Tanjiro stood inside a large room with Nakime by his side, he was in the room Nakime had placed the demon slayers and the upper moons in a different room
Taking a deep breath tanjiro walked down the large room getting in front of a door, he knew who we're inside so he decided to leave Nakime outside to keep her safe
"Aunt naki stay outside, they won't trust you nor I do for your safety please stay out"
Nodding her head Nakime teleported away while he opened the door, inside lay all the hashira's suffering from different degrees of damages. Shinobu who was tending to the group saw tanjiro
"Tanjiro!"
She called out in worry drawing his attention and everybody else's, the hashira seeing the former moon pillar held their swords as tanjiro sniffed the air smelling their worry
He put his arms up and dropped his swords showing his intentions
"Look I know you shouldn't trust me and am in no right to be saying this but please let's not fight while someone of us are injured"
"What do you want?"
Obanai hissed, he along side all the hashira hated seeing the person they trusted now standing in front of them suddenly asking them to trust him
"Tanjiro"
Turning his head tanjiro saw gyomei meditating
"You changed, I can sense it"
"I did....but everyone if your not going to trust my words then trust gyomei's words. I should have died at that waterfall but I live, am using this as a chance to redeem myself for my sins so please believe me"
"You might have saved us from the upper moons but I still don't trust you"
Giyu said staring blankly at tanjiro, Shinobu stood their wanting people to trust tanjiro but it seems like most of her colleagues refuse to believe him after his betrayal
She knew that tanjiro has changed but her colleagues refused to believe him so tanjiro thought of the only logical way for them to believe him
"Alright if you guys won't believe me then I accept my punishment"
Getting on his knees and getting his sword tanjiro turned the blade on himself putting the blade towards his neck, everyone became wide eyed as tanjiro put the blade closer to his neck drawing blood
"It is by the rules of the demon slayer corp that if anyone betrays the corp then they are to be judged, I have already been judged by you guys and since sm the highest rank then by the rules I am to commit soppuku but I am a demon so only way to kill me is...."
Then with a sickening cut his sword was 3 inches in his neck causing tanjiro to violently cough blood and gasp for air
"Tanjiro!"
Shinobu cried out attempting to stop tanjiro but obanai and giyu stopped her, she cried and thrashed around trying to get out of the grips of the two hashira's
Tanjiro's vision became blurry and hazy before him as he cut even deeper into his neck, the pain was agonizing for tanjiro and Shinobu. She didn't want to lose the love of her again and tanjiro didn't want to lose her again
"I pray to god this works!"
With a powerful cut tanjiro fully decapitated himself shocking everyone, Shinobu felt tears cover her cheeks. Falling on her knees she wailed as everybody stood in shook
Tanjiro's headless body fell on the floor pooling blood from his neck, everyone was shock as then the blood stopped pouring
"No way....."
Mitsuri said as just then tanjiro regrew his head to everyone's surprise
"Now.....do you believe me?"
Tanjiro said, it was risky to cut his head but his Theory turned out to be true. If he could walk under the sun then by all means he is immune to nichirin blades thus being the perfect being his father long desired
Everyone were beyond shock, it was impossible for a demon to survive getting decapitated by a nichirin blade. This meant tanjiro was their final hope to stop muzan. Tanjiro got on his knees and looked towards everyone
"You guys need to.....trust me.....muzan is weakened by a antidote I made to turn him back into a human...he might be weakened but he is still too powerful for us to take on which is why.....Nakime!"
Then a strung of a biwa the upper moons stood behind tanjiro, the hashira instinctively got into fighting stance despite their injuries and raising their swords
"Why we need them....for the future of everything and everyone we must work together....please...."
Laying his sword in front of him then placing his head on the ground in a deep bow tanjiro begged the hashira to help him, the room became silent as the two sides stared at each other
The upper moons slayers of hashira's in the past and everyone innocent, the hashira the best of the best stared at each other then tanjiro. Gyomei was the first to speak up raising his hand
He placed the hand on tanjiro's head causing him to slitty gasp
"Ok then tanjiro.....or should I say moon pillar?"
Raising his head tanjiro smiled softly at gyomei
"Thank you....now let's go.....Nakime!"
Nakime started playing her biwa, intending to send everyone outside the infinity fortress to a large forest away from anyone she stopped mid playing when a intense pain overcame her
She gasp and threw up blood
"Nakime....."
"M-muzan-"
"How could you? We were like family.....you are helping tanjiro's murders?!"
Nakime then accidentally send most of the group towards a city getting most of them separated, she collapsed onto the ground feeling blood drip from her eyes
She had also send muzan away but since he messed up on her teleportation muzan was send into the city as well and despite being out of his reach he stilled managed to remotely kill her
Her eyes cried tears and blood, flashes of memories from the past flashed before her eyes. She saw a memory of tanjiro as a baby giggling in her arms as she played her biwa
"Tanjiro......"
She brought tanjiro closer to her chest and hugged him softly with a soft smile on her face
"I will protect you....no matter what"
Nakime cried as she got back up and grabbed her bows which she dropped and played
"I will help you tanjiro....even if it cost me my life..."
Then correcting her early error Nakime managed to teleport several of the hashira and upper moons towards muzan's location to which he remotely killer her
Nakime's arms started melting causing her to drop her biwa, her lower body started also melting as she collapsed to the floor once again. She didn't feel pain nor sadness
She could only smile seeing a memory of tanjiro smiling, Nakime smiled softly as with her remaining body she used her teeth to teleport her biwa as the infinity fortress began to collapse
Nakime thought she had a good life and was grateful to met tanjiro, she closed her as she finally dies
With the others
Gyomei and rengoku were teleport to a city but after a few minutes of running trying to find somebody else they were teleported away much closer to the center of the city
They were also teleported with akaza and hantengu, the four worked together and found muzan in the the center of the city covered in corpses and blood of the civilians
Gyomei could immediately recognize muzan's presence and had his frail ready
Rengoku shivered a bit but looked determined to take down muzan and unsheathing his sword
Akaza got into a fighting pose ready to use his power against his master
Hantengu split into his clones, they all had their weapons ready
Muzan had his tendrils out with his left eye turning back into his human eye while his right eye remained the same red piercing eyes that struck fear into anyone
"Akaza! Hantengu! What are you doing?!"
"Am sorry master! We can't let you go further with the plan!"
"Traitors......."
Muzan said quietly looking down, he had actually grown fond of the upper moons especially when tanjiro brought them into a giant family. Those days were the happy and peaceful days muzan remembered
He felt the urge to cry but he but his lip and sucked up his feelings not wanting to look weak especially when he was already grieving weak, looking up he stared daggers at the group before yelling
"TRAITORS!"
Then at incredible speeds tendrils shot out of muzan's back and attacked everyone, he might have been injected by the special antidote and overtime had turn back to human by 50 percent but he was the demon king, he wasn't going down so easily despite being heavily crippled
Gyomei and rengoku blocked muzan's attack while akaza and hantengu clones jumped away as akaza landed a few feet away from muzan
"Deployment: compass needle!"
Deploying his blood demon art, akaza getting a flood of information quickly dashes forward with sekido and aizetsu. The three demons use their respective attacks and attack muzan
Shooting his spear through muzan's chest aizetsu jumps away as akaza and sekido strike muzan with a combined attack, dust blocks everyone's view until a tendril cuts aizetsu in half
"Hantengu!"
Akaza tells but then immediately dodged a attack from muzan, gyomei and rengoku aimed their attacks towards muzan's head and chest but got deflected by his tendrils
The fight was one sided with muzan having the speed and strength advantage, he had fighting experience for 1,000 years and these people had only a few years of experience
Plus being the demon king he had the benefit to manipulate his biology to change his body into anything he wants
Muzan let lose a barrage of tendrils towards the hashira and using his arm to slash at akaza, muzan will imitate akaza was the more combatant opponent with years of fighting skills under his belt
So he thought to take out him first then kill everyone else, muzan summoned any demons nearby to assist him and immediately a horde of demons came to aid their king
Gyomei sensing the large hordes of demons went to fight the horde
"Gyomei!"
Rengoku yelled seeing his comrade jump straight forth towards the horde
"I'll fight these demons, just help the others!"
Rengoku took his orders and breathed in a large amount of air then quietly saying his attack
"Flame breathing....fifth form......"
Snapping his eyes wide Rengoku charged towards muzan, the demon king saw a flaming tiger roar at him and several sword slashes aiming towards him
"Flame tiger.......!"
Muzan easily blocked the attacked from the hashira shocking him as he uses his arm to smack him away, Rengoku was sent flying straight towards a building crashing through the walls and into the counter breaking his back and several other bones
"Rengoku!"
Gyomei shouted sensing his comrades defeat, the horde of demons used this opportunity to all jump him but he used his spike ball and smacked them all into tiny bits
Akaza was stunned seeing his ally defeat but then immediately felt an unbearable pain
"AKAZA!"
Falling to his knees akaza coughed out blood and bled from his eyes. He hadn't noticed that muzan used mist of his power to kill him with his curse causing the upper moon to slowly die
"You traitor....you betrayed me....MUZAN KIBUTSUJI?!"
The pain doubled as akaza screamed in agony feeling his cells get destroyed slowly, hantengu who was the last one to face off against muzan was shock seeing his fellow upper moon in pain
"I-I can't k-keep this up! I-I have to do it!"
"Combined!"
Yelled hantengu's clone, sekido and aizetsu combined together to create urami. Muzan spotted hantengu's final form and scoffed
"You were always pathetic, you act as if you were a victim but yet you killed people. You desired power and cried like a child when someone calls you a killer, tell me we're you always that pathetic?"
Urami didn't respond but only smacked one of his drums and summoned forth a hordes of wooden dragons, the dragons all charged at muzan who jumped and dodged the attacks
He jumped off one of the wooden dragons and used his tendrils to slice every dragon he came a across, urami summoned more but muzan was getting closer towards him
Urami summoned a wooden dragon behind him and was barely was able to dodged an attack from muzan, he fired his attacked which hit muzan finally getting a hit on him for the first time in the fight
But muzan powered through the the attacked using his tendrils to anchor him to the ground, muzan proceeded to use his tendrils as anchors and bring him closer to urami who summoned the last of his wooden dragons to do more damage
Muzan then jumped out of the sonic attacked and sliced his hand through urami's neck, then with a brutal move muzan ripped his neck off putting down urami
He then saw a wooden structure and sliced it into bits killing hantengu who was inside the wooden structure, hantengu was flown towards akaza who was just on the ground slowly dying with his head the only thing left
Akaza saw the small and bloody pieces of Hantengu land in front of him, he heard sniffling from hantengu and turned his attention towards the demon
"Hantengu?"
"W-we failed.....tanjiro.....o-oh tanjiro.....how will you deal with this?"
Akaza choked, tanjiro will be divested when he finds out. Akaza felt tears form but held them in, he comforted his friend in their final moments before they pass on
"Hantengu.....we had a good run....honestly you guys were like.....family to me.....the good and the bad were just.....thrilling and scary but I loved it.....don't be sad hantengu....."
Akaza said softly letting a soft smile form on his lips, hantengu stopped his crying and looked towards akaza, he silently gasp seeing Akaza's head almost gone
"D- don't worry about me.....just know that I loved you guys even douma even if he was.....annoying....b-but I had a great time with all of you....."
"A-akaza...."
"Sigh but sadly a-am dying.....tell tanjiro that I love him and wish for him to take care......I leave him my beads as a gift....."
Akaza looked up to see hantengu shedding tears, akaza gasp seeing a women and a man appear in front of him
"Hakuji......"
"Koyuki.....father....."
The women named Koyuki then touched Akaza's cheek causing his entire face to return back to normal......back when he was human......
His entire body returned back to normal as akaza felt everything come back, his name wasn't akaza it was hakuji.
"Koyuki.....father....."
Tears poured down his cheek as the three all hug, it was beautiful and hakuji cried in his wife's and fathers arms
"I-I missed you two!"
"My son! Oh how I missed your hug!"
"Hakuji my beloved husband! I missed you so much!"
"I-I....I missed you koyuki! Father!"
The family hug each other tightly forever laughing and smiling finally together after 100 years in the afterlife, in the mortal world hantengu saw akaza eyes closed tearing with a big wide smile
Hantengu gasp as akaza finally faded away, hantengu let tears freely flowing down his face as he finally realizes something
"A-am evil.....those people I killed in cold blood....I-I acted like a coward towards those I wrong......"
Hantengu stared up at the sky seeing some stars, he cried and remembered tanjiro
"Kindness.....I don't deserve that nor sympathy from you tanjiro.....I wronged people of so much yet I act like a victim.....muzan was right I am pathetic..."
At this point hantengu's small body was turning to dust with his upper torso being the last of his body, hantengu thought that he deserved this. He thought that akaza was the one who had to live while he dies
Akaza was brave and smart with so much potential, while he was a coward who acted like a victim when he kills someone and when they rightfully want revenge
Hantengu sighed and accepted his fate without a fuss, he was going to die and he earned it. Suddenly he felt himself get picked up and turned his head to see six eyes stare at him in shock
"K-Kokushibou......."
"Hantengu! What is gods name happened to you?!"
"I-I tried......but muzan defeated me and akaza......I-I don't h-have much to live...."
Kokushibou looked down in silence, he raised his head back up to look at hantengu's fading body in his hands
"Am sorry my friend for not being here.....but I swear we'll avenge you...."
"Thank you.....before I go akaza said to me to tell tanjiro that he 'loves and to take care' he also said he leaves his beads as gifts, a-as for I......tell tanjiro that he made my life fun and I wish for the best of luck to him.....I-I have a pair of zori for him.....I-I know it's not much b-but I wish for you and everybody's safety"
Kokushibou felt a sting in his heart, his al-no, his family was dying and he felt that same feeling when tanjiro died, that feeling of sadness. Kokushibou used his finger to gently wipe away hantengu's tears
"I will miss you.....hantengu"
"Goodbye.....Kokushibou....."
Then with a smile of his face hantengu faded away.....
Kokushibou but his tongue and looked up towards the sky
"Thank you.....hantengu....."
Kokushibou felt the presence of daki, gyotaro, giyu and mitsuri behind him, daki covered her mouth and cried seeing her family die peacefully with gyutaro shedding some tears for hantengu. Giyu was shock to see hantengu have feelings and love towards tanjiro while mitsuri weep softly finding it sad to see so much love and peacefulness despite in hantengu's last moments
"Everyone...."
Kokushibou voice rang out drawing everyone's attention
"Hantengu.....akaza......we must avenge their deaths...."
Everyone nodded as Kokushibou and everyone else ran towards the sounds of intense fighting, Kokushibou felt sweat go down his face
"When muzan was injected by that special antidote by tanjiro....it caused muzan to lose most of his power severally weakened him but it also weaken all demons.....I just hope that hantengu's pray will keep us safe..."
Then the group made it towards muzan's location finding him intensely fighting gyomei who desperately needed aid
The group charged in as muzan looks towards his upper moons with a glare
End of chapter 27
Sorry for the long wait guys but things are going to be longer with every chapter (I hope) so you guys will have enough to read, but anyways see you guys in the next chapter