While James and Obanai were being attacked by Quantrill's Raiders, Vèro was coming back to Gyomei's house from a mission with Chiyo when she ran into Genya heading out to a mission by himself down the same road. She waved to him and said, "Hi, Genya!"
Genya looked up and saw both of the girls, blushing slightly in response. "Hey, Renaud-san."
"Heading out on a mission?"
"Yeah," Genya replied. "Did you two just come back?"
"We sure did," Chiyo replied confidently. "We kicked some demon ass."
"I'm surprised you aren't going with Himejima-san," Vèro pointed out. "What's going on?"
"This is a low-rank mission," Genya explained. "Hence why I got sent out by myself. Besides, Himejima-san was busy with the Pillar Meeting."
"I could go out with you," Vèro offered to him. "I don't mind, and I don't have any more missions for now."
Chiyo asked her, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Vèro replied. "I'll be fine."
Genya pondered to himself for a few seconds before he told Vèro, "Okay, sure. I could use a second set of hands." On the inside, he thought to himself, "Okay, you're going out on a mission with a girl. Don't fuck this up, Genya. Don't fuck this up. Do NOT fuck this up. She's just a friend and a comrade. You've trained with her before. There's no need to be worried or embarrassed. Again, do NOT fuck this up, Genya."
"I'm surprised you accepted so easily," Chiyo replied. "Normally you like to be alone."
"It's nothing," Genya assured her. "She trains with me and Himejima-san, after all."
…
Mukago and Susamaru were chatting together at the Butterfly Estate, with the former's baby bump now very visible. "So," the former said to the latter. "You're pregnant, too?"
"Yep," Susamaru nodded. "I had no idea it was possible."
"Me neither," she replied. "I never knew that Muzan's Curse was the only thing that rendered us infertile. I knew about your fiancé and his children from long ago, but I thought that was only because he had sex with human women. I had no idea that he could impregnate demon women too, nor did I realize that human men could do the same."
"Speaking of," Susamaru then asked her. "How… How is Tokito-san taking all of this? I mean, he's a young man, after all. He must be scared."
"He was," Mukago confirmed. "He was terrified as Hell, and so was I. I may have been around for over a century, but at the end of the day, the same young woman who came to Muzan all those years ago is still here. I was barely a year older than him when I took that opportunity." She then looked outside to the bright midday sun. "But we've accepted it. We know that regardless of anything, we'll be parents in a relatively short period of time. I want to give this child, or these children if it's twins, a good life, and Muichiro wants the same. It'll be difficult, I know, but it won't be impossible thanks to the support we have."
"I see you're enjoying the sunlight," Susamaru pointed out to her. "It's been over a hundred years since you could see it. I was going mad after just ten years of living only at night. I can't imagine a whole ass century of that."
"I don't care if I'm more at-risk during the day or if I'm more likely to be killed during it," Mukago said to her. "The fact I can finally bask in the sunlight and enjoy things I haven't been able to in so long makes it worth it."
…
After the ambush began, James and Obanai both drew swords and attacked Quantrill's Raiders, dodging bullets and bayonet strikes. James also fired his revolver, emptying it into two soldiers before holstering it and slashing a demon next to him. He then declared, "Breath of Flames, First Form: Unknowing Fire!" With a quick slash, he decapitated the demon he slashed before also decapitating one of the demons he shot.
Meanwhile, Obanai told Kaburamaru on his shoulder, "Look out for me!" He then kicked a demon who tried to charge at him with a bayonet before declaring, "Breath of the Serpent, Second Form: Venom Fangs of the Narrow Head!" After dashing behind the demon, he slashed his head clean off before he heard Kaburamaru hiss behind him. Just barely in the nick of time, he decapitated another demon that was trying to stab him with a knife. "Fuck, that was too close!"
As James decapitated a third demon, he saw Bloody Bill and decided to make a beeline straight towards him. "Die, motherfucker!" Bloody Bill drew a sword and clashed with James as Obanai continued to pick off the raiders. As the two battled, James yelled at Bloody Bill, "You fuckin' war criminal! Y'all shoulda been hanged like Wirz!"
"Wirz was a scapegoat for you Yankees," Bloody Bill spat back at him. "Besides, this ain't about him! Focus on me, dumbass!" Bloody Bill then missed James' neck by mere inches as he ducked before he slashed Bloody Bill's leg, cutting it off. "Agh, fuck, my leg!"
He retaliated against James by stabbing him three times in the left leg. Since it was the daytime, neither of their wounds would heal before night fell, and as James yelled out in pain, he realized he was in serious trouble. "Agh, damn it! My fuckin' leg!" As the two collapsed to the ground, they began to wrestle each other despite bleeding out intensely from their wounds. "I'm gonna rip you to shreds!"
"Not if I can first!" Bloody Bill tried to stab James several more times, but he used his sword to deflect the blows. "You're a tough one, ain't ya?!"
"I sure am!" James then stabbed Bloody Bill in one of his arms with a knife he used in his free hand before slicing his right hand off with his sword. "This is your end!"
"It's your end, too!" He thought to himself as he continued to struggle with James, "He'll bleed out soon enough, and we'll both go to Hell!"
"I don't think so," Obanai then declared in heavily accented English as he raced over to James and Bloody Bill, further declaring, "Fourth Form: Twin-Headed Reptile!" He then sliced Bloody Bill in half, his blade missing James by inches as he killed him instantly. As soon as Bloody Bill was dead, Obanai picked James up and asked him, "Colby-san, are you alright?"
"I got fuckin' stabbed a few times in the leg," James told him as Obanai laid him back down. "It won't heal until the night comes. I think he's still got a few men hangin' 'round here. By the way, did you really understand that guy?"
"Sort of," Obanai replied. "I heard words you use a lot, so I guessed it."
"You guessed right," James pointed out. "Anyway, where are the others?"
Sure enough, the last three of Bloody Bill's men all charged at them. James threw his knife at one directly in the chest, killing him, while Obanai slashed the other two and killed them as well. As they all fell to the ground, Obanai remarked to James, "And now he has none. Killing demons during the day is really easy, I must say. By the way, what was the Rebel Yell you mentioned earlier?"
"Ah, that," James replied as Obanai ripped the bandages off of his mouth to apply them to James' wounds, thus exposing his face completely, a sign that he trusted him deeply. "Well… The Rebel Yell was a thing the Confederate Army did in battle to scare us in the Union Army. It was a bunch of high-pitched hollerin' and shit. Scared the fuck outta us when we heard it. By the way… Where's the other one?"
"The other one? There were two?"
"Yeah. Bloody Bill and Billy Quantrill are usually together."
"There they are!" Suddenly, gunshots rang out, and both James and Obanai ducked down as Obanai drew his own revolver to defend himself. The shooter was William Quantrill himself as well as another ten soldiers. "Those fuckers killed Bill! Get 'em, boys!"
As Obanai shot at them, James quickly reloaded his revolver with a speedloader and returned fire as well. "Of course these bastards show up now," Obanai expressed in frustration. "Give them Hell!"
"You'll pay for killin' my friend, ya bastards!" Billy barely dodged a bullet from James as Obanai stood up to confront him. "Try to get through my men! I dare ya!"
Obanai then battled several men at once that were armed with sabers. As he deflected their blows, he felt several slashes across his body and yelled in pain, "Motherfucker!" He then roared in rage and stabbed two of them in a row before pushing the third out of his way.
One of the men who was stabbed yelled at him, "You can't kill us all!"
Obanai replied by stabbing him again in the chest, killing him. "I don't understand you at all!" He then sliced off the hand of another man before decapitating him. "Just hold on a bit longer, James," he begged internally in his mind. "We're gonna get help as soon as I get this guy, I swear! The daytime gives me the advantage!"
Then, two random regular slayers emerged from a clearing in the forest, having been guided by Obanai's crow, who was flown off earlier when the attack began to get help. One of them, a young woman with brown hair, declared, "Iguro-san, we're here to help!"
A soldier tried to stab the other of the two, a young man with short black hair, with his bayonet, but the young man declared, "First Form: Water Surface Slash!" Using a form of the Breath of Water, he decapitated the demon. "Hiroko-chan, protect the Flame Pillar!"
"Got it," Hiroko replied. "Haiji-kun, you got Iguro-san, right?"
"Yeah," Haiji replied.
"These guys don't need to be decapitated to die," Obanai told them both as he stabbed a soldier in the upper chest. "American demons are vulnerable to human deaths during the day!"
"Excellent," Haiji replied. "That just makes our job easier!" He then charged at two soldiers, doding two bullets fired by them, and declared, "Second Form: Water Wheel!" He leapt into the air a few feet before coming down and striking both of them diagonally, slicing one's head off and slicing the other in half.
Billy declared in Japanese, now all alone as he ripped his shirt off and readied himself to attack, "You still haven't faced me yet!"
"That's gonna change," Obanai replied. "That's gonna change real fucking fast!"
"Are you sure about that?!" Billy then pulled a small vial of a liquid out of his pocket and broke it, drinking said liquid. As soon as he did, he growled as his eyes lit up and his body began to grow a few feet in height and expand in build. Now twice as tall as he once was, he told them in a lower and rougher voice, "That vial I drank contained a chemical that allows me to use my powers and regain my natural immortality for an hour. Good luck decapitatin' me, asshole!" He then let out a loud Rebel Yell, causing everyone to cover their ears and causing James to panic slightly from flashbacks to his time in the American Civil War.
"Holy shit," Haiji said in horror. "He's fucking huge!"
"We can still take him," Obanai replied. "This is no different than fighting a Japanese demon now!" The two then charged at Billy, ready to attack and end the bloody legacy of Quantrill's Raiders once and for all.
