The Nichirin Sword, wreathed in a current as clear and cold as mountain water, lunged toward the Spider Father. Just as the edge was about to bite into the demon's neck, he violently wrenched himself free from the vine's entanglements. Grabbing a massive, fallen tree trunk, he swung it like a gargantuan club toward Tanjiro.
Unfortunately, Kazama Aoi was standing right beside Tanjiro. Caught in the collateral damage, she was sent hurtling through the air along with him. Even as she tumbled through the sky, her mind struggled to process what had happened.
Tanjiro reached out, snagging Aoi's wrist and pulling her protectively into his chest.
"Inosuke! You stay alive until I get back!" Tanjiro roared.
Inosuke watched the two of them vanish into the distance, and his heart sank despite himself.
Tanjiro landed hard, still clutching Aoi. They tumbled through the forest floor for several meters before finally skidding to a halt. Aoi's vision swam with dark spots, and a metallic, copper taste rose in the back of her throat.
Tanjiro let out a muffled groan. His arms remained locked around her back, having absorbed the brunt of the impact for her.
"Cough... are you alright?" Tanjiro asked, his voice strained with concern.
Aoi shook her head as she coughed. She reached up to wipe the blood from her lip, only for her fingers to brush against something warm and sticky on Tanjiro's arm.
She looked down, and her pupils shrunk in horror. Tanjiro's sleeve had been shredded by a sharp branch, leaving a long, jagged gash. Blood was pouring down his arm, soaking through his black-and-green checkered haori.
Tanjiro simply shook his head. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself off the ground and stood up, reaching out a hand to help her up as well. "I'm fine. This is nothing."
Aoi opened her mouth to argue, but a pained, sobbing sound cut her off.
They moved toward the source of the noise. Standing a short distance away was a boy with skin so pale it was almost translucent, looking down at a girl cowering before him. It was clear—both of them were demons.
Aoi looked at the boy. Wisps of silvery spider silk were coiled around his fingertips, glinting with a cold, metallic luster. Though he had the stature of a young boy, he exuded a sense of sinister pressure far beyond his apparent age. Beneath the hair covering his left eye, the words "Lower Five" were clearly etched—the mark of the Twelve Kizuki.
"Tanjiro... it's a member of the Twelve Kizuki," Aoi said, her voice trembling.
Tanjiro's pupils contracted. His grip on his Nichirin Sword tightened until his knuckles turned white.
Rui, standing before the Spider Sister, slowly raised his eyelids. His eyes were devoid of warmth, like pieces of ice-cold agate. He glanced at the blood on Tanjiro's arm and then flicked his gaze to the drying red on Aoi's lip. A faint, mocking curl touched the corners of his mouth.
"How unsightly," Rui said. His voice was light, but it pricked at the skin like needles. "To think a pair of mere ants dared to enter my territory and damage my meticulously chosen family."
The Spider Sister huddled at his feet, her shoulders shaking. Her voice was thick with terror. "Rui... it was them... they tried to kill me..."
"I know." Rui's fingers toyed with a strand of silk, which shimmered coldly in the moonlight. "Since a useless sister can't protect her brother, there's no point in keeping you around anymore."
"Aren't you supposed to be companions?" Tanjiro's voice shook with suppressed rage and confusion. "Between family, shouldn't you protect one another instead of throwing each other away whenever you please?"
The word "family" seemed to strike a nerve. Rui's pale face suddenly tautened, and a chilling, murderous intent swirled in his crimson eyes. The threads at his fingertips snapped tight, the glinting lines nearly cutting into his own palms.
"Protect?" He let out a sharp, mocking laugh, his voice rising with a jagged edge. "What do you know?! Real family is about absolute obedience! They are to be my perfect tools, perfectly synchronized, never betraying one another!"
"She couldn't even protect her own brother. She did nothing but wail and beg for mercy. Does a piece of trash like that deserve to be my family?" Rui's tone was airy, yet every word was dipped in ice. "Things that aren't perfect... deserve to be destroyed."
Tanjiro's breathing became heavy and ragged. He stared death at Rui, the veins on his sword-hand bulging. The energy of Water Breathing surged through him, nearly bursting from his chest.
"You don't understand the first thing about family!" Tanjiro roared, lunging forward with explosive force. "Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
The Nichirin Sword, carrying a brilliant wave of water, slashed toward Rui's face.
Meanwhile
Inosuke had jammed his broken blade into the Spider Father's chest, but the strike hadn't left a scratch. Instead, he found himself hoisted into the air, his head caught in the demon's massive grip.
Rough, calloused fingers dug into the gaps of his boar mask. The sheer pressure made his cranium creak and groan, and black spots danced across his vision. He could smell the demon's foul, rotting stench—a mix of earth and old blood that made him want to gag.
"The Great Inosuke-sama... will never lose!" he managed to choke out.
In his fading consciousness, a gentle voice seemed to echo in his ears: "Inosuke, you have to live..."
Who... is that?
Just a second before he lost consciousness, a cold, sharp voice sliced through the forest's stench.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide."
Before the words had even finished echoing, a flash of sword-light, carrying the force of a surging tide, tore through the air. It struck the Spider Father's neck with surgical precision.
The blade sheared through the demon's flesh. Amidst a cloud of rising black smoke, the Spider Father let out a final, agonizing shriek as his head was severed. Inosuke crashed to the ground, clutching his head and coughing violently.
Giyu Tomioka landed between them, his haori fluttering in the night wind. His icy blue eyes remained calm, without a single ripple of emotion. His hand on his sword was as steady as a mountain, and the aura surrounding him was so frigid it felt as if the air itself had frozen solid.
"Whoa!" Inosuke's eyes flashed with a hint of unwilling admiration. "I totally could've taken that guy myself!"
Giyu ignored the boy's bravado. His eyes scanned Inosuke's injuries before looking toward the direction where Tanjiro and Aoi were fighting—the demonic aura there was so thick it was almost physical.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going? The Great One is coming too!"
Annoyed by the shouting, Giyu's brow twitched. Ignoring Inosuke's struggles, he quickly bound the boy to a tree with some rope before sprinting off toward Tanjiro and Aoi.
Tied firmly to the trunk, Inosuke howled in rage, his feet kicking uselessly at the bark. "Hey! You bastard! Let me go!"