Unbound ♰ Kny x Fem!Reader

𝐱𝐢𝐢. An Ode To Fleeting Hope

Things were not looking too good for the Demon Slayers.

Enmu had the upper hand by a lot – he was experienced, while this was only their first battle; not to mention how, despite how quickly they snapped back to consciousness, all it took was one drowsy whisper for them to sink back into a daze.

Tanjiro, Inosuke and Y/N darted through the passageways of the train cutting down the violently spouting tentacles, breathing slowly (but surely) shallowing. They still couldn't find Zenitsu and had to manage by holding onto the only form of reassurance they had – the flash of lightning that had streaked across the skies earlier. Perhaps there had been more flashes, but they were now covered by a billow of leaden clouds in grim reminder of what was on the line.

"Hey!" a voice resonated throughout the confines of the now even more humid train, heavy with the sickening scent of human blood – a blur of orange was rushing towards them. It was Rengoku, whose cheeks had a faint pink tinge, and Y/N immediately had a vision of him running through the entire train within a few seconds. It was a funny thought.

"I apologize for not being here earlier. You three are worthy Demon Slayers, and I will make sure I mention it to the Master in due time. I have composed a plan for bringing down Lower Moon One — I will guard the sleeping passengers on the five rear-most cars while Zenitsu and Nezuko will protect the front three, whereas you all will look for the demon's head. It doesn't matter what form it is in, without a doubt, Enmu's head is somewhere here – I myself believe that it's located near the front two cars." With that, he rushed out without another word.

"That was a quick interaction. Oh well. He's a Hashira for a reason," Tanjiro mentioned with a shrug, exchanging glances with Inosuke. "Better trust him. Let's go."

They helped themselves onto the roof and rapidly began to charge towards the front of the train until the first car was in their line of sight, still bulging with the demon's violet tentacles. Tanjiro flung himself onto the air, plummeted down to the ground towards a few tentacles that had reached up to capture him and sent them flying into the night with Water Breathing, Sixth Form: Whirlpool.

A shrill shriek rang through the air.

Inosuke and Y/N exchanged glances as Tanjiro landed back down on the rattling ground, wobbling a little before he regained his balance.

"What the hell was that?" he asked as the windows beneath them shattered. Gleaming shards fell to the ground, sending beams of dazzling light their way.

Inosuke frowned. "I have no clue. Beast Breathing, Second Fang: Slice!" 

The train's body sharply split into two pieces, revealing a fleshy bit of elongated neck skin.

Tanjiro flinched in realization and immediately sprung towards the nape, but the bruised-purple tone of flesh almost immediately regrew; too fast for any of the others to react. Faster than ever, it began to stretch out and form a thick wall around them, forcing the three to retreat reluctantly to the second car. The attacks stopped.

"Wh–" Y/N started, before falling into unconsciousness soon after her friends did – Lower Moon One had activated a new blood art. Huge eyes appeared wherever the flesh was and just as the whispers did, making eye contact with the eyes would send you into a hazy daze.

Just like always, she snapped back to consciousness immediately and whipped her head around to find Inosuke and Tanjiro. She spotted the former, but right behind him were a pair of eyes... and again everything faded to black. And then back, but as she grasped her blade and searched desperately for her friends, it turned to black again.

Inosuke swore loudly from her side.

"Stay alert!" Tanjiro yelled, slicing a few emerging tentacles and leaving them a disintegrating mess of skin. "Lower One's too weak to keep the blood art active for more than a few seconds. There has to be a break in between."

It looked like Enmu had taken offense to that, because he immediately reactivated the blood art. Y/N attempted to shut her eyes, but as she blindly groped around for someone, it was clear that fighting with your eyes shut would not prove effective.

The process of switching from unconsciousness and consciousness repeated a few times and every time she tried a different tactic, it never seemed to work. Lower Moon One was toying with them.

She racked her mind for an idea, carefully stealing a glance at her friends. There were no eyes near them... but suddenly, even though the last thing she saw was not the glare of Enmu's blood art, she was back in the familiar black setting of unconsciousness.

♱

"Make a breathing style," a voice says.

You sigh, not even shocked anymore. "Why do you keep bringing me in here?"

"I'm helping you," the girl replies, cocking her head. "Try going for the nape while the demon is numb; recovering. You have a lot to lose."

♱

And she was back on the train.

Hurriedly she raced over to Tanjiro and Inosuke, and she could not believe she was listening to this mysterious voice's plans. "You take the left, you take the right, and cut down as many tentacles as possible. I'll try and go for the head."

The two nodded intently and soon after, the air was filled with the sight of sliced pieces of flesh. Tensions were high and the silence was thick.

Make a breathing style, the girl thought, trying to drown out Enmu's pained screams of anger. How can I even do that?

Beside her, Tanjiro gave her a nod and her heart raced with apprehension. Working in tandem, Tanjiro simultaneously took a flying leap to the ground as he split the ground in half and Y/N made a beeline for the demon's exposed head. She shut her eyes tightly, envisioning the creation of a new breathing style.

It was almost like she could hear the girl's voice in her head. You have much to lose. She was right.

Her blade began to burn with a familiar orange glow. Her eyes widened.

Star Breathing, Third Form, Twenty Strikes To The Core.

Enmu's dying screams rang in her ears as the train derailed, toppling over and crashing to the ground with a deafening bang.

Her word was flooded with smoke and she let out a huge exhale of relief.

We won.

♱

STAR BREATHING, THIRD FORM: TWENTY STRIKES TO THE CORE! Core Memory: The Battle at Mugen Train / In which the user dashes towards the target at rapid speed and releases a barrage of twenty consecutive strikes with the incentive of dazing, confusing, or perhaps even killing the enemy.