Need || Sanekana

018 | Trap

"Rumor?" Tengen's brows furrowed, giving Sanemi a curious face.

Sanemi couldn't help but recall the recent conversation he had with the villagers about the mysterious paper lanterns left behind at the scenes of the disappearances.

"The villagers mentioned that the elder women in the village started to disappear." Sanemi tutted.

Tengen wrapped his katanas silently. "Yeah, what i've gathered from the two days i've been after this demon is that it liked eating elder women..." He paused momentarily.

"It keeps disappearing when I'm inches away from beheading it. It's unusual." He continued in a frustrated tone.

"The damn thing's playing games." Sanemi growled, his hand instinctively tightening around the sheath of his sword. "But we can't afford to let it slip away again. I'll kill this damned demon."

Tengen's face relaxed slightly. "Alright, we got to do this. Now, and flamboyantly!" He let out a smirk, he scanned the area with his eyes as he strapped his katanas onto his back.

"We have to inspect the area, i'll meet you here if—" Sanemi was cut off by Tengen.

"You think I haven't tried that yet? We've got to go for another plan, this demon's got brains. Merely scanning the area won't work." Tengen hopped up onto the roof with a wide grin.

Sanemi could already hear the unspoken words, his eyes narrowed.

— 'Inspecting isn't flashy enough anyway... be a little creative, man.'

"Tsk." He tsked.

The whole demon slayer corps knew that the sound pillar was extreme. Even so, Sanemi had even heard from Masachika that the hashira always acted with coordination.

    "Let's set a trap." Tengen murmured, his expression thoughtful.

'You should've done that from the start, genius.' Sanemi's thoughts dripped with sarcasm as he snapped back to reality, he heard a soft metal noise behind him.

"Hah?" He quickly twisted to look at where the sound had come from, his hand instinctively gripping his sheath.

Purple flames burned in a lantern slowly before returning to its normal state.

That wasn't there before. The lantern just appeared out of nowhere, and Sanemi hadn't even noticed the light emanating from it in the first place until now.

"It's here." Tengen, who had some type of supernatural hearing, whispered, he quickly ripped his katanas off his back as he jumped down from the roof.

"...." Sanemi observed the mysterious lantern silently.

Tengen whipped around quickly, the once dim path behind them now lit up with purple lanterns. Seeing his sudden movement, Sanemi also faced the same direction.

"What the... fuck?" He muttered, the flames not returning to their original state, instead remaining purple.

Eerie silence dawned as both Tengen and Sanemi stayed on high alert, both of them unsure of what was happening, they couldn't sense, hear or see a demon close by.

As the sound of flames crackled in the lanterns grew louder, the more lanterns lit up and spread until the end of the path, where a figure glowed.

Sanemi unsheathed his sword, before Tengen gave him a slight shove, reminding him that the demon was more cunning than seemed.

"Haha... How laughable. No way you two are Hashira."

Mocking laughter filled the path as the demon stayed in its place, Tengen grunted and blitzed with crazy speed straight at the demon, Sanemi stayed in his place and stood his guard.

As Tengen tossed the end of his blade towards the demon, he held the other side with his fingers, attempting to cut off its head. His attack was swift and precise, yet the demon elusively disappeared into smoke.

The demon reappeared at a lantern, which was now gone. Sanemi's eyes widened with confusion.

"Let me introduce myself to you poor Hashira! My name is Zangetsu, and I'll be the one to end your miserable lives tonight."

Tengen turned around. His brows furrowed as he charged right at the demon again, missing its head by just a couple inches once more.

The demon reappeared in another spot, where another lantern had vanished.

    "As I was saying..." Zangetsu stopped when both Sanemi and Tengen came lunging from each side. He vanished again, leaving behind a small wisp of smoke, followed by the scent of blood.

It reappeared at another lantern.

Everytime the demon teleported from a lantern to another, the flame burned from the bright purple color to violet.

But, Sanemi couldn't tell. The dull and colorless world he'd seen since that day. The day he lost his mother.

Even so, he'd grasped a slight understanding of the demons' powers. What was weird was that Zangetsu only ever dodged or ran.

He never attacked.

    "How repulsive, no patience at all." The amethyst-eyed demon hissed.

    "I have no patience for a demon like you." Sanemi growled as he gripped his sword harder.

He understood this much— the demon could only dodge and transport through running... or the lanterns.

Although, each lantern was a one time use, so the demon planted many.

He just had no idea how he would be able to inform Tengen about it.

Sanemi walked closer to one of the lanterns, and he tapped the tip of his katana against the iron, chipping away at it.

Zangetsu's cat-shaped pupils constricted.

    "What a lame lantern." Sanemi knocked it over, he smirked at the demon's reaction.

He swiftly cut the lantern in half.

The demon flinched. "Y-You!"

    "Me?" Sanemi tutted, he grasped his sword as he sliced through half a dozen of lanterns in a single attack, he gave Tengen a signal.

The sound Hashira looked impressed, and one slice and a whole attack later, and most of the lanterns were destroyed.

    "Stop it! Stop!" The demon pleaded as he watched the two Hashira smash his precious lanterns carelessly.

The demon let out a long breath, and the lanterns were  soon all destroyed.

Both Sanemi and Tengen lunged at the demon once again, and a low sound of laughter rumbled in Zangetsu's throat.

"You thought you could set a trap against me?! You're the ones who have fallen into my trap!" He smiled widely.

Zangetsu quickly tossed a shredded-looking paper lantern onto the floor, one that looked like it had been dipped in blood just like himself.

"Now he will reward me with some of his blood! How lucky I am!"

A second later, the paper lantern wobbled and erupted quickly, growing into a structure at least thirty or even forty times its original size.

It swiftly swallowed both Tengen and Sanemi within it, leaving Zangetsu cackling maniacally after them from above.