Kintsugi Kyoudo and Hikari Kyoudo vs Yugen

**Kintsugi Kyoudo and Hikari Kyoudo vs Yūgen** was a battle that took place in the Kyoudo Village of the Shinjuku District of Tokyo. It was a large and extensive battle that focused on the first confrontation between the previous Star Hashira Kintsugi Kyoudo, his son Hikari, and the tertiary holder of Upper Rank Six of the Twelve Kizuki, Yūgen.

## Prologue

For many years, the largest village in the Shinjuku District had been under hierarchal rule of the Kyoudo family, with Hikari Kyoudo, the family's youngest son, being their main breadwinner due to his supernatural healing ability. He was well-known throughout the village as being very serious and mature about his work despite his young age. Even further, the father of the family Kintsugi was the Star Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, one of the most powerful swordsmen in the generation. The family had been showered with gifts and gratitude by the people of the village, especially now due to the recent death of their eldest son, Kiyōi. However, because of this, Hikari had stopped treating people and Kintsugi had stopped travelling the streets in the mornings. None of the family had been seen for days, and this worried their fellow residents.

Meanwhile, in the Entertainment District, Yūgen hears word of this tragedy-struck powerhouse family, and realizes that the son blessed with supernatural powers was a true pity to the earth. She believes that Hikari's race as a human will only lead to his decline, due to the natural process of growing old and dying. This ideology was even more prominent once Yūgen heard of Kiyōi's death, and she began to fantasize what would have been different if Kiyōi was a demon, or was never poisoned in the first place.

Yūgen then remembers the teachings of her father, and realizes that the skills possessed by such gifted individuals wouldn't be useful if they weren't continuously put to the test. So, to prove her ideology, she decides to "pay a visit" to Kyoudo Village and test the skills she had heard of.

## Battle

### The Beginning of Kintsugi's End

Yūgen arrives at Kyoudo Village, and begins attempting to draw out Kintsugi and Hikari by attacking and killing residents of the village. She begins with murdering three households, leaving their corpses outside their houses and painting the kanji for "flower" (花 *hana*) across their doors in their blood. Kintsugi, immediately hearing the screams of his fellow villagers, jumps to action only to see the mass of dead bodies outside houses and blood scattered across the streets. He sees what looks like Yūgen, but is in fact a puppet of her. He decapitates it easily using **Star Breathing, Fourth Form: Bright Rain of Stars**, and goes to check on the household in front of him, only to see three bodies be thrown out of the building. He approaches the building, catching Yūgen herself. Yūgen throws him back using **Blood Demon Art: Bloodstained Petrichor**, with Kintsugi blocking each purple ray with **Star Breathing, Sixth Form: Blessed Whirlwind, Potent**.

Yūgen leaves the building and stands opposite Kintsugi, remarking that his swordsmanship and reflexes were impressive and better than most she had seen. She asks about Kintsugi's technique, knowing it was one of the fundamental Breathing Styles but very rarely seeing it used against her. Kintsugi doesn't reply and instead leaps at Yūgen to perform **Star Breathing, First Form: Glowing Scorpio**, but Yūgen easily throws him backwards again with **Blood Demon Art: Violet Ripples of Darkness**. Kintsugi blocks the rays but gets knocked off his feet and falls backwards, and Yūgen laughs, saying his technique is impressive but he clearly isn't good enough to use it correctly. Using **Blood Demon Art: Blessed Insouciance**, Yūgen manages to stab Kintsugi in the arm with her crucifix going through his skin and creating a wound that bled profusely before leaving him in the street and approaching the house in which the Kyoudo family lived.

### "*Show yourself, Gifted One*"

Yūgen discovers the house the Kyoudo family lived in, having left Kintsugi for death. She yells out to the residents of the house, asking for the "Gifted One". When Hikari emerges from the doorway, Yūgen laughs having easily found the one she knew she had to kill. She sees Hikari's younger sister try to follow him outside, and frowns before pointing her crucifix at her and sending a sharp ray of mist towards her. Hikari stands in the way, taking the hit which slashed him across his torso. Yūgen calls him a fool, saying that the poison from her mist would kill him after only a few seconds. However, Hikari laughs, revealing a sword from behind him and drawing it. He explains that Yūgen's poison can't affect him, since the healing properties of his blood neutralizes its effects. He ushers his sister back indoors, and strikes Yūgen with **Star Breathing, Sixth Form: Blessed Whirlwind**, managing to slash her multiple times before jumping back.

Yūgen lashes out at Hikari, naming him 'obnoxious' and 'self-centered' due to the smirk he had after striking her. She yells that Hikari believes he is better and therefore stronger than anyone else due to his gift, and vows to kill him for it. Hikari tries to argue, but Yūgen uses **Blood Demon Art: Pointed Snowflakes of Indigo** and slices Hikari across the face twice, then across both his arms. This enrages Hikari, who then uses **Star Breathing, Fifth Form: Aries' Heavens** to hit Yūgen multiple times. However, this only damages Yūgen for a few seconds, as she regenerates almost instantly. She then targets the house behind Hikari where his mother and younger sister were, using **Blood Demon Art: Violet Ripples of Darkness** to break through the walls and hit both Hikari's mother and sister. This only enrages Hikari further, and he uses **Star Breathing, Third Form: Purgatory Light** to distract Yūgen from attacking his family. However, Yūgen easily blocks and dissipates every beam of light that targets her with purple mist, before using **Blood Demon Art: Tainted Blossoms of Hinami** in retaliation. Hikari gets hit by the attack multiple times, two of the rays breaking his arm with their strength.

### Regret and Return

Just as Yūgen was about to release another wave of **Blood Demon Art: Tainted Blossoms of Hinami**, Kintsugi flies upwards and strikes her with **Star Breathing, Fourth Form: Bright Rain of Stars**. He yells out at Yūgen to leave his family alone, before engaging in close combat with her. Yūgen is surprised for a short moment, having believed Kintsugi had died of his wound. But, she quickly recovers from her confusion, and laughs at Kintsugi's feeble attempt to defeat her. She reminds him that she is Upper Rank Six, and had been for hundreds of years. She states that having hundreds of combat prowess is easily better than the decades Kintsugi had, and the months Hikari had. She stabs Kintsugi with her crucifix multiple times, even after being sliced in half she regenerates the top half of her body and continues to fight. She then hits Kintsugi with a close-range version of Blood Demon Art: Essence of Devilish Poison, throwing Kintsugi onto the ground. As she is about to poison Kintsugi and kill him, Hikari leaps up in front of her, his sword enveloped in a white flame. He yells at Yūgen to leave his father alone, and, having used **Star Breathing, Seventh Form: Kiyoi**, he is able to slice through and impale Yūgen's body and slash off both of her arms in the process. Following this, large beams of bright lights go to strike Yūgen, and she only barely blocks them in time. Kintsugi is released from the pressure of Yūgen's Blood Demon Art, however is bleeding from multiple wounds and running low on stamina. Hikari, having unleashed one of the most powerful Star Breathing forms, is also low on stamina, however is driven by his loyalty to his family and his drive to kill Yūgen.

### "*Hikari, you must pick up your sword! You must continue what your brother cannot! No matter the conflicts you hold... the regrets you face... you must strike down your blade on any demon for the sake of the world!*"

Yūgen takes time to recover from Hikari's attack, and faces the two swordsmen with anger clear in her expression and her tone. She berates the two of them, saying they are selfish for not using the gifts they clearly have to help others. When Hikari argues that they did, Yūgen snaps back asking why Kiyōi had died if Hikari was so potent with his gift. This leaves Hikari speechless, and further enrages him more. He cries out at Yūgen, telling her she has some nerve accusing him and his father of being selfish people. He says that not him, his father, or his brother were ever selfish people, and only did what was good for those of the village. Yūgen scoffs, before using her most powerful form, **Blood Demon Art: Kiyoi**. Her body charges with purple energy, and she jumps at the two swordsmen, striking them both at the same time. As Yūgen targets Hikari, Kintsugi awakens his Demon Slayer Mark for the last time and unleashes **Star Breathing: Unspoken Form**. At the same time, his Demon Slayer Mark meets his blade and turns it bright red, unlocking the **Bright Red Nichirin Sword**. He flies above Yūgen, targeting her and striking her with multiple burning rays of light. Hikari fights back against Yūgen with **Star Breathing: Sixth Form, Blessed Whirlwind**, and the two swordsmen manage to decapitate Yūgen.

### The True End of Kintsugi Kyoudo

Yūgen's headless body falls to the ground, her head rolling away from her neck. Both Kintsugi and Hikari believe they have won, and collapse to the ground out of pain and exhaustion. However, Yūgen manages to reattach her head using her extendable veins, and stands above the two swordsmen. She mocks them, saying they are fools for believing they had won. She uses **Blood Demon Art: Pointed Snowflakes of Indigo** to strike both Hikari's mother and younger sister, who had stood by the door of the house to see what was going on. The two of them were sliced in half, and died instantly. Hikari tried to cry out and get to them, but was too weak to even say their names. Yūgen goes to kill Hikari with **Blood Demon Art: Tainted Blossoms of Hinami**, but Kintsugi jumped in the way and took the hit. Yūgen gasps, attempting to stab Kintsugi, but her hand begins to burn from the sunrise. She teleports away, leaving Kintsugi and Hikari on the ground.

## Aftermath

Kintsugi lays dying from Yūgen's poison next to Hikari, who cried and cursed God for taking away everyone he cared about so quickly. Kintsugi reassures Hikari and tells him this is nobody's fault, and he is glad he was able to carry out his duty. He further said that he was bound to die soon anyway, due to him awakening his Demon Slayer Mark multiple times during his lifetime and being over 25 years of age. Hikari begs Kintsugi not to die, saying that he'll be left with nobody if he did. Kintsugi knew he was going to die, due to his blood being different from his son's and therefore unable to neutralize the poison's effects. Hikari grows lightheaded due to his crying and the extent of his wounds, and Kintsugi tells him not to get himself worked up or he would die too. Hikari obeys his father one last time, and hugs him as he dies.

Hikari lays on the ground embracing his father's body for almost an hour, until a nearby traveller, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, discovers him and his family in the massacre. He realizes that Hikari's body is the only one that is still warm, and deduces that he was the only one still alive. At first, after turning Hikari over, he thinks he is a demon and an ex-member of the Twelve Kizuki due to the x-shaped scar across his eye, but notices that Hikari had no other traits of a demon, and realizes that he and his family had been attacked and he had protected them as best as he could. Before Hikari came to, Kagaya buried his family members out of kindness and sympathy, and took Hikari with him back to where he had travelled from.