.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It was in the middle of the night and it was time for the boys and Uzui to report their findings. Tanjiro and Inosuke were on the rooftop of one of the buildings in the district where Inosuke was gushing about his discoveries. Tanjiro had a difficult time understanding the boar boy as Inosuke wasn't describing what he saw in an easy-to-understand fashion. Tanjiro suggested that Inosuke should wait for the others to show up so he can explain his story, but Uzui chimed in from nearby as the man stated, "Zenitsu's not coming." The boys looked to see the man sitting a couple meters away from them, overlooking the empty streets of the district. He had been so quiet that even Inosuke, who was keen on his ability to sense his environment, couldn't pick him up. Uzui continued, "I've made a serious mistake by bringing you boys here, I was in such a rush to find my wives that I overlooked the fact that none of you are Hashira. As a result of this, I've gotten one of you killed and I have no one to blame besides myself. You boys need to get out of here as soon as you can, I've already called for backup. This situation is worse than I could've imagined."
The two boys were horrified by the news, they couldn't believe that Zenitsu was dead. That shouldn't be possible, but then again, there's a lot about this situation they don't understand yet. They attempted to interject but Uzui had already left, leaving the two boys to their own antics as they had to start packing their things and be ready to mobilize. Tanjiro said his goodbyes to the house owner who had known he was a boy but still treated him kindly. It was refreshing for Tanjiro to have someone treat him so nicely, it reminded him of his own mother so he kind of had a soft spot for her. However, he needed to leave, and as he departed, he smelled the presence of a demon from where he had just left. He returned to find the houseowner being consumed by some sort of sash and becoming a part of its essence. Standing in the middle of the room, awaiting Tanjiro's arrival, was Upper Moon 6.
Upper Moon 6 is a young girl with long, black hair with sharp, lime-green eyes and long eyelashes. She has a pink flower tattoo on her face along with flower-patterned knee socks and oiran shoes. Lastly, she wears a very revealing two-piece kimono with a series of various flower patterns on it. She smirked as she felt so proud of herself for consuming the house owner as a demon slayer watched. However, her smirk faded quickly as she realized that Tanjiro was definitely not a Hashira which was her main priority. She commented, "You're not a Hashira, and you're definitely not in charge. Get out of my sight, kid."
Tanjiro felt the same fear he did back when he met Akaza. The Upper Moons all carried a faint trace of Muzan. As a result, the demons tend to smell similar, especially amongst the higher ranking demons. Just remembering Akaza sent shivers down his spine as the boy froze, sword in his hand as he was reliving the emotions he felt that night when Rengoku nearly died. Unfortunately, he wasn't given a moment to react as he was struck by the sash with enough force to blast him out of the room and into the walls of the opposite building.
Follow in Flight by Lipson P., Moore L., Salta T., Trifon B., and White L.
Tanjiro almost got whiplash from that attack, his entire body ached from being slammed into a wall. He was fortunate enough to survive, but the fear started to take over as he was losing control of his breathing. The demon, Daki, emerged from the building to make sure Tanjiro was killed and commented, "Oh? You're still alive? How annoying." The boy looked and didn't see any trace of the houseowner, making his heart sink as he forced himself to sit up and look the demon in the eye. Rengoku's fight with Akaza played out in his mind once more, the way that the demon fought and completely overwhelmed Rengoku was unlike anything he's seen prior. Now he's face to face with an Upper Moon by himself. He sorted through his thoughts and tried to pull himself together and remembered that Rengoku was also a witness to Akaza bringing the Hellwalker to his knees. Despite this, the Hashira charged in with no fear whatsoever. He realized he needed to be strong like Rengoku, no matter what.
He sat up, taking off the box that Nezuko resided in off his back so he could focus on the demon up ahead. He exclaimed, fighting the fear in his voice, "I won't let you kill anyone else!"
"I'd like to see you try, brat."
Tanjiro announced his attack, "Water Breathing: Second Form, Water Wheel." he leapt forward while spinning repeatedly. He shut his eyes, casting away his doubt so he could focus on the battle. Daki jumped out of the way, sicking her sashes upon Tanjiro who deflected each one. However, he couldn't cut them, only being able to redirect their trajectory as they crashed into the buildings. Each time he deflected one of the sashes, his blade vibrated like crazy as he didn't have enough grip strength to keep it in place while deflecting. This demon was crazy strong, stronger than anything else he's fought up to that point. If this is the strength of Upper Moon 6, he could only imagine how hard Akaza hits considering he's a hands-on combatant.
Once Daki landed on her feet, she sprung towards Tanjiro while retracting her sashes. The boy prepared his next attack in anticipation, "Water Breathing: Eight Form, Waterfall Basin." he attempted to bring his sword down vertically to strike Daki. The demon started to spin sideways with her sashes beside her like a drill. Tanjiro made contact with one of the sashes, chipping a chunk of his blade. Another sash came up from underneath and carried enough momentum to blow Tanjiro away with a powerful uppercut.
Tanjiro reacted quickly, twirling to land on his feet but the momentum carried him back a couple more feet until he stopped and was able to regain his balance. His ears rung loudly as he felt like his brain hit every part of his skill with that punch. After he was able to regain his focus, he concentrated his breathing on his next attack, "Water Breathing: Tenth form, Constant Flux." He dashed forward with water trailing behind his blade. Daki continued throwing her sashes towards Tanjiro. The boy was able to deflect each one without compromising his advance, gaining more power with each swing as that was the point of the tenth form.
Daki furrowed her brows, assessing the situation as she decided her next maneuver to counter with. She zoomed towards the boy, realizing that the longer he ran meant the more power he would gain. She dove in with her sashes stabbing towards Tanijro from opposite sides. The boy performed a quick spin to try and knock away both sashes but left himself vulnerable for a brief period, a moment that the demon seized. With no wasted time, Daki smashed her leg into Tanjiro's skull and knocked him into a nearby building. The inhabitants inside screamed as they fled the scene, leaving Tanjiro to slowly pick himself up from the rubble.
As he forced himself to his feet, the sash wrapped itself around Tanjiro's legs and yanked him out of the building only to fling him into another. Tamjiro crashed into the walls, leaving him immobilized as Daki lifted the boy in the air and spun him briefly before slamming him into the ground as harshly as she could. Tanjiro felt several bones break as he rolled forward onto his stomach, trying to breathe. Someone came out from the buildings to see the carnage and cried out, "What the hell is going o-" but they were quickly silenced by Daki who consumed them with her sash. She made her way towards Tanjiro like a predator creeping up on its prey.
Tanjiro watched the poor civilian get killed like it was nothing, wincing in pain as he pushed himself up and called out, "Why do you demons always kill?" Daki smiled, stopping in front of the boy before crouching down and answering:
"Why? Because I can, because nothing will stop me."
"They're human beings just like you were! Don't you feel anything?" Daki began to playfully caress the boy's cheek as a sickly smile formed on her face as she continued:
"Silly boy, you don't think I acknowledge the fact that I was once human? How idiotic." She thrusted her fist into the boy's side, knocking him onto his back as he coughed out repeatedly. "Here's the real truth: I enjoy being a demon. I don't have to live with the same constraints that humans do. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. However, when you're human, it's rule this, morality that. Who gives a fuck? Where's your freedom? How come people are shunned for doing what they want to do? I'll tell you why, it's because it goes against the interest of other people. People are selfish, they won't let others do what they want because it goes against what they want. Demons don't have that same morale constraint, we do what we want cuz we want to do it. Anything we want will be ours. Can you imagine how stupid it is to praise yourself based on the restrictions imposed on yourself since birth? You humans disgust me, patting yourself on the back because you live such restricted lives compared to us demons, can you even grasp how idiotic that sounds in the grand scheme of things?"
She got up, walking away from the boy as he was of no threat to her anymore. Tanjiro fought through his pain to scramble to his knees as he barked, "So that just gives you the right to kill as you please?! Is that it?!" The demon stopped, slowly turning around to give a sly smile and responded:
"Yes, and I'll show you."
Once Daki was in the middle of the street, she took a quick glance towards the buildings around her and summoned as many sashes as possible. With a simple gesture, she commanded the sashes to cut through the buildings like razor blades. Tanjiro watched in horror as he heard the screams of the innocent were silenced. The buildings of the district collapsed like a stack of cards. Tanjiro heard more screams from the people unfortunate enough to be crushed underneath the debris. Blood spilled out from the cracks and leaked into the street. It even reached Tanjiro who was wide-eyed with shock. His pupils had dilated to mere dots as he lost his breath. He was at a loss of words after what he had just witnessed. Everything was quiet now as he couldn't smell or hear a single soul under the debris.
The demon continued with her point, "See? It's easy." Tanjiro felt so disconnected from the world now. He felt like he was watching himself in third person as he was seeing everything from a different perspective. Here he is, a demon-slaying boy that shows sympathy to the demons he kills, just sitting there as he watched dozens of innocent people get slaughtered before him by the thing he shows sympathy towards. Sweat coated his forehead as he took heavy, relentless breaths. His face was slowly turning red, but not from embarrassment. Strains formed on his body from irritation, he couldn't bear it anymore. His head dropped low as he stared at the floor, seeing his own reflection from the blood in front of him.
He could feel his own heartbeat racing at several beats per second. Each individual bump vibrated his body, he felt like he was burning up as if he was in a desert and dehydrated. So much anger was coursing through him to the point he was losing control. He started panting, everything was coming together now. The Hellwalker was absolutely right, about everything. Muzan took away his family, the demons kill as they please, and he shows them sympathy for it? There's no justification to their actions. Demons are despicable, Tanjiro honestly couldn't believe how naive he'd been for the longest time to go as far as crying for a demon.
Daki crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one leg as she called out, "What's wrong, boy? Lost your will to fight?" Tanjiro spoke up, a growl in his voice as he explained:
"You've helped me realize something: I've been lying to myself this whole time. I've faked my confidence, and I've been masking my true feelings with some petty ideology. My parents always taught me to be sympathetic towards others and to always think about how other people feel. I tried to hold onto that philosophy even after my family was killed. But at this point, who the hell am I kidding?! I HATE YOU ALL!" Tanjiro screamed as he smashed his fist into the puddle of blood underneath him, causing the blood to splash onto him. He continued, "I told myself every day that you demons were just dealt a bad hand, but all you do is just slaughter people for fun! You're nothing but animals!"
Daki got a good chuckle out of Tanjiro, remarking, "That's cute coming from someone who travels with a demon. So let me guess, you hate her too?"
"She's nothing like you!" Tanjiro yelled, making Daki sigh out of annoyance as she pointed out:
"Then which is it? You say you hate demons but not her, so what the hell are you trying to get across, kid? Suddenly, she's an exception? What a laugh. Look at you, depriving that poor girl of the nutrients she needs as if she's some sort of pet. News flash, kid, we can't eat anything else. Humans are the only thing we can eat. You think we asked to be such picky eaters? We do what we have to do for our own survival, just like what you humans have to do for yours yet you hate us for it? How do you think us demons feel getting killed because we have no other way to survive? What naive arrogance, you disgust me so much I want to kill you out of spite.
Tanjiro snapped, "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP! I've shown you demons mercy for far too long and it's time to pay my debts." Tanjiro forced himself to his feet, lifting his head abruptly to reveal his bloodshot eyes and the birth mark on his forehead had expanded to cover more of his face. Daki raised her eyebrows out of surprise. She shot her sashes towards Tanjiro to silence the foolish boy. However, the boy drew his blade and twirled his body to cut through the sashes effortlessly with one swing. Fire was bursting from his weapon, calming to a gentle flame once the sword was idle. The demon was quick to withdraw her sashes as she noticed the boy's speed and strength had multiplied, it was like she was looking at a different person. Tanjiro threatened, "There's no helping you. The only mercy I can give you is death."
Stains of time by Jamie Chistopherson
Tanjiro dashed forward with no understanding of the word, caution. The boy moved so quick that it made Daki flinch and she shot her sashes out in front of her in panic. Tanjiro didn't stop, sliding underneath the attack as he prepared a new technique. He remembered Rengoku's maneuver against Akaza where the man caught the sword with his feet and slashed with it. Using what he knows, Tanjiro calmly stated, "Hinokami Kagura: Improved, Lateral Fire Wheel." He caught the sword with his feet to give himself more range as he performed the equivalent of a breakdance spin. Daki had no room or time to get out of the way as her legs were removed and she fell to the floor. Tanjiro quickly hopped on his feet, keeping his momentum as he attempted to swing his sword to decapitate Daki.
The demon tried pulling herself away from Tanjiro with her sashes but still got cut in the process as the blade swiftly carved itself into her body and came out the other end. The parts of her body that were cut were set ablaze but she was able to quickly regenerate herself as fast as Akaza. Tanjiro kept his eyes on the demon, getting a firm grip on the sword as he propelled himself towards her with the flames behind him. Daki attempted to halt the boy's advance mid-air with her sashes but Tanjiro continued to cut through her defenses as if it were paper.
Daki attempted to throw a punch with everything she got but Tanjiro managed to maneuver himself over the woman by using her fist as a pivoting point. He attempted to decapitate her once more with a simple twirl of his body. Left with no other options, Daki used her own sash to remove her head to stop Tanjiro from decapitating it. The moment the blade passed her, she reattached her own head and spun around to kick the boy away. Tanjiro slid across the floor on his feet, maintaining his balance. He dashed towards Daki once more, refusing to give her a minute to rest.
Tanjiro got in close, constantly swinging his blade in one-continuous motion. Daki was on the defensive as she was losing ground due to Tanjiro's advance. The boy was taking a page out of the Hellwalker's book and constantly switching weapon grips to maintain his momentum. Normally, when he performed a strike, he would have to take a second to reset himself for the next strike. However, by changing his weapon grips the way he was now, he was able to keep the fluidity of his movements consistent and continue advancing without compromise. Daki leapt back and focused her sashes into one spot but Tanjiro was quick enough to sidestep the attack and grab the sashes with his free arm. He spun around to wrap the sashes around himself before hacking them all off with a single slice.
The boy began to spin his sword repeatedly like a saw blade, flames burning from the tips as he commented, "My kindness held me back, but it's about time I cut loose and go all out." Tanjiro prepared the finishing blow as he said the name of his attack, "Hinokami Kagura: Flash Dance" He disappeared due to how quick he was moving. His spiritual energy was already flowing through him to bring out whatever was happening right now, but he was able to direct it into his legs like usual to create an even more powerful dash. There was no chance for Daki, he was going to kill her. As he closed in, he felt his heart stop and his movements ceased. His speed carried him until he slammed into Daki. The demon looked confused and disgusted as the boy practically went limp as he slowly slid down her body and onto the floor.
Daki exclaimed, "What the hell?!" before taking notice of the fact that the boy's body was having a spasm as he coughed out blood uncontrollably. This made her furious as she cried out, "This has all been a complete waste of my time!" She raised her leg, preparing to pulverize the boy underneath her foot. Unfortunately, she was kicked into one of the nearby buildings that was still in-tact. Daki got out to see Nezuko standing next to where Tanjiro was, strains covering her entire body from how angry she was after watching her brother get brutalized in front of her. A vein-like pattern stemming from her left eye which was dilated from rage. It's her turn to protect Tanjiro.
.
.
.
.
.
Elsewhere, a tree fell in the middle of a forest. The Doom Slayer was several meters away from it, Rengoku's sword fully extended as if he had just followed through with a slash. The warrior sheathed the sword, happy with his work for the night and preparing to head out until he heard the familiar flaps of his bearded vulture. The creature swooped down in a hurry, perching itself on the Slayer's shoulder as it cried out, "Emergency! Emergency! Backup is needed in the Red Light District! Emergency! Emergency!" Perfect, more demons to kill.