Mugen Train Arc: Unreal and Unfair.
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A man typed away on the computer, Daisuke the salaryman. He had to lay off another employee today. Not that he minded, he had done it so many times before. "Something seems off." he said as he looked around, it was his office, outside the windows. It was the same place he worked at. "I remember a train, but not the one I take to work." he adjusted his glasses and sighed "I should focus on my work, unlike the man coming in later, I will still have more to do in the morning."
Daisuke typed away on his computer, filling in documents meant to be filed by someone he fired two weeks ago. He never seemed to notice the glowing orb behind him. An orb switched between blue, black, and purple.
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"How wonderful~" A top the Locomotive of the Mugen train, Enmu speaks to a less than pleased Wakuraba. "To be able to die while having such a lovely dream. You are quite lucky" Enmu speaks of the humans aboard the train. His hand crawls up to and reattached itself to his arms, licking the lips of his hand. Enmu giggled admirably, while Wakuraba just sneered waiting on the edge of the cart. "It does not matter who they are, human, slayer, hashira. While you sleep you are nothing but a defensive baby to my technique."
Wakuraba stood up finally "then we should kill now! I don't know about the regular slayers, but there are two Hashira" he pointed back over the train cart "killing them means we only have to find that slayer with those Hanafura earrings before he gives us more blood!" by "he" the lower three demons was, of course, referring to Muzan Kibutsuji. Enmu looked back over at Wakuraba with a knowing look "if I remember correctly, you're supposed to refer to my orders Wakuraba-San~" the other demon clenched his fist, he hates two things, that Enmu was right, and that he was talking to him so casually! "I killed four slayers at once remember?! I can handle them when they are asleep!" Enmu giggled at Wakuraba's impatience. "Those Hashira would kill you before you even get close to them."
Enmu stopped looking at the other lower moon demon "those slayers may be helpless, but those two Hashira are likely to still be weary of hostile attacks. Which is why you should wait for my technique and those pitiful human children to be finished." while Enmu prattled on the children were tying the rope to one of their wrists and the other end to Tanjiro, Tanya, and everyone else. Enmu held his hands to the night sky, "the true strength of humans is their heart and soul. Without they become a worthless collection of skin and bones, alive only in the base sense. Once their spiritual core is destroyed. Even the hashira will be dead in seconds."
Enmu held his main hand out and the other above his head "once their spiritual core is destroyed we can easily beat them, make them feel miserable~" his mouth hand closed as he said that. Wakuraba huffed and looked over by the passing tracks, the way Enmu talked annoyed him the most. "If you want Wakuraba-San, you can eat a couple of humans at the very back of the train. If you do it to close to the cart they are sleeping in it might wake them." Wakuraba grunted and simply headed to the back of the train, he wished he could have been anywhere else.
After the other demon is gone Enmu focuses on the dreams everyone was having mainly those of the slayers "I cannot wait to fully consume them, and after that, the boy my lord despises." he laughs but suddenly his giddy smile drops "odd." he senses nothing from Tanya, he can feel she is still alive but he cannot sense a dream going on. "Does this hashira never dream? How sad. No wait…" he senses two presences, the hashira and whichever human he had attached themselves to her "very strange, I suppose so long as they keep them busy or destroy their spiritual cores it does not matter."
Wakuraba pushes open the door to the caboose, seeing the various humans in deep sleep. "No doubt loving the dreams he puts them in." he just figures he will eat a few of them, maybe the whole cart. So long as does not wake the demon slayers Enmu will not care. He gets to the front of the cart where he sees a businessman. "Stuffy suit. Eating you first you money-grubbing-" as Wakuraba reached his hand the businessman suddenly grabbed his wrist and said, "someone has problems with the industrial age businesses." The lower three demons managed to get away quickly, being by the back exit now. "Just as fast as ever I lower three" the businessman stands up and stands by the front exit, leaving the narrow pass between them and the seats filled with sleeping, humans.
"Who the hell are you?!" Wakuraba yelled at the man, who smiled and slowly changed body shape and his skin went greyer. Finally demon eyes along with a crossed out 'lower 2' in one of them appeared. Wakuraba's jaw fell open "Rokuro! I thought you died after that bastard Zettour beat you in a blood battle!" it had been so long since he had seen the former lower two. But "Rokuro" just laughed "why would I kill such a helpful pawn?" the voice was different, "what is going on here?" Wakuraba said as his eyes shook a little. With a laugh the other demon walked forward a bit "it has been so long, I can see you and Enmu are the only ones left." Wakuraba recognized the voice now "Zettour?" not sticking around for an answer he attempted to rush behind "Rokuro" only to be immediately grabbed and pinned to the floor. "You were always the fastest of the lower ranked Kizuki. But your movement is predictable. Now, how about we talk?" sweat went down Wakuraba's head, having no real choice at the moment.
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"Are you sure you're okay big brother?" Takeo asked as Shigeru and Hanako had told the other Kamado sibling about how Tanjiro tackled and hugged them into the snow and apologized profusely. This of course embarrassed the eldest Kamado sibling "I had a bad dream I suppose." the mother of the family walked outside, and the youngest child clung to her back. "It is alright now Tanjiro, the nightmare is over." Tanjiro gave a wide smile and nodded.
That was earlier, Tanjiro was currently chopping wood to make charcoal with as well for fire used for cooking. As he placed the wood in the basket he cannot help but smile, thinking 'i wonder what is for lunch.' he soon had the basket filled up and he hung it on his back, "let's go Nezuko." Tanjiro looked behind him as if to see something other than a basket of chopped wood there. He wondered why he said that, Nezuko did not come with him to chop wood. Nearby, a boy with bags under his eyes is hiding behind a tree. He waits for Tanjiro to leave.
When Tanjiro makes it back to the hut he sits watching his sibling play about. They were smiling and laughing, it made Tanjiro feel happier than when he normally sees them so playful. He remembers what happened when he was chopping trees for wood, and he asked "where is Nezuko?" Hanako smiled at him "she went to pick vegetables in the mountain" Tanjiro suddenly stood up and shouted "in the daytime?! Nezuko cannot go out into the sun!" all the younger Kamado siblings looked at him, he had said something unusual and he realized it himself. "Tanjiro, would you mind getting water from the river?" His mother asked, which drew Tanjiro's attention away from what he said about Nezuko. With him and his siblings getting excited about eating rice cakes together, he promised he would be back quickly.
The boy trudge through the snow as he made his way toward the river. "I wonder what is going on with me, I keep saying strange things. But I don't understand why" Tanjiro was starting to get worried that the nightmare he had was worse than he thought. Once he got to the river he decided to splash some water on his face. His eyes widened as after the water was splashed on him, he saw another him "wake up!" he was pulled inside the water "wake up! This is just a dream!" the other him shouted, Tanjiro held his mouth as he was not breathing. When he looked back up the other Tanjiro was gone, he was inside the family home around a table, and his siblings sitting around it as well. Once again, he was lost with what just happened.
"Awww, look at Kanao's new yukata! Isn't it adorable?" Kanae said with a wide smile. "You were supposed to give that to her for the festival next week!" Shinobu huffed while pointing at the eldest Kocho sibling. Kanae hugged Kanao close "I could not help it, she seemed so shaken up after her nightmare. Besides" she looked at Kanao who was smiling even as the sisters argued over her being given her new beautiful purple and pink yukata with a flower pattern all along the waistband. "Kanao is smiling. It is far more beautiful than the yukata" Kanao smiled more after Kanae spoke so well of her smile "thank you Kanae-nee." Shinobu could not help but smile either, adjusting her uniform which was a little different than what it had been for years, looking more like she did when Kanao was a child.
"Just try not to dirty it during breakfast Kanao, hate for it to go to waste after Tanya and Kanae got it for you" Shinobu left for the other room, but Kanao was left confused. "Come along Kanao, let's show the others your cute new outfit." Kanae lightly took the little girl's hands, leading her into the same room. Kanao remembers this time in her life, she only knew Tanya through letters sent by her or by stories told by her sisters, she should still be at the Rengoku residence learning flame breathing now. "Seriously? I ain't cleaning that if gets dirty!" Kanao stares and sees Tanya standing next to Aoi as they had just finished putting the utensils on the table. "Oh please, you would just pawn it off on me!"
Kanao's memories begin to shake, seeing Tanya and Aoi both wearing demon slayer uniforms, but also their nurse aprons. 'Wait, theirs? Only Aoi stays home as one', Kanao's memory flashes. Back to her time as the daughter of a poor family, how she barely ever ate and was abused to the point she broke on the inside. Her father, the lower life he was, opted to sell her.
It was then that he would come across Shinobu, Kanae, and Tanya. 'Wait.' she rapidly blinked, the memory was off. Tanya was still off training when she was first brought into the butterfly estate. But it all played out differently, Tanya through the money at her father while Shinobu and Kanae grabbed her. All her memories after that changed, flashing between the first year, now with Tanya included. She kind of liked it, so why did it feel wrong? Tanya always wanted to be a demon slayer, maybe that was why? "Kanao, you haven't touched your food" she heard Tanya say this, while she did not even realize she ever sat down.
"You okay?" Shinobu had a look of worry. Kanao shook her head, "no it is fine" she lifted up a teacup, as she tried to think everything before had truly been a nightmare. But as she stared at the tea she saw a reflection in it the hot water. It was her older self staring back at her "Don't be selfish!" the reflection yelled at her, she was left confused and thought 'I am just having breakfast with my siblings like I always do. Meanwhile outside, a girl walked outside the gates of the butterfly mansion "the edge of this dream should be close by."
"Just like that Senjuro!" Kyojuro brightly smiled as he helped his younger brother with learning how to swing a sword, of course using a wooden one. Senjuro was far off from being able to use a proper sword, truthfully Kyojuro hoped his younger brother would never have to and find his own path. He looked back towards his home, he still felt like something was missing. 'Mother is gone, our father is still drunk, it is just me and Senjuro' his eyes narrowed 'what am I missing?' he misses a lot of things, his mother who passed away, the kindly father who now is barely a shell of the man he looked up to. But what was missing? It felt something else was gone.
"Are you sure you are okay?" Kyojuro looked down at Senjuro who looked worried again "you had that same look earlier, is it because of father called you earlier after being told you are a hashira now?" Kyojuro shook his head "as I said then, I will not let that ruin my passion. Also, you are holding that wrong!" Kyojuro helped Senjuro adjust how he was wielding and griping the wooden sword, to change the subject, and distract himself as well. A girl with a green yukata peeks in, saying to herself "I should get going." the girl would walk further through the town, she knew it was a dream world, and as Enmu instructed her and the other people he recruited they were not limitless.
Scant seconds later her hands felt a barrier, she looked ahead were more trees and fences were. "Even though the landscape keeps going I cannot go any further, this must be it." She took out the sharp tool Enmu had provided, and stabbed into the invisible edge making a large cut that soon made a hole appear, she could see the deep consciousness. It was a mass of flames burning over a stone floor, though not all of it was covered by the fire. When she entered the girl could feel the intense heat but managed to keep going. Soon orb orange, red, and white came into view "that is the spiritual core." the girl approached it, "if I destroy this, then" she raised the object Enmu gave them "It will be my time, for a wonderful dream!" just as she stabbed towards it Kyojuro's seemingly unconscious body moved quickly, griping the girl's actual body by the neck. "Ack!" she was thrown into the air and back down to the stone floor, her real body being held by Kyojuro who still was asleep! 'They shouldn't be able to move! Such incredible survival instincts!' while Kyojuro kept the girl at bay, both Tanya and the boy tied to her dreams stirred on their back-to-back seats.
Tanya opened up her eyes again, "damn it! This time I got killed by a sniper!" she ruffled her hair, the day kept repeating always starting from her waking up in the bunker. This was her fourth go-around! The first time played out exactly the same way, her squad was wiped out for the most part. Mary kills Weiss and Viktoriya, followed by the two of them killing each other. "Those idiots never listen!" the second time she tried to prevent them from going to the battle, to begin with, she did this by ordering a pullback of their defensive line. She miscalculated how far the landed enemy troops made it, the ground troops were easily gunned down, only for a fast strike from the magic users to take them out before they even knew what hit them.
The third time, she rushed for Mary. she managed to take the girl out at the cost of minor injuries. But she felt guilty, just for a second due to Mary Sue becoming a useful albeit troublesome tool in her third life, which made the perfect opportunity for a sniper to get her. "I won't make that mistake again." she would never take pity on Mary, she would kill her and immediately raise her shield before firing her strongest magic in the direction of the sniper. There was one thing different, which was that she did not have to pray to being X to cast anything. Which was the one good thing about this hell she was forced to relive. "I have to find a way out, he changed how the dreams stop, but that does mean there is still a way to end this!" she heard a knock on the bunker door, it was time again.
A boy held his head, his object meant for breaking apart spirit cores shaking against his hand and head. How was he supposed to break a spirit core, when he felt his own spirit broken? "Just what is this dream? A war zone with flying people that use magic? Not have nearly been shot multiple times but the dream resets every time!" he wanted to survive, what if he dies physically if he is killed in the dream? But he also wants his own perfect dream! "I-if I can find this edge this is all over" he shakenly stood up and tried to find a way around the warzone this time.
Meanwhile, Daisuke's eye twitches, "how does my work keep getting reset?" he thought it was a system error, so he went to call IT "if I was a fool I would say god is playing a trick on me" but he does not believe a god exists, to begin with.
It was a few hours into the battle, and Tanya was pulled tightly between defending herself and finding a way to end this repeating dream. Glanz had been killed already, but the rest were holding firm. "YOU DEVIL!" Tanya sighed, "well I suppose she had to find me eventually" luckily she already had her protection up, so the fired bullets were of no immediate trouble. She fired back, as another dog fight happened between the two. She could still spot Viktoriya fighting off soldiers to help the ground forces that were moving to the higher more defensive ground. She spotted Koenig and Neumann coming in to help Viktoriya, but she could not spot Weiss. There was blood on Mary's flight suit, but that is always given even before she kills Weiss or Viktoriya. 'Not that it matters, this will just be reset if I cannot find a way out.'
Tanya's goal was to kill Mary quickly and spend the rest of her time figuring a way out. She felt just as terrible and vengeful as she did the day this originally happened on the first two resets. Now it was a chore, much like her work she just had to get it done quickly and efficiently. She had shot her quite a few times thanks to early magic keeping Mary at bay, but as usual, the girl kept going. Tanya's eyes widen, Mary was shining, and intense magic was building up on her. "Damn it, she is gonna blow us both up!" Tanya was not about to reset because Mary pulled another bullshit power out! She goes to activate her high-powered gospel explosive spell, surprised she could still use it without praying! But Mary got far too close, she fired, which set the magic explosive globe Mary off proactively, but still in range of Tanya! "Damn you being X!" she said just as the explosion went off.
Tanya for a brief second could see everyone asleep around her, including that Kyojuro was not right next to her. But she found herself back in the dream world. "What was that?" it was just for a moment, but she was back, in reality, she rubbed her chin. "I died but I woke up for a second. Being X said the condition for waking from this dream world caused by a demon changed. And yet…" the only thing different was that the explosion was set off accidentally by her, if it was simply dying she should have experienced brief consciousness before. She reached for a pistol near the table of one of the tables. It was idiotic, but she had to try. 'I will personally tear apart the demon responsible for making a scenario for Being X to mess with her.
'A world where I repeat from the beginning of the day after I die, I suppose it could be worse, I could have a curse that activates any time I try to tell someone that.' Tanya knew she was delaying this, she raised the gun to her head. And fired. It happened again, but only for a second. She could not move her body, let alone fully get up. She was back to being asleep, which meant that Being X made it even worse for her somehow. When she was back in the bunker Tanya knew she had to figure out a plan, due to Being Z it was unlikely that she was stuck here permanently.
"I saw ropes around Tanjiro and Kanao's wrists, if all of us have it then maybe that is the cause. Though I do not know what the original qualification for being freed from the dream is, the others still have it. At least she is almost certain that is the case. "Maybe it is the way I do it?" her eyes strained "there is something I am missing. Maybe its the rope, whatever its purpose might be" she heard a knock on the door and she sighed "I am going to kill Mary first." she decided she could at least relieve some stress fighting Mary, though she would not let the enemy get close to her this time.
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Enmu blinked "one of them woke up" he stared back at the carts behind him. But he also felt them back in the dream world. "I have not seen Wakuraba either, I wonder why." the sound of the train wheels continued to be heard as they moved along the tracks. "They have not destroyed any spiritual cores yet either." Enmu sighed "I suppose they've bought me enough time anyways."
"W-what is this place." a girl with closed eyes climbed up a rocky wall up to a small cave to crawl through "what kind of place is this? Why did I get connected to that weird boar head boy?" she suddenly stopped as she heard heavy breathing behind her. She looked and saw Inosuke, only with an actual boar head and with a larger more animal-like body. "AHHHHH!" she ran on her legs and hands as fast as she could while she was being chased, but eventually, Inosuke caught up with her, and his boar mouth opened to eat her up. "Why is it so dark?" a boy walked through a seemingly endless void, "do I seriously have to feel around this empty space till I find it?" he heard a sound come from behind. He turned but saw nothing. Then he heard a snipping sound. "What are you doing here, only Nezuko is allowed." Zenitsu was now right behind him, creepy eyes and giant scissors in his hands.
Nezuko kicked open the door to her box, falling out before she looked around. Everyone was asleep, Nezuko tilted her head. She shook Zenitsu and Inosuke, but nothing. She went to where Tanjiro was sitting, with Kanao leaning right against him. She blinked, she then looked over at Kyojuro and Tanya. She took Tanya and put her leaning against Kyojuro instead of the window. The image of her mother falling asleep on her father's shoulder appeared in her mind. It made her happy.
She looked up at Tanjiro, he had not moved at all. "Nrmm!" Nezuko grunted, but he did not respond as he usually would. She took the hand that was not occupied by Kanao and had it pat her on the head, but it did not have the same feeling it did when he did it himself. She grumbled under her bamboo, she climbed on top of both of the slayer's knees and headbutted Tanjiro on the head. Nezuko pulled her head away, but still no reaction from Tanjiro. Her head started bleeding, and soon tears fell from her eyes. "Mrnnnn!" she banged her head against Tanjiro's again, causing pink flames to erupt due to her blood. It consumed both Tanjiro and Kanao.
"Huh!?" Tanjiro inside his family's hut would suddenly be surrounded by oddly colored flames. "Tanjiro!" Takaeo shouted standing up. "This smells like Nezuko's blood," Tanjiro said quietly, after the flames went away he was back in his demon slayer uniform, instead of his charcoal smith one. "B-brother what is that?" "what are you wearing?" his siblings repeated one after the other.
It all came flooding back to Tanjiro, the mission, the train, the demon they were sent there for! 'This has to have been caused by a demon!' Tanjiro quickly noticed the siblings were looking at him with concern. He seethed his teeth 'no, they are not here anymore. Don't let the demon trick you' he closed his eyes and walked past them. "Tanjiro?" both Hanako and Shigeru said as Tanjiro walked past them and opened the door. The youngest, Rokuta, watched with a blanket stare. "I am sorry" was all Tanjiro said before he began running, trying not to look back at his home.
Kanao had been enjoying her breakfast with her sisters, the words 'don't be selfish' repeated in her head. Was she being selfish because Tanya being a nurse like Aoi meant she never became a demon slayer? Maybe, but she was sure Tanya and Kyojuro would meet some other way, right? Probably the same with her and Tanjiro! Kanae was here, how was this selfish? 'Because you're asking me to stay the new voice sounded like Kanae, but the one here was still talking with Shinobu about how cute her smile was.
Before Kanao could ask if maybe Kanae said something, her body was engulfed in flames. "KANAO!" everyone in the room yelled. When the flames went away Kanao was no longer her younger kid self and had her demon slayer uniform back. "D-did Kanao just get older?" Aoi was shocked to see, as was everyone else. Kanao felt tears stream down her cheeks 'why? Why couldn't this be real? Why did a demon do this?!' Kanao reached for her, but Kanao quickly stood up and pulled her arm away. "W-why?" as she backed away, her sisters slowly approached "Kanao, you okay? Did a demon get in here?" Tanya asked, obviously worried. "Kanao, everything will be alright" Kanae approached again. But Kanao backed away, "I-I wanted this to be real, so why?!" all other girls in the room looked at Kanao, "please, leave me alone!" she then rushed out the door.
"I think I am tuckered out for today, big brother" Senjuro sweated and breathed out slowly. Kyojuro chuckled and took the wooden sword from Senjuro, "you did well today!" he ruffled Senjuro's hair which made the boy smile. "T-thank you, but I am still far off from even being a demon slayer." Kyojuro was once again going to say that Senjuro could make his own way in life, without being a demon slayer. "You still on about that?" Kyojuro stopped just as his mouth opened.
Tanya appeared next to him and tossed Senjuro a towel, she was wearing an outfit similar to Senjuro's it was her old training outfit since her slayer uniform was drying still. Kyojuro smiled widely as he saw her. "Keep up your training, but I know a terrible soldier when I see one. It is better if you better your talents in other fields" Tanya was saying, in a far harsher way, the same thing Kyojuro was going to, which is to forge a life outside the demon slayer corps. Senjuro gave a nervous laugh "r-right." Tanya gave a glace up at Kyojuro "what's with the dopey grin?" Kyojuro laughed and said, "I just felt like something was missing is all!" Tanya grumbled, "what do you mean missing?" Kyojuro started walking away, "Don't ignore me Rengo-" he tossed her a wooden sword "I think Senjuro needs a visual representation of the techniques again, can you help Tanya?" Tanya's eye twitched "f-fine, Kyojuro."
Daisuke held his head "nine times" his eyes twitched, nine times his work had been reset, and twice IT said there was no issue. "And they said I never called them, to begin with!" the normally calm and almost emotionless salaryman was not having what could only be described as a mental breakdown! "This must be a prank!" he stood up from his desk. "Pranks are not welcome in the workplace, it impedes the work of those pranking, and those being pranked." he headed towards the door of his office, he would find out who and would recommend they get fired for workplace misconduct.
"Nine times, nine times." Tanya was staring up at the dust sky, Mary's body on a pile of rubble nearby. She stood up, and off most of her gear since after the fight it seemed she was tired to use magic. "I will just off myself again, I could have sworn last time I woke up I saw Nezuko getting out of her box."
the day kept repeating as usual. The fifth time she took both herself and Mary out on purpose rather than by accident, again only conscious for a second. Then the sixth time she through hell loose and pulled a similar suicide bomb move that Mary did, only on a whole squadron of the enemy. The same result. The seventh time, she deactivated her magic in the air and fell to her death, the same result. The eighth and ninth times were similar results, 'this is very dark ain't it?' ironic, she had been dying over and over again, mostly by her own hand. All so she can survive.
Tanya gritted a bit, and after making sure her gun was loaded she pointed it to her head. 'I won't ever pray for your help Being X, or Being Z's, I don't need anyone's help!' she was going to try and get Nezuko's attention this time, hopefully, she could do something! A second was enough to make a sound at least. However, just as her finger pulled the trigger, someone grabbed her arm and pulled it up. It went off but the bullet missed her head. Her ears rang for a little bit, she gained an angered look. "Who the hell do you think you are?" her voice alone would be enough to scare any soldier of the empire's army, the look as well.
The dust was still in her eyes, and she heard a loud "HELLO MAGE MAJOR DEGURECHAFF! I believe doing this in the middle of a battle is bad for our morale!" Tanya's anger slowly went away, that loud yell. As he came clearer into view, she saw a ground force soldier, with the indistinguishable look of a younger Kyojuro Rengoku. No way she could mistake that hair, those eyebrows, and that large smile for anyone else. Tanya did nothing for a few seconds while "Kyojuro" held her arm. Three things went through her mind.
How did Kyojuro get here?
Was he always here?!
I kind of like how he looks in the military uniform….
Meanwhile just as Daisuke made it to the door, something cut through it. "What the?" he backed away, it did not look like the door was being cut through normally either, as the salaryman was pretty sure wood or iron did not shine or ripple like water when it was cut! He heard something shining behind him, he could finally see what he could not before. The spiritual core.