Cold hearted (KyojuroxReader)

Chapter 21:Black

~*(y,n)'s POV*~
     Rivers once thought to be frozen over for the winter began to flow earlier in the season than normally, soddening the ground around the foot of the man-made path. It breaks off at a point, some streams feeding into shallow lakes, others taking elegant dives off of moving cliffs. The rivers of my valleys are melting, and I can't do much of anything to stop them.

     I couldn't have thought of a better situation to throw at me than this one, the heat, my condition, everything tied together to make the perfect ploy I wouldn't be able to wriggle out of.

     The temperatures inside of here... they're so strong, it's already getting too much for me to handle on my own.

     It was already hot enough as it was in the hallway, I would've fared a lot better there if we hadn't relocated. If this wasn't already messy enough, the entirety of my strength hasn't returned to me from when I passed out. I would've been able to bear through this bullshit if I had the energy to, but that isn't the case... how unfortunate.

     Here... my whole body is practically thawing out on the spot, the layer of my ice coming off as little broken shards across the tatami flooring. There it melts into the mat... abandoning me, leaving me with no way to protect myself against this feverish environment, and continuing this dreadful cycle.

     Lacking my last line to cool me down, I only end up succumbing in this battle against the heat further. The more that takes over, the less strength I have to create the very thing stopping the loop from rewinding back to the start. I don't know how much time I have left before I have to throw in the towel. I'm overheating, and the stopwatch at the very middle of all this only has so much time to tick by. Its moving hands are visible enough for everyone to see, both to the demon, and my comrade.

     The Flame Pillar crouched down beside me protectively, putting his sword between us and the demon to keep some boundaries apparent. His other hand reached out to pat my shoulder-... faltered, retracted. Weary to touch me now that he's caught himself in the mindless act, registering how natural it was to come to my side and show his consultation.

     "I've always been worried about what it'd be like to go against a slayer able to use ice, but I guess I was just paranoid! Is this really all you've got?" The demon taunted me as she leaned on her propped weapon, snickering at my waning strength.

      "Getting that promotion is going to be a breeze!" 

     "Hey... (y,n)," Kyojuro whispered my name to catch my focus, tuning her out of our conversation as she went down her spiral of that running mouth.

     "You don't have to fight if you can't get yourself to, I'd understand if you need to sit this one out." He switched his eyes among the woman on the other side of this freakishly large room and where I am to his left. Doesn't need to hide his concern in that expression, his tone says it all

     "Let me take this one, I'll survive."

     "I wish I had a choice..." I breathed out to my fellow Hashira through the needles stabbing at my head, trying to shift my leg over to stand once more. I used the leverage of my sword to hoist myself back up, enough to get me to sit tall and take deeper breaths.

     "Why don't you?"

     "Without my ice there to protect you against those attacks, you're toast unless you get a perfect counter." The man looked away and opened his mouth... sighed afterward, no argument to give. Denying the blatant reasoning would be pointless.

      "If that's not enough, whether or not you manage on your own, if I don't keep using my breathing technique, the chances of me having a heat stroke are only going to worsen." That's the double whammy pissing me off the most, there's no other option but for me to keep on. Either way, it's the only thing that's stopping this joint from getting even hotter, slowing down the time limit I'm on. It's killing me, allbeit... I'm going to tire out, soon enough. Like I said, I'm bound to reach zero eventually.