Character Thoughts

"Character Dialogue"

_ = Scene Break

Chapter 6 - Infernal Fury

Crouching, eye-level with the weakened brown of the slayer in front of him, Tanjirou's blood-red eyes darted in panic, his gaze focused solely on the slowly spreading purple, creeping up her hand and arm. Falling further, Yui sat on the dirt beneath her, leaning against a tree as Tanjirou held her gently, comforting her rapidly weakening frame. "Yui, please. Control your breathing, slow the progress of the poison." the demon pleaded, sniffing the air after he'd finished, only for his eyes to widen in further anxiety.

Damn it, where are the rest of you slayers! He cried out in his mind, watching powerlessly as Yui's hitched breathing briefly slowed the advance of the purple, her eyes struggling to the utmost abilities to stay open. "Yui, keep your eyes open! Don't close your damn eyes!" he shouted, which helped. But only for a short moment.

With a weak smile, she looked up to the terrified demon in front of her, struggling to raise her hand, with a closed fist, toward his shoulder. "I-I'm glad… I w-was right a-about you… Kamado Tanjirou," she whispered, lightly punching his arm as her eyes and arm dropped. Her body slumped against the tree. Her breathing, fading…

Frozen, his cat-like pupils darting like a bullet in shock, his body jittering, gusts of wind hauntingly flooding the clearing. Images of an old man sitting on his back, his eyes level with his as he lent over his body, watching the light flicker out of his eyes and the pain that soon engulfed his heart.

Dazed and in large amounts of pain, the sensation of being pierced in multiple limbs fired around his body, as he willed his struggling eyes to open. The scene he was greeted to was of a woman, suspended by her neck in the air by a bony tentacle, her terrified purple eyes pleading to him for help. Struggling with all his might, as the lavish body of clothes slowly crept toward the woman, he screamed. "NEZUKO!"

Like a knife through his heart, he stumbled backwards, his gaze never leaving the still body of the slayer in front of him. A lone tear fell from his right eye as his mark began to pulsate with a deadly demonic red, the image of Tanjirou's father being sent to the forefront of his mind. I was supposed to be strong… he muttered in his mind, closing his eyes tightly as his hands clenched in his lap.

I should've saved your family Tanjirou! He cursed in his mind, a sudden surge of heat irradiated from his body, I should've saved you Saburo! He cried out, flares of solar flame erupting from his body as he stood up, wobbling further into the clearing, holding his head in agony. "I should've saved someone!" he screamed in animalistic rage, his pupils dilated as a brief wave of fire was created from his body, setting the airborne house ablaze.

Sickeningly smirking, he glared further up the mountain, murderously blood-red eyes looking on with predatorial determination. Chuckling to himself, "It seems that a job has been left unattended to…" he muttered with sadistic glee, the ground disintegrated as he disappeared from the clearing, leaving the still warm body of the slayer behind, surrounded by a countless number of worried, fearful and guilty eyes staring at her.

Shooting through the various arrays of forestry that the mountain housed, he quickly saw a clearing with a boulder, atop of which sat a white-haired boy, playing with webs on his hands as an older sister seemed to be attempting to converse with him. Sniffing the air as he smashed his way to the opposite side of the clearing to the spider-clan member, a deathly face plastered itself onto the intoxicated Kamado.

The boy, sitting calmly atop the boulder, looked at him with disgust but upon getting a better look at him, noticed the katana's blunt edge planted onto his back, the animal's arm dangling dangerously in front of him. Narrowing his eyes at the demon in the distance, he waved his hand, his sister quickly evacuating the area with fear in her eyes at the presence of the stranger.

"You have either courage or pure stupidity to face me," he began, his deadly voice threateningly calm as his hand lifted his covered right eye to reveal the kanji of Lower Five. "A member of the Twelve Kizuki like me…" he proclaimed, a sadistically malicious grin on his face.

Straightening his posture, narrowing his eyes, Tanjirou's first response… Was uncontrollable laughter, condescending and viciously insulting. Whipping the tear from his eye, he gleefully glanced at him, "Then give me some entertainment, scum." he muttered with venom, the playfully ignorant smile on his face provided the impression of insanity.

Frowning in focus, the Kizuki spread his hand in front of him, blood seeping into the webs that expanded in his hands as an intricately deadly wall of blood-red webbing formed in front of him. "Blood Demon Art, Cutting Thread Rotation!" he shouted in anger, an ominous and intimidating wall of bloody red webbing charging forward at high speeds.

"Hinokami Kagura, Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance!" he joyfully exclaimed, he charged at an even faster pace than the approaching wall of death, his blade flying murderously as the wall was almost instantly cut to threads, the head of a solar dragon swallowing the wall whole.

Heavily sweating, Tanjirou quickly sheathed his katana, charging faster than the Lower Moon could react to as a brick wall of a punch launched into a nearby stone wall. Staggered, he managed to create a thread in front of him, underneath the insane, charging demon. Only for Tanjirou, to sidestep the attack, grabbing the vulnerable demon by his face and running him through the dirt as he launched him into the air, jumping in pursuit with his leg wound up with frightening power that the Kizuki finally looked at him with a look of unadulterated terror.

With a sickening crack and snap, Tanjirou's savage kick connected with the head of the Demon Moon, launching him like a bullet into the ground, the impact leaving an imprint where the demon crashed. Landing on the ground with a bored, straight face, his eyes looking down at the demon at his feet with contempt and disappointment. "You don't challenge me. What a disappointment," he uttered with annoyance, walking away a little as he paced around with his hands behind his head.

Crawling out of the hole in the ground, the Lower Moon glared with the rage of a thousand suns as he attempted to conjure a cage of neon-red webs around the seemingly aimless demon. Seeing the green haori of that damned demon, he closed his hand as the ball compressed immediately into the size of a tennis ball.

Immediately after he did so, an agonisingly unbearable sensation prevailed in his neck, seeing the flaming blade rapidly going underneath his head. "Hinokami Kagura, Burning Bones, Summer Sun," was all he could hear from behind him, the voice disinterested and bored beyond belief as his head rolled off of his body, allowing him a look at his killer.

The overwhelming pressure from the being standing a top of him, brought emotions of unending terror and fear that he'd only experienced once in his life. Only this time, this being wanted him dead. Wanted him to suffer in pain. However, fortunately for him, the demon's gaze quickly shifted to one of unending disappointment, watching him as he quickly turned to dust amid the bright night sky.

Staring at the particles of ash that slowly drifted away, he took to his knees, coughing profusely as he watched a tiny cloud of smoke escape from his mouth. Stabbing his katana into the ground, gripping its handle with all his strength, he struggled to keep his body from hitting the ground, his jittering gradually getting worse and worse as he fought his growing weakness.

Growling in discomfort and glaring in determination, his grip faltered and he collapsed to the ground, his hands sliding off of his katana and plummeting to the ruthlessly cold dirt. Gathering the strength to turn onto his back, he slugged his body around and stared up into the beautiful night sky. With a hitched, laboured but rhythmic breathing he closed his eyes placing a hand on his chest and the other onto the blade of his katana, dislodging it from the ground and cutting his hand in the process.

Now, sitting in utter agony, on his back gazing at the beauty of the night sky, he began to hear two sets of feet enter the clearing and gradually get closer to him. Returning to normal, his eyes began to widen a little, the glowing of his mark now gone and the exaggeration of his demonic features waned. However, the pain persisted, hoarseness in my throat and smoke trickling from each cough.

Sniffing the air, his eyes widened in anxiety, the scent of two humans, powerful in wisteria and water respectively. Trying to lift his body, his body fighting his will to move like a bloody war, eventually dropping Tanjirou back to the ground with no idea of the newcomers that continued their approach.

At the bottom of his vision, black hair began to appear, soon turning purple at their short end. With clear lavender eyes staring with cautious curiosity at him, the appearance of her uniform as well as beautifully colourful haori caused the demon's heart to sink, his body tensing in fear at the threat to his life. Much to his surprise, the woman crouched down next to him, holding his hand up and gazing at the slowly spreading purple in his hand.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked at him with confusion, a lying smile being directed toward him. "How'd you manage this affliction, demon-san?" she asked, her hands carefully gripping the muscles in his hand and arm, restricting the movement of the arm to attack her. Tanjirou, meanwhile, looked at her with exhaustion, his laboured breathing had become audible to the pair of humans that situated themselves around him.

"Failing to save someone," he stated bluntly, his tone hoarse but highlighting the level of self-loathing and pain in his voice. The woman's purple eyes briefly widened in shock, a frown plastering itself onto her face as her eyes glared dangerously at the demon beneath her.

"You mean the young woman next to the burning clearing?" she asked with venom in her voice, noticing his red eyes looking confused at the latter but nodding at the statement as a whole. "I managed to get to her in time, demon-san. She's alive," she stated with unease, watching with the utmost confusion at the look of relief wash over it.

Quickly tensing and retreating a little, the demon began to chuckle, a tear falling from its eyes as its eyes looked released and accomplished. "Finally. I managed to save someone," it muttered with a pure, innocent smile. The female slayer, however, drew her blade and pointed it to his neck, her face reflecting the distrust and hidden hatred that it seemed to understand and accept.

"A wonderful lie, demon-san. But, there is one question I must ask you," she uttered with feigned joy, the venom in her words not being lost by the pair remaining in the clearing. "Why would a Lower Moon save a demon slayer?" she asked, clearing at his right eye, watching its shock and beyond confused glare at her, looking almost insulted by the title.

"I'm not a Lower Moon and don't ever call me one. I'm not one of that man's plague." he spat in complete hatred, his mark glowing a little as it reacted to the demon's rage. But soon after, he began to cough viciously, smoke coming from his mouth. Quickly recovering and glaring at the purple-eyed slayer standing on him, "That man will rot in hell as will his progeny once I'm through with them, I've already disposed of Lower Moon Five." he spat with a hate-filled vengeance, the sincerity in his words not being lost by the katana-wielding slayer.

Glancing to her right, she glared back at it, her smile reappeared, the forced nature of it causing Tanjirou to crease in discomfort. "You speak the truth, demon-san. Unlikely it may be, you are sincere," she uttered with astonishment, her blade remaining at his neck only getting slightly closer in precaution. "How many humans have you killed or devoured?" she asked with genuine curiosity, a slight twitch in her face as she attempted to control her endless fountain of rage.

"None," he answered bluntly in response, his quick response unsettling the woman above as the blade drew dangerously close to his neck. His eyes only further intensified in their ability to project his honesty, the purple eyes of the woman widening in the realisation of this fact. Dropping her blade and then sheathing it, crouching back down to the ground and reaching into her haori.

"Kocho-san, is that wise?" a masculine voice inquired in caution, walking over and revealing his blank, ocean-like blue eyes glaring at the paralysed Kamado. Resulting in the slayer looking at him with a look of defiance before retrieving a vial and offering it over his mouth, consuming the liquid quickly.

Sharply inhaling, Tanjirou quickly placed a hand on his chest as he began to cough profusely, bits and pieces of ash gushing out, his body rolling on its side toward the female slayer.

Stepping away from the demon, she glanced at her partner, his mismatched haori seemingly interesting her more than the person who wore it, watching his gaze on her with callus analysis. "You and I both know that what he said was true, Tomioka-san. The facts add up and no demon would dare speak ill of their master unless they meant it." she quickly explained, glaring at the lack of change at the way he continued to glare at her.

"That still doesn't change anything, Kocho-san. He is, regardless of circumstances, a Kizuki demon and he must be dealt with as such." he quickly remarked, his glare now alternating between his teammate and the struggling demon on the ground, his glare particularly fixated on his right eye, his blood red eyes with black painted kanji for Lower Five scribed onto it.

Breaking their conversation, a pair of crows suddenly descended into the clearing and perched themselves on the raised arms of their respective owners. "Bring the demon Kamado Tanjirou, wearing a chequered haori, to HQ at once" they reiterated constantly, the two nodding in bewildered acknowledgement as the Giyuu chopped Tanjirou in the back of his neck and carried him on his back.

"Now why would Oyakata-sama wish to entertain a Lower Moon demon?" they both asked in shared confusion and slight fear, as they began to walk away from the clearing, their crows flying back into the sky.

As they began to exit the clearing, the insect-themed slayer turned her head to glance at the indifference of her stalwart teammate with a sigh, "For your peace of mind, Tomioka-san. I wanted information and a test subject." she muttered with annoyance, glancing back up into the bright stars above, her teammate only raising an eyebrow in acknowledgement.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

This chapter is a little shorter than most due to the content being fairly short for what I planned on, I didn't feel comfortable continuing to the next part of the story without a new chapter. Other than that, I hope the fight scene was interesting and its aftermath intriguing.

As always, your feedback is much appreciated, Discord (Rcf7q3xd5N) if you wanna join and I hope to see you in the next chapter and beyond.