Doom & Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Xover

Chapter 61: Epilogue Part 1

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The wastelands of Immora were desolate and quiet due to the death of the Dark Lord. The skyscraper-sized walls that dwarved everything, in size, had crumbled to ashes. There were no demonic corpses or skeletal remains left behind by the battle, just dust and echoes. All that remained was the ground Tanjiro stood on. The boy trudged through the empty, yet damaged, landscapes of Immora, dragging one foot in front of the other while, simultaneously, carrying the empty Praetor Suit of his fallen father-figure in his arms. He also had Valen's hammer hanging from his back. The boy's arms shook from the effort, he shouldn't be moving, but no one was around. Despite all this, the boy quietly cried as the tears, silently, slipped down his cheek to drip off his mask.

Tanjiro was oblivious towards the handful of Sentinel starships hovering towards him, descending until they landed in front of him. The dropdoors of the ships lowered to release the Night Sentinels, stored inside, as they flooded out of the ship to surround Tanjiro. They formed two, parallel, lines leading up to Valen's ship as the king rushed out of his ship to check on Tanjiro. As Tanjiro and Valen walked towards each other, the Sentinels that surrounded them began banging their fists against their chest before chanting in a unified roar, "KAR EN TUK! KAR EN TUK! KAR EN TUK!"

Valen rushed next to Tanjiro, forming a sour expression upon seeing the empty praetor suit along with the boy's injured condition and the evidence of him crying. Valen scooped his arms underneath the suit, telling the boy, "Here, let me get that." Valen took the Praetor Suit off of the boy's hands, allowing Tanjiro's arms to drop lifelessly while he stared blankly at Valen. The boy's eyelids slowly closed as he began swaying back and forth due to dizziness. Soon, he swayed backwards too far and collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Valen and all the other Night Sentinels called out to the boy as they rushed to his aid to get him the medical treatment that he needs.

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Tanjiro's eyes cracked open, weakly, as he slowly tried to process what he was looking at. He heard synchronized beeping sounds next to him and a variety of other noises he was unfamiliar with. He looked around to find himself in the infirmary of one of the Sentinel ships. The boy was far too tired to notice the deja vu he was experiencing. His exposed right arm had tubes connected to it while the rest of his body (the organic parts) were bandages up. The boy looked to his left to see the multitude of other injured Night Sentinels and members of the Demon Slayer Corps resting while their wounds were treated. In the other direction, the boy's eyes widened upon seeing Kanao laying on her bed while facing him. However, she was asleep, but she was clinging, tightly, to Tanjiro's haori which he left with her in the event that he managed to die. Fortunately... that never came to pass...

Tanjiro inhaled deeply before exhaling. There was no one else in the room at the moment besides the injured. Good. The boy wanted to be alone right now, so he quietly removed the tubes from his arm, causing blood to bubble up from his open wounds but he didn't care, he'll live. He gently pressed his metallic soles against the ground, looking around one more time to survey the area before tip-toeing his way out of the room so as to not attract anyone's attention.

Several minutes later, Valen walked into the infirmary to check on the boy's condition and gasped upon seeing the boy's bed, empty. Valen cursed, "Damn it, boy, why are you so stubborn...?!" This, unintentionally, woke up some of the other patients, including Kanao, as they lifted their heads up to figure out what was going on. Kanao's eyes widened as she cried out: