Opening: Paper Moon by Tommy Heavenly6 (ROMIX Cover)

The Slayer crouched down in the middle of the crater that formed during his moment of blind rage. He dug his hands through the dirt in search of any remaining wreckage from the Super Doom Hunter's sled but had very little luck. Accompanying him was Sagetsu who was very eager to help the Hellwalker search for futuristic technology. Sagetsu, however, was uncertain they would find anything despite his excitement as he expressed his concern, "You sure we're going to find anything? I'm pretty sure you punched that thing into oblivion based on what I'm seeing here." The Slayer said nothing in response, continuing to dig through the crater in the hopes he can find even the smallest piece of technology.

The warrior didn't explain to Sagetsu why he was looking for the parts. The swordsmith was currently under the assumption they're going to make more weapons out of what they find but that wasn't the Slayer's intention. He was hoping to create a beacon of sorts with whatever he could find. Only the technology from his dimension has the capacity to pull this off, nothing here would get the job done. He thought about Tanjiro and what happened to the boy and couldn't help but take responsibility for what happened. The Slayer felt responsible for being the one to cripple Tanjiro. Had he been stronger, had he not been so careless during his fight against the Doom Hunter, Tanjiro would still have all of his limbs. The warrior felt sick on the inside for being the reason a child is now crippled, he never wanted it to happen yet it did on his watch. He wasn't going to allow anyone else to harm Tanjiro, he already failed to protect him once and he wasn't planning on failing a second time. After a bit of searching, the Doom Slayer finally found a small piece of hardware used for the Doom Hunter's sled. He tossed it into the carriage Sagetsu brought and the two men got back to work.

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Tanjiro fought to open his eyes but they wanted to stay closed because it hurt to open them. It was simply more comfortable to keep them closed but he refused to succumb to comfort. His eyes shot open against their will and he quickly squinted them following this as he adjusted to the light. He immediately recognized the infirmary room of the Butterfly Mansion and felt a blast of deja vu as he feels like he's been in this situation before. He tried to rub his eyes with both arms but only his right arm showed up. He tried commanding his left arm but he felt nothing there. He tried to wiggle his legs as well but they, too, would not bend to his will. He barely managed to lift his head up and his eyes widened at the sight of his damaged body. His left arm and both legs were gone and he was fortunate he had any shred of his torso left. From the top down, he was covered in bandages and tubes like Rengoku (minus most of his limbs).

Tanjiro didn't know how to feel, he wasn't sure how to process the fact that he had lost the majority of his limbs. They were all a part of him, something he used everyday but now they're gone. He didn't regret his actions, he did what he had to do. Everything turned out alright and the Hellwalker was alive but at what cost? The boy's thoughts wandered to his goals, to his sister, Nezuko. Can he still save her and defeat Muzan even in this damaged body? No, there was no way, it just wasn't possible. No one can fight with just their right arm, no matter how hard they try. The tears slowly welled up until he heard the quiet snoring of Kanao next to him. She was sleeping with her head resting on the bed, buried in her arms. He looked around to the best of his ability and saw all of his friends there. Zenitsu slept comfortably in the bed next to Tanjiro and Inosuke slept against the wall while sitting. Nezuko was curled up in a ball inside of her box which was positioned next to Tanjiro's bed. Rengoku sat directly in front of Tanjiro with his signature smile plastered on his face. The man was awake and waiting for Tanjiro to regain consciousness and spoke with little regard to everyone else sleeping, "You're awake at last, Kamado, my boy!"

Everyone expectedly woke up from how loud the Hashira was as they all lifted their heads to look at Tanjiro. Their faces lit up at the same time as they each called out Tanjiro's name before they got closer to the boy. Nezuko squeezed her brother's body as hard as she could, almost as if she was protecting him. Zenitsu asked Tanjiro, "You're awake! How are you feeling, man?"

Tanjiro answered, "I'm feeling alright. I'm surprised I don't feel any pain right now, it's actually kind of uncomfortable."

Kanao commented on the boy's condition by explaining, "You're being numbed right now so you can't feel anything. It was the only way you'd be able to wake up sooner or else you would be in extreme pain."

Tanjiro didn't want to imagine how much pain he would be in right now if he wasn't being numbed. He felt excruciating pain for a brief moment when he pushed the Hellwalker out of the way but he quickly passed out following it and now he woke up here. Inosuke abruptly grabbed Tanjiro and lifted the boy up in front of him with ease, speaking with little regard to decency, "Look at you! You're so light you practically weigh nothing!"

That hurt more than Tanjiro realized it would. The reality of how damaged his body is began to sink in even more as he began to wonder how much weight he had lost with the removal of his limbs. The tears started to come back as everyone was jaw-dropped at the insensitive comment made by Inosuke. Zenitsu cursed at the boar boy, "Dude! What the fuck?! Too soon!"

"What? I'm just saying."

Nezuko angrily pouted as she tried to take her brother back from Inosuke but the boar boy maneuvered Tanjiro away from Nezuko like a parent keeping a toy away from their child. Tanjiro really was as light as a toy at that point as Nezuko and Inosuke pulled at Tanjiro. The boy couldn't do much to stop it and tried his best to help Nezuko by pushing against Inosuke with his remaining right arm and broke away from the boar boy's grip.

Kanao butted in, trying to calm everyone down as she spoke up, "Please leave Tanjiro alone! He barely just woke up and hasn't even recovered!" Tanjiro settled in the bed once more but his eyes were glued to Kanao as she talked. She turned to the boy and asked him, "Are you sure you're doing okay?" Tanjiro knew the girl was referring to his emotional condition based on the tone of her voice and smiled to the best of his ability to soothe her:

"Yeah, I'll be alright. I'm just coming to terms with what's happened to me, that's all." That was half-true, but then again, he didn't want to concern everyone if they knew he was distressed over his current situation. Their expressions laxed upon hearing Tanjiro's response and Kanao placed a comforting hand on the boy as she explained to him:

"You'll be staying here at the Butterfly Mansion until you've fully recovered. If you ever need anything, just let me or my sister know." Tanjiro thanked the girl for her hospitality. The boy couldn't help but admire her beauty accompanied with her soft voice, it made him blush. Zenitsu caught onto this but chose not to say anything in response. Everyone fell silent once they heard heavy footsteps approaching the door and they all looked to see who was coming. The doors slid open very loudly as the Hellwalker made his presence known and stomped towards Tanjiro

They all eased away from the Doom Slayer as they were well aware of what the warrior was capable of at this point and were not going to make any effort to piss him off. Tanjiro greeted, "Oh, hey, Mister Slayer. Are you doing okay?"

No response. The silence grew eerie as everyone started to look towards one another out of confusion. The Hellwalker had not budged an inch as he stared at the damaged boy in front of him. Tanjiro could sense the fact that the warrior wanted to talk alone and asked everyone else, "Uhh, could you guys leave the room real quick?"

Zenitsu hesitantly questioned, "Are you sure it's a good idea with this guy?"

"Zenitsu, it's the Hellwalker, I have nothing to worry about. Just trust me." Everyone vacated the room to leave the warrior alone with Tanjiro. That's when the Doom Slayer broke his silence:

"How are you feeling?"

Tanjiro couldn't hold back his emotions anymore as he finally allowed himself to break down in front of the Hellwalker. He cried out, "I'm so stressed out right now! I don't know what'll happen to me! I don't know if I'll be able to help Nezuko or save lives with one arm! It hurts me to not have control of my body, I can't even walk anymore after this! So, no, I'm not fine!" The boy tried to dry his tears with his right arm before trying to assert confidence into his voice, "At least.. I did my job and helped you, that's all I could ask…"

"Don't even try to justify what happened back there, that was stupid and reckless. You're lucky we're even having this conversation, you could've died."

"At least I helped you, that's all that matters to me." Tanjiro wasn't lying, it was the only thing going through his mind when he pushed the Hellwalker out of the way of the incoming attack. The warrior didn't bother arguing as they would go in circles if they did. Tanjiro continued the conversation, "So, that thing… that was one of your demons, wasn't it?" The Slayer nodded and replied:

"Every day, I slaughter millions of those creatures. Every time I cut them down, more just keep on coming, there's no stopping it. A single imp could kill up to a thousand people before it gets killed. So tell me, do you still hold onto that sentiment about showing remorse for demons?"

"I do, I can't speak on behalf of the demons you fight but I can say for certain that the ones, here, are suffering." The Hellwalker didn't have a response to Tanjiro in this instance. Where Tanjiro crumbled underneath the Slayer's questioning last time, the boy is holding his ground here. "Mister Slayer, I've always wanted to ask you this but.. How did you end up like this? You carry so much hatred in you I can barely comprehend it. You have power beyond our understanding and you wear strange armor. Tell me, how did you become the way you are now?"

There was a pause before the warrior answered, "I've been fighting demons for so long that I've lost track, it starts to become a blur of violence after a while. I couldn't tell you how long I've been at this but all I can say is that it's been too long. I lost the only remnant of my late family thanks to the demons and ever since then, I haven't stopped. I'll never forgive what they did to Daisy."

Tanjiro wasn't sure who Daisy was but he decided not to press any further on that subject and moved onto the second half of his previous question, "What about your armor and strength? Were you always like that?"

The Doom Slayer took a seat next to Tanjiro, getting comfortable before he explained, "No. I was just a marine before the demons took over my life. As for how I got like this, that's a longer story. I don't know how long it had been after Daisy was killed by the demons, but it was at a point where I was growing weary of fighting against the armies of Hell. I was tired yet I kept on fighting, I couldn't stop fighting."

"Then what happened?"

"I crossed over into another dimension unlike anything I had seen, Argent D'nur. It was a stark contrast to the hellscapes I had spent most of my life at that point fighting in. I was discovered by a pair of guards on patrol and I tried to get away but I was tired and unable to resist. They took me to one of their various gladiatorial arenas, Sentinel Prime."

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The marine was dragged by the arms by the two guards as they walked through the halls of Sentinel Prime. The skies were cloudy yet eloquent, the buildings of the city they were in had an aesthetic he was unfamiliar with. Despite the people seeming so human, they were very different from him. Their technology, architecture, and their culture was so alien to Flynn. He captured strange glances from the pedestrians who walked through the streets of Sentinel Prime, they were in awe of the marine who was covered in blood (not just his own). Flynn quietly groaned in pain as the two, armored, white guards dragged him into a room with two men standing together in anticipation of the prisoner that had just arrived.

Both men were slender and pale in appearance, as though they never saw the light of day. Their robes were plated with metal and they donned oddly-shaped crowns. One of them had no hair and wore a simple head ornament while the other wore a strange wheel-shaped helmet that obscured his eyes. They wore complimentary colors as the one with the head ornament wore red and the other wore green in contrast. They each had a staff which arched at the ends.

The guards tossed Flynn in front of them, briefing the two men on the current situation, "We found him in a valley just outside the castle walls. He was badly wounded and wearing this." The guard had stepped forward while presenting Flynn's standard marine helmet to the helmeted man. Despite everything that was happening right now, the marine's thoughts were occupied with violence and the bloodshed of demons. He had fought for so long he had nearly lost his sanity, he had not spoken to anyone for many years he had almost forgotten basic speech. The marine mindlessly rambled in front of the men:

"Guts, huge guts… kill them. Must.. kill.. Them all…!"

The helmeted man took intrigue with the marine as he commented, "He has fight in him yet."

His companion stepped forward as he added onto his partner's statement, "In spite of his injuries."

The helmet man ordered the guard, "Send him to the arena, let him be judged like the others." The two guards took a firm grip on Flynn's arms and proceeded to drag him away from the two men. He couldn't resist, he didn't have any strength left. He was dragged across many more hallways as they passed by countless armored guards that all looked alike. They all stood at attention with strange spears drawn and the blades, themselves, were composed of a strange substance Flynn was unfamiliar with as the blades were made from a bright, blue energy. It wasn't long until he was tossed into a single, putrid room full of other men that wore pathetic, tattered clothing. The guards threw the man into a stack of hay and dismissed themselves from the room. The other men in the room cried out nonsense in a language the marine did not understand but he didn't care. All he could still think about was the bloodshed of all those that had wronged him.

Flynn rested in the stack of hay, shifting his eyes around the dark room filled with chains and cages and took note of the injuries all the other men had. They were all alike, they were bruised from the head down and tired as if they had not eaten in days, like him. He didn't need food, he needed to kill the demons, there was so much work he had to do, these fools have no business holding him here.

The other men eyed Flynn, smirking at the sight of fresh meat ready to be pulverized. Flynn could care less, their gazes were pathetic compared to the deadly stare of a Baron of Hell. These men may act tough, but they knew nothing of true strength. If only these men knew, he would love to see their faces then.

After several, excruciating minutes, a plethora of armored, white guards stormed into the room and began taking away the men one by one. It wasn't long before they took Flynn as well and they were all transported inside of a large, circular arena with walls so high you could barely see the people watching.

The men in the arena looked at each other, confused by what was going on as the guards stood at attention around the perimeter of the arena. There was one guard in the arena that was wildly different from the rest of the pale-armored men present. He wore striking, green armor with chainmail and silver linings. He wore an odd, angular mask that covered his mouth and protected his neck and he had short, blonde hair. They did not make eye contact but the marine acknowledged the man's presence considering how different his armor was.

The robed men from earlier presented themselves, taking a simple glance at the lot they had gathered for the day before the bald one began introducing himself, "Greetings to all, I am Deag Grav, one of the many priests of Argent D'nur. Many of you are aware of what's about to happen but for those of you that don't, allow me to explain." The warrior hated the sound of this man's voice. He sounded like a sniveling coward. "You are about to be judged by us, one last chance at redemption for the crimes you have committed. A chance to serve a greater cause by joining the Night Sentinels. Those of you that have failed will be cast aside, we do not have time for weaklings. However, if you prevail, you will be granted an honor unlike any other as you get to stand alongside our brave warriors to protect our cities!"

The men looked towards each other in anticipation, some smirked while others shrieked in fear. Deag Grav finished his speech, "Prepare to be judged, which shall you be? Time to find out…"

The marine's instincts blared as soon as the fighting began, it was like he was back in Hell and he cast aside his fatigue to keep on fighting. Flynn ducked over an incoming punch and slammed his fist into his attacker's face with all of his might to the point his opponent's teeth were blasted out and he collapsed with ease. Another man was approaching from behind and the marine unleashed a unforgiving backhand against the incoming target, swatting them aside as they collapsed to the floor like twigs. He immersed himself in the adrenaline rush, the rage and emotions of fighting the demons began to resurface as he allowed his instincts to drive his body forward. He grabbed one of the men by the legs, sweeping him off his feet with the strength borrowed from his adrenaline before slamming the same man into someone else. The men fell on top of one another and groaned in pain as they struggled to get up.

He could see it, the demons approaching him. They all wanted to kill him and he felt the same way about them. He approached a nearby imp and grabbed it by the head before bashing his skull into it. The creature screamed in pain as it fell to the floor. Another jumped towards him without fear but fell into the marine's grip as he squeezed its throat before slamming the creature into the ground. He cupped his hands together and slammed them into the ribcage of another demon, the creature screamed in pain as it was blasted away. This process repeated for several, agonizing minutes until the majority of the demons were on the floor, gasping for air.

The green-armored man dropped his arms in awe as he watched the marine ruthlessly dismantle all of the men in the arena, His attention was certainly caught by the marine. He hadn't seen any prisoner ruthlessly dispatch the/ competition like this before. Flynn snapped back to the present situation once he was gasping for air and the fatigue was catching up to him once more. He caught an incoming punch from the last, standing man in the arena and punched him to the ground. All he could think about was violence as he muttered in his blood-craved daze, "RIP.. and.. TEAR!" Flynn breathed heavily, barely catching his own breath amongst the blanket of collapsed bodies on the floor. The nearby men could barely pick themselves up, all coughing out blood and groaning in pain as the guards tended to them and investigated the severity of their injuries.

He heard the deranged chuckling of Deag Grav grow louder as the priest approached. The marine barely moved his head to look at the man as he preached, "You'll make a fine addition to the front lines, stranger."

He couldn't stop thinking about them, he still cried out in his daze, "The demons! They.. are everywhere… Must.. KILL THEM ALL!"

An unknown voice, presumably belonging to a woman, ordered the priest, "Dress his wounds and bring him to us. I want to know more about the others he speaks of." Flynn looked to see a large, illuminating angel-like figure towering above them all. It was mechanical yet so organic at the same time with a golden crystal-like texture covering her head coupled with the creature's bright, yellow eyes. The priest bowed towards the mysterious figure as he answered:

"Yes, your grace." The priest called out to someone behind the marine, "Lieutenant Xernex, deal with this man." Flynn turned around to see the masked soldier from earlier approach very quickly. The marine felt as though he was in danger and swung at the incoming soldier. Xernex effortlessly ducked unerneath the attack and manuevered his body around Flynn, putting the man into a choke hold. Flynn tried to resist it but he was too late by then and passed out from the lack of air.