Chapter 46: In A Pinch

"Ughh!" Kanae felt a pain in her back.

Her eyes opened widely.

Blood spilled from her mouth.

She felt weak and dropped her sword.

Something stabbed Kanae's back passing through her chest. Precisely, at where her heart lies.

It was the tail of the demon.

"Haaaaaaaaaah." He sighed exaggeratedly, expressing his disappointment.

'W-what?' Kanae looked down and saw the tail plunging at the center of her chest. 

 She didn't see this coming.

Where was he even hiding the tail in the first place?

Her eyes didn't see any signs of a tail based on the composition of his muscles.

Looking closely, the tail was luminous, shining brightly, dark red at the night.

It looked like a high-pressurized plasma lightsaber from a Star Wars movie. 

Strangely, even though there was a hole in the center of Kanae's chest, her heart continued beating normally.  

A moment later, the pain gradually receded from her chest. 

Instead, Kanae felt that her inner organs were now slowly being melted. It's hot and at the same time, cold.

She couldn't understand what this was anymore. 

One thing was clear, however, and it was painful. 

Kanae hadn't felt this much pain ever since. 

It was slow, tumultuous, painful torture.

With every second passing, the intensity of the pain increased exponentially.

Within moments, after the demon was done expressing his tired, disappointed, and rather a long sigh, spoke lazily:

"I was just trying to have a peaceful conversation with you, don't you know that? Hmm?"

He asked.

His voice sounded terrifying.

He shook his head.

"But you dared to bare your fangs on this innocent me and it's getting annoying!" He growled. There was a fierce, fiery annoyance hinting from his tone.

The demon then raised Kanae with his tail. 

As the demon moved her, the pain of feeling her organs being melted violently erupted.

"Arghhhhhhh!" Kanae screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Haaah. What should I do with you?"

He palmed his face.

Contrary to how disappointed he seemingly sounded, however, there was a nasty grin in his mouth.

He was enjoying listening to Kanae's screams, struggling in extreme pain.

He acted as if he didn't notice this happening.

"Hmm."

Then he raised his brow and remembered something.

"Oh? I just wanted to say this. I'm impressed."

"You know, after I regenerated, I found no one back there. You had left the place, you had run away, I concluded."

"What's surprising though, was that I couldn't see a mark that could follow your trails."

"How'd you even do that? There wasn't even any single spot of your footsteps or any evidence that showed the direction where you have left to. It was as if you didn't exist there…"

"I wonder how was it possible?"

He asked curiously.

While in the background, Kanae was still screaming in pain.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

He let Kanae scream as he wondered about his thoughts, speculating how Kanae could do exactly 'that'.

Then, after ignoring her for about a minute, he finally decided to return his attention to Kanae. 

And as he did, he felt annoyed.

There wear tears and snot on her face. 

He didn't like seeing this. It doesn't suit her beautiful face.

"Tsk! How disgraceful." 

He snarled. Saying that as if he wasn't responsible for it in the first place.

"Enough!" 

The demon got tired of hearing her screams. 

So he did something. 

And a moment later, the pain Kanae felt became somewhat tolerable compared to before.

"Hannah, haaaaah." Kanae breathed heavily. 

The demon started talking again.

"Just for your information, I have a great observation skills. Well, my eyes are sharper than you can imagine. Though I can't see past things, you know what I mean." He gloated.

Not that Kanae had heard what he was spouting earlier. 

She was busily occupied by the unimaginable pain she was feeling earlier.

Not that it mattered also.

She didn't even respond to him.

"..." Now that the pain was weaker, Kanae felt her consciousness fading.

But she fought this urge to sleep and glared at the demon. 

"Heh ~" He chuckled as he observed Kanae's expression. 

"However, it was futile." The demon smiled confidently. 

"The moment you've been inflicted by this tool…" He showed Kanae his fan,

"— I have the means to locate wherever and anywhere you are in this world."

He made the fan glow to add extra emphasis to his words.

"You can try to run and hide wherever you want. But it's useless. Hmm, hmm~"

He spoke with a  bragging tone.

"This fan, with the help of my subordinate's ability… Oh, and if you might ask what it was, I'll tell you."

"The beautiful white mist was created by her. Well, I don't want to talk about another woman when I'm in front of another because it's rude, so let's move on."

"..." If Kanae was in a normal situation and facing a friend, or a companion she would've reacted by rolling her eyes.

The demon was talking to her as if he was close to her. 

"..." But what she did in response was to continue glaring pointlessly at him. Because that's about what she can do at this moment.

It was in fact through Kanae using the breathing technique that helped her to just barely hold on. 

The amount of damage she took was great. It was even a miracle that she was still breathing. 

Her heart was pierced, mind you.

Well, it also adds up that, if not for her indomitable will to glare hatefully at the demon, she would've been out of commission.

Why? Because Kanae didn't like the demon in the slightest. He killed her friends, her companion. He was the last person in the world that she would ever forgive.

The demon continued explaining to Kanae about his fan.

"It was an item that originally was a tribute for me back eons before. I have it with me since then…"

The demon made a longing expression.

It is important to note that he was speaking in a diabolic voice.

"..." So Kanae was cringing as she listened to him speak.

"It held a lot of sentimental value for me. So, I had to commission one of the special witches that I know, to modify this fan as an actual functional tool.

"How does it work?"

"Well, here's the condition."

"First, the target needs to take even the smallest whiff of a special mist, which by now you know was my subordinate's doing."

"Second, is to let the target stare at the fan for a second, then I will have her registered immediately."

"After that, I can then sense her location anywhere in this world. Pretty neat right?" 

The demon waited for Kanae's response about his cool fan.

"..." Kanae kept her silence.

After a moment,

Kanae decided to speak.

"... Indeed." She nodded her head in agreement.

And continued,

"For a creepy stalker like you, that is." She replied weakly, mocking him.

Kanae very well understood her current situation; that her life was completely at the demon's mercy.

However, she won't beg for it.

She wouldn't change the way how she treated the demon and kiss his ass.

Never!

That would mean showing disrespect towards her dead companion. 

Because if she did that, it would imply those people don't mean a thing to Kanae.

She should be delivering their justice and taking revenge for them; killing the demon. 

Why was she even putting relevance on these people?

Well, even if the trust she had in most of the members of the demon slayer was lost, it was an undeniable fact that Bob tried to help Kanae by warning her to escape.

The dead cannot lie after all.

She fought for herself and them. But it turns out that Kanae has to flee. She didn't know how to deal with him. 

She planned to take revenge on the demon after she had trained and gathered some information about him. Be prepared for the next encounter even if it means breaking her promise to Shinobu, about planning to stay away from direct danger.

However, based on the current situation, that 'next encounter' seemed threatened. 

He could take her life at any moment.

But still, Kanae wouldn't plead. 

The only thing then, that she could hope for at this moment is a miracle to happen.