Giyu was still cooped up at home, unwilling to leave and interact with other Demon Slayers for the next few days after Shinobu came to check up on him. Even though he decided that he would give living another chance, he found it hard to muster the courage to interact with other Pillars. Additionally, the only other Demon Slayer he would ever interact with, he was currently irritated at.
However, it was exactly that Demon Slayer who helped Giyu get over his nerves. Tanjiro Kamado came over to Giyu's house, asking Giyu to train him once his injuries were healed. Giyu initially turned him away, but Tanjiro never left him alone. Giyu had a soft spot for Tanjiro, given the fact that he's easily the kindest person Giyu had ever met, so eventually, Giyu told Tanjiro of his troubles. He talked about his sister and Sabito, both of whom he regretted losing more than anything. He talked about how he felt unqualified to be a Pillar, and how he failed during his Final Selection.
However, through heartfelt words that only Tanjiro could say, Giyu recalled something that reinforced his newfound reasons to live. Sabito was standing over him, a furious expression on his face. Giyu was a coward, even back then, to say that he felt like he should die. However, Sabito scolded him for this. Sabito, so long ago, gave Giyu a reason to live. Giyu felt like he had lost this after he lost Sabito, and tried to replace it with the act of slaying demons. However, it had truly never left him.
Giyu was a child again. A furious Sabito stood over him, furious at him for trying to abandon his own life. He was a coward for giving up on living, especially after his big sister sacrificed her own life to save his. He blinked; now he was an adult once more. A furious Shinobu stood over him, furious at him for trying to abandon his own life. He was a coward for giving up on living, especially after Sabito sacrificed his own life to save not only the others in the forest, but him as well. Giyu felt a warmth in his chest; his life had gained a new meaning, one that was not limited to slaying demons. Giyu was no longer only a demon slayer, his sister and Sabito would not have wanted him to think this way. Shinobu would not want him to think this way.
Giyu snapped out of his daydream. "Giyu-san?" Tanjiro's nervous voice rang out behind him. Tanjiro was scared that he had offended Giyu, since Giyu was standing, unmoving. However, Giyu was processing the surge of emotions- or the recognition of what was missing- that came over him. They seemed foreign to him, since it had been since he last saw Sabito that he could notice them. "I'm lonely…" Giyu thought as he clutched his chest, realizing that he missed having a friend. Even though he felt sad from this, he was overall happy to remember what he had. He was extremely happy that Tanjiro had talked to him. Now, Giyu was an individual; a human once again.
"Giyu-san, would you like to have a cold soba eating contest with me?" Tanjiro asked, sensing Giyu's emotions and thinking he needed a friend. Giyu was really confused by the question, but he ended up accepting. He was glad to be invited, since he had just realized how lonely he was. He also ended up agreeing to train with the other Pillars.
Now, however, Giyu would have to learn how to socialize with them. He was really only familiar with talking to a few people, and some of them he hardly talked to in person. Each of the Pillars were so incredible and different from one another, Giyu was certain that there would practically be a language barrier between himself and another Pillar. However, he would still attempt to do this.
He first tried to socialize with Sanemi Shinazugawa, which was likely a bad decision. However, he still tried his best to make a friend, which is something he never felt like he could say again. Giyu considered Shinobu for a moment. "Did I give my all when I became close to her?" he thought, considering if she was an exception to his previous notion. However, he concluded that she was definitely more willing to interact with him than he was to interact with her. "I have to make it up to her, for all of her hard work. After the battle…"
Giyu was able to interact with a few other Pillars, though some of them weren't available. He found it most easy to interact with Kanroji, since they had exchanged letters in the past. She found his new resolve very sweet and would easily forgive his lacking social skills. However, this made Iguro hard to interact with for some reason. As for the other Pillars that he was able to talk to: he enjoyed talking to Rengoku (even though the gap in social skills between them was the greatest of all of the Pillars), and he enjoyed talking to Tokito (because the aforementioned gap was so small).
Then, the explosion happened.
It is usually safe to say that nobody expects to die. Giyu Tomioka used to have his death planned out, via suicide. Jigoro Kuwajima died exactly how Giyu planned to, via seppuku. In the Taisho Era, this was generally the only way anyone would expect to die, if it were planned ahead of time. However, in the case of Kagaya Ubayashiki as well as many of his family, they planned to go out an entirely different way.
Muzan Kibutsuji had planned an assault on the Ubayashiki Estate, but he was led into an ambush. The whole estate, almost all of the Ubayashiki family, and Muzan Kibutsuji all were engulfed by an inferno as the explosion leveled the surrounding landscape. The final fight, the fight to decide whether Demon Slayers or demons would survive, had finally begun.
The position of Head of the Demon Slayer corps was immediately transferred to Kiriya Ubayashiki, Kagaya's only son. He immediately sent orders out via Messenger Crows. The Pillars who were closest together at the time were grouped together in the Infinity Fortress, which is where Muzan tried to escape to.
"Tanjiro Kamado and Giyu Tomioka are to pursue Muzan Kibutsuji at once! I repeat, Tanjiro Kamado and Giyu Tomioka are to pursue Muzan Kibutsuji at once!" the Messenger Crow squawked out to them. Giyu looked over to Tanjiro and they both nodded in agreement. "We must be the closest to him then…" Giyu thought as the two ran down the eerie hallways.On the other side, a grudge match had begun.
Years ago, Shinobu Koucho had a sister named Kanae Koucho, whom Kanao had been named in honor of. Shinobu was more fond of Kanae than anyone else, but Shinobu thought her to be a little naive. Kanae apparently believed that it was possible for demons and humans to get along, a belief that Shinobu would falsely inherit in honor of her.
The reason Shinobu inherited it instead of simply keeping her own values was that Kanae was killed. Kanae encountered the third strongest demon in existence, Douma. This demon was the Upper Moon Second, which meant that Kanae truly had no chance of winning. However, in her dying breaths, she did a decent enough job of describing Douma to Shinobu that, right at this very moment, Shinobu recognized him.
Shinobu was fast, faster than Douma had ever seen from a Demon Slayer. Her thrusts had been honed to perfection, but they ultimately did not worry him. Douma was under the belief that she could not win; she obviously could not decapitate him, and she would run out of stamina eventually. However, her thrusts began to worry him a slight bit. Douma was not aware of the poison that began to course through him until he was spitting up blood.
But Douma was a demon. His regenerative capabilities meant that, if this wisteria poison were not strong enough to kill him now, they never could in the future. By extension, Shinobu would be completely incapable of defeating her opponent.
Shinobu was beginning to wear down. She had yet to take any major damage, but her endurance was faltering because Douma turned the surrounding air icy. Her lungs began to burn- or really- freeze. From here on out, she was fighting a losing battle. All she could do was hope that she could stall for time. And stall, she did. Although she was furious and wanted nothing more than to see her sister's killer defeated, she stood her ground. The closer she got to the demon, the more likely she was to fail and become devoured. So, Douma went on the offensive. "You know- Shinobu-can, was it?- I was really impressed by those attacks of yours!" Douma said with an excited tone. He prepares his fans to slash. "Blood Demon Art: Barren Hanging Garden!"
Douma appeared right in front of Shinobu, lunging at her, ready to immobilize her with his fans. Time seemed to slow down around her as she deeply inhaled, not able to afford to care whether she was inhaling frosty air. Her blood vessels bulged all around her, filling her with energy and strength like none before. She would not win, she could not win, but she would not die without a fight. "Dance of the Mantis: Petal Trap!" Shinobu thought as she began to thrust with her sword. Douma's eyes widened as she perfectly deflected each of his attacks, even landing strikes to his arms and face between deflections.
Time really had seemed to slow down before Shinobu. Her muscle memory and instinct seemed to take over for her while thoughts began to flood into her mind. She pictured Kanae standing in front of her. "I'm sorry, Onee-san. I know you didn't want me to be a Demon Slayer. I know you wanted me to live a normal life like a normal girl. But I'll be with you again soon…" she thought as she slowed down a little from exhaustion, now only able to deflect the onslaught of fan slashes. She pictured Kanao standing in front of her now. "I'm sorry, Kanao-chan. Please forgive your big sister, and please avenge me…" Tears began to form in her eyes as she deflected the barrage. She now imagined Giyu standing in front of her. "I'm sorry, Tomioka-san. I never got to tell you anything, did I? I mastered this technique, and it was because of this that I survived this long. I also never got to tell you that I…"
Shinobu thoughts were interrupted. Suddenly, the cold air around her seemed sweltering. "What?" she thought as she examined her surroundings. Douma was on the other side of the room. He had not been moved from his spot, but Shinobu had. Her eyes focused on something that had not been in the room before. "Sorry, but I won't let a single comrade of mine die tonight!" a booming voice exclaimed. Douma turned around and saw a blonde man with both markings and prominent blood vessels covering his face and neck- the only Demon Slayer that could match Douma's own charisma- the one that killed Akaza- Kyojuro Rengoku. Douma's cheery expression turned sour.
"Kanao Tsuyuri, proceed to the east! To the east!" a Messenger Crow called out. Kanao prayed with all her might that Shinobu had succeeded against Upper Moon Second. She prayed just as much that she was being led towards it so she could ensure Shinobu was either alive or avenged. However, the place she entered had no sign of Shinobu, only signs of other Pillars. She figured that things must have been going well enough for Shinobu if she wasn't sent in as reinforcements. Kanao dashed further into the room. "He's hurt!" she thought, seeing the Mist Pillar stuck to a pole via a gnarled, fleshy sword. Thankfully, she got it out quick and he was able to stop the bleeding quick. The demon who was the cause of this was preoccupied with something else at the time: two Pillars and a Demon Slayer.Back on Giyu's side, things were going smoothly. They had not encountered any demons as of yet, so all they had to do was follow Tanjiro's nose, which would lead them towards Kibutsuji. They heard sounds from all over, most loudly the sound of a single thunderclap, but they had to ignore it. They were the ones assigned to fight Muzan, so they could do nothing to help the other slayers until that goal was met. They must have ran for ten minutes before finding the mound of flesh that had become Muzan Kibutsuji and Tamayo. Muzan had been terribly injured at the site of the explosion, so Giyu and Tanjiro wanted to take advantage of this. "Let's do this, we can't give him time to heal." Giyu said, readying his blade. Together, the duo began to hack away at the orb of flesh. Tanjiro was sure to instruct Giyu as to where Tamayo was so that she was not accidentally killed in this assault.
The two were able to extract Tamayo, and Tanjiro was given orders to retreat with her immediately. Apparently, outside of the Infinity Fortress, there were crows waiting with packets of blood for her in the event that she survived. However, neither Giyu nor Tanjiro had any clue how to exit this place- it seemed to be fitting of its title. Tamayo was missing her entire lower body and one of her arms, but she was alive. Because they took her out, Muzan could not use her for regeneration. One of two things would happen soon. The first thing was… nothing. Muzan would not be able to regenerate from all of the damage and he could be taken into the sunlight once the exit was found. The other thing was, Muzan would hunt for food in a weakened state to try and regenerate.
It seemed the latter was true. Out of the slimy orb came Muzan, who looked terrible. His hair was snow white, and he looked skinny and frail. However, Giyu knew not to assume this was the case, so he remained cautious. In front of him, even in a horribly weakened state, was the most powerful demon ever. There was no way he could win on his own. Muzan lunged at him, speed the likes of which Giyu had never seen. However, this was speed, the likes of which Giyu had trained for. Muzan's arm reached out to Giyu, trying to stab him, but Giyu was able to read and dodge this. "Breath of Water, Eighth form: Waterfall Basin!" Giyu thought urgently as he slashed Muzan's arm beneath him. However, the arm attached itself again almost instantly. "Damnit!"
Giyu was being pushed to the edge. He knew that he couldn't use Dead Calm right now, because not only would he not be able to deflect all of the attacks, but he would be killed by the ones that get by. He switched between Constant Flux and Whirlpool most often, slicing tendrils while closing the distance. "If I can just cut his head…" he thought while he moved. However, it was no use. As soon as he closed the distance, he had to open it more to avoid getting slaughtered and eaten. Much like Shinobu was not too long ago, Giyu is fighting a losing battle.
Suddenly, help arrived in the form of Obanai Iguro, Mitsuri Kanroji, and (although Giyu did not know this) the Demon named Yushiro.Back in the now blistering-hot room where Douma resided, the grudge match continued. Douma seemed irritated that someone interrupted his assault on -and eventual devouring of- Shinobu, so he was doing his best to continue that. "Blood Demon Art: Crystalline Divine Child!" Douma yelled, sending an icy effigy of himself to preoccupy Rengoku while he continued to attack Shinobu. He immediately closed the distance between them, knowing that Shinobu could no longer do anything to hurt him. "Blood Demon Art: Freezing Clouds!" Clouds of frozen mist appeared around him, making the air even thinner and more dangerous to breathe in. "Shit!" Shinobu thought, dashing out of the mist to protect her lungs. Her speed had not failed her yet, she could still hold out.
"Rengoku-san, switch!" she called out urgently. The 'Crystalline Divine Child' fighting Rengoku right now was not a demon, it was ice. Therefore, Shinobu could actually do damage to it with her powerful thrusts. So, she pleaded to Rengoku to take over on her behalf, fighting the demon that only he could right now. Rengoku understood immediately and braced his legs. "Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter!" Shinobu thought as her momentum increased, escaping Douma and dashing towards his effigy. On the other end, Rengoku's legs launched him forward, escaping the effigy and dashing towards Douma. "Breath of Flame, First form: Unknowing Fire!" he thought. As the two dashed past each other, they shared a knowing look.
Shinobu was now in front of something made entirely of ice. It may have the same strength and Blood Demon Arts as Douma, but if Shinobu could break it, there was the chance it would not be able to regenerate. Additionally, the fans it defended itself with were made out of ice, so it could not defend itself forever.
Kyojuro was having a hard time against Douma. Akaza was a challenging foe indeed, but Douma was definitely stronger. "Blood Demon Art: Cold White Princesses!" Douma called out. Suddenly, two ice-princesses appeared, blowing cold air into the room to try and slow down Rengoku's assaults. Douma was a little nervous about Rengoku, since he had managed to kill Akaza, so he was fighting defensively. Rengoku backed up, out of the range of the freezing clouds so that he could inhale. As soon as he backed up, Douma decided to use a ranged attack. "Blood Demon Art: Lotus Vines!"
Shinobu was being pushed to the edge; three more ice effigies appeared after the first one was smashed. Kyojuro seemed to be preoccupied by the real Douma as it was, so Shinobu could not let any of these get by her. "I have to keep fighting! Keep breathing when you can, keep destroying these bastards! Hold out until Kyojuro wins!" she thought as she weaved between attacks, dashing in and out of the frozen clouds to breathe. "I can do this, I can do this!" All three of the ice effigies surrounded her, using "Barren Hanging Garden," but these were simple enough to deflect with her fifth form. In fact, she was able to break the icy fans of these effigies, rendering them unable to attack using that art. Shinobu quickly broke one of the Divine Children, but the other two escaped her range. "Damnit!" she thought as she flexed her legs, preparing to leap. She could definitely get another of them, but she knew the third one would counterattack somehow. "Butterfly Dance: Caprice!" she thought, leaping in the air, inhaling the safe air above, and lunging down to shatter one of the Divine Children.
The one that had distanced itself from Shinobu created a swarm of icy lotus flowers, launching them at her with the intent to shred her to pieces. It did not appear to want to let up, continuously creating these until Shinobu eventually succumbed. Shinobu sprinted, slashed, dodged, and everything else of the sort, all in quick succession. "Damnit, I can't get close to this thing!" she thought, but suddenly, its attack stopped. Her expectations were subverted; she thought it would continue doing this until she died. However, something worse was happening. Its hands went together, seemingly praying.Whatever it was doing was stopped short. "Beast Breathing: Sudden Throwing Strike!" a gruff voice boomed, and with it came two swords that shattered the icy arms of the opponent. The swords landed in the water around it, and it was left completely defenseless. "Hahahaha! You're weak for a demon!" Inosuke Hashibira laughed maniacally, dashing to his discarded swords. The icy Douma used its legs to kick at Inosuke, who was admittedly acting recklessly. However, he was just barely able to dodge, grabbing one of his swords. While its concentration was on Inosuke, Shinobu lunged forward. Her breath had been caught, her power had been restored. "Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter." she thought. She dashed forward and thrusted, shattering the neck between its head and shoulders.
"You are really strong, stronger than any other Pillar I've killed! I can see how you killed Akaza!" Douma called out to Kyoujuro, not entirely taunting him, but still trying to get under his skin. "If it was Akaza, I bet he was begging you to become a demon!" Douma created two ice effigies to keep him at bay while he concentrated. Kyojuro had been skillfully evading his attacks, but he was wary of the ice princesses that seemed to be even more wary of him. He was surrounded, but he still refused to use a breathing form until he saw an opening. With the other ice effigies defeated and Shinobu and Inosuke present, he would get just that.
The latter two immediately took charge of fighting the ice effigies or keeping them distracted. Douma was now out of ice effigies for the time being, so there was little defending him from Kyojuro Rengoku. "Man, this is almost scary!" Douma said, leaping backwards while his ice princesses spat frozen mist into the air. "Alright, I guess I should stop being so risky! Blood Demon Art: Rime - Water Lily Bodhisattva!" he said. Instead of landing on the floor after he leapt, he landed on the shoulder of an enormous statue of Buddha. The Buddha instantly blew a gust of wind, pushing air colder than the already frost air in the direction of Kyojuro.
"I've got to do this in quick succession…" Kyojuro thought as he felt strength surge into all of his muscles. Instead of dodging, Kyojuro would finally start attacking. As the air surrounded him, he swirled his blade in a circular pattern. "Breath of Flame, Fourth form: Blooming Flame Undulation!" he exclaimed as he did so. The misty, cold air that was around him suddenly cleared up as a tunnel of visibility appeared. Kyojuro saw his target in front of him. Douma's eyes widened, expecting to see Kyojuro frozen where he stood. "Breath of Flame, First form: Unknowing Fire!" he then exclaimed, lunging towards Douma at an incredible speed. Douma leapt backwards, landing in the water beneath the Buddha, which Kyojuro was standing on the shoulder of. Kyojuro felt his body surge with power. "This is it." he thought. "Breath of Flame, Ninth form: Rengoku!" he screamed, leaping downward and slashing.
Shinobu and Inosuke were having trouble with these effigies, since Shinobu had gotten tired and Inosuke had not yet grabbed his other sword. However, after an explosion rang out, and the room shook, the effigies stopped moving. Slowly, they began to crumble and disappear. Shinobu and Inosuke (him after he grabbed his sword) dashed to the explosion, where Kyojuro was catching his breath over the decapitated Douma. After exchanging some words, most of which were brutal insults towards him, Douma disappeared. Enough was said by the demon that some of Inosuke's memories came back, and some tears leaked out of his boar mask while the three slayers ran to help their comrades.
"Shinobu Koucho and Kyojuro Rengoku, you are to proceed east to battle against Muzan Kibutsuji! Inosuke Hashibira, you are to proceed forward to battle the Upper Moon First! I repeat-" the Messenger Crow called out, but Inosuke interrupted it with screaming and dashing forward like a bat out of Hell.
To briefly summarize the battles that took place against the Upper Moons this night; Zenitsu Agatsuma alone defeated the Upper Moon Sixth, the coalition of Shinobu Koucho, Kyojuro Rengoku, and Inosuke Hashibira defeated the Upper Moon Second, the coalition of Muichiro Tokito, Sanemi and Genya Shinazugawa, Gyoumei Himejima, Kanao Tsuyuri, and (eventually) Inosuke Hashibira defeated the Upper Moon First, and lastly, Muzan Kibutsuji killed the Upper Moon Fourth, who had previously been subjugated by the coalition of Obanai Iguro, Mitsuri Kanroji, and the demon Yushiro. So far tonight, the only deaths have been the Ubayashiki family, many non-pillars, and the Upper Moon Demons. Several, like Tokito, had been injured, but reinforcements arrived and the bleeding was stopped soon enough for the injury not to be fatal. Now, with Muzan revived, battling against the coalition of Giyu Tomioka, Shinobu Koucho, Kyojuro Rengoku, Obanai Iguro, and Mitsuri Kanroji, the Infinity Fortress was set to collapse, and everyone had to evacuate.
Tanjiro and Tamayo were picked up by Himejima and taken outside. Back in the outside world, Tanjiro rushed with Tamayo in his arms. She was healing so slowly, but she was healing. Very soon, the crows carrying packets of blood flew down to him. Tanjiro took the packets and slowly fed it to Tamayo. He was wary though, because of all of the noise that was taking place closeby. The Kakushis and Yushiro both watched over her while Tanjiro went to join the fray.Tendrils with sharp blades at the end of them shot in every direction, putting every Pillar on edge. Shinobu was able to perfectly deflect all of these attacks. "Thank you, Tomioka-san. If it weren't for you, I would surely have died by now…" she thought as she made light work of the tendrils. The other Pillars seemed to be able to advance forward, slashing the base of the tendrils as they turned the tables. However, Shinobu was essentially stuck in place. Her thrusts poisoned the tendrils and melted the blades off, but the poison would not travel down too far. The blades would grow back, and she could not move from her position.
Giyu was weaving between the tendrils, slicing them close to the base so that other Pillars could advance further forward. He was playing his role as the most useful support swordsman in the entire Demon Slayer corps. He had seen Shinobu struggling and made sure to slice the tendrils that gave her so much trouble. "Everyone, make it through this, please…" he thought as he exerted himself. "I want to see everyone again… Tanjiro, Urokodaki-sensei…" Giyu gripped his sword tighter. Memories of people close to him flooded in. "I still need to make it up to Koucho-san, for all of her hard work… Maybe I'll… flirt back at her?…" Giyu shook his head. He knew now was not the time or the place to be thinking about this.
The Sun was getting closer and closer to rising, but Muzan was still going strong. Well, that is to say, he was going strong for his current state. Currently, Muzan was aging rapidly, as well as being severely weakened, both due to the medicine that Tamayo forced into him. Despite all of his disadvantages, he was fighting all of the Pillars at once. The only difference was that the Pillars and the Mizunoto Trio may very well run out of endurance before the sun comes up; Muzan would likely not.
Giyu seemed to be everywhere at once. For almost every time a Pillar used a major attack, Giyu would read it and be able to assist them with a complementary attack. Thanks to his efforts, everyone seemed to be making good progress, even Shinobu, who was struggling until recently. Tanjiro seemed to be excelling, using the Breath of Sun. "Good, we've got him backed into a corner…" Giyu thought. The Sun was not far from rising, and Muzan was beginning to get more aggressive. His tendrils began to whip faster and harder, smashing surrounding buildings and doing his best to get rid of the pests. "Thank God we saved Tamayo… If she were absorbed, who knows how difficult this would be…" Giyu thought.
Suddenly, realizing that Giyu seemed to be omnipresent in the assault against him, Muzan decided to target him more aggressively than the others. While backing further away, he sent more tendrils to Giyu. He sent a lot more. Suddenly, Giyu was no longer so available to help the other Pillars. He now had to worry about his own life. He was being pushed harder and harder. Small cuts appeared where his sword could not protect him, and he was running out of energy. However, every Pillar seemed to be on edge still. "How can he make so many of these?" Giyu thought as he deflected, slashed, and stabbed at Muzan. "I've got to do something, everyone is being pressured right now..." Giyu thought, realizing that he was unable to support any of the others' attacks with his own. Giyu was essentially cut off from the rest of the Pillars.
Giyu realized that Muzan was spreading himself thin. "If I could close the gap between him and I..." Giyu thought. Muzan was aging rapidly, and almost all of the Pillars had marks and red hot blades, Giyu included. If he could cut Muzan's body, he would not be able to regenerate so fast, and it would give the other Pillars a chance to recover. However, Muzan seemed to be omniscient in thought; Muzan could tell where the weak links in the combatants lie as well as the strong links were. If he could take out the weak links, then he had an even better chance at winning before the Sun came up.However skilled Giyu Tomioka was at analyzing a battle in an instant, Muzan Kibutsuji was twice as skilled. Muzan, while only using his sense of touch on the blades of his tendrils, could tell which of his assailants had a mark, and which ones did not. He could tell which ones were fighting defensively, and which ones were trying to close the distance between them. He could tell that one of the thorns in his side seemed to be everywhere at once, strengthening the others' attacks with his own. Even more troublesome was the thorn in his side that kept using poison, which would circulate throughout his body and weaken him if the flesh part of his tendrils were stabbed. Muzan grew tired of these bothersome insects in particular. He knew that whenever the poison-using one would use a powerful attack, the support one would follow through with an attack of his own. So, Muzan decided to lighten up his attacks on the poison one, baiting her into using a powerful attack. Muzan planned on killing them both at once; if he could manage this, there would be too much pressure on the others for them to possibly succeed.
Muzan gritted his teeth together and moved most of his tendrils away from Shinobu and instead distributed them among the other swordsmen. He knew he was making a risky move; if the poison girl managed to attack his body directly, he may actually lose. Additionally, if the support attacker with the red blade hit his body directly, he could sever the tendrils up close and give the Demon Slayers an advantage. However, it was a last-second gambit that he had to try.
After seeing a clear opening between herself and Muzan, Shinobu prepared to strike. Just as Muzan had hoped, the pesky support swordsman joined by her side and the two ran together. "Breath of Water, Third form: Flowing Dance." Giyu whispered under his breath as he realized Shinobu's intended attack; he figured this out just by seeing the way she began running. Giyu began to move lighting fast, clearing all of the tendrils that surrounded the two, not only giving the nearby Pillars the ability to close the distance a little, but also giving Shinobu a chance to strike.
"Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag!" Shinobu exclaimed. In the path that Giyu carved, Shinobu was able to fully make a zigzag pattern with her steps, generating enough momentum to close the distance between her and Muzan in an instant. Even Muzan was startled by the speed of her thrust.
Giyu could see something happen though. He could tell that Muzan was hoping for them to close the distance, and planned something. Giyu grabbed Shinobu's sleeve and pulled her away from Muzan, telling that there was about to be trouble. Suddenly, a large amount of black spikes shot out of the ground; they were in place so they could ensnare one or both of them. Giyu felt a horrendous pain on his left side, but he did not have the time to worry about that. He had to get away before he was killed and used as fodder. He had to get away...
Giyu tried to step away, while using his sword to block Muzan's attacks, but he could not. Sticking all the way through his left arm was a sharp black cone- it pierced him at the shoulder. Giyu's mind worked at a mile a second, trying to solve this problem that he was put in while protecting himself from the most formidable foe ever. Suddenly, Muzan's arm turned into an enormous mound of flesh and protruding bone, tipped with a set of hungry jaws. Giyu did not have time to worry about his arm any longer. With a quick set of slices, Giyu sliced his own arm off as well as the arm Muzan used to attack him. Giyu leapt back to retreat, but midair, a tendril shot out at him. "Damnit!" Giyu thought as it got closer and closer to his face. It was shooting towards his right side, the side where his corresponding arm was no longer available to defend him.
"Tomioka-san!" a voice shrieked. The shriek sounded watered down and echoey. However, worry and fear could be heard through the white noise that began to fill Giyu's ears. His vision began to fade. "No, not again…" he thought. He thought back to his Final Selection. The last thing he saw before he passed out was someone standing over him, protecting him. This time was no different. "Koucho-san…" he mumbled before passing out.
Giyu was sitting in a familiar room. It was a warm, cozy room that belonged to a modest household. Sitting across from him was a woman with long black hair, as well as a teenage boy with rosy-orange hair and a deep scar on his cheek. Giyu felt warm tears roll down his face. "Tsukato… Sabito…"