" No! "
Mirio reached out his hands to catch the falling girl, his eyes widened in shock and fear. He didn't know who she was, but to think that she'd took the blow instead of him...God, he'd never forgive himself if the girl really lose her quirk.
" A-Ah...who..." Nemoto dropped hand to the floor, the gun in his hand slipped off onto the cement. He looked fearfully towards his leader. " M-Master...Forgive me -- I didn't get to shoot him..."
" Silence! " Overhaul hissed, getting onto his feet to resume his attack. The girl's sudden appearance was certainly unexpected, but while Mirio was distracted with her, he should attack him first.
He slammed his bare hand to the ground, ready to activate his quirk, when a body was sent flying towards him. Overhaul clicked his tongue, pushing off the body off him and saw Mirio sprinting towards him, his fist curling and rage in his eyes.
" How dare you! " Despite Overhaul using an arm to block Mirio's attack, the boy still got his fist went straight through the arm and punched Overhaul's face. Mirio snarled, " I won't forgive you for what you did to Eri and the girl just now!"
Eri watched Mirio continued to fight as she let Nezuko's head on her lap. The little girl looked down towards the trembling demon girl -- she looked like she was having a seizure. Eri closed her eyes, terrified to see the girl in pain.
It was all my fault, she thought, tightening her grips on Nezuko's shoulders.
For Nezuko, she couldn't feel her body -- it was as if she had been paralysed. But something inside her felt hotter and then the next thing happened was that, Nezuko went into a sitting position and vomited blood.
Eri gasped at the sight. Nezuko coughed out more crimson liquid, sweats dripping from her chin. She then fell back on the ground, her eyes were wide and red.
See, the bullet that Overhaul created was meant to deactivate quirks. It would cause one to be unable to use their power and the effect was proven to be forever, unless another alternative of a cure could recover that person and activate back thier quirk.
Nezuko, however, did not a have a quirk nor she being a human. She may have special abilities, but her body is different from quirk users. For one thing, the blood running in her veins was mixed with Muzan's and that was the cause of her turning into a demon in the first place. The thing inside Overhaul's creation to deactivate quirks was meant to take over the cells in one's body -- the special cells that allowed a person to have a quirk.
The bullet that had sunk in Nezuko's body sent a very clear message to her body;
Stop.
Stop using your quirk. Let them sleep. Don't use your quirk. It was designed to literally stop the special cells. But the demon cells in Nezuko was more than any ordinary cells. They fought the intruder and mind you, this was the cells of Muzan himself, imagine how vicious they were when ripping off their enemies in the body.
To sum it all up, Nezuko was in an incredible pain. Her demon cells were fighting and pain shot through her body like electricity. Her temperature rose up drastically and she felt numbness in her body. The demon cells were eating the intruders, but there was something off. Nezuko could feel it.
Some of her cells were changing -- not like deactivate, more like -- it felt tamer. As if the demon cells were now in a calm state. It was only a slight feeling but she could feel it. The bullet...the effect worked a bit on her.
Nezuko's pink eyes glanced sideways, seeing Mirio was still in a ferocious fight with Overhaul. The masked man slammed his hand onto the ground once again, but before anything else happened, there was a new crack appeared on the wall --
-- and bursted out of the other side was a green-haired boy.
Midoriya Izuku.
The new boy locked his eyes towards Overhaul, and in a blink of an eye, he aimed a punch towards him. Overhaul reacted by using his arm to shield the attack, but he was still sent flying backward.
More people came in, a man with messy black hair and wearing goggles yelled, " Nighteye! Get the girl! "
Mirio panted, " Be-Behind me! Eri...and another girl." He looked over his shoulder at Nezuko, who was still lying on her back, unable to move.
Nighteye, a green-haired with yellow streak man and wearing glasses speed towards Mirio, wrapping his arms around the boy in an embrace.
" Good job, Mirio." A hint of proudness was in his voice. Mirio trembled slightly and returned the hug before guiding Nighteye to Eri and Nezuko.
Nighteye frowned as he kneel down in front of the girls, eyeing Nezuko, " What happened? "
" She took a bullet for me," Mirio explained regretfully, " the one that can... deactivate quirks."
The ground shook and large spikes emerged from it. Nighteye took Nezuko in his arms while Mirio took Eri, as they both dodged the spikes.
" I won't have my plan reduced to nothing..." Overhaul growled, " by a bunch of fools! " The body of his comrade fell in front of him. " Did you heard that, Nemoto? I bet you're unhappy with me meeting my end like this! You did well, Nemoto, really..."
He grabbed onto Nemoto's face, " And I know you're willing to die for me, right?! "
Blood splattered around as Nemoto vanished from the sight. Nezuko looked over Nighteye's shoulders, watching something happening with Overhaul.
" Lemillion... without a doubt, you were stronger than me. But it was all for naught..."
It was like back in the swordsmith village...where Nezuko and the others had to fight an Upper Demon that could multiple themselves...and even fusing together again. Overhaul did the same; only that he killed Nemoto to fuse their bodies together, creating another appearance of him where he had sprouted extra arms and looking more vicious.
" I'll be taking Eri back now! " He roared.
Nezuko found herself another blood to vomit out; she twisted her head sideways and her blood rained down on the spikes. Her gagging made Overhaul turned his attention to her.
" Poor girl, had she never involved in this mess," he chided, " she would have never lose her quirk."
Mirio lose it, " It was your fault, you bastard! "
" My fault?" Overhaul laughed, putting his hands on the ground. " She took the shot for you. If you want someone to blame, blame yourself! Your friends and that girl will die now, thanks to you!" He aimed an attack towards the blonde boy.
Izuku sprung into action, snapping off a spike of the ground and hurled it towards Overhaul. The man evaded his attack with a swipe from one of his extra hands. Again, the boy took another spike and used the same attack.
Anger blazing in his eyes as he took a quick glance towards the new girl. He didn't know she was or what she was doing here, but she didn't deserve any of this. She looked so young -- even younger than him. Her possible bright future was gone and it was because of this damn masked man.
Izuku slammed the spike rock on Overhaul, charging his attack with his power to add the impact. The masked man glared at Izuku, sending an attack towards him as well. If it wasn't for the boy's iron soles, he would have been screwed by Overhaul's attack.
" Is strength and speed is all you got?!" He challenged, before getting struck by Nighteye's attack.
" Midoriya, help Lemillion getting the girls out of here! " Nighteye ordered, charging towards the enemy." I'll take him on! "
" Got it!" Izuku nodded and headed to Mirio and the girls. He gently scoped the black-haired girl in his arms and caught the worried stare from Eri.
" She's going to be okay," Izuku managed a smile, " you both are going to be okay."
" Yes, we'll make sure of that!" Mirio nodded.
The green-haired boy kicked down a nearby wall, " Let's get out of here! We need to put some distance between us and Chisaki! At the very least, anywhere safer than here!"
Both boys paused as they saw Eri flinched visibly, tears trickled down her eyes as she reached towards Nezuko.
" No, you've done enough..." She sobbed, " I am so sorry..." She placed her hand on the demon's hair.
Your very existence is cursed. Overhaul's words echoed in her mind, reminding her that everyone who were injured there was because of her fault --
" No..."
Eri snapped opened her eyes as she felt a hand placed on her wrist. The humans stared down at the demon who had just spoke for the very first time.
The pain has subsided and Nezuko smiled softly at Eri.
" Not...your...fault..." She mumbled, still working out her voice, " ...Eri."
This was the first time Nezuko had spoken a sentence. Deep down, even she couldn't believed she had just managed a sentence. Not perfectly though but it was a success. Nezuko glanced back at the fight between Overhaul and Nighteye and her eyes widened.
Mirio followed her gaze and gasped. " Sir! "
In their eyes, they saw Nighteye getting struck by a spike that had went through his body...
...but for Nezuko, she saw history repeated itself.
________
" Keep up the good work!"
Nezuko paused, her nails dripped with the blood of the demon's flesh she just slashed. She turned around to face the Flame Hashira.
Kyoujuro nodded at her, " Thank you, Nezuko! I'll leave this cart to you!" He turned to leave but before he did, he looked back at her again and a warm smile was on his face.
" I believe in you, Kamado Nezuko."
Rengoku Kyoujuro -- one of the Hashiras that had decided to trust a demon after seeing her fighting to protect humans. A Hashira -- that had given away his life for others.
Nezuko very slightly opened the door of her box to avoid the sunlight. She watched her brother and the others wailed and cried as they grieved beside the fallen Flame Hashira, a hole in his gut.
Very quietly, she closed back the door, leaned her back against the wood surface and curled her arms around her knees.
Putting her head in her arms, Nezuko began to cry.
__________
Nezuko reacted faster than Izuku.
Her adrenaline rushing through her body, energy refilling itself as her anger began to blaze. She leaped out of the green-haired boy's hold and rushed towards Overhaul.
This guy -- Overhaul -- Nezuko could sense that he was a human...but the way he acted... And everything...it was all so demon-like. This was the first time Nezuko had a strong urge to kill a human.
" No! Wait! " Izuku went after her, his hand reached out. Nezuko hadn't seen what Overhaul was capable off -- she was heading straight for the guy blinded by fury that she couldn't dodge the stretching fingers of him.
It was only a tap to the forehead -- but then Nezuko's head was blasted to nothing.
This time, Izuku's scream mixed with Mirio. Eri watched in horror at the headless body of the girl that had become her comfort company before.
Overhaul looked at the small girl, " See, Eri? Another death because of you. As if the guy's one wasn't enough." He glanced at Nighteye." This girl -- I took mercy on her by not blasting every part of her body. Come back to me, Eri...I am not being merciful anymore."
" Merciful? " Izuku hissed, his power crackling around his body. " Merciful?!" He clenched his fist, ready to struck the man.
The masked man sneered, " All of your efforts are a waste...Try fighting even more and you might find more than a headless body of this child."
He simply pointed at Nezuko, glancing at her when he realized something was very wrong.
Her body didn't fell to the ground. Her stance had changed from about to hit him to just standing calmly. But the one that took him out the most was that the bleeding has stopped. No blood sprayed from her opened neck like before.
Nothing prepared everyone to see the headless girl raised a foot --
-- and kicked Overhaul so hard that he went flying.
Everyone watched veins dancing out of the opened wound and reformed themselves -- and then bones, muscles and the skin...and finally black hair sprouted back from the head. The girl had just healed herself even after getting her head blasted.
And then her body began to change even more. Her size grew from a teenager to an adult, perhaps a bit more taller than an average woman; a horn popped out of her right temple; leaf patterns appeared on her arms, legs and to the neck; angry veins were seen as the girl let out an animalistic growl.
Berserk Nezuko snapped her eyes opened to reveal glowing pink eyes.