Demon Slayer: A New Enemy

Chapter 17

Tanjiro was exhausted so quickly since he activated his demon slayer mark. He then felt an agonizing pain in his left leg. Apparently, he recognized it as poison. He grabs a leaf and wipes the blood of his leg.

"Damn it! He got away! That unforgivable coward!" He was mad. The good thing is that the poison didn't spread across his whole leg and it only affected the part where the blood came in contact with, which was so painful. He had the will to stand up and walk back to the Estate, though its not gonna be easy.

Back at the Butterfly Mansion, Kanao is so worried since Tanjiro left. Nezuko and Zenitsu calmed things down while they wait for him.

"Did he say anything before he left?" Aoi asked Kanao.

"No. He just left without telling me." Kanao replied, and Aoi gave her a hug for comfort.

It had been minutes, but he can't remember as he was in pain. Tanjiro made it to the entrance, and he can already smell the sense of fear and worrisome among his friends. He doesn't blame him though. He then enters without question and when he arrives at the kitchen, he sees everyone, their faces filled with emotions.

"Hello guys. I'm back." As soon as Tanjiro said this, his friends turned their attention towards him. His younger sister was the first to react and ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

"Onii-chan! What we're you doing in the middle of the night?!" Nezuko shouted and sheds a tear before crying. Kanao joined her and then the rest came to hug Tanjiro who was injured.

"Sorry if you weren't informed of my leave, guys. But I do need medical assistance." Tanjiro replied. His friends moved to give him space as he limps to a nearby bed and lays down.

Aoi rushed in to help him ease the pain from the poison. Nezuko rushed to help as well. Genya saw him and walks to sit beside him.

"What happened back there? Did you come face to face against one of the Servants of Muzan?" Genya asked.

"No. I came face to face with Muzan himself." Tanjiro said and this was enough to put a chill on everyone's spine. Most of them didn't believe in his words but Nezuko knows his brother that he's telling the truth.

"His powers isn't unlike anything I've seen before." He then explained the details of his battle with Muzan, with the new Breathing Technique. Genya and the others we're not only spooked but also very concerned by the explanation.

"But why of all things direct his attack to a house? That doesn't make sense." Zenitsu is confused so as everyone.

"Unless, he knew I was going after his servants. True that he doesn't just come out of nowhere with no particular reason. He knew that we were killing his servants, 2 at least. He'd been expecting me from the day we killed the demon girl." He was able to puzzle the situation.

"That's a possibility and if that were the case, it would become a very big problem to all of us here." Kanao replied.

She then sat next to Tanjiro and her head on his shoulder. Genya knew this was coming so he called the others and left the two alone, closing the door behind him.

"We should let the other hashiras know about this." Nezuko replied. Genya's crow was on standby and he relayed the message to his bird friend. And the crow flew off to send the message. They then hoped that they would get the message soon.

Meanwhile Tanjiro and Kanao laid on the bed together. "Tanjiro, how's your leg holding up?" She asked.

He looked at his leg and feels some pain when moving it but its to the point that it's already manageable due to him doing the total concentration breathing all the time. "I can manage. Again, sorry for running off like that..." He was cut off by Kanao's fingers that touched his lips.

"It's okay. I understand your situation and so do we. Next time, don't go running off." Kanao reassured him and gives him a comforting hug.

The crow has already made it to Sanemi, Muichiro and the rest of the hashiras, including the master, delivering the message of what Genya told him.

"So Tanjiro met this Demon King, that these ugly bastards serve? That's out of the blue." Sanemi responded and clenched his fists.

Everyone had the same emotion and look as Sanemi did upon this realization. Even the young master, Kiriya is still unsure, but yet true due to them fighting 2 of the Servants. Now they must make their move before the demons do.