//------------------------------//
// Swordsmith: Upper Moon Assault 
// Story: Demon Slayer: The Strange Demon 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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As the Swordsmith Village started to empty out into her inner world, where the smiths would be safe from the Demons that were coming, Pinkamena made sure some of the crows came over and sent them out, one tracking down Mitsuri, since she was near this area, and another heading for Kagaya, to inform him that the village had been discovered. Of course Tanjiro and Nezuko were resting right now, and would be for some time since neither Upper Moon had reached their area yet, so she wanted them to be well rested for when the fight started, given their abilities when working together. Based on what she knew the Demons had to be Upper Moons Five and Four, as neither seemed stronger than Akaza, so that left three more of their rank unaccounted for, something she would have to worry about at a later date. What she discovered, as she thought about that, was that Muichiro was heading into Tanjiro's room, and her senses informed her that one Demon was on the way to their location and the other seemed to be scanning the perimeter, no doubt hunting for anyone who was outside the village.

After figuring out that the pot Demon was heading outside the village, and wouldn't be back for some time, she focused on the older Demon, who kept muttering that they found this place due to Gyokko's efforts, where she had to assume that it was the one she was ignoring right now, so she silently joined Tanjiro as she waited for her target to arrive, only to find that Muichiro was pinching her friend's nose.

Apparently Muichiro was looking for Kozo Kanamori, who happened to be his new swordsmith, and couldn't find him, and since most of the other smiths were missing now, thanks to Pinkamena evacuating them, so he resorted to asking Tanjiro, as he couldn't find Genya either. Tanjiro, after his nose was released, informed the Mist Hashira that he knew the man and, while he had no idea where to find Kozo, he was sure that he was somewhere near Hotaru, who was working on his newest blade, since Pinkamena had taken the blade he and Kotetsu found in Zeroshiki. That information interested the Hashira, as he wasn't expecting to hear that sort of information and wondered what else he might have missed, though in that moment Tanjiro asked if he wanted to join him and Nezuko in finding the pair, as helping others was beneficial in the grand scheme of things. That statement caught Muichiro's attention and seemed to trigger something inside him, though it didn't last long as Nezuko woke up and interrupted everything, where the Hashira called her weird and couldn't recall if she had met her in the past or not, meaning he had memory problems that hadn't been solved yet.

The amusing thing to Pinkamena was that neither Slayers, nor Nezuko for that matter, noticed her presence in the corner of the room, nor did they realize a Demon was nearing them, as when the door opened they thought it was a smith, only to find the elderly Demon entering the room, causing Muichiro and Tanjiro to move in unison. Muichiro drew the blade he took from Zeroshiki and lashed out with the Fourth Form of Mist Breathing, Shifting Flow Slash, where the user quickly unsheathed their blade as they rushed forward, to deliver a slash from below their foe, and while he was fast the Demon dodged it by jumping up to the ceiling. Tanjiro, in the following moment, drew his chipped blade, showing that he was, in fact, prepared to depart if he was dispatched before Hotaru made his new blade, and quickly used the Eighth Form of Sun Breathing, Sunflower Thrust, to attack the Upper Moon while he was near the ceiling, who had, now that Pinkamena could see his face, been wounded by a slash to the face. Of course Tanjiro, not possessing the power of a Hashira, missed and it meant that the Demon landed behind him, like he was heading for Nezuko, though it proved to be fatal as Tanjiro's sister kicked the Upper Moon in the chest and knocked it backwards, opening the way for Muichiro to swing his blade downward and behead their foe.

In that moment Pinkamena appeared, as neither part of the Demon faded away, rather the body changed form before it even hit the floor and the head did the same, where the former had two promanent horns with no bump in the middle of his forehead, while carrying a staff with rings at the top, while the latter wore just kama pants and two sashes over both shoulders, with his weapon being a leaf shaped hand fan. Such a thing told her everything she needed to know, as she felt the number of demonic signatures increase from two to four, two in front of them, one out near where Hotaru might be working, and another in the forest, meaning this Demon, Upper Moon Four, had to be like Daki and Gyutaro, he had some sort of condition to take him down. Muichiro went after the fan Demon while Tanjiro went after the staff Demon, which showed any observers that they weren't about to let their foe do anything that might benefit him in battle, only for the fan Demon to swing at Muichiro and unleashed a powerful gust of wind that broke the room and building, sending him flying off in to the forest. As that happened, and Nezuko transformed into her Demon form to make sure she and Tanjiro didn't go flying, while Pinkamena just voided the power with her own power, she learned that the fan Demon was called Karaku, meaning 'relaxed', while the staff Demon was Sekido, or 'anger', meaning the main body seemed to be cowardice, given what she was feeling right now.

In the following couple of seconds Sekido tapped his staff against the ground and a surge of lightning coursed throughout the entire area they were in, or at least it would have had Pinkamena not appeared near her friend and created a Room all around them, cancelling out the attack in no time.

"No way! Man are we lucky... we get to crush the swordsmiths and the fox mask Slayer at the same time." Karaku said, as he was definitely the more relaxed of the two Demons, though he also seemed to think that he and his companion were incredibly lucky, but as Pinkamena stood there she didn't draw her blade, as there was something the Demons seemed to have overlooked during their transformation.

Genya had appeared on the whole section of the roof and pointed what appeared to be a gun at the Demons, a weapon that was suited for ranged combat and had two short barrels that the bullets could fly out of, something she had learned about during her time in some of the Human settlements, including from one of the smiths. Not a second later he pressed the trigger and blasted both Demons in the neck, though Pinkamena already knew what was going on before Genya even hit his targets, Sekido and Karaku saw it coming and tanked the attack like it was nothing, openly allowing their neck to be severed in an instant. Of course only the former lost his head, as Karaku's was still attached and it caused him to laugh for a second, though as Genya moved in to cut his head off, thinking it would be the end of the Demon, Pinkamena realized what they were seeing right now, Upper Moon Four's ability was to personify his emotions. It made sense when she took a moment to think about it, as the Demons had the Kanji for their emotions written on their tongues, and as Genya severed Karaku's head, despite Tanjiro calling for him to stop since he figured out their foe had intentionally allowed him to do so, she found two more Demons forming.

Sure enough she found a sorrowful Demon forming from Sekido's severed head, who had rope accessories and carried a yari, a spear with a blade at the end, while Karaku's was stranger, his appeared to be more joyful and had a pair of large eagle wings on his back, while his hands and feet were bird talons and his legs also seemed bent like a bird's as well, all while he carried Tanjiro into the air.

"Oh what fun! Someone figured us out, for the first time in forever, and we get to kill the fox mask Slayer!" the joyful one said, where Pinkamena suspected his name was Urogi, since that meant 'joy', and was sure that such a thing meant that the sorrowful Demon's name was Aizetsu, meaning 'sorrow', all while he ignored Tanjiro as he carried him off into part of the forest as Genya was stabbed by the other newcomer.

"It seems that you guys are underestimating me." Pinkamena remarked, where this time around she decided not to hold back with her power, hence why she shifted into her Kitsune Form and surprised the three Demons that were in front of her, since Urogi seemed to be playing with Tanjiro, all while she felt that Muichiro was going to clash with the other Upper Moon soon, so she kept a small fraction of power there, just to see what happened.

"So the report was right, she's a Demon... just looking at her pisses me off." Sekido said, though in that moment Aizetsu attempted to pull his blade out of Genya and his head was blasted off, leaving Nezuko an opening to rush in and engage Karaku before he did anything else, causing the angry Demon to growl as he faced Pinkamena.

Pinkamena found that she didn't need her blade at the moment, as she used her arms to block and parry the staff attacks that Sekido sent her way, all while Aizetsu pulled his yari out of Genya as he regenerated his head, where she found that the wounded Slayer uttered something known as the Amida Sutra. She really didn't care what that was, since it held next to no importance for her, though for Genya it seemed to steady his breathing as he avoided the incoming attack and was able to appear behind his foe, and since she was holding off Sekido, while Nezuko was matching Karaku's strength, he cut through his target's neck. Of course he failed to do anything to the Demon, which Pinkamena expected since he seemed like he didn't have access to any Breathing Styles, save for speed equal to what his foe possessed, though Nezuko let her foe kick through her stomach so she could kick his head, nearly taking it off in the process, and then used her blood to set Karaku on fire. The more interesting aspect of it was that Karaku tore off her right hand and part of her arm, though she was more than willing to exchange that for his leg he had used to pierce her and, more importantly, his own right hand, a fact that allowed her to take his fan and use it to send the Demon flying out of the ruined building, all while Pinkamena let a bit of her power wash over the fallen body parts and snatched them.

Sekido turned on Nezuko, so he could use his staff and lightning to stun her into submission, but found that his hands just disappeared, as Pinkamena sliced them off without him realizing that she had even moved a muscle, and while the fallen hands disappeared she snatched his staff and struck Sekido with it a few times, finding that it was the source of his power and that he couldn't use any lightning without it in his hands. As that happened Aizetsu continued to focus on Genya, who he struck with the side of his yari and found that the Slayer was still able to stand after the couple of blows he had quickly delivered to his body, especially while he was repeating his sutra in the middle of combat. When Genya got ready for the next round of battle, however, Pinkamena noticed the odd look in his eyes and spotted his fanged teeth, much like what a Demon had, causing her to realize that he must have figured out a way to be of some use to the Corps and that involved eating any demonic body parts he encountered, taking their power into his body. It was an interesting power, even though it was similar to what she had been doing since she became a Demon, but she also kept an eye on Genya, due to the fact that he might sense her power and come over to tear into her, which would either overwhelm and kill him or make him a monster for everyone.

As she thought about that she felt a slight change in the area that Muichiro was in, where the Hashira was meeting up with the three missing smiths, those being Hotaru, Kozo, and Kotetsu, and the other Upper Moon was there, Gyokko based on what Upper Moon Four had said, even though she had no idea what her foe's true name was. As that happened Tanjiro returned to the building by crashing Urogi through the wall, where Sekido called forth a new staff to stab him and found that Tanjiro had part of his foe's leg to block the attack, as in his own power couldn't work on his own cells. Pinkamena did nothing as Karaku appeared in the air above her and the others, where he swung his now enlarged fan down at them and attempted to flatten the building, causing Pinkamena to sigh as she summoned a Room around them, protecting her and her friends from the attack. As they took in what happened, and their foes did the same thing, she swung her hand toward the emotional Demons and knocked them all backwards, allowing her to vanish as she zeroed in on where Gyokko was, as it seemed like he might fall first, so she was checking the fight out before worrying about Upper Moon Four.

What she discovered was a disappointment, as Muichiro was trapped in a sphere of water and Gyokko, a fish like Demon who liked the ugly pot he happened to use to travel, was tormenting Kozo as he headed for the house that Hotaru was in, working on Tanjiro's blade, so she summoned a barrier around Hotaru's place.

"So, you're here as well." Gyokko commented, as he tried to attack the house and found that nothing happened to it, due to none of his attacks reaching it, causing him to turn for a moment as Pinkamena landed nearby, though this pleased him to no end, as they would be able to take out the village and the Great One's rival at the same time, "However, is it really okay for you to leave the village unattended? My fish will make short work of the swordsmiths and smash the rest of this unsightly place to pieces."

"Normally I would be... had I not evacuated nearly everyone when I felt you two arrive." Pinkamena replied, though in that moment she found a shocked look on Gyokko's face, or at least she assumed it was his face since his eyes and mouths, as he had more than two of that, were arranged so weirdly, but that was when she chuckled for a moment, "However, all of the fish that you left behind are swiftly being taken care of by another Hashira, as I sent word of your attack to Mitsuri and she's arrived at last... and Muichiro should be more than enough to deal with the likes of you."

Sure enough, despite her initial disappointment in the Mist Hashira getting caught in Gyokko's technique, Kotetsu came to his rescue, meaning he must have saved the boy earlier, and Muichiro burst out of his watery prison within seconds, a fact that Gyokko didn't know about just yet. She could see the figure remove several needles that had pierced him, signs that he had protected someone by sacrificing himself, and he frozen for a few more moments after expelling some water that had gotten in his lungs, no doubt recalling something about his past at long last. When Muichiro arrived Pinkamena found something that was very interesting, there was a misty mark on his face that reminded her of Tanjiro's marking, which had to be some sort of ancient Slayer Mark when she considered Yoriichi's own mark, and he attacked Gyokko without even wasting a moment. Of course he drew some blood and caused Upper Moon Five to alter his tactics as he used a pot that had octopus inside it, using large tentacles to crush his foes, to which Pinkamena made sure everyone besides the pair of combatants were inside the barrier, all while Muichiro's blade broke in half, causing Kozo to toss the blade to him, which was when Pinkamena warped it over to the Hashira and he grabbed it, hacking the octopus tentacles apart.

"Thank you, Kozo, for forging this blade for me." Muichiro said, holding the blade out as he placed the scabbard where it belonged on his attire, while readying himself for what was to come, meaning Pinkamena had a front row seat to the end of Upper Moon Five and even more demonic blood to add to what she had claimed so far.

Apparently Kozo was shocked by that statement and told the Hashira that he only followed the instructions that his first smith, Tetsuido, had left in cause Muichiro needed a new blade, even though the older smith seemed to have died from a heart attack some time ago, explaining why he found a brand new smith and was looking for him. In that moment, as he was talking with Kozo and recalling the past, Gyokko launched another attack with a massive amount of octopus tentacles, where Muichiro took one look at them and rushed forward as he unleashed a wide flurry of slashes, hacking the mass to pieces as he zeroed in on his foe. That was Mist Breathing, Fifth Form: Sea of Clouds and Haze, which surprised Gyokko as it happened, as his vision of his opponent was obscured for a moment and it nearly cost him his head, because when the Demon fled to a nearby branch his neck had been slashed, meaning if he had stalled for a second more that attack would have killed him. In that moment Muichiro informed Gyokko that he wasn't playing games anymore and, more importantly, the next time such an opening was presented he was going to take his head off, which only pissed Gyokko off, though he did tell the Demon that he shouldn't be upset, due to the fact that he was stating the truth, especially since he was feeling a lot better right now.

Pinkamena assumed that the Mark was the key to this awakening in Muichiro's power, though she mostly ignored the rest of the bickering between him and Gyokko, who seemed to be about beauty and caused her to realize that beauty was in the eye of the beholder, as Muichiro called the Demon ugly, his 'art' was ugly, and even his pot was misshaped, where the last one really set the Upper Moon off. It was actually hilarious to watch, seeing an Upper Moon Demon, one of the most fearful beings in the Demon world, get so upset over having his pot being labeled as misshapen, causing his blood vessels to burst a little as he summoned more pots and released a storm of fish with sharp teeth. Muichiro responded with the Sixth Form of Mist Breathing, Lunar Dispersing Mist, where he backflipped into the air and quickly delivered countless ranged attacks down at his foes, decimating the fish before they had a chance to reach where he had been standing not a few moments ago. Both she and Muichiro noticed some poison inside the fish and he shifted to the Third Form, Scattering Mist Splash, to disperse the remnants of the slain fish, the force of his attack pushing everything away from him so they could break apart without anyone being hurt by the poison, showing Pinkamena that he had improved as a person over his time in the Swordsmith Village.

That moment left Gyokko open and he molted before his head could be taken, revealing that his true form was more like a merman, as he had a muscular body, strong arms with webbing between his fingers, scales all over his body, something he claimed could break diamond, and a serpentine tail in place of his legs. When he rushed down at Muichiro, who quickly dodged the attack, fish appeared around where his fist landed, a pretty worthless power since all it did was cut into part of his foe's shirt, meaning that this battle was Muichiro's, as speed, alone, wouldn't be enough to take down this Hashira and Pinkamena knew that. She was proven right not a few moments later as the two fought each other and moved all over the area they were in, Gyokko trying in vain to hit Muichiro, who seemed to be seeking an opening to use against her foe, and it looked like he might have found one as his foe appeared at his backside after a few moments. Of course that was when Muichiro activated another Form, one Pinkamena didn't recognize, as she knew the six existing Forms of Mist Breathing thanks to her studies, and figured that this was a new Seventh Form that only Muichiro knew how to use, where he was able to change the tempo of his movements and disappeared, making his foe think the area was covered in mist, due to his failure to hit where he thought his foe was standing.

Whatever Form Muichiro was using did the trick, as he was able to distort his enemy enough and discovered an opening that allowed him to remove Gyokko's head, causing the Upper Moon to silently rage as he realized he was dying, though as his head broke apart Pinkamena collected his body and put it inside her Storehouse, before returning and catching the Hashira before he collapsed on the ground.

"You did well, Muichiro... I wasn't needed at all." Pinkamena remarked, where she walked over to the barrier and quickly placed the Mist Hashira inside it, due to the fact that it would heal his wounds and exhaustion, as it looked like poison was coursing through his body and the Mark had disappeared, to which she turned for a moment, "We just have to deal with Upper Moon Four and everything will be back to normal."

Instead of waiting for anyone to say anything, or even ask her what was going on, Pinkamena rushed through the forest as she zeroed in on where Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya were located, as she knew that nothing much had changed since her departure and suspected that it would be a while before they took down Upper Moon Four, and she was looking forward to seeing what other powers their foe might have to share with them.