"My, my, I'm impressed! Normal humans would've gone into shock by now, or at least passed out, but you... you're still fighting!"
Burning. It felt like y/n was burning alive as she stared down at the fire red blade which pierced her heart.
It didn't seem real at first. It didn't feel real. But it hurt like hell. It burned, burned, and burned.
Her grip on her own sword tightened.
Close. She was so close.
Another push and she'd hack this demon's head right off! Just a little push, just a little more, and-!
The moment y/n applied more force to her blade, the demon twisted his blade in her chest and sent pain flashing through every inch of the slayer's body in an instant.
She let out a choked gasp, her grip on her sword nearly slipping, but she held on. Y/n couldn't see. Her eyes hadn't been damaged, it was the pain alone.
All she could see was red as pain gripped her body in its red hot grip, refusing to let go as she fought to remain conscious.
"Amazing..." the demon breathed, "Your sheer determination is incredible! Tell me, what is it that drives you?"
Rage.
It was rage.
Rage was what led her to become a Demon Slayer.
Rage had kept her body functioning at its best even when she felt tired during her training as she learned to fight with a sword.
Rage got her through the Final Selection.
Rage, resentment, all that 💩.
It was the only thing keeping her going.
Y/n bit her lip, eyes burning with oncoming tears as she shakily lifted a hand. She grabbed onto the sword piercing her chest, grip tightening as she attempted to tear it out.
Her hands slipped and clumsily fumbled for the sword, uncoordinated and slick with her own blood.
Her heartbeat was pounding in her ears as it fought to keep her going, but it was pointless. Y/n knew it was pointless, but she wasn't going to die. She refused to die!
"Y/n, my child."
The h/c haired girl held her mother's hand tightly in her own, e/c eyes filled with tears as the dying woman smiled weakly at her.
"Don't cry, please." she whispered, "Smile for me, just one more time. Could you do that for me?"
Y/n rubbed her eyes before doing her best to smile. It was wobbly, hardly even a smile, but the dying woman looked content nonetheless.
"You have a wonderful smile, y/n. It brings me comfort, even now." the girl's mother sighed, "Please, continue to smile for your brothers."
Ah. Wait a moment.
It wasn't just rage.
The red hot haze cleared enough for y/n to see, though her gaze was blurry. Darkness creeped in at the edges of her vision as she looked past the demon and into the distance where she could still see the light of the train.
'...Yuichiro is still on that train...' she thought.
She still had her little brother to take care of. She still needed to turn him back into a human. She still needed to apologize for not being there.
The rage ebbed away, slowly but surely. The pain began to spread, drowning out her senses and causing fatigue to take hold on her body.
Y/n was angry. So, so, very angry, but that rage could only keep her going for so long. It was a double edged sword, guaranteed to give her great power but slowly chip away at her over time.
But that love she felt for her brother, that desire to protect him until her last breath. That would last an eternity.
The young woman was scared.
She was terrified, even.
Scared of the silence which would follow the moment she let up and succumbed to death, scared of what would happen to her brother if this demon made it out alive, scared of not being able to protect one of the last people she had.
Y/n gritted her teeth, ignoring the horrible burn of the blade digging into her palm and dragging through muscle, skin. It hurt, damn it, it hurt-!
"Oh?" the Kizuki's brows raised as y/n slowly but surely began to tear the blade out of her. The pain was agonizing, he could tell, yet she refused to stop.
E/c eyes met fiery red ones.
Unyielding determination met cruel admiration.
"You truly are an incredible human." the demon breathed before shouting, "Y/n! Become a demon! You and I both know your body can't last much longer in this condition, so abandon your life as a human! Don't let that great flame in your heart flicker out, let it blaze for all of eternity!"
The slayer opened her mouth, and let out a few soft words. They were so quiet, and so weak that the Kizuki had difficulty making them out at first.
He began to ask for the slayer to repeat herself only for his sword to snap. Y/n's own blade sliced its way deeper into his neck, and all vision is his left eye was instantly cut off as the slayer plunged her fist right through the left half of his face.
'Her strength, her tenacity...!' the demon thought as his eyes landed upon the part of the blade still plunged through the young woman's body. The flesh blade had been broken in two, 'Incredible!'
Y/n's body should've shut down by now. She'd lost far too much blood, she should've died!
And yet she was still fighting.
'Such strength! Such passion! This slayer is truly a chosen one!' the demon thought in amazement.
"You loud, google eyed, mother🚚er..." y/n rasped, breathing heavily before her burning gaze met the demon's, "I know I'm gonna die here, but I'm sure as hell gonna take you with me!"
The demon's radiant smile didn't waver, but his own fiery red and gold eyes seemed to blaze like a wildfire.
"Excellent, wonderful, amazing-! Very well, Tokito Y/n, let's keep going!" the Kizuki exclaimed, "For as long as that beautiful flame in your heart keeps blazing!"
___________
(Behold, a preview.)
(And part of my gallery/mental state: )
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
