⚠️ Very, super, pretty long chapter ⚠️

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A demon. One girl? Are there more?

Another laugh rips through the tense air. My chest heaved with deep breaths, my shoulder tense, eyebrows furrowing. "It's just like you said, Yahaba. A house suddenly appeared from this empty space."

So, two demons? Is it a boy?

Another deep voice, "It seems that they used Demon Blood Arts that can hide entities. Plus, two demon slayers are actually with the demons." His voice seems disappointed and annoyed.

Yup, one girl and one boy. Two demons.

Suddenly, another handball comes rushing in like a boar and makes holes in the house, almost already destroying it, jumping off from wall to another.

"What's going on?" Another same evil, sinister laugh, the ball comes flying back outside. "This is going to be fun." She says.

"We found him, oh, and another one too." She says, her voice a little shock and surprised but nonetheless happy.

Found him? Found us? Isn't there a blindfold spell? Tamayo-san, the blindfold spell broke. How? Even just now, a handball had done all of this. Wrecking the insides until it looks like beaten up concrete.

Another laugh, and two of her handball comes flying in, making the same holes. Rough and strong. I feel Yushiro's hold tightened but not enough to hurt us. I can't get a look at the demons because Yushiro is covering them.

Another ball was about to hit us. When Yushiro turns to hit it away, but suddenly it changes its aiming point, blowing Yushiro's head off.

My heart had stopped for only a second before regaining itself. "YUSHIRO-SAN!" Tanjiro-kun's screams make me sit still next to Tamayo-san.

Tamayo-san and I catch his falling body. I hear Tanjiro-kun curse under his breath. "Nezuko. Move the sleeping woman outside to a safe place." He instructs, and she nods. Both have the same angry look.

"Outside is too dangerous," Tamayo-san warns, turning to Tanjiro-kun, "this house has a basement. Go there." She quickly shouts. "I understand. Nezuko." Tanjiro-kun says, and she goes running off to the sleeping woman in the other room.

I look down at my legs and to Tamayo-san. "He's gonna be okay, right, Tamayo-san?" I turn my head to her for assurance, "he will be fine. He can regenerate."

I turn to the laughing girl. Now I can see her. Black short hair with orange fading on the edges, orange kimono with a black haori, a cat's pupil but vertical, and a young face. She could surpass looking like a child. Wait, I thought it was two demons?

"I killed one!" She happily announces. I stand up from Tamayo-san's side. Tanjiro-kun takes his stance with his nichirin blade, clearly exposed to the outside, I did to mine too. Taking a stance.

From what I am sensing right now, those two demons have a strong, evil aura. Are they really powerful? Do they really have a thick amount of Kibutsuji's blood?

"The demon slayer wearing hanafuda earrings must be you, right?" She asks. She turns her attention to me, looking a little shock and then disappearing into another sinister smile, "Oh, look, Yahaba. Our Lord's little lover is here. Maybe he'd want to see her again," She snickers at.. me?!

"Especially after not seeing her for a hundred years now." A hundred?! My mouth opens in shock, the air of sweat going in and out as my mind regains oxygen. Her voice cracks something in me, in my mind.

"What do you mean?" I whisper to myself. What hundred years? That can't possibly be me. I'm only 17 years old.

"Tanjiro-kun, they're targeting," I pause, "you," I cautiously turn to him, fear dripping from my voice.

He's just a kid. Why would two twelve demon moons want to kill him?

He tries to stand still but fails and continues to tremble. Knowing that strong demon moons are targeting you isn't exactly what any 16 year old should experience. It should be about something else.

"Tamayo-san, please retreat to a safe spot. Their target is me." He says to the two pure demons. "Tanjiro-san, please focus on your battle and not us," Tamayo-san says softly and cautiously, "we'll be fine without your protection because," she paused before continuing,

"we are demons."

She faces us both, us reflecting in her crystal lavender eyes. We stare at her, scared and almost breathless. "Well, then," the girl says, "let me kill you with this handball!" She screams and throws a strong ball in our direction.

Another ball comes rushing at us. I prepare to jump. But stops when Tanjiro-kun's blade stabs through it. My eyes widen as I retreat from jumping away.

The ball escapes from Tanjiro-kun's blade, hitting him in the process. "Tamayo-sama, I told you from the start. We shouldn't have trusted those demon slayers. My blindfold spell isn't perfect. You should know that by now!" Yushiro's voice saddens, but it showed anger.

He slowly regenerates but stops from his upper mouth. "Although I could hide the house, smell, and breathe of people, but the actual existence won't disappear." Yushiro's natural voice has softened.

Tamayo-san lowers her head in regret. Is starting she regret trusting us? Trusting Tanjiro-kun? I swear Yushiro if you–

"More people will leave more traces. The chances of being discovered by Kibutsuji will go higher as well." He interrupts my thought.

Kibutsuji.

Kibutsuji.

Why does that name get my knees so weak and my heart pounding? I'm not friends with anyone named Kibutsuji. I was a loner back at home.

"I WON'T FORGIVE THEM!" Yushiro screams as his head fully regenerates. His veins are so clear and frustrated that even I can see it. He bares his teeth, showing his sharp teeth in a state of anger.

"What are you saying?" We turn to the girl, "this is fun!" The girl takes off her black haori and rips her upper kimono. Showing only her chest that is covered by a black cloth.

"You should be honored to be killed by me, one of the Twelve Demon Moons!" She yells at us. So, she really is one of the Twelve Demon Moons. We are so fucked.

"Shit." I curse under my mask. "Tanjiro, how can we kill her? Her handball has a mind of their own. Do you have a plan? Because I think I do." I whisper lowly to Tanjiro.

"Twelve Demon Moons?" He whispers under his breath. He looks so scared it's like he's gonna burst from fear, if that's even possible.

"They are direct subordinates of Kibutsuji!" Tamayo-san warns us, her eyebrows furrowing. The girl laughs again. Suddenly, four arms pop out from the sides of her body. Two on each just under her arms.

Our eyes widen in shock, "What the fuck is this? Are you joking me!?" I complain, anger rising. "All right, let's keep playing until the sun comes up. Until you die!" Before she screams and throws a handball at us so fast, i almost didn't even see it.

Her handball miss Tanjiro-kun as we both dodge it. I switched my attention from the girl to Yushiro and Tamayo-san. Her handball had grazed his cheek, making little blood prickle down. He didn't even flinch.

I look back at the handball and instinctively dodge it with my nichirin blade, but it changed its aiming course and went straight to Tanjiro-kun.

"Tanjiro! Behind you!" He looks behind and dodges the handball just in time, dropping his body to the beaten up wooden floor.

He quickly gets up and slices two more handball as I slice those that are heading straight for him. Damn, even the handball wants to kill him. With one handball, Tanjiro-kun will definitely get his head blown off like Yushiro's.

He slices another handball, but it still hits him, turning into ashes after just hitting his shoulder.

I tried dodging the handball as much as possible but also slice them off because they were heading straight to Tanjiro-kun.

I dodge another handball, and Tanjiro-kun dodges two at the same time. It jumps off to another wall and to Yushiro and Tamayo-san. It took a small piece of their body, making blood pour out.

"Yushiro-san! Tamayo-san!" Tanjiro-kun and I scream in shock. Dammit, how can we avoid getting hit? There has to be a way.

The handball would change its position every time we are about to hit it. It's basically impossible.

"Where is that other demon?" I frustratedly say in my thoughts. "Ignore us. We can heal our wounds." Tamayo-san says, blood dripping from her forehead from where the handball had hit her. I nod at her confirmation.

"Hey! Useless demon slayers!" Yushiro calls out to us. "You'll know its direction, if you look at the arrow. Dodge it!" He instructs.

I dodge another two handball. "Arrows?" Tanjiro-kun and I say in unison, looking at each other in confusion. "Seriously? You can't even see that?" Yushiro's voice seems annoyed as he continues to reach something into his white haori.

"I'll lend you guys my sight!" He throws a paper at Tanjiro and I as it lands on our foreheads. I looked at his and saw a red symbol.

Suddenly, a red line crosses my eyesight. An arrow. Behind it is the girl's handball. I see it

My eyes widened in surprise. "I can see the arrows! Thank you, Yushiro-san." I dodge a handball, slicing it with my nichirin blade.

"I can see the arrows, too. Yushiro-san, thank you!" Tanjiro-kun slices another handball.

I look at the door, and I see Nezuko, ready to fight. "If that's the case, end it." Yushiro says. Tanjiro-kun jumps away from a handball after slicing one. "Nezuko. Nezuko, go outside. I'm leaving the demon on the tree to you!" He says.

Nezuko nods and runs towards the outside, with her black haori mimicking with her movements as she runs and jumps.

Tanjiro-kun and I run outside to get closer to the girl as her handball retreats back to her pale palms. She throws them again.

"Ah!" I scream, stopping outside of the room. A bearable pain struck my shoulder, and I wobbly tried to stand up. I look at my shoulder and see blood staining my white haori.

Tanjiro-kun stops and turns to me about to help when I stop him, lifting my hand. "I'm fine, Tanjiro-kun. Please, we can't afford distractions. We need to kill them." I turn my attention to the girl, ignoring the pain, steadying my sword with my hands.

He nods, his face expressing sympathy. He turns his direction and attention to the girl. He takes his stance and his hold.

"I'm your opponent! Leave her out of this!" He screams at the black, orange haired demon. "You're right, but she's also very important to our lord." The demon smiles, a little more wider.

"Plus, you're the demon slayer wearing hanafuda earrings. There's no mistake. We'll definitely bring your head to our lord." She throws another ball at us.

Tanjiro-kun stands back a little as the ball misses. I quickly run to his side to make sure he gets covered from the handball.

She laughs, saying, "This is so much fun!" As she throws her six handball toward Tanjiro-kun.

"Tanjiro-kun, I'll cover you from her handball. Aim for her neck." I whisper to him.

He nods, and we run towards her.

Her laugh rips in our ears as if challenging us. The handball follows him as I run closely behind him. He runs to the house and, with momentum, is able to run onto the wall. Six handball following behind.

I jump and slice three off. I use the wall to safely land on the ground and run to him. "Shit. Shit. Please run away to safety, Tanjiro-kun." I lowly curse.

He roughly jumps away from the houses wall, priorizing his safety and land. I ran to him, facing my back to his. I look around, and we both realize that we got trapped by the handball.

"Breath of water. Third form: Flowing Dance."

He whispers, then runs off towards the handball in a smooth, water-like zigzag movement, slicing four handball as I slice two. He lands like water, and I run then jump to his side.

He runs towards the girl with me beside him. Her smile disappears, replace by a shock expression when her body moves back from the impact after we smoothly cut off six of her arms.

We land a few feet away from her reach. In the corner of my sight, I see Tamayo-san and Yushiro standing at where the big hole is.

"Tamayo-san, are these demons very similar to Kibutsuji?" Tanjiro-kun asks, turning to the duo. "I'm afraid you're right." She holds her worried expression to us, covering her forehead, preventing blood from pouring too much. "Then I'll harvest them for you!" Tanjiro-kun's voice laces with determination and anger.

The girl's sliced arms burns away. She lowers her head, laughing as if we said something funny. "What the hell?" Annoyance rises from my voice, and my eyebrows furrow a little deeper.

"You said you wanted to harvest our blood? I don't know what the heck you're trying to do, but I won't allow anything that will enrage our lord." She turns her head to us, with the very same evil, sinister smile.

Tanjiro-kun straightens himself, sweating dripping from his forehead. If I'm correct, which I am, he's feeling nervous. He can't be nervous now. We are so close to beating this shit.

She turns her entire body, facing us, with her head still looking at the ground. "If you think you can harvest my blood, one of the Twelve Demon Moons," her voice lowly drops. Then, she fully crashes her gaze at us.

"Come at me then!" Her scream bellows. Eyes widening, anger aura rising, and veins popping.

"Watch out! You mustn't let your guard down. If they really are part of the Twelve Demon Moons, then they are undoubtedly strong! They'll be harder to defeat than most demons that you've killed!" Yushiro calls out to us.

"Yes, we understand. We'll stay alert!" Tanjiro-kun firmly says. "We won't let our guard down! We will definitely defeat them!" I shout to Yushiro, my voice loud.

We both straighten our nichirin blades, holding it tightly.

She laughs again, her arms regenerating fast. Her handball appears on her six palms again. She grins brightly at us. "I want to offer your head to our lord." I can see sweating rolling off of Tanjiro-kun's face. He's definitely scared.

A sudden shadow appears on Tanjiro-kun's face. We both notice and look up. "Nezuko!" Our breathing hitches as we see Nezuko's body drop onto us.

We both land on the ground, and I adjust my mask for coverage. I look at where Tanjiro-kun and Nezuko land, a bit far from where I am.

I pick myself up, posing as if I were about to run. "There you are, coward." I whisper as the other demon, Yahaba, I'm guessing, lands gracefully away from us.

"Oh, Susamaru, you were right. Our Lord's little lover is here. I wonder what would happen if we turned her in to him." My eyes widen. Heart pounding, sweat dripping.

Eyes closed, black and green haori, and green kimono. "Die together, you two!" The girl, Susamaru, throws a handball towards Tanjiro-kun and Nezuko.

I try to quickly run to and protect them, but an unexpected force pushes me back. They dodge the handball just by one foot. I look at where the pain stabs through me. Which is on my stomach.

I slam into a tree, bringing pain to my back. A tear of pain rises in my eye. "Ah–" I stop my breathing to somehow reduce the pain. "Don't be too harsh, Yahaba! We still need the girl." I fall to the ground, clutching my ribcage.

"Fujimura-san!" Tanjiro-kun's screams echo. I think he said something to Nezuko, who is still sitting down, before running towards me.

"Fujimura-san! Are you okay?" Tanjiro-kun runs to my aid. "Hey! Demon slayers!" Yushiro's voice calls us. We turn to him as Tanjiro-kun helps me stand.

"Take care of that arrow guy. Leave the handball girl to me and Nezuko!" He instructs. "We understand!" Tanjiro calls back. We quickly run back to Nezuko.

Nezuko stands up, looking at her brother. "Nezuko, don't overexert yourself." Tanjiro-kun smiles brightly at her.

How the hell can he smile brightly at a time like this? Tell me your secret, Kamado Tanjiro. Huhu.

We stand up, looking at the demons. Tanjiro and I look at Yahaba while Nezuko looks at Susamura.

"I'm counting on you." Tanjiro whispers. "Go get her, Nezuko." She nods, and we run to our opponents.

I run closely beside Tanjiro-kun as he aims for Yahaba's neck. He lifts his sword, and we see the opening thread. I prepare my sword to cover him.

Our eyes widen in shock when he and I miss his neck. I look down. There is an arrow pushing us back. "What the–" before I knew it. We have been pushed away from Yahaba.

I land roughly on the ground, grazing my mask. I'll bet it already looks as horrible and dirty as ever. I look at Tanjiro-kun to my side and see him getting slammed around the trees. "Tanjiro-kun!" I shout, but not as loud as I expected it to be.

His body gets whoosh to the air. When suddenly the arrow disappeared, leaving him to die from a high state.

"NO! Tanjiro-kun! Use a breathing technique to avoid slamming into the ground!" I yell out desperately.

An unexpected force slams me into a tree. My eyes impulsively close, soaking all the pain. I let out a sharp breath, "Fuck." I curse. I look at the demon and run to him, aiming his neck.

He dodges me, only to have me cut off his arm. "What the?!" I complain with annoyance. His eyebrows knit in anger as he lifts his palm towards me.

I get pushed away, hitting anywhere but the ground or the trees. "Tamayo? Susamaru!" His voice slips to the other demon's ear. "Isn't that traitor on your side?" He smiles and regenerates his arm.

My head spins from the unexpected directions until it finally throws me into a tree. "Ah! This is so painful." I whisper, my mouth opens, breathing in and out to stop the pain. I can hear the tree crack.

I bit my lower lip, hard but not hard enough. Yahaba says something else, but I can't hear him because my head's still in a daze.

I look to Nezuko and Tanjiro-kun, hearing Tamayo-san shouting,  "You can't kick the ball!" Before Nezuko's lower leg gets chopped off by a handball, making her fall with a thud, face first.

The girl laughs, running to Nezuko's unmoving body and kicking her hard. Nezuko's body flew right inside the house from Susamaru's strong kick.

"This is so fun! This is so fun!" Susamaru happily smiles. Why do I feel something else in her aura? A childish aura? I think. Her smile doesn't even look sinister right now. How old did she even become a demon?

"Yahaba, we might as well bring back four heads to our lord. And the girl with the mask, alive." She grins, as if they'd already won. Keep dreaming, Susamaru.

"You're wrong. Two heads and one lover is enough, the demon slayer's, the traitor's, and the girl. The other two aren't necessary." He dismisses both unnecessary heads.

Tanjiro-kun composes himself. "T- Tanjiro-kun!" I inhale a sharp breath from the unexpected pain again, "I can't get out from this stupid arrow!" I angrily hit the arrow, ignoring the aching pain.

"Fujimura-san! Please don't do that, you're injured!" He shouts to me. That's right, I am injured. Is that why I feel so much pain around the left side of my body?

He turns to my loud voice and runs. But he gets pulled away by another handball. "Dammit!" I scream in my thoughts. He gets pushed, pulled, and slammed around as seven red arrows messes with his body.

His body gets slammed into a wall, and he lets go of his nichirin blade, his eyes widening so much from the pain that it feels like I could actually feel the pain, as I look shocked

"Leave Tanjiro-kun alone!" I hopelessly screamed and somehow managed to cut the arrow pinning me to a tree.

I put my sword back on my sheath after falling and running quickly to Tanjiro-kun, covering him from Yahaba's sight. I help him stand up, looking angry at Yahaba.

"Everything is as I expected. I'd love to break your arm." He lifts his palm, and two arrows come out. One slips in Tanjiro-kun's haori flying it up. Another wraps itself around Tanjiro-kun's arm.

I take my sword again and run to slice his hands off. I swing my sword to his arm, but he dodges it. I quickly stand back before he can do any damage.

I look at Tanjiro-kun from behind and jump to his side. "Sorry, I got a little distracted. Hope I didn't miss anything." I say to him, sweating slowly dripping down.

"We can't keep using defensive moves. We have to attack soon if we wanna get them killed." Tanjiro-kun's determination grows.

"I'll run towards him and use my breathing techniques to shorten our distance. Then I'll aim for his neck. Mimic my movements to hide yourself, Fujimura-san." Tanjiro-kun whispers.

"Okay, I'll be right behind you, and I'll also use my sword to strengthen yours."

I nod without having to look at him. "I think it's time for you two to get separated!" Yahaba screams in anger and throws red arrows at us.

☆•Yahaba POV•☆

I lift my hand to the two. Damn that Lord's lover. She's a little firecracker, energetic, and strong. And that other demon slayer, full of determination and his pure intentions, could touch one's soul.

I throw arrows at them. The girl runs away towards Susamaru so fast that I am not able to see her body move. "I guess you got scared me, huh little lovergirl?" I snicker.

The boy runs and dodges my arrows. A wave of shock and annoyance wash over me. Dammit, when did he get so strong.

He uses two breathing techniques as he runs towards me. One breathing technique that dodged my arrows and another that made him closer to me.

He screams, slicing my neck. I smile at him. My neck is too strong for his weak strength. Suddenly, another sword also pushes his, making it easy to cut my throat.

I gasp. What illusion is this?!