It seems I'm a day early with publishing this. Oh well, it's not exactly a bad thing. It's better than me being late, am I right? It's been a few weeks since the death of Technoblade, and now that most of the heat has died down, I plan to put out more chapters regularly. So long as he is remembered, Technoblade never dies!
With that said, I hope you guy's enjoy this little chapter of mine!
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"And you're sure that there was a group of Demons spotted here, Kanroji-sama?" A soft, almost calming voice spoke as the wind of the early afternoon washed over two figures walking within the Kumitori mountain forest. The tree line made it difficult to see up into the sky, but it was unmistakable. The sun was out, which would prevent any Demons from attacking them.
Just because it was a dense area, that didn't mean that Demons could come out from their hiding spots. Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira, knew that well. She had been fighting Demons for over eight years, both as a Tsugoko, and as a Hashira for a while now. However, you wouldn't get that impression based on how she looked.
Mitsuri was a curvaceous young woman, who stood at an average height of 167 cm. Despite looking like what some may call a "sweep you off your feet" kind of girl, she was anything but. Underneath the heavily modified pink-tinted version of the standard Demon Slayer uniform, as well as the white haori that had been gifted to her by Kyojuro Rengoku, her former teacher, she had a very muscular build.
The Love Hashira had long pink hair that faded into a lime colour at the halfway point, which she wore in three thick braids, while in the front she had five clumps of choppy bangs hanging over her face, the tips of which were lime green as well.
The rest of her uniform was standard, except for the top, which had been unbuttoned. This wasn't because she wanted to flaunt her chest, though no doubt it was rather large, it was because she couldn't physically button them up.
There weren't any larger sizes of top either, seeing as Shinobu's top was the largest size they had that fell into legal regulations regarding women's clothing. Not that she minded, of course. It allowed her more open flexibility, even if it meant that she exposed a little bit of cleavage.
The rest of her uniform consisted of a short pleated skirt, which took the place of the usual hakama pants. Beneath that, she wore a pair of navy blue thigh-high socks that were layered with a pair of vertically striped lime-green socks. The lime-green socks had been a gift from the Serpent Hashira, Obanai Iguro when she had first become a Hashira.
The pink-haired woman looked down over to her left where her partner for the mission, Munakata Amijiro, stood. "Yes, Munakata-kun, I am more than just certain that there are Demons here. Several people have continued to go missing in these woods, and no matter how many Demon Slayers the Corps send, like Tadami Sugito, none of them have come back. That's why the corps sent me here, and by extension, you as well, Munakata-kun!" Mitsuri replied, earning a frown from Amijiro.
"Bastards…. I knew Tadami, he was a close friend of mine… when I find the bastard who killed and devoured him, I'll cut their head clean off!" Amijiro snarled, clenching his hand around the hilt of his sword. Normally speaking, such a soft-voiced-sounding person would normally be accompanied by a frail-looking individual. However, much like Mitsuri, looks could be deceiving.
Amijiro Munakata was a boy of average height, standing at around 177 cm, and had spiky white hair and tan skin. Much like Mitsuri, he too had a muscular build, though, unlike Mitsuri, his muscles were more visible rather than being kept a secret, seeing as his biceps were nearly the size of Mitsuri's head.
Amijiro wore the same black standard Demon Slayer Uniform, as most others did. Like Mitsuri, he kept his top unbuttoned. His reasoning was that he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, despite Mitsuri saying that it was alright and that he didn't have to.
Amijiro persisted, and thus, he kept his top unbuttoned. He didn't have a haori of any kind, but rather, he had a twin-tailed scarf around his neck, along with two Nichiren blades, one long, and one short, both of which were in their sheaths, which had been attached to the belt that kept up his black hakama pants.
And yet, despite his outwardly tough appearance, he had a soft voice. Not to mention, he was 16 years old. On top of that, he was studying a variety of different breathing styles, namely Mist Breathing and Water Breathing.
The reason as to why Amijiro was with Mitsuri was that he had nothing to do, and he had received no missions for about a week, making him feel useless. Not to mention, he had always wanted to see a Hashira in action. Considering Mitsuri was more often than not the most approachable of all the Hashira, he asked her to join her on a mission, to which she accepted after seeing his skills in combat against a Demon she was called out to kill.
The Demon in question was a rather terrifying Demon that stalk young children at night, specifically females, and kidnap them in their sleep. Shockingly enough, that same Demon had collected the bows of the girls it ate and kept them in its Haori. Luckily for him, he was able to kill the Demon, which turned out to be three Demons in actuality, with relative ease.
After all, he was a Kinoe for a reason. He didn't earn the second-highest rank in the Demon Slayer Corps because he was lucky.
"Such a fiery passion, Munakata-kun! I'm glad I didn't make the wrong choice to bring you with me!" Mitsuri said with a chipper smile on her face as the taller boy let out a sigh before nodding.
"Thank you, Kanroji-sama. It's an honour to work alongside someone whose far more experienced than I am. Not to mention observing you in combat will help me create my own Breathing Style. I think by observing your more flexible technique, I might be able to glue it all together and perfect it. I aim to become a Hashira one day, just like any respectable Demon Slayer should!" Amijiro stated, earning a fierce nod from Mitsuri.
"Well, I'm glad to help you, Munakata-kun. But for right now, we need to focus on our mission," Mitsuri began, pointing up ahead to a house that had been marked by a few torches. "We'll seek shelter in that house over there for the day, then at night, we'll prepare our hunt. The Demons must be close by, I can feel it!" Mitsuri declared, jogging over to the house as Amijiro kept up the pace.
As the two got close to the house, the two Demon Slayers, namely Mitsuri, felt a sense of dread. There was an air of death around the house; one that she had felt before. Of course, being a Demon Slayer, death was a common occurrence. But the amount of death that had occurred at this one tiny little house did nothing but put Mitsuri on edge.
"Is everything alright, Kanroji-sama? You look pale…." Amijiro questioned, raising an eyebrow. The Love Hashira cleared her throat and shook her head, continuing her walk toward the small house in the middle of the forest clearing.
"I'm fine, Munakata-kun. I'm just… no, I'm fine," Mitsuri said as she approached the entrance of the house. Inside was… well, it looked like something out of one of those horror novels that Obani liked to read on his off time.
Within the small house, there were corpses everywhere of varying sizes and ages, though it was hard to tell due to the amount of rot that had occurred. This wouldn't normally bother Mitsuri, but they looked like they had been decaying for at the very least a year, which only made things worse. The Love Hashira stumbled back with a gasp, holding back the urge to vomit. At that moment, she felt less like a Hashira and more like a meek child that stumbled upon a grizzly crime scene.
She had been killing Demons for eight years. Eight fucking years. And yet, this… this was one of the grossest things she had to bear witness to.
Skin falling off of muscle, and muscle drooping off of the bone. Cockroaches running in and out of crevices in the wood. Rotting and torn open intestines and bodies covered in maggots. Flies were zooming around the bodies, and one of the corpses still had an eye in it.
And it was looking right at the pink and green-haired Hashira.
All Mitsuri could do was scream in pure terror and fall back on her rear. She scrambled away from the house of disease and misfortune as fast as possible. Amijiro had to hold his breath from the putrid smell reeking from the dark and dank house of blood and rot. The Kinoe stood in front of Mitsuri, who was trying to calm herself down. "Kanroji-sama, are you going to be okay?" The taller of the two Demon Slayers asked with concern in his voice. As he asked that, the Hashira's breathing slowed.
Mitsuri stood up, slowly and shakily as she took in a deep breath. Yet, all she got was a whiff of the putrid air surrounding the grizzly mess of what used to be a family. At that moment, she looked away from her partner for this mission and hurled up her lunch. Amijiro went to her side and put his hands on her shoulders as she puked.
After a minute or so of emptying the contents of her stomach, Amijiro rubbed her back in a platonic gesture. "If need be, we could leave this place. I'm sure the Demons that were reported to be here have long since left, especially if that was what they left behind." As Amijiro spoke, Mitsuri let in a shaky breath, but only coughed due to the rancid air thanks to the corpses.
All the lower-ranking Demon Slayer got as a response was a faint nod from Mitsuri before they began their way back from the tomb. Their camp wasn't too far from the house, however, Mitsuri didn't want to stay near there for any reason. Just the idea of knowing that those bodies were there made the Love Hashira feel tremours move down her spine.
"Amijiro's right… whoever did that is long gone. We can't avenge that poor family. What we can do, however, is find the Demons that are skulking around this forest. The ones that devoured the village North from here," Mitsuri thought as the pair entered the dense forest ahead of them. Their walk back to their camp didn't take too long, an hour at most, and when they did, they simply sat around trying desperately to forget whatever the hell they had just bore witness to.
Demon Slayer or not. Hashira or not. Once you see something as grizzly as that, you too would require a break of some kind. Amijiro practiced his swinging on a tree, while Mitsuri simply sat on the makeshift log seat. All Mitsuri could think about was that house. Not even thinking of Obani made her distracted enough to continue their patrol.
Soon, the Afternoon quickly shifted to night and the sounds of crickets filled Mitsuri's ears as Amijiro untied a rabbit trap he had set up hours and hours before. "Kanroji-sama?" Amijiro began, catching Mitsuri's attention. "I'm sorry for being a letdown these past few days. Our mission ends today if I recall correctly. I've been nothing but a—"
"Stop, don't say that," Mitsuri quickly cut the larger man off, shaking her head and offering a faint smile. "If anything, you've been the nicest partner I've ever had. Well, there was one other, but she died on that same mission. Don't downplay your contributions. After all, it's thanks to you that we're eating tonight. That, and you comforting me during that horrible discovery made it a lot easier for me to handle. Most partners would've brushed it off as more Demon Slaying business, but you actually have a heart, and for that, I thank you."
Amijiro smiled, nodding as he finished skinning the dead rabbit. The cutting of the animal didn't take too long, either. Once it was finished, and once Amijiro did a little prayer, he scattered the meat around the stones of the campfire to let it cook, which would take at least 3 hours until the meat became edible.
As the meat cooked, Mitsuri got up from her seat and stretched. As she did, the sound of a twig snapping over to their left earned her rapt attention as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. Amijiro reached for the hilt on his longer blade and waited in bated breath. The two relaxed after nothing came of it, and just as Amjiro let go of the hilt of his blade…
"Well, well, well! Took all day, but we found you!" A childish, feminine voice rippled throughout the forest, which caused Amijiro to jump after a hand was placed on his shoulder. And what the Demon Slayer saw made his eyes widen.
The figure that had grasped his shoulder was a small child-like person. They had long black hair and pale skin. They were wearing a pink floral Kimono, and overtop it was a red Haori with black zig-zag patterns covering it. They stood at 149 cm, and the person had clawed hands, showing that they were a Demon without any shadow of a doubt. The Demon had deep red scars all over its face and hands, which showed that the Demon in question was a higher ranking one above the common mindless beast.
But it was their eyes that made Mitsuri and Amijiro apprehensive.
"You know, it's rude to not introduce yourself! I mean, come on, you humans should have some manners, right? I mean you are Demon Slayers after all!" The child-like Demon said, the marking of Lower Moon Six in the Demon's left eye. The two Demon Slayers went to draw out their blades and took fighting stances, which seemed to shock the member of the Twelve Kizuki.
The only reason why they were being apprehensive was the aloof nature the Demon was taking on, and the fact that the malice radiating off of them had stunned them into silence.
"Huh? Oh, come on! That's just rude! Hey! Rui-kun! They're rude! We need to teach them a lesson!" Lower Moon Six said, which made Mitsuri narrow her eyes. Before she could do anything, however, she saw some sort of white light flash above her. The Love Hashira jumped back and narrowly avoided a string-like projectile that had been aimed right for her head.
"Hmph, I'd be inclined to agree with you, Six-san," The supposed Rui spoke, earning Mitsuri's attention. Once again, a flash of fear set itself into her system as she looked upon the secondary Demon that showed up.
It wasn't because of his white Kimono with web-like motifs scattered around it. It wasn't the spiky white hair that encroached toward his face like the legs of a Spider. Nor was it the Demon's cold apathetic stare that made Mitsuri want to jump out of her skin. No, because it was once again with the eyes of the Demon that made the Love Hashira's senses skyrocket.
Because this Demon was Lower Moon Five.
"Two members of the Twelve Kizuki?! I thought they didn't work together unless they were told to!" Amijiro shouted, taking a step back and enhancing his grip on the hilt of his Nichiren katana. To his question, Lower Moon Six hid a giggle behind their right clawed hand, tilting their head like that of a curious child after the fact.
"Why, haven't you heard? Things are kicking into high gear, don't you know?" Lower Moon Six said. As they spoke, they jumped back and up into one of the branches, scratching behind their head. "But honestly, I don't think that quite matters. Rui-kun, you take the Hashira, I'll take her partner! How about it?" Lower Moon Six quipped as Rui hummed.
"Good idea," Lower Moon Five said with a dull hum. Then, faster than the eye could see, Mitsuri felt a palm press harshly against her gut, knocking the air out of her as she was sent flying past the camp and through the clearing. As soon as the attack was finished, Rui dashed in the direction of where Mitsuri was flung, earning a wide-eyed shout from her partner.
"KANROJI-SAMA!" Amijiro called out, unleashing his blade from its sheath. "Foul beast! I'll kill you before you can blink!" In response to his declaration, Lower Moon Six frowned.
"Why are all of you Demon Slayers the same?" Lower Moon Six asked, making Amijiro step back, narrowing his eyes.
"Watch your mouth, bastard!" Amijiro snarled. "We Demon Slayers kill bastards like you! We—"
"This is the same crap you idiots spew on the daily," Lower Moon Six interrupted, rubbing her thumb against her index and middle finger, completely disinterested in whatever Amijiro was saying. "At least that Tadami boy was different. Granted, he was the first Demon Slayer I killed, and he was a tough opponent. I've fought a few Slayers in the past. They only lived because I didn't want to waste my energy or because my Sensei wanted to fight them later," Lower Moon Six continued as Amijiro shook in a rage like none other.
"You…" Amijiro began, gritting his teeth. "YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!" And with that, Amijiro rushed into battle, and with a forward thrust shouted: "MIST BREATHING - FIRST FORM: LOW CLOUDS, DISTANT HAZE!" As Amijiro shouted the name of his attack, he stabbed his blade into Lower Moon Six's chest, catching the Demon off guard. With a sharp twist, Amijiro ripped the blade out through the left side of the Demon's flesh before kicking her upward.
Blood flew out of Lower Moon Six's mouth, the Demon looking at the ground and narrowing her eyes. Before she could retaliate, Amijiro jumped up with all of his strength and came to eye level with the Demon that killed his best friend.
"WATER BREATHING - SECOND FORM: WATER WHEEL!" Using the momentum from the jump, Amijiro performed a vertical slash in a spinning motion. However, in mid-air, Lower Moon Six caught the blade, ceasing the attack. Amijiro's eyes widened as the Demon simply smirked.
Lower Moon Six then threw Amijiro with his blade into the trees behind them, the Demon Slayer orienting himself to land on his feet sideways against the trunk. As soon as his feet made contact with the trunk of the tree, taking his lessons from Giyuu in balancing out one's weight distribution, and using it to mitigate the damage he would've taken; the Kinoe ranked Demon Slayer then kicked off the tree he landed on, and barrelled toward Lower Moon Six.
The Demon's eyes widened as they were tackled by the Demon Slayer to the ground, the Demon gasping out of shock as they plummeted to the ground.
Upon hitting the ground, the two tumbled and rolled for a few feet before Lower Moon Six kicked upwards, sending the pissed-off Amijiro off of her. While in the air, the Kinoe ranked Demon Slayer once again reorientated himself and landed perfectly on his feet, immediately getting into a fighting stance. Amijiro weighed around 84 kilograms worth of pure muscle. Demons were known to be strong physically speaking; it was what made them so dangerous.
However, never in his life had he had a Demon throw him around like a ragdoll before. Granted, he had never fought a Lower Moon before, but that was beside the point. He was terrified, more so than he'd like to admit, but he was never going to show it. He couldn't show it. For Tadami's sake, and for the people that the Demon ate, he wasn't going to show his fear.
Lower Moon Six stood up, the chest wound healing instantly. All of that happened in the span of two seconds, which impressed The member of the Twelve Kizuki. So much so that they smirked. "That's not a nice way to treat a girl, you know?"
"Like I care for a monster like you!" Amijiro snarled, launching forward, not giving the female Demon a chance to retaliate. "WATER BREATHING – FOURTH FORM: STRIKING TIDE!" Amijiro shouted, closing the distance and slashing the Demon several times around the facial and chest area, hooking the tip of his blade on Lower Moon Six's neck.
Once again, this caught the Demon off-guard, but instead of panicking, Lower Moon Six simply stood still, taking the attack with all of its power and not flinching once. Blinded by rage and adrenaline, Amijiro began to cut into the Demon's neck. However, before he could get sizeable progress into the attack, Lower Moon Six kicked upward and hit his shoulder with the force of being hit by a train!
Amijiro took the brunt of the attack, making sure to keep back his scream of pain. However, just because he could've stopped himself from screaming, didn't mean that he could keep a good grip on his sword after taking a blow like that to the shoulder, which made the arm in which he was holding his blade go limp.
His hold on his Nicherin blade fumbled, which should've been obvious, to which then Lower Moon Six yanked the blade out of her neck and proceeded to snap it in half right before Amijiro's eyes before discarding the remains of the blade over to the side.
All Amijiro could do was watch in horror as the blade that he had been using for a full year now was turned into nothing but useless garbage by the hands of Lower Moon Six. The Demon in question then punched the Kinoe ranked Demon Slayer back, who put up a block just before he was hit square in the chest. He could feel the bones in his arms snap, but he paid no mind to it.
The force of the punch was enough to knock Amijiro back, andonce Amijiro was knocked back, holding his shoulder with his free hand, he stared forward as Lower Moon Six outstretched her hand. The action alone confused the Demon Slayer, however, that was when a chilling thought came rushing through his mind. "All of the Demons who work for the Twelve Kizuki, and by extension Muzan, have Blood Demon Arts, and I've yet to see her's! SHIT!" Amijiro thought with panic dressing his face.
"Impressive. But not impressive enough!" Lower Moon Six snarled as her wounds healed instantly. The skin on her fingers peeled back as red smoke bellowed out. Sparks began to flicker within as a sickening smirk took hold of the Demon's face. "Blood Demon Art – Combusting Vengence!"
The red smoke exploded and rippled through the ground, tearing up the dirt, rocks, and bushes nearby. Amijiro dodged to the left, trying to evade the attack, only to be clipped by the explosion on the right shoulder, knocking him away, and smashing his body against a thick oak tree. Quickly recovering, Amijiro unsheathed his smaller blade, frowning.
"That Demon was able to snap my Nichern blade in half! This Demon… no, scratch that, this Lower Moon really is something to fear! And I have to kill one of these guys just in hopes to do the Hashira training?! What the hell!" Amijiro thought through laboured breaths, narrowing his eyes as he heard repressed laughter in front of him.
Lower Moon Six landed in front of him, the Demon rushing him. The Demon Slayer blocked her claw swipes with his blade one-handed before retaliating with an attack of his own. "Mist Breathing – Third Form: Scattering Mist Splash!" The Kinoe ranked Demon Slayer announced their attack, slicing off the Demon's arms with one big arching slash!
The Demon grit her teeth before regenerating instantly before grabbing the Demon Slayer by the head and throwing him over to the right and under a tree and jumping upwards into the sky. Amijiro groaned, cupping his forehead with his sword in hand. His eyes scanned the forest in front of him as alarm bells rang throughout his head.
"Where's Lower Moon Six? Did she see me as a non-issue and rush off to go fight Kanroji-Sama?!" Amijiro thought. However, his thoughts were quickly dashed when he looked above, he saw a shadow covering him, and as he looked up, he was greeted by the smiling face of Lower Moon Six. The female Demon pointed her hand downward at him as sparking explosions came from her fingers.
Seeing this, the Demon Slayer Dodged to the right as fast as he could before the attack could begin, he avoided another Combusting Vengence attack from Lower Moon Six. The explosion blew up the tree he was standing under and set fire to several other trees and bushes around the area. The Demon Slayer ran away as far from the smoke as he possibly could. The last thing he wanted to do was compromise his ability to use his breathing techniques.
His left shoulder might have been dislocated, and his right shoulder hurt like a mother fucker and made it a pain to use his arms, However, he wasn't going to give up because a Demon was hitting him hard.
Unfortunatly, before he could plan anything further ahead than getting to a safer location to continue the battle, faster than he could see, Lower Moon Six appeared in front of him and smacked him in the face. The blow was enough to knock him to the left, and yet again, Lower Moon Six met him, but this time it was before he could impact anything. The Demon kicked him upward as he spat up blood, a pained cry escaping him before being violently stomped into the ground, landing harshly into the dirt, leaving a crater.
He felt like a bomb had gone off on his body. His body refused to move. It was like he was paralyzed from the waist down. All of those attacks happened in less than a second, and his body was still reeling from the first slap, let alone the barrage of attacks that he suffered after the fact. Blood coated his back, arms, and head. His other blade was shattered into bits like a brittle piece of glass, leaving him out of offensive options.
He couldn't run. He couldn't fight. He was a sitting duck. Amijiro Munakata was completely defeated, something that hadn't happened to him since the first Demon he fought at the end of last year.
Lower Moon Six smirked as she landed right in front of the crater gracefully. To Amijiro, her child-like form looked less like a child and more like a monster that was prone and ready to tear him to shreds at any given moment.
"This was a much shorter fight than when I fought Tadami! You're supposed to be a Kinoe, right? He was a Mizunoto and he gave me more of a challenge than you did! How pathetic is that! Is this all you got?" Lower Moon Six taunted, slowly approaching him within the crater. However, just before she could do anything else, she was kicked in the head by a familiar green-footed individual, knocking her to the side, the figure carrying the body of Lower Moon Five with the edge of her whip-like blade, throwing him into the other Demon as well.
All Amijiro could do was smile with glee as his saviour and superior appeared just in the nick of time to save him. And fittingly enough, they were the same person who saved them after his first mission went awry.
Landing just at the foot of the crater, a minimally damaged Mitsuri Kanroji smiled. "Don't worry, Amijiro! I'll handle this from here on out!" Mitsuri said with a smile, then turned to the two Demons who were slowly standing up.
"Rui-kun, what happened?" Lower Moon Six questioned as Rui sneered, shaking his head as he collected himself.
"She's strong… too strong if you're asking me. I've killed a Hashira before, but that was 100 years ago. This is different. I don't know how, but this one's blade is like a whip!" Rui stated, pointing at Mitsuri, who was glaring at the two Lower Moons with a ferocity like that of a feral wolf.
The two Demons stared down at the Hashira, and Mitsuri was staring down the two Lower Moons with nothing but contempt in her eyes. Despite looking minimally damaged, Mitsuri felt pain all over after being knocked around like a ragdoll on strings by Lower Moon Five. However, despite that pain, she wasn't going to let either of them kill her partner.
But just how did that fight go? Well…
[Three minutes prior]
Mitsuri recollected herself after being slammed into the surface of a rock. Thankfully for the Love Hashira, she had a few seconds allotted to her to cough and activate her Total Concentration Breathing after taking a few short regular breaths. After that, it was just Total Concentration Breathing from there on out. The fact that she slipped out of Total Concentration Breathing was a rookie mistake, something that if any of the other Hashira saw her do, she would be ridiculed.
After just two seconds, she jumped out of the way to avoid a devastating kick that Lower Moon Five delivered to the rock behind her, shattering it into splitters.
Drawing out her whip-like sword, she scowled. "Love Breathing – First form: Shivers of First Love!" The Love Hashira thought, encircling her sharp whip-like blade around Lower Moon Five. The blade cut into his skin, which confused the Demon, and then, with a powerful throw, the Love Hashira sent him flying toward a tree.
Before Rui could hit the tree, the Demon created a web from his feet and landed on the newly created web feet first. The Demon then flung himself upward and spun around in the air. Web-like whips appeared from his fingertips and reached out 20 meters.
The Love Hashira knew full well that if she jumped back, she wouldn't be able to dodge, and so, she did the next best thing. "Love Breathing – Second Form: Love Pangs!" Mitsuri thought as she slashed her whip-like blade around her in a tornado-like fashion, destroying the webs above her as they crashed down, cutting into the ground like a knife to butter.
Without giving her time to switch things up, Rui rushed Mitsuri as webs shot directly toward her. Backflipping several times to avoid the attack, she attempted to go for the first form of Love Breathing again, only for strings to be attached to her shoulders and ankles. The Spider Demon smirked, jumping up into the trees with Mitsuri in tow.
"You seem the like throwing us Demon's around like toy's using that Nichiren whip or whatever it is of yours. So how about I return the favour?" Rui said with a chilling calm that Mitsuri had encountered before in Demons. However, it usually was never shown with an equal amount of confidence. With a flick of his wrist, Mitsuri was flung against several trees back first before being slammed into the ground, the webs letting go of her shoulders and knees.
The Love Hashira got up immediately with a simple jump, her body feeling like it had been used as a fly swatter. It had been a long time since she fought a Lower Moon. However, unlike the time Kyojuro fought former Lower Moon Two when she didn't fight him directly, now she was fighting one of them head-on without any back-up. Granted, that was two years ago, but that hardly mattered.
Shaking her head, she glared upward at Lower Moon Five, who was standing on one of the center tree's tree branches. The Demon knitted his hands together and came out with a massive cage-like spreading of red webs, then proceeded to launch them at Mitsuri.
"Blood Demon Art – Cutting Thread Cage," Rui spoke out with a cold sense of confidence, slinging the wave of webs at Mitsuri. Using the second form of Love Breathing, she was able to cut most of the webs. However, unlike before, the webs were more durable, and while she was able to get most of them, a few strands cut her shoulders and forearms.
The attack drew blood, and after drawing blood, Mitsuri knitted her eyebrows together. Why? Because she was confused. "That attack was enough to cut the ground with ease, so why on Earth did he lessen the damage it would do to me? Is he… not taking this seriously? Am I being toyed with?" Mitsuri thought as Lower Moon Five jumped toward the Love Hashira and landed in front of her.
"Why did you leave your high ground?" Mitsuri demanded. "You know full well I would've been screwed if you didn't, and yet you leave your high ground and you go easy on me? What's your game?"
Rui simply scoffed, outstretching his two hands. "Accuracy wains in the distance. Also, I'm not going easy on you. I'm simply doing as I'm told," Rui responded cryptically. Before he could unleash another attack, a massive explosion rippled out in the background, Mitsuri going pale as Rui smirked.
"It would seem as if Six-san has beaten your partner. Now all that's left to do is—" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as he was wrapped up in a whip-like blade faster than he could blink, the Love Hashira using the first form of Love Breathing to do so.
The blade cut into his skin and kept him there, the Demon trying his damndest to get out of the ensnarement as Mitsuri ran toward the source of the explosion at top speed, building up force as she ran.
Rui continued to try his damndest to get out of the snare but found it nearly impossible, as, with each movement he made, the blade of the whip-like sword dug deeper into his skin. His eyes widened as the ground shook, the tremours of which shook him in the blade, allowing him to loosen up just a little bit within the blade cage of sorts.
As they approached, he could see Hanako in the distance, and just as his eyes focused on his ally, Mitsuri jumped up, and with a fierce high-jump kick, she slammed her foot right into Hanako's face before throwing Rui toward a tree simultaneously. As the blade let go of him, it cut him deeply, slicing up his skin, and leaving deep gashes.
Lower Moon Five slammed into a tree while Lower Moon Six slammed into the ground before tumbling against the same tree. The two Demons landed on one another before quickly sorting themselves out, all the while Mitsuri glanced down at the crater to see an unconscious Amijiro.
She sighed, knowing that he was at least alive. She didn't want to lose another partner like she had when she fought that group of Demons three months before this. If she did, she wouldn't know what she was going to do with herself. "Don't worry, Munakata-kun, I'll make sure you're returned to some healers in one piece!" Mitsuri thought, preparing herself to attack the two Lower Moons.
"Don't worry, Amijiro! I'll handle this from here on out!" Mitsuri spoke with a fierce tone of voice, readying herself for the fight of a lifetime.
Was it stupid? Yes. Did she care? Absolutely not. She wasn't about to let these two Demons get away with what they did. "You two are going to pay for what you did to that family in that house we found, and you're going to tell us what happened to that village North from here!" Mitsuri shouted, earning a raised eyebrow from the two Demons.
"Huh? Excuse you?" Lower Moon Six asked, tilting her head. "What house are you—OH! I know what you're talking about! No, they were dead long before I got turned into a Demon. That was my family, by the way. A bit late on that, are we? It's been a full year since they died," Lower Moon Six said with a shake of her head. "Even I don't know what happened, nor does Rui-kun. But that village? That was all me and a few others," Lower Moon Six answered, earning a scowl from the Love Hashira.
"So, it was thanks to Lower Moon Six that the village was left barren? She mentioned that there were others. That meant it was a coordinated attack. Demons don't do that unless they're told to. Was it a warning? Whatever, I'm thinking too deeply about this. It's about time I killed her, then focus on Lower Moon Five," Mitsuri thought as she prepared to attack.
"Let's just cut to the chase and finish this fi—"
Before Hanako could finish her sentence, a whip-like blade circled itself around her neck as two feet drilled into her chest. She was thrown upward, and as soon as she was, the blade tugged, disconnecting her head from her neck. Hanako's eyes widened as soon as that happened, blood flowing from the stub of her neck as her body and head came crashing down. As Lower Moon Five witnessed it all happen Rui's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"SIX-SAN!" Rui called out toward the fallen form of Lower Moon Six. Mitsuri landed on her feet, her blade flailing in the wind as Lower Moon Five went to his fallen comrade's side before the Love Hashira could stop him, not that it mattered. Once a Demon's head was removed from its neck, it was game over for that Demon.
Mitsuri turned around, sighing with a breath of relief. "One down, One to—" her words got caught in her throat as she watched Lower Moon Five help Lower Moon Six up from the ground, collecting her head and giving it to the body.
Why hadn't the Demon's body begun to disintegrate? Better yet, how the hell was she still alive! That wasn't supposed to be possible! "HUH?! What the hell is going on?!" Mitsuri thought. Her eyes widened as Lower Moon Six put her head back on her shoulders, albeit backwards. Rui turned to look at Mitsuri before pointing at her.
"Hey! You! Get over here! You did this, help her put her head on right!" Lower Moon Five spat at a stunned and mortified Mitsuri, who was still having a problem processing all of what was happening. She had heard of Demons who could connect their heads to their bodies using congealed blood, but that was only a thing that was rumoured for the Upper Moons to be able to do.
And even then, that was just a rumour, not fact! So what the hell was going on with the Demon that she cut the head off of?! Why hadn't Lower Moon Six died when her head was separated from her neck?!
"No, no, I don't need her help, see, watch!" the Female Demon replied, spinning her head back to its rightful place before cracking her neck side to side. "Much better! Now…" Lower Moon Six continued, turning to face Mitsuri with a devilish smile. "As you can see, your Nichiren blades mean nothing to me. No more playing around, it's time to get serious," Lower Moon Six said with a sadistic expression dressing her face. "You're going to regret even attempting to kill me, Hashira!"
-To Be Continued-
Don't you guys love cliffhangers? I love cliffhangers! Do you love cliffhangers? I mean, you guy's should love cliffhangers by now considering you guys are still reading this, right?
I'm not going to lie, this fight took a while to write, mainly because I've never written two separate battles before, especially one in the same area. I plan to do more of these as the story goes on, and seeing as we're on Chapter 29 (if we're discounting the author notice I made) then that means we still have a way to go.
That being said, I'll see you guy's in the next chapter, peace!