'Another one? Tch—this timing is completely off…'
His surprise spiked into a cold, creeping sense of dread as the needles closed in.
"Sound Breathing Fourth Form: Constant Resounding Slashes"
Upon seeing the thousands of needles, Tengen immediately gave up on his attack, immediately switching to a defensive form as he began spinning his cleavers around himself, forming a protective dome.
*clink clank*
Piercing metal sounds rang out as needles collided with cleavers. Putting in his entire attention, Tengen groaned as he forced his arm to move and swing the blade in impossible angles, deflecting needle after needle in the tight, enclosed space.
*thunk*
However, even for a Hashira, somehow stopping thousands of tiny needles while in a tight, enclosed space was an impossible task. While swinging his cleavers, his blade accidentally grazed the edge of a wall, making his blade go slightly astray.
*squelch*
Dozens of needles buried themselves into Tengen's body.
A wave of drowsiness slammed into him, heavier than he'd expected. His grip on the cleavers went slack for a heartbeat, metal slipping in his hands. His eyelids grew heavier as his vision began to blur at the edges, colors smearing together.
'Even with my resistance to poisons…'
Before becoming a Demon Slayer, Tengen belonged to a Shinobi clan. During this period of time, he was regularly exposed to poisonous substances to increase his resistance to toxic substances. Furthermore, coming from a line of Shinobi, he already possessed a ridiculously high resistance to poisons.
'Tch… this is an Upper Moon's poison…'
His arms suddenly felt like they'd been filled with sand. The roar of battle around him dulled, as if someone had thrown a blanket over the world. For the first time in years, Tengen felt his own body becoming a stranger to him.
…
'Like hell I'm going out from poison of all things! Upper Moons be damned'
A flicker of memory flashed through his mind of his three wives. A surge of stubborn willpower tore through the haze, burning away the fuzziness in his head. Tengen forced his fingers to tighten back around the hilts, veins standing out along his forearms.
He let out a quiet curse in his mind as he wrenched his arms back under control and dragged his gaze toward Gyokko.
'Two Upper Moons, poison, and I'm already lagging behind. This is turning into a real mess.'
"Hey~ Where are you looking?"
Unfortunately, Tengen wasn't dealing with one demon.
*CRACK*
Without warning, an Obi slash erupted from Daki's back like a cracking whip, slicing through the air with a sharp hiss before coiling around and snapping viciously into Tengen's neck.
*CRASH*
Tengen felt his vision black out as his brain rattled from the force, as the flow of oxygen to his brain was cut off. His flailing, unresponsive body mercilessly crashed through the walls before breaking through the building and landing onto the roof of a small stall.
*Gasp*
As light returned to Tengen's eyes, he took in a deep gasp as he held his broken neck. Squeezing his neck, his eyes bulged from pain as he heard his bones crack, before suddenly jerking his hand, forcing his neck to jolt back.
*Gack*
He let out a strangled, voiceless scream as white-hot pain shot down his spine. Pulling his hand away, Tengen rolled his shoulders, feeling the vertebrae settle as he re-adjusted his dislocated neck. Thankfully, the attack wasn't strong enough to break his neck, else he would've been paralysed, if not dead from the attack.
"Pft, that was easy" Daki chuckled "I expected more from a Hashira"
"Now now, Hashira or not, who could possibly survive fighting two Upper Moons?" Gyokko chuckled "Still, I haven't made a sculpture with the body of a Hashira for a while, and he's not bad looking either! Try to preserve his body for me will you~~?"
"Tch" Daki snorted in disgust "You and that weird hobby of yours. Just for saying that, I'm going to thoroughly cut his body into tiny pieces and feast on them infront of you."
Saying so, Daki turned away from Gyokko, setting her eyes on the unconscious Tengen. Her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed the steady rise and fall of his chest.
With a light hop, she stepped off the edge of the rooftop, her obi trailing behind her as she dropped toward him, descending as calmly as if she were stepping off a stage.
"What? Was that it?"
As Tengen regained his bearings, a mocking voice pierced his ears. Immediately, he roughly grabbed his cleavers before jumping up from the stall onto the road, raising his blades in front of him.
Here's an expanded version of that bit of dialogue you highlighted, with more bite and personality but the same meaning:
"I've killed a bunch of Hashira, so I wasn't expecting much," Daki mocked as she flipped her hair back over her shoulder, looking Tengen up and down like he was something she'd stepped on. "But you're even weaker than I thought. Did you become a Hashira because you were the leader's son or something? Or did they just run out of candidates and slap the title on you?"
"Heh?" Tengen sneered, raising both hands slightly as if to present himself. "Big talk coming from the one who leeched off her older brother her whole life." His eyes narrowed, a mocking smile tugging at his lips. "Tell me, have you actually killed a Hashira yourself, or did you let your big brother handle all the dirty work while you hid behind him and posed?"
"You…!" Daki's face twisted, anger flaring across her features as the perfect oiran mask cracked. "How the hell do you know about my bro—"
*Ting*
Before Daki could finish her sentence, Tengen flicked his wrists and immediately threw out dozens of small black pellets.
pop-pop-pop!BANG! BANG!
A heartbeat later, the pellets exploded in a series of sharp flashes and cracks, bursting into bright, blinding light right in front of her eyes. The sudden flare of white swallowed the street, and Daki instinctively flinched back, vision drowning in afterimages as the world around her turned into a searing blur.
"Agh!"
"Sound Breathing First Form: Roar!"
While Daki was blinded, Tengen's figure blurred. He didn't waste the single heartbeat her distraction had bought him. The instant her eyes squeezed shut and her hand flew up to shield her face, he kicked off the ground, sandals scraping against the stone as he closed the distance in a flash.
To Daki, it all happened in a smear of white and ringing in her ears. She felt the rush of air in front of her, the faint vibration of footsteps through the road, and her instincts screamed at her to move.
'Someone's—'
She tried to whip her body to the side, obi twitching in response, but her timing was half a breath too late. The afterimages burned into her vision refused to clear, and for one crucial instant, her senses couldn't keep up with his speed.
Tengen was already there.
"So slow."
Before Daki could fully turn, before her eyes could even open, Tengen's blades cut straight through her neck in one smooth motion, severing her head in a single, decisive strike she never had the chance to properly react to.
"I have nothing to say to a demon."
~~~
"Hehh~~"
As the fight raged on below, Gyokko let out a delighted giggle from his vantage point, the water in his pot rippling with each shake of his body as he watched Tengen behead Daki.
"I knew she wasn't supposed to be as strong as an Upper Moon," Gyokko said, shaking his head in exaggerated disappointment. "But isn't this too weak? Tsk, tsk, tsk… Muzan-sama really is merciful, letting an incomplete piece of art pollute his masterpieces."
*pop-pop*
The sound of bubbles bursting echoed from within the vase as the goldfish inside surged forward, pressing against the glass like they were desperate to spill out.
With a smooth, almost theatrical motion, Gyokko rose higher from his pot. He wrapped his twisted arms around the vase, hefting it up with unsettling ease before swinging it into position along his shoulder, angling the mouth of it toward the battlefield like the barrel of some grotesque cannon.
"Yohoho~" he giggled, balancing the vase as if it were a prized weapon rather than a piece of pottery. "Let's see how my lovely children perform this time."
"Water Breathing First Form: Water Surface Slash."
swish
The floorboards behind him creaked as Giyu's figure blurred, slipping through the rubble and shadows like flowing water. In the blink of an eye, he was directly behind Gyokko in a crouching motion.
"Oh?"
Gyokko's eyes widened as a chill ran down his spine. For a fraction of a second, he caught the reflection of Giyu's red-hot blade in the gleam of his own vase, far too close to his neck.
swish
Just before the sword could bite into him, Gyokko's body jerked backward. With a wet splash, he slipped into his pot, vanishing in an instant and leaving Giyu's slash to carve through empty air.
"What the—"
Before Giyu could fully grasp what was happening, a cold voice whispered in his ear.
"Oh right. There's a group of you this time."
*swish*
Hearing Gyokko behind him, Giyu immediately turned around, trying to slash him. This time on his guard, Gyokko easily dodged the slash as he dashed backwards.
"Now, now, what's with all the swinging? Aren't you civilized enough to introduce yourself?"
'Those eyes.' Giyu thought, narrowing his eyes 'Upper 5, a demon one rank higher than Upper Moon 6 here? Did we just coincidentally run into them, or was our intel somehow leaked and they knew we were coming here?
Or… were we set up?'
"I don't talk to demons."
"Tch, such a deadpan voice. There's no sound quality there whatsoever."
Gyokko's tone was light, but his gaze flicked to the spot where Giyu's blade had passed a heartbeat earlier, water still dripping from the clean slice in the air. For an instant, the smile on his face twitched.
"Tch. If I'd been even a moment slower, my beautiful neck would've been ruined," he muttered, clicking his tongue. "How terribly uncivilized of you humans, trying to ruin a work of art before I've even finished it."
'He went inside his vase before I could hit him, and then he suddenly appeared behind me.'
Giyu's eyes flicked from the main pot in front of him to the shattered fragments and intact vases scattered around the room, replaying the last few seconds in his mind before instantly flicking back to the demon.
'He didn't just disappear; he shifted positions using the vase itself. And when he tried to attack Tengen earlier, he was already raising his vase as if it were a weapon, not just a container.'
His gaze lingered on the flower pot that had been behind him a moment ago.
'So it isn't just that one. He can move between any vase in his range and use them as starting points for his attacks. Not to mention, the vases he isn't using are potential weapons that he can use to shoot those toxic fish at me.'
A quiet breath escaped him as he tightened his grip on the sword.
'In other words, this whole room is his territory. Every vase is another body he can jump to. Perhaps his Blood Demon Art lets him control and inhabit multiple vases at once, using them to dodge, to reposition, and to ambush. It's also entirely possible that this demon's actual neck is one of the vases.'
The conclusion settled in with a cold weight as Giyu took in a deep breath before gripping his Katana, which he noted was quickly losing its red-hot glow.
'If I don't destroy every single vase, he'll keep slipping away and striking from my blind spots. Either I have to somehow locate every single one of his vases and destroy them, or sever his neck before he's able to go into one of his vases. Both of these options are equally impossible, since I have no idea what the range of his technique is, if he even has a range, and judging from his speed, I won't be able to attack him fast enough before he disappears.'
'Hm, Water Breathing, huh?'
While Giyu was silently dissecting his techniques, Gyokko was just as busy watching him.
'It's been a while since I fought a Water Hashira,' Gyokko mused, lids half-lowered as he tracked every shift of Giyu's stance. 'Those movements are flowing, precise, with not a single wasted step. He keeps his center low, his shoulders relaxed, and his blade always returns to guard. Tch, how boringly efficient.'
Despite his mocking thoughts, a faint thrill crawled up his spine.
'But my senses haven't gone dull. This one's different from the Water Hashira I've carved up before. He doesn't hesitate, doesn't flinch, doesn't raise his voice. The Water Hashira I fought before him felt like a raging river, but this one feels like a calm ocean. Power, technique, even his presence far outclasses any of the other Hashira I've faced before.'
Gyokko's gaze lingered on the way Giyu's feet slid over the ground, never fully planting, always ready to redirect.
'He reads my attacks quickly, too. The moment my vases moved, he was already searching for the pattern instead of panicking. How annoying. A human who thinks instead of screaming. Then again, I suppose that would be the bare minimum for a Hashira.'
His eyes dropped to the blade in Giyu's hand.
'And that sword of his, do all Demon Slayers use some new glowing toy nowadays?' he thought, studying the faint heat-haze around the edge, before feeling goosebumps travel up his body.. 'Weird. That sword's giving me the same feeling as the sun.'
For the first time since the fight began, Gyokko's smile thinned.
'No, this won't do. I can't let that sword hit me. If I underestimate this one, I might really die!'
'An Upper Moon who can constantly dodge any attack.'
'A Hashira who can counter all my moves.'
Eventually, their thoughts ended on the same final note.
'What a pain!'
"Water Breathing Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust"
*swish*
Using the fastest form of Water Breathing, Giyu's sword blurred as he shot forward, the tip of his blade driving straight for Gyokko's neck like a piercing stream.
"That proves it," Gyokko murmured.
His eyes narrowed as he tilted his head just a fraction, his body bending at an almost unnatural angle. The tip of Giyu's sword sliced past his cheek, close enough to shear off a few strands and leave a thin line of water in its wake, but not blood.
"There really is something off about your sword," Gyokko chuckled, straightening up as if nothing had happened. "You wouldn't have relied on a straight, killing thrust like that unless you were sure it would end me in one hit."
'What?'
Giyu's eyes widened ever so slightly, his forward momentum carrying him a step past Gyokko before he could fully stop. He'd committed to the fastest, most direct form he had, and an Upper Moon had slipped around it as if he'd seen it coming from the start.
'He dodged Drop Ripple Thrust that easily?'
"Blood Demon Art-"
'Danger'
A shiver shot down Giyu's spine, making every hair on his body stand on end. Without thinking, he drew in a sharp, controlled breath, muscles coiling as he dropped his center of gravity and raised his blade. Every instinct he had screamed at him that if he misread this next move by even a fraction, he wouldn't walk away from it.
"Water Breathing Ninth Form-"
In an instant, every vase in the room levitated into the air, all of them turning toward Giyu as they spewed forth torrents of hundreds of goldfish, with each one unleashing dozens of poisonous needles.
"-Thousand Needle Fish Kill"
"-Splashing Water Flow Turbulent"
Before the needles could reach him, Giyu's feet blurred as he skimmed beneath the deadly barrage, then whiped his sword around in him as water began to flow out of his sword, before turning into a large tide of water.
"Water Breathing Sixth Form: Whirlpool"
A huge whirlpool of water surrounded Giyu, deflecting all the needles around him. In the next heartbeat, the whirlpool swallowed the goldfish and the vases whole, grinding them to pieces as they were mercilessly shredded into blood, leaving no chance of regeneration thanks to the Red Hot blade.
"No!" Gyokko's scream tore out of him, higher and rougher than before. Veins bulged along his distorted face as he lurched toward the ruined vases, eyes wide with disbelief. "My vases! my art…!"
His hands trembled, fingers digging into the rim of his pot so hard the ceramic began to crack.
"How dare you," he hissed, voice dropping into a shaking growl. "How dare a lowly human defile my masterpiece!"
The last word broke into another warped shriek.
"I'll kill you! I'll tear you apart and turn what's left into the ugliest sculpture this world has ever seen!"
As Gyokko and Giyu fought, down back at the street, Daki's body fell forward, trying to catch her rolling head.
'Tch, if only I had the red sword.'
"You-you-YOU!" Daki cried out "That hurt you, sick bastard! Is this some way to treat a girl?"
"Hah? Girl?" Tengen scoffed, lazily swinging his cleaver onto his shoulder as he looked her up and down. "Don't make me laugh. You're just some disgusting serial killer wrapped in the skin of a human girl."
He jabbed the blade in her direction, grin sharpening.
"Listen here, missy, no matter how hot you make your body, it's not going to work on someone like me. I don't fall for faces or curves, I judge people by their hearts."
He tilted his head, as if inspecting a defective product.
"And your score?" Tengen said, pointing his finger towards Daki, before pointing his thumb down and showing his tongue, "A complete zero! You have the darkest and vilest heart I've ever seen!"
"U-ugh…" Daki's lips trembled, the bravado on her face cracking. Her eyes glazed over, moisture gathering at the corners as Tengen's words echoed in her head, digging deeper than any blade.
Her throat tightened. A single tear slipped down her cheek, then another, smearing the perfect makeup she'd so carefully applied.
"W-WAHHHH!" she finally wailed, shoulders shaking as fat tears began spilling down her face in messy streaks. It was an ugly, raw cry, nothing like the composed, elegant oiran she pretended to be.
"The hell?" Tengen blurted, genuinely taken aback. His grip on the cleaver slackened for a moment as he stared at her. "She's crying? For real?"
For a heartbeat, even he couldn't quite process it, the Upper Moon who'd casually slaughtered countless humans was bawling like a scolded child over being told she had a rotten heart.
'How pathetic is this girl?'
*DOOG*
Tengen's heart suddenly throbbed as goosebumps spread through his body.
'Her sound changed!'
Musical Score.
This technique, which Tengen possessed, made full use of his heightened hearing and Sound Breathing. By listening to the clash of blades, the rhythm of footsteps, and even the strain of muscles, he turned every movement on the battlefield into "sound," reading his opponent's attacks as a musical score instead of random violence. Once he grasped that rhythm, he could predict the next "note" before it was played, exposing habits, timing, and blind spots he could exploit as long as the fight's sounds reached his ears.
Each person has their own unique music score, so when her music score suddenly changed, there was only one explanation.
'Her brother's here!'
*whoosh*
Without hesitating for a second, Tengen burst forward as he sliced his cleaver towards Daki's head.
*swish*
Only for her body to disappear, making Tengen strike empty air.
'Huh?'
Tengen stared blankly at the scene before blood burst from his body. Coughing up blood, Tengen groaned as he steadied himself, looking behind him.
"Now, now, don't cry."
'What power!'
At a single glance, Tengen could feel the difference between the two demons.
'Damn' Tengen wryly thought as he felt another strain of poison in his body. 'Demons are such an unfair race.'
He was painfully thin, his waist so narrow it looked like a strong breeze could snap him in half. Sickly pale skin clung to sharp ribs, broken up by jagged black markings that crawled across his body like stubborn ink stains. Unkempt green hair hung in uneven clumps around his face, half-hiding a pair of yellow, slit-pupiled eyes that glared out with a feral hunger that had nothing to do with food.
[Upper Moon Six
Gyutaro]
"I'll kill that bastard who made you cry."
Just as Tengen was being pushed into a corner, the other Hashira weren't faring much better.
*woosh*
A vase burst from Gyokko's body, and he swiftly swung it into place between himself and Giyu.
'Again?'
"Water Breathing Ninth Form—"
"Blood Demon Art—"
'I won't fall for the same attack again!' Giyu braced himself, already preparing to cut through another storm of goldfish and needles.
"—Octopus Vase Hell."
'Huh?'
Instead of goldfish, giant tentacles exploded out of the pot, thick and slick, whipping around the room as they lunged to coil themselves around Giyu.
'It's different?!'
He had been ready to move low and fast beneath a barrage, not fend off a close-range grapple. The sudden shift in pattern sent a jolt of alarm through him, the path he'd planned out in his head shattering in an instant.
But his body did not freeze.
Instantly, he shifted his breathing and raised his blade, forcing his pulse to steady itself as he adjusted to the new rhythm.
"Water Breathing Third Form: Flowing Dance."
swish
Weaving between the lashing tentacles, Giyu sliced through them in smooth, precise arcs, never once letting them fully close around him. The faint spike of panic faded as his movements settled back into calm, cutting his way forward until he once again closed the distance to Gyokko and swung for his neck in a clean, lethal strike.
Seeing this, instead of using a fancy Blood Demon Art, Gyokko pumped his fist before punching the floor beneath them, making the floor explode in splinters.
Losing his footing, Giyu's eyes showed a trace of helplessness as he began to free-fall down the collapsing building. Seeing this, Gyokko let out a strangled laugh before taking in a deep breath and then spewing out hundreds of needles from his mouth.
"Hehehe, this is it for you vermin!"
In the world of Demon Slayer, one bitter fact weighed on everyone's mind: none of the modern Hashira could take on an Upper Moon alone.
It wasn't a matter of pride or talent anymore, but of raw, merciless reality. Upper Moons had centuries of experience, twisted Blood Demon Arts, and regeneration that turned mortal wounds into inconveniences. Against that, a single human, no matter how strong, would eventually tire, bleed, and fall.
With Tengen forced onto the back foot by Daki and Gyutaro, and Giyu struggling against Gyokko's shifting Blood Demon Art, the gap between humans and demons felt wider than ever. The plan they'd clung to as their lifeline was already fraying at the edges, and a sense of despair arose in everyone's hearts
*CLANG CLANG*
'Huh? What's that noise?'
Of course, every fact and every rule has an exception.
Hearing the sound of metal banging coming from above, Gyokko turned his head up, only to see a giant glowing mace descending on him.
"What the fu-"
*Step*
Below, the impending battle between Gyutaro and Tengen halted as another person made his presence known.
"Huh?" Gyutaro paused, looking away from Tengen. "Another Demon Slayer? Looks like you guys just don't give up huh? Forget it, it doesn't matter how many of you are there, it won't change any-"
A glowing red fist slammed into Gyutaro's face before he could finish.
"Martial Union: Sun Breathing"
"Wha-"
Before Gyutaro could scream, his head exploded in a fiery mess, like dipping an ice-cold drink in a pool of water and watching it explode. At the same time, the same hand reached out to Tengen, as flames traveled into Tengen's body, burning away all of the poison.
"Sorry for the late entry, dude" Aoyama said, apologizing, "I was caught up with another Upper Moon."
"Stone Breathing First Form: Serpentine Bipolar"
An axe shot forth as it wrapped around Giyu, immediately yanking him up and stopping the rain of needles from reaching him. At the same time, the mace slammed downwards, cutting Gyokko's body in half, making him scream in pain, only for his screams to be drowned out as the building collapsed on him.
"I apologize, Giyu." Gyomei said in a deep voice as he pulled Giyu upwards. "But, there are more enemies here as well."
Aoyama Yuito Daichi
Gyomei Himejima
As of this moment, the exceptions have arrived!