Icy Flames- Rengoku Kyojuro-Demon Slayer/ Kimetsu no Yaiba

7

For the next five days, it was the same routine. Sleep during the day and fight the demons who had the balls to fight me at night. 

 It was interesting to learn that towards the center of the mountain lied the strongest demons whereas the edges are where the weakest demons are. You would have assumed the opposite considering that they would have easy access to food when the potential slayers come in...but it seems the strongest was in the middle since they rely on the fatigue of the potential slayers...this test was pure survival and wits.

And for me to survive this long was intriguing, to say the least.

This was my last night here and these grounds were now tainted with blood and missing limbs. There were over 30 people who had participated...it was going to be interesting to see how many survived tomorrow.

I stopped walking when I sensed something. The sound of footsteps heading my way. I quickly rolled out of the way and noticed the demon stopped and slowly turned its head my way. 

The creature was definitely the biggest one I had seen in my 6 days here. Its red-pink tint leathery skin shone under the moonlit night, nicely contrasts the darkened areas of this Hell beast's visage as it looked at me with its beady black eyes with a small red pupil. This demon was beyond any of the other humanoid demons I had fought.

"You..."

"You?" I thought in question did it know me somehow?

"You are the girl with the orb..."

"The orb... How the hell did it know about the orb if I didn't pull it out once?"

"The little brat that cost me my rank in his army and to captured and sent to this place!!!The brat who cost me everything!"

I simply dodged his attack again. 

"Was he one of those demons that killed my parents that night...he was different from back then...he was more human...now he is a monstrously large, veiny, hulking monster."

"You will give me the orb brat!" he yelled trying to strike you again with his sharp nails only for his hand to be sliced off and his cries to be heard through the night. 

I know with cries like that, those who survived this far wouldn't come over here. 

"I am going to kill you," I breathed over my shoulder as I sheathed my sword and pointed it towards the demon. My golden eyes were still trained on the creature as he roared out and continued to slash at me. With each attack, I either evaded or slashed his arm. It was making it difficult to charge and slash his neck. 

The moment I saw an opening I charged. As I leaped forward, narrowly missing a swipe from the beast in front of me. The swipe made me land off-kilter, my foot hitting a hole or root the wrong way causing my ankle to twist with a sickening crunch.

I crashed to the ground sprawling on my side. Pain blossomed in my ribs and ankle, as the wind was knocked from me. Agony pulsed up my leg and I hissed out, grabbing my ankle.

The scraping of claws against earth and bark brought me back through the pain. I tried to stand, gasping to replenish the air in my lungs, but it was no good. My body collapsed to the ground again. 

The demon was smiling and laughing at me. "I have longed to devour you and have that orb. Maybe then he will accept me into his good graces."

The demon loomed over me. A rotten breath rolled out of the monster's mouth as its tongue slipped from behind the pincers it had for a mouth. It swirled a trail up my neck and face as if tasting its next meal.

"I have longed for this!"

"So have I?"

Using the demon's slight confusion at my statement, I swiftly slashed its neck with my sword. The demon was divested of its head, spattering me with blood. The head of the rolled at least three feet away. A gnarled expression of disbelief and rage plastered on the half dissolved face.

The body of the demon, tumbled over to the side, curled and thrashed violently from the last few beats of the monster's heart, before crashing to the ground heavily and turning into ash.

I sat up and cleaned my blade with one deft flick of to the side. I looked up towards the sky. My eyes welcome the sunrise, that iris of fire so pretty in its mascara of pure light.

Each morning, each time the sun peeks up in the eastern sky, it's a new mini-life. A new start. The sunrise brings us copper hues with a kiss of sweet baby lips. The sky is all the colors I've been yearning for as if water could catch fire and become something so new.

There's just something about light and life rushing in — it takes the darkness and the failures and the lies and exposes them to the truth. Every dawn is a miniature lesson in truth charting new territory. Every dawn is a pink-painted sky of redemption.

Somehow the sun rising felt like it's standing up, muscling up for the battles ahead; showing its bravery, showing its strength. 

I also needed to do the same.

I fought to get up and use my blade as a walking stick. I had survived Final Selection and now I need to make my way back to the halfway point. 

If my parents had learned about this...they would have been proud.

And to that...I had to smile slightly at the thought. I will be a demon slayer that will not wish the same fate I had bestowed upon me to others. I will protect this ore with my life and will make sure that families can leave in peace.