The moon was still bright within the sky and there was a giant pile of rubble that had once been the infinity castle in the middle of a street, buildings on either side of the road.
'I'm outside but this is dangerous' Tanjiro thought as he looked up to the sky with his undamaged eye.
"We brought Muzan to the surface but this place is the city!" Kanata yelled as they realised where they had brought Muzan up.
"He's significantly further from the expected destination!" Kuina added.
'It was a skills showdown between Yushiro-san and Muzan. The fact that he has been brought to the surface is nothing short of amazing' Kiriya thought.
"How long until sunrise?" He asked Kuina.
"There still.....An hour and a half left" She whispered while sweating and holding a pocket watch.
'Still....Then' Kiriya thought.
"There's still one hour and a half left! Hour and a half until sunrise!" A crow reported as he flew around the rubble.
'Too much. There is still too much time left. Where's everyone?' Tanjiro thought.
'Kanroji-san and Iguro-san' He thought as he spotted the two of them together in the rubble.
'Tomioka-san, you're all safe. Where is Muzan? Protect yourself and sniff him out' Tanjiro thought as he turned to the remains of the building. The remains seemed to explode going everywhere as Muzan freed himself from it. He had changed once again, he now had eight whip-like things coming from his back with knife-like points on the ends of them.
"Do you intend to keep me here until sunrise? Try it if you can!" Muzan challanaged. The eight whips and his arms instantly lashed out destroying everything in their path, making the Hashira and Tanjiro jump and dodge out of the way. Obanai, Kanroji and Giyuu dodged towards Muzan to try and put a stop to him.
"Breath of snake, third form" Obanai said.
"Breath of love, second form" Kanroji said.
"Breath of water, eighth form," Giyuu said. Obanai's attack was the first one to hit as his sword went straight for Muzan's neck and started to slide straight through it.
'Straight to the neck! I cut his throat but he's not dying! My attack is effective but...He's not weakening a single bit' Obanai thought as he watched his sword go straight through Muzan's neck without seeming to leave any sort of wound behind.
"Eh? EH! We hit him but we didn't cut him?" Kanroji yelled.
'No! We did cut him, I'm sure of that! But this monster.....He regenerates the moment we cut him!' Giyuu realised.
'We can't even cut his neck, his regeneration is way too fast to slide him,' Obanai thought. Muzan raised his arms readying another attack to unleash.
'It is too dangerous! We're too close!' Giyuu thought. Kanroji's eyes were screwed shut in fear before something bumped into her, making her open her eyes. Draped over her shoulder was another demon slayer, Obanai grabbed the back of a demon slayer's jacket as he started to fall from being in front of him and Giyuu looked horrified as a demon slayer was killed and fell in front of him.
"Go! Keep advancing! Become human shields for the pillars! Remain alert to give Muzan some brawl at the very least!" A demon slayer yelled out as the demon slayers all came running straight for Muzan and the pillars. What happened next was a massacre. The demon slayers didn't give any thought to their own lives as they protected the Hashira's and worked on getting them to a safe distance even as they were cut to pieces by Muzan's attacks. There was a demon slayer who protected Tanjiro who caught him and hugged him close in his last moments.
"The pillars have saved our lives countless times! If it wasn't for them we wouldn't be alive! Don't be afraid of fighting!" Another demon slayer roared as they all advanced to attack Muzan.
"No! Stop, all of you!" Kanroji cried out, tears streaming down her face at what she was seeing.
'Follow them! Don't stay back! If we all attack together somehow....' Tanjiro thought as he ran towards Muzan. At least he was running until he tripped and coughed up blood before dropping to the ground and letting out a scream.
"Those who die quickly are fortunate, even if they don't die right away those who attack me are done for. Look that way" Muzan said as he turned his head. Kanroji, Obanai and Giyuu looked towards where he was looking and saw the remains of demon slayers as well as Tanjiro's collapsed body. He had blood all over his face, neck and hand and where his right eye had been was now mutated.
"He has soaked in my own blood during the attack. The amount of my blood is too much, it won't turn him into a demon. Like fatal poison it will destroy his cells and he'll perish. Kamado Tanjiro is already dead" Muzan announced.
'Nezuko, wake up. Tanjiro is in danger' A voice called out to Nezuko who was laying down asleep. In an instant Nezuko was up on her feet, her hands clenched as she looked towards the sky, like she could see something no one else could.
"Nezuko?" Urokodaki questioned.
"Nezuko what's wrong?" He asked when he realised she was staring off into space. A large bang was heard startling Uzui and Shinjuro, who were in the same place watching over Kiriya, Kanata and Kuina. They turned to see Nezuko running with Urokodaki following her with his hand outreached.
"What? Kamado Nezuko! Where are you going?" Uzui yelled.
"AH! This is bad! She broke down the door!" Suma yelled.
"Oyakata-sama! The demon girl has run away! What should I do?" Shinjuro enquired.
'Why? What's going on? What should I do? I don't know. Is she being manipulated by Muzan? No that can't be it or has the medicine returned her to being a human? No....If that was the case, Sakonji would have caught her. We have to go after her,' Kiriya panicked.
"Right now Nezuko-chan-" He started but was cut off as his Father's hands gently touched his shoulders.
'You can leave Nezuko alone, she's alright' Oyakata said to his son.
"Who should follow Nezuko-chan?" Kuina asked.
".....No there's no need," Kiriya said.
"Huh? But if Nezuko-chan gets caught by Muzan, there will be no turning back" Kanata said.
"That's right....But....But....Father said to leave her alone" Kiriya said as tears poured down his face. He now knew that his father was watching over him. Nezuko continued to run through the woods faster and faster so that Urokodaki could barely even see her.
'So fast! I can't keep up with her anymore!' Urokodaki thought. Nezuko saw a person pointing in a direction and she quickly followed the directions even if that meant jumping off a cliff down into a forest.
'To jump from this height! Was the medicine to turn her human again ineffective? Nezuko!' Urokodaki thought worriedly. Nezuko continued to run even as she slid down the side of a hill, she was determined and nothing would stop her.
Tanjiro was laying down, his condition was getting worse and worse but the three hashira were focusing on defeating Muzan.
'This sword. I need to find a new one that isn't broken. A sword from one of the fallen water swordsmen over there' Giyuu thought as he dodged attacks.
'So fast! He can take on three people at once without stopping to breathe,' Obanai thought. Kanroji suddenly got injured followed by Giyuu and Obanai getting injured as well. Muzan didn't stop as he unleashed more attacks, he wouldn't stop until they were dead.
"So you can still move, Hashira, I suppose marked ones won't die instantly" Muzan said.
'Forget about being hit. I've got to do everything I can to stop him...' Kanroji thought before the pain made her drop to the ground with a cry.
"Kanroji!" Obanai yelled out as he looked towards her while dodging an attack.
"Just take care of yourself! Please!" Kanroji begged as she saw an attack coming towards her. She swung her sword to hopefully stop the attack but she didn't need to as something else destroyed the attack before it could reach her. Opening her eyes, Kanroji saw a spiked ball attached to a chain. A muscular arm pulled on the chain and all of them saw Himejima standing there with no haori but he was twirling the ball around again.
"Sorry for being late" He apologised, his eyebrows furrowed in anger as he looked at Muzan.
'It's the demon hunter that took out Kokushibou' Muzan thought. From behind Muzan a sword entered the top of his head and was pulled all the way down, if his regeneration was any slower he would have been split in time. Muzan turned to see Sanemi was the one holding the sword and Sanemi threw four different glass bottles at Muzan making the demon lash out and destroy the bottles. Sanemi jumped in the air to dodge the attack with his sword in his mouth as he lit a match and threw it on Muzan, setting him on fire.
"An underhanded ploy!" Muzan growled.
"This kind of thing suits you. I'll kill you! You piece of shit!" Sanemi snarled out. Murata was hidden behind some rubble and was looking towards the Hashiras.
'That guy...That guy is Muzan. The enemy of our family.....Kill him....Kill him' Murata thought.
"Murata! Tanjiro can't move! Please go treat his wounds in a safe place!" Giyuu yelled.
"Here, give him this" I said, making Murata scream in fright.
"Make him swallow all of those vials and they should help him, Genya you go and help him" I ordered and the other boy nodded.
'You remembered my name Tomioka...Ever since we were in the selection together.....There's an enormous gap between us, but our motives are the same' Murata thought. Genya had picked up Tanjiro and they were rushing to a safe place to look at Tanjiro's wounds. I had lost both my haori and mask in the collapse of the palace and my hair had also come undone from its bun leaving it in a single plait.
"MUZAN!" I roared out and everyone turned to see me. Muzan's attack instantly stopped as he took rapid steps back. Once more I was glowing so were my swords and as I took a step forward, tears started to stream down my face. But I knew, they weren't my tears.
"How long do you intend to fight like this? Do you intend to destroy everything that we once wished for? Will you once more kill off my bloodline? Will you destroy the family that I created and desperately wanted you to have a hand in raising? Please Muzan, can you just tell me why? Why are you doing this?" I sobbed as I continued to walk forward.
"Tsuki" Muzan whispered as he seemed to be caught in a flashback.
"Hikaru" Giyuu said as they looked towards me.
"No....That's not Hikaru," Sanemi said.
"You say it'll take an hour and a half for the sun to rise, I say it'll take less then an hour" I growled put, my swords ready to attack Muzan.
Third person POV
'Have to help....Everyone's worked hard to the end' Tanjiro thought. A blue sky with clouds drifting over it was seen making Tanjiro open his eyes.
'A blue sky? Is it dawn? No, that can't be right....Huh? I can't smell at all,' Tanjiro thought but he no longer looked like Tanjiro. He was in front of a house and had been chopping wood with an axe and Tanjiro had no idea what was going on.
'Is that....our house? No....It's kinda similar but the shape is a bit different....What am I doing here? Cutting firewood? Or was I staring at the blue sky?' Tanjiro thought.
"Da-ddy," A little toddler said while pulling on Tanjiro's pants.
'Da....Daddy? Did you just call me Daddy?' Tanjiro thought. Looking at the little girl she seemed to be pointing to something so Tanjiro turned to see Yoiichi standing under the shade of a tree.
'The original breath user? Then....He must be Yoiichi-san,' Tanjiro thought.
"Tanjiro! Wake up Tanjiro! Can you hear me?!" Murata yelled as he did chest compressions.
"He isn't breathing, damn it. Don't you dare think of giving up! You can't do that to Hikaru" Genya yelled as he checked Tanjiro's breathing.
'He is right, Tanjiro's not breathing. Did his heart stop beating? I can't tell since my own heart is beating like hell here' Murata thought.
"Murata!" Another demon slayer, the one who had been with Yushiro, yelled out which made Murata scream and Genya nearly attacked but held himself back.
"I'm really glad to see you're alive!" The demon slayer said.
"You scared the shit out of me and nearly got your head cut off by him," Murata scowled, pointing to Genya who was jumping. He had been told by Hikaru to stay out of the fighting since they didn't know what would happen to him. Genya wanted nothing more than to stand side by side with Sanemi and Hikaru but he had almost gotten killed once and Hikaru had gotten injured because of it so he wasn't going to get in their way anymore.
"Please help me out! Yushiro is under the ruins" The other demon slayer said.
"Shit! But Tanjiro is....I think he's gonna die" Murata said, tears in his eyes.
"But if we can rescue Yushiro first, he might be able to cure Tanjiro. You know he can do amazingly crazy things! So hurry up! Let's go!" The other demon slayer said.
"I'll help free Yushiro, you stay with Tanjiro. There is no way that something like this is going to kill him," Genya said as he got up and he followed the other demon slayer to the ruins, pleading for Tanjiro to hang in there.
Yoiichi and the man that Tanjiro had become were sitting on the veranda together.
"There's something I need to talk about. I've been thinking about it for a while now and what come cross my mind is just....Both Suyako's face and yours...." Yoiichi said.
'Maybe he can teach me how to use the thirteenth form?' Tanjiro thought as he remembered Rengoku and Senjuro's letter about there being a thirteenth form of sun breathing.
"It's been two years now and I'm really glad to see you in good shape," Tanjiro said.
'Eh? What? What? Um' Tanjiro thought.
"Sumire was just a baby back then and now she's already this big" Tanjiro smiled as he pulled the child from before into his lap.
'I can't talk at all, I can't even move at my own will.....Of course! There's no doubt that this is the memory of my ancestor...I can't do anything right now' Tanjiro thought.
"I'm glad to see you happy to. Being able to see others happy is making me happy too....everything is beautiful in this world and I'm really grateful to be born in this world. My mother was a religious woman, she spent her life praying everyday so there wouldn't be any disaster. I can't hear answers from the god of the sun but I know that she always prayed for a warm light. She even made these earrings as an amulet, I felt really sorry for having her worrying about me all the time since I can't speak up honestly. My brother was a really nice person, he really cared about me. One day after Father beat him hard, he made a flute and gave it to me, 'blow it whenever you need a help, I will come to help you so stop worrying about a think and smile'. Since I was an unwanted child I ran away from home right after Mother died. I heard I was planned to be put in the temple to become a monk but I'd never go there, I want to live freely under this beautiful blue sky. So I kept running, running and running every single day and I didn't stop until I felt exhausted. Then around the mountain I found a small rice field and somebody is standing over there. It was a girl about the same age as me. She just stood still holding a bucket. Then I asked her what she was doing" Yoiichi said.
"'All of my family is dead because of some epidemic, I'm all alone now. I just take some tadpoles and then return them again', after saying that she just stood there without a word. Right before the sun went down she set free all those tadpoles into the rice field. 'You do return them back don't you?' I asked. 'Yes, I feel bad for those little ones since they might get separated from their family' She replied. 'Then why don't you go home with me?' I asked. 'Really' She questioned with tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were like gems. Her name was Uta. Uta and I lived together after that. I came to know that Uta was a girl who kept talking all day. I knew it, I knew the way my eyes see the world is a bit different from others. Looks like there was no one who could see the world as transparent as I did. For the first time ever, I came to the realization that my vision is my ability. Uta always held my hand, like holding something so precious she really held mine tightly" He continued to talk.
"After 10 years being together we became a couple. Soon Uta would give birth to our child so to prepare for the child birth I went to look for a midwife. I promised Uta before I left that I would come home before sunset. One the way home I met an old man who had walked three mountains, he looked like he was at his limits. He said he just wanted to meet his son who was dying because of the war. I carried the old man to his son's place, after that I rushed home since the midwife will arrive home in the morning. I ran as fast as possible, the sun was no longer in the sky. And when I had arrived Uta and our baby had been killed" Yoiichi recalled.
"You know, no matter how you value your life, somebody out there could lightly crush it down in an instant. I kept gently holding my wife and kid's body for ten days and then a man came who had been tracing the demon. He came to my home and broke down in tears, apologising for what had happened and even offered to lay down his own life at my feet if that would somehow make up for what had happened. It was my dream to live such a happy and peaceful life, in a small house together with my wife and my son. A place where I could see my loved ones every time. Where I could hold their hands and hug them. Enough daydreaming, no matter what I do my dream will never happen. Demons, they do exist and live in this beautiful world. I had decided to become a demon slayer, the man that had come to my house was the only one that was fighting back against the demons. His name was Akatsuki Tsuki and he gave me pointers and helped me create my sun breathing. After that our group gathered more and more people. I taught them how to use the breath techniques since none of the others could use it and Tsuki wasn't willing to teach anyone else. The demon Slayers called pillars were very strong. The wind breath, the water breath, the thunder breath, the flame breath and the rock breath were developed from the sun breathing techniques and each of the breath forms were upgraded at a fast rate. The demon slayers were now able to kill a strong demon. My brother had been attacked by a demon too, so he became a demon slayer too, helping each other. Soon after this Tsuki left to take on a demon that was the leader of the demons. We knew that he wouldn't be coming back from the journey and I badly wanted to stop him, instead I gave him two blades that had been crafted for him in mind and he smiled at me and left. We never saw him again but we knew that he had been killed"
"Years later, I finally met the boss of all demons, the one that Tsuki had tried to kill, the moment I encountered him, I now realized the purpose of my life was only to kill this man" Yoiichi said.
"He was overflowing with violent intent, he strongly resembled magma erupting from a volcano. He boiled and seethed as if to consume everything. 'I am no longer interested in swordsmen who use breathing', upon saying that he lashed out, he possessed fearsome speed and a long reach. As I dodged I heard the bamboo splitting and falling a considerable distance behind me. I sensed even a single scratch would kill me, for the first time ever I felt a chill down my spine. He had seven hearts and five brains and in that moment, I completed my sword forms" Yoiichi said. He used his sword form to slash at Muzan cutting his arms, legs and torso.
'The complete forms? Even the thirteenth? I want to know! Teach me!' Tanjiro thought.
"The man appeared confused that his body wasn't regenerating. He was supporting his severed head so it wouldn't fall but it wouldn't reconnect. I realised that my bright red blade, one like Tsuki had, would immediately work against even the progenitor of demons. There was something I needed to ask him, 'what is the value of a life to you?' I asked him. He didn't answer me, he merely looked at me but perhaps due to his anger, his face turned dark red. I thought my words had not reached him. Then I glanced at the demon girl with him. She did not attempt to help him, with her eyes wide open, she leant forward and she stared at the man with the severed head. It looked oddly as if her eyes were shining with hope. I decided to finish off the man before dealing with her. When I took a step towards him I heard the sound of teeth grinding. The next moment his body burst open with incredible force. Of the 1,800 scattered pieces of flesh I cut little more than 1,500 of them. However the remaining pieces were too small. I suspect enough escaped to recombine into a lump the side of a human head. As I stood there the girl let out a cry, as if weeping and I heard her collapse. 'You almost did it....So he has overcome the weakness of beheading' She said. The girl forced out her words and tore at her hair. 'I wish that filthy man had died! Muzan Kibutsuji' She cried. 'I'm not dying.....Why am I not dying?' She questioned looking at her hands. When I calmed the flustered girl, she spoke to me in a rush about the man and she said that Muzan Kibutsuji, the progenitor of the demon, would probably never show himself to me again. The girl was relieved to temporarily be free of Muzan's control due to his weakened state so I asked for her help in defeating him. She was hesitant at first but she agreed. Her name was Tamayo and she had sad eyes," He continued.
'Tamayo? That girl is Tamayo?' Tanjiro thought.
"Then I heard from comrades who rushed to me that my older brother had become a demon. I had failed to defeat Kibutsuji and I had allowed Tamayo to escape and my brother had become a demon so they banished me from demon slaying. Some even said I should commit suicide. My Master who had just become our leader at age six would not allow that. I was sorry to further burden a suffering child who had just lost his father. There was only Tsuki's oldest son who was only seven who told me that his Father would be upset if I was to meet him just yet" Yoiichi said.
"But it wasn't your fault, Yoiichi," Tanjiro said.
"I think....I was born with special strength for the purpose of defeating Muzan Kibutsuji but I was lacking, in the end I failed. Because of that, many more people will die from now on and that pains me. Not to mention Tsuki's family who the demon's seem to be hunting down.
'I can't speak. So many things had happened to Yoriichi that I couldn't find any words to offer. I thought that perhaps my ancestor Sumiyoshi might say something but....The silence continued for a while. I want to do something. He came here because he is deeply hurt. I need some way to...' Tanjiro thought. A little hand grabbed on Yoiichi's sleeve and tugged, making both of them look down.
"Hug," The little girl said.
"Um...Would you mind holding them? They'll be happy if you lift this little one high, and you're taller than I am so" Tanjiro said. Yoiichi gently picked up the child and looked at her before lifting her into the air. This made the little girl start to laugh in happiness and Yoiichi looked up at her and couldn't stop tears from gathering in his eyes and they started to run down his face.
"Sumiyoshi, I'm back. Look how big the chestnuts are this year" Sumiyoshi's wife smiled as she walked out of the forest, another, younger, child tied to her back. She looked to see Yoiichi crouched down hugging the little girl with the sun setting over the forest in front of them.
"What happened?" She questioned before she got a better look.
"Hm? Oh it's Yoiichi! Why are you crying? I'm sure it'll be fine! I'll feed you a nice big meal, okay? So cheer up! Come on!" She smiled brightly while stroking Yoiichi's hair.
'I know I'm in the middle of a fight and that Yoiichi died hundreds of years ago but...I can't help but wish that his heart will find even a little peace' Tanjiro thought as tears feel from his ancestors eyes.