"Did you find the demon?" Earth asked while fending himself against the deceased Slayer's sword.
"Yeah! That way!" Inosuke directs his sword and points it to his left. "I'm picking up a powerful vibe from over there!"
"Great job man!" Fire fist pumped the air.
"Way to go, Inosuke!" Tanjiro praised, making Inosuke appreciating it with cottons floating on his head again. He almost had his head slashed due to him distracted and jumped away.
"We gotta take care of these guys or we'll never get anywhere!" Inosuke said while they're surrounded by all of the controlled Slayers.
"Damn, isn't there... isn't there any way at all?" Tanjiro grits his teeth and frowned.
Meanwhile, Zenitsu is heaving loads of air entering in his lungs after he sprinted from the entrance of the mountain to who-knows-where. His face strained from the fatigue he clearly gotten from all the running.
"Ne... Ne... Nezu... Ne... Whe... Whe... Wh-Whe... Whe... Where are you?" Zenitsu said with continuous pauses and while catching his own breath.
Water seemed to have lost sight of Zenitsu. Face shifting from worried to annoyed real quick, he released a sigh.
"Great. I lost him." Water said in a tired tone. "He could be around here somewhere. Good thing this part of the forest isn't dense, so I should be able to hear him shouting at any point now."
Back to Tanjiro's group, they were faced with a life and death situation.
"Dammit!" Inosuke jumps back. "What a pain in the ass! I'm just gonna demolish them all at once!
"You can't do that! Back off!" Tanjiro didn't agreed with him with the whole killing is the only option plan. "There has to be a way! So, let's try not to hurt these-"
One slayer tried to surprise attack Tanjiro, however, Murata intercepted and blocked the strike for him.
"Murata!" Earth saw.
"Leave these guys to me and go on ahead!" Murata holds off the attacker's blade and adviced them to move.
"What kind of talk is that, Mr. Pissed-My-Pants?!" Inosuke insulted Murata.
"I NEVER PISSED MY PANTS, YOU STUPID BOAR!" Murata blew a fuse and Inosuke reacted angrily. "I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU, SO YOU CAN JUST SHUT UP!"
"Murata, watch out!" Fire got just in time to block another attack aimed at Murata's side.
"Thanks! I wasn't at my guard for a moment there!" Murata thanked him then proceeded to lock blades with another slayer attempting to slash any of them.
"I know that wasn't my finest moment back there, but I'm a Demon Slayer, too! I'll find a way to hold them off! Now I know I just need to slash the threads, and that these guys can only make the most elementary movements! I'll watch out for the spiders, too! There has to be people under even more control closer to the demon! So you all go on!"
"Understood! We appreciate this!" Tanjiro yelled.
"Murata, you can't take them all on your own! Let's team up, you and me!" Fire took a stance at the slayers. "I know you said you know what you're doing, but look how many of them there are. They clearly have the number advantage and they could easily overwhelm you if you're not careful. I'll watch your back and you watch mine."
Murata considered his reason then complied with it immediately. "All right! Thanks!"
"Right! I trust you'll know what to do, you two! Let's go Tanjiro, Inosuke!" Earth takes the lead then ran to the direction where Inosuke found the demon. Tanjiro just grabbed Inosuke by his whole body, much to his chagrin.
"Hey, let go of me, dammit! I wanna pound that guy's face first! Who's he calling "a stupid boar"?!" Inosuke squirmed.
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?! JUST DROP IT AND GET OUT OF HERE!" Murata shouted.
"I'M SO GONNA PUNCH YOU WHEN I GET BACK!"
Resuming their running, Inosuke is still thinking about what Murata said and thought many ways on how to hurt the poor boy.
"Dammit! I'm gonna punch that guy if it's the last thing I do!" Inosuke muttered.
"Stop talking like that!" Tanjiro scolded.
"He called me "a stupid boar." okay, Monjiro?!"
"It's Tanjiro!" Tanjiro corrected. "So, anyway, we're heading the right way, right?"
"My senses never lie! But..." Some spider threads entangled Inosuke altogether. "WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE ANNOYING THREADS!?"
"That's how close we're getting to the demon! I hope Earth didn't get caught by any of these threads!" Tanjiro said as he removed some of the threads off of him. At the same time, they eventually caught up with Earth.
"Hey, why'd you stop?" Tanjiro asked why he halted. Tanjiro sees him staring at something and he did the same then became wide eyed.
"Here's another bunch." Inosuke commented.
Ozaki, a female Demon Slayer, is trying her best to resist the threads from controlling her and looked at them with tears in her eyes.
"No. Don't come any closer. Please summon someone of higher rank!" She pleaded while unintentionally holding her fellow teammate's head and her sword stabbed at another. "Otherwise, everyone will get killed! Please. Please!"
Tanjiro and Earth just didn't know what to react to this. The display is enough to hold them temporarily until they come up with a plan on how to free them.
<><><><><>
Sounds of swords clanging onto their own counterparts were heard as Fire and Murata parried every last one of their hits and slashing the threads multiple times.
"Dammit! Every time we slash them off, they'll just keep reconnecting!" Murata cursed then evaded another attack from a deceased slayer.
Fire slid under a Demon Slayer then pulled his leg to bring him down and proceeded to slice the threads. Murata defended his back from being stabbed and shoved the slayer away to give them space. Fire spun around and carefully pushed them back. Since some of them are dead, he had no reason to make them cause enough pain than they received already.
'Hold on a minute! I haven't use any of my new breathing techniques!' Fire realized the position he's in and totally forgotten about him having a breathing technique.
"Murata! Hold one of them for me! I'll try something that'll work against the threads, maybe!"
Taken that for command, Murata ducked down from getting decapitated, got behind the Slayer's back, and locked his arms to disable him getting anywhere.
"Good! Keep him steady!" Fire take a slow breath and stanced.
'Let's see if this is gonna work.'
He inhaled various amounts of oxygen he can ever take in and focused on preparing his ability to create his breathing technique.
'Fire Breathing... Second Form...'
His sword lit up in small embers until it augmented into a full flaming one with an orange glow. He had his target set on the threads and he delivered a one precise slash at them.
'Torching Slash!' The flames created a domino on the threads' line until it disintegrated into nothing but like a string that got done melting. Murata lets the Demon Slayer go, and for once he didn't go back up.
"You did it!" Murata cheered and smiled at the work Fire's done. "Now it should be easy to deal with the threads now!"
"*pant**pant* Yeah..." Fire panted. It takes just about a single sharp breath to utilize one technique. But since he needs to hurry this up, he'll have to do his best.
"I need your help again, Murata! I won't be able to slash them when they keep on moving at certain paces!"
<><><><><>
A soft giggle erupted out from the Mother Spider Demon's mouth and pulled her threads. "I wonder if you can defeat them. The closer you to me, the thicker and stronger these threads are, and the more powerful my dolls become."
"Mother..." A voice near her raised all her alarm rates up high and she gasped to the voice belonged to other than the boy from earlier. "You can win, right?"
"Rui..." She said in a terrified tone.
"Don't you think this is taking too much time?" Even if he said it too calmly, the deep tone struck fear in her, making her shiver and her eyes shaking.
"You'd better hurry up or I'm gonna tell Father."
"I can do it! I can do it, all right? I promise to protect you! So, please! Not your father! Don't tell your father! Just not him!" She desperately cried out. Rui pauses and takes into consideration of her desperation.
"Then, hurry it up." Rui said and on that final note, he left her.
The Mother Spider Demon started to hyperventilate, making the threads on her fingers tremble from her fear. She regained her composure then reapplied the controls on her threads once again.
"Die! Die! Just die already! Or else they'll be hell for me to pay!" She firmly controlled her threads.
The threads that is in control of Ozaki begins to move. She gripped onto her sword and raised them up.
"RUN!" She warned them too late and swung down her sword at Tanjiro. He managed to dodge at the very last second.
'So fast!' Tanjiro thought.
"I'm being controlled, so my movements aren't my own at all! I was never this strong!" Ozaki flailed her sword because of the threads. Then, the threads repositioned her arms at her back and made them position them into something that made it impossible for her body to bend, that caused her bones from her arms and her spine to crack, making Ozaki cry out in pain.
'This sound...! Her bones were now dislocated...! That's horrible...!' Earth flinched from the sound of the bones being cracked. Ozaki begins to switch her target from Tanjiro to him now as she swung her sword wildly at Earth.
'The demon's forcing her to move her body with the threads, so it doesn't care if her bones get broken!' Tanjiro thought.
Earth parried every one of her swings, not before she delivered a hard one at Earth, that made him skid a few yards.
"So stubborn! How about this?" The demoness takes another batch of Demon Slayer to control from her threads. The rest of them, only two who are barely alive, stood up with more dislocated limbs.
"P-Please kill me...! My arms and legs... The bones are piercing my inner organs...! Every time I'm forced to move, the pain's intense...! I can't take it anymore...! Either way, I'll die... So, please help me...! Please deliver the finishing blow...!" A Demon Slayer weakly said. Earth closed his eyes as he couldn't bare to hear from the sounds of them, suffering from the hands of the demoness.
"Sure, you got it!" Inosuke said full of brash and charged at them.
"Hold up-" Tanjiro blocked a swing from Ozaki. "Hold up, will you? We gotta find a way to help him!"
"Don't do it, Inosuke!" Earth reflexed away from more swings swung at him. "We need to free these people somehow! Don't kill them!"
"Oh, shut up!" Inosuke evaded and ducked down from a swing while pointing at them. "You two really need to shut up!"
"But...!" Inosuke cut him off.
"He's asking us to kill him, all right?" Inosuke clashed his swords against another Slayer then he backs away to regroup with the two.
"These guys are speedy, too. If we get caught napping, we're gonna go down!" Inosuke stated.
"I know that! Let me think! Just hold up a second!" Tanjiro yelled and tried to think but it came up blank. "Earth, is there any way we can do this?"
"Why ask him when we can just tear them all down?" Inosuke said impatiently.
"Stop it, Inosuke!" Tanjiro scolded. "Earth, any ideas?"
Since Tanjiro is relying on Earth, he'll have to plan as the De facto leader of the group again.
'We don't want to hurt them by using our attacks. Slashing the threads just makes it difficult with them reattaching to each other... Wait, dammit! If only Fire was here, I could've tell him to burn all the threads!' He slapped himself mentally. 'Looks like we'll have to deal with them and buy ourselves time for Fire to get here soon! I hope he knows he can utilize his Fire Breathing as soon as it clicks in him.'
"Well? I'm waiting!" Inosuke's impatience is running out.
"It's simple. We need to disable their movements." Earth came up with another plan. "Gain any of their attention, make them follow you, and tangle them up by throwing them on the trees. That'll stop them from moving. Use Total Concentration if they're heavy or if you must."
"Okay. Got it!" Tanjiro understood and nodded at this idea.
Initiating the plan, he decided to gain Ozaki's attention by running on the opposite way the threads naturally controlled her movements and soon she chased him.
'Good! She's following me!' Tanjiro thought and followed the plan as instructed.
"Hey, why are you running around in circles like that? Quit fooling around!" Inosuke said.
"I literally just told you the plan seconds ago..."
"What plan?" Inosuke deadpanned.
Earth sighed in frustration.
Once Tanjiro and Ozaki gains enough distance, Tanjiro instantly turned around then tackled Ozaki.
'Total Concentration...!' By gathering air to reinforce the strength in his body, Tanjiro flung her up top to the nearest tree.
'Unbelievable strength!' She gasped when she felt the threads becoming unresponsive due to the branch on the tree, making them unable to move in any way.
"All right! You're all tangled up like he planned!" Tanjiro exclaimed and looked at Earth to see his plan worked.
"I knew it! That's the way to go, Tanjiro!" Earth cheered.
"Wha..." Inosuke stood there, baffled at the new trick Tanjiro made. In his excitement, he roared.
"WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?! I WANNA DO THAT, TOOOOOO!!"
He threw away his swords at the side, let himself get chased by another Slayer while laughing and running like a little kid, and tackled him wholely.
"Take this!" Inosuke threw the Slayer upwards and tangled himself in a branch. The threads didn't respond this time.
"WHEEE! HAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You see that?! I can do whatever you can do but better!" Inosuke shows off his proud work.
"My bad! I kind of missed it!" Tanjiro replied while blocking the sword of the Demon Slayer.
"WHAAAAT?!" Inosuke shrieked.
"I mean, you can't really blame me!" Tanjiro defended himself.
Inosuke looked around and spotted Earth. "How about you?! Did you see what I did just now?!"
Earth jumped backwards from getting cut by a sword. "Sure! It's impressive, whatever!"
The praised he got made Inosuke dream cotton balls again.
Meanwhile, the Mother Spider Demon grew irritated after they handled her puppets with relative ease. She grasped onto her threads with anger.
"Damn! They're all such useless dolls! I have no choice but to unleash that doll, then." She said then activated her trump card to be used against the remaining Demon Slayers.
<><><><><>
"NEZUKO-CHAAAAAAAAAAAN!" Zenitsu called out for the demon Kamado sibling. Zenitsu regained his breath before shouting once more.
"Nezuko-chan! Where are you?" Zenitsu is seen sitting down and sobbing for being alone for so long in the forest. He also realized he left BoBoiBoy Water and Chuntaro/Ukogi behind.
"Nezuko-chan... BoBoiBoy... Tanjiro... Wild Boar... Chuntaro! Where did you all go? I'm sorry for everything, okay?" He hiccupped and continued to sob.
"BoBoiBoy... I'm sorry for leaving you... I'm such a horrible friend! Please, forgive me for that!"
He almost broke down for also leaving his friend in spite of him searching for Nezuko. He doubt that BoBoiBoy is going to hate him for this. But after he helps him get through all of the trials he'd face, he started to look up to BoBoiBoy more than Tanjiro. Zenitsu even hoped BoBoiBoy is a forgiving friend. After all the emotional struggles and Zenitsu making a ruckus with his unexpected feral attitude, BoBoiBoy never pushed Zenitsu away.
It's like they're bound to have their friendship to be glued forever.
"Chu!"
Zenitsu stopped his tears from flowing and looked to see Chuntaro/Ukogi on top of his head.
"Chuntaro?"
Ukogi huffed away in annoyance.
"YOU MEAN YOU CAME AFTER ME?! YOU'RE SO ADORABLE! SECOND ONLY TO NEZUKO, BUT STILL!" Zenitsu cried joyfully for seeing his sparrow still caring for him. The sparrow struggled and called for help.
"You found him, Ukogi?" Water appeared alongside Suzume. "Oh good."
"BoBoiBoy...?"
He sighed. "For the last time, it's BoBoiBoy Water. Get that through your thick skull alre-"
Zenitsu bear hugged him again. "I'M SORRY FOR EARLIER, BOBOIBOY! I FEEL SO HORRIBLE LEAVING YOU IN A DARK, SCARY FOREST ALONE!"
Water gasped for air again from Zenitsu's iron grip. 'I feel like I'm gonna die the next time I get this type of treatment again...'
"Listen, now that we've found you, let's get going already." Water said.
"I'm sorry for everything! All right, let's go look for Nezuko-chan together!" Zenitsu got his bearings straighten with all of them presented in his side again.
"Yeah. Well, we just need to find Tanjiro and the others then we'll find your girlfriend with them." Water emphasized on the specific word and winked at him. Zenitsu blushed from that word and he squealed slightly.
"You really think Nezuko and I are compatible for each other?" Zenitsu asked eagerly.
"Hm... I don't know man. You haven't interacted with Nezuko much. But hey, maybe when this is over, try to have like a normal chat with her and not creep her out in any sort. I'm sure Tanjiro would've like that." Water suggested, which made Zenitsu agree on it whole-heartedly.
Back to the matter at hand, almost everyone are all tangled up on the branches. Fire still hasn't arrived on the scene yet and that worried Earth a whole lot, even he started to worry about Murata.
"Earth, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale." Tanjiro asked with concern. Earth had no excuse for him to lie since Tanjiro can easily detect him lying using his sense of smell.
"It's about Murata and Fire. I'm worried they might've gotten themselves into trouble." Earth told him, but that's only the side truth. What he's even more worried is the lethal vibe coming from the threads.
'More importantly, I need Fire to be here right now! I hear a sound that would potentially kill all of them!'
"Don't worry. I'm sure they're all right. After all, you have such an amazing ability to clone yourself even in these situations. It was such a big help because of you." Tanjiro smiled and eased Earth's worries a little bit, but still, his nervousness is still there.
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Just look at that! Check it out! I've tossed up more than you both!" Inosuke demanded for their compliments as he makes it as a challenge.
"Right! One more to go!" Tanjiro said.
"Something is not right here..." Earth taps his foot repeatedly. "These threads are giving such a strange feeling. C'mon Fire... You better get here quick!"
"Okay. I'm gonna do it one more time, so make sure you both watch me!" Inosuke said then marched towards his next victim.
"You got it! That's okay! Just try not to be violent!" Tanjiro said.
"IT'S NOT OKAY! THEY'RE GONNA BE KILLED!" Earth's trepidation is at max capacity. Tanjiro and Inosuke jumped due to him suddenly shouting.
"What do you mean, Earth?" Tanjiro almost shared his state. He knew Earth is not fooling around this time and it's serious.
"Fire needs to get here and burn all the threads real quick!" Earth panicked when the sounds of their impending doom are getting closer.
"What the hell is he talking about?" Inosuke ignored his pleas. "I'll get this one up on the tree real smoothly! You watch me as I do my work!"
His heart felt like it was about to burst out his chest. He never felt this much anxiety for a long time. The mere thought of their deaths fills him with dread.
Then everything went like a blur to Earth right now. The world around him all of a sudden moved in slow motion. He felt like something swished beside him with the feeling of heat passing through his sides. Turning his head, albeit slower, time seemed to have resumed normally and another person joined the fray.
'Fire Breathing, Fourth Form, Dancing Sears!'
He dashed at the victims' threads, leaving behind a flaming trail behind him, and slashed them off, leaving embers to burn off the rest of the threads within a matter of seconds. He goes around and does the same thing to the others as well. Earth caught all of the falling Slayers before they would crash onto the ground. The last person he saved is Ozaki and he gently put her down on the ground.
"Are you all right?" Earth soothingly asked.
Ozaki is too tired and too much in pain to actually move her head, so she had to move her eyes towards Earth's hazelnut eyes.
"I'm... okay." She weakly said more than a whisper.
"Hey listen, what's your name?" He asked.
"Ozaki..." She answered.
Earth put a hand on top of her head and flashed her one of his pure smiles. "Everything will be all right now. There's no need for you to be scared anymore. We'll handle all of it from here on out. You need to rest."
She blushed at his smile and smiled faintly from his words. Soon after, fatigue fully consumed her and she fell right asleep.
The boys' were left stunned at the quick solution to their situations. Inosuke was angry at this because he thought it would be quick and efficient if Fire used his Fire Breathing Technique in the first place.
"You came at the right moment!" Earth felt all of the weight that was building up in his chest to lift at the sight of Fire's arrival.
"I knew you would need my help, so I did what I thought I would do." Fire sheathed his sword. Earth sheathed his own and side hugged Fire for a good job well done.
"That was incredible! You managed to save them!" Tanjiro said excitedly.
"Fire, where's Murata?" Earth asked for the other Demon Slayer's whereabouts. "Did something happen to him?"
"Relax. He said he'll stay behind and look after the squad that are still alive. He's fine, I'm fine, we're fine. No worries." Fire reassured him.
"Phew, okay. Anyways, we need to catch that demon now." Earth reminded them of the task at hand here. All of them nodded, and went to go to the location of the demoness.
"No no no no no!"
Speaking of the latter, she's visibly panicking because she felt her threads burn into nothing but crisps. Her mind is full of endless possibilities of who she's dealing with. Also, she actually felt something warm brushed up against her fingers ever since she first became a demon.
"Who... is that?" She said with a tone mixed with wonder and curiosity.
Taking care of the rest of the Demon Slayers, all of them sprinted to catch the demon pulling all the strings.
"This way! I'm gonna catch up to 'em soon!" Inosuke said after he sensed the location.
"Don't get careless! We don't know what demon we're facing at the moment!" Earth calmed him down.
'Now that the wind's changed direction, my sense of smell is starting to come back! So, I'll be able to pinpoint the demon's location! There are two more scents! There!'
"Guys, over there!" Fire spotted an unusual being with his hearing senses.
"I detected that thing before all of you did!" Inosuke said as he thinks he's one step ahead of them. "I'm gonna hack its head right off!"
With that, Inosuke leapt to give a dual slash towards the demon, but when he got there, he realized a deadly mistake on his part; the demon has no head. The massive doll used its talons to deflect Inosuke's blades and he send him back to the group.
"That thing... has no head!" Inosuke exclaimed.
<><><><><>
"Nezuko-chaaaaaaan! Where are you?!" Zenitsu called out for her. Ukogi even attempted to call for her in his bird language. He eventually grew exhausted after he called for her numerous times.
"Give it a rest, Zenitsu." Water said while massaging his temples. Being around Zenitsu for too long can cause quite a bit of a headache.
"I told you we should start by looking for Tanjiro and Inosuke. The main problem is that we appeared to be lost here in this forest."
Zenitsu grabs his arm and clings on it hard. "It's a good thing you're here by my side! I'm getting real scared in this terrifying forest! I wouldn't know what to do if I were to go by myself!"
"Clearly, you did by running off on your own like that." Water reprimanded him.
"Aren't you mad at me, seeing that I left you alone back there?" Zenitsu sounded so guilty.
"No, it's fine. It happens to anyone." Water said, with a somehow sorrow tone.
"What do you mean?" Zenitsu asked, growing interested to what he meant.
Water grew silent. Zenitsu really reminded him of Gopal by a mile. He really missed his gluttony friend. They were best friends for a long time, even if BoBoiBoy gets annoyed by him all the time, but that's just a friend thing they had with each other. With Zenitsu around him, he started to see him as another best friend in replacement for Gopal, but he'll never replace his best friend's place. Zenitsu is here to only fill the role for BoBoiBoy.
"I assure you it's nothing. Please, I don't want to talk about it." Water ended with a sad note.
Zenitsu instantly regretted asking the question. He thought he just triggered a sad memory in Water and thought it was best for him not to remind him about that again.
The trees shook loudly, making the crows and bats all fly out from them. This made Zenitsu freak out.
"KYAAAAAAAAAA!"
"What the-" Water snapped in his current mood then went full alert, only to realize it was Zenitsu that screamed. He heard the caws from the crows and the screeches from the bats that flew away.
Water sighed. "Calm down. It's just the birds."
"Really?" Zenitsu blinked. "You know what? This is starting to make me really mad!"
"Whoa there. Easy, Zenitsu." Water placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.
"C'mon. Let's find them together." He smiled.
Zenitsu made a similar gesture as well then they both walked to where the path leads them. Unbeknownst to them, a big spider with a human head is seen following them.
Back to the massive doll, the latter swung its talons at the ground, creating a massive shockwave. They all managed to get away from the radius, except Fire who was flown a few yards away.
"Fire, you okay?!" Earth expressed. Fire nodded slowly then return to his feet.
"That thing's got no weak spots! I can't slash something that's not there!" Inosuke stated and begins to panic while pointing fingers at the big doll.
'Wow. I never see him this panicked before.' Earth thought.
"What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?"
Fire ran full speed to the doll. "Stand back! I'll burn this thing down in no time!"
"Don't go in there recklessly!" Earth shouted but he didn't listen. Even if Fire has grown mature, his personality hadn't.
Sword in hand, Fire jumped up and swung a vertical slash down at the massive doll's talons. The latter proved to be more stronger than the former and it pushed him back immensely. Fire collided with Earth, and together they crashed onto the ground.
"Earth! Fire!" Tanjiro shouted.
"Don't worry! That's my bad!" Fire gotten up and extended a hand to the fallen elemental.
"I told you not to go in there alone, you idiot!" Earth smacked him right behind his head.
"Now, what should we do? Do we have an idea on how to beat a massive doll that is headless?" Fire rubbed his head where Earth had smacked him. 'I deserved that...'
"Calm down! We'll inflict a monk's robe cut on it!" Tanjiro explains. "Let's try slashing from the base of its neck on the right side to his left waist!"
"Can that really work?" Earth asked.
"It'll work when we try it! I know it's a lot to cover, and I'm sure it's really tough, but I bet..."
Inosuke didn't bother to listen to his plan and did a Fire by charging at the doll carelessly.
"Hold up! In unison...!" Tanjiro couldn't reach him.
Despite Inosuke's impressive speed, the doll easily raised its talons and prepared to slice Inosuke with them.
"It's fast!" Even he indeed turned his head to the side to avoid being cut, some stray cuts found their way into his skin and bleeds it.
"But not so fast I can't dodge it!
He jinxed himself when a spider climbed onto his arm and wrapped threads around his arm.
"Crap! I forgot about the spiders!" Inosuke became completely entangled with threads, making himself unable to move. The doll readied another fatal blow to end him.
"I can't move! I'm a dead man!"
"Oh no, you don't!" Earth intercepted by using the talon's blade's edge to be deflected with Earth's sword. Fire lunged forward and dropkicked the doll, sending it forward. Tanjiro cut off the threads that were binding Inosuke. Once again, he dreams cotton balls at them while he makes those weird sounds.
"Everyone, let's fight together! Let's think together! Let's work together so we can bring down this demon!"
Fire just stared at Tanjiro. "That sounded so cheesy."
"Fire!" Earth smacked him again. "Not the time to be joking around! But yeah, Inosuke, we need all the help we can get! We'll be supporting you for delivering the final blow!"
"Damn you all! Don't make me any giddier than I already am!" Inosuke exclaimed.
The doll went into passive mode, but still makes an attempt to go for another dual talon slash at them.
"You're in my way!" Inosuke referred to Tanjiro. The latter bent over, revealing his back-his box-at him.
"Inosuke, launch yourself off me!"
He did as he was told then placed his foot on the box. The doll almost had the blades closer to Inosuke.
"Total Concentration! Earth Breathing, Seventh Form, Giga Earth Slash!" Earth had implanted his sword on the ground and making the ground shatter slightly then he ran with the sword still on the ground, making small fissures to appear on the ground and he swung towards the doll's talons, then small pillars of earth emerged as soon as he swung the sword.
The technique severed the arms in a quick fashion way, torn like ripping pieces of burnt paper. It wasn't long when Inosuke had jumped high enough to give Fire an opportune time to give his own attack straight at the demon. He doesn't want to feel left out.
"Total Concentration! Fire Breathing, First Form, Accelerated Fire Plume!" Fire had unleashed flames that imbued in his sword, this time elongating it to further get in the right length of slicing off the doll's legs. With one horizontal slash directly to the legs, and reducing them with the former legs left to be burnt.
"Now for the monk's robe cut!" Tanjiro gave the signal.
'Dammit, what the hell? This is annoying! It's all going their way, huh? It's like this was preordained or something!'
He feels the power of the flames beginning to swarm around the atmosphere from Fire's earlier technique, which makes Inosuke wonder in full curiosity.
'Exquisitely and with quick thinking, as the small ember finding its way to be stronger. It's not about going first for them, it's the battle! It's their way to know if they can succeed!'
Finishing his thoughts, blades in both hands, Inosuke brought down the finishing blow towards the doll. A diagonal slash after many consecutive strikes from all angles and body parts; that's what it's called a monk's robe cut.
The Mother Spider Demon gasped, knowing that her ultimate trump card had fallen easily to mere Demon Slayers.
"It... It can't be... There's no way..." And there she has it, there's no hope for her to make an effort to figure on how to eliminate the Slayers.
The body begins to decompose in ash, seeing that the trick had worked. All of them triumphed in victory but that was only for a short moment, except for Inosuke, who maintained in his pose in a long while.
"Inosuke?" Fire's head shot up when he sees Inosuke threw his swords away and running towards him with no warning.
"Anything you can do, I can do, too, dumbasses!"
He tackled Fire and wrapped his arms around him. This isn't for a hug, it's something. He heard Inosuke straining for a second until he felt himself getting squeezed from the escalating moment Inosuke is doing. In a blink of an eye, Fire found himself flung into the air with sheer force Inosuke just launched him.
'What's that all about?' He thought in confusion.
His ears perked up a different sound coming from the east side: the sounds of whimpering and trembling. He knew why Inosuke launched him into the air; it's for him to gain a good vantage point to scope out the demon more easier.
'So, this is what's all about, huh, Inosuke? Thanks man!'
'They got me! They got me! Even though that doll was my fastest and strongest!' The Mother Spider Demon internally frustrates her failures. 'It's Rui's fault for coming to me with his threats! That's why I panicked! I panicked! Panicked!'
"I got you!" She heard a voice coming from above and looked horrified to see Fire coming down towards her a few distance away.
'Fire Breathing, Second Form!' The pyrokinetic breathed in air to prepare for the final blow against the spider demon.
She panicked. 'He'll kill me! He'll chop off my head! Think! You have to think!'
It all happened too fast for her, first Rui comes in and gave her death threats, her previous dolls that she controlled were taken care of, then lastly her final weapon towards them were easily slain in a few minutes. Her thoughts racked up into one final note: is she really destined to be slain by a demon slayer and not just her pretend family? If that's the fate she found, then she'll embrace it with open arms.
'But... if I die, I'll be released.' Having to accept her impending death, she loosened all her threads and spread her arms open to Fire and closes her eyes, having already given up any resistance and willpower to continue fighting. 'And then, I'll know peace.'
Her display of giving up made Fire rethink his action and. Not bringing himself to kill her, he landed in front of her and sheathed his blade.
She looks at him with a confused look. "What's wrong, Demon Hunter...? Aren't you going to kill me...?"
Fire had no idea how to reply. From his perspective, she looked so happy when she's about to be killed by him. He also detected a sad tone from her voice. This made him sympathetic for the demon.
"Why did you not fight back? Even if you're a demon, why aren't you trying to fight back? You embraced your death so easily... So I don't get it."
She couldn't keep up the act any longer and she broke down, tears trailing off of her face.
"I just... want to be... free... from this hell... I call "family"...! They abused me... This family... I can't take it anymore...! I just want to be... away from it all!"
Fire just stood there. What she said is entirely true. The family she had been for years were all giving her torture every single day without any remorse whatsoever. She lives to suffer from this group who she claimed to be family.
This made him stir some empathic feelings towards this poor demon. Normally a demon would lie to try and make an escape or a distraction. But this particular demon is genuinely upset for being here.
"Why don't you run away? If you want to escape, just run away from here." Fire suggested, but was denied when she shook her head.
"I can't... because they'll always find me... and abuse me worse than you can imagine...!" Her dam broke down and she released every tear. "I just want to have a normal family! I want to feel someplace where I can belong! I want to feel love again! So please, end my life! End my misery!"
Then there she is, crying in the woods, with no one but herself, except Fire, to rely on. She can never trust anyone in her group anymore due to the things they had done to her. What has she done to deserve all of this? In fact, why had she become a demon in the first place? Was it for eternal life? Was it for everlasting beauty? Was it because of her fear of dying?
A sniff came not only from her, but Fire.
"Y-You..." Fire also had tears leaking out. The way she acted, the way her pain resonated in his ears, those aren't acting, those are real. He can somehow relate himself in a way when he was separated in his own world. His friends and family... He dearly missed them with every fiber of his being. After all, they are the very first people he practically grew up with. To share empathy with the demon is an entirely new feeling.
Then of course, there's Tanjiro. Since his arrival in this world, he had no one to be with except the dark redhead himself. Of course there are others like Urokodaki and Zenitsu that he knew, but Tanjiro is the closest he can ever have as close as family. Then there's Nezuko. Even if she and BoBoiBoy didn't knew each other deeply, Nezuko still showed her feelings of family love towards someone who is not Tanjiro for once and BoBoiBoy loved that, so much as he started seeing himself as his little sister.
"You... This is the first time... I've ever heard such sadness coming from a demon like you."
Her eyes widen in astonishment. Not from because he shares his pain with her, but the words themselves. What does he mean by that, she wondered.
"Through all the times I slay demons, I knew that demons are always lying to try to stay alive. They always find a way to retreat. They always find a way to kill me in worse possible ways."
Fire wiped his tears. "You, on the other hand... I just don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I can kill you because of you suffering from this family you call. You don't really deserve to be killed."
Once again, Fire is found in another moral dilemma. Was it all right for him to spare a demon, who just killed probably numerous humans in the past and the current? Or kill her to repent the actions she had done and atone for her sins in hell?
"You..." She stopped her tears from leaking, but the stray ones are still there and she smiled sincerely. "It's all right... Just kill me... Please... I want to be happy... if you just pull your sword... and slice my head off... It'll all be over in an instant."
Fire didn't have much of a choice now. Should he kill her...
Or let her live?
<><><><><>
I'll just cut it right here in the meantime. Okay! Now there's a choice I have to make here, but you guys can choose what you want for this.
Follow along the canon one
Or
Instead, let her live?
I know this might be an issue because this is choice based, but if no one decides to make a vote on either, then I'll personally choose the latter by default.
Why? Because I, for one, would like to spare a demon just this once. But if you all want the canon outcome, I can make it happen.
Plus, I've even spared the lives of the Demon Slayers in the forest, but only for the ones who are alive. In the anime, I really don't like how their lives just ended like that, so I've given them another chance. Was it good? I don't know...
Anyways, the next chapter will be delayed unless I need a vote from the two choices. Like I said, if no one decided yet, I'll choose the Live option.
~ja ne! :D