Kyojuro tried to cut off what he thought was the fish monster's head, but it didn't die. In fact the head regrew. "So, this isn't a regular Demon! More like a construct of one" he said to himself. The fish monster tried to swipe at him with it's claws, but Kie formed chains of moonlight to hold it down. "Thank you Mrs Kamado!" The Flame Hashira called, before focusing his attention on the pot growing out of the fish's head, "if the neck isn't it's weak spot, then that must be it!" Kyojuro leapt up and sliced through the vase, causing the fish to let out a wail of pain, before collapsing to the ground and disintegrating into ashes.
"Alr-right, we've f-found the w-w-weak spot! Now to s-save the villag-ers!" Kie proclaimed. "Quite right! Would you care to help me Mrs Kamado?" Kyojuro asked. Kie nodded, and the two of them ran through the Village, killing fish monsters and saving the Villagers. More than once Kie helped by chaining up a fish, or forming a protective shield around the Villagers to give them a chance to escape. However, they also found several dead and or severely injured Swordsmiths and weaker Demon Slayers on their way through the Village.
"What do we do? There are too many injured, and we have to continue killing the fish!" Kyojuro said. Suddenly a dark flash darted around the disintegrating monsters. "Mrs Kamado! Mr Rengoku!" a little girl's voice called, as Sayuri ran up to them. "Oh good! It's you Sayuri! These people need your help. We have already dealt with all the fish monsters around here, so you can focus on healing them!" Kyojuro said in relief. The young Demon girl nodded, "right! There is another monster heading to the Chief's house. Please head over there right away while I take care of the healing!" Sayuri replied, pointing towards said building, while she ran over to the most injured humans first.
"Understood! Let's go Mrs Kamado!" the Flame Hashira called as he ran off. Before following, Kie looked back at Sayuri, "be caref-ful" she said. Then she turned and followed Kyojuro down the street.
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Chief Tecchin was being held by a massive fish monster with three pots on it's head. The Demon Slayer guards had been killed, and the other two Swordsmiths who had been with the Chief were trying and failing to rescue the older man. "Chief!" one of the Swordsmiths, who was wielding a Yari cried, as he ran at the fish and tried to attack it. But even his Nicherin metal Yari was useless against the monster's thick scales, and the blade just bounced harmlessly off of them. The Fish monster roared, and used one of it's other arms to knock the desperate Swordsmith to the ground.
The fish squeezed the old man tighter and tighter until blood spurted out of his mask. "No! CHIEF!" the younger man cried, until both Kie and Kyojuro leapt into the building, the Kamado Mother growling angrily at the fish. "Don't worry! We will save the Chief, and our ally will be here soon to heal him. You are in safe hands!" Kyojuro proclaimed, using his Flame-Breathing to slice of the fish's arm and free the Chief. Kie caught him, before once again immobilizing the monster with her moonlight chains as Kyojuro sliced through all of the pots at once with his First Form: Unknowing Fire. The giant fish disintegrated, while the guard sighed with relief. Just then Sayuri leapt into the building. "I'm here, is anyone hurt?!" she called. "The Chief! Please heal the Chief first!" the injured Swordsmith begged.
"Right!" the young Demon girl agreed, and hurried over to where Kie was still holding the small old man. "Blood Demon Art: Healing Ray of Light!" Sayuri called, as she healed Tecchin's wounds. Kyojuro then stood up, "you have both done well. I will go keep watch in case anymore of those fish turn up. I' am grateful to you both for all the help!" he said with a smile. Then the Flame Hashira shot out of the ruined building. The injured Swordsmith sighed, "at this point we need to evacuate, but with so many strong Demons running around, I'm not sure we can make it out of the Village safely" he said.
Chief Tecchin sighed as his wounds were healed. He turned to look at Sayuri, "thank you very much young one. Your Blood Demon Art is truly remarkable" the old man said gratefully. "I was happy to help. I was always hurt in the past, and no one was there to help me. But then Mister Tanjuro saved me from that hell. And he even took me in as one of his own Demons. So I will do everything I can to help and protect others, like he did for me" she explained. Tecchin nodded, "a strong ideology to be sure. You will become strong and be able to help a lot of people Sayuri" he replied. Sayuri smiled as she finished healing him and stood up, "okay. I'll go find Mr Rengoku in case any other Villagers have gotten injured. Please hurry and evacuate!" she said, before hurrying out of the building.
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'I have to find Mr Kyojuro quickly. We need to deal with this Demon, before going back to help Lord Tanjuro' Sayuri thought. Just then a flash of purple alerted her to Kie's presence next to her. The Demon woman waved at her. "We have to find Mr Kyojuro and help protect the Villagers" the young Demon girl explained. The Kamado Wife nodded, "okay" she said firmly. The two Demons ran towards the stronger Demonic presence in the Village, before they were stopped by Kyojuro leaping out of the way of a volley of needles. "What's that?!" Sayuri yelped. The two Demons looked around the trees to find two giant flying fish shooting needles at the Flame Hashira.
Kie growled angrily, moving out to fight, but Sayuri stopped her, "Mrs Kamado, don't you feel that? It's not as strong as Hantengu's presence, but it has to be an Upper Rank Demon. I'm sure of it!" she whispered. "It's probably the one responsible for all the fish monsters. We should-" Sayuri began, before Kie tackled her out of the way of another attack. "Who's there? Other Demons?!" A voice called out, as a vase rose out of the ground near them, and a truly grotesque Demon emerged from inside it. It had two mouths where it's eyes should be, and an eye on it's forehead and where it's mouth should be.
The demon also had four small arms growing out the sides of it's head, and multiple short arms growing out of it's torso, and- whatever that black thing in place of it's feet was. It had risen out of a vase. And on it's eyes were the kanji for Upper 4. "This is bad" Sayuri whispered. 'There's only one Hashira here, and although Mrs Kamado might be strong, I doubt we can take such a strong opponent with just the three of us!' she thought, clenching her fists. "What? Why would Demons be working with a Demon Slayer?!" the Upper Rank Demon asked incredulously. Kie growled at him, baring her fangs, "let's go!" Kyojuro called, shooting forwards.
Sayuri followed, keeping an eye out for any injuries the human might get. Kie began using the moonlight in the sky to make a shield. The Demon sank into his pot before the Flame Hashira could behead him. "Now, now! It's quite rude not to introduce yourselves first!" the Demon replied. Kie growled. "I am the Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku. She is Kie Kamado, and the young Demon is Sayuri. And we are going to behead you, Upper 4 or not!" Kyojuro replied sternly. "Ho! Ho! Ho! If you think you can kill me, you're sadly mistaken! I am Gyokko, Upper Rank Four! And now that I have more blood from Lord Muzan, I cannot be defeated by the likes of you! I will tear off your heads and bring them to my Lord as a gift!" Gyokko cried, forming a pot from his hand and sending out a wave of water, "Blood Demon Art: Water Prison Pot!" he cried. Kyojuro sucked in a Total Concentration breath and sliced through the water.
As soon as it met his super-heated blade, the liquid turned to steam with a hiss. Kie tried to stab the enemy Demon through with a spear made of moonlight, but Gyokko dodged the attack by sinking back into his pot. Kie growled in anger and kicked the pot so hard that it shattered into pieces, before fading away like a Blood Demon Art. Another pot appeared on a tree branch, and the Demon angrily rose from it, "HOW DARE YOU SHATTER MY POT! THAT WAS A WORK OF ART, YOU UNCULTERED SOW!" he cried furiously. Suddenly Sayuri had jumped up and slashed the branch the pot was sitting on with her claws.
Gyokko transferred to another pot just before Kyojuro had sliced it in half. "Damn you! I'm going to kill you! Blood Demon Art: Killer Needle Fish!" he cried, as two bright red fish came out of it, floating in the air. They puffed up their cheeks, before shooting out an uncountable amount of needles at the group. Kyojuro deflected them with his sword, and the two Demons jumped out of the way to dodge them. "Flame-Breathing" Kyojuro breathed, taking in a deep breath of air, and shooting forwards in a whirl of flame. He sliced apart the two fish, who dissolved into the red mist of a Blood Demon Art. "We have to keep that Bastard from escaping, otherwise we'll never be able to kill him!" Sayuri growled.
Suddenly Kyojuro collapsed. "Mr Kyojuro!" she cried, hurrying over to him. She grabbed him, "what's wrong?!" the young Demon girl asked, looking the man over. Then she saw a needle sticking out of his leg. "Ho! Ho! Ho! Those needles are coated in deadly poison! He'll be dead in minutes!" Gyokko laughed. "Hold on! I can heal you!" Sayuri said, removing the needle and using her Blood Demon Art. As she healed him, the man groaned, clenching his teeth. "Ha! You're finished!" Gyokko laughed, shooting more needles at them. The young Demon glanced back at the attack heading their way. 'Damn it! I'm too small! I can't block all of them!' she thought fearfully.
Suddenly a white translucent shield appeared in front of them, and deflected the needles. "Hm. Moonlight constructs. Not bad for someone who hasn't eaten a single human!" Gyokko said to himself. "H-heal K-K-Kyoju-r-ro! I'll hold h-him off!" Kie called back to Sayuri. Then the Kamado Demon turned to the Upper 4, snarling. 'We have to kill him quickly, so we can heal anyone who is injured and re-join Lord Tanjuro.' She thought.
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Meanwhile, Tanjuro and his group were still fighting Zohakoten. "Hakuji! Can you track the main body?!" he called over the attacks the dragons were sending at them. "Maybe! But that thing has no Fighting Spirit! It's utter cowardess, so I'd have to go through everything else with a Fighting Spirit before I could find it!" Hakuji replied, kicking a Dragon into splinters. Tanjuro grit his teeth, sending a wave of flames to engulf a wooden Dragon, and slicing another head off with his Sword. "We have to beat this Bastard, otherwise the Village will be in danger! Not to mention the other Demon I can sense further in." Tanjuro said, trying to decapitate Zohakoten in order to slow him down.
But he was blasted by Urogi's sound waves before he could. "Shit! This is such an annoying Bastard!" Gyutaro snarled. As Tanjuro's ears healed, he managed to dodge a hit by a bamboo-leaf-fan-shaped blast of wind, which attempted to crush him into the ground. "We have to come up with a plan!" Yukito called, sinking into the shadows to dodge a sound wave, but was forced out of it by a blast of lighting. "Shit!" he cried, as the light tore apart his shadow and sent him flying backwards.
"Yukito! Are you alright?!" Tanjuro called. "Yes, I'm fine!" the other Demon called. "I've got this!" Mitsuri called, leaping and spinning past attacks, slicing the wood dragons apart with her whip sword. "We have to find the main body, or this will never end!" Hakuji called. Tanjuro closed his eyes and focused on his senses. He needed to find the main bodies Demonic Aura. Quickly. Suddenly he sensed the tiny Demon running through the forest behind them. His eyes snapped open, "it's trying to escape through the forest! Hakuji, Mitsuri, can you take care of Zohakoten for us?!" Tanjuro called. "Yes Sir!" Hakuji replied. "Leave it to us Tanjuro! Get going!" Mitsuri called, as she blocked one of the heads completely in it's tracks with her bare hands.
"Woah, she's strong!" Hakuji breathed in awe. Then they focused on keeping the Dragons busy while the rest of the Demons headed after the main body of Hantengu.