♧︎︎︎

|| 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 ||
040

ꨄ︎

third person pov

turning back the clock a bit, in the ogimoto house where inosuke's currently rampaging around the area.

"SOME BOAR MONSTER IS BREAKING THE CEILING AND THE FLOOR!"

"HUH?!?"

the both of the women let out a strong screeched when they sighted the boar-headed monster who's rampaging inside the ogimoto house, breaking the ceilings and floors.

"GUAHAHA FOUND THE HOLE TO THE DEMON'S NEST!"

"I'M FEELING THE TINGLES. THERE'S A DEMON HERE!"

"THANKS TO Y/N I'M ABLE TO FIND THIS, NOW PREPARE YOURSELF."

shouted inosuke as he stared upon the broken floor where a small hole is situated, he prepared himself, jumping in the hole only to get stuck because the hole is small and not enough to fit his large body.

"so i can only get my head in there, huh."

"HAHAHA HOW NAIVE, NOTHING CAN WITHSTAND THE GREAT INSOUKE-SAMA. I AM THE MAN WHO CAN DISLODGE EVERY JOINT IN MY BODY."

"so basically, if i can get my head in there, i can go anywhere."

said inosuke as he twisted and dislocated his bones, while the women in the hallway stared in agony as they witnessed the boy dislocating his whole body to fit inside the hole.

"GUAHAHA PIG ASSAULT!"

"NOBODY CAN STOP ME!!"

"UAAGHHH!"

inosuke's screams could still be heard inside the hole, he was able to fit his entire body inside the hole thanks to his flexibility and the free will of dislocating his bones. he went in a very fast motion as he saw the end of the hole where he's sure the demon is at.

inosuke reached the very end as he felt himself falling, he look around and saw a bunch of human patterned cloth hanging around the area. without another thought, inosuke fixed his bones, before landing on the ground with a thud as his vision remained on the cloth.

"human patterned cloth? what the hell?"

"this sensation... these are living humans."

"so the demon's sealing the women it catches inside the band. then it can eat them whenever it likes."

inosuke went around looking at the dozens of women trapped inside the cloth, that's until he spotted a familiar face, immediately he went towards that person and tilted his head in confusion.

"hm? what's this guy doing-

"and what're you doing?"

inosuke jolted in shock as he turned around.

"you're going into someone else's storehouse."

"how dirty."

"dirty, stinky, maggot."

insulted the talking sash who had eyes and a mouth, inosuke's face turned in disgust as he stared upon the unusual form of the demon.

before his thoughts could comprehend, the talking sash started attacking by sending sashes towards inosuke who easily avoided and deflected all the attacks.

"YOU KEEP SQUIRMING AND SQUIRMING, YOU'RE JUST A GROSS MAGGOT SASH!!!" shouted inosuke as he sliced the attacking sash in half, and a few laugh here and there escaped his lips.

"GUAHAHA YOU MOVE SO SLOW!"

"LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE GOT GREEDY AND CAPTURED TOO MANY HUMANS!" the continuous insult of inosuke triggered the talking sash, as it send more of the sashes towards his way.

"YOU ATTACK LIKE A FAT MAGGOT. YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR INOSUKE-SAMA. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, THEN COME AT ME AGAIN!" shouted inosuke as he sliced the human patterned cloth, freeing some of the women who's been trapped inside the cloth for who knows how long.

the talking sash sent more sashes towards inosuke from different directions, inosuke tried slashing one but failed to do so as the sash bended. inosuke thought to himself and concluded that he couldn't cut the sash if it's squirming too much, or in simple words, if the sash bended.

he got caught off guard when two sashes made its way towards his hand which knocked both his blades. he avoided another attack coming towards his face before using his feet to hit both the blades back in his hands.

"beast breathing, sixth fang, palisade bite." shouted inosuke as he released simultaneous slashes with two blades from both directions in a saw-like movement, cutting the sashes easily.

"there's no point in cutting me. i'm not the real body after all. but more importantly, you worked so hard to save those girls. you sure it's okay to neglect them?"

"i can immediately regain the strength i lost from getting hit by you."

inosuke look behind, slowly panicking to himself as he tried to reach the cloth before it starts devouring the women he released not long ago.

suddenly a bunch of kunai's penetrated the sashes, stopping the devour of the women who's laying unconscious and defenseless.

"maggot sash, huh? couldn't have put it better myself!"

"that thing is so gross. you are so right."

inosuke's eyes roamed around, searching for the women voices he heard and immediately his eyes landed on two women. one had a fierce look and a huge smile plastered on her face, while the other had a terrified look, and a few drop of her tears could be seen on her face.

"we'll back you up, so good luck there boar head!" shouted the woman who possesses a voluptuous figure, her black hair-tied up with golden-brown bangs which hang loosely, framing her face. 

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?" shouted inosuke, looking at the two woman who's fighting the sash using kunais.

"WE'RE UZUI'S WIVES, BUT I CAN'T FIGHT VERY WELL, SO DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM ME!" shouted the other woman, possessing a curvaceous build and a a shoulder-length black hair with short bangs over her forehead and round.

"SUMA!!! STOP ACTING LIKE A WEAKLING!"

"BUT, BUT-

"MAKIO-SAN YOU KNOW I'M JUST A 'WORTHLESS LOSER', RIGHT? AND I GOT CAPTURED RIGHT AWAY!"

"I CAN'T PROTECT ALL THESE CAPTURED PEOPLE!! I'M PROBABLY GOING TO BE THE FIRST TO DIE!"

inosuke watched the two wives of uzui bicker, the feisty woman, makio who slapped suma's back so hard that she flew, while the other woman, suma who continued crying and seemingly reminded him of zenitsu.

"that's right. you get it. now, who should i go for first?" said the sash while looking at the three.

inosuke stood for a moment, his thoughts scattered throughout his brain as he pieces the puzzle that the fight would go on because it's not the real body that he's fighting.

before anyone could even react, a thunder sound came by in a flash, slicing some of the human patterned cloth. inosuke didn't have to question as to who was the one who did it, he knew that zenitsu had finally woken up, not literally.

"you should just stay asleep forever man." complimented inosuke while staring at zenitsu who stood his ground despite still sleeping.

the demon sash abruptly stopped its motion, trying to find the two sources of the noise it heard. it heard the two blasts that sounded like thunder from zenitsu, while the other one came from above.

"the wind?!"

"an airhole opened up? how did someone manage to open a hole from above ground?"

thought the sash while looking above.

"someone's here."

the smoke that occurred from the airhole is slowly vanishing, and a silhouette of a man came to view. 

"this presence!! he's a pillar!"

suddenly uzui vanished from his spot, before slicing every human patterned cloth from being hanged. and everyone trapped inside the cloth started seeping out, causing their unconscious bodies to pile up on the ground which irritated the sash.

"makio."

"suma."

"sorry for being late. time to put on a real flamboyant show."

stated uzui causing suma to tear up.

uzui walked towards the both of them, patting their heads.

"looks like you did a flamboyant job there. i knew you could do it, my girls."

as the comment was said by uzui, the both of them teared-up while suma took hold of uzui's clothes before bursting out.

"HEY, BASTARD GOD OF FESTIVITIES!!"

"THE MAGGOT SASHES DISAPPEARED INTO THE HOLES AND ESCAPED!!"

shouted inosuke breaking the lovely moment of the three, triggering uzui in the process.

"SHUT UP! WE SAVED ALL THE CAPTURED PEOPLE, SO IT'S FINE. TALK TO ME AFTER YOU FINISH SINGING MY PRAISES FIRST!"

"tengen-sama, we should pursue them quickly or the damage could spread!"

"FOLLOW ME AND MAKE IT QUICK, YOU LOT! WE'RE GOING TO GIVE CHASE."

"OUTTA THE WAY, PEOPLE!! UZUI-SAMA'S GOING THROUGH!"

shouted uzui while running from roof to roof, and on the back of his trails are both inosuke and zenitsu who's still in awe at how fast the man could sprint.

✰★✰

y/n kamado

the fight between me, tanjiro and the upper moon lasted for about minutes now, looks like the fight won't come into a stop unless we get close to her, but she constantly send sashes from every direction possible keeping the two of us away from her body.

suddenly, a bunch of sashes came flying towards the upper moon and strike her. the sash went inside her body? no it split off from her, and now it's coming back. does that mean we're fighting her when she's not even in her fullest strength? does she still have more of those?

tanjiro went to slash the upper moon but she disappeared from his line of vision but i was able to see her movements easily. my eyes landed on the roof she jumped on, she's on a kneeling position, holding both of her cheeks as she arch her back while staring upon the sky.

"good thing two pillars came, that person will be released." i heard her say.

her appearance changes, her hair became white with a lime green ombre at the bottom and is styled in a full, long ponytail and with kanzashi hairpins holding up the ponytail. 

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE!!"

"DON'T GO ARGUING IN FRONT OF PEOPLE'S STORES!"

i heard a man yelled from behind, looking at the back. i saw a man who's busy shouting at us for causing an argument while some of the people were staring at us from their windows. my eyes widened, knowing that these people can be in danger.

"NO, GET AWAY FROM HERE!!"

"DON'T LEAVE THE BUILDING!!"

i heard tanjiro shouted while i made my way towards the upper moon to try and prevent her from killing innocent lives. i saw her sash move from behind her, making its way towards the houses and the people.

"breathing of the sun, dragon sun halo head dance." feeling my body burning up, and unleashing a continuous fast and powerful sword attack that seemingly takes the form of a japanese dragon made of solar flames. 

this technique is capable of decapitating multiple targets at once, and i thought that this can help prevent the sashes in making in contact with the houses and the people inside. 

i was able to slash some of the sashes, but some were able to escape and ended up slicing tanjiro, the hand of the man, and the houses that started breaking apart from the impact of the strike.

i felt the time slowed, my eyes widened while a petrified expression could be seen on my face as i heard the screams of agony of those who lost the lives of their loved ones, their friends, their co-workers. the screams of fear, of longing, and the anguish. 

"calm down. you'll be okay, just bind your arm with a cord." i heard tanjiro spoke, looking over to him, i felt a different aura radiating from him as i saw some of his blood drip on the ground.

my eyes then landed on the upper moon demon who had a huge smile on her face before turning around and walking away from the scene as if nothing big and disturbing just happened. 

"wait."

"unforgivable."

"how dare you do this."

i heard tanjiro muttered. 

his body shaking from anger, his eyes were bloodshot and nothing but pure anger radiates in his presence. i felt sweat dripping on my forehead, seeing a new side of tanjiro is something to look at, but i'm afraid that he'll end up consumed by anger and he'll be unconscious of his own actions.

"huh? you're still talking? i've had enough of your plain existence."

"the lives of grotesque humans have no value whatsoever. you can all have fun rotting in hell."

without another word, i shot tanjiro a worried glance before vanishing and appearing in front of the upper moon causing her eyes to widen from the sudden appearance of mine.

"no, i think you'll be the one rotting in hell."

"breathing of the sun, beneficent radiance." i muttered before unleashing spirals into the air and delivering a powerful slash that surrounds her.

with no time to react, she ended up taking the damage making her whine in pain. she had a pained expression on her face as her regeneration slowed down. without leaving her a moment to recover, i continued unleashing the sun breathing techniques.

"breathing of the sun, scorching rush!" i rushed forward with a flaming sword and perfomed a 5-move combo: a low-ended strike from the left, a low-ended strike from the right that lifts me off the ground briefly, a spinning wave attack, a powerful forwards upward slash and finally an overhead downward slash.

"WAIT YOU DAMN BRAT!" yelled the upper moon, her body covered with blood as she tried generating the spots that were cut off but i didn't let her recover as i continued slashing the living shit out of her.

"I SAID WAIT!" screamed the woman, finally being able to summon her sash before sending it towards me where my attacks were finally blocked by her.

she then turned around, ready to fly away but immediately got stop by tanjiro who held her legs from behind. gasping from tanjiro's appearance, his veins were out and the upper part of his eyes were covered in blood while a few drip below and towards his chin.

"tanjiro?" 

i mumbled, seeing him with pure anger as he slashed the upper moon's legs before she flew away from him.

"lives that have been lost will never come back. they won't ever return."

"living, breathing creatures do not go the way of demons."

"why do you take them?"

"why do you trample on people's lives?"

muttered tanjiro making me frown, have i heard of these words?

suddenly a man appeared in my vision, his voice echoing through my ears.

"what's so fun about it? what's so enjoyable?"

"what do you think lives are?"

who? 

who is that?

"why don't you know?"

"how could you forget?"

why am i getting this vision? 

who is this man?

i held the side of my face, confusion plastered all over my face as i tried to figure out who the man was, and why does he kept appearing in my line of vision whenever tanjiro speaks.

"you were probably human too, once."

"you must have struggled with pain and suffering and shed tears."

suddenly the flashed vision disappeared and i came back to my senses.

"blah blah blah blah, just shut up. i don't remember anything about my past. i'm a demon now, so the past has nothing to do with anything."

"demon's don't age."

"we don't need money to eat."

"we don't fall sick."

"we don't die."

"we don't lose anything."

"and strong, beautiful demons can do anything!"

explained the upper moon demon with a huge smile plastered on her face.

for some reason, i pity this kind of demon.

"alright."

"enough."

said tanjiro before bolting towards the upper moon demon, his bolt is quick and fast but for some unknown reason the way he runs is slowed in my vision. his movements, and the demons movements looks as if it is slowed and i could see everything happening.

"blood demon art, eight-layered obi slash." the upper moon demon said as she created 8 long ranged obi sashes to cut down tanjiro from afar. 

looking over the layered sashes, there is no doubt that this interweaving attack has no blind spots, thus making it extremely difficult to evade or counterattack. immediately, i was about to run and save tanjiro's ass but he deflected the attack in an instant.

"breathing of the sun, burning bones, summer sun." tanjiro then unleased a large circular slash that defends himself from the imminent frontal attack that came from the upper moon demon.

i heard the upper moon grunted in pain as her sash got sliced by the use of sun breathing. there is no doubt that using the sun breathing optimizes the demon's regenerating bodies. 

but what is this?

why am i trembling a little?

looking over to my hand, i saw how the finger tips shake from fear?

without thinking the upper moon demon rushed out of the scene, flying towards another roof that's quite far away from me and tanjiro. but tanjiro didn't let her escape and instead appeared in front of her in a flash, my eyes suddenly widening when i notice the state tanjiro is in.

this is not good.

"TANJIRO LISTEN!" i shouted, making my way towards the roof they are at but he didn't and instead continued battling the demon.

i saw him cut her head, but wasn't able to fully slash her head off because the neck is made out of obi sashes. 

"there's no way my head will ever be cut off by the likes of you!"

the upper moon demon then knock tanjiro away from her by the use of her sash, gritting my teeth in annoyance because i can't seem to join the fight unless she stop wagging her sash.

"i won't let you cut me this time!"

"it was pure coincidence that you were able to graze my neck earlier!"

i heard the upper moon shout at tanjiro, she constantly charge towards his direction completely forgetting the fact that i'm still here. 

"well then, i guess this is a great chance."

i saw tanjiro gathered the sash in one spot by piercing it by the use of his blade. he held the sashes, not letting go as if he gave me the chance to attack the demon whose focus is only him.

"is that supposed to stop me?"

"i'll send you flying."

the upper moon demon tried getting her sash back but couldn't do so because tanjiro held his ground and is firmly holding the sash in place causing it to stretch out.

without another word from the two, tanjiro jumped from his place before making his way towards the upper moon demon and slicing the sashes in the process. 

tanjiro have lost it.

he forgot to breathe.

he might end up dying.

why didn't i stopped him?

why did i tremble like that? was it me? was it me that's scared of the man that showed up in my vision?

"breathing of the sun, raging fan dance." i exhaled deeply, releasing a breathing before heating up my body to the extent. grabbing hold of both my hand fans, curving my hands before throwing it towards where the upper moon demon's located at.

and just as i thought, tanjiro ended up choking as he gasped for the air. he stopped breathing when he fought the upper moon demon, and i could tell that his veins popped that's why a few blood have drip inside his eyeballs.

i learned from my father that humans have two limits to them. when people approach their stamina limit, they find it painful to move. even if they were able to forget their pains and wounds, and move due to an anger so powerful it causes blood to drip from their eyes. 

next comes their life limit. naturally, when people pass this point, they die. tanjiro was about to go past this limit just now. in order to extend this limit, for even just one second and fight with demons, people strike for months and months on end to the point of spitting blood out. if people were able to win with the emotion of anger alone, demons would no longer exist in this world.

"humans are truly miserable existences. after all, no matter how desperate they get, they can only go so far. how