Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 81: Right on time

[3rd POV]

(Kanae Kocho)

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

"Shall I save you from your pain and suffering?" a disgustingly chippy voice said to her while she was on her knees.

"Breathing alone hurts, doesn't it? Your lungs are completely frozen and ruptured," the demon had a wide smile on his face while looking down at her.

"Come on, beg me," the demon with rainbow eyes said and pulled her hair. He forced her to look at him while he smiled a religious smile, "Beg me to send you to paradise,"

"Worship me,"

It hurts.

Everything hurts.

Kanae felt her consciousness slipping away and she recalled the series of events that led to this. It was like her life flashing before her eyes.

At first, it was like any other assignment. A village needed help as many people died from an unknown disease. These kinds of things were more common than you would expect in the rural areas of Japan during the 1900s. A village with a hospital or a doctor was rare.

So as a medical expert, Kanae set out to the village to help them. It took her only a day and a deep inspection of the patients to realize that the disease was the work of a demon.

At that moment, she realized that she should leave. Seiji had warned her too many times to continue the mission recklessly and she wanted to respect the worries of the man she loved.

She would return home, report her findings and maybe set out again with more help to kill the demon.

But all plans died soon after. It was too late.

It was not only the disease that plagued the village. There was a deep mind controlling in the village as well. And this was no ordinary work of a blood demon art, instead, it was a mind control on a deeper scale.

A cult.

The whole village was a cult. They called themselves the Eternal Paradise Faith.

It was a cult led by the demon who now tortured her for his amusement.

She could not escape the village anymore and that brought her face to face with the demon who seemed to orchestrate the whole thing just to capture her.

....

The air was cold and heavy, an ordinary civilian would not be able to take even one breath with such heavy air. Kanae looked upon the rainbow eyes of the demon and the number '2' written on the demon's face inflicted endless despair in her heart, despair heavier than the air.

"Come on, pray to me~" the demon looked so kind. There was no guilt or self-awareness on his face, he genuinely believed that he was a god and that he was being benevolent.

Kanae spat at the demon, or at least that's what she tried to do. But what came out was crimson blood that splattered on the demon's face.

The smile on the demon froze like ice before he violently pushed Kanae's head, smashing her face on the floor. Then he pulled her hair and threw her to the other side of the room.

*BOOOOM!!*

Numb.

Everything was numb, there was no longer pain.

And that scared Kanae more than when she was in pain. Because as much as pain was uncomfortable, it was a sign that you are still hanging onto life. Feeling pain means that your body is still fighting and working to keep on surviving.

But numbness means your body is not working as it should be anymore. It was giving up in front of the threat it deemed to be impossible to escape.

She was dying from the lack of air.

She crawled away from the place, searching for air that was fit to inhale. Luckily, she found ventilation and she crawled under it.

She took in a deep breath and her body came back to life. She felt agonizing pain once more but she was glad to welcome the old friend.

Yes, she was still alive.

"You truly are an admirable creature. Your desire to survive makes me want to shed a tear," the demon said.

The room they were in was the main room of the cult. It was marred with many slash marks and spiky icicles that spoke of the battle that just took place.

Kanae fought, for a long time she fought against the demon that played with her like a toy. But as the battle went on, the cold air froze her lungs and made her incapable of fighting.

"Then how about letting me go?~" she said with a shaky smile. She wouldn't allow to show her weakness to the demon and give him the satisfaction.

"No, I don't think so. I want you to be part of my paradise," he said and raised his hand. Then he gestured to one of the walls that had a cupboard.

On it, you could see the skulls of the women he had devoured. They were stunning beauties while they were living and captured Doma's attention. Now he put their skulls on the cupboard as some kind of trophy. He even maintained them neatly.

"You are the most twisted demon I ever encountered," Kanae remarked while looking at the skulls.

"I prefer the word benevolent," he said and before he could finish, Kanae blurred towards him. She thrust her sword as hard as she could and as fast as she could, but the demon stepped to the side with ease.

When Kane stopped a few metres away, she collapsed on the ground with many cut marks on her body. The demon not only dodged but manage to cut her in the exchange,

She didn't even see him move.

"I'm sorry, I was not through with those cuts," Doma said and unfurled his fan made of blades, his weapon of choice.

"You are still living and hence, suffering,"

...

Maybe this was where she was going to die. She hoped it was not but the situation seemed impossible to survive.

She was going to die here.

Even if her Kasugai crow found a Demon Slayer nearby, what could they do? It was the upper moon that she was up against. It would only increase the number of causalities.

Tears started falling from her eyes but they only worked to hurt her eyes. Her tears froze due to the freezing temperatures of the air.

The best thing she could do now was go out fighting with all she had.

And so, she took in a huge breath that forced her frozen lungs to work. The adrenalin in her veins caused the temperature of her body to rise and fight against the biting cold.

"Flower Breathing : Final Form,"

Kanae fought with all her might for the final time.

...

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[Seiji's POV]

I ran.

I ran.

And I ran some more.

*BOOOM!!!*

*BOOOM!!*

*BOOOM!!!*

*BOOOM!!*

The earth quaked with each step I took.

"Thunder Breathing : First Form!!"

More. More.

Faster.

Even faster.

"Thunderclap and Flash : Two hundred fold!!"

*BOOOM!!!*

*BOOOM!!*

I ran until my leg was completely destroyed. The muscles in my left leg had been exhausted and torn beyond belief. Yet I kept on running.

Even the Kasugai crow flying overhead couldn't catch up with me. Even Raven was lagging far behind. It was fortunate that I was curious enough to ask where Kanae would be heading for the mission. With my eidetic memory, it was not hard to find my way around the thick jungles and run towards where she was.

I used Thunderclap and Flash two hundred times. With it, I was able to cover nearly 10 kilometres. The forest was ravaged and I left a trail of destruction in my wake.

I did not use my right leg however as I would need that for the upcoming fight. But my left leg, I destroyed completely. I was not sure if it would be able to heal later on.

But that did not bother me in the slightest when survival was not certain. I was going straight towards Doma who was upper moon 2, I didn't have the privilege to worry about how my legs would heal when I could die in this fight.

The only thing I was certain of was that Kanae was not going to die.

I'd tear down the sky before she died.

Finally, I reached the village in the middle of the night. It was eerily quiet with the villagers gathering near the entrance of the village.

I did a quick scan of the surroundings and also located Kanae. My eyes saw her fighting against the upper moon and with a quick calculation, I determined that I had enough time to reach her before the fight ended.

Doma was playing with her, and although that made me burn with rage, it meant I had time. So I stopped.

"Haaa....Haaaa.....Haaaa..." The air around me churned as I used Constant Breathing, healing breath. I also looked down at my left leg and scanned the injury.

It was bad. Just by looking at it, a surgeon might give up.

I cut off two branches from a tree and swiftly chipped them down to be straight. I took off my haori and cut it into ropes before tying the sticks on my left leg to support my weight and straighten it. Like a makeshift cast.

Could you believe that? One of my legs was completely fucked up right before the most important battle of my life. If my life was a story, I would complain to the author and give him hell for nerfing me like this.

"I put my faith in you, shounen powerup," I said aloud, trying to calm my roaring heart. I was doing my best to calm down before rushing in.

Being blinded by my rage would not do me good in this situation. It would only tire me more and cloud my thought process. So I did everything I could to calm myself down, controlling my thoughts.

Cracking jokes.

But inside, my heart fell due to the sheer emotions weighing it down.

"Let's go," I quickly made my way into the village.

Luckily, I spent weeks training with Jigoro (Former Thunder Hashira) and he had lost a leg in battle. So I could copy his movements and implement them to my own.

When I entered the village, I was immediately stopped by a mob.

Many of the villagers had gathered around, holding weapons like a sickle, axe, machete etc. They seemed to be guarding the place to make sure no one entered the village.

My eyes saw a demon amongst them as well.

"Look!! He is an intruder trying to disturb our lord while he is busy with his apostle!! Stop him!"

The villagers screamed in unison.

...

...

It was a small group gathered to stop any help from reaching Kanae. They did it after a Kasugai crow escaped from them to call reinforcement.

I was trying so hard to remain calm.

But my emotions got the better of me. Anger, desperation, immense frustration and then hate.

They were cultist under Doma, they had no sin except being brainwashed since they were born. They probably didn't deserve it.

But I killed them all.

I'm sorry. I couldn't waste any more time to knock them out.

I ran out of kindness.

"Thunder Stone Breathing : Arc of Ruin,"

My blade mowed them all down with a single slash, the demons hiding between the mob included. The wind blade produced from my sword cleaved everything.

Bisected bodies decorated the ground, crimson blood hid the natural brown of the earth. Their death was swift and merciless.

It'd probably haunt me for the rest of my life, but I'd rather that than Kanae's death haunt me for the rest of my life.

They were unimportant.

So I burst towards the centre of the village where there was a temple. My eyes locked on the smiling demon who made me do all these things.

Oh, how I hate him.

But on the bright side...

*BOOOM!!*

..

I got there just in time.

..

[IMAGE]

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Author : 500 stones and extra Chapter

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