Chapter 36: Infinity Train II
Chapter 36: Infinity Train II
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Jumping from the floor to the roof of the train.
We ran towards the engine in quicksteps.
"The demon is fused with the whole of the train, so its neck will not be visible."
"But from what I think, it should be at the base of the flesh tree where it joins the train, so try to sever it from that point while I handle the other guys," I explained to them from what I have seen from Ethereal Eyes .
"Others!?" Tanjiro said in surprise.
"Yeah, there's more than one." I responded. "How do you know?" Inouske inquired.
"I've been monitoring their attacks on us, and believe me, they've used too many blood demon-art on us, not typical for a single demon."
"Entering dreams, shaping flesh into weapons, secreting acidic blood—these aren't abilities you'd find in a single demon."
"And we're in the dark about any other abilities they might have, so it's best for you to take out the one controlling the train while I deal with the rest." I explained.
We quickly reached the engine of the train and saw the demon and man! It looked disgusting as hell.
It resembled a tree made from thousands of years old, decaying flesh, with four hideous faces stitched together. Enmu's face protruded eerily from the trunk's center, a creepy smile spreading across his face when he saw us approaching.
Four demons stood side by side, connected to the tree through their hearts while the melted skeleton of the conductor dangled from the tree.
Tanjiro's expression twisted upon witnessing the gruesome scene. Thankfully, Zenitsu remained in his sleep mode; otherwise, he might have leaped directly from the train at the sight of horror.
"Aaah! You're finally here. I've been waiting for this to watch your faces twist in despair as you writhe beneath me – especially yours," all of the stitched faces and Enmu chimed in unison to Tanjiro.
The scene was so unsettling that even Inosuke shivered a little after hearing it.
"Tanjiro! Use Nezuko's blood to incinerate the tree, and make sure any acidic blood doesn't touch your skin," I instructed him while charging towards the tree.
As I advanced, the stitched faces screamed, "Die, human!"
A multitude of fleshy weapons emerged from the train, their shapes far from conventional, launching attacks from every direction.
These weapons defied normalcy, adopting bizarre forms as they attacked me from all angles.
In response, I swung my glaive in motion around my body, easily cleaving through every flesh weapon that reached me.
Seeing me easily deal with those , two of the four bodies connected with Enmu lunged at me.
The one resembling Lower Moon 2 swung his fist to punch my face, while the short white-haired demon girl hurled a stream of acidic blood on my way.
I blocked the heavy fist with the shaft of glaive that sent vibrations through my entire body, and deftly pulled his body towards me using my other hand.
With his body acting as a shield, I blocked the incoming stream of blood.
The corrosive blood bore into his form melting his insides, creating a gaping hole and nearly tearing the demon in two.
Suddenly my mind tingled, knowing what it meant, I quickly jumped to the side narrowingly dodging the spikes which came out of the ground.
Tch, I frowned, disappointed at the missed opportunity to kill the demon.
Creating some distance between us, I surveyed the gathering of demons, noting the arrival of two others.
Even though they rank lower than Enmu, it appears Muzan granted each of them more his blood, elevating their strength to that of Post-Blood Enmu.
The final additions were Lower Moon Six; he looked more animal than demon, walking on all fours with an eagle head, long sharp claws, and bulging muscles.
Accompanying him was Lower Moon 3, whose hands were replaced by swords, and a bulging head that resembled a mace.
Need to stay away from that head, Only Tanjiro could handle that.
ROAR!!!
{A/N: I will use numbers from here on for identifying Demons. Like Six -> Lower Moon Six,
Five-> Lower Moon five}
'Six' lunged at me, attempting to rip me apart. With a swift swing of my glaive, I severed its claw before delivering a powerful back kick to its chest, sending it hurtling out of the train, clinging only by the connected flesh to the tree.
Swisss~
Suddenly hearing the sound of rushing air, I knew something was thrown towards me, so I twisted my body midair, narrowly avoiding two stone-spears hurtling towards me.
Landing on the roof, I quickly realized it had been transformed into a swamp, hindering my movements.
'Making spears and forming swamps. 'Two' likely possesses earth-related demon art,' I surmised..
I quickly tried to free my sinking feet from the roof as 'Three' charged at me, forcing me to clashe with him while also having to intercept acidic blood bullets each time.
Engaged in combat with 'Three,' I noticed 'Two' gathering large amounts of stones from the area and constructing two square pillars.
And in an attempt to crush me, He manipulated both the pillars to launch from my left and right.
Reacting swiftly, I put my glaive right in between the pillars,as they were near me halting them .
'Two' seeing me stopping the pillars, tried to up the pressure on my glaive to break it, but it backfired, and the stone pillars began to crack.
Seeing me not able to use my weapon currently, 'Three' again tried to attack me with both of his sword hands.
With my glaive being stuck in the pillars and an incoming slash at my neck, I had only one option.
[Lunar Flow Stance: Unarmed Style]
Flowing like water, I used my hands to block both attacks with the palms, while simultaneously harnessing the slash's own momentum to deflect the blades into the demon's own neck, beheading it.
And using his torso as a foothold, I climbed out of the swamp, using it as a ground.
But due to his head not being cut by my glaive,it began regenerating.
I reached for my glaive, still holding strong against the crushing pillars.
Unexpectedly, the stones morphed, attempting to envelop my glaive in a coating, trying to bury it.
My heartbeat spiked, realizing that if successful, I'd be nothing but an unarmed fighter against immortal demons with no means of defeating them.
Quickly, I unsummoned my glaive before it could be fully buried and then summoned it back into my hand.
"You've got smarts; I'll give you that. But now, be ready to die first," I declared to 'Two.'
Charging at them, a barrage of small stones and blood bullets was launched my way.
Circling my glaive, I destroyed the stone bullets, but the blood bullets were annoying to deal with as their droplets splashed everywhere.
So, I pulled out a small chakram from my sleeves, and hurled it forcefully towards 'Four,' beheading her and providing me the breathing space to focus on 'Two.'
Unfortunately, the chakram wasn't made from demon-slaying metal, otherwise it was a free kill.
'Two' attempted to increase the onslaught, forming stone spikes from the ground, but I bulldozed through it all, breaking each spike and bullet.
Unable to thwart my advance, 'Two' gritted his teeth and fashioned a dome made of pure, hard stone to cover himself.
"You think that will protect you? You're an idiot if you believe it."
[Solar Flare Strike]
I swung my glaive in an arc, cleaving through his stone dome, splitting him into two pieces, ultimately killing him.
Screeeech.
One of the stitched faces on the tree screamed loudly and suddenly half of its face withered.
Luckily I got rid of him first; it would've been a lot tougher dealing with him on the ground than on this moving train with his control over ground.
Suddenly ducking down, I dodged a smash from a massive spiked hammer, which shattered the compartment's roof ,sending us tumbling inside.
"You thought I wouldn't notice you making such a big hammer? Or are you underestimating me?" I taunted, but he stayed silent.
Receiving no response, I slashed at him. Quickly, he formed his hands into iron maces to block my attack.
However, those maces proved insufficient as my glaive sliced through them. Unable to swiftly reform his weapons, he was ultimately beheaded.
Another screech echoed.
"They are acting weird," I frowned. Usually, a demon would be cursing my entire nine generations by now. Why was he silent then? No, why are they silent? Something is definitely off.
Perhaps having deep thoughts in the midst of battle isn't the best idea; as my senses suddenly started ringing.
As 'Four' regenerated her body and launched a stream of her blood this time much larger and quicker from her mouth.
I cursed, since we were inside the train there was not much room to dodge and the attack was much faster, not letting me even jump out of the train.
And the acidic blood sure as hell would not leave me any chance to survive if I took that hit.
But the main problem was—'Why are you here of all places, girl?' Yes, it's the same girl who attempted to enter my dream. Now, she's hiding behind one of the seats. And even if I manage to dodge this attack, she'll be in the direct line of fire then.
There is only one option left.
—Total Concentration—
Focusing my mind entirely on a single action, I swung my glaive in a circular motion to deflect the incoming blood.
"Argh," I grunted, feeling the skin around my fingers melting as small splashes of blood fell onto my finger. I continued to swing, but she showed no sign of stopping.
Grrrr!
Just then, from the corner of my eyes, I saw 'Six' climbing back into the train, closing in at a distance of no more than 20 meters.
And with a powerful leap, he lunged at me again, aiming to pierce me with his beak.
As his beak was less than 5 meters from me, and with me unable to move, it left me with no choice but to tank the attack. However, suddenly, an idea came to my mind that could deal with this situation.
Calming my racing heartbeat, the world seemed to slow down and then I tilted my swing slightly in the direction of 'Six', and then all the blood, in the form of small droplets, veered towards 'Six.' My swinging of the glaive transformed into a flesh-burning gatling machine, penetrating 'Six's' entire body.
'Six's' entire body looked like a paper riddled with holes from a fired gatling gun. He looked miserable.
"Heh," It was fun using it like a gun, even though my fingers hurt, but as they say, 'No pain, no gain.'
Seeing her blood being used in such a manner, she hastily stopped spraying it—an enormous mistake. The moment she halted, a flying spear swooped in, severing her head from her body.
Another screech resonated as she met her demise.
" Tch, Are you a Squirtle or what?where did all that blood come from?" I said, kicking her head into oblivion.
"And now, you!" I said, turning to the pitiful demon's body, but it seemed too miserable to even curse, so I mercifully slashed its neck..
Huff Huff,
"And you! What are you doing here all by yourself?" I questioned.
"I-I ran in the wrong direction. " She replied meekly with some tears in her eyes.
"Sigh, go to the back compartments; it will be safer there. I don't have the time to take you back," I said.
She nodded and hurried towards the door but suddenly stopped before turning around and saying, "Thanks, thanks for saving me!"
I gave her a small smile before jumping back to the roof of the train, or rather what was left of it, to assist Tanjiro.
However, as I looked ahead, I saw….
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All four demons alive and standing together, as if all the fights before had been nothing but a dream.
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