𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗬 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘𝗦, 𝗸𝗻𝘆 𝘅 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻!𝗼𝗰
𝟬𝟭𝟲, lowermoon one
𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘥𝘢-, 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴
𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘳𝘰-, 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺
𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮, 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙨
THE COOL AIR WHIPS THROUGH REN'S HAIR AS SHE AND TANJIRO SHUFFLE OUT OF THE TRAIN CART, NOW STANDING ON THE EDGE OF THE RAILING AS THE MOON GRINS THAT CHESHIRE GRIN — A SORT OF PROMISE FOR WHAT'S TO COME.
ren's smile thins at the reminder.
it truly is a shame that rengoku must go this way. he's a commendable man and slayer, but as miguel said, his death was a key factor in the progression of this universe.
"ladies first" ren beckons tanjiro to go as he blinks in confusion but obliges.
he climbs the ladder as ren simply connects her feet to the side of the train and walks up, the two now facing a demon who's back was turnt away.
it only takes him a moment to turn around, and ren frowns.
the demon had short black hair with two strands from the back tinted a different colour at the bottom. he had identical marks of three squares fading from yellow to green just underneath his eyes. though engraved in his eyes, was 'lowermoon one'.
ren grumbles,
bitch ass miguel.. didn't mention there'd be a lowermoon here, too!
"oh, you're both awake?" the demon waves, "good morning."
ren arches a brow, "it's night time"
the demon's smile only widens, a playful glint in his eyes.
this human.., he thinks with a tilt of his head, she looks weird. what's that metal in her face? hm. i like her already
"you should have stayed asleep. i was showing you both such a good dream. boy, you should thank me - i could've shown your family being slaughtered"
ren's smile thins and her expression twists into a glare. she hadn't known of tanjiro's past, and there was no reason for the demon to disclose it in such a way.
"and you, girl, would you have rathered watch those two little friends of yours get taken away again?"
"god, do you demons stop talking?" ren questions, arms crossing over her chest. "i don't know if you think it's funny or cool to call out everyone's tragic pasts, but spoiler alert, it's really not. i can tell just by looking at you that you're some weird ass demon that does every little thing for the approval of his big ol' master kibutsuji. do you get on your knees and bark for him, too? do you enjoy when he treats you like a damn mutt?"
the demon's smile drops and tanjiro gapes at ren, never having heard her snap in such a way.
tanjiro unsheathes his blade, glaring at the demon ahead of him, "you can't go stomping around inside people's hearts! you won't get away with this"
ren glares skeptically as the demon's face suddenly contorts into a gleeful expression, but tanjiro readies his blade and shoots forward, ren just planning her next move.
she could tell there was something up about this demon — like it wasn't fully there. the demonic presence, in fact, could be felt all around, almost as if it was one with the train.
ren's lips purse. the top of the train where they currently resided was a battle-field that left her at a disadvantage. there was little leverage to make use of her webs, and the wind whipping passed her was honestly just annoying.
tanjiro shoots forward, collapsing momentarily as the demon sticks his hand out, a mouth on the back of his hand willing him to sleep.
ren feels her own knees buck, but wills herself from the dream at once, eyes narrowing.
the mouth on the back of the demon's hand is responsible for sending us to sleep.. but can it work if it can't directly see me?
ren hums lowly, quickly pulling her mask up and shooting towards the demon alongside tanjiro.
the hand continuously shouts "go to sleep!", but with the help of your mask and tanjiro's willpower, it was entirely useless.
a smirk reaches ren's lip as she faces the demon now. "struggling, are we?"
from beside ren, tanjiro pauses as the girl clicks her tongue.
"gotta have his mc moment, i guess"
in the meanwhile, ren shoots a web towards a tree in the distance, saluting the demon as she shoots away, the lower one giving a cheshire grin.
"ahh, giving up already?"
he quickly realises he spoke to soon as the train skyrockets ahead and you were suddenly shooting back over, leg colliding with the demon's chest as he flies back, skidding to a stop much farther down the train.
tanjiro snaps awake, fury in his eyes. "my family.. would never say that!!"
tanjiro shoots forward, ren giving him the moment as he slashes the demon's head, but it was soon abundantly clear that ren's earlier observation had been true.
"i truly understand.." the demon starts to speak as it's head falls to the ground. "how the master felt when he ordered me to kill you.. in addition to a hashira"
ren's face scrunches up in disgust as a tendril rises from the train, connecting to the severed demon head.
"your very existence.. grates on my nerves!" he says with the same gleeful smile.
ren grins slyly, "maybe if you complete this mission, you can be more than kibutsuji's dog"
rage glints in the demon's eyes, but he's quickly distracted by tanjiro's bewildered expression.
"there it is! that's the expression i wanted to see! tee hee hee!" a manic laugh leaves the demon, "you want me to tell you why i didn't die even though you cut off my head, right? very well, i'm in high spirits right now. it's so simple even a baby could understand! hee hee!"
ren grimaces, "yuck. never do that again"
the demon ignores ren, but she could see the faint twitch of his brow. "because that was not my main body! the same goes for who's talking to you right now."
"it looks like my head, but it isn't! while you were deep asleep.." the demon sighs dreamily, "I fused with this steam train!"
ren clicks her tongue in annoyance, displeased she had allowed this to happen while she was asleep, but then again it was probably a critical part of this mission, and so it probably had to happen.
she gives a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose,
why am i even in this universe again..? i know demons are anomalies, but if i can't even change anything, they don't really need me, do they? maybe i can ask miguel about getting excused early.. ugh
by the time ren focused again, the demon had sunk back into the train.
she groans, "guess it's time to re-awaken the gang.."
THANKFULLY BY THAT POINT THE OTHERS HAD MOSTLY AWOKEN, AND NOW THERE WAS A PLAN IN PLACE TO PROTECT THE PASSENGERS WHILST WORKING TO DEFEAT THE LOWER ONE.
rengoku, zenitsu and inosuke were protecting those in the carts, while ren, inosuke and tanjiro were assigned to taking down the lowermoon.
thankfully it didn't take long to come to the conclusion that that the demon's neck likely resided in the front carriage of the train, and so the three jump to the top of the train, ren's face plastered with disgust at the mushy demon flesh beneath her.
"this is the most disgusting thing i've ever seen" she mutters, taking cautious steps to avoid touching it as much as possible.
"suspiciously suspicious" ren and tanjiro hear inosuke grumble, his sword pointed at the train's conductor.
ren glances warily at the older male. he surely knew something about the demon. he was likely another pawn.
"demon's neck.. demon's weak point!" inosuke shouts, raising his swords right as the demon gasps awake, disgusting tendrils shooting out in the shape of hands to grab him.
"disgusting! get away from me!"
"yuck!" ren screeches, but joins the fight anyway, sending razor-sharp webs through to slash the tendrils to pieces.
"aw, crap!" she groans as inosuke gets grabbed by the hands, flipping in the air and slashing half the tendrils as tanjiro shoots in also, using his water breathing to rid of the other half.
"power duo!" ren cheers, but pauses as an inhumane screech sounds all around the train as the demon yowls in pain.
"inosuke, are you alright!?"
"it's not like you saved me or anything, you know?!"
ren facepalms
"directly below us" tanjiro murmurs, crouching to the ground.
ren pinches her chin, surveying the ground which seemed to pulse with life beneath her.
disgusting..
"inosuke! ren! the demon's neck is directly below here!"
"don't give me orders! i am the boss!"
"shut your gob, boar!" ren huffs, smacking the back of inosuke's mask.
inosuke growls, "look!"
he jumps up high, ren and tanjiro moving back as he shoots back down, slashing his blades down as he slices up the flooring, revealing a literal spine beneath.
"oh god, i'm gonna be sick" ren covers her mouth.
"what the hell, miguel?" she mutters, turning her face away.
tanjiro raises his sword, preparing to slice the neck, only to be defelcted by a layer of flesh which rose quickly to defend the neck.
ren shrieks as the flesh grows, sending out more spiralling tendrils as the three jump from the carriage, tanjiro quickly saving the suspicious conductor.
ren watches with furrowed brows as the front carriage shifts, the flesh morphing into a bowl-like shape and re-covering the neck with pinkish sludge.
"inosuke! let's match our breathing and attack continuously! ren, make sure no other tendrils stop us!"
"you got it" you salute the boy.
unfortunately by the way the train was, it would be highly difficult for ren to manouver her webs to slash the neck, considering it was a horizontal challenge. she wouldn't be able to gain the leverage needed, so she was perfectly fine with just defending the two boys.
the two go to run ahead, but the demon acts first.
ren reels back as a large, thick tendril shoots up from the bottom, a selection of bright blue eyes opening on each thick lump.
ren startles as tanjiro goes momentarily limp, her and inosuke not suffering the effects as the masks act as a barrier between the blood demon art and their eyes.
tanjiro, on the other hand, was getting repeatedly hit as he struggled to keep his eyes off the glowing blue orbs.
"inosuke! tanjiro doesn't have a mask, so he's always going to get hit! we need to find a way to keep him from getting hit!"
inosuke just puffs out, but nods, leaping into action as the two gasp lightly, tanjiro's blade pressed to his neck as he mistakes reality for a dream.
inosuke grabs the boys arm, slamming it down. "it's nto a dream. it's reality! don't fall for his trap. don't die in a lame way!"
inosuke cackles, piercing his blades into the demon's eyes as ren quickly shoots out some webs to slash them in half.
"i'm wearing the mountain lord's hide. they're too scared to look me in the eye"
"more like they can't find your eyes" ren deadpans, "i think the masks act as a barrier. the demon needs a clear view of our eyes to get us.
"okay, all we have to do is slash this guy!" inosuke grins.
ren's head snaps to the left as the same train conductor pants, running down with a familiar pick in his hand.
she goes to make a move, but a quick, decisive voice stops her.
no. this must happen
she bites her lip, watching as tanjiro intercepts inosuke, yelping as the pick pierces his stomach.
"tanj!" ren calls, grabbing the boys shoulders as he stumbles, knocking the conductor out.
inosuke startles, "were you stabbed?"
"i'm fine" he shakes his head, moving to pull the conductor away from the danger zone.
"we need to hurry" ren instructs, head darting up as the tendrils start again.
"you two go! i'll get all of these guys, you get the neck!"
"don't need to tell me twice!" inosuke cackles, swerving around the falling tendrils as ren jumps up, flipping in the air and sending webs to slash each hand-like tendril.
"GO NOW!" she shouts decisively, sending one big slash to each tendril and glowing eye, incapacitating the demon for long enough for the boys to make a move.
inosuke shoots down, slashing the flesh around the neck as the bone makes itself visible. tanjiro wastes no time before jumping down also.
ren's lips part slightly as his movement changes just slightly, showing something different than the water breathing she had seen before.
the move ricochets through the whole train as ren stumbles slightly, finding her footing as she glances back at the carts.
"the train is going to derail!" ren shouts, "i've got you!"
in one movement, ren shoots a web to the three and scoops up tanjiro, the conductor and inosuke, holding them tight as she swings near the ground, dropping them at once but not stopping there. she swings through the trees, colliding with the train as she swoops into one of the carts.
the passengers, all still asleep, make no move as ren shoots through the carts, weaving her webs around each passenger like a human train before jumping through the window, rolling the passengers onto the ground as rengoku, too, escorts the passengers out safely.
the two make brief eye contact, sharing a nod as they ensure every last passenger was removed safely from the actively de-railing train, completing the mission in a mission with success as they both tumble to the ground finally, sharing a relieved breath as rengoku assumes the mission is nearly over.
unfortunately for him, it's only just beginning.
date posted ; 29/09/25
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