Lucid Dreams [Demon Slayer]

[1.5] Training Arc

Warnings:
None

Everyone had rushed in, and you were quickly separated from Tanjiro.

All around you you feel emotions. You feel the anger of the demons, trapped for so long. You feel their hunger. You feel their excitement for the upcoming feast. And you feel the fear of all the wannabe demon slayers. You know that only a few will make it out alive.

Suddenly, you feel the presence of a demon rapidly nearing you. Twisting around, you hold out your sword, move into your preferred fighting pose, and wait for it to appear. It looked like a low level demon - maybe it had eaten one or two humans, but you doubt it had eaten any. Its aura was incredibly weak compared to the demon that you encountered before you'd become a demon slayer.

So when it reached the optimal distance, you leaped. All the training flashed through your mind, and you brought your sword back, before swinging it horizontally.

First Form: Nightmarish Strike!

Its head flew clean off, but this time it would not regenerate. This was your very first demon kill, so you felt quite proud of yourself. You remember the time when you were still a child, filled with such naivety, believing that the world had no demons. You remember when you used to cheer when the knight in shining armour had beheaded the creatures in the stories. They were great, hulking monsters, large, winged and horned, resembling that of a dragon but not quite.

You'd always fantasise about being saved by your knight in shining armour, or saving someone else. You didn't really mind, both seemed glorious. You remember when you thought of those creatures as mindless monsters, and that they deserved to die. You recall the simpler times, when it was just good and bad. There was no in between, and the good would always defeat the bad. The good were always perfect, celebrated, and the bad were always killed, forgotten.

No one in this world deserves to die, and everyone is a monster in some way.

You send it a quick prayer before running off.

"Uwaahhhhh?! Why is there such a powerful demon here?"

You perk up at the mention of a powerful demon, your mind immediately going to the demon that Sabito had mentioned. Your hearing wasn't exceptionally sharp, but you could still pinpoint where the shout had come from. If not, then you'd just follow the intense fear that they radiated.

When you reach the point of where the shout had originated, you saw someone being strangled, and another - who you presumed was the person who yelled - running away. Before he could run however, one of them demon's many hands, and it had a lot, grabbed him by the leg. You then notice that Tanjiro was nearby. He performs the second breath form, water wheel, cutting off the hand that was grasping the male's leg. Tanjiro stands in front of the male protectively.

"Here comes another cute little fox."

You know that this is the one.

We've found your murderer, Sabito, Makomo. I promise I'll defeat him.

"Little fox... What year of the Meiji era is it now...?" the demon drawls.

Tanjiro grits his teeth and responds with a quick, "It's the Taisho era."

"ARGHH, EVEN THE ERA NAME CHANGED! NOT ENOUGH, NOT ENOUGH! HOW LONG WILL I BE LOCKED IN THIS PRISON?! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM, DAMN UROKODAKI, DAMN HIM!"

"Why do you hate Urokodaki-sensei so much..?"

"YOU KNOW WHY! I WAS CAPTURED BY HIM, 47 YEARS AGO! IT WAS DURING THE EDO PERIOD!"

"YOU'RE LYING! THERE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE ANY DEMONS THAT HAVE LIVED THIS LONG!" the male, who Tanjiro still stood in front of, shouted hysterically. "THE DEMONS HERE HAVE ONLY EATEN TWO OR THREE PEOPLE MAXIMUM?!"

"But I still remain alive, stuck within this prison. I've eaten a total of fifty small kids." the demon responds, smirking evilly, recalling the euphoria of eating each of them. "Hm... twelve, thirteen... You're the fourteenth one." Tanjiro tilts his head in confusion.

"I've decided to kill all of Urokodaki's apprentices. Speaking of which, the most impressive ones was this pair of kids. One of them had peach coloured hair, and a scar next to his mouth. He was quite strong. The girl had flower patterned clothing. She wasn't as strong, but her movements were light and agile." The demon pauses for a few moments, before smirking again and continuing, "That fox mask is a mark. I remember the way he carves his masks. Isn't it called a warding mask or something? Well it doesn't seem to work, because every single one of his apprentices have died by the hands of me."

The demon starts laughing hysterically. Tanjiro leaps forward, and the male flees. Your eyes widen as you see Tanjiro about to get hit by one of the hands, sensing his fear.

You're too far to jump in and cut off the hand.

"Remember when I told you about dream breathing? Do you still remember each of the forms and what to do?"

The sun beats down on the two of you. You can see that the skin of the person sitting beside you is flushed, indicating possible sunburn. Yet, again, you don't feel anything. The grasses around you are still green, but have a yellowish tint to them. The sky is cloudless. You're relieved that you can't feel the dryness of the air around you, or the heat of the sun. You tried asking why you were both outside anyways, but you then remembered that you couldn't seem to control anything when this occurred.

"Yes, definitely! You said it's important so I remembered!" you reply enthusiastically. "The first form is called nightmarish strike! You said it was used a lot cause it's the default one. When you use it, you strike horizontally!"

"Good, what about the second form?"

"I think... You called it... Night's mare? Uh..."

"It's when you strike downwards - vertically this time - and it produces a shadowed blade that goes to wherever you struck. It's usually used when you can't reach somewhere fast enough. It's a bit weaker than the first form, but much faster. The shadow doesn't actually gallop away of course, we just couldn't find anything else to call it."

Your vision blacks out again.

You know what to do.