Sister of the snake - Tanjiro X Reader

CHAPTER 30

As the freezing air entered my lungs, I fell to my knees.

"Blood demon art: Vine lotus."

And with that,  countless lotus vines wrapped around my body and held me still. The crystal mikos approached me and started to beat me to a pulp. Blood was pouring from my mouth and I was struggling to breathe. I screamed in bloodcurdling rage as one of the mikos fractured my skull.

I got up and sliced off the vines, knocking the mikos away and shattering them, but Douma had noticed and instantly continued his barrage of attacks on me.

"Blood demon art: Winter icicles!"

Once the icicles he formed pinned me to the ground, he activated another.

"Blood demon art: White blizzard princesses!"

Two ice women appeared and blew ice all over me. I now didn't doubt that the temperature was probably in the negative-twenties, maybe even negative-thirties. I had a form to fix that. Sure, it was meant to drop the temperature, but it would also help me raise the temperature.

"Ice Breathing, 16th form: Coolness of winter!"

As the temperature rose to a comfortable 0 degrees, I let out a sigh of relief, but Douma's face turned into one of frustration.

16th form: Coolness of winter. No matter the situation or the current heat, the temperature will drop to anywhere between 0 and -5 degrees celsius.

"Ha... how'd you like that, upper 2? You can't freeze my lungs anytime soon..."

I said, my voice cracking as blood was gurgling around in my lungs. Pain. That was all I felt. But the burning sensation in my forehead was still there. Good. I had my demon slayer mark.

"Blood demon art: Scattered lotuses."

As hundreds of sharp lotuses flew at me, I searched for any weak spots, but I couldn't find any.

"Fuck it, I'm going in Inosuke-style! Ice Breathing, 15th form: Glacier!"

I charged through the lotuses, they could only leave shallow cuts as I approached Douma and I body-slammed him.

15th form: Glacier. The user charges forward and slams the sword against an object or opponent with extreme strength, capable of shattering glaciers or houses.

"Wait... did you say Inosuke?"

I nodded, not knowing what he was talking about.

"As in Inosuke Hashibira?"

He pressed. I nodded again, my mind flying with ideas to kill him. I could only see one, which I was not going to do.

"So he's alive! Haha..."

He dug a finger into the side of his face, horrifying me.

"Hmm... hmm... ah! Here we are! Fifteen years ago? That's pretty recent. There was a woman, roughly 17 or 18, carrying a baby. Her husband punched her every day. And her mother-in-law also bullied her daily. So my Eternal Paradise Faith cult took in that poor woman. She had no parents or siblings. There was no other place she could go to or be safe at. When I first met her, her face was swollen so badly I couldn't tell what the original shape was. It was pretty rough. And she was partially blind because of all the beatings to her face. But when I touched it, she went back to normal. She was so beautiful, and she left quite an impression on me. I had no intention of eating her. Having someone beautiful next to you makes you feel good, you know? She wasn't very smart though. That was unfortunate. But she was pretty. And good at singing. She would carry her child and sing a lot. It was always that pinky promise lullaby for some reason. Pinky promise, pinky promise. That was all she sang to her son."

I knew that song. 'Pinky promise, pinky promise. I will protect you, I promise that. Until you get big and strong, your mommy will protect you all by herself.' I knew the lullaby, even though my mother never sang it to me. My mother was a monster, but the mother in the story he was telling clearly wasn't.

"And every time she sang that pinky promise song, the lyrics were different. At some point it became a tanuki village song. It was so cute. I wasn't going to eat her. I purely planned on having her by my side until she passed away. But she - right, 'Kotoha' - was very sharp, despite being so stupid. She found out that I was eating my followers. And despite my explanations, she couldn't understand my benevolence. It was insult after insult. Saying I spouted nothing but horrible lies. Then she flew out of my temple and ran. As I killed her, she dropped her son in the river. So I ate her to the bone! If she went home, she'd get beaten by her husband. And if she was alone, she'd end up dead on the road since she's so pathetic. Kotoha was so unfortunate. Was there ever a happy moment in her life? She had a pointless existence."

I took a second to process all the information.

"So you're telling me that the child dropped into the river was Inosuke?"

He nodded, and I was unable to supress a barky laugh.

"Why are you laughing? Have you lost your mind?"

"No, no... ha... it's just that this encounter is nothing short of a miracle."

Then my face morphed into one of rage.

"I'm not only fighting for Kocho Shinobu, but also for Hashibira Inosuke! Now I really gotta win!"

I blitzed behind him and swung my sword at his neck.

"1st form: Slash of solid ice!!"

"Blood demon art: Frozen cloud!"

I let the frozen air enter my system, knowing that it wouldn't be there for long. I swung my blade in a straight line, slicing his neck clean off. Or so I thought.

"Almost there, almost there!"

He cheered from behind me, clapping. I could feel an insuppressible rage growing inside.

"Y'know, Douma..."

"Yes, Y/N-chan?"

"Somehow, I feel like your entire existence, from the inside out, from every millisecond of your life... somehow, I feel like it's just irrelevant in the grand scheme of things..."