Hantengu continued to scream as my blade cut into his blade. The screams were so loud that I knew that my ears would probably start bleeding at any moment but I didn't stop. This was our chance, I had to make sure to take off Hantengu's head so that this fight would stop. Suddenly a chill went down my spine and I knew that there was a demon at my back. It wasn't any of the emotion demons but at the same time it was them, I didn't understand but whatever they were I wasn't going to stop my mission.. Trying to force my sword further threw Hantengu's neck was useless as it had stopped glowing but that didn't stop me. Not even death would stop me from taking this demon's head.
"Hikaru move it!" Genya yelled out. Gritting my teeth I realised that we had miscalculated. Because I was where I was trying to decapitate Hantengu and the other demon was at my back, Genya couldn't attack unless he wanted me to be caught up in the crossfire.
'Think Hikaru, think. Come on think' I thought to myself until I heard a drum. It must have been the newest demon's attack as suddenly a large monster made of trees burst out of the ground right where I was. Or had been. Before I could move myself Nezuko had grabbed me around the leg and put me over her shoulder as she jumped away from the creature even though she had her right arm and leg taken off by the monster.
"Nezuko!" Tanjiro yelled as he grabbed both of us to stop us from hitting the ground and I quickly scrambled away from them. It was a miracle that Nezuko had managed to not get any of my blood on her.
"Nezuko, Hikaru, you okay?" Tanjiro questioned and Nezuko collapsed onto the ground, she had already regenerated her arm and leg which must have exhausted her.
"Savages who torment the meek" The new demon said.
"Hah" Tanjiro said as he looked at the demon.
"Spite. Enmity. Nothing but hatred for those who bathe in pure evil" He said. he looked much like the emotion demons but also different since he looked younger. He had two horns on his head, hair that's shoulder length though the top half was black while the bottom half was a different colour. He wore some pretty weird but traditional looking clothes, he had a pair of weapons in his hands that looked like something a shinobi would use and finally there was a large ring behind him with what looked to be five drums on it that had the kanji for 'hatred' on them. Beside him was where the tree monster had begun and Hantengu was on one of the thick branches still letting out eeks and covering his head with his hands.
'A sixth!' Tanjiro thought.
'Damn, I didn't think that they would separate again since Tanjiro had been cutting them giving them plenty of time to make a sixth but they didn't until now. Why not? Hang on a moment' I thought.
'We have a sixth now! You've got to be freaking kidding me! No.... That's not the sixth? I don't smell the other four demons anymore' Tanjiro thought.
'The other demon's auras had disappeared but at the same time they hadn't, somehow they were all squished into the demon in front of us creating a full aura' I thought. I had known that someone was up with the primal emotion demons since their auras were so dull and filled with only one type of emotions but I had never guessed that this was the reason for it.
'What just happened? How did we get to this point? That thing was the Anger demon until just now. When Hikaru's blade struck the ting demon's neck the Anger demon raised both his hands and in a single second, he drew them in. The Joy and Pleasure demons. It looked as if he was twisting and crushing their flesh, then he absorbed them both. Then in another second, the Anger demon went to Aizetsu who opened his mouth as if he was trying to protest but he got absorbed without saying a word. The Anger demon's body changed into that. So what is it? He didn't split up but he got even younger. A kid. It's a combination of all the demons minus the old fart, the one we think is the main body,' Genya thought, trying to make sense of what he had just seen. With the weapon in his right hand the Hatred demon reached back and hit one of the drums. As soon as the drum was hit the branches around Hantengu started to close up into a ball of protection.
'Crap! The body's getting surrounded!' Tanjiro thought.
"Hold it!" Tanjiro yelled. The Hatred demon turned to us, his eyes piercing through us with hatred but that wasn't what grabbed my attention since this kid had nothing on Muzan's glare. I noticed that it affected Tanjiro, making him flinch.
'I choked on my breath, his aura's pressure is so strong that I feel pain in my heart. I can only imagine what his aura looks like to Hikaru,' Tanjiro thought. The kid's aura was a bright vibrant red showing his hatred as well as a pitch black of a demon but still my attention was drawn behind the demon.
"What? Scum. You don't like what I'm doing here? Hey, you evil shitheads" Hatred demon sneered, his lips pulled back to show his teeth.
'Heavy. Voice. Pressure. I can barely stand because my strength is leaving my limbs' Genya thought. When driven into a corner, humans aren't the only creatures that can release explosive strength. The demon known as Hantengu was driven into a corner countless times and every time that happened, his strong emotions became personified and split from him through blood techniques. That's how he won. The worse the situation gets for him, the stronger he becomes.
"Wh..." Tanjiro started and I saw his hand clenching the hilt of his blade and his head was down.
"Why are...Why are we....Evil?" Tanjiro questioned.
"You're tormenting the 'weak', right? You, things, were just trying to cut the 'small weakling' thing enough to fit on my palm. That is pure injustice, only a savage would do that" Hatred demon sneered.
"Small weakling? Who.....Exactly is this? Don't say that. Your smell...Smells of blood! You've eaten a hundred, two hundred people! Maybe even more! And what did those people do to you? All of them. Did you just arbitrarily take their lives as payment!? Stop playing the victim after eating and killing those people!" Tanjiro yelled out in anger. Nezuko looked at her brother blinking since this was the first time in a long time that Tanjiro had been this angry.
"You have a sick mind, absolutely unforgivable. Evil Demon! I will cut your head off right here!" Tanjiro glared, Genya was lost for words and couldn't say anything.
"Tell me something Hatred or whatever your name is. Does your back feel heavy? I am sure that it does, after all the spirits clinging to your back seem to have been there for a while and they aren't leaving anytime soon" I sneered. What I had been looking at behind the Hatred demon was human shapes of dull grey with no individual colors like when I had seen Sabito and Makamo. Since I was the only one able to see them I guess my eyes were able to pick up on them because of their large grudge against this demon. Either way things were about to get intense so I should brace myself for it.
Third Person POV
Tokito was still in the same clearing that Gyokko had left him in since he was still trapped with the water vase blood technique with pins still in his body and face.
'The air left in my lungs. There's enough to get one attack out' Tokito thought.
'Breath of Mist, first form, hanging sky, distant mist' Tokito thought as he raised his blade and tried to burst the vase by hitting the side but the water just changed shape to accept the sword.
'I can't use thrusting techniques to break it, but of course this is a chipped blade' Tokito thought as he lost even more air.
'I can't. It's over. Thanks for cheering me on, Oyakata-sama, but I'm going to die now so good luck filling up that second pillar spot' Tokito though.
"Why do you think that? Nobody knows what the future has in store" Tokito imagined Tanjiro standing near the water vase and saying those words.
'What? Wait, Tanjiro never said anything of the sort to me before so who said that?' Tokito thought.
A little ways away from Tokito in the wooden shed that he had been trying to protect was Kanamori with a large cleaver. Kanamori was attempting to protect Haganezuka, who was still working, but against a demon it was no use. This was proven true as within the next few seconds he was attacked and cut open by Gyokko, his cleaver was broken in half and he dropped to the ground holding his wounded arm.
"So why are you desperately defending this run-down shack?" Gyokko asked.
"Ugh" Kanamori groaned.
"I can't imagine the village chief being in this place," Gyokko said. Hearing a scraping noise he saw Haganezuka sharpening the blade that Tanjiro, Hikaru and Kotetsu had found in the Yoichi training doll.
"Hmm?" Gyokko hummed but Haganezuka paid him no attention. His muscles were bulging as he held the blade and continued to sharpen it.
"This is great iron. This is a great blade. I've never seen such skill, astounding" Haganezuka muttered to himself.
'A young human, huh. His flesh looks younger than forty years old, he can't be the chief' Gyokko thought.
"Hey human" Gyokko called out, making Kanamori look at him frightened.
"Who made this thing? If someone can forge a blade like this then why would he leave this one character behind but not his name. But I understand, I really do" Haganezuka continued to mutter to himself, not giving Gyokko a speck of his attention.
'This man! That's some serious concentration! He's so immersed in his work that he hasn't even noticed the marvelous Gyokko! He....He makes me angry! I've never been able to concentrate that hard before! I cannot lose to him as an artist!' Gyokko thought with a glare. Summoning another pot he pointed it in Haganezuka's direction and another fish demon appeared. Cut and blood appeared all over Haganezuka as the fish demon attacked but he didn't even flinch or move.
"No! Haganezuka-san!" Kanamori yelled as he got to the other swordsmith's side to try and protect him. With a crack Haganezuka's normal clown-like mask broke to pieces and fell off. Without the mask and headscarf, Haganezuka's hair flowed free showing it was around shoulder blade length and now that the mask was gone his handsome face was revealed. Haganezuka paid no attention as he continued to sharpen the sword even with his injuries.
'Th...This man! Just won't stop!' Gyokko realised.
"The reason why he didn't carve his name on a blade this marvelous is because of this one character. His one purpose for making it. This blade was forged with nothing but that in mind" Haganezuka said his teeth gritted and eyes narrowed as he continued to work.
"Haganezuka-san" Kanamori called out worriedly.
'He pisses me off, I mean I could kill him and that would make him stop. But I really want to make this man abandon this blade! I want to kill his concentration!' Gyokko thought with a glare of anger.
'My vision is starting to blur. Dying...Already out of air' Tokito thought from his water prison.
"You're the only one who can decide your fate" Imaginary Tanjiro said with a smile.
'But...there's no point in telling me that,' Tokito thought.
"Things will definitely work out, don't give up. Someone will come save you for sure" Imaginary Tanjiro encouraged.
'What the? So I have to depend on someone else in the end? That's the worst-case scenario' Tokito thought.
"You can only do so much when you're alone, that's why people have to work together and support each other" Imaginary Tanjiro said.
'Nobody's going to save me, they're all weaker than me. I should've worked harder but I made a mental error. I subconsciously overestimated my own strength because I was a pillar' Tokito thought.
"You're not wrong Muichirou, you're still okay" Imaginary Tanjiro said.
'But I'm dying because I made a bunch of mistakes' Tokito continued to think. Suddenly his thoughts were caught off as a knife plunged into the water near his face, trying to cut open the vase and help him.
"You can't die! Come on Tokito-san! I'll get you outta there for sure! I'll save you dammit!" Kotetsu cried out as he pulled the knife back to try again.
"Shit! What the hell is this thing? It's so boingy and gross!" Kotetsu yelled out.
'Even I can't cut through this thing so there's no way you can. You have bigger problems to worry about. Go protect the chief. It may be impossible for you but just grab the blade you're holding and run' Tokito thought. Tokito realised that there was a small fish demon on the ground behind Kotetsu and his eyes widened.
'Oh shit! Behind you!' Tokito tried but he couldn't speak unless he wanted to inhale water.
"Oh...! I know" Kotetsu said.
'Hey! Behind you!' Tokito thought as his mouth opened subconsciously. Kotetsu had a mask and moved it up to his forehead and Tokito could see his gritted teeth as he was cut and blood came from his wounds.
"Gyah! Agh! Oh shit! Blood!" Kotetsu realised as he jumped away from the water vase.
'Shit! What the hell are you doing! Run for it! Now!' Tokito thought, his mouth and eyes both wide open in horror, trying to get the warning out. The fish demon didn't stop at cutting Kotetsu and raced for him, swiping its small bladed arm straight into Kotetsu's stomach.
'The solar plexus. He got stabbed in his vital point. He's dead. You can't do it. Why don't you get it? Just cover your wounds and run for it!' Tokito thought. Even after having been stabbed Kotetsu got to his feet and ran back towards the water vase.
'Don't get closer to me! Don't try to save me! There's no way you can do it!' Tokito thought. Kotetsu finally reached the vase and placed his hands on it. He then leant forward and placed his mouth on the water and blew into it making bubbles of air appear in the water and they went straight to Tokito.
"Helping other people also ends up being beneficial for you and people are living creatures who can draw out unbelievable strength for someone else's sake, Muichirou" Imaginary Tanjiro said.
'Yeah, I know' Tokito thought.
'Breath of Mist, second form, Layered mist' Tokito thought. This time the sword slashes hit the sides of the vase that exploded as water burst outwards.
'I remember now, Tanjiro. My Dad had the same red eyes as you,' Tokito thought as the water vase burst and was destroyed. Tokito was on the ground coughing up the water that had gotten into his lungs.
'My father was a woodcutter and I, his son, helped him cut trees too' Tokito thought. Now that he had managed to get some of his breath back he stood up and started to pull out the pins from his body and his face.
'Kgh...Numbness...Really bad...This needle....If I didn't get out of that water container just now I would've' Tokito thought as he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as he continued to take the pins out.
'Don't think about things too strictly, Muichirou. the moment you regain yourself, you can get even stronger' He remembered Oyakata saying.
'Oyakata-sama's face...Seeing his disease progress is painful, that's why I am happy that Hikaru has been helping him' Tokito thought as he basically crawled over to Kotetsu.
"K-Kotetsu...Kun," Tokito said, putting the younger boy's head in his lap trying to get a response. Sensing something, Tokito turned and slashed his sword, destroying the fish demon that had attacked Kotetsu before and had been going to attack them. Because of the movement he once again broke into coughs, he wasn't fully recovered yet.
'Lungs hurt. There's water in them,' Tokito thought as he coughed.
'Mum caught a cold which turned into bronchitis so she died. It was a stormy day, my Dad went to get medicinal herbs when he fell off a cliff and died,' Tokito remembered.
"Tokito-san, f-forget me...Go help Haganezuka-san...Protect...The blade..." Kotetsu managed to get out.
'My parents died when I was ten. I was alone at the age of ten....No. No, I was alone at the age of eleven. I had a twin. My older brother was named Yuuichirou' Tokito remembered.
Flashback
"Compassion is useless to humans, no matter what good you do for someone it won't do you any good" Yuuichirou said, a large bundle of sticks on his back and leaves floating down around him.
"No, doing good for others will come back to help you, that's what Dad said" Muichirou protested.
"The words of a man who died trying to help others are useless," Yuuichirou said.
"Why are you saying that? Dad was trying to help Mum..." Muichirou started.
"Herbs weren't gonna cure her once she reached that condition, it was extermely dumb" Yuuichirou cut him off.
"You're so mean Nii-san," Muichirou said.
"If he didn't go out into that storm, only Mum would have died," Yuuichirou continued.
"Don't say it like that! That's too harsh!" Muichirou exclaimed.
"I'm only telling you the truth, you're making too much noise so shut up. You'll call a boar here. The Mu in Muichirou is the 'in' in 'ineffective', there's no point in having this conversation. The past won't change. The Mu in Muichirou is the 'in' in 'invalid'," Yuuichirou said as he continued to walk and Muichirou followed even with his head down and tears in his eyes.
'Living with him felt like a living hell. I thought he hated me. I thought he was a cold person. When spring came someone visited us. It was Oyakata-sama's wife. She was extremely pretty. I thought she was the spirit of a white birch the first time I saw her. In the end, my brother unleashed a verbal lashing and chased Amane-sama away,' Muichirou remembered.
"Wow! She said that we're descendants of swordsmen and apparently we're amazing people who can use the first breath ever" Muichirou gushed as the two brothers made dinner.
"Not my problem, just go get the rice," Yuuichirou said.
"Hey, let's be swordsmen! Let's save everyone who's suffering under the demons. I'm sure we ca-," Muichirou suggested but he was cut off. Yuuichirou had slammed the cleaver down on the chopping board, cutting the head off a daikon radish. Again and again he continued to slam the blade down and cut the vegetable into pieces that they would use for dinner. A piece flew off the chopping board and onto the ground near Muichirou's feet.
"Are you saying you can do something!? Can some weakling who can't even cook rice alone become a swordsman? Can they save someone? Stop spouting nonsense! You're just like Mum and Dad! You're way too optimistic! What's going on in that head of yours? Mum broke down because she kept working without telling us that she was feeling sick. Dad went into the storm to go get herbs. Even when I told him to stop! Even Mum kept telling him to rest! Saving people is something only chosen people can do. We're children! You think we can do something just because our ancestors were swordsmen? Want me to tell you what we can do? Here's what we can do! Die like dogs out there! Because we're Mum and Dad's kids. That woman is just using us! She has to be planning something. We're done talking about this, got it? Now go get the food ready!" Yuuichirou yelled, his hands shaking in anger. Once more Muichirou's head was ducked down and he had tears in his eyes.
'We just stopped talking. Amane-sama kept coming to our house. My brother poured water on her once, and we fought. Summer came. It was really hot that year. We were both really mad at each other, the nights were hot and the cicadas cried. Then the door opened while we were sleeping and a demon came in,' Muichirou remembered. Yuuichirou was the first one to be attacked having his arm cut off as well cuts appear on his body from the attack making the young boy cry out.
"Shut up, shut up. Stop talking. You people are just poor woodcutters, you can't do anything for anyone. Whether you exist or not, nothing changes. Truly worthless lives" The demon sneered as he moved closer and Muichirou held his brother in his arms.
'His eyes were deep red, I felt something for the first time in my life. It bubbled out from the pits of my stomach. It was intense anger. I actually can't remember what happened after that. I had never thought I could be capable of howling as fiercely as I did. When I came to, the demon was near death. Even though its head got crushed it was still struggling. It was like it couldn't die,' Muichirou remembered. The demon had been pinned down with logs of wood through its body, different tools also were stabbed into the body and two large rocks were on the demon's head that had been crushed. Muichirou was standing before the demon with an axe and wooden pallet in his hands with wounds coating his body.
'But the morning sun came up and the demon crumbled to dust. Although I didn't care about that. I just wanted to go to Yuuichirou but my body felt as heavy as lead. My house was just in front of me, but it took me several hours to get there,' Muchirou continued to remember.
'Nii-san...You're alive...Nii-san' Muichirou thought as he crawled in the smashed doorway towards his twin.
"Dear...Gods...Bud...dah....Please....Please....Just....Spare my brother....Un...Like me...He's....A really nice...Kid...He....Wants...To be...Use...Ful...And I....Got in his way...I'm....The on...Ly... Bad...One....If you're giving punsihment....Just give....It to me..." Yuuichirou pleaded softly as Muchirou's eyes filled with tears and they overflowed.
"I knew....The whole time...The truth...The Mu....In Muichirou....Is the 'in' in 'infinity'. If you ever do something to help others, you can bring out infinite strength, you are a chosen one" Yuuichirou said.
'But Muichirou, no matter how virtuous you are in life, the gods and the Buddha won't protect you in the end so I thought I had to protect you. Sorry for not being nice to you. I never had the capacity to do that. I guess being nice to people is something only chosen ones can do' Yuuichirou thought as he held his brother's hand with his remaining arm.
Flashback over
Muichirou gently laid Kotetsu down on the ground and picked up his sword as he remembered his memories. He stood up, his eyes narrowed in a glare and his muscles bulging. That wasn't the only thing though as red markings appeared on his forehead and cheeks that looked a lot like the one that Tanjiro had on his forehead. This battle had only just begun and Muichirou wasn't much of a Hashira if he let innocent people be hurt and killed on his watch.
In the wooden shed Haganezuka was still working on sharpening the sword while Gyokko was still trying to break his concentration.
'This! This! This man! This human! No matter what I do, he just won't stop sharpening the blade' Gyokko thought. Even with cuts all over his arms and face, including two in the shape of an X over his left eye, Haganezuka continued to sharpen the blade.
'Even though I took out his eye, he continues to silently sharpen it!' Gyokko fumed. Kanamori, who had been trying to protect Haganezuka as best as he could, had been thrown into the wall of the shed hard enough to bust down the wall but he was still pushing himself up to his hands and knees.
'Oh, speaking of killing..' Gyokko thought as he noticed Kanamori. In an instant a blade appeared just away from Gyokko making him quickly retreat into his pot to dodge the large slash that Muichirou had made.
'He escaped from the water basin!' Gyokko realised as he appeared in another pot.
'How the hell did he...I don't know. I wasn't even paying attention to him since I thought he would die instantly. No, but. I should think about this another way. I was super focused just now! Yes! Hm? Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's with the birthmark? According to the information I got from Muzan-sama, the earring boy has something similar. No, no, no but still. How can he make sure a relaxed face? His body's supposed to be paralyzed from my attack and how could he attack me with an even faster attack than before?' Gyokko questioned himself. Even though he had acted as fast as he could, his shoulder had been cut. Muichirou wasn't going to wait for him to attack as he rushed towards Gyokko. Moving Gyokko summoned another pot and held it up as tentacles shot out of it.
"Octopus pot hell!" Gyokko said as even more tentacles shot out of the pot. Muichirou swung the blade only for it to be caught between one of the tentacles.
"Tokito-dono!" Kanamori yelled, a sword in his hands. The sword in Muichirou's hands was snapped by the tentacles since it was already chipped and brittle. Large tentacles burst out destroying the small wooden shed that they had been in.
"Hyo, hyo! So? How do you like the power of octopus flesh? You can't cut through that," Gyokko bragged. Even though he was thrown out of the building by the octopus, further aggravating his injuries Hanagenzuka had grabbed a sharpening block and once more started to sharpen the blade again.
'He's still sharpening the blade, is he stupid? He's not sane for sure,' Gyokko thought as he saw Hanagenzuka.
"But that's okay too. The pillar first, then the smith," Gyokko said before turning up to the end of the tentacles that had a hold of both Muichirou and Kanamori.
"I let my guard down too much before, I will crush you and absorb you for sure this time," Gyokko said. Something in the tentacles moved and soon enough they were cut into pieces dropping Muichirou and Kanamori down to the ground and Gyokko was caught off guard.
"You made this blade for me" Muichirou said and Kanamori realised that the sheath that he was holding was empty with the sword being in Muichirou's hands.
"Thank you Kanamori-san," Muichirou said as the sword turned white.
"....No, no, I...Just followed your first blacksmith's instructions and did exactly as he wrote" Kanamori said even though there were tears in his eyes.
"Oh, right. Tetsuido-san made my blades first. He died from a heart attack," Muchirou remembered.
'Hmph, no matter how many swords you use, the result won't change' Gyokko huffed in his mind.
'Ahh how fitting' Mucihirou thought.
'Boy, I'm worried about you. Will anyone ever understand? Understand you. How much you're gone through. How close you've cut it. How uneasy you are because of your amnesia and how you worked so hard you started coughing blood. Will anyone ever understand? Whenever I see the sword I made for you, tears come out of my eyes. I don't have long to live. I'm not old enough to start fearing death, but you're still making me worry here' Muichirou remembered his old swordsmith saying.
'Tetsuido-san, I'm sorry. I really made you worry but now, I am fine,' Muichirou thought. Gyokko used his pot once more to bring out more tentacles but this time Muichirou was ready.
"Breath of Mist, fifth form, Sea of clouded mist" Muichirou said as he attacked. Mist engulfed the tentacles and Muichirou rushed through it, his sword once again going for Gyokko's neck only for the demon to duck into the cut. All of the tentacles were once more cut into pieces with just one attack.
"You minced it pretty quickly, but you can't catch up to the speed of my pots," Gyokko said as he appeared in a pot in the tree.
"I wonder about that," Muichirou said as he turned to the demon.
"What?" Gyokko asked.
"Looks like your senses have dulled, but that's because you've lived for hundreds of years," Muichirou said. A gush of blood came from Gyokko's neck as Muchirou had managed to cut him.
"Next time it's coming off. I'm not playing your dumb pot games" Muchirou stated as he continued to stare at Gyokko and raised his sword.
"Don't underestimate me, brat" Gyokko glared in anger.