Eira half-squatted as she tightened her palms on her sword. Dirt and dust flew into the air as she launched powerfully into the sky. As she travelled further and further up into the sky, she was pushed further into a state of adrenaline-induced hysteria. She no longer felt pain, she only felt euphoria as the air rushed by her face roughly. A scary smile etched onto her face, her hands turned white from the tight grip. Memories of training this powerful technique quickly resurfaced in her mind. Although it seemed slow for Eira, in everyone else's perspective one second she was positioned on the ground, and the next she had rocketed into the sky far enough to seem like a bird.
Akaza was stunned, he was still for far too long. Ayumu took advantage of Akaza's vulnerability to break free from his grip and crawl away quickly as many ambushers sprinted out of bushes, trees and trenches in the ground. Eira had given the signal. Her ascension into the air slowed, she reached the peak of elevation she could've gone.
Eira let out a short, small giggle. Her onslaught of airborne flying slashes began. Her sword moved so gracefully and rapidly, yet equal in ferocity and aggression. The sound of her sword being swung through the air could be heard from the ground below, the metallic sound infiltrated Akaza's ears as he clenched his jaw in irritation.
Akaza attempted to dash. Just as he placed a foot backwards, a searing assault of slashes rained down on him. It was as if thousands of blistering cold shards of ice rained down onto his skin, he felt agony erupt from every skin cell on his body. His foot was cut clean off by a powerful slash, but Eira wasn't focusing on strong slashes, she prioritised speed and keeping Akaza in one place.
Akaza felt another syringe wedge itself deep within his back, an ambusher had successfully stabbed him. The poison was emptied directly into his bloodstream. Akaza screamed out in frustration and agony, he couldn't move his body without his skin folding over itself, blood poured out of his entire body. He vigorously twisted his body to face the ambusher. Yet, as he pulled his fist back to strike, his eyes were met by a gruesome sight. The ambusher was already dead, her entire body sustaining heavy slices and cuts.
Eira was ensuring Akaza's demise.
"She's attacking her own… team members…" Akaza's regeneration was pushed to its limits as the ferocious barrage of blistering slashes continued to cleave through his body. He couldn't move without being subject to the greatest pain ever, every time he moved, his body was forced into a state of paralysis. He had to choose his movements wisely. He could almost feel the weakening of his regeneration as if his power was being stripped away from him by a laser sent by the Heavens themselves. He sensed another ambusher quickly sprinting towards him,
Akaza grunted as he turned around. The demon slayer's arm had been mutilated into a paste before he could even reach the injection into Akaza's body. Eira's intense technique was equal in its contribution to their journey to victory, as well as their diminishing numbers.
Akaza's eyes frantically searched for any form of exit. Yet, for the first time in thousands of years. He felt fatigued. He felt the fatigue that came with recovery. No longer were his wounds instantly healing as if they were never there. His energy was being drastically drained. Every time his body would recuperate from the wounds, Eira's endless blizzard of slashes returned the wounds onto his body. An endless struggle of life and death.
"Yukina!" Ayumu shouted, he held his stomach weakly limping towards her. His face was red with strain, sweat covered his pain-filled eyes. He held his sword close to him. Yukina quickly dashed to his assistance, she put an arm around him and helped him stand.
"Collect the syringes on the floor, and inject Akaza," Ayumu's voice was rough with injury, his tone shakey as he grunted, holding his sword firmly in front of him. Yukina instantly glanced at the restricted Akaza in the middle of the battlefield, her eyes darting to the bodies of ambushers who had tried and failed to inject Akaza. They had been turned into a bloody paste as Eira's hellish blizzard of slices continued to hail down.
"I'll make an opening for you!" Ayumu forced Yukina to look at him, he could see the fear in her eyes, "Please… trust me…"
. Yukina's hesitant glance disappeared as she solidified her intentions. She slowly nodded and inhaled deeply. She sprinted towards the silvery glints on the ground, the syringes left by the deceased. She didn't halt once, there wasn't enough time. There was a high uncertainty around how long Eira could hold out in the sky. Eira had been in the sky for thirty seconds now. The powerful multitude of slashes she produced was the only thing maintaining her elevation. Simply put, The power that came out from her swings negated the force of gravity by creating an opposite force that pushed her back up into the air. As if the slashes she was attacking Akaza with were rocket boosters, just powerful enough to maintain height, as time continued, Eira's swings slowed and her body began to drop in altitude.
Yukina dryly gulped as she tightly gripped three Wisteria injections in her palms, it wasn't as many as she would've wished for, but their success consolidated three as more than enough. Her eyes nervously glanced at Ayumu, who still stood, panting. Ayumu nodded. She put her sword in her sheath and nodded back firmly. Her lip quivered.
Yukina sprinted towards Akaza, she held one injection in one hand and two in another. Tears began to well at her eyes as her heart pounded strongly.
Ayumu screamed in agony and he felt blood bleed out from open wounds. He quit the breathing he was performing to reduce bleeding in order to put all his strength into his swings. He let out one final cry as she began to viciously flail his sword precisely. Three air slashes aimed high, they flew quickly and collided with Eira's stream of slashes that rained down. Creating a half-second gap.
In this half-second gap, Yukina's arms slammed down the injections into Akaza's arms, simultaneously injecting the contents into his bloodstream. Out of rage, Akaza slammed his fist into Yukina's torso, a blue shockwave fabricated and blew Yukina back towards Ayumu. Akaza's power had declined severely, the shockwave was nowhere as powerful as the one that shredded three demon slayers into battered corpses. Yukina felt the shockwave vibrate throughout her body but didn't sustain any injuries.
Akaza attempted to escape during the half-second gap from the blistering slashes, yet as soon he reached out. Eira's ferocity quickly met his body once again, his regeneration was completely weakened. The slashes tore apart the surface of Akaza's body. Every pink muscle under his pale skin had been exposed, his body was so deeply cut that he resembled an anatomy model.
Eira grunted in fatigue as she let out the final slash. Her body heaved, and her breaths were deep but her expression remained one of hysteria. A wide smile as she rocketed down towards the ground. Her blonde hair was flying upwards as she prepared to land feet first. The ground rumbled as she landed right next to Akaza.
The poison had taken its effect in full form. Akaza was nothing but a half-dead demon. In this state, he reminded Eira of a peeled tomato. She panted heavily as she held her sword tightly, she groaned in exasperation as she swung her sword down viciously, she cut Akaza's limbs clean off. Akaza's eyes glowed with a soft yellow tint as he breathed roughly, this was the greatest embarrassment, the most painful conclusion he could've come to. His power had no means to express itself. All that determination, all his abilities still remained inside him, yet Eira had beaten him into a pulp. Her body ached and throbbed with intense pain as adrenaline wore down.
She felt vomit travel up her throat, she stumbled to a nearby tree and vomited, a mixture of blood and what she had eaten last. She panted heavily. She looked back at the remaining survivors. Only five people survived excluding Eira. Five out of fifteen.
"Ice Hashira!" A Kakushi member appeared out of the bushes. Eira's eyes widened as she saw the elite helper brigade arrive. But.. How?
Above Eira, a loud squawk alerted her. The pale crow rested upon a tree top, the crow seemed to lower their head in admiration to Eira. Many other Kakushi members came out of the bushes. They were on a razor's edge as they witnessed the defeated state of Akaza.
"Kammu!" Eira screamed out, her vocal cords close to bleeding. The scream startled everyone, Ayumu stared at the sky as Kammu jumped across tree tops, entering suddenly. He landed on the fight scene with a cocky grin. His eyes were fixated on the now disgraced Upper Moon Three.
"Tie him up," Eira ordered as she gripped her sword tightly. Kammu chuckled with an evil undertone, his golden bands wrapped Akaza tightly and they began to glow faintly. Kammu's Blood Demon Art to restrict and destroy enzymes would only further ensure Akaza would not regenerate at all. Eira pointed her sword at a Kakushi member.
"You, come with me…" Eira's words came out bluntly, she observed the fearful expression of the member's eyes. She remembered who she was talking to.
"Please," Eira lowered her head out of respect. Similarly, she stared at the five remaining survivors with a gaze of admiration and respect.
"Ayumu, Yukina," She began to list everyone's names, "Mei, Takeshi and Haruto"
She bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Kakushi, please tend to Ayumu and the other wounded as soon as possible," Eira panted as she held her stomach.
Upper Moon Three, Akaza, was defeated.
"Eira…" Ayumu attempted to talk but his pain throbbed as intense as ever. Yukina stared at him with concern and worry, her throat was tight as she tried not to cry.
"Please don't die…" Yukina begged him and went to his side, "I… still want to learn how to make udon noodles,"
Ayumu seemed to stay completely still for a moment, before weakly smiling at her. He nodded as the Kakushi members went to his aid immediately. The moon watched over the bloody battlefield with content eyes, the moonlight shone on Ayumu and Yukina as their story blossomed with possibility. A new friendship had come into existence.
"Kammu," Eira's tone towards Kammu instantly changed, a harsh and arrogant undertone overtook her speech. She couldn't resist the smile that slyly crept onto her face. The exhilaration of victory was nice, but her heart couldn't wait for the future events. Her pain subsided from the euphoria that she felt from thinking of Ali's dead body, she wanted to deeply disrespect him just as she had to Akaza.
"You're coming?" Kammu stuttered as he cleared his throat, heaving Akaza onto his shoulder. The dripping blood stained his grey skin.
Eira shot him a cold stare. Their journey began. Eira, the Kakushi and Kammu. They swiftly moved through various terrains, every hour, Eira injected Akaza with another Wisteria injection as a precaution.
They reached the mountain. Akaza's dojo. There were two hours left of the night. Ali breathed deeply as he held a strong stance, facing the dojo's wall. He exhaled sharply as he let go of the stance. He wasn't in his best state. Usually, Akaza would've returned. Perhaps he had gone to visit Muzan. Ali inhaled deeply as he held his hands over his face.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Ali's eyes lit up as he jumped across the room towards the door. His eyes lost all light, joy and hope as he witnessed the scene in front of him. Kammu stood there alone, with a disgusting hunk of what looked like raw flesh on his shoulder. Almost as if he had skinned a human alive and then battered the skinned corpse to hell. Then, Kammu turned the disturbing sight around. Ali saw the eyes of the 'corpse', still alive. Upper Moon Three.
"Hey," Kammu flashed a cocky grin at the shell-shocked Ali. Akaza's defeated state, the fallen warrior, was barely alive as his weakened eyes stared at his prized pupil. Akaza's eyes flooded with tears for the first time in a long time, as the tears met his exposed flesh, a stinging feeling overtook Akaza's body.
"This was the work of 'The Shadow'" Kammu spoke the rehearsed line Eira had given him.
'The Shadow'. The 'celebrity' of the Demon Slayer Corps, renowned for his strength, kindness and charisma. Better known as, Kaze.