The Dancing Star
Chapter 32
12Thirtypain03
WARNING: This story is rated M for mature-rated content. If some acts of violence, blood, or anything easily triggering make you uncomfortable, please leave and do not read. Any change to a character, when introduced, killed, changed into a demon/human, or more will be labeled in the chapter of occurrence. If a character has died in a chapter, that chapter will give a cause of death to that character.
Genya and Inosuke
Genya wasn't sure why he was with this boar head.
As he and Inosuke continued onward, treading carefully with the advice of Murata and the warnings he had given them, they continued to find numerous bodies of spider webs and bodies.
Many of them looked to be Mizunoto. Murata continued to explain that apparently, they turned the demon slayer into fighting machines to fight against each other.
This meant that the more demon slayers that were sent to the mountain, the more powerful and stronger the demons became.
While Genya was witnessing this, he continued to see numerous demon slayers, with one seemingly slashing another live demon slayer.
The currently free demon slayer was shivering, and shaking before he felt herself collapse.
Genya quickly tried to intercept, but alas, all he did was place his blade between the two.
"What are you doing? Attacking your comrades?!" Genya asked, somewhat angered by this. "I outta kill you for that!"
"P-Please… do…" Was all the demon slayer trapped explained with tears in his eyes? That caused Genya's eyes to widen, as he realized that this demon was wrapped in threads.
"Alright!" Inosuke exclaimed as he was close to slicing the demon slayer's head off. However, Genya stopped him.
"Regardless of the circumstances, he's our comrade," Genya explained, his mind quickly forming an idea of what was going on.
When he tried to turn around, he noticed that the demon slayer's limbs were getting shorter and shorter.
"What the hell?" Genya mumbled, clearly confused by what this was.
"P-Poison! He turns you into a spider!" The demon slayer covered in threads exclaimed before he went silent, the threads snapped his neck in half.
Despite this, the body was still using the blade as a weapon, and Genya was forced to pull out his sword and deflect the offensive.
"Inosuke! We have to get out of here. There's too many!" Genya exclaimed.
"Bah! How annoying!" He mumbled before he immediately stomped on one of the spiders. "Where the hell is Monistsu when you need him?!"
"Ah, shut up, that wimp has probably abandoned the mission," Genya grunted as he and Inosuke immediately backed up. They couldn't risk falling into the same trap of getting stuck and dying like that.
The sheer number of demon slayers being killed was just too much for them at the moment. They had to find the specific source of this before they could worry about the waves of spiders and trapped demon slayers.
As Genya and Inosuke continued to run, they quickly were intercepted by a large swat of spiders.
"Shit!" Genya exclaimed as he gripped his blade. "Guess we'll have to blaze our way through!"
With that, he quickly grabbed something from his pocket. Inosuke seemed to have no sense of awareness, as instead of properly preparing, he went all out on the sheer amounts of spider demons.
Beast Breathing, Ninth Fang: Extending Bendy Slash
To Genya's shock, Inosuke dislocated his arm.
"Is he an idiot? What is he doing? Dislocating his arm?!" Genya mumbled before he realized a spider was trying to strike Inosuke.
Mist Breathing, First Form: Low Clouds, Distant Haze
Genya quickly shrouded himself, crouching, before he thrust forward towards the spiders, thrusting his blade so deeply that multiple spiders were stabbed by Genya's blade.
Meanwhile, Inosuke, stretched out his arm to the point that his swipe was incredibly large, catching a large amount of spiders in his strikes. Throughout this, the two worked together just fine. Inosuke was relatively aggressive with no form of being careful, while Genya was the one to specifically counter any spiders trying to ambush him.
In the meantime, the two worked relatively well, as the spiders were seemingly dispersed by the two alone.
Mist Breathing, Second Form: Eight-Layered Mist
Before another set of spiders came to fight them, Genya and Inosuke quickly continued with their fighting.
Genya focused on a multitude of slashes this time, as the frequency of them increased.
Beast Breathing, Tenth Fang: Whirling Fangs
Inosuke, by contrast, was more aggressive as he circled to strike as many of the spiders as he could. Genya, by contrast, was more focused on mixing a style of long-ranged and short-ranged.
This was helped by the fact his blade was longer than that of the average demon slayer.
But then again, there was another way for Genya to further make up for it. He could try and consume the spiders. However, the spiders were originally humans, and Genya found it somewhat disgusting to consume a spider human or demon, whatever the hell they were.
As Genya continued, Inosuke eventually charged forward in that direction, leaving more spider demons that lay in his path.
Inosuke in the meantime, while slaying the large amounts of spider demons that were across their immediate vicinity, took care of the threats that posed the most stress to him.
As Inosuke did this, he felt something. Something strong.
It was something he wanted to fight, considering he always yearned to fight strong individuals. And so, feeling something strong once touching the ground immediately caught his attention.
This attention divergence seemed to have done well for Inosuke since he was able to slay many of the smaller spider demons without many struggles. Genya too had no problems dealing with the spider demons.
But he knew Inosuke was charging to something rather strong. This meant the next fight they would have may perhaps be something they would have a lot of difficulty towards.
And so, they eventually came across what appeared to be a very strong demon.
This was an incredibly tall demon and had the facial expression of that of a spider. Numerous eyes, giant teeth, and a large body that resembled that of the Hand Demon.
But this was a much stronger demon, as the strength he carried was something beyond what they would experience.
"You!" The Father spider exclaimed, as if knowing and waiting for the two demon slayers to enter, before he growled, "Get away from my family!"
"What family?!" Inosuke exclaimed, as he unsheathed his blade, "You're a strong demon! Fight me!"
This seemed to make the Father spider momentarily stop, before he growled, yelling as he immediately sent a large fist towards Inosuke's direction.
Inosuke crouched down, but Genya beat him to it.
Wind Breathing, Fourth Form: Rising Dust Storm
Genya immediately came from below and above, as he concentrated his strike on the demon's arms, enabling him to slice apart the arm of the Father spider demon, who growled.
Beast Breathing, Tenth Fang: Whirling Fangs
Inosuke quickly swung in a circular motion, covering for Genya's weak flank, which eventually got the Father spider demon's entire arm cut off entirely.
Genya panted.
"Damnit… Using the breathing styles at this rate seriously tires me out… The only way I can properly use it more efficiently is by consuming demon flesh…" Genya sighed, as he forced himself to get up.
He noted that Inosuke was continuing on the offensive.
However, all these strikes seemed to be only angering the demon more, as the attacks were just itching him.
"This is strange… Why is this demon impervious to our attacks?" Genya asked with intrigue.
However, he had to quickly intercept because the Father's arm grew back and was about to grab Inosuke by his neck.
"Damnit!" Genya exclaimed with anger, as he struck his blade to at least stop the onslaught of the Father's hand.
Inosuke, too, was in a difficult situation as he stabbed the hand of the father, enraging him. Inosuke took this opportunity to jump on and coupled onwards with the strike.
Beast Breathing, Fourth Fang: Slice 'n' Dice
Inosuke was slicing multiple times with both of his swords as he continued to strike apart the Father.
Genya, too, continued but found himself struggling more when it came to defending. He was running out of energy when it came to using breathing styles.
He needed to find a strong way to consume this demon's flesh, but if nichirin blades couldn't penetrate, then Genya couldn't either.
He had to find a different way.
Inosuke quickly slashed a thin part of the Father Demon's skin, as if peeling the skin off.
The Father Demon growled, realizing that one simple miscalculation of his strike was enough to make the two demon slayers gather such a devastating combination of damage to him.
The Father demon thought before he growled, stomping down, causing a small indent on where his feet were.
He brought himself close to the ground as he punched down Inosuke.
"Shit!" Inosuke exclaimed at the speed of the demon, as he was forced to use both of his blades to keep the fist from coming down onto him.
The other fist was coming to his side, destined to strike Inosuke on the side and knock him into a tree.
Wind Breathing, Third Form: Clean Storm Wind Tree
As Genya slashed wildly in a whirlwind form, he was panting heavily, as he felt his body being used up and drained. Even if he had managed to learn the breathing styles he wanted, that didn't mean he could use them well.
He struggled to use them as much as the others.
As he stared down the Father demon, he felt his arms weakening, his eyes widening.
"Crap, this isn't good," Genya mumbled to himself, trying to find something, anything. He stomped his food down, but seeing the Father Demons using his teeth to try and bite them immediately caused Inosuke to jump, and for Genya to be punched in the side.
He flew so fast into a tree that he didn't even realize he was until he was enduring a painful strike to the back. He groaned as he struggled to get up.
When it became apparent that his legs wouldn't work from the exhaustion he placed onto his body, all Genya could do was sit down and try and regain any semblance of energy before he was back in the fight.
He could only hope Inosuke was capable of holding his own.
Inosuke could tell this demon was strong and was trying to be as aggressive as possible to not allow the Father Spider to be enabled onto the offense. If the Father Spider demon was allowed to be on the offensive, then Genya and Inosuke would stand no chance.
Beast Breathing, Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist
Just as the Father demon attempted to launch his hand from above onto Inosuke, the boar head struck from above.
However, on the other hand, Genya not helping him would make it more difficult for Inosuke. Genya hoped his extra blade would help counter two fronts, but one arm strength versus another with demonic strength put Inosuke at a clear disadvantage.
Regardless, that didn't stop Inosuke from putting in a valiant effort. Despite trying to counterattack a strike from above, the Father quickly grabbed Inosuke from his side, catching the boar's head off guard before the demon attempted to crush the boar with his large hands, to which he failed.
The Father Demon growled, kicking the captured Inosuke quicker than both could see. Inosuke was able to at least block most and was left unharmed, but the Father demon began to climb up a tree. Inosuke couldn't see, but Genya could.
And what the Father demon did make Genya's eyes light up a bit at the idea.
As what the father demon did was shed his skin. He began to peel the outermost part of his skin as he eventually began to show no semblance of injuries from nichirin blades now.
"That's it… I can consume the shedding of the demon to regain my strength!" Genya eyed with an idea. He motioned for Inosuke to quickly come to him, which he surprisingly did.
"Didn't expect you to come at my request," Genya commented, as the two quickly got behind a tree.
They knew that even if they continued to strike the demon, the father's defense and imperviousness to the strikes was rather redundant, and eventually both of them would be injured or damaged before the Father Demon.
"True! This demon is very strong! He seems very clumsy when he moves!" Inosuke exclaimed, and Genya had to quiet the boar head.
"Listen, I need to find a way to consume that demon so that I can remain in this fight." Genya explained, "You saw what happened. We both need to be together to counter this demon's strength."
"Hm, what do you propose?" Inosuke asked, not wanting to give someone else the effort of killing a strong demon. He wanted to be the one to fight and win against a strong demon. It was what he wanted when coming to the job.
But even then, he knew the mohawk guy had a point.
"I need to consume a part of him, and I think him shedding will be the perfect way for me to gain that ability… I'll be able to perhaps penetrate through his tough skin. Once that happens, you can cut him up from the inside, got it?" Genya proposed, "I'll need you to try and inflict as much damage onto him so that I can capitalize on this."
"Fine!" Inosuke exclaimed, as he immediately jumped back out in the open.
"Hey, demon! Fight me! I want a rematch!" Inosuke yelled out as he forced out his twin blades. He wanted to focus on this, considering this was the strategy now.
He stood and charged directly at the demon.
Beast Breathing. Eight Form: Explosive Rush
For the time being, Inosuke focused on charging as quickly as he could, as he was prioritizing the time he had without being unnoticed, which of course only lasted a few seconds.
Still, he managed to quickly close the distance and by the time the Father Demon noticed, Inosuke was already within striking distance.
As he charged, he used his two blades to strike and slash across the Father Demon's torso. He couldn't strike anything vital, but of course, now he was focusing on doing as much damage as possible.
As he properly lashed out towards the demon, he managed to get a total of four slashes across the torso of the Father demon. While this occurred, the father demon remained unsteady as he grabbed Inosuke.
Genya grunted in frustration, "This guy is so reckless…" Genya thought to himself as he grunted to get out.
His legs were fine, but his back was still hurting. However, Inosuke managed to slice down towards the arm that was holding him.
Genya didn't bother using a breathing technique for this, but combined with Inosuke's downward strike, the two managed to slice apart the hand, freeing Inosuke from his trap.
Inosuke quickly went back to the ground, and Genya pushed back.
However, this was a faulty idea, as the Father demon merely snapped a tree from his side, and threw it towards the two demon slayers.
They managed to dodge this, but it also separated them briefly.
And the Father Demon chose to go after Genya. Either because he was in a worse position, or because he was more of a threat.
Regardless, Genya felt himself standing on the defense due to the Father demon, as he fisted down towards Genya. He did his best to dodge with his fatigued body, however, the shockwave that came from the first caused Genya to lose balance. He did his best to get back up, but this was futile as he was punched right in the gut, causing him to cough out some blood.
Obviously, with this, he felt his body being overstressed, as Inosuke did his best to slice and do as much damage to the father demon to the best of his abilities.
Beast Breathing, Sixth Fang: Palisade Bite
As Inosuke continued, he first struck the back of the Father demon, as he tried to defend and take some of the pressure off of Genya.
Of course, this worked somehow, but the father demon still managed to overpower the two.
"This cannot work… The two of us fighting on the opposite side of this demon will cause the both of us to be eliminated…" Genya thought while Inosuke grunted as he tried to push the demon off.
Genya had to make the decision, he backed up to the best of his abilities, whilst Inosuke himself tried to continue to strike the Father.
As this occurred, Genya noted the Father demon was getting a bit uncomfortable. Even though he was the least injured.
Genya's back and torso were damaged from the entire fist being pushed up into Genya's torso. As for Inosuke, his neck was still a bit damaged as his breathing was a bit compromised, while his leg was damaged from a sideswipe from Father Demon.
Not to mention that the tree he threw had caused the two to be in a difficult situation. Despite this, the Father Demon continued, as he punched Inosuke right in the ribs, with Genya hearing a large amount of cracks from the punch, meaning Inosuke had broken some of his ribs from this.
Genay cringed a bit, as Inosuke was sent flying into a tree, with his body hanging on a tree branch. In the meantime, Genya lowered his body, eyeing the Father demon, knowing that the two were a bit compromised now.
However, the Father Demon took this time to shed his skin, causing the outer part of his skin to shed down onto the ground.
"Now!" Genya exclaimed in his mind as he quickly charged forward with whatever energy he had left. He didn't care if the Father Demon began to chase him.
The entire stake of their battle resided in whether he was able to get this shed skin of the father demon.
He ran with all of the possible remaining energy he had as a human.
He ran with adrenaline coursing through his veins as he thought and anticipated any backslash from Father Demon, who no doubt recognized him and was going to attack him on sight.
In the end, Genya quickly grabbed the shed skin, dodging a hand-palm strike to the tree, as he dove and hid behind a tree.
"Take this!" Inosuke exclaimed, as he furiously attacked the Father, with a ninth form of his Beast form.
Beast Breathing, Ninth Fang: Extending Bendy Slash
He had even dislocated his same sword arm yet again just to save Genya just in the nick of time to be able to quickly consume the shed skin of the Father demon.
Upon consuming it, Genya felt a large course of strength coming to him as he enjoyed and remembered the taste of the first time he consumed demons.
Of course, Inosuke had placed himself in harm's way when it came to the Father demon, as he was now choking after the Father demon began to squeeze Inosuke's neck.
"This is for hurting my family!" The Father demon exclaimed as he continued to squeeze Inosuke's neck.
However, before he could continue, Genya acted.
Wind Breathing, Tenth Form: Whirlwind of Thunderstorms
Before the Father demon knew it, a figure launched himself towards his arms, quickly landing on the side of the demon, slashing the arm, before quickly jumping high in the air to perform a strong downward strike onto the very arm that was choking Inosuke.
The Father demon turned to face the figure who had done such a travesty to him, ignoring the wheezing Inosuke was giving out.
"You…" The Father demon mumbled, as he turned to see the demonic eyes of Genya, the yellow pupils and black iris now standing out as he glared at the Father demon, his fangs bared, saliva dripping, as he only stared back, his sword in his hand gripped tightly, as he felt energy return to his body.
Genya smirked, "I'll kill you right here, now! Now I can slice you easier!"
With that, Genya charged directly at Father Demon, a renewed sense of strength and energy consuming him as he felt confident in his next actions.
Inosuke was not the one to look weak, and getting back up to speed, he quickly accompanied Genya in killing Father Demon.
Tanjirou and Nezuko
At first, the two were unsure if this would be a good idea.
To head to Mount Natagumo, especially since the reported causalities of demon slayers were rising steadily.
However, duty called, and the way the two demon siblings saw it, it was their way of finding a potential twelfth kizuki.
It was exactly the development the two needed. A simple twelfth kizuki to hunt and kill so that they could get one step closer to becoming a demon.
And so, despite their hesitance knowing they would run into demon slayers, they hoped they could remain quite the mystery, now that their masks were repaired with the help of Tamayo, Yushiro, Tanjirou, and Nezuko all working together.
As they both entered, Tanjirou and Nezuko were immediately met with the sense that this place was disgusting.
Tanjirou could smell that the individuals were strong, and anything closer to the stench of that man was already disgusting enough.
But this only confirmed to Tanjirou that there must be a strong demon up there whose blood was worth taking.
One of the things Tanjirou thought, was that if he consumed the blood and flesh of a twelfth kizuki, then the information and blood may be incorporated and retained in his blood. Tamayo may just need to sample his blood from time to time as he gets stronger and fights more demons.
The potential was there, but Tanjirou would be as safe as he could be.
Nezuko was also able to sense that something was wrong since she could tell the footsteps, presumably the last some demon slayers ever took in their life before a demon maliciously killed them.
"Nezuko, this way." Tanjirou pointed in the direction in which he was smelling a scent. "They smell like threads… Poisonous too… Be careful."
Nezuko nodded as the two continued onwards, and that was when they spotted a large, spread-out sheet of threats that encompassed the entire area.
This demon was a female, rather large, voluptuous figure. This made Tanjirou assume this was an older demon, but perhaps it was a demon whose figure was altered to be older so that it could be stronger—who knows?
"So, you two have decided to show your faces? Oh, wait, you both are wearing masks!" The demon exclaimed with glee as she seemed to immediately wrap her threads to manipulate the bodies of many demon slayers to strike Tanjirou and Nezuko.
This proved to be a problem. Both Tanjirou and Nezuko couldn't risk hurting or damaging any demon slayers, but at the same time, they had to fight the Mother Demon.
And while for now many of the threads connecting the demon slayers to the Mother Demon seemed loose enough for the demon slayers to be alive, they still manipulated them.
Nezuko, however, thought that perhaps this demon could be coerced through a diplomatic and peaceful solution.
She would have to try and convince Tanjirou while they fought if they survived the ordeal.
"Well, we can't stand by while you hurt others for your benefit," Tanjirou explained.
This immediately caused the Mother Demon to chuckle, "Please, as if I would. I'm only doing this to protect myself."
"Is that so?" Tanjirou asked. "Perhaps there's a better way than trapping these demon slayers."
"You may be right, but have I ever killed any of them?" The Mother Demon asked, causing Tanjirou to remain silent. "Exactly. Don't accuse me of stuff I don't do. I have my reasons for this."
"Well, I disagree with your reasons, so be prepared to feel the sun on your neck," Tanjirou responded to the Mother Demon as he prepared for another fight, one that could presumably lead up to a fight with a twelfth kizuki.
All this time, Nezuko looked unsure, as she did feel something inside the Mother Demon that she didn't detect in the others.
Shame and fear.
But the fear wasn't directed at them. It was directed at something else. She didn't want to do this.
She was moving threads, in such a sloppy way that it was almost as if she didn't have the passion to do this.
To Nezuko, it became apparent to her that the mother demon was being forced to use her threads to harm demon slayers.
And yet, despite this, she was only using them to defend herself. While she may have hurt them, she wasn't openly trying to kill them.
While she cannot speak on whether she had killed demon slayers, she probably has, but this was the closest Nezuko felt to being able to reason out with a demon, rather than have to slice their neck and make them regret their decisions when it was far too late.
She would have to, for then neither she nor Tanjirou deserved the second chance at life they got, along with a purpose, which Tanjirou especially held closely.
Tanjirou quickly noted the number of demon slayers this individual had tied up.
"Nezuko, we may have to find a way to free these demon slayers," Tanjirou informed his sister, who nodded.
"But why are they still alive?" Nezuko asked.
"What?" Tanjirou turned to question Nezuko.
"I feel something from her... It's almost like she's afraid... She hasn't killed the demon slayers like the other threads." Nezuko explained.
Tanjirou quickly realized a blade was coming towards him, and he quickly acted. Both he and Nezuko were forced to act.
"Shit!" Tanjirou exclaimed as he felt the nichirin sword of the demon slayer graze his arm. The feeling of the hot blade was enough to make him feel like he was burning. Considering that ichirin blades were made from blades exposed to the largest amount of sunlight, it made sense for Tanjirou to feel that sensation upon being struck with one.
He gritted his teeth, as the Mother demon forced many demon slayers captive to block the sight between the two and her.
"So she wants to use the demon slayers as a wall to defend herself… How pathetic." Tanjirou gritted his teeth.
Hinokami Kagura, Sixth Form: Solar Heat Haze
Tanjirou purposely retained a distance from the demon slayers, as he opened his form, covering the true length of his blaze. He had done this so that he could slice down and temporarily bring down the demon slayers without hurting them.
Of course, it was relatively difficult to try and strike down a demon slayer without hurting them, however, he did have some experience through training.
He could see this as that.
He grazed the swords of many of the demon slayers, knocking them out of one of their hands.
This immediately caught Tanjirou's attention.
"That's strange, why did the demon not spread the threads to their swords?" Tanjirou asked himself before he saw a thread trying to slash him from the arms of the demon slayers.
"Oh, that's why. The threads are the actual weapons." Tanjirou thought to himself, realizing it was a bit too late.
Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel
Before Nezuko came through, she was slashing circularly and twisting her body to completely strike down the threads that were about to slice Tanjirou.
"Thank you, Nezuko." Tanjirou sighed in relief, as the two backed up, eyeing the demon slayers now.
"Seems that this demon has the threads wrapped around the arms of the demon slayers. She wants us to believe the nichirin blades are the weapons to worry about." Tanjirou told his sister.
"Understood." Nezuko nodded, as the two immediately went back to the front, intending to remove the threads on the demon slayers.
If they could do that, then this demon would be weaker.
Hinokami Kagura, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky
Circling his entire body, he managed to clear himself around as the swords of countless demon slayers were forced off of them. Of course, this caused the threads to be activated as they tried to strike at Tanjirou.
Another blade from a demon slayer almost sliced him from his right exterior.
Hinokami Kagura, Eleventh Form: Fake Rainbow
Tanjirou breathed in after he finished dodging the strike of the demon slayer before the Mother demon looked a bit annoyed.
"Can you not mess with my puppets? I need them." She explained, clearly not liking how the two siblings were treating her.
"They're not your puppets. They are sentient beings who make their own decisions." Tanjirou explained as he gripped his blade. "And you trying to treat them as your own is something you cannot just do."
"And why is that? I need to protect myself, and my family." She explained as she looked down at the two.
Water Breathing, Third Flowing Dance
Nezuko continued with her strike as the threads came toward them. Tanjiralsolso made sure the threads were not hurting them, considering he was only trying to defend everything.
But as Nezuko continued to tell Tanjirou, even though he knew something was going on,.
"Brother, we saw from the threads around this demon that the demon slayers are alive and seemingly not heavily injured. We did see the cocoons of the other demon slayers, that were deceased." Nezuko explained.
I know what you are getting at. When we slashed the cocoon, the demon slayers trapped inside were badly acidified, and the webs and threads were wrapped around their chests. Once the web wrapped around them, their hearts and heads were slashed upon opening the cocoons. Even if we could, they would get acidified until they were gone. They died a horrible death regardless." Tanjirou spoke as he understood the severity of this.
"No matter what, they died regardless of the cocoons."
"But these threads around this demon, it makes me think she hasn't killed any demon slayers." Nezuko proposed.
"How would be so sure about that? This demon could be tricking us." Tanjirou proposed.
"But you can smell their emotions, and I know you can tell she is nervous and full of fear." Nezuko countered.
"So what do you want to do? Try and reason with her?" Tanjirou asked. A nod from Nezuko made Tanjirou know what they would do.
And so, Tanjirou and Nezuko immediately focused their attention on the Mother Demon and the demon slayers held as puppets. Tanjirou was mainly the one carefully trying to disarm them as much as he could, as despite the threads being used, he was able to slice through them and waste the energy of the demon.
But as this occurred, she did something neither knew she was capable of.
Blood Demon Art: Spider Manipulation
Tanjirou immediately noticed that there was a thread being pushed alongside himself with the help of a spider with a red dot. Similar to what she looked like.
His eyes widened before he did something he knew he had to do.
He quickly cut off his free arm, to get the threads off him. It was rather drastic, but it was something he could afford. But the good thing was that his blade was easily able to cut through the spiders.
Hinokami Kagura, Eight Form: Sunflower Thrust
Tanjirou immediately thrust his blade towards the side and the spider immediately disintegrated as he eyed the Mother Demon.
Nezuko too was not the one to leave her brother doing everything. While Tanjirou was slicing apart the threads, and allowing his arm to regenerate, albeit it was somewhat slow, Nezuko focused on the Mother Demon.
Water Breathing, Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent
Nezuko immediately got close to the Mother demon as she eyed it in fear. Tanjirou had managed to create an opening for her to get close to the Mother Demon.
Her eyes widened as the blade neared her. She growled before she immediately used her threads to create a wall between her and Nezuko.
"Get away from me!" The Mother yelled in anguish as she seemingly took her threads and launched out.
"Damnit! Get back here!" Tanjirou yelled in fury as he tried to catch the demon. However, thankfully, many of the demon slayers that were held by threads immediately were released, seemingrightght
Although they all had wounds, it would be possible to get some medical help and continue their journey and job as a demon slayer.
"That's weird… Why didn't the demon slayers die…?" Tanjirou asked himself, "Surely the demons like the one from the cocoon killed the demon slayers once they were inside… But how did they survive?"
His mind and eyes widened, in realization. "Is she not wanting to kill these demon slayers…?" He asked in surprise.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you…" Nezuko explained, as the two immediately went forward towards where the Mother Demon went.
In the meantime, many of the demon slayers only looked at the two masked demon slayers, some intrigued by them, others wanting to thank them for saving their lives, or even those wanting to talk to them about what happened and how they were alive.
Regardless, Tanjirou and Nezuko had at least managed to save the lives of around a dozen demon slayers.
As the two continued, they were still able to sense the small moments of fear coming from the mother demon. With the intent of trying to interrogate her, they were also confused.
…
She never wanted this. Ever since she was running away, just trying to survive, she thought her life would've been better when he showed up.
Alas, it didn't.
When she was a human, her home environment was terrible. Her parents hated her, specifically her father. Apparently, as a kid, she had done something as a result of bullying that caused her to snap and hurt a fellow kid.
This ostracized her, and she was hated. But this was a predisposition because of her parents' abuse. They would continually beat her, both before and after the situation, although the abuse she endured was much more prevalent after the entire ordeal. As a result. She ran away.
It was what she often did because it helped her.
And just now, she had run away from the two demon slayers that had almost killed her right there.
She hated herself. She went through so many families, all with the same fate, burning in the sun. Sheburnure how she became a demon. All she knew was that she remembered running from a strange man who had stabbed her a bit in the arm.
The next thing she knew, she woke up as a monster. A monster that ate humans, and was running from demon slayers. Whether she deserved death for her actions, she was afraid. Afraid of the consequences that came with the actions she did once she was now there.
"Shut up with your thoughts." The girl gripped her arms as she flinched. She didn't want this. She was coerced with protection and a loving family.
But the family was more of the same. Abused by the more powerful figure, and scorned whenever she did something wrong.
This wasn't how she wanted to live her life, but it was one she had no choice.
Running from a demon slayer, she thought the boy who had saved her would be generous. Instead, he forced her body to be altered, to become older and more voluptuous, all to portray the gist of a perfect family, as he called it.
She was forced to be tied to a disgusting beast, and a disgusting family that neglected and scorned her. She couldn't even reel, or else she would be left to die. She was dependent on them.
As the individual continued to reprimand her, she listened without emotion, but a hint of fear embedded onto her skin.
"W-Why…" She mumbled. "Why am I under these circumstances…"
Her defining hope seemed to be the two masked slayers. Although she thought of them as nothing else, for some reason, seeing the two speak, and be alongside each other, like a family, it was something she wanted.
A family who showed love. She was just a kid who wanted love and compassion. Instead, she got betrayed and harmed.
She never wanted to hurt people anymore, hearing the pleas of the demon slayers made her feel terrible.
And as she ran, she eventually stopped.
"All of a sudden, I want to die… At least then, maybe I'll be free…" She thought to herself, looking at her strings, now apart from the demon slayers she had used to protect herself.
After all, that was all she was good at. Using others as protection and running away once they are gone. And the two masked slayers, their swords out, she continued to ponder.
The harm she underwent, the abuse she endured, and the pain and agony of being the punching bag of the family. She didn't know what to do. She had tried her best to be able to escape, but she knew it was futile.
One, the strongest of them all, was just too strong for her, as she eventually learned he was a Twelfth Kizuki.
Even then, she tried, only to be beaten beyond an inch of her life. It was worse than the situation she was in as a human. And because of that, she was forced to develop a ruthless personality. A mask to save herself from the harm she would've received.
And through it all, she eyed the blade the two slayers held.
"Is this my way of escaping? Is death the way for me to be free? But what if hell does the same thing to me? I won't even be able to escape the pain I desperately have been trying to for my entire life." She thought to herself, twirling her threads around, trying to decide what she wanted her fate to be.
A part of her wanted to die from the situation she was in, but the other still yearned to find something.
"Would I ever be forgiven if I had one more chance?" She asked herself, "Or is it too late for me?"
She didn't know how to think and partially felt hopeless. What was she to do?
Continue serving under a family that continued to harm her, or be sent to an afterlife of more pain, they both resulted in more pain regardless of what she did.
She was stuck in a situation where she lost regardless. And she didn't want that. She wanted to find a sense of peace in her life. One where she could be carefree and never live in fear.
It was something she yearned for, but alas, was something she had been denied throughout her life. What she did next would be crucial, and whether she wanted to continue living under fear, or to live in anticipation of fear, she didn't know what to choose.
And even though a part of her didn't want to die, a stronger part of her just didn't want to be involved in this fight anymore. She wanted to just be free from this, and try to live her life as a demon. Sure, she would need to consume humans, but she just wanted any form of peace.
Perhaps she could be a bystander and scavenger, anything but the current life she was living.
As she continued to ponder, she could tell the two demon slayers were approaching her, and instead, she just opened her arms, accepting what was coming to her.
Hinokami Kagura, Thirteen Form: Celestial Sunspot Strike
Water Breathing, Fifth Form: Blessed Rain After the Drought
As the two masked slayers closed the distance between them and her, she eventually thought that this was nature's way of deciding her next fate.
This was the fate she had brought onto herself, and if this was away from the current life she was living, then she would accept it with open arms. Perhaps pain is different.
Anything was better than living now, and she accepted that.
She was ready for death to take her.
But it didn't take her. Instead, the two masked slayers stopped, surprising her.
And to Tanjirou and Nezuko's pity, the Mother Demon collapsed and cried. Just like the kid she had always been.
"Why… Why?!" She called, and begged, as Tanjirou and Nezuko looked at her, their blades not in a form ready to strike her neck. "Why?! Do you think I'm tricking you? My neck is out here, cut it!" She continued to beg, and eventually, she heard a voice.
"Why do you wish for death?" The boy, Tanjirou asked the mother demon.
"I… I don't want to hurt or be hurt anymore… I don't want to be forced to do things I'm not comfortable with…" She sighed, before looking down.
"I thought joining him would keep me safe, but all it's done is make me a monster." The demon spoke, taking back at the calm tone Tanjirou was giving him.
Tanjirou could see this, and the mother demon knew they were being nice to her. Almost all demon slayers wanted to kill her, and when she meant almost, she added that word in just now.
While Tanjirou could tell she was responsible for the deaths of others before, it wasn't directly, and now, she had let the demon slayers she let captive go free. Perhaps, there was a chance.
The demon went on through fear, fearing for her life to be forced into actions she wasn't supportive of.
And so, Tanjirou took off his mask.
"So, you've decided to use me… To show yourself to a demon?! Are you crazy?!" The demonic voice inside of Tanjirou exclaimed, as he merely ignored it.
The demon looked very confused before her own eyes widened in pure shock.
"T-This boy… This demon slayer's a demon?!" The girl asked herself in shock.
"Hey! Don't think you can ignore me!" Tanjirou's demonic voice once again came through.
"I can. I'm the one in control." Tanjirou told himself firmly.
To make matters more shocking for her, Nezuko followed her brother's actions, and now she saw the clear disbelief on the demon's face.
"Hide your face you dumbass, or Muzan will see through her eyes!" His demonic form worried him.
"No, I want him to be afraid knowing another demon is betraying him." He then placed his hand to his mouth, a small smile on his face.
"How… How did you escape…?" The Mother Demon asked, clearly wanting to know.
"It's quite the story, but we're not in the clear," Tanjirou explained.
"Please, can you kill me?" She begged as both Tanjirou and Nezuko sighed.
"You were forced to be a family from what I can see, and I can tell you are speaking the truth. You have such a sad, tragic, and regretful smell." Tanjirou sadly smiled, calmly approaching the demon.
"Did you kill out of hatred or by fear?" Tanjirou confirmed.
"By fear… If I didn't, I'd be killed, forced, and tied up until the sun killed me… If I didn't, I'd be forced…" She spoke.
"I might have an idea." Tanjirou decided, albeit with a bit of difficulty.
"D-Do I deserve that, though…?" The girl mumbled, looking down, "My neck is right here, please decapitate me…"
"I cannot, not when a life is suffering. You deserve a period of peace." Tanjirou explained. "Not one of suffering.
"But, even if I can redeem myself, can I even do so? I've killed humans, there's nothing that'll excuse me for this…" The girl sadly revealed.
"I cannot say I've directly killed anyone, but I have harmed them… Besides, there are demons out there who want to live a pure life." Tanjirou explained.
"What's your name?" Tanjirou asked after a bit.
"I don't have a name; I was just called mother." The demon revealed.
"Can we call you Kie?" Nezuko asked, gently placing her hand on the Mother demon's hand.
The demon's eyes widened as she understood what Nezuko was asking before even she flinched once realizing she named a demon after her dead mother."
"Why of our mother…?" Tanjirou asked, a bit unsure of how he felt over this.
"It's a fine name, I'll accept it." Kie smiled.
Once that was done, the demon now named Kie made her way over, clearly surprised she was still alive.
"Why did you let me live?" Kie asked.
"I cannot answer that, but we would want the same if we were in your boots," Tanjirou explained, causing Kie's eyes to widen.
"Thank you…" Kie sighed, crying at the sheer gratitude she had. "But where will I go?"
Tanjirou already knew what to do. Kie's emotions were just too pure for her to be lying, and he could smell it all.
"We've met a demon who wished to make peace with humans, where they could coexist. We're both living proof of that. We are fighting the wrong people. If you want to live in peace, we first need to get you out of this cult family while you can and join a newer purer one." Tanjirou explained.
Kie looked very uncertain before she sighed, "I have no choice, but it could only go up from here."
"Do you promise never to hurt another person again?" Tanjirou asked, asking one more time.
"Yes… I promise… I won't ever hurt another human… I don't want any suffering ever again, I promise with my life…" Kie promised, and Tanjirou sighed.
"I believe you, also can I have some of your threads?" Tanjirou asked, to which Kie gave him.
With that, Tanjirou immediately wrote a message, and once finished, a meow came.
"Chachamaru?" Tanjirou called out. The cat came with two talismans that were attached to the necklace it wore.
Tanjirou turned to Kie, "Take the talisman, the cat is a demon friend of ours, and he'll take you where she and her companion are residing." Tanjirou told Kie who nodded, "The talisman will prevent you from being spotted by individuals, but both you and Chachamaru will be able to see each other. Just don't let it fall off your hand, and stay out of the sun, and you'll be fine."
"The talisman will make you both turn invisible. When you get there, they'll probably be skeptical, and they may ask for a bit of your blood as they are researchers because we're trying to become humans again, but I'll place the letter attached to you to help your case, tell them Tanjirou Kamado and Nezuko Kamado sent you to them." Tanjirou explained.
"Got it… Thank you…" She thanked.
"Also the companion is a big hot head, in that he gets angry easily, so don't get too scared by him," Tanjirou warned Kie about Yushiro.
Once Chachamaru meowed, Kie began to follow the cat.
"Thank you!" She bowed before running to catch up.
She smiled genuinely, as she was excited for the new chance. She had the chance to redeem herself, and she was willing to do that.
"Also!" Kie yelled, "The son of the cult is Rui! He's Lower Moon Five." With that, she disappeared from Tanjirou and Nezuko's view.
Tanjirou and Nezuko, who placed back on their masks looked very excited.
"A twelfth kizuki member is here… On this mountain… Let's go Nezuko! Let's go kill him!" Tanjirou exclaimed, consuming the threads that Kie had given him, to regenerate his arm.
The two made their way up the mountain to fight Rui, unaware that another demon slayer was fighting him.
Kanao
"I see, you've done a good job of making your way back here." The soothing voice of Kagaya Ubuyashiki echoed throughout the field as the tired crow lay in his soft hands.
"Seems many of my children are being killed in Mount Natagumo. Therefore, it is suspected a strong demon is residing there, perhaps the twelfth kizuki are on the mountain." Kagaya explained.
"I've decided to send many of the tsugukos on the mountain to assess the situation, and while it has gotten better, the lack of quick progress, and that many demon slayers are still dying leads me to believe sending a Hashira is required," Kagaya added.
"Of course, while I would send Kanae to the mountain, I don't want to continue injuring her by sending her to areas continuously. She seems to be luring strong demons, so you will take her steed, alright?" Kagaya explained the reason why Kanao and Shinobu were here, alongside Giyu.
"Is that so? Kanae was insisting she went since Kanao is also on the mountain." Shinobu explained. "She doesn't want to lose her. That's why I was willing to take her steed for now."
"And I appreciate that, sorry for not being able to promote you to a Hashira." Kagaya smiled sadly at Shinobu, who shook her head.
"Please don't. I'm content with my role currently. I may not be a Hashira, but I've proven my skills and am content." Shinobu explained, her face serious.
"Very well, both you and Tomioka will go to Mount Natagumo, to stop many more children from perishing," Kagaya revealed.
Shinobu nodded as she turned to face Giyu, "Isn't this great Tomioka, we can slay demons together, even if sister wishes demons and humans could get along."
"Of course, that is just a fantasy, but now, demons cannot stand, when they kill humans," Giyu explained, emphasizing his part strictly in that last part.
While a bit nervous to send Giyu on the mission, considering everything, and his well-being, Giyu had insisted he would go.
Regardless, they all made their way over towards the mountain. Kanao had been allowed by both Shinobu and Kanae to head out earlier than the other two.
One, so that Kanao could be more independent, and two because Shinobu wanted to spend more time with Giyu.
"Isn't the moon so lovely, today?" Shinobu asked.
While Giyu was taken aback by the sudden statement, he grunted and shook his head internally.
"Don't say things like that, Kocho. You'll only make me think out of context for your statements." Giyu denied the statement, refusing to believe it.
Shinobu only giggles at that, "At least he knew what I was saying. He's funny to be around."
While Giyu and Shinobu would take a bit of time before reinforcement in the form of a Hashira came, Kanao had already arrived. She had made her way over towards the mountain.
She knew that the others were sent to this exact mountain as a result of the situation, but the fact that now she was being sent, and even her master, made Kanao think something serious was on the mountain.
Despite this, the area she came across was rather calm. Sure, there were injured demon slayers, but many were out of sight of dangerous demons, and so she focused on trying to find any demon, and to eliminate it as quick as she could.
In the end, she did hear the sounds of someone getting hurt. She thought it was an injured demon slayer, but eventually, she saw it was a demon.
Two demons. A male hurts a younger girl, causing Kanao to stare at the two, despite them being demons.
The male seemed to notice finally, "Hey! Get out of here! This is family business!"
The demon shouted without any care in the world, and Kanao, confused stared. The boy claimed this family affair was justification to hurt the younger and weaker girl. Despite the boy's words, they weren't related. Far from it. She could see that.
"Can you leave? This is a family matter!" The demon boy asked and yelled again, causing Kanao's mind to go back to the present.
For the first time in a bit, Kanao felt something welt her. She recoiled at what this demon was telling her. And that was when it hit her. She now knew why this demon was making him stare, and not just because of the fact it was a demon.
But because this demon was reminding her of the abuse she suffered back home. This caused her body to shiver, as she tried to calm herself down.
She had tried to tell herself that she moved on, but the sad reality is that she was remembering this. After all this time of forgetting and denying it, all it took was for a demon to bring back those memories.
She sighed, taking a deep breath, taking out the coin that Kanae gave her, and flipped it.
"Heads, I talk, tails, I walk away." She told herself and looked at the coin when she grabbed it.
It landed heads.
"You two are not real," Kanao said at last.
The girl demon looked shocked, with the voice of Shinobu and Kanae echoing in her head.
As she remembered the reality that her early life consisted of, the sounds of her sisters were cleansing her mind of that tragedy. She moved on and was now in a better family.
"A family is determined by the connections you make, not whether or not entirely you are related by blood, but if they don't treat you well, then they are not your true family." Kanae's voice echoed in Kanao's mind as she felt a foreign feeling hit her.
"What did you say, you brat?" The demon boy asked with a deadly tone, facing Kanao.
"You heard me. I said you two aren't family. You don't run over fear. This family is not real if it runs over fear." Kanao explained, staring down at the demon.
"No Rui! You are my family! Don't let – AHH!" The girl begged for Rui to not believe her, only for Rui to puncture her right in the eye.
"Shut up, I didn't permit you to talk," Rui told her as he slapped her head.
"I will ask you again, what did you say?" Rui asked, Kanao with a hint of anger and seriousness, tone dangerous.
"You heard what I said. If you want her to be your family, treat her right. This is a fake family." Kanao commented, further angering Rui.
"I'll kill you for that," Rui told Kanao, as the two prepared for a fight.
Before Kanao could even get her weapon out, a demon slayer came into the clearing.
"Oh! A weak demon that's my size! I'll kill this demon and get a hefty paycheck!" The boy smirked as he charged to the demon. "A pay raise and promotion, here I come!"
Rui merely flickered his hand towards the charging boy, and immediately the boy's body was cut apart like butter. Rui had sent thin threads to cut his body.
Kanao could only sigh, "What a stupid boy."
Rui then turned back to Kanao, "I will be merciful. If you retract your statement, I'll make your death as painless as possible."
"No." Kanao shook her head, giving Rui the same facial expression.
Similar to the action Rui sent to the boy, she saw the same thing, threads being launched right towards her. Kanao reacted with her vision and dodged the threads.
She knew this demon was the strongest, and so it would be difficult trying to defeat this demon.
Blood Demon Art: Murderous Eye Basket
Launching the threads quickly towards Kanao she quickly used the tree to her right to leap over it, as she eyed the area around Rui to already be damaged rather significantly.
Total Concentration – Flower Breathing, Third Form: Dance of the Lilley
Properly focusing her footwork, she was further able to maneuver safely over the strike Rui performed and struck across in a flowing motion of the pattern of a flower. This was enough to safely dodge all the demon's threads.
She cut the remaining distance, her total concentration granting her the extra strength needed to cut through the threads.
As Kanao swung her sword, Rui flicked his wrist again, as the threads came in.
Kanao gasped as she felt one graze the top of her left shoulder, but continued knowing she couldn't give up nor hesitate right now. She was to eliminate this demon or fail.
She severed the point-blank threads that had struck her left shoulder before Rui launched a kick of his own at Kanao.
Kanao's body went tumbling a bit away, before she skidding, stepping her feet hard into the ground.
"So he can use more than just his threads; rather, as expected, at least the kick didn't hurt me that much, only the threads do... It seems him controlling the threads uses quite a bit of strength…" Kanao thought to herself.
She focused on how to apply some pressure properly and safely onto Rui, "Remain at the middle range, that way his short body doesn't strike me. He has a short body so he has to extend his body and manipulate it if he wants to combat my superior range." Kanao thought to herself.
Rui grunted as he raised his hand.
Kanao acted immediately, knowing that this was the signal that she had to move before Rui was able to capture her.
Flower Breathing, Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo
Applying a curve in her strikes and arc that was meant for Rui's head, the demon's eyes widened at how quickly Kanao had made it there.
Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Cage
Rui quickly applied a cage between him and Kanao, giving him some time to relax since Kanao was trying to keep the aggression going.
It seemed that Kanao had found a weak spot in his fighting habit, and thus he needed to adapt.
In seconds, the webs around Kanao surrounded him, and Kanao knew she had to act before she got injured from this.
Flower Breathing, First Form: Flower Cutter
Immediately, Kanao cut low to the ground towards the threads, before she launched herself high in the air, her sword striking upwards before she twirled her body down striking the middle of the threads. This was enough to push the entire cage of threads apart, as they began to separate harmlessly.
"This girl is strong." Rui thought to himself, as he knew he may have to try to get serious about this.
As Kanao noticed the cage of threads disintegrated, she took this opportunity to identify anything that could help her.
And thankfully, the threads that were down seemed to be left alone.
"That's it, he may not be able to cut through his threads." Kanao thought to herself. "If the worst comes, I may have to use the threads to block any in the event he gets stronger."
With that, Kanao stood still, carefully grabbing some of the threads, all the while confusing Rui.
"Why isn't she attacking me?" Rui asked himself, as he hesitated to strike.
This gave Kanao enough time to strike, as she took the explosive speed to her advantage.
Flower Breathing, Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility
As the rest of the threads fell, Kanao cut the rest as she gracefully skipped through all, uninjured as she weaved through and coupled them entirely.
This worried Rui as he noted that Kanao had gotten through the cage.
"This girl is a problem." Rui thought to herself as he eventually knew he had to focus on her.
Still, he had a few tricks up his sleeve.
The only way he could counter the surprising speed Kanao showed was to stop the speed in his tracks.
Blood Demon Art: Web Toss
Rui manifested some more threads out to strike Kanao, acting like some shuriken that threatened to cut up Kanao.
Unfortunately, they were incredibly quick, and Kanao felt the outer parts of her body being flashed. Her left hand had been struck in particular, as blood began to pour from her body for the first time now.
"Seems she isn't invulnerable." Rui thought as he felt a bit more confidence coming to him. Regardless, Kanao wasn't far from done with a simple injury.
She was used to the injuries she sustained after all. Continuing to push forward, Kanao quickly twirled her body to slash the shuriken as precisely as she could, but the sheer speed Rui was throwing and kicking them forward was too much for her eyes to catch.
Still, she was able to react, but it took her every ounce of attention to get through.
As Kanao finished, she continued to gracefully dodge the other threads that Rui had manifested. She quickly jumped over a tree, avoiding a shuriken thread that cut apart a tree instead of her body as she continued to jump from tree to tree with the help of a branch.
This infuriated Rui as he got a bit ambitious with his strikes.
But Kanao was too athletic, and critical of the visuospatial awareness. Eventually, she jumped from above.
Rui growled at Kanao as she quickly launched herself forward.
Blood Demon Art: Web Toss
Flower Breathing, Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility
Kanao immediately noticed the large amount of web threads thrown towards her. She used her enhanced vision to spot the specific points of each web.
Carefully slicing them down with her breathing style, she was able to weave her way through to cut apart the webs carefully. She landed carefully, as each web Rui had thrown was immediately sliced down.
Rui backed up, as he prepped his own body, for whatever Kanao may do.
She was just too close for Rui to be unable to dodge without getting some form of injury.
He would have to us-
He didn't get time to react, as Kanao immediately took advantage of the shock Rui had.
Flower Breathing, First Form: Flower Cutter
Immediately, Rui felt the bottom of his thigh being cut by Kanao's nichrin blade. He did his best to dodge back, which only allowed him to dodge the upward slash of Kanao's blade.
The final strike, which was aimed at his neck, caused him to quickly unleash his threads.
The threads towards Rui were immediately cut apart, as Kanao was close to cutting his neck.
It was to the point where Rui had managed to slow down Kanao's strike. With just enough time to lean his neck back, his neck was sliced a bit by Kanao's blade.
But still, he was alive and able to continue fighting. This, of course, made Rui angry.
His body was injured and despite him not showing any form of awareness of this, he did feel it.
This girl had just harmed his body, and that was unforgivable.
"You despicable being, I outta cut you up the most painful way I can think of., Rui mumbled in anger.
Kanao only gave Rui a small smile and said, "Try me."
With that, Rui growled as he let Kanao get to his head.
Blood Demon Art: Murderous Eye Basket
Rui quickly unleashed a spherical cage yet again between the two, as he instead let the cage itself remain as large as possible.
Kanao merely raised an eyebrow.
"There is no way he's going to do the same thing again, he has something he wants me to fall for. A trap made of a decoy." Kanao deciphered upon seeing this. She knew it wasn't a good idea to cut through the cage yet again.
But the distance between the two was a problem, and thus needed a way to get through them without falling for whatever trap he planned
Kanao quickly grazed the edge of the cage, thinking this was perhaps the safest place to be. Especially because being outside the cage would be too obvious for Rui.
Carefully maneuvering the perimeter, Kanao quickly closed the distance between her and Rui.
But this time, he prepared himself, seeing Kanao quickly maneuver passed threads that were moving.
Blood Demon Art: Tread Prison
Instead of trying to trap Kanao, he trapped himself from the sharpness of Kanao's blade.
This of course made Kanao a bit confused because he was to use his threads to strike Kanao down. As Kanao tried to strike across the thread cage protecting Rui, her senses were tingling.
Blood Demon Art: Web Toss
Once again tossing a couple of shurikens towards Kanao, she quickly realized that this was what Rui wanted. The first shuriken struck Kanao in the torso, blood quickly oozing out of her body, before she dodged the other two.
"So that was what he wanted… He wanted to divert the actual strike." She concluded as she knew she had to be more careful with what she did now.
As she continued to counter the thread shurikens that came to her while slashing the threads, she was able to slash through them.
Having gotten through, although with some injuries, Kanao was able to make some progress through this.
Flower Breathing, Sixth Form: Whirling Peach
As Kanao made the use, she saw another shuriken come through to strike Kanao, and she responded by violently spinning herself as she snapped apart the shuriken, as her body inched closer to Rui,
Rui's eyes narrowed as he spotted Kanao once again closing in on him.
"Damnit, I need to launch her far away." Rui thought to himself as he prepared what to expect.
He pulled out his arms he felt Kanao's nichirin blade strike his arm. However, he took the opportunity to spread his blood out to the threads of his other hand, which Kanao realized with her eyes.
Her eyes widened at this, as she noticed that Rui was trying to use his threads to extend his physical reach.
"That's not good." Kanao thought before she felt a shallow cut on her cheek.
Of course, she tried to go, but she was kicked in the stomach and launched quite a bit away. She landed safely once again, as she eyed Rui with a bit of panting at the amount of energy she was using.
Once again, she sighed and took in a deep breath filling her body with the oxygen it needed.
Rui growled, "You seriously are an annoying pest. You harm my body, slice apart my arm, and try to kill me. All I want is a family, and is that something you and your demon slayers want to rid me of? How dare you."
Rui expressed his hypocrisy regarding how demon slayers were ruining their happy family. But if Kanao had anything to say, she could easily see how dysfunctional the family was. She, coming from a dysfunctional family herself, knew exactly the signs of what made one, one.
Rui was the most powerful, and he chose to use it to show a large gap in power dynamics. He used the power to express his dominance, to the point of fear. A family like that never worked, and as he continued to express his views on a family, Kanao felt herself feeling more erratic at what Rui was saying.
"To say your family is perfect is a fantasy. The way you treat your family is neither honorable nor appreciated. Your bonds with this family, like the actual threads you produce, are superficial. They are destroyed once you are gone." Kanao stated. "Once you are dead, nobody will care for you."
Rui growled before his hands began to turn red. This alarmed Kanao, as she could sense the threads too becoming red, and the blood being infused inside the threads.
Noticing the worried tone Kanao was giving in her facial expression, Rui smirked.
"What's wrong? You didn't think I was going all out, weren't you?" Rui asked in a demoralizing tone. "How shameful, guess I'll be able to get back to my family sooner rather than later." Rui smiled.
Kanao knew the stakes were now against her, but she was ready.
She would fight because that was what she was good at, and was something she was told to do by Kanae and Shinobu.
Either she fought and defeated this demon, or she died trying.
And so with a small smile, she stepped forward to the challenge.
A.N / Holy, there were three battles I included here. Genya and Inosuke versus the Father Demon, Tanjirou and Nezuko versus the Mother Demon, which eventually turned into more of her being sent to Tamayo and Yushiro, and Kanao versus Rui. This was perhaps an interesting chapter to write for me. As for the chapters that will consist of this, I do know now. I have a general format for how everything in Mount Natagumo will go, but it is a bit difficult trying to balance everything. Heck, I need to include the fight between Zenitsu and Brother Demon and get Genya and Inosuke onto their next battle while making the father demon formidable, though I guess Genya enabling him to become a demon will make it easier.
So, how did you find the character interactions? It's really hard in the nick of a fight, and making fight scenes isn't particularly my strong suit. Regardless, I hope it satisfied everyone, and I hope how everything is working is a good pace for the story. I do want to speed it up to make it more intense since we spent quite a bit of time on character bonding and thoughts. It's time to get to the fighting aspects of Demon Slayer
Regardless, I will also state there are more modified and new versions of moves that will do their best to reflect the style they have. For example, Zenitsu'ability to know the musical tone from Tengen allows him to amplify the potential to one-hitKO many demons, Genya is unpredictable because of his demon attributes and the multiple breathing styles he can perform but not master, and he wants to turn back into a demon slayer, I am planning on adding another smaller character towards the middle of the story to fight. I'll bring more data to that hat it later. For now, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Character Profile:
Father Spider: Male, unknown age
Status: Alive, Demon
Mother Spider (Kie): Female, unknown age (33 years old chronologically)
Status: Alive, Demon
Height: 5'4" (162cm)
Weight: 135Ibs
Rui: Male, (31 years chronologically)
Status: Alive, Demon
Height: 4'5" (135cm)
Weight: 67Ibs
Abilities:
Kie (Mother Spider):
Blood Demon Art: Spider Manipulation: Kie can manipulate her threads to spread across the arms and body of demon slayers to force the moves of demon slayers. This can be used to defend and save the demon from the threat of other demon slayers. In addition, some small spiders can threaten to wrap webs and threads across live demon slayers to slowly encompass demon slayers into their grasps.
Kanao Tsuyuri:
Flower Breathing: While already discussed, Kanao shows a large influence towards Flower Breathing, which alongside her enhanced vision allows her to properly analyze and decrypt situations.
Flower Breathing, First Form: Flower Cutter: The move starts with a low horizontal swipe, then a upwardard slash, followed by a fatal neck slash.
Enhanced Vision: Kanao possesses a strong vision that is capable of being used to react to specific attacks.
Rui:
Blood Demon Art: Murderous Eye Basket: The user here can create a cage with the threads to trap demon slayers. The cage shrinks until the target is cut to pieces, or escapes.
Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Cage: The user can create strings to surround his opponents to cut them to pieces. A rather simple strike that can also defend his face from frontal strikes.
Blood Demon Art: Web Toss: The user shuriken-shaped threads towards his opponents, sometimes at speeds that make it almost impossible to dodge or retaliate. However, the moc cannot penetrate any deeper than inflicting deep cuts, not cutting through bone.
Blood Demon Art: Tread Prison: A defensive form of Murderous Eye Basket. Instead, the cage surrounds the user and expands to cover more ground, making and forcing the demon slayer to cut through, all the while the user can use other techniques of their blood demon art.