Candles || Kokushibo

🖤42: ᴜᴘᴘᴇʀ ᴍᴏᴏɴ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ🖤

      Kokushibo stands steady on the branch with his two elder boys and watches as everyone falls into the infinite castle. "Douma, follow Tengen and Shinobu." The blond flinches at the female's name, and more sweat appears on his skin. He puts his hands in front of his chest in a defensive position. "P-papa, she hates me. You know this!" The oldest demon, who has a gentle light in his eyes, turns his six eyes toward his distressed kid. "You are on humanity's side; there is no reason for her to target you."

      He was gazing at him in a manner similar to a mother looking at her child. It was very hard for either boy not to trust him since they could both sense the love he had in his many eyes. "Akaza," Kokushibo begins again, turning to face the pink-haired demon. "I'll cut Tamayo free from Muzan, then I want you to take her to the butterfly estate. After that, guard the ones who aren't pillars. They need the protection the most." Akaza nods under his father's firm yet caring stare.

      The plan has only barely begun, but the two younger demons are already worried about what's going on. No one can really blame them, though; if facing the most powerful demon ever created isn't scary, they don't know what is. Akaza and Douma almost failed to recall that Kokushibo had dipped his blade in deadly wisteria poison just prior to all of this. They knew it wouldn't stop him entirely, but it was enough to release Tamayo and allow Akaza to take her from Kokushibo's grasp. Douma catches his breath as he suddenly remembers his past decisions and tears at the mistakes he has made. There was no way that anyone, especially Shinobu, would forgive him so readily after what he had done and all the disgusting things he used to take delight in. He vigorously wipes his hands over his face in an effort to remove the mild sweat and fatigue that had begun to form.

      While Akaza, like Douma, was a little frightened, he was totally prepared for anything may strike him. He has a family to look out for, and right now, his family is more important to him than even his own life. He did precisely what his father said: he took Tamayo and brought her to the butterfly estate, where she would be safe. The pink-haired demon was glad when she was alright after having her arm amputated, and he moved quickly to take her to her temporary home until everything was settled.

      Akaza is now rushing through the walls of the infinite castle, looking for any regular slayers who require protection. He searches around every corner but can't seem to discover any humans, which he finds odd until a metallic fragrance eventually hits his nose. Tanjiro's smell lingered in the air. The demon becomes so enraged that he punches through the floors and walls, some of which appeared to be moving under Nakime's command. The final wall is shattered, and he drives a foot into the back of another demon's head. "Nii-chan!" Tanjiro has a little amount of blood running down his brow, while Giyuu and Kyojuro appear to be coated in dirt. "Tanjiro." Akaza gives his younger brother a murderous glare. He shifts his body to face the shorter man, his fingers tightening. "Did that demon do this to you?" He gestures in the direction of the male demon he just kicked, and the Kamado nods slowly.

      The male demon lacked the recognizable fragrance of the other female demon that attempted to abduct Mabel, but there was another scent, a male, that smelt like both of them. But he is aware that it wasn't this man. When Kokushibo has finished with Muzan, which entails poisoning him to delay his healing, Akaza knows that he will seek Mabel's biological mother. Thus, Douma, Shinobu, and Tengen make up the other male demon that could be linked to Mabel. They are resilient, and Douma has been working with others to improve his mental health, so he is not concerned. He's really improved, Akaza felt it necessary to mention. He simply hoped he could be with him at this moment.

      Behind his shoulder-length, deep blue hair, the demon peers out from the mess Akaza made and glares at him. "It's you!" He gestures with his white skin toward Akaza. "You're one of the traitors to Master Muzan!" After the other demon said that, Akaza smiles creepily, making the three male human companions tremble. "Yeah, I did, and damn was it the best decision of my life!" The pinkette fades abruptly, causing the upper moon to become frozen. Although he doesn't move, he tries to examine the environment with his shaken green eyes. Why couldn't he detect him, he was an upper moon? He put so much effort into his training for this, yet the confidence he had before it all began was quickly lost. He flinches when a quick rough hand is placed on his shoulder, alerting him to the poisonous aura that was behind him. "You should know better than to interfere with my family."

      The next thing the three saw was something they didn't want to see: Akaza digging his fingers into the upper moon three's shoulder before drawing his arm back and ripping it off entirely. The demon with blue hair cries in anguish before crashing to the ground. He struggled to rise to flee, but Kyojuro, who was staring down at the demon, severed his head off. Giyuu lowers his brows as he glances up and notices the crows swooping about with paper eyes attached to each of them.

"Upper moon three, Kuragari, has been killed."

🖤Secrets/Extras🖤

~Koinatsu was actually here when the fight started. She was hanging out with Muichiro, but when the emergency summon happened, he told her to go to the butterfly estate where Aoi, Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo are.

~~Muichiro nicknamed Koinatsu "Haymai".

~~~The name means "rare or unusual beauty".

~The wisteria poison that Kokushibo dipped his blade into was made by Douma and Tanjiro

~Wisteria doesn't affect Tamayo anymore, that's why she didn't die or get severely harmed when Kokushibo cut her arm free from Muzan.

~Certain deceased people are lighting subconscious candles. Some can fight, but others can't, and only wanted to light the candle to offer support and to show them that they are not alone.

~~In total, there are 20 deceased people who are lighting everyone's candles.

~~~Can you guess who they all are? There's one of them that Author-chan knows that you won't know! (unless you made an unusual guess and somehow got it right XD)

~Does Author-chan have everyone's permission to marry Kokushibo since he adopted all of you? XD