Breathing Styles, Kai's odd predicament, and Bad Luck

AN: Yey! A new Patron! 4 more to go for the 10 Patrons target. Then you guys will have a 3 Chapter Mass Release. Enjoy!!!

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23rd day, 2nd Stage

Tournament of Worth

On the outskirts of a town, there was an inn with several stories.

Not only was it big, but it also had several facilities like a restaurant, bar, swimming pool, an in-garden, lawn, and over a dozen private tea rooms.

Outside the inn, torrential rain was pouring down from the heavens along with the white-purple rumble of thunder. A light sheet of snow had already covered the grounds in the evening. Yet, it was the sudden intrusion of a hailstorm that had forced Kai and Shinobu to come to this inn full of humans.

As much as the Insect Hashira had hated it, even she had agreed that they wouldn't find a place to wait out the storm better than this. Not unless they were to go miles beyond the town into the jungle, a prospect that had made both her and Kai frown.

The nightly attacks and ambushes of the demons had increased exponentially in the last few days. It was as though they had teased a beehive, and now the "bees" were following them with murder infused in their buzzes. The only way to get some respite was to dive into a body of water, making them lose their sense and smell. This inn was that body of water for Kai and Shinobu.

The Insect Hashira had booked a room on the third floor. As Kai couldn't show himself to others without scaring the shit out of the people, he had used the window to come into the room.

The room wasn't overly large with space only for one bed, a set of tables and chairs, a wardrobe, and a tall mirror, but it did have a private bathroom and the facility of hot water. And they both knew that they could use a good bath.

Kai was seated on the chair, listening to the music of thunder and rain. On the bed, Nezuko was sleeping, covered under a white blanket. Behind Kai, from under the thin gap between the bathroom's door and the threshold, hot curls of steam were seeping out, bringing with it a soothing fragrance.

Kai took a deep breath, taking in a lungful of that fragrance.

The billowing gusts of stormy winds rattled the window shutters. Kai looked outside, eying the intensifying storm.

They were still some 6 days' worth of traveling away from the Entertainment District. If the storm didn't abate by morning, then it would become 7, Kai reasoned. Time was running out, and his heart shuddered as he remembered he had made no headway towards his goal.

Kai was as lost in creating a new Breathing Style as anyone.

There were several Breathing Styles, as told to him by Shinobu, and all were interrelated. For example, there was the Water Breathing Style, used by Water Hashira Giyu and Tanjiro, the main character and Nezuko's brother. Then there was Flower Breathing Style, derived from the Water Breathing Style. Shinobu's Insect Breathing Style had been further derived from the Flower Breathing Style by her.

Yet, there was one Breathing Style, also derived from the Water one, that the Insect Hashira had recommended to him the most.

The Serpent Breathing Style!

It was a Breathing Style that mimicked serpents, specifically their slithering motions, and replicated it with the user's movements, techniques, and abilities. Most, if not all, known techniques and forms focused on twisting and bending the sword like the slithering of serpents. The attacks were not direct and constantly meandered, which could ultimately strike anywhere.

This Breathing Style was owned by a single Demon Slayer; the Serpent Hashira, Obanai Iguro.

Shinobu had seen Kai's fight with the Flame Hashira, and the more she saw him in the coming days, the more she had come to understand his fighting style. Kai was aware of it because he had deliberately shown the ins and out of his Sword Style so that he could get a hint from her teachings. But it had all been in vain.

From what he had come to know about Serpent Breathing, its foundation lay in the wave-shaped swords and a serpent's movement. After nights of careful deliberation, Kai had reflected that he could turn his Slither Steps Ability into a Sword Style using the Serpent Breathing Style. It was enticing, but Kai didn't want that. His goals were precise; to fuse his movement Ability and the Sword Style into one.

So, he had eliminated the Serpent Breathing Style from his list of things to learn from this Verse Fusion Random World.

Yet, the problem persisted with no foreseeable solution.

Hours and days of meditation, practicing Total Concentration Breathing Art, and the Insect Hashira's teaching was useless if he could not even create a Breathing Style, Kai knew. According to Shinobu, Kai already had the physique and knowledge to start his journey as a Demon Slayer, if he wasn't so stubborn about it.

How could Kai tell her he was already pressed for time, and if he were to fail in creating a Breathing Style, then he would never return to this world?

Then there was the matter of the Sponsors. Now, they all knew Kai was hiding a great secret in his Stats.

'The best choice would have been to use D-Mail after talking to Shadow Origin,' Kai contemplated, drumming his fingers on the chair's arms. In that case, I could have avoided the odd relationship I developed with the other four Sponsors by not replying to their requests related to the Multiverse Id. Sigh!'

This sigh wasn't that of regret, but of knowing the limits of D-Mail.

As hideous and indefensible the effect of this ACT was, D-Mail wasn't infallible. First, if Kai had used D-Mail just after talking to Shadow Origin, it would've changed nothing. Because 24 hours before that moment, Kai had been unconscious. Even after receiving the message, he wouldn't have remembered it and instead would have repeated all the actions he had taken after waking up.

For this very reason, Kai had always been making sure that he was in good condition 24 hours in advance before planning to use the ACT a day later.

Second, as D-Mail could send the mail up to 5 days back in the past, he could also set the timer for him to receive the mail 72 hours before (-as he was unconscious for 48 hours-). But that would have gone against the self-imposed rule of not using D-Mail over once in a single Random World. Not to mention, both Rintaro and Item-M had already warned him not to use D-Mail twice in a row to send back a message 24 hours in the river of time, as the divergence resulting from those uses could be heinous, to say the least. Kai couldn't even fathom the changes that would have occurred if he were to send a message 72 hours in the past.

Third, he could've waited for 24 hours after waking up to contact the Sponsors and use the D-Mail too. But after thinking about it for that entire day, Kai had concluded there was no benefit to it. Even if he could've undone the conversation between him and Shadow Origin, it wasn't the problem he was facing anymore. It was the fact that they knew it was a Verse Fusion. And no matter what, with Kai's Bad Luck and the time remaining in this Random World, they would've found it out, eventually.

The thought of Bad Luck made Kai wince. He put his thumb and two fingers on his temples and massaged his head, hoping to ease the headache. Inside him, Selene's intangible form hissed concernedly, sending a burst of Soul Chill.

A chill ran down his spine, freezing his soul by the faintest amount.

'It's coming,' Kai thought, frowning. 'The mind-jewel can pop out anytime now. Tch! I can't even use the Novice Collector Title. Not until the completion of Heart Rhythm.'

Unlike the Insect Hashira, Kai knew the reason for the sudden abundance of demons. With Kai's Bad Luck, he would've been attacked by Hashiras and Upper-ranked demons several times by now. Yet, by keeping himself near to Shinobu, he had somehow countered this Bad Luck. The threat of Hashiras had drastically reduced, and even the stronger demons were wary of approaching him, seeing a Hashira around him.

However, it didn't mean his Bad Luck had vanished. If Kai were to judge his situation, then all his misfortunes had been piling up since his fight with the Flame Hashira. When the time came, these piled-up misfortunes would erupt, drowning him in the absurdest and the most fatal situation.

Kai's grip on the chair tightened, thinking about the eventual arrival of that time.

He wasn't ready to face an Upper-ranked demon. Not after what the Insect Hashira had told him about them.

Suddenly, the bathroom door behind him creaked, and the thin, fruity and flowery fragrance flooded the room.

Kai got up and turned around to look at the heavenly sight.

Shinobu was still wearing her Demon Slayer uniform, but her face was glowing like a moon now that the hot bath had sucked some tiredness out of her. Her hair was wet, and she was patting them with a white towel.

A stray drop of water ran down her chin, dropped on her collarbone, and then vanished under her kimono, tracing a path running through a thin valley.

Shinobu threw her head behind, bringing her long, purple hair out of her eyes. She found Kai standing and her reflection in his eyes, rippling like a shy moon in the lake. "Ara!" she said, giggling. "Did I take too much time?"

Kai said nothing. He could say nothing. With slow steps he approached her, advancing towards her like the coolest breeze on a summer's eve.

Shinobu stepped back in surprise. Behind her, the door betrayed her first, blocking her retreat. By the time she could step aside, Kai was already standing in front of her, his figure tall and his eyes clear and bright.

Time seemed to have slowed down for them. The only sound that one could hear was the buzz of the crowd outside and the beating of hearts in the room. Their breaths steamed, and Kai took one more step.

He could smell the warmness of her flustered, rosy cheeks. Kai lifted his hand and picked up a tangle of wet hair off her face, putting it behind her ear. His fingers then found her lips, and he rubbed away the trembling water droplets off them as well.

When he leaned, there was no escape. Perhaps, no one wanted to escape.

Their lips pressed on each other, their breath melting like snow inside them. And for once, she wasn't Hashira, and he wasn't a demon.

Knock-Knock!

Shinobu's eyes snapped open, and her palm struck Kai's chest, throwing him off. There was such a dominant force behind it that Kai flew across the room and slammed into the wardrobe. Wood splintered, and a few plates shattered. Nezuko woke up under the might of the commotion.

"Cough! Cough!" Kai coughed, panting for breath. He slid out of the rubble and saw a fuming Shinobu, her face red, pink, and blue. "Come on," he breathed out, smiling and massaging his chest. "You didn't have to hit me so hard."

"Humph!" Shinobu snorted and with large strides went away to open the door.

Kai motioned Nezuko to back away lest the waiter was to see her. They couldn't afford to make a commotion now. A small gallery was leading into the room from the entrance, so whoever was at the door wouldn't be able to see them without coming in.

Kai stood up, saw the broken wardrobe, and shook his head. Near her, backed up against the wall, Nezuko eyed him, her glance full of blame.

"Believe me," Kai whispered, patting her head. "I did nothing."

Suddenly, he frowned. 'What's taking Shinobu so long?' He thought. 'Who's at the door?'

A dull thud replied to him, the sound of someone falling on the floor.

Kai's eyes widened, his heart screaming, roaring, and screeching within him. He grabbed Nezuko and threw her towards the wooden box while dashing towards the gallery.

The sight at the door awakened the Blood Demon on the spot.

Shinobu was lying on the threshold of the opened main door, and a child was standing outside, smiling at Kai.

It seemed the bucket of piled-up misfortunes had exploded at last.