Road to Hashira

-08-

"Annoying... Why won't you just DIE already?" The pale demon expresses a bored look on its face as it continues to rain down hail and sharp icicles at the swordsmen. 

(This can't keep up for long. Soon, the boys with me will run out of stamina and we'll be at a total disadvantage. I have to get closer!) Tomioka charges through snow and ice towards the demon that resembled a child. 

"You can't..." But he immediately forms a frozen wall of ice bits and slams it towards Tomioka. 

(Water breathing seventh form - drop ripple thrust!) Tomioka breaks through the shield wall which surprised the demon, altering its cold gaze. (I can cut off its head!) 

"Tch... You didn't think I was being serious, did you?" With the demon's ominous voice gaining volume, he produced a strong gust of wind around him that pushes Tomioka back.

"Tomioka-san!" The two below shouts out of worry. 

Tomioka flips back down with the other two, gritting at his failed attempt. 

The demon puts his hands together and creates a diamond shape with his fingers. "Blood demon art - A Thousand Bleeding Reflections." 

"No way..." Akemi was out of breath. As if a few hundred of those frozen, flying spikes weren't enough, now a thousand of them; bigger, sharper, and bloodier. Thousands of blood red icicles appear around the demon, all pointed against the meager three swordsmen.

Tomioka sighs behind his fringes. "You two, stay back and don't get killed. Escape if you need to."

"T-Tomioka-san?"

Tomioka perks his chin up and the two felt a chill in their spine, much colder than the weather that was already freezing their lungs. Tomioka's glare against that demon was so ominous it felt like a black darkness would swallow every white thing around them. "I'll handle this..." 

In a moment, Tomioka dashes toward the demon, creating a small snow storm from his instep. 

"Persistent... but not for long." The demon grins as he fires his spikes at Tomioka.

"Water breathing third form - Flowing Dance!" Tomioka weaves through what little space is between the spikes as he slashes at each he passes through, but the spikes are indeed tougher and are coming a lot faster. (Don't stop! I'll get up there no matter what!) "Hrrraaaaaahhh!" 

*SNAP* 

(What?!) 

"It's over..." The demon narrows his eyes at the despairing Tomioka.

Soon, hundreds of spikes cut his haori and uniform into tares and Tomioka was completely caught up in a blizzard of cold, bloody spikes, and truly, he can see his poor reflection from each one. (I-is this where I...) 

(YOU BETTER STAY ALIVE!) 

(!!) Tomioka opens his eyes and firmly grips the handle of his broken sword. "You didn't think I was already serious, did you?! Water breathing sixth form - Whirlpool!" In an instant, Tomioka twists his body and cuts through the blizzard with so much force that the spikes were thrown off. 

"Guh! Why won't you just stay DEAD!!!" The demon boiled in fury and started hurling more and more spikes at Tomioka. 

(The spikes have gotten bigger, enough for one to use them as steps... This could work.) Immediately, Tomioka gets back on his feet and dashes once more towards his target. 

"You'll never reach me with those wounds you idiot! Soon, your body will freeze over and you won't be able to move an inch anymore!" 

It was true, just one cut from the bloody icicles actually produced a stinging pain on the skin as if it was freezing that part solid. However, Tomioka is already well-accustomed to frostbites. 

He jumps and uses an icicle as a quick foothold. 

"H-he leapt on an icicle!" Akemi was shocked as he was trying to stay away from the icicles.

Tomioka continues his path as he leaps from one icicle to another. 

"How is he doing that?!" The demon itself was dumbfounded.

(As I've thought. He cannot control the spikes individually; they're following a pattern in which if they get too close to each other they will clump together and disrupt the attack.) "Water breathing combined form - Constant Flux, Turbulent! (A combination of the ninth form - Water Splashing Flow Turbulent and the tenth form - Constant Flux)" Tomioka hops and slashes from one point to another, only taking very short leaps from each icicle while slashing at the rest to gain momentum and power. 

(Ugh, he's getting too close!) The demon leaps away as Tomioka closes in. The pattern of the icicles are breaking. 

(Now he's focused on dodging and defending himself. He can't do it all at once. The others should be safe by now.) Tomioka could see it. The demon is scared for its life as his blade continues to gain an inch closer to its neck. 

"D-don't you, underestimate me!" To Tomioka's surprise, the demon lets him cut through its shoulder, lopping its arm off. 

"You're done!" Tomioka recovers his blade and aims for the demon's neck.

"Kuku, you've been too careless..."

"What?!" Spikes once again appear behind the demon. (No problem, it's too late for him to attack me now.) But the spikes did not aim for Tomioka. 

The demon fires the spikes towards Hikaru. 

(If I cut off its head the spikes should-! No, they will still reach him! The mission!) 

Hikaru rears up his arms and his blade. (Is this the end?) 

...

Heavy drops of blood stain the white snow once more. The demon laughs. 

"T-Tomioka-san? TOMIOKA-SAAAAN!!!" Hikaru sat startled in front of Tomioka who was covered in spikes and blood. Tears flow from the young boy's crystal, blue eyes. 

"You... better stay... alive..." Tomioka spat blood as he spake, but he still managed to stand up. Carefully, he picks the icicles one by one off his back. "I will not let anyone die here... not anymore... As a demon slayer, as a swordsman..." He turns around to face the demon once again. "I WILL PROTECT MY COMRADES!" Tomioka borrows Hikaru's sword and summons all the strength he has left to finish his job. "HRAAAAAAHHH!!!" 

The demon was fully infuriated as he summons more icicles. "DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, JUST DIE ALREADY!!!" The demon itself dashed towards Tomioka, confident that the swordsman doesn't have much left, and soon the fight will end. "You're already a dead man in my eyes!"

Finally, the two clash in an all-out round. Cold steel raze against metal-like ice. Drifts of snow and frost echo with their movements. It was a final round where only the strongest are invited. Tomioka, fueled with rage gave every last bit of his strength into each of his strikes, and the demon, fueled with annoyance filled each of his attacks with utmost bloodlust. 

The demon draws back. "I've had enough of you, bug, be gone from my sight!" It clasps its hands once again and forms a diamond with its fingers, summoning all the might of his icicle spikes for one last frontal assault. He called it, "Ultimate blood demon art - Final Reflection. Reflect upon your worthless life with the mirrors that will strike you down!" The last technique advances toward Giyu.

He breathes one last concentrated breath. "Water breathing... eleventh form... Dead Calm!"