Rapid Wind Drumming
Hello everyone, Happy New Year and welcome to my first chapter posting of the year with Winds, Waves, And Chains! I've got all kinds of plans for 2025 and with luck you'll all get to see a good number of them. From these chapters, to possible new fics, and possibly even new Pat reon exclusives are all possibilities this year so we got plenty to look forward to! So let's start things off right with a story chapter!
Daytime: Forested Area Near Their Next Destination
The trio had run for several minutes before coming upon a forest of sorts with a somewhat overgrown path. They chose to slow down at this point and began a more cautious approach due to the many shadowed areas around them. That, and their current third wheel had already run out of steam due to stressing himself out so much earlier. "Mr. and Mrs. Keller," Zenitsu pleaded, "maybe I should just hang back, I'll be useless anyway."
"This mission was given to all of us," John reminded without looking back, "you're gonna have to pull your weight to at least some degree."
"Besides," Mary added, "we're here." The group exited the foliage then where they came upon a large two-story structure.
"Looks like an old mansion," the former hunter mused, "little surprise a demon would hide here, plenty of dark places inside."
"There's definitely something in there," Zentisu noted with fear, "I can hear a strange noise."
"You can hear something," Mary raised an eyebrow in his direction. That's when she noticed they weren't alone. Nearby, partially concealed by the bushes, was a pair of children. "Hello there, what are you two doing out here?" The kids didn't answer as they clung to each other.
Mary decided it was best to approach slowly and knelt a few feet from them. "It's alright, we're friends. Let me show you something." The lady slayer moved her hands at blinding speed before revealing Zenitsu's sparrow. "Vue la, a sparrow out of thin air!"
Ukogi hopped up and down excitedly, showing that he was friendly. This seemed to be enough to calm the children as they collapsed to their knees in relief. "Alright, take a deep breath and tell us what happened. Why are you two out here by yourselves?"
"Our," the older of the children, a boy in a blue kimono spoke first, "our big brother got taken away by a monster. It lives in this house. The monster didn't even spare us a glance, it just came after our brother while we were walking on the road at night."
"Guess that means this is the right place," John mused while walking up slowly behind Mary, "but I'll bet that monster moved fast, how did you kids manage to follow it here?"
"We followed the traces of our brother's blood on the ground," the boy explained, "that thing hurt him, maybe really badly."
"You're brave kids for coming all this way to try and rescue him," the former hunter smiled lightly, "but you can leave it to us now. We've come to deal with that monster, and we'll rescue your brother while we're at it."
"You will," the younger sibling, a girl in a pink kimono spoke up in relief.
"It is our job," Mary stood up. But before they could go anywhere, Zenitsu had another sudden bout of trembling.
"Guys," he had a hand cupping his ear, "what is that strange sound? It's really unnerving and it just keeps going. It sounds like a Tsuzumi Drum."
"What do you mean," John raised an eyebrow, "I don't hear any-." He stopped then as a distinctive noise suddenly rang out from the mansion. It was indeed the sound of a Japanese Tsuzumi drum and it was increasing in tempo. Then, as it was reaching the apex of whatever strange rhythm it was following, it stopped.
And it was just as the drum stopped that a person in a brown, and very bloody, kimono was sent flying out of the second story balcony. "Cover your eyes," Mary moved in front of the children as the body landed with a wet squelch on the ground, blood spraying out around them. John rushed over to check on the victim. He kept an eye on the mansion even though he was in the sunlight, not taking chances against a demon whose ability he didn't know.
"Still got a pulse," the slayer determined before lifting who he now saw was a young man's head up, "hey, can you hear me? Try to stay awake." But even despite saying that, John could tell the wound was deep. Even with a good doctor to work on the stranger right now, could he be saved?
"Am I," he groaned weakly, "am I really going…. to die here? Even though I… made it out…... of that horrible place?"
"You don't have to," John urged, "just hold on a little longer, we'll get you patched up. It's-." But the light had already left the victim's eyes as he stared up at the sky. "Damn it." The former hunter laid him down on the ground then and closed his eyes. "You can at least take solace in this; you died free, outside of that horrid place, and the monster that hurt you will be made to pay for what he's done."
"John," Mary called to him with a pained look, "we should ask."
"I know," he sighed before turning towards the two children, "this young man, is he by chance your brother?"
"No," the younger brother answered while holding tightly to his sister, "he was wearing an orange-colored kimono."
"Then we can't waste any more time," Mary stood up and approached her husband and Zenitsu, "let's get going-ROOOOOOOAR!" The mansion seemed to shake from the sound of the demon's howl as Zenitsu and the children looked at the structure with terror. John and Mary, however, glared at it in anger and defiance.
"As if we needed any more encouragement," he scoffed, "time to head in."
"No way," Zenitsu shook his head vigorously, "did you not hear that just now?"
"What difference does it make," Mary glanced back in his direction, "this is our job. Like it or not, we're the only ones who can do anything about it right now." This didn't seem to convince the blonde as the two slayers huffed in annoyance.
"Fine, be that way," John growled slightly, "if you're gonna stay out here then at least protect the kids. It should be easy right now since it's still daylight for the next few hours."
"Alright I'll come with you!" Zenitsu latched onto Jonathan's box as he was drug along by John, who'd recently switched to carrying the box. "You don't have to make such scary faces, I'll go! I'll go!"
"Don't let us force you into doing something you don't want to do," Mary remarked as they entered the large building. It was strangely lit with what appeared to be electric lanterns hanging from above, though the lighting was dim. As the trio went along, they noted the place hadn't been well kept, or at least the front entrance hadn't.
"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Keller," Zenitsu spoke shakily, "you'll protect me from whatever's in here, right?"
"Look kid, our job is to slay the demon, not protect you," John glanced back, "even if there are two of us, I got a couple of broken ribs and an injured leg on our last mission. Mary got knocked around a little bit too. So when the demon shows up-."
"WHAAAAAATTT!" The blonde's scream threatened to impair their hearing, "you have broken bones?! Just what are you trying to do to me?! You can't possibly protect me in that condition! I'm gonna die for sure!" Another bout of him rolling around and panicking on the floor followed as he screamed incoherently.
"We said you could wait outside," Mary sighed, "but you're here now so you might as well help us look if nothing else." She opened one of the many sliding doors in the hallway while John opened one on the opposite side. As they entered the rooms, however, the mansion seemed to start shaking. The two slayers gripped their swords while Zenitsu covered his head with his hands.
The Tsuzumi Drum sounded again, and everything changed. "What in the," John looked around as he noted he was no longer in the same room. The drum beat a few more times and each time it did, the room changed. 'Does the beat of the drum change the rooms, or the locations of those in the mansion,' the former hunter mused.
When it finally stopped for a moment, John slid open the door and stepped out into a completely different hallway from the front entrance. "I wonder how big this place actually is," he thought aloud while walking down a much nicer path with wood flooring and a high ceiling. "Mary, Mary are you here?!" He received no answer, or rather the answer he did receive was not from his wife.
As he approached the end of the hallway which led into another hallway, a hand reached out and grasped the corner of the wall. But it was no human hand but rather a grayish-blue claw of a hand with reddish-yellow lines decorating parts of it. Two jagged, zigzagging horns emerged next as a demon standing at what must've been a towering nine feet, seven inches tall crept around the corner. John was able to identify it as a female due to its large chest which was visible even beneath her large black and dark-purple kimono.
Her dark hair was messy, forming a black mane going down her back and her face, while human in appearance, sported sharp teeth that appeared when she grinned. "What do we have here," the demon's voice was like a cat's but lacking any charm, "you're not one of the children running around in this mansion. So why do I smell the scent of a young man and a young woman on you?"
"I don't have to tell you that," the Slayer drew his sword and took a fighting stance, "what I will tell you is I'm here to deal with the problems in this mansion. Are you the one playing the drum?"
"That annoying thing," the demon growled, "no, that belongs, or rather belonged, to the master of this mansion, the Tsuzumi Demon. I merely came here to determine the source of the Marechi."
"Marechi," John repeated with a raised eyebrow, "what in the world is that?"
"Oh, you don't know," the demon hummed in amusement, "that blade is unmistakably nichirin steel so you must be a slayer. But for you to not know what Marechi is despite your age, have you only joined recently?"
"If you can tough it out and slay demons, they don't really care what age you are," John pointed out, "but yeah, I have. Are you gonna do me the honor of telling me what this Marechi stuff is, miss?"
"Call me Maru," she purred while stalking forward, "I must say I prefer my slayers to be a bit younger, but common courtesy demands I ask for your name now."
"John Keller," he shifted his stance, "now that that's out of the way, you can tell me what I want to know, or we can get to it."
"It won't make much difference now, but to put it simply," Maru grinned maliciously, "Marechi is a rare protein in humans that has nutrients equivalent to a hundred humans and us demons consider it a delicacy." A short ax appeared in each of her hands then. "Naturally we devour humans that possess Marechi and I don't intend to let any slayer stand in the way of a good meal, especially when it's a child with Marechi blood."
"And I got no intention of letting you get what you want," the slayer shot forward then, "so let's do this!"
Tsuzumi Mansion: With Mary
"Well this is just outstanding," Mary huffed with her hands on her hips as she looked around the room, "so our resident demon either has the power to change the mansion or shift us around all over the place. That won't get old fast." But there wasn't anything to be done about it at the moment, so instead she tried to decide which way to go. The room she wound up in was a fair-sized one with dressers on either side of it and a high ceiling.
What was taking her time to decide was the presence of sliding doors at both ends of the room. The one in front of her was open while the one behind her was closed. But whatever her decision was going to be, it wound up being made for her. The sound of heavy footsteps drew her attention to the open door as a tall form lumbered into view.
It was a without doubt a demon, resembling a giant, muscular man with grey skin, red eyes, black marks on his cheeks, and drums sticking out of his body. His only garb was a loincloth of sorts held on by a big red rope. 'This feeling,' Mary drew her sword, 'I only ever get this feeling around strong demons. And since he's got drums sticking out of his body, this must be the demon making all of those noises.'
"If it hadn't been for them," the demon spoke suddenly in a deep voice, "if only those others hadn't shown up and gotten in my way. That prey was mine and mine alone." 'Not sure what he's going on about, but his guard doesn't seem to be completely up,' the lady slayer noted, 'let's see if we can end this quickly.' She leapt forward, her blade poised to take the demon's neck.
Up until the last moment he didn't seem to notice her. Then, he hit the drum on his right shoulder. "The fuck," Mary suddenly fell sideways and hit the wall, "figures it wouldn't be that easy." She quickly got back up to her feet and was greeted with the sight of the room having shifted. The wall she was on had become the floor while the floor was the right wall, the original right wall was the ceiling, and the ceiling was the left wall.
'The entire room shifted,' the lady slayer quickly surmised, 'so he can do more than just move us all over the mansion.' But it also meant that so far his abilities weren't heavily combat oriented. Once she figured out what those other drums did, Mary would have a shot at taking the master of the mansion out. Unfortunately, another interruption was on its way, one that neither of them expected.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" A form came crashing through the closed door on the other side, his voice giving him away as a male as he landed on the wall that was now the floor. He was wearing a boar's head as a mask, no shirt, blue pants, a boar hide loincloth, and blue sandals. But it was his weapons that caught Mary by surprise. 'Those are nichirin swords,' she realized.
Unlike the other swords she'd seen up to this point, the two wielded by the stranger had their blades serrated, making them look like they possessed rectangular teeth as opposed to blades. They also had no tsuba and only white wraps for the handles. "Alright you monster," the boy spoke in a voice that seemed to possess an almost constant snarl, "die on the battlefield and serve as my springboard so that I can become even stronger and soar to new heights!"
"Infuriating pests," the demon still refused to look directly at them, "why are there so many uninvited guests in my home right now?"
"Hope you're ready for me," the boar fighter brandished his swords and pointed his left blade at the demon, "because I'm comin' through!" He rushed forward then but as before the demon hit one of the drums on his body and the room turned again. The surprised dual wielder's charge was interrupted as he fell to the side. The apparent slayer recovered by, annoyingly, kicking off of Mary's arm which she held up to block him from kicking off of her face.
"Moron, we can't fight this guy just by rushing in, I've tried that already!" Mary barked as the room was shifted by the demon again and they both wound up back on the floor. The Lady Slayer took that moment to note the demon stayed fixed in place whenever the room moved, unaffected by the changes in gravity. One who didn't seem to be paying attention was her new, but unconfirmed, ally.
"Wow, the room spun around," he laughed, "I haven't encountered a power like that before, this is so much fun!"
"Glad one of us is enjoying this, I guess," Mary sighed while resuming her stance. 'It's pretty obvious a normal attack won't work. But I'm a Breath of Wind user, what form will keep me off the ground long enough to deal with this?'
"You measly insects are irksome," the demon growled, "now die!" He hit the drum on the center of his stomach. Instead of turning the room like the ones before, this one caused claw marks to tear into the floor. Mary and the Boar Fighter just managed to dodge the invisible attack on pure reflex.
'Great, so he does have an attack drum,' the female swordswoman shifted around and attempted to charge again. But both her and the dual wielder had to dodge out of the way of more claw attacks before he started hitting the drums to make the room shift again. It turned back and forth then downwards, causing the Boar Boy to go falling back through the other door and into the wall of the hallway beyond. 'I'm starting to get the hang of this.'
This time Mary jumped off one of the nearby shelves, doing her best to keep her momentum. But as she got close a drum sounded again, but not because the demon hit one. It was the drum from before that caused the rooms to change and the next thing Mary knew she was in some kind of dining room. "Now how the shit did that happen," she huffed after landing, "he didn't strike his drum that time."
But there was no helping it right now and Mary hadn't confirmed if she'd even been sent that far from the demon. Or if that demon was the only one with a drum. 'Wouldn't be the first time we've encountered a demon capable of splitting themselves up,' she recalled while opening the door. It led out into a hallway that went two ways.
Mary looked right and immediately regretted it as she saw a bloody corpse, their clothes marking them as a human more than their body. "Guess I'll go that way in a minute," she sighed before heading to the left. In truth, and it was a rather morbid thought, the corpse could potentially serve as bait when she came back. It was always possible the demon who'd done that was saving their food for later, preferring it cold.
Putting that thought out of her mind for the time being, Mary proceeded up to another set of doors further down the hall. She paused then when she heard a noise. Gripping her sword, the slayer slowly slid the door open just enough to see what was inside. The sight that greeted her was relieving.
'That might explain something,' the woman opened the door the rest of the way and walked inside. The only thing in the bare room was a young boy with an orange kimono on and a drum in his right hand. He was clearly terrified and when he saw her, his hand went right for the drum.
With Zenitsu
"Oh come on, what's up with this place!" The Blond Slayer whined, "First Mr. and Mrs. Keller disappear and then the front door is gone and now I'm completely lost! I don't want to die in a house full of monsters!" He'd been stressing himself out over the whole situation for the last few minutes.
He had no idea what was going on and wanted to be anywhere but this place. "Maybe I should've just stayed outside with the other kids," he sniffled, "but if I stay here, one of the monsters might find me." With that terrifying thought in mind, the frightened slayer began slowly walking through the house, jumping at every creak and small noise he heard. "It's okay, just gotta find the way out, once I find the front door it'll all be okay."
The boy was sweating and shaking, dreading what was on the other side of any door he opened. "At least I'm on the outskirts of the house, I think," Zenitsu mused aloud, "there wouldn't be a dirt path anywhere else, right? If I'm on the outskirts, then I should be close to the exit." A noise caused him to halt then as he looked towards a section of the floor that was upraised like a short porch.
"What do we have here," a snakelike voice made his hair stand on end as a humanoid form emerged from beneath the wooden floor, "a little kid. I bet you'll taste delicious." It became obvious immediately that this wasn't a human due to the presence of two short horns on his head, an extra pair of mostly closed eyes above his regular eyes and a reptilian tongue hanging out of his mouth. He had no other clothing on but a long loincloth.
"A DEMON!" Zenitsu shrieked before turning and running as fast as he could in the other direction. The demon chased after him, awkwardly moving on all fours. "Please leave me alone! I'm sure I taste awful! I'm nothing but skin and bones so I'll be all dry and nasty!"
"I won't know until I've had a taste," the demon lashed out with his tongue. Zenitsu quickly ducked to the right as the appendage whipped a container of water, destroying it instantly.
"Are you kidding me?!" The Blonde Slayer yelled, "what kind of a tongue is that?! It'll tear my head off!"
"That's the idea," the Tongue Demon remarked before striking again. The boy jumped out of the way like before and crashed through a pair of sliding doors.
"This has to be a nightmare, it has to be," he whined while crawling on the floor before trying to get up.
"I'm going to enjoy using my tongue to scoop your brains out through your ears," the demon laughed. This particular set of words was the last straw as Zenitsu gasped in horror. He fell over then, passed out from fright. "Oh, well that makes things easier, but the lack of noise will be a letdown."
He whipped his tongue out then, intending to tear off the boy's face. But as it approached the blond, something happened. The demon's tongue was suddenly cut off. "What the?" For whatever reason, the slayer was getting up now, all traces of fear and despair at the situation gone.
The demon couldn't tell for sure due to the shadows cast by his hair, but was it possible his eyes were closed? The Blonde Slayer slid his foot back into a running stance then, his hand on his sword as a buzzing noise filled the room. "What, what's this sound, are you doing this?" The demon backed up despite his tongue regrowing.
"Breath of Thunder First Form," Zenitsu unsheathed his blade ever so slightly, "Thunderclap and Flash." It all happened in the blink of an eye then. There was a flash of yellow and electricity and the sound of thunder. The next thing the Tongue Demon knew, he'd been decapitated, and the slayer was on the other side of his body?!
'Who is this boy,' were the final thoughts the demon had before passing on into the next life. As his head rolled into the leg of the slayer, he suddenly woke up. "Huh," Zenitsu looked around before seeing the head by his foot, "AAAAH! It's deaaaad!" The blond looked around frantically, "what's going on, who did this? Mr. Keller, Mrs. Keller, are you here somewhere?"
But he received no answer. It would be a long time before he got any sort of answer as to what happened on this day. It would take even longer for him to believe it.
A Couple Minutes Earlier: With John
Blades clashed and splinters flew as John dodged around the swing of another axe. He took another couple of swings at his opponent who blocked each strike before retreating and sending a pair of axes after him. This was her Blood Demon Art, Black Flying Psychotic Axes. Whenever she released one it floated and spun in the air, guided by her will.
John found himself thankful not for the first time that the Breath of Water had some fancy footwork. Every time he got in too close the axes would come at him from behind and he'd either have to dodge or deflect them. The weapons moved surprisingly well despite it being a cramped hallway and his opponent was surprisingly quick despite her size and managed to back step whenever he got close enough to strike at her.
"This is amusing," Maru grinned, "I haven't had a challenge like this from a rookie slayer in some time."
"Not sure how I feel about being called a rookie," John remarked while parrying her axe swing before turning, knocking away the other two, then blocking her next strike, "then again, my bet is you're way older than I am."
"You should know better than to ask a woman her age!" The demon lady pressed down even harder with her axe before summoning another one in her hand to swing at him.
"Breath of Water Sixth Form," the slayer let the weapon on his blade slide by before spinning his body, "Whirlpool!" He spun rapidly, deflecting not only Maru's strike but the other two axes aimed at him from behind.
"Gah," the demon stepped back due to receiving a deep cut on her right arm from the move, "not bad, not bad at all."
"I've had to deal with a lot of trouble compared to the average rookie," John shifted his stance, "it's forced me to get good fast!" He rushed in with another form then. "Breath of Water Third Form: Flowing Dance!" The slayer went through a series of tricky footwork, maneuvering around her blows before going for her arms.
But just as he was about to make contact with his blade the Tsuzumi Drum sounded again, and the hallway changed. A wall with a door that wasn't there before appeared behind Maru who dodged backward and crashed through it. Before John could pursue her, the drum sounded once more, changing him to a different hallway. "Damn it," he looked around, "is that thing on some kind of timer?"
The man continued to take in his surroundings while trying to think of what to do next. 'A lot of these hallways look identical, and that demon woman said she wasn't the one responsible for the drum. Great, that means we're dealing with more than one demon in the same place.' It was an odd phenomenon, at least according to what they'd heard from Lady Tamayo.
She'd said that demons didn't tend to gather in large groups because Muzan forbade it unless it was under his orders. This meant these demons, hopefully, weren't working together and just all happened to be in the same place at the same time. 'It must be because of that Marechi stuff Maru was talking about earlier,' the male swordsman surmised, 'It's certainly believable that demons would fight over a meal if they all consider it a delicacy.'
At the very least it meant they weren't dealing with more demons Muzan had personally sent after them. But regardless of the reason as to why there were multiple demons the objective was still the same; slay them all and rescue any survivors.
The Present: Back With Mary
"Whoa, just hold on a second," Mary waved her hands in a placating manner, "I'm not with the monster that brought you here kid, I was sent by your younger brother and sister."
"You," the boy's hand still hovered over the drum, "you know about my brother and sister?"
"I met them on the way in," the lady slayer explained, "They're both very brave, coming all the way to this place to try and rescue you. My husband and I told them to wait outside, they should still be there."
"Are they okay," the frightened youth questioned, "they're not hurt, are they?"
"Your siblings are fine," Mary approached slowly, "but to my understanding you got hurt when that demon grabbed you, mind if I take a look?" The boy was obviously reluctant but slowly pulled up his left pant leg, revealing a large cut on the lower part of his leg. "That's good news, it's not as deep as I thought it would be." She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a wrapped envelope that was kept closed with a red string.
"What's that," the young man asked as she got to unrolling it to reveal a tiny jar with a creamlike substance on the inside.
"This is a special ointment given to me by my master," she explained, "crazy old windbag has plenty of scars on her so she can vouch for how good this stuff works. A cut like this will disappear in no time and probably won't even leave a scar."
"Thank you," the boy nodded, "but, who are you, anyway?"
"My name is Mary Keller, or just Mary to most people, what's yours," she inquired.
"Kiyoshi," he answered, seeming to relax just the slightest bit.
"Nice to meet you Kiyoshi," Mary gave a friendly smile, "and in case you're wondering why I'm here, I'm a Demon Slayer. Killing monsters like the one that kidnapped you is my and my husband's job."
"You said your husband was here too," Kiyoshi recalled, "where is he right now?"
"Probably hunting down the demon responsible for all of this," she mused while wrapping a bandage around the boy's injured leg, "we got a little split up, but John's killed plenty of demons so he should be fine. That being said, and I really hate to ask, have you been using that drum to change your location this whole time?" The boy waited until she was done with the bandage before speaking.
"It was…... after that demon took me," he began shakily, "I nearly got eaten but then, another pair of monsters showed up out of nowhere. They started fighting to the death, saying the winner would be the one who'd… who'd get to eat me. At some point, one of the monsters was able to tear a drum out of the creature with all of the drums growing out of him. I didn't know what else to do so I grabbed it and struck it."
"Let me guess," Mary put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "whenever you struck the drum it caused the room to change. You've been striking that drum every time you thought one of the monsters was getting close, it's how you've managed to hold out for so long."
"That's right," Kiyoshi nodded as fresh tears started to form in his eyes. Mary pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back soothingly.
"It's alright now," she spoke in as calming a voice as she could, one she hadn't used since Jonathan had grown up. When they separated Mary asked her next question. "Tell me, did that Drum Demon mention anything called Marechi?"
"That's right, the demon kept calling me that," Kiyoshi remembered, "what does that mean?"
"CAW!" Mary's crow, Juyago, suddenly spoke up from out of nowhere, "Marechi refers to a rare type of blood!"
"Ah!" Kiyoshi fell back upon seeing the talking crow.
"Oh, sorry," Mary picked the bird up, "this is my Kasugai Crow, Juyago, she's undergone special training that's allowed her to talk. How'd you manage to get in here?"
"Did you forget the giant open window on the second floor of this place," she squawked before hopping down, "and I hardly needed any special training, I'm a smart girl!"
"Well, smart girl, why not tell us about this Marechi stuff," Mary crossed her arms.
"All living things with blood have different types," she answered, "including rare types that have a higher nutritional value to demons!" The crow quickly went on to explain how Marechi was a delicacy to demons and could boost their strength faster than eating several regular humans.
"That explains a lot," the lady slayer mused, "is it also possible that Marechi can prove addictive for demons?"
"There have been cases where Marechi can make a demon seemingly drunk if they get a large amount of its scent at once," her crow answered.
"That means it's only a matter of time before the demons find their way here again," the slayer realized, "and it explains how the demon was able to identify that you had it in the first place." As if on cue, a sudden stomping echoed down the hall. "Looks like he's here."
"What should we do?" Kiyoshi asked while looking in the direction of the noise nervously.
"Listen carefully," Mary held a finger to her lips, "I'm going to take care of the demon. When I leave the room, I want you to strike the drum to change locations. Juyago, you stay with him and keep watch. He's exhausted right now so you might need to strike the drum for him at some point. I'm willing to bet the drum will disappear if I defeat the demon so when it does, I want you to come find me and lead me to where Kiyoshi is."
"But why can't I follow the crow to you," Kiyoshi asked.
"The Drum Demon isn't the only one here," Mary reminded, "my husband is a good fighter, but this place is huge. There's always the chance one might still be around, so stay here and wait for me. If I'm not back in an hour, Juyago can try to lead you out if you're feeling up to it, does that sound alright?"
"I, I think I can do it," Kiyoshi nodded.
"You're a brave boy," Mary smiled while patting his head, "you remind me of my own son a little." She stood up then and headed towards the door. The slayer looked back once and nodded towards the boy as the demon's head peered around the doorway of another room. "NOW!"
She gave the signal as soon as she passed the threshold into the other room, leaving just her and the demon as the drum shifted them all again. "Infuriating insects," her opponent hit the drum on his right shoulder twice. Mary was ready for it this time as she reoriented herself in the air and landed feet first on the ceiling which had now become the floor.
"Round two percussion prick," Mary charged forward. She dodged out of the way of another claw attack before halting her advance as things shifted again. The room spun and flipped in multiple directions as the Lady Slayer tried her best to stay upright. Eventually, a moment came when the room oriented so that she was falling right towards the demon. 'Let's try this!' She aimed a blow for the monster's neck.
But it was a trap as he used his claw attack again. Mary had just enough time to roll out of the way while falling, but she still felt how close the attack was from the movement of air. 'Wait, the movement of the air,' a thought suddenly came to the swordswoman. 'What was it master said about the wind?'
She continued to dodge and flip around the ever-rotating room while more and more claw attacks were aimed at her. 'That's right, now I remember the lesson,' Mary recalled a certain memory then.
Flashback: The Windy Mountain
"You're thinking too much," Izumo noted from atop a large rock, "just go through the forms."
"I'm trying not to get blown off the mountain while I do all of this," Mary reminded, "of course I'm thinking a lot!"
"It's pointless to try and anticipate every change in the wind," her sensei sighed, "it can change on a dime so you might as well do your best to push on through when it does change. The Breath of Wind is a style that relies almost completely on offense. Be it a gentle breeze or a powerful gale the wind is always blowing against something. Like the wind you need to learn to change your direction and intensity on a dime."
"So I just, react," Mary paused after finishing her latest form, "even in the middle of attacking?"
"An opponent can change their method of attack at any time," Izumo answered, "what you need to determine is whether or not you can batter through that attack when they do. Caution is always good but don't let your analysis of an opponent stop you from attacking completely. There's always a crack in an attack or a defense and flowing wind can always find those cracks."
The Present
'Right,' Mary smirked slightly, 'I spent all that time analyzing what my opponent can do but I was watching the wrong thing.' She landed on the floor as the room oriented back to its original position. "What I need to worry about is just one single beat," Mary shifted her stance.
"What," the Drum Demon growled.
"Sorry, thinking out loud over here," the Lady Slayer remarked, "now, let's bring this performance to an end."
"You really think you stand a chance against a candidate for the Twelve Kizuki!" The demon's right eye suddenly moved, revealing the kanji for a number but Mary couldn't make it out because there was an 'x' through it. "I, the great Kyogai, will show you the final performance of your life! RAPID DRUMMING!" He began hitting every drum on his body as fast as he possibly could, causing the room to turn in every possible direction while sending claw attacks all over the battlefield.
"Alright, it's a finale then!" Mary jumped and spun with every shift of the room, moving forward little by little with every leap. "Breath of Wind Second Form: Claws-Purifying Wind!" Her attack occurred just as another claw strike was coming at her. But instead of the attack continuing, it was nullified by her own four-clawed slash attack.
"How," Kyogai paused in his drumming for the briefest of moments due to his shock.
"Your attack only has three claws, mine has four!" The Lady Slayer declared as she cut through even more attacks with Claws-Purifying Wind. "Your Blood Demon Art is tricky, but it's meant to disorient opponents so that you can attack them. That's the reason the drum on your back switches rooms, you focused everything on defense and barely anything on a decent attack!"
"I'll show you wretched harlot!" The demon continued to strike his drums but now that Mary was cutting through his claw attacks there was little he could do to stop her advance as the Lady Slayer moved swiftly to correct her posture every time he changed the room's orientation. Even the addition of two more claws to his attack was only enough to slow her for a moment before she started cutting through the sides or center of the attack with even more ferocious strikes.
"Now, Breath of Wind First Form," Mary jumped off the floor one last time at an angle that sent her flying forward, "Dust Whirlwind Cutter!" She swung her blade around her body, creating a horizontal cyclone that rushed towards the demonic drummer. 'What, the changes in gravity aren't affecting her forward momentum?!' Kyogai realized in terror as the twister came within striking range.
The next thing he knew, Mary's blade flashed across his vision as a blast of wind silenced the noise of his drums. His head fell off then, a result of the clean cut that had gone through his neck. "Whew," the Lady Slayer let out a breath as she landed a little more roughly than she meant to, "I think I might be dizzy for a bit after that." She reflexively caught a piece of paper that had been sent floating in the air due to all the claw attacks.
"What in the world's this," she quickly skimmed a few lines, "oh wow, is this a story?"
"It is," Kyogai's severed head confirmed, "I wrote it some time ago. It was declared a poor tale and never saw the light of day."
"I can see why it might not appeal to Japanese sensibilities," Mary read another page, "the sense of humor is different, so is the writing style."
"I was inspired by some foreign writers," the Drum Demon admitted, "I'd hoped to emulate some of their writing and perhaps introduce a new form to my homeland."
"That so," Mary mused before a thought occurred to her, "well it might not make it to the masses but at least I'll have something to read on the road. Personally, I think you should've kept trying instead of becoming a demon, but I can't judge too harshly without knowing the circumstances."
"I see," Kyogai mused as his head began to completely disintegrate, "then at least something I did in this life will bring joy to someone." His head completely turned to ash then.
"Oh crap," Mary remembered something important as she pulled an odd-looking knife from her sleeve and threw it at the demon's body, "you said you were a potential Kizuki. I've kind of been charged with collecting samples of your blood." The blade instantly withdrew said sample which the slayer could witness with the see through handle of the small instrument. She pulled it back out then and tried to remember what to do next.
Fortunately, a sudden meowing drew her attention as the Lady Slayer looked down to see a calico cat with a box on its back and one of Yushiro's tags on its front. "Ah, you must be Chachamaru," Mary bent down and scratched the cat's chin before slipping the sample into the pouch within the box. "There we go, you can head home now." The cat nodded before walking away, disappearing with a second meow.
'Yep, appears and disappears when it meows, just like Yushiro said,' Mary dusted her hands off then, 'now, let's collect this story and then go collect everyone else.'
And so the master of the mansion has been slain! But one more demon still roams the halls of the Tsuzumi Mansion and what of this wild dual wielder with a boar's head? Let me know what you thought of the chapter in your comments and reviews along with what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And stop by me Pat reon to see what's going on during the new year! Last thing, stop in next time as our heroes deal with the remaining monsters, and headaches, in the mansion! 'Til then.