As the days gone by and it was slowly taking a toll on Aokime's body. 7 days straight of fighting demons and fighting for survival, now he was staying hidden to regain his composure.
"I swear... the more demons I face, the more I feel like I am about to pass out. Just one more day left... and it will be all over."
Aokime was too focused on his thoughts that he didn't feel the sudden shaking of the ground. Something was coming... something big. This snapped him out of his train of thought as he quickly grabbed his nichirin blade ready, but the closer the stomping got, the more the ground shook. It wasn't long until a giant dark figure emerged from the shadows.
"W-what the hell is that?!"
It was a gigantic grotesque monstrosity that shook Aokime to the core.
"Ahh... another meal to eat!"
The monster spoke up as it lifted one of it's giant hands, before it suddenly sprung out at insane speeds towards Aoikime. Within that moment, Aokime immediately drew out his sword and struck the hand out of the way. He leaped back trying assess the situation and realized he was encountering a demon.
"No use running away, I'll put an end to you swiftly."
Aokime turned around and saw the hand coming towards him. Just barely dodging it, he stumbled over trying to regain his footing. He knew that this was going to be tough and not possible. Remaining on the defensive, he focused on avoiding all attacks but little did he know that the next attack wasn't in plain sight. The ground breaks open as Aokime is grabbed by the hands of the monster.
"Finally. You pesky little rat!"
The demon yelled as it got closer, Aokime was trying his hardest to break free but the strength of the demon was too powerful for Aokime to overcome.
"Now... good-bye!"
In that moment, Aokime was scared. He was staring at a monster that was imposing that Aokime felt like he was about to die and there was nothing he can do. He wanted to scream but the amount of fear that overwhelmed him halted his breathing. Slowly passing out from the fear, it felt like he was locked down in chains. Suddenly a shadow dashed by, severing the hand off the demon. Aokime felt his body fall down to the ground, immediately shaking him back into reality.
"Aokime! You gotta get up! You aren't trying to die on the final day right?!"
"Mifune!"
"Get up Aokime! We need to escape! This demon is too strong to be able to deal with!"
The large hand demon was getting frustrated as it launched a barrage of hands. This was when Aokime and Mifune attacked each of the hands as they continued moving backwards to create more distance from the demon.
It was getting bit stressful for the two which is when Mifune decided to use his technique to further help their chances to escape.
The Hand Demon was trying to move forward as he created more hand traps to grab them from underground. Fortunately, Aokime was aware of the demons tricks, avoiding the grasp of the demon. He called out to Mifune.
"Watch out with the ground, the Demon uses its extra hands to attack from under!"
"Blade of Darkness - Act 2: Sprinting Shadow Strike!"
Mifune dashed low at incredible quick speed as he was slashing the hands without a sound being made. The demon was getting even more frustrated as he tried launching hand attacks from underground. However, Mifune was so quiet that the Demon wasn't even accurate with his attacks. Until a split second that several slashes appeared on it's body. Which that was when he realized that it was Mifune. Thankfully since the Demon's attention was trying to find Mifune for so long that he didn't realize that Aokime and Mifune were running away making their escape.
The large demon was looking around trying to find his prey, but with no trace of them in sight, the demon became irritated.
"What?! Where did they go?! RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH DAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNIT!!!!"
The violent roar that the demon let out echoed throughout the entire forest.
After running away, the two took a moment to sit down and breathe.
"That was way too close. What the hell kind of demon was that?!"
"I have no idea either but it was a miracle that we managed to escape."
"Mifune, what sword style was that? It was like you were invisible and silent to the naked eye."
"It's a simple breath style that is best utilized at night. Hence why I wear dark colored clothes to fit the dark style. I wanted to make sure we can escape any way possible."
"Well thank you for that. I was already worried that it would be the last time I'd ever get see the next day."
Mifune and Aokime took a moment to rest as they just needed a few more hours until it was all over. Aokime was thinking for a while how Mifune was so skilled and talented at such a young age. Someone with this level of strength who was not a Demon Slayer was shocking. Aokime was curious to ask, but that was when a demon appeared from behind Mifune. Aokime was trying to get up and yell, but it was like Mifune knew it was coming because he grabbed his swords sheathe to push himself off the ground. The split second that Mifune stood up, he used the sheathe to block the bite from the demon. As the Demon bit the sheathe, Mifune in one swift motion, he unsheathed his sword and quickly slashed the demon's head off.
"Geez. We can't even sit down and rest for a bit here." As much as Aokime wanted to learn more about Mifune, but that will have to wait until they finally pass the final selection.
•••••
The sun began to rise as the Final Selection has now come to an end. From 30 members competing now reduced to 7 members left. It was depressing seeing how everyone who came to fight were all just dead. Aokime was still shaken up by the events and even was still thinking about he almost died out there. That was until Mifune bumped his shoulder.
"Aokime, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Still thinking about that hand demon."
"I can imagine, but you won't have to worry about seeing that thing again."
"Yeah... but what about the others?"
Mifune didn't respond. This didn't sit right in Aokime's stomach which made him come up to the two girls who were announcing the rocks for the nichirin blade, he couldn't sit back without saying anything.
"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt but during this exam, I had encountered a massively large demon in there. I think that monster has been murdering a lot of the members that could have been here with us."
They were quiet, the expression on their face remained unchanged. Which made Aokime unsure if they were aware of it.
"Unfortunately we don't know what you are talking about. We do hope those that died out there might have not encountered such a monster."
Aokime didn't really know what to say, as Mifune put his hand on his shoulder.
"Aokime... there's nothing that we can do. What's done is done. All we can do is continue to move forward."
Aokime sighed as Mifune had a point. At this point, the best he can do is train to fight to the very end.
That was when the Twins began to speak.
"Congratulations."
"We are pleased to see that you're safe."
There was brief pause as one of the twins lifted their hands to the air and began to clap their hands. A bunch of crows flew down and each of the individual had their own crow.
"We will now assign each of you your own Kasugai Crow."
"These Crows can be used primarily for communication."
At this point, Aokime was looking at his crow and smiled.
"Good to have you here buddy."
The crow let out a caw of pure delight as if it was fully content with it's assigned demon slayer.
"Now come and collect your ore."
"These will be used to craft the steel to your blade."
"To exterminate all the demons in your way."
This is it. This was the turning point of Aokime's journey to becoming an official demon slayer and now with a new friend, Mifune, he was smiling and relieved that he can now move forward and help eradicate the evil that is the Demons. Hopefully he can live up the family name Nishikawa.