A/N: That's right, the final selection standard but with a little touch of brutality, no sense of sight, and the fear of the unknown. Unlike the final selection we are familiar with the aspiring demon slayers know what they are up against, but this on the other hand, they don't know anything watch how it will turn my beloved readers.
*Huff *Huff
Tatsuya and the group of formally six but now three are running for their lives and looking for supplies
'Its been 5 days, on the second day Anko, Katsumichi, Sakono got separated from us, after all the days spent here, I still don't know what we are up against' Tatsuya cursed in his mind.
After running for sometime the group came to a stop, they wouldn't want to waste all their stamina running from an unseen enemy before it's even comes to sight.
"'Alright let's wait here for now" Tatsuya leans on the huge three to catch a breath. After some time in the fog their eyes have gotten a little bit adjusted to the environment.
"But here is really strange, even after five days no single animal has been found, we only live on vegetables and water" Minagawa says
"Yeah, and worse of all is that we still dont know what we are up against, all we do is run and run until we lost half of the group" Tatsuya frowns as he remembers what he said about protecting everyone and not letting a single one of them die
"Everyone will survive, I'm sure about it, everyone will survive" Ineyo clenches her fist in determination
"But those screams we heard at the beginning of the exams, I'm sure they were part of the people that left the village, but what was the cause of those screams" Minagawa ponders real deep
Tatsuya closes his eyes and tried if he could use his spatial awareness to check the surroundings and as usual, it was was dead silent almost as if they were in the spirit world.
Tatsuya saw his spatial awareness was just useless right now and just gave up on it. As Managawa tries to understand the situation, Tatsuya and Ineyo just sat there and stare at him clueless.
"Minagawa-kun what's....th..tha...that!!!" Ineyo points at the shadow behind Minagawa and revealing itself with the mouth wide open and was about to take Minagawa's head
"Minagawa move!!!" Tatsuya picks his Katana and dash towards it splitting it into two from the mouth down to the tail.
Tatsuya began to examine it.
"Its a Hyena" Tatsuya said
"A Hyee???" Minagawa and Ineyo were both confused
'Ohh that's right education system here is poor'
"Its a wild beast that eats raw meat, including a human's own" Tatsuya explains
"So we've finally seen our enemy" Minagawa says
"Ohhh That's some bad news" Ineyo comments
"Oh that's a great news, the bad news is that he didn't come alone, it came with his homies"
"Homies???, what are those, food?" Ineyo asks.
Tatsuya Spatial awareness picks them up all around them summing up to eight
"Ohhh, no no no" Tatsuya grins
"What's the problem Tatsuya-kun"
"11, 12,13, 14, 15 ohh boy we are screwed" Tatsuya gave up hope on anything called withdrawal and clenches his Katana tight and unsheathed it.
"You guys get ready, because this is going to be bloody as hell" Tatsuya tell Ineyo and Minagawa and both adheres to his words and get ready for battle.
The silhouette of the Hyenas were visible among the fog the three pays attention to their movements and stared focus. The hyenas were skinny, their eyes were red and they began to drool as if they were starved
*Roar
One jumps on Tatsuya, he side steps dodging it and making a clean cut and the head rolled on the floor and with that the rest of the Hyenas were raged and began to attack one after the other, The three of them were able to kill as many as possible until stamina kicked in.
*Huff *Huff
Minagawa and Ineyo pants heavily
"This is bad" Minagawa says
"There is no end to them" Ineyo kneels down with one leg to catch her breath
"You guys rest and leave them to me" Tatsuya says and begins to undress himself half way
'Sorry Mikoto-san, but I have lifes to protect here'
Tatsuya removes his top and the weight bracelets and the ones of his legs too, he was bare chested revealing his well built teenage muscles
"Alright, you all mountain freaks, come at me"
Tatsuya says and dash towards them at incredible speed laying them to waste one by one
"Wow, What speed" Ineyo's eyes was wide open
"Was Tatsuya-kun this fast" Minagawa says.
Tatsuya killed each of the Hyena until there was known left
*Huff
Tatsuya pants uncontrollably prompting Ineyo to rush to him
"Tatsuya-kun are you alright!?" She supports him to stand
"Yeah, I gue...."
Tatsuya SA(Spatial Awareness ) picks up another presence from the bush and he regains his fighting stance.
Slowly a the figure was coming closer to them, the more it came the more the number became, from one to two from two to three and....
"Taro-san, Anko-chan, Katsumichi-kun!!!" Ineyo says with a huge smile
"Ohh it's just you guys" Tatsuya says and falls on the ground passing out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Arrgghh, my head hurts"
Tatsuya grabs his head as he sits up slowly opening his eyes he sees everyone fast asleep and it was already night,
he looks around and noticed that the numbers increased and sees Sakono was injured in her left arm also sleeping on the ground
"We are complete thats nice" He smiles and went back to sleep
In the morning the following day, everyone were cheerful and happy, as they journeyed to back to Village but Tatsuya didn't know why
"Oi, What's up with the mood" Tatsuya asks
"What do you mean Tatsuya-kun? Today we are heading back to the village" Minagawa answers cheerful with a smile
"Wait a minute, you are trying to say I slept a whole day" Tatsuya asks
"Yeah, we found Sakono-chan injured and in a fight with some Hyendra..."
"Hyenas"
"Yes Hyenas" Minagawa says
"Ooh, is that so, and how are you sure that's is the way back to the village?" Tatsuya asks another question but nobody answered as they all stare at Sakono.
Sakono points her up
"The sky??" Tatsuya asks
"No idiot, the wind" Sakono says
"The village is located on top of a hill and the wind pressure goes down to the foot of the hill so is only knowledgeable to go opposite the pressure" Sakono says
"Hmmm?, genius, I never thought of that" Tatsuya laughs awkwardly
"Maybe because you spend much time tending to you hair than your head" Katsumichi says
"And look who is talking" Tatsuya and Katsumichi begins their usual grumble until they arrived
"We are here" Sakono says
The group looked at the huge open gates and a sense of relief and accomplishments came over them, they were indeed elated.
*Roaaaaarrrr
A huge Roar was heard and looking backwards was a 5 huge gorilla and one already launching a direct punch attack toward Ineyo, it was as slow as possible but yet fast
'Is this it' Ineyo thought in her mind
'I didn't even get to hear Tatsuya-kun answer, I'm such a loser right from time, I always end up staying behind Sakono-chan shadow, she always protected me" Ineyo began to see her live flash in her eyes
'I'm sorry Sakono-chan, I'm sorry Tatsuya-kun, I guess this is it..."
Ineyo!!!!!!!
Sakono pushed her out of the way and boom, the punch sends sakono flying and hits on the tree, the tree broke into two due to the Impact
Sakono!!!!
Ineyo dash towards her to help her
'What the fuck is happening, First Hyenas and Gorillas, what's going on' Tatsuya though began to accelerate as he thought of the event that occurred so far.
The gorillas began to bounce from one place to another beating their chest. They were drooling as if they were starved, their eyes were pure red.
'Its the same with the Hyenas, what's going on' Tatsuya thought to himself, the cry of Ineyo brings him out of his mind he didn't notice the gorilla that came from behind
Roar...
The gorilla throws a heavy punch at Tatsuya sending him far away from the group
'What the fuck is wrong with there strength'
Tatsuya was flying on the air and then crash on the floor
cough... cough...
Tatsuya coughs out blood
"Ehh this is bad internal bleeding" Tatsuya stares at his blood in his palm
"I have to get back to them"
Roar....
The gorilla was now in front of him
"Ohhh, you chased me up to this place, persistent"
Roar....
The gorilla roars and dash towards Tatsuya throwing series of punch, but Tatsuya calmly dodged all of them
'The gorillas I know aren't that peace loving but one thing I know for sure is that they don't attack carelessly, but why are these ones different, seriously what's going on' Tatsuya was thinking really hard as he matched the gorilla.
Tatsuya kicks towards the gorilla and swings his sword down but the gorilla uses his hands to punch back.Tatsuya swords gave it an injury but it wasn't that deep he uses the gorilla's hand and kicks upward spinning like forward at maximum speed to increase his thrust and strikes down again slicing the gorilla's chest but
Roar....
The gorilla roars in pain.
Tatsuya runs behind a tree to catch his breath as he began to ponder how to end this gorilla in one blow
Stealth, speed and silence were resounding in his head
"That's it..." Tatsuya says and breath in a large amount of air and exhales.
He erased his existence, he was at full stealth mode
'Yoshi, time to finish this" Tatsuya was at the gorillas back, the gorilla hasnt noticed it yet. Tatusya gathers all his strength to his limbs, his legs and arms, a heavy pain shot through his tibia, since the fight against the Hyena he has been experiencing a shocking pain there
But without much hesitation....
Boom....
Tatsuya kicks the ground dashing towards the gorilla and makes a clean strike runing through the neck
*thud
The gorillas head fell off
Tatsuya pants furiously
"I did, now time to head bac...." Tatsuya staggers and fell on one knee to the ground
'What's this, I'm losing consciousness at this point in time' Tatsuya uses his katana and stabs his leg making him feel a sense of pain
'With this I can I can move on now' Tatsuya drags himself up and move follows Sakono teaching, following the wind pressure back to the village.
Inside the village, all the captains from the first squad to the ninth squad were all on seated just beside the gates to welcome the ones who survived the fog was too thick so they couldn't see what's was going
"What's taking them so long" The captain of the 4th division grumbles
"Maybe they all died, hahahaha" The captain of the 5th laughs
"Death of young children amazes you?" The 3rd division captain asks
"Yes it does"
"Humphhh, psychopath"
"That's enough, let's quietly wait for them" Mikoto says and all of them kept quite
Back to the battle ground.
Katsumichi, Anko, Ineyo were together with Sakono as she slowly gave everything up, Minagawa was in panic and couldn't control himself only Taro was focused.
Taro held his Katana firmly as he looked at the remaining four Gorilla. One of the gorilla leaps towards him throwing a punch and the other one goes for Minagawa, Taro was vexed and ignored the one coming his way and dashed towards Minagawa and blocks the direct punch with his katana but the force sends him flying crashing into multiple trees
*cough *cough
Taro coughs out a mouth full of blood
"Damn it..." Taro cursed and got back on his feet and dash towards the gorilla that punched him, the gorilla likewise did the same and throws another punch to the approaching Taro, but Taro slides down dodging his at the same vain slashing his sword injuring the gorilla's arm, the gorilla roars in pain.
"That's serves you right for going after my brother"
*Roar....
The other gorilla throws a punch towards Taro, Taro stabs his katana into the ground and recieved the punch, the punch made a direct hit
*splut
He vomits more blood, but held the gorillas hand tight in his embrace
Ahhhhh....
Taro raises the gorilla up and smacks it down
Huff Huff...
Taro pants furiously
'I'm going know where with this' Taro thought to himself.
While all this fight were going on Sakono was at her last moment. Taro knew that, that's why he didn't bother the remaing to join him, in her last moment in this thick forest she was meant to be with her friends and he granted her that opportunity by taking on the gorillas alone.
cough...
Sakono coughs out blood
"Ineyo...sto..crying...you dumb girl"
Sakono forces herself to speak
"No Sakono-chan don't speak we will take you to the infirmary to get treated" Ineyo cries her eyes out
"As naive as ever....haha" Sakono laughs
"Be strong Ineyo, make sure you find happin..."
Sakono gave up the ghost
"Sakono! Sakono!!!" Ineyo shouts out her lungs
"Anko let's move" Katsumichi stands up wiping the tears off his eyes
"Yeah" Anko stands up and both heads towards Taro for give a helping hand
"You guys are done already" Taro asks
"Yeah!!!" The two answered in unison
"Let's take this animals down" They engage in a serious combat with the gorillas, while they were now three nothing still changed. they were overwhelmed by the gorilla strength and rigid body. Taro tool all the hit for the three of them because he was faster while the two focused on attack, but still nothing changed, Taro took most of the damage but not all.
Ineyo still held Sakono in her hands crying, Minagawa was still in panic and shivering due to the shock from the event he witnessed, Now down to Katsumichi, Anko and Taro and all three had reached it, they couldn't push forward, the gorillas were injured but not enough to make them stop or run away
"Hey, Taro-san, can we make it if we run for it"
Katsumichi asks
"Hardly, they would follow us and non of us can move that fast to outrun them" Taro answered
"I guess this is it then" Anko laughs as she drops her guard
*Roar.....
One of the gorilla leaps, moving towards Anko and throws a heavy blow but her body didn't quite she dodge it and slashed downwards to cut of the hand but the knife got stuck, the gorilla raise her with the knife and flings her far away towards the gate.
Two of the gorillas leaps towards Taro one punched him raising him up and the other leaps up and punched him down, it was a perfect combo
Taro smashes on the ground creating a crater on the ground but he hasn't taken enough beating to quite, he staggers his way up and and stays on fighting stance.
"You have to throw more than that to take me out" Taro shouts out his lungs and vomits more blood
Roar.....
The gorilla roars and a great silence fell on the area following it was the sound of something falling on the floor, it was the gorillas head and bodies and at their back was the bartered Tatsuya. without wasting much time Tatsuya dashed at incredible speed killing the remaining two with one strike
"Hey Katsumichi, I'm leaving Anko and rest in your hands make sure you cross those huge gates"
Tatsuya says and moves towards Taro
"Don't order me around bastard" Katsumichi grumble but still did it he carried the unconscious Anko on his shoulder and helped Minagawa stand up at his feet and urged Ineyo to stand up and follow him
"Taro-san I don't need to ask that you are at your limit" Tatsuya whispers slowly
"Haaaa, I guess you've caught me" Taro says as his clothes were drenched in his blood even the ground
"Just how many punches have you received" Tatsuya ask rhetorically
"I guess a lot" Taro chuckles
"I can't even feel my limbs, I can't feel anything at all" Taro sighs
"So what are we going to do about it" Tatsuya asks
*roar....
The tiny roars of the Hyenas were heard as their figures displayed in the fog
"I guess you've gotten you answer" Taro chuckles
"Neh, Tatsuya-kun, I have one request, please watch over Minagawa for me, now make the run for it"
Taro pushes Tatsuya away and staggers towards the approaching hyenas
Tatsuya nods and makes the run for the gate
Inside the village just beside the gates
"I knew it they are all dead later we will send the search team to get their missing bodies if any" The the 5th division captain laughs
"Huhh?"
The captain were all surprised, Katusmichi and the rest of the group crossed the gates successfully.
"Hey go help them immediately, if there are any injured ones take them to the health centre and be fast about it" Satoshi commands the Ninja guards close by, and they did as they were commanded
"I guess he didn't make it" Satoshi looks at Mikoto.
Mikoto smiles and points to the gate, coming into the village through the gates was the battered Tatsuya staggering, immediately two more Ninjas went to support him to the Health center
"I guess this is it, send the search team to collect the body of the dead"
Mikoto commanded and leaves the place.
Few hours later in the Health center
Everybody where gathered in one room, they were all injured, the most injured was Tatsuya but he still managed to walk, Minagawa had regained himself from the panic attack, Ineyo was still emotionally shattered Anko was fast asleep, Only Tatsuya, Katsumichi and Minagawa were able to stand
"Neh Tatsuya-kun, if you had the strength to run, why didn't you carry Nii-san with you?" Minagawa questioned Tatsuya just kept quiet And looked at Minagawa
"Tatsuya-kun I asked a fucking question and I need an answer!!!" Minagawa barks, but Tatsuya just kept quiet
"I'm not as strong as you, I'm not as smart as you, but yet, you were strong, calm and collected in that situation but you didn't do anything, why Tatsuya-kun why??" Minagawa began to cry
"Leave!!..."Minagawa points towards the door of the ward. Tatsuya turns his back and head towards the door, when he came shoulder to shoulder with Katsumichi,
" 'Please watch over Minagawa for me', was his last words" Tatsuya whispers to Katsumichi hearing and leaves the ward
On the way back to Mikoto's mansion
"Today we lost, a friend, brother and sister, so this is what the final stage is"