*•Crystals in the Moonlight•* a Demon Slayer fanfiction

Chapter 15: Arachnid Family

Those spiders must be controlling their movements!

"There must be some sort of puppet master behind these strings.."

"Get away while you still can! I was never this strong before!"

"Please...just finish us off. Every time I'm...forced to move...I can feel bones piercing...against my organs. Please..."

"Just kill me...already."

—————

"Not a problem!" Inosuke said as he sprinted towards them without hesitation. "Inosuke, wait! Yes they're desperate but let's at least try to free them!" I called out.

We can't keep cutting the threads because they'll just come back! There must be some kind of trick into preventing that from happening!

Swinging their blades with broken arms, the slayers attacked my boar-headed companion and I. "These guys are asking to be killed! They're speedy too! We'll probably be the ones dead if we're caught napping!" Inosuke said as he jumped back.
"Any ideas...Tanjiro?!" I asked as he suddenly took off, the controlled woman following close behind. He quickly stopped and turned around, thrusting himself forward as he threw the woman up in the air as the strings came down onto a tree branch, with her dangling there.
"It worked! The threads are tangled up now, so they can't grow back!" He said with a smile.

Inosuke stared at him, "Wha...What the hell was up with that?! Now I wanna do that too!"
One of the male slayers chased him down as Inosuke came back around and threw him up as well, hanging on another branch. He laughed as he pointed at Tanjiro. "Did ya see that?! Anything you can do, I can do better!"

"Sorry, I missed it!" Tanjiro replied back as the two of us held back the last controlled victim. As Inosuke was about to tackle the victim, two threads controlling his head violently twisted backwards, snapping the neck and killing him instantly. Tanjiro and I's eyes widened in terror as the remaining two up in the trees necks were snapped by strings as well. I covered my mouth in shock of the sight that just unfolded. "Dammit! Now they're all dead!" Inosuke shouted.

The forest fell silent as I felt my eyes stinging with tears, Tanjiro knelt down to the body and closed his eyes. I kneeled beside him as I put my hands around his shoulders. He placed his scarred hand on my own as if to tell me "Its alright, they're in a better place now and can rest easy."
He opened his eyes as we rose to our feet again, "Let's keep moving." "Yeah, good idea." Inosuke replied. I nodded back as Tanjiro gently squeezed my hand before letting go, blinking back my tears. And with that, we continued our search deeper into the forest for the demon in control.

———

"There's something nearby!"
Inosuke leaped through the bushes to attack the oncoming obstacle, but avoided it for some reason. Tanjiro and I came out from behind him as our obstacle came into view. A tall, muscular figure with golden blades replacing the forearms, but the strange and terrifying thing was that there was no head atop the shoulders. "What the...?" I gazed at the demon in fear and confusion.

One of their blade arms came thrashing down, but the three of us dodged as the metal pummeled into the ground. "This guy's got no weak spots! I can't hit anything that ain't there!" Inosuke groaned, pointing at the webbed enemy. "What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?" "Stay calm! There must be some kind of way to inflict damage! Maybe from the base of the neck?" I suggested. "Good thinking, Y/N. A monk's robe cut might do the trick! It's a lot to cover, but it's possible-" Tanjiro was interrupted as Inosuke charged directly at the headless demon.

They barely missed Inosuke's head when he dodged, a few strands of boar fur were sliced off. But he was ever so quickly cut on his arms and torso, "This guy's tough, but I'm still quick enough to swing around him!" He said as he suddenly came to a stop. "Crap! I forgot about the spiders! I can't move!" Inosuke was trapped in threads as the headless figure swung one of his blade arms directly at him.
But just in the nick of time, I jumped in front of the boar-headed slayer, my katana sliding down the rounded, but still sharp blade of that was the demon's forearm.

Tanjiro came to free Inosuke from the threads as he started making a weird noise I assumed was astonishment.
"We should be fighting together Inosuke! With Tanjiro's plan, we can take this guy out in no time! So could you please try and cooperate with us?!" I asked, a hint of frustration in my tone of voice. "Damn you both! Quit making me more giddy than I already am!" Inosuke yelled back. "Launch yourself off Tanjiro and take out the demon's arms! We'll deal with their lower body!" I requested as I got into position to attack.

Inosuke thrust himself off Nezuko's box and effortlessly chopped the demon's blade arms. Using my 1st form, and Tanjiro using his 4th, we took out the knees as the headless body slid from their lower leg. "Now for the monk's robe cut, Inosuke!" Tanjiro shouted as Inosuke came back down and delivered the final blow. The body began to wither away as our faces lit up. "You did it, Inosuke! That slash was perfect!" Tanjiro and I smiled with relief. However, Inosuke didn't move a muscle. "Inosuke...?" We stared at him with confusion as he came to his feet.

He suddenly threw his serrated blades aside and charged toward us. "Like I said, whatever you can do, I can do better, dumbass!" He then tackled Tanjiro, and with all his might, he threw him up into the night sky. "Inosuke! What the hell..." I started, but I realized that this was a plan for Tanjiro to take out the demon in control. I saw him twist his body through the air as he fell through the nearby trees. I chased after him until I came to a clearing through the bushes and saw her.

A beautiful demon, with hair and skin white as the snow, reached out to the sky above. Tanjiro came down in a graceful landing, as his blade ever so delicately sliced through her neck. "Blessed Rain After the Drought." I exhaled. Similar to my Translucent Slumber, the demon feels no pain when killed, only peace and warmth.

Her head came falling onto the forest floor as Tanjiro gazed upon her. His beautiful eyes gave a look of kindness but also sadness and grief.
Ever so slightly, I heard the female's final words.

"There is a member of the Twelve Kizuki here. Please, be careful."

Her severed head faded into the night, a single tear dropping onto the gravel.

Hi readers! Hope you enjoyed Chapter 15! I've been having a bit of procrastination issues these past few weeks, I'm so sorry this chapter was late (at least I think it's late idk). But for now I hope you all are doing well and staying safe out there! Have a lovely day/night!

-Emily*

Word Count: 1211 words