Argentum: Time to continue again, and for those of you who have made it this far thanks for sticking with us.
Slayer: I'll be honest and say despite the dubious start things are picking up.
Argentum: Thank you.
Gorn'Veln: Can't wait for my appearance this chapter!
Grel'Slyfer: Oh great.
Shirone: I think I can make some infrences to who this new guy is by his name.
Argentum: Maybe… maybe not! Anyways there's actually not much to discuss at this moment. If we get a review we'll just add it in like always.
Slayer: Huh guess this is a pretty short section then. Impressive.
Argentum: Yes so let's keep it that way. Gorn? Go ahead and start us off.
Gorn'Veln: Of course sir. We here at the Dark Guard productions do not own any of the intellectual properties portrayed. We only own original characters and reality building concepts. Everything else belongs to their respective owners. Now without further ado…
Everyone: Here's the story!
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter Forty Nine: How I tried to explain modern technology or… How I watched a surprising battle…
I was currently staring at the young girl who now had two white cat ears and tails. She was, no pun intended, smiling at us cattily. What I just learned was not something I had expected. A person enhanced by both whatever void energy is and eldritch blood?! Who knew Cthulhu was actually a thing! Shaking my head I looked over to those who heard my Lovecraftian stories. They were currently huddled up in a corner looking at the Nekoshou in fear. I really shouldn't have told those stories.
Hearing a laugh I looked back towards Shirone. "Hoho! No need to be scared! Onii Chan was only enhanced by eldritch blood. He never got far enough to make others lose their minds by simply looking at him." That relieved some of their worries, though I still had one major concern.
"That's all well and good… but! How much of his humanity does he have left?" She looked at me for a moment before shrugging. "That's not the kind of answer I was looking for!" Again she grinned at me cattily. Sighing I deduced that Shirone was already corrupted by her brother in some form. "Alright then, guess we'll just have to see for ourselves. Think your team would be willing to work with us?" She pursed her lips and made a so so gesture.
"Really depends on first impressions. I know they won't try to kill you, but whether or not they work with you? Well… I would like to since you all seem nice. But Onii Chan has some specific… let's just say standards for those who work with him." I couldn't help but sigh as she smirked. "Don't worry~! I'm sure he'll accept ya'll~." Nodding I turned to the others who had approached us.
Looking down at Shirone Tanjiro hummed before speaking. "So yokai actually exist then?" Shirone puffed out her chest with a nod. "Well least that's something interesting that we've learned today." Besides a few more stoic members of our group, the rest nodded in a "you got a point" like manner. Shaking my head I turned towards the door that had appeared.
"Well guess we should get moving." As soon as I said that Muichiro started walking towards it. I couldn't help but give the kid a very unimpressed look. "Why did I expect anything else from him?" Walking up to me Tengen patted my shoulder in understanding. With that we followed after the mist Hashira. As we arrived into the next room more clockwork dolls jumped out of the floor boards. Surprisingly it was Shirone that charged forward first. Much to our protests of course. However that's where we learned she also possessed super strength.
For with a jump and a kick, she smashed through one of the two larger dolls. "Come get some!" As she unsheathed a wakizashi the rest of us jumped in. As it turned out even Muichiro was a little shocked and had stayed back with us. Thankfully with Shirone's help it was actually pretty easy to clean up the area. "And that's a wrap! Victory for me! Hahaha!" Looking at her I decidedly put her into the "I've slightly lost my mind" category.
Shaking my head I sheathed my sword and looked around, this time we not only found shot gun slugs but also other bits of ammunition. I had no idea why that was but figured it didn't quite matter. Since we didn't need them we left the ammunition alone and chose another door. Or more accurately let Muichiro choose sense he didn't seem to really care for our opinions. As we walked in and prepared for more combat, we all winced in worry when ten large dolls popped out of the ground.
Shirone simply smirked at this. "Great! More fun to be had!" And then rushed in followed by Muichiro. Deciding that we couldn't just let the kids fight alone, the rest of us charged in. We soon found out something was different when Tanjiro swung his sword at one. This time instead of doing superficial damage, Tanjiro's blade bounced off, the blade chipping even more from the blow. That wasn't something I enjoyed seeing, however what I enjoyed seeing even less was how my own sword bounced off of a doll.
Though my blade wasn't chipped or blunted in any way. I realized that I couldn't cut through these ones with my base strength. Realizing the same thing, Kanao used something that shocked me. For coming from around her neck was some kind of vine like demon mark.
Turned out she had been training for this in secret and just now decided to show us. However it was enough, for when swinging at a doll she had cut right through it. Seeing this both myself and Tanjiro activated our own marks before slashing at the dolls. This time we cut into them. I however couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. I had wanted to conserve my energy for later, which was why I started fighting without the mark. Now however I needed it to even cause minimal damage.
Seeing our success Mitsuri and Nezuko jumped in and kicked the dolls. It was then that I realized the blunt force was the way to go, for their kicks easily shattered the dolls. Even Shirone was able to shatter them with punches and kicks. Looking down at my hand I realized what I had to do.
This is going to hurt. With a sigh I jumped to the closest one and punched it. It felt as if I was punching a steal wall. Though that didn't really surprise me seeing how they were made of metal. Thankfully with the demon slayer mark I was strong enough to shatter my target.
Inosuke upon seeing our success laughed and charged in. "Alright! Time to break some stupid puppets!" Punching out we all heard the ring of metal. Now while the doll was just fine, Inosuke however… "Ahh! Dammit! That hurt you bastard!" With a yell of anger he started swinging with his swords, his chipped blades leaving at least some superficial damage. That's when with a flash of lightning Zenitsu took off the doll's head. Having used the momentum from his first form to actually do damage.
That had given me an idea. So slipping into my tenth form I flashed forward to another and cut it in half. I couldn't help but grin at this. Seeing what I was doing Tengen also grinned, and then mimicking me and Zenitsu, used his speed to generate enough force with his cleavers to destroy the last doll. Once the dolls were destroyed I let my mark fall dormant, not wanting to strain my stamina further. As we took a moment to catch our breath the sister spoke over the speakers.
[And with amazing timing Team Void is the first to reach the second floor! Team Demon however is right behind them, which just leaves team Dragon to play catch up! However seeing how the game has just begun, the winner of the game is still up in the air! Just who will win?!] There was more fake cheering from the speakers before sound cut off again.
Shaking my head I decided to pick the next door, Muichiro's complaints be damned at this point. As I did so however the mist pillar spoke up.
"What do you think you're doing? I'm the one leading this group remember?" I gave the kid a look, however before I could say anything Genya walked up to him.
He didn't look to happy right now. "Okay that's it you little brat!" He was now up in Muichiro's face, and for the first time I actually saw annoyance on the kid's face. "You've been acting all high and mighty this whole time! Like you're something truly special! Well here's some information for ya! Just because you're a pillar doesn't mean squat right now! You have no experience dealing with anything going on right now, you aren't even the strongest of our team, and you're not even the most experienced fighter here!" Muichiro narrowed his eyes and looked the scarred boy directly in the eyes.
"And you're just someone who should learn his place! Expendable as you are you shouldn't be talking all high and mighty." It looked as if the two would come to blows however Tanjiro quickly tried to calm them down.
"Hey now! This isn't really a time to be fighting! I mean we're all on the same side right?" Both boys grabbed Tanjiro's Haori before shouting at him.
""Stay out of this!"" While Tengen laughed and Kanao looked ready to kill the two, I simply sighed as everyone else watched worriedly. That's when something happened that quickly interrupted them. A hole opened up underneath Genya. What's more with how close Muichiro was to him, the kid also fell into the hole. Of course this meant Tanjiro also followed suit seeing how they were both grabbing onto him. As they fell and yelled in panic the ground closed up before we could do anything.
After a moment of silence Tengen spoke up. "Well that ain't good."
I've always like team building line break exercises.
After a few moments of simply looking at the floor Kanao fell to her knees. "No…" Putting a hand on her shoulder Nezuko offered some comfort.
"I'm sure they'll be fine, Onii Chan still has his demon mark." With a sigh Kanao nodded as Shirone spoke up cheerfully.
"No idea what a demon mark is, but if it helps this is exactly what happened to me. So unless they end up with team Demon I'm sure nothing bad will happen-" She was interrupted as a couch popped out the ground along with a coffee table full of snacks. In front of it a T.V also popped out. "To them… What is the T.V set for?" I shrugged before walking up to said T.V. That's when the screen turned on and showed an overview of some kind of arena. In it were our missing members along with something I've never seen before. Thankfully Shirone had an answer for anything I could've asked. "Oh no… Len'Bul… that was the Nether lord we were fighting before being trapped in here."
I swiftly turned to her. "And just what is a Nether lord?" She gave me a strained smile before answering.
"Well… let's just say it's a nasty strong demon born from the chaotic energies of the Nether. Highly intelligent and even more brutal." With panic Nezuko and Kanao ran up to the flat screen. Shouting at it in hopes that Tanjiro could hear them, seeing this Shirone sighed. "They can't hear you! Sheesh do you not know what a T.V is?" Those from my team looked at her in confusion. "Wait you really don't know?!"
I couldn't help but sigh and pat her head. "They're from the pre-world war one era. T.V's weren't really a staple thing quite yet." Shirone folded her arms and nodded in understanding as I turned to everyone else. "For your information a T.V or television is… how do I put this without getting too technical?" After a moment I shrugged. "Okay to put it simply it is an electronic device or a device that runs on electricity. That displays footage or pictures and sounds on it. That's as far as I'll go for explanations because I really don't want to explain everything about it right now." That got them to nod in understanding as Tengen rubbed his chin.
"So this is simply displaying something that is happening somewhere else? They're not actually trapped in the box?" I nodded my head at his question. "That is extremely extravagant! I wish we could take this T.V with us to show to the others!" Despite the situation I couldn't help but agree, I would've certainly help with the boredom we face from time to time.
Kanao however wasn't having any of that. "That's all well and good, but how do we help him?!" Nezuko nodded furiously with her probably future sister in law.
"Yeah!" Me and Shirone looked at one another awkwardly, gesturing to the girls Shirone indicated that I should explain. So with a sigh I did.
"We can't, our friends are on their own, as unfortunate as that might be that is the reality of the situation. All we can do is sit down, watch, and hope for the best." As expected they did not like that answer. However they accepted it nonetheless and sat down on the couch. With a sigh at seeing her worriedly looking at the T.V Zenitsu sat next to Nezuko. Then in a move that was usually a bit too smooth for him to pull off. He wrapped an arm around Nezuko and simply hugged her close. The demon girl appreciated the gesture and even smiled for a moment.
That smile than quickly became a frown as she looked back at the screen. Seeing how we weren't going anywhere any time soon the rest of us also sat down. Immediately Tengen and Mitsuri asked me about the snacks on the table. I was about to explain when I saw a snack I hadn't had in years now. So before answering I grabbed the Dorito bag for myself.
Only then did I explain what each of the snacks was. It was a pretty quick grab and take after that with the exception of Zenitsu, Nezuko, and Kanao. The latter two were too worried to eat, while Zenitsu didn't want to eat while his girlfriend was worried. A few moments later a small section of the screen was taken up by two individuals in a news room. They were both dressed strangely in some kind of steam punk theme garb.
When I heard the man talk I realized it was the brother of the two who brought us. [Hello to the folks at home! Again I'm Gorn'Veln.] Tipping his wide brimmed hat his sister spoke.
[And I'm Hin'gorn! His cuter and more likable twin.] Her brother seemed to give her a bored looked behind his sunglasses and mask before turning back to the camera.
[Ignoring that, we welcome you to the first cross fight of the game!] Even though she was now giving her brother a look of disdain from under her straw hat Hin'gorn continued.
[That's right~! After a random draw, it was decided that one member from team Demon, would fight only one member from team Dragon. However due to some unforeseen circumstances, he will also now need to fight two other memebers! Let's hope for an interesting fight for those at home.] At the twins' names and eyes I quickly deduced they were either Darkwraith or Abysswalkers. However considering our track record I was leaning towards Darkwraith. However their black and white eyes didn't seem nearly as malicious as the other Darkwraith I had encountered.
Shaking my head I decided that I could think on that later. Instead I focused in the battle that was about to commence. It didn't start as I expected it to; instead the large dark purple crystal monstrosity clapped two of its arms together. In a blast of pure power it sent the three teens flying back. There was no warning, no words traded; instead there was just enough time to breathe before the attack happened. Thankfully the arena was large enough to right themselves up and skid across the ground before hitting a wall. With a narrowed look Muichiro charged in first.
"Shi no kata Iryūgiri." Dashing forward Muichiro unsheathed his sword and slashed at the monster from under its legs. Thankfully its twelve foot height was enough for Muichiro to fully slip in between its legs. The damage done however was barely superficial, with the slash only scratching a couple inches of the creature's body. His sword however seemed to chip on the Nether lord's body
The attack itself however only seemed to annoy the nether demon as it gave a low growl. "Such an insect." Using the third lower arm on its right side the nether lord swatted at Muichiro. Thankfully the kid had the mind to duck underneath the blow instead of try to block it. Even took another slash at the arm as it flew over him. However that did even less damage than his first attack. Deciding to enter the fray Tanjiro charged forward his mark awakened once more.
When the nether lord saw Tanjiro attack he swung a left arm at him. Tanjiro seeing the attack jumped up and twirled around using his Kiki Onkō technique. This time a noticeable yet still small gash was cut into their enemy. However Tanjiro's sword seemed to chip even more.
Tengen quickly summed up the situation. "That's not a good sign. Seriously that kid's gonna need a new sword after this!" The two teen girls in our group seemed to tense at his words. Being the one who sat next to her, Mitsuri hugged Kanao while Zenitsu hugged Nezuko a bit closer. I myself couldn't help but clench my fists as I continued to watch.
The next to make a move was Len'Bul. Who raised his hands and created some sort of white cloud of energy over his head. Sensing danger the trio of fighters we were rooting for jumped at far back as possible. Thankfully it wasn't a moment too soon as the nether lord unleashed hell. It did so with a powerful roar that dispersed the cloud into projectiles of grey light. There too many for me to count without my Lyb'Craeft, which meant that there were too many for our trio.
Thus they were quickly bombarded by the projectiles as they tried to dodge between them. As they were swallowed by light all of us couldn't help but yell out to them in worry. As dust slowly settled I sighed in relief as they seemed to make it out of the attack alive. Already Tanjiro and Genya were healing their wounds. Though I was mostly worried for Muichiro seeing how he had no ability to heal himself. Looking at his opponents only made the nether demon laugh though.
"HA! Such pathetic worms you all are! You've barely scratched me and yet with a single move I've nearly crushed you all! You humans are so pathetic; at least I thought the one who smelt of dragon would be interesting." As his six white glowing beady eyes trained on Tanjiro the demon shook its enormous head. "Seems as if I'll be sorely disappointed." With narrowed eyes Tanjiro finished healing himself before gripping his sword with a breath. Closing his eyes he took a moment to center himself, as his eyes opened his sword was wreathed in fire. "Oh?"
With more speed than I've seen before Tanjiro dashed forward, at the same time Genya took the chance to provide covering fire. Shooting off his shotgun which did little more than annoy the creature. However the pellets did their job and for a moment the demon looked at Genya. With a smirk Tanjiro slashed at the monster's neck, leaving a much more significant cut. As it leaked black oil like blood it roared in pain before glaring at Tanjiro. The whisker like tendrils around its "face" moving dangerously.
"For that I will devour you first." It was a calm rage the Nether lord exuded as it charged at our sun boy. With speed the belied its size it was upon Tanjiro in an instant. With great sweeping glowing white claws it tried to cut Tanjiro to pieces. It was taking everything my knight had to keep away from those claws. As this was going on Muichiro had jumped in from behind, slashing away with misty clouds seemingly wafting from his blade. Again only superficial scratches appeared on the nether lord's crystal flesh.
Genya's shotgun was even less effective, eventually it all came to a head when the snapping of metal rang. All of our eyes widened as Tanjiro swung and his sword snapped on one of Len'Bul's claws. Thankfully Tanjiro avoided major damage; however the front of his uniform was cut open. Some blood from a thin cut running down the kid's chest. Those next to me yelled out in shock and panic.
I myself could only grit my teeth. "This is not good."
I've always like team building line break exercises.
Tanjiro did not seem to be enjoying his time in the ring. "Great! Now I'll have to deal with Hotaru San trying to kill me again!" Chuckling the Nether lord held a hand to him.
"You won't have to worry about that if you let me kill you." We all stopped worrying for Tanjiro when it seemed that he actually considered the offer.
Glaring at me Kanao made me sweat a bit. "You're tainting my adorable boyfriend." Turning away I coughed into my hand doing my best to not make eye contact with the flower girl. Speaking of her adorable boyfriend he was currently jumping back to avoid injury.
"Tanjiro!" With a yell Genya tossed his short sword to the kid.
"Arigatou Genya!" Catching it Tanjiro unsheathed it and struck at the monster. I wasn't nearly as surprised to see it actually wound it further. It only proved my concerns about Tanjiro's blacksmith. As I thought on that Muichiro jumped on the Nether lord's back and stabbed down. A rather fierce look on his face, and though it didn't go too deep it did inflict some damage.
After a moment of humming Shirone spoke up as Muichiro jumped back. "You guys don't use normal weapons do you? Because the damage you're causing is a bit more than even my Onii Chan could inflict. Guessing they're specifically designed to deal with fiends and devils? Which I suppose is better for specific fights while Kusunagi is more well-rounded for all fights. Least that's what Onii Chan would probably say."
We all stared at her before Mitsuri asked the question we all wanted to ask. "What do you mean by fiends and devils? Our weapons are meant to fight demons." Shirone practically snorted before giving us a small lecture.
"Well yeah! I mean demons are a subset of fiends. And usually things that affect fiends also affect devils. Like this Arch Demon we know! He was hit by a holy weapon and started crying in pain. Though I am thoroughly convinced he was hamming it up."
This time it was Nezuko that spoke up. "Wait what do you mean by Arch Demon?" Shirone only shrugged as she turned back to the T.V
"I'll be honest and say I have no idea myself. That's just the rank he himself said he owned, didn't help that he refused to elaborate." Seeing how it couldn't be help I also looked back at the T.V. I couldn't help but also hum as it seemed they finally started planning something. It started with Genya taking out a small vial of what looked like red liquid. I knew it was demon blood as he drank it. Shirone scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Did he just drink blood? I mean Onii Chan makes a healing potion kind of thing from blood. But that's meant to be directly injected not drank! What is he a vampire? Cause I really don't want to deal with another, Moka and Alucard are bad enough. Especially Alucard…"
As Nezuko informed her what Genya was actually doing I watched as the two charged in. With his enhanced speed, Genya charged forward and fired shot after shot of his nichirin buck shot at Len'Bul. While this only annoyed the monster, said monster retaliated with his energy cloud attack once again. However this time they were prepared and Muichiro used another form to deflect the attack.
"San no kata Kasan no Shibuki." Swinging his blade a circular slash of mist collided against the projectiles. As they made contact the energy exploded obscuring even more of the area. That's when Tanjiro took his chance, and while jumping up his sword covered in fire, I saw his blade turn red. I couldn't help but let my eyes widen as Tanjiro yelled out his own form.
"Nichiun no Ryū Kaburimai!" With a dragon made of fire Tanjiro struck, slicing through the monster's thick crystal like body. It yelled out in pain and anger as it lost all but it's smallest left arm. As it lost the right side of its head, and its second right leg. Next to me Shirone let out a whistle.
"Woo! That's what Len'Bul gets for going easy on them!" I couldn't help but find myself worried as the Nether lord fell over. Black oily blood flowing from its wounds.
He was going easy on them? I was shook out of my thoughts as twins were shown on the screen again.
[Well look at that! What an upset for team Demon! The defeat of their heaviest hitter will certainly slow their advance down now!] My eyes narrowed further as his sister spoke up.
[Oh most certainly! However that's what they get for pure arrogance. May this be a lesson for the future. Now since they've won team Dragon not only gets to automatically move three floors to the next safe room. But they also get a prize! What that is you viewers will just have to wait and see. For now let's return our three victors!] Cue more yells of panic as our three fighters fell through holes in the ground. As the T.V cut off three holes opened up in the ceiling. Watching I couldn't help but wince as they were deposited roughly on the ground.
As they groaned Nezuko and Kanao ran over to help Tanjiro up. I couldn't help but shake my head at their worried fussing. Upon walking over them myself along with the others I decided spoke up.
"So… when were you going to say anything about being able to turn your sword crimson?" I then looked at Kanao. "Also when were you going to say anything about awakening a mark?" Looking at me as he hugged his sister and lover Tanjiro laughed sheepishly, Kanao however kind of ignored me.
"I kind of noticed being able to do so when I fought Akaza. However I didn't quite realize what I actually did until I tried it again just now." I couldn't help but sigh and ask how he did it… his explanation was less than stellar. "Well… when I was using the mark you know how your heart kind of beats rapidly?" I nodded as he continued. "I kind of shifted my heart beats down into my sword, and I continued to do so until my hands started thumping themselves! It kind of gave me a tremble tremble kind of feeling; know what I'm talking about?" All of us looked at him strangely.
"Oh I get it completely!" Well besides Mitsuri who looked excited. Then again I wasn't too surprised, the love pillar was just as bad at explaining things as Tanjiro. I couldn't help but shake my head and look down at my own sword.
Still least we know there's another way to turn your sword crimson. With a grin I looked back towards a new door that had opened up. Maybe I'll be able to try it out soon.
I've always like team building line break exercises.
Argentum: Well that was interesting… though I honestly thought that would be a harder fight!
Slayer: I'm not apologizing for having the correct equipment to deal with a problem. If anything blame the fight generator we made. Besides you know that I had planned for Len'Bul to be a weak throw away guy in my story. Least when I get there.
Grel'Slyfer: Knew we shouldn't have used a random generator for the fights.
Gorn'Veln: But that's what makes them fun!
Shadow: I can't believe how random and accurate the battles cued up are.
Hin'gorn: Yep! Can't wait for the main attraction~.
Zenitsu: Why don't I like the sound of that?
Hin'gorn: Because you're wimp~!
Zenitsu: Bleh! That cuts deep…
Grel'Slyfer: If only you were actually cut.
Argentum: Okay enough with that. Since you're the newbie… Hin'gorn go ahead and end this off.
Hin'gorn: With pleasure sir~! Ahem! This has been a Dark Guard production now signing off!
Everyone: Goodbye!