Moonlight

Twelve

Without waiting for the Upper Moon's response, Sara unsheathed her sword and charged towards Utano.

"Breath of Ice, Second Form: Winter Wrath!"

I'll start with more defensive attacks to stay safe while I learn her moves. When I've figured that out, I'll worry about killing her.

"Blood Demon Art: Song of Broken Pines."

Sara watched as Utano began to play a melody on her harp. It was calming; the sound of it gave Sara a false sense of peace, almost dragging her into a tranced state.

Just in time, she realised that a couple dozen dark blue daggers were sent flying her way. She managed to run across the room quickly enough to avoid most of them, although many still scratched her.

When she saw the pattern on the dagger, she realised it was the same as the one that Hiroyuki - or Kagome - had attacked her with. The most distinctive feature was the jagged blade edge. It was far from being smooth as a blade should be, yet it still looked elegant in a strange way.

Without a second of break between the attacks, Utano spoke again.

"Blood Demon Art: Land of Untold Lullabies, enhanced."

Enhanced?

This time, Utano played a different melody on her harp. It was slow, comforting and once again, calming. Although Sara tried her hardest to ignore the music, her mind couldn't not listen to it.

She was reminded of the demon she had encountered on her mission with Nomura Akari. This demon's tactics where similar, but far worse. While her mind was being messed with, she had to react to attacks of much more terrifying speed and power.

Heightening her senses to their peak, Sara jumped high into the air, just barely dodging more blades that came from four different directions.

Crap. Sara realised her mistake too late. When she was in the air, it would be much harder for her to dodge.

"Breath of Ice, Sixth Form: Snowflake Cycle!"

Sara could only desperately attempt another attack before Utano strummed a chord on her instrument.

"Blood Demon Art: Unfinished Symphony."

Before the Demon Slayer even got a chance to swing her sword, she was interrupted by a metal object coiled around her left arm. It was a long harp string, rising from the floor and wrapping itself around her arm, immobilising it.

Great. Now my left arm is fixed in place so that I can barely even move to attack. At this point, Sara just wanted to give up already and grab her ticket to heaven - or hell, whichever one it was.

I don't get paid enough to suffer like this. She thought bitterly.

Compared to other breaths, Sara was at a huge disadvantage as a Breath of Ice user. It was a technique that tended to rely heavily upon the swordsman's speed and agility in their movements.

With her being in such a restricted position, most of her attacks were practically unusable. Nevertheless, she decided to try a little bit more before she gave up.

"Breath of Ice, First Form: Paralysing Icicle!"

Sara widened her eyes as her attacked had no effect whatsoever on Utano. The first form, which was designed to be able to paralyse the opponent for a short moment, or even at least slow down their movements for a brief heartbeat, did not work at all on an Upper Moon.

Sara was getting tired now. Slowly, the sound of the harp got gradually eerie and began to weaken her abilities. Finally, she attempted one more attack.