Rewind | KNY |

Dawn Approaches

"GAAAAAGHH! TUUUURRD! CUT THE CRAP OUT AND DIE... READ!! THE MOOOOOD!!" Genya yelled as he threw a whole tree in Hantengu's direction.

Tanjiro pulled Nezuko down with him as they both got out of the line of fire.

'H...He threw a tree!!' Tanjiro stared in disbelief at what he had just seen.

A pissed-off Genya was seen glaring hatefully in Hantengu's direction.

Hantengu looked over his shoulder as the tree headed in his direction.

"GYAAAH!" Hantengu screamed as he was surrounded by trees.

Nezuko immediately jumped into the fight, raising her arm so that she could swipe at the small demon.

"EEEEEP!" Hantengu squeaked out.

Nezuko swiped in Hantengu's direction just to fail as the said demon ran off.

"He's fast!! The fuck is up with this guy dammit!! I can't keep up!!" Genya yelled as he chased after Hantengu.

"EEEEEEEEEEEP!" Hantengu cried out.

'F... Fast!! It's like he can run forever. Before dawn arrives... Before Kanroji-san gets crushed... I won't let that happen! We won't let you win!' Tanjiro thought as he ran.

A painful cramp shocked Tanjiro's injured leg which caused him to stumble.

'AAGHH, dammit! My legs can't keep up. If only my left leg wasn't weighing me down...!' Tanjiro thought.

"The Breath of Thunder makes you focus on your legs the most."

Tanjiro's eyes widened when he heard Zenitsu's voice inside his head.

"So like, it's surprisingly hard to grasp. The size of every muscle you have. "But once you grasp it, you can go into 'full focus' mode." My old man said that a lot. Every fiber of your muscle, every vessel of blood. Get air pumping through them. Then put all the power into your legs. All of it. Then explode in a second. Like lightning ripping through the air," Zenitsu explains.

Tanjiro visualized what Zenitsu was talking about during that one conversation between the two of them.

And within a second, Tanjiro was seen running past Genya and Nezuko which shocked the two.

Hantengu looked over his shoulder and became shocked when he saw Tanjiro right behind him.

Tanjiro swung his blade and got Hantengu in the neck which slowly sliced through.

'Go!! Go!! This time, give it everything I've got...' Tanjiro told himself.

"Heeeeeeey. IIII am pitiful," Hantengu says before unexpectedly growing in size. "Can't you see thaaaaat!!!?" He snarled as he grabbed Tanjiro by the lower half of his face. "Don't bulllllyyy the meeeeeeeeeek ek!!!"

Blood dripped down Tanjiro's nose as it felt like his skull was getting crushed.

Genya quickly ran up from behind and grabbed the hand that held Tanjiro and tried to pull it off of him.

"Your logic is all fucked up, you dumb shiiiiiitt!" Genya yelled.

Hantengu growled as he began to create an attack by opening his mouth wide.

"NUAAAAAAGH!!!"

A pained scream was heard as Hantengu was set on fire from Nezuko's blood.

This made Hantengu loosen the grip he had on Tanjiro.

"GYAH!" Hantengu screamed.

Genya quickly pulled at Hantengu's hands.

"UOOOOAAAGGH!" Genya yelled as he ripped Hantengu's arms off while Tanjiro pierced his blade through the demon.

Genya quickly jolted back as he tried to get the flames off of him. 'Crap! The flames are burning me since I eat demons...' He thought.

Hantengu stumbled backward which sent Tanjiro and him falling down a cliff.

Nezuko jumped after them.

A loud crash was heard from below.

"Tanjiro..." Genya peeked over and looked at the bottom. "Nezukoooooo!!" Genya yelled.

"Gagh... Gagh..." Hantengu panted out as he got up onto his feet and started to stumble.

'Not good. My regenerating is slowing down. 'Zohakuten' is using too much power. I need to get more human flesh. I... Sense humans nearby. Near...' Hantengu thought.

"Hold it."

Hantengu looked up and saw Tanjiro stuck on a branch.

"You're not getting away... I will chase you down to the depths of hell and cut your head off... If not me... I know who would," Tanjiro said coldly in a threatening tone.

Tanjiro's words shook Hantengu to the core.

Soft muttering captured Hantengu's attention which made him look over in that direction.

'There...!! Humans...!! The demon was the worst of the three brats. She really got in my way.' Hantengu started running in the swordsmiths' direction. 'But in the end, those brats couldn't cut my head off, they only chipped away at me. Anyway, I need to eat those humans first...'

Tanjiro pulled himself off of the branch he had gotten stuck on, and fell to the ground below.

He quickly got up onto his feet.

'Hurry. Hurry! Just one more time. Just one more push off the ground, then go full focus!!' Tanjiro tells himself.

Before he could move, a blade landed right in front of him, which surprised Tanjiro.

'A sword...' Tanjiro realized.

"Use it!" A voice from above yelled.

Tanjiro looked upward and saw Muichiro.

"T..." Tanjiro trailed off.

"Use that Tanjiro!!" Muichiro yelled.

"Give it back!" Haganezuka shouted as he wrapped a hand around Muichiro's neck.

Kanamori was worried and panicking as he tried to pull Haganezuka back.

"Stop!! I'll kill you! Don't use it!! I only finished the first step, dammit! Give it back!" Haganezuka shouted.

"The sun is rising!! He's gonna get away!"

"Shitty brat!!"

A loud whack was heard as Haganezuka hit Muichiro.

"Ow!"

Kotetsu stared at the scene in front of him with a shocked look.

Tanjiro reached out to the blade.

His eyes made eye contact with a set of (E/c) which were gazing at him.

Taking in a deep breath, Tanjiro mouthed a few words in the (E/c)-eyed teenager's direction.

(Y/n) easily read Tanjiro's lips and gave a small smirk, nodding his head.

Relief came across Tanjiro's face as he looked forward again and grasped onto the hilt of the katana.

'Tokito-kun... Thank you!!' Tanjiro thought.

Flames burst awake on the blade as Tanjiro ran at Hantengu and swung it straight at him.

"KAH–" Hantengu's head was seen flying off of his body as the blade was able to cut through Hantengu's neck.

Waltz Flash