Secret of the Spider Lily

Chapter 13 - Spider Infested Forest

The three finally arrived at Mount Natagumo. The air that night was cool and Crisp, the full moon shining bright over the forest. They all looked at each other, a nervous look on both Yuki and Shinobu's faces. Giyu had his usual cold expression, but took a deep breath as he walked into the forest. Yuki and Shinobu followed close behind, since they didn't want to lose each other inside the dense trees.

As the three began getting deeper into the trees, they started seeing many dead bodies on the ground. All of them looked relatively young, but all wore the demon slayer uniform. Yuki was sad seeing all of the carnage and the fallen comrades, but she knew they had tried their hardest to protect themselves from the demon.

Giyu stopped in an open clearing, turning around to face the others. "I'm beginning to think there is more than one demon in this forest."

"What makes you say that Giyu?" Yuki asked, wondering exactly what he meant.

"If you look at the injuries on each of the bodies, you'll notice that the actual cause of death is different from person to person. Some of them are covered in slash marks, while others have bruises around their necks, meaning they were strangled. A single demon wouldn't be able to do all of these types of injuries, and be able to kill this many people in a single night."

He might be right," Shinobu stated, "I had noticed the same thing. It might be best if we split up to cover more ground."

"Are you sure that's a good idea though Shinobu? What if one of us gets hurt?" Yuki asked, her voice filled with worry.

"I think it's the only option we have. We need to cover as much ground as possible if we want to save the slayers who are still alive." Giyu calmly spoke.

Yuki let out a deep sigh before looking up at the both of them, "I guess you're right. Let's cover as much ground as we can. If any of us need help, send a message by crow. Whoever can help should head to assist immediately."

Both Giyu and Shinobu nodded in agreement, before they all ran in different directions into the forest. Yuki wasn't happy to be going off on her own, but she needed to find the demons in this forest and kill them.

Yuki took a deep breath in, activating her powers to search for the demons in the forest. From what she could see, she saw 4 demons, each one with a different colored aura. She saw a green, a yellow, an orange, and a red. She looked to see which one was closest, and saw the red was only a few hundred meters away. She ran to where it was, seeing it led to a clearing where a young slayer was fighting it.

She knew by the red aura that this boy was in grave danger. She finally knew what red meant.

The demon was one of the Twelve Kisuki.

Yuki deactivated her powers, charging into the clearing with her swords in hands. She jumped in, slashing at the demon with a great amount of force. The demon noticed her coming at him, and quickly dodged out of the way.

Yuki rolled on the ground, but landed on her feet. She looked at the boy who wore a green and black checkered haori, a serious expression on her face, "You need to get out of here! You don't stand a chance against this demon! It's too strong!"

"Tsk. Another pesky demon slayer... don't you know it's rude to interrupt a family gathering?"

The comment made Yuki's blood boil. She looked up at the demon's face, immediately noticing its eye. Lower Five, "Heh, you're weaker than the demon I fought last week," she muttered, before charging at the demon once more, "And I do know it's rude! My family gathering was interrupted when a demon slaughtered my entire family!"she screamed, slashing right at the demon's neck.