Crimson Field (2)

"This is unsettling, isn't it? If the woman didn't hear anyone scream and we heard a scream from a kilometer away, that's doesn't make sense." Makomo said. Sabito nodded and Muichiro stayed silent.

As demon slayers and strong ones at that, all of their minds were trained to the hilt. They were literally trained to fight demons with mortal bodies but this was a bit odd.

The last time Muichiro felt creeped out was the first few seconds he was in the void, "Odd indeed, could it be a demon that uses illusions or something along those lines. I have yet to fight a demon that specializes in creating illusions, what about you two?" Muichiro said looking at Makomo and Sabito.

"I have fought a few but none of their illusions were that strong, I was able to differentiate between what was real and what wasn't after fighting it for a while, after that it was easy. But when I heard that scream I thought it was real instantly." Sabito said.

"It's the same for me, once you fight a demon that uses illusions once or twice you can distinguish between what's real and what isn't quite easy. Plus, most if not all demons that use illusions aren't very strong in anything else." Makomo said.

Muichiro frowned and looked at the ground, he thought that maybe it was a Lower Moon and it probably is but its illusions so far seem to be very strong. He had no experience in seeing through illusions so killing it was going to be a pain because it could just make copies of itself that run away and he wouldn't know which one would be fucking real.

Muichiro looked at the woman sitting in front of him and frowned, his head tilted down. He was trying to listen for something, Sabito thought, 'He's doing that again, why does he randomly do that? I wonder...'

Suddenly, Muichiro's eyes widened and he held his sword, in a split second he cut the woman in half. Her eyes widened but it was off, it was as if she had been founded out. Then, she exploded in white smoke covering the area, Sabito and Makomo were on guard. They had no idea what just happened, but it was obvious that the woman wasn't human or outright alive.

Fog covered entire the area around them, they all held their swords ready in case something came, and some things did. Swords, lots of swords were shot all around them, it was way too many to dodge and come out with no injuries and they can't risk getting injured.

[Mist Breathing. Third Form: Scattering Mist Splash]

Muichiro stepped back and jumped into the air, he turned his body and released a powerful slash around the three of them in a circular motion blowing all of the fog away.

While Muichiro was still in the air, Makomo and Sabito stepped up took their swords.

[Frost Breathing. Second Form: Frostbite]

[Frost Breathing. Second Form: Frostbite]

They immediately stopped in place and swung their swords all around them deflecting almost all of the incoming swords. Muichiro landed in the group between them and clicked his sword back into its sheath, Makomo and Sabito followed suit.

{Frost Breathing. Second Form: Frostbite: The swordsman stops all body movements, diverting and blocking all incoming attacks, anyone who is within the reach of the user could be instantly killed}

The three of them had injuries around their body but only shallow cuts, not wasting any time they jumped onto the branch of a tall tree.

Muichiro sat on the branch, a sighed escaped his lips and he looked around. Sabito landed next to him with Makomo on a branch under them, they took a bit to calm down and process what just happened.

"What the hell is going on here, what was that woman. She just... wait, how did you know she wasn't human? What if was she?" Sabito asked looking down at Muichiro.

"She had no heartbeat, I didn't notice it because we weren't exactly quiet and I was most focused on our surroundings. But I have no clue what she was, my first thought was that she was an illusion created by some demon but, I hit her and felt it. Im one hundred percent sure I did." Muichiro said.

He found out that she wasn't real because he wanted to see if she was lying about what she said, if she had a high heart rate she was probably lying but even if it was guaranteed, he still wanted to see. It didn't hurt to try, but he found something completely different.

"Do you think the demon can make constructions out of fog or something along those lines, Muchi did say he felt it when he hit her, right," Makomo suggested.

Sabito looked down at her oddly and said, "Muchi?" "Just a nickname, Sabito. He obviously likes mochi and his name is Muichiro, so I got Muchi." Makomo shrugged and smiled up at him.

Sabito hummed and looked at Muichiro who was spacing out, again. He was trying to think of what type of blood demon art it could have been, he came up with a few conclusions but its impossible for him to know with the VERY little information he possessed.

A blood demon art can literally be anything, there were just too many conclusions to get a concrete answer. He bit his thumb and frowned, then he was shuck back to reality by Sabito, "Hey! Stop spacing out, we need to go find the demon."

Sabito frowned, "Why do you keep spacing out?" Muichiro said, "I was spacing out?" "Yes, yes you were."

Muichiro tilted his head, "I was just thinking out something, that's all. No need to worry... what was your name, Sadito was it?" he asked looking up at him, "It's, Sabito! I just told you my name!"

"Oh, sorry. No need to be so loud, I can hear perfectly fine." Muichiro said, Sabito looked doubtful, "Are you sure? You forgot my name fourteen times on our way here."

"I asked you your name on the way here? I don't remember that, he just ran here for four days in silence" no?" Muichiro pondered, "We, nevermind." Sabito grunted and say down, he looked around making sure no demons were nearby.

Makomo pushed her lips and said, "Muchi, do you have short-term memory loss and a low attention span?" she asked, Muichiro tilted his head back slightly and muttered, "Yeah, I guess I do. Why?"

She shook her head, "Just asked." she frowned wondering how he even got into the corps, yes he was VERY strong for his age but to them, he was still a child. She didn't know about his past but she still wondered who would let a 12-year-old go out and fight demons, to her it was insane but who was she to judge.

Sabito had similar thoughts and sighed, Muichiro paid them no mind and looked around. He saw several demons none of them even close to them, he looked at the peak of the mountain and said, "The demon is probably at the peak."

"Why do you say that?" Sabito asked, Muichiro stood up and spoke, "It would make sense, they had to of known we were coming before we were even in the forest. We heard the scream a kilometer away from here. It probably found out about us when we were in range of the mountain and assumed we were coming here. It needs a good advantage point to keep an eye on any potential threats entering the forest."

"We also need to take into account that all the demons on the mountain right now probably aren't even real demons and are like what that woman was, just an illusion or construct of sorts," Makomo suggested.

Muichiro hummed and said, "Just listen out for any heartbeats, demons still have them after all. If you hear one then kill the demon, if not even just leave it alone and keep going. There is no use in wasting energy on them, if we kill the demon behind it all then they will probably "die" anyway"

"Wait, what if it's like a hive mind. Maybe the demon was controlling the woman construct thing or it's able to look through their eyes?" Muichiro said.

Sabito and Makomo sighed once more, that was totally possible. There were just too many variables, "Let's just make our way to the peak, it'll work itself out." Muichiro said.

He jumped off of the tree followed by Sabito and Makomo, they took a deep breath and shot towards the mountain's peak.