Daughter's smile vanished.
"Since that's how it is, then wait until—"
"WAIT?! THE GREAT INOSUKE DOESN'T DO WAITING!!!"
Swish
Inosuke had been chewing on his rage for a good while now, and every second of that conversation had been like chewing glass. He couldn't take it anymore. He DIDN'T WANT TO anymore.
He placed both swords out front, lowered his center of gravity, and launched himself toward the stream like a caged animal set loose.
"INOSUKE!" Tanjiro reached out, but his fingers only grabbed air.
Water exploded under his stomping feet, and in a blink he was already on the other bank, closing the distance.
"Die, Demon Woman! Your neck belongs to the King of the Mountain!"
Daughter's expression twisted. She retreated at full speed, feet sliding over the wet earth.
But not to fight—instead she opened her mouth and screamed:
"DADDY!!"
BOOOM
The ground shook as if something enormous had landed from way up high.
A silhouette leapt from deep in the forest and planted itself in front of Daughter.
It was a man… Or what was left of one.
Over ten feet tall. Bare torso, every inch covered in muscle beneath ash-gray skin. His arms hung down nearly to his knees, thick as tree trunks, with black veins pulsing beneath the surface.
But the worst part was the head.
There was no human face. What sat on top of that bull neck was the head of a spider, with a cluster of gleaming eyes that locked onto Inosuke with blind hunger.
"GROAAAAAAR!!!"
Roaring ferociously, "Spider Dad" brought his fist down like a demolition hammer—a blow with no technique or grace, just pure brutality.
"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Inosuke didn't dodge. He crossed both swords above his head and took the impact head-on.
CRASH!
"Ugh!!"
He went flying backward. His body bounced off the ground several times, tumbling through rocks and mud until he dug his feet in and skidded to a hard stop, leaving two grooves in the dirt.
"Now THAT'S worth fighting!"
"Be careful!" Tanjiro already had his sword drawn. He crossed the stream in a single leap and planted himself in front of Inosuke with his blade raised. "This guy's presence is completely different!"
But Spider Dad didn't even register him.
He turned his neck, and the cluster of eyes cut across the stream to fix on the other bank. On Marcus. On Ivy. On Ivy's fingers clutching Marcus's haori.
"You…" Something detonated behind those pupils. "You dare… BETRAY!!"
The scream shook the trees. Ivy let out a choked whimper and made herself small behind Marcus, as small as she could, as if she could disappear by crawling into his shadow.
Her entire body remembered what came after that voice… Every fiber remembered.
Marcus placed his hand on her head and gave her a few gentle pats, never taking his eyes off the monster on the other bank.
"Inosuke." His tone didn't change. "This big guy's yours. Tanjiro, you're coming with me."
Inosuke clicked his tongue behind the mask, but the laugh slipped out on its own: "Haha! You're mine!"
Tanjiro blinked. "Senpai…?"
"We follow that Demon until we find Rui." Marcus gestured with his chin toward the depths of the forest. Daughter had already taken advantage of the chaos to vanish into the shadows. "That's the prey that matters."
"But this demon…" Tanjiro turned his head toward Spider Dad, who had already started advancing. Each step sank into the earth. Each step made the stones in the stream tremble. "Inosuke can't handle him alone…!"
"Inosuke is more than enough." Marcus said it without a gram of doubt. "Didn't you teach him Constant Concentration Breathing?"
Tanjiro turned red to the tips of his ears. "I-I taught him…"
Technically, he'd taught him in secret. Without his master's permission. Something that still weighed on his conscience.
But he hurried to add: "But he just barely started practicing…"
"As long as he can cut its head off, that's enough. This thing has no technique, just brute force." Marcus showed no mercy. "It's the perfect chance for him to learn to use it in real combat."
He paused and glanced at him sideways.
"I could kill this thing myself in less than a second. But if every time a strong demon shows up I do the work and you two keep being dead weight… then I've got no interest in carrying you."
Tanjiro's lips twitched. "…The words 'dead weight' hurt quite a bit, senpai."
"As long as you get the point." Marcus waved his hand without looking at him and started walking toward the forest. "Inosuke, he's all yours. Have fun."
"HAHAHA!!" Inosuke raised both swords and clashed them together, sending sparks flying. "FINALLY SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING WORTH HEARING!! GET OVER HERE, UGLY BUG!!"
But Spider Dad wasn't listening to him.
He'd kept advancing through the entire conversation, and his eyes weren't aimed at Inosuke, or Tanjiro, or Marcus. They were aimed at Ivy. Only at her.
With blind, absolute fixation.
He raised both fists above his head. The muscles in his arms swelled, and a wave of pressure poured from his body like the exhale of a furnace.
"GROAAAAAAR!!!"
The furious husband's roar made the surface of the stream tremble.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" Inosuke intercepted him like a bolt of lightning. "Your opponent is ME, ass-face!"
Sword against fist. Again.
But this time Inosuke was ready. He planted his feet, clenched his teeth, and took the impact on his crossed blades—not to resist it, but to redirect it.
The moment the force lifted his feet off the ground, he let it carry him. He spun in the air like a top, converted the inertia into momentum, and slammed a heel kick right into the center of that spider face.
BAM!
Spider Dad staggered backward and instinctively answered with a lateral hook.
Ducking, Inosuke managed to dodge it, but the wind from the blow passed right over his mask and ripped out a fistful of bristles… One inch lower and it would've taken his head clean off.
"Tanjiro, we're going." Marcus had already scooped up Ivy with one arm and Nezuko with the other, and was crossing the stream in long strides without looking back.
"…"
Tanjiro clenched his teeth so hard his jaw cracked.
"Inosuke!" he shouted over his shoulder as he broke into a run. "Be careful!"
"Get out of here, don't get in my way!" was all the answer he needed.
Inosuke gripped both swords with renewed strength and planted himself in Spider Dad's path, who had already taken a step to chase after them.
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE LOOKING?!" He roared in his face. "THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN IS RIGHT HERE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!"
He charged.
The serrated swords danced like living things—no pattern, no logic, not a single move that could be predicted. His technique was rough. But what he lacked in form he made up for in ferocity, in that animal brutality that didn't hesitate, that simply attacked as if death was something that happened to other people.
And there was something else. Something new.
The breathing.
The Constant Concentration that Tanjiro had taught him. It was uneven—it slipped away every three strikes and he had to catch it again. But when he held it, his muscles responded faster, his reflexes sharpened, and Spider Dad's blows that would've been impossible to dodge before sailed right past him.
Ivy, resting on Marcus's shoulder as they moved away, couldn't stop watching.
Her eyes were wide open, and so was her mouth.
That boar boy… the same one Marcus had immobilized in the air with a gesture… was fighting toe to toe against him… Against the "abuser" who had always been invincible to her.
If the boar was that strong…
And Marcus controlled him like it was nothing… how strong was Marcus?
She tightened her fingers against the fabric of his haori, and for the first time since she could remember, she thought that maybe… the choice she'd made wasn't the wrong one.
…
Marcus moved through the trees with Tanjiro on his heels and Ivy curled up in his arms.
Daughter's trail was easy to follow, but they weren't going very fast on purpose.
Ivy, at first, was stiff as a board in his arms, but the minutes passed and Marcus didn't let go, and little by little she gave in. She snuck a furtive glance at Marcus's face. Then another. And on the third, with guilty shyness, she rested her cheek against his shoulder.
BUT THAT WAS A MISTAKE!
Because Marcus had been concealing his presence the entire time. Suppressing the scent of his blood, the fragrance that drove demons insane.
But concealing wasn't the same as eliminating, and with her nose pressed directly against his neck, inches from the skin, inches from the vein…
Ivy's eyes turned red in an instant.
Saliva flooded her mouth and rational thought melted away like wax:
'He smells so good~… I want to eat him. I-I can't… I can't help wanting to… I…'
Her pupils dilated and her jaws opened. Her fangs descended and she leaned toward Marcus's exposed neck—
"Mmh!?"
A bamboo tube suddenly appeared between her teeth.
She bit down involuntarily and the taste of wood exploded on her tongue, and consciousness slammed back into her all at once, like waking from a dream she didn't remember falling into.
She blinked. Looked at the tube. Looked at Marcus.
"Bite it." Marcus whispered, not caring that she'd nearly bitten his neck. "Nezuko's lending it to you for a while."
On the other side of the embrace, Nezuko puffed out her cheeks in an indignant pout. That was her bamboo!
But Marcus planted a quick kiss on her cheek and she laughed happily, the pout forgotten.
"Senpai, up ahead!" Tanjiro exclaimed suddenly, covering his nose.
The nauseating stench in the air had grown even more intense.
At the same time, from a clearing ahead, came a woman's scream.
They picked up speed. Branches whipped their faces and arms, and in three seconds they burst into the clearing.
And then, they saw that scene…
Daughter was on her knees.
She had both hands pressed against her face, but it was no use. Blood gushed between her fingers like water, falling in threads that pooled on the ground and stained it a dark red.
Her entire body was convulsing, but she didn't move. She didn't run. She didn't raise her head.
…She didn't dare.
Standing in front of her was a boy.
Twelve years old. Maybe thirteen. White hair, white skin, white kimono. Barefoot on the bloodstained earth as if it were wet grass after the rain. His features were fine, almost pretty—the kind of face a mother would have caressed with tenderness.
But those eyes were empty. Not cruel, not furious, not sadistic. Empty of emotion.
And with his small fingers, he was peeling something from Daughter's face… Skin.
The skin of her face.
Piece by piece, with patience. Each pull tore away a thin sheet of dermis with the flesh still clinging to it.
Daughter convulsed from the pain. Each pull drew a strangled whimper from her that died in her throat before it could become a scream.
She wasn't allowed to scream.
"How many times have I told you?" The boy's voice was perfectly serene. "Family members should trust each other… Help each other… Protect each other." He tore off another piece. "And what do you do? You let Mama escape and on top of that, you lead the enemy right to us."
"I'm—I'm sorry… Rui…" Daughter couldn't finish her words anymore. "I'll… I'll go bring her back…"
"No need."
Rui. Lower Moon Five. Slowly raised his head and looked toward the edge of the clearing.
His gaze settled on Ivy, in Marcus's arms.
"She's already here."
___
Hi everyone! Did you miss me?
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