"Flame Breathing Sixth Form: Consuming Wildfire Dance!" Attakai screamed out as he took in a breath of air before charging in to the small crowd of demons. They hadn't expected an attack so close to dawn, but he quickly learned Yae was right, desperate starving animals will do anything for their meals. He quickly dodged an attack with a backstep, before preforming a wide slash to cut the first demon's head off. After his first kill, he charged through the several that remained, using quick footwork and momentum for strength, he made his way past the crowd and watched them all fall to the ground and fall apart in the wind. "Someone was eager for a fight weren't they?" He turned back to see Yae and the others catching up to him as had rushed into the fight.
"Heh, sorry about the recklessness, I can't outspeed a Thunder Breather, and your guns defeat our reach so much it's almost comical. This was probably the only way I would've been able to get my own fight." He apologized as the others approached him. "Remember what those kids said." "How many we kill doesn't matter if we die to get it done." Arashi and Kōzui warned and reminded Attakai of the smart words they were given before entering the forest. Attakai quickly felt himself deflate, but Senkō soon held onto his shoulders. "Come on it's alright. We're allowed to worry about each other aren't we? We set this up because we want everyone to stay alive, can you blame us for not wanting you to be in danger by yourself?" He raised his head and shook it, acknowledging his mistake. "Right, we're a team. We need to act as it."
"There ya go, come on everyone, we're nearly back." Yae whistled to grab everyone's attention and kept moving. "I will admit that was a nice and effective move. Never seen Rengoku-sama use it, but it's definitely useful." Attakai walked next to Yae as he now became curious as to what he learned earlier was the Flame Hashira. "So just how is he exactly?" Yae almost laughed at trying to find words to describe him. "The man only kept one student. His training apparently was so difficult to keep up with, every student he had before Mitsuri quit on him. He talked about how he became a Hashira as a way to make his father proud, supposedly his family has Maintained the Flame Hashira position since the Sengoku Era. He's a monster in terms of offense, but my eyes can still track him."
The words almost seemed to deflate Attakai even more so, his shoulders becoming slumped. "It almost sounds like a family tradition. I don't think I'll aim for Flame Hashira if it means taking something like that away from the family." Yae shrugged as Senkō threw either arm around the two from behind. "You never said there's a current Thunder Hashira, maybe I can make that my goal? Don't have to worry about stealing someone's position, work with a blank check, an estate to move my family into? I just need to worry about being faster than the demons can hit me." She giggled as she started to skip as she was now in a happy mood. Arashi and Kōzui walked next to Yae as they now began to have their own questions. "So, just what's the current Water Hashira like?" "How skilled would you say he is?"
Yae smirked as she stared at the brothers. "Rengoku-sama is a monster of offense, but Giyuu is a monster of defense and counter-offense. Every time I saw them duel, or every time I practiced knife fighting with him, a hit never landed. Those two ran out of bokken before they got tired, and even my eyes couldn't keep up with his eleventh form." Her face quickly turned sour. "I still get annoyed with him for using it though, it's amazingly effective but it puts his own health on the line to use. He at least promised to watch how often he uses it..." She hugged her rifle as she remembered how upset she got with him the first time she learned of it. His face almost took on that of a weary puppy in trouble when he saw how she reacted. She pulled her wrap over her face as was sure she was blushing. 'Dammit why did he have to be cute when he was making that timid face?'
"... He created a new form of an existing style? I'm not touching that." "If it's so powerful it risks his own health to use, I may as well jump in a demon's mouth now." The brothers quickly forgot the potential of either of them taking the spot in the future. They weren't as cruel to hope for his downfall, if he could create such a technique and be as effective as Yae spoke, then he deserved the spot. They were curious as to what caused her to hide herself away, but that was a question for later. "Hasinaw, the trees." "We made it back to the meeting point." Yae looked up and was overjoyed to see the other groups. "Alright everyone, move forward." The group moved into a sprint as they finally saw the sun break through the trees. Dawn had arrived, they had survived their first night. "Alright, everyone send one member from each group! Let's take count and review how we did!"
Yae felt the blood leave her face as she fell slightly back against a tree she debarked. "What the fuck do you mean we're already down five people from the groups... That's an entire hunting party destroyed on the first day..." Yae looked back to the groups as ideas and scarios played through her head front to figure out just what happened. She looked to a Water Breathing girl who was determined, but could still see the cracks starting to form. "Two people died from eating dangerous foods. You were right, we don't know what's been growing here, especially because there isn't a guarantee anyone actually comes out here if it's not part of this trial." Yae gritted her teeth as she yelled loud enough for everyone to hear her. "If you can't identify what you scavenge, don't eat it! Check with me or Attakai before you even try to taste it! He was a farmer and I was a nomadic, meaning we know what to look for and what to ignore! Everyone clear?!" All quickly nodded as they were keen to not anger the one with the most dangerous weapons and attitude of them.
The boy who first agreed to her plans of the hunting parties was the next to speak, hoping to alleviate come of her worries. "Only one death was from actual combat from what we've asked around. Someone was too overconfident and broke off after a demon, damn monster was hiding in the bushes and sliced his throat." Yae darted her eyes back to Attakai remembering he just did that same thing. She knew Flame Breathing was an inherently offensive fighting style, she'd have to figure out how to reign him in. "So where does that leave the other two if their deaths aren't confirmed?" A Stone Breather girl that lead one of the groups quickly stepped up to answer. "The others just broke off on their own. It can be assumed either from hatred of the boredom that came with safety, or glory seeking to put themselves as the one with the most kills or brave to be alone." Yae groaned as she felt a headache begin to form. "They can't face a week of boredom if it means they live?!"
The Stone Breather shrugged as she seemed just as annoyed at the situation. "If they live long enough to regret going solo, you can be the one to chew them out for it if they come back." Yae sighed as she sat against the tree, resting her head as she desperately tried to think of what to do. "Alright, we organize the food, eat up, and rest after. We're in sunlight but we need some security to watch over the group as we sleep. We'll do it in shifts so no one is forced to be up too long. Once it's dark, we'll reorganize the groups with what numbers we have and what styles are available. We're down to twenty-five, so we'll do five parties of five. Do not look for anyone who may have gone by themselves, focus on the safety of the groups. We all clear?" The group made up of one from every hunting party all understood what they needed to do and began organizing the time for rest and recovery.
The hunting parties came together to eat what the could in peace. Fruits, berries, mushrooms, anything that they were all able to find. Attakai was more helpful than Yae had thought, helping to sort all the safe foods to what was dangerous. She could only assume at least someone had to plant at least a few things to help people not starve here, either that or lady luck and chance had smiled upon them. Kikurage, shiitake, even some eringi. The fruits they were able to deem safe were lucky finds as well. Yama ichigo, sakura no mi, and hebi ichigo too. Attakai and Yae were able to grill the mushrooms on some rocks and turned the berries into some paste. They doubted they could find any animals alive to have some meat for the food. None would complain about access to any food they could get though. Giyuu may have been right, this place would've been too harsh for Torakkā.
All the people who still had the most energy after the night were the first one to take up guarding everyone. They were bathed in the sunlight and could feel safety once again, but it was still better to be safe rather than dead. She was sat in a tree as she held her rifle in the ready position as she took first watch with some others. She could hear the others breathing calm down as they rested up. She was honestly surprised as to how far her senses came when she thought of it, then again she had spent months both hunting Giyuu and being hunted by him. She thought back to when she first started that training after her birthday.
Yae was walking through the forest after she wasn't able to find Giyuu even when they were supposed to have breakfast. He left a note saying for her to come to the forest armed and ready for training. The only rule was she couldn't bring Torakkā'. It seemed out of nowhere to her, but this just meant more practice for her to get better. As soon as she was past the treeline, Yae could already tell something was off. She was being watched, but had no idea as to where Giyuu was. He didn't specify a meeting spot or what they were even going to be doing. She sighed as she just walked in search of him, now desiring her answers. She soon found him, or rather he found her, when she soon felt the back of a knife against her throat as he stood closely behind her.
"Don't tell me your senses have already gone dull? You're a huntress of beasts and soon of demons aren't you?" Giyuu took the blade away from her neck as he stood against a tree watching over her. Yae felt a chill run down her spin as she rubbed her neck. "Good morning to you too, would've been nice to know training already started by the time I came out." Giyuu shook his head as he kept a firm grip on the blade. "You never know when you can risk being attacked. You could be on the way to a mission involving a demon, when you could be ambushed by a completely separate one. You must be able to be aware of your surroundings at all times." Yae watched as Giyuu moved some hair away from his face, revealing some scars over his left eye.
"During my time at Final Selection, I was ambushed and had to fight half blind because I allowed myself to be caught off guard. The only reason I survived is because Sabito was there to save me. If I were a better slayer I wouldn't have needed to be saved and put him in danger." Giyuu approached Yae as he let his hair fall again. "I know you have the potential to be better than me Yae, and I have faith in you that you can be strong, I just need to be able to see it for myself so my mind is free of one less thing to worry over." Yae felt her chest heat up as she smiled at him. "It really is nice to know you care for me that much." "We made a promise to each other remember?" Yae nodded her head and grabbed one of her knives, holding the blade against the one he held. "Alright. Let's run this back and try again. You've had my attention, but now you have my focus."
The training was like that of Kanao's in persuit, only this was on a much larger scale. The entire forest was the play area and it would not stop no matter how often she failed. She would still be in the process of trying to find him and within five minutes of the start she'd find the knife he had on him against her neck once more. She eventually had to take on a new approach after so many times failing and hours of time already used up. Once she had an idea that he was watching her, she sat down and closed her eyes. allowing the nuance sounds of nature to be the only things her mind paid attention to. She was almost overwhelmed by the noise she tuned out by now, but she realized that this was just something she failed to remember.
Her father taught her growing up that nature gave them the answers, it was just a matter of listening in to them. What once overwhelmed gave her a sense of familiarity she hadn't felt since before she met Giyuu. The idle shaking of vegetation as wind blew over them, the little rustles of wildlife as they lived through their own little lives, things that almost gave a sense of ease. A comfort she forgot about with how she'd lived recently. A new noise came into her ears, one that felt too heavy for any of the small creatures, one that moved too fast for them as she heard the wind break apart to make room for its movements. Before she could turn around to look at him, she felt the blade against her once again. Opening her eyes and lifting her head, she could see him staring down at her. "Found you." He made a small noise as his eyebrows twitched. Their eyes were locked as he pulled the knife away.
"You could find me and track me, but you need to have the reflexes and reaction time to be able to stop me. I will be a harder challenge than any normal demon you may face." She smiled up to him as stayed on the floor. "You wouldn't put a challenge in front of me-" "If I didn't think you could overcome it." He offered a hand which she took and stood up, basking in the calming noises of nature. "Come, let's try again. Once you can see me before I reach you, then we move on to you attempting to defend yourself. No mercy, no hesitation. Hesitation will mean defeat. Hesitation, will mean death." Yae rolled her eyes before poking his cheek. "You really are a dramatic one aren't you?" Giyuu found himself almost deflating as he pushed her hand away. "And you are spending too much time with Shinobu aren't you?" She pointed her tongue out at him and enjoyed the break before training continued.
She thought happily over the memory, remembering how alive she felt because of literally playing the role of the hunter and the hunted with him. The memory alone caused her heart to spike at the hours they spent perfecting her skills. All of it was exhausting, but with how amazing it was she always had the energy to do more. She went from just spotting him, to stopping his attack, to countering with her own, all up to when she was finally allowed to bring Torakkā because she was so eager to be part of it. She may have only seen them yesterday when she left, but she still couldn't help but crave to be around them again. She heard a noise approach and knew who it was by now. "Shouldn't you be asleep Senkō?" She refused to take her eyes away from her sights as her new friend climbed the tree to a nearby branch.
"Nope, I only use quickbursts of energy when I fight, I still got plenty of strength." Senkō puffed her chest out proudly. "But I heard your heart spike for a moment so I wanted to make sure everything was alright." Yae internally groaned as she had to deal with this again. "Right Thunder users have good hearing... Yes Senkō I'm alright, I just tho7ght of a good memory and got excited." She heard her friend lean against the tree. "Was it about your friend? The one that saved you?" Yae didn't look at her, but only gave a verbal answer as to not nod and ruined her sight picture. "Yup. What can I say? When you live with someone for so long and is the sole reason you're alive, you tend to think of them in pretty high regards." Yae could finally see Senkō in her peripheral vision as she leaned closer. "Your heart still hasn't settled down. There's more isn't there?"
Yae groaned as she tried to keep focused on her security position. "Yes there is... I'm only willing to tell you about it if you promise to keep it to yourself." She sighed as she finally looked to her friend. "It'd be nice to tell a stranger about it, not have to deal with someone use to the surroundings." She saw Senkō stick her pinky finger out expectantly, Yae actually giggled and wrapped her own with Senkō's. "Don't make me get the thousand needles now... I already said Giyuu saved my life twice, once from my father as a demon, once... From myself." She saw the girl become confused as what it could've meant. "After he put my father to rest... I tried to kill myself. I put my rifle to under my chin and tried to put myself to rest seconds after seeing my father die." Senkō's face suddenly twisted into horror as Yae finally took her eyes from her rifle to try and comfort her friend. "It's okay I'm alright, obviously it failed."
"I was angry with him for stopping me, I had nothing left as my father killed the other Matagi of our lodge. Everything I cared about was dead, it was the only logical choice I thought was left... The only way to stop feeling the pain... That's when he saved me. I lashed out at him, holding a knife to his throat as I screamed at him to just let me die in peace." Yae felt herself begin to tear up, not thinking of that night in so long. "I begged to just die, and those little drops of the ocean just stared at me as if nothing was wrong. He spoke in such a way that called out I was just hurting and needing to lash out. Needed to do anything to let out the pain from losing everything. He told me father's last words were to live on, but I just didn't know how I'd do it by myself."
"I made him take me in, to help me want to live again and teach me what it meant to be a slayer. That was over a year ago and finding him... It's been the greatest time of my life." Yae's smile came back as she cleaned her tears. "A few months ago, I came to learn that I loved him. Not just as a friend, or as found family, but truly love him. He gave me a place to live that because of him and our dog, I see as my home, he helped me feel cared for, he helped me feel strong, the things he's bought me helps me feel beautiful. I can't list everything, but it's because of that everything that I'm confident this is how I feel. It's why I need to live to see my birthday. Once we're both slayers and adults, I want to confess... I don't know if he'll feel the same at all, but if all this time has taught me something... It isn't bad to have hope." Yae didn't need her trained senses to hear Senkō squeal in her ear as she grabbed onto Yae's shoulders. "You are introducing me to him, I need to see just what kind of person he is for myself!"
Yae broke free of her friend's grip as she laughed a bit. "Alright alright, when we both survive this place and he picks me up, I'll introduce you." Senkō smiled as she settled herself down. "I'm rooting for you two, you have my support no matter what." Yae smiled as she refocused her aim. "Yeah yeah thanks... If you aren't sleeping go ahead and patrol another area, I'll get this direction covered." She heard the girl jump out of the tree she rush off, a smile stuck to her face as she felt more comfortable with how she felt. "It felt natural to say it. I didn't need to force it out of me like last time... Even if he doesn't feel the same, he's still my best friend no matter what. I'll be what I need to to always watch his back, as his love, or as his friend." Yae felt her chest warm up as she smirked at the idea of them under the moon together. "A girl can dream though."
Yae felt herself being shaken as her eyes slowly opened. "Who?" Yae yawned as she sat up, her arms stretching out and slowly remembered where she was. "It's Attakai, it's almost night time and for us to divide the groups and move out." Yae stood up and dusted herself off, grabbing her gear. "Alright, we didn't lose anyone so we stay together for now while I help the others balance the groups. Larger hunting parties is better than numerous ones." Her friends nodded as they stood by while she went to the others. After nearly a half hour of learning everyone's styles, strengths, and weakneeses, Yae was able to assign teams to balance each other out. "Before we all leave I want to give everyone something, I would've hoped to not use these so early, but I'd rather not risk it."
Yae grabbed her back pouch and opened it for all to see. "Wisteria pellets, each having enough concentrate to cause any demon to choke and die. Everyone grab one, in case you get attacked and can't use your sword, you have an emergency save. Throw it hard enough to the ground or crush it in your hand to set it off. Just be careful to not breathe it in yourself." Everyone quickly grabbed one before a Wind Breather girl came up grabbing her own. "You only now give us something like this? The hunting parties were a good start by why wait for these?" "Because I would've had more faith had it not been for two people eating poisonous berries, one man gets ambushed from overconfidence, and two just fuck off to whoever knows where. These should've been saved as emergencies, but when idiots CAUSE the emergency you tend to change your mind quickly. Anyone else have questions?"
As the groups split off to separate directions, Yae quickly grabbed onto Attakai's shoulder before they got too far. "I know you're eager to fight, but I need you to reel it back a bit. Let them come to you rather than you charging in." Attakai looked confused and began to curiously ask. "Is this about earlier? Look I know it was dumb-" "Another group talked about how one of their rushed after a demon because he was eager for the kill. The kid had his throat slit because he lost sight of the demon and didn't regroup. I'm not letting that happen to you got it?" The boy felt his words die in this throat as he just swallowed and nodded. "Good, we stick together until we're out of this. Can't enjoy this life if you die too early to get to the fun parts." He nodded as the group began to move again, intend on acting as a unit rather than individuals.
Yae walked at the front of the group this time as they moved through a new path of the mountain. "I say we find another river. We can't go back to the same area as before, if demons found us there before, they risk it again by believing we think it's safe." She continued to look around as she suddenly was hit by the smell of blood not too far away. She quickly kneeled and aimed using her new scope. It was a demon eating a body of a teenage boy, possibly one of the people who either who broke away from the groups, or was one that never joined them in the first place. She sighed as she watched the demon continue to feast, waiting for the right moment. She offered a small prayer before readying herself to fire. "Hasinaw-uk-kamui, let my aim be true to avenge this life that has been cut short. Let my prey fall cleanly and their death swift."
Yae whistled loud enough to catch the demon's attention, causing it to lose its focus on the meal it secured. Yae waited patiently until the demon looked in her direction and fired, the sound of the rifle screamed across the area and her aim was true. Yae watched as the bullet past through the center of the demon's head, it's blood and brains painting the tree behind it as it fell limp against it. Her sights remained on the demon until she saw it fall apart in the wind and disintegrate into nothing. "Alright, let's confirm the body and try to make some kind of burial. It'll probably be the nicest thing that's happened to anyone in here." The group walked towards the body as they almost dreaded to learn who it was. They finally approached the body, all looking down and seeing the dead expression of fear on the boy's face.
"I think this may be one of the people that went solo from the start." "I don't recognize them from when we made the groups, I wouldn't doubt the last thoughts he had was he regretted being by himself." Arashi and Kōzui spoke as the boy was missing half of his sword arm and had his stomach torn open, his intestines having puncture wounds from the demon's teeth. Senkō frowned as she kneeled. "I take it you didn't bring anything akin to an entrenching tool?" She looked to Yae and could only see a shake of her head. Senkō only frowned as she bowed to the body. "This may take a while for us to do, I'm sorry whoever you were." She slowly undid the boys top garments and used them to wrap his wounds, wanting him to have some dignity as he passed.
As Yae found a rock and was attempting to dig, she swore something felt off. She felt herself being watched and not just by her friends, this was the same feeling she had when Giyuu would hunt her. Looking to her right, she saw through the openings of the bushes. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, only to see a pair of eyes looking back. "Shit!" As the demon leaped at her with its mouth open, it's claws grabbed onto her and almost tore through her shoulders to weaken her. She did all she could to fight back and shoved the rock into the demon's mouth and gagging it. It was so confused it let go of her which gave her the chance to finally defend herself properly.
"I have him, watch the other directions!" Yae grabbed her bayonet blade from its sheath and countered any attempt the demon made to grab her. It would attempt to grab her arm and she would slash at his wrists, it would lunge at her and she would stab through its ribs to viral organs. Every desperate and hunger driven attack it threw, Yae would dodge and evade before leaving her own attack. This demon wasn't as fast as the person who trained her, it never really had the chance other than the ambush. Eventually the demon ripped its lower jaw off to remove the rock before regenerating. "You really are an idiot girly, do you forget you need to cut my head off? How do you plan to do that with nothing but a toothpick?" "You were so focused on killing me you didn't even smell it? Desperation really does destroy self preservation." The demon looked at her curiously before feeling itself start to convulse and throw up blood, it took on a horrific purple shade.
The group watched on as the demon's viens started to darken under its pale skin, the shade of purple once again prominent. His skin followed suit as wisteria began to course through his body, the locations of every stab and cut acting as a ground zero for the poison spreading. With its dying breath, the demon could only shout a few last words before succumbing to death. "Kill them already!" With those final words the demon fell over and died, his expression matching the face of the boy they had just found. Everyone paused at the final words and cautiously looked around, Senkō feeling dread begin to set in through her bones. Her enhanced hearing only added to the pit of fear in her stomach. "Multiple demons inbound... Did they finally think it was worth working together?!"
Yae felt her eyes go wide as grabbed the boys sword and secured it in her belt. "We need to move! We don't know what exactly is coming for us! Survival over combat, hold your breath!" Yae grabbed her wisteria pellet and slammed it down to the dirt, coating the entire group in a cloud of purple fog. Yae and Senkō could hear as the demon's continued to close in. Yae grabbed everyone she could and threw them towards the only direction that didn't seem to have a demon coming from. "Run! Do not stop and do not break apart!" Once she saw everyone ahead of her, Yae grabbed her harpoon blade and quickly ran behind them, making sure all remained in her line of sight. This was a moment that reminded all of them that they were still physically weaker than any demon. They could fight them, but would they be any to walk away unharmed? Survival came first and foremost. This applied to the predator and the prey, and every slayer questioned what side they were on.