Heart Of Fire; Veins Of Ice | Kimetsu No Yaiba Fanfic (Kyojurou's POV)

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Their five guides, seemed to stop almost simultaneously, as did all of their horses.

Looking around, Kanao found her vision partially obscured by the snowfall, but she managed to pinpoint the reason why the group had stopped. Looking to the right of the trees, there was a figure approaching them. With a speed not of a human's.

She set her hand on the hilt of her sword, as did the other demon slayers. One of their four guides raised a sleek black crossbow up in the direction of the moving figure, gloved fingers over the trigger as her horse stilled and gave her the best conditions to fire.

The leader of the group, she gave her name as Hiromi, raised her hand up telling her companion to hold her fire, as the figure came closer.

It was another one of their members, who rode upon an ash grey horse, in clothes similar to theirs, with the only exception that he wore a pair of goggles as well as a scarf over his mouth. He brought his horse over to Hiromi, speaking several words to her as their guides resumed the ride up the mountain.

Kanao unfortunately was not able to hear his words nor read his lips due to the scarf over his mouth, while the captain of their squad shouted to them asking what it was about.

"He's a scout we sent out previously," Hiromi told them, as she turned to him and seemed to speak to him for confirmation on some news. A scout? They had not told them about this. "Are you sure?" Was all she made of Hiromi's voice in the wind as the scout nodded with a grim determination.

She signalled for them to carry on as she urged her horse upwards atop the snow.

"There were demons that lurk around the forest, but their mostly weaker and non caster demons. Adding on, there's a possibility that we might have to deal with humans as well, when we reach the temple,"

"Humans? As prisoners or..."

"Enemies." Hiromi continued on. The rest of her party was silent, and the other demon slayers were somewhat adamant about having to face humans. Humans as enemies...that brought back some unpleasant memories for her, but she firmly set those aside. There was no time to be thinking about the past. Only the present and the future.

"Why are they enemies though? Shouldn't they be the ones in need of saving?" Hiromi shrugged in response to the demon slayer's question. Kanao remained silent in the face of her companion's thoughts. He simply hadn't seen the more savage sides of humanity.

"Desperation perhaps. The winter is harsh in this village after all,"

The rest of the ride up is in silence.

And silence paves way for dangerous thoughts.

-

The temple falls in sight, as their group of ten, now eleven fighters on horseback came upon its desolate, looming structure. Shattered, stone stairs led the way up past the partially broken once red torii gates, of which were now a faded grey and pale pink from the constant exposure to the cold wind and snow.

Beyond those red torii gates was the once grand entrance into the main temple, of which the large wooden doors were both locked and closed to outsiders. The roof of the temple, which seemed to consist of the three floors, was in severe disrepair, where the broken black coloured tiles were smashed and some had fallen onto the stone steps on to the ground, and the curved roof now supported by broken wooden support beams of which several sections were just mere splinters and snapped ends.

The windows made with wooden frames and washi, or thin papers, were likewise in similar disrepair, torn, with ice coating some of its edges and seemingly filling up the holes made by the weather as well as mother nature. Light blue lanterns were falling off or hanging onto the last few strands of ropes and their wooden holders, all of which were dark and empty, the flame within having since been long put out centuries ago.