With Tanjiro thrown clear into the trees, Inosuke found himself alone by the riverbank, facing down the massive demon standing just a few paces off.
For the first time in longer than he could remember, he felt something close to real fear.
That brief exchange a moment ago had already made the gap between their strength painfully obvious. Whatever this thing was, it operated on an entirely different level.
He hesitated — fight, or fall back?
Then Tanjiro's last words surfaced in his mind, along with the memory of how that scrawny-looking kid never once stopped pushing forward, never gave up on anything.
Something competitive flared up in him at that.
"Hmph." He grinned under the mask. "So what if forehead-boy isn't here? I can still take you down myself."
He leveled both blades at the Demon Father. "Let's see which one's harder — your arm, or my swords."
He charged.
It didn't take long to realize brute force alone wasn't going to work. The demon's body was too strong for that.
He needed a different angle. Instead of swinging both blades together, he split the attack — one blade to open a gap, the other to finish it.
At about five meters out, he launched off the riverbank, his right blade swinging for the demon's arm.
Exactly as expected, the arm came up to block.
The blade bit into flesh — and stopped. The muscle underneath was too dense; the blade only sank a few inches deep.
Inosuke's eyes narrowed. "Now!"
He grabbed his second blade and drove it down against the first, again and again, forcing the trapped edge deeper with every strike.
Pain flashed across the Demon Father's face.
Finally, the arm came free entirely, blood spraying across the ground.
He let out a furious roar, stumbled back — then, unexpectedly, turned and fled into the trees.
Inosuke laughed, loud. "Hah! See that? Don't need forehead-boy for this — I can take you down myself!"
He followed the blood trail without hesitation, eventually breaking into a clearing — only to find the demon nowhere in sight.
He closed his eyes, letting his Spatial Awareness spread out across the clearing.
Then he found it. Above him, hidden in the branches of a large tree.
"Found you!" He pointed a blade upward. "Get down here, ugly spider. Hiding 'cause you're scared?"
The Demon Father dropped slowly down from the branches, fury plain in its eyes.
Then Inosuke noticed something wrong.
Chunks of hardened black flesh were peeling off the demon's body under the moonlight, almost like it was shedding its own skin.
His eyes went wide. *It's molting.*
The wounds from before vanished entirely. Its muscles thickened. Its whole body grew denser.
This was the demon's true strength, finally surfacing.
By the time the transformation finished, it landed heavily in front of him, the sheer weight of its presence making the air itself feel thick.
Its skin had darkened. Its muscle sat harder, denser than before. The missing arm had grown back completely. Sharp spines now lined its whole body.
This wasn't the same opponent from a minute ago.
It looked at him — and moved.
A fist shot out, too fast to fully track. Inosuke barely got his arms up in time.
The impact sent him flying, pain exploding through both arms on contact — enough that for a second he genuinely wondered if the bones had shattered. The force kept traveling through his whole body, doing damage even his breathing couldn't fully absorb.
He crashed through the trees, slammed into a trunk, and hit the ground.
Everything went dark for a moment.
Years surviving in the mountains had left him tougher than any ordinary person, and slowly, awareness crept back.
The Demon Father was already moving through the woods, searching for him.
Inosuke forced himself up. His blades had landed nearby — he grabbed them, understanding plainly, by now, that he couldn't win this outright. The gap between them was too wide. His only real option was to run.
Then Tanjiro's voice surfaced in his head again.
If he ran now — would Tanjiro look down on him for it? And if Tanjiro came looking for him afterward, would he end up facing this thing alone instead?
The thought alone froze him in place.
"No." He gritted his teeth. "I'm not running. Tanjiro said he'd come. That idiot always keeps his word." He tightened his grip on both blades. "I just have to last until then."
The Demon Father reappeared. Their eyes met.
Inosuke charged — arms already damaged, strength already cut down — and attacked anyway.
The demon swung. Inosuke leapt, using its own arm as a springboard to flip over its body.
"Beast Breathing! Third Fang: Devour!"
He crossed both blades, aimed at the demon's throat, and pulled back hard, the serrated edges biting into the neck.
Then his expression changed.
The blades wouldn't go through. The neck held like solid steel, the muscle underneath too dense to cut.
A sharp crack — both swords shattered.
Inosuke froze. His weapons. His one real chance. Gone, just like that.
Before he could recover, the demon's fist caught him square in the chest.
He went flying again, slamming into a tree on the far bank. Blood filled his mouth, a sharp metallic taste spreading down his throat, dripping from under his mask.
The Demon Father closed in, fist raised, its shadow falling over him like a mountain.
This time, there was nowhere left to go.
He closed his eyes. *So this is it, then.*
Then, without warning, the demon's motion broke. Its body jerked unnaturally in midair, the strike stopping dead.
Something had interrupted it. It landed several meters off instead of connecting, and immediately threw itself backward.
Inosuke's eyes snapped open. "What—"
A figure stepped out from the trees. White hair. White clothes. A Corps uniform, the insignia unmistakable.
One of their own.
Hurt as he was, relief flooded through him. Real backup had arrived.
It was Cold Cry.
Following a lead from the spider family's "daughter," he'd come down to the riverbank hunting for the true Kizuki. What he found instead wasn't the one he was looking for — just a massive demon closing in to kill a Demon Slayer.
The moment he spotted the uniform, the decision made itself. Enemy encounters aside, a Demon Slayer was someone on his side, full stop.
He drew his blade without a second's hesitation.
"Ice Breathing, Third Form: Shattering Drizzle."
A storm of freezing spikes tore through the air, driving the Demon Father back mid-motion.
Inosuke was safe.
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