Tanjiro's Water Surface Slash was halted barely an inch from Rui's face, intercepted by a barrier woven from countless spider threads. The moment the blade collided with the silk, it let out a screeching sound like metal grinding against metal.
"Tanjiro!" Kazama Aoi cried out. Seeing him collapsed on the ground, her heart squeezed with terror.
"How fragile," Rui said, his voice laced with boredom. With a flick of his finger, the silk barrier instantly unraveled, transforming into a volley of razor-sharp thread-needles that rained down toward the grounded Tanjiro.
"No!" Aoi's mind went blank. Pure instinct took over as she threw herself forward, shielding Tanjiro's body with her own.
"Kazama-san!" Tanjiro's eyes widened in shock. He tried to push her away, but his body was a wreck of agony; he didn't have the strength to move a single finger.
However, the expected sting of the needles never came.
Stunned, Aoi looked up. A young girl in a pink kimono stood before them, having blocked Rui's attack. The sharp threads had left jagged, bloody gashes across her body.
"Nezuko!" Tanjiro's voice cracked with disbelief, pain, and fury.
Aoi caught Nezuko as she collapsed. The wounds from the threads oozed beads of blood, staining her pink kimono a deep crimson. However, what shocked Aoi the most was the sight of those wounds closing and knitting back together at a visible speed.
She... she's a demon? Aoi's head spun.
The ironclad rule of the Demon Slayer Corps was to slay all demons. Yet, the demon standing before her had just used her own body to protect them.
Rui's heart jolted at the sight. He looked at Tanjiro. "You two... are siblings?"
"What if we are!"
"Siblings..." Rui's voice became airy and distant. A complex emotion flickered in his blood-red eyes—a mixture of confusion, jealousy, and a profound, aching longing.
Suddenly, Rui's temperament shifted. The threads surrounding him began to lash out frantically, and the atmospheric pressure in the clearing spiked. He stopped looking at Tanjiro and locked his gaze onto Nezuko in Aoi's arms, his eyes filled with a pathological sense of possessiveness.
"I see... it's because of the bond. It's this bond—this willingness to die for one another—that makes a 'family' complete." He drifted into a monologue as if he had uncovered some ultimate truth, a distorted smile spreading across his face. "In that case... give her to me!"
Rui's voice rose to a sharp, commanding shout. The threads in his hand instantly coalesced into a massive palm made of infinite fibers. With a howling wind, it lunged down toward Aoi and Nezuko. This time, his goal wasn't to kill—it was to seize.
"Like hell I will!"
Aoi reacted on pure survival instinct. She pulled Nezuko protectively behind her, using her slight frame as a shield, even as her mind remained clouded with questions about Nezuko's nature.
"Wood Breathing, First Form: Sprouting Slash!"
With Aoi's sharp cry, the blade of her Nichirin Sword erupted in a soft, emerald-green light, as if imbued with the power of rebirth. She didn't choose to parry; instead, she met the sky-blotting silk palm head-on, swinging her blade in a resolute upward arc.
This strike lacked the torrential momentum of Water Breathing or the scorching heat of Flame Breathing. It was more like the first sprout of early spring, stubbornly forcing its way through the frozen earth. Though it looked fragile, it contained an unstoppable life force capable of breaking through any obstacle.
The emerald light collided with the giant silk hand. There was no thunderous explosion, only the continuous sizzle of energy.
The sprout broke the soil; its momentum was absolute.
Aoi's blade actually managed to cleave a massive rent right through the center of that colossal palm!
"What?!" Rui's pupils contracted. For the first time, genuine shock registered on his face.
His threads, created through his Blood Demon Art, were harder than steel and could cut through iron like butter. How could they be broken by such a seemingly gentle strike? That surge of vitality filled him with an instinctive sense of loathing and dread.
Using the momentum of the strike, Aoi's body drifted back like a leaf caught in the wind. She carried Nezuko with her, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the remains of the giant hand. She landed a short distance away, dropping to one knee and panting heavily. Her face was deathly pale from the sudden, massive drain on her energy.
A single move had exhausted everything she had.
[Warning: Host's Stamina is dropping rapidly. Currently below the 30% critical threshold. Suggestion: Immediately disengage from combat or find cover to recuperate.]
Rui's cold gaze swept over Aoi. "Already at your limit?"
His voice was devoid of emotion—no mockery, no pity. He was simply stating a plain fact. Yet, that indifference was more terrifying than any malicious taunt.
Aoi gritted her teeth, struggling to stand, but her legs felt like they were made of lead. The System's warning continued to echo coldly in her mind. She sat slumped on the ground, gasping for air, her uniform drenched in a cold sweat.
The threads around Rui began to dance frantically again. This time, they weren't chaotic; they were becoming incredibly fine and lethal.
Aoi closed her eyes in despair. She didn't have the strength to swing a second Sprouting Slash.
"STOP IT—!!!"
Tanjiro let out a gut-wrenching scream, trying to crawl toward them, but the agonizing pain and exhaustion were like invisible chains pinning him to the earth.
No! I won't allow it! Nezuko, Kazama-san... they're both fighting to protect me, and I'm just sitting here like a useless burden watching them fall into a deathtrap!
Intense resentment and regret burned through his soul, as if it would tear his very body apart. His vision began to shake violently. He heard the echoes of his family's cries as they were slaughtered; he remembered that snowy mountain, huddling with Nezuko and swearing he would turn her back into a human.
That oath, that resolve, transformed into a scalding power that surged through a body that had long since reached its limit.
"Hinokami Kagura: Enbu!"
A scorching, life-filled flame instantly spread from his chest to his limbs. His Nichirin Sword collided with Rui's intricate web of threads in a thunderous clash!
His silhouette became a streak of fire gliding across the ground. In an instant, he closed the distance to Rui. His blade swung from low to high, carrying a fierce wind and blistering heat, aiming directly for Rui's neck!
Rui's head was severed and fell away. But before Tanjiro could celebrate, he realized that the decapitated Rui wasn't disintegrating.
"How can this be...!"
"Heh. I'm bored of playing with you." From his head on the ground, Rui's lips curled into a cruel, contemptuous smirk. "Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Rotation!"
Wheels of razor-sharp thread closed in from all directions, leaving no room for escape, seeking to shred Tanjiro, Aoi, and Nezuko simultaneously.
"Look out!" Aoi's face was ghostly white. She pulled Nezuko tight into her embrace, using her own back to shield the girl from the onslaught.
The sharp, rotating threads carved deep gashes into Aoi's back, some reaching the bone. Her uniform was instantly soaked in blood, and the sheer agony caused her vision to fade into darkness.
"It's over," Rui's voice declared with the finality of a death knell.