The Mother Of Puppets
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of The Heart Of The Asura! The Mt. Natagumo Arc kicks off in this chapter so look forward to some nasty demonic tricks. And speaking of which, it's surprisingly not tricky at all to become a patron! Just visit my Pat reon at : / / w w w . Masked Spider 581 and check out what there is to see! Now then I believe that's everything, so without further ado, on to the story!
Nighttime: Mt. Natagumo
"I'm going in," Tanjiro clenched his fist and steeled his resolve. But before he could go any further he was stopped by Inosuke stepping in front of him.
"I'll head in first," he declared, "you can all stay behind me and shake like little animals. This whole situation is making me hungry."
"You mean hungry for battle, don't you," Zenitsu trembled on the ground behind them in the fetal position. The Temari Demon rolled her eyes at his latest show of cowardice but didn't comment on it this time.
"Let's go!" Inosuke charged in first with Tanjiro and Susamaru right behind him, leaving the frightened blond behind on the road. The trio traveled for a few minutes until the boar fighter suddenly stopped and looked at his hands.
"What is this," he asked while examining some silk-like threads on his hands.
"You lived in the mountains and you don't know what a spider web looks like," Susamaru deadpanned.
"Actually, there's a whole lot of them," Tanjiro pointed out. The group looked around for a moment and noticed that he was right. Countless spider webs hung from the trees, bushes, and around the path they were taking.
"Man what a pain!" Inosuke waved his hands in an attempt to get the webs off, with marginal success.
"Before we go further, there's something I'd like to say," the boy slayer brought up suddenly, "Inosuke, Susamaru, I'm glad you both agreed to come with me."
"What's this all of a sudden," the Temari Demon raised an eyebrow.
"Before we went in, I caught a scent that scared me a little," Tanjiro admitted, "so it was a relief when you two decided to come along with me. So, thank you both."
"It's," Susamaru turned to hide the slight blush on her face, "it's nothing. I just can't think of anything better to do right now." Inosuke said nothing as he was currently wondering why he got a warm fuzzy feeling when someone thanked him for something. But it went away when they spotted someone nearby, crouching in the bushes. Someone in a slayer uniform.
"Let's go," the boy swordsman signaled as the trio ducked down and moved out silently. Once they got up close it became obvious this wasn't the slayer who'd been pulled back into the forest as his dark hair was slightly longer with his bangs hanging out. But he was clearly just as scared and nearly drew his sword when Tanjiro tried to touch his shoulder to get his attention. "It's alright, we've come to help out. I'm Tanjiro Kamado, rank Mizunoto."
"Mizunoto," the slayer repeated, "you've got to be joking. No matter how many Mizunoto they send it won't make a difference here, we need a hashira-GAH!" His worries were silenced as Inosuke punched him in the face.
"Ah shut up," the boar fighter ordered dismissively, "the only thing not making a difference right now is the stuttering little worm in front of me." He grabbed the slayer by the hair as Tanjiro tried to pull him away, "now why don't you tell us just what is going on here?"
"What kind of attitude is that," their fellow slayer grunted while trying to loosen Inosuke's grip, "I'm your senior here."
"Just tell him," Susamaru sighed, "I doubt he's going to let go otherwise."
"Alright," the slayer groaned, "the crow gave us orders to hunt for a demon on this mountain. There were ten of us sent here, but not long after we started searching something strange happened. Some of the slayers started moving like they were possessed and began attacking the rest of us. I didn't know what else to do so I fled."
"So the demon somehow took control of the others," Tanjiro put a hand to his chin, "but how, and why only a few instead of everyone at once? Is there some kind of limiting factor?" Before anyone could offer their own thoughts on the matter, a strange rattling sound caught their attention. It seemed to come from all directions, as if they were surrounded by the noise.
"Guys, we got a problem," Susamaru discreetly summoned two of her Temari. Everyone looked in the direction she was looking. Several figures were slowly walking towards them, and to one member of the group they were familiar. It was the slayers who'd suddenly started attacking earlier.
"Guys," the senior slayer gasped in horror. He hadn't known what became of them, and by the looks of things some of the slayers who'd been killed earlier were also among the group now. One of them charged forward then, swinging their sword at the group. Everyone moved apart, dodging and flipping around the blades of their supposed to be allies.
"Haha, what are these guys, morons," Inosuke taunted, "don't they know it's taboo for slayers to attack each other?"
"That's not what's happening," Tanjiro insisted, "their movements are strange, almost like they're being controlled by something."
"That's just great," Susamaru threw her Temari into the legs of one and the stomach of another. It should've slowed them down but they were both back up in a moment, almost as if something had pulled them back up. "So how do we deal with them?"
"Easy," the boar fighter unwrapped one of his swords, "we'll cut 'em to pieces!"
"No, they're our comrades!" Tanjiro yelled while dodging another sword swipe, "even if not all of them are alive these are still the bodies of our fellow slayers!"
"Gah, will you stop denying me!" Inosuke raged as he punched one of his attackers in the face, knocking them over. Susamaru and Tanjiro grabbed and executed hip throws on another couple of slayers, who were attacking their senior. 'Wait a second,' the boy slayer caught a whiff of something, 'there's a sweet scent on his back.' He quickly drew his sword and aimed a horizontal cut just above one of the manipulated slayer's backs.
The body stopped halfway into rising and fell back onto the ground. "It's threads," the boy swordsman called out, "they're being controlled by threads! Cut around their backs!"
"Hahahaha," Inosuke jumped up and swung his blades around in the air as he sailed over their manipulated allies. The majority of them dropped as he landed, their puppet strings literally cut. Susamaru huffed in annoyance as she managed to grab a blade off of a fallen slayer and cut the threads off of the last remaining one's back.
"Where do I even begin to comment on the irony of this," she remarked while holding up the nichirin sword.
"At least we know what's going on now," Tanjiro sighed in relief, "now we just need to find the demon doing all of this."
"Good news is we shouldn't have too many problems once we do," Susamaru mused, "a Blood Demon Art like this is usually a sign of a demon who doesn't do well in close combat."
"That doesn't mean we can underestimate them," the boy slayer reminded, "we still don't know how…..huh?" He spotted something on his arm. In the next moment, it was suddenly pulled up into the air, but it didn't stay long as Tanjiro quickly cut the threads trying to manipulate his arm. When he did, a couple of white shapes fell away and scurried off. "Of course, the spiders are attaching the threads!"
Unfortunately, with this realization came another realization. The spiders could attach threads more than once, which is why the group of slayers they'd just freed were suddenly getting back up again, their bodies once again manipulated like puppets on strings. "Heh, this is no problem," Inosuke began stabbing the white spiders on the ground, "if all we got to do is smash these spiders then we can take this demon easy!"
"Were you not listening," Susamaru swatted some spiders off of her, "the demon is using this type of Blood Demon Art because it means they don't want to risk their main body. Producing something as small as these spiders won't take much out of them, we'll exhaust ourselves long before we smash them all. Which reminds me, why aren't you sniffing the demon out, Tanjiro?"
"I've been trying to pinpoint this foul smell," he dodged out of the way of another blade, "but it's like it's right on top of us. I can't tell exactly which direction it's coming from and the wind isn't helping either."
"What do you mean right on top of…oh shit," Susamaru looked up as a figure appeared in the trees, casually standing on a few large spider threads, creating an effect that made it appear as if he was standing on air. It appeared to be a teenage boy with messy white hair that reached to his shoulders and obscured part of his face, which was chalk white along with the rest of his skin. He wore a white kimono with a red bead-like pattern around the collar and the same pattern was also present in a few places on his face.
"Demon Slayers," he spoke with a surprisingly mature voice which contrasted with his youthful appearance, "I will not allow you to disturb my family's peaceful life. Mother will make quick work of all of you. So, if you desire to live then leave this mountain and never return."
"Oh yeah," Inosuke used one of the puppet slayers as a springboard and leapt up towards the demon, "why don't you show us what you got!" But just as he was about to swing, the boy demon lifted himself up a little higher, causing Inosuke to miss before he fell back to the ground.
"So be it," he turned and headed into the trees then, quickly disappearing out of sight.
"Hey! Get back here!" The Boar Fighter hopped back up and waved his swords angrily at the departing demon. "Why'd you even show up if you're just gonna run away?!"
"I don't think he's the one we need to worry about right now," Tanjiro blocked a sword strike, "I'm pretty sure the one he called 'mother' is who we're dealing with at the moment."
"And you just said you can't find her," Susamaru dodged another attack and cut the threads on a slayer's back, "so what other options do we have?"
"I can find that demon," Inosuke suddenly shoved his swords into the ground and took a knee, "but you better not let me get hit, Gonpachiro and Sulumaku."
"We can do that," Tanjiro and the Temari Demon moved next to the boar fighter, blocking attacks and countering with kicks and punches to hold off the controlled slayers. Despite this, Susamaru still had time to comment on the wrong name being used for her.
"Alright," Inosuke held his arms up with his palms facing outward, as if he was reaching in two directions at once, "Beast Breathing Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness!" The boy slayer and demon girl couldn't see it, but the dual wielder was calling upon his own enhanced sense of touch to locate their opponent by feeling small disturbances in the air. He'd spent years refining the technique and could now feel these disturbances several yards away. This included the odd feeling given off by a demon. "There you are, demon, I've found you!"
"You got a location," Susamaru flipped another slayer onto the ground and cut the strings on his back.
"Yeah, it's this way," Inosuke pointed to an area deeper in the woods, "I felt a strong presence over there."
"That's great," Tanjiro grunted while blocking another attack, "now we just need to get past these puppets." Another controlled slayer came in swinging his sword in a horizontal strike. But their ally moved and parried it.
"You three go on ahead," he urged while pushing away the attacking slayer and dodging another one, "I'll hold them here."
"Wow, is the pants wetter actually stepping up," Inosuke laughed.
"My name's Murata you annoying pig and I didn't wet my pants," the slayer seethed while blocking another strike, "Look, I know it wasn't my finest moment back there but I'm still a demon slayer! Now that I know they only use simple movements and can be stopped by cutting the threads, I should be able to find a way to hold them off while avoiding the spiders. I want all three of you to go because there are likely others under the demon's control, you have to help them!"
"Alright, be careful," Tanjiro and Susamaru turned and took off at a run, grabbing Inosuke along the way.
"Hey, let go of me, dammit!" The boar fighter struggled in their grasp, "I wanna pound that guy's face in for calling me an annoying pig! I'm a boar, a boar!"
"Will you just drop it already!" Murata called back as the trio ran deeper into the woods. Naturally, Inosuke did not want to drop it even after they finally released him and continued towards the demon.
"Can you believe that guy called me an annoying pig, Monjiro," he seethed.
"My name is Tanjiro," the boy slayer groaned while they ran, "and are we still going the right way?"
"My sense has never lied to me before," Inosuke assured, "but what I don't know is why all of these annoying threads are in the way!" He waved his arms around wildly, trying to swat aside the spider silk that was in abundance all around them. But that became a secondary concern when they stumbled upon a grisly sight: more dead slayers, and a girl slayer with her dark hair in a ponytail finishing up killing one of them.
"Please," she begged with tears in her eyes while holding the body of another one of her fellow slayers by the hair, "don't come any closer. You have to go and find someone of a higher rank. Otherwise, I'll wind up killing you too. I'm begging you, help us!" The threads suddenly jerked then as the girl is forced to swing her sword at Tanjiro.
He leapt back, having to dodge more quickly than before due to the slayer attacking in more abstract ways. What was worse, the other slayers began rising up around them and unlike the first batch, these slayers had their limbs broken and twisted in horrid ways. "Please, end my life," one of the slayers spoke up, blood caking the bangs on his head, "my bones have been broken in my…arms and legs…..and my broken ribs are piercing…..my organs."
"What the fuck," Susamaru clenched her fist, an unfamiliar anger welling up inside her.
"Every time I'm forced to move," the slayer coughed, "the pain's unbearable. Since I'm…dead either way…..please…..end my suffering." Susamaru didn't know what to do. Before it would've been easy, she'd have killed him and laughed about it, ridiculing his human weaknesses.
But even then, the Temari Demon had never tormented anyone like this, even on her most wrathful days. She liked playing games and games were supposed to be fun. But there was no sense of sport here, just the twisted amusement of someone lording their power over others. The demon girl was so distracted by this new line of reasoning that she didn't notice Inosuke dodging and blocking some of the slayers, or the attack coming her way.
Another Section of the Mountain
"This is unbelievable," Honoka groaned, "first they send me to an out of the way station and then that station sends me out to do a delivery like I'm some kind of mail carrier!" The captain of the station had assured her that the package was filled with important documents and that it wasn't possible for them to send it along with an ordinary letter-carrier. But Honoka was certain the real reason they'd sent her out to do this was because she kept trying to tell them about the demons she saw. 'Why is it so hard to believe,' she sighed while continuing to walk, 'it's one thing if a random civilian is telling those stories but I'm a police officer, why would I lie about something like demons eating people?'
Still, she needed to keep her job and right now that meant following the orders given to her, even if they sent her on a path through a creepy mountain. "Come to think of it," the female officer mused aloud, "didn't I see something about Mt. Natagumo recently in a report? What did it say again?" The tall woman tried to recall but for one reason or another the memory currently eluded her.
Instead, a reminder came to her in a different form, the sound of a familiar crying voice. "Nezuko, where are you," the boy called, "Tanjiro, boar head, Susamaru, I'm sorry! Do you hear me, I'm sorry, so please tell me where you all went!"
"It can't be," Honoka picked up the pace and hurried towards the voice. Soon enough, she came upon a familiar blond slayer curled up in the fetal position on the ground in front of a tree. "Zenitsu? Is that you?"
"H-Honoka," Zenitsu sniffled as he looked up, "HONOKA!" He was a yellow blur, slamming into her with a surprisingly strong tackle hug. "Honoka! I'm so happy to see yooooouuu! Have you seen Tanjiro or Boar Face anywhere?!"
"Will you get off me first!" The Police Officer ordered while trying to free herself from his grasp, "I don't need snot and tear stains all over my uniform!"
"I can't help it," the blond slayer cried, "I was just so scared and now I'm so relieved to see a familiar face!"
"Could you explain to me," Honoka grunted as she finally managed to pry Zenitsu off of her, "why you're on this mountain all alone? How did you get separated from Tanjiro, Susamaru, and Inosuke?"
"There's a demon on this mountain," he explained, "and it's already killed who knows how many slayers. I told Tanjiro and the others we shouldn't go in but they didn't listen. They left me sitting at the bottom of the trail! But that's not the worst part. That moron Tanjiro brought Nezuko with him and now she might be in danger too!"
"Oh no," the policewoman now remembered the report about Mt. Natagumo. There had been reports of disappearances around the mountain recently, and they all seemed to occur during the nighttime. "Oh no, no, no, no, not again." Some way somehow, Honoka had found herself embroiled in yet another mission involving the demon slayers and their age old foes. Those so-called important documents were the least of her concerns now.
Back With Tanjiro's Group
"SUSAMARU!" Tanjiro's voice broke the demon girl from her thoughts as she looked to her left and saw another slayer with broken limbs swinging his weapon towards her. She reacted on instinct and raised her arm to block. The result was her left arm getting cut off.
"Ah fuck!" The Temari Demon swore, dropping the borrowed sword before catching the wrist of her attacker in mid-strike with her right hand. The female slayer came in from behind and tried hitting her in the head but Susamaru regrew her left arm and caught her hand.
"What," the girl's eyes widened in shock, "you're not a human! You're a-."
"A demon," she finished while shifting back into her true form, "but I'm not the one responsible for this. I just got drug along."
"It's true," Tanjiro grunted while parrying another couple of hits, "I know it's strange but she's with us. When we free you, please don't attack her."
"You'll need to actually free us first," the crying girl pointed out while trying to wrench her arm free of the Temari Demon's grasp. Naturally against her own will.
"Hold that thought," Susamaru produced her four other arms, feeling a bit of annoyance that she ripped her kimono top to do so, then summoned her Temari. She planted the four orbs against the shoulders of her attackers, sending them into nearby trees.
"What, I can't move," the girl slayer felt the tug of the strings but somehow the Temari were remaining in place, pressing against her shoulders and holding her against the tree, the same as the other slayer.
"Good work Susamaru," Tanjiro called while dodging the remaining slayers.
"Yeah but we still got a lot to deal with," the Temari Demon picked up a sword and slashed at the threads, cutting the pinned slayers free of the demon's control, "maybe if the annoying puppet master thinks they can't move anymore it'll just let them go."
"Can't move," the boy swordsman repeated as an idea formed in his head, "Susamaru, Inosuke, watch what I do!" He evaded an attack from another slayer and began running in the direction where they believed the demon to be. Naturally, the puppet slayer followed him with the intention of halting his progress. But that's when Tanjiro pulled a one eighty and spun around, charging the attacking slayer with a tackle.
He then used Total Concentration Breathing to throw his comrade high into the air where the threads caught on a branch. The result was the puppet slayer now hanging from a tree by the threads, rendering them unable to move. "Wha," Inosuke observed dumbly for a moment, "what the heck was that just now?! I wanna do that too!" He ditched his swords and dared another slayer to come after him, laughing the whole time he was chased before turning and mimicking the move Tanjiro did, leaving yet another hanging marionette.
"Hahaha, you see that?!" Inosuke pointed at Tanjiro, "anything you can do, I can do!"
"Sorry," Tanjiro apologized while holding off another slayer, "I must've missed it."
"You're kidding?!" The Boar Fighter couldn't believe he missed that spectacular move.
"We can compare later," Susamaru slammed into the puppet assaulting Tanjiro and threw him up into the trees, "right now just fling people over branches!" Inosuke was all too happy to continue their little competition and tossed up one after the other. The Temari Demon and the Boy Slayer also did their part and in almost no time at all the unwilling attackers were all hanging from various tree limbs.
"Hahaha," the Boar Fighter pointed to his latest suspended victim, "see that, I've tossed up more of them than either of you have!"
"That's good, just one more," Tanjiro indicated the final slayer whose movements had currently ceased. But their good spirits were suddenly shattered when a sudden movement of the threads forced the slayer's head to twist one hundred and eighty degrees, causing his neck to break with a sickening snap.
"No!" Susamaru reacted on instinct, picking up and throwing two swords at the threads holding the nearest slayers. The first one cut through cleanly, saving the ponytailed girl who'd been pinned to the tree. The other slayer who was a further distance away, however, wasn't so lucky, his neck snapping just before the threads were cut. "Dammit."
The demon girl rushed over and checked on the slayer who was still alive, dismissing her Temari and catching the girl as she fell over. "I'm," she rubbed her neck, "I'm alive, and I can move again."
"Looks like the demon really did decide you guys weren't useful anymore," the Temari Demon stood her back up before looking over, "are any of the rest of them?"
"No," Tanjiro was kneeling down, feeling the pulse of one of the other slayers, "they're all dead." Even though his back was turned, Susamaru could feel it. He was angry, like she'd never seen him angry before. 'Dammit all,' the Temari Girl grit her teeth, 'I should've known the demon would just kill them. Just like Muzan killed me when I failed.'
"Oh Kami," the female slayer collapsed to her knees in front of her fellow slayer, "how did we let this happen? We're supposed to be capable of slaying demons. But this, this is-."
"Hey," the boy swordsman turned to her, his tone surprisingly civil despite his current anger, "what's your name?"
"Ozaki," she answered with a downcast look, "my name's Ozaki."
"Ozaki," Tanjiro stood up, "back in the direction we came is a slayer named Murata. He was holding off the other puppets so that we could get here. Could you please go and make sure he's alright? Once you do that, get off the mountain and see to your injuries."
"I want to say 'no' to that," she couldn't meet anyone's eyes, "but I know I won't be able to help you. So, take that demon out, for all of us."
"We will," the boy swordsman answered with determination. The trio headed off then while Ozaki retreated back the way they'd come. No one said much of anything other than Inosuke calling out directions.
"The wind is clearing up, I can smell better now," Tanjiro suddenly informed, "I'm detecting just two more scents."
"Must be the last puppet," Susamaru produced her other four arms, "we'll handle it."
"I'll go first," Inosuke rushed ahead and leapt upwards, "his head is mine!" At least that had been the plan. As the boar fighter flew through the air, however, he noticed one slight issue with his approach. "What the?!"
The dual wielder held up his blades to block their enemy's attack which sent him backwards, landing a few feet away. He was joined by everyone else as they took in the sight of the final guard. Its body towered over them with massive muscles, rippling veins in its arms, reddish grey skin and curved golden blades in place of his upper arms. No one really took notice of the dirty white pants he was wearing due to his most distinguishing feature.
"A headless body, are you fucking kidding me," Susamaru remarked while summoning her Temari. It was pretty obvious this creature was another puppet as it moved and targeted them effectively despite lacking any eyes or ears to speak of. The group leapt out of the way as it swung at them, cracking the ground with its large right arm blade. The demon girl responded by throwing her Temari while still in midair.
The puppet batted away the first couple but took hits from the other four, causing it to stumble back. "My turn," Inosuke rushed in again, ducking and dodging around the blades. The headless body was surprisingly fast for its size, leaving shallow cuts on the boar fighter with each near miss. "You'll have to do better than that!"
Naturally, such injuries wouldn't slow down the Beast Breather by much as he circled their adversary. But as he moved he realized he'd forgotten something important, the spiders. A few of them leapt onto him and attached their threads during his moment of distraction. Inosuke was forcibly stopped as the puppet master commanded the body to attack him while he was immobile. 'Oh shit, I'm a dead man,' he thought while frantically trying to move. At the last second, Tanjiro moved in front and blocked the blade, sliding it off of his sword to minimize the force.
Susamaru barreled into the body next, sending it sliding a few feet away. The boy slayer was quick to cut his friend free from the threads as they readied for another attack. "We need to work together," Tanjiro urged, "Susamaru, can you slow his limbs or knock him off balance?"
"I've got an idea that might work," the Temari Demon glanced at her other arms, "but it's gonna suck."
"Just give us an opening and we'll do the rest," The Breath of Water User assured.
"I hate that you're actually starting to instill some confidence in me!" She launched herself forward, watching the way the body moved. She threw four of her Temari but was frustrated as it dodged around them and came in with its blades crossed. 'Here comes the part that's gonna suck,' the demon girl stepped back but not far enough to be out of reach of the blades. As the headless corpse swung its attached weapons outwards Susamaru held up four of her six arms.
It spoke of how many times she'd gotten her limbs cut off that she was able to keep focused. Once the demons arms were out wide enough she threw her remaining Temari at point blank range, hitting the arms in the joints and keeping them from closing again. Tanjiro and Inosuke both came in from either side then, each slayer slicing off a limb. 'Water Breathing Fourth Form,' the boy swordsman followed up by slicing off their opponent's legs, 'Striking Tide!'
"Now Inosuke, Kesagiri!" He called as the Boar Fighter came around the back. Kesagiri was a technique involving a diagonal cut from the shoulder down the body. In this case, Inosuke cut all the way through the body, leaving little more than a bloody, stumpy corpse in two large pieces. This all happened in the span of a few seconds and when it was done, the body fell to the ground and began to dissolve.
"I'll be damned," Susamaru watched as the corpse turned to ash, "was this demon actually using the corpse of another demon?"
"Either way we beat it," Tanjiro sighed in relief, "good work everyone."
"It was nothing," the Temari Demon blushed slightly and looked away. 'When was the last time someone told me good work,' she wondered. But then she noticed something odd; Inosuke had gone silent. "Hey, Boar Guy, you good over there?"
He seemed to be thinking very deeply about something, which was a little creepy because who knew what went through his head on a daily basis. Case in point, Inosuke suddenly threw his swords down and tackled Tanjiro. "Anything you can do," he declared, "I can do better!" The dual wielder tossed his fellow slayer high into the air, so high that he was above the trees.
For obvious reasons the boy swordsman was confused at first until he caught the scent of the demon. A look of gratitude crossed his face as he adjusted himself in the air and finally caught sight of their quarry. It was a woman with a similar skin tone and kimono to the demon boy who'd shown up earlier, but her white hair was much longer with two simple braids in front and the dotted pattern was around her mouth. Tanjiro readied to cut her head off with Water Breathing First Form, intent on taking revenge for all the slayers she'd killed this night.
But then, she did something strange. The demon woman detached the threads from her hands and held them out, closing her eyes, as if in acceptance. Tanjiro noticed at the last second and shifted his grip on the sword. "Water Breathing Fifth Form," his blade passed through her neck so quickly and seamlessly that there would've been no pain to speak of, "Blessed Rain After The Drought."
For the spider demon called Mother, it was a far more tranquil end than she'd ever imagined. Even as her head fell from her body, she felt nothing but peace at last. The boy could not have known the fear she'd lived with for so long. But, as she looked into his kind eyes, the white-haired woman felt she should at least pass along one thing in her final moments.
"A member of the Twelve Kizuki is on this mountain," the spider woman revealed as her head turned to ash, "be careful, kind slayer." Tanjiro's eyes widened in shock. 'A member of the Twelve Kizuki,' he thought, 'I finally found one.'
And so the first member of the spider family has fallen! But will the other members fall so easily, especially the head of the family? We'll find out soon enough so in the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And check out my Pat reon for news, scene samples, and other neat tidbits! Last thing, stop in next time as our heroes encounter new allies and more enemies. 'Til then!