Chapter 16 the meeting of the hashira.

Arriving swiftly at the mansion I was greeted by Gyomei who smiled in our direction saying, "ahhh Lord Nikolaos, Lady Ayano it warms my heart to see you in good health especially after what happened to you in the swordsmith village lord Nikolaos".

Smirking I said, "come no Gyomei did you expect an upper moon to defeat me after facing so many of the eclipses? FWEHAHAHAHAHA!"

Gyomei chuckled softly saying, "no I wasn't worried about that at all, however the amount of frostbite on you was mortifying"

Looking away I said, "eclipse 2 was more dangerous than I anticipated, however I think that was the wake up call I needed"

Gyomei then looked at Ayano and said, "I am thankful that Lord Nikoloas has someone like you watching his back, he may be the strongest of us, but he is also the most headstrong"

Ayano giggled and said, "so what is this meeting about?"

Shinazugawa shoved passed me saying, "move it Greek! I don't have all day!"

Taking a deep breathe in I said, "lord give me the strength not to throw that bastard through a window" as I clenched my fist.

Ayano chuckled saying, "get in line I call dibs on waterboarding his ugly face"

Gyomei chuckled and followed inside as I felt a slight tap on the back of my breastplate.

Looking behind me I smiled happily at Shinobu sensei who looked up at me and said, "you know I must admit that mix of the Greek armor with the Haori really does suit you my dear Tsuguko"

Grinning like a bear I grappled Shinobu sensei into a hug and said, "fwehahahahaha! Sensei! It has been far too long since I have seen you! how are you doing!"

Shinobu broke free of my bear hug and dusted herself off saying, "I am doing well my tsuguko very well indeed, and I heard you took on the young Hashibira boy as your tsuguko, did he really catch your eye that much?"

Nodding my head I said, "inosuke showed great drive and finesse in his fight against eclipse 3 and more importantly his will matches mine, so I thought why not take him on! Rengoku would have taken on young kamado as his if given the chance and I bet my whole stache of drachmae that lord Uzui would have taken Zenitsu, so I thought why not give the boar boy a chance".

Shinobu's face distorted a bit as she said, "so he's just like you? oh my how…wonderful, the world could always use more people as…spirited as you" before speed walking ahead.

Looking a bit confused as we made it to the room where we put our swords next to us, or in my case my spear, two swords and shield next to me and took a rather lounged sitting position while everyone else was sitting on their knees I muttered, "strange…wonder why Shinobu seemed so sickened by the idea of Inosuke acting like me"

Gyomei then filled us all in by saying, "so as some of you know sanemi and Obanai took on a mission to an abandoned restoration era castle to deal with a demon who kidnapped a young girl out there"

Sanemi sighed saying, "yeah we got the girl back, but we encountered the strangest thing ever"

Obanai nodded and said, "it was like a great room filled with hundreds of rooms it was like some sort of castle!"

Laughing I said, "what like an infinity castle?"

Obanai nodded and said, "don't be stupid that kind of name doesn't really make sense, more like a endless hotel anyways that the mission may have been a success, but this opened our eyes to something bad"

Sighing I took off my helmet and said, "that slayers are getting weaker and weaker?"

Sanemi nodded and said, "it seems only slayers coming out of the bronze pavilion are actually making a difference out there but no matter, Tokito, Kanroji, Ayano, and Aristokles I heard you battled some upper ranks and eclipse two"

Mitsuri nodded and said, "it was intense at one point I truly thought I was done for. But we all pulled forward as a team! Right muichiro, Nikolaos?"

Muichiro nodded and Ayano sighed.

Gripping my ribs I said, "jurgen was…is….a truly dangerous opponent he is my equal in every way and that worries me but gets my blood flowing as I think about it"

Obanai glared at me and said, "so you let eclipse 2 get away? Your slipping Nikolaos and after we brought you back into our ranks"

Giving him a glare I said, "do not test me Obanai I will not hesitate to show you just how hard I was fighting against him…but eclipse 2 was on a whole different level compared to eclipse 3 or any of the other eclipses or demons"

Sanemi sighed and said, "I wish I was there, man why don't I ever get to run into any upper ranks or eclipses"

Obanai looked at Sanemi and said, "it is out of our control and Nikolaos is the only one capable of taking down eclipses, all we can do is leave it to fate and pray Nikolaos is with us if we run into an eclicpe"

He then turned to us and said, "kanorji, Tokito, Aristokles how you been physically since then?"

Kanroji blushed like I could tell she wanted his snake as she said, "oh! I am doing fine!"

Chuckling I said, "couple broken ribs that refuse to heal at all and a nasty case of frostbite but other than that I am doing okay"

This earned me a glare from Shinobu sensei as I felt her "motherly instincts" telling me I should have been healing still instead of taking on more missions so I whispered to Tokito, "kid for the love of Zeus the next words out of your mouth should be that you suffered worse injuries than me or so help me gods I will hit you, please I don't need another painful recovery session with shinbou sensei"

BLANTLY IGNORING WHAT I SAID LIKE AN ABSOLUTE ASSHOLE TOKITO SAID, "I suffered very minor injuries compared to lord Nikolaos, but I still haven't fully recovered yet" earning me a patented shinobu death glare that could scare even the bravest of slayers and true to my word I punched him in the arm.

Gyomei smiled as he prayed saying, "good to hear, loosing anymore hashira will put the core at risk, defeating two upper ranks without losing your lives was noble of you"

Shinobu then said, "somethings different about you two, I noticed it with Nikolaos but now you two seem different too your wounds healed abnormally quickly just like Niko's after he faced eclipse Number 3, I wonder what happened"

Giyuu, who I had forgotten even existed, then said, "concerning their changes I trust the master will explain everything as now that its not just a Nikolaos thing it cannot be a coincidence"

Lady Amane then entered the room and we all bowed to her as she said, "thank you all for waiting, todays hashira meeting will be conducted by myself as a stand in for kagaya ubuyashiki. You see his condition has worsened and kagaya, the head of our family can never appear before you again, he wishes to apologize to each of you including you Nikolaos, he regrets that he will no longer be able to enjoy the wonderful olive trees or sample that wine you have been working on" before bowing to us.

We all felt our stomachs sink as we bowed and gyomei spoke for us saying, "understood, I hope the master finds the strength, the strength of his might to continue living, even if it is for one day more…and I pray you can find the strength to continue on as well lady amane…"

Lady Amane smiled softly as she said, "From the bottom of my heart I want to thank each and every one of you I believe you are already aware of this but now that a demon who has conquered the sun has appeared it is expected that Muzan Kibutsuji will make a frenzied attempt to come after her and Lady Ayano so that he too can conquer the sun, an all out war of immense scale is approaching us, but there is hope that was given to us by lord nikolaos but then confirmed by lady kanroji and lord Tokito. I am told a unique looking mark appeared on all three of you during your previous battles and in the case of Nikolaos his battle before his temporary banishment from the hashiras, I ask you please teach us what you three did to manifest your marks in battle"

Raising an eyebrow at Ayano in confusion she drew the Greek symbol for meta and my eyes widened as I remembered an old tale my grandpa used to tell about the mark of Ares. Only those who have seen death and denounced it to continue fighting could manifest these marks, it wasn't just the mark of death but the mark of the warrior and it was said that this mark could unlock the potential in anyone who saw the marked warrior as an ally.

Lady Amane said, "during the Sengoku period the swordsmen of first breathing along with their foreign allies who had driven Muzan Kibutsuji to the brink of defeat, what they all shared in common was the mark each of them bore a mark similar to Greek letters and demonic patterns. There are those who are aware of this like Nikolaos I believe through word of mouth"

Shinazugawa looked confused saying, "first I'm hearing about it"

Ayano whispered, "Niko have you heard about this?"

Nodding I spoke up and said, "in my culture we call it simádi tou polémou… the mark of war it is said in time of gods and monsters the greatest of heroes and demigods manifested these marks only by seeing Thanatos and refusing his hand to continue fighting gaining the might and blessing of the gods most of these heroes didn't live to long after manifesting these marks…I guess the old myths were more than myths"

Lady Amane then said, "many swordsmen have tried to manifest the mark and brooded over the mark not manifesting, that is why much of the lore surrounding this mark remains shrouded in mystery perhaps because at the time it was not seen as vital enough to preserve or perhaps there was no one to pass it on too. During the many times the demon slayer corps faced annihilation there remains only a single record that describes the manifestation of these marks when one person bearing the mark appears those around him also manifest marks as if resonating with him"

Lord Kagaya's son then held up a book and said, "one of the first breathing swordsmen left this in his notes and it's the only clue we have to work with" holding up a tattered book.

Lady Amane said, "however the first person of our Japanese generation has appeared shockingly that person is not a hashira but lord Tanjiro Kamado, and it seems this happened after his fight with eclipse 3, with lord Nikolaos obtaining the mark of war…it is said in the same book of the first swordsman that a Japanese swordsman awakened his through fighting a warrior clad in silver and carrying a shield and gladius, this warrior imparted a great many wise words about combat and the will of a warrior and had also unlocked a mark, this one being a strange symbol"

Lady Amane then traced the symbol in the air, and I said, "the Greek symbol for Meta"

Ayano looked at me confused and said, "that symbol isn't in the Greek alphabet though"

Looking at Lady Amane I said, "of course it wouldn't, firstly its Theban so not entirely Greek, and secondly it's a cursed symbol as in it is said those who are brandished with it or even draw it are doomed to oblivion its taboo to talk about it or even draw it so it is only passed down through word of mouth by the village elders or town mystics"

Lady Amane then said, "young Tanjiro has been having trouble figuring out how his mark appeared, so we decided to revisit it another time, but now in lord tanjiro's wake three hashira have manifested the mark, please enlighten us lady kanroji, lord tokito and lord Nikolaos"

Mitsuri spoke up with the confidence of Herakles and said, "well you see what happened is my body felt extremely light really light lighter than usual"

She then put her hands to her temple and said, "lets see, um…and then..and then! BAAA,, THROUGH OUT MY BODY! MY LIMBS WENT BAM, AND MY MIND WENT POW and I remember my heart pounding like doki doki! And my ears were going ding ding! And ripple ripple, ripple!"

This- yeah this was sadly lady Kanroji.

Ayano then whispered, "and this lady became a hashira easily yet they're still debating whether or not I can be one…"

Lady Kanroji looked defeated as she bowed and said, "I am so sorry please forgive me! I wish I could crawl into a hole right now"

Before I could say anything Muichiro gave his two cents admist a constant death glare from me after not backing me up earlier as he said, "perhaps I can be of help it's not as if I was aware of the mark manifesting but when I think about the battle that took place when it manifested some things come to mind, things that when looking back at it were out of the ordinary as long as certain conditions are met, I believe that the mark will appear on everyone, I'll now explain those conditions and how I met them and lord Nikolaos if you could confirm or deny that you met these conditions too that would be helpful"

Nodding my head Muichiro proceeded by saying, "during the previous battle, I was badly poisoned and left unable to move, I tried to slow down the flow of the poison by using my breathing technique but before I could, the boy who tried to save me was killed right in front of me which brought back memories of the past and the overwhelming amount of rage I felt made me loose control of my emotions I swear at that moment my heart rate was over 200, further more it felt like my body was on fire as for my temperature I am fairly certain it was over a 102 degrees"

Chuckling I said, "I can confirm what lord tokito is saying, when my mark of war manifested it I was in the depths of despair after the Aztec left me in a dark trap which I later found out was meant to absorb my very soul and kill me, but in that darkness I saw rengoku sensei once more and was given his final parting words, and when I finally broke out of that trap I felt like the beating of the war drum that is my heart quickening and my body burning like fire, so I shed my armor and felt like I could take on the world"

Ayano nodded and said, "I can confirm both of their stories, Nikolaos's armor felt like it was one fire when he shed it during his fight, and it look like steam was coming off of him"

This worried Shinobu sensei who said, "but how could either of you move like that those conditions are fatal!"

Muichiro looked at Shinobu sensei and said, "that is correct. I think that's the whole point when those who aren't chosen are killed off. Whether you die or survive in those moments determine if you get a mark or you become part of the past"

Lady amane muttered, "a heart rate over 200 beats a minute but your temperature how did you two know it was over 102"

Smirking as I bang my bronze cestplate I said, "Greek intuition" which earned me a lightning-fast slap across the back of the head by Shinobu sensei and Ayano leaving a huge welt on my head

Tokito said, "right so I remember having an abnormally high fever when I was treated at Ms Kocho's in fact the thermometer said 102 just like my body heat When my mark first manifested itself during the battle with the upper rank"

Nodding I said, "Bronze is also influenced by the weather around it so when my body heat rose to 102 the bronze started to feel hot as well and it only does that when around temperature of 98 or above"

Shinazugawa growled as he said, "that sounds pretty simple if you ask me"

Giyuu who I again forgot existed, seriously why is he a hashira again, then retorted saying, "imagine having such a simple mind that you call this simple, I envy you"

Okay now I remember why he is a hashira.

Shinazugawa and Obanai both glared at the unphased Giyuu.

Lady Amane then said, "furthermore I am sorry to those who have manifested the mark as you had no idea of this but those who have manifested the mark with in a couple years without exception….die" which horrified muichiro and lady kanroji but I had long accepted I would die the way of a warrior so I wasn't to bothered.

Soon lady Amane left, leaving us to talk amongst ourselves.

Gyomei was the first to speak up as he wondered what would become of him.

Giyuu then got up to leave as he said, "if that is it, excuse me"

Shinazugawa then gave an evil grin as he said, "not so fast no one here excused you, we still haven't decided what our respective roles will be in manifesting the mark"

Chuckling I said, "always eager to die aye Shinazugawa" which earned me him gripping his sword at me.

Gripping my spear I said, "try me red eyes I dare you"

Defeated he turned back to giyuu who said, "I'll let you 8 discuss that, it doesn't concern me, lord Nikolaos permission to use the bronze pavilion for some personal training?"

Smiling I said, "Giyuu any friend of young kamado is a friend of mine, my home is your home so go right ahead"

Obanai then said, "what do you mean it doesn't concern you, seems you are forgetting you are also a hashira or you're bluffing and using the bronze pavilion to get a head start on manifesting your mark but your needed here in the meeting"

Giyuu got up to leave and Shinazugawa got up angrily shouting, "hey you! get back here!"

Shinobu sensei gave Giyuu a stern look and said, "Mr. Tomioka I ask you to explain yourself we can not dismiss this without reason!"

Giyuu left saying, "it's just I'm not like the rest of you…"

Shinazugawa then said, "I'm not satisfied you said the same thing before Tomioka you lookin down on us right now!"

Kanroji tried to defuse the situation while giyuu continued to leave much to Shinazugawa's rage as I leapt to try and help him before the big man himself Gyomei motherfucking Himejima slammed his fists together along with his prayer beads shocking us all.

Its not often the big man shows a bit of temper but when he does its scary, even to a war-torn Greek like myself.

Gyomei simply said, "sit down and let us continue our discussion, as I have a proposal"

"so whats the plan, put them through the agoge at the bronze pavilion?" I chuckled sitting back down.

Gyomei shook his head and said, "sort of it, I suggest we all put in our efforts to train the slayers and in the process manifest our marks"

Grinning I said, "so you'll be using all of slayer town? Well its good that when the samurai was using slayer town for their efforts they added loads of more training grounds and housing for soldiers, not only that but we now have an official name for little town. Honnoji"

As we discussed it further Gyomei said, "we shall enlist the children of our provinces and"

Coldly I slammed my fist down and said, "absolutely not, I may be okay with the slayers we have now fighting but I refuse to let any new children in on this, think about it we're going to be fighting Muzan, upper ranks 1 2 and 3 and eclipses 1 and 2 along with some other strong demons in this infinity castle, I refuse to let more children die"

Gyomei looked at me and said, "this behavior is unlike you Nikolaos and we acknowledge your claims, but we can not ignore how many fighters we need for this"

Angrily I said, "damn it gyomei I know you are blind but open your eyes we do not need to involve children!"

Gyomei ignored it and Shinazugawa said, "these children will learn to fall in line or be cut down to size mercilessly during the training, maybe give them real swords and fight amongst each other"

Growling I got up and threw my spear at him pinning him to the wall and stormed off saying, "either find another form of soldier to hire or find another damn place to conduct training!"

Meditating outside the master's manor to calm myself, Ayano approached me and said, "nikolaos…why did you storm off like that?"

Looking back at her I said, "I didn't feel it was a good idea to train children to fight a war like this…a war the hashira should be able to face alone, what Gyomei was suggesting…indoctrinating children into demon slayers! I- I couldn't stand it! Not again, not after the battle of Kilkis-Lachanas"

Ayano looked at me concerned and said, "Niko…what happened in the Balkan wars….what troubles you my love"

Taking a deep breath in I patted the space next to me and as she sat down I said, "there were a number of operations that the rest of the world didn't know happened during the Balkan wars…one of which was the Greece mobilization of children at the age of 14… they said it was for the greater good of Greece but in truth it was just a way to have a more imposing standing military…an army trained young is loyal till death…at the time I had served in the Greek military as a cavalry chief as part of an offensive into Kilkis and the men I had with me…weren't men…"

Ayano's face dropped as she said, "children…"

I nodded and said, "they sent me 25 young men of the age of 16 and older, anyone who could ride a horse and told me to train them in the old ways, and being this strong spartan from Neochori I had to show off…I trained them in the old ways of sparta even learning things about our culture I didn't know…well no amount of training can prepare you for a fucking maxim gun firing 650 rounds a minute…."

I then looked out as some cherry blossoms fell and said, "25 young men came under my protection ready to die for their country…only 1 survived and the kicker is I would receive a communique later that same day telling me the war was over an hour before I had initiated the charge…25 lives wasted for fucking nothing…I spent the rest of my life deciding to seek out a warriors death relearning my people's ancient ways so that I may atone for my waste of life"

I then reached into my armor and pulled out a photo of me in my cavalry attire lacking my bronze armor and shield and handed it to Ayano who whistled and said, "damn even without the armor your hot…but that doesn't matter their lives weren't wasted, you fought for your beliefs you fought for Greece and that's all that mattered…we're doing that now, against a foe who could wipe out the world! He could cause a great war like no one has ever seen! Niko…we need your help in this, please"

Sighing I said, "I will head back inside and talk with the other hashira and try and convince them against using child soldiers…but if they don't listen, I will back out and tender my resignation to the hashira"

Returning to the room where Gyomei was struggling to remove my spear from Sanemi's haori, I bowed and said, "forgive me for my outburst, the idea of leading children into battle stirred up some trauma from my time fighting in the Balkan wars, I humbly ask that you respect my decision to not train children for this offense and instead either focus on strengthening our current slayers or find those willing to become slayers…children have no place on the battlefield" before taking my spear out easily and sitting next to Shinobu sensei who gave me a pat on the back.

Gyomei then said, "as Nikolaos requested, we shall use what slayers we do have at our disposal and ask the local lords if they can give their finest soldiers to the cause"

Smiling I bowed and said, "thank you!" and we continued discussing the other details of the hashira training.

Grinning I said, "those who survive Gyomei's trial and want an extra dose of pain and strengthening can then go through my training!"

Gyomei looked at me a bit worried and said, "Nikolaos…what would your training include"

Grinning evily I said, "it is a secret" which made everyone shutter.

Ayano looked at me and said, "niko sometimes you scare me but right now I am both scared and aroused"

Laughing I said, "well if that is it I will take my leave and have everything ready for you in three days as agreed" before rushing out.

Excitedly I mounted my horse leaving the master's mansion sending word to tengen to come to the bronze pavilion for the training while I got things ready on my end.

Laughing as I looked at the trainers assembled at the front gate they all bowed and shouted, "welcome home lord Nikolaos we hope you had a good trip!"

Slamming my spear into my shield I shouted, "listen up and listen well send word to every slayer who has ever trained at the bronze pavilion and those who haven't strength training will be starting soon with all of the current hashira and some retired hashira too, they are all required to show up and train till the die, this is the final push the hail mary we have been waiting for, Muzan kibutsuji will rear his ugly face again and this time he is after my second tsuguko Nezuko Kamado, I want them all to be as strong as Herakles, as cunning as Odysseus, as brave as achilles and with the speed of Hermes to guide them! Send word fast and wide!"

The trainers bowed and I walked through the bronze pavilion to see Insouke training young Homura with Shinjuro waiting and talking to Miyuki.

Remembering why I was so made earlier I gripped my spear and shouted, "oi old man heads up!" before throwing the spear and effortlessly pinning him to the wall as I shouted at him and scolded him for not protecting Hakuro, Homura and Miyuki.

Shinjuro didn't even try to deny it as I chewed him out over and over again for the next couple days, finally though it was time for training.

Laughing as I heard about how the other Hashira training was going I sat around and said, "boy not a single one has made it passed lord Gyomei's training maybe I should go and see whats going on!" leaving out of boredom to go and check on the others.

Have to admit every single one of them have a great method of training but I dreaded lady Kanroji's.

Sensing my dread AYANO PUSHED ME IN smugly saying, "give it a go"

Feeling afraid I said, "no, no,no!" only to be met with a firm hand on my shoulder as Mitsuri said, "ahhh lord Nikolaos thank you for joining me!" before leading me to the other demon slayers who were dressed in what looked like ballet attire.

Mitsuri chuckled saying, "okay boys let me show you how flexible a hashira can be!" before oushing me on the floor.

Shaking my head I said, "no, no, no wait, wait mitsuri! Mitsuri no! no I do not need this! I DO NOT NEED THIS! I DO NOT CONSENT"

Ignoring my cries she said, "here we go!" before forcing me into the splits.

Howling in pain I said, "GODS DAMN YOU!"

THE PAIN STARTS NOW

END OF THE CHAPTER

Ayano: hahahahahahahahah

*Nikolaos struggling to walk in*: its not fucking funny you git, oh god my legs….'

Ayano couldn't stop laughing as shinobu scolded inosuke for breaking a window and then tended to his wound.

Nikolaos: "wait why is it that Shinobu sensei is nicer to my tsuguko when he gets injured but when I get injured you put me through even more pain!"

Shinobu sensei: its because when inosuke gets hurt he learns from his mistakes, you make the same mistakes over and over again and never learn, my dear tsuguko!"