Overwhelming Force

Hiroto, Gyomei, and Sanemi pushed their attack forward, coming in from 3 different directions to overwhelm Kokushibo. Gyomei would attack from a distance away, leaving an opening for Hiroto and Sanemi to exploit.

*clang*

Kokushibo blocked another one of Sanemi's attacks. Hiroto appeared behind Kokushibo and aimed to sever his head, but missed his target as Kokushibo flushed away from his position.

Kokushibo faltered for a bit, as the blood from Sanemi's chest was close to his nose.

"Haha, that's right. My blood is Marechi blood, the thing you Demon's love the most!" Sanemi shouted, jumping away.

*BOOM*

The marble tiles under Kokushibo shattered into pieces, as the iron flail from Gyomei's weapon crashed into the ground as Kokushibo dodged its strike.

'I see… These three…perhaps… They are highly skilled even among the Hashira's.' Kokushibo thought, deflecting each attack on his body and countering some himself.

He looked towards Gyomei, ducking under the axe throw from his chains as the crescent moon slashes ring out around the room. 'Despite being blind, he is a swordsman with an outstanding physique. Especially his weapon, being able to control the space and movement around him with his chains.'

Kokushibo turned towards Sanemi and rushed forward, 'I'll leave the Sun user to last, first… I must destroy his weapon!'

Kokushibo swung his sword in from a downwards arc, with his blade aiming to slice through Sanemi's weapon by hitting its side, the weakest part of the blade if struck.

Reacting at the last second, Sanemi pushed his physique to the utmost physical limit and twisted his blade's edge to repel his attack.

'Dance of the Fire God, Solar Heat Haze'

Hiroto rushed in from behind Kokushibo once more and delivered an overhead slash that was covered in a haze. Kokushibo quickly parried the strike, but then his eyes quickly narrowed and brought his blade back once again, closer to his body.

*clang*

"What…" Hiroto muttered as the slash was supposed to be a feint, with it seeming to have missed its target but actually did.

Kokushibo then spoke up, "You don't think that I can recognize these sword techniques? I've fought against the person who invented it, using decades to find counters to each and every move."

*swish*

Kokushibo retailed back, causing Hiroto to go onto the defensive as a sword slash cut his arm, drawing blood.

"Compared to the real thing, you're not close to mastering the full set of techniques yet," Kokushibo said. Just as he finished talking, Gyomei hurled his flail forward, causing him to jump away as it crashed into the ground once more.

As Sanemi rushed up, Kokushibo disappeared from his position, right behind him. Before Sanemi could respond, several different pellets were thrown towards them.

Kokushibo swung his sword at them, cutting through them all. However…

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

Each of the pellets all exploded, sending Kokushibo flying back as he managed to jump away at the last second.

"That was not very flamboyant of you, Shinazugawa." Uzui appeared from above them, jumping down from one of the pillars.

"Tsk, I had that," Sanemi complained.

"Uzui! Took you long enough." Hiroto said with a smile.

Uzui nodded and said, "I heard you dealt with an Upper Moon Demon by yourself, a very powerful one at that. Fantastic work!"

"I am glad that you have arrived, Tengen. But this is not the time to be socializing." Gyomei said, with tears running down his face.

"Yeah, it's about time we kick this bastard's ass and send him 6 feet under," Sanemi said, raising his sword above his head.

"I'll make flamboyant work of this," Uzui said, drawing out his two large swords. As he gripped them tightly, his own set of marks appeared on his face.

The pattern that appeared were flamboyant hexagons, fitting of his personality.

Kokushibo eyed the 4 people down, "I'm very surprised by this situation. The 4 of you have managed to manifest your marks. After having the rest of the Upper Moons culled, I will say this once more. Become a Demon, and you will be able to extend your lives, refine your blades, and become even stronger."

The Hashira's all looked at each other, sharing the same thought. Hiroto spoke up and said, "Over our graves."

"Unfortunate," Kokushibo said, disappearing from the group's vision.

*clang*

Hiroto managed to predict Kokushibo's strike, catching him off guard. Taking this one chance, Hiroto withdrew his wakizashi from behind and thrust it forward.

Kokushibo brought the hilt of his sword down, knocking the small blade off course. Sanemi then rushed in and swung towards Kokushibo's lower half, while Uzui came and attacked his upper body.

*clang* *shik*

Kokushibo parried the strike and dodged away, but his left ear was cut off in the process. Gyomei pushed forward and threw both the flail and axe forwards, manipulating the chain by rotating it around each other to drill through Kokushibo.

"Keep pressing him! Until we take his head!" Gyomei shouted out, as they ran forward.

Kokushibo turned his head, staring at the Hashira's. "Yes. That's Right." Kokushibo then swung his arm forward at a speed barely visible to the human eye.

Hiroto's eyes widened, as he was just barely able to perceive the next attack. "Watch out!" Hiroto shouted, rushing in front of Uzui and altering the angle of its attack, sending it crashing and slicing apart a pillar.

*BWSH* *SPURT*

Kokushibo swung his sword, causing the area in front of him to be picked up with wind. Each of the Hashira's were cut in various different places, causing them to halt their advance.

*shik spurt*

Sanemi's right index and middle fingers were severed, falling to the ground as he tried to grip onto his sword again.

'Impossible! What did he do to us?! Hit us with an attack at this range?!' Gyomei said, as the ground in front and below them had long and deep cuts in them.

Hiroto spoke up and said, "I saw it. His sword. It's changed."

"That's right," Kokushibo said, as the dust cleared up to show him wielding a blade that was a lot longer than the previous, with three additional blades growing out of it.

Kokushibo eyed Hiroto down and said, "You can see it, can't you? You can see the same world as I do."

Hiroto frowned and said, "What do you mean?"

"You're able to see through me, my muscles, my veins, my joints. All of it." Kokushibo said, brandishing his long sword.

"What of it?" Hiroto said, putting his guard up.

"If I can kill all 4 of you… then everyone else will be defeated very easily… starting with you." Kokushibo said, swinging his sword forward.

-----

Above the group was a crow with a paper talisman around its neck. In a different location, the fight between them was being observed by the people in the logistics headquarters, the three remaining children of the Ubuyashiki family.

"M… Master Kiriya��� Shall I send another Hashira to Upper Moon One? Tomioka Giyu and Kamado Tanjiro can both go." One of the daughters said, looking towards the boy with black hair at the front, who was identical in appearance to the two girls behind him.

"No." The boy said. "Giyu and Tanjiro will continue towards Muzan. As for Upper Moon One… Those 6, Hiroto, Gyomei, Sanemi, Uzui, Muichiro, and Genya are sure to defeat him." The boy, Kiriya said.

-----

Back in the hall, Kokushibo brandished his large sword with ease.

'Breath of the Moon, Seventh Form: Mirror of Misfortune - Moonlit'

From a distance away, Kokushibo swung his sword in a circular arc, sending out numerous slashes which cut through the ground and the surrounding pillars to pieces.

Hiroto quickly reacted and defended against the attack, jumping away to the side. 'This is bad, he's growing stronger by the minute.' Hiroto thought, landing away as the side of his chest started to bleed for a cut.

'Breath of the Moon, Eighth Form: Moon-Dragon Rintail'

Kokushibo used a direct frontal attack, creating a single gigantic slash towards the group.

'Breath of Silence, Second Form: Crescent Moon'

Hiroto dropped towards the ground, under Kokushibo's attack as it barely grazed the top of his hair, cutting off his ponytail. He then pushed off the ground, destroying the marble tile beneath him as his speed exploded forward.

Kokushibo's eyes widened, as he blocked Hiroto's upwards slash from below.

'He's using another breathing technique?' Kokushibo thought, swinging his sword down towards Hiroto.

'Breath of Sound, Fourth Form: Constant Resounding Slashes'

Uzui quickly arrived next to Kokushibo and spun his sword rapidly in conjunction with releasing his bombs, exploding them point-blank towards Kokushibo's face.

'Breath of Wind, Fourth Form: Rising Dust Storm'

Sanemi swept his sword horizontally, creating multiple cyclones of slashes to deflect against Kokushibo's retaliation.

'Breath of the Moon, Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon - Incessant'

Kokushibo released a wind storm of slashes in multiple directions, slicing up the Hashira's around him as he backed away from the explosions Uzui sent out.

His attack overwhelmed both Uzui and Sanemi, who was forced to back away as they were injured in multiple locations.

'Breath of Stone, Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock - Rapid Conquest'

Gyomei manipulates both the flail and axe weapons at both ends of his chain, swinging them on both sides to strike at Kokushibo with a two-pronged with ranged attacks.

"Push on!!" Hiroto shouted out, rushing forward.

'Dance of the Fire God, Flash Dance'

Hiroto pushed the air into his legs, releasing it all while bringing a singular slash downwards towards Kokushibo, who's eyes widened.

'Fast' Kokushibo quickly responded and parried the strike away, but almost knelt downwards from the force behind of the strike.

Kokushibo's eyes brimmed with fury as he forced himself up.

'Breath of the Moon, Tenth Form: Drilling Slashes - Moon Through Bamboo Leaves'

Kokushibo created a triple-layered slash twister, capable of mowing down his targets into three clean pieces.

'Breath of Water and Dance of the Fire God, Striking Rainbow Dew'

Hiroto combined the fourth form of Breath of Water, Striking tide with Fake Rainbow, weaving his body past the strike from above of him while also creating after images with his high-speed twists and rotations.

*BOOM*

The ground where Hiroto was, was sliced into numerous pieces, creating a large crater as Hiroto got closer. Uzui and Sanemi pushed on from the sides to flank Kokushibo, while Gyomei attacked from afar.

'Breath of the Moon, Fourteenth Form: Tenman Crescent Moon'

Kokushibo swung his sword and created a chaotic vortex of powerful Omni-directional slashes, destroying whatever is caught within its attack radius.

Hiroto, Uzui, and Sanemi were caught in the attack, suffering multiple injuries and being forced back. Kokushibo then pushed on, swinging his sword down towards Sanemi who was unprepared.

*fwsh*

Sanemi was caught and pushed away, as Muichiro grabbed him, barely just dodging the strike.

"Tokito!" Sanemi shouted, as Muichiro only had one hand at this point.

"I won't let you die! You can still swing a sword with both arms!!" Muichiro shouted as they landed on the ground.

As the group continued their battle, Genya was watching from behind a pillar, sweating heavily.

'Can I do this? Can I be of any use?' Genya thought, watching Hiroto dodged an attack as it cut through the wooden partitions and pillars.

'Will he notice me right away again… and cut me in half so that's the end? Dammit! If only I was stronger. Sanemi… Himejima… Tokito… Kamado… Tengen… I can't hesitate. If even Tanjiro's brother is here, fighting for his life and all of us, I need to support him. Or I won't be able to face Tanjiro again.'

Grabbing from within his pocket, Genya pulled out a broken blade from Kokushibo's sword and swallowed it.