Opening: Distortion by BABYMETAL
Inside a remote location removed from plain sight was a mansion surrounded by dazzling pink wisteria trees. The trees seemingly lit up under the night sky, providing a gentle glow for the mansion. Inside one of the many rooms of the building is where the residents are at. A father sat next to his five children who slept next to one another in an orderly fashion. Each child is identical to one another but with variations in hair color.
Their father is a young man with straight, black hair reaching down to his shoulders and pale skin. The upper-half of his face is decayed, veins popping out and his skin losing its original color. He wears a simple black kimono with a longer white jacket over it. He sat next to his only son amongst his five children, each looking upon him with eagerness in their eyes. He was in the process of telling them a bed-time story. It was a story his ancestors wrote, depicting the tale of a great warrior capable of slaying demons. His fury knew no bounds, his wrath capable of inducing fear into the toughest of demons. The only thing they feared was him.
The tale itself has gone through many variations over the decades, but regardless of these changes, the point still stands. It was originally written by the father's ancestors to scare off the demons and it worked in the beginning until it was relegated to a children's fairy tale. It didn't take long for the demons to regain their courage and continue their chaos. And so, the myth of the Hellwalker faded away and lives on through children's books.
As the father finished explaining the story, he smiled towards his son who was still awake while his four daughters had already fallen asleep. His son asks, "I like it when you tell me about the Hellwalker, father, it makes me feel safe." The father doesn't say anything else, caressing his son's hair to soothe him even more. The child asks, "It would be nice to meet the Hellwalker. If he was real, I wonder what he would look like."
The man answers his son, "Most likely, he would be a large warrior whose stature can intimidate even the largest foes." The son smiled, visualizing the Hellwalker and closed his eyes. The father wished the Hellwalker was real, but he was never real to begin with. After the fall of the greatest demon slayer and left with very little hope, his ancestors wrote this tale to scare off the demons but to no avail. Despite this, the tale is still being told today. It most likely has to deal with the sense of power and safety that comes with the story, knowing that someone can protect you with that much strength is reassuring to kids. That's why he's taken it upon himself to protect this world, organizing the Demon Slayer Corps to protect the next generation. He considers all the slayers to be his children, and he doesn't want anymore to suffer at the hands of Muzan.
For now, he places his faith in the Hashira, the highest ranking swordsmen amongst the demon slaying corps. As a matter of fact, two of them are on their way to Mount Natagumo due to a disturbance of demons killing off his children. He only hopes they can end this quickly, so no more will have to suffer.
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The Slayer had begun following a river as he hoped he would find more demons along it. He looked around to see if there were any traces of the webbing from earlier but killing the demon from earlier seemed to have destroyed the entire network. Regardless, he still hoped he would be able to find any clues about the whereabouts of the demons in this forest. Inosuke was still latched onto his arm, furiously trying to take his serrated blade back from the Doom Slayer but it was a futile effort. The warrior grew increasingly annoyed with the boy's persistence, forcefully grabbing the boy by the arm before tossing him away like unwanted trash. Inosuke scrambled to his feet as he cursed, "Damn it! Get your own sword, asshole!" The boy continued cursing out the Doom Slayer until the man had picked up on a noise and extended his arm to silence the boar boy.
Inosuke stopped briefly, puzzled by the Slayer's action as he watched the man look around aimlessly as he was trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound he heard. The Slayer whipped his head to the other side of the river and discovered another demon trying to quietly sneak out of sight from the two demon slayers. It was a small little girl with the same pale-white skin and hair and possessing similar features to the previous one. Her eyes widened with shock upon being discovered. Inosuke pointed at the demon as he exclaimed, "Whoa! A demon! I'll-" Inosuke didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as the warrior leaped across the river in an instant and decapitated the little girl with a ruthless swing using Inosuke's blade.
This was normally the part where the Slayer would feel the argent energy course through his body and revitalize him. However, nothing happened this time. The Slayer looked at the rapidly disintegrating corpse of the demon and saw no energy leak out from it. It simply dusted away. How odd, do the demons of this dimension possess no argent energy? Another inconvenience for the Slayer. However, it won't be a problem if they're all insufferably weak like this.
Inosuke stared in awe at the warrior's strength and speed. His reaction time was flawless. The moment the warrior had processed the demon's existence, he went on the attack and effortlessly finished the job. Inosuke didn't know who this man was or where he came from but he can say for certain that this man was a trained killer. He's surely had years of experience dealing with combat.
The Slayer's instincts alerted him to an incoming threat. He raised himself quickly and slashed in the direction his new opponent was coming from. However, he felt the sword snap like a twig upon digging into the creature. He didn't stop the creature's attack as he was hit by the creature's fists. Fortunately, he didn't feel a thing as the fists of the large demon felt like a gentle love-tap to his armor. He looked the creature in the eye to make out its full stature only to discover that this demon was the complete opposite to the girl, possessing brownish-gray skin and long, white hair. His physique was similar to that of a Hell Knight (tall and muscular). However, its most unique trait was his face which resembled an actual spider with its multiple pearled eyes and large teeth. The demon screamed at the Doom Slayer, "No one hurts my family!" The creature's face exploded from an uppercut from the Hellwalker, powerful enough to blast the creature across the area onto its back. He looked at the broken blade in his hand, baffled by how ridiculously fragile it was. He performed a simple slash at full force and the blade broke as if he was swinging with a wooden stick. He would have to try again to verify it's fragility by stealing Inosuke's other blade. Realizing that the blade in his hand was no longer useful, he tossed it into the gently flowing river next to him.
Inosuke slouched in disbelief of what he had seen. The tall creature, despite being taller and more muscular than the green giant, was effortlessly blown back by a single strike. Just how strong was this monster?! He noticed the demon begin to regenerate his head and the boar boy saw an opportune chance for him to steal the skill as he shouted at the Doom Slayer, "You sit this one out! I'm killing this demon!" The boy charged across the river, not possessing the strength that the Slayer had to easily leap across the river, and jumping towards the creature as he stated his attack, "Beast Breathing: Second Fang, Rip and Tear" Inosuke dug his sword into the creature's throat but his blade became stuck once it was inside. The boy tried to force the blade through but he couldn't. He mustered all of the strength in his body to perform the task but he was unable to make the sword move. The large spider demon stood back up before grabbing Inosuke by the legs and slamming the boy into the ground, an act that severely injured the child, before tossing him aside and yanking out the sword lodged into its throat.
The Slayer felt insulted by the boy's attack. Rip and tear? Is that the boy's pathetic excuse for ripping and tearing? What a joke! The Slayer was about to demonstrate the real meaning of Rip and Tear. The warrior zoomed forward, ducking underneath a swing from the tall demon before digging his finger into the creature's skin and tearing the skin off its torso, revealing it's fleshy innards. The warrior rammed his fist through to get a firm hold of the creature's ribcage before ripping it out to expose its organs to him.
The creature tried to discombobulate the Slayer with both of its fists to stop the pain but the Slayer quickly flicked his wrists into the creature's forearms, shattering them, before reaching both of his arms into the creature's body and plucking out it's muscle fibers like a child removing the fluff of a pillow. The demon fell back as it had lost control of its muscles and was no longer able to stand. The warrior had his fun as he searched for Inosuke's secondary blade and picked it up. He walked next to the slowly regenerating demon and gently swung the blade into its neck. However, he was far too gentle with it as the blade only grazed its skin. He began repeating a back and forth motion as if he was utilizing a saw and began cutting through the demon's neck until it was sawed off.
Again, no argent energy. This can't be a coincidence, the demons of this dimension must have no argent in their body for him to absorb. There was something going on behind the scenes that he's unaware of.
Inosuke had watched the brutality unfold before him and was disgusted in every way possible. Sure, the boy had survived out in the wild by himself but he had never seen a creature have its muscles ripped apart like paper from the inside. He was fascinated to say the least as he got up and admired the Doom Slayer. This man was the epitome of strength and brutality which made Inosuke want to dominate him even more. If Inosuke could surpass this stranger, then he would be the strongest in the world. Inosuke puffed up his chest in triumph as he boldly stated, "Listen up! I acknowledge your strength but don't let that get to your head! I, Inosuke Hashibira, will surpass you and I-" The Slayer wasn't listening as he walked into the forest to continue his hunt for more demons. Inosuke exploded into an angry fit as he chased after the Doom Slayer while screaming, "HEY! I WAS TALKING TO YOU, ASSHOLE! COME BACK HERE!"
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Tanjiro was knocked back but managed to keep standing. He was bloodied and covered in bruises from the top down. He had not landed a single, effective blow against the demon he was fighting. As the white demon walked towards him, the boy quickly eyed between the trees to see his younger, demonic sister, Nezuko, being squeezed by strings that dug into her skin, making her bleed profusely. When Tanjiro had returned home one day to see his family dead, Nezuko was the only survivor and had turned into a demon. It took a while but she managed to calm down. His current quest was to restore her humanity no matter what. Although she was a demon and the injuries she was sustaining wouldn't last, it still infuriated him seeing her in such a critical condition. He would never forgive the demons for what they did to his family. As he became upset, the wise words of his mother echoed in the back of his mind. He had to remember what his mother told him about consideration. Tanjiro's seen it before, these demons were people at one point. Perhaps he could try reasoning with them as he asked the approaching demon, "What happened to you? Why are you doing this?!"
The demon was one of twelve kizuki, the strongest demons that serve directly under Muzan. Their rankings range as low as Lower Moon Six to One and then Upper Moon Six to One. This boy was the second weakest of the Lower Moon demons that served under Muzan yet he was able to trample over Tanjiro in strength. He did not feel threatened whatsoever as he explained, "You are interrupting my family's peace. You demon hunters are so pesky and always getting into people's business. Do you ever consider the inconvenience you cause us? The suffering we had to go through? No, all you ever think about is yourselves. My family ridiculed me once I became a demon and I have found salvation through my new one. Your sister will make a fine addition to my family."
A vein popped out from Tanjiro's forehead as he held back his temptation to lash out at the demon. He had to repress his hidden hatred for them. He's right, the demons have suffered, they've all had difficult lives. Tanjiro shouldn't get angry, he needs to listen to his mother. The boy answered back, "So you think family members are just pieces to add to your collection?!"
The demon stopped as he explained, "Aren't they, though? Everyone has a role to fulfill, I'm simply filling out the empty slots. Who are you to criticize my way of life? Human trash."
Tanjiro grit his teeth furiously, further repressing his animosity for demons. He hated them with a passion but he couldn't let that get to him. He had to always heed his mother's words. He began inhaling deeply to tap into his power before charging towards the creature in the hopes of landing a triumphant blow on the creature.
