The Weakness

As Inosuke jumped up, so did Tanjiro who followed behind him. Hiroto turned to the two and shouted out, "Protect the passengers! The Demon fuzed with the train, so it can attack them at any time!"

Inosuke stopped for a moment as he was surprised, but then spoke up, "Ha, I knew that! I was right! I had already foreseen this possibility, for I am the boss!" Inosuke yelled, then used one of his beasts breathing form, 'Mad Cleave' and broke through the top of the carriage, cutting down the flesh that grew out of the sides of the seats and walls of the carriage.

Tanjiro followed suit and ran in the opposite direction of the train and started to slice apart the various pieces of flesh that poked out to claim the lives of the passengers.

Hiroto turned and ran up to the front of the train, as a sound of thunder reverberated from one of the carriages in the back. 'What was that? Did Zenitsu and Rengoku wake up yet?' Hiroto thought as he started to run to the front.

*BOOM* Another loud sound echoed from one of the carriages, causing it to shake from the shockwave.

'Are they trying to blow the carriages up?!' Hiroto grumbled as he cut a hole in one of the carriages and jumped down. As he landed, he saw a lump of flesh grabbed a man's neck and started to choke him.

Hiroto quickly reacted and sliced at the flesh in one movement. *thud* The flesh wriggled on the ground as it started to dissipate. Making sure that the passenger was still breathing, Hiroto then proceeded to cut down the rest of the flesh while also making his way to the front of the train.

Hiroto focused his eyes on the flesh as he saw them crawl it's way from one direction and trying to kill off the passengers. 'They are all coming from the front. If I destroy the root, the leaves will wilt.' Hiroto thought, before vanishing from his position and leaving a myriad of flesh behind his every step.

As he approached the front of the train where the steam engine was, Hiroto saw that the flesh that covered the walls grew in abundance and as they attacked Hiroto trying to block him from proceeding forward.

As Hiroto arrived at where the engine was, he saw a man wearing a train conductor's uniform controlling the train.

The man heard Hiroto coming from behind and yelled out, "Who are you?! L-Leave this place!" The man got a knife out and brandished it in front of Hiroto.

Just as Hiroto was about to move forward, dozens of hands reached out from the floorboard and headed towards Hiroto.

*swish* *slash* Hiroto swung his sword and cut down the onslaught of the arms as he defended himself. However, whenever he cut one day another would replace it immediately.

'I can't waste any more time.' Hiroto thought quickly, as he used the 'Dance of the Fire God, Clear Blue Sky'. He spun his body extremely quickly as the flames on his sword cut through every hand that tried to approach him. The flames burnt the hands as they writhed on the ground before turning to ash.

As the flames fell onto the ground, Hiroto saw the floor burnt open and exposed what seemed to be a long bone that was surrounded by flesh.

'That should be its weak spot' Hiroto thought, raising his sword.

"No!" The conductor yelled, lunging at Hiroto to stab him. Hiroto dodged to the side and grabbed the man's arm before hitting the back of his neck, *thud* the man's body fell to the ground.

Hiroto then moved to pierce the neck, *shik* but a clump of flesh grew out and took the brunt of the damage, shielding the bone. 'Damn, it's protecting the bone.' Hiroto grunted. Eyes started to grow on the walls of the engine room, as it stared at Hiroto and put him under a spell. However, each time he was put under a spell he somehow resisted it, as the purple glint in his eyes shone brighter and brighter.

"Let's see if you can stop this!" Hiroto yelled, before drawing his sword back out and infused it with the flames that grew out of the sword. 'Sunflower Thrust!' Hiroto thrust his glowing crimson blade into the lump of flesh, causing it to heat up and burn through as it melted away to reveal the bone.

*Thack* The bone gave off a sharp sound as the blade penetrated, lighting it on fire, as Hiroto swung his blade to the side and cutting it in half.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!" The agonizing sound of the Demon reverberated throughout the train carriages as he screamed in pain. The eyes on the wall of the carriages began to bleed as they shook from the pain.

The engine carriage then separated itself from where Hiroto stood, "GYAHHHHH!!!" The Demon yelled out again, as the carriages began to shake and the various lumps of flesh grew at a monstrous rate. It caused the carriages that were connected to be knocked around and up into the air as the Demon writhed in pain.

Hiroto grabbed onto the side of the carriage that he was on and the train flew into the air and started to fall sideways to the ground. Hiroto saw the man he knocked out start to fly out of the carriage. He quickly reacted and pulled the man back in, but was knocked in the back as someone screamed out behind him.

"INOSUKE-SAMA IS HERE!!!!" Inosuke screamed out from behind, grabbing Hiroto's haori and pulled him back from falling out of the train.

*thud* The three landed on the wall's of the carriage as it descended onto the ground below. "Hold on!!" Hiroto yelled.

*BOOM* A cascade of sounds echoed through the night as the different carriages fell one by one, causing the ground to shake in succession.

"Ughhh," Hiroto grunted in pain, as he grabbed the side of his body. Hiroto checked that the man was ok and saw Inosuke cut a hole in the roof of the carriage, before jumping out.

Hiroto followed him and jumped out of the hole, and when he turned to look at the rest of the train he saw that it was completely derailed. Some carriages were on its side or completely upside down.

"Inosuke, go check on the other passengers, some could have been trapped or were severely hurt when the carriages tripped over," Hiroto said to Inosuke.

"Hmph! Why should I?!" Inosuke said, as he harrumphed and looked away to the side.

"Ah, you must be in too much pain right now. I understand." Hiroto said, with a slight taunt in his tone.

*snap* "Oi! Who's too injured! You're the one who's injured! Inosuke-Sama can never be too injured! I'll check on 100, 1000 passengers! Just watch!" Inosuke yelled back, as he ran headfirst into the carriages *boom*, breaking into them.

As Hiroto looked around, he saw Rengoku and Tanjiro walk up to him as they left a carriage that was upside down. They slid down the slope of the little hill and arrived in front of him.

"I must commend you Hiroto! When I was too busy being asleep, you took the situation at hand and reacted accordingly! I'm ashamed as a Hashira that I was in such an exposed situation!" Rengoku said, patting Hiroto's shoulder.

Hiroto nodded and said, "I cut off the Demon's weakness at the front. How are the others? Are they safe?"

Tanjiro spoke up, "Don't worry brother, Rengoku-san managed to save the passengers and stabilized the carriages as they fell, minimizing the damage!" Tanjiro had a tone of respect as he witnessed Rengoku's powers.

"What about Nezuko? Where is she? Is she safe? Was she hurt?" Hiroto launched question after question as he was concerned about Nezuko.

Rengoku laughed, "Hahaha, don't worry! I saw your sister fight and protect the passengers. I can say with confidence that I trust in your sister, Hiroto, Tanjiro."

Tanjiro smiled in reassurance, as Rengoku whispered into his ear, "Your brother really cares about your little sister doesn't he?"

"Haha…" Tanjiro laughed wearily as he scratched his head.

In the next moment, Rengoku's head turned around as his eyes turned serious. Hiroto seemed to have sensed something approaching, fast. Tanjiro also seemed to have smelled something approaching, as he covered his nose.

*BOOM* A figure landed on the ground not too far away from them, kicking up the dirt and dust as it obscured their vision. Hiroto gripped his sword as he readied himself for what came. His instincts were shouting at him as he faced the unknown figure as the dust settled.

A muscular young man with fair skin was squatting down. His body was decorated by a mass of thick blue lines that seemed to resemble criminal tattoos. The man wore little, only sporting a short, sleeveless dark purple-pink haori that was cut off at his waist and exposed his chest while wearing baggy white pants. The man had pink hair and in his eyes were the kanji for "Upper Moon Three" etched into his irises.

"Upper Moon Three? Why is he here?" Hiroto muttered, tensing his hands that gripped his sword.

The man raised his arm and pointed towards Tanjiro, saying, "Hey kid, can you move off to the side? I can sense how weak you are. Compared to those two, you disgust me. I hate weak humans."

*BOOM* The man disappeared from his position as he propelled towards Tanjiro, intending to punch through his head.