The three of them ran without stopping.
From sunrise to sunset, they followed the fading light across country roads and forest paths, chasing the last red edge of dusk until night swallowed the sky.
At last, they arrived.
Mount Natagumo.
The mountain rose ahead of them like a dark beast crouched beneath the moon. Dense trees covered its slopes, their branches tangled together until the forest seed sealed shut. Even from the foot of the mountain, the air felt wrong—too quiet, too damp, too heavy with the sll of blood.
Before any of them could speak, Tanjiro spotted soone on the path ahead.
A young man in a Demon Slayer Corps uniform lay face down in the dirt. His fingers clawed weakly at the ground, his shoulders trembling. He was still alive.
He raised his head with great effort, tears streaking down his dirt-covered face.
"S-Save …"
"A Demon Slayer Corps mber!"
Tanjiro rushed forward at once, with Inosuke and Zenitsu close behind.
At that mont, Alex's voice sounded from within Asuramaru.
"Stop. There are threads on him. They're almost invisible. This may be a trap."
Tanjiro's steps slowed.
He narrowed his eyes and focused.
Under the moonlight, sothing glead faintly over the fallen swordsman's back—thin, translucent strands stretched taut like spider silk. They were so fine that ordinary eyes might never have noticed them.
Tanjiro drew Asuramaru without hesitation.
The sword flashed.
With one clean sweep, every thread was severed.
Only then did Tanjiro kneel beside the young man.
"Are you all right? What happened inside the mountain?"
The Demon Slayer stared at his freed body, then at Tanjiro, as if he had just been dragged back from the edge of death. He nearly pressed his forehead to the ground in gratitude before blurting out everything in a shaking voice.
"We were sent here by a Kasugai Crow… Ten of us entered the mountain together. But after we got inside, my teammates suddenly started killing each other…"
His voice cracked.
"I was at the rear. I only escaped because I ran faster than the others. Don't go in! Please, don't go in! Unless you're a Hashira, it won't matter how many people go. They'll all die!"
The scent of demons hung thick in the air.
Blood. Fear. Rot.
Tanjiro's expression did not waver.
"We ca here to support you. Don't worry."
Inosuke stepped forward, drawing both of his chipped Nichirin swords with a grin hidden beneath his boar mask.
"I'll take the lead! You lot can tremble behind !"
Zenitsu, in contrast, was already crouched on the ground, hugging himself as if his soul had attempted to flee without his body.
"This is bad. This is really bad. Can we not go in? Please? Maybe the mountain is full. Maybe they don't accept visitors tonight."
"No," Tanjiro said.
The answer was imdiate.
Zenitsu's face twisted in despair, but after a mont, he forced himself to stand. Terrified or not, he understood one thing very clearly.
Staying near Tanjiro was the safest choice.
The three of them turned toward the dark forest.
A breath later, Inosuke charged in first.
Tanjiro followed.
Zenitsu, with the expression of a man walking to his own funeral, stumbled after them.
Behind them, the rescued Demon Slayer remained on the path, watching their backs disappear into the trees.
The forest swallowed them whole.
The mont they entered Mount Natagumo, Alex's enhanced Perception spread outward. A thousand ters of darkness unfolded before him—trees, insects, birds, humans, and demons, all carried through the senses as distinct presences.
There were demons.
Several of them.
Their strength was not especially high, at least not compared to what Tanjiro had already fought. For the current Tanjiro, they would not be difficult to handle.
Even so, Alex did not relax.
He had learned one thing very quickly in this world.
Never trust a demon's weakness until its head was gone.
"Keep going straight," Alex said. "You'll run into a demon soon."
"Thank you."
Tanjiro nodded, then spoke to the two behind him.
"The demon is straight ahead."
"I'll chop it into pieces!" Inosuke barked, then imdiately began shaking his arms and legs in irritation. "But what's with all these spiderwebs? They're everywhere!"
Sticky white strands clung to his sleeves, his mask, even the edges of his swords.
Zenitsu trailed behind them with a pale face, looking as if every web that brushed his cheek had shortened his lifespan.
Tanjiro took the lead this ti.
They had not gone far when they ca across another surviving Demon Slayer Corps mber. The young swordsman was injured and frightened, but alive. Tanjiro had barely exchanged a few words with him when a strange rustling ca from deeper in the woods.
Several figures stepped out from between the trees.
They wore Demon Slayer Corps uniforms.
But their movents were wrong.
Their limbs jerked stiffly, their heads hung at unnatural angles, and their eyes were empty. They moved like puppets dragged forward by unseen hands.
Alex's Perception shifted.
A stronger demonic aura was approaching.
He spoke at once.
"Don't waste ti on the ones being controlled. Kill the demon behind this first. Sothing troubleso is coming."
A brief pause.
"The controlling demon is to your left."
Tanjiro's gaze sharpened.
If Asuramaru called it troubleso, then it would not be weaker than Kamanue.
That ant another mber of the Twelve Kizuki might be nearby.
"I understand."
He turned to Inosuke and Zenitsu.
"I'm going to take down the demon controlling them. I'll leave this place to you!"
Before either of them could respond, Tanjiro kicked off the ground and shot toward the left.
Anyone who blocked his path had their threads cut in a single stroke. The controlled Demon Slayers stumbled free behind him, collapsing as soon as the threads released them, unable to slow him for even a heartbeat.
Then he saw a girl.
She was being dragged forward by threads, sword in hand. Her body moved against her will. Behind her and at her feet lay the corpses of several Demon Slayer Corps mbers.
Tears stread down her face.
"Run…" she choked out. "Please, run… My body won't listen to …"
Before she could finish, her arm snapped upward and her legs carried her forward.
She lunged at Tanjiro with her sword.
A vein rose on Tanjiro's forehead.
He moved.
The sword in his hand passed through the air, and the threads binding her were severed at once. The girl collapsed behind him, but Tanjiro did not stop.
He pressed deeper into the forest.
The farther he went, the worse it beca.
More Demon Slayers appeared, controlled in the sa manner. So had their limbs bent at grotesque angles. Others were already covered in blood, their bodies forced to continue fighting even after they should have fallen.
Tanjiro's grip tightened.
"You monster…"
His voice was low, but the anger in it burned hotter than any shout.
"You're playing with people's lives."
Inside the sword, Alex added fuel without rcy.
"Then release it. Let all that anger out."
This ti, Tanjiro did not answer with words.
His body answered for him.
He flashed forward and tore the threads off two more Demon Slayers in an instant.
Beyond them stood a headless corpse.
It had been altered. Its hands had been replaced with two golden blades, and its body was swollen with grotesque muscle. The thing moved like a puppet, every motion controlled by threads from sowhere deeper in the forest.
Tanjiro exhaled heavily.
"Water Breathing—Third Form: Flowing Dance."
His figure glided forward in a rippling rhythm.
Water seed to trail along his sword as he moved. In the space of a breath, the headless puppet and the threads attached to it were cut apart.
Not far away, hidden among the trees, the demon controlling them trembled.
She was pale, with red markings scattered across her face, and she wore a kimono that made her seem almost delicate—if not for the bloodlust and fear twisted through her scent. Her figure would have been more than enough to make Zenitsu die a theatrical death from blood loss.
But at that mont, there was no arrogance on her face.
Only panic.
"What do I do…? What do I do…?"
Her fingers twitched against the threads.
"Why is this Demon Slayer so strong? Those earrings… is he the one That Lord wants dead?"
She wanted to run.
But Tanjiro was already too close.
"At this distance, I can't escape. I'm dead. My neck is going to be cut…"
The thought of death terrified her.
And yet, the mont Tanjiro's figure broke through the trees and ca toward her, sothing in her chaotic mind cleared.
If I die here…
Will I finally be free from this hell?
mories of everything she had endured on this mountain flashed through her mind.
The fear.
The control.
The punishnt.
The twisted imitation of family.
Her hands lowered.
Then, as if accepting the only rcy left to her, she raised them slightly and stopped resisting.
She chose death.
Tanjiro saw it.
His pupils contracted.
For a demon who had willingly accepted the end, there was only one kindness he could offer.
"Water Breathing—Fifth Form: Blessed Rain After the Drought."
This strike carried no raging current.
No killing intent.
No violent wave.
Only rain.
Gentle water shimred around the sword, soft as a spring shower brushing against skin. Tanjiro passed by her without cruelty, without hesitation, and landed behind her.
The demon's head fell.
There was no pain.
As her head touched the ground, her fading eyes t Tanjiro's.
His gaze held neither hatred nor disgust. There was only pity, quiet and sincere. It was not forgiveness. It was not absolution. It was simply the final compassion he could give to a life that had already been ruined.
The demon stared at him.
Sothing in her expression softened.
Before she vanished, she whispered,
"There are… four mbers of the Twelve Kizuki lying in wait for you here…"
Her voice thinned with the wind.
"Be careful…"
Then her body crumbled into ash.
"Four?"
Tanjiro froze.
Even Alex, inside the sword, was caught off guard.
Only four mbers of the Twelve Kizuki?
Most of them were probably Lower Moons.
Muzan, who exactly are you looking down on?
I have the great general Tanjiro Kamado here, slayer of the Twelve Kizuki.
Jokes aside, Alex's Perception had already caught another aura moving closer.
One of them was coming.
Fast.
"Tanjirou," Alex warned, "that one is almost here. Straight ahead."
Tanjiro's thoughts snapped back into focus.
He gripped Asuramaru with both hands. His breathing grew heavy and controlled, ready to turn into a sword technique at the slightest movent.
Then his nose caught it.
A dangerous scent.
From the shadows between the trees, a boy around his height stepped out quietly beneath the moonlight.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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