Spider Mountain, Mid-Mountain
"Although I don't think you could be this stupid... but judging by your performance, did you actually think that just by getting close to me, you could cut off my neck?"
Lower Rank Five, Rui, casually threw a punch as if playing with a toy, sending the boy with deep red hair flying several meters, vomiting large mouthfuls of blood.
Yet even so, that boy stood up resolutely, gasping for breath as he tightly gripped his already broken Nichirin Sword, waiting for an opportunity to attack.
Seeing him like this, Rui seemed to become interested. He simply spread his arms wide:
"Go ahead, come on, give it a try?"
"Ahhh—!!!"
The boy swung his blade. That Kizuki still dodged left and right like a cat toying with a mouse, punching the boy in the face repeatedly, making him bleed from the pain.
Using the momentum of being spun around, the boy turned and slashed, directly striking Rui's neck!!
Clang—!!
A crisp impact sound rang out. The blade hadn't cut even a single scratch!
"See, I told you." Rui's gaze began to turn fierce. He kicked the boy away. "You can't defeat me!"
"My body is even tougher than the spider silk I control. A swordsman of your level can't even cut my silk, and you think you can cut my neck?"
"Don't be absurd!"
Seeing the boy kicked away by Rui, crashing heavily and raising a cloud of dust, a girl suspended upside down by several strands of spider silk let out an unwilling roar, though the roar was muffled by the bamboo cylinder in her mouth, only able to emit whimpering sounds.
"Shut up. Be quiet for a while."
"I'm your brother now. Stop yapping!"
Rrrip—!!
Rui raised his pale arm and made a grasping motion in the air towards the girl. Those spider threads simultaneously tightened, embedding directly into the girl's body! A sound of flesh tearing rang out, blood spraying everywhere!
Under such intense pain, the girl wailed and directly fainted.
"Nezuko—!!!"
The anger in the boy's heart had reached its peak. The veins on the back of his hand and his forehead were about to burst from the provocation of this scene!
But he still tightly gripped his sleeve, striving to suppress his uncontrollable anger.
"Calm down! Tanjiro! Can't act on emotion!" He told himself.
"Concentrate... adjust your breathing..."
"Must use the final, strongest form... to end this battle!"
"Total Concentration!!"
Tanjiro roared and shot forward! The scar on his forehead grew even more ferocious as the veins on it throbbed!
"Water Breathing: Tenth Form...."
"What are you doing? Haven't you understood yet? This is meaningless. Just hand over your sister!"
Rui irritably tossed out a few tough strands of spider silk, intending to directly obliterate this boy's existence.
But something unexpected happened.
The spider silk that had previously been able to easily cut the Nichirin Sword was completely severed by Tanjiro's change in breathing and the rotation of his blade!
This was no coincidence. As Tanjiro's rotation grew faster, Rui found his spider silk being shattered more rapidly!
"...Constant Flux!!"
With Tanjiro's roar, waves surged on his blade. It even seemed to form a water dragon condensed from the waves!
The water dragon roared, shattering mountains and tearing rocks.
The scales of victory seemed to be tipping!
"Tch... Did you think this was my limit?"
Rui was growing impatient. His hands oozed scarlet demon blood, completely covering the spider silk!
"Enough already. Goodbye… Blood Demon Art: Cutting Silk Cage!"
Hum—!!
A scarlet spiderweb cage appeared out of thin air, rapidly compressing towards Tanjiro's body with deadly force!
'Can't dodge!'
'Can't cut!'
'The scent was completely different from the threads before!'
Tanjiro's heart was filled with terror. His eyes stared blankly ahead.
'I'm going to die... I'm going to lose...'
'I can't lose...'
In that instant, countless memories and a flash of his life flooded into Tanjiro's mind, helping him complete his final journey.
Until a man's voice sounded...
[....Tanjiro, these earrings and the Kagura dance, you must pass them down through the generations!]
[....We made a promise.]
Rui, who had been preparing to end the battle, suddenly felt the boy's aura within his Blood Demon Art change.
Something happened. In a fraction of a second, Tanjiro's gaze became sharp, his entire aura growing dangerous.
Hiss—!!!
Scorching hot air currents surged through his mouth and nose. The Nichirin Sword in Tanjiro's hand began to emit a scorching vibration!
"...Hinokami Kagura!!"
The surging Water Breathing sword form, under Tanjiro's sudden change in aura, transformed into a flash of red light! As if... he had slashed out a mass of flames!
Rui's gaze froze. He clearly hadn't expected his Blood Demon Art to be cut by a swordsman who moments ago couldn't even stand.
'Was it luck?'
He shot out more spider silk, cutting the boy's shoulder and neck, slashing his cheek, but the other simply wouldn't retreat.
"Can't stop! Keep running!"
Boom—!!
Another continuous series of spinning slashes. He repeatedly cleaved through Rui's spider silk attacks. The distance was rapidly closing!
"If I stop, I won't be able to move again!"
"I have to fight! I have to protect Nezuko!!"
"Ahhh—!!"
The boy's blade grew faster and fiercer. His entire body transformed into a red fire dragon, madly charging forward, straddling the line between life and death!
"This guy!"
Rui was greatly startled. He hurriedly retreated to create distance, while continuously releasing spider silk imbued with his demon blood, laying dense traps along Tanjiro's path of advance, continuing trying to strangle him!
The distance grew closer and closer. The blade had even cut the corner of his clothes, making him feel a crisis of death!
Suddenly, Tanjiro, now infinitely close to the Kizuki, sharpened his gaze as if he had discovered something.
He swung his blade recklessly, finding the only opportunity to cut off the head amidst Rui's spider silk strangulation!
"Even if we both die together! I'll kill you here!"
Faced with such a desperate charge, even Rui, a Lower Moon Kizuki, felt his hair stand on end!
'What to do! The blade will strike, right? No, surely he'll be killed by me first!'
'My neck is very hard. Even if this guy has suddenly become this powerful for some unknown reason, he definitely can't cut it immediately!'
'Kill him now!'
Just as Rui grew desperate and prepared to kill Tanjiro before the broken Nichirin Blade could reach his neck, he felt a wave of heat around him!
"Blood Demon Art.... Exploding Blood!!"
Boom—!!
Nezuko, who had fainted from being strangled by his spider silk, had at some point awakened.
She clenched her fist, and the blood she had let flow along his spider silk actually caught fire!
In an instant, it burned away all the spider silk barriers before Rui!
"How is that possible! My spider silk was burned through!"
Clang!!
Tanjiro charged out of the flames like a demon, completely unharmed! He heavily struck Rui's neck with his blade!
"The bond between me and Nezuko! No one can sever it!!"
Rrrip—!!
The broken Nichirin Blade, coated with the demon girl's burning blood, sliced through Lower Rank Five's head like tearing cloth!
... At the same time, Taka had also arrived at this place.
From a distance, he saw that crimson blade cutting through flesh, saw the Kizuki's head, radiating a terrifying aura, fly high into the air.
"Such a powerful sword form...."
Taka was already intrigued.
He felt this was power worth learning.