A Life Worth Living Alt.

The Demon King

***

Muzan is a little stronger in this story than in the manga. In the manga, Tanjiro (who had already taken significant damage) is able to 1v1 Muzan for a considerable amount of time. But in this story, Muzan is strong enough to handle all the Hashira even with the full effects of the anti-Kibutuji drug. It just felt more fitting since Tanjiro was about Hashira level at this point, but it took 3 Hashira plus Genya to take down Upper Rank One (who is significantly weaker than Muzan).

***

In her 1000 years of living, Mira had never discovered what her blood demon art was. For the 200 years that she was out of control, she was too animalistic to use it. When she regained her mind, she was so disgusted with her demonic side that she never tried to figure it out. She always wanted to separate herself from that part of her as much as possible, but at this moment, she was not concerned with that. All she cared about was keeping her friends safe by any means necessary.

By most standards, her blood demon art would be considered useless. The ability to pull anything of supernatural nature to themself would be seen as nothing but a hassle to any other demon. It would do nothing against demon slayers, as they are all normal humans with nothing supernatural about them. However, for Mira, it was exactly what she needed. In her desperation to save her friends, she had unknowingly unlocked her ability.

The Demon Slayers had braced for the impact of Muzan's attack, but nothing hit them. There was the sound of flesh being ripped, but it wasn't theirs. They all looked to the source of the sound to find Mira, who had redirected all of Muzan's tentacles to her. She stood in place as they pierced her entire body.

"You are becoming a pain!" yelled Muzan. "I didn't create you, but that doesn't mean I can't absorb you!"

"MIRAAA!" Sanemi's voice rang through the air as he drew his sword and sliced at Muzan, removing some of the tentacles that pierced his comrade. Genya cursed as he shot his gun, blasting the rest of them from Muzan's body. Tanjiro and the others continued to engage in the battle as Sanemi turned to Mira. The detached tentacles disintegrated from her body, leaving large holes in her arms, legs, chest, and neck. She fell forward, but he caught her.

"What the hell was that? Are you ok?" Mira coughed up a pool of blood and tightly held onto Sanemi's arm for support. "Woah. Hey, why aren't you healing?"

"His tentacles..." she gasped. The chunk taken from her neck made it hard to speak, and the blood she was coughing up from her internal injuries was not making it any easier. "They are laced with his blood... He is trying to absorb me... " She coughed up more blood, which caused Sanemi to worry. She still wasn't healing.

"Hey, don't talk too much. Just tell me what you need. How can we help?"

"I wasn't created by him... so my body has to fight off his cells... It will take longer to heal... but I should be fine."

"Damn it! We were supposed to have your back, not the other way around!" Mira chuckled at his frustration, but it ended in her coughing up more blood.

"If my body can fight off his cells... then I can't be absorbed. Please go help the others. I can... I can still... fight." Mira lost consciousness, putting Sanemi into a panic. He picked her up and swiftly made his way to an alleyway before laying her down next to some Kakushi.

"She's a demon, but she's with us and she's injured," he explained as he stood. Before returning to the fight, he turned to face the Kakushi once more with a dark expression. "If you dare let her die, I'll kill you in the worst way you can possibly imagine." Before the scared Corps members could even process his threat, he disappeared.