While we were walking I noticed that there was an abnormal amount of spider webs and spiders.
"What the hell is this?" Inosuke asked and I looked over Tanjiro's shoulder since I was at the back of the group.
"Spider webs?" Tanjiro questioned looking around.
"Don't be fooled by them, something isn't right about them. Normally it would be the spider's aura I would see over the webs but it isn't, it's one of the demon's auras that are all over the webs" I warned them and they nodded.
"Inosuke," Tanjiro called out.
"What do you want?" He asked going on guard.
"Thanks. When you said that you'd come with me, I was glad" Tanjiro smiled.
"That twisted and ominous scent and the aura that Hikaru was seeing on this mountain, I was a little scared. So thank you, and thank you as well, Hikaru" Tanjiro said. Inosuke once more got that happy, joyful aura around him which made me want to just bundle him up and hug him.
"We have company" I said gesturing with my head towards another human, he was wearing a Demon Slayer uniform so he was friendly but if what I thought was happening then I couldn't trust him quite yet.
"Let's go" Tanjiro said and we headed towards the boy. When Tanjiro went to grab his shoulder the other Demon slayer swung around and that was when I noticed that his aura was filled with nothing but fear.
"We're here to help. I'm Kamado Tanjiro, Rank mizunoto" Tanjiro introduced.
"Mizunoto....Mizunoto? Why didn't they send a Hashira? No matter how many mizunoto they send, it won't help. It's pointless" The guy said his fear spiking twice as bad. At least until Inosuke punched the guy in the face, making Tanjiro scream his name.
"Shut up! As far as pointlessness goes, your existence itself has no point at all! Now tell us what's going on you weakling!" Inosuke scowled.
"Enough! We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves! Feeling fear is not weak" I snarled out grabbing Inosuke's arm making him let the boy go.
"Now then, can you explain what happened?" I asked gently.
"Th-the crow gave us the order! And ten of us Demon Slayers came here. Not long after we entered the mountain, some of the members started to. They started killing each other. I...I" The guy sobbed.
"You did well to return, so most of my children have been slaughtered? And you have reported that there's a twelve kizuki there. It seems I'll have to send in the Hashira" A man said, the same one from after the Final Selection, with Kuro resting on his lap exhausted.
"Giyu, Shinobu," The man said.
"Understood," Giyu and the woman named Shinobu said together.
"If only humans and demons could get along, don't you agree, Tomioka?" Shiobu asked.
"Impossible as long as demons eat humans," Giyu answered without blinking.
"What is this sound?" Tanjiro asked as we heard a sound, much like the sound a swing's ropes would make.
"Not again! It's this sound again! I heard this sound and the next thing I knew everyone started killing each other!" The boy with us said.
"Where's it coming from?" Tanjiro asked.
"To the right" I said and we turned to see a Demon Slayer walking towards us, no there were four of them. There was something strange about them, their auras were all dull and grey, they weren't alive anymore.
"These guys are all morons! They don't know that it's prohibited for Demon Slayers to fight each other!" Inosuke insulted the other demon slayers.
"No! They are already dead, none of these people are alive anymore, they are being controlled by something. There are others out there still alive but these ones are dead" I said. I heard Tanjiro telling Inosuke that we couldn't harm our comrades' corpses but I was busy dodging and keeping the guy we had met back safe.
"Their back, it's the spider webs and they are being controlled by them" I announced and Tanjiro slashed one of the guys' threads. Before I could even move to attack the webs Inosuke already dashed threw and did it for me.
"I already knew that before you caught on!" Inosuke boasted. We could keep cutting threads all the time but they would just be remade by the spiders that were crawling around, we needed to find the demon that the sickly black-purple colour belonged to. Glancing at my arms I smirked behind my mask, six demons with seperate auras. Wonder what would happen if they found out a Marechi was on the mountain? Moving quickly while Tanjiro was looking around for the demon I cut both of my arms and allowed my blood to run down my arms. If what I had been told and witnessed was to be trusted the smell of my blood would attract the demons as well as drive them to devour me. Even if they managed to bite me or drink some of my blood it would drive them insane as it killed them from the inside out.
"Pay attention Tanjiro, I know that you are probably picking up on the horrid aura that I am seeing but you need to stay focused" I said as I cut the threads that two spiders had attached to Tanjiro's arm.
"Hikaru is right, it's not enough to just cut the threads! The spiders will just spin more threads so" Tanjiro started to explain before holding his nose and I winced as one of the auras brightened more.
"So all we have to do is kill those spiders," Inosuke noted.
"That would be impossible! Those spiders are tiny and I'm sure there are tons of them! We gotta find the demon that's controlling them" Tanjiro said and Inosuke started to stab spiders. Truth be told I could probably destroy most of the spiders but for every spider I killed there would be another one to take its place.
"Inosuke, do you have some way to pinpoint the demon's location? I can't follow the auras in this forest because of how many there are, so please help Tanjiro find them. Also..." I said, waiting for the other guy to tell me his name.
"It's Murata!" He yelled.
"Murata and I will find a way to deal with people being controlled, while you two get to it" I ordered. Suddenly sensing the aura that was clouding the other auras I looked up to see a boy, a little younger in age then myself standing on the spider webs. Not just a boy, a demon and a very strong one at that, the strongest I had ever seen second only to Muzan.
"Don't disturb my family's peaceful life" He warned. Peaceful life? Family? If this demon truly had a family on this mountain and had a peaceful life then why was his aura coated in such a deep rooted sadness that it was making me tear up.
"Mother will kill you all right away, except for you Marechi" The boy said, looking straight at me and I tightened my hold on my blade. This made his eyes flick to my sword and I saw fear enter his aura before he managed to push it to the side.
"Wait" I called as Inosuke tried to reach the boy but fell short of hitting him, the boy on the other hand never moved his eyes from looking at me.
"We need to deal with the demon that we have in front of us" Tanjiro called as Inosuke started to yell for the boy to fight him.
"You want me to find where that demon's at right? Shut up already forehead, fox" Inosuke yelled while stabbing his swords into the ground.
"Beast breathing, Seventh Form: Spatial awareness!" Inosuke said and I let out a cry as I was blinded as Inosuke's aura spread all around us. Luckily I had trained myself in case anything ever happened to my eyes or aura sight so I was fine to continue dodging and fighting the Demon Slayers bodies.
"Got it! Found you" Inosuke said.
