this chapter is my longest one yet- It has like, 3k words, which now that I look closer it isn't that much but still-
Writing fighting scenes is my nightmare, even more that Tanjiro doesn't stop having constant long-ass protagonists speeches in his mind, and it took so long to write down his monologues! like- i love him but can he please stop doing that??? 😭😭😭😭😭
Also, red-light district arc is about to end! I think next chapter will be the last one(?) Let's see if we will be able to get Daki ( and possibly Gyutaro ) in our harem too!
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A heavy aura started to emanate from Gyutaro, the pressure of it immediately making Tanjiro freeze in place.
'Such powerful evil! I'm covered in goosebumps! But then, I am facing against upper moon 6!' He tightened his grip on his sword, his breath hitched in his throat thanks to the fear.
'He poisoned Uzui... I have to protect him! I'll swing my sword the moment he moves. The moment he moves, even the tiniest bit...' Even though Tanjiro thought this with so much conviction, his eyes weren't even able to follow the speed of the demon, in a blink of an eye he was face to face with him, the scythe in his hand inches across his neck.
'Now! Strike! Dodge! Dodge! Bend back! Bend...' Tanjiro's body wasn't fast enough to react in time, Uzui swiftly steps in, grabbing the back of his collar and throwing him off the line of attack, quickly starting to change blows with the demon.
The boy falls to the ground a few meters away from the two, getting up hastily. 'What I am doing?! He had to defend me! I'm holding him back!'
He soon began to feel shivers down his body, as suddenly a sward of obi started to come from above and attacking both him and Uzui. 'Up above...a swarm of obi!'
♡
"AH HA HA HA HA! With Gyutaro awake now, I can use my full strength! I can see everything! Every move you make!"
'... I know I said I was going to try talking to her...but...' Sweat dripped down Y/N's forehead, were her hands trembling? It's been a while since she felt this nervous fighting against a demon, how nostalgic. 'When exactly would be a good time to try to talk? She's too instable right now, putting me in danger would only slow down Zenitsu and Inosuke, I have to keep in mind that she still can kill them...'
Inosuke's loud voice made her snap out of her daydreams, as he started to scream insults at Daki in the way you would expect of him :
"Just shut up! I can't stand your screeching voice! Underling and I are totally going to wreck you!.... oh and there's monitsu too I guess."
♡
"Heh heh heh... You were lying about their capability as tsuguko, they aren't nearly as good as you said. That won't do. That won't do at all!" Gyutaro said, a creepy smile on his face.
Both Y/N and Tanjiro's side started to fight, Y/N and the others still fighting on top of the house while Tanjiro and Uzui fought against Gyutaro in the first floor, defending from both the obi of Daki and Gyutaro's blood scythes was proving to be extremely difficult, the speed of the attacks barely enough to the poor eyes of a human to follow.
It didn't take long for the house to start to collapse, the two who were still in the last floor now also having to worry about the wreckage falling from above. 'It's collapsing! I can barely see through all the debris!' Uzui thought in exasperation, before one of Gyutaro's attacks got dangerously close to his head, him managing to defend it in the last second and going back to trade blows with the demon.
'He's fast! He really is like a mantis! What fighting style is this?!'
Gyutaro got close to him, ready to do another strike, several of his blood scythes also coming to attack him from behind. 'There's no escape!'
Tanjiro rapidly stepped behind him, using his sword to stop the flying blades to finish Uzui off from the behind. 'Aaaah! These attacks are slowing me down! Dodge! Reflect! A direct blow will snap my blade!
'Head on, he will always be stronger than me, but... If I deflect and sidestep, things will even out. When it comes to defense, flexible water breathing is superior, my blade wouldn't be chipped if I used it to begin with.' Tanjiro quickly changed his style to the water forms, using its flexibility to deflect the attacks.
Sound breathing, fifth form : string performance
Uzui started to do a wave of attacks at Gyutaro, the continuous cuts making him slowly step behind. 'He gains nothing by pressing me with such a flashy move!'
Tanjiro stabbed various of Daki's obi, sinking them into the ground. 'Work, damn it! Distract Gyutaro, even a little! Find a way to him!'
'Tanjiro's in trouble! I don't know how he's still up and fighting, that shoulder wound is deep! It isn't bleeding anymore, but he's on the edge! He'd drop his sword if the hilt wasn't tied to his hand! It's my fault for getting poisoned, if I don't finish this fast, we're all dead!'
Back to Y/N and the others, things weren't much better either, Daki really wasn't holding back with her attacks at all, and thanks to this, Y/N was not really sure if they are trying to get her alive or not.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Die, you ugly bugs!"
"YAAAAAH! It's not just the obi! There's blood blades too! I can't get close to the worm-woman at all!" Inosuke exclaimed as he dodged from the obi lunges.
"Woah! Those blood blades are specially dangerous! I can feel my skin tingling! Even a slight nick would be enough to kill me!"
"Ugh-" One of the blood scythes grazed against Y/N's thigh, when she saw the small and seemingly inoffensive cut, she already knew that she was doomed. "Uh-oh- the poison-"
Luckily, she already died countless times from poisoning before, so just like Uzui, she also had a certain resistance to poison, though hers was accidental and probably way weaker than Uzui's.
But even so, redeeming Daki was starting to turn more and more into a far dream... "Underling! Concentrate!"
"Oh- Sorry!" She quickly went back to battle, deciding against telling them that she got poisoned, it would probably only bring unnecessary worries anyway.
Tanjiro and Uzui were now fighting in the middle of the road, the burgundy boy jumped back to evade both the obi and the several blood blades trying to kill him, his almost limp body rolling against the earth ground. 'Such ferocious attacks! I can barely breathe! I might pass out! Recovery breathing! Do recovery breathing!'
Someone new suddenly appeared in blade, using a peculiar weapon that threw an incredible amount of kunai darts at the same time.
Hinatsuru was standing in the ceiling of the house, making a wave of kunai's fly at Gyutaro and Uzui direction.
'! What? Kunai darts? Swatting all of them while I'm fighting a hashira is a pain! They're so annoying! And four of them are fledgling demon slayers!.... No matter, even if I get hit, I won't.... No!... Why make such a pointless attack now? There's something in these kunai!'
Blood demon art : Rampant arc rampage!
The blood art engulfed the kunai, making them swirl around him.
'He's making a kunai shield!'
Different from what Gyutaro expected, Uzui didn't spare a second thought before lunging in his direction, not even caring about the various kunai stabbing him. 'What the- What's this guy up to?! He's coming straight at me! The kunai stabbed him too! She's not a shinobi, not a warrior, from the beginning this guy has been out of his mind!'
Gyutaro made a horizontal attack at him, which he responded by crouching down and cutting both of his legs off.
Which this brief moment of distraction, a kunai ended up hitting his neck, he looked in shock at his severed legs, noticing that they weren't growing back. 'My feet aren't regenerating! This kunai must have been coated with wisteria extract! My body is going numb!'
Tanjiro didn't waste time in getting close to him, lunging at him as he aimed at his neck.
'Interesting! He turned things around so quickly!'
The poison used on him was strong enough to paralyze a demon for half a day, it even worked on the lower moons. 'Please work! Even for a few moments! That would be enough for someone to cut off his head!' Hinatsuru pleaded in her mind, looking hopefully at Tanjiro and Uzui approaching his neck at the same time.
But...his legs instantly healed. 'Damn it! He's shaking off the poison! His feet are regenerating!'
"Wow! That's some strong poison!"
Blood demon art : Rotating circular slashes, flying blood scythes.
Blood blades engulfed both of his arms, rotating around the members like a vortex.
'Those things have incredible reach! He doesn't even need to swing his arms!' Uzui thought, rapidly kicking Tanjiro's stomach to once again throw him outside the line of fire.
Sound breathing, fourth form : constant resounding slashes!
Using his own breathing form, he was able to hold the attack, once again he tried to make an attack against Gyutaro's neck, who suddenly vanished in thin air. 'He's gone!'
He quickly turned behind to look at his wife, who was still standing on top of the house. "Hinatsuru!"
"Don't worry about me, Tengen! Find the demon!" Gyutaro suddenly appeared behind her, slapping his hand against her mouth. "You're the one with the poison, so I'm going to worry about you first!"
"HINATSURU!" Uzui tried to get close to her, but the obi kept blocking him from approaching. "STOP!"
Seraphic breathing, first form : absolute severance!
Gyutaro's arm was suddenly cut, someone giving him a harsh kick to his stomach, making him jump back a few steps away from Hinatsuru to glare at the person who interruped him.
"How low...a surprise attack from behind, huh? I thought that the strong didn't need to resort to that type of dirty tricks! Well, it's not like that I see you as strong in the first place."
"You...who...?" Hinatsuru asked, looking up at Y/N, her body still trembling from shock at her so close to death experience.
In response, Y/N just looked back at her with a cheerful smile. "You're the one who was throwing the kunai before, right? Good job! It was really awesome!"
"If you have time to flirt around, then you should pay attention to your surroundings!" Gyutaro exclaimed as he quickly approached Y/N and did a heavy attack with his scythe, which she used her sword to defend in response.
Even though she was speaking with so much confidence, it was clear from the way that her legs were trembling and struggling to keep in place that she wouldn't last long against him, the poison was slowly making effect in her.
So, in order to buy time, she did what she was the best in :
"How are you able to live while looking like a seaweed? Like, does the demon regenerating thing doesn't work in making you have normal ribs or something? Or you just decided to look like this by choice? Because if that's the case, you should definitely ask your sister for some advice-" Annoy.
"You brat!-"
'Move! Move! Y/N can't hold her own for much longer! I can't see anyone else die!' Tanjiro thought as he looked at the girl, still struggling to look and talk like what she was doing was the easiest thing in the world.
'Gotta get up there! Jump! Up onto the roof! They've protected me, now I can return the favor! He isn't worried about me because I'm weak! But if I do something unexpected, I can help!'
'Use the Kagura! Hinokami Kagura! That'd work even at this distance! Aaaagh! It's no use! I don't have the strength! My legs are too heavy! What should I do? Think! Hurry! What I am gonna do? What I am gonna do?! Think! Think! What's the biggest thing I have left? Right now, all I can do is...'
"And like, does your hair float like this because of the demon genes or because you didn't wash it for hundreds of years? Because that's, like, really crazy-"
"SHUT UP! HOW THE HELL CAN A HUMAN BE SO ANNOYING??"
Y/N was ready to carry on with her blabbering, but a red flash suddenly approached both her and Hinatsu, cutting Gyutaro arm once again and shielding the two.
'That was a fast maneuver! He shouldn't be that speedy anymore!'
"Tanjiro! Thank god-" Without any concern for her image, Y/N quickly permitted herself to relax, plopping down beside Hinatsuru as she tried to calm down her erratic breathing.
If Tanjiro wasn't in so much pain currently, he would probably have smiled at the way that she immediately relaxed with just his presence, like he was someone that she trusted and relied on, but obviously, a battlefield isn't a good place to be acting love struck, so this feeling just stayed pushed down to very back of his mind.
'Mix the techniques! Use water breathing and hinokami kagura together! If I do that, I can keep this up longer and my attacks will be stronger than hinokami kagura alone!'
'That must be how past generations managed to fight demons. Every individual found different pairings of breathing and fighting styles that let them exert their full strength. They experimented, creating more and more breathing techniques, and that gave them flexibility in combat. That's how Urokodaki taught me to fight.'
'Even if I can't fully master water breathing like Tomioka, I can apply it to the things I learned from Urokodaki! I won't let anything go to waste!'
Gyutaro didn't waste time and jumped in his direction, swinging his sickle at him, which he managed to defend in response.
"L/N Y/N, Tanjiro Kamado, I owe you guys one!" Uzui suddenly appeared behind Gyutaro, his blade about to cut his neck.
"GRAAAAH! Look, over there! They are about to cut off Gyutaro's head! Snort! Urgh! We can't defeat Daki unless we work together! Underling also left to protect that other woman, so there's just us two to defeat her now!"
'The three of us have been dodging her attacks by running around and confusing her, but just dodging is pointless! We need to get in close and strike at her head!'
"Calm down, Inosuke! We don't have to cut her head off exactly at the same time as them! We just have to make sure the two demon's heads aren't connected! Even after they take Gyutaro's head, we'll keep attacking!" Zenitsu exclaims back at him.
"You....you...what's gotten into you?! You're kinda awesome! I like it!"
Uzui was about to cut Gyutaro's neck. 'No spacing out! I'll go for his head too! I can do this!' Tanjiro thought, also swinging his sword at his neck.
In response, Gyutaro's used his scythes to stop both of the blades, the weapons ending up inches across his neck. "You guys can't cut my head off! It's impossible!"
'My blade won't move!'
Uzui, who was still behind him, then tried to stab his neck using his other sword in his free hand, but he spun his head to his back like an owl and bit the blade.
"Hang in there, Kamado, L/N!" He exclaimed, before the demon suddenly jumped, both him and Uzui falling from the ceiling.
"Uzui!"
"Watch out!"
A number of obi came in their direction, preventing Tanjiro from going after Uzui, Inosuke and Zenitsu appearing and defending them from the sudden attack. "Inosuke, Zenitsu!"
"We need a change of strategy! We can't get close to that worm-woman at all! We need your help! The old guy will have to do his best against the mantis man!" Inosuke said, Zentisu also speaking up :
"She's weaker than this sickle guy! Let's cut off her head, then go help! Tanjiro, can you still move?"
After he said that, one of the obi lunged at Tanjiro's direction, him managing to dodge it. "Yeah, I can move! But the enemy poisoned Uzui, so he's in trouble, if we don't finish this as quickly as possible...." His speech was interrupted as another attack from the blood sickles came in his direction. 'Woah! That was close! He's fighting Uzui but also took a swipe at me!'
Hinatsuru then gets up to leave, "I can easily hide, don't worry about me! Just find a way to win!" She suddenly stops in her tracks to look back at Y/N, the girl in question was sitting on the ground, leaning on her sword and breathing heavily, her body trembled as she struggled to get up.
"... You... Why don't you come with me too? You can't fight like this-" Hinatsuru silently approached her, putting her hand in her shoulder.
"Ahaha... Me? Why would I? I'm as good as new!" Y/N cheerfully responded back, forcing herself to stand up.
"... But...you are poisoned, aren't you?"
"Shhh" She put her finger in her mouth, signalizing for her to not say this out loud. "Hinatsuru was your name, right? Please hide well, and I promise your husband will be fine."
"But-"
Y/N then jumped in battle to help the others fight Daki, not even giving Hinatsuru a chance to convince her that fighting in this condition wasn't a good idea.
"HA! HA! HA! HA! You're starting to slow down! Which one of you will I crush first?" Daki exclaimed, a maniac smile in her face.
'She hasn't scratch me, Moniichi and Y/N, but the old guy and Tanjiro are in bad shape! This is what all that training was for!'
"This demon's neck is so rubbery I can't cut out! I have to be superfast or cut it from multiple directions!" Tanjiro says.
'The obi is fighting Tanjiro, and underling is back in battle, and that is slowing it down! I mean, it might be, maybe. Anyway! That's what I'm going to believe!' Inosuke thought, screaming out loud :
"And since I'm using two swords, I count as two opponents...probably. Grah! The four of us who are really five can beat this thing!"
"Zenitsu, make sure you protect Inosuke!"
"On it!"
The four of them then prepared to attack at the same time, using their respective breathing techniques to defend Inosuke.
Beast breathing, eight fang : explosive rush!
Water breathing, third form : flowing dance!
Thunder breathing, first form : Thunderclap and flash eightfold!
Seraphic Breathing, second form : Dominion Authority!
Inosuke kept getting closing and closer to the demon. 'He's charging on without any defense!' Daki thought, exasperated.
"This time I'll finish it! Sixth fang!" His two swords were now at each side of her neck.
'With those busted up swords? There's no way! He can't possibly cut-'.
"Palisade bite!" Two slashes were made at her neck at the same time, her head falling off.
"Inosuke! You did it!" Tanjiro said, a happy smile in his face. 'Wow, he totally sawed her head off!'
Y/N just looked at the scene with a frown. '... I feel like... I'm forgetting something...'
"The head! I've got the head! I've gotta get it outta here! So she can't reattach it!" He started to run with Daki's head under his arm. "I'm takin' this head and gettin' outta here! You three help the old guy!"
"Got it! Be careful, Inosuke!"
"Right!"
"Stupid pig! Let go of me!" Daki exclaimed, making her hair grow and trying to grab him with it, Inosuke just immediately cut it out in a way that was almost comical in response.
"Just die already!" He said, which she responded with an offended, "what?!" .
"You're full of tricks, but they're really weak since I cut off your head! ha! ha! ha!"
Y/N's pupils widened in surprise as she finally remembered what was about to happen. "Inosuke! Come back-"
It was not in time, Gyutaro appeared behind him, stabbing him through his heart with his sickle and throwing his limp body from the ceiling.
"INOSUKEEE!" Tanjiro screamed in shock. 'Oh no! The poison! Inosuke! I can't see in the dark... did Gyutaro get him through the heart?!' After discarding his body, the demon slowly started to turn to look at where Tanjiro and Y/N were standing.
'Why is he looking at us? Uzui! Is uzui...?' He looked down, seeing Uzui's body unconscious in the ground.
"Tanjiro! Y/N! Watch out!" Zenitsu tried to reach them both, but it wasn't in time, a bunch of obi attacking the spot where they were standing and making the ceiling collapse, all the three starting to fall to the ground.
'...oh no! My body is weak from the poison and from using my breathing, I don't think I will be able to survive if I receive a direct hit to the floor!'
She squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for her body to hit the ground, hoping that concentrating in the darkness would make the pain of the impact more bearable....