The Pursuit Of Power

In the cave, the stalactites fell like spears into the water. The demon swam toward's Yuuki's sinking body slowly as it took relish in the opportunities that were going to become available to itself.

However, it made one slight miscalculation.

Its body was penetrated by a stray stalactite that had permeated the surface of the water like it was air. Gravity grasped the demon and stalactite with its overwhelming nature yanking the stalactite further into the demon's body. As it descended, the demon was buried under more rocks that fell, the surface level of the water descended as now, there was space accessible.

Once again, the water began to flow...

---

"-wake up?" the villagers had found Yuuki drifting down the river when they suddenly saw the water flowing from the cave. They correctly inferred that he had succeeded in purging the village from the demon's dehydrating grasp.

"I don't know, soon. His heart is beating but I have no estimate as to how long-" A female doctor from the village was speaking to the village chief who had not so long ago been wallowing in a pit of despair. Since his family had been taken from him, he hadn't had time to mourn as the demon had remained blocking the water from flowing. Finally, it was over. She had been looming over Yuuki's body and she had just inspected his pulse when he moved and interrupted her speech as she leapt like a rabbit in fright.

"Haaaaaaaahhh." The first thing Yuuki did was yawn the moment he gained consciousness. The previous fight had caused him to exert himself physically, [ Rebirth ] and [ Vitality ] were working in conjunction with one another and his fatigue had departed. He felt invigorated like usual.

A pair of b.r.e.a.s.ts that hung above his face mere moments ago had disappeared and he took an instant to gain clarity of the situation around him.

The villagers had crowded around him and they were looking at him inquisitively, at their saviour.

Yuuki turned his head toward the female doctor who had been checking up on his vitals. She had calmed down now from her sudden scare. He stood up and bowed towards her.

"Thank you very much for taking care of me. I appreciate the effort."

Smiling the doctor spoke.

"It was nothing much compared to what you've done for us. I speak for all of us when I say thank you." the joyous atmosphere around her changed as the smile remained on her face but the mood changed to a solemn atmosphere. "Lots of our people had lost their lives unfairly. I lost my husband and kids. They were all innocent. None of them deserved this. But it's over now, thanks to you."

Having stopped speaking, this time the Village chief came forward.

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you." He bowed to Yuuki.

Then the rest of the villagers bowed to Yuuki, their gratefulness was clear to see.

"We will be holding a mass burial in a day, most of our lost ones may not have a corpse left over, but the remaining ones have been removed from the cave. I- no, we, we all hope you can attend, is that okay?"

"Sure."

---

Bodies littered the ground like flowers in a meadow. The trees branches swayed in the glacial breeze gently. Creating a sombre feeling as the blood on the ground flowed like rivers through the muddy terrain. It had rained not so long ago, as though the world was crying once more for the loss of life.

Hana held her katana's handle between her fingers tightly. As she, Nezuko and Tanjirou travelled towards their mission, they had encountered some demons along the way. As they deftly defeated the demons, her understanding of using a katana became greater.

However, currently, she was facing her biggest challenge.

She had been separated from Tanjirou and Nezuko and on her own, she had to face this demon that gave off a stench of death greater than any demon she had faced as of yet.

Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead, as the monster standing before her threatened to end her existence if she made a single mistake.

Thoughts were flying through her mind a million miles a minute and yet, nothing.

As of this moment, the demon had yet to face her but suddenly its head twisted 180 degrees and she made eye contact with those abhorrent saffron eyes.

The sound of the air being cut through was audible to her for a second as the demon's lips that had formed a crooked, deranged smile belonging to that of a madman, parted and a scream that incited terror in all those who heard it.

Flying off the ground, Hana was nearly slammed into a tree but managed to regain her footing and move out of the way of the demon that had charged into the thick logs and snapped them in half while the roots were nearly forced out of the ground.

Above, the silver celestial body hanging in the sky emitted its frigid light. As it hung there, it seemed to be a witness of the battle and almost seemed like it was alive as the dim light would suddenly brighten up.

The evergreen trees surrounding the two roared in pain each time Hana dodged the demon.

So far, she knew she'd been lucky. The demon's charge had been easy to understand and the speed was quite slow in terms of the wind-up. Nevertheless, the pressure exerted on Hana was great.

Ultimately, the pressure cracked her.

Slipping once, she remained in the charge of the demon who had swung towards her with increasing momentum. Horns on the tip of its skull preceded to make contact with Hana's blade and she was catapulted into a tree with no chance of defending against the gargantuan momentum belonging to the demon.

Luckily she hadn't been impaled on a branch, yet she coughed up blood as her eyes watered up and she struggled to breathe from the damage.