Attack on the Swordsmith Village

*snore*

In the dead of night, inside the house that the Demon Slayers who visited the village were assigned to, Tanjiro and Nezuko were sleeping next to each other, as the former snored.

Hiroto was folding his haori away and prepared to sleep as well. However, he then sensed that someone was outside the door and could guess who it probably was since this happened before.

Sliding the door open, Muichiro walked into the room without asking for permission and sat down in front of Hiroto. He looked at Hiroto for a moment, then turned his gaze down to Tanjiro.

*snoreeeee* Tanjiro kept on snoring without a care in the world.

Stretching his hand forward, Muichiro pinched Tanjiro's nose.

"Ngh!" Tanjiro was jostled awake abruptly. Nezuko remained sleeping. "Whoa, Tokito, did you pinch my nose?" Tanjiro asked, rubbing his nose.

"Yea, that was a really slow reaction," Muichiro said plainly.

"No, no! I mean, I'd notice if you had malice or something, plus, big brother is here so I have nothing to worry about." Tanjiro waved his hand.

"Well, I wouldn't pinch you if I had bad intentions…" Muichiro said.

Hiroto then spoke up, "So, what brought you here? I'm guessing you didn't come here just to mess with Tanjiro."

Muichiro nodded and said, "Do you know the swordsmith Kanamori?"

Hiroto nodded and Tanjiro both nodded. Tanjiro then said, "Well, we both know him. He's our friend's swordsmith. I think he's with Haganezuka. Why are you looking for him?"

"He's my new swordsmith. Where's Haganezuka." Muichiro said, turning to Hiroto.

Hiroto shrugged and said, "No point in asking me, he's not my swordsmith. Tanjiro should know though."

Tanjiro smiled and said, "Yeah, Haganezuka is my swordsmith. Wanna look for them with me?"

Muichiro stayed silent for a moment and said, "...Why are you so concerned? Don't you have something else you should be doing?"

Hiroto then spoke up, "It's no use to drive him away, Tokito. That's just the type of person he is."

Tanjiro smiled and said, "Helping other people also end up being beneficial for you at the end of the day. And I wanted to go check up on them, so nice timing."

Muichiro's eyes widened at Tanjiro's words as he stared back at him. "Wha? What did you just say now?" Muichiro said, seeming as though he was trying to recall something. "Now, Now…"

"Huh? Nice timing." Tanjiro said with certainty.

*bang* "Ow!" Tanjiro cried out, rubbing his jaw as Nezuko sprung up from her sleep and smacked Tanjiro's jaw. She seemed to have sensed someone else in her room and started to wave her fists around, looking ready to fight.

"Haha, calm down Nezuko," Hiroto said, picking her up, causing her to spread her arms out to pretend she was flying.

"Nezuko!! You're up!" Tanjiro said happily, rubbing his sore jaw.

"..." Muichiro seemed to be lost in thought, as he tried to recall something. However, that sliver of memory seemed to be distancing further and further into the depths of his mind once more. Snapping back to his usual demeanor, he said, "So, you still have that strange creature around."

Hiroto placed Nezuko on his lap, who played with a doll that Hiroto made for her. He then said, "How is Nezuko a strange creature? Just look at her, such a cute girl can't be labeled as strange. Come, since we have time let me tell you how great she is." Hiroto patted at the empty space next to him.

Tanjiro smiled wearily, and thought, 'Oh no, brother is about to go on another one of his ramblings. Once he starts, it's almost impossible to stop him.'

Tanjiro looked at his brother and said, "Um, brother. I think we can leave that to some other time. Oh? Is someone here?" Tanjiro suddenly said, looking at the door to their room.

Hiroto and Muichiro turned to the door, having seemed to sense something. Hiroto's instincts were telling him that something dangerous seemed to be approaching them.

"Looks like it," Muichiro said nonchalantly.

Hiroto furrowed his brows, and said in a low tone, "Be on your guard. Our visitor doesn't seem to be too friendly."

Tanjiro and Muichiro reacted and slowly grabbed their weapons. From outside their room, the sound of something moving quietly echoed into their room.

In the slight opening of the sliding door, long and cracked fingernails came in between the gap of the door and the wall, as it slowly slid open.

"Eeeeeeeeeek" An ugly tone came from a short frail man with a very thin skeletal body, with wrinkles and veins littering his physique. He slowly crawled into the room, as tears streamed down his unsightly and malformed face. In the middle of his forehead was a big lump, with horns on either side of it.

What shocked Hiroto and the others was the lack of presence that the man gave off. Although they noticed that someone was there, they didn't recognize it as a Demon. The three watched the man closely, time seemed to have frozen as a second gave off the illusion that hours had passed in that mere moment.

Although they didn't recognize it as a Demon, their instincts were yelling at them and indicating that it was. Its eyes were inside out, so they couldn't see the number that indicated it's rank, however, they knew that this had to be an Upper Moon just from its ability to conceal its presence alone.

In that mere second, Hiroto and Muichiro moved instantly, taking their sword out of their sheats and launching their attacks.

'Breath of Mist, Fourth Form: Advection Slash' Muichiro slide across the room and performed a quick slash from the sheath. Traces of the Iaido technique were shown in his form.

'Breath of Silence, Second Form: Crescent Moon' Hiroto bent his body forward extremely quickly and kicked off the ground, using the falling momentum from gravity to propel him forward. He just managed to move quicker than Muichiro.

*slash* *swish* The two delivered their attacks, the mist from Muichiro's attack enveloped the two. Once it dissipated, the man was gone.

"Eeeeeeek!!" The man's agonizing cry came from the ceiling, as he hung upside down, clutching his face as the two horns in his forehead were sliced off, with another slash going down the length of his face.

Hiroto and Muichiro turned and gave each other a glance. They communicated from their eyes, acknowledging the fast speed of the Demon.

*creeeek* "Stop it! Don't bully me!" The Demon yelled as it clawed the roof in pain, covering his bleeding face. "Eeeek!"

Tanjiro finally made his move. Since he was slower than Hiroto and Muichiro, his actions came after the two made their attack.

'Don't act slowly!!' Tanjiro thought, as he unsheathed the sword that Haganezuka forged for him.

'Dance of the Fire God, Sunflower Thrust' Tanjiro thrust his sword towards the man.

*clack!* His sword pierced into the ceiling, as the man jumped down and landed on the ground.

"Eeeeep!" The man yelled, falling clumsily onto the ground.

Nezuko started to grow into her adult form, the veins on her neck and face bulged and black lines spread from her left eye. She rushed forward and launched a kick under the man's abdomen, kicking away into the corner of the room.

"Gyaaaaagh!" the man yelled, rolling away.

"Nezuko!! Don't transform here!" Tanjiro yelled towards Nezuko, who complied and started to shrink back.

Muichiro then made his move onto the prone Demon and sent a slash toward's it's the neck, separating its head from its body.

"Eeeeek! I got cut uuuuup!" The head yelled as it flew in the air.

Hiroto frowned and remembered back to the events at the red light district. He shouted, "Tokito! It's not over yet!" He ran towards the body that stood up and started to grow a new head, and just when he was about to slash at the newly formed head, a body rapidly grew out from the base of the detached neck.

Muichiro rushed forward towards the body that grew out of the head, and just when he was about to attack, a leaf fan appeared in the body's hand. He then swiped down.

*WOOOOSH* A tremendous amount of wind pressure was exerted around the whole room, with the main concentration of its power being focused on Muichiro.

Muichiro wasn't able to react in time and was sent flying.

*BOOM* The sheer wind pressure generated from the fan ripped out the wall and roof that the fan faced, sending Muichiro far into the distance.

Hiroto braced himself from the pressure by stabbing his sword into the floorboards. Nezuko and Tanjiro were sent flying, but Nezuko managed to transform back in time and grabbed unto Tanjiro as she held onto the rubble of the building.

"Tokito!" Tanjiro yelled, looking towards the distancing figure of Muichiro as he was launched further along the treetops.

"Tanjiro! Nezuko! Are you alright?!" Hiroto said, quickly looking back towards the two.

Tanjiro nodded as Nezuko brought him back into the building.

"Hahaha." The laugh of the Demon carrying the fan came. "You're having fun. Just took the little bean and threw it out. Right, Sekido?"

Next to the topless Demon stood a Demon, similar in physical appearance, but wore clothes similar to a monk. He glared towards Hiroto and the rest, and said in an angry tone, "There's nothing fun about this. I just feel pissed off at everything. The same goes for being stuck with you… Karaku."

The symbol for the Upper Moon was now visible in their eyes. "Oh-kay. Then good thing we're apart now." The Demon with the fan, Karaku, said, sticking his tongue out.

Hiroto tensed himself as he watched the two Demons. At that moment, the Demon in monk clothing held a staff with multiple large rings attached to it and slammed it into the ground.

*BZZ* *KACHA* The sound of thunder reverberated throughout the area, as lightning came down upon Tanjiro.

"Gnnnn" Tanjiro couldn't even yell, as the nerves and muscles in his body tensed up from the shock, constricting his movement.

"Tanjiro!" Hiroto yelled, turning to the Demon and rushing forward. But before he arrived in front of them, a large thundering sound came from above them.

*BOOM*

Hiroto immediately went on guard and focused his vision on where the sound came. Whipping his head around, he saw Genya stand on the roof with what seemed to be a gun.

Hiroto, with his enhanced vision, saw the shapes of multiple lead balls flying at an extremely fast speed and heading towards the two Demons.

*SPLAT* The pellets hit the necks of the two Demons, severing it and causing the lightning that struck Tanjiro to be let up.

The head of Karaku was still attached to its body, as it dangled on a hanging piece of flesh.

Genya, seeing this, immediately made his move to finish off the job.

"Ohhh duuuude. This is fun! Awesome! I've never felt that one before." Karaku taunted, holding his fan above his severed neck, with the top of his spine showing.

As Genya rushed forward, Hiroto shouted, "Don't! Once you cut them up, they just split their bodies apart and grow in numbers!"

Genya's eyes widened at this revelation but wasn't able to halt his attack and severed Karaku's head off.

Tanjiro then rushed forward, and just when he was about to attack the body of the Demon with the Staff, Sekido, Hiroto yelled towards him. "Tanjiro! Watch out!"

However, before Tanjiro could react in time, he was picked up off the ground.

"Uuuuuuuu!!!" Nezuko yelled through her mouthpiece as she tried to grab Tanjiro, but was too slow.

"Kakaka, how delightful. Someone figured us out for the first time in forever." The flying Demon yelled, as he grew wings out of his back and had talons for his arms and legs, with one of them grabbing onto Tanjiro and hoisting him above the forest.

"Nezuko!" Hiroto shouted, "Go help Tanjiro! I'll deal with this here with Genya! Go!!"

Hiroto turned towards Genya, and saw a new Demon with a spear stab towards Genya's body, piercing through him, and hoisting his body up into the air. "You are depressingly weak." The Spear Demon said.

"Genya!!" Hiroto yelled, rushing forward and slashing towards Spear Demon, who took his spear out of Genya's body and blocked Hiroto's strike.

*clang* Sparks flew as Hiroto's strike was deflected, but Hiroto recovered in an instant and sent another strike towards his head. He raised his spear to parry, but at the last moment, Hiroto twisted his wrist, causing the point of the blade to drop.

Seeing the feint, the Demon didn't have enough time to react to it and tried to back away.

*swish* The sword cut through the air, and slashed towards Sekido's body, leaving a deep cut down from his stomach up to his chest.

"Gahh!" Sekido grunted, looking furious he twirled his spear and launched a series of thrusts at Hiroto.

*clang clang*

Sparks flew as Hiroto parried each thrust. 'I need to get close to him, the spear has the reach advantage.' Hiroto thought.

'Breath of Water, Third Form: Dance of the Rapid Current' Hiroto swung his blade at his opponent, mimicking the movements of waves on the surface of water. He glided past the strikes and closed in on the Demon, getting into his blind spot.

"What're you even doing, Aizetsu? You're pissing me off." Sekibo said.

Not wasting another second, Hiroto quickly moved forward and kicked towards the spears handle, knocking it off balance. Exploiting this, he moved forward and slashed towards the hand that gripped onto the spear.

*shik*

The Demon wasn't able to recover fast enough, resulting in several of his fingers being cut off. "Gahhh! Damn you!" The Demon yelled hysterically as he lost his grip on his spear, causing it to fall onto the ground.

Since the fingers on his hand were cut off, there was no chance he could grip it once more with that hand.

Backing off, he realized one crucial detail he missed. The fingers on his hands weren't regenerating!

"What?! Wha-what's going on?! Wait…" The Demon said and began to think back to the Upper Moon meeting they had with Muzan.

"You!" He pointed at Hiroto and said, "You're the one who cut off Akaza's arm! Hahaha, saves us the trouble of having to find you!" The Demon said.

Karaku and Sekido reacted to this. They turned towards Hiroto with a dangerous glint in their eye.

The three Demons regrouped and stared Hiroto down. Hiroto sized up his opponents and began to think of what he should do.

"Oi!" Genya's voice came from behind them, as he stood up from the ground and raised his gun towards the back of the Spear Demon's head. "Don't forget that I'm still here, bud."

*BOOM* Genya pulled the trigger, causing the head of the spear Demon to explode like a melon.

Hiroto's eyes widened, as he thought, 'How is he still alive? He was stabbed in his vitals.'

Tossing this to the back of his mind, Hiroto moved forward once more. He lunged towards Karaku and was about to slash at him, but then…

*bang* *bzz* *KACHA* Sekibo slammed his staff down onto the ground, sending lighting to Hiroto who spasmed uncontrollably.

*BOOM* Genya shot towards Sekibo's arm, breaking it apart, causing the lightning to stop.

Genya then yelled, "You take care of these two, I'll take care of the lightning bastard!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Hiroto yelled back and rushed towards Karaku, who brought his fan down towards Hiroto. At that moment, Hiroto launched his attack.

'Breath of Silence, First Form: Encroaching Darkness' Hiroto then disappeared from both Karaku and Aizetsu's sight, as a black void seemed to have surrounded them, dulling their senses.

"What the hell is this?" Aizetsu said, annoyed.

"Hahaha, interesting. Let's see if this can withstand my attack!" Karaku said, raising his fan above his head.

Just as he brought it down, Hiroto launched his attack from the side.

'Dance of the Fire God, Ragin Sun' He sent out two horizontal slashes towards Karaku and Aizetsu, who had no choice but to defend. Aizetsu gripped his spear with one hand, and Karaku redirected his attack towards Hiroto.

*WHOOSH* The sheer wind pressure was a sight to behold, as the floorboards were ripped off, exposing the lower floors beneath them.

However, as the attack reached Hiroto, Hiroto's body seemed to have dissipated and blended in with the dark void around them.

*shik* "Gahhhh!!" Karaku yelled as a sword pierced through his chest. Hiroto stood behind Karaku, and with one motion turned his body around and swung his sword in an upward arc, dragging his sword through the top of Karaku's body.

The blade glided through his flesh, going up his chest, neck and finally the head, splitting it in half.

Traces astonishment and disbelief were seen in Karaku's eyes, as felt the burning pain that seared through his body and head. *thud* He dropped to the ground.

"Damn you!" Aizetsu yelled, swinging around and attacking Hiroto, who deflected his attack. *thud* Aizetsu sent a kick to Hiroto's midriff, which launched him back into the void.

"Tsk. Sekibo! Attack me!" Aizetsu yelled. In the next moment, a lightning strike landed on his body, but it was concentrated into his spear. Sparks danced along the length of the spear.

*BOOM* Raising it, Aizetsu brought the spear crashing down onto the floor, causing an explosive shockwave to shoot out around him, the black void around him seeming to dissipate.

"Gack!" Hiroto yelled, as he was propelled backward from the shockwave and crashed through the remains of a wall.