"Here we are. Mount Natagumo." Natsu stared at the top peak of the mountain.
Earlier that day, the four young pro. Demon Slayers were ordered by a crow to head towards Mount Natagumo, where there were a family of spider demons torturing and killing humans. After leaving the Fuji Family Residence, they spent all day running towards the mountain. Now the four of them had stood on a road in the middle of the night. The moon was full.
"Hold on a second, you guys!" Zenitsu yelled, then sat down and cradled himself.
"Zenitsu, what's wrong?" Tanjirou asked as he, Natsu and Inosuke looked at him.
"I'm just scared, okay? Now that we're getting closer to our destination... I'm getting scared!" Zenitsu cried.
"Why are you sitting down like that? You're pathetic!" Inosuke yelled, as he berated Zenitsu.
"I don't want to hear it from you of all people! I'm normal! And you are abnormal, you boar-faced freak!" Zenitsu yelled back.
Inosuke irritatedly let steam come out through his snout. "What did you say, you-"
"Stop it, you guys." Natsu broke up the arguement. "There are demons in this mountain and people in there to save. We can't accomplish anything, if we stay here and keep argue." He said as he pointed towards the top of Mount Natagumo.
"Natsu's right. We're actually have to stop the demons from-" Tanjirou stopped as he caught a scent. He looked towards the road and saw a person crawling on the ground.
"Help... help me..." the Boy begged.
The four Demon Slayers gasped as they spotted a boy dressed in a Demon Slayer uniform.
"He's wearing a Demon Slayer uniform! He must be a Demon Slayer, too!" Tanjirou noted as he rushed towards the boy.
"I can see that!" Inosuke replied as he followed Tanjirou.
"Don't leave me, alone!" Zenitsu begged as he watched Natsu follow behind Inosuke and Tanjirou.
Natsu stopped and looked back at Zenitsu, who was still cradled himself.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Tanjirou questioned as he approached the crawling boy.
"Please... you have to-" The crawling Boy paused as he felt something yanking him. The next two seconds, the boy was launched into the air right in front of the Demon Slayers. They all watched in shock as the boy was yanked back into the mountain.
"HELP ME!" The boy screamed as he was being pulled back into the mountain.
Zenitsu quickly covered his mouth, Tanjirou gasped. Natsu's eyes grew a little big and Inosuke had zero reaction.
"I'm going." Tanjirou said with a determined face.
"Count me in." Natsu said as he walked next to Tanjirou.
"I'm going in, first!" Inosuke brushed passed Natsu and Tanjirou. "There are tasty demons within this mountain... and I'm hungry!" he yelled.
"Hungry?" Tanjirou questioned, not knowing what Inosuke meant.
"H-he meanshe's hungry for battle." Zenitsu said, trembling.
"Alright. Let's go." Tanjirou said as he began to walk into the mountain.
"Wait!" Natsu said, stopping both Inosuke and Tanjirou in theor tracks.
"Argh, what now!" Inosuke yelled, impatiently.
"What's the matter, Natsu?" Tanjirou asked.
"We can't just leave Zenitsu, here." Natsu said as he didn't want to leave Zenitsu behind.
"Who cares about the weakling?" Inosuke turned towards the mountain.
"I do. He's our friend. He survived and became a professional Demon Slayer, just like us." Natsu said as he pointed at a cradled Zenitsu.
Tanjirou paused for a moment and realized Natsu had a point. "You're right, Natsu." He then walked over towards Zenitsu and bent a knee.
"T-Tanjirou?" Zenitsu spotted Tanjirou bending a knee in front of him. He also tried to fight back tears.
"Come on, Zenitsu. Let's get rid of the demons, together. Then you can relax afterwards." Tanjirou gave him a kind smile.
"Y-you mean it?" Zenitsu asked as he wiped a tear from his eye.
"Yeah. It'll be fun. You, me, Natsu, Nezuko an-"
Zenitsu interrupted Tanjirou by making a huge gasp and his eyes widened. He had gotten excited and hugged Tanjirou by his waist. "Nezuko-no! Don't leave me! Take me with you, Nezuko!" he cried while latching onto Tanjirou.
"Ngh!" Tanjirou grunted as he felt Zenitsu tighten his arms aroun Tanjirou's waist like a scared child. "Zenitsu, you're heavy. I can't carry both you and Nezuko at the same time...!" Tanjirou tried to kindly remove Zenitsu from his waist.
"You know what, I'm going in! I don't got time to waist!" Inosuke yelled and ran within Mount Natagumo.
"Inosuke, wait a second." Natsu reached his hand towards Inosuke, but he was a little late.
"You go follow him, Natsu." Tanjirou insisted.
Natsu turned his head back to Tanjirou, who was dealing with Zenitsu grabbing him and nodded at Tanjirou. "You got it. I'll try to leave a trail for you, so you know where we are." Natsu gripped his hilt and ran inside Mount Natagumo after Inosuke.
'Thanks.' Tanjirou smiled as he watched Natsu go into the mountain.
Meanwhile, Natsu ran a few yards within the mountain and spotted Inosuke trying to knock down spider webs in his web, but his limbs were caught in thin web.
"S-stupid spider webs!" Inosuke yelled as he swung his arm up and down, trying to get web off his arm.
"I found you, Inosuke." Natsu as he had caught up with his rival.
Inosuke grunted and turned around to see Natsu standing behind him. "Oh, it's you. What do you want, redhead?"
"I came to check on how you're doing. You okay?" Natsu asked to see if Inosuke was good.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to get this stupid web off me!" Inosuke yelled as he tried to untangle spider web from his arm. He grunted and groaned.
Natsu watched Inosuke struggle for a bit, before picking up a stick with a sharp pointer and helping Inosuke get it off his arm. "There, it's off."
Inosuke flexed his arm, not seeing a single web on it. He then spotted Natsu using that same stick and begun carving words into the dirt of the mountain. "What the heck are you doing?"
"I'm leaving a trail."
"A trail? For what?" Inosuke questioned.
"So that Tanjirou and Zenitsu can find us. I told them that I would do it, and I am." Natsu said, as he carved his name into the dirt. "See?"
"Oh really..." Inosuke then pressed his face into the dirt.
"Uh..." Natsu paused as he watched Inosuke press his face in the dirt.
"There!" Inosuke pointed towards his marking in the dirt. He left a marking of his boar hide's snout within the dirt, next to Natsu's. "How's that?"
Natsu stared at Inosuke's marking in the dirt and thought for a bit. 'I guess this can work, too.' He then gave Natsu a thumbs up. "Good job, Inosuke."
"Heh, whatever you do, I can do it better!" Inosuke yelled, feeling energetic.
Natsu smiled, then spotted a person crouching down near a few dark green bushes and black trees. "Inosuke. Look." Inosuke followed Natsu's point, leading towards a boy dressed in a black Demon Slayer uniform.
"Let's go get him." Inosuke pounded his fists together.
"Shh..." Natsu quickly shushed Inosuke and proceeded to check on the boy. He carefully took steps so that he wouldn't alert the boy, until he had alert the boy. It took him thirty seconds to approach the crouched boy. As from what Natsu had seen, he was a boy with fair skin, shiny black hair with bangs on the side that reach his ears. He wore a black Demon Slayer uniform, too. "Uh, hey."
"Aah!" Murata flinched and screamed as he turned around to see Natsu crouching down behind him. He panted a bit as he felt relieved to see someone not attached to strings.
"You okay?" Natsu asked Murata.
"Yeah. But, who are you?" Murata asked.
"I'm Natsu Rengoku. From the Rengoku Residence. I'm ranked as a Mizunoto." Natsu explained.
"I'm Murata and I'm a-wait, Mizunoto? Seriously? More Mizunoto?" Murata grunted after hearing Natsu's ranking. "The Demon Slayer Corps. should've sent a Hashira with us!" he complained.
"Well, my older brother is a Hashira, so..."
"Then they should've sent him instead of more Mizunoto! No matter how many Mizunoto there are, it's useless! We're all going to die!" Murata panicked, until he felt a fist to his face.
Natsu gasped as he spotted Inosuke punching Murata.
"Shut up, you weakling!" Inosuke then grabbed Murata's hair by its roots. "You think I'm weak, just because I'm a Mizunoto? I'm a hell of a lot stronger than you, bub!"
"Inosuke! Stop!" Natsu yelled.
Inosuke ognored Natsu. "Just tell us what the heck is going on this mountain, already!"
"Alright, fine! Ow! Ow!" Murata screamed as he was being yanked by his roots. "A crow ordered many of us to search this mountain. Not long after we arrived... the Demon Slayers started killing each other, as if they were possessed!" Murata had a flashback when Demon Slayers started killing each other. Murata gasped and ran as fast as he could from the scene.
"Wait, what?" Natsu paused after hearing Murata's story.
"Demon Slayers killing each other? What kind of story is that? You're lying!" Inosuke said in disbelief as he continued to grip onto Murata's roots.
"It's true, I'm not lying to you! Ow! Ow!" Murata groaned form the pain caused by Inosuke.
"Inosuke! Let him go." Natsu said with serious golden eyes.
Inouske stared at Natsu for a moment, then sighed. "Whatever." He dropped Murata, who fell on his butt and clung onto the top of his head.
'If what Murata here is saying that Demon Slayers killing other Demon Slayers are true, then...' Natsu placed a hand under his chin and tried thinking of the situation.
Murata gasped, as he spotted someone walking a few yards behind Natsu and Inosuke.
"What is it?" Natsu noticed Murata's eyes and saw that they were scared. He noticed a rattling sound, then turned around a hundred and eighty degrees to see someone in a Demon Slayer uniform slowly approaching them with a katana in his hand. He was a bit confused, as he saw the person walking slowly. Also, he didn't know if the person was okay. "Hey, are you okay, over there?"
Murata quickly shushed Natsu. "No! Don't call him over here!" he yelled quietly. He then gasped as he saw a few more walking corpses approach the three of them. They refused to utter a word and remained silent the entire time.
Natsu, Inosuke and Murata stood up and gripped their weapons and was prepared to fight in self-defense.
One of the people charged towards Inosuke and swung at him. Inosuke easily dodged their attacks by flipping backwards. "Haha! This is getting fun!"
"This is no time to be playing around!" Murata yelled at Inosuke, who trying to fend off from the walking corpses.
"By the way, don't these morons, know that fighting against other Demon Slayers is against the rules?" Inosuke questioned.
"That's not it, Inosuke. Something's wrong with them. The way they are moving, and the reason they're not responding... I think they're being controlled!" Natsu yelled, as he clashed swords with one of the corpses.
"So, what? Are you saying they're zombies?"
"I don't know, but they must be..." Natsu got a close look at one of the walking corpse's faces and noticed that one person's pair of black eyes had lost its light and was not looking at him. Natsu gasped as he then realized. 'They're already dead...' Natsu pushed off one of the walking corpses from him.
"What's the matter, Natsu?" Murata asked after ducking from one sword swing.
"Their eyes... they already lost their light within them."
"And what does that mean?" Inosuke asked as he casually dodged two sword swings from two different walking corpses.
"It means... they're already dead!" Natsu yelled.
Murata gasped in shock.
"Woohoo! That means I get to cut them up!" Inosuke yelled as he raised one of his dual wielding Nichirin swords within the air. "That means I get to cut them up!"
"Wait, Inosuke! Cutting up our dead comrades isn't the best thing to do!" Natsu said, while a walking corpse with a sword slowly creep up behind Natsu.
"Sto telling me what to do!" Inosuke charged towards Natsu, headfirst. Before he could tackle his rival, Natsu dodged by moving to the right, and Inosuke simply tackled a walking corpse to a tree, before it could slash Natsu.
Murata seemed scared, as he saw two walking corpses move towards him in a fast pace. "Ah!" He screamed, only to have Inosuke protect him by blocking their attacks with his dual Nichirin swords. Afterwards, Natsu jumped towards the corpses and cut the spider strings that were attached to the corpses from above. Next thing they knew, the corpses collapsed to the ground.
Natsu looked a his Nichirin Sword. "I knew it! They are being controlled! By strings!"
"Strings?" Murata questioned.
"Yeah! Just cut above the corpse's head, like you're attacking them and they'll just fall down!" Natsu instructed Murata.
"Okay!" Murata gripped his blade and clashed swords with a walking corpse.
"I already knew that they were being controlled by strings, before you did!" Inosuke yelled, as he released a few more corpses from strings.
As Inosuke and Murata are cutting the strings to release the corpse, Natsu used his good eyesight to look around the area to see who or what was causing the string manipulation.
'What's going on? Where is it coming from?' Natsu glanced at his right arm to see two spiders crawling around its sleeves. "W-what the... spiders!?" He then felt his arm being yanked, and see a long thin line of web come from a tree. 'So that's it!' Natsu then cut the web that surrounded his right hand, making him free again. "Guys!" Natsu called for both Murata and Inosuke's attention for a brief moment. "It's the spiders! They're controlling the corpses! They attach the web onto people and manipulate them!"
"So, what you're saying is that we have to kill the spiders and stop them from controlling the dead? No problem!" Inosuke stepped on a few spiders, crushing them with his foot.
The corpses that were free from the web had risen again. They were being manipulated by the Mother Spider Demon once more.
Natsu grunted as he saw them rise back up. "We have to find the person demon that's controlling them and put it to rest!" Ten seconds while fighting walking corpses, Natsu suddenly looked at the ground to see a large shadow over him. He then looked up to see a demon standing over him, at least three yards in the air.
Both Murata and Inosuke paused as they spotted a demon dressed in white robes with spider web markings on it. His skin was pale as bleach and his sharp white hair was covering his left eye, red dots appeared on his face. He was Rui. One of the Twelve Kizuki.
"I will not let you disturb the peaceful life of our family." Rui plainly said.
Natsu grunted as he stared at the demon from the ground. He noticed the demon's feet from the above. 'Is he floating? No... he's standing on the web!'
"Mother will execute you, shortly." Rui said.
"What?" Murata stared at Rui.
Inosuke used his parkour skill and used a walking corpse as a spring to jump high in the air. "Here I come!" Inosuke thought he was sure to hit him, but he was five feet short, meaning he didn't hit Rui. "Damnit, I missed!"
Rui then leaped away from the scene.
"Hey, where are you going? Come back and fight me!" Inosuke yelled as he was falling down. Luckily, two walking corpses broke his fall when he landed.
"Hey, Inosuke. Can you use your Beast Breathing Form to find the demon who's using the spiders?" Natsu asked as he clashed swords with walking corpses.
"Alright!" Inosuke then planted his dual wielding Nichirin sword into the ground and then took a knee. He posed and inhaled air. 'Beast Breathing Seventh Form... Spacial Awareness!' Inosuke then used his spacial awareness form to locate and pinpoint the demon controlling the tiny white spiders. It took him twenty seconds to find the Mother Spider Demon, who is sitting on a boulder controlling people like puppets with strings. "Found you, witch!" Inosuke yelled.
"You found them?" Natsu asked after cutting spiderweb.
"Yeah. He's that way!" Inosuke pointed towards his left. Natsu looked towards the direction and nodded towards him. "Okay!" He then looked over to Murata. "Hey, Murata!"
"Go on without me!" Murata replied while swinging.
"Are... you sure?" Natsu questioned, seeing a small number of walking corpses walking towards Murata, nearly surrounding him.
"Yeah! I may look weak, but I'm a Demon Slayer, too! Thanks to you, Natsu, I now know that they're being controlled by strings. I've also begun memorizing their movements! I'm begging you, just go!" Murata said, giving Natsu a chance to find the Mother Spider Demon.
"Okay! If you say you got it, then I'll put my faith in you." Natsu said.
"What the heck is he talking about?" Inosuke asked as he watched Murata defend himself.
"I wan't talking to you, so shut up, you pig-faced bastard!" Murata yelled and insulted Inosuke.
Inosuke quickly became angry. His boar hide quickly turned red, like a thermometer. "Why you-"
"Come on, we don't have time for this, Inosuke!" Natsu said, dragging Inosuke away!
"Just wait til' I get back! I'm going to beat your ass when this is all over!" Inosuke yelled as Natsu pulled him towards the direction of the Mother Spider Demon.
Two minutes while running towards the Mother Spider Demon's location...
"Cann you belive it, Hatsu? He called me a pig-faced bastard! I swear I'll get him these days..." Inosuke grumbled as he ran behind Natsu.
"My name is Natsu. And I know you're upset with him. But this honestly isn't the time for that! We gotta stop the demon that's controlling the spiders, and-"
Both Demon Slayers stopped in their tracks, as they spotted and stared at a girl dressed in a Demon Slayer uniform. She had brown eyes and a black ponytail. Orbs of tears rolled down her face as she was being tortured both physically and mentally.
"Please, find someone who is higher rank... if you don't, I'll kill them all by mistake! Please... I beg you!" Ozaki sobbed, as she begged Natsu and Inosuke to find help. She had already stabbed one of her dead comrades in the throat and grabbed one of her other dead comrade's hair by the roots.
Natsu paused, as his golden eyes stared at the crying girl in horror.
Author's Note: Thanks for continuing this story.