The Descendant (A Retelling and love story of Demon Slayer)

Twenty One

"So, you need us to defeat demon's that are close to Kibutsuji and collect blood samples from them?" Tanjirou repeated with his hand on his chin in thought. 'Demon's that are close to him are sure to be incredibly powerful... Can I even defeat someone like that as I am now?'

"I am afraid so. Muzan's blood is the catalyst for the demon transformation. If we are to find a way to reverse its effects, then I will need test samples that contain a larger amount of his cells and I am ashamed to admit that I am not strong enough to do so myself."

"From what I've noticed, a demon is merely as strong as the amount of blood that they receive plus the amount of humans they consume. The ones that start off strong have an easier time consuming humans; and their power grows to frightening heights almost continuously. The stronger they are, the more of his blood they have in their veins, and there are only twelve demons that I'm aware of that even come close to that level of strength. He calls them the Twelve Kizuki." Each of the three there were surprised by Akari's input on the matter and had their gazes turned to her, not only in curiosity in Tanjirou's case but also in weariness.

Tamayo now looked at her with eyes that were bordering untrusting; and Yushiro had already been glaring at her that way from the start. He had known something was off about the girl the moment he had gotten close enough to catch her scent in the air. An overpowering fragrance of lilies and sugar that made his nose scrunch. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought that he had just walked through the heart of both a florist shop and a bakery at the same time. While the smell was pleasant enough for humans he supposed; for a demon it was borderline suffocating with how enticing it was, and it easily was strong enough to hide the other scent beneath it. One that they were only able to pick up in the confines of a closed space such as this. A dark incense that on its own would have had his hair standing on end and one that he would bet only a demon could sense. He didn't want to trust her. His instincts told him not to; but he would follow whatever plan his Lady wished to enact. He was certain that she had noticed it too.

Lady Tamayo was unsure of what to make of the young woman sitting before her. She looked not much older than the boy, yet she carried herself as though she had lived through ten of his life times. A part of her wanted to be weary, but there was another part of her that knew and understood the kind of harsh conditions the soul needed to endure in order to acquire such an overwhelming aura of determination. Tamayo had been through it herself after all. She had lost a lot in her many years as a demon. 'I can't help but wonder; what have you lost that has made you this way?'

"Well, eleven currently, seeing as I have already dispatched one of their lower ranking members. I wonder how long it will take that bastard to find a replacement..." The silence stretched for a moment before the shock began to show on each of their faces. If Akari could have taken a picture of the open-mouthed fish out of water look that Yushiro and Tanjirou were giving her, she would have. Only Tamayo was able to keep herself composed enough to respond.

"You've defeated a lower moon, Akari-san?" Akari gave a nod in return, humming to herself while she tried to remember what number it was.

"Mhmm, it was a few months ago, though I can't remember exactly when. If I am recalling correctly... I believe it was the lower two?" She shuddered as her mind played back the events that have happened since then. "Forgive me, so much has happened since then that I'm a little fuzzy on the details..." Which wasn't a lie. The moment she tried to recall her memory of Lower two, his plain, uninteresting image would swap places with the terrifyingly beautiful visage of Upper two and the instant in which she plunged her sword into her chest cavity. She couldn't get past that dream... or was it even a dream? She couldn't be certain. Whatever it was, was obviously going to be a problem for her if she didn't find a way to suppress the spike of near crippling fear that came with it.