"Is that all you can do?" The publisher's voice was as slimy as any entitled pig Kyogai had met in decades gone by. "How boring, everything you write is gloomy and sad. Not wonderful, not dreamy, not jaw-dropping. This trash doesn't sell, so do yourself a favour and stop sending us your works." Kyogai's gaze fixed onto his lap as his works fluttered to the ground. Thunder clapped, he cursed the weather for its dull, greyness---like it wanted to mock him too. This was his last hope.

"We don't want t'be associated with shut-ins, maybe if you give these to the pigs they'll find some value innit. Such a waste of such quality paper." The publisher took a whiff of his cigar, chuckling to himself. "You play the drums, no? Why don't you stick to that---ha! Come to think of it, you're probably not good enough to teach someone either."

The publisher's bony fingers flicked the cigar onto the works, taking the leisure of stepping on them too for good measure. The paper crumpled beneath his sole and Kyogai's eyes began to cloud. That would be the last step the publisher would ever take. 'I've tried...' he thought to himself, 'But, why... How dare you...'

"Kyogai." His hands froze at the beckoning of Muzan's voice before the dismembered corpse of his meal. "They say... you can't eat humans anymore. This is disappointing." The demon lord's voice cut like a knife cast in disgust at the pathetic scene. Claw marks tore into the dead man's torso as if a wild beast that starved throughout winter feasted; hastily, his skin still warm and fresh, the muscles half chewed, his organs and face barely recognisable as human.

Beads of sweat rolled down Kyogai's scarred face, the blood of his victim splattered all over his mouth. "No it isn't true!" he protested, shuffling forward on his knees. "Please, I was a fool, just a little longer! Give me more time, my---"

Kyogai cried out in anguish as opening his left eye sent a sharp sting into his head. The world went halfway into a blurry dark red.

"That's enough," said Muzan, eyes narrowed like the blades he so despised, he was coated in a suffocating and sinister air. It was written all over his blank and uncaring stare: what kind of a demon doesn't eat humans? How could he ever welcome a deviant of this level into the ranks of the most prestigious demons in all of Japan? "I'm stripping you of your rank, Kyogai. Never show yourself to me."

With a swoosh of his white silk cape, Muzan vanished and left Kyogai with an immeasurable shame announcing itself to every demon that met his eye with a blatant white 'x' over the red of his retinas. He thought endlessly of the wallowing and the lonesomeness he'd enjoyed as a Kizuki, only to get comfortable in his power. Has he lost touch with the rest of the world already? He thought, too, of the Upper Moons and the tales whispered amongst the lowly demons---their bottomless hunger, their merciless disregard, their ability to devour whole towns before dawn, the gallons of incomparable power running through their veins...

Only one thing planted itself in Kyogai's mind: "To obtain their lord's blood was the ultimate fulfilment." He thrashed at the corpse at his knees, tore a piece of flesh and shoved it in his mouth. It seemed pitiful to him now, to think that he sought it in words and introspection of the world he lived in. What was that all for, if it only brought more disappointment and suffering?

The next night, Kyogai emerged from his mansion and into the terrain of monsters and terror. Rumour was that the newly vacant rank of Upper Moon 6 had already been filled. How quick. Right then his resolve cemented just as a lantern appeared amongst the trees beside him.

"Marechi..."

—

"And, here we go." Nezuko pulled on the edges of the cloth while watching Kiyoshi squint and flinch as it tightened. "How does it feel?"

"I'm okay," he replied, taking a few deep breaths before his composure eased. Teruko smiled, they seemed calm enough now.

"Can I ask you," she started, packing away her equipment, "what exactly happened to you while the demons had you."

Kiyoshi became visibly shaken, looking to his sister and then clasping his hands around his injured leg. "We were walking home when the monster caught me. Then he took me back here and was about to... eat me. Then some other monsters came in too. They started fighting---arguing about who among them would eat me. One of them had drums on his body, so when another one hit him a drum fell off and I picked it up." Teruko and Nezuko shared a look; they each took a hand of his and Teruko began to stroke the back of his head. Kiyoshi's breathing quickened. "I didn't know what to do... I just hit it then the room changed. I was so scared the entire time, he kept calling me this name."

"Marechi?" Nezuko asked Kiyoshi.

"Y-Yeah. That's the one who took me."

"We met him too, Ni-chan. He must've been looking for you!" Teruko added.

Nezuko stared into nothing, collecting the information Kiyoshi and Teruko relayed. "So not only are there multiple demons, but they're all after Kiyoshi..." she mumbled. "But why, what does a marechi even mean?"

Then, a drum sound echoed in the hallway outside. Loud thuds preceded them, what mattered wasn't the why but that Kiyoshi was in imminent danger. She'll figure it out when they make it out alive. "Okay, listen to me. Everything will be alright as long as you stick together. I have to leave," Kiyoshi and Teruko tried not to whimper at her words," it's a lot safer that you don't get involved in the battle. If I'm not the one who opens that door, just hit the drum, don't worry about finding me, I'll go to you." They nodded hesitantly.

"Oh and Teruko." She took the little girl's shoulders. "Your brother is very tired, okay? You must do your job as his sister and take care of him alright?"

"Marechi... marechi... marechi..." The demon's thunderous footsteps were growing louder. They became ever closer, he was sure to hear their voices. "That brat..."

"Hang in there for a bit, okay?" Nezuko stood just as their enemy came into view, his giant silhouette looming against the doors. "When I say it, Kiyoshi, hit the drum." The demon slammed the doors open with a loud bang. They stood face to face. Nezuko immediately dashed forward. "Beat it," she cried and the doors shut behind her, cornering the two of them in a separate room.

"You damn pests!" The weight of the room tilted upside down. She landed perfectly, but the fight had just begun.

She twisted and turned, evaded claw after claw at such a variety of angles, even with her tolerance for motion, Nezuko grew dizzy. Right leg, she leapt onto the frame above where the demon stood perfectly upright. Left shoulder, as she closed in with her blade aimed for his neck Nezuko hit a cabinet that fell face first on the floor. Her reactions had slowed the slightest bit, tumbling rather than landing a few too many times than comfortable.

Right shoulder, her body hurled over. Stomach, the wooden ceiling ripped open with two sets of three claws crossing each other, hoping to catch Nezuko in their grasp. She twisted mid-air as the room tilted back into its proper form, but by then she hung by what remained of the lanterns dangling from the ceiling. She kept her head turned, so as to not blind herself with the light. Left leg, her feet now hung over the doors opposite to the demon, pieces of paper from torn up furniture pressed to the sides faltered and disappeared into the darkness---their first encounter proved that a fall could mean a trip down an endless pit of halls and doors before possibly landing with a bone crushing thud on some odd surface.

Kyogai watched her.

"Ragh! Why haven't you died yet!"

Her breath lay heavy in her ears. 'Dammit, his blood demon art is too fast for me! And my legs are still pretty bad from Lady Tamayo, even with her treatment... it's still affecting my performance.' Nezuko's hands began to slip, sweat seeping into the spaces between her finger, her palm and the lamp's cord. She held her breath, she swung her other hand to grip onto the lamp, balancing the hold on her blade with that of her survival.

'Gods, what do I do?!' Her hands began to swell and burn. 'You have to make it, Nezuko. For Kiyoshi and Teruko, I can't die now. Think!'

"H-Hey! You! What's your name?" she managed to squeeze out---whatever was on the tip of her tongue came spitting out thereafter.

The demon's face---that had remained unchanged until then---widened in a momentary shock. "Kyogai..." he replied hesitantly. Perfect, she thought, she had him off his guard for now.

"So it's Kyogai, huh? The marechi boy, just let me down please then I'll talk." He seemed to examine her, unlike past demons, this was the first she'd ever seen respond to negotiation and reason. "His name's Kiyoshi and he has one of your drums, right? Just let me down, please."

She hung there waiting for what felt like a hundred days, then the room tilted forward again and with sweet relief written boldly on her forehead, Nezuko dropped, landed with a shot of pain travelling up her legs. They wobbled terribly, the landing was anything but graceful. She thought how stupid she must've been, to have struck with her legs the likes of Zenitsu before this battle, when they already hurt like hellfire. "Why are you after that little boy?" she asked, huffing between words.

"His precious blood is worth 50--no, a hundred people. If I can get my hands on the marechi. I can return to the Kizuki."

Her breath hitched. A kizuki! She faced a former kizuki--a real one! No wonder. His prowess made all the more sense, this wasn't just some random run of the mill demon, she thought. It put a pit in her stomach, compared to Susamaru, that dread weirdly mixed with a hint of awe.

"Where is the marechi?"

Distant ponks of the drum sounded off. The room changed again and again, until it stopped. Nezuko and Kyogai now stood in a much lower room, the walls compressed, it was identical, except for its size. 'If I exert too much effort on my legs, I'll be done for,' Nezuko thought, rising to her feet, she angled her guard over her head.

"I dunno, he could be anywhere," she said, going for his neck once more only to get knocked aside by the gust of an invisible maul with now five claws to tear up the room. Kyogai watched the girl fumble, his anger boiling hotter than the red of his eyes. "But we're staying right here! You'll never reach him as long as I stand between you two!"

With a low but prominent growl, the drums flew into a frenzy. 'Dammit, it didn't work!' The movements that succeeded, could've far out raced the thoughts that ran in her mind, and again they looped themselves into that vicious cycle. It never seemed to end. Perhaps if she had thought it out more, if she wasn't injured, if Zenitsu or Tanjiro were by her side... if only, if only.

She and Kyogai were probably similar in that sense. Not that she knew anything at all about this demon but from his mumblings, and this overwhelming, drab sense of grey that permeated the room he was viciously familiar with that phrase, encountering it every waking moment of every waking day. If only he'd eaten the boy right away, if only he wrote better, if only he had more blood... if only if only.

She remembered that good old friend from her training days. When she was alone, doubt crept into her brain like ants and a candy box. Mr. Urokodaki was the only one who interrupted her mind then, the only voice present aside from her own. He always had a way of adapting his words to any situation she sought his guidance for...

'Oh, that's it!' Nezuko thought. 'Water has no shape, it can take any form.' Her eyes beamed. 'I have to play to my injuries, keep the weight on my feet light and swift like a river to compensate for his technique.' As she landed, she heard the distant ponk sound off a couple times, and they were back where they started. 'I need to concentrate my strength on my legs. Keep my breath light too... I can do this, I'm not done yet!'

--

Here's this week's chapter for ya! 

(2172 Words)