Ali looked dead into the eyes of the demon. With an unimaginable feeling of anger flowing through his body. The demon kept on talking.
"No sword?! No way for your friends to save you?! What are you going to do without any weapons?!" It laughed and dashed forward, teleporting behind Ali. Asumi closed her eyes again as a terrible sound echoed through the town, a terrible slap sound. Ali plummeted forward as he got kicked in the back.
Eira flinched seeing Ali get blown in her direction. The demon teleported in front of Ali as he stumbled. A fist flew right at Ali's face. Ali managed to reground before the demon's next attack. Eira sighed and squatted down, covering her eyes. She didn't want Asumi to see her cry. Neither did Asumi, who was completely facing away from the battle. All they could do was wait til Ali had... died, only then would the demon turn its attention to them. A long painful wait. Asumi's heart hurt the most, she couldn't help but burst into tears. All around Eira was a sea of deep blue, all around her was sorrow. Pain. Hurt. She peeked at Asumi, she couldn't help but notice the flower in her hair fluctuating in a glow, like a heartbeat, it got slower and slower. Eira took a deep breath. She kept hearing the grunts of Ali desperately trying to evade the constant attacks.
Ali was desperately trying to guard himself against the hits, there was no way he could predict where the demon would teleport next, to his left, to his right, above or below. Hit after hit, each in a new direction. The demon laughed manically, this was the most fun it had in its life. The demon jumped, staring right at Ali. Ali clenched his fists, and he sprinted forward and swung at the demon, just as he got close, the demon landed and disappeared. Ali fell to the floor as he felt the heel of the wicked demon spear down from above.
Eira watched, silently, her eyes lost of emotions, they lay low, watching her new friend being beaten to the verge of death. She felt helpless, she couldn't do anything about it. Eira couldn't imagine how Asumi felt. Asumi hadn't spoken a word or turned to look at the fight since it tilted in the demon's favour. All thoughts held still. The fight continued. Ali got up desperately to fight back. His anger was immeasurable, the loss of his sword left a hole in his heart. Ali was quite sentimental, treating the sword as if it was his baby. Apart from the fact he whacked it on whatever beast came in his way. He clenched his fists, he felt chills over his body. The demon bounced up and down with a sick grin. Toying with Ali at this point.
"Come on. What are you going to do?" The demon laughed with joy. The battle had fallen in its favour tenfold. Ali got up and sighed deeply. His entire body aching, begging for rest.
Ali stayed silent, he put his hands up and took a deep breath in, and out. Breathing techniques, what all demon slayers used to power their attacks almost, the backbone to the Demon Slayer Corps, their breathing techniques that were so important to practise. Ali took another deep breath in, and another out. The demon bounced once more, then when he landed on the floor. The demon reappeared and a kick flew straight from Ali's right, Ali swerved backwards, regaining his grip on the ground, he shoulder-charged into the demon who was still mid-air.
Eira's eyes went wide, and she gripped her sword tightly. A fire of hope sparked once again. Eira stood up frantically as both the demon and Ali fell to the ground. Ali stood quickly, holding the demon.
"Got him," Ali whispered under his breath. Ali held the demon by the neck. The demon struggled to escape from the grasp. Ali's hand gripped the neck tightly like he was holding onto a cliffside for dear life. Holding the demon above the ground, its feet about 5 centimetres above the ground. His arm strained, but he put all his force into holding the demon above ground.
"A... Asumi..." Eira's voice shook. The demon's long nails sunk into Ali's arm, and blood flowed out of the marks like a river. Ali grinned. The demon kicked and squirmed. But then fell still and motionless. "Oh right... You can't even kill me! You don't have a blade!" It laughed, its voice sounded hoarse and forced as Ali's hand squeezed the demon's throat. The realisation made everyone's stomach turn. Except for Ali.
"Nah. I don't wanna kill you. You need to touch the ground to teleport right? I'm going to beat the life out of you til you break this barrier."Ali made a gruesome vision in the demon's mind. Ali pressed a single finger at the now silent demon. Ali laughed a bit, his arm strained from holding the demon up, but he couldnt dare let it go. Ali let out a sigh once he was done laughing.
CRACK! Ali's free fist flew into the demon's face, making an awful sound, like a tree falling. Ali grinned tightly, his eyes full of wrath. He smashed his fist into the demon's face again. The demon was screaming something. It was inaudible.
"I'll let you go, don't worry. I'm just avenging my sword, making you feel how it felt." Ali gritted his teeth. Ali punched the demon again, its face had messed up by this point, its teeth had fallen out, its nose was in a twist, and blood leaked from its ears and nose. Eira covered her mouth as she watched Ali hold the demon by the neck and punch it senseless. She didn't know how to feel. Mostly because she couldn't feel anything from Ali. it was the same aura, only darker, there was no anger present, not that she could feel. She wasn't used to someone conveying an emotion and their aura not matching it. Asumi gripped her sword as she turned around, her eyes glistening from tears.
"Your punches won't... they won't do anything! Killing a demon by punching is impossibl-" The demon was shut up by another punch. And yet another.
"Do I have to explain anymore? I don't want to kill you yeah? I'll leave that to my friends." Ali slammed his fist into the demon's face once more. Eira stayed alert, she couldn't even miss a millisecond, even if it was a single blink, whenever the barrier went down she would dash. Punch by punch Eira felt a change in the atmosphere. She poked her sword forward. There was no resistance. Eira's eyes went wide and she dashed forward. Her sword lit up in the moonlight as she swung her sword. At the perfect time, Ali let go of the filthy demon's neck and Eira's sword went straight through. The demon screamed out in agony as it felt its body be covered by an icy feeling, it spread through the body. It was told that death as a demon felt hot and burning but it felt the opposite. It was like its entire body was freezing and slowly being chipped away.
Its body dug at the floor, and soon the hands disappeared. Then the torso. Finally, the screaming stopped as the head disappeared. The three fell silent. They all looked at each other.
Ali clutched at his stomach, he took a deep breath and exhaled. Eira and Asumi's hearts had still not calmed down. They were beating fast and loudly.
"First mission done huh?" Ali smiled at both of them. Asumi scoffed in disbelief.
"You almost die and you say that? You're…" Asumi gripped her sword, tears forming in her eyes, she looked away, she felt annoyed. At first, she could barely protect herself, and then she couldn't protect Ali. She looked away, she felt embarrassed, she wasn't strong enough. The air was tense, their first mission had been accomplished, but they felt more doubt than achievement. Was this a life of a Demon Slayer? Verge of death at all moments?
"I'm sorry… For not protecting you…" Eira spoke quietly to Ali, Ali laughed a bit.
"Nah. Don't blame yourself, this whole mission was shit anyways, giving three new demon slayers a tough mission," Ali reassured Eira, hearing that Asumi was reassured too.
"Just. Don't scare us like that again…" Asumi added input into the conversation. Ali just smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
"Don't worry, I won't be dying anytime soon. I'll outlive you two for sure." Ali joked. Eira felt the area become a bit more light-hearted, now that the mission was over. Her mind, on the other hand, wanted to say something else.
"Ali but… don't you think…" Eira took a deep breath, about to speak her thoughts. "Never mind. We can talk about it once we get to the Wisteria House."
Ali was confused, he had no idea what a Wisteria House was. Asumi and Eira explained it to him. Wisteria Houses were planted in every area of the country, they were residences where Demon Slayers could rest and recover. Asumi and Eira had received maps with all the Wisteria House locations, Ali on the other hand had not.
Ali's body jolted with pain with every movement, he took a deep breath. He didn't want to worry Asumi or Eira anymore than he already had. He put on a brave face and continued talking to them like he was fine.
"There's one not too far from here, let's get there quickly, Ali's wounds look bad." Asumi's heart ached to see Ali so hurt. She felt her eyes flood again, but she wiped them and tried not to think about it. Ali put one arm over Eira and another over Asumi. And they started to walk. Their first mission had been intense, they all had training to do.
"Shit…" Ali sighed, "I'm hungry."