Chapter four baby! And this time we can finally have an actual fight rather than a game of tag. And it's gonna be in first person… this is probably the first time I've written a fight in first person, so it might be a little sloppy all things considered. But I'll give it my all. Before that, though, it's time for me to respond to reviews/comments

[Response to Reviews/Comments]

(Qoutev) Evelyn: Thank you for the kind words!

(Ao3) Tymaddux: What I have planned for Uzui? Be careful what you wish for, dear commenter. Jokes aside, I wouldn't call it "about to start a three-way war, though that would be interesting. And yeah, Demon Slayer is overhated. I used to be one of those "unnecessary haters" for a while but after recently re-reading Demon Slayer, the only negative thing I could say about it is that the story is too basic, and Tanjiro is far too nice for the shit he goes through. But I guess that's his appeal. Also, Inosuke with magic is far too terrifying to comprehend.

(Ao3) Kolt: #shedeserveditbecauseIsaidso. #tanjiroisnotsafenooneis. #plotarmoriscringe. A-hem, that aside, four months to get strong enough to drive off Muzan is unrealistic. I'm doing that on purpose. You'll see why when the time comes. Not because I'm boosting him, but because of other reasons. If it wasn't obvious this system is different from the one that Jolyne has in GOTM for obvious reasons.

The idea you mentioned with the enemies scaling with the Gamer would technically work if everyone was a gamer, but there aren't any other gamers here aside from Jessica, and if they all scaled to how Jessica scaled, the entire verse would be in trouble because of some later things that would happen in the fic with just how strong Jessica gets.

The Gamer Genre of Fanfiction, or fiction in general, is basically a power fantasy that has no real limits. That's kind of the whole point. But at the same time, people like Mirlnir know how to scale characters up with the main Gamer and not make it too overpowered. I try to write like him because I look up to him. I just wish he updated more.

As for your prediction… well, we'll see. Have a great day Kolt!

(Guest) Guest: Thank you! And you'll see soon.

(Guest) Fire turtle: Never heard of Gildeguy or what his sword could do. After looking it up, I can see why it could be confused for it, but it isn't. To answer your question: Yes, even Blue Spider Lily and Wisteria. Though her garden won't really be a thing for a while.

AstolfoBrHue: (using a translator, no idea how accurate it is) Sim, a Muzan dava-lhe uma tareia muito fácil, mesmo que lhe dessem quatro meses para treinar. Mas é esse o objetivo. Quanto ao porquê, descobrirás mais tarde.

That being said, let's get into the chapter!

xxXXxxXXxx

[Jessica]

When I got to the town after yet another lengthy walk, hand on the hilt of my sword, I frowned overlooking Okutama. It was quiet, with no lights on during the night. It was to be expected. Everyone was probably asleep, which made what I was doing even more important. I guess that most Demon Slayers hardly ever patrol around here due to how high up in the mountain this town is. It's to be expected, and I couldn't fault them. They were just regular, non-magic having humans. Gamers Body made living here bearable because sleep wasn't all that necessary. But for someone who would need sleep, it might not be.

I walked the quiet streets of the town, gravel crunching under my boots as I kept a tight handle on my sword. I had to find a Demon to kill. That was the basic mission. The bonus mission was killing a Demon using magic in front of a Demon Slayer, and the third objective was hidden. I had an idea of what that one could be, and considering the reputation decrease it'd give me with The Demon Slayers, that meant it probably had something to do with killing the Demon Slayer that I showed magic to.

On my walk, I thought about the pros and cons of killing said potential Demon Slayer and came to the conclusion that I'd be better off not killing a Demon Slayer unless I absolutely had to. Sure, the EXP would be nice, and it would jump me up more than a few levels, but the damage to my potential reputation with them would be pretty bad.

I know that it's not optimal compared to grinding purposes, but at the same time, pure strength can only solve so much. Connections are important, especially in a world like this one. In a world where 99% of the population has absolutely no idea what a Demon is, it would be better to stay on the Corps' good side for as long as possible.

That said, I can't guarantee not killing one if I'm attacked first. At that point, I can play the self-defence card. I have no time to explain my situation to someone who is not willing nor will bother to listen. And if it comes down to that, then so be it.

As I walked, I couldn't help but feel as if I was being watched. You know that feeling? The feeling of something staring down the back of one's neck, and patiently waiting to strike? That was the kind of feeling I was getting. Like a predator scoping out potential prey. A Demon was in the town, and it was sizing me up.

My heart was beating at a mile per minute. I know I shouldn't be scared, I know I have the power to defend myself. But I also have to remember that Demons are units in this universe. I might have a sword, but I have no idea if it can actually kill Demons. A nichirin blade was said to be the only thing that could kill Demons. While my blade was made out of the scales of Yamata-no-Orochi, that didn't mean jackshit.

I stopped in my tracks. My right hand gripped the hilt of my sword tightly, as I waited. The potential Demon that was sizing me up was nearby. I don't know why I thought that, but I could feel a disturbing presence. The kind of presence that shouldn't exist.

And then it happened.

A blur eclipsed my vision, as an off-blue arm with claws as sharp as daggers came inches away from my face. The claws were a deep black, and the hand seemingly had scales. My eyes widened, as I jumped back at the same time the clawed hand made a swipe at my face. At the same time, whilst I jumped back, I drew my blade, and with an upward arc, my blade made contact with the skin of the creature as it sliced right through the arm, and cut it off from the elbow.

Blood sprayed in an arc, splattering on the ground around me. When I landed a small cloud of dust kicked up around me, stopping just above my knees as I stared down my opponent. He was tall, easily two heads taller than me, with six eyes decorating his face, three on the left and three on the right, all lined up diagonally. When I saw the six eyes, I immediately thought Kokushibo, and thank god that it wasn't him, but still. The Demon had sharp-looking hair styled in spikes, with what appeared to be a mandible-like mouth similar to an insect.

His body was a deep blue, and he was wearing a black toga. He was built like a bodybuilder, and while his right arm was regenerating, his other arm was a good example of what to expect to see when it was done. Thick as a log, as muscular as a gorilla, and with a large fin sprouting from the base of the elbow, ending at the wrist with claws as long as daggers, and probably as sharp as them too.

Observe activated, and I was greeted with a small splash screen of information about the Demon.

[Name: Water Demon, Weak Demon]

[Lv. 25]

[HP: 200]

[MP: 90]

[Strengths: Narrow Streets and Alleyways]

[Weaknesses: Nichirin Blades, Wind Magic, The Sun]

[Thoughts: Annoyed that you cut off its arm]

The more I stared at it, the more I thought a Cursed Spirit from Jujutsu Kaisen then a Demon from Demon Slayer. I guess they did have similar designs for their monsters. The Demon looked at me, all of his eyes narrowed, and growled. "You Demon Slayer…." The creature hissed, his arm fully regenerating as he stared at my bright red sword. "Red blade… Flame Breather…" The creature continued as I smirked.

"Sure bud, I'll let you think that." I dashed forward, glaring at the creature as he charged at the same time. Water formed on his right claw, as my eyes narrowed. He had a Blood Demon Art. Of course, he did. The Demon outstretched his arms, and out of his claws came blindingly fast droplets of water. In the time it took for those water droplets to blast out toward me, I raised my sword and deflected the five droplets of water, closing the distance between myself and the Demon, before going to swing at his neck.

I was seconds away from cutting through his ugly throat when the bastard kicked me in the stomach. When his foot connected to my gut, and when he thrust his leg forward, I felt all the wind blow out of my lungs, and the grip on my sword decreased to the point where it fell out of my hand, landing harmlessly on the ground.

I fell back, hit the ground, and was immediately dazed. My world was spinning, and it felt like I was ran over by a semi-truck. A small indicator popped up next to my HP bar, which was now in my peripheral vision, showing that I had taken damage. I was expecting more to be done, but instead, that kick only did 19 damage out of my total 140 HP total.

While that wasn't impressive, the status effect of "Stun" was placed next to my name, and it had two seconds left. I was confused why that mattered, up until another 30 HP was taken off of my health bar, and a metaphorical wave of blood forced itself out of my mouth. I felt something break, and my breathing started to become laboured.

Every breath I took felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the chest, which only caused me to cough up more droplets of blood. It didn't help that I was breathing rapidly thanks to the fact that all of the air was forced out of my lungs, so my body was trying to recoup the lost oxygen. Add onto the fact that my ribs were most likely broken, and were actively poking at my lungs…. Yeah, it wasn't all too great for me.

The culprit behind it was the foot of the Water Demon, slamming down onto my chest. It pushed down and caused the pain to spike even more, making me gasp. I felt something poke at the edge of my eyes. I was involuntarily crying because of the pain—something that Demon probably wanted to see. I didn't take any more damage, but the pain was indeed worse than it was originally. All the while the bastard smiled a wide toothy grin at me. I was hit with the "Broken Bones" status effect, which dampened my physical strength by 50% and gave me the "slow" status effect for a minute.

I tasted copper in my mouth, which was thanks to the blood. As the Water Demon stared down at me, hatred and annoyance in his eyes, he raised his right arm back to finish me off, claws glistening in the moonlight. If it wasn't obvious, he was going to kill me. He had me pinned to the ground, and that look in his eyes told me that he was confident in killing me. He had me dead to rights, but that didn't even once phase me. I smirked, which seemed to throw him off.

He had no idea of what or who I was. And that was what made what happened next oh-so cathartic. With my right hand, I slapped the ground, and when I did, thick Vines erupted from the ground, and impaled him through the shoulders, lifting him 10 feet into the air. His eyes widened all at once, as he practically growled and roared in confusion, with an indicator that I had done 23 damage to him due to how Vines worked.

With him off of me, I was able to slowly stand up. My body hurt, and breathing was still a pain, but all of that hardly mattered. Now that I had the Demon where I wanted him to be, I didn't have to worry about him physically being able to hurt me.

I looked at the vines and smirked. So that was what levelling them up did. They became thicker, and harder to avoid. Honestly, that was kind of cool, made them way more practical than I thought it would be.

"What this?! How this?! You human! You can't do this!" The Demon shouted in a rage, thrashing about in the air. He flexed his claws, creating more water bullets. I wiped the blood from my mouth, as I felt my body slowly begin to repair itself. My HP was slowly going back up, too, and with each second that went by through my status effect, a single hitpoint was replenished. That meant that this status effect, the "Broken Bones" status effect was the timer for how long it would take for my health to replenish.

"This is my magic, scum… Many humans can do this if they're gifted like me. You had me for a second there, I won't lie. But I always had the advantage, you never did," I spat, glaring at the Demon. I didn't know if others could use Magic like me, it was mostly a guess, but considering Gacha Tokens were a thing, I'm fairly certain through those they could.

Just before he could fire those pesky water bullets at me, I created two Razor Leaves that cut his hands off, preventing him from finishing his attack, which made him snarl in frustration. I walked up to where my sword landed, picked it up off of the ground, and commanded the vines to lower him slightly so he was in striking range.

It was at that point that he seemed to realize what was about to happen. It was a bit of a shame that I couldn't have gotten a Demon Slayer to witness this, otherwise that Bonus Award would've been mine, but oh well. There was no need to prolong the inevitable. 110 Mana spent to kill one Demon was already more than enough to annoy me because I had to create multiple vines, two of them, both of which cost 50 Mana.

The Demon began to squirm, as his hands slowly began to regenerate. I smirked, as he was lowered to just about my height, leaving only a few inches between himself and the ground. He was the same height as me, which made this even easier for me. His feet barely touched the ground, though he still kicked at the air regardless, trying to get some footing to maybe escape from his death.

It was cute, in all honesty, but frankly, I didn't care. This fucker made me hurt, and now he was going to pay for it. I grabbed his chin and forced all of his ugly, pitch-black eyes to look at me. The hatred he oozed was almost euphoric. If I was a sadist—which I'm not—I probably would be getting a kick out of it.

"You thought you were slick, weren't you?" I said, in an almost sultry tone. I placed the sharp edge of my blade against his neck and began to slice, drawing blood and cutting through thick muscle and flesh. He panicked, showing by the clicking of his mandibles. He tried to snip at me, but it didn't work. "But you happened across the wrong Witch, bug boy." I got to about halfway through his neck when he roared, thrusting himself forward, trying to rip himself off of the vines.

It didn't work. The vines were both strong to hold him black, but too weak for him to force his body through them. By then, the blade had cut through nearly all of his neck. "I would pity you, but considering you most likely have eaten more than a handful of humans, I don't care what happens to you." As those words left my mouth, Kusangi-no-Tsurugi cut through his neck, and his head dropped into my head.

Now was the test, to see if his body disappeared. Much to my relief, it began to. As his head began to disintegrate, and as he looked up at me, the look of horror and shock on his face, I spat in his face, before dropping his head into the ground and stomping on whatever remained of it, as blackened dust blew away in the wind. "Burn in hell."

My breathing had returned to normal, which was good. The status effect was gone, too, meaning I was at full HP. While it was kind of slow to get to that point, it was still better than most normal humans. And, it regenerated during combat, meaning that there was no stopping it from replenishing.

I sheathed my blade, and fixed my Kimono, as it was a little messy after that fight. The blood from the attack was starting to fade away, which was good. Honestly, that was one of the more practical things about being a Gamer. Not only was the blood drying up, but the clothing was patching itself up too. That made it even better.

As I overlooked the street, I frowned. I supposed I couldn't be too upset with the outcome. I was only level 17, meaning I had yet to reach even a tenth of my true power. I also underestimated the Demon. I thought that because I was a Gamer, it would've been a walk in the park. But this… this was a wake-up call. I was not tough shit yet. I was still nothing compared to The Demons in this world.

Magic or not, I needed to be stronger. If this proved anything, it proved that the extra training I was going to do was needed.

Frankly, though, this couldn't have gone any better or worse. Well, actually, it could have. If a Demon Slayer had been here, it could've been bad, but it also could've been good. It was a flip of a coin, but for some reason, neither happened. Was it because there was no Demon Slayer around, or perhaps the Demon had killed the other Demon Slayer here before I could get here?

That was also possible. If that was the case, then that sucked even more so.

I dismissed the vines, the great green sprouts returning into the ground, as the gravel path reformed itself, proving to me that it was all a construct of my magic. That was good. It meant that there weren't going to be any potholes in the road thanks to my life-saving ability.

[Quest Complete, Rewards distributed]

[HP/MP 140 – 145]

[Plus 1 to all stats]

[Crit Stats: Plus 0.5]

Exp till next level: 6000

I huffed. Oh well. This could've gone better, but at least it was over. I looked around my surroundings, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw an arm outstretched on the floor in between two houses, which could've been an alleyway if it was just a little bit wider. I got a twisted feeling in my gut, and as I approached, I saw what I had expected.

The Slayer didn't look all that old. Maybe 15, or perhaps younger. She had short brown hair, and wide black eyes, with blood trailing down her forehead and from her mouth. Her sword was resting in her open hand, and several small holes were dotting around her chest, stomach, and lower legs. She was dressed in the female Demon Slayer uniform, and from the colour of her blade being blue, she must've been using Water Breathing.

I knelt to the body, and put my hand over her eyes, before closing them by brushing it over them. I closed her mouth, wiped the blood away from her mouth, and took a step back. She looked almost peaceful. I might not like The Demon Slayer Corps, but I did respect them. They were the only real defence against The Demons, and while it sucked most of the recruits were children, that was to be expected in a world like this one.

"May you find peace with your family in the next life," I murmured, before turning away to head back to my place of residence. Just as I was about to, however….

[For your convenience, I have given you the ability to Fast Travel from here to home, and from home to the entrance of Okutama Town. You're welcome, Jessica Blackmore]

I groaned in relief. I did not want to do any more walking, thank you very much! The prompt appeared to fast travel, and I immediately tapped yes. In the blink of an eye, I was back home. "To whatever God is out there, thank you for this gift!" I said, rhetorically of course because—

{You're very much welcome, Newbie}

I blinked. I opened my mouth to question what had just happened, and whose voice that was. It was feminine, but also not. I had no image to but the voice too, but it sounded young, like, early 30s kind of young. But, after a split second of thought, I closed my mouth, shook my head, and entered my cabin. I honestly had no time to put too much thought into that.

Well, no, that wasn't true. I had as much time as I wanted. But honestly, I just wanted to sleep. I know I didn't need to, but right now I don't really care. I'm annoyed, I'm "tired" and I want to rest.

And so, I did just that. I got onto my bed, rested my head on my single pillow, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

[Douma]

The migration to Kumotori Mountain was off to a great start. And by great start, he meant horrible start. A lot of the members of the cult were hesitant to leave for a more frigid area, but he promised them warmth just like he always had. That had seemed to do the trick, and it got them all to hurriedly pack their bags. After that, their long trek began.

It would take, by his estimate, two months from where they were right now—that being Mount Sagiri—to where he wanted them to be. Which meant it would already be fall by the time they got there. Upsetting as that was, Douma wasn't all too disturbed. Besides, he was being carried in a paladin, free from the sunlight, and during the night, while the humans rested, he could go out and get some food if there were any places nearby that were of any worth to him.

The only reason why he was able to get to his cult's location in a short amount of time was all thanks to Nakime-chan. She was always so nice! Or, well, as nice as a silent biwa player could be anyway. Ah, but that wasn't important.

No, what was important was that by the time a day had passed, already six of the 96 human caravan of people had died. How? Bandits, of course. He did what the sane person thing to do was immediately dealt with them, but he wasn't quick enough to save those who had died.

Oh, sure, he cared not for those lowly humans. How could he? He was a Demon, they were food at the end of the day. But they all saw him as a God. So he had to at least act the part. But hey, the upside is that now he had some food to snack on. The people of the Cult didn't know what he did with them, only that they were gone.

Frankly, he was glad humans were kind of stupid. Hashibara was a mistake, and he should've never allowed her into the Cult. Because if he didn't his paranoia wouldn't have spiked and his worry for those finding out that he ate them when he was hungry, despite it being horribly obvious. Devotion often blinded an individual, and that was to be expected.

After all, he used that to trick the women of his cult that he'd give them all of what they sought after. The men would love the women with all of their heart, impregnate them, and when they were far along enough he was asked to "speak to them" and then kill and eat them. Of course, he would only do it to every one in ten women, because if he didn't they would notice a pattern and find him out.

Humans might be dumb, but they weren't that dumb. It was what made hunting them so annoying. And no more was he more annoyed than with that Witch he met. He had never heard of a Witch before, and while she wasn't powerful, he was taken aback by the fight she put up. Technically, he should've kept attacking her and killed her that way. He should've done that, but he didn't.

Why? Because he wanted to see what would come of that Witch. Jessica Blackmore. He had engraved that name into his psyche. There was something about that woman that was special. He just knew it. It was why he hadn't told Lord Muzan about her. As a matter of fact, they looked similar. The eyes and the hair, along with the skin tone. It was like staring at a duplicate of Lord Muzan.

He wondered why that was….

Oh well, it wasn't a problem. As he sat in his paladin, casually chewing on the arm of a dead woman whilst the rest of the Cult slept in their pop-up tents that were shoddily constructed, Douma couldn't help but envision what Lord Muzan would do to that woman. He would probably kill her, and depending on his mood turn her into a Demon.

He didn't want that. Douma wasn't exactly a fan of that idea. He didn't know why. And it was only a hypothetical. It wasn't as if Lord Muzan would actually do that, right? The very idea of a Witch was something that Douma hadn't heard of before. And if they were only located in the British Isles, it would explain why he had never heard of them before.

Lord Muzan had made it a point to say that all Demons must stay in Japan. He guessed it was so that they weren't outside of the range of Nakime-chan's Blood Demon Art, and the range of the Lord's control.

Thinking about it some more, that also explained why Lord Muzan never left Japan, either. He stayed here as if there was a special reason for it. Well, there was. The Blue Spider Lily apparently only grew here in Japan. How Lord Muzan knew that was anyone's guess, but he was deeply into science, and he had been alive for at least a thousand years, so it made sense that he knew more about than a Demon who had been alive for a tenth of the time he had.

Douma looked down at the arm he had taken from the small pile next to him, the Upper Moon picked in between his teeth, flicking a small part of flesh at the wall, the nail-sized chunk of skin sliding down the wall as he stared at it with little to no care in the world.

He wondered if Witches ate humans. Probably not. After all, Blackmore had said so. But what if that was a lie? He didn't know, and as a matter of fact, he didn't know whether or not she was telling the truth about her being a Witch at all. For all he knew, it was a story she made up on the spot to get him to run away.

Either way, Douma didn't care. All he cared about was meeting up with her again to see what she was up to. Like he had said to her, there was something special about her, and he wanted to get a taste of what that special thing was. He was going to eat her. That was the end of the line. There was no if, ands, or buts about it.

Once he got to Kumotori Mountain, he would hunt her down and eat her flesh. That was part of the only reason why he was going to Kumotori Mountain. And when he did, he would probably look for an excuse to migrate somewhere else.

Of course, the idea that he couldn't eat her popped up in his head. Not because he wouldn't allow himself to do so, but because she could potentially kill him. But after all, he was a Demon with nigh-infinite stamina, and she was just a Human. If they were to break out into a fight, it would be a short one. His Blood Demon Art, or at least a technique of it, made breathing painful. And besides, only Nichirin Blades could cut through his neck and actually do anything to him.

Finishing off the arm in his hands, Douma cracked his neck from side to side, before reaching over and pulling out a torso. He needed to finish all of this by the end of the day so that the currently alive members of the cult didn't get suspicious of what he was doing with their dead. As far as they were aware, he was out burying them somewhere along the path.

The second Upper Moon sighed. Being a cult leader was such a pain sometimes….

-To Be Continued-