Kanao Tsuyuri was moving through the treetops, leaping from branch to branch while making her way up Natagumo Mountain. She had just finished patching up the Demon Slayer she had come to know as Murata from her short conversation with him, telling him to stay at the base of the mountain until they got back before starting to move off after her comrades, hoping to catch up to them sometime soon. Turns out though they had, for reasons she really could not figure out, the other Senses had moved ahead without waiting for her. She couldn't help but wonder if this meant something bad, but either way, she had no choice but to move on and search for them. For the longest time that search didn't really lead anywhere, other than finding some collapsed house in the middle of a clearing at some point but, moving on, that finally would change when she stopped at one point jumping from tree branch to tree branch and decided to go a bit higher to see if she noticed anything of note from up there. Turns though, she did, but it was not exactly what she had been expecting.
While looking around to see anything different from the endless trees, she'd see something flying up into the sky at the distance. Though it was very dark and notably far away, her naturally gifted eyesight managed to make it out as a person, even if she wasn't able to tell who exactly it was. Regardless, Kanao jumped down to the ground before dashing off at the flying person's direction, hoping to make it there quickly. After nearly a minute of running, the trees around her would suddenly open up, and she would be able to see in the distance a massive four-armed demon with the face of a spider holding who she recognized as Genya with all of its hands, looking as if it was trying to rip the boy's head off. Without a moment of hesitation, Kanao breathed in and gripped the hilt of her katana, dashing in to leap forward, "Breath of Flowers, First Form: Bleeding Rose Petals," She thought, her drawn blade shining bright white before it sliced all four of the creature's hands at the wrist with a single slash, the light on her blade breaking down into several petal-like constructs of light tainted red by the creature's blood, following her as she flipped midair and smoothly landed by the riverbed.
The spider demon immediately turned its attention towards her, roaring in a mixture of pain and anger. Genya, in the meantime, looked pretty dazed, not surprising given his state, namely covered in blood and bruises, but after a moment he seemed to recognize her as he widened his eyes in surprise. She slashed her blade into nothing to clean it from the demon's blood, thinking back to what Tanjiro had told her right before the mission started. How she was stronger than the others, so she should step in to help them should this exact scenario come into play. Kanao found it odd how accurately he'd predicted this.
"Well, one way or the other, its time to keep that promise." She thought, turning around to face the demon, glancing briefly at Genya, "Sorry I'm late. But I am here to help." Kanao told him, before pausing for a moment and realizing that the fact of her being there to help was probably implicit by her helping him already. Expressing herself with words sure was hard sometimes.
The demon though was not so kind as to wait for her line of thought to finish, and rushed her with its four regenerated arms, punching at her with its two right fists. The girl though only glanced at it for a moment before taking a step back not a moment too late, watching as the fists slowly sailed by her before swinging her blade and using the demon's own momentum to deeply slash it across its midsection, casually walking past it. The creature angrily spun around and tried to crush her underneath its fists, but its blows hit nothing but the ground, as Kanao had already jumped away from it, smoothly landing beside the fallen Genya.
"I can see you are in no fighting condition," She noted, keeping her eyes fixed on the demon, her blade raised with a two-handed grip before her, "Do you think you are capable of moving into a safer location?"
"Well…motherfucker's definitely broke my arms, and it really feels like he's broken my legs…" Genya grunted, before grinning as he reached out and grabbed onto one of the demon's bisected hands lying nearby before it could begin disintegrating too far, "Meaning give me a minute and I'll be up kicking its ass with you."
Kanao frowned but nodded, having heard before about Genya peculiarities, for the lack of a better word, and decided to take his word for it. The demon rushed them both and she quickly decided it was best to make sure it didn't get too close to her fellow Demon Slayer while he healed, thus meeting his dash to jump over it, flipping and delivering a gash on its shoulder to keep its attention, even as she landed and ducked under its swinging arms and backed away to avoid being crushed by its foot. She continued dodging, moving towards the shore as the demon pursued her, throwing a series of quick and powerful punches at her with all its four arms, of which she nonetheless read through and dodged every single one of them with ease, its speed and unpredictability falling well within the limits of what her enhanced eyesight could perceive. Eventually, the beast would grow frustrated, and this would reflect in one of his overswung punches, which Kanao easily ducked under, before pushing herself back to slide in between his legs, slashing at the demon's heel as she moved by and causing it to lose balance collapse on the river. Seeing that, the girl came to a quick stop and dashed to try and go for the demon's neck while it was still down, but she underestimated it as the creature pushed itself up again quicker than expected, and swung two of its arms towards her in aiming to catch her with their spikes, but Kanao was able to only barely come to a stop and jump away in time to avoid them.
Roaring, the creature rose again, and lifted with all its four hands a nearby boulder over half its size over its head, crushing it to pieces with its sheer strength, and beginning to pick up the large debris that fell to its feet to hurl towards Kanao in quick succession with all its four arms. She managed to dodge them all rather easily, but it did prevent her from getting too close to the demon, seeing as if even a single one of those hit her, she knew the consequences could be. The creature was halfway done through its pile of rocks before a figure suddenly rushed beside her and battered aside one of the rocks with nothing but a punch. Kanao blinked in surprise as Genya then turned to look at her, blood dirtying the corners of his mouth and veins popping throughout his head, not to mention the sharp teeth and the single left eye that had its sclerae darkened. She had to catch herself in order not to swing her sword at him in sheer instinct, but despite the demonic changes his body had undertaken, she could see that there was still something very human about him in his eyes. The two locked gazes for a moment before Kanao nodded at him, a silent agreement to work together in order to take down their common foe.
Genya dashed on ahead, and Kanao followed quickly behind, the former batting aside the incoming debris thrown at them with his bare hands while she took refuge behind him in order to approach the demon. As they did so, the creature would angrily swing both its right arms in a punch at the demonic-looking boy, under which he ducked to avoid the upper arm and managed to take a hold of and stop the second arm despite skidding back slightly because of it. Before it could swing down another one of its arms to crush him, however, Kanao would leap on his back and use it as a stepping stone to jump towards the demon, spinning her body midair and delivering a precise horizontal sword strike to his neck. Despite that, she was only able to produce a gash on its side rather than cutting all the way through, surprising her with just how tough this monster was. The Tsuguko managed to land a foot on its shoulder and jump away before it could deliver any further retaliation though. Genya, on the other hand, was not as lucky and was dragged upwards by the arm he was tightly holding onto before having a blow delivered to his side from another one of their opponent's fists, sending him flying into the river.
Using her acute vision, Kanao was able to locate and land atop a rock in the middle of the river, shallow enough so the water didn't get past her heel and wouldn't much affect her movements. Luckily too as, with Genya dealt with for the time being, the spider demon decided to focus its full efforts on her, leaping in after her with all fours of its arms raised in preparation to bring them all down and crush her. She was able though to jump over to the other side of the river before the demon came crashing down, crushing the boulder she'd been standing on moments ago into pieces with little difficulty. This though would also give it more ammunition to continue throwing more debris at her, which Kanao was able to continue dodging fairly easily.
She kept on evading the rocks, knowing against an opponent like that, it wouldn't be wise to get in too close carelessly. Its barrage of debris though wouldn't last too long as another flying boulder smashed down onto its head from behind, causing the beast to stumble forward and lose balance before turning around to face its attacker. Having dealt the demon a taste of its own medicine, Genya stood his ground panting. Kanao took the chance to move, jumping over to another rock in the middle of the river. While midair, she watched as the demon discarded his debris projectiles and rush him on all fours, with two other arms raised to attack Genya. The boy was able to narrowly dodge being run over by it but was grazed by one of the swinging arms and knocked to the side, with the demon quickly stopping its rush to jump after him. Where Genya landed though, Kanao would be able to make out a distinct shape underwater with her acute vision while she was midair, and call out her fellow Demon Slayer, "Genya! Three meters to your left!"
The demonified boy stood from the blow and seemed to have heard her advice, as he unquestioningly leapt to his left when the beast nearly crushed him in its landing. It persistently chased Genya, already swinging at him, but as the boy rose again he'd swing too and slash off the creature's extended arm with his retrieved kodachi. The demon was momentarily surprised, which allowed him to try and close in to go for a decapitation, but his blade would barely reach as one of the creature's lower arms punched him hard on the gut and flung him down into the water again.
Kanao, in the meantime, had landed atop a rock amidst the river, and seeing the demon focusing on Genya, jumped again towards it, soaring through the air while breathing deeply in preparation to strike it down with a Breath of Flowers technique. She would be surprised, however, when it knocked down Genya and raised all its arms clearly intended to bring them all down with surely enough force to turn the boy into a thick paste to be washed away by the river, something the girl was not fully sure even he could heal. The situation put Kanao in a difficult position, seeing as the demon was not at all paying attention to her, giving her had the perfect chance to end its life with one certain blow. On the other hand, however, she was not fully sure she could do just that before it pummeled her comrade to death.
"...I'm counting on you to step in and help them." She could clearly hear Tanjiro's voice in her head repeating his earlier words, making the half-a-second decision suddenly seem like it always had an obvious choice. Kanao left her stance and switched her position midair so she was diving towards the spider demon, allowing her to reach it faster and to fly right in between its raised arm and its head, flipping midair to slash it across the chest as she landed in front of a rising Genya.
The creature staggered a step back from the cut, its blow interrupted by the Tsuguko's sudden appearance, but roared angrily after regaining its composure, "You keep getting in the way right before the best part...but I will kill you two anyway! It's useless! Useless! Useless!" It declared boisterously with its gravelly voice while unleashing a barrage of punches with all its four arms.
That moment however was all Kanao needed to regain her breath and hastily enter a stance for another one of her techniques, "Breath of Flowers, Fifth Form: Peony of Futility." She announced, countering his blows with seven consecutive slashes of her sword. Had she not been rushed in her technique, she might have had enough preparation to throw that extra blow, since with the seven she did throw, she managed to meet and slash three out of the four arms, each with two blows, but the one her technique had missed, which she'd only been able to land the final blow in without cutting it off fully, was the one that ultimately ended up punching her in the midsection the moment her technique came to a close.
Luckily, Genya had risen behind her, and managed to grab her as she was thrown back, preventing any impact damage, but still sent skidding all the way to the river shore. Kanao, on the other hand, had been left gasping. Even while contorting her gut muscles to soften the blow and moving back together with the impact, she had still been able to get a feel of the hulking spider demon's sheer power. She was surprised in fact that, even being able to heal it, Genya was getting back up from those blows one after another with little sign of pain. Speaking of whom, despite having caught Kanao almost in retribution for saving him earlier, the boy was staring transfixed at the spider demon with a wild look in his mismatched eyes. When Kanao noticed that, a memory came back from her childhood living in the slums and many times seeing stray dogs fighting over scarps of food. The look on their eyes when they were about to pounce on one another was almost the same as the one Genya was currently glaring at the creature with.
"Genya..." She called out, managing to regain his attention then, the wild look fading once he looked down at her and realized he was still holding onto the girl even though he had long secured her safety, leading to him blushing before quickly but silently letting go and awkwardly backing away from her. This was enough to relax Kanao a bit as she saw his human side emerge again, and allowed her to return her focus to the spider demon, now having leaped to the other shore to ensure some distance it could use to regenerate its maimed arms, "Alright...we'll attack the demon together. If we can get another opening, I'm sure I can use a Breath Technique to take it down."
Seeming to have regained some conscience, Genya turned towards the demon again, this time with some more restraint, "...okay. Let's do this then." He declared, to which Kanao only nodded, and took a step forward before dashing off across the river, followed closely by the boy. Noticing the incoming humans, the healed spider demon then roared, and proceeded to grab a nearby tree with all four of its arms and, with a powerful tug, rip it right out of the ground roots and all. The two Demon Slayers could only stare in surprise as the beast swung the whole tree at them like a massive club. Genya decided to take a hard dive in order to dodge, while Kanao instead opted to jump over the swinging tree. The beast responded by completing the swing and raising the trunk over its head and bring it down to squash the two in one go, and while she managed to sidestep it before being crushed under the demon's makeshift weapon, Genya was not so lucky, having been midway through rising again when he was caught under the massive tree, which was subsequently kicked away by the demon and sent hurling all the way across the river with the Slayer underneath it.
Despite worried for her comrade, Kanao still decided to focus on the spider demon and getting the final attack as soon as possible, but after losing its hands twice over now, the creature wasn't keen on letting Kanao get up close again. It smashed all four of its fists down on the ground as she approached to crack apart the ground and shake up her balance, but the Tsuguko would jump in time to avoid the shockwave of the blow, raising her sword to bring it down on the demon's neck. It noticed that in time and tried to punch her mid-fall, but Kanao was quick enough to shift her body and dodge the attack while sacrificing her own, landing behind the demon and immediately being forced to deal with it turning around and using all its arms to try and get a hold of her, but her nimble nature allowed the girl to evade all those attempts while backing up, before grabbing tightly onto her sword, preparing to retaliate only to catch sight at what was coming from behind the demon and widening her eyes.
Seeing the look on her face, the spider demon turned around in confusion and saw the same tree it had just kicked across the river flying roots first right at it. It turned around just as Kanao jumped, and managed to grab onto the trunk with all its hands, trying to stop the large tree but nonetheless left skidding a good distance at the insane power the tree had been thrown with. However, he did soon come to a stop, and with little struggle, proceeded to rip apart the tree with all its four arms in a display of strength, roaring angrily. It didn't notice, until the last possible moment, Kanao. Who, after jumping, had landed on the side of the tree and run along its length as it came to a stop, jumping as the demon tore it apart and finally noticed her, except by then she was already diving at him from amidst the thousands of splinters from the bark it had ripped apart, breathing in with her stance readied, "Breath of Flowers, Fourth Form: Safflower Robe." Kanao announced twisting midair and having her sword curve with her before delivering a sudden but certain slash to the demon's throat, her blade slicing through flesh and bone to finally behead the hulking beast, while she simply spun again and smoothly landed on a single knee, sheathing away her sword as the creature's limp body collapsed heavily behind her.
Even with the spider demon finally slain, Kanao did not allow herself much time to bask in her victory as she turned away from its quickly disintegrating corpse and rushed back to the river to check on Genya. Once she did reach the river again, she'd see him standing still on the other shore, bloody and battered, as being crushed under that tree had certainly done him no good but he seemed to have managed to at least muster enough strength to fling back the tree at the demon and give her the opening for a killing blow. The girl jumped across the river to reach him and was about to call him out as she approached the scarred boy when she suddenly stopped herself.
Despite not noticing it before, she now had managed to take a good look at Genya's face, and the expression he had was enough to startle even her. The look of a stray dog didn't even compare to the blank stare in his eyes as he breathed heavily, his pupils having actually disappeared leaving only mismatched black and white orbs in their place, his sharpened teeth grit together and veins popping all around his head in exertion as he continued panting. Nervously, Kanao mustered through her hesitation and called him out again, "Genya...?" She hoped it would snap him out of it again, but instead, it only caused the demonic-looking boy to turn his attention towards her, before beginning stumbling towards the girl, causing her to step back and uneasily grip the hilt of her sword, her lips pursing, "Snap out of it, Genya!" She tried telling him, but would only be given a response in the form of a deep throaty sound similar to that of a growl.
The boy continued walking towards her, and Kanao was a moment away from drawing her sword when he suddenly stopped, lurching suddenly as he raised a hand to his head, grunting as if he was having a heavy headache and tightly shutting his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, they were no longer pupilless, and after another moment, the black would fade from the sclerae in his eye, replaced by the usual white. He looked at her groggily for a moment, "Ka...nao...?" He muttered quietly before the stress seemed to overcome him and his body just suddenly went limp, causing Genya to collapse and forcing the Tsuguko to catch him, managing to hold her fellow Sense easily despite his larger frame.
Despite that, Kanao was relieved he had returned to normal, having genuinely thought for a moment there she might have to use her blade on a fellow Demon Slayer. That sure would've been hard explaining to Tanjiro... "Are you okay?" She asked the barely conscious boy.
"I'll survive...I think." He grunted out in pain as the girl shouldered his arm and began walking with him, carrying most of his weight as they went.
Kanao nodded, narrowing her eyes before asking, "I was surprised to see you fighting alone...where did the others go?"
"It's a long story..." Genya sighed, "I was supposed to stick with Zenitsu, but he ended up running ahead and I ran into that thing...right now I have no idea where any of them are."
"...alright. I'll take you down the mountain to safety and patch you up there before going back up to search for the rest." She told him then.
"No, wait!" The boy exclaimed, seeming to remember something suddenly "I'm still missing my gun...I think I dropped it by the shore while fighting that bastard!"
"...okay, we'll find your gun first, and then I'll take you down the mountain." Kanao decided, before dragging him along her to do just that. Even then though, not knowing what happened to the other Senses and, surprising herself, she couldn't help but worry somewhat about their safety, "Wherever they are...I really hope they're not in danger."
Some ways up the mountain, Inosuke Hashibira held his two jagged blades before him, Zenitsu standing just a few feet to the side with his head lowered and a hand holding his sheathed katana by the hilt. Before the two stood what was certainly the strongest demon either of the boys ever had to face, coming in the form of a small white-haired boy, Lower Moon Four Rui stood glared him down intensely, the several strings attached to each of his fingertips reddened in his own blood. With a swing of his wrists, he'd suddenly reshaped the battlefield, hanging various of his deadly red threads extended end to end from the ground to differents trees and the decrepit mansion behind him, essentially covering the clearing in obstacles for the two. He then lowered his hands, and summoned ten of the red strings for each of his fingers before looking over at them with his dark mismatched eyes, silently daring either of the Demon Slayers to come at him.
The clearing was oddly silent other than the wind cutting through Rui's sharp threads, no noise shared between the three of them for a good few seconds. Even the usually loud Inosuke stood in place, his body trembling, "I can't believe it..." He thought to himself, "This guy really is no joke...I can feel the bloodlust in his eyes..." Beneath his boar head, his lips suddenly twisted into a wide grin, "I can't stop shaking in excitement!" In all his brashness, even he knew though that if he were to recklessly approach this opponent with all those strings spread out, he'd only be spelling certain death for himself. As much as he hated to admit it, Inosuke would have to use his head in this situation, and not in the usual literal way Tanjiro infamously used.
"Yo, blondie! Why don't you go ahead and take a swing at this guy first?" The boar-headed boy uncharacteristically offered his ally, "I've got a thing I need to do first, but I'll be right behind ya."
Meeting Inosuke's uncharacteristic offer with an uncharacteristic response of his own, Zenitsu lowered his head and shifted his feet back, before suddenly dashing off at the Lower Moon, actually surprising Inosuke at how unhesitant the not-so-cowardly blond had been in moving in at such a dangerous foe. He dashed past the extended threads with only the minimal movement needed to evade them in order to lose as little speed as possible, and once he had a clear shot at Rui, the boy would breathe in and push his guard up with his thumb, gripping his hilt tightly. Seeing thus, the demon would narrow his eyes and raise one of his hands as well as the strings attached to them, bringing it down just as electricity flashed at Zenitsu and he disappeared in a bolt of lightning with his signature Thunderclap and Flash. Despite being unable to close in on Rui due to the strings, the technique at least allowed him to avoid these, rolling past the Lower Moon and rising to skid back some distance still. Rui spun around and attempted to swing his threads horizontally at the Demon Slayer, but would be a moment too late as the boy's foot sunk down into the dirt, coming to a stop while breathing deeply, allowing lightning to shroud him once again. And then, another moment later, he'd closed the distance with Rui, slashing most of the fingers in his swinging hand and preventing him from unleashing his strings. Zenitsu switched around his blade and prepared to swing again with decapitation in mind, but the Lower Moon would use the only remaining finger in his left hand, the thumb, to unleash one of the threads upon the boy, forcing him to abandon his attack and back away to dodge.
Inosuke meanwhile watched all this with great amusement, delighted at seeing the cocky demon being pushed back by his fellow Sense, except that was not really the reason he had sent Zenitsu up ahead. Breathing in and stretching both arms to the side, the boy focused before calling out, "Breath of the Beast, Seventh Fang: Spatial Awareness!" Like a sonar, Inosuke suddenly spread out his incredible sense of touch throughout the entire clearing, getting a crystal clear picture on the position of the battlefield, from the trees surrounding it to the blades of grass beneath their feet and even the insides of the decrepit mansion. Most importantly of all though, he now had in his head a clear map of every single one of the thirty-two strings Rui had stretched out as traps for the Demon Slayers. Grinning, he'd suddenly bend his knees before, in a burst of speed, shooting off from his position straight towards the Lower Moon, moving through the extended red threads with little to no difficulty.
Rui, having his focus fixed on Zenitsu, didn't notice Inosuke until the last moment and narrowly dodged the blow by quickly moving to the side, receiving only a shallow cut on his arm from it, "Damn! The bastard is getting quicker..." The boy thought with a grunt just as Zenitsu dashed past him and towards the demon, with the wild swordsman quick to follow. Rui called upon five more strings with his newly regenerated fingers and swung them horizontally at the two Slayers, forcing them to jump over it to dodge them before raising his other hand to call upon five more strings in order to bring them down and shred them apart while midair. This once again forced Inosuke to think quickly and seeing his ally directly underneath him while both were midair gave him an idea, "Yo blondie! Stay sharp!" He shouted, pressing the sole of his feet against Zenitsu's own before kicking him right towards Rui, hoping the blond had caught on in time.
Luckily, he had, and Zenitsu upstaged his own earlier feat by this time slashing off the demon's entire hand before he brought down his strings to slash at them. Rui grit his teeth in annoyance and pain, but summoned more strings in his remaining hand and sent two subsequent ones at Zenitsu as the boy flipped and landed some distance behind him, but quickly had to turn around again and raise his remaining three strings defensively to block Inosuke's two descending blades with them, before kicking him in the gut to knock the boy back.
With his earlier Spatial Awareness though, Inosuke was aware that there was one of those extended strings on the direction he'd just been thrown towards, and was forced to stab both blades down onto the ground as he landed from the blow to decrease his momentum enough to stop before he reached the string. He only narrowly managed to do so, having to actually bend back with his natural flexibility to avoid having his back cut by the red thread.
Inosuke grunted, stumbling back forward in time to see Zenitsu approaching Rui again after the demon had turned his attention to him in a moment. The blond boy had raised his blade defensively as Rui lashed out vertically with his strings, one at a time but still in quick sequence. Zenitsu would manage to deflect the two first by quickly twirling his blade, and was forced to jump midair the last vertical string, flipping sideways over it and using that momentum to strike at the demon's neck upon landing. And he would but even then his blade barely sunk in, Rui having purposely allowed the blow to land in as to get a close shot at the Demon Slayer. "I can see you haven't learned the first time…" He declared with a grin while grabbing onto the boy's yellow haori and pulling him closer, all the while using his newly regenerated hand and the strings it summoned to cut him to pieces.
Instead of a rain of blood as expected though, it would be instead a rain of fabric, as the haori was torn to pieces, but its owner now stood some twenty feet back, donning only his Demon Slayer garbs with his head still lowered, evidently annoying the Lower Moon all the further. Inosuke had long grown tired of staying in the sidelines by then and was making a straight dash towards Rui. Likewise, Zenitsu had resheathed his blade and stood in an all too familiar stance as lightning sparked around him. Rui would notice the two about to attack though, but instead of retaliating, he just narrowed his eyes and used one of his strings to strike at the ground beneath him, raising a cloud of dust that blocked the boys' view of him just as either was about to strike.
"Breath of the Beast, Third Fang: Rip and Devour!" Inosuke boisterously declared, swinging both blades to where he knew the demon was.
"Breath of Thunder, First Style: Thunderclap and Flash." Zenitsu murmured, vanishing in a bolt of lightning intent to strike at the demon's neck.
Their two attacks dispersed the dust cloud at the last moment and revealed Rui's absence in it, forcing the two Demon Slayers to stop their blades just short of hitting each other's neck and resulting in a mutual decapitation. "...goddamnit, he's gone!" Inosuke cried out frustratingly, looking around furiously for the Lower Moon, "Hey, blondie, you see where he's gone?" He inquired, at which Zenitsu tilted his head slightly to the side, drooling a bit from the corner of his mouth. Not that Inosuke noticed.
Both would then suddenly perk up and simultaneously leap to opposite sides just before five strings coming from above cut through the ground. Inosuke grunted and looked up to see Rui standing thirty feet up in the air, staring down at them condescendingly while standing atop one of his extended strings, "You two are undoubtedly troublesome foes..." He noted, narrowing his eyes, "...and yet you're still just human. Your options are limited, and with every blow, your attacks become more and more predictable...it is honestly a matter of time until you make a mistake and forfeit your life."
"Oh, just shut the fuck up, you spider freak!" Inosuke growled, jumping after the Lower Moon with his blades ready to cut him down, only for Rui to leap over to another string just as he swung his blades. While still midair, the demon would point at the string he'd been standing a moment earlier with his index and middle fingers, joining the two in a scissor-like motion and causing the string to snap just as his foe was next to it, causing both ends of the string to lash out quicker than Inosuke could anticipate, either end cutting into his sides somewhat deeply.
"Careful now…those extended strings have a lot of tension built up on them." Rui mockingly warned his foes while watching the boar-headed swordsman bleeding as he fell towards the ground, silently cursing all the way down, "If you get too close to them carelessly, someone might end up getting hurt…."
Even as Inosuke hit the ground though, the demon would get little time to bask in his successful attack before Zenitsu suddenly rose behind him, drawing his blade aiming for decapitation. Rui would immediately leap off to another string to avoid the slash, snapping the thread before the blond mid-jump, but the swordsman deflected the snapped strings from hitting him with two quick swings. He tried to bring down five more threads on him, but Zenitsu moved with lightning speed to the side the moment he hit the ground, narrowly evading the strings to the point where the tip of his scabbard had been slashed right off.
This though did little to deter the blond as he chased after Rui from the ground even as the demon moved from string to string with quick jumps up above, sending more strings at Zenitsu's direction to try and cut him down with them, evidently knowing that even taking a moment to try and swing towards the defenseless Inosuke would be an open invitation for the lightning-quick Demon Slayer to attack his neck. And yet he remained undeterred, evading the strings indifferently while keeping his attention on the Lower Moon, waiting for the right moment until he presented itself to him, his blade raised to the side as lightning flashed around its edge, "Breath of Thunder…First Style: Thunderclap and Flash Twofold…" he announced, a red thread being swung down and very nearly decapitating him, only for him to disappearing a bolt of lightning the moment it was about to connect, leaving the string to dig a deep but bloodless trench on the ground.
The bolt would rise at an angle and bounce off the side of a tree to rise towards Rui, the Lower Moon not having expected such a roundabout attack and having little room to dodge midair as he nimbly jumped from string to string. Though he was able to avoid the bolt enough to negate its decapitating attack, he was unable to land on the next string due to losing his left foot to Zenitsu's blade and, along with it, his balance, causing Rui to fall from his strings towards the ground. Despite cursing his situation, the Lower Moon knew to take advantage from it and, noticing he had a clear view of the still downed Inosuke mid-fall without his comrade to protect him, he swung one of his strings at the boar-headed boy, intent on eliminating at least one of his opponents given the chance to do so.
Inosuke meanwhile had been writhing in pain for the last half a minute or so since hitting the ground, trying to keep track of the fight even as it went on without him. Of course, even more than his wounds, what was really hurting him at that moment was his sheer uselessness. Zenitsu was out there, dodging those strings and fighting by himself while he was in the ground crying over what was basically a scratch. "This is unacceptable…" He gritted his teeth, focusing on his own wounds, "C'mon…close the wounds…stop the bleeding…you gotta get up and fight damnit!" He thought, and through a mix of focus and willpower, indeed managed to manipulate the muscles around the wounds to close it and stop the bleeding just as Rui decided to try and attack him.
Rolling back just in time to avoid being bisected by the string, Inosuke would breathe in deeply, glad he'd managed to fix himself up to keep on pfightingeven if the pain of it was very much still there. But that was not, in fact, his main problem. That was the Lower Moon Four that, in spite of their best efforts, was still standing. Glaring at the demon wildly, he sped off in a blur across the clearing just as Zenitsu too landed and quickly moved to match his pace, rushing in together with the boar-headed swordsman towards their common foe.
Rui scowled as he rose with his nearly reformed foot at the two Demon Slayers persisting against him at every turn, "Come on now…just face the inevitable and die already!" He growled, using one hand to send more consecutive strings at them while the other snapped the extended ones near them, the sheer tension built up in those strings causing them to snap at the boys with great force. Still, they moved on undaunted, aware and careful to the extended strings while dodging the ones lashing at them. Zenitsu, at one point, took the lead to swing and deflect two of Rui's strings, sparks flying as his blade was dragged along their side. The demon then swung down five whole strings on them, and it was Inosuke's turn to charge in and take the lead, swinging both his blade at opposite direction to deflect two of the middle strings to the side just enough to leap in and squeeze between them, Zenitsu himself jumping just over him, spinning his body midair and landing to immediately throw his broken scabbard towards Rui. Though the demon easily deflected it with a brief motion of one of his strings, that momentary distraction was all the blond needed to breathe in, lightning encircling him before he closed the distance with a burst of speed.
Despite that, Rui was able to see this coming just in time to erect his three remaining strings against a nearby branch, forcing Zenitsu's blade to clash against them as its was swung for his neck. The boy grit his teeth, his sword bending against the threads but not quite breaking them, seeming for a second like it was going to snap. That is however before Inosuke showed up, his own two swords already being brought down to intersect with Zenitsu's own, giving it the extra push needed to finally cut through the crimson threads. Not only that, but even though Rui saw that and tried backing up, he still ended up having nearly half of his neck cut off by the slash, their combined efforts shown to clearly have enough power in it to not just cut through his defenses, but to actually threaten his very life, "What was that about your tough neck, you spider bastard?!" Inosuke inquired mockingly, clearly gleeful at how close they had been there to ending the Lower Moon and refusing to give in either as he resumed his dash towards him alongside Zenitsu.
Rui, though clearly startled at how close they had gotten to his decapitation, refused to give them the space to try again. The moment he landed, he produced a string from each of his fingertips once again. Except, rather than just using them to lash out at the two, he decided to be more creative this time and, with a motion of his thumbs, used a pair strings to cut right through two nearby trees before wrapping the remaining four strings in each hand around them. With two quick motions, he'd use the trees as projectiles and send them flying towards each of the Demon Slayers.
Inosuke raised his head and saw the trunk thrown at him hitting another tree and flipping sideways as it fell towards him. He was undaunted though, and jumped right towards it while breathing in, "Breath of the Beast, Second Fang: Rip and Tear!" He declared, slashing with both blades on diagonals like an X and ripping right through the tree trunk, its two separated halves crashing uselessly on the ground.
Zenitsu, on the other hand, being foremost a speedster to Inosuke's tank, was met with a tree thrown at him trunk first, and easily jumped up on its trunk and ran along its length over halfway up before being forced to flip to the side as one of the red strings tore clean through it, vertically splitting the tree clean in two. Having been able to clear the obstacle faster than his comrade, Zenitsu landed with lightning already shrouding him, and moved in the blink of an eye to once again try and decapitate Rui. However, instead of raising his defenses against the blow or trying to attack before he did, the demon this time around bent back at the last moment to dodge the blow aimed right at his head, visibly surprising the Demon Slayer, "Didn't think that same trick would be working one me forever, now did you?!" He declared, lashing out to kick Zenitsu and though the boy moved back a moment earlier to diminish the impact, he was still sent skidding back, "Don't be expecting another free shot at my neck either!" Rui told him, slashing at the blond with another set string too quickly for even him to dodge, forcing the boy to block with his blade which, though it held for a moment, was disarmed off his hands with a sudden upwards tug of the thread, causing it to fly over his head.
Rui then took this chance to bring down another string that would slash him in half, only for a partially broken katana to be thrown over Zenitsu's shoulder from behind him, catching the string and holding for a moment before having its blade sliced right through. This was enough to allow the blond to roll to the side and dodge the string before it was brought down on him. From the dust the string raised by cutting into the earth, Inosuke would emerge with a mighty battle cry, dual-wielding his unbroken serrated katana alongside Zenitsu's own blade. He rushed at the Lower Moon with murderous intent, deflecting his incoming strings just as his comrade had done while losing little speed doing so.
Seeing his opponent approach, Rui would swing five more strings at him with one hand, while the other extended upwards, attaching more strings to a tree branch up above in order to pull himself up and away from Inosuke as the boy dodged the strings and brought his blades upon him. Even with his opponent fleeing though, the boar-headed swordsman was undeterred, shooting off skyward after him, soon enough finding himself landing and beginning to run vertically up the side of a tree, occasionally stabbing one of the blades onto the trunk and push himself upwards while the other deflected the strings sent by the demon up above.
As he approached the top of the tree however, Rui decided to cut his chase short and slashed, with one of his strings, the entire upper half of the tree by cutting through its trunk, causing it to fall down towards Inosuke. In response, the swordsman jumped and landed on the side of the falling trunk in order to use it as a platform and leap off after the Lower Moon. Rui widened his eyes, producing five strings in his fingertips preparing to dice up the incoming Demon Slayer, but all the momentum Inosuke had built up simply made him faster, "Breath of the Beast, First Fang…" He announced stabbing both his and Zenitsu's blades into Rui's neck just as the strings formed in his fingers. Though they didn't sunk in too deep, it was nonetheless deep enough, "Pierce and Extract!"
True to the attack's name, after piercing, Inosuke extracted. That is to say, he ripped both blades off Rui while simultaneously decapitating the Lower Moon. Rising above him triumphantly, Inosuke smirked under his boar head, basking in both their victory and the surprised, hateful look seemingly stuck in Rui's decapitated head. "Guess that rank in your eye was just for show, after all, huh…? Next life you'll think twice before crossing Lord Ino-"
He felt it coming for him before he saw it, but even then what really gave it away was the look on Rui switching from surprise and hate to a triumphant smirk. Had he not twisted his body midair with his unnatural flexibility, he'd be sliced clean in half by the single descending string cast by the demon's headless body. That is not to say it didn't hit, as the red thread still grazed him, which was just about enough to slice a large patch of flesh and muscle off his left thigh, creating a huge bleeding wound on his leg, one he wouldn't be able to remediate too quickly this time…
"You didn't think that clumsy swing of yours could've really cut my head off, did you…?" The grinning head asked him as Inosuke's teeth sunk down on his lower lip to dull the pain, biting with enough force for a trick of blood to fall down his chin underneath the boar head, "Admittedly, cutting my own head off with a string was a drastic measure…but if it's what it takes to finally shut that loud mouth of yours, it's a small price to pay." Rui admitted with the biggest of grins stamped on his face while his body produced five more strings and swung, "I'll save you the pain of falling to death and end this right here for both our sakes…so goodbye, Demon Slayer."
The five strings were brought down to slice through him and Inosuke only raised his blade to try and defend himself from them, useless as it was. Just as they were about to hit him though, he'd feel something grab him by the fur belt in his waist, a bolt of lightning cutting through the sky to grab and drag him away from the strings, Zenitsu having risen past the treetops to save him. He used a tree branch as a platform to diminish their fall before the two eventually landed back in the clearing, luckily missing any of the still extended red strings around it and being left to sprawl across the ground in their landing.
Inosuke grunted then as he tried sitting up with difficulty, and quickly tried to cover his wound, but had his attention caught as Zenitsu rose again, katana back in his hands as he'd claimed it back from Inosuke during the confusion in the last few seconds. He really had no words in him to say about what had just happened. He'd rushed off by himself, reckless as usual, and had forced the boy to save him. It brought to him a surge of uselessness, a feeling he was not completely unfamiliar with, having felt it before during previous losses, but this time it really felt different. Previously he'd just get up and beat up something else to make himself feel better, but this time he felt doubtful on whether they might even come out of it alive at all…
Amidst those thoughts, he would watch as Rui's body emerged from the forest again, carrying with his strings his own decapitated head, who looked very displeased at being unable to finish off an opponent. "I truly thought I'd been able to leave you behind there…" The demon admitted, taking his head from the strings and reconnecting it to his neck, letting his natural healing factor do its job, "I was hoping to deal with the boar first as to get to you, but it seems you won't be affording me the luxury…"
Zenitsu stood silently for a moment, before slowly raising his blade and pointing it at Rui, "He is my comrade…" He quietly said, finally breaking the near-total silence he'd held since Inosuke had arrived, "If you wanna get to him…you have to get through me first."
Rui seemed amused by that remark, "Alright then…I dealt with both of you before, so fighting by yourself, you won't last long." He said, summoning more of his strings to his fingertips, "I will keep to that. Not a finger shall be laid on your friend until you yourself are down in the ground and bleeding…so go ahead, show me what you've got."
Inosuke was silent, knowing he could barely stand up in his condition and very frustrated with that fact. There he was, down in the ground while the one he'd previously regarded as a coward stood protecting him. All he wanted was to get another chance to fight together with him and finally decapitate the bastard instead of rushing out recklessly like he had. But alas, the deed was done, so all he could do was focus on dealing with his currently bleeding wound in any way he could and leave it all to his fellow Sense, "Give him hell…Zenitsu!"
The two remaining combatants stood silent for a moment, staring down one another intently. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, that peace was broken and all of Rui's ten strings were brought down vertically form both sides upon Zenitsu, only for the boy to move in the blink of an eye between them, reappearing right in front of the demon with his blade already swinging. The Lower Moon would quickly create another thread to deflect the blade while simultaneously dodging it, already forming five more in his free hand to slash at him horizontally. The Demon Slayer, however, was close enough to plant a hand on Rui's swinging hand, giving him leverage to jump over the strings while pushing them down, finishing his flip by slashing off Rui's arm once again.
Grunting, Rui called upon more strings in his remaining hand and erected them to act as an improvised wall in between himself and Zenitsu in order to intercept the Slayer while he rushed in again to attack his neck. The blond took note of that though, and adapted quickly, changing what was to be a swing to instead thrust his blade in the space between the strings, catching Rui with a slash on the side of his face to blind his left eye. He angrily tried snapping his wall of strings at Zenitsu then, but the boy was quick, and moved past them, taking advantage of his opponent's blind side to narrowly land a blow to his neck, instead only producing a gash over his throat as the Lower Moon backed up.
It was evident from Rui's face how annoyed he was by the cat and mouse game he was being forced to play with the Demon Slayer, which was especially hard given how crazy fast Zenitsu was. That was not to say he did not have other tricks up his sleeve, made evident when he backed up right into one of his strings just as the boy closed the distance between them. Rather than being sliced in half by its cutting power, Rui was unaffected by his string's cutting properties, instead causing it to bend back with his weight before he flipped over it to the other side, grabbing onto it with his newly regenerated hand before letting go and releasing all that tension at his rushing foe by snapping the thread.
Zenitsu would slide underneath the thread just in time to evade it, the tip of the string creating a shallow cut along the side of his head, but even then he would have very little time to act once getting past the thread as Rui was already swinging five more strings created in his hand aiming to dice his head in five parts. Raising his blade, the blond managed to stab it through Rui's palm and push it upwards to cause the attack miss as he slid by. Coming to a stop though, Zenitsu would be met with the demon throwing an elbow blow at him in spite of his mutilated hand, forcing him to raise his hilt to block the blow but being knocked a few ways back regardless, giving Rui the needed time to regenerate from his damage.
Regardless, Zenitsu was not giving up his attack just yet, sinking his feet onto the ground to stop himself, lightning flickering around his body in before he shot off back at his opponent, once again using Thunderclap and Flash. Rui, however, was prepared for that and created ten more strings, clasping his hands together and interlacing his fingers in an attempt to close in all the strings around the Demon Slayer and dice him to pieces. Zenitsu was only able to evade the corridor of enclosing threads by jumping at the last moment, abandoning his target entirely to instead fly over his head, leaping up high and crashing right through the large abandoned mansion's balcony.
This turn of events caused Rui to open up another grin as he raised both his hands towards the mansion, "Inside the house you can't move around much…besides, it's not like I'd be able to stay here any longer after all of this. Might as well dispose of you both at once…" As he spoke, a mass of interlacing blood-red strings would gather inside of his palm, twisting and tying together while giving off a dark aura, "Demon Blood Art: Cutting Thread Spiderweb."
Inosuke watched in shock as a wall containing hundreds of strings left Rui's hands and grew to a massive size before striking the mansion and slicing the entire building apart into thousands of pieces. For a solid moment, the boar-headed-boy thought Zenitsu had been caught in that attack, until he saw a ball of lightning shining high above where the mansion had been, growing in intensity as it fell quickly, leading Inosuke to realize his comrade had escaped the attack by moving skyward in order to evade its range.
Zenitsu continued building up his power in preparation for a big attack of his own, diving down headfirst and flipping at the last moment to get a proper footing in a falling piece of debris and enter his signature stance, "Breath of Thunder, First Style: Thunderclap and Flash…Sevenfold!" He announced, before shooting out, a bolt of lightning suddenly bouncing in between the falling pieces of debris, building up speed before shooting out for the seventh and final time towards a surprised Rui, who swung a hand upwards to raise five extended threads, intercrossing in order to take on the attack.
Thunder rang out as his yellow blade struck the bloodied strings, pushing them back greatly as lightning crackled around him, pushing further and further, slashing through two of the five strings and pushing on harder, Zenitsu opening his eyes slightly to reveal two white glowing orbs and actually starling Rui for a moment, giving him the right chance to cut through the strings and get a clean blow at his neck.
Which was incidentally the moment where his katana finally fell under the strain it had been put to, and snapped clean at the point where it made connection with the threads, leaving Zenitsu with the stump of a blade barely five inches long. Understanding his position, he attempted to quickly move back and away from the threads, but Rui caught onto that too, and capitalized on the situation by having all three remaining strings snapped at once just as the Demon Slayer moved, all lashing out at unpredictable patterns. The boy was quick though, and he managed to back away from it almost untouched…almost.
Inosuke widened his eyes at what he saw, and Zenitsu himself would suddenly come to a sudden stop. His eyes drowsily opened, not fully aware of the situation he was in, but as he raised his hand to look at it, any trace of his previous state would be washed away from him as his eyes then widened. Zenitsu's palm was covered in blood, gushing from the three missing fingers in his left hand, leaving him only with his index and thumb.
The boy collapsed to the ground on his knees, staring numbly at his mutilated hand while Rui approached him, the several strings that had remained erected around the clearing fading away into nothing at his command, "You humans…for all you fight and strive to reach us, a single scratch is enough to debilitate you…it's honestly pathetic." He said pitifully, with Zenitsu turning to look at him only to be met with a kick to the face, sent flying across the clearing again. "I'm glad though. I didn't think I'd be able to detain both of you without resorting to more...fatal methods. But as promised, I'll be disposing of you before focusing on your comrade. Don't worry about it though," He then told him, calmly striding after the boy while calling five normal strings to his hand, no longer seeing any use in pouring his blood in them. "by the time we're done you won't be worry about your death…you'll be wishing for it."
Rui continued his stride to the edge of the clearing, but as he was about to reach his downed target, would stop and turn around in response to the uneven footsteps approaching him. He'd come face to face with Inosuke, already leaping at him with his remaining sword raised to strike, having chased the demon in spite of the ridiculous pain of his injury that persisted even after tying his fur belt around his leg to staunch his bleeding, moving in to try and defend his comrade, "Breath of the Beas-" He tried saying, but was interrupted before he could even begin with a quick motion of Rui's hand, using his strings to wrap around both Inosuke's arms and neck, leaving him immobilized, hanging three feet off the ground as the sharp strings dug into his skin painfully.
"You sure are a stubborn one, aren't you…?" Rui asked him mockingly, leaving the boar headed boy to grunt and struggle against the strings, "I wouldn't do that if I were you…after all, you're not that stupid, you know I could easily cut you to shreds with a single motion of my finger, but what I said to your friend goes double for you. Death won't come to you so easily, little boar."
"Fuck you!" Inosuke exclaimed between gritted teeth, trying to kick at Rui with his free legs, but finding the demon just out of his reach. That in turn just caused the strings to tighten around his throat, a thin red collar of his own blood appearing around his neck as he was choked.
"Such anger…I'd like to see it in your own eyes myself for once." He admitted, before creating another string and suddenly slashing upwards with measured precision, slicing through Inosuke's entire boar head, splitting it in two without doing the same to his actual head, instead only leaving a bleeding wound across his face, rising from his chin, past his lips, over his nose and stretching into his forehead. As the two halves of the boar head separated and fell uselessly to the ground, it would reveal the bleeding but very much angered expression in his face.
"Bastard…! I'm gonna kill you for that!" Inosuke declared in rage, staring irately with his green eyes beneath his bloodied dark hair. Not only had this fucker hurt his comrade but had also taken away from him his most precious possession: the head of the boar mother who had raised him out in the wild, his only memento of his mother figure.
Rui, however, seemed unaffected by his threats. In fact, he would open an amused smirk at the look on Inosuke's face. "Huh…I didn't expect such a wild beast like yourself to have such a delicate face…" He noted, riling up the boy even further, "Anyhow, I suppose after attacking me so rudely, I don't feel very beholden to my earlier promise…even if your friend is down in the ground and bleeding." He admitted, glancing briefly at the downed Zenitsu before raising his index to call upon a single string as his lips shifted into a smirk, "So, pray tell me then, what will it be first, an arm or a leg…?"
The entrapped boy's silent response was to spit right in the Lower Moon's face, whipping the smirk off his face while glaring at the demon defiantly, "Alright then, leg it is…" Rui decided, drawing his hand back to make true to his word, when he suddenly stopped at the loud clap of thunder behind him. He turned around quickly, but would only be able to see the stump of a blade inches from his eye before it slashed right through his face, catching both of his eyes with its edge and furthermore cutting through the strings holding Inosuke up as Zenitsu stumbled behind him groggily, the last of his strength used in that final Thunderclap and Flash after he'd fainted once again in shock.
Inosuke stumbled as he hit the ground again, struggling to maintain his balance with the multiple bleeding wounds inflicted by the strings while watching in surprise as Rui yelled angrily, momentarily blinded by Zenitsu's attack, the boy having chosen to aim for his eyes since to debilitate the demon for a moment, knowing his blade wasn't even long enough to try and chop off his entire head. Realizing that, Inosuke didn't waste the chance his comrade had given him, and rushed off to grab the collapsing Zenitsu, shouldering the boy and immediately beginning to run down the mountain, overcoming his wounds on pure adrenaline to begin dashing his way back down the mountain as Rui behind them screamed angrily, blindly slashing with his strings at every direction and tearing apart the landscape indiscriminately.
While his comrades were busy with their own fights, Tanjiro Kamado made his way further and further up Natagumo, following the elusive smell of the swordswoman demon after she'd opened quite a distance on him. At first, it had been a daunting task, following her scent with the nauseating stench that seemed ever-present near the base of the mountain, so much so he realized he'd lost track of Inosuke still early on his chase at some point, yet chose not to turn back and keep chasing after the Lower Moon demon. Eventually, the stench would clear out, but he still ran for quite a while until the smell began getting stronger yet again, Tanjiro noting that not only was he getting close to the demon he'd been chasing, but also to the very peak of the mountain.
Sure enough, the smell would begin getting more and more prominent, until he realized that this meant the demon was no longer running away from him, and his frantic run would slow down to a determined stride. Crossing the treeline, Tanjiro would emerge into a large open clearing with a slight rise, a few trees scattered about here and there plus a large boulder, nearly the size of a house, located at the mountain's very peak.
Standing atop the boulder, there she was, staring up into the sky donning the same mask over her face with her long hair and haori flowing with the wind. The demon looked down, noticing his presence as Tanjiro entered the clearing, raising her hand towards him before closing it into a fist, purple flames sparking to life behind him and soon spreading into a ring of fire around the peak of the mountain, trapping the two of them in there.
"So...there you are." Tanjiro murmured, narrowed eyes locked with the demon's own in spite of their distance, the tension in the air palpable. Though neither of them knew it yet, their confrontation had been inevitable since the very beginning and now it was closer than ever, with both about to take a step neither could ever fully come back from.
A/N: So, what better than following up with a way too small chapter with a way too long one. I suppose its the least I can do with this weird-ass schedule I've been pushed to by staying home like 95% of the time.
Anyway, I like to talk a lot about this being a tragedy just as Demon Slayer inherently is a lot, but I haven't been putting it to practice. This starts to change now, and what better way to do it than to maim one of the main characters. This chapter marks the real start of both Zenitsu's and Inosuke's developments in this story. One lost a thing that previously defined him, AKA: boar head, plus was dealt a pretty bad loss and the other…well, most of his left hand, which kinda speaks for itself. After all, you didn't think Branching Paths just referred to Nezuko and Tanjiro, did you?
It was still a very cool fight to write though, with one or two fakeouts that I genuinely hope made someone believe Zenitsu/Inosuke killed Rui at those points in that fight. Still, Rui is a strong opponent, seeing as he is Lower Moon Four, and though it was very close, he ultimately took the win here, even if Zenitsu and Insure manage to get away by the end of the chapter…or do they? We'll see when we get back to them.
Also, I can't forget to mention the other fight in this chapter. Kanao and Genya fighting off the Spider Father Demon. I kinda wish I'd moved that first POV to the end of last chapter, so I might edit it at one point in the future, but for now it will stay as it is. Someone might've also noticed that, but I really like using the nearby environment in the fights I write, and there are specific things I call 'battle props' that I like to reuse depending on the scenario. In city-like places, the most common one is rooftops. Having people crash on them, slide on their side, jump off and to them…here though, in the forest, my preference is to use trees. Have characters crash onto them, rip them apart or throw them at each other is just cool.
Lastly, there is the final part of this chapter, which sets up what next chapter will fully focus on about, the long-awaited meeting between siblings. It's probably the most important chapter in this story so far aside from the very first one, so I am anxious to write it. Oh, I almost forgot, but SPOILERS for the manga…good news and bad news. Tanjiro is alive (called it) but Tanjiro is also a demon…which wow, bold move Croc-sensei. Kanao is also seemingly blind, sacrificing her remaining eye to try and turn Tanjiro back into a human, which let's hope works because he really deserves a happy ending here.
Instead of the usual thanks for Downwarddive, I'll instead give him a sorry for making him think I was dead by not replying on Discord.
So, the reviews.
LegoMyEggo02: I know it's not my place to criticize someone's writing style, but I would greatly appreciate it if you could ditch the future tense style of writing. It's not that it's bad, you just seem to switch between past and future tense so much that it's very distracting and hard to focus at times. Other than that, great chapter as usual and I love the way you write these fight scenes.
That would be my non-native English shining through. I try and monitor my grammar the best I can, but its not easy going through thousands of words looking for mistakes, and there are things I probably won't even see as errors in my part. I could use a Beta Reader, but I think relying on someone else's schedule would just further affect my schedule unless we managed to reach some sort of agreement.
thestormwriter123: Really enjoyed the entire story, hope you'll keep up the good work. Also, really love the fact that you've diverged from canon so much. It makes the story far more enjoyable. All the best .
Thanks, I really try to keep myself from repeating canon too much, especially at this point of the story, even if its something as simple as changing it so Inosuke is the one fighting the Spider Brother instead of Zenitsu here. It just makes it a better read, I think.
HamburgerLife: You still leave me in awe on how you make the story work so well
I'm really glad you like it…given you'd reviewed the first chapter just an hour before you posted that though, you must be a really freaking quick reader.
mr pink hair:
I'M BACK! (do people still remember me?)
It has been a really long time since my last review, but I have continued to read every chapter with the exact same enthusiasm as the first one, and it has only been getting better with each new release. Now, let's go to the actual review.
This chapter shows that while Zenitsu seems a bit more brave by showing him going up the mountain, his increased(?) bad luck evens it out by putting him against Rui. But hey! Lord Inosuke is here to save him from danger! Or will it be the other way around? I'm looking foward to what's going to happen here.
The jojo spider got an upgrade but Kanao and Genya are no joke either. Talking about Genya, since he gets stronger when he eats demons, woundn't his lungs also get stronger for a short time allowing him to use some sort of breathing technique? Or is he untalented in swordsmanship like Senjuro? Just a small thought that might or might not be a good addition to the story.
To finish this long review. It seems like things are heading to everyone but Tanjiro fighting Rui while our sun breather confronts his brainwashed sister. I'm so excited!
Bye bye and have a nice day!
Hey, I remember you. Hard to forget one of the first reviewers of this story.
Jojo Spider is such a great descriptor for the spider father I just had to sneak in a Jojo Reference into this chapter, just like all those hip kids do with their memes. As for Genya, I really can't tell you how it works, maybe his lungs are too small or something, its really part of the original story rather than my addition to it, so I can't say. It probably hasn't got much to do with his swordsmanship though, I imagine.
As for Zenitsu and Inosuke, you kinda missed the mark thinking the other Slayers would join them. You did get something right though, it really was the other way around, which is why this fight ends like it does, though I guess the fact that no one died should be counted as their luck even if I'd never let that happen…this early anyway.
Another thing you got right is Tanjiro confronting his sister, which is where we end the chapter, leading to their inevitable clash next chapter. That said, I hope to hear your thoughts again about all this.
The Joining: What was the new info that contradicts what you wrote for Kanao?
Broadly, I said Kanao was raised as a Demon Slayer and trained for it by her sister', which is harsh but kinda explains why she is so strong. Canon info says she tried to be a maid in the Butterfly Mansion first and just happened to pick up a blade and head off to the Final Selection by herself with no say from Shinobu about it.
Guest: Thank you for the Shinazugawa Genya content!
You're welcome.
Echonic : F*ck yes! more incredible fight scenes.
Yep, and we're not done with those just yet.
The day I'll be posting this (April 15th) marks the five month anniversary of beginning this story, and it's been a wild ride so far, one I hope to keep providing to you guys who so dearly support me. So, in celebration of that, why not leave an extra-lengthy review? Or a normal sized one too, if you will. Anyhow, in the interest of not making an oversized chapter any longer, as usual, Sky signing out.