The vast gaze of skies, stars and wind watched far and wide, but there were always minuscule moments gone unnoticed. While in the grand scheme of things, these minuscule moments may seem redundant and useless, it is in these exact moments that true bonds, character, and truth are formed. They outweigh 'grand' memories a million to one.
In the present, nothing but deeply embedded hate and fury pulse through both Ali and Eira's hearts.
But there was a time.
"And that's why I chose to be a demon slayer," Ali's long, dedicated monologue finally came to an end. The thick canopy of Mount Fujikasane, the Final Selection Mountain, wheezed with a sigh of relief. Trees swayed as silence finally accommodated the boy's mouth.
Eira blinked twice, snapping out of her trance as her ears listened to the ambience of the forest rather than Ali's voice. She hadn't said a single word in the past hour, only nodding and raising her eyebrows along Ali's lengthy anecdote.
Ali patted his pockets, reaching into them for a large roll of crackers. He opened the foil, sliding multiple of them into his mouth. He held the packet out to Eira.
She hesitated a moment before taking a few and holding them in her palm. A few grains of salt rolling onto her lap, she stared at the boy across from her. It was odd to meet such a radiant personality in a stressful exam full of pain, suffering and death.
The silence Eira would've wished for a few minutes back quickly became boring. As much as she hated the thought, she wanted Ali to continue telling his stories for whatever reason.
"So… How about your hometown? You didn't tell me much about it," Eira quietly whispered, immediately following up with a bite into a cracker. Her heart hoped that Ali wouldn't point out her obvious segway into more conversation, especially after she had told him multiple times that she hated how much he talked.
Ali's eyes wrinkled as he smiled. He leaned forward ever so slightly.
"Well… There's a lot," Ali sighed softly before he leaned back, planting both his hands to support him, "Wanna hear me talk about it?"
A heat enveloped Eira's ears, the tinge of redness too evident on her pale complexion. She knew his question was him teasing her, "So you don't hate me talking so much, huh?"
"Yes," Eira avoided Ali's gaze initially, but after a few seconds, she looked up at him. A guilty smile on her face, one she couldn't fight, no matter how much she tried to suppress it.
Ali's smile grew til he burst out in laughter, Eira quickly followed. The tender moment was then broken because their laughter had drawn a demon right towards them, which they promptly took care of. Safe to say they kept their voices down after that, but their bond had grown so much in that tiny moment, a moment neither of their biographies would cover.
That time was long behind them.
Sharp streaks of air scraped against Ali's skin as his meteoric flight accelerated.
The Infinity Train, the Decapitation incident, her hometown mountain, and Akaza's death. Memories he associated with Eira, which were burned into his brain. Haunting him while he was awake, and asleep through nightmares, intense and unrelenting. His fists charged through the air, craving for long-awaited vengeance. Arata's death had completely shattered what little tolerance he had against Eira's antics.
Eira could feel it now. Each and every one of her nerves twitched. The atmosphere split into two as Ali's fearsome glance rocketed towards her at a speed no one except her could comprehend.
Sunrise was soon. To ensure victory, she just had to stall til the celestial being peeked over the horizon and eviscerated Ali. No, her father's nichirin blade craved the blood of the one who had disrespected her. Despite the overwhelming terror that surged in her body, a deep excitement about the battle in front of her manifested within her.
No words were exchanged, no shouts or yells. Yet, both Eira and Ali still shared the telepathic connection developed in their friendship. The same thought struck their minds like blaring lightning, cracking their slowed perception of time and blasting them into fast-paced reality. A phrase, heard only by them.
Eira's arm shot upwards, pulling Ali's reminiscent green sword out of Kaze's writhing body. Her palm tightened around the leather hilt, her instincts savagely screeched at her reflex. She forcefully wrenched herself to the side, narrowly evading Ali's attack by a millimetre. Still, vibrations were sent through her body as the blaring breeze that accompanied Ali swept past her.
Ali's volatile flight halted not even a second after, the grotesque and loud crunch of wood caused trees for kilometres to tremor with horror. Ali's right fist up til his forearm had pierced through the large trunk of a tree, lodging itself deep. His head snapped backwards to meet the arrogant gaze of the Ice Hashira. He violently swung his free arm forward, an eruption of vicious winds followed instantaneously.
Eira's legs exploded with power, she leapt high into the air, dodging the power of the wind, which instead blasted directly to the crowd swarmed near the shrine, causing multiple of them to yelp as they were pushed onto the floor. Ali's vision darted up at Eira, her silhouette became smaller and smaller against the light purple sky.
Ali unmercifully tugged at his stubbornly lodged arm. His jaw clenched, and excessive agony ticked from all over his arm. Jagged edges inside the tree trunk's wound gruesomely ripped across his flesh. After a few strong tugs, his arm escaped the confines of the tree. Blood and pieces of ripped flesh were all that was left in the crater hole.
The Hashira's ascent steadily slowed. She raised her father's sword over her head. Icy chills crawled through the atmosphere, infecting one air molecule after another.
A bright glimpse of her father appeared in her mind like an unwanted camera flash. The vivid scene of him relentlessly swinging his sword into the demon who had eaten her mother. Uncontrolled rage plastered on his usually calm face. For two hours, she had watched the entire thing through the small gaps of the closet. From the moment the demon slashed into her mother's body, til the moment where her father dropped his sword and walked into the abyss of darkness, she didn't close her eyes once, even in dryness, irritation and unrivalled discomfort, they never blinked.
She often wondered if the reason Cadell, her older brother, was more 'normal' than she was because he never had to witness the brutality and gruesome scenes she had to. The memories haunted her.
At times, she would awake with her father's sword tight in her palm. For the briefest second, she could see the sword saturated and dripping with the demon's disgusting green blood. Then she would blink, and the sword would return to normal. She shook the thoughts away and stared at Ali's pathetic position on the ground.
Ice Breathing. Eleventh Form. Winter's Conclusion.
Ali's muscles tightened, his head whipped downward, with no remorse, he slammed his foot against the very base of the tree. Several swift strikes, each impact accompanied by the Earth rumbling and a deafening crack.
Before Eira could unleash the initial slashes of her vicious flurry, the tree completely snapped off its base. The towering giant's branches rustled as it leaned into Ali, the complete weight falling on him. One of his hands quickly scooted upwards to tightly clasp the recently made hole in the trunk.
With a loud shout of exertion, Ali hoisted the behemoth tree up. Blood vessels all around his body popped as the unbearable amount of weight came upon him. His muscles burst with visceral strength as he sent the tree flying into the air, with the assistance of a powerful explosion of wind.
Eira's fluid sequence of movements halted as she froze with shock. A chaotic symphony of cracks and rustles sang like an alarm. A tree, something that very rarely posed any form of danger to her, now flew towards her.
Shock in the centre of her pupils quickly transitioned into deep focus. Everyone on the ground stared upward, the spectacle impossible to pry their eyes off. The Hashira had no choice but to face the giant tree head-on. As the tree grew closer, she was completely enveloped by the thick leafy branches.
Simultaneously, Ayumu burst out of the bushes he had been blown into, beating the loose leaves that clung to his clothing with exasperated panting. He immediately realised the gargantuan shadow on the ground. Joining everyone's gaze, he stared upwards. Terror crept into his mind as he witnessed the unnatural phenomenon. How did the tree get there? His head slowly turned towards Ali, whose arm was covered in splinters.
Snapping Ayumu out of his trance, several loud scrapes of metal roared in the air. The entire tree trunk erupted from the inside out, exploding into hundreds of cleanly cut pieces, as large as car tires. Eira had completely compartmentalised the behemoth. Screams erupted from the ground as the trunk slices fell downward like a meteor shower.
Ayumu grunted and swiftly dashed to shield Kaze, who was still in a dazed state on the ground, the agony in his head unforgiving.
Blood Demon Art. Turbulence: Tempest.
Ali reeled his arms behind him, he inhaled deeply and tensed his chest. He violently swung his arms forward, clapping his hands together, the sound echoed for kilometres. The atmosphere was stagnant for a second before it erupted in a turbulent windstorm. The pieces of wood, dragged down by gravity, were suspended in the air as powerful breezes pushed them upward. Soon, the wind's ferocity overcame the downward force and launched the scattered objects out of harm's way.
Ali's back felt heavy with fatigue. He panted heavily. This was the first time he felt any form of tiredness sprout from his Blood Demon Art. The slow trickle of leaking blood down his elbow was a sickly reminder for him. The Wisteria Poison had embedded itself deep within his body, his arm's torn flesh healing at a faster rate than humans, but still like a slug in comparison to before. There was an unfamiliar tension that stuck tightly to his forehead and soreness that sprouted around his glowing markings.
The sky was completely empty, Eira was nowhere to be seen.
Complete silence. No one, except for Ayumu, moved a single millimetre. Distant thuds of the launched trunk pieces sounded like soft thundering.
Ayumu heaved Kaze up and wrapped his arm around him to support his weight. Kaze softly grunted, his hand weakly raised to press over the fresh sword wound. He applied pressure and focused on redirecting blood flow away from the injury.
"Does anyone have any bandages? Or anything?" Ayumu's head turned to the small congregation of frightened people around the shrine. Their pale faces, that flinched at the sound of the even slightest rustle, turned towards Ayumu, terrified.
Yukina stepped forward tentatively, avoiding anyone's gaze but simultaneously reaching into her pockets hurriedly. Ayumu gulped as he saw the girl walking towards him, an unsettling awkwardness present, even in the intense field.
Ali's concentration was inextricably focused on locating Eira. He knew she was around here. He could still feel that eerie chill that travelled alongside the back of the breeze. As his eyes wandered the now well-lit surroundings, he delved deeper and deeper into a state of transcendence, he could feel himself on the cusp of unknown and unfelt. He did what felt right.
He relaxed his tightly curled hands and let his fingers extend completely to feel the soft breeze around him. He inhaled deeply, holding his breath. A slow gust of wind slowly swirled around him, invisible, but it emanated off him like a soft recurring pulse.
He followed the pulse of the wind like a sixth sense. Everything the wind touched, he could 'see'. As the wind brushed Ayumu and Kaze, every detail of their clothing and posture registered like a render on Ali's radar. The wind rippled into the bushes, steadily weakening as it continued to drag across thick bushes and rough dirt, but just as his perception lost strength. Something unnatural collided with the wind.
His eyes snapped to the side, he let out the held breath quickly.
"She's in there!" Motivated by a deep fear, a shivering demon slayer screamed the announcement, simultaneously to when Ali's eyes darted to the bush. Instantly after she spoke, a familiar black and green metallic shine, etched with weariness, shot out of the bushes. Ali's former sword rocketed, aimed directly at the brave woman.
Ali tried.
He vigorously dashed forward, but to his despair, once again, he was too slow. As his head extended to try to grip the sword mid-flight, it exited his grasp. His hand unsuccessfully tightened, the blade long-gone.
The nichirin pierced right through the woman's heart. Her pitiful last sounds were chokes and short gasps as she tumbled backwards, holding the area around where the sword struck.
Several shouts of shock and terror pierced the silence of the forest, the crowd scattered recklessly. Yukina, Ayumu and Kaze all perked up in terror.
Chaos, disaster and disorganisation. An easy way to break the focus of an opponent.
Eira abruptly sprinted out of the nearest tree cover to Ali. In her hands, her own sword shone its gruelling icy blue colour. Desperation for victory flickered in the blade's reflection of the light purple sky.
The sword sang happily while violently swung at Ali's neck, Eira's smile widened in unison. A loud buzz envelopes her ears.
Ali shifted focus to Eira too late, he leapt backwards, but Eira adjusted the angle of her attack to ensure she still dealt some damage. She unforgivingly slashed downward diagonally. The tip of Eira's sword cut into Ali's collarbone. She lethally dragged her sword along his upper torso. The deep cut along Ali's torso poured with blood. Ali jumped a safe distance away from Eira, her next dash already visible in the way she bent her knees.
Ali's wound burned with exposure to the cold air, invoking extreme pain. He clenched his jaw, his mind stormed with frustration. Once again, he thrust his arm forward powerfully, the glowing crescent marks blurring in the motion. Eira's brain flickered with recognition of the attack. She had to prepare for a large burst of wind. Immediately, she steadied her feet and leaned forward, ready to resist the incoming vicious breeze.
Amidst all the fury and agony that burned through his body, Ali's mouth curled upwards a little as he witnessed Eira fall for his trick. He clenched his fist tightly and pulled his arm back, as if tugging a rope. Whistles erupted from the trees behind Eira. They danced havocally as wind dragged against them. The Ice Hashira realised.
The wind wasn't to push her. It was to pull her. The strong gusts of wind slammed into her back. Her disadvantageous forward leaning made it easy for the breeze. She lost her balance and felt the turbulent wind push at every limb, forcing her airborne. Her body went flying towards Ali, she had no control over her directional orientation, spiralling and spinning like a leaf in a tornado.
All that she could see was blurry scenery. Her brain violently swished around in her skull as the endless spinning caused her stomach to do front flips. Finally, her body met a strong, abrupt halt. Ali's right hand tightly gripped her collar; the blood that still coated his hand stained the light coloured material of her haori.
As her vision finally settled, she met Ali, face to face.
Her hair was intensely dishevelled, but not as much as the emotions and anxiety that took hold of her mind when she realised her predicament. Fortunately for her, his left punches didn't have as much power as his right, but that didn't mean he would put any less effort into.
Ali's left fist curled into itself tight enough for him to feel his own nails digging into his skin. He twisted his foot and flexed his back. He drove his arm forward at an intense pace. Wind picked up and spiralled into the centre of the battlefield from all around the forest, racing to support the demon's strike.
Although there was an undeniable sorrow to strike the girl he once thought of as his sister, emotions, memories and sheer power all drove his fist forward. His knuckles shattered the tension-filled air and ferociously smashed into the centre of Eira's face.
Blood flew out of her now-broken nose, splattering onto Ali's fist, the impact making her ears unpleasantly ring and her vision to go white for a second.
In the moment of impact, her brain had caught something for a brief second, a vivid aura colour she was completely unfamiliar with.