Ice Breathing/氷の呼吸 (A Demon Slayer Kanzaki Aoi Fanfiction)

XIII

I must be the slowest hashira. Aoi shook her head and kept her eyes ahead. Then she saw it. A normally disgusting demon with one protruding eye.

"Gross!" Inosuke said, holding both of his swords now.

It was a weak demon but it was considerably fast for deflecting Inosuke's attacks.

Aoi had a heavy weapon but it shouldn't slow her down.

In fact, it helped her speed up when she used its weight to bring her down from a high place. Like she was doing now.

Inosuke, inches away from her blade, yelled at her. "Be careful with that thing!"

Then Inosuke quickly does the opposite of what he said as Aoi barely dodges his two swords aiming for the demon. It regenerates the arms Aoi cut off and moves back, getting cuts from Inosuke in the process until it unleashes its deflecting blood demon art.

"It's like a shield."

"Isn't that kinda stupid?! You can't attack us at all if you're hiding like that!"

The demon grunts. Aoi notices how small it was.

In a second of observation, she sees it taking a sharp inhale and she dives to cover Inosuke's face.

Fast.

Inosuke notices the faint color of gas poison that was coming out from the demon's eye. There's a white cloth from Aoi's now torn haori on over his nose and mouth before he realizes she now has one on too.

Incredibly fast.

There was still a faint smell but they were trained to control their breathing. They could hold it for a long time.

The demon looks annoyed and it dives for Aoi's weapon she dropped on the ground.

Aoi watched it being thrown into the distance and her eyes widen when she realizes it's heading for one of the houses. With that momentum, it wouldn't be stopped by a normal roof.

She didn't hesitate and ran to retrieve it, letting Inosuke deal with the demon.

Inosuke tries to break the shield while the demon tries to get closer to the village. 'I can get stronger and beat these kids if I can just eat one more human!' It thought confidently, heading for the direction where Aoi wouldn't be.

Inosuke was getting more irritated that the demon's skill wouldn't disperse after his multiple attacks. "I've got no choice." He grunts, using beast breathing and immediately breaking the barrier. A woman's scream distracts him. Inosuke inhales just a bit of the scent from its now red eye.

This is nothing.

He's supposed to be used to poisons from living in the mountains for most of his life.

It was something he didn't recognize though like Gyutaro's poison.

He didn't expect it to work so quickly and knock him out a minute after inhalation.

The demon did, delighted that it's next meal wouldn't be some weakling. It was going to be a demon slayer. After this, would he finally be strong enough to be a part of the upper moons?

"Ice breathing. Third form. Frost."

The thought made him grin and that was the last face he made before his head was cut. He could see icicles around him as his body turned into dust.

He probably could have been an upper moon if not for the girl in front of him.

In a last effort to harm Aoi, it released all the poison it could from its throbbing eye but it was pointless because she had gotten to a high place with Inosuke over her shoulder.