Hina Agatsuma's POV:
I winced in very slight pain, a liquid dripped down my right arm. Looking down, a large gash was carved into my forearm, bone and muscle fibers visible. "H-how did the demon cut me?" I thought. I looked back up at the Lower 3 Demon who hadn't moved a muscle.
"What's wrong? Confused?" Lower 3 taunted, moving a step closer. Determination overtook me, as I tightened my grip, staring the demon in its eyes. I dashed forward, readying a imperceptibly fast slice horizontally at the neck. I took in a deep breath, readying one of my techniques.
"Light Breathing: First Form:..." I readied the attack. I swung my katana, faster than the eye could see and pressed it up against the demon's neck. "Enlightenment!" I finished, bringing my katana straight through the demon's neck. I smiled slightly. I had just killed a Lower moon!
But... something wasn't right. My smile faded as I stared closer at the flying, decapitated head of Lower 3. There was no blood... My senses... my instincts were screaming at me, telling me to run. A strong presence made itself feared... it was coming from behind me. I swiftly twirled my body around, ready to strike whatever was behind me. However, I was unable to land a hit as before I could I felt an attack land as my body was flung to the side, crashing through multiple walls in the process.
"Damnit!" I groaned in pain, attempting to land safely before slamming into the ground. "I think my ribs are broken..." I thought, driving my katana into the side of the apartment complex I had fallen out of, to greatly slowly my descent. "I have to watch my movements... if I don't my broken ribs might pierce something..."
I looked up at the top of the apartment complex, catching Lower 3 jumping out of the hole I had made. I grunted in frustration as I yanked my katana out of the side of the complex and let myself fall the rest of the way down to the ground, which at this point wasn't too far down.
"What's it's Blood Demon Art? Maybe a clone-based one? Mirages?" I rattled off ideas in my head while still keeping my guard up, as the demon landed on the ground next to me.
"No time to ponder on this! I just have to figure it out as I go!" I determinedly told myself. I launched my oft at the demon almost immediately after it landed on the ground, katana raised, ready to strike once more.
However, before I could close the gap between me and the demon... "What is that rumbling noise...? Where is it competing from?" I pondered. My eyes widened and my blood ran cold. "Below!" I warned myself, leaping back a couple of meters, narrowly avoiding dozens of vine-like lances that Pierce's up into the sky from the ground.
"The hell? What is this?!" I yelled aloud. "Scared, girly? We're just getting started," Lower 3 proclaimed. I looked on as the vine-like lances twister and turned, swirling around in unison. The probable razor sharp points of the vine-like lances aimed themselves straight towards me, as if ready to impale me.
I took a small step back out of caution, readying my katana to slash them if needed. All at once, dozens of vine-like lances shot out at me. I narrowly ducked under one of them and immediately jumped over another. They moved fast but not as fast as me. This proved to be true as I continued to dodge each and everyone of them. I ducked, jumped, and slid.
I readied my blade as another one came barreling towards me faster than the others had. I stood my ground, digging the balls of my feet into the ground to better anchor myself down. "Light Breathing: First Form: Enlightenment!"
As the lance approached, I performed a multiple swift, consecutive strikes in an attempt to slice the attack into many pieces. However, instead, my katana merely passed through the lance as if it wasn't even there... as if it didn't have any physical substance. I leaped up into the air instead, to avoid any more injuries.
I haven't blinked this entire time, I wanted to stay as focused on the Lower 3 as humanly possible, but I couldn't bare to keep them open any longer than I already had. Quickly, I blinked a single time as I landed back on the ground.
I reopened my eyes just as quickly as I had closed them, only to find myself... in a... forest...? I whipped my head around, eyes bulging out of my head in shock and confusion. "How did I get to a forest???" I questioned. "The demon's Blood Demon Art has to be Illusion-based... but chances are it also has some form of a quirk... could it be teleportation? Or is this an illusion too?" My mind searched for answers, searched for solutions that would help me come up with a plan to behead Lower 3.
This forest was incredibly eerie, and the night sky and the creepy silence only increased that feeling of eeriness and uncertainty. I looked past the abundance of trees and plant life. The dark sky and eerie presence of the forest hid what I was staring at quite well, but it didn't go unnoticed by me.
A dark, misty gas, rapidly approaching, consuming everything in its path. Trees, grass, the sky, the ground... everything it touches seemed to break apart and disintegrate into nothing, as if it was a black hole, allowing noting to escape. I attempted to run, even using my Light Breathing to greatly increase my speed, but it was no use. It quickly enveloped my body, and didn't disperse. I closed my eyes in preparation.
"This couldn't be real! But what if it was real? Either the demon's quirk or BDA was illusionary based, but that would mean the demon hasn't used the one of them," I observed.
I was still conscious, so the most and what it did to the things it touched wasn't real either. I opened my eyes, only to find myself surrounded by a new environment.
"A hospital?" I examined. The hospital didn't seem to be occupied by people... it was just as quiet as the forest. Fluorescent lights on the ceiling eerily flickered in strange patterns. And for some reason, a frightening feeling of familiarity fell over me, causing me to sweat bullets. I was scared of this place's familiarity and I didn't know why...
"Is this place familiar to you, Demon Slayer?" a voice asked. I frantically looked in all directions, head whipping around, eyes flicking up and down, side to side, all in an attempt to see where the voice was coming from. It shouldn't be too difficult.. after all, it is the only noise in this place.
"What is this?!" I ordered, cautiously walking through the hallways of pure white. "I'm sure you've figure out what I'm doing..." Lower 3 cackled in amusement. "My Blood Demon Art allows me to create any illusion I want, no matter how rule-breaking they may seem."
"There has never been a person I have come across who's been able to break free from my illusions, not even those with strong mental quirks," Lower 3 explained.
"Should I be impressed?" I frustratedly questioned, traversing the halls of the hospital. "No need to be like that! We're all having fun here... in fact... let's have even more fun!" Lower 3 bellowed.
A large door appeared in front of me, taking up the space of the hallway I was currently in. I halted my movements. For some reason... staring at this door made me... terrified... it made me feel fear I never thought I'd feel ever again. Sure the past illusions were scary to an extent... but they were mostly confusing... unfamiliar. But now... I was terrified... terrified of what was behind this door because this was familiar to me... it felt like I have already seen all of this before.
"Why don't you go through?" Lower 3 insisted. The door flung open... this time... I could hear something. The slight beeping noise of a monitor. I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of dread once this noise pierced my eardrums.
I took a step through... While this could very much be a trap... I couldn't stop myself from entering. It was like something was pulling me in, pulling me closer.
I saw a figure in a bed... a small figure... likely a small child. The most powerful feeling of dread and familiarity hit me once I looked at the child's face... It hit me at once like a truck, carrying all of my past trauma.
"Awe~! A sister and brother reunion! How adorable is this?" Lower 3 cackled loudly, not even attempting to hide the amount of sadistic pleasure he was getting from this. I felt a few drops of tears build up in my eyes. They streamed down my cheeks after I stared at the body of my little brother. Mangled and broken, missing an eye and an arm.
Every breath I took became shaky and heavy, as my brain processed everything I was seeing. I clenched my fists in fury, breathing rapidly increasing. "Why don't we go back and see what caused this?" Lower 3 mockingly suggested.
"Why are you... doing this...?" I muttered, fairly certain that Lower 3 would be able to hear it. "Sorrow, dread, and fear are all beautiful emotions. Whenever a human begins to feel these things, they taste far more delicious than they would've without those feelings," Lower 3 explained in a mocking tone.
"You are a lowly human. Nothing but meals for us demons. I'm sure you're wondering if I have a quirk, yes?"
"Well I do... at the age of 4 I was diagnosed as having a quirk known as "Fear Inducement". This allowed me to bestow a since of fear onto my victims as well as be given an image sense of my victims' fear. I'd always get a sick kick out of scaring people, it's being me nothing but joy and pleasure seeing others suffer. But then I was given the chance to become a demon, unlocking my BDA that you know as 'Illusion'. Combine both of these together and you get everything I have done to you, everything that I've shown you up to this point," Lower 3 ranted on and on and on.
I had wanted a simple answer, not this bastard's life story. However, it did buy me time to ponder over what this demon's weakness might be. The demon's illusions only seem to effect my sense of sight and my sense of sound, none of my other senses have been effected in any way by these illusions.
Furthermore, I haven't felt physical pain at all. The demon seems to like causing mental pain to its victims, and it likes to combine a number of things to increase the effectiveness of his power. So shouldn't it want to combine physical pain with this mental pain?
Unless... causing physical pain... does something it doesn't want. "You still with us, demon slayer? I didn't give you a heart attack l, did I?" Lower 3 questioned. "Yes! That must be it! Pain should release me from these illusions!" I concluded.
I raised my katana, and stabbed myself in the arm, clenching my eyes shut at the pain. "What are you doing?!" Lower 3 exclaimed, clearly distraught towards my actions. I smiled... tears still dripping down my face at the sight of my brother. "Didn't I tell you?" I questioned, reopening my eyes, to find myself back near the apartment complex, staring straight at the Lower 3 demon. "I, Hina Agatsuma, shall behead you!" I proclaimed, katana Aimee at the demon, ready to kill.
Author's Note: WOW! This is personally my favorite chapter so far. As you could probably tell, I had a lot of fun with this one. I just wanted to explain something from last chapter.
I really like the idea of illusionary abilities and so I decided to give the ability to Lower 3. Couple that with his Fear Inducement quirk, creates a deadly combo of mental suffering. We ended up learning a little bit about Lower 3 and Hina. Hina has lost a little brother in the past, which gives slight insight to her backstory, while Lower 3 has always been a sadist who loves the feeling of making his victims suffer mentally through fear and mental trauma.
Also you may be wondering if pain helps you escape the illusions, then how come she didn't automatically escape due to her broken ribs and sit on her arm from before the illusions started.
Short answer, I forgot about it while writing, and I didn't really want to change anything. So let's just say that it has to be pain caused in the illusions. If pain or injury were to occur from something that happened prior to the illusions starting, then it won't effect anything and you'd still be trapped within them. Yeah, let's go with that.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as I put a lot of effort into this one. Don't forget to comment any further ideas for the story, or any advice for me. I'm still fairly new to writing stories on Wattpad and will gladly take advice and criticism on the story.