As Tanjiro was slowly regaining his consciousness, he heard Nezuko's voice.
"Big brother! Wake up!"
Tanjiro felt like someone was carrying him.
"You have to wake up!"
Tanjiro regained consciousness. Nezuko was carrying him, and they were being chased by Karaku, Sekido, and Urogi.
"Right!" Tanjiro thought. "That demon with the fan attacked us and we passed out! Nezuko must have regained consciousness before I did!"
"Hey! Quit delaying, Karaku!" Sekido barked. "Blow this building up!"
"Yeah, yeah, I was going to already," Karaku said.
Karaku waved the fan at what remained of the building and the building exploded outward. Tanjiro and Nezuko were also blown away and landed on the ground in the building's debris.
Tanjiro could smell something peculiar.
"I smell a fifth demon," Tanjiro said to himself. "Is there a fifth demon somewhere nearby? Could that be the weak spot? If I find that demon and decapitate it-"
"Don't get cocky! I'M the one who's going to kill the upper rank demon!" Genya said to Tanjiro. "It wasn't your strength that beat upper rank 6! That's why you haven't become a hashira!"
"That's right," Tanjiro said.
"I'M the one who's going to be a hashira!" Genya yelled.
"I get it!" Tanjiro said. "I'll support you with my full strength!"
"Yes! I will do that as well!" Nezuko said. "We can all fight together!"
"I'll go look for the fifth demon, you guys buy me some time!" Tanjiro said. "I'll tell you as soon as I've found it, Genya!"
Tanjiro hurried into the forest to follow the scent of the fifth demon while Genya and Nezuko fought the four emotion demons.
Tanjiro focused, and was able to track down the scent of the fifth demon.
"There! There it is! I found it!" Tanjiro said.
Tanjiro turned to tell Genya what he had found.
"Genya! The fifth demon's northeast of here!" Tanjiro yelled in Genya's direction. "Head there! I'll back you up!"
"And I'll keep the four emotion demons busy in the meantime!" Nezuko said. "Hurry!"
Genya hurried into the forest, in the direction Tanjiro had mentioned, to chase down the demon.
Karaku waved his fan at Tanjiro, blowing him back.
Sekido was preparing to attack with lightning. Nezuko lunged at him, but before she could strike him, Aizetsu rushed toward her at an incredibly fast speed and impaled her with his spear, pinning her against a nearby tree.
"GYAAAAH!" Nezuko cried out in pain.
Tanjiro rushed toward Karaku again. Karaku jumped into the air and waved his fan down at Tanjiro from above, slamming Tanjiro into the ground.
Karaku then turned to pursue Genya, but Tanjiro jumped up and slashed him with his sword.
"Leave Genya alone!" Tanjiro yelled. "I'm the one you're fighting!"
Tanjiro turned to call out to Genya.
"Genya! It's moving south!" Tanjiro called out. "Find it! You can do it!"
Genya was still searching for the fifth demon in the forest.
"Why can't I find the demon? I've been looking this whole time!" Genya thought. "Why can't I find it? Is it hiding itself with some kind of demonic ability? The longer this goes on, the more exhausted I get."
"Now it's moving further west!" Tanjiro called out. "It's close! On the ground!"
Genya was finally able to spot the fifth demon. Surprisingly enough, it was TINY, no larger than a mouse. Genya shot at it, but as it kept running away, he couldn't get a clear shot. It was tricky to aim at something that small.
"IT'S TINY! And this is supposed to be the demon's main body?" Genya thought. "Those four other demons are really strong, and as if that wasn't enough, we have to go after this tiny thing while fighting them? That really pisses me off! Give me a break!"
Genya eventually caught up to the demon and got in position to decapitate it. He then swung his sword at the demon's neck. It lodged itself into the neck.
"Yes! I've got him! I've won!" Genya thought.
But, instead of cutting the head off, instead the sword snapped in half.
"What the... my blade can't cut him?" Genya thought. "What the hell is this!? His neck is only as thick as my finger!"
Genya tried shooting at the demon but the demon was too fast.
"It's no use!" Genya thought.
Genya sensed another demon behind him. It was Sekido. Sekido prepared to stab Genya in the neck with his lightning staff.
"No! I'm going to die, I don't have time to dodge and I can't heal my neck!" Genya thought. "Sanemi... I wanted to become a hashira, so that you would respect me. I don't have any talent, I can't use breathing techniques, and it's hard to find a hashira unless you become one. I worked so hard, but in the end, it was no use. I'm sorry, Sanemi. I wanted to apologize for that one time, but I'm going to die without ever apologizing."
"Genya! Don't give up!" Genya heard Tanjiro call out to him. "Try again! Aren't you going to become a hashira, Genya Shinazugawa?"
Aizetsu was preparing to attack Tanjiro. He released a flurry of blows in Tanjiro's direction.
Genya jumped in front of Tanjiro. The attacks impaled him and left stab wounds all over his body.
"Go! I tried, but I can't take its head," Genya said. "You do it. Just this one time, I'll allow it."
Tanjiro left and chased after the tiny demon. He swung his sword at its neck.
The demon screamed an incredibly loud and high pitched scream. But before Tanjiro could cut its head off, Genya noticed another demon was behind Tanjiro. However, this one wasn't any of the four emotion demons. Tanjiro tried to ignore it and slice off the head of the tiny demon, but its neck was too hard, and Tanjiro was unable to slice any further through it.
Genya pointed his gun at the demon behind Tanjiro, but if he misfired, there was the possibility that he could end up hitting Tanjiro instead of the demon.
"Tanjiro!" Genya yelled. "Get out of the way!"
The demon behind Tanjiro attempted to attack him, but Nezuko charged toward Tanjiro and pushed him out of the way of the attack.
"You awful villains!" the new demon said. "How dare you torment the weak!?"
"Now what's going on!?" Genya thought. "That was the demon of anger just a moment ago. I think when Tanjiro's sword failed to slice through the neck of the tiny demon, he reached out and absorbed Karaku and Urogi! And then, he summoned Aizetsu. Aizetsu opened his mouth as if to protest but he got absorbed before he could say anything! Then, what used to be the body of the anger demon transformed into this one!"
The new demon summoned what looked like wood coming out of the ground, and it hid the tiny demon, obscuring their view of it.
"Wait!" Tanjiro called out.
The demon stared at Tanjiro and Genya, as if to kill them with a glare.
"What was that?" the demon asked bitterly. "Do you have a problem with what I'm doing, you villains!?"
"Hey..." Tanjiro trailed off. "Why are WE the villains?"
"Because you torment the weak!" the demon replied. "You just tried to kill a being small enough to fit in the palm of your hand!"
"Because we torment the weak? Give me a break!" Tanjiro said. "You absolutely reek of blood. You've eaten hundreds of people. What did those people do to you!? What did they do that was so bad they had to pay with their lives!? You've killed and eaten so many people! You're absolutely twisted, and I can't forgive that! I'm going to kill you!"