Limits

The sound of steel scraping against a cold metal surface resounded through the small village, the moonlight grazed upon the Amethyst blade of Inei Tatsumi as he fought a vile creature.

It had muscular arms, teeth as sharp as a razor, and nails as big as its hanging tongue.

Saliva dripped from its mouth as it roared, the demon shifted its focus from Inei to a young, defenseless girl, shaking in the corner.

As it stomped its feet, Inei glanced over at the girl... Was she really worth saving?

The creature lifted off, aiming to tear apart the girl into shreds, its desire to consume flesh far surpassed its intent to battle.

As it got closer and closer, Inei decided what he had to do.

"Nooo!!!"

The girl screamed as fear engulfed her, heart thumping as fast as a train, her life flashed before her eyes.

She closed her eyes as she prayed for her life, an act as worthless as her attempt to resist, for even the gods couldn't save her from her tragic death.

Or so she thought...

Clang.

The sound of the sharp blade appeared as soothing as a melody in her ears, her eyes slowly opened to meet the familiar black hair, the red strips stood out like blazing strands as they fluttered in the air.

Her eyes watered as her limbs trembled, gazing upon the strong kid in front of her, no older than her, a sense of relief washed over.

Her chest tightened, the moon spread wide over his figure, Inei tilted his head back to look the girl in the eye.

"Stay put"

The weight on her body seemed to lower as she heard those words, she sobbed as she nodded her head.

Inei shifted his head toward the fearsome Demon, his choice of defending was not for protecting her, but to overcome his limits.

'If I can only defend myself, is that just how powerless I am? I need to surpass that threshold, I should be able to fend off the strongest while not having a single person behind me get injured, that's how strong I want to be'

'That is my view of power'

Feeling his blood boil at the thought of his upcoming battles, Inei shot forward, the Demon roared as it swung its huge arms.

With a fluid turn, Inei got past its attack and stepped behind the creature, he raised his blade and sent a horizontal slash, aimed at its neck.

The Demon, however, was quick enough to deflect the incoming attack, it dug its enormous hands into the ground and lifted boulder from the ground, launching it toward him.

Inei swiftly dodged the rocks, which broke some abandoned houses.

The demon momentarily stopped to see the result, which proved fatal as it sneered in pain, the arms that it held pride in were severed without even its notice!

The demon, after decades, felt fear as the purple blade descent on its neck, the misty feeling of death loomed over the blade, its eyes widened with a last thought before its head got decapitated.

"Lord Muzan! Please save me!"

Splash.

Blood rained as the head of the demon flew, it landed in front of the young girl, she kicked it away with all her strength, in fear that it would come back alive.

The corpse rotted and burned away, into the wind leaving no trace of its existence, the girl glanced at the boy approaching her.

"Th...Th-Thank you"

She managed to squeeze it out despite her voice cracking, her throat felt sour and dry as the lack of moisture in her windpipe hurt while she spoke.

The boy, however, knelt and raised the sleeves of her Kimono to inspect any injury.

She was startled, but did not utter a word of complaint, it was her savior, if trusting anyone, it should be him, right?

Inei released a sigh as no wounds or bite marks were discovered, if there were any... He would've to 'deal' with it.

He patted her shoulder and got up, it was time to leave.

"Y-You're lea. Cough... Leaving?"

She was surprised, she did not even know his name!

Inei, however, paid no heed to her words and started to walk away, she staggered as she got back up with difficulty.

"Please! Atleast tell me your name!"

Her words were deaf to his ears, Inei went back to the Inn, packed up his belongings, and set out from the small village.

'Going in the night is risky, but with that girl, I cannot risk my chances, my identity might be leaked by the time the sun rises, I do not want attention'

His pace quickened as he ascended the small hill in front, he had to find a place to stay, and quick.