Tsunami of Dead Tears: Part 2

Chapter 23

An explosion lit the room with an intense fury. Giyuu cringed at the overwhelming brightness, and so did Shinobu and Inosuke beside him.

Did the demons plant a bomb? Giyuu thought, bracing himself for the heat of the explosion. He could feel it, the rippling warmth of the air spreading across his body.

But he felt no pain.

In fact, the warmth of the explosion calmed him more than it pained him. The deep puncture wound on his shoulder seemed to numb, as if the pain had been replaced with heat. Heat of the comfortable kind.

What?!

The sound of the explosion made his ears ring. Oddly enough, the glow of the explosion did not subside. It seemed to maintain itself, like the glow of a flame. Giyuu opened his eyes slightly, and almost gasped at what he had saw.

Nezuko, engulfed in a blanket of pink-colored blaze.

The bamboo tube she had been wearing was on the ground, shattered into pieces. Her arms were wrapped around Zenitsu, who also had flames on him, although in very specific places. His arms, most especially, where his wounds had been. Giyuu, confused, looked at his own wounds. They were also covered in pink flames.

And they were regenerating.

I've heard of this... Giyuu thought. Nezuko's Blood Demon Art. The ability to make her own blood erupt in pink fire, beneficial to humans, detrimental to demons.

She hadn't been able to replicate the same thing since that time in Natagumo Mountain.

Nezuko, her eyes now wide and demonic, set Zenitsu down and walked up to the demons that surrounded them. They stumbled back in fear, some even dropping out the holes in the walls. Out of frustration, Nezuko placed her claw on the palm of her hand, slitting it. The blood that seeped out of her self-inflicted wound eerily pulsated pink light.

Suddenly, she cast the blood unto the demons, showering them in pink-red liquid. Before the demons could escape, she clenched her fist. The blood that had showered on the demons instantly flared pink, creating a devastating explosion that destroyed the trees which lay on the mansion's side. The monoliths of wood collapsed into timber and smoke, severing any entrance to the mansion.

By this point, the demons were leaping out the building, terrified by what they had just witnessed. Nezuko sighed in relief and lowered her arm, her eyes returning to the innocent pink orbs she had always had. Her shoulders jumped up, as if she had remembered something. She quickly turned around and approached Zenitsu, who was sitting on the floor, his eyes wide.

She gasped, glancing at her own hand. It seemed like she had wanted to keep her own Blood Demon Art a secret from Zenitsu, but now that she had revealed it, there was no going back.

. . .

Zenitsu crawled to his feet, and Nezuko stepped back, clutching her own hand. Her eyes were horrified, not at Zenitsu but at herself. How could Zenitsu be comfortable around her, now that she had shown him her true nature?

The nature of a demon?

It was too late. Now that she had shown Zenitsu how monstrous she truly was, he couldn't see her the same way again. She fought back her own tears. If he saw her cry, not only would he be terrified of her, he would also feel guilty that he did this to her.

But he shouldn't feel guilty. Nezuko chose to use her blood demon art. She chose to put it on full display in front of everyone, it's lethality emphasized. Even Shinobu, who she knew hated demons more than anyone else, had witnessed it. The only person she thought would accept her this way was the person who had already seen her like this, Tanjiro.