A Life Worth Living

Paying the Price

Mira lunged at Tanjiro before he had a chance to get up from the rubble. She knew she couldn't kill him, so she instead aimed to stall him as much as possible while the others came up with a plan. She grabbed the bone and blood tentacles that sprouted from his back and pulled with all her might, ripping them from his body. Tanjiro let out a pained roar, but they instantly grew back and attacked.

Shit! she thought. His regenerative powers are so fast!

She was about to get hit, but Giyu sliced through the attack. He was weak and was barely able to hold on to his sword, but he continued to fight with everything he had.

"Our red swords won't work on him!" he shouted. "How the hell are we going to kill him!?" Mira gritted her teeth. If neither the sun nor their swords worked on him, what could they do? It didn't matter. She was going to keep her word and protect everyone. She was a demon, so she would fight him for all of eternity if she had to.

"We need to find a way to kill Tanjiro!" It felt wrong for her to speak those words, but she had to push through. "If sunlight and swords don't kill him, then something else has to!"

Tanjiro went to strike once more, but Mira grabbed his arm and ripped it from his body. The arm grew back in the blink of an eye and caught her by the throat. She attempted to break free of his grasp, but he was too strong. He used his free hand to punch her through the stomach before sending her flying into a nearby building. Giyu rushed to her aid, but Tanjiro was already attacking again.

"Look out!" She shoved Giyu out of the way but lost an arm in the process. She grimaced from the pain, but her arm quickly regenerated.

This isn't good, she thought. I can regenerate, but he's stronger and faster than me. I don't know how long I'll be able to protect everyone else! We need a plan!

Inosuke and Zenetsu tried to keep Tanjiro pinned down, but he quickly unleashed an attack faster than they could dodge. Mira reacted just in time to tackle the two of them to the ground before one of his bone tentacles sliced through the air.

That very well could have cut them in half! I need to get the slayers out of here, but most of them aren't able to move. Tomioka, Inosuke, and Zenitsu are running on pure adrenaline right now.

Another attack raced towards them, but a loud bang was heard followed by whizzing bullets that severed Tanjiro's arm. Everyone looked to see Genya standing a few meters away. His demonic features had faded, and he had a nasty gash on his chest. He swayed from side to side as he struggled to stay upright, but he raised his gun again to shoot.

"Tanjiro!" he huffed. "You need to stop this right now!" But before he shot again, Kanao sprinted past him towards Tanjiro. He tried to attack her but Mira blocked him. Kanao held something in her hand that she stabbed him with before retreating.

"That's enough, Tanjiro!" she yelled. "Come back to us! You might make Nezuko cry if you keep this up!" Tanjiro stood still after the injection as if he were in a daze. Mira took the opportunity to look at what Kanao had hit him with. It was an unfamiliar syringe with no particular markings, but Kanao soon explained.

"It's the drug we gave Nezuko to turn her human again. If it works, hopefully Tanjiro can come back to us." Mira's eyes widened as she looked back to Tanjiro, who was still in a dazed state. He collapsed onto the ground, and everyone quickly surrounded him.

"Don't get too close!" Mira warned. "We don't know for sure that it'll work." Nezuko urgently made her way to her brother despite the warning and cried out to him. They gathered around, including the Kakushi, and waited in anticipation. Even Sanemi had woken up and made his way over to see what the commotion was about. After what seemed like an eternity, Tanjiro opened his eyes. He looked at all the faces above him and started to cry when he saw Nezuko.