You were sitting in the same booth, waiting for the train to depart from the station. "Like i said, as the both of us are present we will have nothing to worry about" Rengoku said as he raised his hand and ordered a bento and waited patiently for it to arrive.
"Do you truly believe that a Demon Moon will appear on the train?" You asked as the bento box was given to Rengoku. "We have no actual way of confirming this, but we know that at least 40 people have disappeared and many of our swordsmen as well."
He then started eating rapidly "Delicious! Delicious!" He started yelling with almost every bite he took which made you wonder if it was actually good, after all it was his favorite meal. You knew he yelled those exact words since you stayed with him a period of time. He was now ordering his 6th box and since it seemed too good you ordered one yourself. "Ah I see that you know what delicious food really is my boy!" He said after you ordered your bento.
When it arrived it looked so good that you couldn't hold yourself and started eating as if you were starving. Unlike Rengoku you didn't say a word while eating but right after finishing your plate you ordered another one right away.
You looked around and noticed that the whole passenger car was staring at the both of you, and out of the corner of your eye you noticed that the trio of strange boys had arrived as well.
You moved all the bento boxes to get cleaned up and tried to get Rengoku's attention but he wouldn't stop yelling how tasty it was. It wasn't until Tanjiro came forward and spoke with Rengoku that he paid attention.
For this you moved to the seat in front of where you were seated so Tanjiro could speak better with Rengoku.
You were surprised by what he said, you never knew that something like that was possible, not only was he applying the dance his father taught him but he also mentioned something about a fire God. Also, Rengoku was very persistent about making him his Tsuguko which made you laugh, especially seeing Tanjiro's reactions since he wasn't used to the way Rengoku socialized.
During this time Inosuke was looking out the window thinking he could beat the train in a race. Zenitsu on the other hand was holding tight onto him so the idiot wouldn't fall out. You truly thought that these boy's, despite being strong, were really weird
As the Train started moving the chauffeur started punching holes in the tickets.
"We need to be well prepared for when the Demon appears" Rengoku said after explaining the whole deal to the Trio. "YOU'RE KIDDING a Demon will appear in this exact train!?! NOOO I WANT TO GET OFF, LET ME OFFF!!!!" Zenitsu started yelling out in desperation, "I will... Look at your tickets..." at this moment the chauffeur approached to punch a hole in your ticket
"What's this?" Tanjiro asked and you patiently explained what the deal was. You, Rengoku and Tanjiro felt it, the presence of the Demons which were hidden.
"Conducter it's dangerous, so stand down! It's an emergency so I would prefer it if you don't ask why I have a sword on me!" Rengoku said as you both quickly got up from your seats with blades ready for battle
The lights started flickering and an enormous muscular Demon appeared right in front of you. The people were obviously frightened and reacted as such.
"Big guy!! Wers you hiding your Blood Demon Techniques!" Rengoku said as he readied his sword. "It was hard to find your presence, however! If you're baring your fangs at innocent people... THE RED FLAME SWORD OF RENGOKU WILL BURN YOU DOWN TO THE BONE!!"
In a single second Rengoku launched himself to the Demon using his first form and killed the Demon in a second.
"There's another one.." He said as you ran already towards that direction. "Follow me!" Rengoku said as he ran to that passenger car too.
You got there before them and noticed a very long legged Demon that was about to injure the passengers. So instead of killing the Demon you hurried to the aid of the passengers. You jumped in the way blocking its attack and then carried the three passengers left to safety. "He's all yours!!" You said as you jumped out of the way. Rengoku then finished it off with a clean slice to the head.
"That was awesome Aniki!! That was amazing swordsmanship! Make me your disciple" Tanjiro yelled out with tears in his eyes.
"Sure thing! I'll make you into a fine swordsman!!" Rengoku said out very proudly
"Me too!" Both Zenitsu and Inosuke yelled out. "I'll look after every single one of you!!" He then laughed even more proud. All three of them were circling him yelling Aniki which made you laugh and felt happy for them.
After all that commotion you all headed back to your seats and fell asleep rather quickly. Inosuke slept on top of Zenitsu, Tanjiro laid his head against Rengoku's shoulder and since you had a seat to yourself you laid down as well with both knees upwards to not bother with your legs standing out.
In an instant you opened your eyes, only to find yourself in your hometown, crossing the bridge to your house. You looked around and it was a beautiful spring day, people all around the Village, the sun giving you its warmth, the fresh breeze of air hitting your face. It all felt so surreal, and you grew suspicious until.. "(Y/n!!.. (Y/n) hurry or your food will get cold!" You turned to your house and your mother was yelling at you to hurry. So you did just that, you hurried back home and washed your hands before sitting down.
"You sold all of the wood fire, you're a better seller than your mother and me" Your dad said laughing as he ate too. "Here darling, serve yourself some more. After all I made you your favorite food" Your mother said as she had a hand on her belly.
Now that you remembered, she was pregnant you always hoped to be an older brother to a sister that you could protect and teach everything you know.
"Father, Mother.. There's someone who I want you to meet. I believe you will both like her as much as I do" You said with a silly grin on your face.
"Since when have you been interested in someone, son? For all that I know you always preferred being up on the mountains hunting and getting wood instead of hanging out with kids your age" Your father innocently mocked you. "Now that you say it, you're right... I really can't remember who I was thinking about.." You started getting a headache after giving it much thought.
"Mother, has the doctor come to check on you?" You asked worried. "Last I heard is that he would send his youngest daughter to do the check-up. I hear she's a year younger than you and is already the doctor's apprentice!" She explained the situation, "Is that so?" you asked while cleaning your rifle and Wood axe to get ready to go cut some more down. "I hear she will be here tomorrow with her older sister, you should be here to help out in case it is needed" she said as you went to the door.
"I will be out buying some ammo and heading up a while longer. I will be here by tomorrow if that is what you wish, mother" You said as you smiled and left.
"This doesn't feel right.. I mean.. It feels too good to be true but it is.. so i won't complain about it" You thought to yourself as you headed into town to buy your ammo. After a quick buy, you head into the mountain to see if you could manage to get some pelts to sell in winter. You always thought ahead of time which is why you would collect as many pelts while animals were in mating season as to not mess up the environment. Anyhow you stayed there for hours looking for any burrows to prey on.
After having spent the whole day and night with little to no success you headed back down to your house very dirty and hungry since you forgot to take a small amount of food on you. It was now clearly noon as you were arriving and you noticed you had visitors which was kind of weird, especially since no one would usually come over. You immediately remembered that your mother mentioned that the Doctors daughter would be in charge of checking her pregnancy.
When you went in you slowly bowed down and introduced yourself, when you looked up you stayed in a state of shock because these two girls were gorgeous, in a way that was very indescribable. Simply looking at them was like looking at Goddesses. The eldest had a slender build, red lips in contrast to her pale complexion. She had long, straight black hair that reached just below her waist. Her eyes were a beautiful pale violet.
The younger sister is the one who captivated you the most. She had short black hair to her cheeks with the tips being purple, her eyes were a hazy purple as well, and, in comparison to her sister, was very small. Despite this, she was doing the job of a professional. You were so captivated that you didn't even hear them presenting themselves.
"I'm very sorry, could you please repeat that?" You said very apologetic. "It's alright, my name is Kanae Kocho, and my young sister is Shinobu Kocho. It's a pleasure to meet you and your mother" She said with such a sweet voice and smile that warmed up your heart. "Are you deaf? Or why do you make oneesan repeat herself?" Shinobu said annoyed. Something didn't feel right, in fact, after hearing both of these voices your head started spinning and giving in to a horrible migraine which promptly made you fall to the ground, and fast.
"A-are you alright!?" Shinobu asked very worried about your condition. You simply blamed it on the fact that you hadn't eaten for a whole day so you felt somewhat weak. You then headed to the kitchen to get anything to eat so you wouldn't feel this way anymore. Weirdly though, you kept on having a bad feeling about everything in your surroundings, as if nothing was in it's correct spot.
When you went back to the room where the girls were checking on your mother you noticed each of them carrying a Katana and when you blinked they strangely disappeared from sight.
You even wiped your eyes and oddly enough, nothing was there.
You preferred to go to your garden to take a breath and cut some wood for tonight's fire. After cutting some logs you placed another one and charged your arm strength to get a clean cut with your axe. But as the blade came down you noticed it wasn't your axe, it was another Katana which was purple-colored with a black jagged pattern which swiftly cut the whole log and stump where you were cutting it. With this, you had confirmed that you weren't in your reality, the thing now is that you had to find a way out of this.
You started turning everywhere, you looked at your small porch and the memories flooded your mind. The memory of your dead father laying there, the pain of your most recent injury, it all came down on you. You carried the sword which was on the ground and hurried inside your small house to where your mother was, with tears in your eyes and a great smile you hugged her for one last time "I miss you every day, mother.." You stood up and looked at the young Shinobu and Kanae, "...It was nice meeting you, Sister-in-law" You said with a sad looking grin before running out of your house towards the town which was crossing the small bridge with a river underneath.
As you crossed you remembered the pools of blood that covered the towns ground, the dismembered bodies of your neighbors and acquaintances. Once you crossed you tried to think what to do to get out of this perfect place, especially since you knew everything was gone and nothing you could do would ever bring it back.
You then turned to the deep water and jumped in, once in the bottom of the river you grabbed the heaviest rock as to drown yourself. After reaching your limit you gasped for air as you could, but instead swallowed even more water effectively drowning, you immediately woke up coughing a lot and back in the train which was now under a Demon's attack. It's interior was now different, you noticed that it became the insides of the Demon
You looked down to your arm and noticed burnt rope tied to it which was strange in its own way, to add to the weirdness there was a young man in front of you, passed out. You had too many questions but no time at all.
All you knew was that you had to act, and act now.
"INOSUKE, PROTECT THOSE WHO ARE ASLEEP. THE TRAIN IS NO LONGER SAFE!!" You heard from afar. "THE WHOLE TRAIN HAS BECOME A DEMON! YOU HEAR ME? THE WHOLE TRAIN HAS BECOME A DEMON!!" you clearly heard Tanjiro yelling at the top of his lungs as the Train started wrapping up the people around you.
You pulled out one of your blades and immediately started slashing as much as you could so no one would get injured. But no matter how much you cut, it would just regenerate quickly, you had no choice but to use both swords and your breathing style.
"Poison Breathing. Third form: Sarin Wind Slash!" You spun in horizontal cutting everything in your way with high precision as to avoid injuring the passengers which were asleep. This time it took a bit longer to regenerate and gave you more time to get to the back passenger cart to clean up the Demon there as well. At this moment you turned to see everyone giving their all to protect as many people as they could. The most incredible thing was seeing Nezuko fighting and defending humans in cost of her own life, this gave you a higher determination.
Inosuke was in the front cart protecting people as if it were a competition to see who could do it better, this angered you but at least he was doing a good job. You heard a groan of pain and turned once again to see Nezuko this time caught by the Demon. You were about to run there until Zenitsu unleashed such an amazing display of swordsmanship defending Nezuko and the passengers alike. You looked at him and noticed that he was asleep.
You returned back to defending your two carts, then you looked in front of you, it was Rengoku who had finally woken up.
"Hmmm it looks like things took a turn while I was having my nap!! For sure, For sure" He said as he unsheathed his blade "As a Pillar I am ashamed of myself, if there is a hole, I want to go in it!!" He then unleashed his powerful flames in an instant taking care of three carts at the same time. He truly was incredible, you wish you could do more but your injury didn't allow you to do more.
"Young (Y/n)! There are a total of eight carts, our priority is to protect the sleeping people, and then locate and cut the Demon's neck" He said as he appeared right in front of you. You quickly grasped the situation better after this. "If that's the case, then you and I should take care of seven carts while Zenitsu and Nezuko take care of the other two. Meanwhile Tanjiro and Inosuke should look for the weak spot of the Demon" You replied. Rengoku looked at you very proud and put a hand on your shoulder "If there's someone who could succeed me, it is you. Even if you don't use flame breathing as your main form" He said as he vanished in plain site causing a tremor on the Train cutting everything in his path and a trail of fire behind.
While he was gone you started cutting and slashing as much as you could. This was when you remembered that you now had a small arsenal of Kunais which Uzui would provide you with for your missions. With this in mind you hurried to the last two carts and threw them in every corner, in the middle and the roof. Much to your surprise it was actually effective and slowed down its regeneration by a good amount of time. This gave you the freedom to roam towards the front carts where Nezuko and Zenitsu found themselves while Rengoku minded the other five for a moment. When you looked above you noticed a hole was made in the carts roof. You promptly jumped right through it, finding that Inosuke and Tanjiro were making it to the front of the Train.
They quickly jumped in the where the coal is stockpiled, you heard nothing coming from there so you decided to get closer, the smell got worse and worse as you approached it, until many hands tried to grab and throw you off. You quickly cut them all with a slash but they just kept on coming out of everywhere, you had no choice but to make a hole underneath you and jump inside. With this said you decided to move forward within the train carts. No matter how much pain you had to endure to your still recovering injuries, you kept on slashing and cutting on your way towards the front of the train.
That's when it happened, a loud bang coming from the front, you took the chance and jumped out once again, you quickly noticed some debri coming towards you. You dodged as many as you could and hurried to the front. That's when you saw it doing more Blood DemonTechniques as it used it's eyes to make Tanjiro fall asleep. He continued to wake up instantly breaking through the technique, the only bad thing is that he would see the eyes once he regained his senses.
He was about to cut his own throat and there was no way you would be able to reach him on time, luckily Inosuke was there to stop him from doing that.
"Tanjiro, Catch!!" You yelled as you threw your mask towards him, "Thank you!" promptly catching it ajd and putting it on immediately.
You hurried back to Rengoku as quickly as you could. But as you crossed every cart in your way, more and more hands and meat would spawn, halting your advance.
"If they don't cut that neck we won't last much longer.." You said as you were using both blades with higher precision than before as to not injure anyone whilst defending them in their sleep.
You then prepared to rush through 3 carts at once using your own techniques
"Poison Breathing. Third Form: Sarin Wind Slash" You spin your body with blades in hand horizontally while cutting everything in your way with high precision. After the first three carts were clearly recovering and with the help of Zenitsu and Nezuko you ran to the other six where you had left Rengoku defending by himself. The moment you were going to use your last and strongest technique you heard a very loud and painful screech that was heard throughout the whole train.
Right after the whole train started to derail and fall sideways. You sheathed a blade and used one hand to cut many luggage and things that would hurt people in midair. With the other hand you pulled the passengers out of their seats and threw them as safely as possible to the side that would least get wrecked of the train to keep injuries in the minimal. While doing this Rengoku used many techniques to help as well. But no matter what you did, you both got thrown in the train as well getting somewhat hurt.
You twisted your ankle but nothing of the other world.
After the train halted entirely you were now under many people, since you tried softening their fall. Rengoku quickly helped you and the passengers to get out of the train. "It looks like we saved all of the passengers on side, (Y/n), my boy. Let's just hope that every single person was saved as well!" Once outside you looked in all directions noticing the damage done to the train and the passengers alike. You noticed that no one was mortally wounded, nor dead. So this was a complete win for you all.
"It looks like everyone is safe. Let's just help with everything we can, Rengoku-san!" you said. All you had to do now was get the people still inside the train out safely.
"Are you Okay!! Sentarou!" You heard Inosuke from afar, since you were helping you didn't know if it was due to the crash or if he got injured while fighting. It didn't matter for now, making sure everyone is safe was the priority.
After some minutes of checking on the passengers you noticed Rengoku speaking with Tanjiro, only you couldn't hear so clearly so you walked towards them to see what was going on. By what they were saying you figured out that Tanjiro was stabbed in the abdomen and Rengoku was teaching him how to stop the hemorrhage with his Full Focus Breaths. Luckily he stopped it on time, Rengoku simply smiled.
"Everyone is safe!" You said, startling both of them. "There's a lot of injured people, but there's nothing life threatening." Rengoku added, "Don't you worry anymore Tanjiro you can now rest" You said smiling at him to give him a sense of calm and comfort.
You were happy this was over and all you had to do was to wait for the Kakushi to come and finish the job.
Out of nowhere a large roaring sound came from in front of the three of you. Both you and Rengoku had your hands on your blades ready to unsheath them.
"Why is Upper Moon Three here..?" you looked at Rengoku very concerned about this. He suddenly jumped out of nowhere and aimed for Tanjiro.
"Flame Breathing. Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun" Rengoku released an arching slash upwards.
"Water Breathing. Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin" You quickly cut vertically downwards.
Rengoku cut his arm in two and you slashed off a half of it.
As he jumped back he looked at both of you and his arm was completely healed now. "Nice techniques".
You could feel and immense sense of pressure and dread.. It made your throat hurt. "I cannot understand why you're targeting a wounded person." Rengoku said calmly as ever. "I thought he'd just get in the way between us". Upper Moon Three replied.
"You have something to talk to us about? It is our first time meeting, but I already hate you." At this point Rengoku was speaking for the both of you.
"Is that so? I really hate weak humans too. When I look at weaklings, I just feel disgusted." he said with a cheeky smile on his face. "It looks like you and I share different moral values in regard to things." Rengoku said with an angered tone of voice, this was the first time that you saw him like this.
"I see. Then I have a wonderful proposal for the two of you.. How about you become a Demon too?" Upper Moon Three said, this completely angered you. "There's no way in hell we'd become Demons.." you said. He looked at you dead in the eyes which made your body react in a fight or flight situation.
"I know your strength just by looking at you. You're a Pillar right? Your battle spirit is quite polished. You're getting close to Supreme territory." he said looking at Rengoku then turned to you. "Your battle spirit isn't as polished as his, but it's fluctuating quite highly in such a mysterious way, so I have high hopes for you." this made you feel weird.
"I am the Flame Pillar, Rengoku Kyojuro. And he is my friend and tsuguko, Mitsuki (Y/n)." Rengoku told him. "And I'm Akaza, and Kyojuro, I'll tell you why you aren't crossing into supreme territory." Akaza pointed annoyed at Rengoku.
"Because you're human, Because you'll grow old. Because you'll die.
Become a Demon Kyojuro, if you do.. You can continue to traun for a hundred, even two hundred years. You can become stronger!"
You turned to look at Tanjiro who was looked even more mortified about Akaza then you or Rengoku.
"Growing old and dying is the beauty of the fleeting creature called a human being. Because they grow old. Because they die. They are tremendous. Lovable and precious. What they call 'strength' isn't used in regards to the body.
This boy isn't weak. Don't insult him.
I'll say it over and over again. You and I have different moral values. No matter what kind of motivation I may have, I will NOT become a Demon."
Rengoku's words were truly beautiful to the core. And he was completely right.
"I see.. And what about you!? Will you accept my offer? You could become the strongest of all." Akaza said with a cocky smile on his face.
"It seems that you don't listen to a word you're told by others. Us humans.. it is true that we are weak and we die fairly easily. But no matter how weak we are, no matter how much we suffer we always look for a way to survive... Us Demon Slayers have lost so much, and we will keep on living on, as humans. Keep on fighting for others, so they won't have to go through the same things we did! Even if our wounds don't heal, even if we lose our limbs. We fight so they won't have to lose anything. So if you ask me if I want to become a Demon, it's the same as just spitting on what I believe in and fight for. So I'm sure you know my answer, Akaza."
"Very well then.."
Technique Deployment. Destructive Kill: Compass Needle!
"If you won't become Demons, then I'll just kill you!"
These words made your adrenaline run high. Akaza jumped straight towards the both of you.
"First form: Unknowing Fire!"
The battle now begun and for the first time in a long time, you were afraid of dying here.
Rengoku blocked the first punch with his sword and you backed him up by trying to cut his other arm but Akaza parried your blade punching it down to the ground making you completely miss him.
Right after Rengoku threw another slash aiming to cut his torso but Akaza jumped very high completely dodging with no problem whatsoever.
"Of all the Pillars i killed up to now, none of them were of flames. And none of them ever agreed to my invitation.
Why is that? As someone who trained in the same martial arts, I find them hard to understand. And they say only those who were chosen can become Demons.
This is unbearable, someone with wonderful talents and another who has a lot to grow are going to have an unsightly decline. Just Die, both of you!"
Akaza started throwing punches from midair towards you. You felt something coming, and you knew it was big.
"DestructiveKill: Void Style"
You looked all around you, trying to figure out what was coming your way. You had your blade ready to defend yourself, and that's when you felt it, a massive amount of power and pressure coming from the punches he threw into the air. The first one was so painful it even pushed you back and made your hands feel numb for a moment.
You kept on receiving the impacts until Rengoku pulled you back.
"Flame breathing. Fourth Form: Blooming Flame Undulation" Rengoku then swung his blade in a circular motion to defend the both of you from all directions. You were trying to get feeling back in your hands. "The attacks reach us when he fires into the empty air with his fists, he's moving qt a fraction of a blink." you said.
"If he keeps attacking like this from a distance it'll be dangerous for both of us to keep on fighting him. If that's the case we have to close the distance. Cover my back!" Rengoku said as he closed the distance in a blink of an eye.
Akaza merely tilted his head back easily dodging the incoming attack of Rengoku. "Such a beautiful reaction time!" He said praising Rengoku as he returned the attack. As Akaza kept on throwing a barrage of mortal punches you noticed that it was getting difficult for Rengoku to avoid them all which made you rush in trying to help as much as you could. The next attack was heading your way so you used the hilt of the blade to stop his punch, in a nanosecond he was already swinging at you with his other fist, you miraculously dodged that, but the simple graze of his fist made you bleed from your brow.
Seeing how he used both arms now was your chance to counterstrike, "Poison Breathing. Fifth Form: Bitting Toxins" you used one sword to stab Akaza in his collar bone and use that steadiness to slash his neck with the other. But before you could even charge your slash he immediately broke the sword that pierced him and kicked you, making you fly off and hit the ground fairly easily. The kick suffocated you, making you vomit some blood. You were now on the floor gasping for air, trying to steady your breathing to keep on fighting despite the fact that your injury worsened and now you had extra broken ribs.
By the time you looked back, Rengoku was only limiting himself to defend while Akaza ceaselessly threw punch after punch closing the distance between the two of them, making it unable for Rengoku to breathe properly. His attacks were so powerful that even sparks came out of the blade as if it was hitting metal or stone. Graze after graze of his punches would just keep on making cuts.
"You haven't even reached your potential!" Akaza said as he got a clean hit on Rengoku's abdomen clearly destroying an internal organ or two. At this point you could even barely breathe but still jumped in Rengoku's place, pulling him from his haori and receiving the blows instead of him.
"You could easily reach your potential in a year or two from now, you'll be even more refined in your swordsmanship... So why die now!?" he yelled at you as you kept on receiving his attacks. You yelled in desperation and started to get on the offensive side, immediately hitting him even though he blocked fairly easily with his arms.
"Poison Breathing. First Form: Ricin Air" you grabbed your sword with a stronger grip and started slashing at him faster and with higher precision. The only problem is that he adapted quickly to your change. You were looking at a true warrior and he did not have mercy for you.
He threw another punch and luckily you sliced his whole arm right through the middle. He smiled at you and his arm recovered in a split second trapping your sword. You were still holding on to it pretty tightly so he did a flip, forcing your arms to twist since you didn't let go, that's when you saw it coming, even in slow motion, his other arm came crashing down towards your arms. Even if you let go it wouldn't give you time to dodge it completely.
His other hand came crashing down as you let go of your sword, he reached your dominant hand and shattered the wrist making you fall to your knees and grunt in pain, when you raised your head you noticed Akaza aiming for your head with his next attack making it the last. "So this is where you end. You can still become a Demon. Tell me that you will become a Demon!" Akaza pleaded angered as you could hardly breathe, blood flowing down your brow and out of your mouth, shattered wrist and more broken ribs. You didn't say anything and was ready for the final blow.
Until Rengoku came back into the scene taking what was going to be your killing blow. His sword couldn't handle the strength of his attack and it slipped straight for his eye, destroying it in the process. This didn't faze Rengoku at all, he kept giving it his all, and all you could do was look on, especially since you couldn't move, you weren't healed completely before coming to this mission, so these injuries took an even higher toll on you. You weren't as wounded as Rengoku was, but the accumulated amount of damage you withstood was enough for you to pass out. Despite this, you didn't, actually you couldn't, you stayed there ready to switch in in case you needed to.
Meanwhile Rengoku was reaching his limit as well but didn't give in either.
"Flame Breathing. Fifth Form: Flame Tiger" Rengoku yelled charging at akaza unleashing a powerful series of sword slashes that takes the form of a rampaging tiger engulfed in flames.
"Kyojuro!!" Akaza yelled in excitement getting ready to take in the powerful attack coming his way.
Rengoku managed to cut his chest deeply and cut off an arm.
After this Akaza jumped back and there was a moment of silent. Only Rengoku's breathing could be heard
He was giving his back to Tanjiro so he didn't know how injured he actually was. That's when Akaza spoke, his wounds already healed.
"Don't die on me, Kyojuro..
No matter how hard you try, a human will never be able to beat a Demon... Look, all the wonderful cuts you did are already healed up. But what about you? Your internal organs are destroyed, your left eye is shattered and you will die soon.."
"It doesn't matter how injured he is or not, he is strong and won't die.. we have a mission to complete.. And it's to kill you.."
Rengoku stayed silent for a second.. You managed to get back up even if you were dying in pain and exhaustion, you grabbed your other sword with your non dominant hand. "It looks like you can still fight.. I knew I wasn't wrong about you. Don't you die on me now.. We're only getting started" Akaza said in a serious tone as he was stretching, presumably getting ready to to keep on fighting.
You mustered up your courage and charged at him screaming.
You grab ahold of your sword with both hands even though the dominant one was shattered. You sliced as you could, but no matter what, he would always find an opening to get right back at you.
You only managed to dodge his attacks by reflex and concentration. You thought of a plan to at least confuse him or get a cut on his neck.
You then jumped back and charged forward, you were going for a straight cut on him but instead you threw the sword directly into the ground and using it to propel your legs onto him, kicking his arms making him lose his defensive stance, you landed and quickly grabbed your sword once more ready to go for the kill. Once the blade was going to reach his neck you noticed and felt something wrong so you quickly jumped back instead.
"Ho.. You knew about that.. You really are an interesting man. You should really consider my offer" Akaza smiled putting his arm out. "Not now. Not ever" You simply said while recovering your breath. Akaza didn't give you the chance to do so, he quickly jumped towards you, punching the ground hard enough to make the floor shake, making you trip and fall, you couldn't gather the strength to get back up. Instead what you did was wait for him to attack once again and use the momentum of it to push yourself back with your foot and get some distance. As you expected he did, and you were prepared to feel the pain of his attack but ready enough to get up in the momentum. You rolled over to dodge the first one, and used the second to impulse yourself.
Luckily it worked out for you he threw you near Rengoku, the only bad thing about it is that the raw strength of his attack broke your foot and threw your sword away.
Due to the adrenaline you didn't feel it right away, but seconds after the whole pain came falling over you.
That's when both of you heard him..
Rengoku dragged his foot back, perfecting his stance "I will fulfill my duty! I will not let anyone here Die!!"
He quickly turned back to look at you "I'll damage his body as much as I can in an instant.."
"Flame breathing. Esoteric Art!"
An aura of fire enveloped Rengoku who now looked very determined to finish this.
Akaza now looked ecstatic as if he were enjoying seeing Rengoku in thus state "What a tremendous fighting spirit!" Amazing aura despite the injuries.. That mental strength! That stance!" Akaza laughed "You have to become a Demon Kyojuro!".
Rengoku gripped his sword stronger and readied "I am the Flame Pillar, Rengoku Kyojuro! Ninth Form: Rengoku!!"
"Destructive Death: Annihilation Type!" Akaza was ready to finish this as well.
Rengoku the charged full strength ahead, managing to destroy the ground underneath. As he progressed to the attack a dragon made of Flames appeared right at the moment Rengoku was going to hit. On the other hand Akaza only received the attack head-on.
An enormous cage of fire enveloped both of them, you couldn't see what was inside, but in an instant all around blew up in smoke and dirt.
As the dirt cleared up you all saw Rengoku's and Akaza's silhouettes.
Your heart was beating harder than it ever was as you didn't know what was going to happen.
"I can see hi--" Tanjiro said, until you all noticed it...
Rengoku's chest was pierced open by Akaza's whole arm.. Silent invaded all around, your ears started buzzing like crazy, you could only see Tanjiro screaming something but didn't know what. You didn't know how to process this, and your mind was going blank.
"You'll die, this will kill you, Kyojuro! Become a Demon! Say that you'll become a Demon! You are strong and one of the chosen ones!" Akaza yelled almost sad, trying his best to convince Rengoku.
Rengoku didn't say a word.. Only blood poured out his mouth.
After what seemed like an eternity Rengoku's grip on his sword strengthened, he picked it up and yelled immediately going for Akaza's neck. The cut went through but only by a little, Rengoku kept on trying to cut all of it. Akaza yelled and threw a punch straight for his head which Rengoku caught with his other hand.
This surprised you a lot, especially since you knew the force of his attacks.
Both Akaza and Rengoku were struggling to finish each other off. That's when all of you noticed.. The sun was finally rising, for this reason Akaza struggled even more.
You noticed Tanjiro running with his blade towards Rengoku.
"INOSUKE! INOSUKE MOVE FOR RENGOKU-SAN!!" he yelled as Inosuke reacted and hurried to where both Rengoku and Akaza were. You reacted as well grabbing your blade with your non dominant and running at the speed your broken leg could let you.
"Breath of the beast. First Fang: Pierce and Extract!" Inosuke charged at Akaza until he gathered the strength to rip off his own arms and jumped away, promptly launching both you and Inosuke back.
Once he landed his arms regenerated and he removed Rengoku's blade which was still in his neck and ran off. Tanjiro out of rage threw his sword hitting Akaza right in his chest as he ran.
"Don't run away. You coward! Don't run away!!" Tanjiro started yelling at the top of his lungs. "The demon hunters will always fight you in the darkness of night when it's advantageous to you!! We're humans of flesh and blood!! Wounds don't just simply heal!! And the limbs we lose will never come back!! Compared to the likes of you Rengoku-san will always be more amazing!! He's strong and he's not gonna lose!! He never let anyone die!! He fought to the end and protected everybody!! He's the winner and you're the loser!!" he then screamed in despair and started crying for the tragic fate that would follow Rengoku soon.
" There's no point in shouting all that now.. The wound in my stomach is opening and you don't have any minor injuries either.." Rengoku said with a calm voice as he called Tanjiro over.
"I just remembered somethings when I saw the dreams of my past" Rengoku started talking. "You should try to go to my parents house, The Rengoku House. There should be some notes, which the 'Flame Pillars' of old left behind." You could hear Rengoku trying to help Tanjiro find the information that he longed for. Tanjiro only cried begging for Rengoku to stop speaking and look for a way to seal the wound.
"I'm going to die very soon. I'm gonna talk while I still can, so hear me out." Rengoku said with all the calm of the world. Once you heard this your heart started to beat faster, afraid of losing the man you considered a master, a teacher, a Brother..
You were right next to him, laying on the ground, simply looking at him. Trying your best not to cry, but the more you tried the harder it was. Especially when his blood reached out to where you were.
"I want you to tell my little brother Senjuro that he should proceed down the path that he thinks is right, as his heart tells him to. Tell my father to take care of his body. (Y/n) please don't see this as something bad.. I know you are strong and will overcome this. It is now your turn to protect those under your wing. Make sure to always shine, even in the darkest of nights.
And also, Kamado My Boy. I believe in your sister, I accept her a member of the Demon Hunters. Inside the train I saw that girl protect the humans despite her bleeding put." By the second his voice was lowering. "Those who risk their lives to fight Demons and protect humans are Demon Hunters no matter what anyone else tries to say."
He turned to see you and slowly put his hand on your shoulder..
"Live with your chest high. If you get knocked down by your own weaknesses and cowardice, Flame up your heart, grit your teeth and move forward. Even if you stop in your tracks and cower, you're not gonna stop the flow of time. Don't be saddened by the fact that we're all reaching the end."
"Don't worry about me dying here. If you're a Pillar it's natural to become the shield of your juniors. If you are a Pillar, you do the same as everyone elsexno matter who they are. Young buds can't get plucked..
Mitsuki, My boy. Kamado, My Boy. Inogashira, My Boy. Golden boy, you all have ways to grow. And the next time, you all will become Pillars who will support the Demon Hunters. I believe in you.. I truly do." He loosened the already weak grip on your shoulder as he smiled in his last moment of life.. You were completely in shock.
You didn't know what to say, you couldn't say anything. You were too much in a shock that you didn't even cry. You just grabbed on to Rengoku's arm, waiting for him to move, to react as happily as he always does.
You really couldn't believe he was gone.
All you could do was look at Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu who were all crying. Your ears were buzzing and you felt the weight of the world on your shoulders as you now failed to protect that which was dear to you.
You also felt all the pain and exhaustion running down your body as you couldn't handle it more and passed out. The last thing you saw was Inosuke Bonking Tanjiro's head and the Kakushi heading your way.