"Everyone! We need to pause here!" Zenitsu shouted at them.
"Zenitsu? What's wrong?" Tanjiro asked as everyone in their group stopped and faced the blonde.
"I'M NERVOUS OKAY?!" Zenitsu screeched as he sat on the road. "NOW THAT WE'RE NEARING OUR DESTINATION I'M GETTING SCARED!
"Why the hell are you sitting like that?" Inosuke said. "It's pretty weird if you ask me."
"WHO ARE YOU TO TALK TO ME ABOUT WEIRD?!" Zenitsu screamed. "YOU'RE NOT TELLING YOU'RE NOT GETTING SPOOKY VIBES FROM THAT MOUNTAIN!?"
"So he's always like this?" Okemia whispered to Shoto.
"Unfortunately, it wasn't much different in our last mission," Shoto whispered back.
"HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU GUYS!" Zenitsu shouted at them.
"I'm not exactly arguing with Zenitsu about the general... vibe? The temperature is colder than I would think it would be, but it's the mountains so it's not too surprising," Shoto said.
"Even so, we can't exactly just wait here," Tanjiro said.
"I told you this guy's an odd duck," Inosuke said.
"If we're talking odd ducks none of us have any room to talk," Shoto said. "Trust me, you're not exactly "normal" either Inosuke."
"HUH?!"
"I AM NOT AN ODD DUCK! I'M COMPLETELY NORMAL! IT'S YOU GUYS THAT ARE THE STRANGE ONES!" Zenistu pointed at them.
"And Shoto's hair is pink and blue," Okemia said. "We're all weird here, so arguing about that isn't gonna get us anywhere."
Tanjiro suddenly widened his eyes and turned to the entrance of Mount Natagumo. Everyone saw his reaction and immediately put their guards up... well except Inosuke and Zenitsu.
"Tanjiro? There something... wrong?" Zenitsu asked.
"What is this smell?" Tanjiro said, not answering Zenitsu's question and running off.
"Wha?! Tanjiro!" Zenitsu called out to him. Soon Inosuke, Shoto, and Okemia follow him, leaving Zenitsu on the ground by himself, reaching out to them. "Hey! Wait up! Don't leave me here by myself!" He shouted to them as they increased the distance between him then decided to get up to chase them. "Who knows what could happen!"
They soon reached the entrance of the forest in front of them, spotting a slayer on the ground. The slayer in question didn't have any specific features either on his clothes, face, or sword. He seemed to struggle to get up, then caught sight of the new and colorful group of Demon Slayers.
"Help me," the slayer quietly begged. "Please help me."
"Look at his uniform-" Tanjiro was saying before he got cut off. "Wait- Shoto! Don't go in recklessly!"
"We don't have time!" Shoto said as he ran forward, lighting up his left side and launching a stream of flames above the slayer.
Even though it seemed like what Shoto struck was air, something lit on fire once his attack hit. Little bits of thread burn up from where the fire struck, freeing the slayer that was attached to it. The group watched as Shoto might've just saved the slayer from certain doom if he didn't act as quickly as he did. Having that thought, the group ran up to him behind Shoto.
"Are you alright?" Tanjiro asked the unnamed slayer. "What happened?"
"Thanks for doing that," he said to Shoto as he sat up. "My name is Akihito, rank: Kanoe."
"Kanoe?"
"Anyways, that place is terrifying! We need to get a Hashira over here!" Akihito told them.
"Hashira?" Tanjiro wondered.
"You think so?" Shoto asked.
"Yeah, they're crazy strong," Akihito said.
"We'll head in to check it out ourselves, report it to them, and get out of here if you don't think you'll survive," Shoto said.
"Huh? Who are you to give me orders?" Akihito said.
"Shoto Todoroki, the new Tsuguko of Kyojuro Rengoku," Shoto said.
"O-Oh... fine, don't say I didn't warn you!" He shouted as he ran off.
"What was that all about?" Tanjiro asked.
"Nothing important," Shoto dismissed the question. "Let's head up and kill whatever demon made those strings."
"I'll head in first," Inosuke said, pushing Tanjiro aside and grabbing his swords. "You stay behind me, trembling like a scared little animal. This is making me hungry."
"Inosuke..."
"Why is he such a showoff?" Zenitsu cried as he sat on the road again, trembling.
Inosuke cackled at the sight of the forest, excited for a new opponent. "LET'S GO!"
Zenitsu watched as the four Demon Slayers in front of him left him alone on the road. The group continued to walk further into the forest without much intervention. That is until Inosuke ran through something and stopped.
"Huh? What is this?" Inosuke questioned as he looked at the little threads in his hands.
"A spider web," Tanjiro noticed.
"So that's what was probably attached to Akihito before I burned them off," Shoto noted.
"Then maybe the demon's Blood Demon Art has to do with webs?" Okemia commented.
"Most likely it's threads that come from them that they can control rather than actual spiderwebs," Shoto said. "Which means there's a possibility they can make spiders with their own blood."
"Well, this place is full of them! As far as the eye can see!" Inosuke noticed. "What a pain!" He shouted as he swung his hands around to get the webs off them.
"Yeah you're right," Tanjiro agreed. "I think Shoto's right about them being able to create spiders with their own power, which could mean they can control everything from a distance." They kept looking around, but Tanjiro got their attention when he pointed to someone in the distance. "Look over there."
"Let's go then," Shoto said.
They began running over to what Tanjiro pointed to, which happened to be another slayer who was trying to hide behind a tree. Tanjiro reached out to tap him on the shoulder, but the guy flinched and turned around before he could even touch him.
"We've come to help out," Tanjiro told him. "I'm Tanjiro Kamado, rank Mizunoto."
"Mizunoto? You serious?" He asked as his face contorted with terror.
"I'm Shoto Todoroki, Kyojuro Rengoku's Tsuguko," Shoto chimed in, hoping that would somewhat calm him.
"Wait, what? Well... that's something," he seemed to calm down from that introduction. "But they should've sent us a Hashira still."
"Hashira?" Tanjiro questioned again.
"One of the slayers who got out is sending a message to bring one in," Shoto said.
"But still, no matter how many Mizunoto they send in, it won't be enough!" He argued.
"Inosuke!"
"Ah shut up!" Inosuke dissed. "The only thing I see around here that's not enough is this sputtering pool of sweat in front of me!" Inosuke said as he grabbed the Demon Slayer's hair. "Now how about you tell us just what is going on here?"
"Who do you think you're talking to? Did you forget that I have seniority?" He said, annoyed at Inosuke's actions. "The crow gave us orders to come to this place and 10 of us Corps members gathered here. Not long after we entered the mountain that's when it started, the slayers began killing each other."
"Did they look like they wanted to? Or were they unsteady and looked like they were trying to resist something?" Shoto asked.
"Yeah, something like that," he said.
"Then it's what I thought before," Shoto said. "The demon's Blood Demon Art allows them to control threads, and if they're attached to people they can control them like a puppet. The only way to get a thread on without revealing yourself is through spiders around here, which means they're probably made by the demon here."
"That... would make sense," he admitted. "If they were being controlled by invisible threads created by a demon, it would explain why the other slayers started attacking each other out of nowhere."
"How did you figure that out so quickly?" Okemia asked.
"When you're dealing with random quirks on the street and have a close friend who can analyze them like a book you tend to pick up the ability to analyze things super quickly," Shoto said.
The slayers around them were going to ask about that statement, but it was quickly interrupted by a rattling sound. They looked around to where the sound could be coming from, but the terror on the unnamed slayer's face returned.
"That rattling sound, what is it?" Tanjiro wondered.
"Not again," the ordinary slayer started mumbling. "I've heard this sound before, it's the sound I heard the moment before everyone started to kill each other."
"Where's it coming from though?" Okemia wondered, looking around the area.
They waited a bit to see if they could pinpoint the origin of the sound. The slayer spotted something in the distance, and when he motioned in the direction he saw it, everyone turned to face it. They saw about 5 slayers moving toward them, all in some odd and slow motions.
"Just from their movement, I can tell they're being controlled," Shoto thought as he got out his swords. "About five years back in the "Bloodless Surrender Case" with Crust, that villain had similar abilities. The only difference is, you couldn't cut the threads he made, but you can here."
"Flame Breathing, Third form:"
"Blazing Universe!"
All of the threads that were attached to the back of the slayers were burned and severed, making the bodies drop to the ground.
"Just like I thought," Shoto said when he landed.
"He got them all in one shot?!" The slayer with them thought. "I thought he was a Mizunoto that the Hashira thought had potential and made him a Tsuguko, looks like I was wrong. He was able to figure out what happened just based on seeing it with one other person and a general explanation. Not to mention he cut them off all in one attack, even if it's only threads it's a surprise he got them all at once."
"Where's the location of the demon controlling them then?" Tanjiro asked, looking around him before suddenly covering his nose. "Uggh, there's another odor in the air, but I could only smell it for a second."
"AAAAAH!" Okemia screamed and started swinging her arms around.
"What's wrong?" Shoto asked.
"Sorry, there were spiders crawling all over me and it caught me off guard," she answered sheepishly. Suddenly, her arm moved forward, surprising her. But Shoto saw it and slashed it immediately since he already had his swords out. "What was that?"
"Right after you had a spider crawling on your arm," Shoto noticed. "Looks like I was on point, the spiders are what attach the strings to the bodies."
"So all we gotta do is kill these damn spiders!" Inosuke said and got both of his swords out.
"We can't! There's gotta be millions of them crawling around," Tanjiro said.
"Exactly, but if we want to keep those slayers alive and mostly out of harm's way we have to take out the demon doing this," Shoto concluded. "When the thread attaches to the bodies again just fight them off, it'll keep the demon busy while we look for it."
"Alright, I'll try looking for it- mrrgh!" Tanjiro was trying to say but suddenly covered his nose. "Never mind, I can't, there's another scent around here that blocks out everything else."
"And I mostly rely on temperature, so I'm no good either," Shoto said.
"Inosuke, if you have some kind of power that can pinpoint the demon's location that would really help," Tanjiro said.
"You there, what's your name?" Shoto asked.
"It's Murata!"
"Take care of the people here," Shoto said. "I doubt the demon has much knowledge of swordsmanship so they'll most likely be using basic moves that are easy to block and counter."
"I'll join him," Okemia said. "I don't have any special tracking abilities, but I can do basic swordsmanship."
"Okay, that would help him," Shoto said. "In the meantime-" Shoto got cut off by the sudden drop in temperature of the area. He looked up along with Tanjiro, who also sensed a demon in the air.
"I will not let you disturb my family's peaceful life," the new demon said.
"He's using some threads in the air to stand there," Shoto thought.
"Mother will be sure to make quick work out of you," he said.
"Mother?" Shoto thought.
Inosuke suddenly started yelling, running toward one of the bodies of the slayers and using it to jump in the air. He tried to swipe at the threads underneath the demon, but couldn't reach it due to the lack of height. The demon above started walking away, seemingly uninterested in the group underneath him. "Damn you!" Inosuke shouted at him. "Where the hell do you think you're going?! Fight me! Fight-" Insouke was cut off when he landed on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs.
"You alright Inosuke?!" Tanjiro asked him.
"Why did he even show up anyway?!" Inosuke complained as he sat up.
"Don't focus on him right now, he's not the one controlling people with his threads," Shoto said. "Focus on finding the one controlling them first, I think he called them Mother."
"Okay okay okay!" Inosuke said. "I get it alright! You want me to find the one who is! Shut up about it already!" He shouted as he stabbed his swords into the ground, then turned away from them with his arms out. "Beast Breathing, Seventh Fang:"
"Spacial Awareness"
"I found you, you demon!" Inosuke shouted.
"You find them?" Shoto asked.
"Yeah, follow me that way!" Inosuke said, pointing in a direction with one of his swords. "I'm sensing a strong presence over there!"
"Way to go Inosuke!" Tanjiro said. "What about the others?"
"Leave this to me and go on ahead Tanjiro! Shoto!" Murata said.
"Big talk from a guy who pissed his pants!" Inosuke shouted at him.
"I NEVER DID ANY OF THE SORTS YOU STUPID BOAR!" He shouted back. "I WASN'T EVEN TALKING TO YOU! SO BUTT OUT! Listen, I know I wasn't very brave back there, but I'm still a Kanoe-ranked Demon Slayer, I'll find a way to hold them off. I know now to cut the threads and that their movements should be very basic, I'll watch out for the spiders too. There have to be people who are under greater control and are closer to the demon, you have to help them."
"We got it!" Tanjiro said.
"I'll stay back too," Okemia said. "I'll be the first to admit I'm not as good as these three, so it's probably best if I stay behind and not drag you down."
"Okemia," Shoto said to her. "If things go wrong, I have an idea that can use what we talked about back at the Wisteria mansion."
"Huh? But I have no control over it," Okemia said.
"What are you talking about?"
"You have some, it's why we can see you right now," Shoto reasoned. "It's simple, just imagine a mirror in front of you, that should give you some coverage."
"Huh?"
"Is this really the best time for advice and training?" Okemia asked.
"No better way to test it than on the battlefield," Shoto said. "It should do something, trust me. Good luck and stay strong. Let's go Inosuke, Tanjiro." Shoto pulled the both of them away to run farther into the forest.
"HEY! LET GO OF ME DAMMIT! I WANNA POUND THAT GUY'S FACE IN FIRST!" Inosuke shouted. "WHO IS HE CALLING A STUPID BOAR?!"
"OH SHUT UP! STOP MESSING AROUND AND GET OUTTA HERE!" Murata shouted back.
"I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SEE STARS WHEN I GET BACK! MARK MY WORDS!" Inosuke screamed into the forest.
Shoto let both of them go once he thought they were far enough from Murata to know that Inosuke wouldn't go after him. Fortunately, Inosuke knew that finding the demon was more important at the moment, so they continued on. But that didn't stop Inosuke from ranting to the two with him.
"Dammit! I can't wait to get back and pummel that guy!" Inosuke ranted.
"Stop talking like that!" Tanjiro said.
"Didn't you hear him call me a stupid boar Monjiro!" Inosuke said.
"My name's Tanjiro!"
"Anyway, are we headed the right way?" Shoto asked.
"My senses have never led me astray," Inosuke said. "Although I-" he was cut off when threads started wrapping around him, pissing him off more than he already was. "WHAT ARE ALL THESE ANNOYING THREADS?!"
"It must mean we're closing in on the demon," Tanjiro said, raising his arm above his head to keep the threads out of his face.
They all stopped when they saw someone else approach, but they could all tell it wasn't a demon. "Another group is here."
"Stop," the only slayer remaining said. "Don't come any closer. You have to go and bring someone here who's a higher rank! It's the only way for certain to stop the rest of us from being killed! Help us... I beg you!"
While Tanjiro and Inosuke looked at the girl pleading to be saved, Shoto went in with his swords at the ready. "Ice Breathing, Third form:"
"Powder Snow Dance"
Shoto managed to slice through every thread in the area, freeing not only the girl in front but also the others around her. He doubted they needed to be alive in order to be used as puppets, so he made sure to cut all the strings he could see. Shoto also knew that cutting the threads only slowed them down a little, but didn't provide total relief. This is why he froze the area around them, creating an ice dome that hid them all from the outside forest.
"What the-" The girl looked around.
"I doubt anything we do the demon will find a way to slow us down, so even if we find a way to make you stop without cutting your threads they'll probably kill you to shock us," Shoto said. "If we kill all the spiders in this dome nothing else will enter and you can rest safely here until we're finished up. It's the most ideal, but it's the best I can do to make sure you make it out alive."
"LET'S KILL THESE THINGS!" Inosuke shouted as he started stabbing his swords into the ground.
"But how will we get out of here?" Tanjiro asked, mimicking Inosuke.
"I can melt a hole to get us out then freeze it back up before anything else enters," Shoto said. "It's not a sure thing, but even if it tried to control you in here, I doubt the threads will reach the demon. And besides, striking ice with a sword is dumb, it'll most likely break unless you have the strength to pull it off."
"Got it!"
"HAHAHA! DIE YOU ANNOYING SPIDERS!"
It didn't take long for the two to get rid of the spiders completely. While they were doing that, Shoto took the role of doctor and tried to fix up as much as he could with the limited resources he had to work with. Even so, he managed to relocate, reset, splint, and ice their wounds with whatever he had. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for a quick patch-up of what he could do.
"How are they, Shoto?" Tanjiro asked.
"Several broken bones, dislocations, strained and torn muscles," Shoto listed off. "This demon didn't care about their body's limits and just did whatever it wanted. I managed to relocate whatever was dislocated and reset whatever broken bones were out of place, but the splints weren't exactly good. I used what I could find around here, which isn't a lot."
"Do you think it can heal?" Tanjiro asked.
"That depends," Shoto said. "Some injuries are hard to come back from, and even if they recover properly, your body won't be the same. I can't say for sure which injuries would cause permanent damage since I'm not an expert or have the means to see the extent of each injury. All I'm saying is there's a possibility they will or they won't."
The vague explanation didn't settle well with Tanjiro. It's better news than to see them die right in front of him when they had the ability to save them, but not knowing how they'd fare in the future was frustrating. Shoto and Inosuke could see the frustration emitting from Tanjiro, sending chills through both of their spines. After a moment, Tanjiro walked over in the direction they were going, stopping at the edge of the ice dome. "Let's go."
"No arguments here," Inosuke agreed.
Shoto nodded and stood up. "Rest up here, you should be safe within the dome. Don't try to move too much, I might've performed some first aid but that doesn't mean it would hold if you made any sudden movements. You guys did well in holding on until we got here, now let us take it from here."
The girl they originally ran into nodded slightly, laying against the ice since it cooled her strained shoulders. "Good luck then, we'll put our faith in you."
Shoto walked over to the wall and put his left hand on the ice. When his hand started heating up, it slowly melted the ice and created an opening big enough for the trio to walk through. Shoto expected spiders to be waiting for them on the other side, so Shoto kept using his fire to burn all of them into ashes before they could even enter. Tanjiro and Inosuke ran out of the dome quickly so Shoto could seal it as fast as he could. They managed to keep the safety dome free from the demonic spiders, making their shoulders relax slightly knowing they were safe.
"Hopefully it holds up," Tanjiro said.
"It will, not even my mentor could cut through my ice without losing his sword even though he uses Flame Breathing," Shoto assured. "Trust me, he and his friend tried."
"Then let's go, their safety will be guaranteed when the demon is dead," Tanjiro said, turning away from the dome.
"This way!" Inosuke shouted, running in a certain direction. They continued to follow Inosuke like before, going deeper into the forest as they kept running. "This way! We'll reach them before you know it."
As they kept going, the trio all managed to pick up the presence of the demon and another entity close to them. "Inosuke!" Tanjiro called out to him.
"I detected that thing before you did!" Inosuke claimed and started to run up front and prepared his swords. "I'm gonna hack its head right off its shoulders!" Inosuke jumped into the air and crossed his two blades into an X, ready to slice through its head. As he was falling to the ground his attack went toward where the head was supposed to be... only to see that it didn't have a head. Inosuke's attack was blocked by one of the blades on its arms, then was pushed back to the other two with him. "That thing doesn't even have a head!"
"That might be a problem," Shoto said.
The headless monster raised its right arm which was made out of a blade and smashed it into the ground. The three Demon Slayers jumped back before the impact, dodging the attack.
"This thing's got no weak spots!" Inosuke told them. "Where am I supposed to cut it?!"
"First let's calm down," Shoto said to him. "Tanjiro," Shoto turned to the other slayer. "What do you think about this?"
"Hmmm... it'll be tough, but since the head's not there, then maybe we slash from the right part of the neck to the left part of its waist," Tanjiro said.
"Aiming for the torso instead? Alright, it'll be tough but let's go for it," Shoto said, preparing both his swords.
"HAHAHA!" Inosuke cackled as he jumped right at the monster.
"No wait! Don't go alone!"
Within a single second, the body cut up Inosuke three times before Inosuke backed off a bit to give it some space. But as he went back in to attack, a spider landed on his arm and attached a thread to him. "That's right, those spiders!" Right before the monster could move toward him, the threads were cut off, allowing Inosuke to move again. Inosuke looked over to see Shoto by his side, both swords at the ready.
"Keep going, I'll cover you," Shoto said. "Just don't be reckless like that again."
"DAMN YOU! DON'T GO MAKING ME FEEL GIDDIER THAN I ALREADY DO!" Inosuke shouted. "This thing's in my way!"
"Here," Tanjiro said, appearing in front of the two, kneeling down. "Launch yourself!"
Inosuke stepped on Nezuko's box since it was on Tanjiro's back, giving him more height to work with. The monster was crossing his arms in an X, and when he was attacking, Inosuke cut off both of those arms in a single upward slash.
"Jump now!" Shoto told him.
"Go for it!" Tanjiro encouraged.
With the encouragement, Inosuke jumped off of Tanjiro's back and into the air. While Inosuke was in the air, Tanjiro flipped over and used the box on his back to balance his body to prepare his own attack. "Total Concentration, Water Breathing, Fourth form:"
"Striking Tide"
The technique severed both of the demon's legs, making it drop to its knees. "YOU'RE UP INOSUKE!"
Inosuke spun around in the air to gain some momentum before taking both of his swords and slicing through his torso, from his right shoulder to his left waist. The body started to fade as soon as Inosuke landed, leaving no trace of their opponent.
"Alright, Inosuke! You defeated it!" Tanjiro told him.
"That was exactly what was described, well done," Shoto complimented him.
They waited for one of his boasting and loud comments, but Inosuke stayed quiet in the same place he landed.
"What's wrong?" Tanjiro asked.
The next moment, Inosuke was grunting and dropping his swords as he ran over to Tanjiro. He confused the two there when he gave him what looked like a big hug, but he then threw Tanjiro into the air in the direction they needed to go.
"What was that for?" Shoto wondered in his head. "Was it because Tanjiro let him leap into the air so he wanted to show that he could support him too? It kinda sounds like something Bakugo would do in the spirit of a competition. Maybe he's being competitive with him? Not exactly a good time, but it's keeping him sharp so I guess it's fine."
"Hopefully he takes out that monster!" Inosuke huffed.
"Can I cauterize those cuts so they don't bleed out? We don't need you getting dizzy from blood loss out here," Shoto said.
"SHUT UP! I'M FINE!" Inosuke said.
"Hmm..." Shoto hummed, trying to think of a way to get Inosuke to cooperate. Thinking back to how people got Bakugo to cooperate, he only had one idea in mind. "You know, that scar Tanjiro has is from when I cauterized his gash back in Final Selection. He told me it was pretty painful, so I guess it's not surprising that you don't wanna feel that."
"HUUUH?!" Inosuke turned back to Shoto. "I CAN HANDLE ANYTHING HE DOES! DO IT TO ME!"
"Sure," Shoto complied, walking over to him to start working on his injuries.
A/N:
Hi (づ￣ 3￣)づ
I wanted to put the entire fight in here, but it was too much and this chapter is already twice as long as most of the other chapters. So I'm splitting them up into... however many chapters I need. (～￣▽￣)～
Now... I know people dying is something to be expected when facing demons, but come on, Shoto's a hero-in-training, people dying is something he can't let happen. Since he has the ability to just overpower everything in this first season it's pretty easy for him to do so. That doesn't mean it'll continue to happen, but these first demons are so pathetic I literally have to force myself to get through their fights in season 1 when I rewatch it. (ノ｀Д)ノ
Anyway, that's all I have for now, so until next time... ( ﾟдﾟ)つ Bye