*Asura's POV*

 

"They drowned and drowned and none was found. All of em left to the winds and to the sea, but the drowned returned for me and then it found me. Drowned to the winds, drowned to the seas, drowned to the gods but yet still found. "

 

" Oh for fucks sake Haku be quiet for a bit. My head hurts and it'll fucking explode." I complained as I walked.

 

That seemed to startle Haku into stopping, but a moment later he continued to humm the song.

 

Thankfully I had enough strength to walk on my own, impressive as it might be.

 

I would've died from embarrassment if I had to be carried, because the most likely candidate that'll be more than eager was my own little brother.

 

There would be no end to the teasing if that happened.

 

"Did you visit the sea while I was running like a Beast?" I asked but Haku just continued to humm as he walked in front of me, leading us back to the rest.

 

Kenji had seen fit to hunt the demon and by extension track me down. Haku had assured me everyone was safe and then proceeded to say nothing but instead sing.

 

"You would know the situation better there than here. None of us are injured badly, except you from the looks of it." He had answered after a lot of prodding. He had been correct.

 

Even if I couldn't see myself in a mirror or a body of water i knew that my clothes were a bit ripped, and my hair flew wild and in all their strange colors they reached well past my shoulders now, I was also growing tall very fast so in the end I could very well imagine that if anyone had seen me run through that forest they would've thought I was the demon instead.

 

It took a bit before both of us reached the rest sitting around a campfire, I could spot around 2 dozen people standing in the area.

 

All members of the Corps in their uniforms,some using whetstones to sharpen their Nichirin Blades but most were looking bruised and battered.

 

Some were slouching and unfocused, staring into the fire but all of them were armed to the teeth.

 

Most of all Kenji who looked all but ready to go to war.

 

'Who knows if that's the plan.' I thought grimly.

 

Aside from the Corps uniform I could see some Fur clothes and around 6 horses loaded with gear.

 

That was surprising more than anything, for all I had traveled till now I hadn't seen anyone from the Corps use horses for transportation.

 

I walked over to Kenji. Looking around Inosuke, Tanjiro and Zenitsu were nowhere to be found.

 

"Did you manage to track the Demon?" Kenji asked in a hoarse voice and I could see his neck was badly bruised.

 

"No. I ran for a long while but it escaped me. For all its size it was extremely fast." I answered sitting down on the ground in front of him.

 

Haku had walked over to the horses and seemed to be rummaging through them.

 

"I didn't realise there were horses in the Outpost." I said warming my hands against the flickering flames, the temperature was going down a lot.

 

"We didn't. Till yesterday at least." Kenji replied, touching his throat and flinching.

 

I decided to not prod for more but he took a breath and continued anyway.

 

"There's a rest house near the Outpost. We have around one or two, around every Outpost so that if an Outpost goes silent for too long they can inform the Headquarters to check while *Cough* we provide protection for the help that we may ask of them in an emergency."

 

Kenji stopped and drank water from his waterskin, slowly and carefully.

 

"These ones hadn't been asked for anything in a long time. So I was able to procure some horses to carry all the baggage we'll require. Including you there's 30 of us *Cough*

 

It'll take us around till dusk tomorrow to reach our destination. Read this." Kenji said, finally tired of speaking and handed me a letter.

 

The letter was sealed with Silver wax and the parchment was high quality, the seal had the sigil of a sun on it.

 

I opened the letter and picked the words over.

 

"Kenji of the rank Hinoe, is informed to lead an excursion to Mount Natagumo.

 

You're granted to share the information in this letter with any you deem required to be told.

 

Over the last 6 months we've seen an increase in the rate of humans going missing around the area and as per procedure members of the Corps were dispatched.

 

Yet none had returned and even now a search party that we sent most recently has gone missing, bringing the total number of missing Corps members in the area to 47 and the civilians lost can range anywhere from 500 to 700 of those that we're aware.

 

You're allowed to take as many members from the Outpost as you deem required and if any Corps members that're resting at the Outpost are armed and in shape to fight you've the choice to command them in the excursion as well.

 

You've until 5 days from receiving this command to start the excursion.

 

If possible then subjugate and Destroy the demons. In the case of a Lower Moon being located in the area you already know the orders."

 

I read through the letter and mused the words internally.

 

"I guess the letter arrived after we were attacked by the Monk?" I asked looking up at Kenji who nodded.

 

"Next morning," he said briskly.

 

"And you were only planning to go out by then I assume. So this was just confirmation for a side errand?" I asked handing the letter back to him.

 

He accepted it with a raised eyebrow.

 

"A Lower Kizuki is no side errand, if the Monk hadn't escaped right on the path of Mount Natagumo i would've been forced to abandon the chase. Or at least not lead it personally. '' Kenji explained though it was clear to me if he wasn't leading then the people following the Monk would've either not found him in the best case scenario.

 

In the worst case scenario they would've been mashed meat lying on the side of tree trunks, feeding dogs and crows.

 

'Well I'll pick up Ryuichi in between, just have to send Horus to trail him or maybe I can simply ask him to be kept away from this altogether. But what about the vial?' I questioned myself in silence as the wood from the fire chirped and flames flickered.

 

"There's one more thing." Kenji said after a bit staring at me with gold flecked eyes.

 

'Does everyone here have unnatural hair and eye color?' I thought amusedly but nodded at Kenji to continue.

 

"The Blacksmith. The Monk managed to take a member of the Blacksmith village." Kenji said with a sense of dread.

 

'Well that ought to light the Wolf's tail on fire.' I thought holding my head.

 

I needed to kill that demon, by my own hands. That map I had found and trailed made sense now, I had tracked so many of them down but there was no demon in just one city.

 

'Well just my luck. Ain't that a bitch.' I cursed myself.

 

This could speed up the attack on the Blacksmith village by a whole lot. Atleast if Muzan could see the memories of the monk like he could of all the demons that he had made.

 

Something was inconsistent, but if on the off chance that Muzan wasn't capable of reading the memories of the Monk then that would be our chance to take that Monk out.

 

I had my hands around that bastard's throat, and I was gonna crush it.

 

Tracking him down for months had made me detest him, and I knew from all the places I had visited that had his scent, he was the one that caused death and misery in those towns and villages.

 

For months my realizations about him had simmered and finally I was just about ready to crush his throat.

 

'And also the Lower Kizuki.' I thought, looking into the flames. There might be something to gain from all of this but it all depended on strength, mine as well as that of those with me.

 

But one thing I knew, this was going to go my way, because anything else seemed unacceptable.

 

*Clang*

 

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of chains.

---

Author's Notes: This chapter was brought to you by; The Ultrakill theme [I found the game via the Max0r video] so even though I can't play the game I can listen to the soundtrack, which is mighty fine.

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Thanks for reading the chapter and your continued support.

Hope everyone has a nice Day/Night.