Chaotic Night, Attack on the Village!
(I know, it should've been done last month... I was simply lazy. Enjoy)
Genya stared down at his target with a furious scowl on his face. 'No bitch ass demon gets to shock my friends and leave with his head in one piece! Choke on this fucker!'
*BANG*
A resounding shot from his shotgun with the target being the two demons with their guards down, the blast tore their heads clean off their necks! But then it was Hotaru's turn.
'The staff!' He pulled the trigger on his pistol four times, and two bullets hit that staff from the demon's grip and the last two proceeded to split it into halves. Making the weapon unusable. "Great shots. Shinazugawa, I'll keep supporting from here. Help them out."
Genya drew a sword from his lower back and leapt down with a grunt of effort. "Don't tell me what to do!" The bitch with the uchiwa stood up and pushed his dangling head back towards his neck.
"Never been hit by an attack like that before!" He swung an uchiwa with his free hand… and missed by a mile. 'Oh shit, forgot my head ain't on right.' He blew another part of the building clear away and Genya's sword carved his dangling head away from his neck, he followed it by tearing the khakkara demon's head away with his sword.
"Genya! Their heads aren't their weakness! It just makes them divide and split again!"
Genya looked at Tanjiro right as four shots rang out and pierced the bodies of each regenerating clone. Hotaru picked up the tip Tanjiro gave out and decided to act quickly, firing a round into each of the demons to slow down their healing. 'If they won't die from losing their heads then my poison bullets can at least slow them down.'
Tanjiro was just getting back up to rush into the fight and he saw the kanji on the newly forming demon's eyes- 'Wait! This is Upper Moon Five? His strength is like Gyutaro's but…' He watched Nezuko grapple with that relaxed looking demon.
"Karaku! Quit wasting your time and finish that bitch off! Remember what happened when we played around last?!"
"Damn… Alright!" And with that he drove his left foot straight into Nezuko's stomach, her blood splattering onto him in massive clumps.
Tanjiro burst towards his sister as a big brother should! "Nezuko!" And then everything shifted and he found himself in the air with something holding onto his calf. A demon with bird talons for hands and feet, and massive wings on his back. 'One of the four!' A quick glance down and there it was, the fourth demon.
Karaku grinned at the injured demon girl in front of him. "Damn, not all that much strength to you I guess." And then karma came out to play. Karaku found himself losing balance and he was greeted with blue eyes.
"Heya!" A powerful swing from one of those cleavers combined with the effect of one of those explosives, it all lead to Karaku's body getting blown away by Nonoka's overwhelming strength. "Nezuko! Are you okay?"
"Hmph! Hm!" She pulled the leg out of her stomach and-
"Karaku!" Sekido slammed his staff down and sent another stream of his lightning straight into both the demon girl and the girl with demon strength. "Pick yourself up and kill that girl with the dual swords!" He didn't even bother turning his head to check on Aizetsu. The sounds of jumonji attacks were clear to him.
Genya was struggling to keep his pace against this guy in blue. Every single swing that he took was perfectly blocked, parried, or evaded. 'Son of a bitch won't give me a chance!'
"You're pitifully weak, I apologize for your imminent death."
Before Genya could actually object to that idea he found himself gored and raised into the air by that long spear. 'Holy shit he's fast! Sangyo, help!'
Almost as if he heard that call, Hotaru fired three shots and then another two. Two cracked the jumonji, one hit the sad blue demon in the left eye, and the last two shattered the spear and let Genya fall to the floor and collapse to his knees. He did still have a weapon embedded in his gut after all.
"These guys are so tricky and all I can do is cover them from up here." He reloaded one of his nambu and-
"I have to ask you to stop this."
And now he felt that awful and harrowing sense of dread. That Shuradai was behind him and once he saw the girl with large ears, Yoshino, picking herself up and shaking her head clear he knew that he got the drop on her to come deal with him. "I'm not stopping a damn thing."
He sprang forward and narrowly avoided one of the monk demon's large hands grabbing his neck. "Bakuha no kokyu." (Blast Breathing). It was clear that neither Shuradai nor the khakkara demon that was looking at him now had seen a style like Hotaru's. "Musabetsu Ame Namari!" (Indiscriminate Lead Shower).
The spiky haired one in that firework haori started twisting and turning fiercely in the air with coordinated blasts leaving his guns, trailing blues, brilliant reds, and dazzling yellows all firing out and striking the demons present as he fell in a macabre grace.
Karaku was stopped dead in his tracks. 'That tingly stopping feeling again!'
'I can't move!' Aizetsu was paralyzed as well.
'How is he so accurate while falling and twisting like that?!' Sekido was struck still.
Shuradai took several bullets and was forced into place. 'Forgive me for my mistake, Lord Sekido.'
Hotaru landed and quickly turned his gaze upwards to the still rising Tanjiro in the clutches of the harpy demon.
"Things are really going on down there! How lovely."
'Hi no Kokyu!'
The harpy realized that and put a stop to it fast. "NOPE!" A blaring screech that reverberated sound through every cell in Tanjiro's body, and caused his attack to slice off the talon keeping him airborne. "Nice one! This is so amazing, but I guess I have to be a little serious."
He was falling quickly but something had to be done about that. 'A branch!' He reached out and his grip combined with the force of his fall- Well it snapped the wood and kept him going. He slammed into another branch, righted himself in the air, and finally landed on the ground with the air knocked out of him. 'Get up! Protect the villagers! It feels numb but I can still stand!'
A presence. Tanjiro turned and saw a head that resembled the face of the demon that screeched at him, 'Urogi', it read on the tongue… The tongue he could see and was making way for another attack! It didn't get the chance, a rope dart caved the head in and sent bits of demon flesh all around.
"Tanjiro. Are you alright?" Yoshino helped him stand up right as two more malformed heads decided to sprout to life. "Oh no."
"AAA!" Sound waves went through their bodies and shook them to the core… but this time, Tanjiro noticed the difference.
A wicked grin on his face and veins bulging on his forehead, the young Kamado was feeling it now! 'Their attack power dropped! As parts of the original, these heads are a lot weaker!' He recovered and thrusted his blade through the tongues of those misshapen heads. 'They don't get stronger when they're split into parts, they're best at four demons. Each of their tongues had the primal emotions, these Kidoairaku… if we split them up more then we might be able to beat them!'
Yoshino turned and saw the harpy demon first, then Tanjiro spun and prepared for the attack. Another powerful screech came and the two dove aside to stay alive and well. 'Reach the others, take this guy down!'
'I'm a Demon Slayer too… I'm able to help!'
Urogi rushed them and left massive claw marks on Tanjiro's chest, and giant gashes along Yoshino's abdomen. "So what do you guys think about my claws? Powerful enough to slice through diamonds! Shake and quake in fear, I'll cut you both apart into balls of happiness!"
Kamado turned around with a smarmy grin in place. "Right back at you."
Urogi felt it, his face was bisected cleanly through his tongue. He had two oncoming threats and a weakened body to deal with them. 'The boy first!' He opened his mouth to screech and felt the pain of that dart tearing his tongue apart with a powerful thrust and yanking back as quickly as it came.
"Good work, Yoshino!" Fire followed his swing as Tanjiro started mincing that head into pieces!
Karaku broke out of the paralysis first and rolled his neck around, limbering up again. "Two guys using weird attacks like that! I'm getting really into this- huh?"
Sekido was being attacked by that spiky redhead in alternating attacks. First he would hit him across the face with one of those pistols, then he'd fire a shot into his face, rinse and repeat. Sekido was by all means trapped and it only pissed him off more. Karaku saw this and decided to help the de facto leader out this time… even though he could stand to relax a bit.
"Yo!" The gunslinger looked and saw that Karaku was free enough to pull back one of those fans that blew the roof away. "Brace yourself my man."
Hotaru was not a swordsman by any means, he was a distance fighter and focused on supporting others or setting up to finish a demon from range before closing in… This attack would do more than just hurt, and there wasn't anything he could do.
"See ya!" Karaku swung and watched his uchiwa go flying! Wait… 'Huh?' There wasn't anything there, his hand was gone. Then a foot sailed into his jaw and sent him into the air. Nonoka appeared again and sliced Karaku's forearm off in his distraction, and then delivered a kick to blow him away. 'That girl's strength is unreal!'
Aizetsu recovered during that and turned to help. "That's not good, I'll have to finish that one myself."
"Hey…"
The sorrowful demon turned his head and saw his dying enemy straining to breathe.
"Don't struggle, you're already-" And then he was staring down the double barrel of a western shotgun.
"Keep your fucking eyes on me buddy!"
*BANG*
It didn't blow his head all the way off but Aizetsu's head was barely dangling on his neck by a fold of skin, and that was more than enough! The not quite headless demon thrusted his spear forward and connected it with the broken piece in Genya before tearing it out in a spray of blood. "GAHA!"
The sorrow demon's head went back into place with disgusting squelches and bones merging. "Not dying immediately from such an attack is rather painful." He wasn't talking about himself. "I aimed for your vitals so you could die quickly, but I left my spear in you so that didn't happen, huh? At least now you can-"
"In Śtrāvastī. In the Jeta grove, in Anātha-Pindada's park. Along with a great assembly of twelve."
"Hm? The Amida Sutra? That's a devout man if I've ever seen one."
Hotaru turned and aimed his other nambu straight at Aizetsu. "Don't move a damn-!" Pain. Horrifying pain. A cannon of wind blasted down on the young Sangyo and he felt the immediate repercussions. His organs felt like mush and he could barely even take in a breath. Somehow despite the pressure leaving as quick as it came, the pain was lasting and he wasn't even given the reprieve of passing out. His lungs were forced upwards by his diaphragm and his breaths were shallow like a puddle, but the worst part was being able to see the monk demon fall down with an uchiwa in his hand.
"Lord Sekido, I apologize for my incompetence. It's my own lack of ability that caused you to be in such a compromising position." His primary lord stood up with a deep rooted scowl on his face and fury coursing through his veins. Sekido heard the sound of Karaku hitting the floor and kicking himself up again.
"At this point, you and Aizetsu are the only ones I can rely on. Speaking of, Aizetsu! Kill that mohawked one! He reminds me of him." With ample venom in his tone, he gave the order and Aizetsu used multiple skillful motions to swing his jumonji down onto the place where-
"I'll cut you the fuck up until you die!" Genya was behind Aizetsu with his sword coming in hot. "Fucking shitty bug! Die!" All his movements stopped when lightning coursed through his body, in his upside down position he could see Sekido standing there all haughty like. 'Fucking staff bitch!' He aimed his shotgun and fired, only to see the demon block the shot with his forearm… mixed results since it still blew his hand off.
'Why isn't he dying?! He shouldn't be able to move, much less fight!'
A spear slammed into Genya's side, breaking bones and causing organ damage. The force sent him slamming through a door and down a hallway, out of sight of all his friends.
Karaku laughed at his other selves tearing things up as they're privy to do. "Alright! I guess I'll have to deal with you both now." His new hand formed another uchiwa and he swung the two at Nezuko and Nonoka, luckily they dodged and closed in on the relaxed demon. "Oh nice!" He backflipped and while in the air he started making gentle fan motions with his weapons. "Let's see if you can handle this one!"
Nezuko raised her hand and clenched it shut. 'Bakketsu!' (Exploding Blood).
Karaku went from relaxed to covered in bright, pink flames. Immolated and in awful pain that forced him to forgo his attack in place of falling down to the ground again. 'Oh damn this really hurts! What kind of blood demon art is that?'
Nezuko was on top of him with a shin slamming into the side of his head, blowing flesh off and leaving his cranium barely attached to his neck. 'That hurt!' Then the Kamado spun and grabbed onto one of Karaku's hands, twisting and tearing his burning flesh until she tore his hand off… with that uchiwa.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Sekido was only getting more infuriated. "Shuradai! Stop that girl!"
"Meigen Sōsō!" (String Performance). Nonoka slammed into Shuradai and her attacks dealt serious damage. Despite the monk's attempts at defending himself with his fist and the uchiwa he held, he was quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught of rotating slashes and occasional explosive that blew parts of his body off. The young woman dropped low and delivered a rising slash that drove Shuradai into the remaining roof like a nail.
Nezuko gripped onto the uchiwa she claimed and swung it with all her strength towards a wide eyed Karaku. 'Shit!' A blast of air sent him careening into the air just like when he sent that Hashira away.
Sekido glared at the girl who saw him as the next threat, and when she approached with that fan at the ready- He stabbed his khakkara through her neck and summoned another blast of lightning through her. "Everyone's starting to piss me off now, stupid girl! Get closer and I'll turn this one to dust!"
And now Nonoka was stuck there as Nezuko was already being shocked by Sekido so violently.
"Koi no Kokyu." (Love Breathing).
Aizetsu walked beside Sekido and readied his spear with a mournful expression. "I'll be the one to finish you off then, I'll do my best to have it be quick." He did look genuinely upset by his words and yet at the same time Nonoka felt like he didn't mean it, as if he was just messing with her like she was dumb and back in the school again with all those not-friends around her.
"Shi no kata." (Fourth Form).
"Don't bother with all that, just kill her already!" That was a tone she knew very well. He was mad at the blue demon for not doing as he said, and she felt that deep in her heart. Everyone always so angry that she couldn't do anything they wanted her to. And even now she was certain that Nezuko had to be mad that she was just standing there, useless.
"Die now." Aizetsu came at her with that spear and she shut her eyes.
Pink sparks and green crackles. Sekido and Aizetsu felt it before they actually noticed what happened to them. Four whirling slashes in what felt like a dance of acrobatic force combined with unexpected strength. A breeze of fluttering wind followed the blows as a pair of heads dropped to the ground alongside a broken khakkara and jumonji.
"Atarashī Hibi Saku." (New Day's Blooming Love).
"What the Hell was that?! What kind of sword skills did you just use on us?!"
"It actually felt a bit nice…"
"Quiet!"
The newcomer looked at the both of them and scowled. "Shut the Hell up, you two should be dying." Then he turned back to Nonoka who was helping Nezuko up. "How'd this happen with just two demons? Upper Rank Five or not, there were a lot of you together."
That made the girl brighten up a bit. "There's five!" Shuradai just pulled himself out of the roof he was stuck in and- Uh oh. He swung that uchiwa and sent the trio outside in a blast of wind. Hotaru was still on the floor and struggling to pull himself together after the singular air cannon that took everything out of him.
Aizetsu put his head back on and formed a new jumonji to keep up the fight. "The mission is to- Huh?" He walked into the room with that dead guy he battered into- No way, no damn way.
"Mahā Kaśyā Pa. Mahā Katyā Yana."
The mohawked one was still chanting and pulling himself upright, somehow alive after all of that. "You're still alive? What in the hell are you?"
"You really wanna know, shithead? Okay fine… Remember this, the name's Genya Shinazugawa. I've got a special woman waiting for me after this… so I'll be the one-" He lifted the barrel of his shotgun again, exposing a wicked and bloody grin on his face. "Who'll kill you right the fuck here!"
He wasn't cut out for this! He isn't some type of dangerous and super powerful type of guy! He's a coward and cowards aren't supposed to be doing this type of thing! Yuzu was in the village just enjoying the night at Hotaru's when things started going all wrong in every way, and now there was a demon attack?!
'This isn't something I can handle!' I'm just a kid trying to live his life!' He was cowering behind a wall as swordsmiths armed themselves with whatever weaponry and tools they could find to fend off the attack. There were these demented and freaky looking fish demons that didn't go down no matter how much they cut them up! They'd just disintegrate and reform good as new!
But the really scary ones were the ones that looked like people, but… wrong. They were humanoid creatures but they were all stark white with heavy black outlines around them. Their faces were twisted and contorted into various looks of emotions ranging from horror to sick and demented laughter giving pleasures… And it was terrifying.
"Help! Please!" Yuzu heard that and looked to see a group of younger swordsmiths being surrounded by those very same inky creatures he was terrified of.
He was scared. He was horrified. He was a coward. But he wasn't going to just sit out of the way while people really needed help! "Hekireki Issen." (Thunderclap and Flash). He jetted towards them as a small bolt of lightning and with three slashes, he took down half of those ink creatures? 'They're so scary but they're as weak as rice paper?'
Yuzu didn't even slash one or two of them, just colliding with those ink 'people' caused them to collapse and turn into sludge. "Thank you!" One of those swordsmiths came up and thanked him with tears in the eyes of his mask. "All these things just started showing up out of nowhere and tearing our buildings apart!"
"AAAAH!"
They all looked and saw one of the fish creatures- Oh gods. It ripped a person out of a building and tore them in half. The imagery was horrifying to say the least and it was jarring to witness. "It's… it's so scary." He was shaking, he was scared, and worst of all… he suddenly had to use a restroom. But at the same time, he was a Demon Slayer and that meant he could do this. He looked at the sword with a crackling lightning pattern along the blade as one thought came to mind. 'Stop that creature from hurting anyone else!'
Yuzu sheathed his sword and dashed ahead, the fundamentals of Thunder Breathing coursing through his veins. 'Shi no Kata.' (Fourth Form).
The amalgam of limbs and freaky fish parts saw the approaching kid and turned to face him with those vacant eyes. Its grotesque lips swelled up and a torrent of water spewed out of its mouth, flooding the pathway with fluid that Yuzu was positive he didn't want to touch. He flipped to the side and jumped again, a hand on his sword and a click of it coming out of his sheathe as the only warning for his attack.
Multiple deep cuts appeared across the fish beast, severing arms, those misshapen legs, and even its gross head. All cut into pieces with cracking electricity and an adept swordsman in the air behind it. 'Enrai!' (Distant Thunder).
He landed and watched the fish thing dissipate but it started putting itself back together… from a weird looking pot. "They form from those pots!" The swordsmiths surrounding the reforming creature focused on the ornate looking pot and started hitting it with everything they had. Cleavers, hammers, even their own hands until it shattered and the fish completely lost its shape. "S- So the ink things are weak like rice paper, and the fish die if the pot gets destroyed! Everyone stay calm and keep trying to evacuate! If you have to fight then keep those things in mind!"
Even if only temporarily things were getting under control, and Yuzu had a hand to play in it.
Speaking of Thunder Breathers… there was one currently hauling it for all his worth. Zenitsu was running hard to warm himself up for what was going to happen. 'I don't have room for doubt right now! I could never be a man that my darling Nezuko would love if I did!' He needed to be fully limber for this.
"Shinobu and the Doctor have been studying that Carmen lady's blood. She isn't like a normal demon, but whatever she is is still really dangerous. If there's any more like her then we have to do everything we can to destroy them right then and there."
'This wasn't a normal demon, the Stone Hashira's- He's probably almost gone now!' For once in his life he could stand up and do something, he could grit his teeth and say that he went in as the aggressor without having to be asleep first! "Chuntaro's looking for a Hashira to get here too, but I'm gonna need to hold them off as long as I can until then."
Doubt. Anxiety. Overall disbelief in both himself and his abilities, or the lack thereof. Zenitsu was feeling so many emotions swirling through his head and it was all so distracting.
"A mantra."
Himejima's words. 'Stay calm, don't lose yourself. The old man beat out your impurities… I'm not a sword, I'm Zenitsu Agatsuma!' He heard something up ahead, the sound of someone speaking to themself and something being written down. No time to waste.
'Hekireki Issen!' (Thunderclap and Flash). No hesitation. Zenitsu moved like a bolt of thunder and he blitzed through the tree line into the view of a surprised looking foreign man who started speaking a different language out of surprise. "Stop right there!" Despite his amazing speed and even the minor element of surprise-
"Mierda!"
The stranger caught the sword with his hand but let go and leapt away. Zenitsu barely noticed it but there was a scratch on the man's palm. There wasn't any doubt, he could hear that this man was not human. He crouched low and kept a hand near his now sheathed weapon for his next strike.
"That's rude. Just randomly attacking a man like that? How would you feel if I did that to someone you know? Oh wait, I may have already." He laughed. He was clearly laughing about what he did to the Stone Hashira.
"SHUT UP!"
"Oh did that touch a nerve? I suppose you must've known him very well if that caused you to be so incensed."
More and more veins started bulging on Zenitsu's face and- Wait. 'No. Stay calm, don't lose yourself.' Even if just a bit he managed to relax. "You're trying to anger me. You want me to be mad at you." He slid into the pose for Thunder Breathing and kept his ears at the ready to pick up any hint of that humming sound he was warned about.
"Namika's already left, such a shame, but it's not a real issue." He adjusted the cuffs on the dress shirt beneath his vest, and rolled his arm to show that some vines were making an impromptu patch on the back of his clothes near his left shoulder blade. "You can at least occupy some of my time tonight."
A flash of lightning and Zenitsu's sword was against this man's hand again, but this time he made an ever so slightly deeper cut. 'He's so durable, I can't try to make a dent in him with a normal Thunderclap and Flash!' He backed up and delivered multiple rapid slashes with crackles of lightning, each of his strikes were fast enough to make the foreign demon waver but he still managed to block them.
"You've got speed! Call me Andrea, it'll be useful to know who sent you to Hell!" He grabbed the sword aimed for his neck as Zenitsu swung, and his other hand raised towards the yellow haired boy's body.
His reflexes already told him this was bad… Then he heard it. 'HUMMING!' The air sparked and burned around him and Zenitsu jumped into the air with a backflip, lightning following his pathway as something shot towards a tree and bore a hole straight through it. 'That's what Mister Himejima meant! Don't let those attacks land. Stay calm, don't lose yourself.' He focused himself and landed while Andrea clasped his hand repeatedly.
The humming noise was a prelude to that attack. Zenitsu had no way of knowing what or how it worked, but he knew that Andrea's tell before the attack was that humming.
"You know, you're quite weak. Compared to that Hashira at least, his moves did give me some trouble but with Namika there… he couldn't quite hold up against both of us." He ran a hand over his chin with a subtle smile, and while under normal circumstances his handsome appearance would make Zenitsu frustratingly jealous, right now he could feel his blood boiling over how nonchalant this man was.
It came fast. This time he turned into varying streams of lightning and distance between each attack. 'Hekireki Issen.' Andrea blocked and deflected each attack as it came towards him but the speed was definitely something he admired, each strike was managing to nearly land in a space where it would have done serious damage if he wasn't so durable. Even the slashes that slipped through left scratches at best. 'Rokuren!' (Sixfold).
*Hum*
This time the attack was coming while he gunned straight towards Andrea, there was no dodging on this path! 'Shit! I have to do something!' He swung his blade and felt it immediately, whatever was giving those hums collided with his sword and made his arms shake against it. 'This energy! It's making my teeth shake, I can feel it in my bones! Even though it's right against me I can't even see it… He has to be shifting and firing air at me!'
The force of the blast left Zenitsu in the air long enough for the devil to rush in and drive a fist into the boy's chest, sending him rolling into a sloppy crouched stance once he recovered. The foreigner was clasping and unclasping his hand that fired the air, he had a drawback. It was getting more and more clear as this went on.
'Stay calm, don't lose yourself.' Zenitsu stood up with a stern expression to contrast Andrea's smirking. "You called me weak, but Gyutaro and Daki would've killed me with the same hit you just did."
…
…
"Are you calling me… weak?" Brown eyes shifted to a yellow-blue, and Andrea was fuming from that alone.
"Oh did that touch a nerve?"
"Did I touch a nerve? I apologize that someone so evil is equally fragile."
*Vmm*
"I'm not sure what you believe this is, but don't ruin our fun by trying to pull me down to your… level." He pulled out his notebook and started writing in it again with a calm look. "Your fighting is based upon very quick sword movements and powerful uses of your legs, which increase your attack power. Interesting."
Zenitsu was stuck on how this man really felt so bold in himself to just decide that he could start taking notes during their fight. 'He thinks I'm too weak to focus on! No… no wait a minute.' A closer look and an equally close listen… 'The humming! It's quiet but I can hear it.'
He wasn't completely unguarded right now, he was prepared for an attack that at least matched Zenitsu's current speed… that he showed off. "Thunder Breathing…"
"Now I see, such speed is like thunder. Booming and instant as lightning. Each of your attacks before was fast enough to where I only heard them once you were directly in front of me."
Pumping power directly into his legs, driving his power up and bringing himself to an upper limit of speed. 'Stay calm, don't lose yourself, Zenitsu! I've worked hard like everyone else!' He trained hard to learn this and advance himself… Andrea was not going to just get away with this. "First form."
"That same attack again? Unexpected but still not enough. Using the same attack that you've been using, but it hasn't done much to me so far."
The air around Zenitsu started to crack and bolts of lightning surrounded him. His eyes whited out as more violent currents of electricity surrounded him. "Thunderclap and Flash." The Old Man trained him hard, trained him in mastering the singular form that he actually could use. 'This is my only chance! Andrea won't see this coming so I have to make it count! He doesn't sound like a demon, but if I aim for his neck- No I can't make a mistake! Those scratches I left didn't heal, aim for a vital area!'
*Hum*
Andrea's hand thrummed with that same mysterious power and he was fully prepared to intercept the straight laced attack he anticipated. "Good! Good. I'm wondering how fast you truly move, are you the thunder? Or are you the lightning itself?"
Veins on Zenitsu's face grew more and more prominent, blood coursed through his legs, his grip on the hilt of his sword tightened, and his entire body started vibrating with power. The air surged with electricity and reeked like ozone as the two prepped for this clash… But Andrea didn't know what was coming for him.
"Godspeed!"
"God what-"
In no world did he see it coming. Zenitsu charged into Andrea and felt the rush of that same mystery power miss his body, but it did speed up their course just a bit more. Once again he became the lightning, blitzing ahead and bolting around. Trees breaking down in their path. The plan that the yellow haired Slayer went with? He decided to go for massive damage.
'Cut through! I'm making some progress but it won't matter if it's not going all the way through!' The stress of using Godspeed wasn't as bad as it used to be, if he was smart he might be able to pull off three… even four if he was careful. But right now he had no idea when or if any help would show up. He had to cut off Andrea's left arm now!
"Fast!" He could barely hear his own voice! 'If he was thunder before he's lightning right now! My attack didn't even graze him, but there's no way he can maintain this speed for long!' Even if it was going to take time, they'd eventually lose momentum and once they did it wouldn't matter. Andrea's vest and shirt tore against this swordsman's skills, but his ever durable body was managing to hold up.
"You can't do this forever!"
Talking with this sword trying to tear through his body put strain on Andrea's neck, chest, and especially his sense of pride in how he was confident he wouldn't be taken by surprise.
"Doesn't matter." He was calm. He was focused. And most importantly, Zenitsu wasn't going to lose himself to fear… No matter how intimidated he really was against Andrea! "Even if I can't keep up Godspeed for long, the speed and power behind it are enough."
His blade sunk in and started leaving a mark, even if it was small in depth, the slash was from shoulder to abdomen. 'My skin!' This yellow haired brat really just tore into the skin on his perfect chest!
Sacrifices had to be made to put this kid into the dirt right now. Andrea's precious body wasn't going to be disgraced by someone so weak!
Slowly but surely, the devil started lifting a hand up towards Zenitsu's head. 'No! No! I haven't done enough damage yet! But he's already getting ready to counter! Damn it!' It was either try to follow through or have whatever that attack was, come for his head… Bail. Zenitsu raised a foot and kicked Andrea back, but flipped and landed upright himself as his enemy sailed into a tree.
The foreigner- He didn't stand up. Something shook on his back and he propelled upright. Fabric tearing, mass shifting, something disgusting was happening. "And now I can't just kill you… It has to be slow." Something started sprouting from Andrea's back. Something warped and twisted in a gross display of flesh. His left shoulder was being overlooked by a grotesque arm of purple sinew, tipped with five digits that ended in spiraling flesh.
Zenitsu had no issues with continuing the fight, but Godspeed was going to have a drawback to his ability right now and he had to be even more careful from this second going forward.
"That move… speed god. It overworks your legs doesn't it? I can tell that you're not in the same condition after that attack, even if you're still fast you'll slow down."
That arm on his back opened its fingers and aimed them around Zenitsu. Andrea smiled and tapped his chin in a coy manner.
*Vmm*
"Dodge."
He couldn't see what the attack was before but with that hand… He was able to just barely make out how the moonlight showed the very air distorting. Zenitsu's body tensed and he dodged to the side as fast as he could… But it wasn't enough to avoid one of those air attacks beaming through the flesh of his left arm, luckily it missed the bone. 'Agh!'
"Oh so I was right! If even by a bit you've slowed down! That's the same attack as before but just with more numbers, that speed of god was wasted."
"A little pain isn't much. I can still fight!"
Andrea put his right hand on his hip and chuckled softly. "A thousand cuts about the heart wins the day, not a single stab. You're faster than me but just like that rock pillar, it's about breaking you apart slowly. Even without Namika here to help, I'll be done with you before long. Not to say I needed her, but it would've been quicker."
"DON'T TALK ABOUT THE STONE HASHIRA LIKE THAT! THE OLD MAN IS AN AMAZING PERSON! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DISRESPECT HIM!"
"It looks like I struck another nerve!" Andrea was about to capitalize on that anger when a shadow started growing in front of him. "Wait what's- AH!" Looking up left him wide open. A singular thrust of a blade into his neck, and the following feeling of fullness with some strange fluid didn't feel much better.
"Hōga no Mai: Manabiki." (Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter). Her uniquely designed sword and technique was the calling card Zenitsu needed.
"Miss Shinobu?!"
Andrea's warped arm aimed straight at this new interloper with a deathwish. "Dead woman!" Nobody ambushed him and had the right to continue breathing!
Rapid water and intense pressure. Nothing held back in the course of his strength. "Takitsubo!" (Waterfall Basin). He slammed his sword down onto the right shoulder of the devil and threw off the attack, blasts of air shot out and avoided hitting Shinobu by any means.
Alright no more games then. The air blasts didn't stop and Andrea's extra arm started moving its digits around to create an area of danger around him. White threads wrapped around the purple haired woman and yanked her away from the zone before Andrea could see her get diced up, and the one behind him presumably leapt away.
"Zenitsu!" A fluttering white haori with a design of insect wing membrane landed beside him and the beautiful Hashira gave his arm a once over as the white threads unraveled from her waist. "You're alright! I'm so happy knowing you weren't hurt too badly."
Under normal circumstances he'd be so giddy that he could leap into the air and feel like a jovial kid… But right now he watched his friend avoiding those same air attacks. "Jikon… We're not letting him fight alone."
"You need a break. If Kocho and the Doctor are right, then this one is stronger than the lady Jikon fought." A reserved voice. It was Rui in his uniform.
Zenitsu watched the spider demon use his threads to cover up his wounds and decided to use this time to watch his Hashira friend put in his own work.
"You know-" Durable skin collided against a nichirin sword, sparks leapt into the air with each clash. "Your presence is familiar to me." He used his forearms and blocked swing after swing, his torn fabrics getting worn against the attacks. "Have we met?"
Water coursed with Jikon's swings and he clashed against Andrea's warped arm, his normal arms were holding his chin as he pondered. It didn't make sense, the report Chuntaro gave. 'A humming sound and be ready for an attack I can't see. Keep my senses to the max.'
"Not going to respond? I'm just asking a question."
"Carmen's dead."
Andrea faltered and in his lapsed focus- 'Damn it!' One of those sword swings actually cut part of his neck! "That's not new information, she's been dead for months. Not sure what good that does you!"
*Hum*
Faint but he heard it. Jikon saw a small hole appear on this guy's hand and it didn't take him too much thought to figure out that he needed to dodge.
The sound of something sprinting around broke Andrea's focus and caused him to see the woman darting around with that odd looking weapon in her hand… Then his attention went back to the one in front of him when he sent one of his blasts out.
'She's coming!' The woman was faster than she looked, despite her size she could cover ground! That weapon pierced into his shoulder and threw his balance off entirely, sending his air cannon into the ground and leaving him wide open.
He rolled and his sword swung in a violent circle, torrents following his movements and continuing until he nicked into this man's neck. 'Ni no kata: Mizu Guruma.' (Second Form: Water Wheel). 'Barely even two centimeters deep, he's more durable than Carmen. But he should have a weak spot!'
"Gold pins."
More threads wrapped around Shinobu and pulled her back, but then a cover of crimson silk went over Andrea. "Ayame Kogo." Spiraling and rotating threads, red as blood and sharp enough to mince flesh like mochi against a hot knife. Rui watched as that weird colored arm flexed its… fingers? And held back some of his attack as if those threads couldn't rip a building apart in seconds.
"Only the Hashira have those gold pins, both of you are Hashira. No wonder you work so well together." His warped arm extended and pointed those digits towards the pale demon and annoying pierce woman. "And you're a demon… but your presence feels like Koujo's. Just weaker."
*Vm*
Five pulses of a mystery energy blasted out from each of those twisted fingers. Shinobu, Zenitsu, and Rui moved out of the way as each one started ripping into the ground and greenery around them.
'Those look like very damaging attacks. Rui would be fine but I can't imagine myself or Jikon doing well if we were hit.'
Zenitsu's arm was healed enough, he couldn't just sit out from this point onwards. He bolted towards Andrea and landed strikes against a bicep, hamstring, his neck. Every vital thing he could manage to land a solid strike against was directly attacked. 'Hekireki Issen: Hachiren!' (Thunderclap and Flash: Eightfold). More strikes that brought more scrapes onto the devil's body.
"Get back!" Andrea's body vibrated before his warped arm started spinning and unleashing those blasts all around him, and the only saving grace that Zenitsu had was those crimson threads pulling the arm slightly off course. Letting the Thunder Breather flip away.
Wait. Vibrated. Zenitsu just had a possible breakthrough with Andrea's attacks. 'The humming he does before each attack might not just be him gathering power, it could be-"
Flowing slashes and graceful attacks. Jikon's sword swung with a current following his motions, and Andrea was ready to meet his attacks while Shinobu and Rui moved in closer. "Ryuryu Mai!" (Flowing Dance).
Yoshino was twirling her weapon beside Tanjiro in his firm stance, the two of them watched Urogi swooping in the air with an elated laugh sounding out towards them. "I'm gonna have to enjoy this quick, but you two are really fun!"
The crashing sound of something breaking the building apart even further made Tanjiro double his efforts. 'Don't overreach! This has to work. Every second we're not getting back to the others is a second wasted!'
He was going to use his ability against him. Urogi swept down with his claws aimed straight at Yoshino, and she wasn't going to be able to react against that speed from that angle… So Tanjiro struck!
'Tch!' A black sword stabbed into Urogi's tongue and his talon dug into Tanjiro's back, ripping into the cloth of his uniform as they sailed off course.
'He's light! No wonder, he wouldn't be able to fly in a heavy body. We can do this! Yoshino, you'll have to hurry over after us!'
Tanjiro sent the pair flying straight into one of the reinforced walls of the building, smashing into the foundation of the wall and cracking the masonry. "AAAGHH!" A great push of his strength and his sword went all the way through Urogi and pushed into the wall behind him.
Their force together was enough to break through the wall and land in the building, and end up in the sight of that Sekido demon. "Damn it, Urogi!" He handed his khakkara off to Shuradai and started reforming a new one as the brat with the weird scar charged him. "Each of you is pissing me off now, I said we needed to be serious!"
The staff was about to pierce into the kid's skull when it- It punctured one of Urogi's claws, and no lightning came from it either. 'It can't go through their own bodies!' He was too close and only had one free hand, he wasn't cutting off a head with only one of his hands. 'The tongue!' A vertical slice and Tanjiro bisected Sekido's face!
"Lord Sekido!" He raised the staff in his hand up high and looked at Tanjiro with a seething gaze. "I'm not sorry, die." Even though he still had Urogi's claw, there wasn't anything he had that would help with the uchiwa.
'There has to be something! Think! Think!'
Something breaking and Shuradai getting knocked off his feet, and in that instant, Tanjiro saw blue eyes filled with an intense emotion that he recognized. Anger.
"Leave him alone!"
Nonoka impaled Shuradai with one of her cleavers and sprinted them both through a wall and out of sight, a stray bolt of lightning and a blast of wind being the only sign of where they were. Sekido growled at that and raised his khakkara.
"I'll fucking kill you brat!"
Currents of lightning blasted Tanjiro with enough force to make him see double. Being able to predict an all encompassing attack wasn't very useful. 'It's not as strong since he just recovered!'
A rush of pink and the lightning stopped, Nezuko's foot slammed through Sekido's side and her fist bashed against his head. "Hmm!" She clenched her fist and set the anger demon ablaze with her pink fire.
"Nezuko!" Tanjiro
Flapping wings and ripping flesh, Urogi struck the poor girl and tore her neck open. "Don't leave me out of the-"
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
Four shots and four direct hits. Hotaru was propped against a beam with a bloodshot left eye and a right eye with a burst vessel. "Do me a favor and choke on those!" Urogi fell down and landed flat on his face, but he started dragging himself up with a grin.
"So those are poisoned! No wonder we kept stopping!" His wings fluttered and his body started getting its motion back from the poison in those bullets. "Sekido! I'll rip that shooting one apart, and I'll help you out!" His leader shouted two words from the flames engulfing him.
"Urogi, move!"
"Huh-"
Multiple slashes from several directions, weaving in on themselves and slicing Urogi's wings apart before focusing on his neck. Taking the joyful demon's head off in a graceful display of nimble motions and surprising power. "Ada no Shakuyaku." (Peonies of Futility). Taiki just snuck up on the demon and sliced him apart with his back turned. 'Shit, if gun guy didn't poison him I wouldn't have done that damage. Fuck… these sons of bitches are tough.'
"Taiki! We need to take down this one!"
The pinkette rushed over with his, now pink, sword and helped flank the anger demon. With the two of them working with Nezuko's flames then this was going to be an easy-
"Hot damn! You guys are having fun without me?!" Karaku leapt high above them with a giant uchiwa in his grasp. "Don't leave me out of it!" He swung down and- The earlier attacks he did were nothing compared to this one. A maple shaped imprint slammed downwards and sent Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Taiki through the current floor. The pain of being pressed against the floor was relieved once they broke through and went crashing onto the base floor of the building.
The pressure they were under made their eyes white out and in the case of everyone human, it felt like their organs were mashed in their chests. Crushed and squeezed like fruit juice, but the attack knocked them unconscious before they had a chance to properly process all of the pain. Minor victories.
Karaku landed beside Sekido and Urogi finally recovered from being diced apart like that. The trio gathered at the edge of the leaf shaped hole and stared down at the three targets of their enmity with menacing gazes. Sekido brought the emotion demons to attention with his voice.
"Now. Time to end this."
Sloshing sounds and splatters of fluid on the ground, but the sound of shifting voices and disturbing noises coming from emaciated figures was most prominent. Stark white with heavy black outlines, crazed smiles on their faces and deranged eyes bulging from their heads.
"Such beautiful things that wouldn't be understood by humans, them and their small minds with small ambitions for beauty. Master Gyokko understands my ambition at least, his eyes have the full scope to witness the greatness of-"
"Hebi no Kokyu. Ni no Kata." (Snake breathing. Second form.) A singular eye reading 'Eclipse' saw a small woman twirling a strange weapon overhead.
"Kill her."
The dozen twisted figures rushed her like a swarm of bees. Each one moving so unnaturally that it evoked a sense of wrongness in her mind as they approached. 'They're all so… Disgusting.' Yoshino started turning her body and spiraling her weapon in several motions as the ink creatures came towards her, each one taking a solid strike before falling apart into a puddle. "Makijaku." (Winding Scales).
The hooded figure raised a gaunt hand up and pointed at the girl that just destroyed some of his lovely pieces like they weren't anything to be admired. His hard work shattered so quickly. "You… Those who can't appreciate art don't deserve it. Do you even understand the intricacies of these drawings?!"
'I'm sorry to leave you behind, Tanjiro, but I heard him making these disgusting drawings and had to hurry over. My legs just... carried me here.'
The sick illustrator slammed a hand down in the puddle of ink hiding his lower body and raised it back up, ichorous dark sludge dripped from his slender fingers. Then he started drawing on the ground furiously and more of those figures started coming to life, all just as twisted and warped as the ones Yoshino dispatched.
"I will make you into a beautiful kintsugi piece, but first you'll learn what real art is. On my title as Eclipse Five." Kinmachi's ink puddle was bubbling and his hands were coated with that dark sludge, ready to create more of his deranged art.
A distance away, a fish pot monster was trudging in the woods and lurking for prey. Its disgusting visage noticed a single man with a cleaver standing near a shed. The beast hurried towards him with gurgles and other noises leaving its mouth, but it didn't get a chance to fully attack him.
A masterful attack that sliced the fish body and its pot in one attack, but the Mist Hashira wasn't ready for the swordsmith to run in and yell thanks towards him.
"Mister Kanamori!" Kotetsu wasn't a help either.
"Lord Tokito! You cut him down in an instant! And young Kotetsu! I'm so glad you're okay! I thought that I was a goner back there."
Muichiro had his blank look as he asked Kanamori about his sword. "Bring it out. My blade, you should have it right?"
Kanamori saw the blade Muichiro had and immediately looked at the damage on it. "It's chipped to all hell!
"That's why I'm here. I need mine."
"Hm! Yeah, okay okay! Then I'll give you your blade!"
Tokito's deadpan face… honestly there's not many ways to describe it, but that almost apathetic look just came back again. "Well that went pretty fast."
"That's good, you should be thankful." Kotetsu was looking around to make sure nothing else snuck up on them since he could hear the faint sounds of fighting at the village.
"Young Tanjiro asked us to fix your blade. He actually wanted us to tell you about that too, I'm not quite sure as to why."
Tokito's eyes widened and his blankness dropped for a moment. "Tanjiro. Tanjiro actually…"
Kanamori exclaimed and cut the Hashira off. "That's why we searched for your first swordsmith! Oh wait- HAGANEZUKA!" He ran towards the shed a few dozen meters off and Tokito followed him with Kotetsu right behind. "Thank the Gods! No fish monsters or the ink creatures! He's working in that shed, there's a sword we have for you. Take it and hurry to protect the village chief!"
"I can't do that."
"HUH?! WHY NO- Ack!" Kanamori got yanked back by the collar and noticed that Tokito was looking at the ground ahead of them, by some bushes specifically.
"It's coming…"
A tacky looking pot clanked out of the bushes. "Hyo Ho!" Swirling and shaking, a strange looking figure emerged from the pot. A torso littered with tiny and malformed looking hands, but surprisingly well muscled. More of those creepy hands were on the being's head but the main focus were the mouths in the spots where eyes should be, and the eyes where a mouth and empty forehead should be. On those eyes were the kanji "Upper Rank Six".
'Wait… Wasn't that one dead? Or did it kill someone? I don't really remember.'
"You noticed me, did you? I guess that means you're a Hashira? Or at least really strong? How odd but also interesting!" He turned that creepy looking head to the side and showed the tiny fins on his scalp. "I wonder what could be going on in that shed that's so important? All that rustling and all."
Aoi was enjoying her usual rounds around the Butterfly-River estate and checking on every patient, but this time she wasn't alone. Yuka was holding a tray of foods for anyone who needed some type of sustenance at this hour. "I'm still shocked. Lady Shinobu and Jikon- Lord Jikon…"
The spider sister snickered when she said that. The comedy of the situation was definitely something she enjoyed, even as Aoi tried to wrap her head around it. "The two of them being together wasn't something I was ready for… Pfft- him being seated on the desk was unexpected too."
The two of them were the ones that actually caught the Hashira in secret, what were they doing? Aoi blushed at the thought of- of- How they were kissing each other… On the lips no less! Something like that was so uncanny to see, so incorrect. The two being romantically involved just didn't add up in her mind.
"We still have patients to check on, some of them still need fresh bandages and medicine at this hour." Aoi opened the door to reveal a few injured Slayers and one with purple splotches of skin. "Is anyone still in severe pain?"
The purple splotched one and one with a leg in a cast raised their hands but everyone else actually managed to look at least somewhat positive.
"We're all getting better actually! We might be able to get out of here soon."
Yuka went to the slayer with a cast and started removing it, but noticed that he was wincing from the motions she made. "You're doing better as well, you were crying when I did this before."
"Yeah yeah. Don't rub it in, demon." Yuka stopped in her tracks when she heard him say that, like it was an insult to actually hurt her.
"Woah man!"
"That's not cool."
"Anyone else see that weirdo in a boar head stretching outside?"
The slayer in a cast clicked his tongue at the others trying to call him out. "She's a demon. Doesn't matter if she's helping me or not, we're the Demon Slayer Corps. Having demons work with us is wrong."
"That's enough!" They all switched their attention to Aoi since she stomped loud enough to get their attention. "Yuka, step away from him. I'll get him a new casting, help this one with his medicine." She left the dosage on the nightstand and went to the one who had a set of bandages and some of Yuka's silk by his leg.
"Thank you." She started wrapping those bandages around his calf and shin with her annoyed expression. "Another Demon Slayer should be helping a- Damn!" Those bandages suddenly tightened and the feeling of Aoi's hand squeezing his tibia and bringing tears to the corners of his eyes. "What the fuck?!"
"Lady Shinobu and Lord Jikon are content with demons being here. None of the demons in the Estate are hurting anyone. Even more than that." Aoi's hand started gripping even harder and the idiot started clenching the sheets in agony, a healing fracture shouldn't be touched in a manner like that after all.
"AHH!"
"The Master himself allows demons to interact with the Corps. No matter what you think about it, your judgment isn't better than the Master's." She let go of his leg and finished bandaging and setting his bones to heal… even more after that stunt she just pulled. "So don't think you know best, alright?"
Through clenched teeth and barely restrained tears did he manage to mutter a simple- "Okay." While Aoi walked to attend to the other patients. Yuka finished giving the poisoned Slayer his dosage of medicine and left him some of the food from the tray.
The two left the room and most of the people in there were happy and waved them goodbye. Most.
"Yuka, I hope you don't feel bad after that. He was just being an absolute idiot, even worse than Inosuke at his worst."
Yuka just laughed at that, as if it wasn't supposed to be a big deal at all. Aoi enjoyed the sound of her laughter in a way that one enjoys the sound of a creek running, it was just pleasant.
"It's fine, they're just words."
"Even so, words do mean something. They were hurtful and they can still affect you even if you don't think they will."
Yuka put some thought into that one. It did make sense for Aoi to say that considering that she does usually stay inside this Estate without going outside too often, she's not used to directly witnessing worse things so it does seem about right.
"When Rui was still lower moon five it was worse. The cruelty and suffering in that family was much worse than any words a human could throw at me now, even the angry Hashira that acts like nobody sees him checking on Ami can't say anything that would make me feel hurt. Really, it's nothing to worry about… But thank you for the worry. It's nice to know you care."
Aoi looked bashful at that, and it was a fairly rare sight. She was usually very collected and had an air of certainty about her that showed she was generally put together, and yet after that minor thanks from a demo- a person she worked alongside, Aoi was flustered. "You're welcome. Aoi Kanzaki is someone who doesn't want anyone mistreated in this Estate after all."
"Kanzaki…" Aforementioned girl raised a brow at that. "You have that name even though Lady Shinobu is your sister figure… I see."
That was odd but Aoi let it go and opened the next door of a patient they had to treat, a quick change in bandages and a-
"Good morning! Or maybe evening is more accurate?!"
Aoi dropped the bandages and Yuka barely managed to keep her hands on the platter she was holding. The patient was casually stretching in the middle of the room and his eyes beamed on the platter of food she was holding, but he wasn't supposed to be stretching at all!
"Oh? Are those for me? Thank you very much!" He casually stepped over the bandages and accepted the platter before sitting back down on his bed and digging into the onigiri, the taste of it gracing his mouth with a long needed flavor. "TASTY!"
Aoi and Yuka were too busy being stunned at him just… eating and relaxing like nothing was wrong. "Wha- You- There- Huh?!"
He stopped eating and looked at Aoi's concerned expression, clearly asking, 'Is something wrong?' without actually saying it. Even though his message was clear, it was obvious how Aoi and Yuka didn't quite believe he was just up and at it without any warning.
"DIRE NEWS!" A kasugai crow landed at the window with a sudden announcement. "The swordsmith village is under attack! Two Upper Rank demons are currently present! Two Hashira are present, with Lady Kanroji on route!"
Yuka was confused. "Swordsmith Village?"
"The others are there!" Aoi was concerned for her friend's safety.
And the patient stood up and stretched his arms out. "It looks like I have to-"
"That's not all!" Everyone got cut off by the crow, it looked like there was even more news. "Two Hashira are locked in combat with a deadly threat! Lady Kocho and Lord Hakuga are facing an unknown demon, responsible for the mortal injury to the Stone Hashira! This demon is theorized to be responsible for the loss of Koujo Itadake!"
Well now it made things even more complicated. He peeled off the bandages covering his left eye and started looking around… Well, he tried to. He could feel that eye moving around but not actually seeing anything. Oh well! "It looks like I'll have to help after this short nap."
"It's been about seven months… So many things have-" He was suddenly in Aoi's face with a smile.
"Please! Explain everything while I get dressed!"
Aoi sputtered and spat out words of everything actually important that she could think of as fast as she could think of it. Koujo's abduction. Lord Uzui retiring. The Kamado squad helping in the defeat of Upper Moon Six… Koujo apparently being the replacement for Upper Moon Six.
He dressed himself up in his uniform but couldn't seem to find the final piece of that outfit, but it's not like it really mattered since it was just an accessory. And once he slipped his zori on, he realized he didn't have his sword nearby. His sheath was there but no actual weapon for it. "Do you know where any swords are by chance?!"
Yuka reached under the other bed in the room and took out a blade with a circular tsuba that had a design with splashing water. "This is Jikon's spare that he asked to be made months ago, Haganezuka was upset that he expected his current one to break but he still made it."
"That works just fine!" He accepted the weapon and watched the blue blade turn garnet red with ruby red flames decorating the edge. He went to the crow by the window and watched as it took off as quickly as it could. "Lead the way! Wish us luck!" And then he leapt out the window and rolled to hit the ground, dashing off in a burst of flames!
Aoi clenched her fists at her side with grit teeth. She could only hope that everything went well for everyone she cared about, but even so that's where her aid ended as a member of medical staff and not an actual fighter.
"Good luck, Lord Rengoku!"
Taisho Era secrets
"I- I'm Yuzu Setoka. Today's secret is about m- me? There isn't really anything to tell, I'm just a scared kid who didn't even want to be a Demon Slayer! But my father forced me into the Corps and I had to learn Thunder Breathing! It's so scary how hard I had to train my legs to use it! I'm not really even a fighter but I made it in with Hotaru's help. He's not really my brother but he's a great guy, he looks out for someone like me. I think that's all for me? So uh… See you next time?