Chapter Text
Sanemi stared ahead at Kokushibo while Gyomei stood off to his left. The six eyed freak stood waiting for their next move–the demon hardly showed any sort of expression. The slayer duo managed to weave through the woods north of Gyomei’s, but the attempt at additional cover might as well have been pointless. The demon cleaved entire sections of trees down with little effort, leaving the two wide open. A single swing produced countless free flying crescent blades–and the duo only had so many ways to block.
Sanemi was sure that if it had been any other hashira besides possibly Uzui–if he were still alive–they would have been dead already given the speed of the demon's swings.
The realization that if he had chosen to actually go into the butterfly estate rather than double back, possibly meaning everyone died at the stardust and Rengoku estate while Gyomei struggled, left Sanemi feeling strangely anxious. Cinder probably would have never forgiven him for that–hell he probably would have never forgiven himself.
They’d rounded back towards the estates–not wanting to stray too far and end up secluded.
At this point, the entire fight was just pissing Sanemi off. No matter how many times they cut Kokushibo, the stupid demon just immediately regenerated. At the rate they were going, they were liable to tire out before actually making any sort of progress–another detail that was slowly pissing Sanemi off more. He was positive it’d been a few hours at least. The broad swings from Kokushibo that sent out crescent blades kept pushing them back, leaving little room for swift close combat strikes or swipes towards Kokushibo’s neck.
At one point Gyomei had managed to throw his axe at just the right angle to encircle and snap the demon's flesh coated blade–but Kokushibo quickly spawned another one while dodging Sanemi’s wind breathing swings. Gyomei used his flail next–smashing into the demon again and sending him into the headquarters building. Before they could advance, Kokushibo released another barrage of spinning purple blades to keep them back, suffering more damage in the process that caused Sanemi to curse. They had no other medical supplies left.
The sword the demon used, much like its wielder, had multiple eyes along its surface–leading Sanemi to wish they had some smoke bombs or cloud cover.
The wind hashira had cuts all across his arms, legs, and even more at his sides with the most concerning being the one across his midsection–if that kakushi hadn’t given him supplies, Sanemi would have bled out ages ago. A shame he didn’t have more, but he endured this long–he’d keep at it.
Any attempt to block the crescent shaped blades Kokushibo could swing out would end up pushing Sanemi back with the force alone–and at times, despite blocking, even more blades seemed to ricochet out at the point of impact.
For the first time in ages–Sanemi felt slow .
When he had managed to get in close on Kokushibo, the demon bobbed and weaved his strikes, as if expecting them. Centuries of experience as a swordsman was put on full display. He nearly cleaved off Sanemi’s right arm at one point, but Gyomei intercepted the swing with his thrown axe. It’d been close–and Sanemi hated that.
Gyomei even developed strange marks on his arms akin to cracks–something Kokushibo had pointed out himself. The demon even had the balls to ask if Gyomei would become a demon–because developing a ‘slayer mark’ meant that he wouldn’t survive the year given his age was past twenty-five.
Gyomei–become a demon . Sanemi outwardly laughed at that while Gyomei himself had smirked . Sanemi had no idea this demon had jokes.
Despite that, Kokushibo’s words had lingered heavily on Sanemi’s mind among everything else going on–was Gyomei really going to die?
Thee Gyomei Himejima?
Once more, the same recurring thought crossed Sanemi’s mind; what a sh*tty night.
The only thing going for them now was the eventual guaranteed rise of the sun itself. Even the sky was slowly lightening–it had to be at least close to sunrise soon. If they could pin this bitch down, then they could watch him burn . Upper moon one–defeated. Sanemi almost couldn’t wait for that sh*t. He’d get his chance to slay an upper moon, and it’d be the top ranking one.
Yet, a small corner of Sanemi’s mind wondered if he would actually be able to stay on his feet until then. He’d grown lightheaded–his mistake, he would admit. A reckless abandon with himself and a large loss of blood was coming back to bite him in the ass. And the demon prick didn’t seem phased by his blood at all anymore.
That only made Sanemi slower, but angrier .
Kokushibo kicked forward towards the wind hashira, hand on the hilt of his sheathed blade.
“First form, dark moon, evening palace.”
“Seventh form, gale, sudden gusts!” Sanemi called out, leaping upward while inhaling deeply just as Kokushibo swiped out in a horizontal arc with his blade. Immediately, smaller crescent shaped blades spun out with his swing, flying back behind Sanemi while he leapt above them, dispersing before reaching the rear of the Rengoku estate.
Sanemi pulled back his sword to his left then swung downward at Kokushibo, a sudden burst of gale force green winds spun out from his swing, snatching the air into a spin that shot towards the demon who swiftly bounced back as the wind struck the area he’d been at, ripping the ground apart from sheer force alone and scattering clumps of dirt.
Sanemi landed on his feet and clicked his tongue at the miss before inhaling again while propelling himself forward towards the demon before he could have a chance to swing his blade. It was one thing Sanemi and Gyomei quickly deduced–keep pressure on the bastard and don't give him a chance to swing his blade at all.
Kokushibo’s six eyes focused on Sanemi’s rapidly approaching form, yet remained firmly in place with his left hand on his scabbard and his right on the hilt of his blade.
“Sixth form, black wind mountain mist!” Sanemi called, rotating himself for added momentum as he curved his blade down at his right before swinging upward towards Kokushibo’s face. The uppercut breezed past the demon as Kokushibo jerked back, avoiding the blade entirely while peering down his nose at Sanemi, leaving Sanemi’s built up green wind to skyrocket upward in a spinout–its intended mark missed as the wind howled above them. Sanemi cursed as Kokushibo moved, pulling forth his blade in a single swift withdrawal from his left upward towards the wind hashira’s arms once more.
“Seventh form, mirror of misfortune, moonlit.” Kokushibo spoke simply without any emotion to his voice, almost in a whisper while his six yellow eyes remained trained on Sanemi.
Sanemi hissed out a breath at the sudden swing towards his raised arms, then let his knees buckle below him while snatching his arms out of Kokushibo’s blades’ path, falling backwards just as Kokushibo’s sword swept above him.
As the demons’ blade passed, it released another torrent of crescent shaped blades that scattered outward through the air above Sanemi with an audible whistle from their speed. Sanemi clenched his jaw–another close one.
The wind hashira fell backwards further, putting all of his weight onto his left hand before spotting Gyomei off to his right, spinning his flail and ax. Sanemi grinned before shoving himself up off the ground, grip returning to his sword as he spun in the air to face Kokushibo while upside down, inhaling.
“Ninth form, Idaten typhoon!” Sanemi called out, swinging his sword in a broad circular sweep, throwing out another torrential gust of wind towards the demon. Kokushibo dipped to the right just as the gust struck where he’d been–leaving behind a deep crater as more clumps of dirt were thrown out and ripped apart amid the green vortex.
As Kokushibo landed, a rattle of chains caught his attention–his six eyes snapped to Gyomei at his right. The stone hashira spun his flail and ax around himself before swinging them outward towards Kokushibo.
The demon ducked below the swung ax, but as he stood back up, Gyomei snatched his chain back towards himself, angling the flail and ax in a sudden pincher strike towards Kokushibo. The demon looked left, then right, then leapt up as the two weapons collided where he had been in a loud clang of metal on metal.
“Second form, pearl flower moon gazing.” Kokushibo spoke, already swiping out three times with his blade in Gyomei’s direction while airborne, sending out a wave of spinning crescent shaped purple blades towards the blind man who already began sprinting to the right as they collided in a barrage in the dirt behind him.
“Sixth form, black wind mountain mist!” Sanemi called, appearing below Kokushibo with a broad manic smile. The wind hashira swung upward in an uppercut motion much like before–the resulting green tornado winds spiraled into Kokushibo’s airborne form, sending the demon up with a barrage of slicing winds cutting apart his form, sending out bits of his clothing, hair, and splatters of blood.
As the winds died off–Kokushibo righted himself above them at his elevated height, form already regenerated from the assault. The demon moved, sheathing his sword while peering down at the hashira below him with six accessing eyes.
“Fifth form, moon spirit calamitous eddy.”
Sanemi felt his hair stand on end as a sudden barrage of purple crescent shaped blades began forming before Kokushibo, spiraling towards them like deadly rain–and the demon hadn’t even drawn his sword–or at least not slow enough for Sanemi to see .
“sh*t, f*ck–” Sanemi cursed, purple eyes going wide as he spun on his heel and started sprinting down the training field, the string of curses flowing past his lips rapidly.
Off to his right, Sanemi saw Gyomei sprinting away as well, slightly further ahead than the wind hashira. Sanemi cursed further.
Then the sound started–a rapid fire burst of explosions behind them as the blades collided into the ground viciously, creating deep cuts in the earth. The closer the sound got, the more slightly panicked Sanemi felt despite himself.
Ahead of him, Gyomei slid atop the dirt, flail in his left hand and ax in his right. The stone hashira swung out his chain towards the wind hashira, of which Sanemi grabbed with little need for explanation.
Gyomei snatched Sanemi forward just as the barrage of blades reached him. Sanemi felt the familiar slice across his skin–a slice that spanned the expanse of his left calf. Sanemi winced, grip tightening on the chain just as he reached Gyomei, only to stumble forward to the ground.
Sanemi shifted to get a better view of his left leg, but all he saw was his torn pants leg and red. At this point it was hard to tell where he was even bleeding from anymore. The realization suddenly made him feel all the more tired.
Gyomei shifted behind him, placing himself between the wind hashira and Kokushibo who’d landed ahead of them, as silent and graceful as a cat.
And then another sound reached their ears–a barrage of snapping wood and what almost sounded like shattering glass.
Sanemi’s gaze snapped up in alarm–already looking for the source in case he needed to counter or block something else. He could quickly spot a burst of ice sailing through the trees in front of the butterfly estate, almost like a wave barely visible atop the treeline.
And then Sanemi saw Cinder and Inosuke ejected forward from the treeline with the force of icy winds so chilled that the air almost appeared foggy .
Not far behind Cinder and Inosuke was the wave of ice–practically sliding right for them before collapsing just as the two descended with Cinder shoving Inosuke ahead before landing on her front atop the ground, only for Cinder’s legs to immediately become encased in the encroaching ice sheet.
For a brief moment, Sanemi forgot Kokushibo and Gyomei behind him–purple eyes locked ahead down the lane towards the encroaching figure from the decimated woods–a demon wielding gold fans stepping casually across the ice towards Cinder.
Ava felt her heart skip a beat, spotting Doma advancing from Cinder’s rear–Cinder couldn’t move.
Ava ignored her body screaming at her to stay down, and stood with a pained gasp and uneven breathing that caught Jirou’s attention before the ink demon followed her brown eyes ahead to spot Cinder.
Akaza–for a brief moment–was confused when his eyes landed on the red headed figure iced down to the ground. A woman, yet somehow the sight of her felt familiar, as if he himself had fought her before.
Her fighting spirit was almost as bright as Kyojuro’s–but it was dwindling. The woman was dying, despite her best efforts. Doma would eat her–the thought made Akaza scowl in disgust.
And then Kyojuro’s blade was swung towards his neck, regaining the pink hair demon's attention as his eyes snapped wide while tilting back. The tip of Kyojuro’s blade managed to skim past the right side of his throat–a surprise close call that, had Akaza not been distracted, he could have very well avoided it. Inwardly, Akaza cursed Doma before refocusing on Kyojuro with a frown–his prior thrill for their fight soured by the encounter to their right down the street.
Kyojuro had cast a swift glance towards the sudden sound, barely able to restrain his own look of shock at spotting Cinder and the boar child. The situation was worse here than he thought. Yet, he couldn’t go to aide her without presenting his back to Akaza and leaving his brother unguarded–
Despite Kyojuro always remarking on Sanemi’s language, the flame hashira cursed. As his engagement with Akaza resumed, however, he noticed the pink haired demon somehow seeming less invested–and then Kyojuro saw Ava stumble forward from her crater, brown eyes wide and frantic before she tilted sideways and fell, only to scramble back onto her feet.
Inosuke hit the ground in a roll after Cinder shoved him forward–one last ditch attempt to keep him from the encroaching ice that sailed after them.
Cinder landed roughly onto her front, choking on another bloody gasp as she did while wincing at the sharp pain to her abdomen from Doma’s prior frozen-over slash. Then Cinder felt the chill across her legs–promptly frozen down to the ground just below her knees, halting her forward crawl as if the grip of death itself had latched onto her and crept slowly up her legs even further.
Despite Cinder’s situation, she tightened her grip on her sword in her right hand.
One last swing.
Cinder could already hear Doma stepping across the ice behind her–the sound suddenly far louder and more ominous than before.
Inosuke rose to his knees ahead of her, a layer of frost covered his form, but he was mobile. He peered back the way they’d come, briefly left speechless and frozen in place at the sight of nearly an entire chunk of woods flattened in thick blue ice.
Then Inosuke’s emerald green eyes saw Cinder left immobile as Doma neared behind her.
Doma wore his usual sharp toothed smile as he tilted his head slightly to the right while peering down at the redhead as he neared–noting the hold she had on her sword. A futile attempt–but Doma would let her have her attempt. He was nothing if not a charitable god. His followers would attest to that.
“I see the younger one managed to escape, but that’s fine!” Doma said cheerily as his rainbow eyes spotted Inosuke ahead of them, free to move as he pleased. Doma stepped forward until his feet came to a stop on either side of Cinder’s hips, his weight causing the ice below to audibly crack and crunch beneath him, caging her in as she momentarily froze in place from his proximity. She could hear her heart pound in her ears. “I got this one, at least. That's far more important than some kid.” Doma remarked, smiling behind his raised golden fan as he peered down at the back of Cinder’s head while crossing his arms, waiting for her to make her move.
Cinder clenched her jaw, then shifted, lifting herself with her left arm as she swung backwards towards Doma’s right side. A last ditch attempt at harming him, but she was too low to reach anywhere close to the demon's neck. He was too tall.
Doma grinned at the anticipated move, then struck out with his right fan, bouncing her blade away as he fell down onto his left knee, directly onto Cinder’s back.
Cinder gasped at the sudden added weight and pressure, her pale green eyes blew wide in focus. Even more air was knocked from her as she was pressed into the ground below. Offhandedly, she noted that the ice on her lower legs was slowly advancing upward, ghosting across her knees and thighs next.
Doma tilted forward with a pleased hum, right hand reaching for hers as he forced his sharp clawed fingers between her own, shimmying her sword from her loosened grip–only to snatch it up himself.
“Get the hell away from her, you icy bastard!” Inosuke shouted, momentarily seeing red at the sudden vicious reminder of Shinobu. He tilted forward, sprinting towards the two just as Doma blinked back at him, seemingly having forgotten he’d been there at all.
Cinder stared at Inosuke with horrified eyes–did the kid have no sense of self preservation? Inosuke sprinted towards Doma–weaponless and running on pure adrenaline and desperation alone.
Doma met Inosuke’s gaze and grinned before pulling his right hand back with Cinder’s blade still in his grip and threw it towards the kid in a sudden vicious spin with zero hesitation. The blade spun through the air with an audible whip of air, approaching Inosuke in seconds.
Inosuke flinched, but leapt upward, curving his body over the blade while reaching out to snatch it from the air by its hilt. As soon as he landed, he propelled forward, pulling back Cinder’s sword to his right as he did, fully intending to take a swing at the demons’ neck.
Doma watched, noting his swift reaction speed. The kid had potential–but Doma still had little interest in him, although he did somehow look familiar–not that it mattered.
Doma swung his right hand out beside himself–summoning another golden fan to his waiting hand before promptly snapping it open and swinging it up from his right.
Cinder felt her heart drop as the ice below them shifted with Doma’s swing, only for a sudden sharp icicle to eject itself from the frozen ground below them to their right, heading directly at Inosuke’s left.
Inosuke noticed too late–gaze snapping towards the sharp spike nearly two inches thick just before it stabbed through his midsection. The force of it shot his body to the right, leaving Cinder to watch as he was sent to her left only to be impaled to the butterfly estates wall with a choked gasp–red seeped out behind the mask he wore as Cinder’s sword fell from his grasp to the ground beside him. Immediately, his hands went for the ice spike that pinned him to the wall, already trying to dislodge himself with frantic, wide eyes.
Towards the rear of the butterfly estate, at the caved-in wall of the back yard, Aoi peered out with a horrified blue stare and slight tremble to her shoulders. Sweat broke across her brow as she took an unsteady step backwards just as Zenitsu crawled into view. The yellow haired boy sucked in a sharp breath as he saw the scene before him, mouth falling open in disbelief.
The two kakushi who’d helped drag Kanao back to the group rushed forward, only to freeze in place much the same way Aoi had while Kanao leaned onto the broken estate wall as another wave of nausea hit her from her possible concussion, practically able to hear her heart in her ears as she registered the scene ahead–that demon would take another, and another, and–
Nezuko stood completely still among the walls rubble, eyes wide and pupils fine slits as her jaw clenched, threatening to break her bamboo muzzle, a low rumble of a growl escaping as her right foot took one step forward while Tanjiro remained on her back, none the wiser. Her form slowly grew, with marks appearing across her skin like vines alongside a horn atop her right brow.
Up the street towards Gyomei’s–Sanemi was fixed in place, eyes on Cinder and the demon, a new bubble of anger below his skin as he forced himself upward despite his sliced open left leg, stumbling sideways as he tried to remain upright. Behind him, Gyomei entered another bout with Kokushibo–vaguely aware of Sanemi focused elsewhere.
“Now that he’s out of the way, where were we? Ah, right!” Doma started, ignoring Inosuke’s shouts from the sidelines while applying more pressure with his left knee as Cinder tensed, hands fisting before herself atop the icy ground.
Doma’s eyes roved her below him, lingering on her left shoulder. The demon grinned, dropping aside his fans as he reached down with his left hand, extending his index finger towards Kaigaku’s stab–then jabbed his claw past its seared surface of her skin, making Cinder tense further while biting her lip so hard she tasted blood. It was bad enough he’d dug his heel into it earlier.
Doma withdrew his hand, smiling at the reaction, but he wanted more . She had managed to make him feel pain he hadn’t experienced before–he would return the favor. He shifted, swapping his left knee on her back for his right knee instead.
“How interesting that the little lightning demon's wounds don’t heal or disappear once he’s been beheaded! Such a shame you killed him–he could have developed into a fine demon.” Doma spoke, ignoring Inosukes rapid curses towards him. The ice demon tilted forward once more, left hand reaching for Cinder’s left fist–his larger hand easily dwarfing hers.
Cinder braced herself, knowing nothing good came from contact with Doma. The ice demon lifted her arm back towards himself at a painful angle, then dislocated her left shoulder in one swift yank.
Cinder sucked in a sharp breath. Doma grinned– now he was getting somewhere. His eyes shifted to her left arm limp in his hold–her sleeve had ripped off back when he’d froze her to the ground, giving him perfect access to her skin.
Doma reached down with his right hand, extending his index finger outward towards the top of her upper arm–then added pressure on his single sharp nail, forcing it into her skin only to then drag it upwards, leaving behind a deep incision that immediately started releasing a flow of blood.
Cinder inwardly cursed, mind racing–there was a ringing in her ears as she tried to focus on anything but Doma.
As if to spite her for this, as soon as Doma’s claw reached her elbow, he withdrew it, only to then place his hand at the side of her elbow while his left hand tightened on her wrist.
With little hesitation, Doma yanked her arm in the opposite direction, receiving an audible snap as her elbow broke with the force. A pained hiss breached her lips, tears at the corner of her eyes.
Offhandedly, Cinder thought she would have rather been chopped to pieces by Kokushibo or drowned by Gyokko–hell, Kaigaku could have tried a little harder.
Aoi flinched as Nezuko’s jaw snapped tighter, her bamboo muzzle audibly cracking from the force as her growling intensified. Her grip on Tanjiro loosened, threatening to drop him entirely.
Ava managed to remain upright, speeding forward in a desperate attempt to do something while cradling her broken left arm to her side while Kyojuro kept Akaza at bay as she passed.
Jirou tried to send his ink after Ava, yet his control of it remained hindered and unstable. The ink demon cursed as he rose to his feet only to sway to the side from a sudden hit of instability, nearly choking on another rush of ink in his throat. Behind him towards the stardust estate entrance, Mimi shook in place, grip tightening on Kimi as she stared ahead past everyone towards Cinder.
Doma replaced his right pointer fingers’ claw atop Cinder’s skin, just above her broken elbow while humming contently as he drug it further upward and across her left wrist, letting the blood flow freely.
“Oh! I know! Why not become a demon?” Doma suddenly asked, the thought only just then striking him–not that he expected a yes, but humans could certainly get desperate. Of that, he was well aware. “All of this would stop–and you’d heal instantly! Wouldn’t that be great?”
Cinder almost couldn’t believe the audacity –it managed to briefly replace her agony with a flare of anger. “f*ck off.” She bit out.
Doma’s ever-present smile fell for a moment before a grin took its place. He sighed, as if disappointed.
“What a shame…” Doma said as he practically cradled her left hand to the left side of his face, almost nuzzling it, only to twist her wrist, promptly snapping it as well as she winced once more, twitching. “Surely this is very painful, right?” Doma questioned, peering down at Cinder’s form below him, noting the slight tremble to her–it reminded him suddenly of Shinobu . She’d also trembled briefly. “Shouldn’t you be making more noise?” Doma inquired, rainbow eyes half lidded as he turned her left hand in his grasp, lips ghosting across the side of her hand up to her pinky, opening his mouth just enough to let a single fang drag across her skin before shifting her pinky past his lips.
And then Doma bit down–biting off the digit in a single snap of his jaws.
Despite her best efforts, Cinder screamed . Ahead of her, Aoi and the rest flinched–but Nezuko moved forward, jaws snapping her muzzle to pieces while letting Tanjiro slide from her back to the ground with little care–her pink eyes were fixated on Doma, fully intent on burning him alive.
Inosuke thrashed from his pinned position, kicking his feet back against the wall as he finally managed to dislodge the ice from the wall behind himself. He immediately dipped to the right, nearly falling over as he snatched up Cinder’s sword once more. He might have an ice spike in his gut–but he could still move . That demon wasn’t getting to eat another one –
Cinder could hear her heart in her ears as her body trembled at the loss and a pain she hadn’t experienced before. Her head turned to her right, teary gaze suddenly spotting Shinjuro’s motionless body atop the ground, and then Kyojuro and Akaza–along with Ava who’d broken into a full on sprint. All three peered towards her with alarmed expressions. Even Akaza had ceased his assault–a sudden almost haunted stare in his troubled yellow eyes.
Above her, Doma’s smile grew into a sharp toothed, near manic expression of glee despite everyone's sudden focus on him. “There we go! Isn’t that better? I hear it’s not healthy to bottle up emotions, you know…Best to scream it out.”
Cinder felt Doma’s right hand suddenly leave her left arm, brushing aside her red hair to the left as his fingers ghosted over the back of her neck, claws just barely making contact with her skin before she felt the press of his hand. Above her, Doma peered ahead at Inosuke and Nezuko’s fast approaching figures–a silent unspoken challenge in his rainbow eyes; one he anticipated neither would get to win.
