The World On His Shoulders | Demon slayer x Male reader

Chapter XXIV

Y/N's POV.

Y/N stepped forward, his sword ready with a combination of Water and Thunder breathing styles in his moves. He dashed at the demon with a quick slash, aiming for the beast's chest. The demon parried the attack with its long arm.

Tengen joined the fray, his twin swords whirling. He attacked the demon's side, aiming to cleave it in two. The demon twisted its body, barely avoiding the blow but not without sustaining a deep cut along its side.

Y/N followed up with a lightning-fast combination, a Water Breathing form followed by Thunder-Breathing. He targeted the demon's leg, attempting to disable its movements. His strike hit true, and the demon staggered, its leg rendered useless but not for long.

Still, it was enough. With a swift motion, Tengen used a Sound Breathing attack, a combination of slashes that targeted the demon's head. But the demon quickly shielded himself with more limbs coming out of its body.

The regenerative power of the demon struggled to keep up with the fast loss of limbs.

But the demon fought back, lashing out with its remaining appendages. It sent one of its tendrils straight for Y/N, aiming for his face. Y/N managed to deflect it with his sword, but the tentacle scraped his shoulder, leaving a deep gash on his collarbone

The demon was temporarily distracted as it stared at Y/N's injury and blood coming out.

Tengen continued his attacks, striking at the demon's head and torso. Despite the injuries, the demon refused to yield.

Y/N took a step back, wiping the blood from his shoulder. He felt a throbbing pain in his nose where the parasite-like thing still resided.

The battle raged on as Y/N and Tengen attacked the demon. The demon, in a moment of sheer desperation, called upon a devastating technique it referred to as "Crimson strike."

The demon thrust its long, serrated arm into the ground. The earth trembled as crimson lines snaked out from the impact, creating a devastating shockwave. The very ground seemed to scream in pain.

The shockwave rippled through the village with destructive force. Houses crumbled and trees were uprooted.

Y/N and Tengen were not spared. The shockwave caught them off guard. Y/N was thrown backward, crashing into a ruined house, his back taking the brunt of the impact. Tengen was knocked off his feet, his twin swords wrenched from his grasp as he slammed into a nearby tree.

Y/N clutched his injured back, feeling a sharp pain with each breath. Tengen, his arms bruised, had lost his swords and was disarmed.

The demon laughed. "There is a detail I might have missed, my blood parasites are the only things keeping these people alive. If you kill me, their brains will stop functioning, and they'll die a slow, painful death. So, what will you do?"

Y/N and Tengen exchanged a grim glance. 

Y/N's body ached with searing pain as he lay in the destroyed village, the once-normal place now a  battlefield. He watched as Tengen approached, and the exhaustion in his comrade's eyes was there.

Tengen's words cut through the atmosphere, "We will kill this thing no matter what."

 Y/N hesitated, torn between his duty and the empathy he felt for these people. 

"They are gone, they're already dead," Tengen's sad tone that the villagers were beyond saving struck Y/N hard.

 He felt a lump form in his throat.  "But, Uzui-san, they... they need us."