Event Year: 2019

Seeing Tanjiro try to protect Nezuko even as he collapses triggers memories of Rui’s own past. Once a sickly boy, he became a demon after meeting Muzan Kibutsuji who gave him a share of his blood. But after he turns into a demon, his own parents try to kill him. Ever since then, he has been searching for a family. Seeking a bond that he can never hope to acquire…

Swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps known as Hashiras have arrived on Mt. Natagumo. Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira, slays the Father Spider Demon with a single strike. Inosuke, thrilled to see such a display of swordsmanship by someone in a totally different league from himself, challenges Giyu to a duel. Meanwhile, Zenitsu lies near death as the poison circulates throughout his body. Just then, the Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho appears before him.

Tanjiro and Inosuke face off against the Father Spider Demon of Mt. Natagumo. Tanjiro unleashes an attack, only to get hurled away by the demon's overwhelming power. Landing near a river, he comes upon the young demon Rui torturing the Sister Spider Demon. When Rui calls their bond of terror and hatred "a family’s bond," Tanjiro is enraged. So begins the battle between Rui and Tanjiro.

One of the Twelve Kizuki, a direct subordinate of Muzan Kibutsuji, is here somewhere. When Tanjiro slays the Mother Spider Demon of Mt. Natagumo, he learns that a demon who might hold the key to turning Nezuko back into a human is somewhere in this very forest. With the battered Inosuke in tow, he heads deeper into the forest. Meanwhile, Zenitsu trudges forlornly through the woods only to encounter a spider with a human face.