Marionettes (
Summary
As the trio of boys continue to fight the possessed demon slayers, Murata advises the other two chase down the demon while he handled the swordsmen. In response, Tanjiro thanks Murata quickly drags a protesting Inosuke deeper into the forest with him.
Inosuke and Tanjiro sprint through the forest, en route to the demon, when they stumble across a crying female corps member. She pleads with them to stay away and bring a stronger swordsman to help, warning that demon will control her to kill the remaining swordsmen.
Elsewhere in the forest, a female demon is seen giggling on a rock with excitement, as the boys come closer and closer to her stronger puppets. The mysterious boy from the previous chapter—whose name is revealed to be Rui— stealthily appears behind a tree and calls out to the demon calling her "Mother". She flinches upon seeing him and breaks out into a sweat, Rui asks her if she is capable of winning and threatens that if she doesn't do so in a timely matter, then he will tattle to his "Father".
Mother becomes frantic and assures Rui that she is capable of the assignment and protecting him, saying that "Father" does not need to get involved. Rui backs away into the forest while ominously telling her to hurry up.
With a newfound sense of urgency, the Mother demon begins to operate the corps members with more violent jerks. The female swordsman begins to quickly lunge and slash at the boys while her bones twist and crack in unnatural ways. Tanjiro dodges her attacks and sees two other corps members pleading to be killed and put out of their misery due to the pain.
Without hesitation, Inosuke agrees and tries to attack them but is told to wait by Tanjiro. He begins to ponder on how to immobilize them without hurting them anymore then they already are. Tanjiro runs in the opposite direction as the female swordsman gives chase, he sprints then turns back quickly to grab and throw her into the air. The girl gets caught on a branch and remains tangled within the canopy of the tree.
Inosuke stays standing in disbelief and eagerly follows Tanjiro's lead, he grabs a nearby corps member and successfully throws him into the tree where he stays tangled. He turns to face Tanjiro and tries to mock him by saying that is capable of doing anything that Tanjiro can do. In a comical response, Tanjiro apologizes to Inosuke for not watching what he was doing which angers him.
The chapter ends with the Mother demon twitching in anger as she is forced to bring out "that doll", alluding to something more powerful.