10. Lower Moon Enmu

A/N: I think I messed up the fighting scene and Shiro's skills but just ignore it...hehe. Also, I'm sorry if Enmu's abilities differ from the canon. I used my memory working on this bit so I may have skipped some details or got some stuff wrong. Just a warning.

- - - -

In a lakeside town on the outskirts of the city, there was a small restaurant that was thriving with people.

Upstairs, in the far right corner, a handsome young teenager with a solemn expression was sitting alone sipping some tea. Occasionally, he'd look out the window and observe the people below before turning his attention to those in the restaurant.

The teenager was none other than Shiro who was now in the process of completing another mission.

So far, two weeks have passed since he first met Ubayashiki and started his plan.

Soon...very soon...things would start getting noisy.

'Maybe they've already started to get noisy' thought Shiro. 'A massacre happened recently around these parts and it is reported that over the past week, more than forty people have gone missing. These signs are clearly of a demon nearby.'

Some may argue that it was because of Shiro's indirect interference that many people died. However, that is entirely untrue. Whether or not Shiro began aggravating the demons, they would have still slaughtered hundreds of people. The only difference now is that they are making it obvious as a form of retaliation.

'That or they are trying to gain my attention as I have done with them' Shiro guessed. He took a sip of his tea and picked up a piece of fried pork skin before placing it in his mouth. He bit down and a satisfying crunch was heard.

"Hopefully I'll get to see a Lower Moon tonight."

- - - -

The bright sun began to set and this was the cue for shops to close up.

Due to the recent horrific events that have been happening around the town, shop vendors closed up earlier than usual in order to make it home by sundown.

Once the sun had fully set and the sky was covered with darkness, the formerly lively streets and markets were now like a ghost town. There wasn't a single soul around other than some stray animals but they soon disappeared without a trace.

It was dark and eerily quiet.

Shiro stepped out of an alleyway and leisurely began walking around.

In the darkened streets of the lakeside town, the only light was the moon in the sky. That was enough for Shiro's figure to be recognizable.

"Well well well, a Lower Moon is it?" Shiro stopped walking and looked to the right. "That would explain a lot."

"Would you look at that, a slayer brat." Out from the shadows, a gleeful figure walked out.

Shiro narrowed his eyes at the demon that appeared. He recognized this demon as the same one that infiltrated the train that Tanjiro, his friends, and the flame Hashira were traveling on.

The demon was less grotesque in appearance than other ones Shiro had seen. He looked like a pale young man in his mid-twenties. In his left iris was an engraved kanji that read 'Lower One'. There were three square-shaped marks on his face and his hair was straight and chin-lengthed with pink ends.

"I was curious to see the slayer who's said to be causing a lot of trouble for the demons. It turns out, it is simply a small brat," the Lower Moon, Enmu, mocked.

'If I'm correct, this guy shouldn't be as powerful as he was in the train scene as Muzan shouldn't have given him more of his blood yet. That's good. At least I can kill him now.'

"Ignoring me? How rude."

Enmu reached out his hand and on the back of it formed a mouth that opened to say something. Shiro didn't give it a chance and immediately pushed off from the ground darting toward the demon holding his sword. A flame formed along the blade which he aimed at the demon's neck.

"Ara, how fierce," Enmu laughed as he dodged the blade. "Why don't you go to sleep, little slayer? I'll give you good dreams."

Shiro snorted, "If by good dreams you mean nightmares, then I'd rather not."

"You're a strange one though. The first human I've met with no past traumas...or rather, I can't seem to find them," Enmu said. "Why is that?"

'Because I'm not supposed to be here? Because the system is blocking you? Hell if I know' thought Shiro.

"Not going to say? Alright then..."

All of a sudden, Enmu's neck flesh began extending, distorting his formerly normal-looking appearance. Shiro tightened his grip on his sword.

Earlier, he wasn't serious in attacking this guy. He wanted to observe this Lower Moon a bit. But now, that sadistic face of his was just getting on his nerves.

'This guy is tricky. I don't think that this is his real body. He can merge his body with objects making them his blood and bones. He's not as powerful as he was in the anime but he should still be powerful enough to merge with a relatively big object.'

Shiro's sword ignited with flames and he speedily sliced the head off the body.

The body didn't disintegrate only proving his theory.

"How annoying," Shiro muttered as he began looking around. He activated his tracker skill and spotted a large red dot just in front of him. Shiro then activated his perception skill and glanced at the building in front of him.

"Is it here?"

There was a sign on top of the building written in ink.

'Blue Moon Inn'

"An inn? This bastard..." Shiro made a mistake earlier. He should've had his tracker on the whole time and maybe he could've prevented this. He was too carefree and arrogant.

If Enmu has merged with this building, it could mean he's using the humans staying in the inn as food to strengthen himself.

All of a sudden, red throbbing flesh appeared on the top of the inn and it slowly began spreading downwards, covering the entire building. From the doorway, a familiar face appeared laughing with glee.

"Kukuku! Looks like I'm still alive!"

"Yes, I can see that," Shiro said.

Enmu frowned, "You don't seem surprised. Unless...did you already suspect this?"

"Why should I tell you?" Shiro retorted pointing his sword at the face. "I made a mistake earlier, and now, I shall rectify it...by killing you."

With that, he blasted into the building and immediately fought the oncoming flesh tentacles that attacked him. The interior of the building was completely covered in disgusting red flesh that moved as if alive.

He ran past the rooms and cut off the tentacles that were aiming for the sleep-induced humans. Looking at their troubled expressions, that demon bastard is probably giving them nightmares.

Shiro didn't have much trouble fighting off the tentacles at first but now they were coming in hordes and from all sides.

He faintly heard Enmu's laughter in a distance.

If it weren't for the fact that Shiro had leveled up so much, he wouldn't have stood a chance here alone. His enhanced strength, stamina, speed, and flexibility allowed him to maneuver around the flesh and slice them to pieces.

"Hoo..." Shiro took a breath and said in his mind, "Undying Flame breathing; Third Form; Scorching Hell."

In the building, Enmu was floating in his mind space. He could tell the little brat was running around slicing his flesh but he didn't think he'd be able to last long. And when he was weakened, he would proceed to consume him and all the other humans in this building.

But suddenly, Enmu felt an agonizing pain erupt within him. It was hot and stinging. The burning pain spread from one part of his body to another until everything felt as if it was on fire.

"GAHHH!!" he cried. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS BURNING?!!"

That's when he saw Shiro running around the place slicing every tentacle with his flaming blade and setting his flesh on fire.

It was weird. He had seen Shiro's blade on fire already but it didn't spread like this. Did the brat do something?!

Meanwhile, Shiro was thinking;

'The flame from my breathing technique seems to have gotten a lot stronger. I didn't notice it before because my opponents so far have been relatively low-level and I haven't needed to use it a lot.'

"As soon as I find his core..."

Shiro entered what seemed to be the basement of the building. This is where he suddenly paused.

"What the fuck?"

Eyes, from all directions, were staring down at him.