Isekai Mizuki S1 - A World With Demons

Chapter 44 - VS Marionette Aoi & Enmu

Tanjiro and Genya immediately charged forward, ready to take on the hypnotized Aoi Kanzaki. Murata stood at the back, firing rounds upon rounds of Water Magic-imbued arrows. "Fight them, young lady," echoed in her mind. Her body obeyed, immediately blocking the two frontal liners' attacks, then jumping back to avoid harm from Murata's arrows.

After Aoi regained her footing, she turned back to fight her allies. She almost hit Murata by throwing her sword at him, then leapt to grab it, only to swing at him again. "She is not this skilled...!" Murata commented, jumping backward to avoid any more attacks.

"Enmu's fighting influence, clearly!" he added, attempting to lash at Aoi with Shockwire. The best it did was singe her skirt a little and burn down one of her hairclips. Genya fired his sharp feathers, which were evaded easily. "...I'm useless right now..." he muttered.

As they continued to fight the brainwashed Aoi, Ozaki, Kanao, Nezuko and Sabito came out, also brainwashed. "Uh, guys, we've got company!" Murata notified them as Tanjiro looked behind him to see the four, walking towards the three. "The four of them were taken down...?!"

Kimetsu Academy

"Shit, more of them are coming in!" Kaigaku uttered, genuinely concerned. Yahaba then added, "I think I saw Sabito's group head outside the school, too!" "Wouldn't they be helping us by then?!" Muichiro questioned, kicking down one that was in his way. Yuichiro was losing his breath, and he mustered barely enough energy to even say, "I think they also got caught up in the magic...!"

"There's too many of them! We can't fight!" Inosuke yelled, knocking out four more enemies. "We'll get taken down soon!" Zenitsu said, punching down an upperclassman. Makomo looked behind her. "There's more coming from where Nezuko and the others were fighting! Masachika, are you o- GYAAAAH!" she shrieked as she could see Masachika beaten down to the ground. "Masachika's down?! Damn it! We're gonna end up dying soon enough!" Zenitsu uttered.

Outside

Murata had been holding off the four who just arrived, while the other two were still dealing with the weirdly skilled Aoi. Eventually, Genya was able to strike Aoi, and Tanjiro fully knocked her out with one axe kick.

In not long, she woke up, very dizzy. "Ugh... What happened?" she questioned, rubbing her head. Genya then answered her. "Now's not the time to explain! Help Murata bring down the rest of our classmates, Tanjiro and I'll go and try to save Isekai!" he quickly commanded, sprouting his wings and taking away Tanjiro. "That was really disorienting..." she muttered, rushing to Murata's aid.

Genya and Tanjiro were flying through the town, on hot pursuit of Enmu's transport. "Hey," Genya called, passing his western gun. "I'll keep lifting you. Try to shoot at the demon until I can get you on top of the van. If ya need a reload, pass it back to me," he instructed. Tanjiro nodded and began to fire.

"So persistent." he muttered, drawing a sniper rifle from the van's seats. He got ready to fire. "Shit!" Genya blurted, dodging the incoming bullet. "What was that about?!" Tanjiro questioned, annoyed that he jerked like that. "This guy's using a sniper rifle! This thing is going to get you killed with a single round! Get ready, I'm tossing you onto my back."

"I'm a bit heavy, are you sure?" he asks. Genya nods. "My spine's stronger than a normal person's. It'll hold up a person with your weight for fifteen minutes at best." he answered, tossing him upward, landing onto his back.

Tanjiro was able to properly aim now, being able to nearly hit Enmu, the latter of who tried to return fire, but failed to hit. Soon enough, Genya reached the van's roof, and Tanjiro hopped onto it. He trod on towards the driving end of the van, and hopped in through the passenger's window. A demon man was driving, but Tanjiro immediately beheaded him and took the wheel. "Huh? Why did a head just- oh no..."  he questioned as he realized what was happening.

Tanjiro jerked the steering wheel left, sending the car flying about, spinning on its sides. Eventually the car crashed, and Genya landed on the ground with Isekai on his grip. Enmu came out, clothes scorched, face half-burnt, and stripped of his left arm. "You Slayers are such nuisances to Master..."

Tanjiro came out of the driver's seat, extremely fatigued and slightly injured from the large crash that just occured. "That hurt so much...!"

"Out of all of that, you made but one mistake," Enmu stated, regenerating his lost arm. "What's that?" Genya asks. "YOU LEFT YOUR FRIENDS AT THE SCHOOL, YOU IDIOT!" he yelled. Tanjiro then realized. "Crap, I forgot about them!"

"All of them were knocked asleep, and look at that! They're here!" he cackled, pointing behind Genya, to see the rest of the students, running upon them. Weirdly, Kanao wasn't among them.  "...no, no, no, no, no no no!" he cried internally as a water and wind explosion blocked the hypnotized foes from getting to Genya.

Sanemi and Giyu arrived at the scene, ready to fight the incoming waves of Slayers Corporation members. Gyomei and Kanae arrived shortly after, with Mitsuri, along with Tengen following. "The Hashira!"  Tanjiro exclaimed in thought as Mitsuri healed him. Now listen, okay? You and Genya take down this Twelve Kizuki member. We'll handle these puppets!" she instructed, running towards her fellow Hashira.

"You think we're gonna do alright?" Tanjiro asked, getting up. Genya just sighed. "I don't even know..." he answered. And with that call, Kanao arrived at the scene, somehow not hypnotized. "Kanao? How are you not possessed?" Tanjiro questioned. "I don't know, but all I know is that when I woke up, Aoi was awake, fighting back Sabito and Ozaki for some reason. Murata and your sister were on the ground, passed out fully."

"Aoi was still fighting? She must be possessed again..." Genya muttered, facepalming. "We can talk more later, you two. We need to fight this demon and set Isekai free!" he interrupted, drawing his sword. "Challenging me, eh? Well, just so you know, I won't be alone in this fight. Mizuki, may you join me?" Enmu asked, as Isekai took motion, drawing his blade, ready to fight his friends.

"I don't wanna do this, buddy, but I'll do what I have to do to set you free!"

To be continued...