'Demon Slayer' Slayer

Chapter 9: Kyuuko

I sprinted across the landscape for hours, thrilled by my own power. However, the night couldn't last forever. Soon, I had to seek shelter from the sunlight. I was in the middle of a forest in a valley, and the only shelter I could find was a lone house. I went in, finding a massive, labyrinthine mansion.

As I paced through the many rooms, I heard the sound of a tsuzumi drum. Suddenly, the room spun around me, and I saw another demon in front of me. This one was male, and had long brown hair and dark red eyes. He had several tsuzumi drums attached to his body, and when he hit one, I was suddenly in a completely different room.

I should kill that bastard. Sure, I'll have to find him first, but that shouldn't be too hard. He can't be a very strong demon. I flung open the door and ran down the hallway, unsheathing my sword and coating it in a layer of fire. I heard another drumbeat, and several sharp blades slashed across the hallway, severing one of my arms. I regenerated it and went towards the blades, swinging my sword at the demon.

The room changed again, and the demon was no longer there. "Coward! Stop running away from me, damn it!" I shouted, burning a hole in the wall and leaping through it. On the other side, there was still no demon, so I started running through the house, burning my way through room after room.

I burned through one more wall, and then realized that I was burning. I'd accidentally stepped outside! I leaped back into the house, agony searing through every part of me. I scrambled to get away from the sun, taking a moment to breathe and inspect my injuries.

Even though I'd been in the sunlight for only a second or two, I was covered in severe burns. However, the problem was that I wasn't regenerating. Even though I focused on healing my wounds, it wasn't working at all. And it hurt- I had never felt pain like this before, even when I was human and could still feel pain. Even when Muzan himself was shredding me to pieces, it hadn't hurt this much.

There has to be some way for me to regenerate. There's no way Muzan really made it 1000 years without ever stepping into the sunlight, and he's still alive. I raised my sword and cut off one of my arms at the shoulder, waiting for that to regenerate. It did, and the new arm wasn't burned at all. Great! So there is a way!

I finished healing myself, then charged back into the house. It had been troublesome to deal with, but I had survived brief exposure to sunlight. It reassured me that even if the sun rose before I was under shelter, I still had a chance as long as I found shade quickly enough.

The rooms rearranged themselves, bringing my forward progress to a full stop. I kept getting transported all over the house, and I assumed the demon was moving me farther away from him. I tried to burn through the walls, but whatever new room I was in quickly spun away, replaced by a new one.

"What's the deal with this blood demon art? It's the power of a fucking coward, that's what it is!" I shouted, hoping that the demon heard me. "You have a way to attack! Stop shifting around this damn house and fight me like a real demon! This is why Master Muzan hates you, you little bitch!"

When I mentioned Muzan, I heard a hiss of frustration from a different room. Then the demon appeared in front of me, glaring at me. He hit the drum on his stomach, and the claw-like blades appeared again. I took the hit, quickly regenerating and launching an attack of my own.

I slashed at the demon with my flaming sword, managing to sever his head. However, this meant nothing, since my sword wasn't nichirin. The wound healed as quickly as it would if I'd severed an arm instead, and I took another claw attack.

"What are you even doing here? And why are you mentioning Master Muzan?!" The demon shouted, slicing at me over and over again, faster than I could regenerate. I leaped away, blocking the next few attacks with my sword.