Hyouka Kanenaki's move stunned everyone. No one had expected him to provoke the giant first.
Noe froze for a second, her heart pounding, blood rushing hot in her ears. Then she drew her Nichirin blade and stepped up behind him. "I'll help."
Yuka gave Akino a nod. He drew his own blade and moved to stand beside Hyouka Kanenaki. "Me too."
Kimura drew his blade. Eimi drew hers. One by one, the others followed, weapons out, closing in toward the center of the clearing to face the demons ringing them in.
Moonlight lay over the clearing like water, and the wind cut cold and bleak. The air reeked of iron and blood. Every nerve in the place felt drawn tight.
That was the truth of it: you couldn't want to join the Demon Slayer Corps and still flinch from demons.
There was no escape left, so it was better to face life and death head-on. Six days of running, six days of hiding. Now it was time to use their blades.
The Contestants' show of resolve set the demons off. They bared their fangs and shrieked.
"Don't stand with me. Staying here will only drag me down. Take them all away from here."
The words stung, but Noe knew he was right.
His Breathing Technique was unlike anyone else's; the cold it put out would affect everyone standing near him.
There was also a simple gap in strength. If they stayed, he'd have to split his focus between fighting and keeping them alive, and that would cost him.
For the first time, Noe felt truly useless, not even good enough to stand beside him. She lowered her head. "You... take care of yourself."
She exchanged a glance with Akino and walked back toward the main crowd.
The clearing wasn't large. Nearly everyone had heard him. Some looked relieved, some worried, most just stunned.
He wanted to face that giant alone?
How could he possibly win?
Either he's crazy, or I am.
Half of them wanted nothing more than to get away from the thing. Now that someone had led the way, the crowd scattered toward the edges of the clearing, leaving the center to the boy in white.
Only once everyone had cleared out did Hyouka Kanenaki let out a slow breath. Then, low under his breath: "Ice Breathing, First Form: Cold Tide."
White mist bloomed around him, spreading fast enough to catch. Ice crystals drifted down out of nowhere, and within seconds, a ring of white had formed with him at its center.
Cold Tide wasn't an attack. It sharpened his senses and amplified everything else he did. The mist and ice muddied an enemy's sight, dropped their body temperature, slowed their blood, and with it, the speed and force behind their attacks. It worked almost like a domain, something particular to his Breathing Technique alone.
It stunned everyone watching. Nobody had seen a Breathing Technique like it, and the boy clearly wasn't bluffing. Maybe he really could take the giant down.
In the crowd, Kimura and Eimi looked at each other, mouths half-open, like they both had something to say and neither could find it.
Kimura's instincts were sharp. Back in the square, he'd clocked the boy as different from the rest. He just hadn't clocked how different.
The Three-Headed Demon roared thunderously, and its bloated body came charging at him on legs too short for its size.
The roar might as well have been a starting gun. Demons in the trees and on the slope answered it, howling, and surged toward the Contestants at the clearing's edge. Only the Jumping Demon held its ground on the hillside, and the Spider Demon stayed crouched on its branch, waiting for an opening.
After six days of hunting and fleeing, the Contestants who remained all had some skill.
"Aim for the neck and slash. Don't hold back anymore. There's only one night left. Either they die, or we die. The longer we drag this out, the worse it gets for us."
Hyouka Kanenaki's voice rang out again from the center of the clearing. "I'll handle the Three-Headed Demon while everyone else takes the ordinary demons. Noe, Kimura, Akino, watch the Jumping Demon and the Spider Demon on the hillside. Don't let them sneak in during the chaos. If they come for me, don't worry about it, keep them from breaking everyone else's rhythm."
"Understood."
Kimura had never once imagined that he, the original captain, would end up taking orders from someone else.
It rankled a little. But whether any of them made it off Mount Fujikasane came down to whether that boy could take down the giant, and his plan made sense.
It was the Jumping Demon and the Spider Demon, in the end, that would crack everyone's nerves and start the team unraveling from the inside.
The two sides collided again. The Three-Headed Demon barreled straight for him.
Six arms shot out at once, reaching for him through the white mist.
"Ice Breathing, Second Form: Drifting Snow."
He gripped the hilt with both hands and swung hard. The mist and ice around him followed the blade's arc, trailing behind it in white.
He didn't give an inch against the six grasping arms. The blade caught each palm as it reached for him, and every cut left a wound rimmed with frost.
A few exchanges in, and everyone could see exactly what this white-haired boy was capable of.
Six arms meant fighting the equivalent of three opponents at once, and he was doing it alone. His swings were steady, his form composed, and he clearly hadn't gone all out yet, but the Three-Headed Demon was already screaming.
At first, the crowd only whispered. But watching him move the way he cut in and out, never wasting a step, their nerves came back fast.
If it weren't for the giant and the two things on the hillside, honestly, none of this would even scare them.
Screams went up from the crowd now and then, from demons and Contestants both.
The demons weren't smart. They fought on instinct, and it showed chaotic and undisciplined. Watch closely, and it broke down to a handful of moves: grab, claw, pounce, bite.
The hard part was that they healed fast and never seemed to tire. The only way to put one down for good was the neck.
Noe, Kimura, and Akino kept watch on the two demons on the hillside while helping the others clear out the rest.
Once the first demon dropped, the Contestants found their rhythm. Their hands stopped shaking on the hilts, and every so often, caught up in the fight, someone let out a shout that sounded almost happy. Six days of running had left them with a lot to burn off.
The Contestants gradually gained the upper hand.
Finally, the two demons on the hillside couldn't sit still any longer.
One launched off the ground, clearing ten meters easily. The fall alone would do damage; add the strength in its legs, and it'd be a lot worse.
The other poured down the tree trunk, its spine bending in ways nothing human should, and hit the ground running, just as fast as the Jumping Demon.
Which side would they choose?
The crowd of Contestants? Or Hyouka Kanenaki?
Both of them had felt his blade already. The Spider Demon had nearly died from it.
Noe, Kimura, and Akino caught the movement immediately. Every muscle in them went tight.
NB: Hyouka Kanenaki is still Cold Cry. Just leaving this note here for future reference so there's no confusion later.