For the first time in his life, Inosuke Hashibira found himself fleeing, rushing his way down the mountain while carrying over his shoulder, by the support of his right arm, an unconscious Zenitsu. The blond boy's head and other hand were hanging low, the latter of which was still continuously bleeding from the three fingers he had lost. This was all without even mentioning how Inosuke was also injured and losing even more blood than Zenitsu from the string-created cuts along his arms, leg and face. He was dazed, but managed to keep moving with great struggle through sheer adrenaline, fully aware that there was a powerful demon after them, probably following the trail of blood they were leaving behind. After all, his friend might've blinded Rui for a second, but it was always very clear that the moment he healed from it, the Lower Moon would be coming for them, and if them both being terribly wounded wasn't bad enough, then the fact that neither had a sword on them was.

"C'mon…just a bit further down…" The injured Demon Slayer grunted, pushing past his tire even as his legs felt heavier and heavier at every step. He knew though deep down that getting to the bottom wouldn't help. Even if they managed to bump into a fellow Sense before the Lower Moon could catch up, he doubted anyone but Tanjiro would have a chance of holding him back with them in their current state and, last he saw, the red-clad swordsman had been running his way up the mountain, not down. Really, all he could do was go on for as long as he could before his body gave out and hopefully the demon would give up chasing them before that, "…ah, who am I kidding?" Inosuke thought with his teeth gritting, "That bastard's not gonna let up…we're both dead meat."

"Hey!" A voice suddenly called out, and the boy blinked as he stared up, and saw another figure running up their way with a drawn sword at his hand , one he quickly recognized as the surviving Demon Slayer from the last team to raid the mountain, the one they had saved upon arriving at Natagumo. It honestly took a moment, but he did manage to recall the boy's name as Murata.

"You! What are you doing up here?!" Inosuke grunted as the older swordsman came to a stop before him, panting somewhat in his rush up the mountain, "We told you to stay down there! This place is dangerous! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Murata stared at him somewhat nervously before suddenly looking away, his expression marred with guilt, "I…I couldn't just stay down there and leave you guys alone. I had to come up to see if I can help!"

"Well, you can't!" Inosuke exclaimed angrily, "There's a Demon Moon right behind us, and he'll be arriving here at any moment! If you really wanna survive this, then we gotta continue moving down right now!"

This piece of information seemed to startle Murata for a moment, allowing the fear to shine through in his expression. Yet he didn't move aside, and as the situation fully dawned on him, his regrets once again overwhelmed his guilt, "…on my way up here, I found a clearing. There were some thrown about swords and burnt pieces of Demon Slayer's uniforms…that was my team, wasn't it?"

Inosuke paused upon hearing this, and his anger seemed to subside as he experienced a rather unfamiliar feeling for him. He was actually sorry for the older teen, having lost his comrades in such a terrible situation, "…it was, but that doesn't have to be you." He tried convincing him, "The demon chasing us might be even stronger than the one that took down your team. There's no way you can take him down by yourself, but if we go now we can still run away together."

"…'we don't need the kind of advice from the kind of trash that would run on your own team.' That's what you said to me, right?" Murata recalled, catching Inosuke off guard with his own words, "You know, you weren't wrong. I ran away on my own comrades. The least I can do now is redeem myself and protect you guys. You were the ones who saved me, after all…"

"Are you crazy?! This is not just any regular demon, it's a Lower Moon!" The boy exclaimed, "Blondie and I nearly got ourselves killed fighting him, you don't stand a chance!"

"Hey, you're not just talking to any Demon Slayer." Murata told him with a sudden bout of boldness, "I'm your senior and a Kinoe at that. Don't go around underestimating me…I'll hold him off long enough for you to open some distance and reach the bottom of the mountain. As soon as I get the chance, I'll escape him and meet you there."

Inosuke was still hesitant, but he could see by the young man's eyes that he meant what he said. After all, he had seen the same look reflected on his own eyes during better times, so he knew firsthand that convincing him to go with them in the little time they had would be near impossible. "…alright, we're gonna be right up ahead. Don't take too long."

"Yeah, sure thing." Murata agreed, turning his gaze up the mountain as Inosuke ran past the Slayer with Zenitsu still being dragged alongside him. He didn't want to leave the guy alone to confront a Lower Moon by himself but he knew he was in no condition to aid him in battle, not to mention that if their roles were switched, he would most certainly be the one jumping in to fight the demon. All he could do now was keep moving and hope Murata would live up to his word.

For all his bravado, Murata couldn't help but be unsure. After all, the last encounter he had with a Lower Moon involved his whole team being taken out, so could he really do much against a possibly even stronger demon all by himself? "No! You can't think of it like that!" He exclaimed silently, gripping his hilt tighter, "You're a Demon Slayer! You were trained for this! Stupid rankings don't matter, you just have to hold him back long enough for those guys to run off!"

He'd only have a short while to steel his resolve however as five strings wrapped around the length of a nearby tree and suddenly pulled down a white-haired and ashy haired figure of a pale young boy, landing some distance away from the Demon Slayer and causing the startled swordsman to raise his blade. "Now...you don't look like either of the Demon Slayers I was chasing..." The demon said, looking up at the young man with his mismatched eyes, the left of which had the Lower Moon Five symbol imprinted upon its pupil, "Normally, I would just put you down, but seeing as I am more intent on ending the other two, I will let you live provided you tell me where they went."

"Great...it's really another Demon Moon...two in one mountain...just my luck." Murata thought nervously, his body stiffening in its stance. Yet, despite how he felt at the moment, he couldn't bring himself to turn tail and run. If he did, that meant he was not worthy of wearing his uniform nor of brandishing his sword, "Stand your ground, Murata...you're a Demon Slayer, so act like it!"

"That won't be happening..." He declared, breathing in before dashing towards the demon who, in turn, only narrowed his eyes. Murata drew back his blade with a single-handed grip, water flowing across its length as he called upon one of his Breath Techniques, "Breath of Water, First Style: Water Surface-"

The sword would be barely swung however as the Lower Moon raised a finger and had a single, near-invisible string slice right through the young man's sword arm, maiming him at the elbow and effectively interrupting the attack as Murata fell to his knees, gripping tightly onto the stump of his arm, his head lowered, "You're right..." The demon agreed coldly, "I wouldn't have let you survive regardless of what you said..."

"Don't scream! Just don't scream!" Murata told himself, holding tightly onto his wound to staunch the bleeding while biting down on his lip with nearly enough force to nearly rip a chunk off his bottom lip, "If you scream they're gonna try and come back to help you...it might be too late for me, but I can still help them make it!" He thought determinedly, his left hand shooting out to grab his dropped katana, rising while slashing at the demon's neck with a determined cry.

The Lower Moon barely blinked and, with a wave of his wrist, another string would intercept his blade and cut its length in half, making it too short to even reach him. Murata blinked, but barely had the time to process as much before Rui raised his hand, the remainder of the strings he wielded suddenly wrapping around the Slayer's body and lifting him into the air a foot off the ground, effectively immobilizing his already very injured form, "You Demon Slayers...you're all so pesky." The boy-looking creature grunted, pulling down slightly at the strings and causing the entrapped Slayer to suddenly shift diagonally, his head leaning in so he was at eye-level with the short demon, "You come and disrupt our peaceful lives, intent on slaying all demons as if you're judges of right and wrong. Tell me, was coming here and ruining this family worth your pathetic life...?"

"...maybe it wasn't." Murata earnestly admitted, feeling surprisedly unafraid despite the situation he was in, "But you've ruined a lot of families yourselves, you know? How many siblings, parents and children have you not eaten...? How many families haven't you ruined? You don't need to be a moral judge to see that it's wrong." He said and noticed the demon's changing expression as he frowned, his words seeming to affect him in a way, "One way or another, justice will come. I guess I was never strong enough to bring it about...but judging from how angry you seem, those two must've gotten close." The Lower Moon's eyes then narrowed as he scoffed irritably, but before he could say something the young man continued, "Demons are very fragile. They can't even survive in sunlight...I'm sure eventually, every single one of you will have to face the consequence of your actions."

He would then grunt painfully as the angered demon yanked at his strings and had them dig deeper into his skin, cutting into muscle and causing intense pain around his body, "You sure talk a lot for a human with his life hanging on my strings..." He commented in between gritted teeth.

"Damn...I really thought I could've escaped this one..." Murata managed to think despite the pain he was in, "I really hope those guys manage to get away safe...I could tell from the first glance...they're all Demon Slayers who'll one day really make a difference..." Defiantly, the Demon Slayer mustered a grin in spite of the demon's torture, "Justice will be coming for you too, you know...? Maybe not tonight, nor tomorow...but very soon."

That was the last thing he said before the irate Lower Moon closed his hand into a fist, tightening the strings wrapped around Murata, a sickening sound of flesh being sliced as blood painted the surroundings red.

Rui only narrowed his eyes as blood splattered across his face, the strings on his hand disappearing as he turned away from the mess of meat before him. He was angry at himself for letting that Demon Slayer rile him up, to the point where disposing of him had barely been satisfactory. He had wasted too much time entertaining the boy in an attempt to let out his own frustrations instead of chasing after his two actual targets as he intended. Not that either would get all that far considering the injuries slowing them down.

Speaking of which he would then notice a noticeable trail of blood away from where he'd confronted the Demon Slayer heading all the way down the mountain. He kneeled down briefly to examine it and confirm his suspicions as it was indeed two different kinds of blood, meaning two different humans, or two different Demon Slayers. The Lower Moon smirked, realizing he now had a trail leading straight to the two of them. In his initial rage he might've overlooked that, but it was easy to forget as a demon how much those pesky humans bled when you cut them a bit. He was about to start making his way down to follow after the trail and enact his awaited revenge when he heard something behind him and realized there was another presence nearby. He turned around and saw the familiar figure of a white-clad swordswoman, Chihime having landed behind him, now walking towards Rui with an odd look in her once again unmasked face.

"Ah, so you're here...I'm glad you disposed of that stupid mask." He told his fellow Lower Moon, glancing briefly back down the mountain, "I'm sure you've realized by now the Demon Slayer situation is worse than we thought. Two of them managed to escape me, but they are wounded, just down the mountain. If we go together we can-"

"Stop talking," Chihime told him bluntly, looking at him annoyedly. This shocked Rui briefly, not having expected her to lash out like that and not knowing how to reply for a moment. She took a hold of her katana by the hilt, and drew it with a single, fluid motion, before twirling it around and stabbing it tip first into the ground, followed by stepping past it and towards her fellow demon.

"What...what are you doing?" Rui inquired, not knowing what to expect from her. He could tell she was off, the look in her eyes was different. While quick to draw the blade, she was mostly calm and quiet from what he had seen. Now though, while still quiet, he couldn't exactly call her calm. There was an unnerving aura about his fellow Lower Moon, and he could tell that despite still being infuriated by how close those two Demon Slayers had managed to come close to ending him, whatever was upsetting her went way beyond that.

"Demons should fight like demons." Chihime explained briefly, reaching inside her sleeves to cut deeply along both her forearms with her claws, letting blood spill along both her arms, "Lower Moon Four Rui, I challenge you to a Blood Battle for your ranking amidst the Demon Moons."

This...was honestly not something Rui expected in the slightest. Blood Battles were common knowledge for anyone of their ranking, how one could put their very position in the line against a fellow Demon Moon for a one-on-one duel which assured the winner would remain with the superior number. Yet, not once had he heard of it ever being called upon by anyone before. For a moment, he even doubted she actually meant it but that thought would be erased away the moment she breathed in, disappearing in a burst of speed to reappear right in front of him, already swinging a fist for his face. He would attempt to create five strings and use them to intercept her blow, but the moment before it made impact, her entire arm would burst into purple flames, burning through his threads and clearing the way for her punch to strike him across the cheek, sending him flying across the dark forest at high speeds.

While still midair, Rui regained his bearings and reached out with his strings, wrapping five of each hand around a different tree in order to anchor himself and stop his momentum, allowing him to flip midair while dismissing his strings and land on his feet with only a slight skid back, glaring up viciously at the calmly approaching Chihime, "I've grown tired of entertaining your childish whims." She told him coldly, "Do you really think those other demons you keep as prisoners really think of you as their family? They're all just scared and would leave you to rot the moment they got a chance to do so."

"Shut up!" Rui snarled, drenching his strings with blood again as he pulled at them to enclose on Chihime from both sides. She stood unreactive, however, simply reigniting her flames once the threads approached to easily burn through them faster than they could reach her. She moved in quickly, closing distance again aiming to strike, forcing Rui to nimbly leap to the side while sending more strings at her, which she again easily burned through before they could ever make contact and gave chase, knocking his hand aside as he prepared another set of strings and landing a kick on his chest to once again throw him back.

This time though, Rui had learned his lesson, and instead of trying to regain his balance, he instead attempted to slow down Chihime, setting up dozens of extended strings in between himself and his fellow Lower Moon before he hit the ground again and ended up sprawling on landing. Furthermore, the moment he regained his footing, he would quickly act by resorting to the same projectile tactic he'd utilized earlier against the other Demon Slayers except en masse, slicing down several trees and using his strings to grab and launch them towards his foe as projectiles. After all, if attacking her with the threads themselves was useless, his only choice was to improvise in his conditions. Chihime, in turn, breathed in calmly as he set up all his precautions before moving off in a blur, weaving with great the extended threads snapping and lashing out at her as well as the flying tree trunks that would often get redirected or sliced apart by those same threads.

With several strings snapped and all his trees thrown, Rui would only watch as his foe somersaulted over two intercrossing threads and landed behind him, already swinging a clawed hand at his neck. He, however, managed to see that coming and lashed out with a string from his thumb over his shoulder that momentarily wrapped around her arm and allowed him to yank it to the side, making sure not to cut deep enough to pierce skin and thus preventing her from immediately destroying it down with her flames. Of course, the string would be burnt regardless, but that brief opening allowed Rui to return the earlier kick by spinning around and landing a blow of his own to push her back.

Chihime had blocked the blow but regardless was sent back due to the force put behind it. As she came to a stop though, she'd only scoff as she rose fully to her feet again. "What a pathetic kick...for all that bravado, you really can't do much without those strings of yours, huh?"

A vein emerged around Rui's temple, his frustration growing even further at how the girl was talking down to him. From the day when Muzan had appeared to make him the offer of demonhood, to leave his sickly human husk behind and transcend into a superior being, he had always been strong. Of course, there still existed stronger demons and stronger humans, but in every situation so far, he'd been the top dog almost every time. He had never been humiliated so badly, let alone by a demon numerically weaker than himself. Not until now, but he would not let that stand, "My strings are more than enough to cut through the likes od you..." He snarled, raising his hands and produced several more crimson strings that, upon released, involved him in an almost orb-like wall surrounding the Lower Moon. He then raised his hands to take aim at Chihime, and in between them, a rotating sphere of strings would form, thus creating the epicenter of a massive wall of red interlacing threads quickly moving in and out of view, moulding into a red distorted aura of strings all around him. This was his strongest attack, one he could barely even aim, but that would destroy everything in its path with absolute certainty before one could even realize it had reached them. Of course, with her being a human, this wouldn't really kill his foe, but at the very least it would teach her an unforgettable lesson, "Demon Blood Art: Cutting Thread Rotation!" He announced as the wall of red with its orbital epicenter moved towards her, tearing everything down to every last blade of grass that stood in its way to undetectably small pieces.

Chihime, in the face of such a powerful attack covering her entire field of vision, only sighed. She raised her hands and used both her index fingers to slash the other hand's wrist and allowed herself to bleed a small puddle on the ground below. "Demon Blood Art," She said in return, "Burning Blood." With those words, her blood shone for a moment before exploding, enveloping her in a purple inferno comparable in size to the red wall of threads, effectively matching and allowing the flames to overtake the strings, turning what was once a deadly attack into nothing more than falling ash.

Rui was left staring agape at the purple flames while the burning remnants of his attack rained down around him. That is until his concentration was broken by the fire suddenly parting in two, a corridor created amidst the flames to reveal an unharmed Chihime calmly striding towards him. "You should've realized by now that no matter how large or powerful an attack you throw at me, my flames will always burn through your strings. My Blood Art simply holds an inherent advantage over yours." She stated, sighing in exasperation, "Lord Muzan told me out of all the previous Lower Moons, none held more potential in them than you...and I can see why. You are certainly powerful, after all. However, as long as you refuse to mature and obsess over building yourself a fake family, you will never become truly strong."

Those words were enough to switch Rui's surprise to anger, even further accentuated now by Chihime laying upon him her true thoughts. Someone he had taken into his own home and even considered making part of his family now betraying him for the sake of status. He didn't say a word, only gritting his teeth in rage as he brought down five more strings at his foe. She simply narrowed her eyes and, with a motion of her hand, caused the flames to enclose again around her and swallowing the corridor, the threads burning up to nothing before they could even reach the ground.

Despite his attack missing, Rui would scowl and join his hands to prepare for yet another Blood Art Technique to use on Chihime, regardless of her flames or how they worked against it. He'd be interrupted before he could even properly start as his foe exploded from amidst the flames, slashing at him with her claws. The spider demon barely managed to back away from the incoming slash though, being grazed across his nose with a shallow scratch. He raised his hand to call upon more strings when Chihime narrowed her eyes and clenched her hand into a fist, flames exploding from the scratch across Rui's face with enough force to blast off most of it, including burning both of his eyes and momentarily blinding him. This, of course, was a good chance for his foe to close in while he healed and completely pummel him with a series of quick and calculated blows to any weak spot she could target. He attempted to blindly retaliate during that time but would have every effort knocked aside or dodged before Chihime resumed her pummeling. After receiving a blow to his stomach, Rui would keel over just as his vision began returning, and the first thing he would see was her foot connecting with his extended chin at high speeds, the kick sending him flying straight up, easily soaring past the treetops.

Even with all the injuries just caused upon him quickly healing, Rui was still in a great deal of pain from his several broken bones and damaged organs but would spin around midair regardless, facing down intent on slashing his threads at Chihime who, upon kicking the demon upwards, had immediately jumped off after him. In her ascension, she would manage to spin at the last moment and squeeze in between two of the descending strings to evade them while at the same time outstretching a hand so one of the strings would lop her left thumb off as it went by her. For a moment, Rui raised an eyebrow in confusion at that decision, until purple flames burst to life along the length of that very same string. Except instead of burning it down, the flames just reached out, using the string as an extension without burning it in order to reach his hand, which was thus enveloped by her fire, burning intensely hot and quickly leaving his fingers in no shape to call upon more strings.

Gritting his teeth while trying to tolerate his burning appendage, Rui spun around and use his unburnt hand to send more strings at Chihime, but this time she would rub her hands together to spread the blood of her already healing thumb on them both before igniting a short, controlled flame on her left one that quickly faded out, but created enough momentum to help her dodge the strings and fling herself at Rui's direction. The spider demon widened his eyes as he had his unburnt hand grabbed before he could even swing again with it, a knee smashing down on his chest from above before Chihime extended her other hand behind her and towards the sky, that being the one still covered in blood. She used said blood to ignite her flames in a powerful explosion above them both, using the momentum it created to send both herself and Rui rocketing towards the ground, crashings amidst her previous inferno with great force and helping it disperse.

Now lying helpless amidst a crater of his own creation, Rui grunted in pain. One of his hands had been burst into a blackened stump while the other had been crushed by her grip into a mess of flesh and bone, leaving both unable to call upon his strings. Not that it mattered, seeing as the sheer impact of the fall combined with the knee on his torso had helped in snapping his spine, preventing all movement in his body until it healed. Chihime was on top of him, looking down at him condescendingly, which made him hate her all the more, even if he could do nothing about it at this point. Without a word, she reached out for his face before lightly pinching with two fingers around his left eye. The spider demon realized a moment too late what she was doing before her claws sunk into his socket and he screamed in pain. She tugged, and sure enough, it came loose. Rui couldn't do anything but glare hatefully with what he had left as she rose to her feet and held her prize up to the moonlight, examining the ripped off eye of her enemy, its Lower Moon insignia staring right back at her.

She then lowered the eye preparing to enact the ritual that would officialize her ascent. Without a moment's hesitation, she raised it to her open mouth and, upon closing it, swallowed the eye whole. Chihime then took a deep breath and closed her eyes, waiting for a moment before her entire body tensed up as if suddenly receiving an electric shock. Veins bulged along her whole body and her hand tightened into a fist, her face scrunching up for a couple of seconds before the feeling was gone and her whole body relaxed, letting out a deep breath she'd been holding in before opening her eyes again, her right pupil having again shifted into the symbol for Lower Moon Four.

With the Blood Battle concluded and her victory conquered, Chihime got off the fallen Rui, turning her back to him as she walked some distance away to where she'd stabbed her katana onto the ground. The spider demon though was less than pleased by the results, and with his wounds quickly healing, he'd grunt, sitting up with his healed spine and crawling his way to the edge of the crater, seeing his fellow but now higher-ranked Lower Moon pulling her katana off the ground, glaring at her with his new eye, this one donning the familiar rank of Lower Moon Five he'd held before all of this began. Angrily, he raised his regenerated left hand, the other one taking longer to heal after it was burnt to a crisp, not that he cared much as he called upon five more strings and prepared to have them descend upon her.

Before he could even bring down his arm though, she'd almost lazily spin around and slash with her katana. Even with the distance between them, his raised hand would be lopped off before it could ever attack with the strings he'd summoned. "Blood Battles aren't meant to be a fight to the death." She told him, "but if you continue with that mindset, I might not have a choice but to put you down permanently, even against Lord Muzan's expressed wishes."

Rui grit his teeth, reigning in his anger. It was clear to him now by her words that this was why she was there from the very start, to usurp his ranking. He didn't know though why Lord Muzan would send her through this rather than just outright giving Chihime the rank in question if this was what was intended from the start, but it didn't matter. She might have somehow earned their master's favor, but it didn't mean he'd forgive her. Still, even he had to know when to stop. She had handily beaten him with her Demon Blood Art, true, but were he to fight her while wielding a sword like that, it would mean his death, "You've just made enemies out of me and my family, girl..." He told her, venom dripping in his tone, "Do not think I'll let you get away with that next time we meet."

Hearing that though, Chihime narrowed her eyes, "Your so-called family's already dead. The Demon Slayers have seen to that." She said, causing his eyes to widen in shock, "I wouldn't recommend you still try and chase them though. More of them are coming and, if I had to guess, it won't be the kind either of us can fight against." With that said, she would turn her back on him for the last time and begin walking away, sheathing her blade as she did and leaving Rui alone to process everything he had lost in that single night.

After his brief meeting with Murata, Inosuke would keep on making his way down the mountain, dragging Zenitsu along him. He didn't look back, just kept going on and on and on, even as his vision grew blurred and his ears began ringing, even as his legs grew numb and his muscles felt heavy. He would keep going until he tripped on a tree root that had gone by previously unnoticed and both him and the unconscious Zenitsu fell down. He groaned, raising a hand to place it on the ground, using it to try and push himself up through gritted teeth, but would only rise a couple of inches from the grass before his strength gave out and he collapsed. "Dammit...gotta get up...gotta keep moving...c'mon...!" He thought, pushing himself up again determinedly, but wouldn't even make it as far as the first time before he fell again, "Shit...it's no use. My body isn't responding anymore. This is as far as I can go."

With great struggle, he managed to flip himself on his back, staring up at the visible sky in between the treetop above while panting heavily, drenched in his own sweat and blood with his body at its very limit. In the conditions he was in, a normal human would have long fated. Luckily, Inosuke was anything but normal. He glanced over to where the unconscious Zenitsu was lying bleeding even more than him as his unconscious self couldn't focus on forcing his body to staunch his wounds like the blue-haired boy had done. Realizing that, he'd work past his exhaustion to crawl over to the boy, grunting as he frustratedly tried to unbutton open the top of his uniform, not exactly used to the concept of buttons. Eventually, he'd just rip it open in frustration,before doing much of the same to the boy's undershirt, tearing it apart and leaving the knocked out Zenitsu bare-chested so he could use that cloth to wrap around his maimed hand in a desperate attempt to stop all the blood, "Come on, Zenitsu…" He muttered in beneath grunts as he finished his improvised knot, "Don't die on me now…!"

Just as he was finished, however, he'd hear rustling from the bushes behind and quickly turn to look over his shoulder in alarm. If that was really Rui having finally caught up to them, then it would certainly be the end of them. He wouldn't be able to do anything to fight back what would be surely a slow and painful death. Fortunately, that was not the case, and he would be immensely relieved upon seeing Kanao alongside by a limping Genya emerge from the forestation.

Immediately, the girl would widen her eyes, and wordlessly move towards Inosuke upon seeing his terrible condition to try and heal him, but just as she kneeled down to do so, she'd be surprised when the boy instead pushed her away, "Don't come to me, focus on him!" He exclaimed, pointing at Zenitsu. "He's lost his fingers, if you don't do anything he's gonna bleed out for sure!"

Kanao blinked in surprise at that information, but upon looking at Zenitsu and noticing his condition, she'd narrow her eyes and purse her lips, "…don't worry, the finger doesn't have any major arteries or veins, even if he bleeds too much it usually stops after about half an hour. Knowing him, I imagine he immediately fainted in shock, but for now he should be fine with your improvised bandaging." She then turned to him, "You though, Inosuke…you look awful. You're bleeding all over, I'm not even sure how you're still conscious."

The wild boy frowned looking at his downed comrade for a moment before sighing in frustration, "…fine, but make it quick." He grunted, to which Kanao nodded before leaning in towards him without any resistance this time, using the supplies they were carrying to begin bandaging Inosuke up starting with the nasty wound on his thigh.

"We're lucky Kanao insisted on recovering that bag of supplies she hid away before coming down the mountain, or else we wouldn't have even bumped into the trail of blood leading to you guys" Genya noted, leaning against a nearby tree to rest his evidently weary state, "By the way, what happened to your boar head?"

Inosuke grit his teeth as he was reminded of the loss of his precious possession, "...we met a powerful demon, he diced it in half when he landed this cut on my face."

"...guess we weren't the only one running into some crazy monster. Ours was a spider-headed bag of muscles larger than a bear. Never met a demon before that could punch so hard." The scarred boy told him, "So, what kinda demon did this to you?"

"A little kid in white with a thing for strings…" He admitted with a grunt, to which Genya paused for a moment before letting out a stifled laugh, looking amused by the kind of demon they'd gotten so hurt against. Before he could make a snide remark on that fact, however, Inosuke would add, "He also had a Lower Moon mark on his eye."

That caused his demeanor to suddenly shift from amusement to surprise, "Another one?! Wait, does that mean you guys also killed a Lower Moon?"

"...well, not exactly," Inosuke admitted, "Technically, it should still be chasing us."

Genya's expression once again changed, this time from surprise to shock, pushing himself off his leaning position a bit too quickly and almost falling in the process. Regaining his balance though, he glared at Inosuke, "You idiot! Why didn't you open with that?! There might've been an enemy approaching us the entire time and you didn't even bother to tell us?!"

"Well, I thought blondie was dying!" Inosuke exclaimed angrily, "Would you prefer if I just made you two panic over that rather than helping him out?!"

Before Genya could reply though, Kanao would speak up without moving her gaze away from the bandages in Inosuke's thigh, "Don't worry, you two." She reassured them, calmly but with a conviction neither could even voice anything against, "I am still in fighting condition, so if an enemy comes, Lower Moon or not, I will immediately place myself in between him and you. Tanjiro asked me this in the first place, but even if it costs me my life, I will certainly lop its head off to assure your safety."

Neither boys were expecting such conviction from the normally monotone girl, but her words worked, as both seemed immediately reassured. After all, Inosuke could recognize the strength, and having clashed against Kanao himself in sparring, he knew she held plenty of it. "Speaking of which, what exactly happened to Tanjiro?" Genya then inquired, "Wasn't you following him, Inosuke?"

"He left me behind to chase off the other damn Lower Moon up the mountain." The blue-haired boy admitted with a frustrated grunt, "Probably long caught up with her by now."

"…I hope he's okay." Kanao admitted earnestly with a small frown, pausing momentarily in her bandage-wrapping with a small frown before shaking her head and continuing it.

"Don't worry, that wouldn't be his first Lower Moon, and I really doubt it'll be his last." Genya told them with a shrug, "I don't think any of us can argue how absurdly strong that guy is."

There was a sudden air of concession among the three of the Senses, each one knowing from their own experiences that the leader of their group was indeed undoubtedly strong. That moment, however, would be interrupted when a sound of quick footsteps was heard nearby, and the three of them all paused, looking off at the way down the mountain in alarm for a second, Kanao's hand even reaching briefly towards her katana before she relaxed. "It's fine." She told them, "Help has arrived."

A moment later, several people would emerge from the darkness, all dressed in the identical black uniforms of the Demon Slayer Corps except with the traditional headpiece that covered their head and most of their faces. All three of them recognized these from their time in the Butterfly Mansion as the Kakushi. But they were not alone either, as there were also a few Demon Slayers who would quickly rush past them, leading small separate groups of Kakushi on the way further up the mountain. A few of them stuck back, one tending to the downed Zenitsu, one offering to take over in the bandaging of Inosuke from Kanao after she'd finished up with one arm and one asking the winded Genya if he needed some help. On the back of the group though, everyone's attention would be drawn to the large figure that was quickly walking towards them. And of course they all did, as even Inosuke, who didn't know the word, if asked to describe him, would've gone with whatever his closest equivalent was to flamboyant.

The man in question easily towered over six feet, with a bulky muscular frame and lightly-tanned skin. He had thin eyes, and a wrap that covered his hair, plus a sleeveless version of the Demon Slayer Uniform. The odd part about him though was all the jewelry he donned from the large golden rings around his arms, matching with the golden bracelets on his wrist around his fingerless gloves to the headband over his forehead, adorned in gemstones both in the headband itself or into a chain that fell down along the side of his face. He also had a mark on his face looking to be makeup consisting of alternating large and small dots that ran inwards, towards his left eye. What most impressed Inosuke though were the two swords on his back, designed very differently from normal katana, with wider but shorter blades as well as a chain linking them together, "So...you're the kids Lord Kagaya sent out to clean out the mountain, huh? It doesn't really seem like it went as planned."

Inosuke was none too pleased by the way this stranger was addressing them, and grunted, turning around to be face to face with the man rather than just glancing at him, much to the chagrin of the Kakushi who was tending to his wounds, "And who the hell are you then, weirdo?!"

"Inosuke! Show more respect!" Kanao told him, "That man is the Sound Pillar, Lord Tengen Uzui!"

"And you're Shinobu's Tsuguko, right? I was told you'd be here..." The newly introduced Tengen noted, "But if we're counting heads, it seems like you're still missing someone."

"Yeah...Tanjiro's gone up the mountain chasing a demon, but he hasn't yet returned down." Genya informed the man, "We don't know what happened to him."

Kanao then looked down for a moment with a small frown before voicing up, "I'll go after him. With the Kakushi here, I don't need to stay here for healing, and Lord Tengen can protect you all from the Lower Moon demon better than I ever could. "

Neither boys protested her words, with Inosuke nodding, "Yeah, go." He said, "Make sure to bring him down in one piece."

She nodded in return, before turning to Tengen in search of the Pillar's approval, to which he shrugged, "Hey, I'm not your squad leader, you can do as you will."

Nodding again, she turned her attention up towards the mountain top before, with a deep breath, shooting off in a blur to chase after the Senses' leader. Seeing that, Inosuke would groan and push himself up so he was sitting against a tree, raising his arm to allow the Kakushi to treat it after he was done with his thigh, "So, how is it that you found us anyway?" Genya asked Tengen in the meantime.

"You shouldn't underestimate your messenger crows, kid. They are a lot smarter than they seem." He told the boy with his arms crossed, "The moment a Demon Moon was confirmed to be on the mountain, they rushed to inform us. Lord Kagaya sent for a squadron of Kakushi with a few higher-ranked Demon Slayers led by the closest Pillar. Which, as you can see, just so happened to be yours truly, in all my flamboyance." He motioned at himself exaggeratedly before turning over to Inosuke, "Though…by the looks of it, I'd guess you already had a close-up meeting with it."

"One of them." The boy affirmed, "The other one Tanjiro chased all the way up the mountain."

"So there is more than one of them here, huh…?" Tengen said curiously, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Two Demon Moons together is quite a peculiar situation. You guys really are lucky I am here."

"…yeah. So great, having a Pillar around for him to sit down and chat while his troops scout the mountain." Inosuke grunted.

"Show some respect, boy. Me being here is to your benefit too." Tengen said with a brief glare at the wild boy, "Besides, it's not like I could accompany them all, right? If any trouble comes, they'll use one of the sound bombs I gave them. My ears are pretty well trained, so it should be no trouble for me to pinpoint where the sound came from and rush up the mountains to aid them."

Genya, who had stopped for a moment of thought after what the Pillar had previously said, voice out his thoughts then, "...was the reason you were so close to the mountain because you were heading to the headquarters for the Pillar meeting?" He inquired.

Tengen raised an eyebrow as he turned his gaze over to the scarred boy, "Hm...yes, I was. Quite sharp of you to guess that. I imagine you must be Shinazugawa, right? Sanemi's brother..."

He nodded, "Yeah, that's correct."

"You do look like him." The Pillar noted somewhat amusedly, "Down to the scars, in fact."

The boy frowned slightly, and seemed to be about to say something when he was interrupted by two distant but nonetheless lou bdlasts happening in quick sequence, causing Inosuke to recall what the Pillar had said about the sound bombs, "Is that...?"

"No." Tengen narrowed his eyes, uncrossing his arms, "Two blasts in quick sequence means they found something out of the ordinary, but not something dangerous. Still, I better go and check" He crouched briefly, taking a deep breath. Even through his pants, Inosuke would notice the muscles in his legs bulging for a moment before he shot off with enough force to slightly crack the ground beneath his feet, flying well above the treetops with a single leap and being gone from their line of sight in a moment."

"...damn," Genya muttered, staring up at gap beneath the trees where the Pillar had disappeared from a moment earlier. Inosuke meanwhile only grunted and turned his head away, incidentally landing his gaze on Zenitsu, his hand now properly bandaged by the Kakushi aiding him. He was always proud of his strength, that much was undeniable, so it was hard to admit when someone was stronger than him. Not even Tanjiro had earned that from him...but Zenitsu had. The blond had dominated the offensive for so much of their fight together that Inosuke began trying to surpass him, seeing it as a challenge to his own pride whether he knew it or not at the time. He'd grown too reckless, tried to be the one to slice off the demon's head alone, and for it he paid. And so did Zenitsu, having to fight that monster alone and coming actually close to ending Rui, but ultimately losing most of his left hand because of it...because of him. If only he'd been more cautious, tried to support Zenitsu instead of taking the glory from him, things would've ended very different, and that thought scratched at him nonstop.

Then there was Murata...he had no idea what happened to Murata. Hopefully, the demon realized the reinforcements were coming and fled before they could even meet, as it seemed to be the case. If so, the Demon Slayer should be coming down the mountain himself at that very moment. That thought brought some relief that helped him ease the guilt over what happened to Zenitsu somewhat.

Anyway, things would remain silent for a while as Inosuke found himself with both his arms entirely bandaged alongside another bandage vertically wrapped across his head to cover the cut on his face. According to the Kakushi, the cuts were fairly deep and likely to leave scars, but he didn't care. He also gave him a transfusion to make up for the blood he lost, the Kakushi reassuring him by saying he was a universal donor, whatever the hell that meant. Genya eventually gave in to his tiredness and fell asleep, but stray thoughts prevented Inosuke from doing the same.

Eventually, that monotony would be broken by the sound of several footsteps accompanied by something being dragged. Inosuke looked to the side to see what it was and widened his eyes. Tengen was walking their way alongside a few Kakushi, but more surprising than that was what he was dragging behind him. A large iron net filled to the brim with what he recognized to be the same human-headed spiders he'd met and cut through earlier when fighting that spider freak before even finding the Lower Moon, crawling around and over each other while unsuccessfully trying to break out through the small holes in the net, "What are you doing with those damn things?!" He asked in disgust, "Just squash them all or something?"

Tengen blinked in surprise at that, "Squash them...?" He asked, glancing at the net, then back at Inosuke, "Do you know what these are?"

"I saw them earlier when fighting with another demon. They're like...little demons, right? " The boy guessed.

"Wrong." The Pillar said, "These are people."

This answer obviously left Inosuke confused, since as far as he understood from people, they didn't come in spider bodies, "Those can't be people...look at them," He motioned at the net, "Those things are hideous!"

"Well, I can't argue with that part, but I've seen cases such as this one before." Tengen explained, "Explaining Demon's Blood Arts is hard to put in words sometimes other than 'magic', but there are demons that can afflict humans with terrible mutations as a result of their powers. I once slew a demon who could cause mushrooms to grow on your skin to sap your strength, for example. Now, this seems more extreme, but from my own experience as a Demon Slayer, I would say this case, in particular, seems very much reversible if treated by the right hands. Which luckily, we have."

"So then...every single one of those little spider things...they can be turned back into humans...?" Inosuke inquired uneasily, realization beginning to dawn on him.

"Pretty much, yes." Tengen said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the boy, "Unfortunately, we found many of those crushed under some rubble. Maybe if we'd been there earlier we might've been able to save those too."

Inosuke looked down with eyes wide then, recalling his earlier mindless slaughter of those things during his earlier fight. They had attacked him, sure, but he knew even back then that the big spider freak was controlling, yet he never thought of them in any way differently from the demon controlling them, so he never hesitated when swinging his blade to cut them, "...no way...those were all people...just normal people, transformed into that..."

Before that thought could even fully set in, he'd be taken out of his daze by a Kakushi rushing down the mountain, "Lord Tengen, we've found something!" He screamed at the Pillar, earning the man's attention.

"What is it?" He inquired, turning his attention to the much shorter figure.

The Kakushi, in turn, produced something from his pouch and raised it to show to the Pillar. It was a nichirin katana, its guard round and its blue blade broken in half. Most noteworthy of all though, the weapon was dirtied in blood. The odd thing that caught Inosuke's attention though was that, though he couldn't really tell from where he actually recognized it, and the thought of it unnerved him enough for him to momentarily forget the spiders or Zenitsu as he focused on the sword

"...I see." Tengen noted, narrowing his eyes somewhat mournfully, "Did you find its owner?"

"We've buried what remained of him, but it was rather...messy." The kakushi noted, shivering a bit at what he saw, "Whoever he was, it was not a peaceful ending."

After staring at the blade for another moment and realizing it couldn't be any of the Senses' nor did it look like Tanjiro's, it clicked on him, "I ran away on my own comrades. The least I can do now is redeem myself and protect you guys."

"...Murata..." Inosuke muttered barely audibly, eyes widened. Zenitsu, the spiders, then Murata. The pride, the mistakes, the guilt. It all fell down on his shoulders in a single quiet moment, and he found himself turning his head to stare down dead-eyed at the ground in complete and total silence.

On the opposite end of the mountain, Chihime was walking by herself through the forested area making her way down to its base as to finally leave Natagumo. Her time in the place had been a testing one, but this last night, in particular, was beyond what she could've expected. It was painful to tolerate Rui and his so-called family, though from the start it was clear that a more accurate descriptor would be his hostages. She managed though to find some odd silent comradery with the so-called sister of the family until the Demon Slayers took her out, and so in return, she took out some Demon Slayers. It was only fair after all.

Then there was the boy in red. From their first meeting and their subsequent clash she had recognized him as the one Lord Muzan had spoken to his Lower Moons about, and that he was indeed strong. There was an immediate draw to him, something she, at first, thought was because she wanted to test her strength against him. After all, this was what Demon Slayers were to her. Tools of which she could use to test her strength. It was easy to slaughter, but taking down each Demon Slayer of a group without killing them wasn't just for the so-called Mother's sake, but to prove her own worth. Having to use her Blood Demon Art to take out the Kusarigama wielding man though still left her somewhat bitter. Maybe that's why she had made sure none of them could free themselves and rebel by leaving behind some of her blood through a small scratch on each of their necks, which she, in turn, later triggered when the other Slayers arrived to save them

Still, she knew the boy was unlike that. If she were to swing her blade at him, she would have to swing with the intent to kill, or else she would risk being killed herself. And even then, when the time came and their clash atop the mountain happened, he would push her beyond what she ever thought he could. His Breath Techniques were powerful, and facing up to them had cost her a hand and nearly her life, again forcing her to use her Blood Demon Art just to escape his advances. But even then he kept pushing her back, trying to create another opportunity to claim her neck, one she knew he wouldn't waste. Thus he had forced her own hand, and she proceeded to show him her Dance of the Blood Moon. Her self-created Breath Style was one meant to bring down a Pillar, the real opponents she'd been molded and trained to face off against. Even with it though, he would prove himself capable, and should the fight have proceeded further she might've even had to combine her swordsmanship with her Blood Demon Art and finally go all out.

However, instead of that, something odd had happened. He broke her mask, the very same she donned with the sole purpose of spiting Rui, and the look of shock and disbelief in him upon seeing her face was unforgettable. Then, he would call out upon a name unknown to her...Nezuko. Hearing that, she realized what had drawn her to the boy was not his strength or desire to be challenged, but something else entirely. In that brief moment, she'd seen glimpses of a life she'd never lived. A snowy mountain, human children running around, an emaciated man and a kind-looking woman and, most curious of all, the very same boy in red, except looking completely different as he instead donned a checkered haori and a kind smile on his face. They seemed like images of a dream she had forgotten, so familiar yet without a single solid memory to tie them to. Chihime couldn't help but wonder if this was her life before she had been given a second chance by Lord Muzan and became a demon. The boy, he knew her from back then, and at that moment she could not bring herself to finish him off. Instead, she ended their fight early, turning her back on the boy and leaving him behind with a thousand stray thoughts swimming through her mind.

Luckily, she could tell she wasn't being watched. She knew Lord Muzan would often peer through her eyes to check on her situation if he so wished to do so, as he did with any other demon, but unlike others she could feel it happening. Even though she was never told as much, Chihime knew her link with Lord Muzan was different from Lord Muzan's link with other demons. Through it he could kill any demon he so wished with as much as a glance, Lower Moon One has served as the perfect example. She wasn't fully sure the same thing could be done to her, however, seeing as in her case, for reasons unknown even to her, it seemed to be a far less one-sided link. Up until that moment, she never had any reason to fear the existence of that link, but she had just spared an enemy's life, one she had been specifically told to destroy. It was likely Muzan would go through her battle by accessing her memories sometime in the near future. She would have to try and conceal the fight's ending though, justify her abandoning it by saying the boy could hold off against her and that she was forced to flee by the approaching Demon Slayer reinforcements.

These sounded like thoughts of rebellion, but she knew where her allegiances lied. Lord Muzan had given her a second chance at life and she could never fully repay her debt to him over it, but everything that came before that was stripped of her in the process. Demons were not supposed to remember their previous lives upon rebirth with only some rare exceptions due to the possibility of them becoming more humanlike because of it. Chihime, however, couldn't help but be drawn towards it and consequently, towards the boy who seemed to recognize her. Nezuko, he had called her. A name so alien and so familiar at the same time. Next time they met she would ask him about it, before rectifying her earlier mistake and killing him anyway. After all, for as curious as she might be about who she was before, she knew for a fact that person was no longer. Perhaps knowing her origins though would help her make more sense of who she was now.

Eventually, after a great deal of walking, she reached the base of the mountain, exiting the forestation and into a wide field, a tall figure already waiting for her as expected. With his usual purple and black kimono and the sword sheathed on his waist, Kokushibo narrowed all six of his eyes upon taking note of his apprentice and the changed symbol in her eye, "I see you were successful in your endeavors...did things go as planned with your fellow Lower Moon?"

"For the most part," She responded, glancing back at the mountain behind her, "Just as Lord Muzan wished, I gave him plenty of motivation to grow past our encounter. From now on though, the way he develops is entirely out of my hands..."

"It should be enough," The Upper Moon assured her, "Now, we should get going. There are still others awaiting your challenge, my apprentice."

"Yes," Chihime affirmed, turning her gaze back forward and walking past her silently observing master, "Lower Moon Four is done...that leaves three to go."

A/N: With that packed chapter, we wrap up the Natagumo Mountain Arc, and I think most of you probably get it by now when I said some six chapters ago that this arc was important for this story. Lot of stuff happens with our main characters this arc which will determine the way they develop in the future. Before we dive into it though, I wanna give a shoutout to the reader known as Augustus813 who created a Tv Tropes page for this story. I tried contacting him to thank him personally but still received no response. Still, if he reads this story, I imagine he'll bump into this eventually and see it himself, so yeah.

Anyway, let's start with the elephant in the room which the first two POVs on this chapter focus on Murata and his sacrifice. If it seemed a bit cold-blooded of me to off him like that…well, you're in for a ride. As for the why…well, I once mentioned DownwardDive wanted me to make him a main character. The reason I told him no then was because, writing a story like this, I already have to balance the development of thirteen other Demon Slayers in between the Senses and the Pillars, the majority of which can only ever get a good fight if matched up against one of the six Upper Moons. That said, balancing all of those is hard, so adding even one more would throw the whole thing off. Rather than making him a super badass though, I could keep Murata on the sidelines and have him just be there as the Canon story did. That though means he's just there. I get more weight and meaning out of his character if I have him make a meaningful last stand though. Thus, I decided to use him to push Inosuke's character. And out of all things I used to push Inosuke's character on this arc and had him experience in this chapter, Murata is probably the most important.

Excuse my slight tangent for a moment, but the thing about developing Zenitsu and Inosuke in a different way from Canon is that they are completely opposite cases. Inosuke has such a strong personality that deviating him from his canon path requires a lot of motivation, and thus we pile up reasons for him to deviate from that path. Then there's Zenitsu, who has a path to glory from the start. He's always been strong, all he needs to do is to realize that and master his own potential. All he needs is a push, which is why he immediately overcomes his flaws in canon when the push in question comes in the form of his dying master and Kaigaku's turn. To make that more interesting though, I added obstacles to his path, like his lost fingers. He'll eventually reach that point, but there'll be more for him to overcome here to get there.

Moving on, we've got Chihime's Blood Battle. Blood Battles are a concept only once mentioned in the actual story, by Douma when the three first Upper Moons are having a confrontation during their meeting with Muzan. Akaza pretty much promises to challenge Douma and Kokushibo, but that's the last time they ever meet and they all die before something can come off it. Here though, I reworked that to fit into the story after reader Cieszesi Niezmiernie mentioned it in one of his reviews and it provided an interesting concept which fit in pretty much perfectly with the story and where I wanna go with it. This will all have consequences that are brought about in a later arc but, like always, we'll get there when we get there. Also, during Chihime's Blood Battle with Rui, I used a facet of her abilities I only ever hinted at but never properly introduced before. Just like Muzan and his tentacles blades, Chihime can user her claws to inject a bit of her blood into her opponent through a cut, which combined with her ability to ignite said blood results in barbecued Demon Slayers, exactly what happened with the puppetered group fighting the Senses at the beginning of the arc.

What else…oh, at one point during Inosuke's healing I pointed out the Kakushi gave him a blood transfusion. I don't know if blood transfusions were a thing in early 1900s Japan. I didn't even look it up, because if you can overlook human-headed-spiders being healed back to normal humans with only some mutations, then you can overlook this. Oh, on that topic, there's also the Pillar who debuts in this chapter. In the original Natagumo arc the Pillars who appear are Giyu and Shinobu, but this time a lot of stuff is different and those both have already been effectively introduced at this point, so I instead opted to use the chance to debut someone I hadn't used before , namely the ever flamboyant Tengen Uzui. Now, him being here, as inconsequential as it might seem, is not without a very good reason, as his relevance in this story will become clearer in the coming chapters.

Another cool thing here is that, for the first time since the first chapter in this story, I get to write a POV on Nezuko again. Or, rather, Chihime this time. Either way, through it I got to cover the previous events on the arc from her perspective somewhat and hopefully you guys liked what you got from her character after a close look at her thoughts. She is still as loyal to Muzan as any brainwashed servant on her condition can be expected to be, but feels somewhat incomplete and is aware of her own uniqueness among demons, in a way. Nezuko was always a special demon in canon, being able to survive through nothing but sleeping rather than feeding and whatnot. Its a curious idea to explore, what would've become of her development if she acted just like a normal demon rather than the exception to the rule.

And lastly, to close things off, this week we got the Final Chapter in Kimetsu no Yaiba series and…well, for all the times I called this a tragedy, that was as happy an ending as you can probably get. Honestly though, I would have rather seen what becomes of the surviving characters in the near future rather than their reincarnations generations later. Kinda weird seeing as Tanjiro and Kanao and Zenitsu and Nezuko both obviously got together in the end but we never got to see anything about it. Gotouge also seemed to wimp out on the whole Mark thing. Since we got no explanation whatsoever, its not far off to assume Sanemi, Giyu and Tanjiro all died at age 25, unless they were all exceptions like Yoriichi…which is unlikely. Regardless, its still a good ending…but its nothing like the ending I had in mind, nor the ending I will eventually be writing for this story.

Usual thanks goes to DownwardDive…even though he probably is pretty miffed I offed his second favorite character this chapter. Sorry, bud.

Now, onto the reviews. And oh, boy…there were many of those this time.

HamburgerLife: Bruh things just got gOoD

Absolutely love that Nezuko just left Tanjiro to have mental trauma because memories hit her HARD

Great chapter as always, excited to see if the loner and really scary butterfly will appear

I guess they did.

Yeah, Tanjiro got hit pretty hard emotionally last chapter. I was too busy wrapping up everything to move on from the arc this chapter, but next one you can be sure we'll be getting to him.

And sorry to disappoint, but at least instead of those you get a flamboyant ninja.

lordpurgatory23: nice.

Thx

PopeEyes: Poor Tanjirou, his world got flipped upside down again. Of course Tanjirou breaks the mask by head butting it lol.

That it did. And yeah, I kinda had to use Tanjiro's headbutt in a real meaningful way at least once in this story.

DEMONEZUKO: To be honest, while I was reading this chapter all I could think about is, Tanjirou is going to break Chihime's mask and BAMM! cliffhanger. Thank you for not being evil.

Nah, it wouldn't be good writing to reward a cliffhanger like that with such a short interaction like the one that followed the reveal.

thestormwriter123: The expected fight really lived up to its hype. Good job with that. However, I was of the opinion that only tanjiro knew his father's dance of the sun god... did he teach it to nezuko too? Am I missing something here?

No, he didn't, but I imagine the memory of her father dancing each new year's is something pretty powerful, enough that it would stick to her subconscious past her demon transformation and manifest in some way when she learned her breathing techniques. I'd compare it to Tanjiro learning the thirteenth form of the Breath of the Sun by simply watching Yoriichi execute it and mimicking it to an insanely effective extent against Muzan.

TYBW Toshiro: Finally :D
missed ur story :)

Thanks, here's another chapter for you.

Zhenga11: Great chapter, looking forward to more.

I have to say, one of the first things I noticed this chapter is that you've gotten rid of almost all of the weird future conditional tense you wrote your previous fight scenes in, and the fights read so much better. Also, I'm a little disappointed Chihime didn't show a larger reaction, but this story would be worse if she suddenly remembered Tanjirou and joined him because that just prematurely resolves the main conflict of this story.

Well, yeah. It came to my attention that I had a tense problem in my writing so I did my best to correct it as of the previous chapter. I eventually plan on going back and editing the whole thing to rid myself of that writing sin, but that's gonna take some time.

As for Chihime, I hope her POV this chapter satisfied you to at least some extent and helped in understanding her character better.

clone59yahoo com Nice Chapter! Keep up the good work!

Will do.

gogo bananas: ayy good chappy

Ayy, thanks.

Anonymous: Seeing Nezuko turn into the enemy side and Tanjirou beating himself up for days is heart-wrenching. I'm still very excited to read through all of this!
Great job author!

I'm glad you take joy in Tanjiro's suffering. I'll be sure to provide more of it for your amusement.

Guest

Nooooooo This is going to tear Tanjiro appart and make him at odds with everyone else. Not to mention now that Nezuko killed humans his whole reason for fighting demons is in question. Plus he said that any demon who kills cant be redeamed. Finally this is my favorite demon slayer fanfic by far keep up the good work!

Yeah, his entire demon-slaying philosophy just kinda crumbled onto itself. Picking back up from that is gonna be hard, but we'll get back to Tanjiro next chapter, so be sure to check it once its released.

bon: One of the 3 or 4 demon slayer fanfics worth reading. Is their going to be any Nezukoxtaniro?

If you mean in the romantic sense...no. Sorry, but I ain't opening that incestuous can of worms.

Still, you're the second one who asks me that after last chapter. Made me go back and read through the chapter to see if I'd unwittingly had the siblings portrayed in a way I skim intend to during their fight.

Wolvmbm: What an engaging battle between Siblings as it seems that Nezuko still has some of her human qualities still within her as she recognized Tanjiro when her mask dropped.

Now I wonder if there will be a slight side tale showing where Nezuko has been since the separation of the siblings ?

Also I wonder what will happen when Zenitsu meets Nezuko for the first time ?

I mean I am just getting used to the overall series and its characters and I do wonder if some things from the manga will exist in this alternate universe tale of yours ?

Keep up the good work upon this engaging tale.

I do plan on covering some of the time Nezuko spent training under Kokushibo eventually, just as I plan to go more in-depth about Tanjiro's training with Yoriichi. The only thing about it is finding the right time to fit those in, which I'm pretty sure I got down with the latter, but not yet with the former.

As for Zenitsu...well, I know they're meant to be a thing, but this story goes a very different way from canon, so don't keep your hopes up.

If possible, I'll try to keep every single element of the manga while adding my own stuff to it. That's kinda impossible though since it won't always fit in as nicely as I wish it did. I dropped a bunch of small stuff already when I didn't need it and probably will do it even more in the future.

lordpurgatory23: a piece of advice, dont make the fight scenes TOO detalied butvdont skim overbthem too, there are too many fanfics where the fighting is trash and a couple where the author puts in so much time on the fight scene even though because its soo detailed we just skim through it

also make paragraphs a little more spaced out so the hyper human brain can take a little at a time instaed of seeing a huge paragraph and just giving u

Yeah, thanks for the advice, but there are things I don't bend on. Paragraph size is something I might have to look into, you're right, but I'm not skimping out on the fights. Yes, they are long as hell, but the series is called Demon Slayer, so if I don't put proper focus on the actual slaying of demons, what even is the point?

lisaiurrea: Finally catched up after 2 days reading. So to start off, amazing fanfic, loving every single part about it, just because this is a 'what if?' Kind of scenario.

Right now the story gives me the very same vibe the original story gives me, in the way that I am left with wanting to know what happens next and that I can barely predict what is to come. I wonder if you will go down the route with Nezuko staying as an antagonist, her becoming good, or hell even explore demon Tanji deeper at some point which the manga barely did. That is what its so fun about this, just can't wait to see what you got in store for us.

The manga is already coming to an end, a great ride I will not forget for such an amazing story. So I am just left wondering too, what will you do for your ending when it eventually comes? If I am left to guess it will differ to the actual ending of the original story, and I imagine there is a lot of tragedy and tears to come, afterall its KnY.

If there is anything I expect, is the character development and relationships with each other. This arc will definitely mark a big development for the senses, except probably Kanao, who had the least involvement. Zen and Inosuke got beaten up badly by LM 4 and they will have to get over that. And then we have Tanji who found out his sister is actually alive, but an enemy, I am very interested on what he will do about that, will he try to bring her back? Do as he said and actively hunt her as another demon? Probably not the latter seeing he still retains some kindness in him, although you never know, things happen. I am glad romance is being slow burn in this story, as I love the pairing of TanKana a lot and I am in to see how ZenAoi goes, so I do wonder how the couples will develop through all this crap happening.

So in conclusion I love this story and hope to see more, amazing content to read after the manga ends. And well things are funner when we do not know what will happen. Keep it up!

Geez, what a long-ass review...I love it.

I'm really glad to hear you say that. About how it compares to the origianl story, I mean. For me an ideally written what-if AU is something you could logically believe could've happened in the actual story if things had gone just slightly different, which is obviously what I'm trying to recapture here, even if doing that while putting my own style on it is very hard. You're right in that, just like I said in the Author's Note, my ending will differ greatly from what we got in canon. Obviously its all building up to Muzan, but how we get there, what happens there and what happens after are definitely gonna be way different. At this point, repeating Canon is basically a sin for me, and probably a bore for your guys.

That said, making it a believable AU is gonna get harder the more I change the character from their original selves, which I clearly am doing. Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke are all gonna have to recover from the different ways this arc affected them next chapter. Genya got some character progression, but no development. He'll have some stuff on his own to overcome seeing as he's gonna be meeting his brother soon. And Kanao...I can't deny, out of all the Senses in this arc, Kanao was the least focused on. She got her moment against the Spider Father, but nothing that deeply affected her character. She'll get a moment though in the coming chapters that will be crucial to the way she progresses from here, I'll leave you to see that. I'm happy you liked the slow-burn too, I really enjoy writting the romantic part of this story since its such a good way to break the constant fighting and tension going on. I know I'm gonna get a chance to write more of it pretty soon too.

Anyway, thanks for the very long review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.

So, that's it for today. Next chapter we'll cover the consequences of this arc. If you're reading this far you're probably favorited and followed already, but don't forget to leave a sweet, sweet review so I can reply to you next chapter. As usual, Sky signing out.