Ash, 2

Even Michiko is shocked to see her arm sliced. Her face turns white in fear, her eyes and mouth wide open.

"You must be shocked to see your arm sliced. You underestimated those spikes, they were my blood demon technique. It allows me to share my pain & injuries with my opponent. HAHAHAHAA~" says Ash.

She removes the spike from her body and glares at him. She calms down herself and thinks, "Why didn't I notice it? I fell for that trap. Can I still fight with one hand? How does he know about my ability to make anyone calm? That's not good... not good at all. I need to calm down myself."

The wind starts blowing faster again. Chikafusa and Ai can't do anything to help her.

Suddenly, she gets an idea and thinks, "Wait, he can't hear anymore. That means I have an advantage over him. Now I can easily sneak and attack him."

She disappears from his sight. Ash can't hear her movements and looks everywhere. "Where did ya go?"

NATURE BREATHING 6TH FORM: SOLAR FLARE

She unleashes a blindingly bright attack that can temporarily blind the enemy, resembling the brightness of the sun.

Ash is caught off guard by her attack but manages to survive. They engage in a relentless battle for a full 10 minutes.

Ash employs numerous techniques simultaneously at her.

NATURE BREATHING 7TH FORM: NATURE'S WRATH

She strikes from all angles, deflecting his attacks. Suddenly, he appears beside her and delivers a powerful punch to her face out of nowhere that sends her 30 meters away.

"INOUE-SAN!!!!!!!!" screams Chikafusa.

Her head gets damaged and she starts bleeding. She can't even stand correctly due to the attack. She starts trembling at her feet and her vision becomes blurry.

Chikafusa suddenly gets a vision of Kyojuro Rengoku from his previous life when he stabs Akaza with his sword despite his strength.

"W—What's that?"

He picks up his sword and throws it so hard at Ash that it breaks the sound barrier and pierces his chest. Even he didn't understand what he was doing, and so Ash.

"Argh— How did he do that?" thinks Ash.

Michiko gets enough time to stand up correctly and fight him. She understands that she can't beat him with her average technique. Her head is still bleeding and she's about to fall to the ground.

Ash slowly approaches her and activates his blood demon technique. The air comes to his hand and forms a deadly knife. The knife is so sharp that it can even cut molecules.

She looks at him furiously which scares him.

"W– What's the deal? Am I s... shivering... Her death stare... She looks scary in this mood…"

Crows are crying, resembling a bad omen.

"Is it... my time? Why only me? Why no one's here to save me? Am I that useless? Why are all of my efforts in vain? I've never been jealous or angry in my life, so why now? I can't be angry... I can't be angry. Why my mind isn't working this time? I shouldn't feel angry even if I die. Tell me why am I being jealous and angry this time? TELL ME WHY???!!!! I don't know what will happen if I die here. What will happen to the kids here? NO, GOD, YOU CAN'T DO THAT."

She is unable to move. Ash is coming closer and closer. He's just a few meters away.

.

..

…

"Only if I didn't help them, I would be alive. I was acting heroic and ended up dying. Why do only good people suffer while bad people do not?

…

... What am I thinking? Just because I am gonna die doesn't mean I'll lose my morality. I never cared about whether I lived or not. But in fact... I don't wanna die... Yes... I am scared of death. Despite knowing that death is certain, why am I afraid of it? Is it unwillingness to accept the truth?"

Ash comes close to her and stabs the knife at her stomach. The knife creates a huge impact after stabbing that it destroys so many trees behind her.

She instantly falls to the ground due to the impact of the knife. "... I can't take it anymore... it's 100 times more painful than being buried alive. Is it... the worst death possible for me?"

She closes her eyes and waits for death. Everything turns black for her.

Before dying, she gets to see glimpses of her life.

...

She remembers, "16 years ago.

In a small & calm village, even before I was born, my mother gave birth to a fetus. The child was a miscarriage. My mother was completely broken. She decided to commit suicide, but couldn't do that.

Even a doctor in my village told her that she couldn't give birth anymore. Once more, she got pregnant but the child would be miscarriage.

One day, her best friend came to meet her. She was also pregnant with a healthy baby. When they were talking, my mother suddenly became emotional and said, "I'm glad that you'll give birth to a baby, but I can't. We both are pregnant, but you'll give birth to a healthy baby while I'll give birth to a miscarriage. May God bless your child."

Some months later, she gave birth to me. She was the happiest person at that time. Even the doctor apologized to her for his mistake.

On the same day, her best friend had to deliver a baby as well.

The next day, she visits her house. She was shocked to see the scene. She couldn't believe it, her soul trembled at the sight.

Her best friend hanged herself and committed suicide. She found a piece of paper on the floor. She picked up the paper and read it, "Dear Naomi, I was sad for you that you couldn't give birth to a child. So, I went to the witch and asked for the help. She told me that she could give you a child only if someone sacrificed her own. I sacrificed my own child to make you happy.

Yesterday, I gave birth to a miscarriage. My drunk husband had beaten me and left me alone. I couldn't take it anymore, I took my own life. May God bless you.!"

My mother was traumatized from that day. But she gave me everything that I needed.

2 years later, my father died of an unknown disease. By that time, people started abandoning the village.

As a child, my mother often described me as incredibly innocent and pure, but she also warned me that the world wouldn't always allow me to live peacefully.

The legend of the witch of fate was popular in the village. I enjoyed my childhood and past time listening to her tales. I wanted to see her but I also had my doubts about whether she was real. In our youthful innocence, boys aspired to be superheroes, while girls were drawn to the idea of becoming witches.

But when I turned 7, my mother died due to illness. At that time, I met the witch of fate, the demon, Upper Moon 4, and was granted a boon.

Those days were the hardest days for me. Without a mother, without a father, without a shelter, without anyone, I was living the most miserable moment of my life. A kid can never survive without them, but I roamed around the other places and begged for food. I became a beggar. I got even bullied and beaten by so many people.

6 years later, I was wandering in a random place and I accidentally found the demon slayer hideout. I saw so much food and water, that I ran toward it and grabbed it.

I heard a voice behind me, "Hey, kid. Who are you? Are you stealing food?" There were 2 Kakushis and Oyakata-Sama.

I politely bowed down to them and said, "Oh, holy people. Please give me some food. I beg you for my life. I beg you, I'm so hungry. Please give me. May God bless you."

Oyakata-Sama approached me and said, "What a kind-hearted girl, what's your name? How did you find this place?"

A young girl, a green braided crown hair and hazel eyes, with her small limbs and dirty clothes, looked at kind Oyakata-Sama and said, "My name is Michiko Inoue. I don't know how did I find this place. But I was starving and wandering for food. Please give me food, I'll die if I don't get food. I haven't eaten for 3 days."

"Sure, you can eat anything you want."

They were surprised when they saw me eating only fruits and drinking water. I didn't eat any further.

Because of poverty, I subsisted solely on fruits, which were my favorite. I haven't eaten anything other than fruits. The thought of consuming meat never crossed my mind.

""I've never killed or eaten any animal.

I've never killed any insect.

I've never been angry.

I've never been jealous.

I've never disrespected anyone.

I've never hurt anyone. Not even demons. I would use techniques to kill demons without inflicting any pain.""

But for the sake of everyone, I need to kill this demon. To save everyone, I need to kill him."

Michiko wakes up...

Michiko holds the knife stabbed in her stomach and throws it away.

Even in this extremely severe condition, she stands up and holds her sword to fight Ash, the Lower Moon 1.

Ash is completely shocked to see her standing despite losing her arm and so much blood.

Blood is coming from her mouth. Her stomach is torn by the knife. But despite that, she swings her sword and is ready to fight him for the last time.

"What are you?!! You should be dead of those injuries," yelled Ash.

She uses her last and strongest move, and so does Ash.

NATURE BREATHING 1ST FORM: ULTIMATE APOCALYPSE

She creates a powerful force that even shakes the entire ground and makes everything look like Hell. It resembles the destruction of the world.

BLOOD DEMON TECHNIQUE: UNDERWORLD SLASHER

He creates a giant sword that touches the entire sky and is made up of energy. Even the entire mountain looks small compared to it.

Their most powerful attacks clash, slicing a massive mountain in half with their sheer force!

Suddenly, everything turns white, and both Chikafusa and Ai are left in suspense, unable to see a thing. Moments later, Ash stands alone, bearing the scars of battle, having lost both arms.

Michiko isn't there...

A few meters away, they see Michiko's head alone without her entire body. Even after her death, her head is still smiling.

Chikafusa cries aloud, "INOUE-SAN!!!!"

Ai who is currently blind understands that Michiko is no more. She tries to pick up her broken sword but Ash stabs her right hand. She felt extreme pain but she didn't scream for the sake of Michiko who was killed.

Ash feels her hands are as soft as lotus, but he doesn't care about that anymore. He mercilessly breaks her right hand.

"Even though your eyes are covered with blood, you're still much more beautiful than any girl in the world."

Chikafusa can't even move an inch. Ash brings back his knife and tries to stab Ai. But then...

SUN BREATHING 1ST FORM: DANCE

In a swift move, Ash's arm is sliced and Ai vanishes. Before Ash can even comprehend what happened, he realizes it wasn't Chikafusa who attacked him. When he turns around, he sees Ren standing behind him, saving Ai and shattering his knife.

"What? Another demon hunter? How's this even possible?" thinks Ash.

Ren looks sad after seeing Michiko's death. "I'm sorry, Inoue-San. I apologize for coming late."

Ren feels demotivated and sad. He blames himself for the death of Michiko.

In the end, Ai accepts that she can never surpass Ren. She always hated Ren for being superior to her and mistreated him. She completely surrendered that she couldn't beat Ash. She immediately hugs Ren and starts crying. "HAJIME-KUN!!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THE WHOLE TIME?!! WHY DIDN'T YOU ARRIVE EARLY?!! I'M SO SCARED!!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US!!! THIS DEMON KILLED INOUE-SAN!!! PLEASE AVENGE HER!!! PLEASE DON'T DIE!!!"

Ren comforts her...

Ash throws multiple energy balls at Ren. Ren casually dodges all of them without any struggle.

Ash is completely frozen at this point. But he manages to lift his hands and tries to summon the largest energy ball. But...

He has no arm... Ren sliced his arms before he could even realize it.

Ash is unable to regenerate his arms back.

In the next move, Ren instantly cuts his body in half. In a split second, he slices Ash's lower body into thousands of pieces.

"Please kill me. I wanna get free from this demon's body.

15 years ago, I was just a weak kid. I used to get bullied by other kids. They made my life full of hell. And one day, I decided to take my own life. But that didn't happen, I was turned into a demon by the Upper Moon 4. She owes my life. I am sad about that girl's death because she owes her life too.

But I was as kind as everyone. It's not my fault. When someone becomes a demon, they become victims of lust, anger, greed, illusion, and ego. Please kill me." thinks Ash.

Ren releases his final blow and beheads Ash.

Ash vanishes into ashes and dies forever…

After defeating the Lower Moon 1, Ash, Ren carries both Chikafusa and Ai on his shoulders and takes them to the Demon Slayer Hideout.

———————————————————————

...

Now, Akaza who is now the Upper Moon 1 has been summoned to the Infinity Castle.

"Huh? Why am I summoned here? Is there any meeting? Or an Upper Moon has been defeated? I don't know why the new demon king often summons me here. When he was the Upper Moon 1, Lord Muzan would barely summon him in centuries," thinks Akaza.