Hell's Demon Slayers

4-4: CLAIR DE SOLEIL

"That's a bit ominous..", Tengen said, exiting the start room and seeing a dark set of stairs illuminated by a few green torches.

"Stay on guard, we don't know what could lurk in the shadows.", Obanai said, unsheathing his sword and cautiously walking up the set of stairs. Reaching the end, there was a bounce pad that flung them high into the air. Unfortunately, Mitsuri didn't see this.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA-", she yelled before abruptly stopping as she landed on a platform. "What was that?!", she exclaimed, looking down at where she was flung, before she herself fell as Giyu rapidly went upwards and landed on the same platform. "Pay more attention next time.", he said, blankly.

"Y-Yeah, got it..", Mitsuri muttered as the others reached where they were. As they went through the door in front of them, three doors were present. One was slightly open but not open enough for any of them to fit inside, one was locked, and one led to a room covered in the dunes of Greed.

"Nngh.. damn it..", Sanemi muttered as he tried to open the slightly open door, but to no avail. "Well, to the next door we go, I guess."

"Make sure not to touch the sand! You don't want to get burned, after all!", Rengoku called out as the Hashira traversed through the sand, soon reaching an area with a bounce pad that took them to a corridor. Torches were lined up at the side, giving off an eerie feel to the area.

"This is all building up to something, I'm calling it..", Tengen said as he reached a broken bridge, forcing the Hashira to do a bit of parkour. "Careful, everyone!", he said as he got a running start and jumped over the gap, successfully reaching the other side.

Admittedly, it took them a while, but the others finally reached the other side as well; Sanemi taking the longest. The next area had a wide window with gaps in it, causing the sun to come through and make contact with the Hashira.

"Ahh.. that feels nice..", Mitsuri sighed as she felt the warm sun's embrace.

"Come on, Mitsuri..", Obanai said as he dragged her to the next door. There was a checkpoint, and then a large area with a familiar face in the middle of it.

"Shit, that's not good..", Sanemi muttered as he saw the red figure, sitting on a throne lazily.

"That machine again?", Rengoku said curiously. "Chin up, everyone! We've defeated it once, we can defeat it once again!"

"I hope you're right, Rengoku.", Tengen replied as he slowly walked forward, approaching the robot. Once he got close enough, it stood up from its throne and cracked its knuckles.

"Looks like it's getting prepared as well.", Obanai said as he got into a defensive stance, preparing for a sudden attack made by the machine. After it finished cracking its joints, it pulled its arms back and hit the throne behind it, effectively destroying it.

"V2"

Immediately, V2 began running to the left, where it got its shotgun out and fired an explosive round at the Hashira.

"Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire!"

Rengoku took the lead and dashed forward, slicing apart V2's Core Eject shot and negating the explosion. Rengoku slashed at V2, the latter ducking and effectively disarming Rengoku with a strong kick. Thinking quickly, Rengoku got out his own Core Eject and fired at V2, a majority of the bullets hitting it.

Unbeknownst to the Hashira, V2 has analyzed their patterns and skills, and it has devised a counter to each and every one of their attacks. V2 demonstrated this when Mitsuri propelled herself into the air and Giyu and Sanemi ran at V2..

"Love Breathing, Second Form: Love Pangs!"

V2's wings turned green as Mitsuri's blade came at it. It dashed through the slashes made by Mitsuri, coming closer to Giyu and Sanemi.