"Your game ends here."
Sanemi Shinazugawa raised his blade, crimson blood dripping steadily along its edge. His cold gaze locked onto the figure at the very back—the one still being shielded by his so-called "family." Lower Rank Five, the Spider Demon, Rui.
"I won't let you take another step… I won't let you hurt… the family I must protect…"
A massive black shadow stepped forward, positioning itself at the front. Nine spider-like eyes gleamed with a cold, sharp light in the darkness as a low voice rumbled:
"I will never allow you to harm my family."
As it spoke, the enormous demon clenched its fists tightly, issuing a clear warning toward Sanemi.
"Wind Breathing, First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!"
A flash of cold steel sliced through the air. The demon that had tried to shield the others staggered violently, its sturdy head severed in an instant and sent flying.
"I won't allow… anyone to hurt my family."
Even with its head rolling on the ground, the demon playing the role of "father" continued to roar in fury, its obsession with family running deep.
Sanemi's steps paused for a brief moment. His eyes flicked down to the decapitated "father" before lifting again, staring ahead.
The demons playing the roles of "mother," "older sister," and "younger sister" now stood blocking his path.
"So the whole family turned into demons?"
Sanemi's grip tightened slightly around his Nichirin Sword. Yet something felt off. He didn't sense any genuine emotion or familial warmth from these demons. Instead, he detected only deep, hidden fear toward the one behind them—Rui, the one they treated as the youngest "brother."
"Family is like this," Rui said softly, his eyes lowered. "The father must sacrifice for the children. The older siblings must sacrifice for the youngest. That's how it should be."
It was exactly like the stories he had once heard—how a father should willingly die to save his drowning child. That was simply what a father was supposed to do.
"What a ridiculous game," Sanemi muttered, lifting his blood-stained blade and advancing toward Rui. "Are you all playing house?"
"Wait, I… I'm willing to—"
Before the demon playing the "younger sister" could finish, Sanemi took two more steps. She reached out desperately, her voice trembling as his gaze turned toward her. "I'm not like them, I—"
Swish!
The merciless blade flashed. The "younger sister's" head was severed cleanly. An ordinary demon stood almost no chance against a Hashira.
Her head tumbled across the ground, still screaming in agony. "I only… I only joined this family recently! I'm different from them! I haven't hurt… I haven't hurt anyo—"
Before she could finish the word "anyone," her presence vanished completely. Death claimed her. In her eyes filled with unwillingness, her body slowly crumbled into ash.
Even in her final moments, tears welled up in the young-looking demon's eyes. She looked deeply wronged, as if asking why he wouldn't let her finish speaking.
The demon playing the "older sister" watched her companions fall so easily beneath Sanemi's blade with no resistance. Overwhelmed by terror, she turned without hesitation and tried to flee deeper into the cave.
She had only taken two steps when transparent spider threads sliced through the air from every direction, tearing her body apart.
"W-Why…?"
Her severed head fell to the ground. She stared at Rui in terror and confusion, silently asking why he had attacked her.
"As the older sister, you should protect your youngest brother," Rui said calmly. "Instead, you tried to abandon him and run away by yourself."
He stood up and walked over to the "older sister's" remains, his voice remaining ice-cold from beginning to end. "As the older sister, it's your duty to protect your little brother! We're family!"
As he spoke, Rui—who still looked like a child—toyed with the spider threads in his hands, twisting them playfully like a child playing cat's cradle.
"Sister, how could you abandon the bonds of our family?"
Sanemi stopped in his tracks, watching the scene with cold indifference. The infighting among the demons surprised him, but he didn't particularly care. Soon enough, they would all be dead. None of this mattered.
"Heh…"
A cold chuckle mixed with labored breathing came from behind him.
Genya Shinazugawa had finally caught up, panting heavily. He had wanted to fight alongside his brother, but found he had no chance to contribute. By the time he arrived, only the last Lower Rank remained.
"A real little brother wouldn't act like you," Genya said between breaths, glaring at Rui. "You people aren't family at all."
"Shut up."
The words seemed to strike a raw nerve deep within Rui. His fingers shifted instantly.
Swish!
The air shrieked with a sound akin to a falling blade, and a cluster of nearly invisible, transparent lines sliced through the darkness, hurtling directly toward Genya.
"Watch out!"
Sanemi instantly stepped in front of his brother. His Nichirin Sword slashed upward, meeting the incoming transparent threads.
The moment the blade collided with the silk, a teeth-grinding screech rang out as sparks flew. The seemingly delicate threads were as tough as steel—Sanemi's sharp Nichirin Sword couldn't cut through them easily.
"Break!"
Sanemi exhaled sharply and poured more strength into the swing. A fierce white glint flashed across the blade. With a decisive slash, he finally tore the stubborn threads apart.
Rui lifted his head and stared at Sanemi, who was fiercely protecting his younger brother. A faint ripple passed through his pale silver eyes.
"Only someone who protects their little brother so firmly deserves to be called an older brother."
Rui extended his hand.
"Become my family. Become my older brother."
He was genuinely moved by how much Sanemi cared for his brother. This was what real family should look like—an older brother protecting his weaker sibling.
Sanemi looked at the offered hand and actually laughed. "Someone like you thinks they deserve a family?"
Enraged, Rui flicked his fingers sharply. The air around them trembled with invisible force.
"Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Cage!"
Thick spider threads suddenly erupted from all directions, forming a deadly cage around the two brothers, threatening to tear them apart.
"Stay alert," Sanemi warned his brother as he gripped his blade tighter. His breathing deepened. Even though there was no wind inside the cave, a powerful gust seemed to rise around him.
"Wind Breathing, Fourth Form: Rising Dust Storm!"
Sanemi lowered his stance and swung his blade with explosive force. In that instant, he became like a raging sandstorm tearing upward from the ground.
The violent winds ripped the thread cage to shreds. Countless severed silk strands vibrated in the air like broken strings of a zither.
Sanemi emerged from the swirling dust, his white hair whipping wildly in the current. Blood droplets on his blade were scattered by the wind, drifting through the dark cave like crimson petals.
"Is that all you've got?"
Breaking Rui's Blood Demon Art had been astonishingly easy.
Far easier than when he had once fought the Lower Rank demon Ubume.
Sanemi still remembered that battle clearly.
Back then, defeating a member of the Twelve Kizuki had cost the life of Masachika Kumeno—the senior he had regarded like an older brother.
At the time, fighting the Twelve Kizuki had been unimaginably difficult.
Every moment carried the risk of death.
But now—
Though Rui was also one of the Twelve Kizuki, things were no longer the same.
Sanemi slowly clenched his fist.
It was not because Lower Rank Five was weak.
It was because he himself had become far stronger than before.
Now, his strength was enough to completely overwhelm the Lower Ranks.
Whoosh!
Sanemi moved like the wind itself, his blade slashing toward Rui. The demon dodged desperately while frantically flicking his fingers, sending spider threads flying from every angle.
Yet Sanemi cut through the steel-like threads as effortlessly as if they were fallen leaves.
With a soft exhale, his next strike severed one of Rui's arms, drawing a shrill scream from the childlike demon.
Sanemi showed no mercy. His attacks only became faster and more relentless.
The gap between a Lower Rank and a Hashira was simply too vast. In the end, Rui failed to withstand another strike as the Nichirin Sword sliced cleanly through his neck.
Rui's severed head tumbled to the ground.
Even a Lower Rank could not escape death once decapitated by a Nichirin Sword. In his final moments, Rui watched as Genya rushed to his brother's side, anxiously asking if he was hurt. Though clearly annoyed, Sanemi was also checking to make sure his younger brother was unharmed.
The rough but genuine concern between the two brothers made Rui's silver eyes flicker with longing. He could feel the bond they shared.
It was completely different from the "family" he had known on Mount Natagumo.
Everything there had been false. Not once had he experienced the warmth of a real family.
As his severed head lay on the ground, his vision gradually began to blur. Ashes spread from the wound at his neck, slowly consuming what remained of his body. Yet his eyes remained fixed on the two brothers.
Genya ran anxiously beside Sanemi, repeatedly asking if he was alright and insisting on checking his wounds. Sanemi shoved his brother's head away with an irritated expression, grumbling for him to mind his own business and worry about himself instead.
Yet despite his words, he never truly pushed Genya away.
The irritation in Sanemi's voice, the harshness of his words despite the concern hidden beneath them—
Rui couldn't understand it.
He had never experienced anything like this in his life.
To him, "family" had always meant his father's furrowed brows, his mother's tearful eyes, and his sister's fearful glances. Everything had been defined by obligation and "what should be done."
Only now, as death approached and he recalled his human days, did he finally feel a trace of the warmth he had once possessed.
It turned out… he had always had it. He simply never noticed.
His memories grew hazy.
"Rui, dinner's ready."
His mother's gentle voice called from the kitchen.
"Rui, how are you feeling today?"
His father sat at the table.
Back then, his body had always been weak and frail.
Then he met Muzan.
After that, he was no longer human.
That day, unable to resist his thirst for blood, he bit through someone's throat and devoured their flesh and blood.
His parents had witnessed everything.
Then, that very night, his father entered his room carrying a knife, his mother close behind him.
They raised the blade above him as he slept.
"Father…" Rui's voice was hoarse. "Are you going to kill me?"
His father didn't answer.
His hand was trembling.
The knife shook in his grip like a leaf caught in the wind.
"Rui," his father finally spoke, his voice rough. "It's alright."
It's alright?
What did that mean?
You're pointing a knife at me and saying it's alright?
"Everything will be fine," his father said, eyes reddening. "Father will stay with you. No matter where you go, I'll be with you."
Rui didn't understand.
He only knew they wanted to kill him.
His mother kept apologizing through tears. "I'm sorry… It's Mother's fault…"
But Rui—
All he saw was betrayal.
So he extended his fingers and pierced through his mother's heart.
At that instant, time itself seemed to freeze.
The oil lamp slipped from his mother's hands and shattered upon the floor.
Flames spread along the spilled oil, blooming into orange light within the darkness.
His mother lowered her head and looked at the spider threads piercing through her body as black blood spilled from the corner of her lips.
"I'm sorry…"
"I'm sorry, Rui… Mother couldn't… give you a healthy body…"
Her knees buckled, and she slowly collapsed.
Rui stood motionless, staring at his mother lying in a pool of blood. His hands were covered in her blood.
"Rui."
His father's voice came from behind.
He turned to see his father standing in the firelight, still holding the knife. His eyes were filled with fear and disbelief.
"It's alright, Rui. I'll die together with you."
His father pointed the knife toward him.
And just as he had ended his mother's life—
He ended his father's as well.
Everything…
Had ended.
And perhaps…
At this final moment, he finally understood.
The so-called bonds, the so-called warmth—they had existed all along, right beside him. He had simply never paid them any attention.
Ashes scattered into the air, carrying a foul stench. An overwhelming sadness, too faint for ordinary humans to detect, lingered in the cave.
Sanemi sheathed his blade and glanced at his brother.
"Let's go."
"Brother, you killed another Lower Rank!" Genya said excitedly as he caught up. "That was amazing!"
"Tch. Obviously," Sanemi snorted, though the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "We have Mr. Soma to thank for the information. Without him, we wouldn't have known a Lower Rank was hiding here."
"Yeah, Mr. Soma is really incredible," Genya agreed.
The two brothers walked down Mount Natagumo together. All the demons that had once plagued the mountain were exterminated on this day.
...
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