Akaza: "Well, aren't you confident?"
Kessei: "If I can manage to kill a betraying upper moon like you, Muzan will give me blood."
I got up from the rubble and wiped off the dust on my pants.
Akaza: "That's IF you kill me. I can regenerate 10 times faster than you."
Kessei: "Well yes, but actually no."
Akaza: "How so? You haven't received any of Muzan's blood."
Kessei: "I know."
I gave her a confused expression. Then I realized she was still holding onto Ayano.
Akaza: "Would you let the child go?"
Kessei scoffed at me.
Kessei: "Now why would I do that? It'd give the Flame Breather a chance to attack me."
She looked at Kyojuro. He had his sword in his mouth and had his right sleeve pulled up. His left hand was gripping onto his right wrist. He looked to be in pain. The anger boiled inside of me. I looked up at Ayano.
Ayano: "H-help me.."
I took a step forward to attack Kessei's tail when Shoyo ran out of the crowd with a pitch fork.
Shoyo: "LET GO OF MY SISTER!!"
She stabbed the pitch fork into Kessei's tail. Kessei yelped and turned around.
Kessei: "Why you little!-"
Kessei slammed her tail into Shoyo, sending him into a wall. Me and Kyojuro went wide-eyed.
Akaza: "SHOYO!"
I ran over to the crowd and picked him up. He was semi unconscious and couldn't move. The impact from her tail probably shattered some of his ribs. I laid Shoyo on the ground and got up. I looked back at Kessei, but saw a golden figure appear behind her. Kyojuro had taken this chance to attack Kessei from behind. Even if he had been poisoned, he still gripped onto his sword.
Kyojuro: "Flame Breathing, Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun!"
He sliced her lower back open, since he wasn't able to reach her neck without any sort of jumping boost.
(Side note: Kessei's lower body is all serpent, and she has a big ass tail. She's about 20 feet in length. So when she's like "standing" straight up, she's at least 7 feet tall.)
She screamed in pain. Her grip on Ayano tightened. She swung her tail back around and hit Kyojuro in the right arm. He yelled in pain. He was flung back, and landed on his side. He dropped his sword next to him and coughed out blood as he gripped his right arm. The poison was growing and was almost at his elbow.
Kessei: "Alright you're really starting to get on my nerves.."
She took a vial of liquid out of the inside of her kimono. She grabbed the vial with her tail, spun around and flung the vial over at Kyojuro.
Kyojuro: "!!"
Kyojuro's POV:
I tried to get up and dodge the vial, but my throbbing arm wouldn't let me. I closed my eyes and shielded my face. I heard a small glass shattering but I hadn't felt any impact. I heard a grunt. I looked up to see Akaza standing right in front of me. He had shielded me from the poison.
Kyojuro: "A-Akaza!"
Suddenly, the stomach butterflies came back. He saved me. Unlike him, I'm not immortal so I probably would've died if he hadn't shielded me.
Kyojuro: "T-Thank you, Aka-"
Suddenly, he grunted and fell on his left knee. The rain patted down on his shoulders as he coughed. I saw blood drip on the ground under him.
Kyojuro: "A-Akaza..?"
Akaza's POV:
I had run over and used my body as a shield to save Kyojuro from the poison. I thought it was gonna be normal poison but it wasn't. I put my hand over where the vial had hit me. The poison was so hot, it was burning a hole in my chest. I tried regenerating but somehow this poison had slowed my regeneration greatly. I looked up at Kessei who had a smug smirk on her face.
Akaza: "What..What was in that vial..?"
Kessei: "Well, sometimes other demons try to steal our prey, so I created a serum that not only poisons humans, but can even disintegrate the strongest of demons, like an Upper Moon."
I coughed loudly as the serum burned away at my chest.
Kessei: "Sure, you can regenerate, but it'll take a while before you're able to do that. And when you do, the process will be as slow as a weak demon's."
Kyojuro: "Akaza.. Why didn't you just punch it away..?"
Akaza: "I would've shockwaved the vial, but it could have exploded and some might have still got on you, so I used my body. I thought it was normal poison."
I gripped my chest as my skin had started to steam from trying to regenerate. Kessei laughed and dropped Ayano onto the ground. Ayano gasped for air.
Kessei: "I don't need you anymore. Now that they have been weakened, I can finish them off."
The cobra demon slithered towards us. I stood back up, but coughed blood.
Kessei: "It'll be easy to kill you because your body is concentrating on only regenerating that wound."
Akaza: "I still have fight in me. It may hurt like a bitch but I can still beat your scaly ass."
Kessei: "I'd like to see you try. That poison will affect your strength and physical movement for the next 15 minutes."
I tried to shockwave her away, but my chest throbbed when I tried to use my Blood Demon Art.
Akaza: "..What the fuck is even in this poison?"
Kessei: "Well, since you're gonna die, I guess I could tell you. This poison was incredibly hard to make and uses only the most difficult to reach ingredients. I had to sacrifice 12 of my comrades to end up being able to only make 8 vials. It's made with my venom, which is lethal for humans, sunflower oil, wisteria poison, which I had to sacrifice 6 of my comrades to steal a couple vials from the Insect Hashira."
Kyojuro: "I remember Shinobu talking about some demons who broke into the Butterfly mansion and stole some of her wisteria poison.."
Kessei: "The 4th ingredient is melted Nichirin ore, which we had to steal from the Swordsmiths village. And let me tell you, those blacksmiths do not sit well with demons taking their harvested ore and melting their swords."
Kyojuro snickered.
Kyojuro: "At least they lowered your numbers.."
Kessei gripped her palms.
Kessei: "One of those Blacksmiths killed my elder sister."
Kessei charged at us. She had another vial in her hand.
Kessei: "Now die."
Right as she was about to throw the vial, her arm was sliced off.
Kessei: "Eh?"
Her arm holding the vial fell to the ground and shattered. I looked over at Kyojuro, assuming he did it, but his sword was feet away from him. He was looking at something behind Kessei. He coughed and smiled.
Kyojuro: "Took you long enough."
I heard a metal slashing noise and turned my head towards the sound. Kessei turned around as well. She groaned.
Kessei: "Now who's this pink eyesore?"
Standing in front of the crowd, stood the Love Hashira. She gripped onto her whip-like sword and took a deep breath.
Mitsuri: Love Breathing, First Form: Shivers of First Love."
She dashed towards Kessei and cut her tail up like sushi. Kessei screamed. Mitsuri grinned as she landed in front of us. She looked back at the cobra.
Mitsuri: "You mess with my besties, you mess with me."
Kessei squirted venom at her and Mitsuri flipped out of the way.
Kessei: "Where are my other comrades when I need them!?"
Mitsuri: "Gone, reduced to dust. I slayed them all, including the one who made the poisonous barrier at the gate. He was a pain in the ass to fight, but in the end, I won."
Kessei: "Damnit.."
Akaza: "Heh, looks like I'm keeping my title as the Upper Moon Three."
Kessei growled as her tail grew back. She slashed it around like how Mitsuri slashed her sword around.
Kessei: "You may have hit me, but that was only because I didn't have my guard up. I am just as agile as you are, pretty girl."
Mitsuri: "Thanks for the compliment."
Kessei and Mitsuri entered in combat. I watched in awe as Mitsuri fought. She said she had created her own Breathing Technique. She was so graceful with her movements, but deadly with her sword.
Akaza: "So cool.."
I felt myself start to slowly regain my grasp on my regeneration. Suddenly, I heard a groan. I turned around and saw that the infection had reached Kyojuro's shoulder. He was trying to grab his sword. I jogged over and kicked it away from him.
Akaza: "Kyojuro, you can't fight. Your infection has gotten worse."
Kyojuro: "I know, but I have to help. That damned Kessei is somehow keeping up with her."
Akaza: "Out of the two of us, who can regenerate?"
Kyojuro: "..."
Akaza: "Stay here and rest. I'll go help."
I stood up. I stared at Kyojuro's sword. I walked over and grabbed it.
Akaza: "I'm gonna borrow this real quick."
I turned around and charged at Kessei. Mitsuri must have seen me coming because she jumped out of the way. I boosted myself off Kessei's tail. Kessei turned around.
Kessei: "Eh?"
Akaza: "Shockwave Breathing, First Form: Goodnight you scaly cunt."
I swung Kyojuro's sword at her neck and sliced her head clean off. Her body went limp and started falling to the ground.
Kyojuro: "SAVE HER BODY FROM FALLING! WE NEED TO GIVE THAT SERUM TO SHINOBU!"
I grabbed Kessei's body from falling. Mitsuri grabbed the vials out from her kimono. Mitsuri jogged back over to Kyojuro, while I looked at the crowd. The rain had lightened up a little and the people were all just staring at us.
Akaza: "We've cleared out the demons in this town, you can go back to your homes. It's safe now."
Suddenly, Ayano ran over and hugged me. I went wide eyed.
Ayano: "Thank you, thank you, thank you mister for saving us!"
Shoyo had gotten some help from another villager. He was standing and smiling at me.
Shoyo: "Y'know, we never caught your name."
I hesitated for a second.
Akaza: "My name.."
I looked up at the sky. The rain dripped down on my face.
Akaza: "...Ha.."
I looked back down at them.
Akaza: "..Hakuji. My name is Hakuji."