The World On His Shoulders | Demon slayer x Male reader

Chapter XIX

⚠️❗Content Warning: This chapter contains D E A TH and violence. Reader discretion is advised. ❗⚠️

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Y/N's POV

Y/N perched on a rooftop, the roof beneath him was cool and slightly damp.

His gaze was fixated on the orphanage, which was a short distance away. He had chosen this point to check the area and prepare for the confrontation with the demon nearby.

Instead of heading to the rice field, Iguro's plan said, Y/N decided to take a different approach. He believed it would be better to face the demon directly, his previous experiences had taught him that the closer he was to the demons, the more feral and easier to predict they became. So, he intended to cut his arm and use his marechi blood as a strategic distraction when the time was right, giving him the opening he needed to take the demon's head off.

As he waited in silence, Y/N's thoughts focused on the little girl from the orphanage. Her words lingered in his mind. She had described how it stared at her from outside her window.

Y/N believed that outside the orphanage might be a key location for their confrontation, so he watched and waited.

The anger appeared in him when he recalled the letter from Iguro, remembering how that mismatched-eyed fuck insulted him.

Y/N was more than just his marechi blood. He had faced numerous demons, his skill in combat clear. He wasn't willing to be reduced to mere bait, he intended to be a vital part of the fight, someone who could fight alone.

He desired for recognition and to stand on the same level as the likes of Tomioka and Kocho.

He missed them. He was aware of Tomioka's rising in the Demon Slayer Corps and the thought of not having seen him for months greatly upset Y/N. He missed that sour-faced yet caring idiot that Giyu was.

Kanae's absence also troubled him... That lovely gentle fool.. He hadn't heard from her in weeks, and the guilt for treating her like shit during the Final Selection tortured him. He wasn't heartless, he knew that he should have reached out to Giyu and Kanae. Yet, his pride, the same pride he had promised to overcome, held him back.

He promised his dead friends, Makomo and Sabito, to become better and help others but his stubbornness and tendency to act independently had gotten the best of him once more.

Then he felt someone behind him...

Y/N's heart pounded as he turned to face the presence behind him. The demon stood before him, draped in a tattered, black coat, and wearing a dark hat. Yet, it was not the creature's appearance that sent shivers down his spine. It was the soulless, chilling gaze of the demon, and more specifically, the blue eyes looked so human yet so monstrous that unnerved Y/N.

In one of those eyes, Y/N saw something that shook him to his core. there was a symbol, reminiscent of the one he had seen in the eyes of Doma, the demon with rainbow-colored eyes. However, there was a critical difference - Doma had both eyes marked, while this one only had one.

The demon's grotesque features only added to Y/N's terror. Its skin was a sickly shade of dark green, and its mouth was filled with yellowed, razor-sharp fangs. All at once, the pieces of this puzzle began to fit together.

Recalling the words of Urokodaki and his teachings, he realized the truth that now stared him in the face.

The Twelve Kizuki, the twelve most formidable demons, second only to the Demon King himself, bore specific symbols in their eyes, with the lower-ranked members having a single eye marked, and the upper ranks with both eyes.