Breath of the Void

Breath of the Void: Chapter 5

We're back children. Its Musashi's birthday! I think. Idk I saw something on twitter.

The next chapter launches us into the plotline. We're gonna move fast through that because two arcs are getting skipped since it has nothing to do with Musashi. Spoilers, Muzan is a bad man but Oni are cooler.

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Musashi ended up naming her crow 'Ritsuka' and it was a year later, when the summer heat reached its peak, that found Musashi lazily brushing through Kyojuro's mess of hair. Her hands picking leaves out of it while Kocho wrapped his wrist in bandages. All three Pillars had their haori discarded (Kyojuro's tossed, Musashi's half-folded, and Kocho's neatly folded) on the engawa next to them. Despite the normal Demon Slayer uniform able to help regulate temperature, it seemed that even the heavy heat from the dead of summer was too much for it. Musashi was glad that she didn't have to wear it all the time, only having to do so if she was specifically ordered to. Kyojuro and Kocho, however, were less fortunate. The black-colored fabric was just soaking in heat and Kocho's dark-colored hair was no different than her uniform, but she was stubborn and kept it fully on with only one or two buttons undone. Kyojuro, however, had taken the jacket off. The Flame Pillar had returned from a mission up north and considering his already abnormal body temperature?

Yeah, the temperature change was a bitch.

Nonetheless, he had shown up to the Butterfly Estate to get his, while minor, wounds checked on. He had been met with Musashi helping keep Naho, Sumi, and Kiyo entertained. Summer was slower for the Slayers— days were longer, nights fell later. Aside from the residents, Kyojuro was the only one at the Estate aside from Musashi, who wasn't there for injuries.

Speaking of which, there had been three Pillar Meetings since Musashi had first arrived in the Taisho Period and Musashi had officially been instated as the Tenth Pillar— the Void Pillar. She and Shinazugawa had gotten into a fight immediately after and though it had been called as a draw, Kanroji had told her that she had won. Definitely. Shinazugawa had been quite bruised physically and in pride.

Of course, that was after the first Pillar Meeting she had gone to and she didn't exactly fault the others who didn't know her to be wary. Even though Kocho had given her a rundown on all the terms she needed to know, the whole 'Style' business was a bit odd to her. Her style was Niten Ichi-Ryuu but apparently that wasn't acceptable, as Kocho explained there were elements involved. The way she fought, moved, and even breathed was odd to them.

'Void' just wasn't something they knew.

Her abnormality was further solidified by the fact that she had four nichirin blades and a blade that wasn't that could cut down demons without fail. All of the nichirin blades that she owned had also been engraved with the four base elements, not changing in color like the others but instead igniting a flame of the respective hue. That had thrown off the Pillars and the Sword Smiths alike.

Once the initial shock wore off, Tomioka then asked if she was planning on taking over as the Water Pillar position and Kyojuro had acted offended (though both of them knew that he was just being an idiot) at the idea of someone taking his spot as Flame Pillar. Shinazugawa had bristled at the thought and Himejima had said silent, but before things got out of hand Ubuyashiki had revealed that she was a tenth Pillar— not one that was replacing one of the nine.

She was the Void Pillar and that was that.

And then the fact that she was actually a Dimension Hopper dropped. Kanroji, Kocho, and Kyojuro obviously took it very well (since they knew already), but there had been varying degrees of disbelief and wariness. Some wondered if it was worth it if she was just going to vanish. Others wanted to know about other worlds. She tried her best to answer all of them, explaining about Servants and Shimousa, and how she was an abnormality in that she was on the cusp of being a Servant, but not one exactly. While magic arts did exist in this world, the concept of Servants was new territory. Magic arts were rare and hardly used, associated with demons or shamans. Explaining that had been a trial in and of itself, considering how not even she knew everything about Servants.