Tanjiro stood with his sword raised, steadying his rapid breathing, with his eyes trained heavily on the slowly approaching demon. Beside his heavy breathing, the panting he was trying to still, the mitsu-ashi of her shoes clicked softly against the ground, echoing through the air. Every step she took was full of purpose and malice. The shadows of the night had concealed her face until she stepped in the light.
Upper Rank Six was absolutely furious.
Face scrunching up with large demonic veins piercing out of her skin, eyelid twitching, lip curled back in a seethe, eyebrows sharply turned downward in disgust and annoyance, she growled, "That's enough... you damn ugly brat!"
Her sashes exploded outwards from her body with the belts slicing deep into the buildings beside her. Dirt, debris, and dust fell all around them in a thick fog. Tanjiro didn't have the time to think about who had been killed inside; just like back Miss Tamayo's mansion with the Temari and Arrow Demon, her sashes twisted and turned mid-direction aiming straight for his head!
Tanjiro carefully watched all four sashes and tightened the grip on his sword.
With each hit he parried, sparks flew from the base of his already chipped sword. He twisted his blade around in the air, in between both hands, and gripped it tightly smacking away the belts he somehow couldn't slash. Sharply twisting around, he immediately jut out his sword and braced a hand against the side of the blade. The belt that had been aiming directly for his back slammed end first into the blade and reared off into a different direction. He grunted in concentration putting his weight into his feet and his strength into his hand to steady himself. Thousands of sparks blinded his vision as the belt coming, coming, and coming!
He realized almost too late it was meant to be a distraction.
Tanjiro threw the belt aside and found the demon right in front of him, hand poised to strike him down where he stood.
He immediately jumped out of the way, feeling the vibration of the attack against the ground where he had previously been, but gasped seeing her already right above him! A grunt of confusion left his mouth seeing the belt she had detached herself from to recover fast connect back to her body as if called! When she landed back in front of him, his sword was ready to strike!
Suddenly, her face and body was impaled!
Tanjiro watched horrified at his new predicament. The things that had stabbed themselves into her were more belts! Except she wasn't dying. Even though she stood momentarily still, with an almost lifeless look in her eyes, they were being absorbed into her body! It seemed the ones that had split off from the original belt were returning back to its rightful owner. He wanted to slice them off and keep them from entering her, fearing she would grow stronger in power, but he had to deflect attacks from the sashes still sentient.
In a snap, the belts were absorbed but the demon still seemed paralyzed.
Stand your ground, get your breathing under control...
Tanjiro inhaled a deep breath, gritted his teeth, released a growl... and surged forward!
...And strike!
Just as he was about to be within striking distance of her, she lifted her chin and revealed a wide smirk. "I knew it," She moaned with a flick of her tongue across her lips.
SLASH!
Tanjiro's sword whipped through the air but she was already gone!
"It seems I was right!"
He whipped around to the sound of her voice. She was kneeling on top of a nearby building but his eyes went wide at her sudden new appearance. Her once long, black hair was slithering all around her in a new bright shade of pale white with lime green tips. Blood vessels popped out of her arms and face, giving her the familiarity of a bloodshot eyeball. A look of ecstasy and pleasure was etched across her face, her hands up in praise, and down on her knees. "A Hashira really did show up! How magnificent! I can't begin to imagine how pleased my master will be!" She continued moan into the sky.
She's talking about Lord Uzui!
Tanjiro growled to ready himself to fight against this new transformation of her... but his hands were trembling. Her scent had grown even more ominous. It's already beginning to make him sick... which meant she gained even more power. Something he had already feared from the start.
But if Uzui really is with Kagami and the others right now, then I can rest easy.
The last thing Tanjiro wanted to see was another Hashira die trying to protect him because he wasn't good enough to hold his own.
"Keep it down out there, will you?! Is that a sword in your hand, kid?!" Someone started to yell at him from behind. He didn't want to let his eyes off the demon but he looked over his shoulder to see a man walking angrily down the street towards him, "You've got a lot of nerve, picking fights out in front of my House! What kind of mischief is this?!"
Tanjiro uneasily let his eyes wander the street and noticed people poking their heads out to see what the commotion was about.
We made too much noise, and now people are in danger!
"I'll have you know that this Hanamachi is only viable because we and our clients all follow the rules, so if you're gonna cause trouble, you're not welcome here! Get the hell out of my sight!" The man continued to yell at him pointing an accusing finger.
Tanjiro glanced back at the demon and found her eyes narrowing at the man. "You should keep your mouth shut," She threatened him with a deep growl.
She slowly stood on her feet and her sashes curved around her menacingly.
Tanjiro's head whipped back and forth from the her and the man frantically. This is bad!
He whipped out a hand to the man to keep him from getting closer, demanding, "Please, sir, don't come this way! Stay back, please!"
Tanjiro's next breath came out in a choked gasp. He watched, eyes wide and trembling in fear, the sashes spring higher and higher into the air. They whirled above the district like a tornado about ready to touch down and destroy everything in its path.
"It's too dangerous! Get back inside!" Tanjiro screamed jumping back in front of the man and holding his sword protectively in front of him.
The attack was too fast to see. He only caught afterimages of the pink fabric, the pink glow trailing it, swirling through the entire district. Suddenly, an attack so sharp and so forceful smacked diagonally against his sword. The vibration scattered from his hands and throughout his body. Pins and needles stabbed into his hand... but it wasn't as painful as the gash slicing deep into his left shoulder. A groan of pain left his mouth as blood sputtered out staining his clothes and face.
He heard the man wail in pain behind him but he didn't focus on him. His eyes instead watched wavering and fearful at the buildings beside him.
Each one of them had slash marks embedded into the wood, foundation, and the people inside. All at once, they crumbled under the diagonal, horizontal, and vertical slices to the ground. In an explosion of wood, stone, dirt, and dust, many of the buildings were nothing but heaps of what used to be buildings, people becoming bloody corpses trampled under the large concrete and impaled by wooden beams, their bodies, limbs, and faces sliced off from the initial attack, and screams echoing through the air. Pain, anguish, and agony filled the skies of the people, innocent civilians, seeing their friends get killed right before their eyes.
Tanjiro barely had the strength to steady the tremble of his hands. His eyes stared hard, so hard he thought they would pop out of his skull, at the demon standing at the top of the roof.
"Stay calm," He forced himself to choke out through a tightened throat to the man behind him, but he wasn't sure if he was saying that to the man or himself, "Sir, you're going to survive this... but your arm..." He didn't need to glance back to know the man's hand had been cut off during the attack, "you need to stop the bleeding."
He didn't care about the gash at his shoulder still dripping with heavy drops of blood. He remained focused on the demon.
At the mess, at the chaos she ensued, the demon's blank face lifted into a smile. Then she tried to walk away.
His trembling hands clenched into fists on the hilt of his sword. Seeing the smile, seeing that face at the unnecessary deaths and destruction, Tanjiro hissed under his breath, "Get back here. I won't let you get away with this, not after what you just did."
The demon didn't bother to turn at the sound of his voice. "What's wrong? You still have something to say?" She huffed in annoyance placing a hand on her hip. "Your efforts are useless, and you're hideous. There's no reason to let ugly people like yourself live, so do us a favor and die alongside them."
The sheer malice of the attack, the uncaring weight of her words spitting down at him, the smirk and amusement in her smile and eyes, the reek of death delighted her. The disregard for human life, the wish of death on anyone she doesn't find worthy... pleased her. It was... It was... shameful!
How despicable!
How disgusting!
How can someone ever think like that?! How can someone relish in the destruction of others, bask in their deaths as if they were merely nothing more than tools to their game?! How?! HOW?!
The trembling of his hands weren't of fear. The quivering of his body wasn't of pain. No... it was of fury!
Tanjiro glared so hard the blood vessels in his eyes popped leaving most of his white sclera a bloody red hue. He felt his blood drip down the side of his face and cheeks in numerous trails. The gash in his shoulder sent lightning bolts of pain at the sudden tension of his body. His heartbeat thumped loudly in his chest.
He didn't care.
All he cared about was unleashing his intense rage at the demon who doesn't deserve any sympathy at all!
Dear Kamado & Yamato,
I know now that I wronged you.
Thank you for shedding the tears that I couldn't over my son Kyojuro. And if I'm not mistaken, you two have been exchanging letters with Senjuro for the past four months or so. He seemed to be in a much better place now.
I'm horribly ashamed that our first meeting went the way that it did. At a time when my own incompetence had left me shattered, things went from bad to worse when my beloved wife succumbed to illness. Since then, I've done nothing but drink myself into a stupor and wallow. I've been a useless father. Thankfully, Kyojuro somehow turned out to be a fine son. Even after I abandoned him as an instructor and a father, he pushed forward, studying the Guide to Flame Breathing, and became a Hashira. Although there were only three volumes. He must have more of his mother Luca's blood in him. Both Kyojuro and Senjuro are fine boys.
But, Kamado, Yamato... you are just as exceptional, if not more. Rumor has it that those who are chosen to wield Sun Breathing are born with the same red mark on their forehead that Kamado has. The same fiery glare in Yamato's eyes of Dragon Breathers. I'm sure you will...
Tanjiro's sword laid limp in his grasp for a moment, reminiscing of the letter he and Kagami had received a few days prior from Mr. Rengoku's father. In his letter, he explained how extraordinary he is because of the red mark on his fore-head. The mark that somehow symbolized he was destined for great things because he is a descendant of the Sun Breathing user. But Tanjiro knew the truth.
No, you're wrong, Mr. Shinjuro. I wasn't born with this scar to begin with. Originally, it was just a burn mark from when I protected my younger brother from a falling brazier. After that, I was injured during Final Selection, which is how it ended up the way it is now. I was told that my father was born with a faint mark on his forehead, but... that wasn't the case with me, which means I must not be one of the chosen wielders that you're talking about. Kagami and I don't hold an ancestral contract. I am not worthy of it.
Tanjiro's heart beat harshly in his head. The wrath he felt started to grow and thrum more powerfully in his veins. He watched the demon calmly walk away and seethed uncontrollably under his breath.
But that doesn't matter right now! Even if I'm not one of the chosen ones, even if I'm not up to the task... there are times like this where I can't just back down! Because in this world, there are those that lack any trace of a human heart... killing innocent people without any hesitation and moving on without any regret!
The demon hunched down and stepped off to charge away!
At the same time, Tanjiro snapped free of his mental restraints controlling his anger, his wrath, and moved in the blink of an eye.
A gasp fell from the demon's lips when her body nearly stumbled forward from her broken momentum. Her leg was held behind her in someone's grasp keeping her from moving. She turned around and her eyes landed on Tanjiro! He held no remorse, no mercy, in his glare when he grabbed her leg and pulled her back before she could flee.
She is that kind of evil, but as long as I live, I won't allow it!
He raised his sword high and slashed outwards!
The demon leaned backwards, narrowly missing the steel slicing for her throat, and used her belt to deflect his attack. She spun in the air and kicked her foot out to her trapped one. It snapped free from his grasp and she immediately flipped backwards. She landed multiple feet away from him, hunched over on the roof like a feral cat. Tanjiro threw her ripped leg from him without giving it so much as a glance.
"Those lost lives will never return! They can't just regenerate. That's a luxury only demons have," Tanjiro snapped seeing the demon's leg regenerate in just a few short seconds. The trembling of his body overflowing with rancor never ceased and never faltered. "Why do you kill? Why trample over the lives of the innocent?! Why can't you understand? You were once a human. Isn't that right? Which means you shed tears and suffered like any other normal human would."
The demon slammed a fist against the roof, it crackling under the impact. "Argh! Just when I thought you couldn't get any more annoying! Luckily I don't remember anything about the past. I'm a demon now, so who cares about my human past? Life is better like this. Us demons don't have to buy food or grow old, or get sick or die. We have nothing to lose. Not to mention, beautiful, powerful demons can do anything we want!"
A maniacal smile spread widely on her lips at the notion.
Tanjiro stared past the rooftop and noted her sadistic and cruel behavior. He also noted something in the distance. "I see. That's enough," He said quietly.
Then, he surged forward.
The demon immediately brought her arms to her chest, holding them, as she screamed, "Blood Demon Art. Eight-Layered Obi Slash!"
Eight long-range sashes protruded from her belt and towered over him. They quickly interweave together and plunged towards him. From what he analyzed with the quick flick of his eyes, there are no blind spots. It would be difficult, almost impossible, for him to move, run away, or escape within the confined squares that left little space. The sashes were vertical, tight, and straight. She planned on slicing him into small, weak little pieces, and make her way over to Lord Uzui.
Tanjiro didn't hesitate one bit.
He put his sword out in front of him and angled the blade upwards. He didn't allow himself a quick glance to the slash coming down on his sword. He didn't need to. The moment the blade touched the sash, hearing the sharp ring of the steel tearing through the fabric, hearing it split through the split, the flame spilled from the edge of his blade. No scream nor roar accompanied him when he unleashed a large circular slash. No surprise or relief spilled from his mouth seeing his red circular flames burning bright transform into a fiery, turquoise blue and instantly incinerate the sashes aimed to kill him.
Hinokami Kagura, Burning Bones, Summer Sun.
The demon recoiled in pain, her face scrunching in agony, but her eyes popped open in anger. The flames and smoke shielding them quickly dissipated to reveal not just one but two figures now standing in front of her. Black hair, red glittery haori, dragon-tail like sword hilt, and green eyes filled with nothing but hate and a thirst for revenge.
The figure beside Tanjiro exhaled a deep breath and lifted their sword high. "Dragon Breathing, Eleventh Form, Scorching Earth."
Waves of confidence and strength entered his body feeling, hearing, and being beside Kagami Yamato.
He steadied the grip on his sword and pushed a leg back, sliding it against the ground. No words needed to be spoken from him of the fury, rage, and wrath coursing through his veins, powering him up even further to perform Hinokami Kagura. She looked just as hateful as he. Her eyes ran shakily over the destroyed district, the bodies of corpses piling up beside them, the streets running red, and the cries and screams of the affected survivors. He knows she wants to make the demon pay for what she has done just as much as he.
"Those lost lives will never return! They can't just regenerate. That's a luxury only demons have. Why do you kill? Why trample over the lives of the innocent?! Why can't you understand? You were once a human. Isn't that right? Which means you shed tears and suffered like any other normal human would."
Kagami had been in shock seeing the district decimated right in front of her eyes.
Then, her heart pounded even more so at the words echoing through the air. Her eyes wavered at the familiarity they held. It was as if she had heard those words somewhere before. But she knew she never did. She had never encountered someone like Tanjiro before.
"Such disregard for human life. What's so amusing about this? So tell me then, what is the weight of a human life to you? How could you ever forget?" The voice of a man, a man whose voice she's never heard before, struck inside her mind. His voice was filled with shame and anger. He stood beside her with his black and red tipped hair pulled back in a ponytail, a red flaming mark similar to Tanjiro's stained his forehead, and a beautiful black-bladed sword in his grip. He moved to strike someone laying on the ground just a few meters from them-
Kagami had no idea who that man was, and why she had that memory. But she did know one thing; the ancestral contract her bloodline was forced into nearly killed her moments ago.
She had strayed too far from Tanjiro and he had started a battle with that demon. The contract was demanding, commanding her, to reunite with him and help him. That she is supposed to stay by his side and fight with him. To make sure he doesn't die. To help him defeat the demon he is battling.
If he dies, so shall she.
When the district was destroyed, she feared he had been killed in the chaos. That was until she heard those words filled with disgust and anger. She knew he was alive, and she was going to be back at his side where she belonged.
Standing beside him, sword raised, she noted the Upper Rank Six kanji inscribed in each of the demon's eyes. A Twelve Kizuki.
They didn't hesitate to combine their breathing, match each other's powers, their mind becoming one, to share their strength and energy with each other, just as they had many times before. With both of their swords lit aflame with the colors of turquoise, they slashed at the sashes persistently, and seemingly desperate, attacking them. The flames kept the demon from regenerating momentarily. Her sashes grew smaller and weaker with every slice the two of them made to her. But Tanjiro was injured as well.
A deep gash was embedded in his shoulder and Kagami feared for him. Hinokami Kagura involved violent motions and movement threatening to rupture everything within his body. He aimed his sword perfectly in the middle of an incoming obi sash, dividing it in bloody halves, before slashing it off.
In either desperation or fear, the demon unleashed a flurry of attacks, barraging them with nothing but fabric and silk. Kagami and Tanjiro easily kept up. Their eyes stayed concentrated on the trembling demon in front of them, flames dancing along their blades and hitting the sashes, effortlessly deflecting the unrelenting obi sash attacks. With every slice, hit, and parry they made, their strength grew and their speed increased. The sashes that could've overwhelmed them felt like child's play at that point.
Sensing that, the demon immediately leaped a dozen buildings away.
Kagami and Tanjiro grasped hands and threw each other in the air soaring across the sky straight towards the retreating demon.
As they did, the demon's sashes skyrocketed toward them. They lifted up their blades and intercepted the attacks, blocking them and twisting their bodies in mid-air, and landed on either side of her on the roof. They instantly surged forward the moment their feet touched the tiles with their blades raised. Red hot flame spilled as they slashed outwards at the demon's neck, turning blue the moment they connected. She thought she'd finally see the demon's head fly in the air... but thought wrong.
"As if someone like you... could ever hope to decapitate a demon as strong as me!" The demon mocked them through a constricted throat.
Their eyes widened at what their swords held. Her neck had transformed into an obi sash and was still attached to her body, only making the appearance they had decapitated her. Kagami dove her sword even more into the sash, watching it stretch instead of tear, and came to the conclusion it was too soft to cut through. It had ultimately blunted their attack by bending.
They flipped backwards from her, landing back to back, but she threw sashes at both of them, screaming at the top of her lungs, "I won't let you get away, you hideous vile scum!"
More belts than before erupted from her back, at least a baker's dozen. And they were all poised to attack them.
They moved so slowly towards them, as if time was slowing down.
Kagami and Tanjiro's swords lit a blue flame and were raised high. The moment the sashes were within reach, they immediately began to deflect and parry the attacks. All of the hits were sending painful vibrations through her hands, arms, and body. Her sword threatened to twist and turn abruptly at the sudden impacts. Stars and sparks exploded from the contact of the sashes and blades nearly blinding her but she kept her focus and concentration on the snarling demon. That was all they could do. If they were to dodge, the chaos that erupted earlier would only worsen. They have to meet the demon head on.
"Just try and cut me now! You can't! That last exchange of ours was nothing more than a fluke!" The demon snarled.
Kagami and Tanjiro didn't bother to say anything. They were going to let their actions speak for themselves.
At the last parry, Kagami and Tanjiro revealed to have gathered the demon's belts in one spot. She was so desperate to kill them she didn't realize that was their plan from the start. They plunged their swords inside the pile and held their blades down, embedding them in the roof they were standing on.
"You think that's enough to stop me?! It'll take more than that!" She screamed.
With the wave of her arms, the curling soft sashes tightened immensely. She pulled back and stretched them even further. Kagami knows the demon can manipulate her belts at will. As she can tighten them, she can also soften them in the blink of an eye. They just have to move fast enough to close the distance between them. The challenge didn't seem entirely impossible anymore. She and Tanjiro placed one foot each inside the sashes, pulled back on their blades, and sling shot themselves forward!
They flew high in the air and shot straight for the demon at the speed of light! Their blades lit aflame with blue spilled out like a roaring, violent waterfall. Their blades moved faster than the belts could bend. Their bodies rotated, twisted, turned, the building momentum and force of their attack driving them forward! Then even further! It was as if their bodies were flying through the raging sea of blue flames, the sparks flying across their vision and the sky, watching them scatter and light the sashes before they were ultimately chopped up, leaving a trail in their wake. Their flames danced and sparkled against the belt, and they rushed through the wall of flame.
A violent blue dragon formed at the top of their bodies, roaring a passionate scream, breathing fire out into the dark sky. It was at their command, and their will to use. Coming face to face with her, seeing her eyes widen in fear, terror, and confusion, too slow to stop their immense speed, they jet their blades out horizontally and aimed straight for her neck, the dragon raising high in the air and soaring down-!
Kagami! Breathe! Please! You need to BREATHE!
F-Father?!
Fear trembled her hands forcing her to falter and collapse to her knees. The flames of blue recoiled to a dim red before completely extinguishing. The dragon died echoing and roaring into the night sky in the split second afterward. Wet coughs hacked out of her mouth persistently into her hand. Her lungs thrashed for air. Her body twitched uncontrollably. Her head pounded with the rushing blood soaring through her veins. Her skin felt as if it were on fire. They prickled and burned under the breeze flowing through the air.
She removed her hand and saw it stained with crimson red.
Tanjiro beside her was suffering just as much as she. He couldn't stop coughing no matter how hard he tried. His body was writhing in agony struggling to breathe. He was completely vulnerable to the demon towering over them. Both of them were. They had gone beyond their stamina threshold and nearly killed themselves.
Kagami immediately threw herself protectively in front of him, barely having the strength to grip her sword much less wield it.
"You humans never cease to amaze me with how pathetic you all are. If that really was the best you could do, then I might actually be starting to feel a little bit bad for you," She tsked down at them with disgust.
Kagami's vision was starting to grow dark. She could barely keep her eyes opened!
"Since you're human, I'm afraid your wounds won't be healing anytime soon. Blame your own flesh and blood," She softly taunted them and raised a sash. "Speaking of which, I recognize that delectable scent of blood from anywhere. It contains the power of a hundred humans and whichever demon drinks it in full grows in immense strength. Such an ugly girl gifted with such beautiful blood. You, you ugly brat, are a marechi, aren't you?" She giggled down at Kagami with a malicious smirk.
Kagami gasped in fear but refused to acknowledge her.
The demon's fingers twitched. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" She screamed and jet out her sash.
An agonizing scream spilled from Kagami's lips. Her eyes landed shakily on the sash impaling her gut. She watched as blood soaked her uniform. It sent lightning bolts of pain throughout her entire body. She couldn't even suppress them, they choked out of her throat savagely, when the demon's sashes grabbed hold of her limbs tightly, one wrapping around her mouth to muffle her cries. She was forced to hover in the air. Horrified, nearly overwhelmed with terror, she stared at the sea of blood gushing out of her wound and spill into the demon's mouth. Her throat bobbed with every deep gulp she took.
Her smirk widened into a large maniacal smile. Sadistic giggles wet with her blood emitted from her blood-stained mouth. "I've never forgotten how delicious marechi blood is, but to think my memory had gotten so terrible. It's even juicier than I remember! Completely delightful!" She moaned into the air with pure pleasure. Her eyes landed on Kagami, who was suppressing the whimpers rising from her chest, and promised, "I'm going to drain you of every single ounce of your beautiful blood! Removing the only thing that gave you worth. Once Lord Muzan learns I've killed the Sun Breathing User and his stupid pet Dragon, he'll reward me handsomely!"
Kagami screamed and thrashed against her restraints and muzzle, not caring about the agonizing pain storming through her, seeing the demon approach Tanjiro laying helplessly on the ground. She lifted one foot up and smiled down at him. "I'll do you one last favor and show you how to decapitate your enemy-!"
THWACK!
A yelp of pain left Kagami's mouth when her body suddenly slammed into the roof of the building underneath them, anguished groans humming out of her throat, and was splashed with blood. A body was sent hurtling down the district behind her, slamming and bouncing violently against the roof, through electric wires crackling against their skin, accompanied with the force of the wind. Fear disrupted the beat of her heart. She frantically lifted her head but saw Tanjiro still alive.
And standing in front of him protectively, seething and growling like a feral animal, saliva dripping down the corners of their mouth against their bamboo muzzle, was Nezuko Kamado.