Breath of the Void

Breath of the Void: Chapter 29

I'm in finals week, and it's horrible. But I have more free time since classes are just. Not existing. So yeah, a chapter on time? More likely than you think.

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They were losing.

That much was obvious to Kyojuro as he struggled to keep fatal strikes from landing. His body felt like it was even more on fire than before, if that was a mix of grief and anger combined with the poison that certainly was pumping through his body, he didn't know.

Kocho had fallen back to do first aid, attacking when strikes got too close, but no more than that. Tokito had been simply batted off to the side, and he wasn't sure where the boy had landed. Kanroji had been taken out of the fight when her arm had been torn and Iguro had taken her to other Slayers outside.

But Kyojuro couldn't give that much thought as he flipped over one of Muzan's strikes. His eyes narrowed as he flipped over Muzan, striking from above only to be rebuffed.

Shuten was still sitting on the Pagoda railing above them, unmoving and more amused to watch than anything.

Kyojuro's eyes flickered to where two Slayers were hurriedly tending to Musashi before going back to Muzan as Tanjirou and Genya both struck.

It didn't matter how much they attacked, Muzan was regenerating like crazy.

'We're... not going to last until dawn like this!'

The Flame Pillar gripped his swords as he felt blood dripping from his mouth and nose.

So much for Shuten's training it seemed.

He kicked off the ground, rushing Muzan alongside of Iguro before everything seemed to freeze.

Above them, a cat leaped through the hole in the Pagoda ceiling, over a hundred stories up. It gazed at them before the pack on its back opened up and vials shot out from it. Kyojuro stopped in his tracks, feeling something sharp prick his arm and he looked down, seeing a vial— no, it was certainly a syringe— from the cat in his arm.

"What—" he uttered before he felt a familiar sensation washing over him.

"Poison cures poison, darling!" Shuten's voice rang out, "Now! Entertain me more~"

Kyojuro felt his smile returning as he firmly planted his feet in the ground. That's right. Shuten's poison was stronger than anything else, it could melt flesh and bone and leave nothing in return. It would corrode any other poison and bring even the strongest being to their knees— and the Slayers had built up a resistance to it.

"Not sure what happened but I think that one hired a stray cat to save us!" Iguro yelled as Tokito leaped from the rubble.

Muzan had torn parts of the Pagoda apart, broken pillars but no matter what, it didn't bend or break. Red-painted wood splintered and showered down on them as they advanced.

The progenitor of all demons was shaking though, full of barely contained rage before he launched all of his appendages at them.

"DON'T STRUGGLE IN VAIN!" He snarled, "JUST DIE LIKE MEN, YOU OBSESSED FREAKS!"

They barely had time to dodge as he lashed out. Kyojuro twisted out of the way and reignited his other sword with a huff. He slashed and cut through one of Muzan's tentacles as he felt the heat of the flames and the light dance across the blade.

Gunshots rang out as Genya attacked from his hidden position, darting from place to place as he and Tanjirou slashed at any tentacles that made attempts to latch onto pillars in order to haul Muzan higher.