Argentum: Yes time for some more fun!
Hantengu: Yes time to show true justice to these cretins!
Grel'Slyfer: I just want to see more death.
Mitsuri: Of course you do.
Hotaru: I personally can't wait to show off my stuff!
Tanjiro: I believe in you!
Hotaru: YES! Believe in me the god of blacksmithing!
Grel'Slyfer: Oh wow.
Mitsuri: That is a bit much.
Tanjiro: Mhm.
Hotaru: Oh shut up! You just can't appreciate true art!
Hantengu: I think a certain friend of mine would disagree.
Hotaru: Why you little-
Argentum: Okay! That's enough of that! Hantengu please start us off before we start a fight please?
Hantengu: Fine… We here at the Dark Guard productions do not own anything but things we've personally came up with. Now without any further distractions…
Everyone: Here's the story!
Argentum: Did you have to put it like that?
Hantengu: For justice? Yes.
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter Fifty Five: How Tanjiro got a new sword or… How I fought off my first horde…
We had now been in the swordsmith village for two and a half weeks. Those of us who still had our swordsmiths now nearly had completed swords. Turned out the enchantments made the whole process a lot more complicated, apparently the metal needed to be carefully engraved for it to work. As for Tanjiro's swordsmith… he was still in the woods somewhere. It was getting to the point where me, Genya, and Mitsuri would have to leave him and get on with other missions. It was unfortunate because that would just leave him with Muichiro.
The same kid who had challenged me almost every day since our first spar. He was good no doubt, but I still wanted to focus on my new form as well as the crimson blade. The second thing was still eluding me despite all the time I've put into it. My strength was however starting to grow past my fellow Hashira's. It was however a slower process then when I sparred with Kanao way back when. Muichiro was simply that talented to keep up with my natural enhancements. Speaking of training, with me helping Kotetsu, Tanjiro's training against the type zero was going very well. In fact with how Kotetsu was pushing him. Tanjiro was catching up to me!
Made me grin for the next time we sparred. As I was thinking this I deflected a vertical slash from Muichiro. As I did so I thrusted my blade forward only for him to jump back. Our "borrowed" swords chipped and cracked from our fight. With one last swing they shattered the same as all of our previous bouts. Seeing how that signified the end of our fight I sighed.
"I cannot wait to get my actual sword back."
With a sigh of his own Muichiro nodded. "These swords are holding us back. Even if we've adapted to their brittleness over the course of our fights, there is only so much we can do with weak blades." Nodding in agreement I picked up the pieces of my sword as he did the same. Thinking it was time for another lesson I walked up to him. "Here I'll take yours as well." He looked at me in confusion as I took his shards.
"Weren't you the one who told me that a part of being responsible is cleaning up your own messes?" Knowing I had him by the hook I smirked.
"Yes it is, but another part about being a responsible and good person is helping others. And I decided to help you because you weren't demanding it of me." He frowned as he got his usual look of contemplation. I couldn't help it at that point and patted his head. "Don't think on it too hard. It's just part of being a good human being." With a scowl of annoyance he slapped my hand away.
"Don't touch me." As I walked away I couldn't help but laugh. "And don't laugh at me! I'm not just some random kid you know?!" That just made me laugh harder and him scowl harder. Though that didn't stop him from following me, it was lunch time by this point. Our first stop after dropping off our broken swords was where Tanjiro was training.
Seeing him still going at it with Kotetsu driving him into the ground I yelled out. "Yo! It's time for lunch!" Turning to me with sweat dripping down his face Tanjiro nodded.
"Right!" Sheathing his borrowed sword he and Kotetsu joined us as we walked back to the guest house. Once inside we saw that the others had already arrived. Both seemed a little tired from their own training.
Seeing us Mitsuri waved with her trademarked smile. "Hi~! Glad to see you all join us on time for once~. We thought we'd have to send someone out to find you all again." Me and Tanjiro couldn't help but laugh sheepishly at that, in fact even Muichiro seemed to be a bit embarrassed as he looked to the side. I couldn't help but smile at that, made me believe I was starting to finally get through to the kid. Sitting down I began to eat as Kanao leaned into Tanjiro, the two not even caring about how dirty the other was.
Now ain't that love? Smirking I decided to let them be as I turned to Genya. "Hmm, what do you got there?" Looking up from the rifle he was working on Genya grinned.
"It's a Bushmaster K&M Arms' M17S556. Decided to get a fully automatic rifle for when I need something fast. Makes me glad I chose to keep a sawed off shotgun instead of the full size. Makes it easier to carry this and that at the same time." I nodded at that I looked at the rifle. It was the closest I'd seen to a modern rifle. Or at least modern for me, that gun was still two hundred and fifty years out of date.
Handing it to me I took a closer look at it. "Hmm I actually like the weight, and let's be honest the design is pretty cool." Genya nodded with folded arms and a proud smirk on his face.
"Can I see that?" At Muichiro's question all of us looked at him. "What?" Shaking his head from the surprise Genya shrugged.
"I don't see why not." Seeing how he gave permission I handed the gun over to Muichiro.
As he looked at it I whispered to Genya. "It's not loaded right?" He nodded seriously. "Oh thank kami." I was especially grateful for it not being loaded when the kid pulled the trigger a couple of times.
"So… are these things actually good for hunting demons?"
Being the expert in that side of things Genya grinned. "Hell Yeah! I mean you saw me use them on those uppermoons before right?" Muichiro shook his head.
"I don't remember much. Haven't ever since I lost my memories." This deflated Genya's enthusiasm.
"Well… despite that it still worked on them. So if they work on an uppermoon they should work on all demons right?" Seemingly mulling it over Muichiro eventually nodded in agreement.
"I suppose if a hunter can't use a sword then a gun would suffice. A good way to make other people marginally more useful." I couldn't help but give a small smile at his words. It was better than his previous opinion at least. Watching him hand the rifle back to Genya gave me more hope. Muichiro was a good kid, he just needed to grow up a bit more and I was willing to help with that.
Least he's not trying to steal the rifle.
New line break swords and old line break faces.
The next day I was surprised when Muichiro joined me as I helped Kotetsu add in some repairs to the Type zero. I mean sure he didn't say anything, or help, or even move from where he sat. But it was still progress, however this would be the last time I helped Kotetsu. I simply didn't have anything left to teach him. The kid had absorbed everything I could teach him. With one final pat on the robot I closed the back panel.
"Well that's all we can do to restore it to its former glory. Everything else will have to come from you." Kotetsu nodded before turning to Tanjiro.
"Whelp! Time for you to get back to work!" Nodding Tanjiro stood up and unsheathed his new "borrowed" sword. As he did so the robot unsheathed its own swords. Then in an instant they flashed towards one another. Their blades clashing as they danced around one another, a sight that made me grin at how much Tanjiro had improved. Looking down next to my smile grew. For our fellow pillar was looking on with a look of shock.
"It wasn't that strong when I fought it." He then looked up at me. "Did you and that child really improve it that much?"
Folding my arms I nodded. "While I wouldn't use the word improve we did indeed repair it back to its original condition." There was a twitch of a smile on the kid's face.
"I see… I'll have to give it another go then." As he fell silent we both watched on as Tanjiro fought the mechanical doll. The only sounds coming from their battle or the yells of Kotetsu's coaching. The young blacksmith was actually very analytical and proved to provide good insights. Watching Tanjiro I also knew that his ability to read an opponent's movements had improved greatly. It was something that was drilled into before I even came to this world. So I was glad to see Tanjiro picking up on it.
The battle became fiercer until a single moment, a single opening showed itself to Tanjiro. With no hesitation he swung and took the head off the doll. As he did so Kotetsu cheered and I gave a few claps.
"Amazing Tanjiro San! Now that's what I'm talking about when it comes to strength!" Breathing heavily Tanjiro turned to us with an enormous smile.
That's when Muichiro noticed something. "Is that a sword sticking out of the doll?" Blinking we all turned to see a sword handle, something that visibly confused me.
"Okay how did that get in there? We were fixing it just a moment ago and that wasn't there." As if in a trance Tanjiro approached it.
"I know this sword… I saw it through my ancestral memories. It's Yoriichi's sword." That got us all to look at the blade in shock, even Muichiro was looking surprised.
Kotetsu was the first to recover with an enthusiastic shout. "That must mean that he trusted you to have it! He must've put the sword in there right before the fight because he knew you'd best the doll! It's the only thing that makes sense!" I would've commented how believing that a ghost must've helped put a sword in a robot was crazy. But I was already pretty familiar with how the dead operate in this world, and thus thought that it did make sense. "Well?! What are you waiting for?! Take it and see how the blade is!" As we all walked closer to see Tanjiro do as Kotetsu suggested. We all became disappointed.
Muichiro seemed the most disappointed. "You know… seeing my ancestor's sword so rusty and dull actually fills me with disappointment." Looking at the rusted nearly useless blade me agree. However I could still see the simple beauty in it. The circular shaped tsuba had slight indentations, with a black center and a golden border. However I noticed that it too was engraved. With the kanji for destroy on the side of the blade.
That was when an unexpected visitor appeared. "I heard what's going on! Now hand me that sword!" A bit startled we saw a now extremely buff Hotaru run at us. "Give me it!" With panicked yells Tanjiro and Kotetsu tried to keep the sword out of his hands. Me and Muichiro could only watch on in shocked confusion. That's when another familiar face showed up.
"That's enough Hotaru." Tickling his sides Kozo Kanamori stopped his fellow swordsmith. "Hello everyone, I haven't seen you since… that man! Decided to chip my creations." I couldn't help but wince at remembering what Inosuke did to his swords. "Moving on from that however, I just wished to say what Hotaru San wishes to do. You see he wants to fix that blade; in fact he's been training in the mountains this whole time. Planning on coming back and making an even better sword for Kamado Dono. You see while he'll never admit it he's extremely grateful that you've never given up on him. Despite his exuberant personality."
Smiling Tanjiro took the sword that was dropped and handed it to a recovered Hotaru. "In that case I'm going to trust you with this." Crying so hard tears were coming from his mask Hotaru took the sword.
"I promise to do everything I can to restore the sword and add in the new enchantments Tanjiro Sama!" Next to me Kotetsu whispered so Muichiro and I could hear him.
"Wished he simply said what his plan was. Would've cleared up this situation before he was tickled unconscious." The two of us could only nod.
With a yell Hotaru ran off. "I will make the ultimate sword! HAHAHA!" Sighing Kozo turned to us.
"I suppose I should make sure he arrives at his smithy. It was good seeing you all again." With a bow he turned and left after his insane fellow smith. Seeing how that situation was over and done with, and that Tanjiro had his swordsmith back. I turned to the teen.
"So I guess you'll get your sword soon enough." Nodding Tanjiro turned to the Yoriichi doll and bowed.
"Thank you for your gift."
Smiling I patted him on the back before turning to Kotetsu. "So? Ready to fix the robot for future slayers?" The kid seemed to beam as he rolled up his sleeves.
"You betcha! In fact I'll make it even better than before!" Grinning I watched as he ran to the robot with some extra parts.
New line break swords and old line break faces.
A day after the return of Hotaru my own sword was done. "I hope my work suits you Smith Dono." Smiling as I sat in front of Hitoshi I took my sword from him and unsheathed it. The blade that was colored steel once more turned into my colors. The black and purple flames spread over it once more. However for a brief moment I could see the runes now even more strongly forged into it. Made me wonder how Hotaru would add them into Tanjiro's blade.
Standing up I gave it a few swings and nodded. "It is perfect." Turning to him sheathed my re-forged sword and bowed. "Thank you for all that you've done." He simply laughed off my thanks.
"It is of no issue Smith Dono; I just hope this version serves you better than the last." Smiling I talked with him about maintenance for a bit before leaving. It was night now and with my sword finished I'd be leaving the next day. In fact I'd be leaving with Kanao, Mitsuri, and Genya. Them having their tools and weapons done as well. Little did I know what was going to happen that night.
It started with a yell of panic. "ARGGHHH!" With wide eyes I took off towards the sound. Joining me was Tanjiro and Kanao.
"I'm guessing you two also heard that scream?" Both nodded and Tanjiro spoke.
"I'm also picking up on the scent of blood! But I also smell something familiar…" I didn't like that; I especially didn't like that last part. For if he smelt something familiar, it meant an enemy that we hadn't taken care of yet. It all became clear as we reached a blood soaked clearing. A long white haired figure standing over and devouring a deceased smith.
Turning to us she smiled viciously. "You know I had hoped to see you here. Yet I didn't quite think that you would be." Taking a step towards us Daki started shaking in anger. "And while I know you aren't the ones who killed my Nii San… I'm going to enjoy tearing all apart just the same!" As she yelled that an explosion rang out towards the village. As we turned around in shock Daki laughed. "And of course the icing on top of all of this! Is how we'll be destroying your little organizations weapon suppliers! We made sure to recruit plenty of help to ensure that!"
Turning around as I gripped my sword I felt torn. I wanted to go back to the village and protect everyone there. But at the same time I knew I couldn't ignore Daki. Her eyes were betraying the madness that had taken hold of her. Taking few steps forward Tanjiro spoke to me, his tone held no excuse for an argument.
"Nii San… me and Kanao can handle this. You go and help the village."
Walking up next to him Kanao backed up his claim. "He's right! They need you more than we do right now. So please go and help them." Daki frowned at this as I hesitated. I didn't want them to fight Daki alone. Yet I knew they were right and so turned around.
"Don't die." With my parting words I woke up my mark and disappeared in a burst of speed. My speed allowed me to arrive in moments, and with sword raised I cut off the head of some random demon. Turning to its would be victim I quickly questioned the smith. "Are you alright?" At his nod I helped him up. "Good to hear, now do you know where the largest amount of demons are?"
With a nod he pointed towards the chief's house. "Most of them are over there! Their main target is the chief! The rest of us are making our way to the shelters. But please don't worry about us! Just save the chief!" A look of determination placed itself on my face as I turned.
"I'll do everything I can." As he thanked me I ran forward, using my top speed to make it before anything could happen to the chief. I was surprised to see a bunch of armed swordsmiths fighting off a horde of low lever demons. I guess Daki really did recruit a large number of demons for this mission. Gritting my teeth I landed in front of the horde and struck. Jū Ni no kata Enbaton'neru! Using my new ember tunnel form I swung in a strong circular motion. Creating a long horizontal tornado of flames that swallowed a row of demons.
It was enough for a pause in the fight. Taking advantage of the pause I rushed in and started taking heads. The demons recovered and started attacking me from all angles. But with eyes glowing with power I swung, ducked, and weaved through all of them. Using everything I had to distract them from the defending smiths. Grabbing arms I tossed them into other demons, kicking out I knocked demons into each other, and with my sword I lobbed off their heads. Blood stained my clothes as I continued my assault, a certifiable one man army against these weak demons. Feeling an attack come in behind me I didn't even flinch as I heard a familiar voice.
"Shi no kata Iryūgiri." After killing the demon aiming for my back Muichiro pressed his back to mine. "I see that the weaklings are trying to overrun us with numbers." Nodding as I took out another demon I smirked.
"Heh! What can you expect from the weak?" It was only for a moment but as we turned to attack two demons that charged out sides. I was able to see a smile on the kid's face. Now smiling myself I ran into the fray, slashing and hacking my way through the horde. As we did so we heard an explosion come from inside the building. Thankfully for my nerves I saw Mitsuri jump out of the roof with the chief on her back.
Seeing us she waved nervously. "Hey guys… we might be in trouble." I was about to ask what she meant, when a grotesque looking demon jumped out of the roof as well.
As he cried in fear he yelled at Mitsuri. "Just hand over the old man you villain! Can't you see how weak and cowardly I am?! I can't fight you so you should just hand him over!" His pupiless eyes betrayed nothing but his own fear. With narrowed eyes I sheathed my sword before using my tenth form to flash over. Cutting off the demon's head in the process.
That was too easy. As I watched the demon my eyes widened as it split into two demons. "I knew something was up!" At the sight of their eyes I couldn't help but have a flash back. "Uppermoon one… so you're Kokushibo's replacement?"
The uppermoon with a monk's staff growled at me for that comment. "How dare you compare us to that deserter! Die!" Waving his staff that was now covered in electricity, he swung it at me. Firing off lightning bolts towards me. Gritting my teeth and realizing there were still some smiths behind me I swung.
Shi no kata Sei En no Uneri! As the bolts of electricity hit my flame shield the demon growled louder.
"I know who you are! You're that new flame Hashira! You've been a thorn in our side for far too long!" He then turned around. "Hey! Gyokko! Get your ass out here!" My eyes widened as a pot was thrown next to the demon.
"Hold your horses I was simply finishing off my art." As the uppermoon two showed up I couldn't help but sigh.
"Great… guess we'll all just die here." As Mitsuri gave me a look of exasperation, Muichiro gave me one of confusion. "What? It's like I always say, whenever I say we're going to die we all survive!" That got Gyokko to look at me strangely.
"How have we not killed you yet?" My answer was a shrug. Because honestly I didn't have anything for him. With a gun shot from a certain scarred faced teen, the fight started with the uppermoon demon with the fans yelling out in pain.
"AIEE! I thought we were talking over here?!" Genya only smirked as I rushed forward. The fight had only just begun.
New line break swords and old line break faces.
Argentum: And that's that for that chapter. Hope that wasn't too many thats in that sentence.
Grel'Slyfer: Why?
Argentum: I have no idea.
Daki: HA! Who cares! I'm back for revenge!
Kanao: I'm going to kill you.
Daki: We'll just have to see about that you bit-
Tanjiro: No! No one calls Kanao that in front of me!
Kanao: Aww.
Grel'Slyfer: I just want to see all the fights next chapter.
Sekido: And I shall bring justice on all those who threaten the weak!
Daki: Like you're one to talk about being weak…
Argentum: She has a point, but it is also time to end this. Daki how about you do so?
Daki: Sure why not? Ahem… This has been a Dark Guard production now signing off!
Everyone: Goodbye!