Tsunami of Dead Tears: Part 2

Chapter 3

"I see smoke..."

Giyuu snapped out of his half-sleep as he quickly scrubbed the morning stars out of his eyes, forcing adrenaline back into his veins. He opened his eyes, and to his surprise, he saw a huge pillar of black smoke towering above the night sky, blocking out the moon.

"Tomioka-sama!" a voice shouted. From the way it vibrated in the air, and how the pitch rose and fell, he knew it was Tanjiro.

Giyuu looked from behind the driver's seat. He could see Tanjiro's head popping out of one of the carriages.

"You don't have to call me that!" Giyuu said. "Are we in Tokyo?!"

"Yes!" Tanjiro replied. "But there's something happening over there!"

Tanjiro pointed at the building where the black smoke was coming from. It was a singular mansion, western in design, sitting in a small crater of sorts, where Giyuu could look down at it. No other structure stood beside it, and the only thing that was remotely man-made was the large area of treeless grass surrounding it. Despite how dark the night was, he could make out figures sprinting towards the building. The faint cries of pain and crackling of guns suggested that there was a huge fight happening

"I smell demon scents, as well as human! What do we do?!" Tanjiro asked.

Muzan is already attacking civilians?! Giyuu thought to himself. But why? And why here? It's a barren mansion in the middle of nowhere! What could this place possibly be for?

"Giyuu." Shinobu whispered beside him. "There's no time to think."

Giyuu nodded and shook his thoughts away, focusing on the situation at hand. No time for contemplating.

"Slayers!" Giyuu yelled out. "To arms!"

In an instant, every demon slayer nearby unsheathed their Nichirin blades and gave out a battle cry, making their horses neigh in unison.

Giyuu looked at Tanjiro's carriage. Inosuke and Kanao were already on their own horees, but Tanjiro was trying to drag Zenitsu out the carriage, who was refusing to fight, blubbering about how he was going to die. Zenitsu tried to prevail, but eventually his body fell out the carriage and flopped on the dirt ground. He stood back up, dusting himself off and complaining as always.

"TANJIRO!" Zenitsu yelled. "I DON'T WANNA GO!"

"You're a demon slayer, Zenitsu!" Tanjiro said, pulling Zenitsu near a horse.

"There's like a thousand demons down there!" Zenitsu said, horribly exaggerating the amount of fear he had. "If I go, they're gonna rip me to shreds!"

Tanjiro sighed. "If you really can't do it yourself, We'll ride together!"

Zenitsu finally stopped resisting. He brought his arm up to his face and wiped away his tears. "You would do that?"

"Of course I would!" Tanjiro smiled. "Now, up you get!"

Tanjiro pushed Zenitsu up the horse's saddle and got up himself.

Giyuu looked back at his men, their blades drawn and ready. "The slayers at the front will follow me to the mansion and wipe the area clean of demons! The rest of you will stand by here, blades at the ready!" Giyuu ordered. "Under NO circumstances should you harm any humans in that area! Understood?!"

"Yes, Tomioka-sama!" The slayers said.

Tanjiro walked his horse beside Giyuu's, but before he could say anything, Giyuu put a hand on his shoulder.

"Remember..." Giyuu muttered. "Don't hold back for them. They won't hold back for you. We're bringing them to where they belong."

After a moment of contemplation, Tanjiro nodded, a sense of sternness present in his eyes.