A Forged Bond
(This one took a teeny tiny bit more time and I hope that I didn't make too many spelling errors. Enjoy)
Giyū stood over the corpses in the area. Some with swords lodged in their bodies and others with obvious slash marks that showed how they turned on each other somehow. "Were you acquainted with any of them? There don't seem to be any survivors in this area." He didn't answer Shinobu's questions. "We were told that several Mizunoto were called out to slay these demons but by now they might all be dead."
He turned and looked at her with the same stoic face that he was known for. "Let's go." They rushed off at speeds that only they, as Hashira could reach.
"Since we were given a joint mission we could try to get along, Tomioka."
"My only concern is slaying demons."
The light flapping of wings and chirping from a bird made them both look and see a sparrow frantically chirping at their side while they ran. "Chi! Chi! Chu! Chu! Chi!"
"Your name is Ukogi and your slayer was poisoned by a giant spider?" Shinobu rationalized while Giyu's face went stale.
"There's no way you just understood that." Little did he know that someone else nearly said those exact words before.
Her smile didn't falter even as she commented on his false observation. "I'm more surprised that you couldn't understand him. Where would your slayer be?"
"Chi! Chu! Chu!" Ukogi frantically chirped, tears still at the corners of his eyes.
"He says that it's to the west. I suppose we should split up from this point?" Giyū gave his simple response of-
"Very well then." Shinobu leapt away with Ukogi leading the way and left Giyū to run alone under the moonlight.
Tanjiro was still locked in place, his sword stuck halfway in Father's arm. Ami's sword nearly met his but they were just inches away from managing to sever the limb, and that was enough to keep it attached. "It's no good! It's too tough!" He glanced over and saw that Koujo managed to cleave right through the other arm with those bright flames behind his attack.
With an explosive amount of speed, Father regained his lost arm and pulled it back to send Tanjiro flying, but Inosuke intervened and used both of his swords and all his body weight to stop the attack. "It's body is… so tough!"
Father roared and with all his strength forced every single Demon Slayer trying to wound him away just by tensing his body. Tanjiro and Jikon landed on more rocks in the river, Koujo landed on the other side, and both Inosuke and Ami wound up standing in the cool water. "Water wheel didn't work! We can't cut him with our techniques!"
"Hold on Tanjiro, we all saw that one of us managed to cut through his skin." Jikon looked at his bare chested brother who took up his stance, sword in hand. "Maybe if we coordinate-"
"I'll say it again so you understand, stay away from my family!" He ran full speed at the two and smashed the rocks they were on in a fit of rage. Father growled at the two who managed to dodge his attack and land on the riverbank.
"Hey you! Put those nine eyes over here!" Inosuke leapt through the air with his swords in a cross grip, but his plan was ruined by Father slapping him away like a bothersome insect.
Ami ran in with her sword in hand, a deep breath going into her lungs while she charged. "First claw-" She sidestepped the punch meant to turn her into mincemeat and gave her own solid blow. "Stab!" Her size didn't match Father's but she definitely had enough strength to bury her sword into him all the way to the paw print guard, but he just looked at her and reeled another fist back.
Inosuke stood up and shook the water out of his headpiece while Jikon and Koujo rushed in together with the goal of not letting Ami die. "Damn it! All that power just from swinging his arm! I'm not at full strength, at least Pikkon covered some of my wounds so I'm not bleeding everywhere."
Water traced Jikon's sword and he jumped into the air. "Hachi no kata: Takitsubo!" (Eighth form: Waterfall basin). He couldn't cut that far into the massive demon but he could still use his strength to deflect a hit into the water. The force behind the strike sent Ami away with her sword being roughly pulled out of Father's stomach.
"Dirty pest!" Jikon was right in danger, the arm he threw off course lifted up and put him in the air, right in Father's aim and unable to dodge. "Die!" A giant fist reeled back and struck forward with all the power to break boulders.
'Not good!' He didn't have a good enough grip on his sword to pull off a whirlpool, it was his best bet since he had no solid ground. Luckily he had something a little bit unorthodox on his side… a big brother! Koujo slammed his own fist into Father spider's, veins bulging on his face and his flame like eyes in slits. 'He's matching him!' He watched the two struggle for dominance and he immediately found that his assessment was wrong. 'No- Spider dad's winning?!'
The smaller Demon was being pushed back slowly but surely, and Father started growling again. "Intruding on our peaceful life?! I'll have Rui leave you in the sun to burn!" Father pushed even harder, something they didn't think was possible, so Koujo grit his teeth and slipped another hand onto the arachnid patriarch's wrist and turned around. "What?!"
"HNNNGAAAH!" He pulled and used the giant's force against him, and slammed him into the riverbed with a massive surge of water! He jumped up to avoid an infuriated kick, among other blind attacks, and fell back down towards the rising demon.
Jikon landed and looked to the riverbank where Tanjiro was running towards the trees and saw his brother's sword planted proudly in the dirt. 'What's he about to do if he doesn't have- Oh right…' He forgot about the weapons that Koujo wore on his shins but those weren't what he was about to use. The Demon Slayer fell down and inhaled sharply through his sharp teeth, and he reeled his fist back to punch Father so hard that they all heard the crack of a fist against a skull!
"Total concentration… water breathing…" Beautiful flowing water traced behind his legs and he grabbed Father's long white hair and swung from it like it was a vine and he was a man raised by apes… an ape man if you will. "Sixth form!" He spun his entire body around violently and the water following him did the same. "Whirl-" His eyes widened when he saw that Father recovered and had his fist ready to strike.
The patriarch roared and landed a punch on the upside down Demon in the air. "Leave us alone!"
It was a shock to see someone get hit so hard that their upper body was gone… A spray of gore and what sounded like a rifle going off and they just saw a pair of legs attached to a waist with bloody pants sail through the air and land in the river. They all could only watch the current carry those legs away in shock. Father turned to the closest target he had, Inosuke, and growled before charging. "Damn it!" He turned and ran through the waist deep water as fast as his legs would carry him.
Tanjiro focused and recovered enough from that brutal sight to pull off something that would at least slow this guy down. "Ni no kata kai: Yoko Mizu guruma!" (Second form improved: Lateral water wheel). With a powerful swipe he chopped right through the trunk of a tree.
Both Inosuke and Father spider were panting heavily in the water, their chase being a battle in the liquid. Until the beast breather heard a creaking sound and saw a tree falling towards him. "What?!" Father didn't see it coming and got crushed beneath the tree, the mass of the wood displacing so much water that the bank was flooded for a few moments and Koujo's sword got caught in the surge. A boar head popped out of the water and Inosuke looked around. "What happened?"
"Inosuke!"
He looked over and saw Tanjiro standing on a stump. 'Oh he did that? The show off!' Bubbles were coming from beneath the fallen tree, a sign of Father struggling beneath it.
"Jikon!" Said boy landed right beside Tanjiro. "We should be able to cut through that tough neck with him stuck!"
"He's stuck so if we team up we should be able to get him." Jikon took the largest breath that he could manage. "The strongest form should be able to do it!"
Tanjiro inhaled a breath that was just as deep. 'Mizu no kokyu…'
Inosuke watched the two synchronize while Ami tried to help him stand upright. 'They have a different air about them. I can tell they're about to do something incredible!'
The two of them ran onto the water. Tanjiro jumped into the air and Jikon kept running across the surface of the river. The show began when Jikon started spinning around as he ran, gathering more force with each rotation. Tanjiro flipped a few times in the air to get the same effect and water trailed behind their weapons all the while. "Ju no kata!" They cried together but their attack was cut short by the tree erupting out of the water with Father holding it tight. Tanjiro cut his move short and sliced into the tree trunk while Jikon hesitated, unsure of whether or not to go for it.
Inosuke gasped and Ami yelled, "Look out!" But it was a bit late. Father was swinging the tree and launched Tanjiro through the air down the river.
"KENTARO!" Inosuke bellowed to the boy flying through the air.
Even while flying away Tanjiro proved how selfless he really was, he gave the group a warning even as he left their line of sight. "Be careful! That's one of the Twelve Kizuki! You all have to survive, you hear me? Promise me that you'll all survive!"
Two of them watched Tanjiro fly away until they couldn't see him anymore and Jikon finally made up his mind and gave one final spin in his attack. "Take this!" The water behind his sword took the shape of a dragon as he jumped and swung for Father's head but the demon saw it coming and used his tree trunk like arm to take the blow, losing it in the process. But Jikon wasn't done. He spun violently and the dragon bit right into the spider's left oblique! For a second there was a shift in the dragon and it looked darker, then Jikon followed through with his swing and used the tree trunk like legs of the demon to kick himself upwards while spinning like a tornado! "Kaiten Ryū! (Whirling Dragon). He blended the final form of water breathing with the motions for the sixth and let it do the rest of the work, a technique that gets stronger with each rotation mixed with one that is purely based on rotation?
"GAAH!" Spider Father was being sliced into like ice against boiling water. Each cut was deeper than the last and each swing had more force, and now his last attack was aimed straight for the giant's neck. He roared and threw a desperate swing for Jikon that made him cancel his attack midway into the swing for the neck.
The other Slayers watched Jikon land in front of them with a scowl on his face. "You blew my brother apart! How about I return the favor?!" The moonlight reflected into his eyes, and his gaze was sharp enough to make the hulking demon see who was really in charge now.
Zenitsu was breathing as hard as he could… and as time passed he was struggling to even do that. His arms and legs were shrunken to the point where his clothes were completely limp like an empty wrapper. 'Getting harder… to breathe… Can't feel my arms or legs anymore…' The other transformed humans looked up towards where he lied. 'Nezuko… I'm sorry…' He closed his eyes and let a peaceful feeling overtake him. Just for a moment, he wanted to relax.
Don't give up! Whatever you do, don't give up!
He opened his eyes again and started his breathing once more. 'Don't give up. Never… give up!'
A butterfly came into his view, slowly flapping its wings. It was elegant as it was beautiful. Then it turned into a woman with an insect themed haori and a smile on her face. "Hello there!" Oddly cheery despite him nearly looking death in the face. "Are you alright?"
Zenitsu could only groan in response as a frantic sparrow flew to his side. "Ch- Chun… taro…"
He was starting to descend from his flight and he needed to make sure he'd survive the fall. "Water wheel!" Water rushed from his blade and he spun to keep his momentum going once he hit the ground, Tanjiro rolled along the ground like the wheel the technique was named for until he finally came to a stop against a tree. "S-Somehow I landed safely… Our luck isn't out yet!"
A sound of something squelching and the smell of demons notified Tanjiro of other presences nearby. "I beg of you! Please stop!" He got up and slowly walked to the source of the noises and crouched by another tree.
'What the- What's going on?' He saw that same young looking demon boy standing in front of the girl who- Who pretty much dropped Father onto them earlier, and she was crying.
The boy was holding a spider web in his hands like a cat's cradle and he glanced at Tanjiro. "What are you looking at? I'm not putting on a performance you know."
"What are you doing? Aren't you two supposed to be fighting together?" Seeing people who were apart of this 'family' being so cruel to each other in person, despite what spider mother told him, didn't make any sense.
"Fighting together? Don't go and phrase it in such an infantile way. The two of us are brother and sister… a family. Connected by a powerful bond." He stretched the webs in his hands out even further and looked back down. "Regardless this is between me and my sister, so if you insist on interfering-" He looked back at Tanjiro through the webs connecting his hands again. "I'll carve you up."
He could sense that this demon was strong but that didn't stop him from giving his input. "You're wrong. Whether or not you're family or just friends, if you have a strong bond then that's all that matters. Saying it's childish to not be related by blood isn't true at all!" That made the demon raise a brow. "Not only that but people with a strong bond give off a scent of trust! All I smell from you two is terror, hate, and loathing! That's not a bond!" Tanjiro stood up and gripped his sword tightly in his right hand. "It's a lie! A forgery!"
The sister demon gasped and so did her brother. "You…" He was shaking with anger and his sister just cowered in fear from his rapidly growing anger.
Footsteps brought Tanjiro's attention to his right side where another Demon Slayer just entered the scene. "Well well, would you look at that? A demon that's a manageable size. Even I can take down a kid demon like this." He held his sword and Tanjiro tried to stop him from making a horrifying mistake.
"Hold on a second! Please don't!"
"Don't move in on my prey! This is how I can secure my path up the ladder, and that's how I'll get my status up higher. Higher rank means better pay." He leaned into his stance and prepared to strike. "My unit's been wiped out but I'll take him down now. I'll slay a decent sized demon then head down the mountain and claim my prize. Take this!"
"No wait! Don't do it!"
It was too late since the demon already extended a hand and shot an entire web towards the new slayer, and the result was gruesome. He was diced into pieces like chopped meat.
Tanjiro watched with a gaping mouth. 'Cut to pieces in an instant! How did he even…'
"Hey, what did you just say?" He looked at Tanjiro again and Tanjiro took his stance. "I asked you a question, what was it you last said?"
'He got so scary! It feels like the air got ten times heavier than before!' His grip tightened and he calmed himself down. 'Everyone… hang in there! You'll have to beat the big one without me!' He figured that with their numbers they could manage to beat the demon that launched him through the skies like a bird.
"Answer me. What did you mean? I demand to hear it from you. Come now, explain it to me."
Tanjiro channeled some of the brashness that Koujo had and used it where it was needed. "I'd be happy to! Your family is a fake! There's no real bond between any of you! It's fake, made out of hate and cruelty! Not love and caring!"
The floating finally stopped and things were still again. It was a really weird feeling having your upper body destroyed, especially when your brain was a part of that. Everything just felt like you were swimming underwater, actually drifting down river notwithstanding. Slowly but surely his body started reforming and his arms pushed his headless figure off the muddy ground. "Would you look at that?" A white foot stepped into the ground in front of the healing member of her species. "Someone who lost their way? It looks like you had some hard times before you ended up here. Would you like to end those hard times?" His lower jaw started forming and his tongue came into existence again. "If you join our family then Rui can hel- Grk!" Black fingers wrapped around her throat and held her firmly.
The rest of his head formed and his closed eyes opened to reveal red irises. "Is Rui a member of the Kizuki?" He loosened his grip to let her speak clearly but he paid more attention to his hand once he could see. 'That's my hand? Why are my fingers like that?' A quick sniff of the air and he found that something was wrong with him. 'I can't smell as good? And my hearing isn't the same? No wait, my hearing is fine.'
"Rui- He's the son in our family! I'm one of his sisters!" He let her go and looked at his arms while she held her throat and recovered from the pain.
Koujo saw that his fingers being black with blue nails was only the first thing that changed about him. Some of his skin was colored black from just below his shoulders to his biceps and ended with droplet shapes. "So that kid's the one behind all this?" He looked closer at his hands and saw that his nails were blunt, like a normal human's were.
"Y- Yes… why do you want to know?" She stood back up and dusted her kimono off.
Koujo walked back to the river and saw his reflection only to marvel at his black sclera against his red eyes and white pupils. 'Drinking that blood must've changed me… demons get stronger by eating people and I guess I'm not much different.' Getting injured so badly must've been the catalyst for his body to start changing.
Meanwhile the girl behind him watched his back as he stooped to the water to observe his face. "You want to hurt Rui don't you?" Koujo didn't bother looking back at her but his silence gave her the answer she needed and she started forming a web between her hands. "I- I won't let you… I'll protect my brother!" He didn't even move as she sent the web out in a cutting array. Her mind was made up so he didn't feel bad about what he had to do.
In a fluid series of actions he bolted up and slid below the spider web then spun with water tracing his right leg. The spider daughter didn't even have the chance to respond to his speed and just watched as his kick connected, and severed her head from her body. "Sorry but this 'family' has to stop here." Koujo looked around and started using all of his senses to locate where any of his friends could be, he figured he could go back up the river to meet back with everyone fighting Father, but then- 'That feeling!' He looked towards the northeast and sensed a sudden rise in bloodlust, and he immediately figured out that it was Tanjiro with that presence. He put his left hand where the hilt of his sword should have been and remembered that he left it on the riverbank… where he lost his entire upper body. "Not good. It's not a good idea but it looks like I'll have to help him without my sword… against a Kizuki… Why is life like this?" He took half a step but a *shnk* sound stopped him right in his tracks.
Koujo turned around and saw that his sword washed up only meters away from where he did. "I take it back, maybe life is fair." He dropped and spun with his left leg leading to kick the sword up and grab it in his right hand, then flicked off the water and dirt to sheathe it properly. "I'm coming Tanjiro!" With that he started running through the forest while the demon behind him disintegrated into ash.
'I didn't even feel his attack… it was so painless.' Instead of it being a dark night in the forested mountain, it felt more like a summer evening after a calming rain. 'It's beautiful…'
Inosuke was standing against a tree panting heavily. Ami was taking cover at another tree near him with blood coming from her arms. Last but definitely not least in their situation was Jikon who was barely on his feet in the open right between the beast breathers.
Father spider was slowly approaching and snarling like a rabid animal all the way. 'Not good! Look at me cowering like a scared animal, but what else can we do?!' Inosuke was shaking himself for the out of character behavior yet his options were quite limited as it stood. 'He's the only one who can cut this thing but he needed time for that cool move!' They had to cover for Jikon so he could prepare the tenth form, but the problem was in Father recognizing the danger and not letting the water breather build up momentum.
Ami clenched her sword's hilt until her knuckles turned white. 'Why am I hiding like this?! Bears don't hide from anything!' That might've been what she thought but her self preservation knew that a direct hit from Father would do to her what it did to Koujo… except she was a human and couldn't just grow a new body when hers got demolished. 'There has to be a way for us to cut it!'
'What can we do?! Think!' He started hitting the sides of his head to get something going. 'Think! Think! Think!
"Die!" Inosuke's tree was smashed but he moved before it got to him, but the problem of being chased by a hulking demon with an arachnid face was still present. They all started running when Father broke into another rampage with their deaths on his mind.
Jikon was between Inosuke and Ami since he wasn't the most injured and could keep up with the boar boy who was still in the best shape now. "Damn it! Until Monjiro gets back we have to make do! All we can do is make a-" The others passed him when he froze in place like an oil painting. "WHY THE HELL AM I THINKING LIKE THIS?!" Father stopped his chase and watched as Inosuke pivoted and started running at him full speed.
"YOU'RE RIGHT!" Ami joined him on the assault. Inosuke leapt up and buried one of his swords into Father's forearm then used his other one to start hitting it, pushing it even further through his tough skin.
"I must've gotten infected by Tontaro's germs! Thinking things through isn't how I work!" Ami jumped and finished the move for him, with her massive frame she battered his sword with her own and they hacked Father's right hand clean off.
"If one sword doesn't cut it then use another sword!" Ami pointed her weapon at the demon holding a bloody stump.
Inosuke crouched down when he landed and crossed his swords menacingly. "And what'dya know?! We've got four swords together!" Jikon stood beside them and smirked.
"I can smell it on you, you're scared now! You used a lot of your strength to get your arm back after my brother cut it off… So now it's our turn to hurt you." Father groaned and recoiled while Inosuke laughed at Jikon's threat.
There was a secret technique used by a certain family, one that Father spider didn't know existed… yet he used it perfectly at that moment. He turned and ran away to their surprise. "Hey you! Come back here damnit!" Inosuke was the first to chase him.
Ami was next with a shout of, "Bears can chase their prey for miles!" Jikon just followed the both of them, the hit he took earlier not wanting to be repeated in case this was a trap.
'It helps to be a thinking person.'
Tanjiro leaned back but some threads still caught his face. Rui lifted another hand and he blocked the threads with his sword's edge as well as he could and managed to deflect them. He watched the demon form another web between his hands while his 'sister' stood partly behind a tree. "Just so you know, I won't kill you in a single strike. I'll carve you up piece by piece."
Tanjiro only responded with heavy pants and breaths. Focusing his breathing was the only way he'd survive in this situation.
"However, if you take back what you just said to me, I'll do you the favor of killing you quickly."
Tanjiro took that personally. "Not on your life! What I said was the truth! I won't take it back, ever!" Rui's expression didn't change in the slightest. "You're the one in the wrong here!" He pulled those webs out even further and Tanjiro tightened his stance in preparation for the next attack.
Inosuke lead the charge and followed the trail that they… weren't really left. "Damn it! Where the hell did that abomination go?!" He fell to a knee and started breathing heavily.
"Inosuke!" Jikon went to his side and started helping him up, but the boar tried to push him away instead of just accepting the help.
"I'm fine! It doesn't hurt, so there's no problem!"
Jikon still tried to pick him up and Ami started lifting with one hand as well. "I didn't patch all of your wounds so you're still bleeding, both you and Ami got hit back there. If she didn't jump in and take the hit with you then you'd have died."
"Don't remind me!" Inosuke stood up and focused on his surroundings. "I'm sick of this! I'll sniff him out myself!" He used his spatial awareness technique and sifted through the area to figure out where their target went. Jikon and Inosuke looked up nearly at the same time. "So that's where you went!" Father was on a branch making guttural growls and gurgles.
"How did he climb that high?" As usual Jikon stuck to the right questions for the situation, even when he was still mad.
Ami just grabbed the trunk of the tree with her left hand and started climbing. "Bears will chase their prey up trees if they need to!" She climbed ridiculously fast for a girl who was about two meters tall.
"I get it, he's trembling in fear at our sight. Hahahaha! Too late for that!" Ami just got onto the branch when Father's skin started falling off and steam came from his body.
"The hell? What's he doing?!" She swung her sword down onto the demon's exposed nape but it bounced off like she just cut a rock! That same moment she was blown off the tree and into another one.
Jikon and Inosuke watched her get rag dolled and forcefully seated against a tree trunk. "He shed his skin!" Father jumped down at them and forced them to jump back and avoid being smashed like the earth beneath his body. He stared them down and growled even more viciously than ever before, his teeth were sharper, his eyes were more focused, and there were spikes on his arms in some places.
"I'm all for getting stronger but this is too much! I've never felt this much power off one enemy before!" Inosuke lowered his swords and stared at Ami's battered body, just one hit and she was bleeding with one of her arms looking broken… he almost felt bad for the tree that she nearly knocked down with her body. 'We can't win…' His hope was abandoned in the face of the beast before them and his only still standing partner had nothing to say himself, Jikon could practically taste the difference in Father's power after he shed his skin. There wasn't anything for them to do but accept the inevitable… that they were going to die here.
You all have to survive, you hear me?! Promise me that you'll all survive!
A message that they both remembered from someone who could be nearly dead for all they knew. A message that forbid them from dying to the eight eyed freak in front of them.
Being honorable means that you're doing the right thing, Inosuke. She wants us to live our lives and be happy with what we do.
The nature raised hard-head thought about that breakdown of something that made him think harder during a journey than anything else ever had, all about the words of some old hag that didn't even know who he was… but she knew that he should live happily for as long as he had, and dying here would mean spitting in the face of his own happiness! "Always live your lives with great pride."
Inosuke gripped his swords and started raising them up. "I won't lose. No way in hell am I gonna lose!" He took up a stance with one sword in front of him and the other behind his head. "I'm Inosuke Hashibira of the Demon Slayer Corps! Give me the worst you got, dirtbag!" That put a target on his head and Father acted by making a pig fly… into a tree then through the air freely. 'He's so fast! I can't even see it!' The second Inosuke landed against a tree, Father was right on top of him with a fist reeled back. The tree was destroyed but Inosuke leapt into the air and was in a blind spot. "Kedamono no kokyu San no kiba: Kuizaki!" (Beast breathing Fang three: Devour). He crossed his swords and slashed them both only for them- "They broke!" To break against the hide of the giant spider man. Inosuke learned that when you were going to step on a spider- "Agh!" That you shouldn't miss.
He thudded against another tree and landed against the ground in a heap. "I should've… focused more on my landing…" Father's hand reached out to grab the crumpled boy by the head.
"Shichi no kata: Ikari!" (Rage). Ami was up and in the action again. Veins bulging across her visible body, the boost in both oxygen and blood flow gave her the strength to both cut into the hand reaching for Inosuke and to make Father pause for just a moment. 'This form pushes me to the limit! But it's not permanent, we need to cut off his head!'
Unfortunately Father decided to grab her with his other hand, and add insult to injury by taking her sword out and holding it between two fingers like a cigarette… before flicking it away. "I'll make it so you never do this again…" He grabbed Inosuke and lifted both of them into the air. "You'll never bother my family again!" He started squeezing their heads but Inosuke still had some fight left in him.
He raised his swords up with the last of his strength. "Alright you monster… take this!" He stabbed them into the neck of the giant but he was unabashed. "I- I dug 'em in… but it's like it doesn't matter! He's not flinching!" He raised Inosuke further away and started applying more pressure to his head. Gagging and choking, it was all he could do and Ami couldn't even turn her head to watch… not that it was something she wanted to see.
'Not like this!' She used her advantage of height and lifted her body to plant her heels onto the dual swords and push them in even deeper… and that got her the same treatment of being raised higher and squeezed just like her friend.
Inosuke's mind drifted back to memories that he didn't even know he had. A strange woman looking at him… asking for forgiveness? What did she do to him? He had no clue of who she was or why she was apologizing to him like this. 'Who… Who are you?' His thoughts were interrupted by his coughing up blood.
Ami reminisced on her childhood and everything that brought her here. She could see the faces of her family all smiling around the dinner table.
I should've been with them
She was coming back from getting some more food from town. How was she supposed to know what happened when she was gone?
I could've done something!
She'd always been a big girl. Even when she was just turning ten she already was taller than her mother. Opening the door that day was one of the worst things a person could ever have to see…
"I'm home!"
The sight of what was her family… the claw marks across the walls… the feeling of wrongness all over the area… and the smell of bears. That was her sign that whatever did it had to have been a monster among monsters. Something like the demon slowly crushing her head now.
Footsteps and a battle cry showed that Jikon had that same water dragon from before and his intent was clear. "Let them go!" Cut off Father's head! His sword wedged a third of the way into the giant's neck and because his hands were full, he couldn't stop him. Jikon wanted to grind his teeth together once he saw that he wasn't going to be cutting any further into that neck. Flashes of how he failed Kai came into his mind, his failure leading to a man dying… and he wasn't about to let that happen here! "I… Will… Beat you!" He kicked his sword and made it halfway through the demon's neck, which made him drop both his victims.
"Die! You pest!" He reached for Jikon but his limbs faltered when the boy kicked his weapon even deeper, only a little more and he'd take this ugly creature to hell! A little more to go but the molted spider finally got the sense of mind he needed, and made to grab the threat to his life.
That was where Jikon had to either commit to cutting through the neck… or living… and he chose life. He let go of his sword and dropped his elbow onto Father's shoulder and with a resounding pop dislocated it, but he wasn't done there. 'The trick of water is that it always finds a way!' With a great breath of air he swung and kicked with all of his might, with that kick he sent the demon's arm crashing right into his sword… and his sword all the way through his neck!
He fell to the ground and smelled that good scent of a demon turning to ash all the while, looking over he saw that Inosuke was standing up and Ami was down for the count… for real this time. 'I- He- Incredible! He actually beat that thing!' He was lightly shaking and whether it was from shock at seeing Father die or shock of blood loss was in the air.
"You actually managed to win this time. Maybe you have grown up." Inosuke looked and saw a man with a mismatched Haori while Jikon slowly turned his head and looked up to see that familiar face.
"G-Giyū?"
A swing of his arm and a thread sliced into a tree, missing Tanjiro. The boy leapt all around to evade, his biggest strength finally kicking back in. 'Finally. That horrible smell is fading.'He landed and eyed Rui from his own position. 'Now I can pick up the smell of the threads! I can take him on now!'
Rui stood there without a single word coming from his mouth, his mind was a different matter however. 'He's smarter than I gave him credit for, he doesn't flinch in the face of fear. Not that it matters.'
Tanjiro stood up and started running forwards. Rui lifted his hand and the young Kamado jumped to avoid the slicing thread. 'Water breathing… first form: water surface slash!' His sword connected with a thread and- 'Hng?'
It broke
Inosuke held his injured throat and looked at the man standing over his injured teammate. 'I can almost feel how strong he is… I haven't even seen him fight but I can tell that he's way above me.'
Jikon tried to stand up but Giyū shut that down fast with a simple, "Don't." Giyū looked up and saw Inosuke standing up with sparkles around him, he also saw Ami looking as if she'd seen better days. The odd sight made him just stare blankly then turn around.
"Hold it right there, mister mismatched outfit!" That actually made him stop and acknowledge the weird boar guy. "I can tell you're really strong, and Pikkon knows you! He beat that member of the Twelve Kizuki, and you're stronger than him! That means if I beat you then I'm even better than him,Tanjiro, and Koujo!" He pointed his thumbs at himself and proudly declared, "That'll make me the strongest of us all!"
"I have a better idea, get back to training… idiot."
For some reason it looked like Inosuke just- lost all his detail. Almost like if he were a person who was drawn then his quality went from high color and shading, all the way to the lowest form of black and white art there could be. "WHAT'D YOU SAY TO ME?!"
"That wasn't a member of the Twelve Kizuki-" He spoke while unraveling a rope for some reason. "Or anything close to one. Could you not tell that?"
"Of course I could tell that! And for your information- It was Tanjiro who said it was one of them! I was just repeating what he said!" Giyū took two steps forward. "I know that amateur couldn't have been one of those guys!" Now Giyū was walking away and dusting his hands off… and Inosuke was hanging from a tree with his arms bound. 'Hubburwha?! Did he just tie me up?! This guy's quick!' He saw Giyū walking away and refocused himself. "Hey you! Get back here!"
"If you can't tell the state your body's in then you shouldn't be fighting." He stepped beside Jikon and knelt down with a roll of bandages in hand.
"Huh?! I can't hear you! Your voice is too soft and you walked away too fast!" A valid complaint to have missed out on such good advice. "I said hold on! Untie these ropes right now! Get! Me! Down!"
Breathe in… breathe out… Zenitsu had to focus on his breathing. "I said 'hello!' Can you not hear me?" Shinobu was still smiling at him and asking if he needed some help… anyone who saw this would immediately tell her that it was an obvious and stupid question.
"Th- Thank you… gramps…"
She tilted her head to the side and questioned him. "Are you calling me gramps right now?"
Zenitsu strained to answer her question. "Just now… I saw gramps again."
Now she saw what was going on. He was remembering the good times. "Oh so your life is flashing before your eyes? You know according to one theory," She knelt down and started searching her pockets for something to help him. "The reason one sees images like that before death is because your body is looking for a way to survive by going through all your past experiences." She pulled out a box with needles and vials inside. "Good job slowing down the venom with your breathing, if it wasn't for that you'd have turned into a spider long ago!" She lifted his arm up and held the needle firmly. "I'll administer the antidote now."
Zenitsu winced from the pain and looked over to see people wearing weird turbans tending to everyone else who was hanging around the area and probably turning into spiders just like him. With an antidote going into his body he decided he could finally rest. He shut his eyes and finally managed to drift off into that calm world of sleep. 'Thank you… for believing in me…'
Hinokami
'Not… good…' He was catching his breath from the most recent assault on his body, and with a broken sword he couldn't do much other than dodge most of it. 'My sword really broke! Those threads… are they even tougher than that demon I couldn't cut earlier?!' He calmed himself down to match the blank faces of both Rui and the spider sister. 'Urokodaki and Haganezuka, please forgive me. Thanks to my inexperience my sword broke.' A lashing of thread and Tanjiro dodged to his right. 'Now isn't the time! Think damn it!' He landed and had to dodge another thread the second he touched the ground. 'If I can't cut those threads, I'll have to meet him head on!' He started moving forward and dodged when more threads threatened to rip him apart, he ducked and dodged by the skin of his teeth and rolled to the side. 'Every one of those threads… it's like they have their own minds! And even though he's holding back not to kill me, he's overpowering me all the same!'
"What now? Do you refuse to take back what you said before?" Tanjiro didn't answer the question and the silence was answer enough. "Fine then, I'll just carve you up." He pulled his hand back and Tanjiro was surrounded by giant webs.
'I can't dodge this one!' The webs closed in and a spray of blood shot into the air. Shocking both Rui… and Tanjiro.
Nezuko was standing in front of Tanjiro, the threads ripping into her flesh and clothes. The real question was left to spider sister. 'Who is that behind him?' Another demon was behind Tanjiro with a- a nichirin sword on his hip? And he took hits from the webs that would've just sliced Tanjiro from behind.
"Urokodaki's gonna kill you when he finds out you broke your sword!" The jab wasn't the most important thing to Tanjiro, it was the condition of his other protector.
"Nezuko!" He grabbed his sister and ran to the nearest tree with her. "Nezuko! Hang in there!"
The Demon that was behind Tanjiro joined him with a frown on his face. "So I don't matter to you?"
"That girl… came from the box he was carrying, and that boy just ran out of nowhere. But- But I'm sure that they're both demons like us!" She gasped and turned to see Rui standing there in shock.
He slowly raised his hand and pointed at the two of them. "That- That girl and- That boy… Are they… Your siblings?" Veins were on his forehead and his visible eye was wide.
"So what if they are?!"
The Demon that protected Tanjiro's back looked at Rui, his bare torso lightly reflecting moonlight. "I'm not his brother, but I'll protect him the same way I protect my little brother!" He stood in front of the Kamado siblings while Tanjiro panicked at Nezuko's arm injury, the deepest one.
'Her left wrist is about to fall off! Come on! It has to heal, heal please!'
Rui stood there repeating some words over and over again. "Siblings… they're siblings… She's been turned into a demon… but they're still together. He said he still protects his brother… but he's a demon as well."
"R-Rui?" He didn't even hear her voice right then.
"They risked their lives just to protect him. That's a genuine bond! I want it!"
She had to plead her case, his lack of focus for her wouldn't stop it anyway. "Rui! Hold on a second! Please reconsider! I'm your elder sister, you can't abandon me!"
"Shut up!" He lashed out and sliced her into four pieces, the after effect of his attack kicked up a cloud of dust behind her… and knocked down a tree. "None of you were ever able to fulfill the roles you were given. Never. Not once."
She was a head on the ground but she still tried to appeal to him. "W-Wait. Brother, wasn't I the elder sister that you wanted? Please give me another chance."
"In that case, go kill the people wandering all over this mountain. If you do that I'll forgive you for what just happened." Her body picked her head up and she ran off to fulfill her goal that would, hopefully, appease her brother. "Boys…" Tanjiro gasped and Koujo kept his gaze on the threat in front of them. "Let's talk. Just us three, come on out."
'Why is he being so friendly?' Tanjiro was too occupied holding onto his sister's wound and making sure it healed up, which left one of them to actually approach Rui.
"Tanjiro's busy, I'll talk to you." Koujo was in the open and watched Rui put a hand over his heart.
"Well, I was so moved by what you and his sister did. It was truly moving. No words describe how I felt." They listened to the monologue and waited for it to take a turn. "However, the fate of- Tanjiro was it? Is to die by my hand here, and that's unfortunate for him no doubt." He raised a finger in front of his mouth and prepared an offer they couldn't refuse. "I'll tell you how you can survive that fate. It involves your sister." And this was going to be the part they didn't like. "Hand her over to me without a fight, if you do that I'll at least allow you to live. And you-" He looked to Koujo with the same vacant expression. "Willingly come with her and I'll allow your brother to survive this mountain, if he's still alive."
Tanjiro gasped and had to explain that whatever just came out of Rui's mouth was not making sense. "I don't understand what you mean." Nezuko was completely calm in his arms, her wounds finally healing.
"I'm saying that from this point forward your sister is now mine. And that one is now my elder brother." He said it so calmly that it was somehow more disturbing than if he were doing it by force.
Koujo clenched his fists but kept his eyes on Rui. "You don't think he'd ever actually agree to that do you?"
"First off, Nezuko isn't a thing! She has her own feelings and will! She'd never be your sister!" His declaration was only met by calm words and a cold tone.
"It's alright. No need to worry. I'm stronger than you are, I'll forge that bond. A bond of terror. She'll know what happens when I'm defied."
That made the temperature around Koujo rise slightly. "So you're the reason that this whole spider family is here? Scaring them all into a fake family?"
Tanjiro raised the remains of his sword in a threatening way. "Using fear to keep people chained to you isn't a family! I've had enough of you saying all this crap! Until you can figure out what a real family is you'll never get what you're after!"
Rui still was calm and he was relaxed. He looked from Tanjiro who just had his outburst, to the standing figure of Koujo. "Please, tell him to stop yelling. He obviously doesn't agree. As I said before I'm stronger than him and I can create that bond with his sister, but… I can tell that you'd be the perfect elder brother. You're strong enough to protect me, maybe better than Father if I shared my blood with you."
Tanjiro stood up and walked into the clearing himself. "I'll never let you have Nezuko!"
That was one answer that decided on how some of this would be done. "Very well then, I'll just have to kill you and take her then."
"Not if I can cut your head off first!"
Koujo drew his sword with a question burning in his mind. A question that made him think about how this would play out. 'Why does he want a sibling anyway?'
Rui smiled and lowered his head. "Very well then. I'd like to see you try it." He raised his head back up to show his manic grin and when he moved his hair they could all see it. "Let's see if you can actually beat someone like me!" The characters for 'Lower Five' were in plain sight. "One of the Twelve Kizuki!"
In a family, the father has a designated role to fill. And the mother has hers in turn. The parents protect their eldest children, and the eldest protect the younger ones. This is carried out no matter what, even at the risk of their own lives.
"The way I see it, if you don't understand your role in this life then there's no reason you should be living." He looked at Tanjiro with a clear intent in his eyes. "As for you, I'll tell you what your role is. Your role is to relinquish your sister to me and disappear, if you refuse then your only other choice is to die. Because, you can't defeat me." Now he put his gaze onto Koujo with that same near vacant look. "And you… I'd rather you not put up an annoying fight against me. Honestly if you submit and take- Nezuko? Yourself, then I'd consider letting Tanjiro live."
The young Kamado listened to that and clenched his sword hilt firmly. 'Lower Five. He's really one of the Twelve. The threads are already hard to cut- Wait, Koujo should be able to cut them easier. He cut through the father's body… but what will we do if his neck is even tougher?!'
"I don't like that look in your eyes. It's like you're steeling yourself. What are you plotting? Don't tell me that you think you'll be able to win!" With a raise of his hand he used his threads to pull Nezuko from her position and into his arms.
"Nezuko!"
Rui extended another hand and kept his arm around the girl. "There, I've taken her now. You understand your role now don't you?"
Tanjiro rushed and Koujo was right beside him. "Let her go!"
"I told you that I'd spare your life in return for your obedience." Nezuko took that distraction as an opportunity and reached to Rui's face and dragged her claws along it. He directed his threads and forced Tanjiro to backflip and evade the attack, but Koujo just inhaled and allowed water to trace his legs again. With a graceful backwards cartwheel, he sliced the threads apart with his shin placements and landed in front of Tanjiro.
"Where'd she go?" Tanjiro asked but the combination of Koujo looking up and blood falling onto his broken sword answered his question. Nezuko was hanging from a web attached to the trees, threads cutting into her body. "Nezuko!"
"Calm down. That's not enough to kill her, she's a demon remember? It does appear that I have to teach her a lesson. I'll let her bleed for a while, and if she doesn't learn then I'll keep her there till daybreak… and let her burn."
Tanjiro refused to let that happen and he ran forward with all his brotherly rage. "Let her go!" Rui used even more threads to trip him up and force him to land on the ground. "Tch! Ngh?" He looked up and saw the small Kizuki pull his foot back and send him flying into a bush. He coughed up blood and saw a backhand come his way but he had the shield of Koujo's body to protect him and watched him block the swing with his own hand.
"That's enough of you beating up my friend." He was about to kick Rui back but he found threads forcing his hand away and that left him open to be sent into a tree.
Tanjiro looked up and saw that the backhand was back again and he got sent away like he was intended to. He stood up and felt like he was coughing up a lung. "I may be wrong, but I think that you believe if you get close enough to me… you can chop my head off." He walked closer while Tanjiro heaved and struggled to stay standing. "Well then here-" Rui smiled and held his arms out, like a taunt. "Give it a shot."
Tanjiro bit down and swung but Rui dodged and delivered a one two punch that Tanjiro recovered from and swung his sword into his neck… but didn't even make a slice! 'The sword! It didn't even scratch him!'
"Like I said, you have no chance against me." He kicked him away with even more strength than before, and when he landed he made a crater in the ground. "My body is more durable than any thread I can make, if you can't cut those then how can you hope to cut my head off?"
Nezuko struggled and strained herself to pull free and help her brother, but all she could do was try in vain to break out. Her noises drew attention from Rui who looked at her and clenched his hand. "Mmphh! Nnghh!" The threads clenched harder and drew more of her blood.
"Stop that!"
He didn't listen to his plea and kept applying the force. "As of today she's my younger sister and I demand that she quit that whining." Nezuko stopped her struggling and- fell asleep? It confused Rui to no limit.
"Did she pass out? That's strange. I've never-" Bright red light from behind him and sudden heat made him start jumping away from the danger, and it was then that he remembered the elder brother he wanted to have.
"Shiranui!" (Unknowing Fire). Koujo was there with anger in his eyes but he didn't get his target as planned. Rui landed and quickly felt something, with his hand he felt that his neck was bleeding. "Don't forget that I'm still here! How about you stand still and let me try to cut your head off?!"
Koujo rushed forward and for a moment one could see that Rui was intimidated, if he didn't dodge when he did then it was- No, no it wasn't. Threads came from his hands but they were dodged and swung through with a good deal of effort. Koujo was actually getting closer even as Rui kept moving backwards!
Tanjiro watched and finally calmed himself down, anger would only give their enemy the advantage. He had to control himself and release the most final form. 'Mizu no kokyu!' (Water breathing). He burst forward and Rui noticed the movement to send another wave of threads even while he had Koujo pressuring him. 'Ju no kata!' (Tenth form). He sliced right through the threads to Rui's shock. 'Seisei Ruten!'(Constant Flux). The lower moon was caught off guard by the new development of them both being able to cut his threads, but he managed to do something special at that moment too, he made a purple thread and sent it right for Koujo's eyes between one of his swings.
'What the-' The last thing he saw was Rui preparing more threads before his eyesight was taken away with a burning pain. "My eyes!" He was kicked away and strung up just like Nezuko. Rui sent more threads at the approaching boy in the checkered haori.
'I cut the threads!' He kept that train going and continued his mix of sprinting forwards and rotating to build up even more force. Rui noted exactly what he was doing to make his attacks even stronger as he approached. 'If I keep closing the distance like this- I can defeat him!' The dragon followed him and he was getting closer.
"Hey… You don't think these threads are at maximum strength do you?" His hands turned red and so did the threads he was weaving. He pulled his hands back and created his next attack. "Kekkijutsu: Kokushiro." (Blood demon art: Cutting thread Cage). A large conical web formed around Tanjiro, made out of blood red spider webs. "I have no further use for you, farewell."
'Not good! I don't have the room to make any more rotations to cut these! This can't be how it ends, I can't die here!'
Having your life flash before your eyes to find anything that could help you survive? A strange theory but maybe there was some validity to it. He could see his father performing that same dance. The Dance of the Fire God. Every year he'd do it, but despite being such a frail man he always had the strength to perform that dance in the cold of winter.
"If you can master the correct way to breathe, you'll be able to dance forever too. Even the cold won't bother you."
"Someday I want both these earrings and that breathing style to be inherited by you, Tanjiro."
With a new resolve Tanjiro grit his teeth and changed his breathing. 'Hinokami Kagura!' The water dragon turned into a great burning serpent and fire even greater than Koujo's burned right through Rui's threads. 'Dance!'
'My threads-!' He created more of the crimson threads while Tanjiro rushed at him full speed. Some of them managed to nick and scrape him but he didn't stop his charge.
'Don't stop! You have to keep running! If you hesitate and switch breathing techniques- There'll be a price! That's why you have to focus! Protect Nezuko!' He cleaved through more threads and Rui started taking leaps back to keep his distance. "Haaaah!" The fire tracing his sword took no chances in letting the threads get him!
'How?! This boy…'
Tanjiro's assault was unrelenting and he finally managed to pick it up. 'The opening thread! You need to take him down now!' He cut through even more threads and closed the distance. 'Even if it means getting cut in the process!'
At that moment she could hear a voice… one telling her that she finally had the strength to help. That if she didn't help right now then- Then he'd be killed! Her eyes snapped open and she could feel her body heating up. 'Kekkijutsu…' (Blood Demon Art). She clenched her hand and watched the instrument of her pain become a tool to help her brother. 'Bakketsu!' (Exploding Blood). The threads burned with pink fire and Tanjiro leapt right through them to plant his sword against Rui's neck!
'Impossible! My threads were burned away?!'
The droplets of burning pink heated Tanjiro's sword up more and more. "The bond that I have with Nezuko… can't be severed by anyone!" In a beautiful display of bright red fire, Rui's head was taken right off his body. He landed on the ground and sat up with blurry vision. 'I can't see Nezuko very well…' She was on the ground, still as a corpse. 'This horrible pain…' His ears were ringing and his chest felt like a boulder was sitting on top of him. 'The fight isn't done… I need my second wind!' He started crawling forwards. 'I have to get back and help the others!' He felt a presence and a smell get stronger. 'Wh- What was that? The smell of blood just got stronger? And there wasn't a smell of ash like usual?! No- No way!'
Footsteps revealed the truth. "You thought you'd won didn't you? How sad for you." Rui's body was walking forward and his threads were holding his head upside down. "Did that delusion bring you a moment of joy? I cut my head off with my own threads before you did the job yourself." Tanjiro kept crawling forward with all his intent to control his breathing. "I won't lie to you, I haven't been this incensed in quite some time." He started fixing his head back onto his body. "Although I wonder how you weren't harmed in that explosion before, maybe it relates to your sister's power? It doesn't matter since I'll be killing you and her." He finally attached his head and formed another web between his hands.
"HEY!" He stopped his approach to Tanjiro and turned to see a blinded demon standing a distance away. "I'm still here and ready to fight!" Even though he couldn't see, he damn sure could still fight.
Despite all of his rage he kept that same calm tone of voice. "And how exactly do you plan to fight when you can't even see? With the poison I applied to that thread, you'll be blinded for at least another few minutes." Now his attention was on the other demon present and he formed a web in front of himself. "Allow me to show you what happens when a fly enters a spiderweb." The web shot off at the blinded Demon and tore through the ground just to get towards him, and all he could do was stand there with his sword in his hands and his eyes closed.
"Maybe you should've been more careful in that web. You made a mistake and thought that there was a fly…" He leaned and took a step into the ground, cracking the earth below his step. "Kekkijutsu... Jutsushiki Tenkai…" (Blood Demon Art Technique Deployment). Below his body formed a fiery orange, maybe even yellow, flower with four petals pointed in front of, to the left and right, and behind Koujo. "Seitōna Tensei: Hibana Bara!" (Rightful Reincarnation: Ember Rose). The crimson threads were mere meters in front of him yet he couldn't see them coming… or could he? "Hachi no kata: Taika Hogo!" (Eighth Form: Protective Conflagration). In a shocking display of perception Koujo swung his sword upwards in three separate slashes in an instant, but that wasn't all, he swung downwards and formed what looked like a shield made out of flames.
Rui was speechless at how he managed to defend himself without even seeing the attack coming towards him. 'He shouldn't be able to fight back, he's blind!'
Tanjiro managed to turn his head and see exactly what just happened with that attack and how the threads were cut through almost the same as he managed. 'Wait. Does that mean Koujo has a Blood Demon Art now?' He kept trying to get back in the action himself but his body wasn't responding to him.
Even with closed eyes he could still see exactly where Rui was, and Tanjiro, also Nezuko… and every tree around them. He raised his sword by his head with the point aiming towards the ground. "You thought you trapped a fly, but it was a mantis with an empty stomach." He blitzed forward and the spider Lower Moon made even more webs to slow him down… not that it worked very well. With flames tracing his sword he sliced through them even as their count increased more and more until he was right on top of Rui. "Nagareboshi!" (Falling Star). He swung his sword downwards right when his enemy made another cat's cradle of webbing but this time it actually managed to stop his attack- After he cut some of them of course. Now the webs were such a dark shade of red that they were only so far from being black in color.
"You think that just because your Blood Demon Art activated that you can-" He didn't waste time listening to another tirade of how he couldn't win, he just raised his right leg and kicked Rui's neck as hard as he could. He sent him skidding backwards, away from Tanjiro and Nezuko thankfully.
He rushed in again and started a blazing assault with his flames illuminating the forest. Every slash was starting to be slowed down by the dark threads, but they weren't enough to completely stop his attacks and Rui used them to move back and flung even more at him. He slid below another web and rose right by his target. "Shiranui!"(Unknowing Fire). He twisted and nearly managed to take Rui's head off but settled for an arm in that moment, it wasn't an equal trade since he had some threads slice into his torso and leave cuts across his body. The problem is that those threads should've taken his limbs off so he'd be helpless.
'Tch! It's like every time I nearly get something important he just avoids the attack.' His arm regenerated and he decided to resort to breaking that sword with his bare hands to lower his enemy's chances. Koujo blocked the punches and tossed his sword into the air to give his own, and of course his hits were superior and with just two well placed hits Rui was seeing triple. He sent a web to try and force all three demons he could see away from him.
Koujo leapt away from the webs and landed safely out of their path. The flower below him burned brighter and he gripped his sword harder. "Seitōna Tensei: Hasu!" (Rightful Reincarnation: Lotus). He swung his sword with a trail of burning flowers going where his swing was aimed… at Rui.
He formed another web of dark threads that blocked the flaming lotuses for the most part. Some of them sliced through the threads and scraped across Rui's face, body, and kimono. 'Now he can attack from a distance. I can't change the fight around like this.' He jumped back one more time as the lotuses breached his threads and used something that was meant for Tanjiro. "Kekkijutsu: Ayame Kago." (Blood demon art: Murderous Eye Basket). A dome of dark webs formed around Koujo and started shrinking. "There's no escaping this one, it takes effort to cut these threads. You'll slow down too much then get turned into mincemeat."
He wasn't wrong. The trapped Demon started swinging and already felt his momentum slowing down with each swing and yet there were so many more threads in his way. Luckily he had an advantage of more weapons. He started mixing in sweeping kicks with his swings to build up even more momentum instead of attacking with just his arms, making getting out a full body motion started clearing up some of the threads until- "Not that easy!" He leapt through an opening and watched the ground get eviscerated where he'd been. The two of them stood across from one another, one of them with a hard glare on his face, the other with closed eyes and a burning flower beneath him. "I really wonder what makes you care about wanting a family so much? Going so far and making other demons act like your own? Why?"
He just stood there silently, not even acknowledging those words. "I think it's time that I kill you. I'll slice you into pieces so small that there won't be anything for you to grow back from!" He held his hands out and a huge spider web formed in front of him. A large circle as its center got smaller and smaller until the web was so large that it contacted the ground and threw dust into the air. "Kokushi Rinten." (Cutting Thread Rotation).
Koujo let a small grin cross his face as even more veins appeared across it. "It wasn't just me who wanted to end things then." He took up a more powerful stance and held his sword tightly. With a great push the rotating threads fired at him and ripped through the earth in its pathway. Koujo rolled to the side and watched as the attack started chasing him.
"It'll follow you wherever you go. Running is pointless." That piece of information was all he needed to know and so he started moving even faster as the threads moved in on him. Then he ran towards Rui and made the alabaster demon feel disappointed. "I hope you didn't think a childish trick like that would-" That was where the unexpected happened. He ran away again then turned and went back to that powerful stance.
Koujo swung his sword and the flames behind it started to take shape, he dashed off and kept swinging as his attack formed into a- "Flame Tiger!" The burning feline head clashed with the cutting threads and the attacks struggled to push each other back. Koujo kept up his slashes to keep his attack going while the threads continued spinning to decimate anything in their way. "HAA!" With one last great swing he ripped through the threads and the flaming tiger rushed at Rui like a train at full speed.
Rui jumped backwards to give himself distance to make another one of his attacks but that was where the plan came in. Situational awareness. He stumbled back and saw that he'd been corralled into a spot that his attack ruined on the ground and lost his footing for just a moment… and that was long enough. "You!" The tiger crashed into him and he felt a sword rip right into his chest, but the force kept going and they knocked down trees in their wake, the forest feeling the power behind that attack as the tiger continued until it rose above the canopy… 'He planned that from the start?! I have to do something!' He started preparing his threads but whatever his plan was got interrupted by the sudden motion of being below his attacker now.
"What goes up!" He turned their positions around and anyone watching would've seen the amazing sight of a burning tiger crashing into the earth like a meteor. "Will go down!" They slammed into the ground and a massive cloud of dirt, leaves, and splintered wood shot into the night sky. Tanjiro held onto his sister tightly as the debris tried to hurt them both.
He'd have screamed Koujo's name but if he opened his mouth now he'd be inviting dirt to get on his tongue and splinters to make a home against his teeth. 'That attack was huge! The whole mountain must've seen it! B- but…' Now was where the malingering thoughts would be. 'Did he win?'
Sorry but no recap this time. Inosuke and Ami are barely hanging on, I can't feel my legs and I just saw a giant flaming tiger shoot into the sky and slam into the mountain... What do you think about it, Mister Giyu?
...I should investigate...