~Breathe~ Kimetsu no Yaiba x !Demon! Reader

↼Playtime⇀

"Can you be useful?" Muichiro scoffed at me as he cut down another wooden puppet. A sneer wanting to creep upon his face, peeking over his shoulder at me. "What kind of demon are you?"

I felt my heart clench at the common insult I told myself over and over plenty of times. What kind of demon am I? Not a very good one apparently. I rolled my eyes at his unneeded comment in this situation. "I'm trying my best!"

He blinked at me while we had a moment's rest from the animated wood. "That's your best?" The amount of unimpressed in his voice was enough to fill the hall we were currently standing in. Don't let me forget about the disappointment that was also presently dripping from his words. Causing me to sigh in defeat, my shoulders slumped and I decided not to outwardly respond. I only mumbled to myself to keep whatever dignity I had left, "Yes, actually." I whispered out under my breath.     

Right as the mumbled words left my lips more screeching puppets came into our view and charged at us with the same intense speed they all had.  Shooting out my hand to stop the one closest to us, a large ice chunk swallows the leg of the doll just in time for Muichiro to dash by and slice through the many pair of arms. Leaving the doll a screaming disarray traped to the floor. 

This continued. One after another. Ice them down, swing the sword left, then right. Repeat. Maybe my occasional swing of the leg. My knee, having so much force behind it, swings through the iced-over torso of one of the puppets. But even though I put in so much effort to keep up the small hashira beside me, I couldn't even take one out as he left several immobile with his sword. It was frustrating, to say the least. His snide comments and lack of support didn't help either. 

There were a few occasions where one of the many puppets would be able to get a cut on me. A deep slash on my arm or leg. Sometimes on my face, always going for my eyes or neck. I noticed in the mince of the battle that they would aim for those same areas when it came to Muichiro. Eyes and neck. Almost like those places were trained and burned into their thoughts. If they even had any now that I think about. Swinging all ten arms at the areas, even having their arms cut afterward they would snap there head forward, snapping their jaws and showing their teeth. Trying desperately to reach those areas. 

It would freak me out so much, to watch their faceless face snapping its teeth at us in an undead way. Growling and snarling. I would quickly freeze its mouth shut and move on. Taking care of whatever Muichiro left behind. No point in trying to keep up at this point.

We continued to dash down the different turns and twists the halls this overly large palace had to offer. And soon enough the swarms and swarms of puppets quit coming. Ten turned to five, five to three, then to none. It becoming eerily quiet. A bit chilly too. The halls almost seemed like they got darker as the heat of the battle just suddenly stopped. 

Did we kill all the palace had to offer? Was that really all the puppets? It felt like they would never stop coming so it's hard to believe that was it. No way. If that was it, it was far too easy and simple for a mission to have two hashira sent on. There has to be more. Has to be. 

We slowed our dashing run into a brisk jog, scanning the large empty halls for any more threats. I glanced at the passing portraits, just on a whim while looking through the halls. I began to notice something similar to the portraits. Some of them I recognized their dresses and hair, the only thing not familiar was the faces. Glancing between the many portraits that held concubines a feeling of realization struck me like a lightning bolt. 

These portraits... of the concubines... The puppets... the puppets had to be based on these concubines. The many different colors but the same hairstyle and dresses of the portraits perfectly matched the puppets. The only thing different was the faces, which the puppets had none, and the body shapes.