Chapter 17:

The Tale of how I Deployed on my First Mission as a Demon Slayer.

The Tale of how I was Reincarnated as a Hero but Decided I'd Help the Demon Lord Instead.


"Tokuma Jiroki, you are a moron. I, a deity, warn you of one thing and you run right to them." The ever so familiar voice of Thanatos echoed in my head judgmentally as I drifted in an endless abyss of slumber. "I don't hold it against you, Hell, I rather enjoy it, you have provided better entertainment for me then I have had in a long time. You better not ruin my entertainment by getting yourself killed."

Immediately after Thanatos stopped talking I was woke up by a splash of icy water, which was only barely more uncomfortable then the metal slab I was sleeping on.

"Are you hard of hearing!? I said Five 'o' clock! It's five 'o' one!" The instructor blared in my face. "Get to the yard, you rotting pile of bird droppings!"

I stumbled to the yard where surprisingly enough, even though I was a single minute late, everyone was waiting.

A middle-aged man with snow white shoulder-length hair and deep purple eyes looked to me with a douchey grin on his face. "Tsk tsk tsk. Late again, gotta say Cross, your making it easy to be second worst at mannerism." He said as he slid his hands into the pockets of his dark denim jeans.

"Shut up Torrikkusatu," the instructor said casually, which made sense considering that he had been having the same conversation since we got here.

Everyone except Torrikkusatu stood in perfect line as the instructor paced in front of us, partially to show off the beautiful saber he had sheathed on his hip. "Mhmm, you can finally stand right. Congrats, do you think that's good enough? Do you think you have what it takes? Personally I think your too green for a real job... But somebody disagrees."

Concealed by the shadows cast by our barracks I saw just who that someone was as Cut waved to me in the creepiest way possible.

"He says you guys are something special, but I'm yet to be convinced. I'm gonna be taking you on a hunt. We're going after a Tear Eater, an A-10 ranked demonoid. They were created during the earlier days of The Demon Slayers Organization, the demons were all gathered around the demon lord's castle relying on the nearby towns for resources and food. We cut off their supply in hopes of starving them all at once, however some of them mutated into an even uglier version of their previous self. One of the more common mutations was a Tear Eater. I should warn you, if it kills you it won't be pretty. Every victim of the Tear Eater is found with their eyes drained of all moisture, that's where they got the name."

A tsunami of dread flooded over me as I realized I'd probably be walking even more.

"Follow me morons. We've got a stagecoach to catch," The instructor yelled, for the first time I was actually glad to hear him speak.

Outside was a gorgeous red stagecoach gilded in bright gold, drawn by four dark well-groomed mares.

"Right, only five of you are coming." Unsurprisingly enough nobody was sad at The Instructor's announcement. "He says I should take, Eldin, Laif, Gurak, Nyx, and Mr. Torrikkusatu. Well come on ladies... And Nyx."

The Instructor took the reins and gestured us to get in.

The interior was just as magnificent as the outside, the seats were made of smooth dark leather, and the red wooden walls and doors were smoothed and waxed over.

Gurak stared at a strain of his hair as the sun shined through the window making it appear red. As he twisted it his eyes began to stare off as though his mind was somewhere else entirely.

"Is there something up?" I asked noticing something was obviously on Gurak's mind.

"What me? Nah, just thinking about something the therapist said." Gurak answered, immediately dropping his hair.

"Yeah that guy was just plain creepy, you know what he said to me?" Laif asked which we all answered by shaking out heads. "He said that there's this other side of me that's homicidal, and that I'm responsible for my village's destruction. What a douche-wad. What about you." He finished looking at Nyx who sat beside me.

"He just told me what I already knew, that my sister was captured and killed by The Chained Demon." Nyx answered.

"The guy got nothing from me." I said proudly. "Outside of a childhood incident with a raccoon."

The ride wasn't peculiarly long, but the constant rocking of the coach put me to sleep.

"Aww. It's a sleeping moron. Well I hate to disturb your beauty sleep, cause gods know you need it. But we're here for a reason." The instructor yelled in my face.

Upon getting out of the coach I saw just how seedy the place was, the house's were boarded up, the streets were covered in various bodily fluids that I wouldn't dare say. There was an occasional stall but the food they sold had long since expired though the denizens of street urchins didn't seem to mind that very much as they gathered round and picked the food from them and quickly hid in the alleys.

"Ahh. Welcome to the luxurious town of, Nomuni... That's a pun, it's actually called Drove. It wasn't always like this, it used to be a lot nicer before," The instructor said as he drifted into his memory before snapping back to realty. "But we're not here for a history lesson. The Tear Eater is nocturnal so we have some time, ask around, explore what this wonderful place has to offer." He said before leaving us to our own and walking off.

"Well, I'm gonna pick a fight, see you losers." Torrikkusatu said as he walked off and immediately stepped in a pile of what appeared to be human excrement. "Oh come on! Frickin degenerate!"

"I think we should stick together." Nyx implored as she clutched to Laif's side who stood still as a post.

"I agree. Very much in fact, I very much agree!" Laif spouted out in a haste.

To my surprise Gurak let that prime moment to tease Laif go.

"Hello Miss," A young and dirty street urchin said to Nyx as he approached her side. "Would you do me a favor please."

Instantly Nyx was putty as she crouched down and let him whisper in her ear.

"I would love to see your camel toe." The urchin tried to whisper but he couldn't finished his sentence without chuckling and running off.

"You degenerate, dirt covered slug!" Laif shouted at the boy who now had Nyx's pouch of guld.

As he was running he turned back and taunted us before running into Torrikkusatu who was still scrapping a turd of his shoe. "Boy, I have a few questions." He said in a menacing voice as he pointed his knife at the boy. "Are you the type of kid who would lay down a big one in the middle of the street, and don't lie."

The boy hastily shook his head

"Did you just steel that from the pretty lady with the skimpy clothes?" He continued in the same tone.

The boy nodded just as hastily.

"Ahaha. Wow you've got balls! Here have another coin." Mr. Torrikkusatu said as he flipped a coin to the kid.

Laif stared at him with disbelief and moved his lips though no words left his mouth.

I, on the other hand, was paying attention to the old lady who had been sweeping the same spot since we got here.

She appeared to have noticed me as she stopped sweeping and looked at me with her glazed over grey eyes. "Ahh you must be new. " She croaked. "Nobody else would be foolish enough to stay out this late."

Looking around I saw the urchins and merchants scurry away like rats as the sun began setting.

"If it's so dangerous, what are you doing out?" I asked.

"My time in this world is limited, I don't want to spend anymore time running. You guys are still young though."

Torrikkusatu approached with his hands in his pockets. "What're you talking to the hag for? I'm hungry let's go to the bar. If this garbage town even has one. "

Nyx who clutched even more so unto Laif's arm nodded hastily, obviously freaked out by the old lady as well.

"There is in fact an inn, just down the street, keep to the left side and look for the building with the old crooked sign." The old lady continued with a creepy smile on her face.

"Right, see ya." Torrikkusatu said before walking off in the direction the old lady said.

Begrudgingly I followed.

The inn was just as seedy as the rest of the town. The doors groaned open and I was immediately assaulted by the smell of stale water and vomit. As I progressed forward the ground gave enough to make me instinctively reposition my footing in fear of falling only to realize the whole floor was the same.

"I suppose it is getting late," The instructor complained at us as he sat at a table alone. "So what did you learn?"

"Cross is afraid of old people." Torrikkusatu taunted as we took out seats at the table.

"I'm not afraid of old people, there was just something weird about that one." I replied defensively.

"He's not alone, I could tell something was up as well." Laif added.

"That's because Nyx was awfully close to you, things are bound to be up." Gurak teased as he slammed his drink, yet I could tell something was still off about him. But I also knew that I wouldn't get an answer as to what it was.

"I don't think he was referring to 'that'." Nyx replied innocently.

"How is this relevant!" The instructor yelled silencing all of us. "I figured y'all came here to regroup with me so I didn't have to fetch your lazy selves. Apparently I was wrong, I told you Tear Eaters are nocturnal, well guess what buttercup, it's night time. Let's go!"

As we left the inn following our instructor, Torrikkusatu already began complaining "I swear to gods. If I step in another pile of-" interrupting him Mr. Torrikkusatu found his foot yet again in a massive pile of dung. "Son of a witch! And I was looking forward to this, goddammit!" He roared in fury before sitting down and scrapping his boots.

"Right. You do that." Our Instructor said, disgust ripe in his voice. "The rest of you, with me!"

The instructor walked with pride and dignity as we followed him in close suit.

Suddenly an awful shriek pierced through the air. Immediately Gurak ran to it's source without hesitation.

"Wait! Piss ant! There's a proper way to do this!" He shouted but Gurak was too far to hear. "Damn him! What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Before long we were all chasing after Gurak into a dark alley which somehow smelt even worse then the rest of the town.

"What took you so long?" Gurak asked as he carried a young girl over his shoulder. "Tear Eater almost got me."

Lunging after Gurak was a grey skinned figure taller then humanly possible with a long forked tongue and razor sharp teeth, it's head was completely bald, and on each of it's lanky fingers was a long curved talon. Looking at the creature it was impossible to believe it once looked like Makono or Koroki.

"Hmm. Didn't I warn you to not stay out too late?" The creature groaned, as it narrowly missed Gurak's chest with a sweep from it's claws.

"Ooo, that's a special one. Not a lot of them can shapeshift." The instructor said as he crossed his arms and admired Gurak's fight.

"Laif! Shoot the damn thing!" Gurak yelled as he continued to dodge, unable to fight back due to the girl over his shoulder.

"I've got to restring it!" He shouted in response as he rapidly freed his elegantly carved wooden bow from his back and began stringing it.

"What the hell! Why did you unstring it?!"

"Are you serious!? Putting constant strain on the body of the bow will damage it!"

The ground began to shake as a thunderous explosion echoed throughout the town and a flash of lightning landed inches from the Tear Eater.

"Holy crap Nyx! You almost killed me!" Gurak shouted as he tap-danced to put out the fires the lightning created while dodging the Tear Eater.

"Sorry!"

"Here Eldin, hold the girl!" Gurak shouted as he appeared in front of me and handed me the girl before teleporting away again.

When he reappeared, he had his sword drawn and his shield on his left hand.

"Right, let's see what your made of." Gurak taunted as he pointed his blade at the Tear Eater and raised his shield.

Makech
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Kitty_Forest
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