Douma's obsession - Demon Slayer fanfiction

Confusion

Out of breath, Miri leans against a tree and presses a hand to her stomach. Her wound still hurt like hell, but at least she was able to track Douma and Giyuu back to headquarters. She coughs a little. By the time her wound had closed, it had still taken her about two hours to free her hands from the remains of the ice chains, and on top of that, the whole trip had really exhausted her.

Hopefully she wasn't too late. Thoughtfully, she let her eyes wander over the large complex of temples and houses. Most of it still looked so familiar to her, as if she had never left. This would definitely work to her advantage, as she knew most of the secret corridors and training halls.

She sneaks along a small path that leads to the dormitories, which she had discovered once when she was late for training and had to change her clothing real quick. As she slipped through a small back door, she cheered inwardly as she found herself in an empty hallway. Just around the next corner was her old room, and two corridors further was Mitsuri's. Miri prayed that she would find her there.

From the outside, the wooden door looked uninviting and dull. Was she at the right place? Carefully she listened inside. There was a faint chatter and a little laughter. Thank God, Mitsuri was home! But who was with her? Inconspicuously, she glanced into the room before swinging the door wide open. "Mitsuri, Sanemi!" she called, perhaps a little too loudly, and clasped her hand over her mouth.

Immediately, two heads snap in her direction with big eyes. "Miri?!" they both stumble at the same time. They rush towards her to greet her with a big hug. "Oh Miri, I can't believe you're here and doing fine!" Mitsuri mumbles after a while and looks at her, still a little surprised. "And if you're fine... does that mean that Douma is like... dead?" Sanemi adds concerned. So Mitsuri has already told him...

Alarmed, Miri looks between the two of them. "To cut a long story short: no, he's still alive and so is Giyuu. I'll explain later. Who else knows about this, Mitsuri?" she presses and the demon hunters in front of her exchange a bewildered look. "At the moment only Sanemi, because we arrived here about two hours ago... but don't worry, I have a meeting with the Higher Ups in half an hour to tell them..." Mitsuri assures her.

"No! Don't, they'll try to kill you too!" Miri interrupts. Sanemi looks at her like she is some kind of psycho. " Would you care to tell us what the hell is going on?!" he asks. She doesn't take any offense by that, for all they know, she was the one who randomly stormed into the room and was babbling in cryptic messages...

"Okay...follow me, I'll tell you on the way..." Miri hushes and pulls them both out of the door. While they secretly sneak through the corridors, she fills them in on the most important points. Primarily how the people in Douma's cult had a strong influence on the decision making here and had turned against her and anyone who meant him harm.

"So Douma is also here with Giyuu?!" Mitsuri notices irritated. "Yes, but he's on our side... well... my side," Miri concluded, looking at her with an apologetic gaze. She would tell Mitsuri the details as soon as the threat was eliminated.

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How pathetic they looked, sitting at that big table like little marionettes caught in their own strings. A dozen pairs of frightened eyes stared back at him and into his cold eyes. The moment he had entered the hall, many of the Higher Ups had quickly recognized him as the leader of their sect. Feeling exposed, they shifted uncomfortably in their chairs.

But Douma felt no pity for them. On the contrary, he despised them. All he could think of when he looked at them was Miri's limp body and how they had acted behind his back. "Give me a single reason why I shouldn't kill each and every one of you right now," he threatens in a calm voice.

A quiet mumbling began at the table, while the hall gradually filled with other demon hunters who had been summoned to protect the higher-ups. Douma stood proudly in the middle of the room next to Giyuu and watched their useless discussions unfold. Before he killed them, he was curious how they would react to his appearance. After all, his followers wouldn't want any harm to come to him, right? So far, everything was going according to plan.

His ears picked up a small sound from one side of the room. The next moment, a small door bursts open and three more demon hunters rush inside. The conversations fall silent as those present recognize Miri in the midst of them. Shit! Why was she even here?

Across the room, she meets his gaze with a panicked expression. "Stop this right now!" she yells, coming over to him. What was she doing? "No one has to die today if we talk this through!" she adds. Douma clenched his fists. He didn't like the turn of events. Miri was in more danger than she realized...

"That's her, the girl who sided with the demons!" one of his followers shouts, seizing the opportunity and pointing his chubby fingers at her. The rest of the table murmurs in disapproval. Now they were blaming her for his actions to get rid of her!? How ridiculous, he thought, his eyes narrowing. "I know her, she pretended to fight him!" another one shouts, pointing at Douma.

His anger builds as he witnesses Miri's face scrunch up in a pained expression because of that lie. The tips of his fingers cool down and deadly ice crystallizes around them.

"Enough!!" Giyuu's loud voice echoes over their heads as he puts himself protectively between Miri and the table. "Can you not see that some of you are acting against the headquarters as a whole!?" he shouts in an accusatory tone, and suspicious glances are cast around the room. No one knows who to trust anymore. Did it work?

Suddenly, a sharp blood sickle buzzes through the air and embeds itself directly in the head of one of the Higher Ups. His body goes limp and he falls to the ground, and for a few seconds everyone remains frozen in shock. Douma doesn't even have to turn around to know who it came from. Gyutaro, the Upper Demon Six! The other demons must have started their attack on the headquarters at the worst possible time!

Then, screams emerge from all corners of the hall as more demons appear and the hunters prepare to fight. As the situation slowly heads toward escalation, a random man jumps up from the table and shouts through the chaos. "Look, she led the demons right here to kill us! Go get her!".