Genya Shinnazugawa wished he hadn't taken this stupid mission in the first place. If truth be told, it really was hard for him to ever deny the chance to slay a demon and prove his worth. After all, he could never truly become a Pillar like his older brother if he was hesitant in taking on a demon. And he truly thought beating that headless bastard had been a step in the right direction towards proving that. "Sanemi always said that a truly strong Demon Slayer doesn't fear any demon…but this,", he thought as he stared up the behemoth of a demon, its several spider-like eyes glaring down angrily at him, "this is just ridiculous."
The creature brought down its sizable fist to crush him underneath it, but Genya was quick in jumping back and avoiding this terrible fate. Regardless, the impact of the fist on the ground was still enough to send him sprawling a couple feet back before coming to a halt, not even able to get up and forced to roll forward to avoid the spider demon jumping in trying to crush him under its feet the moment the boy came to a stop. Despite avoiding being stomped on and rising again, Genya would move to attack the demon's back, forced to duck when it spun its body around and swung a backhanded fist at his head. Dodging the blow and slipping into his foe's guard, he leaped forward while thrusting his kodachi right at the hulking creature's throat. The blade would sink just under a third of the way in before coming to a stop, causing its wielder the grit his teeth, "Damn…bastard's got a tough neck!"
Realizing he would be unable to pierce through like that, Genya planted a foot on the spider demon's chest and used it to push himself away from it. He was not fast enough as the hulking creature swung its arm at him once again and managed to just barely graze him with the back of its hand, only that was enough to send the scarred Demon Slayer flying a good distance, his fall luckily broken by landing on the river and thus leaving him unharmed, "…and, no shit, it's strong as all hell too…" Genya thought as he rose, completely drenched and very cold. That, however, was the least of his problems, easily evidenced by the massive spider demon jumping in at him again, landing right in front of the boy while bringing both fists down in another attempt to crush him. Genya would throw himself back in order to evade the spider demon at the last possible moment, and the fists instead exploded on the river, raising a great deal of water into the air and causing it to rain down for a moment on the vicinities.
As the water had obscured its view for a moment, the demon lost track of Genya and looked around growling in search of the boy. The Demon Slayer would hide underwater, taking advantage of the falling water obscuring his sound to rise beside the spider demon, slashing with his kodachi at the beast's heel. The demon roared in pain, collapsing on a knee while angrily trying to swat its foe aside. Genya backed up just short of his its arm range, and swung his blade opposite to it, using his foe's strength against it in a way that allowed the Slayer to slice off a large chunk of flesh off its forearm.
Genya would dive forward and grab the clump of sliced flesh off his opponent, and though he managed to get a hold of it, he'd be hit head on with a swing of the demon's other arm and be sent flying across the air, landing roughly on the river once again. The creature growled and strode towards the fallen Slayer ready to finish what should certainly be a dying foe after that blow. That assumption was quickly proven wrong one as Genya rose from the cold waters once again, chewing on a mouthful of demon flesh.
"You're a pretty chewy motherfucker, ain't ya...?" He asked after swallowing the mouthful of demon flesh and taking another bite of the chunk he tore off, "That's okay though...I've eaten a lot worse not too long ago."
The demon stared at him hatefully as the ripped off the flesh in its arm regenerated, "You don't feel human…" It said in a deep gravelly voice, "But if you can't leave my family alone, I'll just have to crush you, whatever you are!"
"Oh? So the brainless mass of muscle can talk after all!" The boy cackled, raising his kodachi, "Sorry, freak! That won't happen!" Genya told him before declaring proudly, "I'm a Demon Slayer! Killing ugly pieces of shit like you comes with the job!"
The spider demon roared again and rushed at him. Genya would move to meet its dash, forcing the last handful of flesh down his mouth and swallowing it whole. Much like expected, the demon would swing its fist at him the moment the Slayer was close, but with renewed speed, the boy leaped in to land his foot on the back of his descending fist and using it as a platform to jump over the spider demon while slashing at its various eyes. He then took a dive over its head while taking a hold of his luckily waterproof and already loaded gun stored inside his yukata, preparing to draw it and blast the thing's brains from the back of its ugly head while he was still in midair.
Unfortunately, it seemed as if his earlier slash hadn't blinded all of the creature's eyes, as it followed his trajectory with its head and spun around to catch Genya with the back of its fist while mid-draw. The Demon Slayer, however, managed to see the attack coming despite being mid-fall and upside down, and thus reacted by spinning around his body and swinging his kodachi at the arm right before the blow landed and once again sent him flying down towards the river leaving a deep gash on the demon's arm, his blade having cut more than halfway through the length of the limb, slashing through bone and everything.
Furthermore, the spider demon would barely be given the time to regenerate as Genya furiously burst out from the water, kodachi raised above him while glaring at his foe with murder in his eyes. The spider, though evidently not having thought the boy would get up from that blow so quickly, punched at him with its good arm, only for the Demon Slayer to easily predict such a move and dodge it, weaving past the beast while slashing deeply along the side of its midsection. It roared in pain, and once again tried to spin around while trying to backhand the Slayer with its fist. It did not expect that, with immense effort and some skidding back, plus getting proper footing and bracing himself for it, Genya would actually manage to stop its blow, taking a tight hold of the monster's arm.
"Aham Brahmaasmi...Aham Brahmaasmi...Aham Brahmaasmi..." He quietly chanted a Buddhist mantra of fortitude, teeth gritted and veins popping of his head before, with a sudden burst of strength, dragging the creature over him and managing to judo flip it over him and onto its back, hitting the river heavily. Not wasting another moment, Genya slammed down a foot onto the creature's throat in his best attempt to keep it down before raising his kodachi above his head with a two-handed grip and bringing down his blade to chop off its head. Despite his boost of strength however, he was still having trouble cutting through the creature's incredibly tough neck, "C'mon, you son of a bitch...just die already!"
Genya only managed to hack his way a third of the way through the beast's neck before it reacted, and he'd suddenly feel his left arm being grabbed and violently crushed under the creature's grip. He'd barely have time to cry out in pain before he was dragged off the spider demon and shoved underwater. Even with the tight grip on his broken arm, he'd try to rise to the surface, only to have the demon's other hand suddenly grab his neck, shoving him back down into the river's bottom.
Being choked and pushed underwater, Genya found himself quickly losing his breath, his vision growing blurred as he struggled against its grip desperately. The fact that he hadn't at all been prepared for and ended up taking a breath of water the moment he was underwater didn't help much either. It wouldn't be long until his vision began blurring and his consciousness started to slowly slip away, "C'mon, damnit...fight back...struggle..." Genya told himself while trying and failing to escape the hulking creature's grip, "Are you really that pathetic...?"
Maybe he was. After all, it was obvious the fact that he couldn't use breathing techniques crippled him in relation to the other Senses, let alone his older brother. He remembered, trying to learn the Breath of Wind like Sanemi had from a Demon Slayer Cultivator, only to be unable to even grasp the basics because of an unforeseen disability. He'd been told to give up, to go live a normal life, but how could he ever? His older brother was out there, risking his life as a Demon Slayer, fighting the very same things that had ruined their lives the day every single family member they had left save for the two brothers themselves were killed in a demon attack. How could he ever live with himself if he didn't show that same dedication to avenging their family?
He'd been told however that despite crippling him as a Demon Slayer, his abnormality was not without its advantages. His lungs might've lacked the needed power to learn breathing techniques, but he had a stomach unlike any other, capable of digesting pretty much anything in record speeds, plus another mysterious smaller organ next to it no doctor was able to identify. Said organ, as he figured later, was likely the reason he could eat demons and temporarily gain their powers from it. Initially, that process left him terribly sick and with stomach aches that felt as if he had a spike being run through his body, but eventually, he was able to adapt and began noticing the changes in himself afterward. He'd stolen a nichirin sword from his old cultivator and went off to take the Final Selection exams with his unnatural gift and little formal training. Due to being the last to pick out the metal for his blade back then after his scuffle with who he later learned to be Tanjiro, he'd ended up with a shitty kodachi, almost as a punishment for his actions. However, he did have a specialized gun he stole from his brother, plus a contact to replenish his bullets in between missions.
It was all somewhat crazy, thinking back on it, but he made do. He fought back and killed every single demon that had stood in his way up to this point, and unexpectedly enough managed to forge some sort of bond with a few fellow Slayers, but there he was anyway, having his last few thoughts before he drowned and died. So was the underwhelming in the tale of Genya Shinazugawa...
"...ah, fuck that! I'm not letting it end like this!" The Demon Slayer thought then, sheer stubbornness and willpower mixing to give him one last chance which he grasped with all his strength. Taking out his gun from inside his yukata, he pointed it upwards, pulling the trigger with his index to fire a blast of nichirin bullets at the spider demon with enough power to push the creature back, causing it to stumble away from him while roaring in pain at the large wound in its chest. Genya, meanwhile, sat back up, coughing out water before finally being allowed to breathe again, left panting heavily after nearly meeting a wet and cold end underneath the demon's hand.
The spider demon, however, seemed none too pleased to see its foe rising again, and made an immediate dash towards Genya. In spite of still recovering from nearly drowning, the boy was quick to react in order to dodge the beast's tremendously strong blows. He ducked underneath an overhead punch and backed away to avoid being crushed by a hammer blow, giving enough time for his broken arm to heal. He then dashed again at the monster and when it tried to swing its arm to bat the Demon Slayer aside, he would manage to slide over the beast's arm and move behind it, quickly leaping in to climb its back before it could fully turn around again and reach its head, grabbing his kodachi by the hilt with one hand while the other gripped the edgeless side of the blade, wrapping it around the demon's neck and beginning to pull back hard.
The creature roared and thrashed, trying to get Genya off its back, but the boy held on tightly, all the while pulling back his blade deeper into the creature's neck. "Just die already you motherfucker!" He exclaimed, tugging at his blade tighter and tighter while holding onto the beast's back for dear life. He would get over halfway through hacking its head off when the desperate demon decided to fall back first on the river, trying to crush Genya underneath it. Not wanting to be left in a vulnerable position for the beast to try and drown him again, he was forced to jump off its back mid-fall, allowing it to crash down on the water by itself.
It rose again quickly, its neck left hanging in place by a thread but regenerating regardless. Rather than dashing in at Genya again as he expected though, the demon would instead jump away from the boy and towards the shore, stumbling upon landing before collapsing down on all fours, its body shaking uncontrollably. The Demon Slayer saw this and, in spite of not knowing what the demon was going to do, he dashed off after it before it could get back up again. Running through the water would slow him down, but upon reaching the shore he would be able to move in straight towards the downed beast but stop just short of reaching it when a large crack emerged on its back.
He watched in horrid fascination as the creature's body broke apart and out of it rose something even larger. The demon had seemingly undergone a transmutation, towering over the Demon Slayer even more so than before. Its head was bigger, with several more teeth and several more eyes, with the dots marking its arms replaced by protruding spikes. As if that wasn't enough already, Genya would watch as each of its arms split in two, giving it four massive arms to hit him with, each with its series of spikes, "...this is bad." He realized with widened eyes, sweating cold as the creature turned its gaze down of him before unleashing a furious roar that echoed its way to that mountain, "Very bad."
Zenitsu would flinch as a distant but nonetheless monstrous roar reached his ears. He wasn't at all eager to meet the thing that would produce such a terrifying sound. Nonetheless, he continued heading up the mountain in search of Tanjiro and Inosuke. If he was being honest with himself though, he currently felt quite skittish. Even after defeating that puppeteer demon, the idea that even more powerful demons lurked in this mountain really didn't help to ease him, and neither did the roar he just heard. Luckily, it seemed to have come from further down in the mountain, so all he needed to do was keep going up, right?
It wouldn't take long for Zenitsu to realize how erroneous that line of thought really was, and it all started when the forestation around him suddenly vanished, opening up to a large clearing and, more notably so, an old decrepit-looking mansion. The boy slowed from his frantic pace as his attention was taken by the seemingly abandoned house, walking up to it curiously. He silently wondered just who would build something like that in such a remote and desolate place. Then, he remembered the remote and desolate house in the mountains where he'd seen Inosuke and Tanjiro first fight in, and how even though he never entered the place, it was obviously full of demons.
"…yeah, okay, time to get out of here and keep moving." A sweating Zenitsu thought nervously, backing away from the house but being stopped when he heard someone else speaking.
"A Demon Slayer…all the way here…? Did they not stop you?" A young voice said from above before a figure leaped from atop the mansion, landing right in front of the blond and causing him to back up in surprise. The figure in question looked even younger than himself, wearing a white kimono with a spiderweb-like pattern, but his pale features and dark eyes plus the strong resemblance to the demon he had slain just a while earlier made it clear that this was, in fact, a demon. The boy-looking creature stared at him fiercely with the one eye uncovered by its fringe. "What happened to my family?"
"...I don't know what you're talking about." Zenitsu told him nervously, stepping back as his right hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
"I think you do." The childlike demon responded, taking another step closer to the Slayer in complete disregard of his hand gripping the katana, "After all, my family would never let someone like you get this far up the mountain to hurt me without some sort of confrontation...so tell me, Demon Slayer, and I'll be able to deal out your due punishment...which of them did you kill?"
Zenitsu, however, chose not to respond with words, instead drawing his blade and immediately swinging it for the demon's neck to take advantage of his proximity and end the fight before it even began. The demon didn't react in the slightest and, when the blade reached his neck, it would be stopped without barely even piercing skin. The blond widened his eyes in shock while the demon narrowed his own.
"I guess it doesn't really matter who you killed..." He decided, before backhanding Zenitsu and sending him flying some fifty feet back in the process, "In the end, I'd just kill you all the same."
Rising again shakily, the boy would stare up in shock, still dazed from the blow he'd just taken, but painfully aware that he'd heavily underestimated the demon before him, "What...just what are you...?" He asked, left astounded at the boy's strength.
"Hm...I guess it's a fair question. My family knows me as Rui...however, " The newly introduced Rui moved aside his fringe to uncover his eye and the emblem imprinted on his pupil, "your kind probably recognizes me more by the title of Lower Moon Four."
Zenitsu immediately froze as he saw the Lower Moon symbol on the demon's eye. Even after defeating the puppeteering demon earlier and getting a confidence boost from it, he still knew his place among Demon Slayers and the realization that this was, in fact, facing a Demon Moon even more powerful than the one Tanjiro had barely beaten by himself proved way too much for his mental state, leading to him rather unceremoniously fainting, falling down limply on his side.
Rui stopped then as the blond Demon Slayer fell down seemingly unconscious. He wondered for a second if this was only a trick the boy was using to fool him into getting close and giving him another chance to attack. He didn't much care either way, because it really didn't change what he was going to do. That is to say, he lifted a finger to produce a thin string attached to it with his Blood Demon Art, and raised his hand to bring it down and maybe sever a leg or two. It wasn't like he wanted to kill the boy too quickly, after all.
Right as he was about to do that, however, he'd heard some loud yelling from nearby, and blink before turning to see a strange sight. Flying straight towards him, probably leaping from a nearby tree branch, was a boar-headed Demon Slayer, brandishing two jagged blades and exposing his muscular bare chest for all to see. Rui reacted quickly and swung his arm at the swordsman to slash him in two mid-jump with his string, only for the Slayer to swing one of his jagged blades to meet it. The edge of his blade struggled against the string for a solid moment before, just as expected, the string cut its way through the metal and nearly bisected the boar down to the middle, only for him to spin midair quickly to only narrowly avoid the string and slash at Rui with his other blade, the Lower Moon jumping back in order to dodge the blow.
"Damn...those are sharp!" The beastly swordsman grunted, staring at his blade, its tip diced right off from clashing with the demon's strings. He didn't seem unmotivated in the slightest by it however as he pointed the dull tip of his katana at Rui, "Still, that's to be expected from a Demon Moon! You're gonna make a worthy opponent! Now, come at me!"
Rui blinked at the boy's eagerness at facing him, not having expected such an odd figure to come by. Evidently though, if another Demon Slayer had come through, it further cemented his suspicions that some of his family was no longer among them. It wasn't as if he couldn't replace them, as he'd done so many times in the past before, but it was nonetheless very annoying, "You don't seem to fully realize what you're up against here..."
"Oh, I do! I heard all your bragging, but I'm gonna cut you up all the same!" The Demon Slayer boldly declared, "Lower Moon or not, you're just another demon! I'm gonna slay you just like I did that freak with the spider body!"
Narrowing his eyes, Rui frowned, "...so you killed my brother." He said, more glad at having his answer than saddened by the murder of a family member. Raising his hand, he summoned a string attached to each of its fingertips. "Fine...if it's a fight you want, a fight is what you'll get. Let's see how long it'll be before you start begging for mercy."
The Demon Slayer moved in at him, and Rui lashed out with his strings one by one to intercept him. He watched as the dashing boar dove to the side to avoid the first one, rolling to immediately get up and jump over the second one, bending his body to the side to narrowly avoid the third one and sliding on the ground to evade the last two. Reaching the Lower Moon, he'd try to aim a blow at the neck, only to be forced to suddenly jump when Rui produced five more strings from his free hand and sent them all at him with a horizontal swing of his arm. The swordsman flipped over the demon and his strings, swinging at his neck while directly above him, trying for decapitation despite his awkward position. His foe, however, only moved his head slightly to the side to evade the blow as the swordsman completed his flip by landing behind him, quickly turning around to swing his blades at the Lower Moon, except every single one of his slashes was easily dodged with the barest of motions, until at least the demon decided to flick a finger and raise a string in order to intercept one of his katana, the thread bending with the blow's power, but standing unbroken regardless of the pressure. Rui then took advantage of his foe's open guard to land a kick in his gut, sending the boar-headed swordsman sprawling a good distance away.
"Maybe you understand now," Rui told the Demon Slayer, who grunted, struggling to rise to his feet again after taking such a blow head-on, "What hope do you have of beating me? After all, as your friend there might attest to, my neck is far harder than those strings you're struggling to cut."
Even from underneath the boar head, the swordsman was clearly glaring at him as he rose fully and raised both his blades determined to keep on fighting. Rui though did not care, raising a finger and produced another string from its tip before bringing it down to rapidly whip it at the Demon Slayer. Rather than trying to dodge as Rui expected, however, he instead tightened the grip on both his blades, drawing them both back, "Breath of the Beast, Sixth Fang..." Then, right as the attack was about to land, he swung both blades simultaneously at the string from different directions, "Jagged Gnaw!"
The two katana clashed against the strings for a tense moment, both applying great force from opposite ends before finally managing to cut through the string, causing it to loudly snap under the serrated edges of his blades. Rui widened his eyes in surprise at this, while the boar-headed Slayer cackled in delight, "Guess you're the one who doesn't know what he's up against, huh?" He asked, shooting back the demon's own question at him, visibly annoying the Lower Moon, "I told you already, you're just another demon! Nothing the great Lord Inosuke cannot handle!"
Scoffing, Rui narrowed his eyes, "Alright then…you might be stronger than I initially thought," He admitted begrudgingly, raising both hands and summoning a string to each of his fingertips, "Now let's see how far that strength takes you." With a wave of his hand, Rui would swing five strings horizontally at his opponent, forcing him to leap over them before bringing down his other hand and swinging another five strings at him vertically. Inosuke though spun midair, diving down right in between two of the strings and rolling upon landing to quickly rise, swinging his blade upwards at Rui and catching the demon off-guard, very narrowly hitting him as he backed away at the last moment, the blade instead only tearing a hole into his kimono.
Inosuke would close in, leading to the two locking in a close-range exchange, with his rapid and constant sword swings being avoided by Rui's quick dodging, interrupted occasionally when the demon retaliated with one of his strings and forced the swordsman to dodge before resuming his offensive. This was interrupted when Inosuke brought down both his blades on the Lower Moon, allowing Rui to quickly move behind him, raising his hand and summoning a string in each of his fingers, bringing them all down to shred the Demon Slayer to pieces. Inosuke reacted quickly, however, kicking his hand aside and causing the strings to miss in a display of unnatural flexibility before turning around and slashing at him with his unbroken sword, finally managing to get a hit in finally as the blade left a gash on the side of Rui's face.
The Lower Moon Four leaped back in frustration at actually getting hit by the Demon Slayer, even as the cut in his face quickly healed. Inosuke once again moved after him, leading him to snarl before bringing down a single string on the swordsman, once again trying to hack him apart. Rather than having it hit head-on though, Inosuke swung his shortened blade to deflect it to the side, and close in on the demon, stabbing at him with his unbroken sword. Rui would grit his teeth as the blade's serrated edge grazed along the side of his neck, actually managing to cut past his skin somewhat, but was still far from decapitating him. Still, this whole development angered the Lower Moon greatly, to the point where he immediately tried to retaliate by summoning and bringing down ten strings at once on Inosuke, practically forcing the swordsman to back away.
Rui was beyond enraged at these developments, even as the cut on his neck healed as well, and the fact that the boar-headed swordsman who had been giving him so much trouble was, in turn, laughing ecstatically at his expense did little in diminishing that, "Oh, man! You were right! That neck of yours is hella tough!" He raised both his blades gleefully, "Still, I guess I'll just have to swing harder if I wanna kill your ass!"
"This human...this annoying, pesky human..." The demon grit his teeth annoyedly for a moment, but proceeded to take a deep breath, "No...calm down. It's been too long since anyone's even challenged me...I've grown used to easier fights." Rui concluded, before glancing over to the side, some thirty or so feet away, where the yellow-clad Demon Slayer was still lying unconscious in the ground. "Maybe I should consider going about this in a more tactical way..." He thought, narrowing his eyes as Inosuke dashed in at him again, and he raised a single finger with a thread attached to it, but rather than aiming it at the boar, he instead turned around and began bringing it down towards the downed Demon Slayer behind him.
"Wait, stop! He's got nothing to do with this!" Inosuke declared angrily, before recklessly moving in at the Lower Moon with a sudden burst of speed, and causing Rui to suddenly grin.
"Gotcha." The demon thought triumphantly, spinning around again while redirecting the string so it would instead cut into the ground and rise on the other side to rise towards Inosuke ready to cut him down from below. Even behind the boar head, Rui could clearly see the panic on his foe during that one moment as he realized he'd made a deadly mistake, and had no time to block nor dodge the incoming attack. He would've certainly been met with a gruesome end, had a bolt of lightning not rushed right past the Lower Moon and obscured his vision for a moment, clearing away to reveal an unharmed Inosuke after having landed on the ground and the string meant to claim his life now snapped. The beastly Demon Slayer was staring to the side where the bolt of lightning had died down to reveal the form of the other yellow-clad Demon Slayer, standing there with his sheathed blade.
"Breath of Thunder, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash." He murmured quietly, with Rui staring at him in shock while Inosuke once again burst into glorious laughter at the arrival of his comrade.
"Damn, blondie! And here I thought you were a total chump, but I guess you were hiding your talents after all!" He declared gleefully, to which the blond only silently turned to face their common foe with his hand still wrapped around his katana's hilt, with Inosuke replying by raising his two swords, "Alright then, let's take this bastard down together!"
Rui frowned for a moment before sighing, "...alright then, I suppose I have to do this the hard way then." He decided, calling a string to each of his fingers and pulling them back tightly as he started pouring his blood into them, dyeing them red while turning the threads sharper and more durable, "If nothing else, this is the perfect chance to test myself again... so come on now, Demon Slayers, and let us see the limits of my powers..."
Genya was in trouble. The hulking spider monster was an intimidating opponent to begin with, no doubt about it, however after its evolution and its consequent sprouting of two more arms plus several more spikes not to mention becoming overall even larger, it seemed as his foe had grown twice over in power. Not even the few extra bites of demon flesh he'd managed to take from it had seemed to bridge their difference in strength, and even after shooting it two more times with his gun, it had only served to slow the creature slightly. With all that in mind, he was quite a bit in pain when he rose from the river waters once again, the bleeding hole on his chest from being backhanded by one of the demon's spiked hands quickly healing, but forcing him to tear off his tattered Yukata, revealing the hidden holster for his gun tied around his back. That though was only one of the several blows he'd taken, of which his demonification had all healed.
It wasn't as if he could take much of a breather either, as the creature was already rushing. in at him once again from upstream, wildly moving on all fours, or rather all six, with his two extra arms aiding greatly in his propulsion towards the Demon Slayer. Genya drew his gun, quickly loading it to try and blast the demon in the face to try and halt its advance, but was too slow, and ended up forced to leap to the side in order to avoid being run over by the dashing creature. He tried to get an aim at its head but would be unable to do so as the monster made a sudden turn and grabbed onto his gun with one of its many hands right before the boy pulled the trigger, blasting said hand right off. Not that it made much difference as the beast grabbed onto his arm and once again broke it under its grip. Genya did what he could in the close proximity to his foe and stabbed the spider demon through the gut, but had his other arm grabbed and subsequently broken as well, forced to let go of his kodachi and raised by both arms to be left hanging into the air as the creature's other two arms, including a newly regenerated one, laid down a brutal beating onto the scarred boy, striking at him with merciless punches that resulted in several broken bones, before throwing him upwards and uppercutting his entire body with its two right arms, mustering enough power to send him flying high into the air.
Given the condition he was in, Genya could barely think through the pain as he was flung skyward, with the sole exception of a passing thought about how much he hated gravity on the way down before his fall was broken by a tree branch, which he impacted with enough force to immediately break it, but that luckily diminished the eventual impact on the ground. Despite being no stranger to pain, he could only wonder how many broken bones were in his body at that moment. He knew they would heal, he had eaten enough of the bastard's flesh to ensure it so, but that still didn't solve the ten feet tall problem that was currently stomping its way towards him, surely intent on finishing its wounded foe off, one of its hands pulling the kodachi stabbed onto its gut off with its index and thumb before carelessly discarding it onto the river.
Sure enough, upon reaching Genya's battered body, the demon proceeded to grab the boy by his hair and pulled him up, lifting him into the air before grabbing onto his head with two hands, both by the front and by the back, while the last hand took a tight grip around his neck from behind. Before the boy could even process what the creature was about to do, it would begin to pull, clearly intent on literally ripping his head off his body, and by the amount of pain he felt, Genya knew it wouldn't be long until it was successful. He realized then that he was close to death and wondered silently why was he not having an epiphany or any world-changing thoughts. Why is it that the only thing he could see was his bloodied older brother with a cleaver on his hand standing over the lifeless body of their mother?
Before that thought could settle, or be dreadfully cut off, Genya would hear the sound of something cutting into flesh and would be unceremoniously dropped alongside four of the demon's maimed hands. Realizing what the clumps of flesh surrounding him were, the boy struggled to push himself up in order to see what was happening and would widen his eyes. The demon was no longer paying attention to him, staring hatefully at its newly arrived opponent as his hands regenerated, that being a black-haired girl with her back turned to them, wearing a white cloak over a Demon Slayer's uniform surrounded by what looked like shining rose petals emerging from her pink sword, which she slashed at empty air with clean the blade off the spider demon's blood, "Sorry I'm late." Kanao apologized, glancing over at her Slayer comrade who was staring back at her in astonishment, "But I am here to help."
A/N: Here is an out-of-schedule chapter, not to mention a somewhat short one too. Turns out sticking myself inside a house for weeks at end did no good for my writing. But it's fine, cause now I'm here, and the chapter's here, so I hope y'all enjoyed what I had to write even if, again, I'm holding back on Tanjiro and Chihime. I really felt it would be best to finish the two tag team fights I have very clearly set up by the end of this chapter before actually moving onto that.
For the first one, most of this chapter is dedicated to it, that being Genya and later Kanao versus the Father Spider Demon. I took this chance to showcase some of Genya's backstory in this chapter, such as alluding to his family's fate and talking about his time before taking the Final Selection and becoming a Demon Slayer. Some of you might notice there are no mentions of Gyomei in that backstory, even though he clearly had an effect on Genya given the whole Buddhist mantra thing. Well, I initially forgot it and went back to rewrite that part, but then I realized there's nothing there that contradicts his presence either, so I decided to focus on that aspect itself after this arc when I start introducing more pillars and, consequently, Gyomei. Also, on that topic, the mantra for strength Genya uses is found after a quick google search, and translates roughly to "I am absolute". Also, one last thing regarding Genya also, but I'm pretty sure they didn't have waterproof guns back then, but in a series of magic-wielding demons, I don't think that is too far to take one's suspension of disbelief.
Then we have Kanao, who really arrives at the end of this chapter, so there really isn't that much to say about her. Though I did realize that some new information regarding her backstory has been released, and it kinda contradicts some stuff I had her say earlier in the story, so I am currently debating whether to go back to fix it or to just leave it as is. And though I almost forgot, one extra change I had done to the Spider Demon was giving it two more arms post-transmutation, similar to how I messed around with the other spider family members to make them all a bit stronger. Might be a bit similar to the one four-armed demon who Kanao faced off in her debut back in the Final Selection, but oh well, whatever works.
With that all said, we move on to the second battle, which is Inosuke and Zenitsu vs Rui. Even if it didn't get much of a spotlight this chapter, it's a fight I've been waiting quite a while to get to. And I know there might be some who are dubious on my power scaling here, but I'll try to explain my view on it. The thing here is that Rui, despite being a ridiculously strong demon, is not a fighter foremost, and thus had some trouble with Inosuke when he managed to pose somewhat of a threat to him due to not being used to fighting someone who can keep up. On the other hand Inosuke, despite not having undergone the same kind of training Zenitsu did to justify his growth in strength, he did take a different turn than in Canon, and was motivated by his one-sided-rivalry with Tanjiro to push himself extra hard following their fight at the Drum House, allowing him to not stay too far behind his comrades here. How far that strength will take them against an opponent like Rui is something I hope to cover in the next chapter, as well as wrapping up the aforementioned Spider Demon fight as to finally move on to the main event.
Now, I think its kinda obligatory for me to mention the manga after the last chapter which, SPOILERS, should it not be a fakeout...damn. Like, damn. I still kinda think Tanjiro is not definitely dead and we might get something like a meeting with his family or Yoriichi in the afterlife before he comes back, but I'm not ruling out the very real possibility that he is indeed dead. Either way, a bunch of Pillars are also actually dead now, so there's that, but in the end I think that kinda proves my point in removing the tragedy genre from this story, given that the burden of a tragedy already comes by nature with something like Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Anyhow, my thanks goes to DownwardDive, even though he really didn't wait to rub in the fact that I was wrong about obanai in my face. Well, he was wrong too though, it's chapter 200 and the manga clearly hasn't ended, so yeah.
So, moving onto the reviews...
Cieszesi Niezmiernie: Well it was good, thought I really want to read about Nezuko and Tanjiro meeting :P
I'm sure you do, but you gotta get through the rest before you get to the climax, so hang with me for another chapter.
Ldylan2001:you're quarantined as well, pretty sucky situation huh? I've been really enjoying this story, look forward to every update. Keep up the good work.
Yep...some days are less insanity-prone than others, but it still overall sucks to be stuck home. At least I'm managing to get back to writing now.
Neema Amiry: Isolation is going to be interesting
Is it now?
Sandi091000:Excellent chapter!
Thanks.
So, those are the reviews. Leave one yourself, if you will, and I'll have it replied by the end of next chapter. It's always a great motivator for my writing. Anyway, that is all for today, see you soon and stay safe. Sky signing out.
