Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

[3rd POV]

The flash of grey brought destruction and the flash of silver was speed. The flash of lavender was precision at its finest, and the flash of orange was unyielding intensity.

The forest which hosted a multitude of lives for generations was forced to bear the brunt of the battle. The wake of destruction that followed had killed all life, be it animals, insects or vegetation.

The greens and the trees were no longer there, shredded into pieces, leaving only a barren land that acted as a battlefield.

Raw strength reshaped the landscape, sheer speed silenced sound, while precision drew a river of blood and immense heat burned the frigid air.

And yet overwhelming power stood unfazed.

"Persistent insects!!" Muzan roared, his anger had reached its peak.

In his new transformation, he stood nearly ten feet tall, towering over the likes of Gyomei who was beyond seven feet. His arms had turned into deformed flesh of blades and spikes, acting like a whip that could adjust its length.

A total of six tentacles came out from his back. A layer of armour made of bones covered their origin and their end. His body was covered by a red pattern that left a fire mark over his body. His demonic eyes locked in on the Hashira's like prey and a jaw with jagged teeth went down his abdomen.

Muzan swung at them with half-hearted effort and directed his tentacles to strike at them. He was simply too fast for the Hashira, they only dodged his attack through instincts and luck.

"Flame Breathing : Fifth Form!!" Rengoku swung his sword so rapidly that it created the image of a flaming tiger with the afterimage.

"Flame Tiger!!"

Muzan barely gave it attention and so his right hand was ripped off from the attack. He merely cast a side glance at his injury and it healed in an instant.

"Serpent Breathing : Fourth Form," Obanai lept forward with deadly focus and swung his curly sword horizontally. His blade became snakes and they sliced through Muzan's neck.

"Twin-Headed Reptile!!"

Forget about killing him, Muzan did not give even the slightest reaction as his neck healed before Obanai's blade fully cut through it. His head never even moved, as if it was completely intangible.

Obanai gritted his teeth and swerved his body mid-air, escaping the tentacles but receiving lines of cuts on his body.

"Sound Breathing : Fifth form and Sixth form," Tengen was a blur of silver, travelling faster than sound as he ran around the battlefield.

"String Performance," He spun his blade rapidly, imitating the blades of a helicopter. The spinning sword created gusts of wind and shockwaves that produced deafening sounds to the ears.

"Echoing Dash," With such a deadly weapon in hand, he blurred around the battlefield like a ghost. He was a literal dancing death that haunted Muzan and sliced him up at every opening he found. It was without a doubt, the flashiest displace of swordsmanship.

But then again, he was more like a buzzing fly to Muzan. It annoyed him to no end, but it was not a threat.

"Stone Breathing," Gyomei declared to the world, His deep voice rumbled like an earthquake.

His right hand tightened and gripped his flail, slowly turning it into the colour of red due to the sheer pressure his fingers were exerting from his grip. When he felt that the spiky ball of iron was at the appropriate temperature, Gyomei threw it with all his strength.

A cobweb formed under his foot and the flail flew out with a bright flash. The sound of shattering glass followed as the ball shot out like a cannon.

This time, it was dangerous for even Muzan. He stumbled on his own footwork, inexperienced but he made up with sheer speed. Muzan got out of the way but not fully as the flail tore off a part of his body. The wound looked like a monster had bitten off his abdomen.

'It hurts,' Muzan popped a vein and he stared hatefully at Gyomei. But still, he did not give the giant the attention he deserved.

Muzan turned his head to look at someone far away, moving across the battlefield like a hunter circling prey.

Seiji, the only person in the battle Muzan had deemed to be truly dangerous. To the point that Muzan barely focused on anything else.

Such was the consequence of fear and Muzan was afraid.

"Eleventh Form of Sun Breathing,"

Unlike all the previous attacks, this one caught Muzan's full attention. His eyes caught the bright yellow colour in the distance, and he immediately got ready to defend.

"Flame Dance,"

Due to its nature, Sun Breathing was a powerful weapon against the Demon Lord. It was not the forms or techniques used; Sun Breathing was derived from the sun and was effective against any demon. It had a burning effect, like holy water to evil spirits.

Coupled with the red blade and the wielder being the strongest Hashira of the generation, it created an entity that even Muzan had to be wary of.

Seiji blasted towards Muzan like a rocket taking off into orbit. Muzan reacted instantly, bringing his left arm forward to block while his right arm lashed out like a whip. The attack cracked like thunder and it razed the earth as a mere consequence of its trajectory.

But his effort went down the drain when the other Hashiras - insects to his eyes - attacked him from all sides. Gyomei slashed at Muzan's left hand, and Tengen girded his spinning blade on the base of his right arm.

The tentacles on his back were cut off but a strange curving sword that left a white snake as an afterimage. Rengoku suddenly came from below and slashed at the demon's leg, bringing down the 10-foot-tall demon to normal height.

"YOU!!!!"

Seiji blasted past Muzan, leaving two nasty cuts on the demon's chest and shoulder. Muzan howled in pain. He had constantly moved his vital organs around like blood but Seiji was able to slice them exactly where they were.

The wounds did not heal, instead, they became permanent marks on his body which the other Hashira could attack and take advantage of.

..

Everything was going as planned.

The Hashira worked together like one entity, They worked even better than Mzuan's own tentacles.

Seiji was Muzan's ultimate weakness, he was the main weapon. Gyomei had enough strength to harm the Demon King while the rest acted as distractions.

Unlike what happened in the canon, this time the Hashiras were fresh. They had not just gotten off of a fight with an Upper Moon so they could fight Muzan at their best.

On the other hand, Muzan was thoroughly handicapped mentally and physically much like how the poison did in the canon. Muzan's sudden discovery of the Sun Breathing impacted him mentally - unlike in the manga where he had a long time to react to Hinokami Kagura.

His initial battle with Seiji where he suffered multiple injuries with a red blade and also from Sun Breathing had drained him physically. And unlike in the manage, he had no human flesh he could feed on to regain the lost stamina.

In a way, the situation was parallel to what should've happened, except it happened much earlier and used a different approach to get the same result.

...

Muzan planted his feet on the ground and he spun around like a violent fan. His arms and tentacles lashed out at the Hashira who managed to escape death with cuts and injury.

Obanai in particular, showed his inexperience and a fatal swing came at his head. But Seiji appeared beside him just in time and pushed him slightly. The swing only managed to scrape his forehead because of that.

Seiji had been doing such things to other Hashira's as well. His eyes could predict where an attack was going to hit. He saw a fatal attack even before it happened. He had saved his friends many times by pushing them away slightly when needed.

That was the luck that the Hashiras had.

But as a consequence, Seiji's eyes started bleeding and slowly but surely his vision turned red. His mind had gotten better at processing what he saw and his body also got better at reacting. In the midst of the battle, he was growing in strength.

Truly, he was a genius of the highest order.

Nevertheless, that caused a massive strain on his body. The illusion in his mind that he was fine started wearing off, the adrenaline in his blood decreased and each second of the fight demanded more will and grit as the battle stretched.

"KEEP GOING!!!" Gyomei roared amid the battle and explosion. He was currently the one with the most injuries and seeing him still unyielding sparked fire in the hearts of everyone.

Repetitive action allowed a person to get increasingly stronger the longer they fought and so, even with injuries, Gyomie remained strong as the battle stretched.

Seiji too ignored every agony his body screamed at him. He knew that this was the only opportunity he would have. Beyond this, the canon would be so fucked that he could barely use it to an advantage.

So with his red blade, he blurred in bright yellow at Muzan once more. The other colors followed and they delivered another fatal wound to the Demon King.

The sound of the battle was mind-numbing, the constant explosion and casual break of sound barrier had caused Gyomei to feel deaf. His ears even bled.

Obanai felt like he did not belong there. The current battle was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was overwhelming, it was despairing. It was a different realm altogether and only his sheer tenacity and hatred for demons carried him.

Tengen moved like an assassin, due to his past, he did not need to give in to his emotions to be able to obliterate a creature. So he fought like a cold machine, calm and calculating with each move he made.

"SET YOUR HEART ABLAZE!!!" Rengoku too needed nothing but his righteous fury.

These five pillars represented humanity at that moment. They were the manifestation of all the memories of the past generation, the people who fought before them. Muzan found himself baffled at such a prospect.

...

...

The thought of running appeared in his mind.

And it was a huge blow to his pride.

"!!!!!!"

Muzan released a shilling scream that released a shockwave. The jagged maw on his abdomen opened up and just when the Hashira jumped at him together, he released a powerful shockwave.

"LOOK OUT!!!" Seiji barely had time to warn them.

*BOOOOOOOOM!!!!*

The shockwave caved the earth and cracks appeared on the ground like they were standing on glass. The spare snow blew away from the shockwave and the Hashiras followed.

They all flew back, their brain disoriented from the shockwave. Everyone felt their ears ringing, causing them to lose balance as they could not get up even after they recovered.

Rengoku was the first to notice the blood coming from his mouth. It was then that everyone noticed they had sustained an internal injury that caused bleeding. Many parts of their bones broke or at least cracked from the shockwave.

Only Seiji remained standing. He was the only one who reacted and also the only one unaffected by the defeating sound of the shockwave.

"Haaa...haaa...haaa...." It was not the sound of a breathing style. Seiji was panting like an animal, sucking in copious amounts of air like a needy beggar.

It has been a total of three hours since he fought Muzan and half that time since they attacked him together.

"I'll admit you humans are a bunch of persistent creatures," Muzan said. The wounds on his body inflicted by a red blade or Sun Breathing remained as a shallow wound but other than that he was fine.

"But you have a limit. You get tired, demons do not, you bleed out, demons do not and you suffer from every injury, demons do not," Muzan said.

"Just give up,"

"What do you mean?" Seiji asked and wiped away the blood that fell from his eyes like tears. "I can do this all night,"

"No, you cannot," Muzan said simply, "And your friends definitely cannot,"

It was then that everyone felt their heart get heavier. Their pulse suddenly became louder and they were fully aware of its beat. They could clearly feel their body weakening with each beating heart.

Something was happening to them, even beyond what the shockwave did.

"Each of my of my attacks was laced with my blood. It is like the deadliest poison to the human body," Muzan revealed.

"Your hope was to drag this battle was it not? To keep me fighting until sunrise. I am limited by time," Muzan said and spread his arm victoriously.

"But now so are you,"

They were poisoned and with how things were going, they would die from the effect even before sunrise.

Seiji gritted his teeth in frustration and looked towards his right, into the horizon. He wondered how long it would take for Shinobu to arrive here.

There was silence but that belonged to Muzan as he smiled victoriously. But that silence was broken by the flashiest of them all.

"Guess again," Tengen said as he stood up without any problem.

"Poison? Sorry, but my father has been feeding me that since I was in my mother's womb. It doesn't affect me anymore," Tengen said, bringing his sword up and taking a pose.

He flashed a sparkling smile even as he was drenched in his own blood. He was bloody insane.

...

"Demon, you underestimate the will of humans," Rengoku said and used his sword to prop himself up despite all odds.

"And the tenacity of a blazing heart!!" he roared when he finally stood up. The Demon Slayer mark appeared on his forehead and went down his face. It was the pattern of a burning flame.

With the intense heat of his body which was like many fevers stacked together, Rengoku was able to fight back the poison to a certain extent.

..

"As if I will let go of the chance to skewer you," Obanai said and stood up right after Rengoku. His face too was covered with Demon Slayer marks.

He was a true psychopath with nothing to lose in this world. His only purpose was to hurt demons.

..

"A mountain shall not fall from mere poison," Gyomei said and he stood up. There was no Demon Slayer mark to be seen, he was able to stand up because he was just built different.

His sheer size also meant that the poison took longer to affect him than it did others.

..

Seiji's jaw relaxed into a smile seeing that. He was not the only one moving forward and fighting beyond his limits. His comrades were always right behind him, and they would rather die than be left behind.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Seiji began to pick up a breathing pattern - Sun Breathing.

"No one has forgiven you,"

..

..

..

Swallowing every single pride he had, Muzan did the same thing he had done five hundred years ago. In times of great conflict, people show their true nature.

Muzan's true nature was that of a coward.

The fight was uncertain with no clear victor. But while the Demon Slayers were ready to give their lives to kill him, he was not.

He couldn't take the risk.

'They caught me off guard and they were prepared!!'

'I will slaughter them all next time!!'

Saying such excuses in his head to soothe his wounded ego....

Muzan Kibutsuji ran.

..

..

[IMAGE]

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Do you think they will let him escape?

Author : These are long ass chaptees btw. 2700 words.

Next goal is naturally 600.