57 Shock

In some senses, Demon Slayers and Muzan's demons weren't so different. They shared a common hunger for strength, to be powerful and to be able to walk the path they want to. Just as the Demon Slayer Corps had Hashira, demons had Upper Moons, uncontested in strength and the most fearsome of all. Upper Moons were the 'Hashira' of demons, and the Hashira were the 'Upper Moons' of humans. Just as those two groups co-existed and bore similarities, the same could be said for the middle ranks of the Corps and Lower Moons. Respectable in strength but there was constant death and replacement, Lower Moons were not steady in their hold of the title, the average length a demon would hold the title of Lower Moon was three to four months. A Lower Moon would often lose their title in two common ways, either the Lower Moons would be killed by Demon Slayers or they would be challenged for their title and lose. 

During the past year, the Lower Moons had shifted, changed and been replaced as usual, however, there was one demon that remained untouched. Lower Moon One, Ali. 

Ever since Enmu's defeat, Ali had been promoted to Lower Moon One, and with the new change came a flood of challenges for the positions. Many demons, brazenly arrogant, challenged Ali whenever they had a chance. 

This was due to the fact that Ali was severely underestimated by a lot of the demons, demons often thought he was only a Lower Moon due to his close association with Akaza. In total, Ali faced 55 challenges to his title, many of them being regular demons, the strongest opponent Ali had faced was Lower Moon Two.

Regardless of the demon, Ali had no issue in humbling every single one of them. 

The fights would mostly follow a pattern that Ali soon grew bored of, the challenger would come in and ruthlessly insult Ali while they were intoxicated with arrogance. They would challenge Ali, and immediately start their charge towards Ali, unleashing their most powerful attacks. Depending on the day and his mood, Ali either evaded all the attacks completely or simply took them without budging a single inch as a sign of disrespect to the challenger. After that, Ali would throw his first punch.

Once the demon took the first hit from Ali, suddenly, the universe would become apparent and clear to them. They would have an epiphany. They would realise.

They didn't stand a chance. 

From then the fight would be extremely one-sided, Ali would throw the challenger around like a ragdoll, and once he felt that he had enough fun, he would absorb the demon. Due to the repetitive practice of absorbing, he had become much more efficient at it. Now he was able to absorb an entire demon's body without leaving behind a ghastly grey corpse. Instead, the demon just turned into dust as Ali absorbed them. 

The challenges soon grew less and less in number as word spread of how Ali was defeating challengers with little effort, even when Lower Moon Two challenged Ali, Ali made light work of it. 

It was clear that there was a large gap between Ali and the rest of the demons below him. Even if Ali was growing stronger by the day, his mentor Akaza endlessly encouraged Ali to go further, he believed that Ali was Upper Moon material.

"You have to fight Upper Six!" Akaza spoke to Ali as they sparred, Akaza's foot hit Ali's chest with immense force and Ali went flying backwards. To this day, Ali hadn't got a hit on Akaza when they were sparring. Not that it was anything like sparring, Akaza treated Ali like a punching bag. 

"I'm good, I'd rather not do all those missions Lord Muzan sets" Ali burst out with laughter as Akaza grew more frustrated. Akaza launched forward and slammed his knee into Ali's nose, Ali groaned in pain as blood flowed out of his broken nose. 

"You're wasting your potential staying at Lower Moon One," Akaza sighed as he stepped back, he looked at Ali and took a deep breath. 

"Being the strongest weakling means nothing," Akaza sighed as he held out his hand for Ali. Ali brushed at his fully healed nose and smiled as Akaza pulled him up. 

"I'll think about it while I go hunting tonight," Ali laughed as he patted Akaza on the back. By hunting, Ali meant hunting for demons, Ali needed a steady supply of energy so he would prey on demons that lurked at night. It made him feel… human. While Eira accomplished her goal of becoming Hashira, Kaze successfully took the title 'The Shadow', and Asumi was able to find her self-confidence again, Ali still longed to finish his goal, to be human. Ali only wanted one thing, to prove deep down he was a human. 

"That hunting thing is getting out of hand, when are you going to start absorbing humans?" Akaza felt a little frustrated that Ali still refused to kill or harm any humans at all.

Ali just shook his head as he went to rest for a while. Even if he hid a massive internal conflict within him, he didn't externally showcase it. He still laughed and smiled as if he was fine. 

The green grass swayed back and forth as the wind circled around the fields, the blue sky had an aura of peace as the sun hung high in the sky. The world made a beautiful sight as if the universe knew what event was about to occur and put the best weather up for it. Today was the fateful day that Eira, Asumi and Kaze were to reunite. Eira had requested a custom mission for the three of them and only gave them the location. Eira felt a little sentimental so she had picked a location dear to all three of them. The base of Mount Natagumo. Ever since the mission that eradicated the Spider Demon family, the forest looked much more lively, sunlight penetrated through the leaves and the grey trees seemed to finally show some colour. 

The place where the three of them all met. Eira smiled as she stood there and awaited the arrival of the other two. She looked at the blue sky with great adoration, reminded of the first time she had seen the beauty of the world after coming down from the mountain. Eira seemed to zone out a little but was met with a pleasant surprise. She felt it immediately, that soothing and calm purple aura that she was so fond of.

"No way, is that the Ice Hashira?" The voice complimented the aura, there was no doubt about it, as Eira spun around, Kaze was a few metres away and waved. Eira immediately dashed to him with great joy. She hugged him tightly, Kaze laughed as he hugged Eira back. She saw her friend she missed so dearly, the black hair, the soft dark eyes and purple aura. 

"How have you been?" Kaze asked casually. Eira broke and smiled, she hadn't felt this happy in a long time, even though they hadn't met each other in so long, Eira still felt comfortable and familiar with Kaze. 

"Busy, you've been busy too right? You know, being a celebrity and everything?" Eira joked as she looked at Kaze, her eyes seemed to switch into her usual analysis. One thing stood out for Eira at an instant. 

"You… use two swords now?" Eira looked at the two swords Kaze had, one at his hip and the other on his back. Kaze smiled and then shook his head. 

"No, just didn't want to throw Ali's sword away, you know?" Kaze explained to Eira. Eira didn't like hearing that name, Ali. Eira seemed to stay silent for a while. 

"Any reason you picked this depressing area?" Kaze looked around and scratched his head, Kaze was unaware that this was Mount Natagumo, where they first met. It looked much different that day after all. 

Eira was about to answer when goosebumps erupted over her body, that pink aura, the sweet and kind pink. Eira was a little saddened that the pink aura hadn't lost the bold red outline, but she quickly replaced that feeling with immense excitement. Eira spun around once again and saw Asumi. Kind pink eyes, long black hair and a flower at the back of her hair. Eira found it a little annoying that both Asumi and Kaze had some sort of reminder of Ali with them. Regardless, Eira waved to Asumi. 

"Asumi!" Eira dashed to Asumi excitedly, she was so happy that her friends were back. Both of them. Asumi offered a kind smile as Eira jumped into a hug. Kaze watched like a happy brother as the two friends reunited. 

"Eira, it's been so long. And you're a Hashira now!" Asumi expressed her joy for Eira. 

As the three friends caught up and talked, the sunlight beamed upon them with great fondness, Eira's blonde hair and blue eyes seemed to glow as she exploded with excitement, she hurriedly told stories and simultaneously asked questions while giving no time for answers. They talked and laughed for a while, catching up and sharing their experiences in the past year.

The entire area seemed to brighten with the joy that radiated off the trio, leaves rustled and the wind seemed to be at a comforting speed. The atmosphere remained at a perfect temperature while the clouds in the sky were a heavenly white. 

"Besides all that, what mission have you prepared?" Kaze was the first to bring the topic back to the present. Eira seemed to smile at the question as both Asumi and Kaze awaited the answer. 

"Well you know, I thought what better way to have a reunion than hunt a Lower Moon together," Eira spoke with a smile and evoked excitement out of the two, fighting a Lower Moon was a perfect display of their strength. Asumi and Kaze both had the same question but didn't even have to ask. 

"We'll find and kill Lower Moon One. Ali." The sunlight seemed to highlight Eira as she twirled around happily.