Emmanuel_Capricorn
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DS : Chapter 173
🕑 Added 2025-04-04 17:18:53 +0000 UTC[3rd POV]
She moved in a hurry, there was no elegance to be found in her movements as she shoved vials, scrolls, notebooks and other research material underground. They should be safely hidden there even if the Mansion was to burn down tonight.
"That should be enough," she whispered to herself before closing the hatch and moving towards Rengoku who was sleeping on the bed.
"Sorry to disturb your sleep but..." Shinobu said while trying her best to carry him on her shoulder. "...we need to leave now,"
Alas, she was only around half his size. There was no way she could ever carry him, especially when his body was limp.
After a few failed attempts, her eyes sparkled in realisation.
"Right, demon regeneration," she said and dropped Rengoku on the floor like a sack of potatoes. The way he fell almost made her wince, it sounded like it hurt.
"It's fine, you'll never know what happened," she said with a sweet smile and grabbed one of his legs. She gripped him by the ankle before she ran out of the door, dragging his body along the floor.
She ignored the sound of his head smashing on the door frame and focused on her surroundings.
It seemed everyone followed their drills and went to hide in the central hall. She needed to get there quickly and secure Rengoku's safety before she could fight the demons.
They couldn't lose Rengoku by any means.
But before she could even make it far from the lab, something flashed in front of her. It was red and yellow, and the moment it hit the ground, an explosion roared out with intense heat and shockwave.
'They're already here?!' Shinobu gritted her teeth. Her brilliant mind deduced that since the demon had projectile capabilities, it probably destroyed the wisteria trees with ease.
Demons with projectile Blood Demon Art were rare, and they were the most annoying to deal with since Demon Slayers used swords.
Another flash blitzed their way. Her instincts screamed. This one would hit them perfectly.
Shinobu flung Rengoku's body away and she lept away to the opposite direction soon after. The flash hit the ground they stood before and ripped the earth and melted the rocks with an explosion.
Rengoku ended up crashing into a building while Shinobu pulled out her sword and ran to assess the threat. Her eyes moved, it was hard to detect the demon with obsidian skin in the dark but rivers of molten lava running through his veins easily stood out.
"Found you," she said and then she floated.
Not actually though. She all but floated except literally.
"Insect Breathing : First Form," she said while her footsteps fluttered like the wings of a butterfly.
Her movement became erratic as if she was weightless and easily carried by the unpredictable movement of the wind, She was like a butterfly dancing with the breeze.
"Dance of Butterfly,"
The demon, Daiyo grinned seeing her approaching. He couldn't help but applaud her bravery in charging straight at him while simultaneously mocking her for her stupidity.
He used range attacks so he might give the impression that he was weak in close quarters but that was the opposite. He was a fighter with few range abilities.
His blood demon art, furnace, allowed him to generate, shape and release heat in the form of fire and molten lava. He was perhaps the most destructive out of all the Twelve Moon Demons.
"Demon Art : Lava Fang,"
He made two spears of condensed lava that dripped with fire and threw them towards Shinobu who was closing the distance surprisingly quickly. Her movement made her seem slower than she actually was.
The spears flew but hit the air. Shinobu was like a feather that could not be hit. The slightest shift of air from the spear seemed to push her away, making it impossible for her to be hit even with her fluttering haori and hair.
Daiyo blinked and fixed his stance, but in that short moment, Shinobu was already upon him. Her sweet smile was malicious and unlike her floating movement, her sword moved like a rocket.
"Insect Breathing : Second Form," her voice was so sweet it almost sounded like she sang.
"Bumblebee,"
Daiyo took a while to process the screaming of his instincts. It was baffling how dangerous Shinobu felt with her small stature and pretty smile. He almost thought he was hallucinating,
He brought out his hands to block a slash but he was stung instead. Shinobu's sword only had a sharp tip and she stabbed him in his forearms in quick succession before she pushed herself off his shoulder to float away.
"Huh?" Daiyo was confused as he quickly healed the shallow stab wounds in his arm. He turned towards Shinobu, tilting his head in question.
What was it that his instincts warned him about? That was too underwhelming.
But the reason was revealed soon after as his arms dropped on his side. His eyes widened when he looked at his limp arms, they felt numb and he could not move them anymore.
"You!!!" Daiyo directed an enraged gaze towards her, "You coward, you use poison,"
As a warrior, using such cheap tricks was the ultimate dishonour in his eyes. He came here expecting a good fight from the so-called pillars of humanity and he was given poison instead of a good fight to test his strength.
Disgraceful.
"I apologize, you see I have always been small and weak since I was young so I had to find other alternatives," she said with a closed-eyed smile.
Suddenly, Daiyo could not find kindness or mercy in his heart. He was giving her a chance, which is why he didn't kill her immediately with his spear in the beginning. He wanted to win an honourable fight.
But if the enemy was already fighting so dirty, why should he care?
"Demon Art : Smelter's Maw," he said, his eyes glowing deep orange and his mouth and jaw turned demonic with jagged teeth.
He opened his mouth and then raw heat flooded out. The beam came out like a river, destroying everything in its path and scorching the entire Mansion in an instant. A well-directed attack would've burned the whole place down in an instant.
What else could Shinobu do except dogged such a devastating attack? She was already high in the air by the time the attack was over, leaving a road of molten lava that went right through the compound in its wake.
She descended upon the demon after the attack was over. Her haori fluttered behind her, her brows narrowed and a sweat fell off her skin The temperature of the vicinity had increased sharply.
She needed to end this quickly.
"Insect Breathing : Forth From," she said, quickly preparing her deadliest poison.
She did not even spare some for other demons, she simply injected the deadliest wisteria poison with every stab. The whole dosage in theory was enough to take down every single member of the twelve Kizuki.
She couldn't take the risk of the demon surviving even for a minute. She had seen how destructive Daiyo could be and if he was to fight for a few seconds, he might burn the entire place down in an instant.
"Dance of Dragon Fly,"
Her arm blurred in motion. She moved fast enough that even a dragonfly with its multiple eyes would not be able to see each of her attacks.
In an instant, the demon with paralyzed arms was skewered everywhere. It happened in an instant almost, the attacks were precise enough to barely cause disturbance in the air.
When you lacked the raw strength a Hashira should possess, you could not waste any force you generate. The linear motion of a stab allowed her to be precise, even more so than Giyu the Water Hashira.
After she emptied the poison in hand, she leapt away with the same erratic movement and floated in the boiling air.
She landed without a sound.
She sighed, "That should do it,"
But it was far from over. Daiyo might be a new demon who ascended to the Twelve Kizuki only a year prior but there was a reason why he was so. He had a busted Blood Demon Art and he had a will strong enough to take an absurd amount of Muzan 's blood.
"That bastard..." Daiyo gritted his teeth in anger, "He knew I was the worst match-up for you and that is why he sent me here,"
A normal demon, even at the strength of an Upper Moon should collapse on the spot or writhe in agony. Shinobu had studied demons for a full year now, developing stronger poison than she ever did in canon.
'So how...?' she couldn't help but swallow.
"Fine, I'll kill you quickly and search for others," Daiyo said, his eyes bulging with demonic veins.
"Demon Art : Scorching Dominion,"
His voice dropped loud and deep in the silence.
Everything stilled.
Then everything screamed.
The earth beneath his feed caved in but not because of a shockwave. The heat that came off from his body melted the ground and created a cave of lava.
The air around him boiled and seemed to run away from him. Cool air filled the place only to be heated up and run away once more. The process happened rapidly, creating a whirlwind from sheer heat.
His obsidian skin seemed to harden while his veins glowed like a river of lava was coursing through his body. The temperature rose so suddenly that Shinobu had to step back.
She covered her mouth and she collapsed in pain. Oxygen was burned away, leaving her breathless. Even when she inhaled, she only took in scorching heat that burned her lungs from the inside.
Her eyes shook, and despair flashed.
His Blood Demon Art, Furnace not only allowed him to create heat but his whole body was generating it. His core temperature was so hot that it easily burned the substance with which her poison was made.
He was effectively immune to her poison.
Indeed he was the worst match-up for her.
And his ability to boil the air was similar to Douma who froze the air. The technique was the perfect counter to Demon Slayers. It was effectively stopping them from using their BReathing Techniques
"My body was forged in flames and lava is my blood," Daiyo said with dark chuckles.
"No humans can defeat me," he declared in full confidence and it was close to the truth indeed.
Shinobu stared with shaky eyes, she felt her clothes slowly heating up and burning her skin. She had stopped breathing altogether to not damage her lungs. In fact, just opening her eyes was difficult.
What was her next move?
Of course, she ran.
The sky exploded in brilliant lights from the fireworks. That was the only flash of hope she had at the moment.
Daiyo lunged at her, and he created massive explosions that shook the earth with every attack he threw but missed. The lava he left behind made it seem like the earth was crying.
"You can't run away!!!" Daiyo bellowed, heat radiating off from him. He was a walking calamity, a volcanic eruption.
Shinobu nearly ran out of breath, she couldn't inhale to use another technique either. Her face started to pale.
*BOOOOM!!*
*BOOOOM!!*
*BOOOOM!!*
*BOOOOM!!*
She saw her life flash many times, she nearly died a dozen times but she finally reached it.
All this time, she was not running aimlessly. She was heading towards somewhere, or someone to be exact.
"Plan B!!" she said and took out a syringe from her haori.
It was not poison, quite the opposite actually. It was an antidote.
She injected the whole thing inside Rengoku's unmoving body in the broken house. She took one breath that burned her lungs briefly and waited, and waited.
The walls of the house were ripped open and Daiyo appeared.
"Die," he said and opened his mouth. His jagged teeth made way for a ball of pure concentrated energy that flooded out rivers of heat in an instant.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!*
Everything was bright and burning for a few seconds.
Then darkness swallowed the world again when the attack ended.
Smoke rose and when it was cleared up, you could see Rengoku crouching in front of Shinobu. His demonic body had blocked the attack for her.
"......."
"It worked," Shinobu said in relief, her clothes were burnt everywhere and her skin was red with burns too.
But she was alive.
"Heh," It started low but then joyous laughter filled the entire vicinity. It was a laughter that was vividly familiar to Shinobu even after a year.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Rengoku bellowed while he stood up, "I lost consciousness in the middle of a fight, only to wake up again in the middle of a fight!!"
"I guess my father was not joking when he said the life of a Hashira is full of hurdles," Rengoku declared, his eyes demonic but they held sanity.
After Lady Tamayo arrived, the first thing they did was sever the connection between Rengoku and Muzan. She was an expert since she except Muzan's grasp herself so it was not too difficult to do the same for Rengoku, especially when they had the tissues with severed connection to study.
The only reason they did not wake Rnegoku before was the uncertainty and the kindness of not wanting to wake him until he could be turned back into a human.
But the situation demanded he wake up.
"Good morning to you too, fellow demon," Rengoku said. He appeared to be taking in the situation rather quickly. The way he accepted that he was a demon instantly made it seem like he had years to contemplate.
Either it was insanity, or it was the display of unwavering will.
A soul that was so sure of himself would never question his identity, no matter what body he inhabited, demon or human.
"I see that you have been unkind to my comrade, for that I shall fight you," he said, and his body started releasing a yellow glow of heat.
But the heat that radiated off of Rengoku was not destructive, instead, it felt warm and safe.
His flames were kind.
"He is too powerful, fight him somewhere else," Shinobu said and then Rengoku burst into action.
Faster than anyone could predict.
His body slammed into Daiyo and forced him far away very quickly. It was to take the fight elsewhere.
A few minutes later, you massive explosions going off on the other side of the mountain. The battle between the two demons was intense enough to demolish whole mountains.
..
..
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Author : Sorry for the wait, I was busy with other projects which I will be uploading shortly so check it out.
And sorry Martin no Seiji yet. Please a little more patience.
Comments
T.0.PA.CI.0
This demon reminds me of a character on the Kamen Rider W anime.
Corvus
Donβt worry our purple eyed demon layer will be here soon
Martin Lervoll
π₯Ίπ₯Ίπ₯Ί Fine. I shall dig the patience that died a few chapters up, and force some life in it. And a new project? Take your time to write but not too much. Good chapter π
