Well, it looked like going 'through' the infinity mansion (as in literally through the walls) didn't do much good because Akatsugi still hadn't gotten to Douma. He cursed Nakime under his breath. It felt like he'd been down here for hours, dragging the half demon demon slayer behind him and still carrying the girl over his shoulders and still having to deal with that stupid snake biting him… weren't they supposed to run out of venom at some point? If the snake kept going, he might swallow enough of Akatsugi's blood to become a demon himself.
(Although in truth, he seriously doubted that, but it was an amusing thought nonetheless.)
He'd decided against injecting the guy with his blood because he didn't quite know how said blood would react to someone turning into a demon. Maybe if he had Kamado's undiluted blood, then he would, but he'd never tried to turn someone into a demon since he'd been turned into one of Tanjiro's. Would the blood react the same? He didn't know and didn't think now was a good time to test it.
The guy would often stumble or collapse in pain, screaming and shouting, before attacking anything that moved – usually Akatsugi – until his more rational side would take over again. It was getting very frustrating. Although, if it was frustrating for him, it was probably worse for the guy, so Akatsugi tried to be patient. He really did.
The first time they'd run into a group of low-level slayers, though, the snake guy was in the middle of one of his attacking phases and had turned his attention onto the lower ranks. That had been an awkward conversation, trying to explain everything while keeping the half-mad Snake Pillar guy back as the entire group cowered away from them, looking like they'd all faint if he breathed wrong. In the end, he'd just turned and left them all behind, warning them to be careful, and dragging snake guy with him.
(He probably should try and remember the guy's name, though. It would be better than just calling him 'snake guy' or 'Snake Pillar" the whole time.)
"Oi, what's your name again?" he asked over his shoulder.
The currently docile Hashira behind him let out a sigh. "Iguro Obanai."
"Right. Calling you Iguro for now."
The sigh this time sounded infinitely more tired and long-suffering (although Akatsugi thought that should be his stance). "Whatever."
"Good. Now, when I get to where I'm goin', I'm leaving you behind with this one," he pointed to the girl on his shoulder. "I suggest you do your best not waking her up because she's had a lot more experience in being a demon than you and she's one of Kamado's so you'll smell real good right about now."
Snake gu… Iguro didn't answer for several seconds.
Finally, "Do I… smell good to you?"
"You're one of Muzan's demons right now, so yeah."
A frustrated grunt came from the guy as Akatsugi turned a corner. Douma's presence seemed below him… so yeah, he needed to go down. Okay. He let go of Iguro before aiming at the ground with one of his punches and thrust his hand forward. A hole appeared in the floor, rather loudly, and Akatsugi nodded in satisfaction before grabbing Iguro again and jumping. At least the snake didn't bite him this time. Small mercies.
"This is why I want you to kill me," the Hashira said heatedly as he stumbled to his feet in the rubble Akatsugi had left behind. "I don't want to be one of his demons! I don't want to be a demon at all!"
"Yeah. Weird as that is, I get it."
"Weird? Why is that weird?!"
"You don't want strength. I don't understand, but I can accept that that's just how you work."
"Of course I want strength! Just not at the expense of—hrg," he cut off and slowed down. Akatsugi looked over his shoulder to see the guy clutching his stomach. After a moment, though, Iguro looked up and finished his thought. "Just not at the expense of hurting humans or being subservient to that man."
Akatsugi thought about that for a couple of moments before he turned around, nodding. "Fair. How about this: Once you're fully demon, I'll turn you into one of Kamado's. At least that should work."
A pause. "Why can't you now?"
The older demon shrugged. "Dunno what it'll do to you. I have diluted blood, remember? Enough to probably turn you, but will it be enough to counteract that ma… er… Muzan's blood? I don't know."
A pause. Then he heard Iguro's labored breathing and forced words. "You're… surprisingly thoughtful… for a… d—"
He cut off as he collapsed and Akatsugi huffed in frustration. It looked like they were going through another round of this… and the times when Iguro seemed out of his mind and into a demon's had begun to last longer and longer.
"Don't… leave her… with me…" the Pillar managed to gasp out, gesturing to the girl weakly. "Don't… want to hurt… anyone."
Even if they're a demon? Hmm. Interesting.
"Yeah, we're all done with this. Thought this might be too dangerous before, but we're wasting time and you're in a lot of pain so…" Akatsugi reached down and turned Iguro onto his stomach. Then he chopped the back of the guy's neck. The Pillar gasped for a moment and then collapsed, out like a candle.
Akatsugi picked the still squirming, though obviously unconscious, Hashira up and tossed him over his other shoulder, trying to make sure the snake didn't get more hurt in the process. He got another bite for his troubles.
"Kamado better not get mad 'bout this," he muttered under his breath. "A guy only has so much patience."
With that, he turned and continued to tromp down the hallway. He was closer now at least, he could sense it.
The demon slayers already there had better leave something for him, or he'd be livid.
xXx
Inosuke felt… helpless. He knew he was no weakling… not like he'd been when he was little. He remembered his mother's exasperation when he'd needed more time and energy than his brothers and sisters who had grown up quickly – within a winter or two – while he'd taken… far longer. He didn't even remember that far back, to be honest.
He'd been the weakest, though. He'd known it, the other boars had known it, and so he'd made himself strong. He'd hated feeling so weak, watching the others take his share of food if he wasn't harsh enough and fast enough to grab it. So he'd made sure he wasn't weak. He'd vowed he would never feel that way again… and he'd done it! He'd become the king of the mountain, beating all the other boars – even the ones so much larger than him. He'd believed he could, he'd worked at it, and…
And then he'd met the demon slayer.
Didn't even remember the man's name as he just hadn't been strong enough, even if he'd had those techniques that Inosuke had loved, because the once weak man had been strong just for a moment or two.
So he'd learned those – worked it out and created his own style through sheer grit and dedication. He'd thought that with that, he'd never be weak again.
And yet, here he'd been proven wrong again, and again, and again. Each time, he'd learned something to help him become stronger but…
It still wasn't enough… and that made him feel more helpless than he ever had before, because then he could do something about it. But at that moment? What could he possibly do to make himself stronger? When he'd gotten constant concentration down? When he'd perfected his attacks and created his own style? When he'd trained and trained and trained and still could only barely follow the battle going on before his eyes?
He'd never felt so… out classed before.
"In… Ino… suke?" a soft voice managed to break through the swirling thoughts in his head. He blinked and looked over to see Shinobu laying on the ground, limp and facing him, like she couldn't move. He hated seeing someone who had seemed so strong brought down like that. She didn't look like her normal self, eyes dull in pain and… worry?
"What's… wrong?" she asked. "You hurt?"
Inosuke didn't really know what to say because she was sitting there, probably on a small break of what had obviously been immense pain, and she was asking after him? It… it didn't…
"Why are you talking?" he asked angrily, stomping over to her. "You make no sense! Stop being kind when you're hurting, idiot!"
She blinked at him in confusion. "I'm… not kind."
Inosuke paused, frowning. Had he gotten his words mixed up again? Or maybe he hadn't learned what a word really meant to everyone, only to one person. That had happened in the past. "You're not?" he asked.
She shook her head with what looked like great effort. "No. I'm… mean. Kanae… was kind."
"And who is Kanae?"
"My sister. Killed… by him…" she nodded to the demon currently fighting with Kanroji as they traded blows, ice following the demon around and dropping into the water below as the demon slayer deflected it.
Huh. Well… he didn't have time for that now.
"Well I think you're kind and you shouldn't be!" he said, still angry. Shouldn't all strong people know this? "You're turning into a demon!"
She winced at that, but then just smiled. "As a… Hashira… it's my job to… watch over… the next generation."
He grit his teeth. "You—"
But just as he spoke, she let out another cry of pain and arched her back, shifting her weight and rolling off of her side
Snap.
She pressed her head so hard into the floor that the butterfly clip in her hair broke, but she didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she couldn't say anything.
"O-oi! Shinobu! Shinobu!"
Then his eyes widened and he ducked as she lunged at him, fingers outstretched. No claws or anything, but her eyes had definitely gone slitted.
"Hey!" he yelled and went to slash at her, but then he remembered, this is Shinobu! He couldn't hurt her! Not permanently! Not even if she was becoming a demon! But he didn't know how to defend or… well, not hurt her! He'd never practiced a style like that before! It hadn't seemed useful up until that point.
Thankfully, he was able to turn his blade flat so when her hands met it, they only got a little cut, not sliced off.
"Oi!" he shouted out to her.
She blinked and her eyes didn't return to normal, but they seemed to see him again. She fell to the ground, coughing.
"I...Inosuke…" she said softly, "I… need your… help."
His eyes narrowed. "You need my help? Why?"
"We… need to… get away…"
"Oh, no! I ain't runnin'! I ain't weak!" Maybe if he said it often enough, he'd believe it.
She frowned. "There are… different kinds… of strength. Not just… physical. Mental. Emotional. Those… are all… areas of… strength."
Inosuke opened his mouth, but then paused and thought about that, closing his mouth again. "You mean… like right now?" he finally asked, putting it together in his head. He'd always been good at that. Was that a strength too? This opened up a whole new area for him to become strong in! And was that why everyone else always seemed so much stronger?! They were stronger fically and menally? (Whatever those two words meant.)
"Now?" Shinobu asked, obviously confused.
"With you being like… this." He gestured to her.
Shinobu managed another smile, though it looked pained. "I think… that's up… to you—" she barely finished her sentence before doubling over, clutching at her stomach.
"Inosuke-san!" A voice he only vaguely recognized as the pink-haired woman's called out to him in warning.
The king of the mountain didn't even hesitate. He just scooped Shinobu up and ran. Good thing he did too, as the area they'd been in suddenly became encased in ice.
"Oh! You're fast too, aren't you, kid?" The demon said.
Inosuke didn't answer him. The demon opened his mouth to say something, but the pink lady crashed into him with a yell and he had to turn his attention back to her. In Inosuke's arms, Shinobu suddenly went as stiff as a board and shrieked. He knew what would happen next and tried to drop her gently but quickly and back away. He did so just in time as she began clawing the air, reaching for him.
When she finally seemed to come back to herself and slumped again, she looked up, face covered in sweat and with those slitted eyes.
"When I'm… not me… keep us… safe."
He frowned. "From that?" He gestured to the middle of the room he was now on the edges of. Just as he said that, two miniature ice demons – exact replicas except for color – fell onto the walkways and began to fight alongside the demon, sending out blasts of white mist that felt unimaginably cold, even from this distance, and vines of ice or petals. The pink lady just grit her teeth and fought harder. Inosuke could respect that.
"I have… to get… my blood… Into him…" Shinobu said.
Inosuke just turned to stare at her. "What?!" he asked.
"Even… if I… die… I'll avenge… her."
Wait… her sister?
"You idiot!" he said angrily. He could understand putting a life on the line for something like that but… "Either you protect us as 'the next generation', or you kill yourself! Choose one!" Because without her here… well, she wasn't of much help right now, but she'd saved his life! She was plenty strong! And useful! To everyone!
Except the demons, but he was more than okay with that.
She just stared at him, trying not to curl up in pain.
"You're… strong, Inosuke. You can… do this."
Oh. He… well, he didn't remember anyone who wasn't his age ever telling him anything like that before. It felt… nice. Because she believed in him… and she wouldn't put her trust in someone who wasn't actually strong, would she? He didn't think so.
He sat there for several seconds, just staring at her and trying to wrap his head around why she would say that. The only conclusion he could come to was that she really did think he was strong. He hadn't even really proven himself and she thought he was strong.
That was so weird… but he liked it. He wanted to live up to that. He opened his mouth to say so.
Then she attacked him.
This time it took her longer to come back and he had to keep her at bay and steer clear of all the ice and the ice golum things and…
This was getting to be a little much even for him. He'd never been so desperate to work himself through it in his life. He had to keep her safe. He had to prove her right.
He didn't see the simplified face of a boar appear on his right bicep, growing and shrinking as if breathing, with clouds of mist floating around it.
It still wasn't enough, though. He jumped aside of an ice attack, grabbing Shinobu and taking her with him while fending off the ice vines coming after him and trying not to let her bite him at the same time and—
Then the roof exploded, near a corner and far away from the hole he'd made himself. Akatsugi dropped through it and landed on one of the walkways.
Everyone froze, even Shinobu.
The former Waxing Third rose from the crouch he'd landed in and fixed his eyes on the current Waxing Second, grinning viciously, showing off his sharp teeth.
"Took a while, but I've finally found you, Douma."
xXx
Kyojuro didn't think he'd ever been in a battle that tested his endurance quite like this one did. They were certainly holding their own against the Biwa Demon, but despite their best efforts, that was the best they could do. It seemed like any progress they made they'd just lose again, no matter what they did. At one point, Himejima-san had even tried throwing Kyojuro at the woman, but to no avail. She'd been able to stop their attack as his face had, rather painfully, been introduced to yet another wall. Currently he had to breathe through his mouth and tried to ignore the blood dripping down past his lips and onto his white haori. He didn't think he'd be able to save it if he survived this.
He didn't think he'd felt quite so frustrated before in his life. Not even with his father when he'd been inclined to get drunk at all times of the day.
The thought cost him. He didn't like thinking about his father and he winced, which stopped him from being able to dodge far enough, ending with him hit by a thrusting plinth of wood, paper and tatami that threw him off. He had to back away, leaving Himejima-san to fight on his own. Again.
Kyojuro hated it, but with the woman focused on the blind man, he could take a short breath and maybe come up with a plan for circumventing her blood art. They certainly couldn't' go through it (as they'd been trying) and—
He only saw the slight distortion out of sheer luck, inching towards the woman, but otherwise invisible. He frowned. Just what…?
It took a few seconds for the distortion to reach her, and then a white paper appeared, coming down over her forehead and staying there. Then a boy with mint-green hair appeared, his fingers literally buried into either side of the Biwa Demon's head. It was… disturbing to say the least, but the room did stop moving.
For several seconds, nobody moved. The quiet felt eerie after so much noise and movement.
"You can talk now," the boy finally said. "She can't hear you. She currently sees you both dead or incapacitated."
Disturbing or not, if it worked…
"Well done, young man!" Kyojuro yelled, trying to look as happy and encouraging as he could.
"Can we send her on, now?" Himejima-san asked, tears beginning to leak down his face and hand reaching for his prayer beads.
"Are you crazy?" the boy asked. "If we kill her, this whole place will implode."
Oh, well… that sounded like a bad idea.
"We can't take this up to land unless we have no other choice," Kyojuro said, smiling widely to hide his own fatigue and worry. "It would put too many people in danger!"
"I agree," the Stone Pillar said.
"It would help if we could take down the top Kizuki," Yushiro said, frowning. "I can't find four or six in this place, some Tsugukos and other slayers have taken care of five, three is right here, two and one are fighting currently and Kamado is here and on his way to Muzan. I just need… to figure out how to have her get him to Muzan…"
"Who needs help the most?" Himejima-san asked. Caring but pragmatic and to the point. Kyojuro had always looked up to the larger man for that.
Yushiro closed his eyes and frowned. "You'll just get in the way of Kamado, and it looks like Two's pretty well taken care of, so I'm sending you to the fight with One for now. The demon hashira and the Mist Pillar are there fighting him."
Kyojuro hmmed. "Very well! We will go and help our comrades fight off Waxing One!" He ignored how his body protested at that.
"Indeed," Himejima said. "Once we're finished there, send us all back. We may need the sunlight to destroy Muzan. Otherwise, try and get all the lower ranks together so we can regroup."
The green-haired boy nodded and a portal opened up behind him, shoji doors sliding to either side before their eyes.
"You'd better survive," he said.
Kyojuro grinned at him. He decided he liked this kid. "You as well, Yushiro-san!" he said emphatically, then took a deep breath and followed Himejima-san through the door.
xXx
AN: Obanai's snake, Kaburamaru, is not actually venomous as there are generally three types of venomous snakes in Japan and none of them look remotely like Kaburamaru. Akatsugi does not know this nor does he care.
Thank you again to Found and Quathis for their help on this chapter! Thank you for reading!
Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)
