Izou watched in amazement as the strange-haired man came, and he realized one thing. His killer intent was completely focused on the vampires and not on him.
Heh, I guess I was wrong about The Dead Apostle, he must be a Magus. Could he be the Burial Agency counterpart of this time? I have to wait and see, but now I have to get my katana out of the roof. I think I managed to hit it in to a support pillar when I missed the Bowman.
While Izou tried to free his sword, the demons and Rengoku looked at each other, expecting the others' next move.
"Ah, I see that you are the ones who are the reason people have disappeared lately. But I, The Flame Hashira Rengoku Kyojuro am here to stop you!"
The two demons were prepared to defend themselves from a sudden attack by the Hashira, but one of them was less prepared than the other. Yano The Archer Demon stared back and screamed. "Do you think you can defeat us?! Don't think just because you're a Hashira that you can defeat both of us! Our Lord has trained us, together we can easily defeat a Lower Moon!"
"Yano!" Yashin yelled at his brother, and Yano immediately stopped yelling. "Remember the words of our master. Don't underestimate your enemy, just underestimate your ability to defeat your enemy."
Before the conversation between the brothers was finished, Rengoku cut in with his own question. "Excuse me. Is your master a Lower Moon?".
The two demons didn't respond, they just prepared to attack.
"Well, it looks like I'll have to find him myself. But first I have to take care of the two of you."
"HA! Finally, it felt like it took a week to get it lose."
The Hashira and the demons looked toward Izou, who had just unstuck his sword.
"Um, excuse me, I know it's a little late to introduce myself, but. Who are you?" Rengoku asked, unsure why Izou was there. "Are you part of the Demon Slayer Corps? Because you don't look like it."
Izou, who is annoyed with how the day has gone. No, this life. Could only answer one way. "Uh! Who am I? Who are you!? I have no reason to answer your question. Damn, from how I see it you should answer my questions!"
Rengoku, either too positive or just ignored the tone replied. "Ok, what question do you have".
Yashin just looked confused at the two slayers of different types, while they talked like they weren't in a fight to the death." Hey, Yano".
"Should I shoot them down, brothers?"
"No, not yet, first sent a signal to the Lord. We can't deal with a Hashira alone, we need help from The Lord. Plus, he's hungry. If he wants someone strong to eat, he has to come and take care of the Hashira himself."
Izou looked down at the Hashira and asked his question. "OK, first question. Who are you, why are you fighting the vampires?!".
An awkward silence was created between them, even Yano forgot that he was preparing to send an emergency single.
"Vampire? Do you mean the Demons?" asked Rengoku. Trying to understand what's going on.
Izou blinked twice. "Demons? You mean the Undead there," he said, pointing at Yano and Yashin.
Yano and Yashin, who were just as confused as everyone else there, just got out. "Um, we're Demons. I don't know about those vampires or undead you're talking about."
That's when Izou realized it. Or had a clue about what's going on here. Japan has been separated from the rest of the world, so it is possible that The Moonlit World of Japan does not know about the rest of the world. So, that means that the Magus of Japan don't know about the Dead Apostle... Damn, it's no wonder that the world felt it necessary to send a Servant. But the question remains, Why him? Why in a living body?
"Young man, is there anything else you want to know?" yelled Rengoku, breaking Izou out of his mind.
"Yes, who the hell are you!?".
The atmosphere changed instantly as a warm and comfortable aura spread out from Rengoku. "I am Kyojuro Rengoku, The Flame Hashira of The Demon Slayer Corps." He pointed to the demons. "We Demon Slayers specialize in taking care of Demons like those!"
While Izou took in the words, Yano realized that they didn't have much time left and shot up a blood-red arrow in the air. It immediately began to glow and burn, and after it reached a certain height, it went off like a firework. The two men looked at the two demons, and as they had expected, one off them went into a monologue.
"Ha ha HA! You are doomed to die now! Now The Lord knows there's a strong opponent here, and he's going to come here and eat you both! MWAHAHAHAHA!" While Yano was screaming his plan to call for help, his brother looked at him with a What the fuck, why are you telling them that expression.
"Ah, so your master will save you. Ok, it looks like I'm going to have to take care of you guys first," the Hashira said before looking up at Izou. "Young man, I would recommend that you stay out of this and take cover. You can't defeat them."
"Bullshit!" he yelled back. "You can't order me around! Plus, you don't know what I can do!"
"I've had enough of this!" yelled Yano. "I am Yano The Demon Archer Who Pierces the Heavens and apprentice under Lord Tsurugi of the Lower Moon four!".
"Well, it looks like we're doing this." Yashin said exhausted by his brother, before he got serious. "I'm Yashin The Demon Spearman Who Pierces The Mountains, and an apprentice under Lord Tsurugi!"
With that declaration they began their attack. Yashin's spear, which hasn't done anything special until now, expanded itself against The Hashira by a length many times larger than its owner. Yano didn't shoot the normal arrows like he has done until now, he shot the red one which exploded with much less force than your previous one, but still was able to damage Izou, which the arrows were aimed at.
Izou quickly jumped towards the other side of the house, out of the demon's sight. Rengoku took a step to the side and parried the spear with his sword, the spear reaching deep into the forest before coming back to its normal size.
Rengoku withdrew his sword and rushed forward with incredible speed. Izou was about to cut the Archer demon into pieces when he saw Rengoku and stopped, a question left his mouth. "Is that... fire?"
Rengoku sword in Izou's eyes was covered in fire, embers created when The Flame Hashira hit and cut through the demon spear.
" First Form: Unknowing Fire".
Izou first thought it was Magecraft or a Mystic Code. But that's when he realized it, he or at least the Demon Slayer was the only one who could see it. Because the fire wasn't real. No, just like how martial art or certain sword styles take inspiration from animals and nature, so has this one too. This Demon Slayer has a sword skill so high, so to Izou's eyes, it was as if the sword was covered in fire, as real as real fire.
"There you are!" While Izou was distracted by the sword style, Yano had spotted him behind one of the houses. Before the demon shot one of his exploding arrows and injured the house and its inhabitants, Izou ran straight towards the demon. "Now I've got you!". Over ten exploding arrows came at him, enough to blast all the flesh off his bones.
(Slash)
(Slash)
(Slash)
But Izou is not a normal person.
All the arrows were cut in the air and fell to the ground to the side before exploding like crackers. Before Yano could shoot any more, Izou had already separated his head from his body. The Demone's body fell on the ground and Izou looked at the other demons and the swordman.
Heh, it was as I thought. His sword techniques are designed after fire phenomenon. Izou looked closely at the fight, his Noble Phantasm copying and reading the sword techniques in his mind.
"How, how could you?", Yano murmured, as he regenerates his body from his head. Izou, who couldn't kill him yet, decided to tell him.
"Oh, that was easy. You shoot in the same pattern every time. I knew where every arrow would come from and when. So yes, it wasn't that hard to cut through it when I figured it out."
Yano could only look horrified, he realized that his usual attack of arrows could no longer now the man in front of him. If he had a nichirin blade I would have been dead. And it became worse.
Rengoku swung his sword at Yashin, who in defense blocked with his spear. The sword cut halfway through the spear. Yashin jumped back a bit with his spear and started to create another spear in his other hand. Before Rengoku could do anything he yelled out, "Now, face my strongest technique!", he turned the first of the spears behind himself and the spear extended again. The spear hit the ground and pushed Yashin towards Rengoku with incredible speed while holding the other spear to impale Rengoku.
Rengoku raised his sword, prepared to face the attack head-on.
" Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun"
Rengoku swung up his sword, prepared to cut through the attack, but it didn't happen. Instead, he pushed the spear into the ground and the extended spear behind him began to shrink so that it was only twice as large as usual. And the spear that looked like it was going to impale Rengoku extended so that it was also twice as long.
"Now, DIE! Mountains Splitting Swing!"
Yashin now swung the two spears towards Rengoku's waist. Izou recognized the movement from when he was hit by a much weaker version, but this is the real thing. At the very least, it will damage his spine and intestines, and at most he will be bisected.
" Third Form: Blazing Universe!"
Rengoku switched from attacking from below to from above. His sword broke both spears on the way down, Yashin could only watch as his technique was destroyed when The Hashira changed form. But he couldn't be any longer, because Rengoku in the demon's disbelief quickly rushed up to him and cut off his head.
Yano watched in horror as his brother's head fell to the ground, black particles began to come from the demon. It reminded Izou of the death of a Servant, but he assumed it had some sort of logic.
"Yashin!" yelled Yano, his body almost fully grown back.
"Yano... My, my brother," came out of the mouth of the dying demon. "Don't worry, I know—I know you can get strong one day". A memory of them as children, play-fighting under a tree with wood swords came to him in his last moments, but it wasn't his last thought. That's who he was looking at. "Don't worry my brother, The Lord is here". And with those words, Yashin The Demon Spearman Who Pierces The Mountains disappeared from this world.
But everyone there realized the demon's last words and looked down at the street he was looking at. Down there in the fog that had crept down from the mountains there was something that you don't see often these days. A samurai fully armored on a horse that was also dressed to go into war. Samurai had an aura stronger than the two demons combined, the clatter of horses' hooves silent the night.
"I see, it looks like you've defeated my apprentices. Even if one has survived. Well, you have proved yourselves worthy to be devoured by me." The voice cuts through the night. The demon voice had an unnatural tone that made the samurai look more inhuman than he already was. "I'm Tsurugi Mukago, Lower Moon Rank Four. Now, die by my blade!"
With a roar, the horse began to run towards the Assassin and Hashira. Both of them started to back away and create space in between them, they both knew that The Lower Moon could only attack one of them. So the one who wasn't attacked could come from behind for an attack.
The Lower Moon began running towards Rengoku, the most dangerous in the eyes of thr demon. And he wasn't wrong, Izou didn't have a weapon that could kill demons. The Lower Moon's sword came towards The Hashira and he decided to try to dodge the mounted attack, it turned out to be a wise choice. Suddenly, the Lower Moon and the horse became much faster, pieces of the Hashira's uniform flew off due to the force of the wind and a row of trees fell down as the Hashira was going to take shelter behind.
Samurai turned his horse around for another attack, but it was then Izou attacked. From the shadows came Izou, fully swinging for the head and hoping he doesn't have a way to put it back as the first demon he encounters. Before he was near enough for the decapitation, the horse raised its hind feet and kicked Izou off and into a house.
"Young man!" shouted Rengoku worriedly, fearful that the man he had just met had died.
Izou, on the other hand, was very much alive, and in a lot of pain. He stood up with the help of his sword from the pieces of wood of the wall he had just come through. He heard a noise and looked to his left and saw a frightened family. The father stood with his hands up in an attempt to protect his family.
"What do you think you're looking at, heh!", Izou said irritably before walking out of the house. There it was The Hashira and The Lower Moon samurai in a fight, neither of them landing a decisive attack. Izou looked to his left and his The Archer Demon was still in shock from his brother's death. He didn't look like he's going to move anytime soon, so Izou decided to cut down on the numbers.
After a deep breath and checking that the stick holding his broken arm wasn't broken, he ignored all the pain and rushed towards the samurai to cut off the horse's head.
Reduced Earth
Izou with a speed like Rengoku has only seen from Thunder Breathing users, Izou cut off the head of the horse, but it didn't fall down to the ground. The horse, on the other hand, just grew back its head.
"The horse was also a vamper/demon!?", screamed Izou and Rengoku. Not prepared for the fact that the horse was one too.
But now that he was so close to The Lower Moon, he noticed something that the armor hid.
Heh, another one?
The Lower Moon holed up his sword in the air, a red light comes from the sword. "Now, shake in terror at my Blood Demon Art!"
"You don't have to hide it. Your hip is too wide."
That word made The Lower Moon stop in the middle of the attack, Yano looked on in horror because he knew what Izou was talking about. Rengoku, on the other hand, was very confused and wondered what a hip had to do with things.
"You know?" said The Lower Moon. The tone is not so inhuman anymore.
"Yes, don't worry. I don't think any of us are idiots. How you're born don't determine how strong you are."
Rengoku looks at Izou, still doesn't understand what they're talking about. The Lower Moon, on the other hand, began to take off his helmet and Yano is surprised by that. "My Lord..." he mumbled.
When the helmet was gone, revealing the face behind, only Rengoku was surprised, and he realized the meaning behind Izou's words. For the face behind the helmet had white skin with even whiter hair. A feminine face with four red lines on her cheek and in one eye had the kanjis for Lower Four.
With the demons' face revealed, Izou's suspicions about the demon's sex had been proven right, and he's other suspicions had apparently proved wrong.
Well, at least she is not a Saber Face, there are enough of them already.
So, what do you think of my Lower Moon OC? Mukago was the Lower Moon Four in Demon Slayer, and this is more of a re-design. If you ask me, Lower Moon got killed off way too quickly, so I think no one is going to complain if I do a re-design, with a Fate twist.
And yes, Izou can see the Breathing Styles. The Breathing Styles effect we see in anime is, well it that, effect. It does not exist for real, but for Izou, who can understand swordsmanship styles with just one look can see what it's made after. Damn, it's a chance he can figuring out Sun Breathing before Tanjuro with enough cloes clues
BTW. I'll be busy next week so no chapter next week. Sorry
Also, for those of you who are wondering. Here's how much weaker Izou is now.
Izou's now state.
Strength C too E
Endurance D too E
Agility B till D+ ( Reduced Earth and other technique)
Mana E still E
Luck E still E
NP C still C
Presence Concealment B too C
Man-Slayer A still A
Swordplay as Swift and Powerful as a Falcon A still A
Mind's Eye (Fake) C still C
Noble Phantasm
Settlement Sword. (His Noble Phantasm doesn't have a Rank)
Yeah, his Skill didn't get so effected.
