Amare Flos (Demon Slayer)

Blood Demon Art. Destructive Death: Air Type. 

Akaza's chest rose as he flexed his entire body; he assumed a stance in mid-air as he began to batter the air in front of him with his fists. The molecules of air themselves twisted as Akaza's shockwaves clashed with Eira's slashes. A wide grin still remained on his face, the exhilaration of battle only rose and rose within him as the fight continued. He could now see how Ali had been defeated in a matter of seconds. She was truly on another level, a freakish strength even for a Demon Slayer. The shockwaves had completely negated the slashes. 

Eira had three seconds til Akaza reached the ground from his aerial position. She needed to create an opportunity for the tree ambusher to inject Akaza. She was sure Akaza had probably already sensed him, but if she could just…

"Ayumu, Yukina! Go!" Eira held her sword firmly and dashed forward. Likewise, Ayumu paced towards the area where Akaza was to drop. 

"Ice Breathing. Fourth Form: Winter's Breeze!" Eira shouted loud and clear. There it was, the signal. If she shouted her technique, it meant an opportunity was coming. Ayumu's eyes widened as he studied the field, he quickly spotted the one member in the tree. If Eira was attacking from the front, Ayumu had to restrict Akaza from any other direction. 

Eira's speed excelled Ayumu's, within a second of Akaza landing on the ground, she had ripped across the distance towards him. Akaza put his arms up once again. They tensed fiercely as he awaited her attack with that same crazed glare directed at Eira. His arms were cleaved right off by Eira's glistening blade. Akaza instantly countered he kicked directly forward into Eira's wrist, which sent her flailing backwards. 

Akaza quickly glanced backwards, a weakling had jumped out of the tree, carrying that horrid syringe. 

One could only see the next events if time was slowed. As Akaza's arms regenerated molecule by molecule, flesh crawled upwards like a root digging out of the ground. In the next millisecond, Ayumu was on Akaza's left side, his eyes wide. His sword swung right at Akaza's neck. 

Akaza only had two options. Protect his neck and allow the weakling to stab him. Or kill the weakling and allow Ayumu to decapitate him. His own hubris had put him at a major disadvantage. The kick that he had delivered to Eira still lingered in momentum, he could only use one leg to dash. There was no direction he could safely dash in. Eira had stood back up again in front of Akaza, the weakling was behind him and Ayumu was to his left. If he dashed to the right, he would not escape Ayumu's slash. 

Akaza's palms slammed into Ayumu's blade, tightly gripping the cold metal. His body flexed and throbbed with exhilaration and adrenaline. Just as his palms met the cold metal of Ayumu's blade. The weakling screamed out in exasperation, the wisteria injection penetrating Akaza's tough skin. He desperately pushed the syringe deeper and emptied its contents into Akaza's shoulder. 

The first step towards victory had been taken. A feeling of triumph watched over all those who watched.

Akaza's blood boiled as he felt the syringe stab into his shoulder, the very idea that he let a weakling get the advantage over him infuriated him to an unfathomable level. Although the poison was supposed to weaken Akaza, his sheer rage made it seem as if it had the opposite effect. His eyes sharpened with an intense culmination of hatred and fury. Almost immediately, he gripped Ayumu's sword, he could feel the firm grip of Ayumu on the hilt, almost unbreakable. He hurled the sword, combined with Ayumu in Eira's direction, forcing Eira to dodge or change her path. With the few seconds he had just bought, he was going to make this poor weakling's last few seconds the most agonising in his entire existence. 

Akaza's fist ferociously slammed into the ambusher's chest. His entire rib cage discombobulated into tiny pieces, his body was flung towards the tree he leapt out of. His back winced as hundreds of splinters stabbed into his back, the very impact against the tree cracked the trunk in several areas. As his vision began to blur and fade, the last sight he was faced with was the terrifying Akaza flying right towards him, with no pity, sympathy or mercy in his spirit. A darkness enveloped his sight.

Eira watched in horror as Akaza's fists mercilessly beat the corpse til it was nothing but a battered mess of dripping blood and exposed flesh. 

Eira saw this sight of ferocious rage not as a horrifying warning, but as an opportunity. 

Ice Breathing. Seventh Form. Blistering Icicle. 

Eira blitzed through the air at an incredible speed, at first, her katana's swing was aimed for Akaza's head, but she remembered her plan. She needed to deliver the half-dead body of Akaza to Ali. She needed to. Like Akaza, Eira's hubris had overtaken her. 

This moment of hesitation did not serve any benefit to Eira in her swift movement towards Akaza, the millisecond she was unsure, Akaza twisted his arms towards her. She was going too fast to halt. Akaza's mouth spread in a gruesome smile as he scraped the ground with his left foot forward. He turned his back and put an intense concentration of energy into his right fist. As soon as Eira's body had reached in range for Akaza, he unleashed his fist, saturated with all his seething rage, compressed into a vigorous punch. 

Eira could tell from the deep crimson aura's bursting essence, the pounding of her head desperately screaming at Eira to retreat in any way possible. She could tell this blow was likely to kill her. She could picture Akaza's fist gruellingly piercing through her stomach. 

Akaza's knuckles smashed into Eira's stomach. The force vibrated throughout her entire body, the impact caused her vision to go white and her ears began ringing uncontrollably. Her nerves and muscles were all cloaked in an uncontrollable shaking, cold sweat broke out on her skin almost instantly, and she vomited blood on impact. Her body was flung backwards and she tumbled to the ground and lay there. Not moving. Akaza was sure he had only hit her hard enough for her to be unconscious for a few hours. If he wanted to kill her, he would've hit harder. 

Every ambusher who watched felt an ominous atmosphere cloud the very forest as Eira lay still. Anxiety, fear and terror plagued everyone's mind at an uncontrollable rate. They were frozen in their positions, unable to move due to the paralysis Akaza's attack had caused to them on a psychological level. Everyone in that area knew. They were guaranteed death. 

"Hey! Over here!" Ayumu's voice boomed, he was bleeding from his forehead, his arms were bruised as revealed by his torn uniform. He had still not been actually attacked by Akaza, but just Akaza's powerful pushes and throws had caused this much damage. Yukina, who was still frozen near the tree, stared in sheer horror. Ayumu was next. Eira was defeated, and now Ayumu was the next strongest. She shook in fear as she watched Akaza turn towards Ayumu. A disgusting evil grin fabricated on Akaza's face, as he watched in amusement at Ayumu's brave act. 

"Come… fight me…" Ayumu held his sword in front of him and inhaled deeply, even though it hurt every time he breathed. He handled it, for the people who had died. Only six ambushers remained of the thirteen they started with, they were still frozen in their positions. Syringes in hand, yet they seemed to be of no use now as the entire situation seemed completely hopeless. 

Akaza glanced at Ayumu with a cocky grin, he was sure he was going to win, but he was able to respect the strength of Ayumu to still stand. Still fighting. 

Water Breathing. Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust

Ayumu's body strained as he dashed forward at an incredible speed, of course, he wasn't on the par of Akaza and Eira, yet his speed was still substantial. His blade rotated in his hands as he closed the distance between him and Akaza. He felt the blood drip down further down his face. He viciously swung at Akaza's neck horizontally. 

Akaza stopped the weak swing with his palm. It only managed to slice Akaza's palm a bit. 

Ayumu stared forward at Akaza in disbelief. The menacing glare of the yellow eyes that read 'Upper Moon Three' stained deep into Ayumu's soul. A fist slammed straight into Ayumu's stomach, it wasn't particularly powerful from Akaza, yet it was enough to make Ayumu spit blood and break several ribs. 

Yukina gasped in concern, the boy who had just been speaking of how he wanted an udon stall in the future was now being beaten out of any possibility of that future. Yukina's eyes widened when she saw Ayumu slowly glance at her, his blood-stained teeth, the blood dripping off his lip. His eyes were low as he battled pain. He smiled slightly. Her heart pounded with guilt, her hands trembled unstably. 

She stared at Ayumu being punched and punched over again, the only sound that filled the silent void of the forest. Her heart ached. 

"What possessed you to fight me? After I beat that Hashira?" Akaza chuckled, taunting Ayumu relentlessly. 

"Stop it!" Yukina's voice screamed, tears freely flowing down her face as her entire body trembled, "Leave him alone!" 

Her sword was faced in front of her weakly, it was frailly held. 

"Just please… let him live…" Yukina's vision was blurry from the tears that welled in her eyes, "Stop punching him," 

Akaza's eyes narrowed at Yukina with a certain distaste, the weak bystander begging for a fight between two people to be stopped. It was a sight he hated seeing. 

"I won't punch him ok? I'll slap him," Akaza cruelly joked as he raised his hand stretched out and laughed. That's when he realised. His eyes glanced down at the slice that Ayumu had made on his palm. His heart seemed to stop, blood still leaked from the wound, it was sluggishly joining. It couldn't be possible, the wisteria poison couldn't possibly have been that potent and concentrated. His regeneration had dropped in efficiency by fifty. He stared at the wound long enough for Ayumu to notice

"What's wrong?" Ayumu snickered lowly, his voice was broken from the beating he had suffered. His eyes were red and his face pale from the lack of blood flow. His torso was in agony from all the broken bones. Fortunately, none had ruptured any vital organs. 

"Worried?" Ayumu's voice echoed like a large bell in Akaza's head, a direct insult to his strength. Ayumu's one word taunt severely injured Akaza's pride. Akaza's veins erupted in rage, he balled up his fist, both to cover up the wound and to resume his ruthless beating.

Akaza hesitated once more. His eyes, once saturated by hatred and rage, now had a hint of an unknown, no, long-forgotten emotion. Fear. His head slowly turned to the left. His heart pounded in his chest as his eyes locked on the disturbing sight. Eira stood once again, her sword loosely gripped by her right arm, a disturbing grin etched onto her face. How was she up? How could she still be conscious after that attack? Akaza's perception of fighting spirits were weakened by the poison. But to miss Eira's powerful essence... Her eyes were wide, glaring into Akaza's very soul. Her presence itself had a profound impact on everyone who hid from Akaza's wrath. A beacon of hope had risen. A small ember of hope still remained. She slowly half-squatted down, her jaw clenched as she felt the agony in her entire body. She launched herself high into the sky. 

"Ice Breathing! Eleventh Form! Winter's… Conclusion" Eira shouted loud enough for the entire world to hear. Simultaneously, it activated the reflex of every ambusher. The signal had been called, Eira was going to create an opening.