Unforgiving World (Tanjiro x OC)

Chapter 15

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Tanjiro's screams filled Amaya's ears as she sat on the ground, mouth agape, heart hammering and body trembling. What the hell was this? Was this real? Amaya's mind raced with thoughts as she looked at the horrifying scene in front of her, it was enough to probably haunt her for the rest of her life. Just like what happened to her family, Rengoku's life was on the verge of being taken by a demon. Akaza's arm was locked inside Rengoku's stomach and the Hashira could only choke on his blood, a large puddle of it already dripping down his legs and abdomen. Akaza didn't seem too well either, but it was more than obvious that he'd survive. Half of his face was cut off, his shoulder almost entirely dropped off his body and his arm was sliced in half, but reality slapped Amaya across the face when his wounds were already starting to heal.

"You'll die! This will kill you, Kyojuro! Become a demon! Say that you'll become a demon! You are strong and one of the chosen ones!" screamed Akaza loudly, almost sounding worried, but Amaya had a hard time registering anything. Rengoku was dying. He was going to die. She couldn't lie to herself, a wound like that couldn't possibly be healed, not even on a long term. His solar plexus was impaled, there wasn't a single option for Rengoku besides dying. Amaya felt her heart break more and more than it already was at that conclusion, feeling old feelings and memories resurfacing at the sight.

She failed. She failed to protect him and look at them now. Amaya was still on the floor because she could hardly even move while Rengoku was already knocking on death's door. Hope was lost and from the sound of it, Tanjiro and Inosuke completely agreed, screaming their lungs out as they watched from the side. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it, because she didn't even get to tell him yet. She didn't get to tell Rengoku how much she cared for him. She didn't get to tell him how she had never forgotten the way he'd comforted her when she first arrived in the Demon Slayer Corps and she didn't get to tell him how she loved it when he ruffled her hair.

Amaya had already given up, but to everyone's surprise, it seemed Rengoku hadn't. He took a deep yet strangled breath and slammed his blade into Akaza's neck, but he barely got an inch into his skin. Amaya gasped out loud when Rengoku let out an ear piercing scream, watching the Hashira struggle to actually decapitate the demon. Akaza gasped in pain as Rengoku's blade cut deeper into his neck, now reaching the middle and therefore almost succeeding in decapitating him. The demon however, wasn't about to let that happen and readied his fist to punch Rengoku in the face, but the Hashira wasn't having any of it, grabbing a hold of Akaza's wrist so the demon wouldn't be able to escape.

Akaza was visibly shocked at the way Rengoku wouldn't let him go, not even being able to remove his arm from Rengoku's stomach. It was then that Amaya noticed it. The sun was starting to rise. If Akaza could be held in place until the sun arose, they could still defeat him. She looked back towards the screaming duo, trying to outmatch the other in order to win this battle. With gritted teeth and trembling legs, she forced herself to stand up, taking her broken sword off the ground and beginning to run towards Akaza. 'Ignore it. Ignore the pain! Help him, Amaya. You have to help him!' encouraged the girl to herself before letting out a battle cry herself, jumping up and taking Akaza by surprise.

Before he realized what was going on, Amaya jabbed her shortened sword straight into his eye, a blood curdling scream sounding from his throat. Amaya let go of the handle and left the sword inside of his eye, already seeing blood pouring out of it. Akaza couldn't remove it, so he couldn't heal the wound either and Amaya enjoyed that thought. She wanted to make him suffer as much as possible, so she quickly perched the bottom of her left foot against Akaza's shoulder while her hands grabbed ahold of Rengoku's sword, beginning to pull against it to help force it inside of Akaza's neck.

The skin on her hands began to split from the sharp edge of Rengoku's sword and her wrist stung from the pressure she put on it, but Amaya didn't care. She noticed how the sword was almost all the way through, but a sudden roar from Akaza made her flinch and press her ear against her shoulder in hopes of blocking out the loud sound. "Let go!" screamed Akaza in protest but Rengoku only responded with another groan. "Like hell, bastard!" shouted Amaya as she pulled harder against the sword, throwing her head back at the solid effort. All three of them yelled out in anger, Amaya managing to pull the sword a bit deeper into the demon's neck. 'Almost there! You're almost there, Amaya! Keep... pulling-' Amaya's eyes widened when Akaza ripped off his own arms, managing to free himself from this prison he was kept in.