Rui's patience reached its limit as he watched the demons, whom he called family, kneeling before Mukago.
Blood vessels twitched beneath his pale skin.
"I won't forgive... insulting my family, trampling on my bonds...! I'll tear you all to shreds and hang you from my threads!"
Sharp threads tinged with red light erupted from Rui's fingertips.
Blood Demon Art, [Thread Prison].
The blood threads, harder than steel, formed a dense net, closing in with no escape. It was a brutal attack that would turn anyone it touched into mincemeat.
But standing in its way was Kanae.
She erased her usual gentle smile and gripped her sword with a cool, calm gaze. Her swordsmanship master was the genius called Okita Souji.
What Okita taught her was not mere swordsmanship. It was a swift footwork technique that allowed him to dominate the battlefield despite his frail body, controlling muscle contraction and relaxation to the extreme to momentarily break the sound barrier.
"Flower Breathing, Second Form. Modified, [Shadow Plum]."
As Kanae swung her sword, Rui's pouring threads didn't bounce off but shattered like flower petals caught in a storm. A leap for attack was made simultaneously with the defense.
"This... is human movement?"
It was the instant Rui panicked and tried to shoot his spider threads again.
Boom!
Dust exploded from under Kanae's feet as if bursting.
It was a rupture sound like a cannon firing. Her body, incorporating Okita Souji's secret technique, the footwork, into Flower Breathing, tore through the sound barrier.
"Flower Breathing, Third Form. Modified, [Sonic Cherry Blossom Rain]!"
It was a technique Kanae modified by melting Okita's swordsmanship into it.
A wide-area annihilation technique that carries the powerful shockwave generated by breaking the sound barrier on the sword pressure, scattering countless slashes forward.
Swish! Slash! Shushushu!
"Gyaaah!"
Rui couldn't even follow with his eyes. Without even a chance to create a defense with his threads, the pain of being cut dozens, hundreds of times all over his body rushed in.
It wasn't just being cut. The sonic sword pressure tore through the wounds and vibrated even his bones.
"So... fast...!"
Rui coughed up blood and retreated. He tried to regenerate, but the wound surfaces were crushed by the shockwave, slowing recovery. Moreover, her sword had an effect similar to a Nichirin Blade due to enchantment.
Kanae elegantly, but more destructively than anyone, pressed Rui.
It was violence of speed that Lower Moon Five's power couldn't possibly handle.
Then, Kanae slightly stepped back and opened the way.
"Shinobu, it's your turn now."
"Yes, sister. I'll finish it thoroughly."
Shinobu lightly stamped the ground. Her movement was different from Kanae's linear explosiveness.
Her master was Ushiwakamaru. A legendary warrior who learned swordsmanship from a tengu, leaped eight feet, and roamed the battlefield.
Shinobu's body soared into the air. A leap as light as a feather, as if ignoring gravity.
"Where are you looking, little one?"
"!? Above!"
Rui raised his head and shot threads upward. But Shinobu's figure was already not there.
Pat!
She used Rui's spider threads floating in the air as a stepping stone to leap again. Ushiwaka's footwork and tengu technique.
Her speed running on the threads left only afterimages that couldn't be followed by eye.
"Insect Breathing, Butterfly Dance. [Playful・Tengu Soaring]."
Shinobu drew irregular trajectories in the air, digging into only Rui's blind spots.
She looked like a youkai playing in the forest, but her trajectory was fatal.
Stab! Stab! Thud!
"Kyaaah!"
Shinobu's needle-like sword repeatedly stabbed and pulled out from all over Rui's body. Each time it pierced, a lethal dose of high-concentration Wisteria poison flowed into his bloodstream.
"Why... my threads...!"
Rui couldn't control his prized threads.
Because Shinobu was stepping on and between the threads, no, stepping on the threads themselves, toying with him. It was a three-dimensional super-high-speed mobility combining footwork and tengu techniques.
Eventually, Shinobu lightly landed behind Rui and sheathed her sword.
Click.
Simultaneously with that sound, blood vessels burst all over Rui's body.
"Cough! Gah!"
The poison spread throughout his body, and Rui knelt and collapsed to the ground.
His skin, discolored purple, was melting, and his nerves were paralyzed, unable to move a single finger.
"No way... I... a member of the Twelve Kizuki!"
Rui shed tears in frustration and fear.
Helplessness that couldn't protect even himself, let alone his family. The wall of overwhelming talent crushed him.
Then, footsteps were heard.
As the victorious sisters cleared the way, the true predator walked up from behind.
Akira looked down at Rui, who was dying and gasping, with indifferent eyes.
"Did you have fun? With the family play."
"You... you all... what...?"
"No need to know. Anyway, you'll become my nourishment. Rest in peace."
Akira grabbed Rui's neck without hesitation.
Rui tried to resist, but his body, already tattered from poison and injuries, wouldn't listen. A powerful suction force occurred through Akira's palm.
Rui's life force, and the thick blood energy Muzan had shared, began to be sucked in.
"Ugh...! Grr...!"
Rui's body twisted. The years accumulated as a demon, the power as a Lower Moon, all of it flowed into Akira's body.
As if being sucked into a black hole, Rui's very existence was being devoured by Akira.
"Before dealing with Gyutaro and Daki, an excellent nutrient."
After a while, when Akira let go, Rui's flesh turned into black ash and scattered in the wind.
Akira clenched and unclenched his hand, savoring the new power boiling inside. The power flowing through his blood vessels thickened another layer.
Thus, Rui vanished. No, he became Akira's blood and flesh.
The surroundings became quiet again.
Mukago, looking at the trembling spider family, puffed out her chest proudly and said, "See? Master and their power! If you act up, you'll end up like that too!" while Nobunaga yawned and shouldered her gun.
Kanae and Shinobu approached Akira.
"Good work. Both of you, truly excellent. You've become much stronger than I expected."
At Akira's sincere praise, the two sisters smiled brightly.
"It's thanks to Akira-san that we've become strong."
"That's right. We have to be at this level to stand by Akira-san's side."
Akira was satisfied with their grown appearance. But, the two seemed to be waiting for something eagerly.
"...Ah, right."
Akira patted their heads, then pulled the sisters into a simultaneous embrace and kissed them. The two laughed shyly, hehe...
Though usually more mature than most adults, at times like this, they looked like love-struck girls their age.
And Kanao, quietly watching them from behind. Usually reliable older sisters, but when in love, they become flustered.
Kanao became curious about what this thing called love was that made them like that.
"Then, perhaps tonight too?"
"You'll stay with us, right?"
Kanae and Shinobu pressed their large breasts against Akira's arm and whispered in his ear, but.
"When we return, I have a lot of work to do. Originally, there's much to do at night too, but thanks to you all, I couldn't for a while, and work piled up. I also have to manage the branch recently opened in Asakusa."
"Tsk."
"Then, can I go under the desk?"
"Shinobu, what are you saying? Anyway, I really have to work. Tamamo says that while sharing love is good, it's time to work and suggests setting an example by having a period of abstinence."
After a while of defending against harem duties, work piled up and there was really no time. Since Tamamo is also abstaining, the sisters had no choice but to accept.
"Then, I'll guide the way down! Come on, lead the way!"
Mukago rubbed her hands and fawned over Akira, setting the spider family to guide the way.
The demon most loved by Muzan in history met such a futile death. And that foretold that many changes would occur from now on.
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