༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈—•༶
"TANJIRO!"
Her voice echoed all throughout the empty streets of the town, over the ignited sounds of blades colliding, over the sounds of blood spilling onto the streets and cascading through the gaps in the rubble as if it were a stream flowing across a mountainscape.
She grunted, teeth gritting before she gave out a final cry and pried herself away from the demon's hold, and uncaring towards anything else, she ran towards the struggling boy, who now lay motionless. Had she allowed yet another promise of hers to Oyakata go down the drain to the point of no return, to the silent slip away from your hand grasping for a second chance...has she really let him down...
She figured she had a tendency of doing that...
"Tanjiro-"
Just as her hand outstretched to the young motionless boy, the side of her gaze caught a glance to an extended flesh, headed straight for Mitsuri...
Her lips parted, eyes widening as she watched it slowly move closer and closer, weaving around the escape until it came behind her, readying to strike. Her hand slowly reached out, time seeming to freeze around her as Mitsuri caught sight of the attack, unable to react and only letting out a small cry of fear.
The halfling's voice cracked. "KANROJI!"
She swore she saw Kibursuji's sickening grin.
"NO-!" She skidded to a stop in front of Tanjiro, about to dash to the girl, but knowing it was too late.
She was about to die..
Without warning, the attack blew itself into smithereens. Not long after, a voice calling out that made the whole group want to cry with joy.
"Sorry for being late."
There he was, standing in front of Mitsuri, swinging his weapon from side to side protectively. Ofcourse, he had a few cuts here and there, not to mention, the look of exhaustion cast over his features, but he was here...
Gyomei was here.
The halfling let out a breath of relief, eyes softening before she heard the muffled tone of a stab echoing through the battlefield. She snapped her head towards it.
And she couldn't help but scoff as she crouched beside Tanjiro.
The blade in Muzans head was suddenly slashed down, slicing the demon in half. Crouched, holding the blade, Sanemi released a breath, but his eyes were clouded with something far more than relief.
Revenge.
He had never wanted anyone dead so badly in his life. To slice his sword at him and dis into his flesh was not enough for the white haired male. No. He wanted Muzan dead. He finally understood the halflings' constant desire to want him dead and away from this world.
His eyes almost seemed lifeless, like the body was piloting itself in a mode not even Sanemi understood. But (Y/N) could practically taste the bloodlust from all the way over where she was crouched, her hand lay on the boys hand as she stared out into the battlefield.
It was almost a moment later that sanemi threw jars at the demon. In reaction, it destroyed them all in a second. Sanemi jumped away, holding what seemed to be a glowing match in his palm. It only took him a second to throw the match and the demon lit up in flames.
Muzan scoffed, gritting his teeth at the sudden burning. "That's dirty!" He cried, eyes narrowing and teeth sharpening.
Sanemi landed on his feet, eyes never once showing a hint of remorse. "Well, then its perfect for the likes of you." His eyes narrowed, grip on his blade tightening to the point it almost hurt. "I'll cut you to pieces." He scowled.
As this was ensuing, the halfling caught sight of a lone demon slayer stumbling through the rubble. She gasped, seeing her opportunity to keep tanjiro safe, for now. "Hey! Over here!" She cried out, the boy turning his attention to her with a flinch.
He nodded. "Y-Yes."
"Please..." She looked up at him, eyes soft and voice shaking as she stood to her feet. "Take care of him..take him to a safe place, far from here." She turned back to the battle, eyes narrowing and hair blowing in the breese. "I'll cover you."
Murata looked down at the boy she was gesturing to, only for his eyes to widen in shock. He didn't waste any time, running over and falling to his knees in front of the boy. "T-tanjiro!"
The woman glanced at the boy from the corner of her eye, watching as he scrambled to get Tanjiro over his shoulders so he could carry him away. "R-right!" His voice lowered to a small and soft mumble. "Don't worry, Tanjiro...I'll get you somewhere safe."
The halfling then turned back to the battle and narrowed her eyes. But, just as she was about to jump back into the battle, her eye caught onto an attack headed for Tomioka, about to stab him through the gut.
Her eyes widened.
Tomioka stumbled, eyes widening as he watched the attack near him, but there was nothing he could do. He was surrounded and he wouldn't let his attention on the others go for a single second or he'd be stabbed on the spot, but...it was getting closer. And closer. And closer...
He closed his eyes, reading himself for any pain, but...it never came.
He flinched in surprise, eyes slowly opening to look up, but when he did, he tensed at the sight.
"You all can't regenerate...but I can..." Her stuttering voice slowly spoke out, blood slipping past her lips. "So...I promise..." her eyes stared back at Giyuu, the piece of flesh sticking all the way through her abdomen wriggled, trying to escape, but she held it in place. "I'll protect you."
Without a second thought, she sliced down on the flesh, forced it out of her body, healed and shook on her feet before she took another step forward, first tightening around the swords. It only took a moment for her to dash away.
She was only a blur as she dashed around the battlefield, her blood spilling bit by bit as she took hit after hit meant for other people. Mitsuri. Obanai. Sanemi. Giyu. Gyomei.
Wounds disappeared as soon as they appeared, blood no longer able to splatter against the ground as her wounds were healing too fast for blood to even leave her body.
Sanemi dashed forward, blade raised and eyes filled with rage. He jumped, skidding around the attacks, and just as he was about to get stabbed, she jumped in the way, turning to him over her shoulder.
A nod was all they needed.
She held her arm out to him, and he took it. He pulled her out of the attack, dragging her close to him as she healed.
They looked each other dead in the eye, a silent look being shared between the two of them, all before they disappeared. Muzan narrowed his eyes.
The first one to reappear was Sanemi, dashing around the attacks once again, but this time, he did nothing to avoid them. No, he dashed straight forward, towards Muzan. But, how was he getting so far? Muzan narrowed his eyes, only to realise, it was her.
Sanemi didn't need to dodge, because no matter what he did, she cut down every attack, all still without even a flash of light following her speed.
It was all so sudden.
She reappeared, skidding to a halt, holding out her arm to the side as she continued to skid around his attacks.
Sanemi then reached her, gripping her arm, all before, with a cry of determination, she used all the strength she could muster in her arms, her feet digging into the ground, shattering the earth, and launching the Wind Hashira at the demon. "AAAGGGGHHH!"
He arrived in a second.
The wind hashira raised his blade, slicing all around Muzan, cutting the roots of the attacks from his back, before he rolled to a stop, letting out a single breath as the woman appeared beside him, but this time, she was the one racing at the demon.
That was all a distraction.
Muzan only scoffed, eyes narrowing as he saw that the woman no longer had blades in her palms, but instead, she reached him with her fists raised to smash into his body.
Flames began to emit from her fists, the harsh glow of a raging fire across her flesh as she narrowed her eyes.
Storm Breathing: Fifth Form, Raging inferno
He lifted his palm, gripping her wrists and pausing the attack, but before he knew it, her flaming foot stretched up, slicing away his jaw for a brief moment before it regenerated. The hand gripping her wrists became only small pieces of cut flesh in a second- thanks to Sanemi.
Iguro dashed around the attacks sent his way, blade slicing through the length of an attack as he dashed towards the demon.
Storm Breathing: Sixth Form, Blinding storm
It wasn't even a second later that, for Muzan, the battlefield became invisible, Iguro merging with the world around him, leaving only his shadow as Muzan turned, scanning all around him as his attacks still flailed around the battle.
Before he knew it, The wind hashira, the serpent hashira, the water hashira, the stone hashira, and the Halfling were all surrounding him, slicing into him within a single second and effectively forcing him to let out a grunt.
He scoffed, surrounding himself with the sharpened flesh before they were all forced to attack the trio. But the only person they ever hit was the quickly regenerating halfling, who only scoffed to herself before Sanemi pulled her away from the demon.
However, the one thing they all missed...
Was Kanroji.
The horrid sound of a moist thud echoed through the battle. The halfling turned, eyes catching onto Mitsuri-
"AGHHH-!" The halfling gasped, her body being pierced by seven different attacks all at once, holding her in place, and forcing blood to slip past her lips as her eyes watched Mitsuri fall to the ground, her blood not long after.
Iguro didn't waste time, racing towards the woman without a care, arms extended to reach out to her. "K-Kanroji--" The halfling stuttered out, unable to move a single limb. Her palm tried to extend towards the helpless duo, but she was frozen, tears building as she saw the girl on the floor, covered in her own blood from head to toe.
What was left of the group slashed away any attacks from Muzan to protect Iguro, allowing him to take hold of Mitsuri and escape shortly into an alley a few metres away. "K-kanroji-" The woman stuttered as Giyu and Sanemi turned to race back to her.
Sanemi cursed under his breath as Giyu dashed around him with water breathing, protecting him from any attacks he couldn't register in time, his purple eyes set solely on the halfling in front of him. Giyu cried. "Shinazugawa!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Sanemi huffed back at him, giving one last scoff before he slashed all around the halfling until all the blades of flesh had fallen out of her body and she was left gasping and shaking.
Just as she was about to fall to the ground, the wind hashira caught her in his arms, letting out a huff as Giyuu dashed around the duo and sliced away any attacks they couldn't defect. "You look like hell.." Sanemi mumbled, looking down at the woman, the poison slowly making its way through her body. "Damnit-"
"Watch out-" The woman dashed out of his arms, jumping in the way to deflect another attack so it stabbed through her shoulder. She gritted her teeth, eyes clenching shut at the sudden pain.
"She's spent...!" Giyuu mumbled, brows furrowing at her state.
Blood was falling from her chin, her whole body shaking and her breaths panted through her lips, and yet...she still stood, forcing the flesh from out the wound and healing as if nothing happened. "I...I can still keep...going.."
Sanemi shook his head at her, dashing forward to catch her and carry her bridal style in his arms. It only took him a moment to attempt to run away with her and take her somewhere safe. "Shut up, damnit! You can only heal a certain amount of times!"
"Says...who.." She gritted out, attempting to pry herself away from him, but it didn't work at any amount of strength she had left.
It was only until Sanemi's legs buckled beneath him that they finally fell to the ground, the man moving his body to protect hers beneath him. "Damnit!!!" he looked down at his legs- swollen, burning..unable to move.
There was poison in the demon's attacks- that's why (Y/N) wasn't able to last as long as usual...she had been poisoned over and over...
Giyuu gritted his teeth, blade moving with his water breathing as he moved to protect himself, but as Iguro raced out of the alley he took Kanroji into, Giyuu faltered.
He dropped his sword.
The duo gasped, the woman beneath sanemi flinching to reach him in time to stop any attack, but she was far too weak- falling back to the ground in pain only a moment later.
An attack swiftly made its way to the duo, sanemi gritting his teeth as he saw it coming, but having nothing he could do.
Sanemi knew she could hardly move without an inch of pain. There was no way they'd be able to be saved-
He was very wrong.
With what strength she had left, she wrapped one of her legs around his own, and his eyes widened.
She sluggishly flipped them over, her legs straddling his hips and her back facing the attack as she covered his body with her own.
She was weak, and Sanemi knew that. So how did she manage to switch them? He struggled and thrashed and pulled, but it was all useless, he was stuck in place, face inches away from the woman away from him. She panted, obviously about to collapse from her overwhelmed senses. "DAMNIT STOP-!"
It was only a second later that she let out another cry of pain as three pieces of sharpened flesh pierced into her back, all as Giyuu let his eyes widen in fear, the attacks about to strike him down-
Iguro grunted, slashing them away only a moment later and landing beside the water hashira as Gyomei dashed around the duo, swinging his weapon and slicing away any attacks as the two pillars panted.
Sanemi gritted his teeth, leaning close to her, wrapping his arms around her and forcefully pulling the flesh out of her body so she could heal, the man holding her close as she collapsed in his arms, a grunt leaving her lips as he panted.
Sanemi was about to force himself to stand to his feet and take her as far away from here as possible, but he paused at the sound of a meow. He looked up, still holding her in his arms as a cat jumped over the battle, letting out a small cry before small capsules were launched from its back and stabbing into each demon slayer.
"Huh..!"
Gyomei cried out, watching as the cat was sliced in two its remnants falling to the ground. Sanemi was about to let out his own hum of confusion, but paused when the halfling in his arms shifted.
She gritted her teeth, letting out a breath before she pulled away from him, moving to her feet and glaring out at the demon in the centre. Sanemi, finally realising the capsules were filled with an antidote, gave a menacing grin, standing beside her.
At her feet was a lost blade. She placed her foot under it, kicking upwards before she caught it and handed it over to the man, who took it without another word.
"I'm going right."
"I'll cover you."
༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈—•༶