Even with my blood slowly being absorbed by the flesh of the demon and the wisteria I had planted around the carts, the flesh-like substance was still growing and trying to go after the people.
"Inosuke, it's not safe on this train anymore, we have to protect the passengers! Hikaru has already limited its movements but this whole train's turned into a demon" Tanjiro yelled to be heard of the wind at Inosuke who was back up on the roof.
"We have to attack the train that has turned into a demon, Inosuke do you understand?" I questioned.
"I knew it! I was right on the money, that means I was a total stud as a leader" Inosuke said before he jumped back into the train and used his beast breathing, fifth fang, crazy cutting again to take out the long appendages that were reaching for the humans.
"I'll save every last one of you guys, fall onto your knees and worship me! Glorify me! Lord Inosuke Hashibira is comin' through" Inosuke yelled from inside the cart.
"We should go and help save the passengers. Since Inosuke can hold down the fort here we should go on ahead" Tanjiro said. Before we could move ahead the train got covered in the same fleshy substance that was attacking passengers but I noticed something as well. His aura was starting to get a tinge of madness, it was nothing big yet but it was better than nothing. There was also another color that I didn't recognize but it could only be from the wisteria. I couldn't be more glad that I had some of the plants in my box then right now.
"It's too dangerous to fight on top of the rooftop with this stuff, we should get inside the carriages that way we can also save the passengers" I called out and Tanjiro nodded. Swinging down we broke through the glass of the windows and were in the carriage that was mostly covered. It seemed to be avoiding the areas where my blood and the wisteria were. Tanjiro used the first water breathing to stop the things that were going to attack us while I turned my blade and carefully cut the palm of my left hand and placed my hand on the flesh substance.
"Drink up good and well now, once you do get a proper taste of my blood I know what you will do. You'll forget all about the passengers and focus all your energy on devouring me. You are truly special to have held out this long but soon enough the smell will reach you" I said. My plan was basically to make myself the bait. While Enmu was busy trying to defeat and devour me it would free the rest of the group up to take on the real demon. It was risky and I was probably going to either be killed or be hurt but if it meant protecting everyone I would do it. Seeing a change in Nezuko's aura I turned while using the first water breathing form to get rid of some appendages and I tossed up whether to go and help her. The decision was made for me when I heard a large clap of thunder and her fear and pain turned to astonishment. Zenitsu was awake and protecting Nezuko so they would be fine.
"Tanjiro, get your head in the game, focus on what you can do here and now. Stop worrying about the others, Zenitsu is awake now and the others are fine, trust them. I'm going to the next cart while you keep this one under wraps," I ordered and he nodded. Seeing another aura I stopped from entering the next cart and I grabbed onto one of the chairs and grabbed Tanjiro as well as swinging my sword to cut an attack off. The carts suddenly jumped and we would have been thrown if not for me preparing, Rengoku was awake.
"Young Kamado, Young Hikaru," Rengoku said as he appeared right in front of us. He was really fast, faster than I thought he was.
"I was pretty thorough with my slashing attacks on my way here, so it should take the demon a while to regenerate but there's no time to lose, I'll keep it short" He said.
"Yes" We both said.
"This train has eight cars in all. I'll protect the five in the rear, the yellow haired boy and your sister will be in charge of the rest. You two and the boar head boy will go look for the demon's head while keeping an eye on those three cars" Rengoku ordered.
"Head? But this demon is-" Tanjiro started.
"No matter what form he's assumed so long as he's a demon, he's got a head. I'll be searching for his weak spot as I fight, I want you to show me how gutsy you both are" Rengoku said and he went to get up but I grabbed him.
"You don't have to worry about the back two carts, the demon won't be game to touch them and as for the rest of them, here this should help" I said, taking a few vials from my box and handing them over.
"What is this?" Rengoku questioned.
"Wisteria flowers that are made into perfume with flowers in them as well. Spread that around and the demon won't go near it since they can't stand it. I have flooded the last two with this so the demon won't touch them. As for the other carts they have a smaller amount that will only hinder him but if you add more I am sure that it will help stop him. But don't put it in the cart that Nezuko is in" I explained. I saw Rengoku's eyes dart to my hand before he nodded.
"Very well" He said before he left in a flash of flames.
"Tanjiro" I yelled, snapping him out of his daze and we headed for the front of the train.
As we got further up the carts I saw the aura was getting denser so we must be getting closer
and from the way that Tanjiro was breathing he must be smelling the demon more as well.
"Inosuke! Where are you Inosuke!" Tanjiro yelled out.
"Shut up or I'll kill you" We heard Inosuke yell.
"He is on the roof," I said.
"That guy with the goggle eyes ordered me around but somehow....Somehow...Somehow he was awesome! I'm so pissed," Inosuke yelled.
"Inosuke, I'll deal with the three cars in the front before joining up with you two, head for the head" I called out, grabbing more vials out with one hand and holding my yellow sword in the other. It was easier to use a short sword in smaller areas.
"You don't have to tell me and by the way I've found it already. With my all-out seventh form, I found this master's weak spot" Inosuke said.
"You did? So it's in the front after all?" Tanjiro questioned.
"That's right, up front! And that front part is a heck of a lot creepier" Inosuke yelled.
"So it's around where the coal is loaded right?" Tanjiro asked.
"Yeah," Inosuke said.
"Understood. Okay let's go, forward" Tanjiro said looking at me and I nodded. I would be fine if he left now. Turning to see the flesh like substance trying to attack the humans I was instantly on the move. I didn't use any water breathing styles for now I just cut, all of these people were innocent and I wasn't going to let anyone die. While I was going back and forth through the three cars I opened the vials and started to pour them all over the floor as well as dripping them onto people's clothes. I saw the results instantly as the flesh receded from where it was all over the carts and it wouldn't get near the people that I had put it on. From my estimations it should stay like this for at least two days therefore we had plenty of time to deal with Enmu. Even with these carts protected I wasn't sure how Rengoku, Nezuko and Zenitsu would fair. I believed in them, they were strong but protecting everyone was a huge responsibility and we only had so much energy. Shaking those thoughts out of my head I jumped onto the roof and ran to help Inosuke and Tanjiro. Hearing a loud screeching that vibrated the whole train I knew that they had found it and also, the madness was starting to set in.
Getting closer I noticed that there were twice as many hand-like things coming towards me but now I was outside I drew my other blade and used both of them to take care of them.
"Inosuke, are you all right?" I heard Tanjiro ask.
"It's not like you came to my rescue okay?" Inosuke demanded.
"Yeah I know," Tanjiro said.
"Below you Tanjiro," I yelled while dodging an attack and destroying it.
"Hikaru is right, the demon's head is right below here," Tanjiro said.
"Don't boss me around, I'm the leader, just watch" Inosuke said while he jumped high into the air.
'Beast breathing, second fang, slice' Inosuke said, slicing the metal away and exposing the spine. The bigger the demon, the bigger the neck and the bigger the spine. While it was smart of him to fuse himself with the train he left himself right open for attacks that he normally would have been able to dodge.
"It's bone, it's his neck bone" Tanjiro said before using the water breathing eighth form but it was too late. Flesh had already grown over the bone so it didn't do any damage.
"Watch out" I called as the flesh grew and started to attack. Tanjiro grabbed the conductor and jumped onto the coal cart while Inosuke jumped onto the engine. The flesh then made a bowl like defense and closed up the gash over the spine. Meanwhile I was fighting off more of the flesh attacks that seemed to get more and more frequent.
"Inosuke! We're going to synchronize our breathing and attack together! Hikaru, can you get free?" Tanjiro yelled.
"Already on my way" I yelled back, getting ready to jump into the coal.
"One of us will slash the flesh while the other two jump in to sever the bone," Tanjiro explained.
"Sounds good, great idea. I can praise you for that" Inosuke said.
"Thanks, let's go," Tanjiro said. With that I jumped down leaving the protected carts behind and joined Tanjiro only to be face to face with an eyeball. Oh no.
"Eyes of forced unconscious sleep" I heard and I felt the blood art take over, forcing me to sleep.
"Inosuke, slash your own neck in your dreams then you'll wake up" Tanjiro yelled. I fell asleep before cutting my neck and waking up. As soon as I did though I was put straight back to sleep again. Again my throat was slashed and this time both me and Tanjiro jumped down towards where the neck was. The eyes got us again on the way down. I couldn't even close my eyes to stop this from happening. Again and again and again. Over and over and over. No matter how many times I tried to dodge the eyes I would end up asleep again and have to cut my neck. No more. NO MORE!
"GET OUT!" I roared out and if I had been able to see myself I would have seen my eyes glowing bright. I panted and tried to calm myself, I was no longer dreaming, I was awake and I would never sleep like that again. Turning to Tanjiro my eyes widened in horror as his blade was at his neck. Before I could move Inosuke jumped in, cutting the flesh with eyeballs away and pinning Tanjiro's arm down to stop him.
"This isn't a dream, it's reality. Don't fall for his trap. Don't die such lame deaths" Inosuke yelled while also looking at me.
"I'm wearing the hide of the mountain god on my head, I bet he's too scared to look me in the eye you loser eyeballs" Inosuke yelled before slicing the eyes up. That's right, if the eyes can't look into your eyes then you don't fall under their spell so Enmu couldn't put Inosuke under the spell because he couldn't tell where Inosuke's eyes were. That didn't explain why it had stopped working on me but for now I didn't have time to think about it.
"All right, now all we gotta do is slash this thing to death," Inosuke said. Seeing an aura, I turned to see the conductor running towards Inosuke.
"Don't you dare get in the way of my dream" He yelled
"Inosuke!" Tanjiro yelled but I moved fast and pushed them both out of the way and got stabbed in the stomach.
"Hikaru," Tanjiro said.
"Did you get stabbed?" Inosuke demanded while I knocked the guy out.
"I'm fine, it's just a scratch. Tanjiro" I said with a smile to reassure them I was fine. Tanjiro nodded and started to pull the conduct away.
"Just forget about him," Inosuke demanded.
"I can't do that, I won't let him die" I said.
"If we don't chop this demon's head off soon, we won't be able to make it," Inosuke growled.
"We know, let's get going," Tanjiro said. The walls around us instantly grew larger and hands started to shoot down at us making us dodge out of the way. At least those two did. I held my ground and sliced through them.
"You guys focus on getting the neck, leave these things to me" I yelled out and I could tell both of them were looking at my stomach where I was stabbed and the blood that was pooling there. It wasn't a scratch at all but I didn't want them to worry about it. Suddenly another ear piercing screech was heard from the train and I grinned.
"It's about time that kicked in" I said as all the hands reached for me, my blood had finally reached him and he was begging for more not even realizing the poison that it had sown.
"Inosuke," Tanjiro said.
"Synchronize your breathing with mine and let's chop off the demon's head, let's attack together" Tanjiro yelled. Since I was being targeted they didn't have to worry about the hands attack them instead they jumped backwards onto the coal cart to get their breathing synchronized. The bowl expanded and enormous tentacles attacked not just me but also Tanjiro and Inosuke. Seems Enmu was trying to fight the madness within him. Suddenly the tentacles all grew eyes on them but for some reason I wasn't affected by them this time and I continued to slash both the flesh and eyes away. I was a little worried about Tanjiro but Inosuke had him covered using his beast breathing, fourth fang, slice and dice not only to uncover the neck bone but to also destroy the eyes so Tanjiro had a path to follow.
'Hinokami Kagura, clear blue sky' Tanjiro yelled and his sword lit up like a flame and while it was powerful I noticed something. The bone was attached but the smallest of bits. Seems Tanjiro realizes it as well.
"Akatsuki style: Akatsuki no Hikaru," I roared out, my body having a mind of its own really. My two swords glowed with their respectable colors before I slammed them down severing the last tiny bit of bone. Shock waves were felt through all of the cars as a loud wail pierced the sky. Enmu made one last attempt at killing the passengers but Rengoku along with the wisteria perfume stopped him in his tracks. Unfortunately because of the speed that the train was going and the way it had jumped it derailed sending the train across the ground.
"Because of the trains and tremors that train is going to flip over" I yelled before grimacing.
"Oi, is your belly okay?" Inosuke asked.
"I'm fine" I said, this wasn't going to kill me, I had to survive.