The Red Fox [Original]

Chapter 12 - The Price of Power

Tanjiro was going through the trees. Slowly, to his standards anyway. Reflecting once again on what he could've done to prevent all of his failures of tonight. He knew that this sort of constant reflection wasn't helping him right now, especially considering his job was not yet complete. However, as much as he willed it to change, his mind could not stop thinking about Yui.

His musing only being interrupted temporarily by a throbbing of the forehead. An intense migraine came over him for the first time in a very long time. At the same time, his body began to sweat as his body felt uncomfortably hot. 'What is this. Why am I feeling this way?' he thought.

What he couldn't see was a slight illumination of the head. Particularly his mark, which had spread across his face. It started glowing a faint neon red...

His pace was slowing dramatically at this sudden realisation, of his health, as he had dropped to walking through the forest instead of jumping from branch to branch. His breathing became slightly more noticeable and his demonic features amplified themselves. His mind is focused back on the task at hand. His job and duty. To slay the demon in front of him.

"So, given up?" Tanjiro said, with venom laced in his voice.

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*Before the encounter with Mr Ito*

"Hey Tanjiro what are those balls of webbing hanging off those trees," Yui asked, as she pointed to a set of trees in front of them. With giant balls of web hanging off tree branches. Tanjiro sniffed the air and what he discovered horrified him. His face was neutral externally however internally he was ready to puke.

Those balls of webbing had the remains of dozens of humans in them. There was a strong acidic scent coming from within the balls themselves and he could smell none of the human scents in those balls isn't alive anymore. At this, his fist clenched intensely as he swiftly made his way and cut done all of the balls of webbing. Laying them down one by one until they were all on the ground.

"So what are they?" She asked again. Curiosity and slight hesitation were present in her voice as she stood beside him.

"They are prisons of which these poor people couldn't escape from." He replied, sadness and anger radiating from his tone. Gaining a heart-wrenching gasp from Yui as the pure shock and horror of the sight before her eyes watered significantly.

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"You killed Rui?!" she asked as she was shaking uncontrollably and she was slowly backing away at the sight of Tanjiro. Her eyes widened abnormally at the same time. As she took a long glance at him. He was terrifying. His mark. His eyes. The aura of pure rage. All of this culminated in her deepest fears. Someone too strong to fight. Too strong to run away from. Someone that cannot be reasoned with. As he got closer to her, matching the slug-like pace she was retreating at.

"How many did you kill on this mountain?" He asked, his voice devoid of any emotion. His eyes were dead on the outside. As she froze at these questions. She had killed a lot of people and she knew that if he found out that fact she was certainly dead. "Only 5 people and because Rui forced me to..." she responded, her voice trembling as she spoke every syllable.

"Oh... I see... So those of ball of webbing was just a figment of my imagination?" He interrogated her, his eyes hardening further at the continued pressure. Her hands started to tremble at an inhuman speed. 'He knew' she thought. At this she had used her blood demon arts, creating a ball of webbing from underneath Tanjiro.

Only for him to jump out of the attack as he stood a few feet away from her now. "So you were the demon," he said as he vanished from her sight. Only to not feel her body as her head felt like it was flying. 'So that's it then... What a monster"' she thought, as she started to dissipate to ash.

However, before she lost herself to the grip of death. She saw Tanjiro on the ground. Hunched over himself. Barely picking out a large amount of screaming. This brings slight satisfaction to her smile... As she finally became one with the wind...

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Meanwhile on the other side of Natagumo. "My. My. Are you alright... You look most unwell. Death's door perhaps?" a female voice spoke, as said voice descended from the sky. Her Haori flowing in the air, forming the shape of butterfly wings. As her feet softly landed on the ground, next to a girl on her back. She was awful for lack of a better word. Her right hand was smaller than her left hand and her right hand had a massive purple mark at its centre. Her hair had gaps in it as was strewn across the forest floor. But worried her most was the fact that she was unconscious and her breathing was as light as air itself.

At this observation, the able-bodied female had taken a vile from her haori and had administered it to the downed girl. After she had done this she took a closer look over the area she was in. A clearing in the forest is like a mountain. Scorch marks in 2 locations and an intense warmth surrounding the area. 'Just like that time. Could it be?' she thought as she looked to her left.

To see a man with a miss-matched haori. "He's here," he said, immediately after landing on the ground. Only to be interrupted by a loud, bone-chilling scream of utter agony...

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Tanjiro was on the ground. His mark is now a clear neon red. Pulsating violating, illumining his face in a murderous red. His eyes were the same ominous red as before, with his pupils being only slightly more slit-like than before. His hands were on his head, rubbing it feverously. His katana is on the floor next to him.

Right now. The pain. The sheer agony. Was unbearable. Providing a very real challenge to his very high pain tolerance levels. This was much worse than the transformations, that he had experienced beforehand... Much. Much worse. Further being worsened by the consistency of it all...

It wouldn't reliant nor pause for even a brief moment.

At all of this, he screamed to the top of his lungs. A scream filled with so much pain it made the ground crack slightly at the sheer pressure of it. As his pain never relented, neither did his screaming. Pure agony and torturous pain...

As he could fall his body become extremely hot... As if he was using his breath of the sun... 'But I'm not breathing proper-' he tried to think before he was cut off by expulsion of solar flames from his body, erupting like a flamethrower. With this, his pain, and by extension screaming, intensified...

Over time... Over a long and agonising 3 minutes the flames and the mark's pulsing declined and eventually faded. The result of this gruelling experience. A man on the floor. On his back. Sweat dripped off his skin like a waterfall. His skin was littered with scorch marks. Deep, deep scorch marks not sparing a single part of his body. His pupils, slightly dilated. His face was one of utter defeat. Fatigue and sheer pain. His body lay there. Static. Unmoving. The only moving part of his body was his eyes as he looked slightly to his left.

"My. My Tanjiro what happened to you?" A woman asked.

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Hope everyone liked the Chapter.

Hopefully I can start getting into the flow of making these but I've got some assessments coming up next week so I'll try not to flop them. Which unfortunately I'll properly be revising instead of making these 😞

In any case, Stay safe.

Cya 👋