^ Chapter 24 - In the Belly of the Beast ^
Lower Moon One was certainly surprised when he recognized Tanjirō as a demon just like him, and he wondered if this young man had been the one to kill Rui and incite the wrath of Muzan on the Lower Moons. Considering he made a special point of finding somebody with hanafuda earrings, and that Tanjirō was the one who fit the bill, he knew it had to be true.
A demon among the Demon Slayers was highly intriguing, but at that moment, thinking about the ins and outs of how that's possible hardly mattered to him. The look of anger and resentment towards him on Tanjirō's face, it was like a delicious meal he couldn't keep himself from indulging in. Part of the reason why he had allowed himself to become a demon was so that he could cause pain and suffering to others, since as a human, one of the only few remaining things he had left to remember it was the feeling of pleasure that he got when he saw another human in anguish.
"Ahhh...I love showing people nightmares after showing them happy dreams...the warped expressions of pain on humans, I absolutely savor it…~" thought Lower Moon One as he stroked and held his cheeks a little while smiling at Tanjirō, who only growled and bared his fangs even more. He knew these small little teasing actions were further enraging him, and that's exactly why he kept doing it, to further savor the look on his enemy's face as he kept driving the dagger deeper and deeper into his emotional wound. "To watch them get struck by misfortune, then to watch them groan and writhe in pain. But I won't let my guard down...this demon still possesses a demon killing sword."
Lower Moon One dropped his smile and his hands, the wind fluttering by them as he and Tanjirō stared at one another in silence, the demon features of the slayer across from him becoming more pronounced. The time for relishing in Tanjirō's anger was coming to a close, he wasn't dumb enough to let himself become distracted by what made him feel pleasured. He had the gift of more of Muzan's blood hanging in the balance, he had to make sure he returned to his master so that he could accumulate more power.
If he was successful in his endeavors, then he hoped to attain enough strength to challenge the Upper Moons who haven't changed in hundreds of years and hopefully secure a spot among their ranks. That was his dream.
"I may be doing it in a roundabout way, but I'm definitely going to kill these Demon Slayers. I mixed my blood with the ink on the tickets, and when the conductor punches one, the technique I imbued on it will activate. It's difficult to notice, and there was little to no chance they'd be capable of escaping from it. Yet somehow...this guy…"
"You know, I was thinking of what I could say to see if you could repent for your actions...to see if you could change, and possibly accept a dream of mine…" murmured Tanjirō in a low tone as he gripped his blade and scabbard, then pulled his black nichirin blade out in one clean motion. "But I've changed my mind...to thoughtlessly trample your way into people's dreams, to take advantage of others for your own gain...I won't forgive you."
"Really? That's rude...I only wanted to give others sweet dreams. A lot of people enjoy them, you know? Even you were enjoying your's."
Tanjirō snarled as water began to flood out from his sword when he swung it to the side, the aggressive steam quickly taking the shape of a roaring dragon as he rushed down Lower Moon One at top speed. Without wasting any time he went right to using the tenth form of Water Breathing, his lungs expanding even further beyond the state he had them in with Total Concentration - Constant. Now he really wasn't going to try and think of forgiving this demon, he had gone too far enough as is. He could see the rank he held engraved on his eyeball, he knew that this demon had to have killed a load of humans in order to achieve the rank of Lower Moon One.
Lower Moon One himself maintained his calm, almost teasing smile as he raised his left arm up and angled his hand down, several repetitions of the kanji for "Dream" appearing alongside a wickedly smiling mouth opening up. He'd grown tired of the boy standing across from him now, it was time to send him back to sleep so that he could bind him and come up with a way to end his life.
"Kekkijutsu...Kyōsei Kontō Saimin no Sasyaki…~" murmured Lower Moon One as the second mouth then whispered to Tanjirō for him to sleep, a black orb of energy expanding from the mouth and flying forward to strike his body.
Tanjirō gasped when the energy orb, upon striking him, turned dark purple and immediately made his body feel as heavy as a stone, which then led to his eyes rolling up into his head, and his hands started to lose grip on his sword. Within a split second of falling asleep, however, Tanjirō woke up with an even angrier expression as his horns began to grow out the side of his head, his hands gripping his blade even tighter.
"What? He's not falling asleep…?" thought Lower Moon One as he launched the attack again and again and again, stopping Tanjirō over and over again, only for the slayer to wake up looking even more enraged than ever. As he grew near, the water dragon roaring behind him, the demon finally realized why his technique wasn't working when he got a closer look at his face. "He's definitely falling asleep, but the moment he does, he recognizes the fact that he's asleep and kills himself to wake up. Dammit, this brat is pretty straight forward."
To try and slow, or hopefully stop, Tanjirō from reaching him, he was showing the slayer a nightmare in which he was in an entirely black space with no one else but himself and his family. They were chastising and berating him, blaming him for their deaths and questioning why out of everyone there, he was the only one who survived? His mother wished he had died, his father told him he was completely useless. Their words were harsh and cold with little to no feeling behind them, other than hatred and disgust. Any normal person would have cracked and entered a state of immense physical pain at hearing their own family speak to them in such a manner, but Tanjirō was not part of that mold.
Instead of causing him to break down and suffer, those hurtful words of his family only served to fuel Tanjirō's own rage until it totally surpassed his breaking point. With a mighty roar his eyes blazed with fury and his horns grew out to curve back outward somewhat like that of the devil's, and his hair became more wild and ruthless. It didn't stop growing until his hair reached down to his mid back, where several strands stood on end as if he had been electrified. All of this, plus the raging inferno of hatred that was clearly seen in his eyes, made him look more like a true demon than ever before.
"My family would never say that! NO MATTER WHAT!" Tanjirō boomed with power behind his voice, causing a miniature shock wave to knock Lower Moon One back onto his heels. He spun several times in the air, creating an even more violent and turbulent whirlpool of water around his body that gave the water dragon two more heads, physically dwarfing him and the Lower Moon with its might. "DON'T YOU DARE INSULT MY FAMILYYY!"
Tanjirō then slashed down onto Lower Moon Moon's neck, severing his head from his body in the blink of an eye and blasting his body completely off the train with the force of the water torrent striking it. As soon as his feet hit the train car roof, his anger dissipated and made way for his rationale when he realized the demon had hardly made any reaction to the attack.
Why didn't he try to dodge his move! or at least defend himself with another one of his abilities? Was this all a dream too, or a trick of the eyes meant to confuse him? Or was this Lower Moon just weaker than Rui?
"That person told me to kill you, Earring Boy, along with the Hashira. Knowing you're a demon makes me understand even more how he feels about you…"
Tanjirō whirled around with fangs bared and growled at the sight of Lower Moon One's head being suspended by a throbbing , fleshy neck covering in veins that was connected to the roof of the car they were on. From the appearance of the flesh it seemed as if it were phasing into the passenger car roof, and not standing on top of it like someone would first assume. Was this demon capable of phasing through solid objects like some ghost?
Blood was dripping out of the demon's mouth, so he had certainly hurt him, but considering how even after decapitation he wasn't turning to ash, Tanjirō guessed that all was not well with this demon than what he first thought.
"Somehow, I feel like your very existence makes me twitch in anger." Lower Moon One hissed while smiling provocatively at Tanjirō, making the slayer grit his teeth and growl in disbelief and anger. Why was he not dying? He had decapitated him! Seeing these emotions play out on Tanjirō's face made the Lower Moon laugh again as he lapped all of it up like a starved puppy, his lips twisting upward into an even more twisted smile. "Ahahah~! Your expression is lovely!"
"Shut up!" snarled Tanjirō as he swept his sword at the demon, the disembodied head and fleshy neck sliding back across the roof to avoid the attack. "Why aren't you dying?!"
"You really want me to tell you why I won't die even though you cut off my head? Fine, since I'm feeling so giddy right now...It's so simple, even a baby can understand." Lower Moon One said with a slight chortle, the light-hearted nature of the demon only angering Tanjirō even more. Even Rui hadn't made him this upset before! Hurting his sister was one thing that he desperately wants to prevent from happening, but to try and use his own family against him? That was far worse, being something he could never forgive. "That body you swept off the train with that flashy show of yours? It's not my actual body anymore. And the same goes with this form that's speaking to you right now."
At those words, Tanjirō's anger gave way for surprise and a slowly creeping sense of dread as he watched the head of the demon wave back and forth, mocking him. That body hadn't been his? But it smelled exactly like him, and with the presence of the head, he could still smell that terrible scent associated with so many other demons. Had this demon somehow mastered an ability to survive after decapitation because he had connected himself to another object, the train for example? Wait, the train. The smell wasn't just coming from the head speaking to him, it was still present in the air all around him, coming from in front and behind him.
The demon laughed at his expression and smiled gleefully when Tanjirō started to realize the truth, his eyes slowly looking down at what he was standing on. That sense of dread then shot up his spine and he grit his teeth even more when the truth became perfectly clear.
"While you were busy snoring away peacefully, enjoying such wonderful dreams...I fused myself with the train! Ahaha~!" exclaimed Lower Moon One, his head standing up straight as he stared at Tanjirō with a smug expression.
"He fused with the whole train?! If that's true, then...then…!"
"This whole train has become my flesh, my bones, my blood...hahaha, your face! You understand now, yes! All of the two hundred passengers on this train are now food to further strengthen my body...all of you are my meal!" laughed the demon once more, Tanjirō's fingers digging in so tightly to his blade grip that it might shatter at any minute. "So, can you do it, Earring Boy? Can you protect them all by yourself? This entire train is teeming with humans from one end to the other...can you actually stop me, I wonder~?"
Tanjirō's anger burst at the seams again and he rushed the talking head, water exploding out of his blade as he reared back, ready to strike. Lower Moon One laughed one final time as the fleshy neck and his head phased down into the roof of the train car, completely avoiding Tanjirō's blade when he swiped through the air where he had once been.
When the attack failed he didn't stop running and let his anger fuel his body with more energy to keep him sprinting down the length of the train towards the car his friends were sleeping in, his demonic transformation features staying the way they were.
"What should I do, what should I do!? Even with this power boost, I can only cover so much of the train without leaving some of the passengers at risk! I need help!" Tanjirō thought rapidly before he cupped a hand to his mouth and started to yell out his friends' names. He hoped that they could hear him, or that Kyōjurō could hear him and wake them up. "Rengoku-san! Zenitsu! Inosukeeee! You need to wake up! Nezuko, protect the others who are asleep!
As Tanjirō leaped over a gap between two of the cars, nearing the one he had come from, he heard a loud bang come from below, followed by a guttural roar he only knew one person could produce. With a thankful smile he skid to a halt as Inosuke smashed through the roof of their car with both of his swords drawn, the hole he created sending a mixture of metal, flesh and blood shooting outward from his explosive exit.
"Pig assaaault! That's the way of Inosuke!" he bellowed out with a mighty laugh, his feet slamming down onto the roof of the car as Tanjirō closed the distance and arrived at his side. Inosuke brought his head up after landing and he sputtered a little at the beast standing next to him, his hands waving around slightly as he pointed at the top of Tanjirō's heads where his two large curved horns were protruding from "Gonpachiro! Your head has horns!"
"Doesn't matter, this train is no longer safe! We have to protect those who are sleeping!" Tanjirō replied as he looked Inosuke in the eyes and grasped one of his shoulders firmly. He had neither the time nor the patience to deal with his friend's lack of attention to detail with forgetting his name again either, the lives of the people on the train were at stake.. "This whole train's turned into a demon!"
"Eugh...I knew it...it was just as I anticipated. I was right! Hahaha, I'm a boss!"
Inosuke then soared off their train car and aimed for the one right next in line, crossing his swords over his chest as he aimed for the roof and used them to smash through into the interior. Seeing the passengers inside start to get slowly assimilated by thick, bubbling masses of dark pink flesh, he instantly took stock of how many enemies there were and smirked beneath his mask.
"Kedamono no kōkyu, Go no kiba: Kurui zaki! Ahahaha!" he cried out powerfully as he began to leap through the car, using the floor and seats as his springboards while he swung and slashed his swords around in all directions. Even though it looked crazy and completely out of sorts, his blades only touched the enemies that threatened to devour the human passengers, leaving them completely untouched. "I'm gonna save every single last person! You oughta prostrate yourselves before me! Worship and adore me!"
"Ooooouh, it seems like things are starting to heat up!"
The Angel laughed joyfully to himself once he sensed the train become an entirely different presence, so he quickly stood up and turned as the flesh-like masses attempted to devour him. With a pure smile he produced several of his razor sharp metal feathers and slashed the flesh to ribbons, splattering more blood over the wall and seat, before he turned to the rear of the car and the railroad tracks they were leaving behind. Humming to himself he stepped outside and climbed up onto the railing that was meant to stop people from falling off the rear car of the train, his blonde hair flapping in the wind around him.
"Until it is my time to act, I shall wait with you among the heavens, o' God! Allow your servant to take flight!"
The angel's large metal wings then spawned from his back and he leaped into the night sky, disappearing in the blink of an eye. He rose up higher and higher, until he had become just a speck within the stars above as he watched the train below continue on his journey. All he had to do now was wait until it was his time to intervene.
Using her claw-like fingernails, Nezuko rushed around from one end of the car she was in to the other, clashing through the fleshy protrusions of Lower Moon One's body to try and prevent them from devouring any of the humans around her.
She was getting worked to the bone though, for every single person she saved, another person threatened to be totally consumed by the demon's flesh. Back and forth she ran, her sweat dripping down her forehead, until her eyes spotted a child sleeping in a seat with several tentacles of flesh looming over him. Nezuko knew she had to act fast if she was going to prevent the tentacles from absorbing the child, so she came to a screeching halt in her sprint and lunged at the child to try and pull him out of harm's way.
Suddenly the flesh looming over the child completely ignored him and instead focused on her by wrapping itself tightly around her arm and held it tightly within itself to prevent her from moving.
Nezuko growled and tried to slash at the flesh with her other hand, her pink eyes developing their slit demon pupils, before she felt her other arm get snagged by Lower Moon One's flesh and restrict her even further. Then came her feet and legs, completely trapping her and stopping her from protecting any of the humans in the car from being devoured. Nezuko struggled and cried out from behind her bamboo muzzle, the flesh preventing her from using her fingernails to puncture her hands so she could utilize her blood for her Blood Demon Art. She was completely at the mercy of Lower Moon One, and she paled as a large mass of flesh emerged from the floor in front of her, sporting several large tentacles that were threatening to skewer her and take her out of the fight.
With a flash of yellow and the sweeping of a sword, she was freed from the flesh by Zenitsu, who appeared right next to her in a crouched down, kneeling position, his right hand gripping his sword and the left hovering over the blade. Lightning bolts crackled around his body as he grit his teeth slightly and, adding onto the breath he had in his lungs already with even more air, he dug his back foot into the wooden flooring and tensed his body up.
"Kaminari no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Hekireki Issen...Rokuren!" murmured Zenitsu before with a loud thunder crack he zoomed around the car, landing only six times in the middle of his quick as lightning dash that led his blade to slash through all of the flesh masses inside. His lightning immediately cauterized any and all wounds he caused to Lower Moon One's flesh protrusions, limiting the blood spray to a bare minimum, while leaving Nezuko completely untouched at the same time even when he had reduced the limbs holding her to fleshy ribbons. Once he returned to Nezuko's side, he stood up with a steady, focused expression on his face with his eyes closed. "I will protect you, Nezuko-chan."
For a brief moment, Nezuko's eyes grew wide with awe and admiration of the yellow-haired slayer for his devotion to her safety. It reminded her of her own brother in a way, with how quickly Zenitsu had come to her aide and defeated everything that was in his path. That admiration only lasted for a couple of seconds though, since a split second later Zenitsu snored loudly with his mouth wide open, mumbling something incoherent while still deep in his sleep.
Nezuko blinked once with a blank expression on her face, before she shook her head and grabbed Zenitsu by the hand and ran with him to the next closest car to stop Lower Moon One from attacking the passengers there.
Meanwhile Tanjirō, who had went past their car to the ones behind them, was inside using his swordsmanship to its absolute greatest effect within the tight confines of the train car. He slashed through Lower Moon One's flesh without laying so much as a hair on the people inside, his enhanced senses and vision enabling him to make ultra-fine slashes. He then heard the echoing boom of thunder come from one of the cars and he grinned a little, his extraordinary sense of smell further enhanced by his demon transformation telling him that Zenitsu was with his sister.
"That sound of thunder crashing, it had to be Zenitsu! I just have to hope that Rengoku-san are awake as well!" he thought as he slashed through more of Lower Moon One's flesh, ducking under a tentacle coming down at him from the ceiling afterwards. "The most I can do right now is protect everyone in front of me, I just have to hope that Rengoku-san will be awake by now!"
Coincidentally at that very moment, in their original car, the Flame Hashira himself smirked as he dusted himself off after clearing the entire car of Lower Moon One's disgusting fleshy constructs in the blink of an eye. They could hardly hope to fight back against his fiery blade, but they still posed a threat because their primary focus was trying to devour the human passengers still inside of the train.
"Hmnn! It seems like things took a drastic turn while I was having my nap! For sure, for sure!" Kyōjurō proclaimed, his body turning towards the other end of the train car when he made his best guess as to where Tanjirō was. He took stock of where the others could be as well and memorized their position based off what his instinct and his own senses told him. "As a Hashira, I'm ashamed of myself! So ashamed that I'd rather be hiding my face in shame right now! Hmn!"
With an explosion of fiery power befitting his role as the Flame Hashira, he surged his way through the train, slashing through demonic flesh and saving the passengers of the train along the way while meeting with Inosuke, Nezuko, and Zenitsu all at the same time. He didn't spend much time with any of them, sticking around only just long enough to inform them of his strategy before taking off in a whirlwind of fire once again.
In his car Tanjirō felt the train jump up off the tracks slightly from a rather devastating tremor, causing him to fall off balance for a brief moment before he caught himself. He turned around, expecting Lower Moon One in some way, shape or form to be there ready to attack him, but instead he saw the bright and passionate smile of Kyōjurō looking right back at him.
"Rengoku-san!" said Tanjirō with a wave of relief washing through him. "You're awake!
"Kamado, my boy! Haha, it's good to see you as well, hmn!" replied Kyōjurō as he took a knee in front of the younger slayer, noticing his demonic features and smiling more at him. "You look even more like a demon now than ever, yet here you are, defending these people with your life! It fills my heart with joy to know that you hadn't regressed and become a beast just like those I've seen before!"
"Yea...I'm glad too. The demon controlling this train angered me a lot...right now I actually am still really, really angry…but don't worry! That won't stop me from protecting these passengers! That's still my top priority!"
"Hmn! Good then! On my way here, I landed some very minor slashes, so I think it will take some time for it to regenerate. Regardless, we have little time for discussion!" Kyōjurō spoke promptly as he stood up with his blade at his side, the red color of his sword shimmering in such a way it looked like it was truly on fire. "This train is made up of eight cars, so I will protect the back five! Yellow boy and your sister will protect the other three!"
"Which leaves Inosuke and I to go for the weak spot, and since the demon's become the train...it has to be near the front!"
"Exactly! Time to get fired up, my boy! Hmn!"
In a burst of fire and wind that blew away any dust and air around him, Kyōjurō dashed away from Tanjirō so quickly that a normal human would have thought that the Flame Hashira had teleported out of the train car. Another tremor shook the train soon after, and Tanjirō laughed happily, now that he had joined the battle to protect the unknowing passengers aboard the doomed machine.
Tanjirō then picked himself up and dusted himself off before grasping his sword tightly, the flames left behind by the Hashira's rapid exit akin to the fire that Kyōjurō manifested inside of him in the form of his passion and spirit. In those few short moments Tanjirō had easily recognized the differences in strength between Shinobu and him, especially after realizing the tremor he had felt prior to Kyōjurō's appearance had been caused by the Hashira himself.
It made him fired up just thinking about winning this battle with Kyōjurō's help so that afterwards, he, Zenitsu and Inosuke could learn under the Hashira and become even greater swordsmen than they were right now. If he maintained the same level of dedication and drive that Shinobu had congratulated him on during his tenure at the Butterfly Mansion, he was certain that he was capable of reaching Kyōjurō's level.
"Being able to grasp the situation, figure out a strategy, and relay that to the others before me in such a short amount of time...I will definitely become like him!" Tanjirō thought confidently to himself before he turned around and slashed his way through the doors between his car and the next. "There's no time for admiration though! I've gotta meet up with Inosuke so we can find the demon's neck and save everyone!"
Tanjirō then crouched down low and shot himself through the gap he made through the train's flesh into the next car with a resounding boom, his keen vision and razor-sharp senses guiding his blade from one flesh protrusion to the other. Quick and clean, he annihilated any enemy he came across as he made his way towards the front of the train, which he could smell the strongest concentration of the demon's scent coming from.
Lower Moon One attempted to stop him by forming several large tentacles and blobs of his flesh, but it did little to stop the slayer as he ducked and hacked his way through every obstacle and diversion he threw at him. A third powerful tremor, followed by a deafening thunder crack he knew came from Zenitsu echoed from the latter cars of the train, which in turn brought a wide smile to Tanjirō's face as he ran at full speed.
When he called out for Inosuke in order to determine his location, the boar-headed slayer's heavy footfalls came from above his head on the roof, followed by a yell telling him he already knew what the plan was. Once he had been told what to do by the Flame Hashira, pissing him off and inspiring him at the same time, Inosuke had started sprinting towards the train's front side at the same time as Tanjirō had, battling flesh protrusions on the roof while using his extra-sensory perception to detect the enemy's weak spot.
Hearing this made Tanjirō smile at his assumption about Lower Moon One's neck being somewhere at the front of the locomotive being correct. This fueled the fire of determination even further, which made his eyes narrow and his hands gripping his sword tighten. The closer he got towards the train engine, the demon's smell increasing in volume as well, Tanjirō's anger towards Lower Moon One because of the nightmare he had forced on him became hotter and hotter to the point he could have burst into flames at that point.
As a result, his fury only added to the longevity of his demon transformation, which in turn kept feeding him immense amounts of power and strength he hadn't felt since his battle with Rui. Tanjirō knew and could feel himself becoming more and more like the demon he was supposed to be, but the big difference was that he was able to control and mold his fury into another tool for him to use. It was like he was wielding a second sword alongside his nichirin blade, a finely polished blade made entirely out of his sharpened rage.
"Here...it's up here! Just over this car!" Tanjirō thought as he reached the end of the final car and smashed through the door, arriving at the coal storage car.
Tanjirō only had to squat down a fraction of an inch in order to launch himself up into the air, meeting Inosuke in the air when both slayers had leaped at the same time, before starting to fall down towards the roof of the engine cabin itself.
"Reaaaaghh! Here!" he roared as he slashed through the metal and flesh roof, forming a hole for Tanjirō and him to drop down onto the metal platform below. "Auuugh!"
The train engineer who operated the mechanical beast before Lower Moon One had fused himself to it and made it his new body jumped in terror from Inosuke's savage cries, his back pressing against some of the equipment, valves, and levers that made up the operational mechanisms that gave the train life.
Tanjirō's nostrils could hardly handle the toxic, demonic fumes that filled the cabin, which meant they were definitely in the right place. Lower Moon One's weak spot had to be here, all they had to do was find it!
"Who are you?! G-Get out of here, now!" shouted the Engineer when the demon's flesh began to rapidly grow and bubble out from the floor, roof, and machinery of the engine.
Lower Moon One knew exactly where they were, and he wasn't just going to sit idly by and let them attack where he was most vulnerable. The other three were still occupied in the belly of the train, so if he could kill Inosuke and incapacitate Tanjirō here, then it would give him some much-needed breathing room.
"Inosuke, it's definitely here! The demon's weak point is here!" bellowed Tanjirō as he brought his sword up, ready for a fight.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I hear you!" barked back Inosuke before he rushed the Engineer, intent on getting him out of the way.
Hands and muscular, veiny arms manifested from the globs of flesh and lashed out at him from around the engineer, forming almost a wall of demonic biomatter that threatened to steamroll the slayer flat if he didn't get out of the way. Inosuke almost screeched to a halt and tried to fight off the swarm of limbs, managing to cut through a few before he quickly found himself almost overwhelmed, if not for the raging whirlpool of water that suddenly appeared around him.
"Mizu no kokyū, Roku no kata: Nejire uzu!" exclaimed Tanjirō with a fearsome gaze on his face as his water-enhanced blade swept through every single arm trying to strangle Inosuke.
His feet struck the floor of the engine as the severed bits and pieces of the demon's flesh limbs landed scattered around them, their blood splattered all across the floor and the walls, before he looked straight down at the floor and grimaced when he almost gagged at the smell coming from beneath their feet. That's when it struck him. The demon's neck, it was right here! They were standing right on top of it! If the train had become the body of Lower Moon One, like he had said, than the engine had to be his new head!
"Inosuke! The demon's neck is right below us! We've gotta cut through right here!"
"Don't boss me around! I'm the boss here! But fine!" remarked Inosuke before he leaped off the metal floor, his blades crossing over diagonally across his torso. "Kedamono no kokyū, Ni no kiba! Kirisaki!"
Tanjirō positioned his body between the two slashes that Inosuke made with his shredder swords, the attack carving a deep X-shaped wound in the floor that revealed their target. Stretching below the train in a tangle of deep red veins and arteries, as well as pink muscle fibers, was the part of Lower Moon One's spinal cord that made up his neck.
Without any hesitation Tanjirō raised his sword above his head, a vertical stream of rushing water emerging from his sword before he brought his hands down as quick as possible to try and sever the demon's neck.
Instead, his blade met the flesh of the regrown mass of arms and hands that had attacked them a few moments before, negating its effect entirely. Than the wound began to close up and regenerate at a rapid pace, forcing Tanjirō to go on the defensive as he was attacked by another fresh swarm of the limbs. If they were going to kill Lower Moon One once and for all, he and Inosuke had to team up!
"Inosuke! let's perform a combo attack and match our breaths together!" shouted Tanjirō over his shoulder as he obliterated a tangled mess of flesh and limbs, his elemental water smashing through the left window of the cabin. "One of us will slice the flesh up, the other will cut down through the neck without a moment's delay!"
"I see, I see! Good idea!' said Inosuke back when he killed off some of the hands himself, grinning widely below his mask. "I'll give you some praise for that, kyahahah!"
"Thank you! Here we go, get-!"
"Kekkijutsu...Kyōsei Kontō Suimin - Manakoki…"
Huge walls of throbbing flesh appeared from the train all around them, sporting dozens of eyes both large and small with the kanji for "Dream" inscribed upon their pupils that stared right into their very souls while emitting a dark purple haze of energy.
"Crap, a Blood Demon Art! I'm already starting to fall asleep…!" Tanjirō thought for a brief second, before he grit his teeth and sucked in a breath once he felt his body go numb. In the next few moments he woke up from his slumber by killing himself in his dream, but didn't open his eyes, instead using his senses to guide him as he slashed through the eyes with little to no hindrance. "As long as I keep my eyes closed, and rely on my senses and instinct, he can't put me to sleep any more!"
"Gwahahaha! I'm wearing the hide of the mountain master! I'm not afraid to make eye contact with you small fry eyeballs whatsoever!"
While Inosuke and Tanjirō fought back against Lower Moon One's Blood Demon Art and his attacking limb, Tanjirō's eye whirled around when he smelled the Engineer take a hard step towards Inosuke, his senses picking up something sharp being pulled out from his uniform.
In a split second he acted while crying out Inosuke's name, the boar-headed slayer whipping his head around to see the Engineer lunging at him with a similar weapon that the kids from earlier had, before Tanjirō leaped between them and allowed the man to stab him in the gut. He grunted slightly, biting his teeth together, before he ripped the man's hands away from the dagger's handle and bashed him on the side of the neck to knock him out cold.
"Tokanicho?!" sputtered Inosuke after witnessing Tanjirō taking the blow for him, which caused him to hesitate for a brief moment.
"I'm fine! We have to cut the demon's neck now, or Zenitsu and the others won't last!" Tanjirō yelled back as he pulled the dagger from his gut and tossed it aside, the wound healing in the blink of an eye. "Hurry! Cut the flesh!"
"Euagh! Kedamono no kokyū, Shi no kiba: Kiri kome zaki!"
Inosuke launched himself up off the ground in order to deliver a series of devastating diagonal strikes onto the floor of the engine cabin, creating a huge broken opening that revealed Lower Moon One's neck once again.
Wasting no time, Tanjirō was right behind him with his sword reared back, his eyes blazing with fury and determination as he felt his blade begin to heat up and grow hot enough to distort the air around it. He thought of his father, of the words that he told him in his memories during his fight with Rui. Become Hinokami. Breathe, and become Hinokami!
"Give me your strength...I'll cut it in one blow!" Tanjirō thought as the brilliant flames he released only once before consumed his blade, lighting up the entire locomotive cabin and dazzling Inosuke with its grandeur before Tanjirō than yelled out while sound his body around rapidly, creating an almost perfect circle of fire that sliced clean through the bone of the demon's neck. "Hinokami Kagura! Heki-ra no ten!"
An explosion of fire then erupted from his blade once he had delivered the fatal blow to the train body of Lower Moon One, his fiery blade having completely severed the engine from the rest of the train and sent it flying away several meters into the air. As it was still being carried by its own momentum, Tanjirō and Inosuke watched it almost hover in the air for a brief moment before a deafening, inhumane shriek came from the train once its wheels struck the tracks and bounced a little, an implosion of the demon's grotesque flesh and limbs surging out from the engine.
The screeching continued, forcing Inosuke and Tanjirō to cover there ears before a loud metallic sound of metal grinding against metal came from behind them. Once glance over their shoulders let them see the entire back half of the train had also become infected with the bubbling flesh of the writhing demon and had literally come up off the tracks, as if it were curling up in pain to the separation of the engine.
"Inosuke! We have to protect the-!" shouted Tanjirō before the train all crashed down together, cutting off his sentence and separating him from his friend.
Severing the head of the demon created a catastrophic crash of epic proportions, with the engine and the eight conjoined train cars plus the coal storage to criss-cross and tumble across the train tracks, sending dirt and debris flying left and right, until it all came screeching to a halt finally after at least half a mile. Tanjirō grunted loudly when he struck the ground nearby when he had been thrown completely off the train, his body screaming at him as he coughed up some blood from the impact before his injuries began to heal.
"Santarou! Santarou, are you okay?!" cried out Inosuke, Tanjirō glancing over as he slowly picked himself up to see him running towards him. Thankfully he hadn't been scuffed up too badly from the train wreck, and he was going to tell him he was fine before Inosuke grasped his shoulders and immediately looked down at his torso. "Your belly! You got stabbed there!"
"Yes, yes! I'm fine, Inosuke! The wound's healed already, don't worry! I'm more concerned about the engineer, if he's okay!"
"I think it's okay if he dies!"
Tanjirō gave him a blank expression before frowning as he shook his head, the two of them arguing for a few moments before the former smiled at him and patted him on the back as he and Inosuke went to where he had said the Engineer was pinned below the train. As they did, they were under the bloodshot gaze of Lower Moon One, who had been reduced solely to a slowly disintegrating blob of flesh that was connected to the engine that had become his flesh.
"My body's getting destroyed...I can't regenerate…" he thought as his vision started to turn hazy while he watched the two slayers. Hatred and disbelief swirled through his mind even as he was dying, his focus solely on those who had ruined his plans. "I can't believe I'm dying...unbelievable…! I haven't even unleashed my full strength! I couldn't eat a single person...they ruined it all! My plan to merge with the train and devour a huge swath of people in one gulp is now in ruins!"
Lower Moon One continued to silently seethe in fury as he watched Tanjirō and Inosuke free the Engineer's ankle and foot from being trapped under the train, the man becoming terrified of any retribution for his actions before Tanjirō gave him a far different reaction that resulted in the man starting to cry.
The demon could hardly even care for the emotions that the man was giving off, because of how much of his own fury he was allowing himself to be consumed by. Even his own body beginning to die wasn't enough to deter him from thinking horrible thoughts about those who wronged him. He kept blaming and denying the demon slayers as more of his flesh turned to ash until the very end, in which as his last remaining eyeball drifted away to nothingness, he called everything that had happened to him a mere nightmare. That's what it was, just a nightmare.
"Wew...we did it…we were able to save everyone." said Tanjirō with an accomplished smile as he finally began letting go of his anger, his demon features starting to regress right before Inosuke's eyes. Now that the demon was dead, there was no longer a reason to keep this form maintained any longer, so he was simply allowing it to deactivate. "I just hope everyone is safe…"
"They are Kamado, my boy. Not to worry!"
Tanjirō whirled around and saw an unharmed Kyōjurō walking towards them with his typical wide-eyed, passionate smile, Inosuke turning around as well and grunting his reply. Behind him they could see Zenitsu, who was now awake, and Nezuko starting to help filter the people out of the train one by one.
Seeing that alone, even if some of the people seemed to be injured in pretty scary ways, was enough to have a wave of relief wash over Tanjirō, which manifested in him letting out a gigantic sigh while wiping away some sweat from his forehead. Kyōjurō laughed in a warm manner towards that before he glanced at Inosuke and examined him somewhat closely, counting up the amount of dark bruises and scuffs across his body, as well as the barely noticeable irregularity in his breathing.
"Boar man, you have some internal injuries from the train crash. Focus your breathing and raise the accuracy of each individual breath. Spread the sensitivity to every part of your body." said Kyōjurō with a softer smile, Inosuke grunting again while leaning forward slightly as if he was going to bark back at him. A second later though he seemed to relax and do what the Hashira suggested, his breathing slowing down as he began to pinpoint the exact location of the injuries he had sustained. "Good. Keep focusing...focus…"
"Rengoku-san really is amazing...he's even being a teacher for Inosuke...I can't wait for us to return so that we can start learning from him!" Tanjirō thought excitedly with a big smile.
"Euughh...nnghk…!" grunted Inosuke for a final time before he was finally able to locate and isolate the injury, allowing himself to take some stress off his body and lungs. "Got it…"
"Splendid, hmn! Maintaining Total Concentration Breathing daily is one step towards becoming a Hashira, but it might take ten thousand steps to truly become a Hashira!" exclaimed Kyōjurō happily with the clapping of his hands. "If you master your breathing and fine-tune it to perfection, you'll be able to accomplish various things. It's not like you can do everything, but you can most certainly get stronger compared to how you were the day before."
"Yes! Will do, Rengoku-san!"
Both Inosuke and Tanjirō threw their arms up into the air as a sort of salute and a fist-pump, the action bringing a beaming smile to Kyōjurō's face as well as a hearty laugh. Shortly afterwards, when Tanjirō asked if all of the passengers were safe, he gleefully responded that there were certainly several who had sustained some injuries, a few worse than most, but the big victory for the slayers was that none of them were life-threatening. Against all of the odds, they had succeeded in protecting everyone aboard the train from the Lower Moon's carnage.
When Kyōjurō finished his little break down of the situation with the passengers, Inosuke left them to go see what Zenitsu and Nezuko was doing, leaving the Flame Hashira alone with Tanjirō. He was about to go check on his sister and Zenitsu as well, but before he could walk away from Kyōjurō, he felt the Hashira clap a hand firmly onto his shoulder and hold him back.
"Wait a minute, not yet. I have some things that I'd like to say." Kyōjurō said as he turned Tanjirō around, so that he could look the younger slayer in the eyes.
"What is it, Rengoku san?" questioned Tanjirō as he cocked his head to the side a little. He didn't know what the Hashira wanted to talk to him about, but considering how Kyōjurō was smiling at him, he thought it had to be something good.
"Kamado, my boy...I've come to a decision. I believe in you and your sister...well and truly. I accept both of you as members of the Demon Slayer Corps." stated Kyōjurō while squeezing Tanjirō's shoulder slightly, the younger slayer's eyes widening as he heard those words come out of the Hashira's mouth. "Inside the train, I saw your sister protect humans even when she herself was bleeding out. The same goes for you, my boy. Those who risk their lives to fight demons and protect humans are Demon Slayers, no matter what anyone else tries to say."
"Rengoku-san...I...I don't know what to say…"
"Allow me to say it for you then. Live with your chest high! You still have a ways to go, like yellow boy and your friend Inogashira, haha, but I'm sure that all three of you have the potential to become the next generation of Hashira. I believe in you."
Tanjirō could only gaze up into the young man standing in front of him in silence, the hand that Kyōjurō had on his shoulder becoming the only crutch he had to remain standing. His legs almost gave out on him as the belief that Kyōjurō was instilling in him and his sister made him feel as though he was as light as a feather.
The Flame Hashira had been one of the strongest supporters of his punishment for the crimes he had committed against the Corps, going so far as to say that there should have been no trial in the first place and they should have executed him from the start. To hear him make a complete turn-around from his prior statements by not only congratulating him, but even claiming that there was a chance he too could enter the ranks of the Hashira was utterly mind blowing.
He hoped that Kyōjurō wouldn't mind what he did next, because without any prior warning he pushed himself against the Flame Hashira's chest and hugged him tightly. Kyōjurō's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't because he wasn't expecting this from the younger slayer.
When he looked down at Tanjirō however, he didn't see the black and red hair of the young slayer, but the hair of his little brother. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly upward before he laughed a little and smiled happily from seeing his own little brother in Tanjirō. Remaining silent so as to not disturb the moment, he put an arm around Tanjirō as well, feeling the newly forged brotherly bond these past several hours together had created to grow that much stronger.
"I see why now, why Kochō-san spoke so highly of him...Kamado, my boy, you're more human than perhaps any one of us…" he thought as he maintained the brotherly embrace with Tanjirō.
Meanwhile Zenitsu and Inosuke with Nezuko's help had managed to unload everyone who had been on the train and get them to safety away from the wreckage, the former looking back to where they were standing and smiling a bit.
"That guy, Rengoku-san...he's incredible…" Zenitsu said, with Zenitsu begrudgingly grunting in agreement. "When the train derailed, he used a whole bunch of techniques that kept damage to the passenger cars to a bare minimum…"
"He's so awesome it pisses me off...I really want to learn how to beat him now!" remarked Inosuke as he gripped his swords tighter and grinned beneath his boar head mask, fist-pumping slightly at the same time.
The battle had been won and the threat to the passengers had been vanquished, and Tanjirō had succeeded in convincing one of the Hashira to believe and trust in him and his sister. He couldn't have been any happier than right then at that moment, and it showed on his face when he finally pulled himself away from Kyōjurō and took a step back.
He nervously rubbed the back of his head and laughed awkwardly after giving the Flame Hashira an unexpected hug, but Kyōjurō merely waved his hand and laughed boisterously to take away the embarrassment. This was a time to celebrate and rejoice at a job well down, there was no room to feel sorry about one's actions, especially someone in Tanjirō's case. Now the only thing left to do for the slayers was to call in the Kakushi to help start cleaning up after the battle and tend to the wounded passengers.
Once Nezuko ensured that the last person helped off the train was taken care of, a woman who she smiled at behind her gag and patted her head, she turned around and started walking towards her brother and Kyōjurō so that she could rejoin him.
"Excuse me, little girl? Do you think you could show me your brother?" asked a gentle sounding voice from behind her, causing her to stop, turn around, and look up into the face of the angelic-looking young man with the short blonde hair and pure smile from earlier. "I need to talk with him for a few, kuku."
A/N o-o Uh oh…
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Translation(s):
Kekkijutsu - Kyōsei Kontō Saimin no Sasyaki
- Blood Demon Art - Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis
Kedamono no kokyū, Go no kiba: Kurui zaki
- Beast Breathing, Fifth Fang: Crazy Cutting
Kaminari no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Hekireki Issen - Rokuren
- Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash - Six Fold
Mizu no kokyū, Roku no kata: Nejire uzu
- Water Breathing, Sixth Form: Whirlpool
Kedamono no kokyū, Ni no kiba! Kirisaki
- Beast Breathing, Second Fang: Rip and Tear
Kekkijutsu - Kyōsei Kontō Suimin - Manakoki
- Blood Demon Art - Eyes of Forced Unconscious Sleep
Kedamono no kokyū, Shi no kiba: Kiri kome zaki
- Beast Breathing, Fourth Fang: Slice 'n' Dice
Hinokami Kagura: Heki-ra no ten
- Dance of the Fire God: Blue Heaven