Endure

Blood dripped from the bottom of Faolan's hilt. He reaffirmed his focus on The Mother Demon. He took in a breath and charged her. The gusts of dirt and snow trailed behind him. The glint of his blade pierced with the reflection of the moon. The Mother Demon readied her Blood Demon Art again, and puddles of blood began to expand across the group, again causing tremors.

Faolan's eyes glint brightly; he can see the essence of when the blood would explode. He did not realize this. Everything felt natural, the heat of the moment and his focus on bringing justice. Faolan swung his blade against Mother Demon's claws. She swiped his abdomen, ultimately ripping apart his Demon Slayer Attire and administering a slight gash as sprinkles of blood fell into the snow. Faolan took in another breath,

"Breath of Thunder: Third Form: Thunder Swarm."

Electricity flowed and arced around Faolan, and he instantly maneuvered himself around The Mother Demon at lightning speed. He made instant zaps across every part of The Mother Demon, her blood splashing itself over the white blanket. The Mother Demon would see him in a blink of an eye and try to swipe Faolan with her talons but would instantly miss, and another tear occurs within her flesh.

'I'm not seeing him; he is moving so quickly that I only see his afterimage.' The Mother kept experiencing slashes gashing all around her. With all the blood floating around her, she begins to conjure something unforeseen.

"BLOOD DEMON ART: BLOOD ORB!"

In an instant, Faolan was met by a powerfully thick surface of blood encasing The Mother Demon. It disrupted his momentum due to his blade ricocheting off its thick surface. In mere seconds, she releases a grasp, and it causes the encasing to explode violently. Knocking Faolan across the snowy floor, he quickly stood to regain his position. However, once he did, The Mother Demon again disappeared.

"Where did she–" Faolan stopped as The Mother Demon instantly appeared above him and smashed him into the snowy earth with her talons puncturing his back, ultimately tearing through the rest of his haori and demon slayer gear.

Faolan shouts out pain as The Mother Demon pins him. The Mother Demon looks down at him, confused as he continues to power through the pain.

"AAAGGGHHH!" Faolan screamed.

He pushed himself up from the floor while the talons were still penetrating him; lightning infused his body as he shouted louder and as The Mother Demon tightened her hold. He then instantly slashed off the leg that held him down, ultimately causing The Mother Demon to trip, and as she fell, Faolan took in another breath,

"BREATH OF THUNDER: SECOND FORM: RICE SPIRIT!"

Faolan slashed The Mother Demon with five electrifying slashes, the electricity pulsating throughout her mangled body. In Faolan's final swing of his form, The Mother Demon rapidly kicked Faolan across his cheek.

'Not there,' she said to herself as she looked deeply within herself. She began to shift her mass quickly.

Faolan, exhausted, looked at the gleaming moonlight, "I need to…get.".

The Mother Demon regenerated rapidly and dashed over to the exhausted Faolan. She looked over at him with a sort of frown. A sense of failure is what Faolan received from her.

"I will take you," The Mother Demon stated.

Suddenly, a sword pierced directly into her nape and a scream.

"AGHHHHH!" the swordsman slashes her neck clean off, ultimately decapitating The Mother Demon. It was Ketsueki.

"Like shit, you will," Ketsueki stated.

With her body on the floor and her head decapitated, Ketsueki reaches for Faolan.

"Faolan, get your shit up!" Ketsueki taps Faolan's shoulders repeatedly.

"Ketsue-ki," Faolan calls out to him.

The Mother Demon was now behind Ketsueki, with her whole self-intact again.

"BLOOD DEMON ART: RIPPING BLOOD."

A sudden explosion blasts from her bloodied talons as Ketsueki and Faolan are flung and crash by each other.

"She's different now." Faolan barely says.

"Ah, shit. Ketsueki replies.

His mind wanders to the demon they fought back in Faolan's home village.

'It confirms it then..." Ketsueki coughs blood.

Faolan looks again and notices something different about her.

'Organized yet chaotic,' he thinks.

The Mother Demon raises one of her arms and fiddles with her talons, "This has to end now before it is too late."

Suddenly her mass begins to evolve, and her proportions grow in strength and in power, with the hardening of her flesh in most of her body. Glowing horns extended inversely from her forehead. Her claws sharpen intensely and are now constantly dripped with blood. Her eyes, monotonous.

"You, I will bring you to Him, Pure One."

Her presence intensified, the world crushed within itself, streaks, the snow disperses, the sky swirls. The Mother Demon's steps created crushing shockwaves that Faolan and Ketsueki could feel. Faolan felt his heart rush, intensifying. He attempted to recover by lying on his knee. The blood from The Mother Demon's claws levitates. The world stopped crushing within itself.

"Domain Eclipse: Wring," The Mother Demon twists one of her claws.

Faolan began to float in pain, and he felt as if his innards were imploding; it was excruciating. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and his cuts bled more. Faolan felt paralyzed, his body creaked, and he screamed. He felt his throat scratch from within. The world around him was streaked in sporadic colors. The snow constantly shifted from a blood red to an ocean of darkness and a tundra. He couldn't think, his heart didn't stop increasing, he focused on it, and he lost focus because of the pain. Everything is felt. He screams.

"What the hell are you doing!" Ketsueki shouted.

Ketsueki rapidly prepares himself in response to seeing the terrifying pain Faolan is in. The world isn't the same. Everything is dark; streaking red shot across his vision.

"Think I care about this shit?" Ketsueki powers through the pressure.

"BREATH OF BLOOD: FIFTH FORM: CHIKAGE!"

Ketsueki furiously sheathes, his hand on the sheathe is cut by the blade, then he rapidly redraws his blade as blood flutters in a crescent shape. His shape grows, and his focus intensifies. He dashes to The Mother Demon, and he holds his hilt close to his chest to initiate a powerful thrusting motion. The Mother Demon dodges the thrust, however, Ketsueki instantly recovers with a wide slice from flinging his right arm diagonally. This slices across The Mother Demon's chest, yet The Mother Demon recovers from the slice and flicks her claws to 'Wring' Ketsueki. He is caught by her 'Wring', and he slowly levitates.

"NO!" Ketsueki, still wielding his blade, engorges his hand into it more, and it causes the blade to enlarge to the point where he could extend his distance.

"That shit has to be far, huh? I won't let you!" Ketsueki dedicates his next assault to being close enough to The Mother Demon so that she could not paralyze him. Ketsueki flurries The Mother Demon as she continues to dodge and recover from his extremely powerful blows.

"WHERE DO YOU DIE!" Ketsueki continues to land blows across her chest, arms, legs, and neck but to no avail. The Mother Demon shows any sign of fear of her mortality.

'Decapitating this thing didn't kill it; this isn't going to work unless she's,' Ketsueki may have an idea as to why she's invulnerable.

In his next assault, Kestueki can feel his power weakening and his vision blurs for a split second. He shrugs it off, ready to attack The Mother Demon at any possible point where she can show signs of weakness. He lifts his sword and cuts through The Mother Demon's abdominal region and chisels through hardened material on The Mother Demon's body. He prepares to dice The Mother Demon's thigh to lower its height; in a low slash, he slits across the flesh. Suddenly the world crushed itself again.

He looks downwards, and he witnesses The Mother Demon's claws penetrating his upper shoulder; then she slashes his face, and blood spews wildly. Still holding his weapon, Ketsueki penetrated The Mother Demon's chest, then twisted it and dragged it across it with enough force to thrash through her innards. He screamed and was instantly blown away by her talons that had penetrated him already.

"You have given me enough trouble," The Mother Demon's eyes glow a dark encapsulating lavender. Her presence further intensifies as Faolan struggles to recuperate.

"Agh damn it," Kestueki released his form, proving that he's finally given in to the exhaustion and damage received from The Mother Demon.

"KETSUEKIII!" Faolan shouted.

Faolan forced the tremors of his bones to work for him, engaging in a ferocious cry, electricity garnered, and snow, dirt, and blood floated. His eyes glow as bright as the moonlight beaming now through the sky.

"Breath of Thunder: First Form: Thunderclap and Flash," Faolan, in his pain, zapped his way to The Mother Demon, his form flawed yet with powerful intention. The snow burned as he slashed through The Mother Demon's upper chest, the rest of where Ketsueki was thrashing through. Faolan blasted through the snow, eventually rolling and knocking himself into a door. The Mother Demon's chest exposed internal organs. Ketsueki witnessed three glowing spots of flesh. His eyes widened.

"FAOLAN LOOK," Ketsueki used his last bit of energy to point towards the glowing flesh within her. Faolan, upside down, could faintly hear Ketsueki's voice, and his eyes fixated on the brighter glow that it pictures.

"Three glowing organs," Faolan fell on his back.

The Mother Demon recovered herself and looked to Faolan, "I cannot waste any more time. Something worse could happen, don't you understand?"

"I… will... Make... my... Promise," Faolan slowly utters.

"You will fail, as have you right now. Those around you will die if they continue," The Mother Demon references Ketsueki.

"The others will come. They will die in this futile battle."

"I will try, and I won't stop trying, and I won't stop trying!" Faolan screamed, forcing his destroyed physical form back to his feet.

Faolan rushed The Mother Demon; he held his blade upwards, over his shoulder, with both palms. Swinging in the way of The Mother Demon's talons, he is deflected by her. His katana rocked back and with the momentum, he attempted to slash through the opposite side of his original, and it was also deflected. He then attempted to make a mid-slash by lowering his katana close to his chest and was countered by a rapid talon slash to his calf. Faolan then sliced off one whole arm and slashed her chest open. He could see the shifting parts within her and glowing organs until she inserted her talon into the ground and was already at a distance from him.

"Eclipse Domain: Wring," the whole world intensified again, and the space felt paralyzing for Faolan. He forced in a breath as his innards rattled.

"BREATH OF THUNDER: FOURTH FORM: DISTANT THUNDER," lighting struck across The Mother Demon, as if Faolan launched a storm upon her. Revealing the glowing organs once more.

The Wring could not paralyze Faolan; however, still being in the domain, he found it extremely difficult to maintain his movement and sense of awareness. All this was something else from what everything Mr. Nakama had taught about the Demons.

"Did Mom have to fight through this?" Faolan asked himself.

He reminisces about his Mom once again. He thinks back to the days when he was in a much simpler time.

The world dynamically shifted into a bright and beautiful day; the grass is a wondrous green, the trees and bushes rustled with a gentle wind, and the village was as lively as ever. He sees himself holding his Mother's hand, following her every move. His eyes constantly pierced her.

She asks him,

"Faolan, when will you bring me a daughter-in-law?" she smiled.

It was the only time she could easily make him stop looking at her, and this time when he did look away, he suddenly tripped and fell on his knee.

"Agh," Faolan felt immense pain from the tiny fall.

His mom approached with soft care, "I'm sorry, Faolan, I did not mean for you to fall."

Faolan quickly looked at his Mom, and she instantly took care of him with utmost gentleness. For some reason, Faolan felt bad for looking away and seeing her treat him this way.

"It's not your fault, Mom. I was just not looking," Faolan replied.

"Maybe I'll look at another... Well," Faolan stuttered.

"Hm! Will you find a beautiful woman for me when you're older?" She was excited.

"Ugh, fine, but she has to be exactly like you," Faolan pouted.

"You want your Mom as a wife?" she laughed.

"No, that's not what I mean!" Faolan exclaimed.

"Listen well, Faolan, when you find love, you must protect it and forever endure for that love," she added.

"Endure for it?" Faolan asked.

"The greatest love is one that you do everything in your power, in your life, for all the people you love and must love," she stated.

"So, endure."