.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Kanao and Inosuke had recovered from their injuries inflicted upon them by Doma and were now working alongside the Night Sentinels to defeat the Second Upper Moon. The Sentinels were fortunate enough to regain some ground back from Doma who had seized it with his ice walls that reflected sentinel energy. Unfortunately, until the Sentinels were able to find a way to defeat Doma, there would be no way for them to advance forward.
Kanao and Inosuke were working together as they were the only members of the Demon Slayer Corps that were still alive in this sector of the battlefield fighting against Doma. The others, unfortunately, perished. They were currently fleeing from Doma after a failed attempt to sneak up on him, his reflexes were much sharper than they had anticipated, forcing them to run away. They were being chased by him but it was only a matter of time until he caught up. The two demon slayers saw a ditch up ahead and jumped into it to escape the demon's sight and provide themselves a bit of breathing room.
They sat inside of the ditch, breathing heavily after pouring every ounce of energy they had into outrunning the Upper Moon. Both were covered in sweat and a cold chill constantly filled their body. Inosuke complained while resting his head back, "DAMN IT! WHY WON'T THAT GUY JUST DIE?!"
Kanao's expression widened as she pressed her finger against her lips and made a "shhhhh!" sound to calm the boy down before adding on, "I understand how frustrated you are but we can't get reckless like that again! We've tried approaching him two separate times now and he nearly killed us both times as well!"
"Maybe we should try a third time, maybe that punk will have what's coming to him on our third attempt!"
"And what do you propose we do?"
"Kill him, ofcourse!"
Kanao's expression shifted to one of disappointment, She didn't really expect much less of Inosuke. She looked over the ditch to see if Doma was following them and was relieved to see nothing nearby. She hid inside the ditch once more and explained to Inosuke, "It's clear that neither of us can take him on our own. We're going to need some help!"
"Oooh! I hope from one of those, those beasts sure look like they might come in handy!" Inosuke pointed his finger towards a nearby clash between a Sentinel Atlan and a demonic titan.
Kanao blinked several times while watching the clash of titans nearby, each punch either combatant threw could be heard from miles away, their steps were able to subtly shake the ground. The girl answered, "Maybe, but those things look like they have their hands full. I was thinking we could start working with the soldiers around here more, we're not going to make any progress trying to fight by ourselves."
"Kek, as much as I hate to admit it, I'll have to agree with you. Let's figure out a way to kick this guy's ass!"
They both peaked out from the ditch, finding the safest route to retreat towards the Night Sentinels without catching any unwanted attention. After confirming their route, the two demon slayers left the ditch and began maneuvering around the battlefield towards a safe zone that was secured by the Night Sentinels. All around them, they were surrounded by Sentinel and ARC vehicles advancing towards the front lines as well as the hundreds of soldiers that ran alongside them. They needed to figure out some way to discuss a battle strategy. Kanao caught the attention of one of the charging Night Sentinels who stopped upon being called by the girl and asked what she wanted. The girl asked:
"Excuse me, sir, is there somewhere your leaders have met up to discuss battle strategies or anything else like that?"
The soldier gave the girl a perplexed look, tilting his head before pointing further back from where he came from and answered, "Several of our officers have met up in that rock formation over there, we've been ordered to lay suppressing fire on the demon until we can figure out how to overcome it."
The girl respectfully bowed after getting the answer she needed from the Night Sentinel, turning towards Inosuke as the two demon slayers nodded towards one another and made their way towards the rock formation that was shaped like a bulb. After several minutes of hiking through the battlefield and squeezing past the allied forces, they finally made it to the area where several of the ARC and Sentinel officers had gathered to discuss their strategy. Their weapons were put aside, simply leaning against a rock wall as all of their attention was focused on a mechanical table in the center of the area they were in which was presenting a holographic display of the Immoran wastelands to them based on the satellite feed given to them by one of their ships that was monitoring the battlefield from above and mapping out all of their movements and terrain.
The officers turned their heads towards the two demon slayers who stepped in, Kanao hesitantly did so while Inosuke proudly barged in. Before anyone could say anything, Inosuke inquired, "Hey! Do any of you assholes know how to beat that ice bastard?!" Inosuke pointed towards the direction they came back from, which is where Doma last was. The officers were bewildered at Inosuke's vulgarness and overall grotesque appearance.
Kanao felt partially embarrassed by Inosuke's lack of decency as she apologized, "My apologies, sirs! My name is Kanao and my friend here is Inosuke. We're the only remaining members of the Demon Slayer Corps in this entire area and we just barely survived fighting against the Upper Moon. We retreated here in the hopes that you may have come up with a strategy to defeat him."
The officers looked towards one another, nodding in agreement as they chose to forgive Inosuke's brash behaviour and cut to the point, "As of right now, young lady, we have not figured out any sort of battle strategy. Our men are currently suppressing fire to keep him occupied but we don't know how long that'll last. We need to figure out something quick or his damned ice is going to keep reflecting our blasts back and destroy us all!"
Kanao began caressing her chin in deep thought, gathering the knowledge she's accumulated to figure out something, anything that could help the Night Sentinels. Her train of thought was interrupted by Inosuke exclaiming, "If only that bastard just stayed still and let us kill him! Damn it all, even when we get past his ice, he's a fast motherfucker!"
That was the last piece of the puzzle in Kanao's mind, an imaginary lightbulb turned on in her head because she had just come up with an idea. She said out loud, "Yes, that's it!"
The officers looked towards Kanao once they saw her expression light up considerably. They called out to her, "Did you just come up with something, young lady?"
"Yes! I just thought of a way to kill that demon! It's going to be dangerous, but I think it's the best chance we've got, given our limited resources!"
The officers were intrigued by the girl's words and asked, "Alright then, we're all ears. What do we need to do?"
Kanao let out a deep breath before explaining, "Okay, so here's the plan!"
.
.
.
.
.
PHY Majin Buu (Ultimate Gohan) theme from Dragonball Z: Dokkan Battle
Kokushibo, Upper Moon One, leapt towards the large Immoran wall, clinging to it before revealing his four arms, each carrying a shichishito blade that had arching blades branching off of it. He pushed himself off the wall, zooming through the air at incredible speeds as he bulleted towards the Hashira who had all gathered alongside King Valen to fight this monster. A Sentinel troll stepped in front of Kokushibo, preparing to fire upon the demon but Kokushibo was much quicker as he sliced with all four of his blades. In an instant, the Sentinel troll mech was sliced apart effortlessly and blew up. The Upper Moon passed right through the explosion, heading straight towards the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito. The young fourteen year-old attempted to defend himself by preparing his attack and swinging at the demon just as Kokushibo came close but the child didn't even have a moment to react as his blade was sliced in half with a single swing followed up with another than diagonally cut the boy in half, leaving his upper torso to slide off and collapse to the ground.
Before Kokushibo could unleash his fury upon anyone else, King Valen dived into the fray with his bright blue sentinel crucible, already ignited. Kokushibo swung at the king who swung his crucible at Kokushibo. The crucible effortlessly sliced through Kokushibo's swords, making the demon subtly widen his eyes in shock as he began taking a step back from the king who wasn't giving Kokushibo a chance to counterattack.
Sanemi Shinazugawa, the Wind Pillar, was furious upon seeing his comrade be effortlessly sliced in two and lunged towards Kokushibo while he was distracted, hoping to end this conflict with a surprise attack. However, Kokushibo had other plans. The demon's hair morphed backwards as his face phased into the back of his head with his hair moving towards the opposite direction as if it were slime. Sanemi cursed as he attempted to stop himself but he was already within the demon's reach as the Upper Moon effortlessly cut down Sanemi just like the others.
In the far back, Obanai Iguro, the snake pillar, and Mitsuri Kanroji, the love pillar, were quite a distance away, standing right next to each other as they fearfully watched their comrades die. Mitsuri Kanroji is a young woman with slightly pale skin who possesses green eyes. She has long and curly pink hair which fades into a lime-green at the ends which are tied into three, thick braids. The buttoning of her demon slayer uniform is left unbutton, partially exposing her chest. She wears a pleated skirt and a pair of lime-green thigh-high socks.
Mitsuri was sweating profusely as she stood alongside her lover, Iguro, who tried his best to remain calm despite the situation. Mitsuri confessed to him, "Iguro… I'm scared… how are we supposed to beat this guy…?"
Iguro took a deep breath, calming his already-tense nerves as he forcefully said in a confident tone, "We'll make it through this, Kanroji. I promise, I won't let him lay a single finger on you."
"Don't treat me like a liability! I can fight too, y'know! I just don't know if all of us working together will be enough to take him down, he's too strong!"
"It's best if we refrain from getting heated, recklessness is only going to get us killed. We need to stay back and assess the situation, we're clearly way out of our league right now."
There were only half of them left, Giyu Tomioka and Gyomei Himejima had died at the hands of Kokushibo earlier in the battle and all who remain are Tengen Uzui, Kyojuro Rengoku, Iguro, and Mitsuri. This was not going to be an easy battle for them to win. They were going to have to give it their all if they were hoping to survive.
.
.
.
.
.
Zenitsu and Kaigaku's blades clashed against one another. They were now in the open, fighting amongst the other soldiers who battled the demons of Immora. It was a borderline sensory overload for Zenitsu who was still relying on his hearing to aid him in battle as it was the only way he could "see". Kaigaku mocked while pushing Zenitsu's blade back with his own, "Looks like our two wills are evenly matched it appears!"
Zenitsu grunted before answering, "No, you're just stronger than me. My will to end your life and protect those around me is much stronger than you can comprehend…!"
Kaigaku chuckled at Zenitsu's remark, backing off their sword clash and observing the battlefield around him. "I wonder… how committed are you to your beliefs…?" Kaigaku said dismissively, looking around the battlefield to see if he could spot someone from far away that Zenitsu couldn't, hopefully, sense. He saw a large chunk of ice nearby with several vehicles exploding near it. In the very far distance, he was able to see a singular girl racing towards the action. She was by herself, a perfect target considering how much Zenitsu fawned over girls. Just how far was Zenitsu willing to go for his cause? Kaigaku smirked upon finding his target and stating to the blonde, "I guess we'll just have to find out!"
Zenitsu was confused once he saw Kaigaku running in a seemingly random direction. The boy panicked, believing that he was racing towards the allied soldiers to begin mindlessly killing them. Zenitsu couldn't allow that! He began chasing after Kaigaku while using his breathing techniques to keep up with the demon. Zenitsu continued using his echo-location to listen for the footsteps of the soldiers, he could visualize everyone's position if he wanted but for the time being, he focused on what was in front of him. It made no sense to Zenitsu, just where was Kaigaku going? It's not like him to run away from a fight.
That's when Zenitsu was able to visualize someone else running in a different direction and Kaigaku was heading straight towards them. Based on the sound-waves bouncing off of them, revealing their shape and who they are… it's not a Night Sentinel for sure. It's… Wait a minute… is he heading right towards Kanao?! He can't afford to let her get hurt, not after all Tanjiro's done for him! Zenitsu tapped into his breathing even more, mustering as much speed as he could to close the gap between him and Kaigaku.
Kanao took notice of rapid footsteps approaching her, causing her eyes to widen once she saw Kaigaku zooming towards her. She assumed a fighting stance and pointed her blade towards Kaigaku, preparing to block his attack.
No, it was no use, Kaigaku was going too fast for her! Zenitsu could hear Kaigaku drawing his sword back, preparing to thrust it forward once he was close enough to his target. Zenitsu didn't care if he destroyed his legs by doing this, he was never going to live with himself if he allowed his best friend's partner to die at the hands of someone he failed to kill. Zenitsu poured his energy into his legs for a single maneuver that would catch him up to Kaigaku and save Kanao.
Kaigaku exclaimed, knowing damn well Zenitsu was behind him, "Let's see if you can stop this, Zenitsu!" before thrusting his blade forward in an attempt to stab Kanao. Kanao prepared to leap out of the way but Kaigaku had hit his mark as he felt his blade pierce through human flesh. Kaigaku laughed briefly before stopping and realizing what he had done.
Impaled by Kaigaku's blade was Zenitsu who was standing in front of Kanao with Kaigaku's blade going through his abdomen. His DSC uniform was tainted red by his blood and the boy was wincing in pain, trying his best not to scream in pain. Kaigaku was in wide-eyed amazement as he watched Zenitsu fight through the pain and stand his ground despite having a katana impale him.
Kanao shouted, preparing to seize this opportunity to decapitate Kaigaku, "Oh my god, Zenitsu!" She felt horrible, she didn't want to be the cause of one of her comrade's death, especially the best friend of her lover. However, Zenitsu barked at the girl, causing her to stop:
"Don't worry about me…! Just go on ahead, I'll take care of this guy…!"
"But-!"
"I SAID, 'GO'!" Zenitsu demanded. Kanao hesitantly nodded her ahead before returning her attention back towards her original target. Zenitsu was breathing heavily, trying his best not to break down into tears because of the pain.
Kaigaku chuckled as he complimented, "There we go! That's what I want to see! Atta boy, Zenitsu! You finally showed some guts, I feel like a dad watching his disappointing kid finally do something remarkable!" Kaigaku prepared to pull the sword out of Zenitsu's body but he was stopped by the blonde grabbing the man's wrist to hold him still. The demon was perplexed by Zenitsu' actions as he looked towards the boy who was at his physical limit trying to fight the pain and hold back Kaigaku. The demon cursed, "What the-! What are you doing?!"
Zenitsu took his nichirin blade in his other hand and sliced off both of Kaigaku's arms with a single motion, causing the demon's hands which were still holding onto the sword to drop to the floor lifelessly. Kaigaku stepped back out of concern as he saw Zenitsu grab onto the handle of the blade that was going through his body. Kaigaku warned, "Don't! You're going to get yourself killed if you do this!" Zenitsu took a deep breath before scrunching up his face out of determination as he slowly pulled the sword from his body.
That's when Zenitsu began screaming wildly, his entire body was shaking and tears were spilling from his eyes. Kaigaku waas disgusted by what he was seeing as he watched Zenitsu rip the sword out of his body, spraying blood onto the floor in front of him. This action caused the blonde to stumble backwards before regaining his footing as he held a nichirin blade in each hand, one coated with his own blood. Zenitsu was hunched over, barely breathing as he spat out a chunk of blood that splashed on the ground beneath him. Kaigaku took several steps back as he regenerated his arms. The demon pointed out, "Is this really how far you're willing to go, Zenitsu?!"
Zenitsu muttered while lifting his head to face Kaigaku, "You asked and I gave you my answer… Prepare to die. Thunder Breathing-" Zenitsu crossed his arms in front of him with both nichirin blades pointing up towards the sky. Kaigaku was panicking until he decided to take a good long look at Zenitsu. This little runt, whom he had no respect for in the beginning, was able to prove him wrong. He grew from an ungrateful pissant into a respectable boy who follows through on his promises. Kaigaku can proudly admit that he was wrong about Zenitsu. He really did misjudge the boy's capabilities. Yes, Zenitsu's will is stronger than his own. He has no complaints losing to someone who has a stronger resolve than he does. "...First Form,-" Kaigaku formed a small smile on his face. He wasn't going to make this any harder than it has to be. The kid's earned his victory, no need to be a hypocritical punk and deny the boy what is rightfully his…
Kaigaku was proud of Zenitsu, he was honored to die at Zenitsu's hands. At that moment, he partially regretted killing the old man. He's sure the old man would be proud of Zenitsu as well.
"Thunderclap and Flash!" Zenitsu passed right through his former classmate with his blades extended outwards. Kaigaku's head was blasted off of his body as it rocketed into the air before slamming into the ground and rolled away. After Kaigaku's corpse dropped to the ground as well, Zenitsu held his pose for several seconds before losing his grip on both blades and collapsing to his knees. Zenitsu couldn't hold it in anymore as he began vomiting blood onto the floor, staining his own hands with his blood. The boy could barely hold himself up as he slowly lost his strength and his head began pressing against the puddle of blood on the floor. So this was it, this was how Zenitsu was going to die. He at least avenged his master and protected his friends, no one could ask any more of him. He could finally be a lazy bum and just… sleep…
His thoughts went back to Tanjiro and imagined how he would react to seeing Zenitsu' death. Fuck, he couldn't imagine it nor did he want to. He needs to get back home, to Nezuko! He wants to live to see all of his friends still!
Zenitsu pushed himself back onto his knees, he was trying his best to control his breathing. Tanjiro told him that he had lost his axe while fighting Akaza. That axe was very important to Tanjiro and he's currently busy. Zenitsu doesn't have to worry about Kaigaku any more so the least he can do is find the axe and help out his best friend. He forced himself to his feet despite the excruciating pain he was feeling as he muttered to himself, "Gotta… find… Tanjiro's… axe… Gotta… find…" Zenitsu took a few steps forward but he could barely stand as he was. He left behind a trail of blood from where he walked. He lost all sense of time or the distance he travelled. He was pretty sure he barely took a few steps forward but those steps took an eternity to make. He couldn't do it, he just wanted to sit down and rest. Zenitsu began falling forward, preparing to hit the ground but that wouldn't matter, he'd finally be able to sleep.
A Night Sentinel managed to catch Zenitsu before he fell, surprising the boy who was barely conscious. The Sentinel alerted his nearby comrades, "Get a medic! This kid's barely alive!" Zenitsu raised his hand towards the Night Sentinel, catching the man's attention as the boy pleaded:
"Please… find… Tanjiro's… axe… it… was Xernex's…" Zenitsu finally lost consciousness as his head fell back and everything faded into darkness for Zenitsu.
.
.
.
.
.
Noble pope by Yugo Kanno
Kanao was running towards the large wall of ice up ahead. Doma should be behind it. Her current objective was to get past the wall and confront the demon face to face. She maneuvered around the wall to the best of her ability, going around the outskirts of the battlefield to move past it and make her way towards her target. There was a camera attached to her belt which had a built-in beacon that relayed her position as well as all nearby geographic information. Kanao could see Doma up ahead, it was time to execute her plan. Once she was within reach, she called out to the demon, "Hey, I'm the one you want, remember?!" After calling out to the Upper Moon, Doma raised his brows in a pleasant surprise as he responded in a lighthearted tone:
"Oh, Kanao! You're sooo right! You are the one I want, have you finally come to accept your place at my side?"
"No, I'm putting a stop to your murderous killing spree!"
Doma's cheerful expression quickly faded away and was replaced with a very upset one. He disappointedly said to the girl, "Aww, that's a waste. But, if it's salvation you want, I'm more than happy to give it to you, Kanao!" The demon cast a large wall of ice that zoomed towards Kanao. The girl furrowed her brows in response, leaping to the side to evade the wall of ice that sped past her. This time, instead of continuing further, she stood still. Doma created another wall of ice that sped towards her. Kanao leapt to the side again to avoid it while also closing the gap between her and the demon. Doma made a sour expression as he spawned wall after wall in an attempt to freeze the girl or impale her. Either outcome was acceptable with him. Kanao kept avoiding each wall of ice as she ran in a circle around the demon. Before long, she was closed off from her allies and was completely surrounded by Doma's ice with the demon being several meters in front of her. Kanao looked around, assessing the situation and appearing unusually calm. Doma was intrigued to say the last as he pointed out, "Umm, I hope you know that you're closed off from your allies. It's just me and you in here. If I were you, I would start sweating some more, Kanao. Unless you have something else in mind for us."
.
.
.
.
.
Back at the temporary meeting place of the Sentinel and ARC officers, all of the officers had gathered to monitor the data that Kanao was feeding to them via the beacon attached to her belt. Her position was being tracked by the allied forces as the beacon also tracked and fed the intricacies of her geographical position to the sentinels. Every nook and cranny, even the smallest details in the area, was being transmitted to the Sentinels. On a separate screen, they could see Doma in front of Kanao which allowed them an opportunity to ping Doma's position on their map. The officers were currently tracking a group of their best snipers who were on the move.
The officers ordered their sniper group, "Go to the assigned coordinates on the map and be ready to fire on-command." The Snipers acknowledged their orders and began splitting up, it was time for their plan to commence.
.
.
.
.
.
Kanao smirked before commenting, "You must feel pretty safe behind these walls, don't you? Impervious to most attacks, you've completely stopped the enemy advance."
Doma appeared flustered by the compliment as he said to the girl, "I know! Which is why it didn't make any sense for your sister to lash out at me like she did. It didn't even take me more than five second to end the fight with this amount of power! So what makes you think you can do what your other two sisters couldn't?"
"Because unlike them, I have help." Kanao raised her hand above her head and snapped her fingers, signaling to the officers watching her to give the command to open fire. The men on the other side gave the order to their snipers who were now in-position and ready to fire. With a single command, each sniper fired their weapons towards different sections of the various parts of the ice wall at a very specific angle. The sentinel energy beamed towards the wall before reflecting off of it and beaming towards another ice formation created by Doma. The Sniper bolts ricocheted off the ice walls, travelling through the network of ice deliberately set up by Kanao when she was baiting Doma into attacking her earlier. The officers watched the map as they witnessed the bolts travel through the network of ice towards their destination.
Doma had no time to react as he was struck in the kneecap by one of the sniper bolts, causing his leg to buckle forward as he lost his footing. Doma cursed to himself, "What the hell?! Where did-" He was cut off by several more sniper bolts entering the area and striking against Doma, riddling the demon's body with various holes spread across his body. The sentinel energy caused his regeneration to slow down significantly as he barely had the strength to stand on his own two feet. However, the bullets wouldn't let up as more entered the area, missing Doma and continuing to ricochet off the walls as a result. Doma cursed at the girl, "Y-you bitch! You set this up, didn't you?! You're going to get yourself killed by doing this!"
Kanao smirked as she simply answered the demon, "Yup." It didn't take long until one of the rapidly accelerating bullets struck Kanao, shooting right through her body which made the girl collapse to the ground while barely maintaining her consciousness. She stayed on the ground, keeping her eyes open as she saw the bullet continuously bounce off the walls and strike the Upper Moon. It didn't take long before the walls of ice started to melt due to the demon being too weak to currently maintain the walls. Doma's eyes (what remained of them) widened in panic once he saw the walls begin to crumble before his eyes. Without hesitation, the allied forces began storming into the area, unleashing all of their firepower upon Doma and the other demons of hell around them.
The Upper Moon demon attempted to flee, doing his best to run away despite his disfigured body. However, a certain vengeful demon slayer began racing up from behind, refusing to let the Upper Moon run away. Inosuke exclaimed towards the Upper Moon while screaming, "OH NO YOU DON'T!" The boar boy dived down from above, pinning the slowly-regenerating demon to the ground before crossing his blades in front of him. Inosuke slashed both of his swords together, decapitating the head of the demon that was attached to a flimsy neck that had yet to regenerate. The boy stood triumphantly over Doma's body, watching as the demon disintegrated to ash right before him. Right as Doma faded from existence, Inosuke stated to the demon, "That was for my mom, asshole. I hope you got to Hell." without realizing they are at Immora.
Once Doma was finished, the allied forces began their advance on the Immoran wall which gave Inosuke the chance to sheathe his blades and run to Kanao's aid. The poor girl was left with a hole in her body as her blood poured out onto the ground. Inosuke knelt down next to her, scooping her up in his arms as he angrily told her, "I told you it was a stupid idea to go in there by yourself! Just hang on, I'll make sure you're safe!" before rushing back while shouting for help.
.
.
.
.
.
Tanjiro was running across the battlefield, the nearby Night Sentinels cheering him on as they knew his affiliation with the Doom Slayer. Tanjiro was heading towards where he last saw Kanao, she was his main priority at the moment. That ice demon he fought earlier was far too strong for both her and Inosuke, he needed to help them before they got killed! Tanjiro fired his meathook to swing off a rock, falling several dozen feet in the air before landing on the ground, forming a small crater around him as he stood up. The Night Sentinels that were near him paused for a moment as they were not expecting to see the accomplice of the Doom Slayer to drop in out of nowhere. They could see the panic in Tanjiro's eyes as he stomped towards one of them and asked in an unintentionally furious tone, "Where are they?! Where did that ice demon go?!"
The Night Sentinel backed up before explaining, "He was killed moments ago thanks to the help of two of the kids from the Demon Slayer Corps. However, one of the two is badly hurt and receiving medical treatment in the far back. If you want to find your two friends, they're most likely over there."
Tanjiro's heart sank to his feet, he didn't even bother thanking the Night Sentinel as he began zooming back in the direction he just came from. It took him a couple minutes to traverse the wastelands of Immora until he finally found a section of the battlefield dedicated to treating the injured. Tanjiro frantically paced through the hundreds of injured Night Sentinels and ARC personnel that were lying on the floor, injured. The majority had already been tended to and were simply resting as they were unfit for combat while others were being taken care of by the medics. After looking around for a little bit, Tanjiro finally found his friends in a small corner, together. There, he could see Inosuke sitting with his legs crossed between an unconscious Zenitsu and Kanao.
Tanjiro knelt down in front of the girl who's vest was opened up to reveal her bloodied upper torso and bra. Tanjiro raised his eyebrows in horror to see the blood-stained cloth covering her injuries as well. As concerned as he was for Zenitsu, Kanao was his priority at the moment. Tanjiro didn't mean to lash out at Inosuke but he was having a hard time controlling his emotions as he angrily inquired from the boar boy, "What happened to her?!"
Inosuke uncrossed his arms and simply explained while looking down towards the girl, "She came up with an idea to take down that ice bastard. She used herself as bait to surround herself in that bastard's ice so, that way, those armored guys can work their magic and make their shit bounce all over the place. I told her it was a stupid fucking idea cuz she was going to get hit but it was a risk she was willing to take to get the job done."
"AND YOU LET HER?!"
"Hey, I tried to stop her but we had no choice! It was either that or we got killed!"
Kanao's eyes cracked open because of the argument, opening even more once she realized Tanjiro was in front of her. She tried sitting up but winced in pain as a result because she couldn't. Tanjiro called out to his girlfriend who simply smiled at him. She told him, "I did it… I came up with an idea to beat that ice demon… I wanted you to be proud of me…"
Tanjiro shook his head, dismissing her achievement as he demanded, "You're not doing ANY more fighting after this, you're done. You're staying right here, and don't even THINK about going back out there!"
Kanao was offended by that last statement as she forced herself to sit up, fighting through the pain which made her wince but she argued back, "So you think you can start controlling me and telling me what I can and can't do?! I'm not some liability, Tanjiro! I can fight too, just like you!"
"You can't do what I can do! This isn't your battle to fight, it's mine!"
Inosuke leaned forward while grabbing Tanjiro by the haori and complaining, "Hey, it was your idea to drag our sorry asses into this so don't start spouting that 'it's my fight' bullshit! Besides, if it wasn't for her awesome idea, we wouldn't have been able to beat that ice bastard! She really helped everyone out, you should be proud of her, you ungrateful prick!"
The ensuing argument was gathering the attention of the nearby night sentinels who couldn't help but stare. Tanjiro's eyebrows curled up in realization as he looked at Kanao's devastated expression and Inosuke's furious one. The boy untensed all of his muscles while looking towards the floor in shame and telling them, "I just don't want you guys to put up with the things that I have to…" He began tearing up as he remembered a painful memory and continued, "You don't know what I'm going to have to do in order to stop this war… it's a burden only I can handle, no one else…"
Kanao expressed in a calmer tone in a voice that soothed Tanjiro, "Tanjiro, did you forget the promise we made to each other? No matter what, we'll always be together. Whatever hardships we go through, we'll do it together. You don't have to carry the burden all on your own, Tanjiro. I'm here for you, all of us are. So please, share your pain with us, don't keep it to yourself."
Tanjiro's eyes widened as he remembered his previous conversation with the Doom Slayer in the underground Sentinel base. So this must be what Mister Flint felt like when he was pestering the older man. Tanjiro was falling into the same trap as the Doom Slayer, he was trying to push everyone away so he could be alone. He was subconsciously becoming the Doom Slayer, mindset-wise. He can't afford to make that mistake, he promised himself that he wouldn't become like the Doom Slayer and make the same mistakes that Mister Flint did.
There was a pause before the boy sighed, looking towards Kanao and telling her, "You're right… I'm sorry, I just got so caught up in the battle that I was starting to forget things… Just… don't try to do anything dangerous, alright?"
Kanao chuckled before answering, "I promise."
Zenitsu chimed in after the couple was done arguing as he nonchalantly stated, "Finally, you two are done! Jeez! you two are already having arguments, how romantic. Now, can I get some sleep?"
Tanjiro flinched as he snapped his head towards Zenitsu to see the boy wincing in pain as it was beginning to settle back in. He redirected his attention towards his best friend, turning his body to face his best friend as he asked, "Zenitsu! I'm so glad to see you! Did you manage to beat your classmate?"
"Yeah, I kind of had to take a sword to the stomach to save Kanao though. I'm in a lot of pain right now…" Zenitsu lightly laughed before continuing, "Before I was taken back here by the Night Sentinels, I made sure to tell them to look for your axe. I know it's very important to you."
The boy was moved by Zenitsu's action as he said to the boy, "Really? You didn't have to go through that trouble for me, dude. I could've found it!"
"You were busy… so I didn't want to bother you. Besides, with everything else you've done for us and still doing right now, I figured it was the least I can do…"
"Thanks, Zenitsu."
Tanjiro saw a group of Night Sentinels jogging towards him which caught his attention. They called out to the boy as he stood up. Once the Night Sentinels were in front of him, the one in the very front presented Xernex's axe to Tanjiro. The boy was amazed that the Sentinels were able to find it so easily. He gently took the weapon out of the soldier's hands and asked, "Whoa… how did you manage to find it?"
The Night Sentinels looked at each other before answering, "...We had help. This spirit, here, guided us towards it." The soldiers stepped aside to reveal the same twin-horned spirit from Tanjiro's battle against Akaza. Tanjiro was baffled to see the same spirit, walking up to it as he pointed out:
"Wait a minute, you're the same one that was following me earlier. Why are you so interested in me?" Tanjiro was only given silence by the spirit which simply pointed towards the axe in Tanjiro's hands. That's when Tanjiro made the connection, causing his eyebrows to raise considerably as he figured out, "So… it's you! So back there.. When you followed me and helped Akaza.. That was you testing me!" The spirit subtly nodded, confirming Tanjiro's suspicions. The boy couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was too good to be true! "Well, I hope I managed to live up to your expectations. If you're looking for Mister Flint, he's probably beyond the walls at this point." The spirit performed a quick twirl before ascending in the air and taking off towards the Immoran Wall.
The boy watched as the spirit left. Inosuke called out to Tanjiro, "So what's the plan now?"
Tanjiro stowed the argent axe onto his hip before explaining, "I just have one more loose end to take care of. What about you? What do you plan on doing?"
Inosuke stood up before pointing towards one of the Atlans and excitedly exclaiming, "I'm going to tame one of those beasts!"
Tanjiro gave the boar boy a perplexed look but decided to wish the boy good luck as he said to his comrade, "Good luck with that. Try not to get hurt out there."
"Oh, trust me, once I tame one of those things, I'll be INVINCIBLE!" Inosuke burst out into maniacal laughter before storming off into the distance to supposedly tame one of the Sentinel Atlans.
Tanjiro chuckled once more before kneeling down in front of Kanao once more and untying his haori which was wrapped around his neck. Tanjiro covered the girl with it, using it as a sort of blanket as he told her, "I want you to hold onto this for me. Keep it safe for me, okay? I'll come back for it later."
Kanao was worried about what Tanjiro just said, compelling her to cry out, "Tanjiro, don't tell me, you're-!"
"No. I'm keeping my promise to you, Kanao. I won't get myself killed. This is just further motivation to stay alive, so I can get back to you." The boy smiled behind his mask as he stood back up. He took one last look at Kanao and Zenitsu, burning the image into his memory before redirecting his attention towards the nearby battle. He fired his meathook into a set of nearby rocks and reeled himself away so he could get back to the fight.
.
.
.
.
.
The Slayer had already ravaged through the city of Immora, it wasn't difficult to spot the Dark Lord's tower which was the tallest in the city because of course it was, only an arrogant god like Davoth would situate himself in the most easily recognizable building in the city. He had slaughtered thousands of demons to get to this point, all that was left was to scale the tower and get to the very top. Most people would take the elevator, but Flynn had other plans. The warrior ran off the building he was currently on, leaping towards the humongous tower which the Dark Lord was residing in, and firing his wrist grappling hook towards the wall. He pulled himself up before immediately firing the grappling hook on his other wrist to pull himself up even further.
The Slayer began climbing the wall furiously, using the grappling hooks every-so-often to provide himself a boost of momentum so he could scale the tower faster. After several minutes of intensive climbing, The Slayer had finally reached the top which spread out like a flower as if the base of the tower was simply a stem. The Slayer leapt off as he reached the point in which the tower spread out, quickly grabbing onto his argent hammer with one hand and pointing his other wrist towards the tip of the tower. He fired his grappling hook at the wall and began reeling himself one more time. The warrior channeled his spiritual energy and swung his hammer into the side of the tower as hard as he could.
The walls disintegrated before the might of the Doom Slayer as the warrior crashed through, landing in the large and open room in which the god was waiting for him. It was a large and circular room that had plenty of space for the Slayer to move around in. On one side of the room was an elevated throne that stood several feet above the ground the Slayer stood on. Walking away from the throne, towards the edge of the platform the throne stood on, was the Dark Lord who was in his mechanized red suit. "At last, you have arrived…"