed look. "Like you've gotten used to being kissed by Eris San and Cassandra San?" I hummed for a moment before responding.
"Hmm… touché."
He looked at me confused. "You've said that before. But what does touché mean?" I couldn't help but pucker my lips up in realization.
"Oh yeah… basically mean that's fair or that's a good point." Tanjiro nodded his head in understanding.
"I see." He then seemed to get an idea. "Hey! How about you teach me English? It could prove useful in the long run."
I rubbed my chin at this. "You may be onto something there. So why not? Could be fun talking to you in English and not having anyone around us understand a word we're saying." That got him to grin, and I realized that I was definitely influencing the kid to be a bit more sarcastic. Oh well he had to learn sometime. Nodding my head in expectation we started our search, using Tanjiro's nose to find out just where our demon was. All the while I started teaching Tanjiro English. Let's just say we were going to have some fun with that later.
Mining for ramen bowls and Line breaks!
It had now been an hour and half since we've entered the mines, long enough for me to have needed to cast my light spell a couple of times. Needless to say the long winding tunnels were getting boring. Looking at the map I was drawing I sighed, it was quickly becoming apparent to me that something was seriously wrong. So as calmly as I could I spoke up.
"Whelp we're lost." Tossing the map I made away I stopped in my tracks. "Smell anything yet?" Tanjiro shook his head with a worried expression. "Well ain't that swell…" As we both looked around the cave, I made my usual comment that I make in situations like this. "We're gonna die in here."
Once more Tanjiro gave me a rather unimpressed look. "Why do you always say things like that?!" At my shrug the kid sighed. "Should've expected that answer from you." Deciding to lighten up the mood I ruffled his hair.
"Aww you're starting to understand me better little brother~." His left eye twitched at that as I stopped messing with his hair. "Besides at this point it's kind of like good luck words. Every time I say we're gonna die we actually don't. Take that as you will." At his look of confused contemplation I turned away from him. I was now starting to get a rather eerie feeling, as if we were being watched. "Do you feel that?" Perking up Tanjiro concentrated for a moment before nodding.
As we put our hands on our swords Tanjiro's eyes widened in realization. "Nii San… how big are these mines supposed to be again?" I thought for a moment before answering, realizing what he was getting at.
"Not as big as it has been." After a moment of thought we both realized our mistake.
""The Demon!"" We both remembered that the demon could manipulate the mines themselves. As we did so a few inky shadowy figures popped out of the shadows on the walls. I couldn't help bit click my teeth in annoyance, though I smirked at how they kept away from us. My little orb of light from my spell keeping them at bay. Unsheathing my sword I got into a stance before speaking to the figures.
"So you're the demon eh?" There was no answer and I narrowed my eyes at that. "Can you even talk or hear through these puppets?" Again there was no answer and I instead spoke to Tanjiro. "Seems as if these things are just to distract us."
Unsheathing his own blade Tanjiro added his own thoughts. "Probably, then again the demon could just be playing it safe. Trying to exhaust us with numerous shadow puppets." I hummed in thought, agreeing with Tanjiro said.
"Maybe I can use my eyes to track these things back to their source?" Tanjiro nodded as I activated my Lyb'Craeft. Upon seeing our surroundings I had to physically restrain myself. I was so stupid! If I had used my eyes from the beginning, I would've been able to see something was wrong! Around me were equations that simply didn't match up, as if something was superimposed over the actual mine. Like a more advance form of territory creation. Looking at the shadow puppets I could see two certain sets of numbers that I instantly understood. "Got it!"
Grinning we launched forward using my first form to decapitate it. The shadow disintegrated before I slashed at another's neck. As my next target disappeared Tanjiro rushed in. Using his Retsujitsu kokyo or raging sun to take out another two at the same time. The fifth one I took care of before turning to Tanjiro.
"I know where the demon is!" Smirking he gripped his sword tighter.
"Well let's go then!" I was about to agree when I felt something off. It was as if something was missing from underneath my feet. Looking down my eyes widened as we started falling, the ground having completely disappeared. As we fell we couldn't help but yell in panic. The tunnel we were falling in was pitch dark and long. Knowing what I had to do I grabbed Tanjiro's arm and stabbed my sword into the wall.
As it turned out Tanjiro had the same idea and we both grabbed one another's arms instead. Then as one we stabbed our swords into the vertical wall. The sound of grinding metal cried out as we let the blades of our swords cut into the wall to slow our fall. As we slowed down I quickly created another ball of light. I managed to do so fast enough that the shadows converging on us disappeared. Sighing I looked down only to blink and see the ground come up and meet us.
"ACK!" As we yelled out in pain the ground slammed into us, looking up I could see that we were heading towards the ceiling. Waiting until the right moment I tossed Tanjiro before rolling to the side myself. Thankfully I was able to time it right so we landed right where we started. Only needing to shield our eyes from the debris of rock shards, created form the ground slamming into the ceiling. Sighing we dusted ourselves off and looked forward.
Luckily we were still on the right path. Marching forward we were met by more shadow puppets. As we took them out I reconfirmed our enemy's location. However as we ran forward the tunnel seemed to extend. Making the both of us feel as if we were running in place. After a few minutes we stopped running, Tanjiro speaking out in annoyance.
"This blood demon art is more annoying to deal with than Kyogai's!" Remembering the former ex upper six made me unconsciously nod my head in agreement. "Is there anything you can do to counteract this?" Humming I was about to answer when we heard something to our left. Not taking any chances we jumped back as a circular section of the wall slammed into the opposite wall. Hearing some coughing we turned to see Kyojuro's group. They looked dirty and were waving away the dust. "Rengoku Sensei!"
Perking up he turned to us before smiling widely. "Ah! If it isn't my other two Tsuguko's! Wonderful to see you two still alive! Tell me have you had any luck yet?" Grinning I answered my mentor's question.
"Actually I managed to pick up on the enemy's trail. How about all of you? Your team seems a bit worse for wear." Zenitsu was the one to answer my question, and since Nezuko wasn't around the way he did so was less than ideal.
"I'll tell you what's happened! We've been chased by shadow monsters! Chased by giant rolling boulders! Chased by the very walls themselves! And! WE'VE FALLEN DOWN FIVE DIFFERENT PITS! It's been awful!" I couldn't help but grimace, at both what's happened to them and Zenitsu's volume.
The only thing I could do was shrug. "Sorry to hear that, let's just hope the ladies have had better luck than us." That got Kyojuro to agree while folding his arms.
"I hope so as well. However! Unlike us they have both Mitsuri San, and the super powered Nezuko with them! I'm sure they're doing just fine!" That got me to grin and Tanjiro to smile in relieved realization. "For now we'll follow you're lead young Michael." Nodding I started to refocus on the previous trail and began to run.
Mining for ramen bowls and Line breaks!
As we continued on the demon's trail we continued to run into more setbacks. Even having our path cut off at one point, I had to get rather creative with that one. Using a few spells to tunnel our way through to the other side. My life drain wood magic was particularly useful.
So glad I stole that from that abomination. I couldn't help but give an involuntary shiver as I remembered the Leshen. Funny how it still terrifies me to think about, could probably annihilate the thing in a blink of an eye now. I was torn from my thoughts as I felt a hand grab the back of my haori and drag me back.
"Be careful Michael! One false step and you'd be a goner." Looking at the hole that had opened up underneath me, I couldn't help but nod at Kyojuro's words. "Do you know how close we are now?"
Humming I focused on the demon's location. "We're almost there, however in a place like this distance is relative. He could just extend a few more tunnels, or make them disappear completely." The flame Hashira nodded in agreement at my assessment.
"True! Honestly in all my years of slaying demons, this one might just be the trickiest I've ever fought." That got the rest of us to grimace; truly if the Hashira was calling this demon tricky then we had a lot of work ahead of us. Funnily enough as soon as I thought that the room shifted a bit. The hole vanishing and the tunnel became shorter. "That's unexpected… think the others managed to get to the demon?" We couldn't help but shrug, not like any of us knew.
"If they are we need to hurry! I won't let them take the greats Inosuke Sama's kill!" Well besides Inosuke who charged forward with a crazed laugh. Deciding to just role with it we followed after him. "Yes! I can feel it now! The demon bastard is close by!"
Taking a sniff Tanjiro perked up. "He's right! I can even smell it now!" As if prompted to say something Zenitsu then spoke up.
"I can also hear somethin- WAIT! I think the others are fighting the demon! WE need to hurry!" As we all doubled our efforts we came to a large room. Pillars of stone were strewn about it, some broken in half, and some reaching the ceiling. Jumping around them was Nezuko and Kanao. However it was Nezuko who was literally kicking through the pillars.
"What kind of demon are you?! This strength is ridiculous!" Looking around we were able to spot the demon responsible for creating the death maze. His buzzed head easily let us see his purple slitted eyes.
I couldn't help but sigh at what was engraved on them. "Lower moon six eh? Guess Muzan either moved the other guy up, or straight up replaced him."
"Yep~! But don't worry we can take care of him!" Looking to the side as Mitsuri landed we saw her wave at us. "Yo! Happy to see all of you alright. We were worried that you might have all been smashed."
Kyojuro laughed her comment off. "Ha! As if slayers of our caliber would ever fall to such tricks! Though we are certainly happy to see all of you doing well. Tell me, how would you rate this demon's current power?" Thinking for a moment the love Hashira made an estimate.
"Well… while he's certainly stronger than even the lower two we fought. More than anything else his blood demon art is simply tricky to deal with, but nothing we can't handle." All of us even Kyojuro quickly looked at the battle to see Nezuko toss a pillar at the demon. We saw the poor lower moon screaming in panic before turning back to her. "What?" We decided not to answer her question; instead we looked towards the demon.
Thinking for a moment I quickly came up with a plan. "Well let's finish this then. Zenitsu!" The thunder user looked at me as I smirked. "Think you can zap over there and take its head off?" Blinking Zenitsu nodded as I turned to the others. "Alright we'll provide the distraction needed for Zenitsu to kill the demon. Try not to get smashed everybody!" With that I charged in, the first to follow being Inosuke.
"Oh no you don't Aniki! I'll take out this demon before Bonitsu!" No one bothered to correct him as we all charged forward.
Turning to us the demon growled. "Great! Now the other pests are… here? Wait! Those earrings! That Haori! YES! Oh today might be my lucky day after all!" I couldn't help but narrow my eyes, realizing that we were still number one on Muzan's hit list. Sighing I twisted out of the way of an earth spike. It had popped out of the ground much to my annoyance. After a moment a wall of earth raised out of the ground in front of me. Raising my sword I swung.
San no Kata! Kien Banjo! As my sword made contact with the wall I pushed through, cutting the wall in half as I came out the other side. I could hear the demon curse as it raised a rock pyramid around itself.
"You won't kill me so easily demon slayer scum!" I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at his defense. It looked stronger than the wall I just cut, however I couldn't dwell on it as the ground underneath me shook. Having seen this a number of times I jumped back as the ground slammed into the ceiling. Dust and debris flying everywhere as the two collided. I was starting to breathe heavily, the weights on my body slowing me down, and increasing the amount of strength I needed to even swing my sword tenfold.
Unfortunately this still isn't quite an emergency, so I can't exactly take them off. Looking around I could see Tanjiro and the others either dodging, or cutting through the demon's attacks. Knowing that Zenitsu couldn't finish the job with the pyramid around the demon I gripped my sword. Alright! Let's see if this works! Raising my sword I pointed the blade over my shoulder. Ku no kata! Rengoku! Charging forward as the flame dragon engulfed me, I tired putting everything I had into the form. Blasting forward I cut through a multitude of earth attacks, reaching the pyramid. "You're nothing compared to an upper moon!"
Slashing down I cut through the demons defense before jumping to the side. Seeing his chance Zenitsu flashed forward, the demon's eyes widening as Zenitsu seemingly teleported in front of him. However right when his blade was about to reach the demon's neck. I heard a voice that sent a chill down my spine.
"Nope~. Can't have you killing this one yet." With a snap of his leg a familiar figure sent Zenitsu flying back with a kick to the gut.
Growling as Nezuko caught her boyfriend I spoke up. "Val'gin… why are you here? Trying to "test" me again?" The Abysswalker smirked with a shake of his head.
"Nah! Was just testing something with Ginta here, the kid is a natural with shadow and territory manipulation magic. So I'm going to take him back with me. Hope you don't mind?" Gripping my sword tightly I was about to tell him off when a blur moved past me.
"I don't think so!" With a sword covered in flames Kyojuro struck down on Val'gin's neck. Moving to the side the Abysswalker snapped his fingers, a portal opening up underneath the lower moon.
"What the fu-!" As he fell through and the portal closed Val'gin unsheathed his sword.
"So you want a fight huh? Well far be it for me to deny you!" Their swords clashed in a shower of sparks. Eyes locked in a stalemate. "Ohoho! Would you look at that? If I had to place you… you'd probably be around the second or third strongest in the corps aren't you?"
Kyojuro narrowed his eyes as he retorted. "Maybe I am? Maybe I'm not. Personally I've never cared for rankings!" Pushing the Abysswalker back he began attacking in a flurry of cuts and slashes. "All that matters is that we all continually keep getting stronger!" His words seemed to touch a nerve for Val'gin narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"Stronger huh? What would a pathetic little human like you know about strength?! So called heroes like you always annoy me the most!" I could tell that the weights Kyojuro wore were now deactivated, as pace of the fight increased. Gripping my sword tightly I turned to Mitsuri.
"Can you keep up with them?" Looking at me she gave a hesitant nod. "Alright you do your best, the rest of us will back you both up." Nodding with a look of determination she charged in. Seeing this Val'gin scoffed as he parried one of her slashes, twisting his body to dodge Kyojuro's second form.
"You know I have standing orders not to kill any of you yet. However as you no doubt know, accidents can occur. Especially if it's just two pathetic Hashira who don't know their place in the food chain!" As we all squared up we took a stance in preparation. "Let's see if you can last long enough for me to be called back? Should be fun for me either way!" Taking a step forward he rushed towards the flame pillar. His sword gleaming in the light of my spell. "Die!" With a manic laugh his sword met Kyojuro's. The fight had now begun.
Mining for ramen bowls and Line breaks!
Argentum: Alright had to rework a couple of things in that last paragraph. But I think it turned out alright.
Val'gin: Will… will we ever see Ginta again?
Ginta: I'd like to know that as well.
Muzan: Same! You took my demon moon!
Argentum: Oh put a sock in it Michael Jackson, as to whether or not you'll see him again… that'd be a spoiler.
Val'gin: So that's a no then?
Argentum: Could be.
Ginta: You're just saying that to throw people off aren't you?
Argentum: Could be.
Val'gin: Abyss dang it.
Ginta: Yeah walked right into that one.
Val'gin: Heh maybe the demon kind of pop here can moon walk into it?
Muzan: I will murder you!
Val'gin: Doubt it.
Argentum: Okay enough fighting. Ginta since you may or may not be seen ever again for a long time if not forever. You shall end this chapter off!
Ginta: Okay you put too much into that but fine. This has been a Dark Guard production now signing off.
Everyone: Goodbye!