章 15: Humanity
Inei was at a stalemate, he did not really know how to salvage the situation, it was out of his hands.
With a grim expression, he twisted his body and walked back into the darkness. These methods weren't working.
He had to do it, for his and the other's sake... he had to cross the line, abandoning his humanity.
As the moon illuminated in the starless sky above Hinohara village, Inei stared at the body of a teenager, unconscious on the bottom.
Inei stood on a roof, waiting for the bait to be taken. The streets were empty and the lanterns were no longer burning.
As minutes passed by, nothing happened... Then, suddenly there was an shadow, nearing the body slowly through the empty road.
His right hand rested on the hilt of his sword, he felt the urge to just jump and reck chaos, but Inei held back, he couldn't let go of the chance presented before him.
The shadow stood near the body, a Demon with three horns emerged from the ground, it's body was fully black, legs, arms, head, every single thing, including the horns, only the crimson eyes stood apart.
The Demon stood on all fours and cautiously approached the body, looking everywhere to make sure nothing was amiss.
Alas, it was unfortunate enough to miss the gaze of its reaper, with a vicious grin, the Demon licked its lips and grabbed the body.
It lifted the boy's head and bit his head, it's mouth devoured his whole skull without even the slightest struggle.
While it was enjoying its meal, the demon failed to sense the danger it was in.
A dragon, fully made of water, popped behind it. The demon was too late to react, the Amethyst blade of Inei sliced through the Demon's neck so swiftly, with so much velocity, that it faced zero resistance as it tore through its flesh and bones.
"Gah!"
It let out a rigged groan as it met its eyes with the unknown enemy, the crimson eyes of the Demon flickered in fear as it peered into the black pupils of Inei.
'Such speed'
As the body and head of the Demon disintegrated, it faded with a last thought, praising its enemy in its final breath.
The demon who got slain, was actually weak as a demon gets, the only thing that helped it survive was the sharp mind it was gifted with.
That also seemed to lack, as its desire to consume flesh overtook the paranoia it carried, without clear thoughts, the demon fell for the bait Inei placed.
The Demon always escaped with its blood demon art, it was something all strong demon's carried... He was, an exception of sorts.
The demon devoured so many humans to the point where even Lord Muzan even gave him his blood personally.
But alas, its strength remained the same, almost like it was cursed to never empower, the blood demon art it received seemed worthless to, as it only helped it merge with the shadows.
The demon only used the power it was bestowed for escaping, that was even a rarer case too, as nobody threatened him to point of making him use it.
The ashes, like everytime... faded away.
Inei glanced at the headless corpse of the teen before him, his face as stoic as ever.
Sheathing his sword, Inei dragged the body and threw it aside into the bushes, he dusted his hands and went to pick up his supplies.
After grabbing them, he exited the Inn and went out of the village, on his way his ears perked up at sound of a crow.
"Krah! Krah! Inei Tatsumi, disciple of Urokodaki! Your actions have been noted, you are immediately to be at the presence of Master! Krah! Krah! Resist, and you will have to deal with a fate worse than death!"
'Fate'
The word rang in his ears, he snapped out of his trance and slightly nodded, following the black crow as it lead the way.
'Why was that the only plan that felt right? I could think of another hundred ways to kill that demon now... but then, there was only that singular plan inside my head...?'
Inei felt disturbed, he did not like what he was feeling now, at the crucial time, he was clouded, his mind did not process enough... That was not good, not if he wanted to complete his goals.
He did not mind the sacrifice, it was the least of his worries, his moral compass was long abandoned. Was it a good thing? Inei did not know.
What he did know, was that there was no place for a puzzled person in a battle, they were as good as dead.
He was lucky the demon was caught off guard, plus the fact that it was weak as a toddler, otherwise, he would have to face the consequences of his actions, and it did not seem to be at the pleasing side.
Inei felt tired, sleepy, but kept on walking, fortunately, the secret place this 'Master' lived was close enough for him to survive the journey.
The rays of sunlight lit up the road as the sun rose from the far horizon, the green grass ahead lit up in pure delight and danced in the wind.
But to him, they were already losing their life to the soil, the flowers withered away and the ground turned ashen.
'Why... Why do I see everything and everyone in such a state? Am I cursed?'
From the days he could remember, Inei never actually saw his parent's face, instead, it was only skeletons embracing him.
The villagers too, Urokodaki, Tanjiro... Everyone appeared in different ways, but yet in the same manner, they were all in their worst state.
Urokodaki was just flesh and blood, tanjiro was just bones and flesh, many others were just their organs.
That was for the humans... The demons, however, appeared like they were meant to, their teeth, arms, legs, body, head, hair, everything appeared on them.
It was quite ironic actually, for he hated them with his entire being, yet they were the only thing he could 'normally' see.
The water he drank always appeared blood red, with the moon being the same, the sun and the stars above all shone in crimson to him.
Inei never once saw the faces of his beloved, even with the gift of a pair of eyes that most did not receive, he was at the mercy of this weird... Whatever it was.
Their voices samed the same fate, they were like screeching of demon from the depths of hell, every word bleeding his ears.
However..
Even the groan of a demon sounded like melody to his ears... Inei questioned it several times, and was left with no answers.
He gazed at the path ahead, there, far away, appeared a small village in his vision.
'Closer than I thought'
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