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

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She sharply withdrew her hand from the wound in his shoulder, yanking out with the limb self, muscle and tendons, leaving behind a gaping hole in the breath of flame user's shoulder. It hit an artery. That she was certain. Her blood would kill him, as she forced it to freeze and flow to his heart, and even then, she felt her blood demon art quickly dissipating as the demon slayer panted heavily.

He staunched the bloody wound quickly using some cloth he had torn away from his haori, binding it tightly though it was hard to do so with a hand sized hole in his shoulder. With that, she managed to disable his left side completely.

She too had to work on the wound, as she cut off the piece of flesh which had come in contact with his blade, both of them simultaneously stepping away from the violence and fighting for the barest of moments to reclaim their rest and stamina. But she was faster, as he raised his blade to deflect her blow just as he finished double tying the knot of the tourniquet over his wound. His eyes were sharp, or perhaps it was his senses.

"Were you aiming to turn me into a demon? I'm honoured but I remain loyal to which side I stand with," He spoke, as she leapt back from him, keeping the distance between the both of them. How interesting he chose to see it that way. Had heir lord been busy as such? His gaze narrowed at her.

"We have already lost one of our own to Muzan. A talented man, second to only his own twin brother. You used a move akin to his. Have you met him before?" Was this..Kokushibo? Now this was interesting. Unfortunately, she could not spare a second thought for any of this as she had to focus on the fight at hand.

"My intentions were not to turn you into a demon. And perhaps I have met this man before. But it is not my place to speak. The battlefield is no place for banter," She returned in a neutral tone. As the ground began shifting, ice and snow carving out walls filled with spikes and ever growing traps and this man grimaced, but he continued as he did previously, dodging more often this time, but it took a toll on him as well. More action meant the higher loss of blood from his wound.

It was lucky that it was autumn then, on the brink of winter. If she had fought him on a hot summer's night, the cold would not respond to her so quickly, so readily. Just as he lunged for her, with a fury of interweaving strikes descending from the sky, she activated her blood demon art.

Blood Demon Art: Glass Statue

And it failed to work. She dived and rolled out of the way, feeling the intense heat radiating from this man, which only seemed to burn even more as he fought on. This intensity, stamina, and experience, how long had they been fighting? But more importantly, why had it failed to work?

Driving his sword into the ground, she dragged her own blade across the ground as she swung it into the air, bringing a spray of ice and snow which turned into icicles and shot themselves at him. The demon slayer promptly drew a circle in the ground with his blade, as he pivoted on his feet and utilised his movements to create a shield composed of his own movements. The ice melted against this defensive inferno, and she wondered what else this man could bring to this fight. He had long since proven his strength, his adaptability, his stamina, and now his ingenuity. Or perhaps it was a form so well practiced, having been passed down from generation to generation.

He grinned, as he watched her with bright, fiery eyes.

"Was that your blood demon art? How interesting! It's a shame my blood is resistant to demon blood, but impressive work nonetheless. Just don't think you can kill me that easily!" he replied, voice cheerfully insane. That was her definition of insanity. Demon resistant blood existed. She assumed it was a hereditary trait, or possibly so, perhaps a rare genetic mutation at that. Still, that meant that many of her blood demon art techniques would be ineffective against this man. Same for Shirotori as well.