The evening sun set; it was their cue to get moving.
Tokyo's last bit of warmth bled away behind rooftops as Akuru and Kanae left the riverbank and headed back towards the fringe of the city. The streets thinned as they walked by. Conversations between them remained dead as they moved. There was no need. The decision had already been made between them, sealed earlier. Now was go time.
By the time they reached the scrapyard's outer boundary, night had settled fully. Not deep night yet, just enough for the edges of shadows to soften. The quiet that always came with night had surrounded them; the only sounds all the way here, far away from the city, were the crunch of steps beneath them and the soft rasp of their own breathing that traveled far under the darkness.
They didn't enter immediately.
Kanae paused at the fence line, one hand resting lightly against the wire. Akuru stood half a step behind her, eyes scanning the ground, the large piles, the spaces between. Everyone had left already. Nothing obvious announced itself.
Kanae tilted her head slightly.
"Do you hear that?" she asked.
Akuru listened harder. At first, there was nothing but the low electric hum of the lights inside the yard. Then, a faint, intermittent sound, almost too subtle to catch. A soft whisper, like dry grains rolling over stone.
He looked down.
A single nail lay near his foot, its head dull with age. It trembled once, then shifted, rolling a few centimeters before stopping.
Akuru frowned.
They had just seen how organized this place was; there was no way that any piece of metal had ended up outside the yard. He raised his hand away from his waist and body. Letting it rest in the air. His haori didn't rustle the slightest bit.
"That wasn't the wind," he said.
But how then?
How had it moved, and why was it outside? He could think of only one reason that fit everything they knew. Kanae looked over at Akuru with recognition in her eyes.
"The demon is here tonight."
Both gave each other a nod. Tonight was it, tonight was the night they would kill this demon.
Kanae slipped through the front gate, which was still loosely locked just like last night. Akuru followed close behind. The moment both of them were inside, the scrapyard felt as if it closed around them. Even with the open sky above them, the open space almost felt narrow, and watchful.
It was the same place they had walked through during the day. Same piles. Same paths cut between them. But there was no one else here. And unlike the previous night, they knew that they weren't the only things in the yard. Both of them were alert beyond measure. Akuru never once lost his breath. He had gotten so comfortable with Total Concentration: Constant Breathing that he didn't even notice it now.
The piles of scrap rose high, bent rails formed shallow arcs along the edges, sheets lay folded and torn over one another, and pipes jutted out at uneven angles, their ends dark and hollow. The soft light that wasn't aided by the moon caught along sharp edges and torn seams.
Those shadows spilled outward in thick layers. One pile bled into the next, their outlines overlapping until depth became difficult to judge. The narrow lanes between the scrap felt tighter than before, hemmed in on both sides by metal that leaned inward just enough to be unsettling. Underfoot, the ground was packed hard and uneven, scattered with rust flakes, old bolts, and patches of dirt darkened by oil.
The smell of old iron, damp earth, and stale oil hung thick in the air, metallic and faintly sour.
Kanae's and his hand rested near their swords.
They moved slowly, deliberately, toward the back of the yard.
Nothing attacked them. Not yet.
Akuru's eyes flicked constantly from pile to pile. If the demon was here, it was hiding well.
They had almost arrived at the fence opening. Akuru walked in front now, and both of them made sure to look out for each other's blind spots.
And then it happened.
A sudden sound.
It wasn't the wind. It was neither of them.
The demon was on the move.
A length of chain hanging from a nearby pile twitched. A short, sharp movement, like a muscle flexing involuntarily. It settled again, links clinking softly against each other.
Kanae stopped.
"It's near," she said.
Before Akuru could respond, metal screamed.
Sheets tore free from the nearest pile, launching outward with brutal speed. Akuru drew his sword instantly, his bright white blade met the first sheet with a ringing crash that shuddered up his arms. Kanae leapt sideways as a bent rod tore through the space she'd been standing in, embedding itself deep into the dirt.
It didn't stop there.
More followed.
The attack wasn't precise. It wasn't aimed.
It was a burst. Almost like it was an attack that relied on hopes and prayers.
"Movement that way!" Kanae called, already moving.
Akuru looked over to where Kanae was running towards, and he rushed over to follow.
They pressed forward as debris continued to fly, dodging and cutting where they had to. The closer they moved toward the center, the more chaotic the motion became, metal lifting, stalling, dropping, colliding midair as if whatever controlled it couldn't decide what to do.
Then something stepped out from between the piles.
They finally set their eyes on the demon.
The demon moved slowly, deliberately, as metal peeled away from her path. The demon was tall, her posture relaxed, almost lazy. What caught Akuru's eye immediately was her dress.
It was metal.
Not scrap stitched together. Not jagged plates. It was smooth, flowing, and formed into overlapping sections that moved like fabric despite their weight. The surface caught the yellow-white light and reflected it back in soft silver waves, polished to a near mirror sheen. Every step caused the material to shift and slide against itself with a faint, controlled sound.
It was beautiful.
And entirely unnatural.
Her face, inhuman gray, was calm, lips curled into an amused smile, eyes bright with something close to pride. Her smile wasn't wide. It wasn't cruel. It was amused, practiced, and utterly detached.
"My first Demon Slayers," she said, her voice smooth and unbothered, as if she were commenting on the weather, "I always wondered who would be the first to come for me," Her eyes flicked to Akuru's sword in his hand, then Kanae's stance.
"I wonder how it feels," she added lightly, "to make you bleed instead."
Kanae didn't raise her blade.
She stepped forward instead, just one pace, placing herself fully in the demon's line of sight.
"You know, you don't have to fight us," Kanae said. Her voice carried easily through the yard, calm but firm, "You must have just become a demon recently. You haven't done anything that would stain you forever. So please rethink what you want to do."
The demon's smile faltered for the first time.
"Oh?" she said, tilting her head, "And you know that how?"
Kanae met her gaze without flinching.
"Because if you wanted to hurt people," she said quietly, "you would have already," Her eyes flicked briefly to the silent yard, the empty streets beyond the fence, "You've had nights. Opportunities. And yet no one has been killed here."
Her voice softened.
"That tells me you're not hiding because you enjoy the thrill. You're hiding because you're afraid of what you'll become if you step any closer. Pleaseb before it's too late, just surrender. We can figure something out afterwards."
For a moment, the yard was silent.
Then the demon laughed.
It was light at first, a single breath of sound, before it broke into something sharper. Insanity tinged her laugh.
"You talk like you know me," she said, "You don't know what I had to deal with! You don't know what I want!"
Her fingers twitched.
"They laughed," the demon continued, her voice amused, "Every day. At my face. My voice. The way I walked. At everything! They said I was broken." Her smile widened, brittle at the edges, "After a while, I started to believe them."
Akuru felt something tighten in his chest.
"I didn't want to die," she went on. "I just wanted the noise to stop," She gestured to her arm, the metal of her dress parting slightly. There was nothing there, "I believed pain would be proof," she said, "Something I could decide for myself."
Her eyes flicked upward, glinting.
"And then," she said, almost fondly, "someone answered."
Kanae's grip tightened around her sword.
"His beautiful face saved me, Kagetsura the Lower Moon Three," the demon said, reverent and proud all at once, "He said my pain was wasted. That the world didn't deserve how gently I suffered," She laughed again, softer now, "He gave me blood and told me I could take everything back."
Akuru exhaled through his nose. He muttered.
"I'm sorry, what happened to you should have never happened. But the path you want to take. There will only be regret."
Her head snapped toward him.
The smile shattered.
Metal screamed.
Sheets tore free from the piles all at once, chains ripping loose as if yanked by invisible hands. Pipes bent and twisted midair, flung forward in a chaotic storm. The yard erupted, and metal now came crashing and shrieking far faster than before. It surged toward them without pattern or restraint. It looked like it was moving with the same rage that the demon was expressing.
Akuru moved instantly, blade flashing up to meet the first sheet, a quick slash through the middle and it disappeared right back into the storm. Another piece came from the side, he ducked, felt it shear past his haori, then cut upward, sparks exploding as steel met steel.
Kanae was already moving.
She stepped where there shouldn't have been space, her body weaving through flying debris with practiced grace. Her blade flashed in tight arcs, severing chains mid-swing, redirecting pipes just enough that they buried themselves into the dirt instead of flesh. Her footwork was light, almost dance-like, each step placed precisely between danger.
Akuru blocked again and paused.
His sword didn't move. The demons' pull didn't affect his blade at all. His metal sword remained in his hand.
The familiar tug he'd expected, the resistance he'd braced for, never came.
"Kanae!" he shouted, forcing his blade up to deflect another sheet, "My Nichirin sword isn't reacting!"
She noticed at the same instant, eyes sharp as she sliced through a rod that dropped abruptly midair, clattering uselessly to the ground.
"And not everything around is moving," Kanae replied. "She can't control all of it!"
The demon snarled, frustration cracking her composure. Several pieces hovering near her shuddered, colliding with one another before falling away.
"She's inexperienced," Akuru said, breath tight as he advanced, "She's forcing everything at once!"
They pushed forward together, blades carving narrow paths through the chaos. Each step brought them closer as the storm grew wilder, less precise. The demon retreated without realizing it, feet dragging back as her confidence fractured.
Kanae stepped ahead of Akuru, calm settling over her features like a veil.
She moved.
Flower Breathing Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo
Her blade traced a single, flowing arc through the air, curving and twisting with impossible grace. The motion was smooth, almost gentle, yet the force behind it carved a spiraling path through the metal storm. Sheets split cleanly, chains unraveled, the air itself seeming to bend around the slash as it traveled forward like a ribbon of scarlet light.
For the first time. The demon's face filled with fear.
She screamed and thrust both hands outward.
The world lurched.
A violent pulse exploded from her, invisible yet overwhelming. Metal blasted away in every direction as if struck by a god's hammer. Akuru and Kanae were hurled backward, bodies skidding across the dirt, the force rattling their insides, nausea surging as the pressure passed through them.
They came to a stop hard, breath knocked loose, ears ringing.
Kanae pushed herself up slowly, eyes narrowed.
"…That wasn't metal manipulation," she said.
Akuru stared at the demon, who stood shaking amid the wreckage, her silver dress dulled with dust, laughter spilling from her in unsteady bursts.
"…Yeah," he replied quietly. "We still don't know what her art really is."
The scrapyard fell silent.
This fight wasn't going to be that easy.