Neo looked at the kanji on the demon's eyes as he stayed still, afraid that even one wrong move would end up being bad for him, as he had his hands away from the hilt of his katanas. As he felt, if he made one move, he would end up dead on the floor immediately. He then took a deep breath as the demon stares at him and slowly walked towards him as the demon then spoke.
"Speak, what's your name, slayer, and how did you sense me coming towards you?"
The demon then looked at the slayer with his hand on the hilt of his katana as he examined the slayer and said.
"Fascinating, your body is built pretty nicely, but something tells me it can become better. Say, Slayer, become a demon like me. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Kokushibou, and if you agree to become a demon, you can hone your body further and grow stronger than ever."
The upper rank 1 said as he kept staring as Neo stared back, now sweating, before smirking and pulling out his blades and charging at the demon at full speed, only for the demon to dodge. As he looked, he only managed to cut a small part of the upper rank's haori as he turned around and swung again, this time hitting something as he smiled, only for his smile to vanish as he saw the upper rank blocking his blade with the hilt of his sword. As Neo took in a breath, he performed a drill-type slash, only for it to be parried by the demon with the sheath of his katana as they both took in deep breaths as they both unleashed their respective breathing techniques.
"Breath of moon, first form: dark moon evening palace"
"Breath of dragon, first form: dragon pulse!"
Kokushibo quickly draws his sword and slashes swiftly in a singular horizontal motion in a crescent shape, creating numerous chaotic crescent blades.
As Neo performed 2 slashes in a horizontal area to block the sword with one while blocking the crescent blades with his other katana, slicing them into 2, he would immediately follow it up with a backflip kick to the jaw as it almost hit but would leave him vulnerable to an attack as Kokushibo wouldn't move from his place. As Neo would get enough time to put his hands on the ground and jump back using his arms to propel himself back, he would stare at Kokushibou for a millisecond.
only to see Kokushibou's blade almost reaching his neck as he acted quickly and blocked the sword strike with the dull side of his katana and then slashed at Kokushibou with his free hand, going for his main 2 eyes, as the eyes in his sword moved and made a weird slimy sound, creeping Neo out as he jumped back again
"What the hell was that noise?"
He said as he stared at Kokushibou, who looked bored as Neo sighed and started using his actual strength and speed as he immediately arrived face-to-face with Kokushibou without him noticing as he slashed at his neck with both his blades, only to be slashed across the chest as blood spewed out of his chest as Kokushibou chuckled and sliced down at him to finish the battle, only for it to be sliced in half as one of the middle rows of his eyes was sliced.
alongside, as the blade would grow back immediately after being sliced into 2, as his eyes would regenerate again only for him to be stabbed. From the back of his head, as Neo had gotten faster and stronger and now had his head in the fight, Kokushibou was left surprised and turned around and sliced at him only to slice at air as it started raining, but Kokushibou didn't feel the cold; he was feeling warm, extremely warm. It was as if a fire somehow withstood the rainwater as Kokushibou would turn around and slice again; it would only be met by another slash that would block the slicing attack by Kokushibou as he would use his other blade to slice at
Kokushibou's throat missing by a inch as he was then kicked away by Kokushibou as he would then make a crescent shaped slash alongside with the moon blades would charge straight at Neo as he would then perform breath of dragon third form raging slash as he used one blade to cut the crescent shaped slash as he imagined a ring of fire around him as he used his free sword to cut away the crescent moon's as Kokushibou appeared Infront of him as he immediately wentfor a stab to the throat of the slayer Neo would counter it by jumping up to give him more time to react as he swung his blade at Kokushibou's blade and using the other to slash at his neck as Kokushibou easily dodged it and use breath of the moon Fifth Form
Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddie Kokushibo makes multiple curved slashes layered over one another, creating a rising vortex of sword slashes and crescent moon blades as Neo loses his remaining eye by the sudden slashes he receives as his body gets sliced, but he doesn't lose more limbs other than one ear, as his cheeks are now sliced. He somehow manages to survive that as blood drips down as he stares at Kokushibou, breathing heavily now as his
The boy was now shaking from the fear of imminent death as he growled and kicked away Kokushibou with enough strength to send him flying into a tree as dragon-like scales appeared on his cheeks as Kokushibou looked at Neo as his body temperature was rising as he immediately dashed towards Kokushibou, slicing his throat but not powerfully enough to slice away his head.
As he appeared behind Kokushibou, he took in a breath and performed the fifth form calamity strike. As he performed it, he did 5 continuous slashes almost instantaneously: 3 vertical, 1 up, and the other down. Kokushibo easily avoids this by jumping forward to tackle him to the ground but surprisingly gets his foot sliced off. Kokushibo grew it back immediately and turned and performed multiple slashes as those slashes were fired towards
Neo just sliced them into bits and charged at him and sliced off both his arms as he then shoved his left sword into the right arm stub to prevent him from regenerating immediately as he took a deep breath and slashed at his neck, piercing through the hardened skin as he reached halfway to slice off his neck but stopped and pulled out both his katanas as he kicked Kokushibou in the head, knocking him off balance as Kokushibou let out a loud roar as blades emerged out of his body, sending crescent slashes everywhere, cutting everything down but barely missing Neo as a huge gash on the side of his stomach appeared as
Kokushibou breathed heavily as Neo took this opportunity to immediately dash behind a boulder and stitch up his wounds as Kokushibou looked around trying to find Neo as he increased the size of his blades and sliced away the trees with only one circular swing as they began to fall down. Taking this opportunity, he immediately started putting medicine on his wounds as Kokushibou cut down more trees, eventually cutting the boulder Neo was hiding behind.
into 2, as Neo used this opportunity to dash and slice more branches into pieces as he reached into his pockets and felt a small bag as he pulled it out, and it was filled with demon-killing bombs, as he grinned and started throwing 3 bombs at Kokushibou to create a distraction, as Kokushibou would predict his next move and would appear in front of him almost instantly as Neo would grin widely and would then throw his bombs at his face, only for them to be sliced in half, but they would now explode instantly as he would back away and would slam his feet to the ground.
"Say, Kokushibou, how about we end this with one move? If you win, I'll become a demon; if I win, you will be meeting your ancestors in hell!"
He would say in confidence as Kokushibou would smirk and nod as Neo took a stance with both of his blades above his head as he would take a deep breath.
"Breath of dragon, second form, dragon rush!"
He charged at Kokushibou at full speed, creating a small crater where he leapt from,, but Kokushibou was ready, as Kokushibou would then use moon breathing 10th form drilling slashes. moon through bamboo leaves Kokushibo creates a long-ranged triple-layered slash twister full of crescent moon blades with the gigantic version of his sword as Neo slashes at his neck while getting sliced into bits as he grins wide before he slides between his legs and
avoiding the attack as his shoulder was all bloodied and was sliced pretty badly, as he didn't have more strength to fight, as he laughed his head had been almost sliced apart, but half of his face was gone, only leaving a fleshy exterior with half his skull showing as he smiled, and he stabbed Kokushibou in the throat one last time before taking his final breath as Kokushibou held him as he looked up at him as blood fell down from his head and shoulder and the stomach wound as Kokushibou spoke
"Dying was not part of the deal, so I will grant you the power of the demon, but before that I will have to patch you up."
Kokushibou reached out to Neo's bag and pull out some bandages to wrap around his head and stomach wound and shoulder as Kokushibou then made him drink his blood by squeezing his hand as Neo started feeling minor changes as Kokushibou left him alone in the forest all patched up as the sun rose but it didn't effect him yet other than making his heart beat again he had somehow managed to almost hold off upper moon 1 till morning as a pair of Kakushi were sent to his location as the Oyakata sama was worried about him as he was then taken to the butterfly mansion to have his wounds treated as he stared into the blue sky and wonder when will he change into a demon as he sighed as by the time they had reached the butterfly mansion he had passed out from exhaustion and blood loss as shinobu treated his wounds properly as she looked at him and sigh and say
"What kind of demon did you even face? A demon that left you this bruised and beaten must be quite high in ranking; I'm assuming upper 3? Or 2?"
As Neo became conscious again, he chuckled and laughed and said
"Wrong, I faced the upper rank 1 Kokushibou. I almost died, but I was given some time to patch up my wounds by distracting him with bombs."
He coughed out blood as he looked at her and smiled and reached out his hand towards her.
"Say, Nee-san, am I going to be alive...?"
Shinobu sighed and smiled as well as she held his hand and patted his head gently.
"Yes, you will, Neo; just try not to move much. If you do, you might end up opening unwanted wounds. I'll send in Kanao to assist you with the things you need."
Shinobu said as she got up from her chair, as Neo immediately panicked and said
"D-don't. She gives me a bad feeling. Even though she's your little sister, she makes me feel like she's going to stab me in the throat if I say one wrong thing, such as teasing her about that boy Tanjiro."
He laughed as he began coughing again and groaning in pain as Shinobu giggled and struck his head gently.
"Hah, you deserved that for teasing her."
Shinobu said as Neo groaned and replied with
"Yeah yeah, whatever; just let me rest now, shoo."
Shinobu nods as she walks away from the bed and then to another room as a day has passed. Neo began getting irritated by the sunlight as he asked Shinobu to close the blinds as it was irritating him. Then day 2 passed; his wounds were all gone, not even a single scar left. As it went night, then day 3, he began feeling violent as fangs grew out of his mouth. As night fell, he would escape the demon slayer headquarters as Shinobu tried to catch him but was too slow. She let out a tch and got on her knees and began tearing up, as her own brother had turned into an enemy. As the next day came, Shinobu was found sleeping on the hard floor of the entrance to the demon slayer headquarters as Sanemi came up to her and asked
"What's wrong, Kocho? Why are you sleeping here?"
He asked in confusion as Shinobu looked up at him with teary eyes.
"Neo, he turned into a demon! I knew it; he should not have survived the fight without being turned into a demon. I knew it! But I still took pity on him...for in my eyes he looked just the same as I remembered when you brought him in..."
Sanemi was left shock as he refused to believe it and growled in anger and immediately went back to his mansion and grab his katana and stormed to Oyakata Samas mansion and knocked as he told the news to him as Oyakata sama held a Hashira meeting as a angry Sanemi and a sadness filled Shinobu told the Hashiras about the news as Gyomei and Sanemi immediately went out to hunt Neo down as the scene changed to night and shifted towards Neo who was starving as he refused to eat any humans while he was still conscious but something in him snapped as he then began murdering entire villages all by himself as he would devour every single one of them leaving a trail of blue flames behind as he took in a breath as the old Neo was no more now it was just his demon self as he ate countless people and get stronger and stronger and eventually rise up to the rank of upper rank 4 after the upper rank 4 had been killed in battle as he then challenged Akaza for his position as Muzan watched the blood battle between them
"My lord, does the winner get to absorb the other?"
Neo asked as Muzan just nodded as the fight began with Akaza going for a long ranged shockwave attack which were sliced away by Neo as he walked closer towards Akaza as Akaza charged at him and punch him only for it to be blocked by the sharp side of his blade as he would then slice upwards splitting his arms into 2 and leaving a flame trail on his arm which made him Regenerate slower as Neo took in a breath and then slice at his neck with one blade before changing and slicing his torso and cutting him in half leaving a trail of flames on his body as he then grabbed him by the hair and threw him away like trash as he walked closer towards Akaza as the winner was decided as Akaza couldn't Regenerate fast enough even if he did he would just get sliced into bits again as Akaza gave up and was about to be absorbed before getting stopped by Muzan ordering Neo to not absorb Akaza as like a dog he obeyed as he was then be promoted to upper rank 3 as his power increased even more as he challenged the upper rank 2 Douma easily beating him as well with just a second form dragon rush decapitating him and burning away all his ice sculptures as he then sighed and look at Kokushibou who looked proud as he walked towards him to congratulate him on becoming a upper rank faster than Gyutaro and Daki and Douma as he smiled and swipe his blade at Kokushibou's neck only for it to be blocked by the hilt of his Katana as they both would jump back while slicing at each other as small blue flame dragons would escape from the flaming slash as they collided with the crescent moons exploding on them as they both looked at each other through the cloud of black smoke with blood lust as Kokushibou went for a moon breathing form only to be hit by a large dragon that was fired by Neo that exploded on him as he groaned a bit.
IMPORTANT NOTES: The swordsmith village arc still happens, as Tanjiro still goes to the village to train with Mitsuri, as Oyakata-sama had told Mitsuri to train Tanjiro, and so in doing so, Gyokko and Hantengu lost their lives, and Douma was pushed to upper rank 3 and Akaza to rank 4, while Daki and Gyutaro were promoted to upper rank 5.
Next chapter: The throne for upper rank 1