He Who Fights Demons Ch 10

Good evening y'all! I was able to finish on time!

Whooo!

I am...SO TIRED!

Here is chapter, more words later, brain leaking out ear. Comment please.

Hope you enjoy.

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“I should be doing more.”

Kagaya smiled at Pyrrha as the tall young woman paced back and forth in the study. “I’m of the opinion you are already doing too much.”

She stopped pacing and looked at him incredulously.

Kagaya took a sip of his (terribly bitter medicinal) tea and continued. “You study the language for the majority of the day. Look after the ‘Kamado gaggle’ as you like to call them,” her face gained a rosy blush at the reminder, “and do your own martial training on top of that.”

“That’s what Morihito called them.” Pyrrha huffed somewhat petulantly. “And you know what I mean. I eat five times as much as most grown men, and all I do in return is…sit here and take up your time. There are monsters out there, creatures it is my duty to fight, to protect people from them. I should be out there looking for Morihito. But instead I’m just…here. It’s disgraceful!”

That was something Kagaya found interesting. Everyone in the Kamado family, from the patriarch to this girl who Kagaya had come to believe their claim that she was gifted to them by the Heavens. Each and every one of them mourned the absence of the eldest son, but none of them believed him to be dead.

Despite the fact that he had entered into a duel with Kibutsuji Muzan, armed with naught but a sword and a dog. That the dog was still alive and could be seen accompanying one of the ‘Kamado gaggle,’ the matriarch, the patriarch, or the Heavenly Lady at any point of the day, was a miracle in and of itself.

“As the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, I must ask you for patience, Pyrrha.” Kagaya said. “Please trust me when I say that someone with your gifts must be deployed intelligently. Not only that, but other than the Pillars, Demon Slayers depend on communication and coordination in order to kill Demons. And while I have little doubt that with your gifts you will be able to do battle exceptionally well, that will do us little good if you are incapable of properly understanding reports or communicating on the best approach to battle a Demon. And unfortunately, my constitution will simply not allow me to accompany you in order to act as a translator.”

Pyrrha looked like she wanted to argue back but sat back down at the table with a frustrated sigh.

Kagaya smiled, then resumed his lesson in order to teach her the language of the land. Near the start of the Kamado’s stay in his mansion, Kagaya had made the request to Kamado Tanjuro to substantiate the claim that this girl was somehow divine. The following demonstration had left him quite speechless. That she deigned to have the humility to follow the advice of a cursed, dying cripple was a testament to her integrity.

Their lessons continued for a while longer, she was an apt and dedicated pupil, but nonetheless, one could only learn so fast. Pyrrha already had a strong foundation of the language, they were now working on refining her understanding and expanding her vocabulary.

Reading would have to be done at a later date, and as it was convenient to be taught. As much as it shamed him to admit it, if only to himself; she was too powerful an asset not to deploy as soon as feasible. Better to send a lesser Demon Slayer with her exclusively to read and write for her, than to wait for the requisite time it would take to teach her to read.

When their lesson came to an end he bid his farewell, and repressing his desire to make his way to the Kamado family, made his way to his favorite spot overlooking the garden to attend the meeting he had requested. Waiting for him was the massive form of Himejima Gyomei, the currently oldest serving Hashira, after Kuwajima Jigoro’s retirement.

“Gyomei, my friend, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.” He said, holding back a groan as he sat next to the large, seemingly brutish man. An appearance that could not be further from the truth.

“None at all, Master.” Gyomei said.

“So, what do you have to report?” Kagaya asked with a smile, and while his friend was blind, he knew the man had ways of sensing that went beyond sight.

“Would it not be simpler to receive such reports from someone of lesser rank, Master?” Gyomei asked. “As it stands, I am merely parroting what I was told. I cannot even read said report to make certain my memory does not fail me.”

Kagaya huffed out a laugh. “And lose a fleeting opportunity to spend some time with you, Gyomei? Perish the thought. Next you’ll tell me I should stop drinking my medicine and consume the plants directly.”

“Perish the thought.” Gyomei parroted back with a grin. Then paused as the sound of children screaming in delight echoed through the courtyard.

Kagaya gazed out and saw little Kamado Rokuta happily chasing Hinaki in a game of tag, Xolo, the Kamado family dog, running happy circles around the two toddlers as they ran.

The sight ignited a welcome warmth in Kagaya’s heart. None of his five children had had much of a childhood, the weight of being born an Ubuyashiki weighing heavily on their young shoulders.

The Kamado family however, aside from being hidden practitioners and masters of the First Breath and being gifted with a Divine Child as a wife for their eldest, was just a normal family. Their children influencing Kagaya’s and making them…happy.

When was the last time he saw his children happy? Truly, unreservedly happy?

That he couldn’t immediately recall made him feel a failure as a father.

“If I may ask, Master Ubuyashiki.” Gyomei said, choosing his words carefully. “There have been many rumors around this family that you have taken in. The fact that they get to simply live in your mansion after Uzui recruited them has been the cause of much gossip. There is even some envy and resentment aimed their way for being allowed such an unprecedented privilege. May I ask, Master, why they are housed within your personal mansion, instead of one of the Demon Slayer Corps’ many other compounds and safehouses?”

Kagaya took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh. “That is understandable. But, in truth, the reason is embarrassingly selfish.”

“Master?”

Kagaya closed his eyes, the darkness in his vision was not equal. His one remaining good eye could still perceive the gentle rays of the sun, even through his closed eyelid.

He could only wonder how much longer that would last.

“You see, Gyomei. When I am physically near the Kamados, my symptoms lessen.” Kagaya said, making the Hashira choke. “This is true with all of them, including Kamado Kie, and to a much lesser extent with Nikos Pyrrha. Though the one who imparts the greatest effect is Kamado Tanjuro. When I am in his presence, all symptoms vanish for the duration of my proximity to the man.”

“Master, these are wonderful news!” Gyomei said, happy tears streaming down his face.

Kagaya pulled out a handkerchief and absently reached up to wipe the man’s tears, truly he cried far too easily.

“It is a temporary affair.” Kagaya said. “Tanjuro will begin teaching others in his breathing style soon, and for that he will have to leave the mansion. Most of his children are already training in the way of the sword so they may ‘help their big brother kill monsters.’ Soon, none of the Kamados will remain in the mansion, so it is a temporary luxury at best.”

“Master Ubuyashiki, I must protest!” Gyomei began.

“I will not hear of it.” Kagaya said firmly, making the larger man choke on his words. “Can you imagine it, Gyomei, an entire family of practitioners of the First Breath? If they are correct in their assertion that their eldest son yet lives, there is even one gifted by the Gods themselves who has not only slain demons who wandered near his home, but who fought Kibutsuji Muzan and forced him to retreat. It would be utterly unconscionable for me to keep them in this mansion for my own personal comfort. They will join the rest of my children in the fight against the demons, and by their might, perhaps we will see a return to the Golden Age.”

“As you wish, Master Ubuyashiki.” Gyomei said, crying angry tears. “Though I must protest.”

“I understand Gyomei, but my decision is final.” Kagaya said firmly. “Now, what news do you bring me?”

“Something has changed.” Gyomei said, his sightless eyes seemingly staring at the children as they played. “There are more demons created in the last few months than for the last few years, more than in any of the memoirs of past Demon Slayers that have been read to me. But they are all weak, confused fledglings, some so weak that there are numerous cases of untrained men besting them, immobilizing them for the sun to provide their final judgement.”

“Most troubling.” Kagaya sighed, it was true that the Kamado family represented a nearly unequaled opportunity, but he had to repress the temptation to set them loose upon the demons. They were simply not ready, and it would not do to rush them out into the battlefield before Tanjuro deemed them ready.

Kagaya could not afford to trade their lives for anything less than monumental gain.

“That is not all, Master Ubuyashiki.” Gyomei said.

“Oh?”

“There are rumors along towns and villages. Particularly those that we suspected were suffering under the predations of a demon.” He said, rubbing the prayer beads he wore as part of his uniform and muttering a quick prayer. “Rumors of a Samurai clad head to foot in black metal, a ghostly Ronin that burns with the fires of the Hachidai Jigoku. It wields a blade that glows bright orange with its burning hatred, using it and conjured flames to torture its victims, then once it grows tired of them, burns them to ash by beheading them with its burning sword.”

Kagaya blinked. “This is a Demon Slayer?”

“If they are, they are not of the Corps. Nor do the reports stop there.”

“I see, my apologies, please continue.”

“One of the Demon Slayers that was dispatched to a remote village reported that when he arrived, he’d arrived too late. The people of the village said that a Ronin had come in and dispatched the Demon with its burning blade, then traded with the villagers. Giving them boxes of food, enough to last them years, in exchange for drawing blood from the people of the village, no more than a vial each, before swiftly departing.”

Kagaya frowned as he thought. A Demon Slayer would have no reason to trade for blood. “Do we know what type of food he gave?”

Gyomei hummed. “Going by reports, boxes of foreign military rations. He guaranteed that so long as they were kept in a place that was cool, dry, and dark, they would not spoil for at least six decades.”

There was only one person who this could be. The eldest Kamado sibling. The only Demon Slayer in living memory who could make a Nichirin blade burn as he fought.

But if so, why would he need to trade for blood? Human blood?

Then all of the information rearranged itself in Kagaya’s mind, the various clues slotting into place and leaving behind a horrid understanding. Something as tragic as it was miraculous. As vile as it was transcendent.

Kamado Morihito, the one whose parents strongly suspected was a God descended among mortals and given flesh, for the sole purpose of ridding the world of the disease that was Kibutsuji Muzan…was a demon.

He had indeed gone to battle against the Father of all demons, repulsed him, but during the battle got turned into a demon himself. Yet somehow, against all odds, he did not turn around and hunt down his family.

Recently turned, hurt, starving, he hid in the wilderness, somehow forged a new nichirin blade and a set of armor, and began hunting demons with such brutality he was unironically labeled a demon himself. The trading for blood was clearly to sustain himself without hurting innocents.

An ethical demon.

Of all things, that was the one he found the most absurd.

Well no, there was a precedent, but the only other ‘ethical’ demon that had ever existed had quite the body count, and had spent the better part of four centuries atoning for her crimes. This young man had, to Kagaya’s understanding, a body count of zero humans.

Though going by the rumors of him torturing other demons…that did not fit with the young man described by Kie and Tanjuro. Clearly, turning into a demon had not been a transition the young man survived unscathed.

“Most troubling news.” Kagaya muttered and wondered how he would break these terrible news to Tanjuro. “What else, Gyomei?”

=][=

Akaza walked through the labyrinthine halls of Lord Kibutsuji’s Infinity Castle. The floors and rice paper walls were, as always, immaculate, the lamps lighting its halls illuminated without giving the smell of burning. The many buildings of the mansion stacking and bending over themselves and each other endlessly, always in motion.

As he walked, he spotted other members of the Twelve Kizuki and scoffed in disgust as he saw Doma, the pale pretty boy with rainbow colored eyes walking along a ‘wall’ in a nearby building. Hantengu’s malformed form crawled ‘up’ some stairs, upside down by Akaza’s perspective, that huge jump on his forehead seemingly held up by the two malformed horns growing out of his head. A gawdy pot rolled along the ‘ceiling’ of a nearby building, which accounted for Gyokko. As he reached the place where they were to have their audience with Lord Kibutsuji, he saw Daki in her full Oiran regalia, but was very surprised to see Gyutaro, it was rare to see the older brother out of the parasite he protected.

What was even more surprising was the presence of most of the Lower Moons. The little freak that reminded him of Doma. Hairo, the only Lower Moon whose name he knew, and that only because he was so weak he had to fight with firearms. There was Lower Moon three, who didn’t have anything in particular that made him stand out. Lower Moon Five, the last time Akaza had seen that one he’d been Lower Moon six and didn’t have all of those drums sticking out of his body.

There was one more demon, the newly minted Lower Moon Six, a confused looking young woman, the only thing that separated her appearance from a completely normal human, was that her shadow was that of a human-sized spider.

The Upper and Lower Moons all stood on the same platform, the two groups separating and arranging themselves automatically from lowest rank to highest, unfortunately trapping Akaza between Doma and Hantengu, but looking at the bright side, at least he wasn’t standing next to Gyokko. The Lower Moons murmured among themselves, the Upper Moons remained quiet.

After all, they had no reason to speak to each other.

“My, what do you think this meeting will be about?” Doma asked in that obsequious tone he enjoyed so much, making Akaza’s entire body clench in annoyance.

Upper Moon One turned his six-eyed gaze upon Doma and Aakaza, who suddenly felt as if he had a nichirin blade most of the way through his neck.

“Be silent.” Kokushibo said, his tone brooking no argument. “If you know what is good for you, you will hold your silence.”

Before he could try and divine what that meant, the plucked chord of a biwa resounded through the Infinity Castle, and a platform rose before the one the Moons were waiting on. Akaza caught the slightest shadow standing upon that platform and flung himself to his knees in obeyance. He was the fourth to do this.

Hantengu had been the first.

Akaza snuck a glance, and saw a child looking imperiously down upon them, the child had pale skin, wavy black hair, and two blood-red eyes with a cat-like pupil.

The child was currently glaring at the Lower Moons, all of whom had lacked the wisdom to bow. Even now they milled and murmured among themselves in confusion as to the presence of a ‘child.’

“Prostrate yourselves.” The figure above them demanded in the deep, resonant voice of Lord Kibutsuji.

The Lower Moons literally tripped and fell on their haste to assume a dogeza.

“My apologies, Lord Kibutsuji!” Lower Moon Five blabbered, any further apology from his was impeded by his lower jaw exploding, leaving him choking and writhing on the floormat he’d been kneeling on.

“I do not recall granting you leave to speak.” Lord Kibutsuji said, a low growl in his voice that only appeared when he was monumentally angry. “All of you are here because you are about to have an opportunity to redeem yourselves to me, to make up for your constant, incessant, monumental failures.”

Akaza grit his teeth.

“The Lower Moon’s transgression is the lesser one, they are guilty merely of being cowardly. Of being weak. Of not understanding that reaching the position of a Lower Moon is not a time to rest, it is not an achievement. It is the moment that they reach square one. The moment they show they have the potential to be useful to me. Their transgression is easily forgiven, for though I do not suffer fools lightly, I have become accustomed to suffering their presence, as most of everyone I encounter are fools.”

Lord Kibutsuji’s gaze turned to the Upper Moons, and Akaza felt as if an ice-cold grip reached into his body and had begun crushing his heart. “The Upper Moons do not have this excuse. Centuries, for centuries you have failed me, I provided you with a simple request. A request you have failed to fulfill night after night, week after week, century after century. I give you so much time to do as I demanded, and the only reward for my patience has been failure.”

Akaza grit his teeth harder. He’d at times had to dig a hole into the ground and stay there all day because he’d waited until the literal last possible second while scouring the land for the Blue Spider Lily, or the whereabouts of the Ubuyashiki family.

The Child appeared in front of him.

“Do you have something to say, Akaza?” Lord Kibutsuji demanded, his eyes boring holes into Akaza’s form.

Literally.

Lesions appeared in his body, his lungs filled with blood and it took every ounce of will he could muster to only cough once.

“Do you perhaps feel I am being too harsh in my assessment?” Lord Kibutsuji continued, reaching out a small hand and taking hold of Akaza’s shoulder. The small hand closed, crushing Akaza’s flesh as if it were putty, the pain amplified, far greater than such a minor injury should inflict. “Perhaps you feel that you have served me adequately. Perhaps you feel that digging a hole in the ground to escape the light of the sun somehow proves you are anything other than a complete failure.”

Akaza would never claim he was particularly gifted with wisdom, but even he knew better than to answer any question while Lord Kibutsuji was in this kind of mood.

The little hand dug deeper, wrapping around bone. “Oh? Pray tell, Akaza. What kind of mood am I in? Explain it to me in detail. Come now, I give you leave to sp—”

After Lord Kibutsuji remained quiet for several seconds, Akaza took the risk of bringing his eyes up from the floor.

The ‘child’ in front of him was starting to the side, his eyes opened so wide they looked in danger of popping out of his skull, his pupils dilated to such an extent that he could scarcely see a sliver of his red irises, as he watched, blood began leaking into Lord Kibutsuji’s sclera as veins throbbed grotesquely through his face and head. His eyes made small, quick, jerky movements as he stared, his breathing hitching occasionally as sweat broke out across his whole body.

Only the fact that Lord Kibutsuji’s hand was currently buried in his flesh allowed Akaza to feel that he was trembling.

The silence remained long enough to be awkward. Long enough for even the Upper Moons to sneak peeks at the ‘child’ in front of Akaza.

Lord Kibutsuji ignored them all, his breathing coming in ever shorter, faster pants, until he suddenly flinched so hard he tore his hand out of Akaza, messily severing his left arm and much of his chest.

Wordlessly, Akaza pushed, and regenerated his chest and arm.

Lord Kibutsuji took a few moments to gather himself, his anger at Akaza seemingly forgotten.

“Tamayo is no longer the only traitor among the ranks of the demons.” Lord Kibutsuji said, walking away. “There is now another, a demon who slays other demons. He styles himself in the trappings of a samurai. You will track him down and kill him. I do not care how. Any demon who is capable of subduing this traitor will be gifted as much of my blood as their body is able to handle.”

Akaza’s body tensed for a completely different reason. It had been centuries since last he’d been gifted any of Lord Kibutsuji’s blood. If he could truly be given as much as his body could handle, the level of strength he would reach could be immense.

Lord Kibutsuji tilted his head and hummed. “You will also kill any and all dogs you come across.”

Dogs?

“Dogs, Lord Kibutsuji?” Lower Moon Six was foolish enough to ask.

Miraculously, Lord Kibutsuji did not make his displeasure known. “Dogs, any dog you find, you will kill.”

“If we’re going to be making a concerted effort to kill one demon in particular.” Began Lower Moon Three. “Shouldn’t that spider boy be here?”

Huh, that’s right, Akaza had forgotten there was one Lower Moon missing.

Any further pursuit of that line of thought was abandoned as Lower Moon Three detonated, bathing all of the present members of the Twelve Kizuki in his blood and viscera.

Lord Kibutsuji’s clothes remained pristine.

“Now I’ll have to update the Lower Moons again.” The ‘child’ clicked his tongue. “How annoying.”