Attack

After the events at Giyu's training location, night eventually came and Hiroto was on his nightly patrol. He was currently patrolling around the different estates of the Demon Headquarters.

'Hm, It just doesn't feel right. Something feels off.' Hiroto thought as he scratched his head in annoyance. 'Maybe I'm being too paranoid about all this.'

Out of the corner of his eye, Hiroto caught a glimpse of something small moving along the shadows. Quickly moving, he took out his wakizashi and stabbed thrust it forward.

!

Whatever it was, the object tried to get away and jumped up. Hiroto narrowed his eyes and sped up.

*shik* Stabbing through and pinning to the wall, Hiroto got a better glimpse at what it was. It was an eyeball with tendrils coming from beneath it, squirming to try and break free of Hiroto's blade.

Looking closer, on the eyeball was the kanji for Upper Moon 4.

'Is Muzan making his move? Are they trying to scout our location?' Hiroto thought, slicing the eyeball into two, causing it to disintegrate. Hiroto looked around to find a crow to inform the others to keep a lookout for these eyes.

From the distance, he could see a crow flying towards him and shouting hysterically.

'What is it trying to say?' Hiroto thought, barely being able to hear it from this distance. As the crow got closer, Hiroto could fully hear the message, causing his eyes to widen.

"EMERGENCY SUMMON!! EMERGENCY SUMMON!! Attack on the Ubuyashiki Estate! Attack on the Ubuyashiki Estate!" The crow shouted, causing the other Demon Hunters around to look at the crow and each other in shock.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Hiroto started to run off towards the direction of the estate as fast as he could.

'This is bad! I need to hurry! I need to move as fast as I can!' Hiroto thought, pumping the oxygen through his body and into his legs to move faster. Sweat started to form on his face, as the anxiety to get there in time kicked in.

In different parts of the forest, every other Hashira and Demon Slayer had only one thought in their minds, to get to the Estate as fast as humanly possible.

'Dammit! Why didn't he want a bodyguard?!' Hiroto thought angrily as he kept on running. Seeing the familiar surroundings, Hiroto knew that he was getting closer.

Hiroto clenched the sword on his hip tighter as he thought, 'I'm almost there! Just a bit further an-'

*BOOOOM*

A loud and bright explosion rocked the forest, causing Hiroto to pause as burning debris of wood and leaves flew past him.

"Wh-What… An Explosion?" Hiroto muttered as he heard footsteps approaching him from behind.

"Hiroto!" The familiar voice of Shinobu came from behind him. Hiroto turned around and could see the shock and disbelief on her face.

"Shinobu. We need to go!" Hiroto said, shaking himself from his stunned state. Shinobu nodded and the two continued on towards the burning remains of the Estate.

As the two got closer, they saw Tamayo with her hand stuck inside another person's body. From that person were countless spikes sticking in and out of him.

The person had his hands raised and countless chains of thorns were attacking Gyomei.

"YOU BIIITTCHH!! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO OYAKATA-SAMAAA!!!" The furious cry of Sanemi could be heard by everyone as all the different Hashira's came out of the forest clearing.

Hiroto could see Mitsuri, Obanai, and the other Hashira's rushing forward and crying out Oyakakta's name.

As Hiroto got a better look at the person's face, his eyes widened with fury as he yelled out, "Muzan!!!"

"It's Muzan! Kibutsuji Muzan!! This guy won't die even if you cut his head off!" Gyomei said after Hiroto's shout, confirming Muzan's identity.

The moment everyone realized who it was, they rushed forward with renewed anger.

'Dance of the Fire God, Solar Heat Haze'

As Hiroto was about to perform his move, he heard Tanjiro's voice from the side yell out with such a hateful voice that Hiroto himself never heard of.

Each of the different Hashira's were performing their moves, to get ready to cut Muzan down where he stood, Muzan gave off an eerie grin.

Suddenly, the ground which everyone stood on gave way, causing them all to fall. But, instead of falling to the ground, they fell through different doors that littered the ground.

"You seriously thought you could corner me? You're all going to hell now!!" Muzan shouted, "You pathetic Demon Slayer pests. I'm slaughtering you all tonight!"

"Muzan! I'm going to kill you! I'm gonna make sure you suffer for all you did!" Hiroto shouted as he fell through the same door as Shinobu.

"You're the one going to hell, Muzan! You're not getting away! We will defeat you for sure!" Tanjiro's fading voice shouted.

As Muzan was about to disappear through a hole, he said, "Come and get me if you can! Kamado brothers!!"

As Hiroto kept falling next to Shinobu he said, "What the hell is this place? We're falling but I don't even know which way is up."

The two were falling down the corridor, as the walls, ceiling, and floor kept twisting and changing around them.

"Take my hand!" Shinobu shouted, reaching toward Hiroto. Hiroto complied, grabbing Shinobu's hand as she kicked herself off of a wall and into a hallway.

Rolling on the ground, Hiroto and Shinobu recovered from their fall. "Are you alright," Hiroto asked, helping Shinobu up.

"Yes, I'm alright. Where is this place?" Shinobu said, looking around.

Hiroto's eyes narrowed as he said, "No idea. I can't make heads or tails about this place. Let's move on."

Shinobu nodded and followed him. The two walked down a hallway and saw a pond on their left. Shinobu pulled on Hiroto's haori and said, "Wait, I smell blood."

Hiroto frowned and nodded. Turning to their right, they saw a set of doors with an exquisite pattern along the frames. Reaching for the handle, Hiroto slid the door open as it rattled.

*crunch crunch crack*

The sound of eating could be heard from inside of the room, as the two peered in. What they saw was a room with no floor, but was filled with water and wooden platforms to navigate the room.

On the platform was a man, sitting around a pile of dead girls covered in blood.

"Hm?" The young man with pale golden blond hair turned around, showing his bloodied mouth and an arm in his hands with clear and sizable chunks bitten out of it.

"Ah… you came? Oh! A Girl! And a boy? Hmm, although I'm not into boys, you'll do for a late-night snack! And my, you look young and tasty! Later, I'll have to thank Nakime!" The man said, looking at Hiroto and Shinobu.

Hiroto turned to his side and saw Shinobu's angry expression, with a vein threatening pop out of her forehead. His eyes narrowed as he thought back to Kanao's warning.

The man took off the hat on his head and said, "Why hello there, very nice to meet the two of you. My name is Douma. It's a very nice night out tonight, isn't it?"

Hiroto placed a hand on Shinobu and whispered, "Calm down, he could be trying to antagonize us, to lure us in."

Before Shinobu could respond, a girl crawled from among the bodies. "H...He-Help… Help me!!" The girl cried out, reaching towards Hiroto and Shinobu.

"Shhhh!" Douma hushed the girl, "We're talking right now…." His hands moved at an extremely fast speed, striking towards the Girl. But as he looked towards where the girl was, she disappeared.

On a platform off to the side, Shinobu landed on the ground with the girl in her arms. "Are you okay?" She asked the girl.

"Whoa! You sure are fast. Are you a Hashira?" Douma said with a carefree smile.

Hiroto's eyes narrowed as he realized what happened. "Shinob-"

*splrt*

Before Hiroto could tell Shinobu, the girl's body in her arms was severed in numerous different places, causing the blood to seep through the floorboards and into the water, as chunks of her fell through Shinobu's arms.

"Ah, don't worry about her! Just leave her over there. I'll make sure to gobble her up later." Douma said, slowly getting up.

As he was getting up, Hiroto made his move.

'Breath of Silence, First Form: Encroaching Darkness'

The area around Douma turned dark, as he looked around with confusion. "What's this? An Illusion?" As he was looking around, Hiroto surged through and arrived in front of him.

Douma raised his fans to block Hiroto's strike. But, Hiroto then disappeared from his vision. Moving on instinct, Douma turned around and kicked out towards, which caused Hiroto to block the sudden attack.

"My my, what an interesting trick," Douma said, waving his fans and dispelling the darkness around him. Hiroto stood next to Shinobu as they watched him flail his arms to stretch them.

"Now, as I was about to say, I am the founder of the 'Eternal Paradise Cult'. My duty is to make all my worshippers, including myself, happy. So I'll eat her up without leaving a single speck."

Hiroto clenched the sword in his arms, as he looked down and saw Shinobu's eyes widened.

"... Make everyone happy? Don't be insane. This girl was screaming for help just now." Shinbou growled back.

"So that's why I saved her," Douma responded happily. "She's not feeling any more pain. Nor is she suffering. There's nothing to be afraid of. Since everyone's afraid of dying, I just eat them all up. Now they get to live together with me forever."

Shinobu stood up, furious, and said, "There's no way you're sane. Are you right in the head? You're actually making me vomit here."

Douma was surprised and said, "Eeeeeh? How come you're being this harsh even though we only met just now? Oh, I know." Douma smiled, "How sad. If there's anything bothering you… I'll make sure to listen. So come on, speak up."

Shinobu's anger flared up, as he scowled at Douma and clenched her hoari, "Anything bothering me? You're the one who killed my sister, right? Don't you recognize this hoari?!"

Hiroto watched Shinobu, thinking, 'This is bad, this was what Kanao warned me about.'

"Hm?" Douma said, thinking and suddenly smiling, "Ahh! You mean the flower breath girl from before? She was such a sweet and cute girl. I missed out on eating her because of the sun coming up. I remember her. But I really wanted to eat her all u-"

'Breath of the Insect, Dance of the bee sting 'Mere Fluttering''

*SHIK*

Shinobu extremely quickly, so fast that Hiroto almost couldn't see her. She stabbed into Douma's left eye before he could stop the blade, causing the needle-like blade to exit from the back of his skull.

"Whoa, that was one nice stab. I couldn't stop it with my hand." Douma said, winding both of his hands back.

"Shinobu! Watch out!" Hiroto shouted as he rushed forward.

'Dance of the Fire God, Burning Bones'

Hiroto propelled himself forward and in front of Shinobu, pulling her back as he executed a circular slash, defending himself and her from Douma's attack.

'Blood Demon Technique, Lotus Ice'

Douma swung his fans in a circle arc, releasing numerous icy lotus's towards Hiroto and Shinobu. Hiroto blocked the attacks as Shinobu dodged back.

Hiroto's hands trembled for a moment, as the chilling cold gripped his hands, but was then warmed up in an instant.

"Hmmm, you really are fast huh. And this boy here, I recognize you. You're the one 'He' warned us about. Red hair, with an onyx bracelet..." Douma said, licking the blood that flowed down his regenerating eye.

"I saw what happened to the Upper Moon Three, my my, you really did a number on him. But, let me tell you." Douma smiled, "In a fight against me, Akaza has no chance of winning. What does that say about you?"