|| 𝒀-𝑶-𝑲-𝑨-𝑰 || 𝑲𝑵𝒀 𝒙 𝑶𝑪 ||

Chapter 2: Final Selection

{3rd person POV}

While Rei was on her journey to Mt. Fujikasane, she was getting rather bored of just walking on her own. So she decided that she would summon a yokai companion, Bakeneko or "Changing Cat". She got out her sword and lightly swinged her sword while saying, 'Yokai Breathing, 1st Form: Bakeneko'. Suddenly, a peach colored cat with a splited tail appeard infront of Rei. 'What seems to be the problem Rei-sama?' Bakeneko asked his master telepathically.

{Rei's POV}

As I summoned Bakeneko with a light swing of my sword. I noticed that there was a slight difference with my sword. Before the case was darker shade of magenta, now it was a lighter shade. Before I could notice, Bakeneko asked me something telepathically. Which startled me and got me to leave my trance.

'What seems to be the problem Rei-sama?'. I jumped at his voice which got me out of my trance. 'Eh? Ah.. sorry Bakeneko, I was just wondering why my sword case is a lighter shade of magenta.' I replied back telepathically to Bakeneko. Bakeneko replied back with a hum.

For the whole journey to Mt. Fujikasane, I just talked to Bakeneko 'cause apparently he was also very bored and got tired of doing the same thing everytime he was cooped up with the other yokais.
As we were talking, Bakeneko's ears suddenly perked up and his eyes turned into thin slits which means something was coming. I readied my sword incase someone tries to attack me. But what was incoming was something different than what we were predicting. Suddenly a cat came out then a boar followed the cat, chasing it.

Me and my yokai companion was rather shock. I mean, who wouldn't be shock by a boar chasing a cat. After we recovered from our shock, we continued walking to Mt. Fujikasane. When we arrived on the mountain, it was covered by wisteria. I mean back home there was alot of wisteria trees but it still amazes me on how wisteria trees still bloom even when it isn't their blooming season.

When we got to the top, there were more than 20 teenagers who were willing to risk their lives to demons. I grabbed my sword tightly, feeling nervous.
Bakeneko reassured me by sitting on my shoulder while saying, 'Everything will be alright Rei-sama, with the yokais and your strength combined. I'm sure you'll pass the test quite easily but still, don't let your guard down when the test is about to start.' He said telepathically. I nodded at his statement, and at the same time two white-haired females came out wearing purple kimonos.

"Everyone... we thank you for coming here tonight. To the Demon Slayer Corps Final Selection." They both said at the same time. "There are demons imprisoned here on Mt. Fujikasana, captured alive by the Demon Slater swordsmen, and unable to leave." The white-haired female on the left explained. "That is because of wisteria, which demons hate so much, blooms year-round from the bottom to halfway up the mountain." The white-haired female on the right now explained. "However, there will be no wisteria from this point on, and so demons abound. You'll need to survive here for seven day to pass the Final Selection. And now, be on your way." Both of them said in sync.

As they said that statement, Bakeneko dissapeard out of my sight. And I started running through the left side of the mountain. As I was running, no sightings of demons yet, I decided to just jump from tree to tree. While doing that I managed to catch a glimpse of a demon behind me, about to strike. And at the same time I managed to block his attack with my sword but the force made me fall of the tree I was sitting on.

As I was getting up, I saw another demon heading towards me while the other was yelling at the other demon to go awaya and said I was hes food. While both of them were bickering, I managed to get on my feet and summon Akaname. 'What can I do for you Rei-sama?' Akaname asked me. 'I want you to paralyze those two demons while I'll slice their heads off, alright?' 'Your orders are my commands Rei-sama'. I nodded at him, as he is running towards the two, I was running in the shadows finding the right time to jump.

As he was getting closer, I jumped then yelled, "NOW AKANAME!!". As I said, that he licked the demons body and that caused their body to be paralyzed by his saliva. As they were yelling at me to stop at what I was doing, I managed to slice both of their heads with a swift and curved movement. After both of the demons turned into dust, Akaname came to me and said 'Thank you for putting your trust into me Rei-sama' he said bowing before me. 'No no! Its fine, I'm happy that you are willing to cooperate with me' I said to him and quickly told him to go back since he is not needed anymore.

"A few more days before I get to go back home" I told myself while walking through the forest looking for a clean water source and some food. It was also the third day of the Final Selection. I'm partially covered in dirt, bruises and patches all over my body.
As I was walking around looking for some source of food or water, I came across an unconcious and injured crow by a tree. I jogged up to it and checked if it had any serious injuries. Good thing it didn't have anything serious, just scratches from a demon claw.

I patched up the crow's wing up with left over bandages that I found. While I was carrying the crow in my arms, it suddenly grew its conciousness back, sat up and flapped its wing to get comfortable to its wrapped wing. After getting comfortable, it suddenly flies up into the sky. I waved goodbye at it, even tho i think it didn't see my wave, I still said goodbye and ran off to kill demons.

{??? POV}

While I was sitting at a table, drinking tea, I suddenly heard my crow coming through the open window. I smiled. I lifted up my arm for it to perch on, but when it perched on my arm it felt quite different. I raised my other hand to pet the crow and felt its left wing is bandaged.

"What happened to you..?" I asked concerned for the crow. He replied that he was scouting the Final Selection when a demon pounced on him resulting him getting a bloody scar. He went unconcious but when he woke up he was in the arms of one of the participants with black hair that fades into blue and red. I was interested in the saviour of my crow so I told him to follow the slayer and deliver a message sent by the leader of the Demon Slayer corps.

{Rei's POV}

It was the night before the last day of the Final Selection. I decided that I would pack up my things before I forget anything else. As I was packing, I saw demon running towards me. I summoned Bakeneko. 'Can you please do some damage to the demon? So I could slice its head off easily' 'Yes, of course Rei-sama'. At the corner of my eye, I could see Bakeneko having fun while dodging and attacking the demon. 'Thats enough Bakeneko, I could finish him off right now' 'But Rei-sama--' I shook my head. When he lets go of the demon, it hastily ran towards me.

I gripped my sword tightly before swiftly swinging it towards the demons neck. As the neck flew off the body, it was yelling things like "This isn't fair!!" or "I haven't eaten a human in so long!". But when it looked at me it stopped yelling and started to tear up. As I was done packing, I stood up and wore my bag around my body. Then I heard it saying "Thank you for releasing me from the horrible and dark cells of Muzan Kibutsuji" then he turned into dust and flew away.

I was standing there, frozen. 'Muzan Kibutsuji did this to you? Don't worry, I'll make sure that he will certainly pay for what he did to you' I thought to myself as I was descending the mountain with Bakeneko behind me.