Ninth Universe
#TO ANYONE WHO'S WATCHING DEMON SLAYER FROM THE ANIME, PLEASE DON'T READ THIS CHAPTER SINCE THERE ARE SPOILERS#
Izuku jumped up with a happy expression, "That was so awesome. The second and third users' quirks are amazing now that I saw them first time in action. I have so many questions that I need to ask. How can it work? How different is Fa jin from OFA? What is the drawback of the second's quirk? I need to know everything to know about those quirks." He ran to the second and third users and began to bug them about how their quirks which they refused although the third was a bit more tolerant than the second.
Discord removed Izuku from them saying, "Izuku, please stop before the second user strangles you to death?" the boy looked back at the second user who seemed unamused at all before frowning and returning to his seat, "You'll give it to me anyway in the future. I guess I have to wait."
"All right then," Discord said while rubbing his arm, "Let's move to your opinion on the current universe. I mean this must be interesting to all of you to see your friend being seriously OP. I mean I still remember my friends' faces when I stopped the destruction of a dam just by flicking my fingers; man, I think for a moment even Kacchan was astonished…" he noticed the looks he was receiving before saying, "So what do you have to say?"
AFO was the first to speak, "This world is by all means quite worrisome for my plans, and I can say that I'm doomed to fail. Not only is the boy already increase the power limit the buffoon has put into OFA, but also he has the previous users' quirks which I admit puts me in quite the situation. I hope that version of myself has some plan to combat him if he hopes to defeat the boy and become the ultimate demon king."
Yoichi shook his head, "You and your fantasies brother! When will you ever learn that the villain never wins? I mean you saw what happened to the demon king in the manga we read he was defeated, and so will you. I truly hope you see reason brother."
AFO replied, "And I keep telling you that the villain can win sometimes. I'm close to proving it and you'll see." The users' decided to ignore this given that it meant that all their struggles were just a century-old debut between the Shigaraki brothers and whether villains can win or not.
Aizawa on the other hand wasn't amused that his student was the center figure inside a 2-century-old squabble between those two and he silently wished that the boy made it to the hero course with AFO dead.
Todoroki lifted his hand and said, "That world said that Izuku was wary of Aizawa-sensei? Is it true that he's after the quirk?"
Discord waved his hands saying, "More or less, the Eraserhead of that world believes that with his erasure he'd be able to defeat AFO better since he can shut off his quirks, but till this day it's not proven if his quirk actually works on the guy." Everyone looked at the villain and the hero as they both shrugged meaning that they didn't have the slightest clue, "Furthermore, the hero did a lot of research regarding OFA and AFO to the degree that it became an obsession of his to find All Might's successor so he can take the quirk to go and fight the villain. It became so bad that seeing dragging people to the police station was a common occurrence." The hero facepalmed at this point wondering if there was a version of him who isn't an idiot.
Shoto nodded as Iida asked, "What happened when Midoriya explained what would have happened if he handed him the quirk?"
"He didn't take to that too kindly," Discord said while biting his lip, "He grabbed Izuku with his scarf dragged him to Hitoshi, and depended on the boy to use his quirk on him to force him to hand OFA. When the boy complied given that Shinso believed that Midoriya was someone who lived his entire praised for his quirk only to have All Might's quirk added to it, the users acted; they took control over Izuku's body telling the nighttime hero that he's unworthy of the quirk and the transfer procedure requires their approval before disappearing. Let's just say, Aizawa was forced to have a huge therapy session with Hound Dog."
Iida sat down as Momo asked, "Did the class after that know the truth about Zuzu's true power." Discord shook his head.
"Not really, they were sure that Izuku was the successor, but didn't say anything so as not to disturb his training or grab unwanted attention. you, on the other hand, confronted him and offered your help to which Izuku patted you on the head and said that if he ever needed your help, he'll call you." The girl nodded her head.
"Now before I move on, are there any more questions?" Himiko raised her hand, "… that is not related to Izuku's blood?", she kept it raised, "…or stabbing him?"
The girl lowered her hand as Dabi asked, "What happened to Shigaraki after Nomu was sent flying away?" the villains were also intrigued.
"Well, he was caught before Kurogiri can save him, and was given a one-way ticket to the pits of Tartarus. Of course, he threw a tantrum while he was being taken away. He looked at Izuku and said that sensei would free him, but to no one's surprise, AFO didn't give a shit. He went to a much another of his projects Dabi, and offered him to be his successor." Dabi couldn't stop laughing at the betrayed look on Tomura's face while the white-haired man looked at his sensei who gave him a look that said 'I'm a villain. What did you expect?'
Tomura was then hugged by Nana who said, "Even if you hate me, I still love you dearly." The man-child began to cry about how everyone is betraying him as he hugged back as Nana patted him on the back.
He then looked at Izuku and said, "Alright mini-me, what do you have to say about this world?"
Izuku tapped his chin, "Well, it was really cool. That version of me must have had a huge weight on his shoulder. Good thing, I had someone as reliable as Itsuka backing me up." The girl blushed as she hugged him causing jealous reactions to happen.
Discord chuckled at the chaos as he said, "Alright, let's move the wheel of universes…" the worlds began to shift and change till it finally landed on one, "Ice and Snow Hashira"
Discord smiled, "Now, this is a universe that I wanted to see for a while. This is so awesome. The first crossover world where two worlds meet into one."
Izuku tilted his head, "Crossover, two worlds? Does that mean that I go to another world or was born in another? And while we're at it, what's a hashira?"
"Well, I can answer all these questions," Discord said with a smile that caused Nezu to laugh as the rat thing knew that chaos would soon arise, "why not bring someone from that world to answer your questions?" before Izuku could ask, 5 people were there. 4 males and 1 female. Two of the males looked exactly like each other with long flowing hair with red tips what set them apart was that one had a red kimono and some kind of birthmark on his forehead, while the other wore a purple kimono and had no birthmark. The 3rd male simply looked like some kind of wannabe Michael Jackson and was shivering in fear as he hid behind the purple-wearing man while he was looking at the other man. The 4th male was a young man about their age wearing a green checkered haori with red hair and a birthmark similar to the man wearing the red kimono. The female was black-haired and wore a pink kimono and had her hair tied in a ponytail.
Discord then appeared in front of them saying, "I already briefed what is going on. And I think two of you have nothing better to do with the time given that they are receiving punishment for their crimes. And the 3rd was lounging in heaven. While the last two were simply sparring to pass time. So by all means please introduce yourselves?"
The boy walked first and said, "Hey everyone, my name is Tanjiro Kamado, and I'm a demon slayer from where I come, and the girl beside me is my wife Kanao Tsuyuri, and she's also a demon slayer." He stopped for a moment before saying, "Well, ex-demon slayers given that we won."
The men then stepped forward as the purple kimono-wearing man shook off the guy tugging on his clothes as the birthmarked one said, "Greetings, my name is Yoriichi Tsugikuni, and I was also a demon slayer. And don't fret everything about our world will be explained in a moment."
The other man stepped up, "My name is Michikatsu Tsugikuni, and I'm Yoriichi's older twin brother. I was a demon slayer who turned into a demon in hopes of surpassing my younger brother and well, you can see what the result was."
Bakugo then said, "Who's the wannabe Michael Jackson? And why does he look one step away from dying?"
The man stood up enraged, "Do you know who are you talking to, lowly worm? I'm the closest thing to perfection. I'm the king of all demons. I'm Muzan." He looked only to see Bakugo sighing in boredom before pointing at AFO and saying, "Hey, potato head, guess you have a rival now. two demon king wannabes. Hahaha, I'll just smoke both of your asses."
All 4 demon slayers sweat-dropped at his confidence as Tanjiro said, "Well, let's explain how our world works before we explore this world any further…"
Muzan first spoke, "I'm the demon king. My goal was to achieve perfection and become immortal kinda like that guy's hidden agenda over there, and the only thing I needed was the blue spider lily flower that would make me walk in the sun since demons turn to ash in them given that I beat other ways of death such as decapitation and wisteria flower poisoning. I began to make humans into demons…"
Michikatsu stood up next saying, "He would inject a person with his blood allowing them to turn into demons and some demons had something similar to your quirks called blood demon art. Of course, there was a system for demons to present their strongest which was known as the 12 moons, 6 lower moons that were continuously changing, and 6 upper moons whom you would have the luck of the gods if you managed to escape once they found you. I was the strongest one as upper moon 1 or Kokushibo and this brings us to…"
Yoriichi stood up as he explained, "…the demon slayers were an organization invested in hunting down and killing demons since they were too dangerous to keep them alive or imprison them like you would do with your villains, only two occasions allowed a demon to live as my experience with lady Tamayo and Tanjiro's experience with his younger sister. In our world, there is something known as breathing styles; something similar to your quirks…"
Tanjiro carried on, "It was found that breathing styles make killing demons easier, so over time after Yoriichi developed the first breathing style sun breathing which almost killed Muzan when he first encountered him, many more styles were made. Of course, they were preparations such as mastering total concentration breathing to be able to use breathing styles."
Kanao then finished, "Like the demons, we also had rankings for demon slayers, but the highest rank was hashira. It was usually someone who killed a lower moon, or at least killed 50 demons while being a kinoe. Also, the birthmark on Tanjiro's head isn't a birthmark; it's called a demon slayer mark. It allows the user to increase his abilities and access the transparent world where he would see the interior structure of his body."
Izuku jumped up saying, "That's so cool." He ran to Tanjiro and began asking him questions to which the boy happily answered as Tanjiro himself asked Izuku about his world. Kanao and Izuku's girlfriends at this moment looked at them with vague expressions before separating them from each other. From there, everyone asked questions about the demon slayer world the weapons made to defeat the demons, how were the demon slayers picked much to everyone's horror, and many more…
Tanjiro asked, "Discord-san, how do our worlds meet? I mean I'm not educated or anything, but it seems quite impossible for two different worlds with nothing alike expect well heroes and villains I suppose, or in my case demons and demon slayers."
"Well, you can consider it as two rivers following directing next to each other, but as time passes, they began to get closer before they finally meet and move apart once more…" he explained while showing them a hologram of two rivers as he pointed to the intersection, "You see this point is the universe you're about to see, the two branches originate from it. these two worlds are identical to yours with a minor detail to the other world. The first branch represents Izuku finding a book you wrote about breathing styles and he formed his own breathing style from sun breathing known as light breathing. The second is a world where All Might did manage to end AFO in their first fight, but he was given a chance by the gods to pass on his quirk and he chose you." The boy nodded his head wondering how this 'quirk' would have made his mission easier. Yoriichi was shocked that the boy without a formal instructor managed to make his breathing style.
"Alright, let the world begin…" the scene changed, and Tanjiro shivered as he remembered the first time he met the hashira, "I really hate how I first met them…"
Izuku looked at him and said, "Why?" the boy rubbed his head as Kanao chuckled a little, "Oh, you'll see. I just hope that version of you isn't a jackass as the rest were when I first met them."
Tanjiro woke up as he felt the world spinning around him. he looked and saw two people wearing all black punching and telling him to wake up. He looked around as he heard people talking asking himself, 'Where am I? what's happening here?'
"so this is the guy who was traveling with a demon in his wake," a man with white hair and a flashy look said, "I have to say I expected him to be a bit more flamboyant."
"This boy here must be judged for his crimes." A man with red and yellow hair yelled while a huge-looking man with a rosary was rubbing his hands.
A pink-haired girl was silently wondering if they were actually going to kill the boy while a young man close to Tanjiro's age was watching the clouds.
Izuku scratched his head, "They don't seem that bad to me. I mean if you broke the rules, it would be logical for a trial, but if you can put up a good…"
He was silenced by Tanjio, "Yeah, that's how it works in your system. In here, they're literally the judge, jury, and executioner. My trail was them literally saying that they were going to kill me without listening to anything I said or disregarding anything I said altogether." This made Izuku wince hoping he wasn't like that in this world.
Yoriichi, on the other hand, was extremely displeased at Tanjiro's words given how the pillars acted, they sounded to him like a bunch of bloodthirsty demons. Sure, what the boy did was a violation, but they can still hear him out. he hated how some place could casually disregard life like this, but then again; they must have lost loved ones which caused this sort of reaction so he can't judge them without knowing them.
Kendo then said, "Really, I thought you know… the highest level must be the wisest of them all. You're painting them like savages…" the boy chuckled, "They're good people. Don't get me wrong, but if the situation was any different, I wouldn't blame them. I mean demons have killed their loved ones and much worse. I can see why they didn't believe at first."
Tanjiro looked around and asked, "Who are these people?" he was then punched by the same person who was wearing black telling him to respect the people he was standing beside and that they were the hashira
The boy wondered what the hashira was as the purple haired-girl told him that he was being on trial for defying the rules of the demon slayer core by protecting a demon.
The same girl tried to speak only to be cut off by the flame-haired man who was Kyojuro Rengoku, the flame hashira, "There's no need for a trial. The boy should be executed for protecting a demon."
The sound hashira, Tengen Uzui said, "If that's the case, I decapitate them both in a flamboyant display of blood." A facepalm echoed through the place after that statement.
the love hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji wondered if they were actually going to kill Tanjiro…
"What the fuck? is there actually love breathing technique?" Bakugo asked as a few others nodded their heads. Tanjiro could helplessly shrug as he said, "I didn't get it a first either, but she was a really strong fighter. A force to be reckoned with. Give Muzan Jackson over there a hard time." The man could only fume at the nickname swearing to kill Bakugo when he has the chance. He looked and saw Yoriichi reaching for his sword so he slung back and disappeared from his sight.
The stone hashira, Gyomei Himejima spoke, "Alas, to see such a pitiful creature as this. I grieve for him. perhaps, it would've been better if he was never born at all."
All the while, the mist hashira, Muichiro Tokito was staring at the clouds oblivious to what was happening around him.
Silence and only silence were on display as Ibara was the first one to speak, "I didn't expect that. I thought the monk-looking guy might sympathize with you, but it seems he was on the opposite end." The boy chuckled at the screen as shivered remembering the ordeal he suffered that day.
"Gyomei is a really nice guy, but he had a rough past. I can't blame any of them. It hurts, but at least they gave us a chance." Muzan on the other side was angered that they didn't actually kill the boy and his sister. If they had, he would've won the fight against the demon slayers.
Izuku said, "I guess so, but still that seems a bit too harsh if you ask me. I hope that version of myself isn't also going to give you a hard time, or at least hear you out."
Momo said, "Although I hate to admit it, they are in the right to do this. From what they explained, it seems that demons make our villains look like just a bunch of babies trying to learn how to shoot a gun. They are much more dangerous." She turned to Tanjiro, "apologies, Tanjiro."
The boy laughed, "No, you're right. Demons from what I saw are much more dangerous than your villains. At least yours can be detained or controlled, ours not so much. They had every right not to believe in me. you should have seen Kanao when we first met, she kicked so hard with her boot, it left an imprint on my head." He was pinched by his wife telling him to be silent.
A voice spoke up, "I think that we should all calm down given that you're all not even looking at it objectively. At the minimum, we should hear the boy out, I'm sure that you're going to find his story rather interesting. I'm sure I did." Tanjiro looked at the familiar voice. He was a man older than him by two years. He wore standard demon slayer clothes with an ice-themed haori. He was the ice and snow hashira, Izuku Midoriya.
Tanjiro jumped up and yelled, "Midoriya, what's happening? Where's Nezuko? Zenitsu? Insouke…" he was punched on the head by one of the people wearing black who yelled, "Are you insane? How dare you talk to one of the hashira so causally? These 10 individuals in front of you are the best swordsmen in the country."
Tanjiro hugged Izuku, "Thank you, Izuku for being the voice of reason in this one. Thank you for taking my side and not ignoring me altogether." Izuku chuckled a little.
The boy spoke, "Well, I'm shocked that I even spoke because, in tense situations like these, I kinda freeze up, so I'm that was a surprise for everyone."
Bakugo yelled, "Demon slaying must have toughened you up. That occupation doesn't seem to be to those who have faint hearts since there's gonna be a lot of death in it."
Michikatsu spoke, "Agreed. My brother was always a bit of a softy. The first time he held a sword and defeated my instructor, he threw it to the ground in the horror of damage he made on the man and ran away vowing never to hold one again. So imagine my surprise, when years after his disappearance, he emerged and killed the demons who attacked without so much as batting an eye."
A voice came from behind everyone, "Now that you spoke up, let's ignore the boy for a moment. May I know why Tomioka and Midoriya aren't tied up? They're just as guilty as the boy for protecting a demon. No, Midoriya is even worse. He's a hashira, and yet he befriended the demon and the boy. What punishment should we inflict on them?" he then looked to the side and said, "Did you know about your fiancée's activities, Kocho?" the man was Obanai Iguro, the serpent hashira. He sat on a tree with a snake coiled around his neck.
The purple-haired girl also known as the insect hashira, Shinobu Kocho replied, "While Izuku did contact me during his two-year absence, I was mostly in the dark just like you were. Though knowing him, he must have a very good reason given his record."
"Fiancée," was the only thing that Izuku and the two girls beside him yelled, as Bakugo was on his back laughing with the others guys. Only Mineta and Kaminari were furious that Izuku was having an interdimensional harem. Mineta jumped on him and began to slap him, "Midoriya, you bastard, how dare you have a harem before me?"
Izuku pushed him away as Ibara tied his arms and chucked him into the boys, "I don't think I asked for it. I'm just as shocked as you are…" He looked at Mineta with a vein throbbing on his forehead, "I'm not building a harem, got it? stop making stories about me."
The boy still in a daze nodded as Inko looked at Shinobu and said, "She looks so cute. I hope he treats her right." Meanwhile, Kanao jumped in front of Izuku causing him to blush as she inspected him up and down before saying, "I approve. I now know that that version of you will make my sister happy." The boy steamed as he fell and silently wished for someone to put him out of his misery since the moment this started, he was being embarrassed on a regular base.
He looked and saw Tomura enjoying some popcorn as he said, "Your pain is my gain." He was hit by Nana who said, "Tenko, be nice to him." the man-child pouted as he apologized.
Ochako who was silent then said, "Isn't anyone going to say something about the snake around his neck?" when no one replied, she said, "Okay, I guess not…"
To the side of the meeting, a man with black hair tied in a ponytail stood alone. He was Giyuu Tomioka, the water hashira. Izuku looked at Iguro and said, "Tough words coming from someone hiding up there. Why don't come down and do it yourself? Furthermore, I came here without resisting so there's no need for that. not that I have done anything wrong, to begin with."
Kyojuro, one of Izuku's first friends and closest ally replied, "Izuku, my friend. I'm sure you know that protecting a demon is a crime. So why are so calm about this?"
Izuku looked at him, "Like I said I've done nothing wrong, and even if I killed her; what would I've gained from killing an innocent soul like the demon girl? I've observed her for two years, and I can testify that she's not a threat. Have I killed her; the only thing that I would have happened is her brother killing himself after losing the last member of his family, and I already have enough deaths on conscience from heroes interfering with my job."
Izuku blinked as he said, "Demon slaying sounds hard and terrifying. There's no room for mistake…" he then remembered something as he said, "And what does he mean 'heroes interfering with his job'?" even Tanjiro was intrigued at this point.
Discord replied, "Don't forget that this is happening in your time, the age of quirks, not in their time. The heroes… well limelight heroes don't know of the demon slayer cores existence only the underground heroes know about you after one of them stumbled into En over there." He pointed at the sixth user, "and also the top ten, however, All Might refused the way demon slayers work, and demanded that they try to contain the demons and help them regain their minds ignoring that demons are mostly animals working on primal instincts. This wasn't something the demon slayers were worried about, but All Might began encouraging limelight heroes to patrol more at night, especially places where demons might hide which are places that nighttime heroes operate in who as spoken from before have already reached an agreement with the demon slayers, and this caused interference with demon slayers who were always interrupted at pivotal moments causing the demon to escape and kill people before he was tracked down and eliminated. This however was mostly portrayed as heroes stopping someone from killing an innocent person, because god knows what would happen if the news started talking about demons."
All Might was shocked that his own ignorance would cause people's death, but asked, "Why don't they… I don't know… talk with the HSPC. I'm sure that they can work something out."
"That's what you suggested however, their leader refused given how corrupt the hero system is and the number of quirkless people is on the decline given that they were the only ones who can do breathing techniques, they didn't want demon slaying to go from stopping Muzan to having the spotlight on them." The blond hero nodded understanding where the leader was coming from.
Tanjiro asked, "In that world, only quirkless people can breathing techniques. How come?"
"Well, I suppose that mostly it comes from the fact the quirked individuals have slight changes in the biology of their body, but that's what I think." Discord shrugged.
Tanjiro used this chance to speak, "Please listen to him. he's speaking the truth…"
He then coughed in pain as Shinobu came up to him and gave him some medicine to help him with his broken jaw telling him to take it easy since he hasn't fully recovered yet.
Tanjiro then talked again, "Please believe me when I say that my sister hasn't hurt a human and she never will. Even if she's a demon, she can still protect humans. Midoriya said it himself; she isn't a threat to anyone."
Uzui said, "Listen, kid, as much as I respect Midoriya for being a flashy guy who won't hesitate for doing what he believes is right. Your story doesn't make sense. A demon that won't kill humans. At least make it a bit more flamboyant."
Izuku sweat-dropped, 'What was he supposed to say other than the truth?' he was knocked from his thoughts when Obanai said, "Sorry, but I don't buy it. she's your sister, so you're going to defend her." he then looked at Izuku, "And you if you were so worried about the boy killing himself, you could've explained to him why you killed his sister and took him under your wing so he can avenge his family. Aren't you the one who says that demons are creatures that are enslaved by Muzan and deserve to be set free?"
Tanjiro smiled, "That's a wonderful analogy to describe demons. Most people see them as mindless beasts with no feelings whatsoever, but you see them as tortured creatures. Now I can kinda see why Shinobu must have been interested in you."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "Well, the formation proves it. Muzan have control over them, so I believe by killing them you're giving them peace, and it seems most of his deals are tricks made for someone who is at his weakest and will probably be under his control, or someone who is extremely desperate like him." he said pointing at Kokushibo adding, "No disrespect though."
The man shook his head, "No, only a desperate fool will take his deal. I was really desperate at the time. I only saw what I wanted not noticing the door being shut behind me."
"That's the problem that stopped me. she isn't influenced by Muzan whatsoever. Any other demon would have leashed and attacked anyone in their vicinity, but this one didn't. she only slept and when she woke up, she didn't even seem interested in human flesh. Even after that, I still had my doubts, but then I met another demon who was also free of Muzan's influence, so I knew that the girl must be different."
Gyomei then said, "You met a demon who was free of Muzan's influence…" he rubbed his hands a little and then added, "As much as I wish to believe that, I believe that she used her demon blood art. I say that we give Izuku the proper medication to help him recover."
Izuku shook his head, "No, I'm telling you the truth. She even said his name and didn't suffer from his curse. She said to me that a swordsman that almost killed Muzan spared her life when he saw how much she hated him. and apparently she knows Oyakata-sama, so I couldn't just act on my own accord."
Izuku saw Tanjiro smiling and asked him, "Do you know who he's talking about?"
The boy nodded as Yoriichi beat Tanjiro to the answer, "He must mean Tamayo. She was a demon that I saw when I first encountered Muzan. She managed to curse him out so I spared her life." He smiled, "But it appears, she was a huge weapon in taking out Muzan."
The man himself grumbled under his breath calling the demoness a traitor for demon kind.
Rengoku shook his head, "Alright, let's leave this to discuss with Oyakata-sama for when he comes…" everyone nodded till Mitsuri said, "Now that we mentioned Oyakata-sama, it doesn't seem possible that he didn't know about this. I mean Izuku went missing for two whole years. And only Shinobu knew where he was."
Before anything can be said, they heard the kakushi arguing with someone. A man with white hair and a scarred face walked in holding a box which caused Tanjiro to panic. "You said that the demon in here can fight alongside humans, huh?" he pulled out his sword and yelled, "Let me tell you that it's complete nonsense." The man moved his sword toward the box but only hit the air as he noticed that he wasn't holding it anymore.
Izuku then coldly said, "That's enough out of you, Shinazugawa." The man known as Sanemi Shinazagawa, the wind hashira, looked at him with anger saying, "What do you think you're doing, Izuku? This a demon. We're demon slayers. This is literally our job."
The green-haired man shook his head, "Both of them are under my protection till Oyakata-sama passes his final judgment. In other words, I won't allow you to harm them."
The two looked at each other till the white-haired man scoffed looking away and saying, "Fine."
They then heard the approaching sounds of footsteps as all the hashira took a line and knelt as two girls entered the yard saying, "The master has arrived." And with that, a man with what looked like a disease infecting the upper half of his face walked in as he said, "Greetings my children, today's the weather is beautiful, don't you agree?"
Izuku chuckled a little to himself, "I guess you also have your own Bakugo." The ashen blond began to throw curses left and right as Tanjiro laughed saying, "Sanemi might look cruel at first glance, but he's someone who suffered a lot so he hides his pain behind his anger. Don't let his attitude fool you. He's kind underneath."
Izuku nodded as the scene shifted once more now inside a room with the master and the hashira sitting all together.
The master spoke, "It is just as you all reported, the demon's carnage has reached an all-time high, especially after AFO's defeat and its following chaos. Now the threat to human lives is greater than ever. Now, we must strengthen our ranks, what do you think?"
Sanemi was the first to speak, "The incident on Mount Natagumo says it all. Hasn't it been for Midoriya being there, the casualties would have been higher. You'd think the trainers know what they're doing, but apparently, they're just sending untrained children to fight. The caliber of demon slayers has fallen significantly. Most of them are beyond useless." Izuku nodded his head.
The green-haired man added, "As he said, most of the people who were at that night were completely worthless. They were running around like headless chickens till I came around with Tanjiro and his companions, and I managed to sort them out, and by that, I mean to kick them off the mountain completely before they drew attention to us. The slayers there went in without scouting only swinging their swords left and right. It was a shame and a travesty beyond anything I have seen."
Shinobu remarked, "The more humankind spread, the harder it is to control them, especially nowadays. We were told after AFO's defeat that an era of peace will commence, but we've only seen more division arise."
"What happened in Natagumo for it to be so bad?" Izuku asked looking at Tanjiro.
The boy answered, "Well, it was habited by Rui, lower moon 5, and his spider family, and let's just say it was a massacre for demon slayers. I barely survived the encounter."
Muzan smiled as he said, "Ahh, Rui. He was my favorite lower moon. Good times, good times."
Gyomei spoke up, "We have demon slayers who are either people looking for vengeance for their loved ones or people who hunting demons was in their families for generations. the others have motives that are quite different. I feel… it's cruel to allow unfit people to be taken to the slaughter."
Rengoku said, "Well, let's look at the bright side, the boy managed to locate a lower moon in his first month. Unlike Izuku, rarely does any of us encounter them. I say we use this to our advantage to draw them out, so we can defeat them."
The master smiled, "Fair point. But the drastic move of lower moon 5 proves that Muzan was far away from there. The man is known for huge diversions to avert attention from himself. It's quite frustrating, to say the least, but as long as demons linger around gaining strength as they feed on humans, we can only fight them for the sake of those who died. I feel that who are present today, the corps' hashira, the finest swordsman ever since the feudal era…" the man then began to name them one by one, "my loved children… I look forward to your success."
Everyone was shocked by how their master treated them with such kindness and care.
Izuku said, "The master seems to be a very kind soul. I was I can meet him one day." Tanjiro smiled as he replied, "He sure was. He refused to give Muzan the satisfaction of killing him and dying on his own terms as he blew himself up with most of his family. It was hard to see, but we made sure not to let his sacrifice be in vain." The boy wiped a few tears as his wife hugged him.
The master said, "Izuku, my child, I believe that you told me that you have something to say."
Izuku bowed and said, "Yes master, I have a couple of things that I intend to say. Most of them are rather worrisome. The first is the increased interference of heroes in my job, and other demon slayers. I'm quite sure that I'm not the only one who came across this."
Kyojuro then said, "Indeed. I have also encountered daytime heroes more often in my patrols. This caused countless deaths before I managed to escape from them and find the demon." Other murmurs of agreement rose.
Giyuu said, "You should have seen Mount Natagumo after we left it. it was swarmed by them. I think we should have a talk with the new number 1 and tell him to stop the hostility given that he's the reason daytime heroes are interfering with us." No one noticed Izuku clenching his fist angrily as Shinobu held his hand and shook her head.
Kagaya said, "That's quite worrisome indeed. The underground hero association has told us that Lemillion was indeed the reason behind this increase in daytime heroes patrolling the streets at night in places where demons might lurk. They hope to catch a demon to perhaps rehabilitate them so they can stop just from killing people who are just different."
Obanai remarked, "Such useless and fruitless waste of time. Most demons eat heroes for lunch. The only reason Lemillion isn't a meal is that he can't be touched. Hell, he wasn't even the reason why they won the war against AFO. If it wasn't for our involvement, they would have lost." Everyone agreed remembering the huge role they played in taking AFO down.
Lemillion was shocked that he was hated by those people, but given the reason, he couldn't quite blame them. He was technically interfering with their job and causing human death to happen. In other words, he was only a pawn in helping the bad guys win.
Gyomei said, "The heroes are reaching a new low, especially with the increase of demon activity and the HSPC trying to report it as a massive cannibalistic cult. I suppose it's both a blessing and a curse that they don't know about us."
Izuku carried on, "But it gets worse, last week I encountered a demon with a demon blood art, but the problem wasn't there…" everyone looked at him, "…he was a quirked demon. In the past, Muzan resorted to only turning quirkless people into demons for some reason, but now there is a sudden increase in quirked people becoming a demon. And this power that comes to their quirk is unbelievable. It's the closest thing to quirk evolution. And that's not talking about their blood demon art if they have it."
Muichiro spoke now, "Now that he mentioned it, I did encounter a couple of quirked demons, and their powers were insane not that it mattered at the end, but for the average demon slayer it means death." The boy then spaced out.
Mitsuri said, "That seems bad. Demons with powered-up quirks and blood art seem like a huge headache. I hope we defeat him soon."
Izuku's face then took a darker look as he said, "The worst is yet to come. What I'm about to say is something that I found with Shinobu by accident and must not leave this room because it may turn everything upside down." All of the people present were now worried as Kayaga said, "And what would that be my child?" the man was now worried himself as Izuku's tone was very ominous.
"Well, it was a small test that Shinobu and I did before you sent me off to watch over the siblings, but its implications that we found are huge…."
Everyone was now intrigued by what that Izuku had to say as Discord said, "Alright, I believe that's enough for now." he then looked at his guests and said, "And I think that it's about time I sent you home unless you want to stay."
Tanjiro and Kanao said, "I guess we could stay a bit longer. It's been boring lately."
Michikatsu said, "I have nothing better to do right now, so why not. Who knows, maybe I'll see a world where he has my powers." Yoriichi laughed at his brother as he and Muzan were sent away.
Discord then said, "Alright people, I want your opinions on this."