Demon Slayer - Tale of Flame and Dream : A Fan Story

Chapter Thirty: The Shogun's Shadow

"Sand Breathing, First Form: Ruins of Avarice" Hime's voice called to the night. He darted forward raising his sword over his head. He swung it down looking to cut the Shogun Demon in two. His sword was deflected away from the demons head. "Is that all?" the demon taunted. Hime said nothing, only smiled. His sword twisted in his hand as the direction of the attack changed instead aiming at the demons neck. "What?" it shouted in surprise the smirk on Hime's face was infuriating to him, it was able to block the attack but Hime's sword cut into its flesh. "Oh I get it" Kellia said in a whisper to Koba as she bandaged his arms. "He gave the impression of attacking in one direction but changes it when the attack is deflected, what a good strategy" she was in awe. "But what does Avarice have to do with it?" "It's simple" Hime said not facing her, his eyes were fixed on the demon. "The simplistic and frankly almost rookie move at the beginning makes the opponent greedy to seize the opportunity to attack you. Ruins of Avarice capitalises on that, using their own greed against them" Kellia looked at him, shocked. Hime never struck her as adaptive as this, his strategies were along the same line as Ren's, but Koba was his teacher. "Try not to think about it too much" Koba whispered to her.

The Shogun Demon began to snarl at Hime as it pulled away from him. "To think, the emperor has soldiers like you in his army" it said. There was a hint of pride in his voice. "I hate to say it and been the barer of bad news, but since you're a demon I won't feel too bad saying this, I'm not a soldier for the emperor" Hime said, flicking the blood off his sword. "No?' the demon pondered, "Then which of the warlords are you aligned with?" Hime shook his head "You aren't" the demon sounded disappointed. "Your war ended decades ago" Hime said in a low voice. "You and your Daimyo must have been turned into demons towards the end of it, and you don't realise the 'enemies' you've been killing have actually been innocent people" the Shogun Demon stumbled. "You lie sir" it said. "It's true" Koba shouted at it. They could see that the demon was becoming more and more agitated. It roared and launched into a fury of wild attacks. "Sand Breathing, Seventh Form: Twisting Sand Shield, Aegis" Hime said, He spun his sword around into a reverse grip as he intercepted the attacks with the blade, his defences increased but at the cost of his range. "What do you have to gain for getting closer to me human" The Shogun began to lose any semblance of its humanity. "Sand Breathing, Sixth Form: Antlion Snare Pit" Hime pulled his sword away creating a deep gash in the torso and armour of the demon. Every time the demon tried to escape, Hime dragged it back in and continued his attacks. "For all the pain you have caused others" He said in a bitter voice. "I will unleash upon you, tenfold" His attacks grew more aggressive, ripping the armour from the demons body revealing crimson markings on its torso that looked exactly like the gashes on Koba's body. "You heal quick" He said to the demon. "A powerful demon will always heal from pitiful wounds" it spat. "So you admit you're a demon" Kellia said.

Suddenly, it began to mutate, sprouting more arms and increasing in size. "Blood Demon Art: Shadow Soldier, Embodiment of War" four crushing fists slammed down to where Hime was, he dodged the attacks but the damage left behind increased exponentially. Debris and shockwaves flew in all directions, Kellia had to drag Koba away to prevent him from being crushed by a falling rock. Hime began to launch more attacks at the legs of the demon, aiming to cut it down in size. "Annoying little Nat" it roared at him. Hime felt himself get wrapped in the demons hands. 'Shit' he gasped. The demons hand, held him so tight that he couldn't move his sword. 'Crap, I can't move' he thought to himself. The demon moved one of its other arms aiming to grab a hold of Hime's head and crush it. "Frost Breathing, Second Form: Frozen Glacier, Shattered Angel" Hime said s single instance of an arrow with rounded tip fly into the demons arm holding him. A loud and intense explosion ripped the arm in two and Hime felt himself falling. "I'm not going to let you die" Kellia said to him as he looked at her. She had her bow raised and aimed at the demon. "Catch your breath, I'll fight for a bit, you can enter when you see an opening" Hime nodded "Very well" he said.

Kellia darted towards the demon as it launched more attacks at her. She darted and dodged between each one, even the shockwaves couldn't throw her off balance. 'This is nothing. Shinobi training had me dodging arrows at night, and the training I did with Ren and the others before my Final Selection trained me to fight opponents around this size and build." She thought to herself. "Frost Breathing First Form: Frost Biter" she said, loosing an arrow at the demon as she leapt through the air. The arrow struck the demon in the eye. Its movements slowed and its right eye began to wither and decay. 'The poison on that arrow simulates a humans body affected by frostbite, the body slows, they can't move as well as they used to and the part affected the most dies and cannot be healed' she thought with a smile. She slashed through the other extra arm it grew. It fell to the floor with a loud crash kicking up even more debris. "You interfering worm, I'll crush you" it roared. Kellia continued to dodge and slash at the demon. 'His body is too big for my poison to affect him.' She thought to herself.

"Oh, so this is what's causing the ground to shake" Ren was walking up to where Koba and Hime knelt. "Ren" they said in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Koba asked. "I found the civilians and freed them, Akio and Natama are taking them away from the fort" She informed them. "I found something out from Akio though" "What is it?" Hime asked her. "The Shogun was Motoei Hijurta, leader of the samurai army during the civil war against the emperor, his Daimyo was Shintoji Gyna" "Ok... and?" Hime spurred her on. "Oh sorry, basically Shogun Motoei was in the heat of battle he was in a trance, his Daimyo was already a demon and turned him. He had no idea until now, the wine he drank was actually humans blood, the Daimyo was in control, not him, feeding Motoei falsehoods and making him continue to believe the war is still ongoing" she explained. "Oh I get it" Hime said, "So he was an honourable man corrupted and manipulated by a demon." Hime rose to his feet and looked at Motoei. "Kellia, switch out" he called to her. "Frost Breathing, Seventh Form: Blizzard Storm, Endless Snare" She called, Loosing her remaining arrows into the demons legs. Its movements froze up and Kellia landed next to Koba. "Sand Breathing, Third Form: Holy Sword of The King, Excalibur" Hime drew his sword behind him, darted forward and leapt high into the air. He plunged his sword into the skull of the demon, felt it roar in pain and hung on for dear life. When he regained his footing, he dragged the sword down and through the demons head. It didn't kill it, but he severed its whole right side from its body. Unable to defend against him, Hime took the opportunity to finish it off. "Sand Breathing, Second Form: Hallmarks Of Pride, Fallen Hero" he said in a dead calm voice. He gave a resolved horizontal slash and severed its neck. Its head rolled away and turned to ash. "May your warriors soul find peace" Hime said, sheathing his sword.

Ren helped Koba to his feet, seeing this Kellia supported his other shoulder. Hime placed his hand on Ren's shoulder and took Koba from her. "Please, allow me" he said to her. She smiled at him "You should rest too" she said. Hime shook his head. "Koba needs my help more" his voice was calm and relieved. "Remember when we first met?" he asked her. She nodded, "Yeah, you came flying in out of nowhere didn't you?" she smiled. "I forgot about that bit" he laughed. "Yo" The voice of Natama called over the laughter. He came running up to them. He took Kellia's place and helped Koba into the carriage. "Thank you again for saving us all Ren" The boy Haro ran up to her and hugged her. "It's a pleasure to help people" She said. As she did, a loud crash blew dust at them as something heavy landed there. They all turned to see one final shadow creature standing before them. "I will not let you escape my master. I'll kill you all before you can move one inch" it said. Its voice was ethereal and echoed as if they were in a deep cave. "I accept your challenge" Ren said, she gave them all looks that said plainly she would be fine. "Good luck" she said to it with a smile. The creature drew two large swords and prepared to attack. "Luck?" it spat "Pitiful human, I do not need any lu..." its sentence was silenced as Ren vanished from sight. Her sword sliced off its head as she reappeared. "I win" she said in a calm voice. "Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire" she said as she reminded herself of Rengoku. A gasp from Haro made her look around. "Wow, so cool" he said gleefully. "Just like when you saved me and my mom" he added. Ren smiled and boarded the carriage next to Hime. "Take care of yourselves" she said to Haro and the other people she saved. Haro waved at them as they began to ride off home. Kellia in the carriage finishing tending to Koba's wounds. "There's no way any of us missed that shadow creature, that was the most solid and strongest one I've seen." Natama said. "I believe that it was one final creation of Motoei to try and kill us" Ren said as she looked up at the moon. Koba was right. The moon really was beautiful.