Iguro, Mitsuri, Nezuko and Rokuta killed more Demon's as they searched for Muzan, the rest of the Kamado family or the other Hashira. "Why don't we rest a bit while we have the chance?" Mitsuri suggested. "Sure, I've noticed Demon's can't sneak up on us with these two here, much less with us wearing these paper things" Iguro agreed, gesturing at Nezuko and Rokuta, then at Yushiro's talismans. As they sat and rested, Mitsuri looked over at the two Demon Siblings with a frown, "are you worried about the rest of your family?" she asked.
Nezuko nodded, holding Rokuta in her arms. She hummed softly to him to relax the 3-year-old Demon, while Rokuta snuggled into her Kimono. Mitsuri wondered what the two would look like as humans. She really hoped that she would get a chance to spend time with the Kamado Siblings once they were all cured.
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After he finished treating Zenitsu, Yushiro left the teen with the other Demon Slayer. 'I still have a job to do, no matter how much I just want to go look for Lady Tamayo. I have to treat as many of the Demon Slayers as I can to keep them in fighting condition. That was the job my Lady gave me, so that's what I'll do!' he thought. As he ran through the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, Yushiro sensed more Demon's up ahead. But he recognised these Demons. 'Finally! It took long enough to find them again!' the fake Kakushi thought to himself.
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While she was resting, Nezuko suddenly felt another Demonic signature. And it was once she recognised. 'It's not my Mom or Siblings. The only Demon this could be is Tamayo' she thought as she stood up. Mitsuri noticed her staring down a hallway, "Nezuko? Is everything okay?" she asked. the 12-year-old Demon nodded, as footsteps were heard before Tamayo's Demon appeared. "Finally! I found you again" he said, stepping up. "Oh, it's you again. I thought you had other things to do?" the black-haired man asked.
"I've already taken care of that yellow-haired kid. You were the closest Hashira and Kamado's to me" Yushiro replied. Nezuko nodded in acceptance to that, and Mitsuri and Iguro relaxed. "First, are either of you hurt?" the other Demon asked. "No, just annoyed. We keep getting moved around this place like mice" the Serpent Hashira huffed, glaring at the walls. "Well, now I can help you deal with her" Yushiro replied. Iguro raised an eyebrow, "we've been trying to do that for ages. So what's your plan?" he asked,
"Well, we can't kill her just yet. I've observed her, and it seems like she controls everything here. If we can make her think she's killed us, then we can keep an eye on the battles and wait for the right time to strike" Yushiro said. "Strike how?" Mitsuri asked. "Like I said, I'll force her to bring us all to the surface when the time is right. but for now, I need to know the status of the rest of our allies" the Demon Doctor explained. "Alright. Let's go find them then" the Love Hashira agreed.
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The large group travelled through the Infinity Castle, watching out for Demons. "I'm sure your Siblings are safe Tanjiro, we'll find them soon!" Kyojuro assured the younger Hashira. "Yeah! You know how strong Nezuko and Rokuta are! They'll be fine big Brother!" Shigeru reassured his Oldest Brother. Hanako nodded in agreement. "We should still find them quickly. We don't know how long we have until Muzan finishes transforming and goes after them" Kie agreed. "That's true." Giyu nodded. And so the group continued to travel through the fortress.
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After a huge battle, Kanao and Inosuke were exhausted. Douma had summoned two miniature ice clones of himself to fight them, and, to their frustration, the two constructs were as strong as Upper 2 as well. "Damn these things! You're not getting away you piece of shit!" Inosuke yelled, even more furious at him after being told by the Demon that he had killed his real Mother as well. But all of his ice attacks were so powerful! "Don't worry Inosuke. We only have to hold him off a little while longer" Kanao reassured her friend.
Douma turned away and began to leave. "Hey! Where do you think you're goin'?! You're not getting away!" Inosuke cried, slicing apart the ice clones, before they reformed. The black and blue-haired teen growled. "Just a bit longer" Kanao muttered under her breath. the Upper Rank 2 stopped at the entrance to the room. He stood still for a moment, before falling to the ground. The ice clones started to shatter. "Inosuke! Now, we have to take him down now!" Kanao called, running towards Upper 2. The Demon tried to push himself up, but one of his arms fell apart and he fell forwards again.
The two Demon Slayers ran towards him, as he turned around, purple splotches all over his body and his veins bulging. As he did, his right eye fell out, as his body melted. Kanao and Inosuke swung their blades towards his neck from both sides. Both cried out as they used all of their strength. Unexpectedly, his neck suddenly became soft, and the blades sliced through in a flash. The two gasped as the head fell to the ground with a splatter, before both it and the Demon's body dissolved into ashes. Kanao gently cradling both of her Sister's Butterfly hairpins. Tears welled up in her eyes, before she started to sob uncontrollably.
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"Caw! Upper 2 is dead! Kanao Tsuyuri and Inosuke Hashibira have killed him!" a crow reported. Tanjiro gasped, "I'm so relieved! Inosuke and Kanao are both alright!" he sighed. "That means all that's left is Kibutsuji and the Demon controlling this place!" Kyojuro said with a grin. "Her name is Nakime. This Castle is actually her Blood Demon Art. So she controls everything in here. If we kill her, the whole place will fall apart" Hakuji explained. "Right. We kill her, then deal with Muzan" Giyu decided. They left to find the Biwa Demon.
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Slowly Muzan broke out of his cocoon. He looked the same as when he'd fought Giyu and the Kamado's. Except his hair was already white, despite not having fought anyone yet. Muzan didn't notice this though, too focused on his goal. This time he know how the Kamado's fought and what their Blood Demon Art's were. 'Tonight I will finally gain true immortality!' he thought, before heading off to find the Kamado Demons.
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Kie perked up as they were running, "Nezuko, Rokuta. They're close," she said, before freezing in place. "Mom? What's wrong?" Tanjiro asked warily. "Muzan" she snarled, before shooting off towards another direction. Sniffing, Tanjiro could smell the Demon King, along with his younger Sister and Brother! "Hurry everyone!" he cried, running after his Mother. His Siblings and the other two Hashira followed.
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Nezuko, Rokuta, Mitsuri and Iguro had just reached another large, open room when Muzan descended on them. Mitsuri deflected a flurry of whips with her Sword, while Iguro tried to attack while she was distracted him. But his strikes did nothing. Muzan tried to go after the two Kamado Siblings, but Nezuko and Rokuta fought back. That was when everyone else reached the room as well. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SIBLINGS!" Tanjiro roared, enraged. All the Kamado's descended on the Demon King.
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'This is it!' Yushiro thought, sticking his eyes invisibly to Nakime's body, along with over her eye. Then he plunged his fingers into her skull. As he did, the white's of his eyes turned red. "I'M SENDING YOU TO HELL MUZAN! FOR EVERYTHING YOU'VE PUT LADY TAMAYO THROUGH!" Yushiro screamed, forcing the Biwa Demon to push everything inside the Infinity Castle out onto the surface.
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Tanjiro blinked. He could feel a body on top of his. "Are you hurt Tanjiro?" his Mother asked him. Kie sat up, allowing Tanjiro to do so as well. "No, I'm not hurt. Are you okay Mom? What about everyone else?" he asked. "I'm okay, don't worry," Kie said. "Your Siblings are there" she pointed, and sure enough, emerging from the rubble were all five of his young Siblings, healing up any small bruises, cuts or other small injuries they'd gotten when they'd burst up through the Castle.
"Tanjiro!" Hanako called, catching sight of him. Soon all of his younger Siblings were crowding around him and hugging him in relief of his safety. The other Hashira started to climb out of the rubble as well. Sanemi stood up and looked around, "Genya! Teiko! Where are you two?!" he called, walking around. "Ah- here! We're here!" Genya called, as his Demon Sister pulled him out of the piles of debris. The older of the two was out of his Demon form now.
Each of the surviving Hashira appeared, along with Hakuji, who looked around frantically, "Where is Muzan?!" he demanded, before said Demon exploded out of the wood, whips lashing around furiously. "Now I have you!" he snarled in a rage, lunging for the Kamado family. Nezuko landed a flaming kick to the side of his head, before Shigeru swung his wrecking ball at the Demon King. Hanako ran around, shooting her seeds at everyone. The flowers grew on all of the Hashira and lower level Demon Slayers, restoring their energy.
Even Zenitsu woke up as he felt new power fill him. "What's happen- OH MY GOD! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" The blonde shrieked, jumping up and dodging the attack that would have sliced him in half. "Get ready everyone. It's time to end this" Gyomei said determinedly.
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Muzan glared at the Hashira surrounding him. He thought his frustration had reached it's boiling point before, but now, he felt like his fury was burning him from the inside out. His Upper Rank's had only killed one Hashira. One! And all of them had been killed. Except for Akaza, the traitor. Even Kokushibo, his most loyal Upper Rank had betrayed him for the family he'd abandoned a thousand years ago.
All of them were utterly useless! Muzan narrowed his eyes, his gaze trailing over every Kamado that had slipped from his grasp after their creation. Now all of them had conquered the cursed sunlight. Immortality was within his reach at last! He just had to capture one of them, and his victory would be complete. He could finally end the Demon Slayer Corps and live forever in a perfect body. "Now I have you!" Muzan snarled furiously, lunging towards the Kamado's.
The oldest Demon girl landed a flaming kick to the side of his head, before the younger boy swung his spiked ball at him. Muzan growled at them in fury, catching sight of the young Kamado girl shooting her seeds into everyone. 'I will capture these traitors and absorb them this time! Then I'll destroy the Demon Slayer Corps for good!' he seethed.
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Takeo flitted in between the Demon Slayers attacks, landing punches and kicks, then speeding away before Muzan could grab him. Then Hakuji leapt in and landed his own hits. "You worthless traitor Akaza!" Muzan roared. "My name is Hakuji, shithead!" the pink-haired Demon snarled back, sending an Air-Type attack to destroy one of the Demon King's tentacle arms. Giyu and Sanemi attacked as well, but these attacks didn't do any lasting damage. Suddenly the Water Hashira got an idea, "Nezuko! Set everyone's weapon's on fire!" he called.
"Great idea! Nezuko, go!" Tanjiro called, his temperature slowly rising as his Sword blade turned bright red. The 12-year-old Demon girl ran around the battlefield splattering the Hashira's Sword blades with her blood. "Huh?" Sanemi asked in confusion, as Genya made sure he and Teiko weren't in range of the flames. After everyone's weapons had her blood on them, Nezuko clenched her now glowing fists. Each weapon burst into the hot pink flames of her Blood Demon Art. Tanjiro immediately ran in, landing several hits on Muzan, burning him and slowing his regeneration.
"Oh! So these flames only effect Demon's, huh?! Smart move!" the Wind Hashira said with a feral grin as he ran in to continue fighting Muzan. As the other Hashira landed attacks, Tanjiro used the Transparent World to examine the Demon King's internals. 'He has seven hearts and five brains! How do his other organs fit in his body?!' he thought in shock. Then he shook it off, 'I have to aim for those. Then I have a chance to weaken the Bastard!' Tanjiro decided. 'Hinokami Kagura: Raging Sun!' he thought, releasing two horizontal slashes at Muzan, while his Siblings attacked him.
But as he did, a whip grazed his eye. "Tanjiro!" Shigeru called in worry. The young Hashira stepped back and covered his bleeding eye. 'Damn! I need to find Rokuta, before Muzan's blood effects me!' he thought. Tanjiro deflected multiple attacks, 'Burning Bones, Summer Sun!' he could feel his blood starting to burn, as the poisonous blood of the Demon King flowed through him. Takeo and Shigeru slammed Muzan with punches as Mitsuri attacked with Love-Breathing. Rokuta ran up, "Tan!" he whined, growing out his tail. Hakuji blocked as many attacks from Muzan around the battlefield as he could. But even with his speed, Muzan was faster, so injuries still happened.
As Rokuta nullified the poison in his Oldest Brother's body, Tanjiro watched as the other Hashira struggled to keep up. 'Rokuta can't get to everyone in this chaos. Their bodies will get destroyed from the inside!' he thought with gritted teeth. Then he noticed Chachamaru run through the battle as he regained use of his left eye. 'What's Chachamaru doing here?' he wondered as he stood up again. The cat was wearing a strange vest, and jumped into the air. Needles shot from the vest and stabbed into everyone Muzan had poisoned.
The Demon Slayers watched in awe as the destruction of their cells halted. "I don't know what that was, but that cat just saved my ass" Sanemi cried with a grin. Genya ate his last piece of Demon blade, as his Demonic features returned. "I'm at my last piece of Demon flesh! I'll be counting on you and the Kamado's from now on Teiko!" he called, shooting at Muzan while he spoke. "Don't be reckless!" Gyomei called, moving from where he had shielded his Student with his body while he was human. Muichiro flitted in and out of visibility as he used Mist-Breathing. Kie came up to Tanjiro and transferred the cut over his eye to herself.
He blinked as the injury healed. *sigh* Thanks Mom!" he said in a rush, moving to keep fighting. He and Giyu landed a combined attack of Fire and Water. "Just die!" Muzan roared, a mouth opening up on his chest. "He's going to create a shockwave! Everyone brace yourselves!" Giyu called. The attack hit, sending everyone to the ground in convulsions. Tanjiro groaned as he struggled to get back to his feet. 'I can't falter! We're so close! We can't let Muzan get away this time!' he thought. His hand trembled, making him unable to grasp the handle of his Sword. 'Move! Move! Please move!' Tanjiro thought furiously, glaring at the black-haired Demon King as he began to run away.