Chapter 14 Jurgen

Looking up over my shield just in time to see my spear get thrown at me and land right next to me I saw a warrior in vibrant blue and gold undergarments that reached down to his ankles, a metal lamellar made of silver and gold with a breastplate made of black on top of it, carrying a huge round shield and a big war axe. His face was covered by a hood made from ring mail hidden behind a half helmet. This warrior was fat yes but even I knew that fat was pure muscle and not to be underestimated. Hell the area around us was even worse as the forest was now filled with dead trees covered in ice and snow and the land seemed colder and devoid of warmth.

The demon smirked and said, "it would be unfair to fight you without your spear, a warrior without a weapon is not a warrior at all he is but a welp"

I laughed and stood up whipping away the frost off my shield saying, "you fool a warrior's greatest weapon is not his sword nor his shield or fists it is his heart as long as I have my heart in this battle I am not unarmed!"

Akaza laughed and said, "then let me take your heart out of thi" but before he could finish that the bigger demon grabbed Akaza and swung him around by his legs and yeeted him far out of the village.

It seems my observation was correct cause this demon swung akaza like he was a tin can it was actually quite funny seeing akaza get flung like this. Turning and picking up my spear I noticed Ayano was trembling at this demon in a way I have never seen her tremble.

Coldly I looked at the demon and said, "I take it from the way Ayano is acting you two knew each other?"

The demon looked stunned at first before taking off his helmet and throwing down his sword and laughed, "GREHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA BY THE ALL FATHER! I KNEW IT WAS YOU AYANO GREHAHAHAHA IT WARMS MY OLD NORDIC HEART TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

Ayano looked somberly at the demon and said, "it is a shame we have to meet this way….Nikolaos I want you to meet the second eclipse, the nord Jurgen of niflheim…he was…"

Jurgen laughed and said, "I was the one who helped her truly escape that day from muzan I am glad she managed to get out and to think she's the one who has been killing the other eclipses!"

Ayano pointed at me and said, "actually that would be Nikolaos's doing he's been really kicking ass"

Jurgen then walked up to me and examined me before pulling out a jug and saying, "GREHAHAHAHAHA YES, YOU HAVE PICKED A STRONG MAN TO BE YOUR LOVER AYANO! GREHAHAHA HE HAS THE FIGHT OF THOR IN HIM HERE DRINK UP LAD DRINK! DO NOT WORRY IT IS ONLY MEAD WITH RASPBERRY!" before handing it to me.

Smirking I chugged the jug and said, "fwehahahaha this is good! I must admit too your blood demon art is very strong too! I can sense it inside of you that you have a warrior's heart too!" before pounding his chest.

Jurgen laughed too and pounded my chest too saying, "you're not bad for a Greek! Hahahah I can't believe I am saying this, but you want to just get some lamb and spend the night eating! Hahahah we could make for some great shield brothers!"

I laughed again and said, "we will be the start of our own mighty 300! With you as my second in command we could do great things! You look like you can bench press a cow my friend I envy you as I can only bench press 4 lambs."

Jurgen patted me on the back and said, "ahh my friend you mustn't doubt yourself I bet one day you will bench press a cow and a half!"

We both puffed out our chests as Ayano slumped down leaning against a tree and said, "oh my god….both are buff, brutal, stupid in their own ways and drunkards….they're himbos….i have a type….oh my god I have a type no wonder I was attracted to Rui's father at one point….oh god I like himbos is this my weakness? Is it the foreign accent I like? Shit I might need to- oh god oh wait they act like each other, does that mean Nikolaos's personality is infectious? Or does it mean Jurgen's personality is infectious."

Jurgen and I looked confused at the sight but then in the dead calm we heard the bell ring about their being demon attacks and I looked somberly at Jurgen and said, "you know what happens now right…I don't think either one of us want this fight…"

Jurgen nodded and said, "I know…Muzan has no control over me or the Egyptian so I will fight as much as I can but let's make a bet!"

Raising my eyebrow I watched as he brought out a sand glass and said, "night will be ending soon and I really do not want to end you yet in fact I want to be the last one you kill as I want that bastard Egyptian to die off before me so lets see how much damage we can do to each other before the hour glass empties! If you manage to disarm me by the end of the night, I will give you a weapon from my arsenal and if I disarm you I'll take a weapon of your choice from your arsenal no questions or arguments about the weapon in question!"

Looking at Ayano I said, "is he always like this?"

Ayano, still depressed and contemplating the fact she had a type nodded and said, "Jurgen doesn't normally fancy people because they are usually weak-willed milk drinkers as he puts it but those who fight hard and know honor, he wishes to see them continue to prosper till they give up on their mortality then he kills them"

Looking at Jurgen as he pulls out his shield and Dane axe, I smirked and said, "I must admit my heart is pounding with the roar of my gods, how about yours!"

Jurgen smirked and said, "horoko, Harangel, Farid, and recently Chicahua…you've killed a total of 4 eclipses and 6 lower moons and over 400 demons…you are more than a threat you are by far the most well trained and deadliest demon slayer since Yoriichi tsugikuni all the way back in the Sengoku era, or at least your reputation and skills are like his except he was a sun breathing user I will give you credit where credit is due I would be lying if I said this fight didn't have me excited except where as your heart is on fire mine is brewing up a storm equivalent to the might of thor!"

Looking around I saw the hourglass start to count down and Jurgen let out a loud roar of combat and rushed me. Letting out my own roar I rushed him too and got the first hit in using my shield to block his axe and using a wide arc I slammed the crescent blade into his left arm causing him to wince in pain and launch me back allowing me to twirl my spear and use the spear butt to slam into his shield like a great mace causing him to howl before twirling it again to slice his arm. I kept up this constant motion of breaking his bones with the mace head and using the spear head with the crecent blades to slice at his arm to break the shield.

Laughing Jurgen used his dane axe to leave sizable gashes in my shield but never breaking. Finally though I saw my opportunity and Cut his arm clean off forcing jurgen to leap back laughing.

"hahahaha not many people can say they disarmed the mighty Jurgen the great bear of Switzerland!" Jurgen laughed making a new arm.

Looking down at his shield I said, "ash wood and iron? Not often I fight a shield like that."

Jurgen smirked and said, "it's a secret technique made by the Vikings, by catching my opponent's weapons in the shield it gives me the option to disarm my opponents don't bother kicking it back to me, you took my arm fair and square!" before throwing down his dane axe and switching to a hand axe and a viking longsword.

Matching him I threw my spear and shield to Ayano and pulled out my Kopis and Nodachi and said, "it seems like you were not even trying to stop me from disarming you don't tell me your getting soft on me just cause I am getting married to Ayano!"

Jurgen laughed and said, "grehahahahahahahah don't think I am holding back great Nikolaos! You caught me offguard with those crescent blades! Hahaha I guess Ayano does pick her himbos right! Now then I'm not holding back this time come at me with the might of your gods!" before letting out a loud bellow and rushing me.

Matching him I rushed him and shouted, "time to use my new techniques! Lesser pantheon breathing 5th form Enyo charging into war!" followed by me turning into black flames and stabbing Jurgen in his right arm and trying to follow it up by slicing his head off.

Jurgen did, however, stop this by grabbing me by my shoulder and throwing me into a tree hurting my back. Coughing up a bit of blood and staggering to get up I watched as Jurgen laughed and took a large swig of his jug of wine saying, "your good! You nearly had me but come on you can't die now! Get up warrior of Greece show me that fire that burned in your heart!" before howling again and rushing me stabbing me in the shoulder with the hand axe and pulling me up by the bottom of my armor to try and throw me but I used my kopis to leave a nasty scar on his right eye allowing me time to kick him away and rush him again with the nodachi allowing me to leave loads of cuts over his body cutting parts of his armor away.

What really surprised me however was how he felt, his will of fire was like Rengoku's! he didn't fight me with malice as there was no malice behind him he had genuine excitement running through his veins like that of a Greek fighting a strong opponent! This man was unlike any demon I had ever faced!

Soon though we could hear roaring almost like beasts confused I said, "what the- what was that"

Jurgen whistled and said, "it seems your friends forced Hantengu to summon Zohakuten…that is his ace card…the combination of his four emotions a deadly warrior in his own way with the power to use wood to make dragons, almost as powerful as the world serpent jormungandr himself tell me lord nikolaos do you believe that your demon slayer's are strong enough to kill the epitome of hatred himself?"

Smirking I said, "I am willing to bet my own life on it! Daybreak is soon approaching Jurgen let us make this fight one that both of our gods will sing about!"

Jurgen laughed saying, "well said lord Nikolaos well said indeed! Hahahaha your faith in your friends is admirable I wish we could have met earlier in life!"

I nodded and said, "my heart mourns…we could have been the best brothers…"

Ayano interjected saying, "HOW ABOUT NO! I MEAN I CAN BARELY GET OVER THE FACT THAT NEZUKO AND INOSUKE ACT LIKE YOU! I BARELY SEE THEM SO ITS OKAY BUT IF YOU AND JURGEN WERE AROUND 24/7 I'D GO INSANE!"

Smirking Jurgen said, "okay lets see how you like this! Blood demon art, roar of Mjolnir!" before slamming his hand axe into the ground and sending a huge thunderstorm down on me.

I howled in pain as I felt my body be electrocuted and couldn't move at all till the storm stopped. Wincing in pain I took a deep breath and looked at Jurgen keeping my guard up as I grinned and said, "is that all you got! Hahaha you are weak!" before rushing him with my nodachi and Kopis as he summoned hundreds of thunderstorms to try and stop me.

"Pantheon breathing 9th form Athena's 300 perfect strikes!" I shouted slashing at him 300 times causing him to wince in pain and stagger back.

Jurgen laughed as he grabbed me and tried to crush me in his grip. I had never hated being right more than I did now as I could feel his muscles his god damn stomach was nothing but muscles! His grip was starting to crush my armor and I could feel my bones buckling.

Thinking quickly however I headbutted him in the nose forcing him to let me go before punching me hard enough to knock my helmet clean off and leaving me a bit dazed as I rolled back to my shield picking it up and sheathing my nodachi and taking a phalanx stance with my kopis.

I felt my body burning up again my heart beating like the drums of war again and that mark showing up again this time more vibrant as I felt that fire of war.

Howling in rage I rushed Jurgen again using an incredibly amount of speed to rush past his summoning of thunderstorm as he shouted, "blood demon art howling Fenrir!" summoning a huge pack of ice wolves forward to try and stop me.

"Flame breathing 5th form flame tiger!" I shouted slashing through all his wolves before continuing my charge.

Jurgen puffed out his chest and shouted, "grehahahahaha I must admit you are quite the foe! If you keep this up I can tell you right here and now that you'll be more than a match for that Egyptian! But lets see if I can end this right here and now blood demon art Odin galloping into war!" sending a huge ice visage of odin himself rushing at me.

Ayano threw me my spear and smirking I said, "agreed its time we end this! Pantheon breathing, final form Keening of Olympus opening of Tartarus!" rushing forward and burning the visage. However, before I could leave any mark on him the hour glass finally dinged, meaning time was up.

"grehahahahah well now it seems our time is almost up! We shall end our fight here, and when we meet next time swear by the river styx you will kill me after and only after you have killed the Egyptian!" Jurgen laughed picking up his shield and leaving me parts of his lower armor and chainmail sleeves.

Smirking as he vanished into mist Jurgen said, "if you're looking for Hantengu he's currently five miles from here, best go and decapitate him while you can cause the bastard is almost far away!" and like that jurgen was gone.

Ayano looked at me with a worried look and said, "Niko…your body oh gods you have more wounds than- than"

I started to feel all the pain from my fight I guess Jurgen did more to me than I thought…the adrenaline was keeping me from feeling the pain but I couldn't let that stop me now I had to check on my tsugukos and Genya. They had to survive they just had to, Tanjiro was our only ace against the demons I had to make sure he was okay.

Looking at Ayano I said, "come on lets go!" and the two of us rushed towards the area where we saw Tanjiro crying in the arms of three swordsmiths.

"what happened?" I muttered as Ayano and I made our way over.

Ayano's heart sank as she said, "Tanjiro where's your sister? Where is nezuko! Oh gods no, please don't tell me"

My own heart sank as I said, "by the gods no….oh god don't tell me did- did she"

Tanjiro started to cry in my arms as he said, "Nezuko! She gave up her life! She- she!"

I started to cry as well letting out a large yell of pain as I thought Nezuko had burnt up till Ayano and the other swordsmiths pointed over to a sight that shocked me.

It was Nezuko.

She wasn't burning, she was smiling at us her muzzle was gone and she looked near human.

"Tanjiro…Tanjiro look" I said pointing him over to Nezuko.

Tanjiro was the first to cry as Nezuko said, "Ka- kaliméra"

Good morning

Then I started to cry as I said, "Kaliméra!"

Tanjiro cried his eyes out as the swordsmiths helped him over to Nezuko where the two shared a moment translated by Ayano from Greek to Japanese the two hugged shared one of the warmest of moments that even made me cry as I struggled to stand up using the spear as a crutch.

Nezuko smiled at us and said , "Efch-aristó Th-eé"

This brought a tear to my eyes as I said, "Efcharistó Theé indeed!"

Ayano started to cry too but not for the reason I thought, she said, "whhhhyyyyyyyyy Nikolaos why did you teach her Greek! Nooooo I can't believe it she has mastered the sun, she has a form of blood demon breathing and more importantly she speaks Greek!"

I bapped Ayano on the head and kissed her saying, "you'll always have a place with me love but now, now is not a time for mourning we celebrate!" laughing as soon Mitsuri and Tokito joined us laughing and crying.

Mr. Hagenezuka then rushed over and started to chase Tanjiro over the sword and Mitsuri rushed us crying saying, "thank goodness!"

However just like Ayano Mitsuri was shocked about Nezuko speaking but soon cried about it happ beyond a doubt.

Smiling I gave Tanjiro a headpat and said, "well done Young Tanjiro you have made Rengoku sensei and myself beyond happy, I am happy for you"

Tanjiro cried but soon passed out.

The following days were like a blur to me as I returned with Ayano to the Bronze pavilion now alive with the sound of training slayers and everything but soon I had a feeling Muzan was gonna make a move.