^ Chapter 46 - Upper Moon One ^
"Kyōjurō! Giyū! These two have defeated Upper Rank Three! Upper Rank Three is dead! Caww!"
Tanjirō's heart leapt and his spirits soared when the news was delivered to their group by Kasugai crow, Shinobu, Kanao and Inosuke behind him all gasping and looking at one another while they were sprinting through the halls and corridors of the Infinity Fortress. Just a few minutes earlier they had departed from the personal chamber of the now dead Upper Moon Two, with Shinobu herself leaving that dreaded place now a full-fledged demon just like Tanjirō.
Gambling with what he discovered his blood could do, he used it to try and revive her from the point of no return and succeeded. Just like Mitsuri's demonic heritage was fully awakened, Shinobu too was transformed and recovered from her fatal injuries as if they had never occurred. Kanao and Inosuke were given treatment by the Insect Hashira soon after her recovery, and they were now on their way towards Muzan's location with the directions provided to them by the crows.
With two Upper Moons now killed, that left only one left that he knew of. The one that had trained him in the Moon Breathing, who sat at the top of the food chain below Muzan. Upper Moon One, the demon who's held his position within the Twelve Kizuki for the longest without a single challenge.
"I can remember his face, and the way he spoke...the power his body holds is on an entirely different level compared to any demon I've ever encountered." Tanjirō thought as they darted around a corner and kept sprinting, eyes facing forward and ears open for any kind of threat that could be coming their way. "He really is deserving of his rank...I just hope that we can beat him without incurring any losses! We're going to need everyone we can muster to kill Muzan!"
Just like them, droves of Demon Slayers were on their way to end the Demon Lord's life before he could finish reviving and fully integrate Tamayo's body back into his own. Mitsuri and Obanai had encountered the caretaker of Muzan's lair, the recently converted Upper Moon Four, Nakime. Engaging her, they quickly found she was a tricky demon to kill because the amount of her master's blood she was gifted with enabled her to have an even more firm grasp on the Infinity Fortress as a whole. With just the mere strumming of her Biwa she could make entire sections of the labyrinth move and shift in an instant, throwing off the two Hashira and keeping them at bay without even having to fight them herself.
Both of them knew that they had to try and kill Nakime as soon as possible because they had a more pressing mission to accomplish. They couldn't just leave her by herself because of the position of power she held, so with the clash of their swords against literal sections of the Infinity Fortress itself, they did battle with the Upper Moon Four.
For Gyōmei and Muichirō, their journey to Muzan was a lot quieter than the other Hashira. For what seemed like forever they had been running with their Kasugai crow guide leading them, fighting only low-level demons compared to the Upper Moons along the way. The two of them were itching to get their hands on Muzan, and with each step they drew closer and closer to his position.
"Kibutsuji's nearby! Don't let your guard down, Tokitō-san! Once we arrive, we have to-" Gyōmei started to shout before he heard the walls to their right crack and shift ever-so-slightly. His senses threw up dozens of red flags and he whirled around, tensing up his muscles for a fight. "Toki-!"
Before his very eyes a huge column of the Infinity Fortress had suddenly shot out from their right and slammed into Muichirō's smaller body, carrying him clear over the chasm they were flanking and towards the opposite wall.
"Never mind me! Just go!" Muichirō shouted with a grunt as his body was pressed against the column from the force of the air being displaced around it.
He barely managed to turn his head in order to see the opposite wall come rushing toward him, a pair of doors opening up to allow him and the section to fly right through towards a tatami mat floor. Bracing himself, the column smashed him through the floor and out through the ceiling of a room he hadn't yet seen before within the fortress.
Once his feet touched the tiled floor, he took in his surroundings with a keen eye to try and find out where he was. The wide, expansive room had a tall ceiling with dozens of black oak pillars supporting it, with sets of wooden slat walls stretching between the pillars in a zig-zag and seemingly random pattern. It truly was unique compared to the surroundings he and Gyōmei had seen, and the reason for that became apparent. with the sound of footsteps approaching him from the shadows.
"You came, Demon Slayer…" spoke a monotone, deep voice as the footsteps drew closer.
Muichirō instantly felt a terrifying sense of dread take over his body and root him to the ground, the very air pressure in the chamber seemingly becoming so strong that he felt like his body was being compressed.
"However, you feel somewhat...familiar…" the voice spoke again, before its source finally revealed itself to the young Hashira. Wearing a purple and black kimono, Kokushibō's three pairs of eyes stared ominously into Muichirō's soul with some avarice and intrigue that made the youth tremble to his very core. "I wonder why that is…"
"This demon...Upper Moon One…! His aura is incredible…!" Muichirō thought as he gripped his blade, sweat dripping down his forehead.
His body was certainly trembling from the sheer power that Kokushibō was emanating within his chamber, and he grit his teeth when he tried to pull his sword, but simply couldn't. His entire arm was shivering, and his knees were jittering to the point that he thought he would collapse at any moment.
This was truly the awesome presence that was Muzan's most loyal and terrifying lieutenant, the Upper Moon One ranked demon of the Twelve Kizuki. With long and messy black hair and six eyes in total, his original two having the kanji for his rank tattooed on them, he was a different beast entirely to Muichirō. No other Upper Moon could even compare to what Kokushibō was.
He looked so dignified and majestic, but so undeniably evil and twisted at the same time. From what Muichirō could see, the demon's sword was just as warped as his face, with the handle possessing the same kind of eyes that he also sported. He looked so human and alien at the same time, that it made even the slain Gyokko seem normal.
"Was this man a Demon Slayer before? If so, what breath did he use…? If this was the man that trained Tanjirō when he was taken away, I'm going to have a troublesome time with him…" Muichirō thought as he tried to pull his blade again, but only succeeded in taking it out a fraction of an inch. He grit his teeth and tried again, but his quivering hand utterly refused to move any more than that. "I can't stop this feeling of dread. My body is rejecting the desire to battle. This has never happened before in my life...I didn't even feel this way with Upper Moon Five…"
"You name...what is it? I want to know." Kokushibō asked suddenly, distracting Muichirō from his own thoughts for a moment.
"Tokitō...Muichirō. It's Tokitō Muichirō." he responded while trying his very hardest to not stutter or mince his words.
Kokushibō slowly nodded his head and closed all six of his eyes for a moment, a slight hint of acceptance and melancholy coming from the demon. "I see...so the Tsugikuni name truly has died out…"
"Tsugikuni? Who is that?"
"It has been hundreds of years, after all...quite inevitable. My name back when I was a human was Tsugikuni Michikatsu…" revealed Kokushibō when he opened all six of his eyes again and held a single finger up, shaking it a few times to reaffirm himself. "You are a member of the Tsugikuni family that I left behind...my child's descendant. I am sure of it."
Muichirō's shoulders totally slumped when it felt like the weight of an entire mountain fell upon them, rooting him to where he stood. If it already wasn;t hard enough to breathe for the young Hashira while in the Upper Moon's presence, it was even harder now after that revelation.
He was related to Kokushibō? The Upper Moon One, Muzan's most powerful lieutenant and foremost enforcer? Him? And what's more, if this man was an ancestor, judging by his usage of hundreds of years when talking about his time alive, he wondered if the former slayer had been much more. Could Kokushibō had not only been one of the first demon slayers, but a user of the very first breath itself?
Wait a minute. Calm down, control your breathing. These thoughts resonated in Muichirō's mind as he finally reigned in his emotions and finally found his mental fortitude. For the first time since coming face to face with the Upper Moon he slowed his breathing and brought out his focused, yet aloof expression.
"Your mental strength is worth some praise...you calmed your panic even in the face of me…" remarked Kokushibō while rubbing his chin, being rather impressed with how such a young human could compose themselves before him.
Before he could continue his thought, Muichirō pulled his blade and vanished in the blink of an eye, using his blinding speed to get himself within striking distance of the demon's neck. Appearing right in front of him with but a gap several inches across separating their bodies, Muichirō's blade was consumed by his signature mist when he slashed at Kokushibō's throat. A multi-layered wave of mist was unleashed from his attack, but each of his slashes failed to land on his enemy. Muichirō's eyes widened when Kokushibō's soft footsteps were heard behind him, the man emerging from the mist without a scratch upon him.
"Mist, huh...quite a good technique…" murmured Kokushibō, his three left eyes turning and glaring at Muichirō's back.
"Kasumi no kokyū, Go no kata: Kaun no Umi!" Muichirō qas quick to turn about-face and attack Kokushibō with another of his breaths, the mist emanating from his sword tripling in size.
The flurry of slashes he unleashed once again failed to land on the Upper Moon once his body practically faded from existence and reappeared a few feet away. He was moving so rapidly without so much as moving an inch, it appeared like he was teleporting, rather than actually using his legs to run or sprint.
Gyokko had reminded Muichirō of his own mortality, and he had just barely managed to survive the fight thanks to regaining his fighting spirit and the demon slayer mark. But facing the demon four ranks higher than that demon was truly humbling to the youngest Hashira. This was a real opponent, a man who Muichirō absolutely couldn't lower his guard against.
"Muichirō, from what I can see...you're fourteen this year. Even at such a young age, your techniques are this refined...and despite faltering against me, you had the courage to suppress that in order to cut me down. As expected of my descendant."
"What are you, praising me? I could care less about what a demon like you has to say about me. Descendant or not, you don't know me. Stop talking like you do." Muichirō barked back harshly at Kokushibō without so much as batting an eyelash, his body slowly righting itself after his secondary attack.
Not intimidated in the slightest, Kokushibō continued, "My blood may have been watered down, but that's trivial...even if my name itself died out, my cells increased and remained in you…"
"Are you actually joking? Even if I am your descendant, if hundreds of years have passed, not a single cell or drop remains inside of my body at this point."
As Muichirō glared at his apparent ancestor, his mist-like demon slayer mark appeared on his cheeks and forehead. Kokushibō's six eyes all widened as one when he witnessed the mark's appearance, his lips curving downward slightly and his hand resting on his sword hilt tensing up.
Clearly he wasn't entirely pleased to see such a mark appear on the young man. With the knowledge of what he knew about the mark at the forefront of his mind, he thought to himself of how to break the news to Muichirō of the history behind the mark and the ramifications it jeld for any human who could manifest it.
However, before he could act on the decision he came to, Muichirō's body was once again consumed by a heavy wall of mist that hid his entire body from view. Kokushibō's unblinking gaze peered into the mist and when he noticed that even with his all-seeing eyes it was a little difficult, he nodded his head again and internally praised Muichirō for his accomplishments in the art of sword-wielding and his breathing technique prowess.
"This is a new technique...Mist Breathing users have never used one like this." he thought before Muichirō's blade came within inches of his neck.
Moving at the last second he avoided the beheading slice, but when he tried to find the Hashira, all he saw around him was mist. He finally did see Muichirō a few meters away, apparently walking from right to left with an eye constantly on his opponent. Disappearing once again within his mist, Kokushibō chuckled a little to himself when he deduced the depth and creativity of his descendant's technique.
"Such a unique tempo. Using disturbance tactics and different speeds, it's hard to read his movements. Quite impressive...so much so that it's beautiful. Certainly, Muichirō must have been the one who created this." Kokushibō thought as he kept tabs on Muichirō's presence within the fog, his hand finally curling around his blade and pulling it out slightly from his eye-covered sheath. "I should unsheathe my blade as well, or else it would be rude of me…Tsuki no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Yamizuki - Yoi no miya."
With a single swipe of his sword, Kokushibō dispelled the mist that blanketed the battlefield and revealed Muichirō just a few steps away from him, ready to strike. The crescent-moon layered strike also caused the first casualty of their duel in the form of Muichirō's left hand, the limb flying upward into the air with a trail of blood flying behind it.
Muichirō was instantly halted as he stared at where his severed limb had once been and he quickly leaped back, his blood splattering on the ground in a trail that followed him. Acting on pure instinct he marveled at how Kokushibō could utilize a swordsman's breathing techniques while being a demon while tending to his wound.
Pulling back his left sleeve and wrapping it tightly around his bicep, he pulled it tight and held it with his teeth before setting his feet and glaring at Kokushibō again. Breathing through his nose he ducked down and readied his next attack.
"Incredible...he has the guts to stop the hemorrhaging after losing his hand, then come at me for another attack." Kokushibō thought as he slid his right foot slightly to the right, his six eyes staring intently at the charging Muichirō.
In the blink of an eye, before the young Hashira could land a blow, Kokushibō turned the tables on him by easily yanking his sword right out of his hand and ramming it through his upper right chest between his first rib and clavicle.
Carrying backward the demon then pinned Muichirō to one of the chamber's many pillars with his own sword, lifting him a foot and a half off his feet in the air, and let him hang from there with blood gushing from his new wound and staining his uniform. Once Muichirō was firmly stuck in place, Kokushibō lowered his hand back down to his side and stared right into his eyes with all six of his, a gaze scary enough to make any human pass out from fright.
"My descendant. Allow me to turn you into a demon, so that you can be of use to that man." he stated, Muichirō trembling slightly from the shocks of pain resonating through his body from his pierced shoulder. "Once you become a demon, you can regrow your hand...there's nothing to fear at this point. You can trust me."
Muichirō kept his mouth shut and refused to say anything to the man, focusing his efforts on containing the bleeding from his wounds with his breathing. He was still at a loss for words at how easily the Upper Moon had managed to pin him. Muichirō thought back to his fight with Gyokko and had to wonder just how wide the divide was between the lower demons of the Upper Ranks and those near the top, like Upper Moon Two and One. And then above them all was Muzan himself, the king of demons. Would they really even be able to win?
Kokushibō stopped the bleeding from Muichirō's severed hand, while explaining the terms that would come from the unbreakable contract Muichirō would be bound by, if he were to be transformed by the demon's blood. Hearing this made Muichirō struggle even more to try and free himself, but his sword was wedged too perfectly through his shoulder and into the pillar he was pinned against. Every tiny motion he made caused his body to scream at him.
He could hardly hear what Kokushibō was saying because he was too focused on more important things, so it came as a shock when a shot rang out and he was drawn to a nearby Genya, who revealed his position with the discharge of his firearm.
Before his very eyes, Kokushibō had once again avoided any harm and was now standing behind a dumbstruck Genya, the slayer watching as his left arm from the forearm down then dropped away, falling to the floor. Blood spurted out from the two connection points, and he sat there on his knees as if contemplating if what happened had actually just happened.
"Genyaaa!" shouted Muichirō, the Mist Hashira pulling and tugging on his sword as hard as he could to try and free himself.
Genya tried to use his blade but Kokushibō's superior speed allowed him to sever his other arm near the shoulder without so much as appearing like he even drew his blade. He screamed as he started falling towards the ground, his blood drenching the zig-zagged tiles.
"Hm...I see, so you've been eating demons, huh…" Kokushibō remarked after taking a single look at Genya, his eyes narrowing slightly. With a tiny little wisp of wind created by his movements, the slayer was bifurcated by the demon and left in two halves.
Despite losing both his arms and being cut in half, Genya continued to fight and claw onto life, his limbless upper half squirming left to right. He was trying to use shifts in his body weight to inch himself towards his arms so that he could reconnect them.
In a similar way to how Muichirō had impressed him, so too was he impressed by Genya's will to live and his ability to stay alive even when he had been maimed to such a degree. It reminded him of another opponent he had once faced down many years ago, and it brought a slight scowl to the demon's usually aloof demeanor.
"Around three hundred years ago...there was a swordsman who ate demons just like you...he died finally when I sliced his body apart, so perhaps for you, it's your head…?" Kokushibō mused as he took a few steps closer to Genya, his right hand coming to rest on his sword handle and slowly gripping it. "I have no reason to let a fake demon like you live…"
When he drew his blade and swiped at Genya's exposed neck, Kokushibō was surprised when his attack was deflected by a flurry of rapid slashes that were as quick as a whirlwind. The gusts were enough to not only blow his sword back, but even make him leap several times back to avoid being hit.
Once his feet hit solid ground, he sheathed his sword and stared straight ahead at Genya's savior, his eyes widening a tiny bit when he recognized the figure based on his Breathing Technique and his power.
It was the Wind Hashira himself, the oldest of the Shinazugawa siblings, who had come to the aid of his fallen brother. Sanemi was smiling wickedly from ear to ear, and his eyes were bloodshot from the veins and muscles in his face being tensed so much. It wasn't enough to say he was mad; he was utterly furious.
"Aniki...you actually-" Genya started to say before a gruff snort from Sanemi silenced him.
"You really are one pathetic little brother, I swear…" Sanemi grunted, his knuckles all popping as he tightened his grip around his sword. "Why do you think I went as far as killing our own mother? It's because I wanted to protect you!"
Genya's heart skipped a beat as he stared up at the back of his older brother, the man who he had idolized and modeled himself after ever since they were little. Thoughts of another talk he had with Tanjirō about his brother a week or two ago resurfaced in his mind, the focus again of the relationship he shared with his older brother.
Tanjirō's prior altercation with Sanemi was brought up again, and he revealed to the younger Shinazugawa that even though he had gotten mad at Genya for joining the Demon Slayer Corps, Sanemi didn't hate him for it. Truth be told, Tanjirō didn't even smell the slightest tinge of hatred behind his anger.
The truth had been veiled behind his brother's anger, and at the time, he wasn't able to see past that for what lay beyond. Sanemi didn't stop loving him, he had always cared about his brother.
"You should've gotten goddamn married, had some goddamn kids, and lived until you became a goddamn old geezer." uttered Sanemi, his anger and regret surfacing little by little until his hands started to shake, causing his sword to waver and quiver. "For all the times we couldn't do a thing for mom, or our little siblings, you should have made your goddamn wife and kids as happy as they would have been. Because I would've made sure that no demon would be heading your way…"
"I...I'm sorry, Nii-san...I'm so sorry…" apologized Genya, his vision turning blurry as he started to cry.
Sanemi said nothing as he stared down Kokushibō, his hands finally coming to a stop while the veins bulging out from his forehead grew more defined. The rage he had succumbed to when Oyakata-sama had perished just a little while earlier had been paramount, but seeing his only living sibling be cut down so brutally was a completely different kind of animal.
It wasn't just rage that was flowing through his veins, it was unbridled fury.
"How dare you dice my little brother up, you fuck-eyed bastard! You're dead! Dead!" shouted Sanemi as he dashed forward, his powerful strides carrying him forward to Kokushibō in the blink of an eye.
The demon countered his dash by slashing once with his blade, the crescent-moon filled slash of dark moonlight hitting nothing but air when Sanemi ducked and slid on his side across the floor. His momentum carried him right below the demon into the space between his spread out legs, and with a growl he swung for the demon's legs.
Kokushibō expertly leaped into a forward flip to avoid the whirlwind of slashes Sanemi created, his six eyes darting down to find his opponent.
"Kaze no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Jin Senpū - Sogi!" roared Sanemi as he planted his feet into the ground and hurled himself at Kokushbō.
A cyclone of violent wind surrounded the two swordsmen as the momentum of Sanemi's powerful, horizontal slash carried them across the room away from Genya, tearing down pillar after pillar and ripping up the floor in their wake.
Kokushibō eventually halted Sanemi's attack and the wind dispelled, revealing the pair clashing with their swords grinding against one another. Muichirō from his vantage point could see them and he gasped as he saw the full extent of the Upper Moon's sword, with its flesh-like appearance and the eyes on them individually moving around and looking at everything surrounding it.
"Huuh! Would you look at that! That fucking disgusting blade is just as ugly as your goddamn face!" shouted Sanemi, his insult doing little to change Kokushibō's expression.
"Tsuki no kokyū, Go no kata: Geppaku Saika." spoke Kokushbō calmly as his blade seemed to vibrate just a tiny bit.
Sanemi detected the change coming and he leaped away from the demon once an overwhelming barrage of overlapping curved slashes composed of razor-sharp crescent moons came to life around the demon. Any surrounding pillars or walls that weren't destroyed by their previous engagement were devastated by the vortex, showcasing immense destructive prowess.
When the vortex ended, with Kokushibō's sword having moved not even a single inch, Sanemi pointed out that oddity once he landed on his feet several meters away with a snort. The two men then met one another again, two of their breathing techniques clashing and causing further damage to the Upper Moon's chamber while Genya and Muichirō could only watch from their respective vantage points.
"Not bad...I see that your physical body and techniques...are at their peaks…" murmured Kokushibō during their brawl, keeping calm and composed while Sanemi's usual ferocity was matched by his own interior trembling.
"I can't fucking stop getting goosebumps at this guy's skill. Every one of his slashes is surrounded by these chaotic little blades. And they're always changing in length and size. There's no set form at all...I'm not surprised Tokitō lost." Sanemi thought as they danced left and right, their swords and breaths clashing every other second. Sparks flew when their blades struck one another, and the destruction the mixing of their breathing techniques caused became greater with each passing second. "What's worse is that this guy's using fucking breaths! A demon with unnaturally high regenerative and physical prowess is using fucking breaths, and his power and speed are climbing!"
Dashing alongside one another with their weapons at the ready, Sanemi was the first to stop and unleash a new technique that bore down on Kokushibō as four distinct vertical slashes. Kokushibō's flesh blade took the full brunt of the tiger-claw attack and with a swing he dispelled them, leading to Sanemi to try for another attack from above now that his guard was open. As they grappled with one another again, Kokushibō's sixth sense was alerted and he threw his head back to avoid being pierced through the chin by Genya's sword, which Sanemi was holding between the toes of his right foot.
When that sneak attack failed, Sanemi dropped the sword and clashed with a now-recovered Kokushibō yet again, their bodies becoming nothing but shadows blinking in and out of existence.
The demon was feeling a slight nostalgic feeling welling up inside, while Sanemi was at his wits end just trying to keep up. He couldn't even focus on blinking because he had to be ready for anything that could be thrown his way.
"Long ago, it was the Sengoku era...right, it was the Wind Hashira and I...we were improving our swordsmanship skills…" murmured Kokushibō as he turned his blade slightly to the right in his hands and took a miniscule breath. "Tsuki no kokyū, Roku no kata: Tokoyo Kogetsu - Muken."
Sanemi had little opportunity to defend himself when the Upper Moon unleashed a chaotic whirlwind of undulating slashes that cleaved apart their surroundings and forced him back. Cleanly sliced pieces of multiple columns in the surrounding area crashed to the floor, shattering the once pristine tile flooring that hadn't been destroyed by their battle.
An eerie calm then blanketed the battlefield, with Kokushibō lowering his blade and staring at his opponent without a single hint of emotion on his face. Sanemi meanwhile was hunched over, raspy breaths escaping his bloodied lips, as he stood there with several cross-crossing lacerations across his abdomen.
"You held out for quite some time up to this point, but if you move...your organs will spill out...it's over…" said Kokushibō, sensing the end was near, before his entire body stiffened up and his vision seemed to narrow. A stench unlike anything he's smelled before had just entered his nostrils, and it was quick to cause other changes in his body. "My pulse is increasing, what's going on…?"
"Fuegh...guuehhhehehe...cats to silvervine, demons to rare blood…" snickered Sanemi before sucking in a breath and lunging at Kokushibō.
The Upper Moon was slow to counter and he ended up stumbling backward with his sword up just in time to deflect a furious downward slash from Sanemi. He glared at his own two feet after his own lapse in focus, and he stared at Sanemi a second later to see the madman of a Hashira laughing at him.
"Whoa, buddy, what's the problem? You're staggering there. Looks like my goddamn blood even works on Upper Moons!" Sanemi bellowed with another laugh, blood droplets being out from his mouth and off his lips. "Demons get drunk once they get a whiff of my blood. And this blood's the rarest of the rare, once-in-a-lifetime shit! Now have a fucking feast!"
Sanemi took his first few steps towards his opponent, smiling and laughing like a madman with the potency of his special blood now on full display. He had discovered the special qualities of his blood soon after he began hunting demons, and the primary indication of its unique nature had come from his very first kill. When his mother had been turned, after he had started bleeding, she had begun to move slowly as if she had become drunk.
Of course he never paid attention because the world had become a barren, empty place after he killed her. In his eyes, all the colors in the world rapidly became worn, faded, and dull. Day had turned to endless night, and he wandered aimlessly, stumbling around in the dark in desperation.
Sanemi had no knowledge of what demons really were, what the Demon Slayer Corps was, or that there were such a thing as Nichirin swords. Using blades and weapons of all assortments, he would catch demons and burn them to death in the sunlight.
"Thinking about it now...it was like I was trying to commit suicide, huh…" Sanemi thought inwardly while he clashed with Kokushibō, the effects of his blood giving him an advantage, albeit a slight one. "But I didn't die, only because I was goddamn lucky that my blood could intoxicate demons. That is how I ended up meeting a member of the Demon Slayer Corps too...Masachika Kumeno…"
They duo would quickly strike up a friendship and it was through Kumeno that Sanemi would join the ranks of the Demon Slayer Corps, fighting demons wherever they were located and killing them to protect the innocent. At that time, he actually thought he had found his happiness again. He had a purpose. The world was regaining some of its lost color.
How foolish he was to believe that. He learned again how unfair the world was, because good people continue to die one after the other. He and Kumeno were successful in killing a Lower Rank together, but only Sanemi ascended to the rank of Hashira.
"Kaze no kokyū, Roku no kata: Kokufū Enran!" bellowed Sanemi as he rotated his body, leaping forward off his left leg to slash at Kokushibō.
His blade nearly missed the demon's body with the tightly packed rotating tornado of violent winds, the air itself causing Kokushibō's clothes to enter a frenzy. A couple more steps back and he was out of harm's way for the moment, before the Wind Hashira went at him again and again.
Each time metal struck metal, the air vibrated around them, and each time Kokushibō got a look at his opponent, he was intrigued further. He was certain the slashes he had landed on Sanemi earlier would have made him submit, but here they were, still fighting. No other Hashira had succeeded in staying toe-to-toe with him for this long, and for that, he had to give Sanemi the respect he deserved.
"He somehow managed to stop the bleeding himself...is he coagulating his blood? With breathing alone? Or is he flexing his muscles to stop his guts from spilling out?" he thought with eyes narrowed as he kept dodging or deflecting Sanemi's sword, their dance taking them to the left and to the right across the chamber's floor. And all the while, Kokushibō's vision was a little blurry and his motions were a bit drunk because of the effect of Sanemi's special blood. "How long has it been since I experienced this feeling of slight drunkenness? It's pleasant...well, it is Marechi after all…"
Kokushibō then whirled around to avoid another blow and he brought his foot up, catching the top of Sanemi's sword, and then slammed it back down into the floor to pin him. Sanemi grunted when he watched this happen, and with a quick gaze up he could see his death approaching him at rapid speed.
The Upper Moon's blade was coming right for his neck, the never-blinking eyes of the disfigured sword staring right into his soul as it was swung. His life was about to come to an end. And the only thing he could think about was somebody that he used to despise.
Sanemi was never the most comfortable person to be around, but that was because he had seen so much shit in the world around him. It made him mad to see someone smiling when others were suffering, and especially so when that person didn't get their hands dirty. Of course, he was thinking of Kagaya, during his earliest days as a Hashira.
He was indifferent towards the man who led the corps at first, but every time he saw him smiling when giving them orders at their Hashira meetings with no risk to his life whatsoever, it eventually got to a point where he couldn't hold himself back.
Sanemi called out their master, much to the chagrin of his comrades at the time. He could feel their stares but he didn't care. Even Gyōmei, the titan of the group, veiled a threat towards him behind a simple comment about not being able to speak properly.
Kagaya of course allowed it, because he understood how important it was to hear the concerns of those who served beneath him. And for Sanemi, he could remember what happened as if it were yesterday.
"You've got no shame—you make me sick! You only think of Corps members as pawns to be used and tossed aside. You've barely even tried martial arts or anything else. I can tell just by looking at you." Sanemi had said, his words as sharp as swords. Kanae, the Flower Hashira at the time, tugged on his arm to try and get him to stop, but he didn't pay any attention to her. "But here you are, head of the Demon Slayer Corps. It's pathetic. I've had it with all this!"
Sanemi's rant was met with an awkward sort of silence between him and the other Hashira as none of them tried to refute what he had said, not because they agreed, but because they could see their master already had the answer.
Smiling as warmly and softly as ever, the younger Kagaya apologized whole-heartedly to the Wind Hashira. Without an ounce of anger in his tone, the master told Sanemi of everything he had tried to do just to be able to walk amongst them as a fellow slayer. Swinging a sword made him so weak he could hardly stand, and trying any other form of combat was out of the question either.
Kagaya wanted nothing more than to be a strong swordsman like the Hashira who served below him, and the other slayers within the organization that served below them. The truth was that it was impossible for him, and for that he was truly sorry for asking so much of them.
At the time, when Kagaya had said that, Sanemi couldn't think of any sort of response to that. Sitting slightly above him on the back porch of the home Kagaya lived in wasn't that man, but his mother. Overflowing affection was the only emotion he felt coming down to him, and it reminded him of the days when his mother would smile at him too, and gently caress his cheek if he was ever distraught.
Kagaya would continue to say that he too was a sacrificial piece if the rest of the Demon Slayer Corps were also composed of pawns. If he were to die, nothing would change, because his replacement was already ready and waiting to take control if and when that time came.
Afterwards, in a soft but firm tone, he claimed that Sanemi was misunderstood in his views on himself and the organization. Kagaya never once thought that he was higher than anyone, and that it was everyone else who thought of him in that way. If Sanemi did not like that notion, Kagaya had stated, then he did not have to agree with it. His only request was that he worry about defending the lives of others as a Hashira.
That's when Sanemi received a curveball from the man he had previously despised the look of. He mentioned his first friend in the slayers directly by name, as if he too had known him personally, and even acknowledged the fact that Sanemi and him were like brothers.
When he questioned how a man like Kagaya would know his friend's name, Kanae revealed their master had taken it upon himself to memorize the names and backgrounds of every single member of the Corps that have died in service to the organization. That revelation was like an arrow straight to the heart for Sanemi.
Even he couldn't remember the names of all the corps members that he had fought with who ended up dying. Both male and female, all he could remember was traits or the faces of some. And even then, those memories were fuzzy.
"Sanemi…" Kagaya said, finally standing and letting himself be escorted by his daughter closer to the Hashira of the time. "All the children of the Demon Slayer Corps write their own will, and strangely enough, the contents of those wills...are mostly similar. Masachika's was the same."
Sanemi remembered receiving the will of his fallen friend and reading it as Kagaya spoke of its contents in relation to the very same dream he had. A dream of a shining future, where loved ones could smile without worry and live happily until the day they died. A future where loved ones were never cruelly threatened, even if one couldn't be by their side.
With a loud clang of metal striking wood, Kokushibō was surprised to see his sword be stopped by the hand-crafted wooden grip of Genya's shotgun that Sanemi had grabbed to stop his beheading slash.
A second later he had to pull his blade back to block the special bullets of the firearm when Sanemi had fired it at point-blank range. Seeing the pellets have no effect on the Upper Moon, he thought rapidly on his exit strategy as the chaotic blades started to emerge from Kokushibō's sword.
That's when a heavy metal chain happened to wrap itself around Sanemi's legs and yank him back to avoid Kokushibō's next technique that devastated the floor where he had once been. A huge cloud of dust and debris particles was created by the demon's furious slashes, and when he realized he had missed his target, he waited to see what had become of him. He was surprised when he saw through the smoke and noticed a new, hulking figure standing across from him with an ominous aura of power and determination that told him it was someone new entirely.
"One appears after the other...unexpectedly." uttered Kokushibō when the screen of dust finally settled, revealing the titan of a man that was Gyōmei, his massive weapon gripped firmly by him in both of his strong, muscular hands.
"The Demon Slayer Corps will never disappear...until we eradicate all terrible demons from this world."
The sound of crackling fire made Kyōjurō awake from his exhaustion-fueled slumber and pick himself up off the floor, glancing over towards the source to see Giyū holding his broken sword above a flame to heat it.
"Ah...Tomioka-san, you woke up before me…" Kyōjurō said with a light chuckle while getting into a sitting position, his body aching from head to toe. "I may have pushed myself a little too far earlier, but it worked out in the end...Akaza was killed."
"Do you need any wounds sealed up? I was heating up my sword so I could cauterize my own…" Giyū asked before he pulled his blade back and went to work painfully sealing up some of the cuts and lacerations he had received.
"Some, yes...I'll wait until you're done. More importantly, I'm happy to see that you're alive and well."
"Same to you. I do have to ask though...what was it that you did earlier against that Upper Moon? I know you possess a mark, but it seemed like something more occurred."
"Ah, that...I figured you'd want to know," Kyōjurō said, a small grin appearing on his face as he pointed to his eye. "To tell you straight up, I was able to access a different world that was spoken of in the records kept by the previous Flame Hashiras who came before me. It was an ascended state that the very first breath user could use. If I remember correctly, the name he gave it was the 'Transparent World'."
"The 'Transparent World'...?" asked Giyū while he scooted over to let the Flame Hashira sit next to him next to the fire.
"Hmn. If you will listen, Tomioka-san, allow me to tell you what it is...and how we can use this to finally kill Kibutsuji once and for all."
^ Tokyo Harbor, Tokyo ^
It was still night over the whole of Japan, but that didn't mean the night life had gone to bed. The capital was as busy as ever, as was the harbor as late-night shipments were being offloaded and prepared to be distributed once the sun rose.
At this harbor standing atop one of the warehouses was the man who was entirely disconnected from the war currently being waged between demons and humans within the Infinity Fortress, but connected at the same time. Thanks to the bugs he had littered throughout that labyrinth whenever he was there, he had eyes and ears everywhere, enabling him to know what was happening exactly as it happened. He knew that most of the Upper Moons had been killed, and that Muzan was currently in the deepest part of his fortress alone, dealing with a hand-crafted drug devised by the Insect Hashira and Tamayo.
Everything was going according to plan. He had already initiated the next step in retrieving the catalyst he desired, and in the back of his mind he could see himself the tool he had dispatched nearing its location. Torres laughed to himself as over a thousand years of carefully plotting and organizing pawns was coming closer and closer to fruition.
Once he had what he needed, he would wait there in Tokyo for the last loose end he had to remove. Of course that loose end would be delivered to him on a silver platter in due time, and until then, he would continue to wait and muse to himself about the end rapidly approaching.
Then it would be but a simple matter to take care of the rest of the trash so that nobody could stand in his way of enacting salvation. The one thing that he was slightly wary of was a singularity that he had to keep tabs on ever since it had made itself known.
Kamado Tanjirō, the young slayer turned demon by Tamayo when he was on his deathbed. Since that day, he had risen up to become a Hashira and was able to challenge Upper Moons on even ground. He could walk in the sun without worry, and most recently he had shown the same ability that only the strongest of Upper Moons and Muzan himself could perform; transforming another human into a demon with their blood.
Torres knew that if he followed through with the final step of his plan, he would earn himself Tanjirō's wrath. At this point in time, he had no doubts in his mind that Tanjirō was on the cusp of surpassing not only Kokushibō, but even Muzan himself.
"Even if he does become that powerful, the strength of a demon pales in comparison to that of an angel...Tanjirō, just like any other sinner in the face of God and His judgement, you will fall. Salvation will prevail."
A/N Hello everyone, it's me again! Done with the little hiatus to bring you this chapter and another announcement! Who would've thought that helping to run a summer camp for kids would be so taxing on the body, its why I haven't been as active as previously! (Been tired as HELL). After two weeks though, I think I can handle it better now and should be able to work on chapters more consistently, especially because we're so close to the end now!
This chapter ended up being shorter than the previous three only because I know that the fight with Kokushibō is really extensive with a lot of moving pieces, so I thought I'd end it here in this chapter with Gyōmei's arrival and not cut into what will be happening later. This fight is gonna be a super special one, and I'm hoping that you guys will love what ends up happening during it!
Thirdly, the poll is now closed! Just a touch over 100 people voted, and I wish some more people participated in it, but beggars can't be choosers! I appreciate those who did vote, and for those of you who want to know what the result is, surprisingly, "Tanjiro x Shinobu x Mitsuri x Kanao" won! Allow me to remind you that this was an experiment to see what you guys wanted to happen! I may or may not choose this depending on how the story plays out from here on, I wrote it in such a way that all possibilities of the poll were just that, a possibility. Any of them could occur, and I hope you guys are okay with whatever option is chosen!
With that out of the way, that is it my friends! If you liked this chapter, please drop a fav and follow if you haven't already, and leave a review telling me what you think too! Something bad is about to happen, I hope you guys are ready…
Translation(s):
Kasumi no kokyū, Go no kata: Kaun no Umi
- Mist Breathing, Fifth Form: Sea of Clouded Mist
Tsuki no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Yamizuki - Yoi no miya
- Moon Breathing, First Form: Dark Moon - Evening Palace
Kaze no kokyū, Ichi no kata: Jin Senpū - Sogi
- Wind Breathing, First Form: Dust Whirlwind - Slice
Tsuki no kokyū, Go no kata: Geppaku Saika
- Moon Breathing, Fifth Form: Cursed Vortex of the Ghostly Moon
Tsuki no kokyū, Roku no kata: Tokoyo Kogetsu - Muken
- Moon Breathing, Sixth Form: The Eternal Night's Solitary Moon: Avici
Kaze no kokyū, Roku no kata: Kokufū Enran
- Wind Breathing, Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist