"Why do you take people's lives? Why do you ruin them? You were human once, too, were you not? You must've struggled with pain, with suffering

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"Why do you take people's lives? Why do you ruin them? You were human once, too, were you not? You must've struggled with pain, with suffering. You must've shed your share of tears."

Her fist slammed into the tiles, my words striking a chord with her.
"Blah, blah, blah! Do you ever stop talking? I don't remember any of that. What happened in the past no longer matters. I'm a demon now. That's what matters."

She smiled wide, full of pride.
"We don't get old, we don't need money to eat, we don't get sick, and we never die. We never lose anything! We never fade! We're eternally young and beautiful. And we're strong! Demons can do whatever they want!"

"I've heard enough."

Tanjiro takes my hint and we both rush at her, and in return she sends all of the previously missing obi our way, forming multiple layers of defense around her.
Without a moment to waste, we strike them, cutting them clean off, his fire stopping her regeneration.

I can see her hands shaking, her eyes gently distraught. As he fights off her obi, he makes a clean path for me to run through, and as my sword met her neck, it stretched, formed by the same material as her obi, her head still attached. It was even harder than the ones before!

"Nice try, little rat. But I won't let my head be taken by the likes of you!"

I jump back quickly to Tanjiro, avoiding her obi again.
There's more of them now! Thirteen of them! There's no way we can dodge all of them but-
They're moving slowly... Really slowly...

Tanjiro and I take advantage of this, and as he parries them all to one side, I stab my sword clean through, pinning them all down into the roof a good ways away, essentially trapping her. Tanjiro's wounds are no better, the blood seeping from his eyes due to his fury.

With the obi stretched taut, it'll be easier to cut, and Tanjiro drives himself forth to strike her neck, but quickly drops down halfway, coughing and choking like it was his very end, gasping for air.

Damn it! He's really hit his limit now. If he gets up again he'll probably end up killing himself! Anger alone wasn't enough to carry him.

Removing my sword from the roof quickly, I rush to him and use it in replacement of a staff to keep her at bay, standing in front of Tanjiro as he gagged and hacked in panic.

"You humans are so miserable. No matter how hard you try, you all end up this way. How pathetic."

Even with the air I provide for him, it doesn't even seem to be enough, and he tries to stand once more, shaking viciously, unsure of where to even focus his most likely blurred vision.

"You wounds won't heal easily, but don't worry. You two won't even notice that your heads are-!"

An immediate shock rings out, and before we know it, the woman flies back a good couple of meters, and the oh-so-familiar angry muffled sounds make me relieved. Nezuko's muffled and yet furious shouting stops when I call for her.
"Nezuko!"

She doesn't even stop to look at us, stomping forth with a burning anger in her veins.
All humans have their limits, no matter how far they've gone, anger will not fuel us for long without consequence. But demons? Nezuko? Her anger is just as intense as ours, but she has no limits. She can find every last enemy she has on this entire earth.

The demon is clearly distraught, slowly regenerating her head back.
"I can't believe it! I can't believe you did that! Why did you do that?!"
Her voice sounds like she's about to cry.
"Wait- You! You're the one his Lordship was talking about!"

They get into a rapid, intense fight, and Nezuko quickly lost a leg and an arm, muffled cries coming from her, knocked off of the roof. What worried me most was that I swear, for a split second, Nezuko's body split into two. Tanjiro is unstable, moving him quickly could cause him irrepairable damage.

I can't abandon him, but I need to help Nezuko!
With a quick look at the situation below, Nezuko had already regenerated her leg, and now her arm, her body back together.

Vicious, she bit her muzzle with enough force to shatter it, the tattered bit of bamboo dropping to the ground. Everything about her changed! Her aura's different, and her body has this climbing pattern of vines, and even the way she moves changed!

She'll be fine on her own for now! I can safely focus on Tanjiro!

"Tanjiro! Tanjiro! Can you hear me!"
I call to him, but he barely even seems to know I'm there.

"Tanjiro!"

《 •|• 《♡》 •|• 》

● Chapter 40 : ●
● "Upper Moon Six : Daki" ●

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