Only then did Rui realize. The demon-like, inhuman Demon Slayer Corps swordsman before him was exactly the one Muzan-sama had specifically warned him about not long ago.
Rui rapidly used his threads to stitch his severed body back together, telling himself that all of this had happened because he had been too hasty. Otherwise, there was no way he would have ended up in such a pathetic state.
Sukuna let Rui recover. This was his first time encountering an active member of the Twelve Kizuki, after all. He would give the brat one more chance to show what he could do.
Rui caught the meaning from Sukuna's reaction and the faint pity in his eyes. He roared in fury, "What is that look? You don't actually think one slash like that could kill me, do you? I'm going to cut you to pieces! Blood Demon Art: Killing Cage!"
As Rui spoke, his hands began weaving complex thread patterns like a cat's cradle. At the same time, he constructed a dome-shaped cage of spider threads around Sukuna, intending to shred him alive.
This time, Sukuna did not even move. He simply stood there, blade in hand, letting the threads close in on his body.
"He's not resisting"?
Just as Rui was thinking Sukuna must be an idiot for not responding to the attack, that victory was firmly in his grasp, the scene did not play out as he had imagined.
In his mind, Sukuna would be instantly shredded by his threads and scattered across the ground as countless irregular chunks of meat.
The threads did indeed reach Sukuna. They sliced clean through his Demon Slayer Corps uniform with ease. But when they reached his skin, the situation changed entirely.
The threads struggled. It took tremendous effort just to damage Sukuna's skin.
Rui could sense this through his threads. He had never encountered anything like it. It was like cutting through steel.
But even against steel, Rui's threads possessed terrifying cutting power. Without sufficient defense, even a Demon Slayer Corps Nichirin blade could be easily severed by them.
Rui's mouth fell open slightly. Then he saw the mocking smile on Sukuna's face and snapped back to reality. He poured more control into his Blood Demon Art: Killing Cage.
"Impossible. There's no way this is happening."
Rui muttered to himself, trying to steady his nerves, and focused his attack on Sukuna once more.
But just as the threads finally managed to cut through Sukuna's skin, the wounds healed completely in an instant. Even with the threads still embedded, the openings they had created sealed up entirely. The threads passed through Sukuna's body as if clipping through a game model.
"This can't be...!?"
"Is that all? Then it's my turn." Sukuna shook his head in disappointment.
Rui panicked. If his attacks could not truly harm Sukuna, then no matter how hard he fought, it was pointless.
But he could not accept that. If he accepted that premise, then everything lost meaning. Only death awaited him.
So Rui chose to fight back. He unleashed his strongest technique. Countless threads converged before him, rapidly weaving into a massive vortex-shaped cocoon. Blood Demon Art: Thread Rotation.
Rui convinced himself that his attacks had failed only because there had not been enough of them. His solution was to overwhelm Sukuna with a single massive barrage, believing that would bypass his strange defense.
Facing the threads hurtling toward him like a storm, Sukuna finally sighed and muttered, "In the end, this is all you amount to."
Rui's strongest attack showed Sukuna exactly how weak a Lower Rank truly was. He lost all interest in toying with this one.
Sukuna did not cut the threads on his body. He did not slash away the incoming attack. He simply ignored both and moved directly in front of Rui.
"Wha—?"
Before Rui could react, Sukuna's left hand clamped down on his face.
"This is what you were trying to do, right?"
SpiderWeb activated instantly. In a single moment, Rui's body was neatly shredded, leaving only the neck segment still attached to his head.
"AAAAAGH... mmph!"
Rui let out a horrifying scream, but Sukuna, annoyed by the noise, immediately covered his mouth and crushed his jaw with the force of his grip.
Sukuna returned to Shinobu's side. He impaled the Spider Demon father and brother on his Nichirin blade like skewers and said to her, "Take the rest and follow me."
...
Not long later, Sukuna found a small pond in the mountains. He threw the entire Spider Demon family into it. Their blood spread through the water like ink.
Shinobu watched, still not understanding what Sukuna intended. The occasional wails and screams from the Spider Demon family made even her want to grant them a quick death.
But unfortunately, that was not her decision to make.
Sukuna removed his damaged Demon Slayer Corps uniform, revealing a hard-lined muscular back with no scars aside from the black curse marks.
Shinobu was startled. She did not think this was some strange ritual before Sukuna did something to her, but she still had to ask, "Sukuna-sama, what are you doing...?"
Sukuna glanced back at her and explained in a tone that made it sound obvious. "Isn't it clear?"
As he spoke, Shinobu watched him walk slowly into the pond.
He let the crimson liquid soak into his skin bit by bit, until his entire body was submerged.
At the same time, Sukuna expanded his technique over the entire pond, concentrating the liquid into a proper bath.
In a way, was this not also a kind of shared bath?
All of this was too much for Shinobu. It shattered her understanding of the world.
What kind of entity Baths in demon blood...
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