Author's note: I have remastered/modified all of the necessary chapters between 1-15. These chapters were remade to respect the Slayer's strength as it should be while also laying down the foundation of later plot points. I recommend giving them a read, I'm curious to hear your guy's thoughts about the improvements I've made! Without further ado, I present: Chapter 41
Opening: Paper Moon by Tommy Heavenly6 (ROMIX Cover)
Muzan stood in front of his chemistry bench, repeatedly flipping through the pages of a scientific book as he was desperately trying every combination of elements possible to obtain the solution to perfection. He had long since given up on his search for the Blue Spider Lily as he had tried for centuries but found nothing despite his research into the subject. He had hoped one of his demons would've found it by now but even that has proved to be futile. He stopped what he was doing once he heard the distinct sound of a portal opening next to him. He sighed out of disappointment as he put his utensils down. It was most likely the Marauder who came with another assignment for Muzan. As if he didn't have enough to deal with as is. However, he was not prepared for what he saw enter through the portal.
Although it was the Marauder, Muzan was shocked by the demon's physical change. He was covered from head to toe in crimson Immoran metal but still carried his iconic axe and the Slayer's Super Shotgun hanging from his hip. Muzan felt the need to tease the demon in a mocking tone, "Did your body get mutilated in battle or something?" The Marauder didn't feel the need to answer Muzan. He cared not for his pride or dignity, he was not here to make himself look good in front of such a weakling. His only purpose was to avenge Argent D'nur and obey the Dark Lord's will. Ignoring the comment, the Marauder quickly interjected:
"The Dark Lord has sent me to aid you in your efforts for immortality."
Muzan raised his eyebrows in shock as he was not expecting the assistance of the Marauder who humiliated him. He said in response, "Really? And how are you going to help me exactly?"
The Marauder looked towards the chemistry bench and saw a separate book with a page showcasing the Blue Spider Lily and it's contents before turning his attention back to the Muzan, "You need the Blue Spider Lily, correct?"
Muzan partially groaned as he sorted through several papers on his desk and organized them for the Marauder to see as he explained while pointing at different sections of each paper, "I've been investigating for centuries and have found nothing. I looked through every single piece of evidence that could possibly tell of its location. However, it's whereabouts have been denied to me. After years of searching, I thought I had finally found it. It was roughly three years ago where my research directed me towards a snowy mountaintop that was supposed to house the Blue Spider Lily but all I ended up finding was a coal-burning family. I killed them before tearing the house apart in the hopes of finding the damn thing. I was left disappointed after that expedition and gave up my search for the Blue Spider Lily. That's why I've been researching how to simulate its effects so I won't need it but my efforts have been futile. It's just frustrating because all of the evidence pointed towards that mountaintop, I don't know where I went wrong!"
The Marauder spoke after hearing Muzan's tale, "Then I shall begin my search there."
Muzan shook his head in disbelief as he believed the Marauder wouldn't be able to find anything and warned, "Be my guest. I doubt you'll be able to find anything. The best I can do to help you is have one of my subordinates drop you off in the nearest town. You'll have to go the rest of the way on your own." Muzan turned his head towards another nearby platform where a pale woman with shiny, waist-length, dark hair that was parted to reveal her singular, pink eye with the markings of Upper Moon Four etched into it. She wore a black kimono secured by a pale-brown obi and held a wooden biwa in her hands. "Nakime." Muzan commanded. The woman didn't need to say anything in response, she understood her master's desire and fulfilled it. With a simple strike of her Biwa string, the Marauder vanished from his current position and was relocated to the town closest to the mountaintop Muzan had searched.
Muzan began to get excited at the prospect of obtaining immortality. If the Dark Lord was actually helping him out, then he was making a big mistake. Once Muzan is able to attain perfection, nothing would be able to stop him. For now, he'll have to help however he can and pray that the Marauder is successful in his search for the Blue Spider Lily.
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"Tanjiro, where are you taking us?" Tamayo asked as she followed behind Tanjiro and Nezuko who led the way. They ran across the fields of Japan quickly as they were under a time limit. If they walked, the sun would rise up and that would significantly impair their progress. Tanjiro turned around as he exclaimed:
"We're heading home!" Tamayo and Yushiro looked towards one another, baffled by the boy's answer and asked for elaboration. "My father used to take care of that Lily. He explained to us that it only showed itself during certain times in the year. After he passed away, we didn't want to just throw it away and let it decompose so we tried to preserve it as much as we could. I'm not sure if it's still there but it's worth checking out!"
"It doesn't matter if it's dead or alive, I'll still be able to use it for my research! I certainly hope it hasn't faded away by now, we need it more than ever!" Tanjiro nodded in agreement as the group picked up their pace. It took them several hours before they could see the snowy mountain top that Tanjiro used to live on. As they hiked up the steep incline, Tanjiro began to relive his memories of the past. He remembered going up the same exact path that they were currently on. He had just returned after delivering coal for his family. He was venturing up these same steps and up ahead would be his household where he would discover his family's corpses strewn across, staining the snow around them with their blood.
Tanjiro was in a trance as he recollected his past but snapped out of it when Nezuko grabbed onto his haori and pointed ahead. Tanjiro looked up to see their household in the same exact condition. Unfortunately, there was no one there to take care of it after all these years so there was snow where there shouldn't be and the inside had become filthy. Regardless, it was still home. Tanjiro formed a small smile as he muttered under his breath, "we're home…"
Kanao took Tanjiro's hand as she kept her other hand close to her chest, she could see that Tanjiro was nervous about revisiting the place of his trauma and asked him, "Tanjiro, are you going to be okay?"
Tanjiro subtly nodded as he answered, "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just the memories coming back in, and the guilt. Though, I can't really beat myself up over what happened, there was no way of knowing ahead of time that Muzan of all demons would come to my household." Kanao agreed with Tanjiro. They were all standing in front of the unmaintained house when Nezuko rushed over to the gravestones her and Tanjiro had set up in honor of their family. Though the gravestones were devoured in snow, they were easy to identify. Due to the limited time Tanjiro had to set up the gravestones at the time, they were not of the greatest quality. The boy joined his sister as they both knelt down and began cleaning up the stones without a second thought. Tanjiro was surprised once Kanao knelt down next to him and helped tidy up the gravestones. Once they were done, Tanjiro and Nezuko made a silent prayer to themselves as per tradition before stepping back and reflecting on the past.
Kanao told Tanjiro as he stared at his family's gravestones, "I know you miss them. We've both lost our only families but we made a promise to each other that we'll be together no matter what. I hope that you can consider me as your family just as I consider you and Nezuko as a part of mine." Tanjiro had no words to spare after hearing what Kanao had to say, he didn't deserve her. He pulled her into a hug following her speech with Nezuko trying to squeeze herself in-between them so she can feel their affection as well. Yushiro was disgusted by what was happening but Tamayo cleared her throat to prevent her assistant from making any insensitive comments.
Tamayo then raised her voice for the Kamado's to hear, "So where exactly is the Blue Spider Lily?" Tanjiro looked around for something before making a "aha!" sound when he found it. He stood up and walked over to another gravestone much further away. This one was a proper burial that stood much taller than the rest. On the gravestone wrote: "Tanjuro Kamado.". This belonged to the boy's father and was set up following his untimely demise.
Tanjiro put his hands together and bowed as he apologized, "Sorry, father, I need your help again." before clearing up the snow in front of the gravestone and began digging with his bare hands. Nezuko knelt down and helped her brother dig into the ground.
Yushiro couldn't stand the sight of the two siblings digging into the ground like peasants and looked around. He found a nearby shovel and grabbed it. He stepped over to the Kamado's before mocking, "Instead of making things hard for yourself, how about using one of these?" Tanjiro smiled, thanking the demon for his help as he began removing the dirt. That's when they uncovered Tanjuro's casket.
Tanjiro warned Nezuko before opening the casket, "Look away, Nezuko, I don't want you to see this." He didn't want to scar Nezuko with the decomposed skeletal corpse of their father underneath the casket. However, Nezuko has already seen her fair share of violence in her life already and wasn't buying Tanjiro's warning as she widened her eyes in anticipation. She knew what to expect, she wasn't stupid. Tanjiro opened the casket to reveal the skeleton of Tanjuro Kamado and residing within the man's rib cage was the pot that held the remains of the Blue Spider Lily. Tanjiro's face lit up as he exclaimed, "I can't believe it! It's still here!" Tanjiro carefully extracted the pot and closed the casket following this as he presented the Blue Spider Lily towards Tamayo. Everyone stared at it in awe. Although it was far from its glory, it's decayed body was still a sight to behold.
Tamayo slowly removed the pot from Tanjiro's hands as she spoke to herself, "This is it…! The Blue Spider Lily. Muzan had been searching for this for years! That's most likely why he invaded your home, it was because he was searching for this, his key to immortality."
That realization struck a nerve with Tanjiro as he stated, "So, if we didn't have the Blue Spider Lily, my family would still be alive?" No one responded to Tanjiro's statement in fear of upsetting him. He continued though, pushing past his emotions, "So, with this, you'll finally be able to cure Nezuko?"
"Yes, without a doubt." Tanjiro and Nezuko celebrated their victory as they embraced one another. There was no time to waste for the Kamado's as the group began rushing back to prepare the cure for Nezuko.
The group had to make a quick stop back at the Butterfly Mansion where Tanjiro knocked on the Slayer's door to notify the warrior that he was coming in. After a few seconds, the boy let himself in to see the man was hunched over on his desk, still tinkering with the beacon. There were metal scraps sprawled throughout the floor, the man had bothered to clean the place or even air it out. Tanjiro greeted, "H-hey, Mister Flint." The warrior was focused on putting the parts together. His helmet's visor allowed him to zoom-in incredibly far, far enough for him to perform the maintenance needed on the Beacon. After putting a tiny piece into place, the warrior sat up and asked:
"Do you need something?"
Tanjiro scratched his head as he answered, "No, I just wanted to check up on you. How's the progress on the beacon?"
"Very little, I've figured out how to solve a couple of the problems but the problem is that I need to figure out how to create a source of power that's strong enough to send a signal. I don't care who picks up the signal, any civilization that's able to pick up this signal surely has the capacity for me to return back to my dimension. Although, I am hoping that I get picked up by ARC, they'll recognize my signal right away."
"And if they don't?"
"It doesn't matter. Like I said, I don't care who picks up on my signal so long as I can get out of this place, it's fine with me."
Tanjiro made a sour face as he realized something and questioned, "Do you think the Dark Lord's back to full strength?" The Slayer sat back in his seat and stared at Tanjiro, pondering the thought for a moment before replying:
"Most likely. He's probably waiting for me at this point to make a move. He knows I'm coming for him so he's been trying to delay me as much as possible until the time is right."
"Do you think you'll be able to beat him?"
"I have to. There is no if's in this situation, it's either I do it or the entire universe falls under his control. The best solution I can think of that would even the playing field would be for me to tap into that power from before."
Tanjiro cocked his head in confusion as he had no idea what the warrior was referring to. "What power? Are you talking about your Blood Breathing?"
"No, not that. You either weren't around or you were unconscious when I tapped into it. It was just like this surge of power that came out of nowhere. I remember my entire body heating up intensely and my heartbeat spiked up considerably. It was a level of strength I had never tapped into in my life. However, the first time I went into that form, it left me knocked out and sore. That's why you saw me on my knees against Akaza. It wasn't because he beat me, it's because my power took a toll on me. The second instance was against the Doom Hunter but this time, I was still able to move around fairly well after using it."
Tanjiro absorbed the information that was fed to him by the Slayer and remembered something, "I feel like I know what you're talking about. I think I've felt it, myself. I just didn't pay any attention to it at the time because I was so consumed by rage but it was against that Upper Moon in the Red Light District. I remember getting warm and my heartbeat spiked up considerably. It was due to those things that I didn't realize how much faster and more precise I had become in that moment. However, when I was knocked out of the form, I was sent into a coughing fit and could barely move my body. I would've been dead meat if Nezuko hadn't saved me when she did."
"So you've felt it too, huh? It seems like we have to figure out how to speed up our heartbeat at-will. Everything else will come naturally after we figure out how to do that."
"I think you might be right. Naturally, having a heartbeat that high would be unhealthy for a human. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's still unhealthy but for demon slayers, our breathing technique allows us to compensate and adapt to the increased adrenaline and blood flow in our body. A normal human wouldn't be able to handle that type of energy but us demon slayer can. I should report this to Mister Ubayashiki so he can inform the other Demon Slayers. If we had the entire Demon Slayer Corps using this strength, this can surely turn the tides of battle!"
"You go do that, kid. I'll be here trying to figure out how to get this thing to work in the meantime."
"Will do, Mister Flint! Also, before I forget: Nezuko's going to be cured soon! She's going to turn back into a human once we give her the cure we found!" The warrior gave Tanjiro a firm thumbs up before grabbing his trinkets and returning to his work. Tanjiro smiled as he closed the door behind him, the future was looking bright for him.
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The freezing air felt warm against Xernex's already-pale skin. His heavy footsteps crunched the snow underneath him as he hiked up the mountain. The sun had already risen by the time the Marauder had arrived at the mountain. He found himself in front of an abandoned house where he could see subtle bumps and gaps in the snow. It was as if several holes were being filled by the snow over time. It had to be footsteps, there were far too many of them and the patterns were too linear to be natural. He used the scanner covering his left eye to begin surveying the details of the area to see if he can detect any abnormalities. He saw a nearby shovel that was hastily left in the snow. He could also see a shovel-shaped mark along the wall of the house, most likely where it was previously at before it was moved.
These marks had to have been recent, they're still fresh for the most part. Xernex knelt down and continued scanning the area until he saw the footprints leading towards a gravestone in the distance. There, he could see an even large hole slowly being filled up by the snow. Whoever was here recently had to have dug up this grave with the shovel from earlier. Why would they bother with a random gravestone out here? There had to be a purpose behind it. As he continued investigating, he observed the name written on the gravestone, "Tanjuro Kamado". He looked behind him to see several other, poorly-made gravestones aligned next to each other. This must've been the family that Muzan had murdered while he was searching for the Blue Spider Lily. He imagined their deaths at the hands of Muzan. It must've been quick, ruthless, and without mercy. The images he formed in his mind reminded him of all the bodies he had seen during the demonic attacks at Argent D'nur. The demons kill as they please without a care in the world. He looked at his own hands and felt a surge of irony as he realized what he had become. No, he wasn't just another demon, he still carries the heart of a Night Sentinel. But… what night sentinel would serve the demons? No, it wasn't them that brought ruin to his kingdom, it was the Slayer. The Slayer brought the demons to us, it's his fault! He is not carrying out the will of the dark lord, he is avenging his fallen kingdom.
I am not another demon, I am a proud Night Sentinel.
This was something Xernex repeated to himself in his mind as he constantly reassured himself that he was doing the right thing. Once he regained his focus, the marauder began brushing off the dust piling up on the gravestone and apologized, "If only this could've been avoided…" The demon stood up, tracing the footprint back in the other direction he came from. Whoever was just here must've found what they were looking for. Xernex figured that whoever visited this grave and dug it up must know the whereabouts of the Blue Spider Lily. With that, the Marauder continued with his search as he went back down the mountain.
