The Pursuit Of Power

Yuuki was not far from Hana when she encountered the three demons. Her face was not visible but he could see her shake.

Nonetheless, she did not falter before the demons. Her thumb pressed upon the blade's guard pushing it slightly out of the sheath before she suddenly took a step forward.

Water Breathing Fourth Form: Striking Tide

Taken by surprise, Hana's timing was perfect against the demons as her rapid movement allowed her to slice their heads off.

Watching her, he could feel that she did not like killing, who would? The ending of life was never pleasant. It was unexpected and without a doubt, impossible to control. The only thing that could be done was to end it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

This could be seen from the clean cuts on their necks. After all, Demons were once Humans too. Hana was most likely thinking the exact same thing, maybe she felt like she was killing a slightly different looking Human.

An epiphany came to the front of Yuuki's mind.

"These Demons, is it possible for some Demons to be good? Those good Demons, are they better than some Humans?" He spoke very softly such that only he and Hina knew what he said.

{What makes you think this?}

"Seeing Nezuko able to behave like a normal Human in front of three Humans with Rare Blood. Me, Hana, and Tanjirou."

Silently, he leaped from his tree onto another as he scouted the area again for the fifteenth time. He endured the feeling of wanting to be by her side as he always had been and stayed in the tree.

{Leave her alone, that means not being in the tree above her as she sleeps.}

"..." Yuuki did not reply, but Hina knew he was listening.

{If you trust in her then that means you can leave her alone. If you believe in her hard work, leave her alone.}

"And if she gets hurt? What then? If-"

{Do you really think that you can be around for every second of her life?} Hina cut him off sharply with her every word annoying him. {Some things are just... out of our control.} Her tone became soft and her words hit Yuuki in the face as he nodded once, before nodding more until he took a deep breath and descended to Hana.

"I'd do anything in my power to see you just smile. If Hina's right, then I don't want to be wrong. Stay safe."

It didn't take a genius to understand that Yuuki had become a sort of control freak. This development in his personality was likely from the weakness he'd been attached to his whole life.

Suddenly fulfilling his lifelong wish filled him with contempt and the thought he was in control. Smacking his face, death reminded him of the frailty of life.

Anyone can die, at any time, at any place.

Whether they are a king, a slave, a hero, a devil. Death's grasp was tight around their throats. Immortality was a lie that some old geezers sought after. Who would want to die? Nobody, those who could accept their death was a number smaller than that of the brain cells within an anti-vaxer's head.

"Until we get strong enough, we could die at any time. Even here, a moment of carelessness at the wrong moments could kill me. It's not like I've never been hurt before, why did I think I was invincible?" He felt embarrassed at himself and his thoughts before laughing. Sadly, his laughter was cut short by a tiny millimeter wide centipede crawling onto his hand.

The blood-red outside of the centipede glowed under the moonlight as it was squashed between Yuuki's fingers.

He leaped from the tree he rested his back on and drew his sword before looking at the morbid scene of a corpse-like body walking towards him.

Maggots were exposed wriggling within the opened abdomen of the body. Black sludge dribbled down the body from its several orifices.

Yuuki burst forward with speed and sliced through the neck of the body with a simple horizontal slice.

Centipedes wriggled upwards from the exposed neck and caught the head before it was sent flying and re-attached the head onto the stinking body.

"As I thought..." Yuuki muttered before looking around his surroundings and analyzing the slightest movements around him.

'There!' In his peripheral vision, Yuuki noticed a movement of the trees that had stopped for a moment before it continued.

Using the footwork of both [ Flash Step ] and [ Blink ] Yuuki was able to fake moving forward before he accelerated towards a different direction and burst towards what he suspected was the Demon's real body.

Water Breathing Second Form: Water Wheel.

A vertical spin separated a head from a body.

"Kehehehehe I've got you now!"

Centipedes in the same blood-red color spilled out of the second corpse-like body. It was a good tactic, to be fair.

Yuuki did not have any fear. He moved his body by pushing his sword against the tree in mid-air. The moment his feet touched the ground, he spun again after leaping vertically.

Water Breathing Sixth Form: Whirlpool.

Spinning like a vortex, Yuuki sliced any of the incoming centipedes and destroyed them completely. Once he was done with the ones spilling out of the corpse-body, the bodies moved and jumped under him and above him and they swelled up which made Yuuki's eyes widen.

Quickly landing, Yuuki rotated his body again as he burst away at the same time as the swelling corpses exploded outwards. This time, Yuuki did not use any Water Breathing Form, none fit the situation well.

Inhaling as deep as possible, Yuuki's hand started moving as fast as it could. His brain was working as efficiently as possible as he tried to determine the order to slice the incoming bullets in the shape of centipedes.

{Yuuki, you have [ Rebirth ] you don't need to care about the poison in these disgusting creatures! Ugh! They send shivers down my spine!}

"You don't have a spine!" Shouting back, the sound of thunder emanated around the mountain as Yuuki unblinkingly glanced around the entire area and found the origin of that laugh from before.

Water Breathing Seventh Form: Piercing Rain Drop

A severed head belonging to that of a Demon was finally removed.

"Kehehe, my three... corpses... did nothing. Kehehhe... I'm still useless." The Demon's head stared at the night sky as guilt along with several other feelings were revealed within. Each was deeper than Yuuki thought.

"Rest in peace." Yuuki could feel the pain that the Demon had been through. The difference between them was negligible. Humans, Demons, they both came from the same origin and felt the same feelings. He was able to empathize and maybe it was because his Perception was wrong, but he felt the negative emotions of the Demon fading silently.

"Maybe, for them, Death is a form of release..."