Hell's Demon Slayers

1-1: HEART OF THE SUNRISE

"See? Nothing changed!", Rengoku said with a grin to Sanemi as he dropped down. Sanemi walked towards the exit door. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you sa-"

Sanemi's eyes widened as he was met with green; plants, trees, gardens, and more. This.. was certainly unexpected. Where was the grey, the dingy walls, and the menacing "you're-going-to-die" atmosphere? Sanemi looked back at Rengoku, still processing this information.

"..You were saying?", he said as Rengoku took a look for himself.

"Huh.. that's certainly new.", Rengoku admitted, holding the handle on his sword cautiously since there was a dormant Cerberus statue in front of them. As he walked forward a bit more, there was also a buried Malicious Face in the ground, and two doors; one in front of him and one to the right of him.

"I feel like something's.. off, for some reason.", Obanai muttered, spotting a speaker in a corner of the room. He slashed it in half, and suddenly the soothing music stopped. "Almost like this is all.. artificial?"

"I think you're just paranoid..", Mitsuri said, taking a look at the vegetation. "The sun's shining, there's trees, and there's even birds chirping!"

Tengen progressed forward, opening the door in front of them. In the middle of the new room was a red pedestal, along with another set of doors. Through one door was a hallway of torches, and the second one was unopenable. It had red pillars at the side of it, for some reason.

"This is like a giant maze..", he sighed. Tengen backtracked to the entrance and instead opened the side door, revealing yet another hallway with torches. Tengen and the others walked through it, eventually leading them to a room with a red pedestal and a red object on top of it. Sanemi eyed it curiously.

"What's this?", Sanemi questioned, picking it up and examining it. As he took a closer look, he identified what the object was. "..A skull?"

"A skull? Why would there be a skull on the- never mind, that's indeed a skull..", Tengen said, looking at the red object in Sanemi's hands.

"..You know, maybe it's a puzzle.", Shinobu said. "That one room had a locked door and a red pedestal; maybe if we put it on top of the pedestal, the door could open?"

"Worth a try.", Tengen said, walking back to find the room. Soon enough, he found the red pedestal they saw earlier. Tengen walked forward and placed the skull on top of the pedestal. As Shinobu said, the locked door opened up, revealing a dark room with two torches. Once the Hashira got through that, they came across a room with a waterfall in it. As Obanai stepped forward, two robotic new creatures spawned in.

"Should've known it was too peaceful..", Obanai muttered, taking a defensive stance against the floating bots. The Drones both fired a set of three orbs at Obanai.

"Serpent Breathing, Fourth Form: Twin-Headed Reptile!"

Obanai dashed forward, evading the projectiles, and slashed at one of the Drones. However, it thrust backward before Obanai's blade could come in contact with it. Obanai quickly followed through with a vertical stab, impaling the Drone and taking it out. Its small frame started glowing on Obanai's blade, which could only mean trouble. Quickly, Obanai threw it at the second Drone as the first Drone exploded, taking both of them out.

As the two robots died, four more spawned higher in the sky, bombarding the Hashira with explosive projectiles. Rengoku fired his Core Eject at two of them, taking them out instantly.

"Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire!"

Rengoku followed through and dashed at two nearby Drones, slashing in a circular motion around himself that took both of them out, sending them crashing towards Tengen's direction, who swiftly dodged the incoming impact and explosion.