fire & water (TanjiroxReader)

Chapter 32:Scroll

(y,n)'s POV
    "(Y,n)??? (y,n)?!" I could hear Tanjiro calling my name somewhere off in the distance, and after each attempted yell his voice got closer. I turned around to locate him, effortly standing up with a whimper. My try at standing was ultimately futile, because right afterward gravity plus my exhaustion forced me back down to my knees.

    Small tears of pain budding from the corners of my eyes blurred my vision as I coughed up a concerning amount of blood, it was becoming especially hard to breath because of the intense burning sensation flooding my every sense. The effect of Dragon breathing was always worse when I used my ninth form.

    "(Y,n)! What happened?!" I finally caught sight of the burgundy-haired slayer, who was dodging the last few dwindling flames.

    "The demon-" I was interrupted by another sharp pain in my lungs and throat, followed by more blood. Tanjiro bent down next to my struggling form, sympathetically patting my back for comfort.

    "... got away." I mumbled while slowly sitting up and straightening my back out, doing my best to clear my airways. I was still processing what'd just happened, it all went down so fast that I don't think I could give a good description of what occurred.

*Flashback*

    I collided with my opponent once again and blocked his claws with the hilt of my blade, letting flames twirl around us with a dangerous curiosity for our surroundings. All I needed to do was distract the demon for a few more minutes. The sky was already telling me that sunrise was nearing by how the dark atmosphere was shifting to one of royal purple and bright orange, meaning that my plan was about to become successful!

    With how aware I was of the pink-haired demon, it wasn't hard for me to notice something that would give me a well needed advantage in this powerful match; he wasn't guarding his lower half one bit.

    Seeing a perfect opening to make a move, I flipped back and shifted gears completely. I leaned low to the ground when making a very large slash that stretched up his stomach diagonally. To my surprise, this caused my enemy to let down his guard greatly, to a point where he was only able to block the next quick attack I threw at him without any backlash.

    Woah, this was better than just letting him die in the sun; this was an actual opportunity to kill the demon!! I couldn't let this chance go to waste! Without waiting another moment, I twisted my body around and drew my sword behind me with both hands, bringing the blade over at an incredible speed.

    And this is the moment when I finally kill this bastar-

    "-Well well! It seems I'm back in the battle!" WHAT THE HELL!?! I was shocked beyond reason when the red-haired demon jumped in between my foe and me, bearing her claws with a crazed grin. Most of her kimono was almost absolutely burned away, and her skin had a painful array of blistering burn marks from the heat of the fiery attacks.

    Shit, she was still here!?!

    The instant she stepped in the amber-eyed man raised an eyebrow, putting on an especially conniving smile that made me look at him in a stunned panic. What was he planning?

    "Perfect, just the shield that I needed~" huh???

    "WAIT WHA-!!!" She screamed in fright when he suddenly grabbed her by her neck and held her in place, right where my sword was going. By now it was already too late for me to halt my blade's movement, and I was forced to decapitate her instead against my original intentions.

... How could he just betray her like that...?

    "Sorry I have to leave things on such a cliffhanger, darling~. If daytime wasn't nearing so soon, I would have more time stick around-" The man's sentence was cut short as he threw the now headless body of his former quote on quote "ally"  to the side and snapped his fingers after winking, in that moment the dragon that was hovering over him burst with a flash of light and a hell's gate worth of fire, drowning out the area in a blast of spectacular flames. A glass shattering *BOOM* was let as the final war cry of the dragon, but I was too focused on keeping myself alive to worry about my cruelly abused ears.