Demon Slayer: The Strange Demon

by Blackdrag-rose

Swordsmith: Fighting Hatred

It didn't take Pinkamena long to track down her friends, finding that Nezuko was buried under some of the rubble and Genya was dealing with Azietsu, though the interesting thing was what the siblings were doing, Nezuko was heating Tanjiro's blade with her Blood Demon Art, turning it red, the same red on Yoriichi's blade, while setting it on fire. Urogi, Sekido, and Karaku seemed surprised that he had survived what happened to the house he and the others had been in, where the joyful Demon rushed forward to cut him down and Tanjiro stepped out to oppose his opponents, summoning the power of his Slayer Mark as well. Sure enough she caught the surprise that flashed across Sekido's face, as Muzan's cells seemed to be remembering Yoriichi, as Tanjiro did look a lot like him, save for the missing long hair and expression, where her friend took advantage of their surprise and attacked them, unleashing the Ninth Form of Sun Breathing, Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance. This Form was identical to the Water Breathing one Tanjiro had used against Rui, the user unleashing a continuous attack that took on the shape of a serpent Japanese dragon, allowing him to either break through multiple barriers or decapitate multiple targets in an instant.

Thanks to the Mark she found that Urogi was nearly hacked apart, Karaku nearly lost his head, and Sekido's head rolled as Tanjiro attacked them, though Pinkamena also discovered that he aimed at their tongues, which seemed to slow their regeneration to some degree, a useful piece of information for later, though that was when Genya overpowered Azietsu, stabbed the Demon to the tree with his yari, and removed his head.

"You guys did well, but, unfortunately, you missed one." Pinkamena said, where she noted that Genya's eyes had turned red, much like a Demon's when she thought of it, though both he and Tanjiro seemed surprised by what she had said, where she gestured out to the rest of the forest, "There's a fifth Demon out there, likely the main body... all you're doing is wasting time by fighting these four."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?!" Genya demanded, where he tossed his foe's head to the side and marched over to where Pinkamena was standing, even though Tanjiro joined him as Nezuko burst out of the rubble, making sure to add a bit of her blood to ensure the four Demons burned for a while more, to be sure they weren't attacked while they were in the middle of a conversation.

"Because if I did everything, none of you would improve... but, if things go south, you can count on me to move in and do what needs to be done." Pinkamena replied, as Tanjiro was still improving, far more than most of the Slayers she had met so far, and she knew that in no time he would have the power to fight an Upper Moon on his own, maybe Akaza based on everything all of the other Demons had shown her.

"Genya, you should focus on the last Demon while we hold off the other four," Tanjiro stated, as he knew that the figure wanted to speak with his brother at some point, even if Sanemi claimed that he didn't have one, while understanding that Pinkamena was hoping he'd learn from his experience with an Upper Moon Demon, just like what happened when he and the others fought Daki and Gyutaro, "I'll help you find him by giving directions from the smell I'm getting."

As the pair agreed on that, however, Pinkamena rushed over to her target and kicked Sekido away from his staff, causing him to hit the ground, while finding that she had misjudged Tanjiro's attack, as he had beheaded all three Demons that he had struck not a few moments ago. Of course most of the fallen body parts were missing, she had snatched them before the emotional Demons had noticed them and tried to fix themselves, so they had to regenerate everything that had gone missing, though right now, despite Tanjiro resembling Yoriichi, their enemies targeted her, which she was fine with, even if she kept her blade sheathed. Not a few moments later her foes found that none of their abilities were bothering her, due to her power being exerted over the area they were in, so she clashed with Urogi and pushed his talon back without them even drawing blood, Azietsu tried to strike her multiple times and failed as she knocked him back, Karaku was smashed into the ground, and Sekido hit a tree. As that happened Tanjiro found where the final body was and directed Genya over to where their target was moving through, where she felt that Cowardice, or whatever he was called, was much smaller than Sekido and the other emotional Demons, but none of them left the area she was in, as she refused to allow them out of where they were fighting.

The unfortunate thing was that Genya's blade shattered upon hitting the fifth Demon's neck, causing Tanjiro to rush out to where he was located as Pinkamena pushed the emotional Demons around and smashed them into her surroundings, a fact that happened to annoy one of them. She could hear Tanjiro telling Genya not to give up and that they could bring an end to this battle by working together, though the impressive thing was that he was allowing Tanjiro to deal with the fifth Demon, as his blade was useless and he doubted that he had the power to do anything. As her friend hit the Demon's neck, and he let out a cry of anguish, Sekido did something interesting, he smashed both Karaku and Urogi's heads while he absorbed their bodies, before repeating the process with Azietsu, where his clothing looked to be a combination of all four Demons, or more tribal in some cases, and five drums with the Kanji for 'hatred' appeared behind him, which were linked by a wooden circle. This time around the Demon was younger, like a teenager, and he carried two weapons that looked like daggers, only they had two blades on them, where his speed was much faster than the other Demons, due to the fact that he rushed over to where Tanjiro was standing and, upon striking one of the drums, was able to save the small Demon before his head could be removed.

His attack, however, called upon tree roots and surrounded the smaller Demon, where Pinkamena saw the Kanji for 'fear' on his tongue as everything died down, and found that Nezuko had rushed to save her brother from harm, though with everything dying down everyone faced the new Demon as they considered what to do next.

"Savages who torment the meek... spite, enmity, hatred, for those who bathe in pure evil." the hatred Demon said, where he turned to face them for a moment as he tapped the same drum again, something that caused more roots to wrap all over where the small fearful Demon rested, though as Tanjiro stepped up and started to call for him to stop, however, he released a bit of his power and stalled both him and Genya, "What? Scum... you don't like what I'm doing here? You little... evil... shitheads."

"Tell me... why are we the evil ones?" Tanjiro asked, though Pinkamena really didn't care, as most Demons made up their own justifications to go along with whatever they happened to be doing, and give the nature of these emotional Demons it was clear the main body was a weakling and the others were there to protect it.

"You four are tormenting the weak. I mean, you were just about to cut off the head of the small meek one, a figure who is tiny enough that he can fit in the palm of my hand." the hatred Demon replied, confirming Pinkamena's thoughts on the matter, each of the emotional Demons served to wreck havoc on Upper Moon Four's enemies and save him from danger, before the Demon gripped both of his weapons a little tighter, "That right there is pure injustice. Only a savage, like you for example, would do such a thing."

"That's a warped sense of justice if ever I saw one." Pinkamena remarked, as it seemed like the hatred Demon was the last line of defense against attackers, if someone figured out that there were actually five Demons and that the smaller one was, in fact, the main body, though after having seen the Demon's power she drew her blade, "However, there's one thing you're wrong about... we aren't the evil ones."

"Indeed, he's killed hundreds of people... maybe more, but it's hard to tell with the smell of blood on his hands." Tanjiro said, where he shifted his stance as he readied himself for battle once more, though he was also annoyed by the fact that the Demon claimed that they were evil, for wanting to protect the innocent from beings like him, especially when they all heard that their foe was displeased with them targeting the main body, "Tell me, Demon, what did all those innocent people do to you, to warrant you taking their lives? Did you do it arbitrarily as payment, for the crimes they committed, or did you just kill them for fun, like all of the other Demons we've fought so far? Regardless of what your answer is, all I have to say is this: you have to stop playing the victim, especially after killing and eating the people who brought you to this very point in your life... you have a sick mind, evil Demon, and we will take your head here and now!"

The hatred Demon, Zohakuten as Pinkamena decided to call him since it meant 'hatred', stared at them with indifference in his eyes, though as soon as he locked eyes with her, and recalled what had been said about her in the past, he started to beat his drums and started the battle. She was perfectly fine with that since she was eager to see what sort of power he had, in comparison to the other emotional Demons, finding that Zohakuten manipulated the wood around him and was able to form a five headed wooden dragon that he stood on, before sending them after her. Pinkamena flashed forward, showing everyone that she was going to fight the Demon while Tanjiro focused on tracking down the main body with both Genya and Nezuko, which happened to be the moment that the dragon attacked her and revealed the true nature of this Demon's power to them. Not only did Zohakuten look like he was the merged form of the other four emotional Demons, due to his clothing, he also had access to all of their powers, only they were amplified and were far stronger than what she had seen when the Demons were apart from each other, as one head fired lightning strikes, another channeled powerful gusts of wind, one had large sound waves, and the fourth used spear attacks out of thin air.

Another thing she discovered was that when someone went beyond twenty meters from where Zohakuten was standing he tapped the drum for his power and the final head extended outward, using smaller heads to track down his target and grab onto whoever it happened to be, but Pinkamena stopped the attack with the edge of her blade and rushed forward in a spiraling pattern as she hacked the attack to pieces. Such a thing told Zohakuten all he needed to know, she had to be the first one he took down, otherwise she was going to get in the way of him going after the other Slayers as they sought out the wooden ball that contained the main body, even though she had a feeling it wouldn't be there. It made sense that once he had been found, and devised a hiding place in front of their eyes, that the smaller Demon would be hiding out in the surrounding area, leaving his foes to waste time and energy on what was essentially a worthless target, an interesting ploy that she kept to herself, just to see if the others figured it out. Still, all of that didn't stop her from slashing at the large bolts of lightning that came her way, smashing each one to pieces, as well as swinging her blade to break the gusts of wind that happened nearly at the same time, standing still as the sound waves came at her, which did nothing since her power was stronger than his, and she parried the yari barrage with her blade.

While this showed Zohakuten the difference between their powers, even though she knew he wouldn't give up, they had a new arrival show up, in the form of Mitsuri as she slashed through one of the heads and landed nearby, though her blade was actually a whip sword that must have been made special for her at some point.

"Sorry I'm late, I was dealing with some fish Demons inside the village, only for them to disappear on me." Mitsuri said, all while revealing that she had been fighting Gyokko's summons, as Pinkamena had figured out that the fish were summons and never bothered to collect any of the fallen fish when Muichiro cut them down, before the Love Hashira thought about what she hadn't seen earlier, "though now that I think about it, there weren't any people inside the village."

"Yeah, I already evacuated them, long before the Upper Moons showed themselves." Pinkamena commented, where she had to wonder why Mitsuri even bothered to stop in the village, since the other Hashira knew that she and Tanjiro were still here, waiting for Hotaru to reveal himself so they could get her friend a new sword so they could head out and make sure his body was ready for deployment.

"You... wha... that's cheating!" Zohakuten stated, where Pinkamena was sure that part of Sekido was showing through the hateful expression she and the others were seeing right now, though it was amusing that a Demon would accuse others of cheating, given that it was hard to take a Demon down, especially Upper Moons since some seemed to have rather special abilities that prevented the initial beheading from killing them.

"Not really. I was sent here with the express purpose of making sure the swordsmiths were safe, just in case Demons, like you or Gyokko, found and attacked this place, and that's what I did... that reminds me," Pinkamena said, informing their foe as to why she had come here, something that surprised Mitsuri, before she summoned one of Gyokko's arms, causing Zohakuten to raise an eyebrow as he realized who it belonged to, and tore into it, causing her four tails to shudder for a few seconds before a fifth one appeared, "Upper Moon Five is dead, slain by Muichiro, and now my power is far greater than it was before."

In the following moment she jumped and zeroed in on Zohakuten, who focused on her and tapped his drums accordingly, intending to rain lightning and sound on her, though Mitsuri, figuring that she likely had a plan, joined in the fight as she lashed out with her blade, using the Third Form of her Breathing Style, Love Breathing, which was called Catlover Shower, an odd name for sure. It was basically a series of ranged attacks that greatly utilized Mitsuri's whip sword, in addition to all of her brute strength for that matter, and she slashed through all of the incoming attacks with ease, an interesting feat as Pinkamena considered Zohakuten's strength. It was hard to tell if Mitsuri knew about their situation or if she was fighting to keep Tanjiro and Genya safe, given that she hadn't been there to see the pair nearly take the small Demon's head, but in the end she decided that it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, as Zohakuten split his attacks between them, a fact that allowed them to ensure Tanjiro and the others found their foe. Of course that fact caused the Demon to unleash more of his power, increasing the number of wooden dragon heads so he could overwhelm both Pinkamena and Mitsuri in no time, though she smiled for a moment as she heard something from her inner world, where she sheathed her blade and changed her battle stance in seconds.

Zohakuten and Mitsuri had no idea what she was doing, which was fine with her as she withdrew the item that had been prepared for her and attached it to her sash, near her main weapon, before she drew it and activated her other Breathing Style so that when she swung the blade a flaming gash ran across the ground, running up the right side of Zohakuten's body, severing his arm and part of the drums.

"That... power... no way..." Zohakuten said, where Pinkamena was sure that there was some fear in the hateful Demon's voice, all while her power snatched the fallen pieces as he slowly reformed his missing body parts and weapons, though she knew it would take some time for him to fully heal, after seeing Tanjiro's earlier attack.

"Sun Breathing. A lost Breathing Style, now reborn, combined with the blade of Yoriichi Tsugikuni himself." Pinkamena replied, bringing the blade close to her once more as she said that, finding that the blade had been restored thanks to the efforts of Tecchin and his skills, the rust was gone and the blade looked like it was ready for battle once more, which was what she was going to do.

Sure enough that information surprised and shocked Zohakuten, allowing Pinkamena to rush forward as she was followed by solar flames and slashed apart the dragon head that was coming at her, causing a shiver of pain to shoot through her foe's body, while Mitsuri pushed herself to defend Tanjiro's group from the other attacks. Of course some of Zohakuten's attacks shredded the Love Hashira's attire, or at least her Hashira clothing, revealing her base Slayer attire, though as the two of them fought she noticed something else that was interesting, a Slayer Mark appeared on the side of her throat, like a four leaf clover, which boosted her own power to brand new heights. Together the two of them slashed through every single attack that their foe sent at them, where Pinkamena was able to cut into him and removed sections to slow down his speed, while also adding more bits to what she had claimed so far, all while finding that Genya tore into the vine that Tanjiro had brought them to, as in he was eating it. She guessed that his organs were special and that was why eating the flash of Demons or their Blood Demon Art empowered him, though once the vine fell Tanjiro and Nezuko combined their powers and slashed into the sphere, only to find that the smaller Demon had fled again, just like she thought, though as soon as Tanjiro found him something interesting happened.

Her friend informed the Demon that they'd make him pay for his sins, Genya tore a tree out of the ground and hurled the poor log at their foe, surprising him as it happened, before he hurled three more and opened a hole for Nezuko to rush through, only she missed as well. Tanjiro, seeing that, did something weird, he seemed to recall what Zenitsu said at one point in the past and rushed through the air like he was loosed from a bow or something, allowing him to swing his blade into the Demon's neck and actually started to cut into it. As he did that Pinkamena sensed a slight disturbance, likely one more emotional Demon they had missed, causing her to realize that Upper Moon Four was good at hiding his presence, all while the meek one transformed into a larger foe and grabbed onto Tanjiro while his blade dug into his neck. Zohakuten, sensing that they were getting closer to killing the main body, started to move and Pinkamena stopped him, unleashing the Ninth Form of Sun Breathing, Sun Dragon Halo Head Dance, to hack his entire body apart, cutting the hateful Demon to pieces and making it impossible for him to move.

As that happened Genya tore off the meek Demon's arms as Nezuko burned him, through she, Tanjiro, and their foe fell over the edge and Pinkamena stepped up to the cliff edge they had been fighting near for some time, finding that their foe was wandering off with no arms and a blade stuck in his fat neck. In that instant she sheathed her new blade as Muichiro, in an unexpected arrival since she expected the Hashira to sleep through the rest of the battle, appeared nearby and just hurled a blade down to Tanjiro, which pierced the ground in front of him. It was another black blade, his replacement for the chipped one he had been using so far, and sure enough Hotaru was pissed that Muichiro had taken it before he had completed all of the work he had planned for it, though as that happened their foe started to wander off, likely seeking a Human to devour to regain his strength. In that moment he utilized the new sword and the First Form of Sun Breathing, Dance, to zero in on their foe and sliced his head off, only to discover, by Nezuko pointing it out, that the tongue character was wrong, as this one was 'resentment', Urami as Pinkamena understood, and that the body was still moving, meaning their foe was still in the surrounding area.

In that moment the sun started to rise and Nezuko caught on fire, her body reacting to the sun in the way all Demons did, and Tanjiro moved to save her, to find some shelter to ensure she didn't perish, completely unaware that Pinkamena was watching them, before something interesting happened, Nezuko launched her brother at the fleeing Demon. Tanjiro, with that boost, was able to catch up with their foe in no time and removed his hands, just to stall him, before slashing right at where his heart was located, which was where the final Demon, the main Demon who controlled the others, was located, a fact that meant all the others were doomed. Sure enough he slashed the body diagonally in half and ended this battle in that moment, all while Pinkamena grinned as the pieces of Upper Moon Four were added to her collection, granting her a sixth tail once she tore into part of the Demon's arm, but there was another reason behind her grin. Tanjiro had thought he had sacrificed his sister to finally slay their foe, to end this fight and deprive Muzan of another pawn, but the reality was different, Nezuko's body had stopped burning and now she was walking in the sunlight, bringing a look of joy to Tanjiro's face as he embraced his sister.

Pinkamena let that happen, as she had no place in this long awaited reunion between the two siblings, as Nezuko felt like a living person again, only more demonic like herself, and she was sure she had uttered her first words in forever, though as she thought about that she knew they had to prepare, because with a Demon who could resist the sun being made it was only a matter of time until Muzan made his move and they had to be ready for when it eventually happened.

Comments

[badninja]

I hope somebody teases Pinkamena about playing with her food. She is at a point where she could conceivably defeat Muzan, but is allowing others to continue to grow. Although it would be interesting if Muzan did escape or was forcibly conscripted into the big bads group.