The trip to the foot of Mt. Fuji was long and agonizing. Izuku had faced over a dozen more demons before arriving at the cave the demon he faced near the entrance told him of. As she said also, the demons closer towards the foot were far more dangerous than the ones he faced in the beginning. Some would even possibly give Shinobu a run for her money in his opinion maybe. Finally though, he found the cave and began entering inside. Walking downwards in, he noticed a light and a strange humming. Once he turned a corner to see the source, he was met by the demon humming and pouring tea with five corpses of people wearing the Corps uniform.

"You have my respect coming this far. Not many have the privilege to do so."

Izuku stared at the corpses with disgust as some were already rotting to make an odor. 'Just what kind of sociopath is this woman?'

"You like my dolls?"

"Dolls?"

"Yes. Those who come this far are made into my own dolls. Unfortunately, not many could get this far for many of my older ones to start falling apart. But you. I can tell you're different. Unlike these weaker dolls, you're strong. That's why I have an offer for you." Izuku raised an eyebrow before two cups were filled and he was given one and told to sit. Taking one smell, he could tell it was blood. "Why don't you become a demon?"

"Excuse me?"

"Watching you, I can see you're so much more than a Demon Slayer. You're strong, dependable, and so adorable. Believe it or not, I just love the young hard working type. They make me feel...safe." The demon disappeared before moving Izuku's chair to sit on his lap. "Think about it. Here. You have no worry for food. I'll let you live in this cave with me. In exchange, you become mine in body and soul."

Her hands went down Izuku's cheek for him to stare at her with anger. "You think I'm so gullible to become the one thing I hate so much? You don't know how far I've gone to be what I am."

"I see..." Before he could gauge her response, a hook latched into his right bicep and dragged him out of the cave into a tree. "I guess I'll have to show you just where you stand against me."

Izuku's body began to shake from the sudden thrust out of the cave with his hands unable to grip his blades right. 'What...what just happened? Am I...am I scared? I didn't even see her move. Is this what a member of the 12 Kizuki can do?'

"What's wrong? Scared already? Oh, but the fun just started." The demon's hand raised up with a smile being on her face. "Blood Demon Art: Chains of the Underworld." Several chains came at Izuku for him to watch in fear with his body unable to move.

'Move...move....MOVE DAMMIT!' He stabbed his own foot with his Nichirin sword to focus his attention on pain instead of fear to jump away from the attacks. Once he was safely out of harms way, the demon once again began clapping.

"Nicely done. Not many of the Demon Slayers I've faced have done something similar. These were some unique people, but what you did now just made your death all the more painful. Let's see how you handle more." The demon came with several other chains with hooks on them to try and slice Izuku apart. Fortunately for him, his senses were able to find a way around and get close enough to be in swinging distance in between them. "You were a fool to come to this forest. This is my domain. My fortress." A chain came directly at Izuku from the shadows of a tree to cut his side and narrowly rip into his stomach. "As long as I'm in here, I can beat even a Hashira~."

'I need to go on the offensive. I can't keep evading.' Izuku adjusted his stance to begin using his Breathing Style. "Cursed Breathing, 4th Form: Night Wind Current Slash!" The chains around him were knocked away to create an opening towards the demon. 'This is my chance.' Izuku ran as fast as he could towards the chain using monster for her to smile at him.

"What an idiot~." A chain came from underground for it to burst through Izuku's left kneecap, leveling him on the ground. "You honestly thought that would work, you couldn't be more stupid. As I said, this is my domain. No matter where you are here, my chains latch onto whatever I choose them to." Izuku tried to get up with the demon standing in front of him. "Ohh. What's the matter? Can't fight me without a kneecap. If you were a demon, that would heal instantly."

"Cursed Breathing....*pant* 5th Form:...." Izuku lunged at the demon in hopes to paralyze her before she jumped back. "Poisonous Black Ring!" He was able to collide with her right calve for the demon to feel the strange numbness.

"Poison. Now that's fun to see." She used her chains to wrap around where the poison infected her and ripped off the leg to splatter a little of her blood on Izuku's face. "You're getting more and more special by the minute." In hardly a second, the leg healed for the demon to stomp it on Izuku's face. "Let me guess, you were planning to paralyze me to make it easier to kill me. Or were you trying to use it as time to heal that knee of yours." The demon started laughing with Izuku standing up and showing his knee was almost healed. "I know all about your relation to him. Our master gave us specific orders for you. We're to kill you the second we get."

"Then why don't you? You've been shooting your mouth off for half the time here." Izuku gave a snarl at this for the demon to laugh and smack him in the face with her backhand, sending Izuku into a tree.

"Even though you have more of his blood than me, you still refuse to use it to the best of your abilities. It's really sad and pathetic if you ask me. But even with that, I don't understand why you want to refuse us. This power he gives us, it makes us gods among the petty and miserable humans. We can do anything we want and no human can do a damned thing. If you simply let your demon half take over, you'd be so much better off."

"Bullshit! I'll make you understand that what you're asking for is nothing but GARBAGE!" Izuku was able to stand fully and take a solid swing at the demon's neck. However, the demon was able to send a chain up from the ground to split Izuku's blades. 'No way.'

"See. You need to rely on a sword to kill me. Now you can't and your body is so weak." Izuku was punched in the chest and sent back into a tree for it to fall over the second he did. "Whoever taught you is probably rolling around in their grave now knowing you have to be saved. Miserable disgrace."

Izuku prepared to stand again to face the demon for her to grab him and slam the green haired boy into another tree. He coughed up blood for the sad truth to hit him. He was too weak.

Mitsuri and Iguro arrived at the entrance to the forest to see Izuku's crow perched near the sign near the entrance. "We're here." Iguro walked towards the crow to see he was younger than most. "Where's Midoriya?"

"Izuku Midoriya is inside the forest. He had asked me to tell the Demon Slayer Corps to send in a Hashira if the worst were to happen and he did not return on sunrise."

"I see." Thinking this is the best time to find out a little more about the young Demon Slayer, Mitsuri began speaking up. "Excuse me, but what is so special about Midoriya? Being his Kasugai crow, you must know something about that."

"Izuku...Izuku is a very special boy. When he was a child, he was raised by the former Butterfly Breathing Hashira since the young age of four."

"Kanae? No wonder Shinobu seems to be happier at some occasions I've seen her."

"Miss Shinobu truly loves Izuku like her own family. This is to make up for the family he had lost because of his mixed blood."

"Mixed blood?" Iguro asked for Karasu to explain.

"Izuku Midoriya is a very special being with both demon and human blood. Mothered by a human woman, his father is the enemy to all demons. Muzan Kibutsuji."

"WHAT!? The boy's Muzan's son!?"

"I don't understand. How can the master be so calm knowing this?"

"It is because he knows Izuku is unique. Though born with both bloods in his body, he is an outcast by both. Neither wishes to have anything to do with him and as such, believes him to be a monster. Humans killed his family thinking they were abominations for hiding him from them. They were burned alive as Izuku made his escape. Even though he has the right to despise humans, he fights for them and is hated by demons. His own birth father had even made attempts on his own life."

'Oh my. Such a heavy burden on someone is too much to ask. Much less when that person is just a boy. It hurts my heart knowing someone like him exists and must do the unthinkable and prepare himself to do so.'

"Mitsuri. We're going in."

"R-right." The two Hashira came towards the gate to begin running inside. As they did, Iguro stare Mitsuri with some unease.

"The boy will be fine. If he's as powerful as the Kasugai crow said, I doubt he's going to die so easily."

"I hope you're right, but he's still a little kid."

"You're only 16. You're not that much older than he is."

"You don't either since you just turned 19." The two stopped their small argument when a demon came to attack the two with Iguro slicing it's head off with his Nichirin sword. The blade itself twisted and turned to almost resemble how a snake moves.

"I think we should finish this conversation another time when we're not overrun with demons." A second demon notably larger than both of them combined tried to attack Mitsuri for the sound of a cracked whip to be heard before it's head was severed from it's neck.

"I guess so. But there's so many in a single place." Mitsuri asked while holding a sword that resembled a whip more than a blade. "Do you think this has anything to do with the demon in this forest?"

"I don't know. But we got a job to do, so we'll be killing every demon we can find. Kaburamaru, are you ready?" The white snake around Iguro's neck showed it's head to him for it to nod while hissing at the demons.

Izuku laid motionless on the ground gasping for air. Several hooks were imbedded into his body with them going through his arms, legs, even one through his lower jaw and coming out his mouth. He was fading in and out because of the pain with the Lower Five beside him laughing. "You see? This is what it means to be of the top tier. This is what it means to have power. Power that only a demon can have. You're just a little brat who thought he could play the hero in a world where even the adults get hurt. HAHAHAHAHA! IT'S ACTUALLY FUNNY HOW PATHETIC YOU ARE!" She started kicking Izuku's side for no real response. "You don't die so easily though. This was actually fun. You made me use Binds of Hades to pin you down. Not an easy feat for anyone."

'Get...up...Move...' Izuku tried with everything he had to move his body, but the hooks in his joints refused him to move.

"You know, it shocked me when I found out you could heal faster than some humans." The demon grabbed at a hook in Izuku's right forearm to yank it out and force him through unbearable pain to scream. "Yes. Scream for me. Cower. Whimper! You have no idea how much I love the look of complete agony on your face right now!" She stared at the hole with Izuku subconsciously using his breathing to try and close it as fast as possible for the healing process to be seen. "So slow though. Unlike a demon's, yours still falls under human limitations from what it seems. This knee is a perfect example. The damage I did to it is still able to be seen, but it's healed to the point now that you can move. You really are a weird one...but killing you would be a waste of your talents."

'Move...C'mon body...MOVE....' Izuku was yelling at himself to get up and having no success for the demon to smile down at him.

"You really are special. It's actually quite a turn on." She moved her lips to connect with Izuku's for him to feel disgusted. He was forced to accept this with no real ability to refuse for her to pull his upper lip up with hers. The smell of rotting meat was in her mouth for the young Demon slayer to want to vomit. "You know, if you become a demon, this healing factor of yours will probably be on par or even more powerful than mine. You could rise through the ranks quickly here and become a Lower Rank in no time. You could even possible challenge an Upper Rank in the next hundred...or even two hundred years. That timespan seems like such a long wait for a human, but for demons, it's hardly anything. Just think, you could be the closest thing to our master~. His. Right hand man. Oh, but I'd willingly follow you as well. We'd be...inseparable~."

Izuku saw his own weakness to feel disgusted with himself. All his hard work and dedication only to get this far. Everything he worked for, down the drain in a single night. 'Maybe...maybe I should become one...'

And that finishes this chapter. See Izuku's resolve next time. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading.