//------------------------------//
// Entertainment: Encounter 
// Story: Demon Slayer: The Strange Demon 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Once more nothing important happened during the day, save for Tanjiro and Inosuke doing their best to get ready for the upcoming battle with the Upper Moon that was in the Red Light District, the former scouting out part of the area in his Slayer attire while the latter remained inside the house he had been assigned to. Pinkamena remained on the roof with Nezuko's box to the side, as it allowed Tanjiro to move more freely, in case he was attacked by one of the Demons or engaged them once night fell on the district, and he didn't have to worry about his sister being in trouble. She was keeping an eye on her only target, Warabihime, as the Oiran remained in a room that no sunlight could penetrate, another fact that confirmed she was a Demon, not that she needed further confirmation due to the number in her eyes, while ensuring everything else was just fine, in case the sash Demon made a move or the hidden one showed up. Another thing she noted was that Tengen was moving all over the district, continuing to gather more information on where his wives ended up, choosing not to start with the heads of the houses and focus on people that had been mentioned in the letters he had received.

Eventually, with not much happening in terms of the Demons she was paying attention to, Tanjiro made his move once he was sure Koinatsu was alone, as he informed her that he had his reasons for dressing up as a girl and coming to the house, along with handing over a payment for all the stuff he ate during his time there. What amused Pinkamena was that she had been correct about the Oiran in question, she knew Tanjiro was male and had been curious about things, only to now figure out what was going on, before they talked about Suma for a few moments, as he had been telling the truth about being worried about her. Another thing that was interesting was that Koinatsu was leaving the Red Light District tomorrow, as she had found someone to marry and would be departing after one final night in this place, and, even though she barely knew Tanjiro, she would be sad to no longer be in the same place as him. Even with her worry about the others, and those who had 'fallen' Koinatsu found a reason to smile as Tanjiro told her that he would figure out what had happened to the others and save those that were in danger, where Pinkamena knew that if she could she would have taken Tanjiro with her.

As her friend returned to the roofs, however, that was when Warabihime showed herself behind Koinatsu, not a couple of moments after Tanjiro left, and attacked her with the sash, something that caused Tanjiro to pause as he felt something in the air, a demonic smell, which was when she stood up and held her hands out.

"Sleep, Humans, and be at ease." Pinkamena said, where her power washed over the Red Light District and the Humans that weren't interacting with the Demons or her Slayer allies collapsed, falling asleep as she ordered them to, though as it happened she waved her hand a little and released small little balls of light into the air, which zeroed in on the sleeping Humans and warped them into her inner world, exactly where they were in this world, "Tengen, Tanjiro is making contact with the Upper Moon. How are things on your end?"

"I checked Warabihime's room, but she's not there... which confirms what you just said." Tengen replied, where he kept his voice low so only she could hear his words, even though he seemed surprised by how she was speaking to him while not being in the area he was moving through at the moment, as she felt him moving towards the edge of the district, which meant he must have found something, "I'm checking out some of the houses on the outskirts, as the owner of the Upper Moon's house said that Hinatsuru got sick and headed out there, so once I check it out I'll rush back to help Tanjiro. Are the citizens safe?"

"Indeed. Everyone that's in the main portion of the district is safe in my realm, and I'm doing the same to those that are on the edge as well," Pinkamena answered, though she was pleased to find that Tengen trusted her enough to do something like this, since most Demons were known for eating Humans, so to some allowing her to snatch the entirety of this district would have been wrong, but she only wanted to ensure their safety, "Very well then, let's see what sort of skills our foes have, especially since they've been able to find themselves for so long."

Not a few seconds later she joined Tanjiro as he slipped into Koinatsu's room, where she found that the Upper Moon was wearing far more revealing clothing than what she wore when she was an Oiran, as it seemed like just a modified bra that showed off the sides of her breasts and a pair of panties, plus she had two flowers on her face, one under her left eye and one above her right.

"Two Demon Slayers... three counting that blond brat. That Hashira had better be coming soon, as you two are, too..." the Demon started to say, though in that moment she focused on Pinkamena, all while her sash was devouring Koinatsu, in the sense of absorbing her into the fabric so the Demons could feast on her later, before she recognized what her eyes were seeing right now, the more humanoid form that she showed her enemies, "No way, your that fox mask wearing Slayer that the Great One wants us to take down... you only survived Akaza because he doesn't hurt women, but you won't have that sort of luxury with me. I'll kill all of you and dine on the Hashira when they show up!"

Pinkamena reacted instantly, drawing her blade and swinging it a few times as the Demon attacked them, while Tanjiro just took the attack and his instincts seemed to save him, as he ended up crushing part of the building that was across the street from Koinatsu's room, leaving her to land nearby while keeping the eye on their foe.

"I have to admit it, your reflexes are amazing... his, however, are not." the Demon continued, taking a moment to walk out of the room, by resting her heel wearing feet on the window frame as she stared at them, her tone revealing that she did see one of them as a potential threat and the other as a liability, "I'll be sure to gouge out your eyes before tearing you two apart... might send the Hashira into a blind rage, allowing me to kill him that much quicker."

"You might want to know the names of those you'll be 'killing'. I am Pinkamena, as you no doubt know, and this is Tanjiro Kamoda," Pinkamena said, because she had a feeling that 'Warabihime' wasn't the Demon's name and wanted to drag it out of her before they started fighting, since she seemed interested in bringing both of them down, which was fine with her since she wanted to take her down as well.

"Daki, that's my name... the last one you'll ever hear!" the Demon replied, where she braced herself and leapt into the air, something that both Pinkamena and Tanjiro did without wasting any time as well, showing her that they were ready for a fight and wouldn't stop until she was taken out.

Tanjiro lashed out with the Fourth Form of Water Breathing, Striking Tide, while Pinkamena channeled the Third Form of her unique style, that being the Dance of the Phantom, where they clashed with the sash that came at them and it told the pair something new, there were only two Demons, Daki and a hidden one. The reasoning behind that decision was based on the fact that the sash seemed to respond to the Upper Moon's silent commands, much like a whip of sorts, but Tanjiro was able to slice through it and removed the section that Koinatsu was contained in. As they separated Pinkamena took it in her spare hand and landed behind her friend for a moment, where she carefully channeled her power to remove the now slumbering Oiran from the sash, sending the Human to rest with the others she had saved while adding the sash part to an area of the Storehouse reserved for the Upper Moons. Of course she knew that this wouldn't do anything to Daki, as they needed to remove her head to take her down and save this district, but at the very least it was a start, something that caused the Demon to smirk for a moment as she considered what had just happened, before a frown appeared.

In that moment Pinkamena got an update from Tengen, Hinatsuru was safe and the sash that had been coming for her, a farewell gift no doubt, had been taken care of, meaning he was on his way back, to which she pinpointed the area that she was sure his other wives were in, an underground area based on Zenitsu's position, and left him to do his thing, letting her focus on Daki again.

"Something is happening at the Ogimoto House, and Hinatsuru has been saved... great, just great." Daki said, where it was easy for Pinkamena to see that she seemed to think little of Tanjiro, who she was disappointed in since she trained him to use Sun Breathing and he stuck to Water Breathing, before the Demon sighed for a moment as she thought about what was going on right now, "So, five of you showed up... I can tell that three of you are weak, as that blond brat fainted after a single hit yesterday, the silent one who chased my part of my sash, and you, boy, don't have the power to beat me, as we clashed just now and your blade is already chipped, unlike your companion's. Whoever forged your weapon must be one of the worst blacksmiths in existence... if I was them, and produced pretty crappy weapons, I'd sooner end my life, as your blade should be able to withstand more of my power than what I just showed you two."

"You're wrong! The one who made this is a super skilled blacksmith!" Tanjiro stated, though Pinkamena was glad that she wasn't the one who brought it up, as she had seen the chipped nature of the blade after the first bout with Daki and knew that Hotaru must be a weaker smith, in comparison to the one who forged her own weapon.

"Then why is it chipped, dumbass?" Daki inquired, where she tilted her head a little, to show that she was already annoyed with him, that he was unwilling to admit that the person who made his weapon was crappy and had no idea what he was doing with the tools a blacksmith used, where Pinkamena reflected never to let Hotaru touch her blade, "Oh well, time for you to die."

In that moment Pinkamena thought she was going to have to intervene as Daki appeared Tanjiro, where he actually forced his body to move as he performed two horizontal slashes to defend himself from the sash, cutting it apart before he was touched, though the flames that accompanied his attacks told her everything she needed to know, it was Sun Breathing, Third Form: Raging Sun. In the moment that followed, where Daki paused for a moment, no doubt due to Muzan's blood recalling this particular Breathing Style from all those years ago, Tanjiro used another move against her, which happened to be the Twelfth Form, Flaming Dance, which was a two step attack comprised of a vertical slash and than a horizontal one not a few seconds later. As Daki attacked him, to intercept the incoming second blow, he utilized another move before she could strike him, the Eleventh Form, Fake Rainbow, a move that utilized high speed twists and rotations that ended up creating afterimages that people with good eyesight could be deceived by. While he started to use the Tenth Form, Fire Wheel, from behind Daki, intending on removing her head as she followed his movements, Pinkamena knew that this was doomed to fail, as the Upper Moon hadn't shown any of her true power yet, and she was proven right as Daki kept a calm look on her face and knocked him away with her sash.

Tanjiro, despite the training he did with Pinkamena, found his body in shock after successfully performing three attacks in a row, especially since they came from his Sun Breathing Forms, and failing to do the fourth one, and as Daki flashed over to where he was resting he found himself saved by his friend, as Pinkamena had moved in and swung her blade around the area in front of her, parrying all of Daki's attacks. She had been patient, allowing Tanjiro to have his chance with Daki, and she had been rewarded with him actually showing a few fruits of her labor, he could use Sun Breathing, to some level anyway, and it looked like it dealt a little bit of damage to the Demon, but now she had to step in. The two of them simply danced in the space they were in, the Upper Moon shifting from Tanjiro to her in that instant, though Pinkamena could see the look in her eyes as she realized that her blade was tougher and that all of her skills were sharper, making her the threat that Muzan had likely told her about some time ago. Tanjiro forced himself to stand and rushed into the battle once more, as he didn't want to leave his friend alone in this battle, where Pinkamena found that he insisted on producing heat, like Kyojuro said when setting one's heart ablaze, forcing some change inside himself, but she focused on Daki and less on what her friend was doing.

While they did that there was a thunderous sound, likely Tengen smashing through the ground to get to where his other wives were resting, and sure enough she got a feeling from the Hashira that more people were in need of being saved, so she grinned as she flashed through the air, appeared and snatched the 'fallen' by placing them in her world, before quickly returning to Tanjiro's side to parry another sash attack.

"Wait a moment... you were gone for a second, I felt it!" Daki commented, though such a thing caused her eyes to widen for a few seconds, because now she understood why her master wanted this particular Slayer dead, and she was happy to have the sash return to her a few moments later, as it pierced her body and she reabsorbed it, causing a number of black veins to appear all over her body, all while her hair turned white, "The Great One will be pleased with me, a Hashira and the fox mask Slayer."

In the following seconds Daki jumped onto the top of one of the buildings as her sash lashed out, cutting through a couple of buildings as she aimed at them, where Pinkamena avoided it with ease and Tanjiro, not possessing her speed, was cut a little, his left shoulder to be exact, before the area around them collapsed, causing Daki to frown as she noticed what was missing in the Red Light District.

"Where is everybody? That attack should have killed a few people." Daki remarked, as she glanced at the ruined buildings that were around them, where the roofs were cut apart and even the fronts had been reduced to rubble, and yet there was no one screaming in either pain or heartbreak, the former being from losing a limb while the latter was more due to someone losing a loved one, "Whatever, I don't care about their plain boring lives... no, their grotesque lives... which hold no value whatsoever, save for being food for us Demons."

Sure enough that sparked some outrage in Tanjiro as his eyes became bloodshot, where Pinkamena found that while he was consumed by anger his body seemed more relaxed than he should be, though what was more amazing was that her friend rushed up to Daki, without the Demon sensing his movement, before grabbing her right foot and removed the limb with a swing of his sword, causing Daki to flee for a moment. As Daki recovered, however, Tanjiro mentioned that those who died would never could back, that Humans didn't go the way of Demons, before asking her why all Demons took the lives of the innocent, why they found such joy in killing people, and why she didn't know the answers to his questions, as Daki had said nothing. Pinkamena, on the other hand, could sense what was going on, Tanjiro's scar was becoming more like a Demon's Mark, a flaming appearance that spooked Daki, a mark that reminded her of Yoriichi, though now, based on Daki's reaction, she knew why Muzan wanted Tanjiro dead so badly, he resembled the one who nearly killed him all those years ago. When talking about Humans Daki went on to say that she was a Demon now and that none of the things that Humans needed to do applied to her and the rest of her kind, which caused both of them to resume the fight as Daki lashed out with her sashes once more, though if that was all she could do Pinkamena was disappointed in her.

Tanjiro shifted his stance and utilized another Form, that being the Fourth Form: Burning Bones, Summer Sun, which was when the user unleashed a large circular slash in front of themselves, cutting through the fabric of the demonic sash as he moved in on his foe, though when he reached her head Daki turned her neck into a sash to save herself. Upon sensing the change in her neck's nature, and the upcoming attack, Tanjiro jumped backwards and switched to the defensive as more sashes came rushing at the area he had stopped in, as if he was studying the situation so he could react accordingly, all while Pinkamena watched with interest. In the following seconds he parried all of the incoming blows and gathered them in a single spot, much to Daki's annoyance as she declared that he wouldn't hurt her or do anything to her sashes, before he pierced the sashes and struck the roof, pinning them down for a time. After that, as Daki tried to do something with all of her weapons, Tanjiro went on the offensive and rushed at the Upper Moon with a flurry of attacks, moving his body so he didn't get hit as he hacked through most of her sashes, giving Pinkamena more material to gather and deposit while she observed her friend nearing the Demon's exposed neck.

It never reached, as she noticed that Tanjiro hadn't been breathing the entire time and something inside him snapped him out of the calm rage mode he had been stuck in, causing him to fall to his knees as he started coughing, his lungs hurting after what he had been through, though before Daki could attack him Nezuko appeared behind her and kicked her head, hard enough to wipe half of it out and send the Demon flying... and, based on what she was seeing, Nezuko was enraged by her brother's condition, based on the demonic veins around her left eye.

Sure enough this enraged Daki more than what happened when Tanjiro tried to cut off her head, so she ignored him and Pinkamena, who sheathed her blade for a time, just in time to observe as Nezuko rushed at her and raised her leg so she could kick the Demon again, to repeat what she had just done. This time around Daki was prepared for the attack and was able to sever most of Nezuko's right leg, surprising the young Demon in the process, before the Upper Moon slashed her with the sash again and swung her at the building across the street, severing half of her left arm and cutting a gaping gash in her left side. Pinkamena, seeing that, made sure to collect the fallen pieces of Nezuko and stored them away, because Daki seemed to be ignoring her for the most part, something that could prove to be foolish if she decided to end this fight in an instant, and the Upper Moon delighted in tormenting Nezuko by claiming that she was too weak to do anything, as in without feeding she lacked the power to regenerate. The humorous thing was what Daki said, that Demons would never kill each other, as that was what Pinkamena was doing right now, and that she would stop bullying Nezuko, as she would just store her inside the sash and burn her when morning arrived, only for them to be surprised by what happened next, though Pinkamena wasn't as surprised as Daki was.

Nezuko emerged with her leg and main body had regenerated, fully healed, something that caused Daki to pause, which was when the young Demon raised her severed left arm for a moment and instantly regenerated it, matching the speed of an Upper Moon, before a faint vine pattern appeared over certain parts of her body, which switched to an adult form, and a small horn grew out above her right eye.

"She's awakened as a full Demon... interesting." Pinkamena remarked, as now she understood part of the reason why her friend's sister was mostly sleeping and only came out when she needed to, it was like Nezuko had been readying herself for the future, when they encountered an Upper Moon, and the bamboo in her mouth shattered, meaning her rage was far more than what her brother possessed.

Nezuko's speed even matched that of Daki's as she rushed at the Upper Moon, readying another kick to smash her, and Daki retaliated by using the sash to sever half of both her right arm and leg, something that caused her to smirk, as if she was about to win this fight, before Pinkamena noticed something, the blood that sprayed between Nezuko's body and her severed limbs reattached her limbs. Such a thing lead to her exploiting the opening in Daki's defenses, allowing her to put her fixed foot right in Daki's back and smashed her into the ground, much to her surprise based on what Pinkamena was seeing, though Nezuko enjoyed the feeling of beating Daki up. In the following moment the Upper Moon lashed out with her sash and hacked her foe to pieces, spilling some of Nezuko's blood on her, causing Pinkamena to grin for a second as she realized what it meant, before sending in her weapon again to tear the other Demon apart, only for the severed limbs to react by stopping the sashes in their tracks. Sure enough Nezuko's blood ignited on Daki, setting her aflame in seconds, and while the Upper Moon howled in pain, maybe relieving a memory she thought she had buried, Nezuko brought her body together and then crushed Daki's head into the ground, as her flames didn't harm her.

In that moment, as Nezuko decided what to do next and as Daki tried to regain herself, Pinkamena dropped down into the area as she drew her blade once more, something that caused the two Demons to realize she was moving again, only for the Upper Moon to recognize the movement she was using.

"Sun Breathing, Twelfth Form: Flame Dance." Pinkamena said, her blade igniting with the flames of this Breathing Style as she swung it, the vertical slash severing Daki's left arm and leg within an instant, much to her foe's surprise, before using the horizontal slash to separate her body into two halves, right at the waist, though as Daki realized that her movement was far more refined than Tanjiro's Nezuko kicked the upper part of her body through a building, "Well then, Nezuko, shall we take care of business?"

Nezuko smiled for a moment, showing that she approved of smashing the Upper Moon into the ground, and rushed off in the direction she had sent Daki in, giving Pinkamena a few seconds to collect the scattered body parts for her Storehouse before heading for their target's location. Of course their foe had regenerated her body, she was an Upper Moon after all, but her power was only enough to deal with someone like Tanjiro, explaining why the younger Slayers that encountered her in the past had fallen, but she had a feeling a Hashira would be different. Pinkamena utilized Sun Breathing's Ninth From: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance, a continuous set of attacks that resembled a Japanese serpent dragon, to dispatch the sash that was coming at them and also severed Daki's arms in the process, ending with her appearing behind her foe when her attack was over. Such a thing opened the way for Nezuko to smash the Demon into the ground once more, all by hitting the middle of her back again, before extracting her foot and kicked Daki through several buildings, bringing them down in the process given the damage that had been done to them, though she didn't have to worry about hurting any of the Humans since they were in Pinkamena's inner world.

When they reached the building Daki had landed in, however, she found that the Upper Moon was burnt, as in the right half of her face had been burned away and there were burn marks over her arms and legs, showing that, while she had a great regeneration power, her body had still been subjected to Nezuko's fire and her new limbs had suffered greatly, yet another fact that annoyed her.

"So, despite having eaten no Humans, you have insane regeneration and can use an annoying Blood Demon Art that only affects Demons." Daki remarked, her tone showing that she was annoyed with them and that she was going to kill them in the near future, though given what Pinkamena had seen so far she had a feeling that such a thing would never happen, as she was too weak to actually hurt her or significantly wound Nezuko.

"I see Nezuko's become more like a Demon." a voice said, where Tengen appeared nearby and stared at the figure that was standing near Pinkamena, who seemed more in control of herself than she should have been, given her history and the fact that she hadn't eaten anyone since becoming a Demon, "I guess with you here she's calmed down, especially due to the fact that there are no Humans nearby... oh, and Warabihime or whatever your name is, don't bother trying to fight me, as you aren't the Upper Moon we're looking for. You're way too weak to be one of Muzan's Upper Moons."

Daki barely had time to say anything as her head was severed from her body, causing her to fall to a sitting position as she caught her head, though in that moment Pinkamena knew that something was up, as the Demon's body wasn't breaking up after having lost her head, causing her to keep her guard up, as she had a feeling that this battle was far from over and that they needed to be ready for whatever happened next.