Inosuke stood there, chest heaving, eyes locked on the headless demon as irritation boiled inside him.
Tiny spiders swarmed at his feet, silk threads dragging across his skin, tangling his movements. Their interference had cost him—while he struggled to keep his footing, the demon's bladed arm had sliced a long gash across his side.
He flexed hard, clamping down on the wound until the bleeding slowed. The sting only sharpened his focus. Pain never made him retreat.
He had grown up in the mountains. Out there, showing weakness meant dying.
So he never did.
Injured. Cornered. Even half-dead—he would never let an enemy see fear.
Only the strong survived.
And he would be stronger than anyone.
He would be the King of the Mountains.
The headless demon lunged again.
Inosuke sucked in a breath. Behind the boar mask, his eyes gleamed wild.
"No head? Then I'll tear out your heart! And if that doesn't work—I'll shred you to pieces! Beast Breathing: Fifth Fang — Frenzied Tear!"
His jagged blades exploded outward. Wind roared around him, ripping through silk and spider alike, shredding everything in his path. He pivoted and shot up the trunk of a nearby tree, feet pounding against bark. Then he launched himself skyward, every muscle straining as he twisted midair—
and came crashing down like a falling beast.
From above, Inosuke plunged straight down.
The headless demon reacted instantly. Its arms morphed into blades and crossed upward, thrusting to skewer him mid-descent—
—but Inosuke's serrated swords bit first.
Steel screamed against steel. The jagged edges sheared clean through the demon's bladed arms.
Before gravity could drag him past, Inosuke twisted, bending his leg at an inhuman angle and stomping down on the demon's shoulder. Using it as a springboard, he kicked off and flipped, body coiling tight. His arms crossed overhead—
—and came down in a savage arc.
Under the moonlight, the twin blades flashed blue-gray.
They split the demon from crown to groin.
Inosuke didn't wait to watch it die. As the body began to disintegrate, he pushed off it one last time and shot into the forest, chasing the faint thread of presence he'd sensed earlier.
The trees thinned.
A white-haired female demon stood ahead.
"So it was you pulling the strings!" he barked. "Wave after wave—what a pain! Because of you, I lost that blond! Did you really think I wouldn't track you down?!"
Broken strands of thread still clung to her fingers. Her eyes widened, shock cracking through her composure.
"How…? That was the strongest puppet…"
Inosuke didn't slow.
He lunged.
His blades fell.
She didn't even manage a proper defense.
As her body dissolved into ash, Inosuke scratched absently at his boar mask.
"…Huh?"
A flicker of doubt crept in.
"Didn't even fight back? Was she an idiot or—? Huh? Thunder?"
A low rumble rolled through the forest.
It wasn't the sky.
The sound carried unnaturally far, vibrating through the trees.
Elsewhere, the Kamado siblings paused as well. Having just finished cutting open the last of the white spheres, they both looked up.
Takeo glanced at the clear, moonlit sky. "That didn't sound like rain."
Nezuko's gaze lingered on the scattered remains at their feet. "If it were rain, we'd be at a disadvantage," she said quietly. "But this… feels different."
She exhaled softly, sorrow flickering across her face as she looked at the exposed skeletons.
"There's no time to bury them. We need to regroup with Zenitsu and the others."
Takeo nodded—
Then his expression shifted.
His body moved before thought could follow.
He lunged and shoved Nezuko aside.
An instant later—
BOOM.
The ground where he'd been standing exploded inward. Earth and splintered roots blasted into the air, dust swallowing the clearing.
A massive shape tore through the haze.
A towering demon with a spider's face surged forward, arm swinging.
Takeo barely brought his blade up in time.
The impact was crushing.
His arms screamed as the force hurled him backward, boots carving trenches through the soil before he was thrown clear.
The demon landed heavily and launched again without pause.
Nezuko stepped in—A white blur snapped toward her.
She twisted away, narrowly avoiding the strike, and only then noticed another figure standing between the trees—a small, pale girl-shaped demon watching from a distance.
Nezuko's eyes flicked to Takeo.
He had regained his footing. He was moving again, keeping the larger demon engaged—buying time.
That was enough.
She turned and sprinted toward the girl.
The girl spun and fled.
Nezuko was already moving.
She dipped the tip of her Nichirin Blade and swept upward in one smooth motion, steel tracing a clean arc. The strike opened the girl's back, fabric and flesh parting beneath the peach-colored edge.
The demon shrieked.
"Father!"
Malice flooded her eyes.
Nezuko didn't hesitate. She stepped in, blade driving straight for the kill—
A ripping roar tore through the air behind her.
"Don't touch my family!"
The voice was deep. Violent.
The killing intent hit like ice down her spine.
Nezuko felt it.
Felt the weight of something massive closing in.
She did not turn.
Instead, her wrist shifted—angle corrected, edge sharpened, speed increased.
If something was coming for her—Then she would end this first.
Behind her—Impact.
The ground trembled.
"You're the one who should stay away from my sister, you bastard!"
The girl's breath caught.
The boy had thrown himself at the towering demon without a flicker of doubt.
Steel clashed.
Takeo's arms trembled under the force of the father demon's blow. His boots dug into the earth as he held it back—just long enough.
Teeth clenched, he forced the blade upward, twisted through the recoil, and turned his whole body into the cut.
Moonlight gathered along the edge.
A single, clean arc—
—and the father demon's head separated from its body.
Silence followed.
Fear finally took hold of the girl.
Her Blood Demon Art demanded time between uses. She had just unleashed it.
Now, she was weaker than she had ever been.
Rage twisted her face.
"What are you doing? Letting some brat cut off your head! Dad, you're useless!"
A violent rush of air slammed into Nezuko's back.
She bared her teeth and used the force instead of resisting it, driving herself forward. The distance vanished in a heartbeat. Her pink eyes burned, bright and unyielding.
"If you truly understood what family means—you would trust that he'd come for you.
You wouldn't watch him die protecting you—and then curse him for it."
Her voice cut sharper than steel.
"You're the one disgracing the word 'family.'"
The blade fell.
Peach-colored light burst across the girl's vision, swallowing the forest.
For a fleeting instant, crimson plum blossoms bloomed before her eyes.
Then the world tilted.
Her body was falling.
So this… was death.
As the blossoms scattered into nothingness, her gaze drifted downward.
She saw the girl who had condemned her moments ago—eyes trembling with tears—throw herself toward the boy who had collapsed after the strike.
Jealousy.
Envy.
They burned hotter than fear.
Because above them—she saw him.
A small, thin figure suspended in midair.
The strongest one.
[Aren't… we family?]
[Why didn't you come save me?]
He didn't look at her.
Not once.
His face glowed with pure delight as he watched the siblings.
Understanding came too late.
[Ah… that's right.]
[We were only pretending to be family.]
Darkness swallowed her.