The Strongest Slayer: A KNY Fanfiction

Chapter 7: Mount Natagumo Part 1

The four of them were running up the mountain. "WAIT! WILL YOU PLEASE WAIT!" Zenitsu yelled. "What is it?" Inosuke asked, clearly irritated by someone stopping him from killing more demons and getting stronger. "I-I-I'm scared!" Zenitsu yelled. "You're disgusting!" Inosuke exclaimed. Tanjiro put a calming hand on his shoulder. "You like my sister, right? If you're not strong enough for her, then I can't allow you two to date. Get stronger for her," Tanjiro whispered kindly. Zenitsu's eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time since "gramps" or his sensei that someone cared enough to ask. "I believe in you. You have a large amount of potential, and I sense a sharp refinement from you. The thing is, if you never try, then you'll never be truly better. Remember, even if you feel worthless, even if you feel terrible, you can cry. You can run. But never give up!" Tanjiro exclaimed. Zenitsu got a flashback to his sensei. He wiped his tears, "Right!" 

The group slowly started walking up the mountain, cautious after the boy they saw get pulled back into the forest. Eventually, they came across a group of 20 people. Tanjiro's nose also caught a scent and Inosuke's sensitive touch noticed a wider area than the people moving through airwaves. "STRINGS!" Tanjiro yelled. Suddenly, two guys jumped on him. "God breathing, second form, aura flare!" Tanjiro yelled. He inhaled a large amount of air and increased his body temperature heavily, disturbing the blood demon art enough that it broke off the strings and killed the spiders that fell out of their clothes. Suddenly, they found a boy. "Takeo! Zenitsu! Stay here!" Tanjiro yelled. He helped the boy. "Are you okay? By the way, I'm Tanjiro Kamado," Tanjiro said as he blocked a strike and kicked the slayers. "I'm Murata," The boy responded. Inosuke kicked away another slayer. "They have basic movements Kentaro! This is easy!" Inosuke yelled. "It's Tanjiro!" He yelled. "Murata what happened here?" Tanjiro asked after kicking away another slayer. "We got on the mountain and they just randomly started fighting each other! I'm the last one they're attacking!" Murata exclaimed while standing up, helping fight the slayers. "My brother and my friend are both over there! With how many slayers we fought here, it's safe to assume there's about two hundred more like them! Help the two! Inosuke and I will continue on!" Tanjiro yelled, kicking down the final slayer. "Fine. Tanjiro, be safe there. Pig boy, you too," Murata said as he ran off. "Right! Wait... whose the bed wetter calling pig boy!" Inosuke yelled. "We'll deal with it later Irosune!" Tanjiro yelled, purposely messing up his name. "Inosuke!" Inosuke yelled back. "That's what I said! Inowai!" Tanjiro exclaimed. "For the last time Tanjiro, it's Inosuke!" Inosuke yelled back. "Okay Inosuke," Tanjiro said. The two continued onward. 

Tanjiro and Inosuke were met with three slayers. "Call a higher rank! Anyone! If you don't, we'll be forced to kill you!" A girl who clearly looked to be in pain yelled at them, afraid of what she would be forced to do to them. "H-Help us. End our suffering," Another one of them said in a pained voice. "With pleasure!" Inosuke said. "No wait!" Tanjiro yelled. He lured all three of them near him and after a little bit, he turned. 'What's this kid doing!' All three of the slayers thought. "Our moves are too strong! Don't do it!" The girl yelled. She was met with a grinning face. "God breathing, second form, aura flare, twelve-fold!" Tanjiro muttered. Suddenly, they all felt lighter and collapsed on the floor. Inosuke looked on in shock. "I guess... I can't do everything he can..." He muttered before he shook himself off of those thoughts. "Here! GRAH!" Inosuke yelled, throwing Tanjiro. 

Tanjiro landed with his katana planted in front of him. There was an incredibly strong demon with two blades for hands and... no head. He then felt Inosuke approach from behind. "Nice going. When we locate the original, you'll need to throw me again," Tanjiro said. Inosuke nodded. "Now we need to do a broad slash from the shoulder to the opposite thigh. That might be the only way to beat it. A nice and broad slash," Tanjiro said. Inosuke grunted and the two charged. "DAMN IT! STOP TRYING TO BE AHEAD OF ME!" Inosuke yelled. He ran forward, angry with what he thought Tanjiro was doing when he got trapped by strings. He then noticed the weird demon thing send one of it's mantis claws at his stomach and closed his eyes, accepting that he was going to die. Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"God breathing, first form, holy rising blade, six-fold," Tanjiro muttered. He slashed upward and downward a total of twelve times, going up and down being one strike since he had to lower his blade. Inosuke was broken free from the bonds and on the last one, Tanjiro sliced off the demon's hand. "GR STOP GOING IN FRONT OF ME!" Inosuke yelled. "THEN GO ABOVE ME!" He yelled. Inosuke jumped off of Tanjiro's back. 'What's up with this guy?!  He acts like what he says is inevitable! He isn't trying to be the guy in the front, he's watching the battle, as if it was a river! As if the path was stuck in place!' Inosuke thought as the two slashed using the broad slash maneuver. The demon crumbled. "Beast breathing, 7th form, spatial awareness!" Fun fact, spatial awareness is the only one that uses the word "form" instead of "fang." Inosuke said. He felt where the demon was and picked up Tanjiro. "Now go!" He yelled, throwing Tanjiro. Tanjiro went down and was about to cleanly stab and kill the demon when he noticed the sad expression. He quickly switched stances. "Water breathing, fifth form, blessed rain after the drought," Tanjiro said. 

The demon girl was crying. After all, her son threatened to tell father if she didn't hurry up. But then again, it was better that it was like that. Her dying. All she did was live a life of pain, being beaten every day and abused mentally with terrible memories of her time as a human. When she died, she figured she would help out the slayer that gently freed her from her life.

"Beware, for a member of the twelve kizuki resides here," The girl said before dying. Tanjiro felt a presence behind him and whirled around, katana pressed against Inosuke's throat. He slowly lowered it. "Sorry, Inosuke. It's just that one of the twelve kizuki are here, so we need to be on guard," Inosuke nodded. "Right. Let's go!" He yelled. Tanjiro nodded and the two ran along. 

Zenitsu noticed Takeo and Murata were about to be overrun when they all randomly collapsed onto the ground. Suddenly, they were all surrounded by spiders... with human heads. Zenitsu started screaming loudly when a large spider approached. "Heh... cease your useless screaming, boy. You were already bitten, so you will turn into a spider first. Then these two when we get them bitten!" The spider demon exclaimed. Out of nowhere, Takeo just jumped away, avoiding a horde of spiders jumping him. Zenitsu realized what was going to happen and fainted, the war in his brain overloading his mental state. 

Zenitsu White, the more responsible half of Zenitsu, took over Zenitsu F, or Fear. He looked around and quickly analyzed the situation. "Total concentration, thunder breathing, first form, thunderclap and flash!" Zenitsu yelled. Lightning surrounded him and his feet left craters in the ground and he flashed, knocking away most of the spiders. Takeo then started inhaling heavily, causing Zenitsu's ears to ring. "Time breathing, fifth form, time's beheading," Takeo muttered. He disappeared faster than Zenitsu could move and reappeared behind the spider. "What was that supposed to-" The spider demon stopped, his head sliding off. "Damn, I lost! To a brat like him no less!" The spider yelled. Zenitsu then fell over. Takeo rushed to his aid and got Murata to start sucking the poison out of his hand. A pool of blood and poison was besides Zenitsu. "That should slow it down enough for help to arrive. Murata, I need to find my brother and Inosuke, so please, guard Zenitsu," Takeo said before running off.              

"Time breathing, sixth form, time teleport," Takeo muttered. The world froze around him and he ran to his brother, whose presence he felt through his danger sense. He appeared next to Tanjiro and stopped it, stumbling from his lungs being in pain, since Tanjiro taught him how to control the stress on his muscles. It still hurt, but Tanjiro caught him. "How did you teleport here? Probably time breathing," Tanjiro said. Suddenly, all three of them looked to the river, where they all sensed a presence. "Let's follow," Tanjiro said. The three ran and landed in a small area with a moderately wide and incredibly long river cutting through it.

"NOW, FATHER!" A girl demon that the trio saw yelled.