[3rd POV]
(Kanae Kocho)
"Fuck!"
Such profanity rarely left the pretty lips of Kanae Kocho. But if one looked at the situation she was in, they would no doubt understand her and say her curse was justified.
And what exactly was the situation she found herself in?
Well, she was surrounded by a few dozen or so high-level demons. That alone would give any Hashira a run for their money but to make matters worse, there was a lower moon leading them.
Fortunately for her, the lower moon was ranked fifth, which meant that the demon was one of the weakest even among the lower moon demons. She knew this from the kanji number 5 (五) etched in his left eye.
Nevertheless, it was a very problematic situation that she found herself in.
"You have no hope of getting out of this alive. You will die and I will feast on your corpse before I bring your head to 'him'." the lower moon said while watching from a safe distance. The demon was a coward.
"And he will reward me with his blood for a job well done." the lower moon said with ecstasy. Was it normal for demons to get hard when revealing their evil plan? she thought to herself when she saw the tent in his pants.
She wanted to bleach her eyes when she saw that.
She moved with the grace of a dancer and the elegance of a painter while dodging the attacks coming from all the demons around her. The sound of her sword fending them off was the only thing rining in the surroundings other than the nasty growls of the demons.
She was tired.
She had been investigating the demon for almost a week now and it was filled with exhausting work because the demon was smart and deliberately destroying her mentally before ambushing her.
Honestly, Kanae wondered how Seiji did all those investigation missions so easily. When he was active, they never had to worry about such jobs.
"Stop moving damnit!!" one demon screamed and lunged at her with reckless abandon. She smiled seeing that.
Finally, it was the opening she was waiting for. It was a mistake from the enemy which she planned to take full advantage of.
"Flower Breathing : Fourth Form." the world turned pink and flowers started coming to life.
"Crimson Hanagoromo." her blade became a beautiful flower that curved and twisted in itself. The demon tried to block her slash but it simply curved into the opening and sliced his head off.
The splash of demonic blood and the trail of her blade creates the image of a blooming flower. The demons nearby paused as a sweet smell assaulted their senses. They were momentarily awed by the scene, Kanae at that moment looked like an angel.
She smiled. She can manage this.
"Flower Breathing : Fifth Form." her arm became loose, dangling like a new plant, a young flower. That was until it burst into action and painted beautiful curves of nine slashes.
Flowers bloomed, and her movement was poetry in motion, the best of grace. In one single instance when demons drew breath, nine heads fell. Blood splattered violently but strangely enough, not a drop touched her, as if the world was careful to not stain her beauty.
It was violence at its most beautiful.
Beauty at its most cruel.
"Peonies of futility." she whispered before the demons dissipated.
..
..
"What the hell are you guys doing!! Go!! Attack her before she kills anyone else!!" The lower moon was the first to escape from the trance.
Kanae exhaled sharply, blowing her bangs up before she engaged against the demons once more. After that, there was no more opening she could take advantage of.
Flower Breathing relied a lot on the eyes of the user. In a sense, it was basically Seiji's normal fighting style but watered down.
The user fought best when they could focus on one enemy instead of multiple since they didn't have special eyes like Seiji who could process and focus on multiple opponents at once.
A pair of eyes could only focus on one enemy at a time.
So with no more openings, Kanae was slowly pushed back.
The lower moon also joined the fight a few times which made her defeat even quicker. But the lower moon never engaged in a long fight, fearing that she might have a trump card.
...which she did.
'Do I really need to use that?' she thought to herself. She was referring to the final form of Flower Breathing that could enhance the user's eyes so that they could see in slow motion.
However, the technique could cause the rupture of blood vessels in the eyes and cause partial blindness so it was a risky technique that she preferred not to use.
If she used it, she would no doubt win this confrontation or at least assure her survival. But she was still hesitant to do so, hoping she would find a better way out of this.
'Seiji...' the image of a purple boy appeared in her mind and she immediately became flustered and embarrassed. She almost lost focus and allowed a demon to slash at her.
It was understandable, after all, it was shameful that she was hoping for help from him even though she was supposed to be his senior.
She couldn't help it. If someone was always there to have your back for so many times, you would naturally start relying on it.
And Seiji had always been there for her. Every single time some trouble emerged in her life, he was there to save her.
This was because Seiji - knowing that Kanae would be in danger soon according to canon - was fully focused on her. Whenever she was on a mission, he would also remain close to her and immediately rush to her when she was in need, fearing that it would be her end.
He did this to other Hashiras too but he gave his everything when it came to her.
This had been happening for almost a year now, ever since she turned 17. Which was the year when she would encounter Douma and die according to the canon timeline.
It was this exact care that Seiji showed which made her eventually fall for him. Which by the way, she still hadn't accepted yet.
It was impossible for a virgin girl to not fall in love when a man showed her such care and attention. For no particular reason as well from Kanae's perspective. She was fine till the fourth time he helped her but from then on, he slowly grew in her heart.
Such protectiveness really tickled her femininity. There was no way else to put it.
...
She shook her head, dispersing all thoughts because the claws of one demon came too close to her liking. It was lucky that they didn't have tricky blood demon art.
She took a sharp breath and leapt back to create distance. She brought her sword close to her chest and her posture changed.
A sudden stillness fell in the air and even the demons stopped.
Every instinct collectively screamed out, danger.
Kanae blinked. She was just about to use the final form of Flower Breathing but was left confused, the breathing technique never had such weight before. Was it really her?
No. It couldn't be her because she felt the danger too, like something stronger than all of them combined was watching them.
..
It was then that they heard a sharp whistle. It was the sound of a blade cutting through the atmosphere like butter. Unbothered by the laws of physics, it flew straight at them.
Thunder followed.
*BOOOOOOM!!!!!*
Then a long sword, the colour of purple planted itself on the ground, separating Kanae from the groups of demons.
The ground shook and the force stirred up a cloud of smoke. But even when the dust settled, no one moved an inch. Even the demons stopped.
It was as if the blade had created an invisible line separating Kanae from the demon. The two groups were in different dimensions entirely.
The demons were evil and violent, yet even they didn't dare cross the invisible line. They stared at the sword which was planted on the ground.
'Evil Demon' the demon's read the kanji on the sword. The letters seem to call out to them.
'Destroyer.'
"...."
"That's...another Hashira!" the lower moon gasped and looked in every direction rapidly, afraid that someone would ambush him too.
"It's a long sword. It's purple." one of the demons said and shrunk back in fear.
Demons were as smart as any human. The only difference was that they were more aggressive and they had supernatural powers.
So like any human society, rumours also spread amongst the demons. Everyone knew whose blade that was. The long katana and the purple colour made it unique from every other sword.
Seiji Shigan. He was the most dangerous Hashira because he had no weakness, unlike the others. He also had the ability to pinpoint any ticks used by demons.
Terrorizing a village used to be the most efficient way to live for a demon and only the very top demons were able to enjoy this privilege. But now, no one ever wanted to do it. No one wanted to control or terrorize a village.
Because if you did, the purple Hashira would come to your village, find out instantly any tricks or manipulation you used and he would hunt you in the daylight. You cannot hide.
Hiding was not the best way to survive anymore, running was. Your best survival was trying to run from the now fastest Hashria.
Because you couldn't hide from the purple Hashira.
And it was said that the Hashira was the most brutal demon slayer of all. They said it was because he was deaf and he couldn't hear you begging, screaming, or crying. He was absolutely ruthless.
The cruellest one is the Deaf Hashira.
Beware of the Deaf Hashira.
Run from the Purple.
The Sun is kinder than the long sword.
At least, that's how the rumours went.
So they knew him, they knew Seiji Shigan. Of course, they would know him, after all, he had completed more missions than most of the Hahsiras that ever existed in just two years. Such a massacre would not go unnoticed by the demons.
"He is still far away. He is kilometres away!!" the lower moon suddenly exclaimed after checking the scent in the air.
"Kill that btich quickly!!" the lower moon commanded.
After hesitating once more, the demons attacked Kanae again but this time, they were not able to push her back anymore.
Their spirit was already beaten and they fought with eyes on their back, fearing that the purple one would reach them by now. Their main concern was on escape routes instead of the Kanae.
On the other hand, Kanae fought with everything she could, without conserving energy to prolong the fight because she knew Seiji would reach her soon.
Half a minute passed.
"Wait!! How is he already this close!" the lower moon suddenly said after catching a scent in the air again. Seiji used Thunder Breathing so he easily covered the distance.
Now the lower moon was panicked, "Run!!"
They turned around and were about to run and escape from different directions but it was all too late.
Because by the time they decided to run...
...the hilt of the long sword already found a hand.
"Esoteric Art : Breathing Styles." a cold whisper. The only sound.
"Storm Breathing (Water+Wind+Thunder) : First Form."
"Tempest Fury."
...
Maybe it would've been better to die by the beautiful flower breathing because what came next was the most violent way a demon could die.
Their body splattered throughout the forest, torn apart, blown apart before everything else was ripped and minced.
..
..
..
[Demon Image and please add waifu image JONTY]
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Author : Although it's monday, I can't do extra chapter because I have been doing double update for the last two days. But I still want stones andUGLIf we somehow reach 1000 stones I will do the impossible and cough out extra chapter.
Join my patreon to read ahead : Emmanuel_Capricorn
[Seiji's POV]
My arm stung after throwing my sword. You could imagine how taxing it would be, to use Thunder Breathing and Wind Breathing simultaneously when Thunder Breathing alone strained the body.
If I were not such a bullshit character then it would've been impossible for anyone.
You have to remember that no one could learn sun breathing because it was really stressful for the body, so Yoriichi had to teach the early Hashiras a watered-down version of sun breathing and help them shape their style.
In a way, one breathing style was all the human body should be able to take.
But I was an anomaly due to my body which was trained perfectly since I was young and because of my impeccable mastery over breathing styles - mixing breathing styles was like using two languages in one sentence.
Still, even I had limits. My current limit was using two breathing styles at once. Of course, this was still more taxing to the body than normal breathing so I mostly used it to finish my opponents instantly.
Fortunately, I was constantly improving my technique and my body was also growing stronger so I pushed this limit day by day. Eventually, I hope to be able to use all breathing styles at once.
"Still won't stop after being warned huh?" I said with mirthless chuckles while looking at the scene kilometres away.
I inhaled sharply
Raven flew off my head and I lowered my body, locking my joints like a spring. Purple lighting crackled around my body, and the ground caved in due to the weight of my raw strength.
Then I exploded out with the speed of lighting and the intensity of Thunder.
"Thunder Clap and Flash, ten fold."
Although I just spammed the technique before, I forced my body to do it once more. I would count this as my monthly leg day.
In just half a minute, I reached the place where the fighting took place. The demons immediately turned around to flee but it was all too late.
Should've taken the warning when they had the chance.
The world was in slow motion from my perspective as I carefully inspected the situation. The lower moon was ranked 5 and with a glance, I could tell that he was weak - much weaker than the one I slayed before I became Hashira.
The rest of the demons were also nothing in my eyes. They could be a threat to middle to lower-ranked Demon Slayers but in front of a Hashria, they were canon fodders.
They were ants.
Seeing that, I deemed it to be safe enough to train myself. If they posed a real threat, I would've been more cautious but they did not.
So let's do this, let's use three breathing styles all at once.
An important lesson I learned about mixed breathing was that there were some breathing styles that were impossible to mix. This was because of their opposite nature.
For example, if you tried to use two breathing styles at once, you could use; Thunder Breathing and Wind Breathing, Thunder Breathing and Flame Breathing, Wind Breathing and Flame Breathing.
But you could not use Flame Breathing and Water Breathing or Water Breathing and Wind Breathing. They just had completely different concepts behind them.
So you could say there were some breathing styles you could use together and some others that you could not, no matter how skilled you were.
But, this changed when you use three breathing styles at once. At this point, you could use any breathing styles you want and mix them together.
So it was possible to use Water Breathing, WInd Breathing and Thunder Breathing together even though Wind Breathing and Water Breathing opposed each other.
This was because Thunder Breathing acted as a bridge that connected them.
Wind Breathing was explosive, violent and chaotic.
Water Breathing was about precision, adaptability and accuracy. Then there was Thunder Breathing which was a mix between both, it was an explosion but also controlled and precise. If you remember, what made Thunder Breathing so fast was that you explode out but concentrating on a single point and linear path.
Therefore it acted as a bridge between the two completely opposite breathing styles.
"Esoteric Art : Breathing Styles." I whispered while the demons fled.
I actually had a name for this. Water Breathing, Wind Breathing and Thunder Breathing all together.
"Storm Breathing : First Form."
"Tempest Fury."
My arm exploded to action as every fibre of the muscles in my arm worked together to produce raw strength in a single instance - Thunder Breathing.
A shockwave erupted and a small hurricane formed from my swing. Wind blades came to life and ripped apart flesh and bones - Wind Breathing.
My arm did not lose accuracy even when it moved with such force. The kinetic energy of my swing was controlled and I hit only what I wanted, the demons. Even the wind blades only hit the demons, nothing else, not even a mosquito was not harmed in my attack - Water Breathing.
*BOOOOOOOM!!!*
A violent gust of wind turned the demons into mashed flesh and they splattered around the forest. But none of the mess came to my direction.
"...."
"...."
I remained silent and stood in my place. Not because I was trying to act cool but because my body was genuinely stuck. I kid you not, using three breathing at once was not kind to the body.
I only used one attack and I felt like I just worked out the entire day. This was why I would never use it against a serious opponent yet, it was too ineffective and cripplled my body.
The human body has limits.
I exhaled all of the air in my lungs and finally, I could feel my body again. Although fatigued, I could move.
I turned around to lock eyes with Kanae who had awe and wonder in her eyes. My male ego was pleased to impress a pretty girl like her, which by the way was one of the reasons why I did what I did. Training myself was the main reason though.
"Long time no see," I said.
But she did not respond and shifted her eyes to somewhere else. Rude!!
"Behind you." she said, I read the movement of her larynx so I moved before her words fully left her mouth.
I drew my blade, sharp and in perfect condition, and sliced behind me. I could see behind me from the reflection of my blade so my blade easily found the neck of the lower moon.
The sharp edge of my sword bit into his flesh. I did not even put much force as his own momentum pushed against the blade and sliced off his head.
His body crashed on my back, blood stained my clothes before he fell. But his decapitated head fell in front of me and landed near my foot.
It gave me the chance to stare down at his pathetic state before he disappeared. Luckily, his blood stain also turned into dust.
Heh, if Giyu could one-shot lower moon five, so can I.
...
"How did you do that? Do you have eyes behind your back?" Kanae asked me.
She just saw me use three breathing styles all at once and wanted to know how I was aware of what was happening behind me. She has priorities all right. Like some of you, complaining about the logic behind my deafness when literally there are much stranger things that define logic here.
"There is a reason why I always kept my blade in pristine condition." I said, "I could see him from the reflection when I drew my blade."
"Oh." she nodded with a realisation. Then she fully stood up and gave me a beautiful smile that was just enough.
"Welcome back Seiji. Please don't leave us for so long again, things were difficult without you," she said.
"Next time I go on a vacation, I'll have already killed the demon king." I said, causing her to laugh, not knowing that I was dead serious.
"You saved me again huh, how many times did that make?"
I shrugged, "I'm not counting but a few times."
"I can't thank you enough. I'm not sure if there even is anything I can do to repay you." she said while tilting her head.
"You don't need to repay me anything, you give me free healthcare. That is more than enough." I said. If only she knew how much that meant to me.
"But.." I said and crossed my arms and said sternly like a father scolding his daughter.
"You took an investigation mission by yourself huh? I thought I told you not to do that."
"Uh,,,,," she was lost for words, "Sorry?"
How do I explain to someone that they will die soon so they need to be careful and take my words seriously?
"Wait, can you even do that? Why should I follow your words like a little girl? What are you, my husband?" she asked me in return but soon lost her heat under my narrowed eyes.
'Is that what it would take to make her listen to me?'
"In my defence, the Demon Slayer Corps was short on manpower. Although I'm ashamed we found out this way, you were doing three Hashira's worth of missions so your absence meant the same as the absence of three Hashiras suddenly. I needed to step up or people would continue dying" she said.
That was reasonable. If not for the fact that she would die and last time I checked, the dead helps no one.
Well, now that I was back, hopefully, nothing bad would happen. I have done so much that the butterfly effect would probably change the future of Kanae by now.
It's just that I wanted to make sure, at least until she turned 18. Maybe then I would relax a bit.
I sighed, "That's fine, now that I'm back please avoid dangerous missions okay?" I said. Investigation missions were dangerous specifically because you had no information beforehand. You could be tracking a random demon or the Demon King himself without even knowing.
A normal slaying mission where the demon was already identified was much safer compared to it.
A short silence followed (actually it is always silent for me but ykwim) before I broke the silence by asking..
"Wanna catch a bite?"
It's literally midnight. What a dumbass question.
"Sure!" she said and flashed a smile.
Okay, maybe it was not a dumbass question. She seemed happy with the idea, enthusiastic even.
"Let's go."
And so we did.
Soon after, the fact that there would be no restaurant open during the night hit me so we literally had to catch a bite.
At first, I hunted and tried to kill a rabbit for food but Kanae stopped me, saying that it was too cute to eat. Then I went after a wild pig but she said it was too dirty and ugly to be eaten. Talk about being spoiled.
Finally, we found a deer and it was acceptable to the Flower Hashira.
..
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[IMAGE]
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