The Dimensional fortress trembled. All the demons and humans inside were taken back by the huge explosion.
It had such force that even the great Muzan was surprised by the impact.
Hiiro stood silent, little he knew about the strength of his moon fang.
The ground was cracked, the room was completely blown away, no trace of the beautiful japanes garden remained.
In front of the night pillar, an injured Douma layed.
He was already fading his life away. Even with his strongest demon art, he was defeated by the man in black.
The Reiastu blow cut half of his body, now he was just half of the demon he used to be. He had no strength left, not even to regenerate.
"Idiot. My Getsuga Tenshou was just the final blow. The reason you lost was not me, but the poison." Hiiro pointed his sword to his neck, slowly piercing it until the Upper Moon turned to ashes. "Never underestimate a Butterfly, scum."
Even if he was victorious, even if he avenged Kanae Kocho. Hiiro knew that the was far from over.
He ran a quick diagnosis of his body. He found nothing but small cuts and bruises, he was lucky, that ultimate ice technique was fearsome.
"Now le—" the pillar was interrupted by the ceiling being cracked open, a half dozen demons fell through it, he could see the despair on his faces as they began to crawl away, trying to escape.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" The boar masked boy barked as he pierced one of the demons back with his dual swords.
He performed his beast breathing techniques and in just an instant he finished with all the creepy crawling creatures.
"You have really grown, Inosuke." Hiiro smiled puffing his chest out.
"Sensei?! You're back!" The king of the mountain rushed to his master, more than a happy encounter, he aimed for a pig assault. "Fight me!"
Inosuke Hashibira met a bonk to his head, strong enough to stop his reckless charge. The tenth pillar was enjoying the reunion, he was glad that he remained the same even when he became much stronger.
"Imbecile. You're supposed to fight demons, not humans." Hiiro crossed his arms and sighed. "You have no remedy."
Both of them laughed without realizing about the presence of the pinknette, her green eyes gleamed as she silently danced through the room, like a tigress hunting her prey, Mitsuri Kanroji ambushed the night pillar, hugging him from behind.
"Hiiro-kun! You're back!" The young man felt 'them' squeeze against his back. He even swore that they were bigger than last time.
"Y-yeah." The raven haired boy reassured the love pillar. "I'm back, Mitsuri."
The time for reunions was no more. Hiiro had already a plan, tracking their Reiatsus, he figured the position of the demon slayers and the Upper Moons.
Tanjiro was fighting with Tomioka against Akaza, the third Upper Moon.
While Obanai was currently trying to slay the master of the fortress. Inosuke and Mitsuri are going to assist the snake pillar while the night pillar will assist Sanemi group.
"Shinobu, Kanao and Zenitsu are on their way to help Sanemi-kun and the others." He carved the positions of their objectives into the mud, the three of them were resting on the ground. "The girls have medical supplies for everyone. I'll catch up with them. Is there anything you want to say?"
Both, the love pillar and the boar boy shook their heads.
"Let's go, then."
Without losing any second, they all sprinted to their objectives.
Sanemi Shinazugawa was dumbfounded by the scene in front of his eyes.
His mouth wide open, his eyes refusing to believe the fact that Kokushibo just sliced in half his last descendant. Tokito Muichiro was slain by the strongest demon slayer, cut in half by the demons blade.
"Futile. I already killed one of you." The old samurai calmly returned to his fighting stance "You should just run. I will let you flee."
"We will not flee." The stone pillar swung his gigantic axe against the accursed man, just to be parried like all the other times he tried. "We're not going to let Muichiro to die in vain."
Genya was badly injured but he could still fight, the other two were on no better situation.
"I see." The six eyed demon glared back at the pillars. Determination and death were on his sharp gaze. "In the end it has to be this way."
The demon hacked and slashed his way to the demon slayers, the katana resembled an evil flash, cutting the air with a macabre sound.
Sanemi parried or at least he tried his best to not recieve damage. His chest and arms screamed as cuts began to make their way into his flesh.
'This bastard.'
The sound of bones breaking stopped the flow of the battle. Kokushibo pierced through the shoulder of the wind pillar, he proceeded to smash his ribs with his inhuman strength.
"This is your limit." Upper Moon one just walked away from him, he was no more than a broken vessel. He didn't recognize him as an enemy anymore.
The stone pillar and Genya didn't put that much of a fight, the could only evade and parry the heavy blows. The demon was being serious about killing them.
"Dance of the dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon!" Six vicious strikes were thrown at the vital parts of the demon body.
He gracefully evaded every single one of them.
"The same technique won't work anymore." Shinobu patted and coughed, falling to his knees. The insect pillar arrived just in time.
"If you're here that means Douma's dead." The strongest demon soldier sighed at the sight of the three new demon slayers. They were all ready to fight. "That imbecile, he can't kill even a weakling like you."
"We will just take our injured and get out of here." The ravenette hissed to his foe as she took some steps forward. Like a deer challenging a wolf.
"You think I'll let you leave like that?" His grip tightened around his sword. Such disrespect. "You're are wr—"
Before he could even continue, the light steps behind him were no more. Just and agitated breath and a blood dripping sword.
A bright smile appeared on the former pillar face. At least, his Nemesis has arrived.
"That's how it is. I shall allow you to leave."
Shinobu passed him and with Zenitsu's help he carried Sanemi. The insect pillar didn't tried to break the sepulchral silence nor talking to him.
They were engaged the one with the other. Nothing more could take their eyes away.
Kanao and Genya carried the body of Muichiro while the stone pillar walked heavily to the exit of the room.
He prayed for the safety of his fellow Hashira, more than that, for his friend.
The two rivals faced each other. The golden eyes were locked on the kanji shaped pupils of his foe. Zangetsu stood still and cold as ever, waiting for them to start their so called final fight.
"You look stronger, Kojima Hiiro."
"Yeah, you are not half bad, Kokushibo." The pillar praised back.
"Then shall we?" Both of them sheathed their katanas, slowly getting back to their base form, relaxing their bodies, shifting weights, looking for openings.
Like they were imitating each other, they took a deep breath and like a flash their hands flew to their swords.
"Breath of the night. First style: Night Slash!"
"Breath of the moon. First style: Dark Moon-Evening Palace."
The swordsmen meet in a mighty clash, pushing with all their strength, trying to get the upper hand.
"Breath of the moon. Third Style: Loathsome Moon-chains." Kokushibo unleashed a violent dual crescent swings, a storm of smaller crescent-moon shaped blades rushed to the demon slayer.
"Breath of the night. Fourth style: Moon Vortex!" He destroyed all the incoming blades with ease. "You're not the only one who can attack from the distance!"
Zangetsu made his way to the heights, pointing at the sky, while the glowing eyes of the pillar were locked on his enemy.
"Getsuga Tenshou!" The Reiatsu based attack was thrown at the Upper Moon
Kokushibo evaded it by chance, his eyes were wide open when the ground was split by the force of the attack, if he hadn't evaded, he will be split for sure.
"You are more than just words, Kojima Hiiro." He was indeed expecting a little to none growth from the boy, even though he was given more blood from Muzan-sama, they were probably on equal grounds.
"But I won't give up that easily." Both of them crossed a glance. Again, this was like their first fight. But now, Kokushibo won't hand the victory.
"I'll be disappointed if you do."
Hiiro performed a shunpo. Swift and flawless, that was the only words to describe his next attack.
To his surprise ho found himself stabbing the ground, piercing the dust and rocks. The demon was nowhere to be found.
A cold katana was pointed against the night pillar. His eyes nearly popped out of his face.
"Flash steps? I already mastered my own style: demon sprint." Kokushibo pressed the tip of his sword against his foe's neck. Little traces of blood came from the cut.
"Interesting." The enraged Hashira countered with a horizontal slash, creating distance between them. "You're a master swordsman after all."
Both of them rushed against the other, with their maximum speed, shunpo vs demon sprint. The normal eye won't catch a glimpse of them, not even in a million years.
"Breath of the Moon. Sixth style: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon-Incessant!"
Kokushibo released a wild storm of slashes, matching the speed of the blocking black blade of his foe he managed to connect a pair of blows on his arch enemy.
"Breath of the night. Fifth style: Luna Nueva!" The night pillar held back nothing, he launched a barrage of attack, impacting the strongest Upper Moon multiple times.
"I'm not done!" The demon unleashed his eight style: Moon-Dragon Ringtail and with his gigantic vertical slash he pushed the night pillar back, the attack sent him flying to the ground.
Without hesitation the pillar arises from the ground and launched his newly acquired power against the former pillar.
Even when he unleashed a powerful style of his breathing technique he was thrown away by the impact of the black blade attack.
Both of them fell to their knees.
Hiiro found himself with some fractures and cuts around his body.
Kokushibo on the other hand, had to dealt whit the damage from the Reiatsu blade and the damage he received from the fifth style of the night breath, he couldn't stop the bleeding on his chest.
"I see, I won't be able to beat you with my current power." Kokushibo stood up.
"What do you mean? You're quite strong." Hiiro wanted to stood up, but his body needs more time to rest.
'Damn it. If this continues...'
"I will show you the power I received from Muzan-sama."
Hiiro's heart began pounding and his body shivered.
His eyes trembled as he saw the demons power.
'I-impossible!'