Opening: Inferno by 9mm Parabellum Bullet

Inosuke had just retrieved his gear, ready to go on the hunt for some demons. He had figured out that the demon had been travelling through either the ceiling or the floor, so that's where he began his investigation. He ended up finding a hole in the ground that he was narrowly able to fit himself into. After wiggling his way through the small tunnel, he found himself in a large cave filled with a network of seemingly flowing sashes. The images of numerous people flowed through the sashes as if it were a water stream. Their essence was slowly being drained, ready to be fully consumed at a moment's notice. After analyzing the situation, Inosuke decided that it was best to cut the sash which would probably free the captives.

As he prepared to slice the sash, it moved in retaliation and attempted to hit Inosuke. The boy's heightened senses alerted him to this as he was able to get out of the way of the incoming attack. The sash appeared to be sentient from what Inosuke could tell. It would relentlessly attack Inosuke but the boy had to be careful because if he cut at the wrong time, he would most likely kill the captive it attacked with. Knowing this, the boy calculated his strikes and sliced off the parts of the sash that didn't have the captive. As the chunks were sliced off, the person inside was freed and collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

This was a double-edged sword for Inosuke because he was now responsible for protecting the civilians who were unconscious while defending himself from the sentient sash. Fortunately, his struggles soon came to a close when the ceiling of the cave exploded, grabbing Inosuke's attention as Uzui dropped down to provide backup. The Hashira sliced the sash into numerous pieces, freeing all the hostages as he descended to the floor. Two of his wives were amongst the ones he saved, the third he found at the brink of death due to poison much further away.

The sash squirmed in fear as it quickly retreated, fleeing the scene as soon as possible and cutting its losses short. As Uzui reunited with his wives and checked up on their condition, Inosuke had found Zenitsu nearby, almost curled into a ball with wide-eyed shock. Inosuke marched towards his ally, calling out, "Oi, scaredy cat! Are you going to keep sitting there? Or are you going to get up and help?"

Zenitsu didn't move, his teeth chattering as he remained curled up in a ball. He muttered, "I was so close to dying. Sure, I've been nearly turned into a spider, but I could've died. Can you imagine how it feels to be slowly eaten alive? Your life essence and energy just slowly drains away while you helpless watch." The boy dropped his head, continuing, "I don't know if I can do this anymore, man."

Inosuke barked at his comrade, tuning out what the blonde was saying and yelling in response, "This is no time to be acting like a cub! Now's the time to be a ferocious beast as we rip and tear those demons apart!"

Zenitsu wasn't listening to Inosuke either. He wasn't like that, at all. He's just a kid that was dragged into the Demon Slayer Corps. He didn't lose anybody, he didn't have some vendetta against the demons. He's there because he had to pay off an old debt, and now that it's out of the way, why's he even here? Zenitsu lifted his head, looking around to see Uzui checking up with his wives. Despite his jealousy for Uzui and the fact that he has three wives, Zenitsu was also ashamed of himself. He knows Inosuke's right, but on the other hand, he just doesn't have it in him to do the thing that the people around him do. If he were in Inosuke's shoes, he wouldn't have what it takes to get the job done. Hell, he probably wouldn't have figured out that he needed to cut the areas without the people, and even if he did: that would terrify him even more. Honestly, is it worth risking his own life anymore?

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Daki had knocked Nezuko into one of the buildings with her sash, burying her under all the debris. The Upper Moon had figured out that Nezuko's regeneration was very slow compared to hers so she estimated that the girl would no longer be an issue for her to deal with. The girl's clothes were torn and her limbs were severed as well. Daki walked away, hoping to finish off Tanjiro as he was still laying on the floor in a bloody coughing fit. Nezuko noticed this and pushed herself out of the debris with whatever was left of her body. The anger she felt upon seeing the demon approach her defenseless brother drove her insane as new limbs quickly regenerated to replace the missing ones. Daki heard the commotion behind her, turning around and raised her eyebrows in shock as she saw Nezuko trudge towards her, head hanging low as the rest of her injuries quickly healed. The Upper Moon was flabbergasted by Nezuko's regeneration as it was several times faster than what it used to be, practically on par with her own at that point.

The gag that restrained Nezuko's mouth was unfastened as it got loose from all the fighting, allowing the girl to bare the fangs she was never allowed to use. A short, white horn jutted out from the right side of her head, and her body was being covered in a red and green-like pattern. Without any hesitation, Nezuko leapt towards Daki to continue fighting.

Nearby, Tanjiro was so close to passing out from how much blood he had coughed out. His head felt so light and all he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep for a very long time. It was at that moment that he smelt blood and rage other than his own. It was a comforting and familiar scent which made his eyes shoot open. He looked in front of him to see the Hellwalker towering above him, focused on the battle taking place behind Tanjiro.

The Slayer stayed true to his word, refusing to even have the boy within his peripheral vision. Up ahead was Daki and Nezuko who were currently fighting and evenly matched in strength and speed. Neither demon had taken notice of the Hellwalker's presence, a mistake that will cost them their lives. The Hellwalker moved past Tanjiro which forced the boy to turn his body so he could keep his eyes on the man. The warrior assumed a wide stance and got a firm grip on Rengoku's blade which was sheathed. Tanjiro took note of the fact that the Slayer was using Rengoku's sword and wondered if it was stolen.

The Slayer channeled his spiritual energy by concentrating on his breathing, he muttered the name of his attack under his breath, "Blood Breathing: Second Form, Flash Blood." He drew his sword and slashed so quickly that Tanjiro could barely process it. The boy then realized that the Upper Moon demon had been decapitated which surprised him because there should've been no way for the Hellwalker to attack her from that distance with a sword.

Fortunately, Nezuko was left unscatched as she stood in disbelief that her opponent had been beheaded out of nowhere. It looked like a flash of blood had passed by her and decapitated the demon, but she wasn't sure because it happened so quickly. Thinking about blood got her hungry, whatever was happening to her body was causing her to be hungry from exhaustion. She drooled at the thought of human flesh and turned to the left to see two humans. A smile formed on her face as she could see her meal right in front of her, it was time to feast.

The Slayer watched as Nezuko charged towards him as if she was racing towards the first meal she's ever had in years. As she leapt towards the Doom Slayer, she was backhanded aside like a fly, being sent through several buildings with her body being mutilated in the process. The warrior was very disappointed, he didn't just spare a demon only to have that very same demon go rabid and start attacking people. He bit the pill and looked at Tanjiro who was confused and wasn't sure what to say. On one hand, Tanjiro was upset that the Hellwalker just did that to his sister. On the other hand, he's confused as to why Nezuko got aggressive like that. Tanjiro spoke up, "I don't know what's happening to her, she's never been like this before."

The Slayer had his attention drawn back to the Upper Moon demon he had decapitated to notice something strange was happening to her body. The neck started to swell strangely as something began to form from it and it wasn't a new head. A new being took shape from the neck, breaking away once it took full form to reveal itself.

It was a tall man with a black-dot pattern covering his body which was abnormally anorexic yet muscular at the same time. He had messy hair which was half black and green. He only wore baggy blue pants and several pieces of red cloth wrapped around his body. Lastly, he had a sickle in each hand and was hunched over. The demon took the removed head of his comrade and said to her, "Come on, sis, pull yourself together, you can't be losing your head like that." He went to reattach her head to her body which caused her regeneration to kick in. The Slayer was trying to figure out why the demon didn't burn to ash but the answer was given to him right away. This new demon must be the real threat, as for the logistics whether the girl is some weird manifestation created by the other remains to be seen.

Without mercy by Albertrech Art

They all heard growls from nearby which made them look through the hole that Nezuko had been blasted through. The girl emerged from the damaged building, panting from the lack of blood she was getting and how increasingly hungry she was getting. The Slayer realized that Nezuko is focused on him now. The Slayer didn't have any plans to kill her, but he's not going to hold back either if she plans to get in his way of killing demons.

Nezuko started the fight, advancing towards the Slayer. The warrior quickly grabbed Tanjiro and tossed the boy as far away from the action as he could, causing Tanjiro to skid against the floor uncomfortably. In that same motion, he stopped Nezuko and turned her around so her back was faced towards him. He shoved his knee into her back, causing her chest to burst open with her ribs popping out before throwing her aside in preparation for the next incoming opponent. The male demon that had grown from Daki's body, Gyutaro, quickly approached with his sickles drawn behind him. The warrior was too quick for the demon as he was quickly beheaded which halted his advance, his speed carrying his body which slid against the floor.

Several sashes attempted to get the surprise attack on the Slayer but that wasn't going to work as he cut through the first couple that approached before realizing they were coming from Daki. He grabbed one of the sashes and yanked her towards him and decapitated her as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that didn't solve anything as her sibling had already regenerated by then and tried to attack the Slayer's flank. The Hellwalker stopped the attack and broke Gyutaro's arm by forcibly bringing it behind him and impaling the demon with his own arm. He threw Gyutaro against his sister before sheathing his blade and stating his attack, "Blood Breathing: Second Form, Flash Blood." Before instantaneously slashing with the sheathed blade and slicing the two demons. Unfortunately, they weren't in a favorable position where they were both decapitated. This would've been a perfect time for him to use the ice bomb if his equipment launcher was there.

Nezuko jumped into the fray once more to attack the Doom Slayer. The warrior manhandled her by grabbing her by the legs and swinging her around like a club. He slammed Nezuko into the other two demons and let go, propelling them all into the wreckage of the nearby buildings.

Tanjiro was recovering from being thrown away like that but his train of thought was interrupted by Uzui who called out, "It looks like backup arrived sooner than I thought." Tanjiro noticed the man crouched down next to him. Tanjiro confirmed as he finally sat up, his head hanging back from the immense pain he was feeling as skidding on your broken ribs is not the most pleasant feeling in human history. "So, it looks like the Hellwalker showed up. The only thing we'll have to worry about is whether or not he'll kill your sister."

The Doom Slayer was micro-managing between Nezuko and the other two siblings. The only other thing the warrior could think of to kill the two siblings is to decapitate them both at the same time which he would've done by now if Nezuko would stop getting in his way. As he continued to slice and dice the demons aparts and blasting their limbs off with his punches, he took note of the fact that Uzui was next to Tanjiro, observing the fight. He quickly went for Nezuko's head to pulverize it into the ground before kicking the body towards the two swordsmen.

With Nezuko, out of the way, he could focus on the two demons before him. He had already devised a plan to kill them. He jumped away, baiting Daki into attacking him with her sashes. Before then, Gyutaro intercepted and went for the attack. The Hellwalker effortlessly filleted Gyutaro and got what he wanted when Daki tried to help her brother by attacking with her sashes. The Slayer yanked the woman towards him once more by grabbing her sash. As she came in, the Hellwalker managed to cleverly wrap her own sash around herself and tie it. With her movements constricted, the Slayer got to work at tying up Gyutaro as he tried to regenerate.

Unfortunately, the brother was too late as he was already tied up by the Slayer and the two siblings were pressed against one another because of the sash. With his plan in full motion, the Slayer kicked the siblings forward as he prepared the finishing blow, "Blood Breathing: First Form, Blood Spike." and with a single slash, Rengoku's sword passed through the necks of both demons. The warrior spun around, turning his back as both of the demon's bodies inflated like balloons before bursting into an array of blood needles. The job was done, and the Slayer's mission here is complete. As the blood evaporated, the Slayer felt a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time. It was brief, and very miniscule in scale, but he felt somewhat rejuvenated. It was like when he killed the demons back in his dimension and absorbed their energy after killing them. He felt something similar, but very minoot. It was like comparing a quick breeze to a hurricane, the comparison was night and day. He shrugged it off, it must be his mind playing tricks on him as he's already killed countless demons in this dimension and received nothing from their corpses. He swung the blade again to get the blood off and keep it clean before sheathing it. He looked back to the Kamado's to see how their situation was developing.

Nezuko had returned to normal and was sleeping as soundly as a baby. Tanjiro exhaustingly caressing her hair as he looked at the verge of passing out, himself. The boy had to tap into Nezuko's humanity by singing her a lullaby that was sung to her many times when she was younger. This did the trick and it was enough to make Nezuko calm down. However, the exhaustion of the form still persisted which knocked her unconscious.

The Hellwalker began to take his leave, the threat was completely neutralized. Tanjiro took notice and got up as fast as he could, his entire body aching and he almost fell over from how sharp the pain was. However, he was able to keep his breathing under control and use it to keep himself stable. He trudged towards the Slayer and cried out, "Mister Slayer! I have something I need to tell you. You were right, about everything. Demons are unforgivable, I should've never given them sympathy in the first place!" The Slayer kept on walking forward, completely disregarding the boy's existence. A strain of irritation formed on Tanjiro's head as he shouted, "WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME?! I DID WHAT YOU WANT! I HATE THE DEMONS AS MUCH AS YOU DO AND YOU'RE STILL BRUSHING ME OFF?! WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!"

The warrior stopped to look at Tanjiro without saying a word, only a brief glance was needed for the Doom Slayer before he continued forward. The boy was breathing heavily, his frustration causing him to get flustered. His legs wobbled and he was barely able to stand anymore. Uzui walked up to Tanjiro, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder and commented, "Easy there, Kamado, you can save your hate boner for later. Right now, you need medical attention." Tanjiro managed to calm down, complying with the Hashira's request as he was guided back.

The boys had regrouped while Uzui was busy talking with his three wives. Tanjiro was glad to see everyone was okay but Zenitsu was off. His expression was gloomy and he was very quiet. Tanjiro asked his comrade, "What's wrong, Zenitsu?" The blonde answered after a brief pause.

"I'm thinking about quitting." This caused both Inosuke and Tanjiro to audibly express their confusion as they tried to understand what brought about this. Zenitsu continued, "It's just, I can't keep doing this anymore, man. I can't help anyone because I'm too scared. At that point, what's the point of even trying if I can't save lives?"

Tanjiro's anger flared up again as he shouted, "So you're just going to give up?!"

"Look, man, I'm not like you, Inosuke, or anyone else. I don't have that same drive to kill demons. I didn't lose anyone! I don't have some sense of justice I feel the need to inflict! I'm just a guy that couldn't pay off his debts so now I'm stuck in this mess! I'd be lying if I didn't say I was jealous of you. You're brave and strong, you're like everything I want to be! But I'm not! I'm just… me."

Tanjiro was getting aggressive now, grabbing Zenitsu by his haori as he couldn't believe the nonsense he was hearing from his comrade as he raised his voice even higher, "That doesn't give you the excuse to drop out of this! Demons are out here taking lives and you want to sleep on the job?! You fucking coward!"

Zenitsu slapped away Tanjiro's hand before pointing directly at the boy in front of him, "Don't come at me with that coward shit! It wasn't too long ago that you were pissing your pants because of that Akaza guy!" Zenitsu took off his Haori before throwing it at Tanjiro as he stated, "I'm done, have fun being a hypocrite." Zenitsu stormed off in a separate direction away from everyone else. Tanjiro didn't have anything else to say as he felt like he just got done chewing the most bitter pill in existence. Uzui looked over, confused and shouted for the boys:

"What happened?!"

Tanjiro exhaled, motioning for Inosuke to follow him as he commanded, "Let's go, Inosuke." As Tanjiro walked, he noticed the boar boy did not move an inch. Tanjiro looked behind the see Inosuke standing in place with his arms crossed, displeasure radiating from his body like a foul stench.

The boar boy spoke up, "When did you start giving out orders?" Tanjiro couldn't deal with this right now as he raised his voice again, his throat starting to feel sore and dry from the yelling:

"Don't tell me you have a stick up your ass too!"

Inosuke uncrossed his arms, somehow managing to tilt his head downwards in a way to make the boar mask seemingly emote irritation as he explained, "Last time I checked, you're the only one. When I joined this group, I wanted to surpass you because you were the one guy that gave me a challenge. But now? I don't even feel like surpassing someone who treats his comrades like shit. I might be a lone wolf, but even wolves know to stick with its pack. I thought we were a team, but not anymore." Inosuke turned his back towards Tanjiro and walked away in the same general direction as Zenitsu.

Tanjiro remained silent, walking towards Uzui by himself. The Hashira seemed disappointed in Tanjiro's actions and words and commented, "Kid, you need to calm down. I get things can get stressful, but you can't let that stuff get to you. They made their choice, you can't get mad at them for it." He was about to continue when he noticed Tanjiro had covered up his own face and started sobbing heavily. It was too much stress for a fifteen-year old to handle. He cried uncontrollably and tried his best to avoid making eye contact with anyone around him. He couldn't believe what was occurring, everything was happening way too fast for Tanjiro and he couldn't deal with it.

Uzui's expression softened as he got down on one knee and pulled Tanjiro in for a hug as he comforted, "It's okay, buddy, just relax, it's going to be all right…"