The demon that seemed to be made from fire dug his sword into the ground, launching multiple dirt projectiles that were glowing from the heat of the sword. Shoto brought his left sword in front, ready to defend the one behind him. "Flame Breathing, Fourth form:"
"Blooming Flame Undulation"
He was able to stop the makeshift weapons from hitting, but when the flames cleared up, he saw the demon charge toward him. The sword in his hands rose above his head, ready to crash down on the boy with red and white hair. Shoto decided to meet it head-on with his Ice Breathing, ready to counter it with the sword in his right hand. "Ice Breathing, Fourth form:"
"Diamond Storm"
A/N: Because Wattpad doesn't let me use any gifs more than 3 MB, I'll just give you the link to the gif itself since it is literally what the move looked like at that moment. (╬▔皿▔)╯
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/15/08/e0/1508e0ab4a03a989c61920686bc548dd.gif
Although he only got three of the four needed hits in, it stopped the attack and seemed to put the two of them at a stalemate.
"What was that?" The demon questioned in his mind. "I thought he using fire, but I swear I saw bits of ice coming from his blade. No matter, all I need to do is overwhelm him with my superior strength since his sword is stuck here."
"Flame Breathing, Eighth form:"
It happened so suddenly for the demon, as it looked like a stalemate to him, but he was completely wrong. Shoto still had one sword in his other hand, which seemed to glow bright orange-yellow as it came close to his arms.
"Jet Kindling"
When the sword passed through both arms, it exploded due to the effects of the attack. The sword disintegrated along with the severed arms, which was probably an extension of his flesh. Because his arms exploded, the only thing left of his arms were his broad shoulders. When he looked back over to refocus on his target, he suddenly saw the teen right in front of him with his right sword coming at his neck.
"Ice Breathing, Fifth form:"
"Mighty Hailstorm"
Right after the sword passed through its neck, both the stump and head burst into ice, destroying the head and making the body disintegrate quickly. When Shoto saw the body completely disappear, he took a moment to gather his thoughts about the fight. "That was... much easier than I thought," he realized.
"Um... excuse me?" The examinee said.
Shoto was caught by surprise, he didn't expect the examinee to stay behind rather than run off, much less talk to him right after. He turned around to see the unique white hair with stripes of Capri blue that was tied up into a high ponytail by a blue snowflake. The locks were wavy within the ponytail, yet the solid white bangs were flowing straight in front of their forehead. The arctic-blue eyes stuck out from their light skin, which matched the kimono they wore and the white sheath strapped to their waist for her sword.
"Oh, I thought you would've run to safety already," Shoto said.
"Considering where we are, nowhere is safe for the next few hours," they replied as they put their sword in its sheath.
"True, but you'd be away from this demon," Shoto reminded.
"I guess," they reluctantly agreed. "But I also wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt by protecting me, maybe even try to help you so we could both live."
"Well, then I'm glad that I was strong enough to fight him alone so I wouldn't have to put you in danger," Shoto said.
"Either way, thank you for saving me from that demon," they said, bowing toward Shoto.
"It's not a problem," he told them. In his head though, he was thinking something different. "How far ahead am I compared to the normal? That demon wasn't crazy strong like he tried to appear to be. I wonder if the one Tanjiro's taking care of is any stronger?"
"Are you sure you're okay? That demon must've eaten a lot of people to get that strong."
"I'm fine," Shoto assured. "I have to get going though, I left my friend behind to fight another demon to help you out. I want to make sure he's okay."
"That's fine," they answered. "Is it okay if I come with you?"
"Don't see why not, just make sure to keep up, we don't have the luxury to relax until the sun comes up," Shoto replied.
"Great, lead the way."
The two retraced Shoto's steps to where Tanjiro was fighting the hand demon, protecting someone there too. When they arrived, they saw the disintegrating green body in front of Tanjiro, whose sword was its sheath. When they got closer, they saw a dark red patch on his head, dripping with blood from only opening recently.
"Tanjiro!" Shoto called out to him, rushing over to get a better look.
"Shoto, looks like you handled the other demon just fine," Tanjiro said.
"Yeah, it wasn't as easy as the first but nothing I couldn't handle," Shoto said. "Enough about that, what happened to the guy you saved? Is your head okay?"
"I got knocked around a bit before I managed to cut his neck, but it's not serious enough for me to stop fighting," Tanjiro said.
"Well, you're not gonna fight, just for your safety. After all, you got me to back you up, and now..." Shoto was trying to discuss what they were gonna do now, but only just remembered one crucial thing. "Say, what's your name? I just remembered we didn't introduce each other before."
"I was going to ask, but who's this?" Tanjiro asked.
"Sorry about that," the new group member said. "My name is Okemia Shimo, your friend saved me from a pretty strong demon not too long ago. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Tanjiro responded. "As Shoto mentioned before, my name is Tanjiro, but my full name is Tanjiro Kamado."
"I'm Shoto Todoroki," Shoto chimed in.
"Well, we should stick together," Okemia brought up. "Tanjiro is injured and Shoto would exhaust himself eventually if he fights everything on his own."
"Yeah, I... kinda agree," Tanjiro said. "My head is fine, but if you two insist on making sure I don't overdo it, I greatly appreciate it."
"Alright then, let's continue heading east like we were originally," Shoto said. "Once the sun comes up, we can find a place to rest and I can look at that wound on your head."
"Okay then, let's get going," Okemia said.
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
"Now that we have a place to rest, we should gather materials to camp out," Okemia said.
"I can look for wood to burn so we can cook something," Shoto said.
"That's fine, me and Okemia will look for stuff for us to eat," Tanjiro said.
"Make sure not to overdo it Tanjiro, who knows what kind of injury you could've gotten from that hit," Shoto said.
"Stop worrying about it! I'm fine!" Tanjiro insisted.
"I'll keep watch," Okemia assured.
"Seriously?"
"Thanks," Shoto said before walking away to look for wood.
Shoto got back before the other two, so he used his spare time to build the fire and light it himself using his quirk. By the time the two teens got back, the fire was nice and healthy.
"Wow, you got that fire started quickly," Tanjiro said. "I tried to keep an eye out for something to start it or create a spark to light it."
"It's fine," Shoto said. "My father's side of the family works with fire, so I know my way around it."
"You too? Mine as well," Tanjiro said, setting whatever contents he had in his hands down on the ground. "I can get started on cooking."
"No," Shoto protested. "I want to take a look at it, just to make sure it isn't infected or getting worse."
"It'll be fine," Tanjiro assured. "Besides, what do you have that can help it anyway? I didn't spot a stream or body of water anywhere, I can't catch the scent of water either."
"I... have my ways," Shoto said. "I'll tell you if you promise to keep it quiet, but I'm just worried about it. Head injuries can get serious easily."
"I'll handle the food," Okemia assured. "I'm kinda curious about it myself, does it have to do with being able to use two breathing techniques?"
"Kinda," Shoto replied, moving closer to Tanjiro. "Can you lay down? And do you have some kind of handkerchief on you?"
"Yeah, but it's small and probably not big enough for this. Why?" Tanjiro asks as he lies down.
"Not for the wound, I have one for that," Shoto said. "For yourself, so you can bite down on it."
"...huh?"
"Just do it and save the questions for later," Shoto insisted as he got his own handkerchief out.
When he saw Tanjiro comply, he created a ball of ice from his right hand and then immediately started melting it with his left, letting the water splash on Tanjiro's forehead. "Normally I would just cauterize the wound and that would be that," Shoto thought. "But I can't get a clear look at where the injury actually is, I don't want to burn parts of his skin that don't need to be burned. The skin around the head is a delicate place, so if I do it wrong it would be a lot more complicated."
He wiped the water and whatever blood was still stuck on Tanjiro's forehead away from the sizeable gash, revealing that it was still bleeding. Due to the delicacy of the skin on the face and wanting to have as much control as possible, he decided to use two of his fingers on his left hand to cauterize it. It would've been faster to just use his entire hand to get it overwith quickly, but he didn't want Tanjiro to be left with a big scar like him. With that in mind, he decided to be precise and only cauterize what was necessary.
He could hear Tanjiro grunting from the pain, which was expected. Shoto doubted he was expecting him to do much to it, which is mainly why he had him bite down on the handkerchief, to prevent him from any audible surprises that could break his concentration. He was also glad that Okemia was quiet and didn't ask about anything while he was working, which probably allowed him to finish up a bit faster than he expected.
"You're good, if you're careful it shouldn't open up and get infected while we're here," Shoto said.
Tanjiro let out a breath as he got the handkerchief from his mouth, taking a moment to calm down from what just happened before sitting up again. "I wasn't expecting that."
"Neither was I," Okemia said. "I have no idea how you did it, but since you can do it, I'm glad that gash is taken care of so you don't have to worry about it bleeding more than it should."
"I doubt you have a concussion, which is surprising, but a welcome surprise since it would've made things complicated," Shoto commented.
"How did you do that?" Tanjiro asked. "Like, you created ice and fire out of thin air, without the use of your breathing technique nonetheless."
Shoto looked over to Okemia, seeing her curious expression as well. It's not that Shoto was surprised, but he was a bit nervous since it wasn't the Hashira he was talking to at the moment. "Well, if I said I didn't come from this world, would you believe me?"
Tanjiro didn't have an answer to that question. Back then he would've said no, as common sense that there's no other world out there besides the one they were in. But since demons were real and a secret society has been operating in the shadows for centuries and only existed in folklore, he was more inclined to believe him now.
"I believe you," Okemia said. "Why?"
"Because I'm from another world, one that's pretty different from this one," Shoto confessed. "Over there, power like mine is common, about 80% of the world has some kind of ability. Anything off-the-wall like being able to create tape from your elbows or as basic as super strength. Because of their uniqueness, we normally call them quirks."
"That... sounds like some kind of fictional story, like with magic and special equipment, all that kind of stuff," Tanjiro said.
"I kinda agree with you," Shoto said. "Because of quirks, good becomes better, and bad becomes worse. Heroes and villains are real things over there, and sometimes our streets look like fantasy novels that you'd describe in a book. The special equipment comment isn't exactly wrong either, it's way more technologically advanced there, to the point you'd think some of our tools are magic items."
"It sounds nice, compared to this world that is," Okemia commented.
"It's... really not," Shoto managed to say. "The society that the government wanted to create isn't all gold and shiny. When I came here unexpectedly, I was fighting in what was basically a war. I was only a hero-in-training, I wasn't even supposed to be on the battlefield. But because of the way things worked out with not just me and my family, but the setup from the government in general... it turned into a war. I was only able to get out of it because I was teleported here suddenly, and even then I wasn't supposed to survive. But I did."
The two others went silent from the story, they weren't expecting something dark like that from a world that seems pretty much perfect. But of course, none of them would be there if anything was perfect.
"Why did you decide to become a Demon Slayer then?" Okemia asked.
"I said I was a hero-in-training didn't I?" Shoto said. "I wanted to protect people that couldn't protect themselves, and here, Demon Slayers are the closest equivalent to that. I want to help people from getting killed by demons, I have the strength not just in my quirk, but in my body as well to pull it off. That's why I'm here."
"I see, so you'll kill any demon without a second thought?" Tanjiro asked.
"I haven't gotten the chance to learn much about them, I wanted to see one from myself before I cast judgment," Shoto admitted. "If there's a chance that they want to redeem themselves and were sincere about it, I would try to help them if I could. But it's probably impossible, right?"
"No, it's not," Tanjiro replied. "My sister... is actually a demon."
That comment made everything around them quiet. Everyone in the circle focused on Tanjiro, wondering where he was going with that statement.
"A Demon Slayer found my sister and me on the mountain near where my family used to live," Tanjiro said. "He was going to kill her, but I managed to give Nezuko enough time to escape from his grasp and prove that she wasn't going to kill me. That was two years ago, and since then, she hasn't eaten a single human or has had a drop of blood."
"That's... unbelievable," Okemia commented. "But for some reason, I want to trust it."
"Maybe because he's being truthful?" Shoto thought out loud.
"I am," Tanjiro confirmed. "Because of that, I wanted to dedicate myself to finding a way to turn demons back into humans. From what that Demon Slayer said, Nezuko isn't a normal demon, but using her as a base to find out how to help her regain her human form back is a good start."
"So... your reason for joining is to help your sister and possibly other demons as well?" Shoto asked.
"Yeah, that's about all there is to it," Tanjiro confirmed. "What about you, Okemia?"
Okemia looked away from the two boys, avoiding eye contact. "I don't wanna talk about it."
"That's fine," Tanjiro quickly said so as to not make the conversation awkward. "Say Shoto, what can your uh- quirk do?"
"Yes, it is a quirk," Shoto assured him, allowing the conversation to change topic. "It's officially called Half-Cold-Half-Hot, I can create ice on my right side and fire with my left."
"Is that why you use two breathing techniques?" Okemia asked.
"Yeah, I decided to keep to what I know, which is ice and fire," Shoto said. "What breathing techniques do you use?"
"I thought you saw it?" Tanjiro said. "Well, anyways, I use Water Breathing. I'm probably going to switch up techniques at some point, the technique doesn't suit my body very well."
"Same here," Okemia said. "I use Water Breathing as well, but same as Tanjiro, it's not a good match for my body too."
"Well, I shouldn't be surprised," Shoto mumbled. "If I remember correctly, Water Breathing is the easiest technique to use, right?"
"Yeah, which is why it's the most common amongst the Demon Slayer Corps," Tanjiro said. "Have you tried it?"
"I had to in order to create Ice Breathing," Shoto said.
"You created Ice Breathing?" Tanjiro asked.
"I was going to ask about that earlier since I remember asking my mentor about learning it, but since it didn't exist I wouldn't have much success," Okemia said.
"I did create it, yeah," Shoto confirmed. "Since I had my quirk I could think of the properties of ice pretty easily and translate them based on the forms of Water Breathing with enough practice."
"Have you ever used Water Breathing?" Tanjiro asked.
"I tried and failed miserably," Shoto said. "For some reason, no matter how hard I try, Water Breathing has never worked out for me."
"That's... pretty odd," Tanjiro said.
"Must've really not been your style," Okemia said.
"It really wasn't," Shoto agreed.
They continued talking for a while, even when their food was ready. After some time, they all decided to sleep for the meantime, that way they'll be as rested as they could be for the second night of this hellish week. They woke up thanks to Shoto feeling the temperature drop from the sun going down. They weren't as rested as they wanted to be, but it was better than nothing. Tanjiro wasn't feeling any effects from the gash besides a slight stabbing sensation, but it was bearable enough for him to keep fighting. They unanimously decided to stay as a group for the entire exam, as they could watch each other's backs and make sure one doesn't overwork. After 7 nights of hell, they all gathered back at the original meeting point where the exam started, seeing all the examinees that passed along with them.
A/N:
Hi (✿◡‿◡)
We're gonna wrap up this arc next chapter, similar to how the anime did it... kinda. I just added a few more details and interactions, and established a little friend group. (づ￣ 3￣)づ
Speaking of friends, yes, the mysterious character was an OC that FightingLiger09 and I came up with. Why did I make an OC for this story? Because I didn't wanna ruin the cannon ships, my heart couldn't do it (┬┬﹏┬┬)
(I have other reasons obviously, just to get some things fully developed it worked better if it was a totally different character rather than one from the story)
Now, the fight with that demon... I admit it was short, but Tanjiro's fight with the hand demon was probably only 10 minutes at most. Most of the fight was talking and there are parts where it cut to Sabito and Makomo, which don't really add time to a fight. Because of that, I decided it was better to make the fight shorter to fit in more friendly interactions and establish a bit of who Okemia is. We'll get more into who she really is later on, her role in this chapter is mainly just to be introduced. o(*￣▽￣*)o
Anyway, that's all I have for now, so until next time... ( ﾟдﾟ)つ Bye