Goku and the Father Demon clashed in front of the house.
Or rather, it wasn't a clash so much as it was a one-sided thrashing.
In terms of speed, the Father Demon couldn't even touch a hair on Goku's head. Every punch Goku threw landed with surgical precision, intercepting every attempt the demon made to attack.
In terms of power, the Father Demon's strength was laughable compared to Goku's.
In terms of defense, when the Father Demon managed to land a hit, Goku only felt a slight sting. But when Goku hit the Father Demon, whatever part he struck exploded into a mist of blood.
If it weren't for his incredible regenerative abilities, the demon wouldn't have lasted three moves.
"Is he really human?"
The Father Demon, who could shatter a Nichirin Sword with his bare skin, looked as fragile as glass under Goku's iron fists. The three young slayers watching from the sidelines were completely stunned.
'If he had a Nichirin Sword in his hand, wouldn't he be able to end this in a single swing?' the boy with the scar thought to himself.
If he could beat the Father Demon into a pulp with his bare hands, leaving him riddled with holes, then a sword would surely take his head in an instant.
"What is that? So powerful... so amazing! That hard-skinned monster is like tofu in his hands. I have to defeat him—then I'll be the strongest!" the boar-headed boy puffed, steam rising from his nostrils. He trembled with excitement, wanting to charge in, but the scarred boy grabbed him.
"First, we help Nezuko. Then we come back. There's still a Lower Rank Five over there."
The scarred boy was cautious. Although the boy helping them had the upper hand, the Lower Rank Five standing nearby was the real threat. The best plan was to help the girl finish off the other demon first, then join forces as a group of four to help the boy swarm the Lower Moon.
Rui sat atop the roof, completely indifferent to the fact that the three slayers were heading off to kill his "Sister." His focus was entirely on Goku.
"Very good... very good. I like you. If you become my brother, you can definitely protect me..."
The Father and Sister were so weak they had failed their roles; if they died, they died. But this boy was so powerful. If he turned into a demon and became his brother, it would be perfect. If he didn't agree, it didn't matter—he would turn him first and break him later.
"Forget it. You're too weak," Goku said.
Seeing that the Father Demon could only offer this much and posed no real threat, Goku felt a wave of disappointment. He picked up a broken piece of a Nichirin blade from the ground and effortlessly sliced through the Father Demon's neck.
The demon's body finally stopped regenerating, crumbling into black ash and vanishing.
"I guess I have to step up to the Twelve Kizuki level to get a real fight."
Uncle Mita had said the Twelve Kizuki were on a different level. This Lower Rank Five should be much stronger than the Father—hopefully a worthy opponent.
"I'll ask one last time. Do you want to become a demon and be my brother?" Rui asked again, weaving a net of thread between his fingers.
Goku tossed the broken blade aside and dropped into the Turtle School stance.
"No."
"Unappreciative brat!"
Rui flicked his hand, and the web in his palm instantly elongated, sweeping toward Goku. It was fast—so fast the human eye could barely track it.
But to Goku, it was nothing. He gave a light hop, easily dodging the web.
"Such sharp silk."
From the air, Goku saw the surrounding trees being sliced clean through by the threads as if they were made of butter. The scarred boy and his friends, who had just finished off the Sister Demon and were rushing to help, were frozen by the sight of the attack.
"This is the power of a Lower Rank Five?"
Mita and the other slayers, who had just panted their way up the mountain, were equally terrified. Seeing the threads carve through the forest like a hot knife through wax made them realize the true horror of the Twelve Kizuki.
Their eyes could barely track the trajectory of the silk. If they were the ones fighting, they would have been diced into pieces before they could even register a move.
"Charge!"
Despite the fear, they didn't retreat. Even if they died, they hoped to disrupt the demon's rhythm and buy Goku time. The scarred boy's group felt the same; they were stronger than Mita's group and could see the battle more clearly, perhaps they could offer support.
"One after another... mere trash who only get in the way. Turn into mince."
Rui's face twisted in anger as more "small fry" arrived. The threads in his hands suddenly turned a deep, blood-red, and their speed doubled.
"Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Cage!"
The red silk formed a cage of death, closing in on Mita, the scarred boy, and the others from all directions. Rui intended to slice them all into pieces in one breath.
Mita's group immediately formed a circle, back-to-back, swinging their blades in desperation to break the cage. However, the moment their Nichirin Swords touched the red silk, the blades were instantly severed.
"What?!"
They hadn't expected the red threads to be this terrifying. At their level, they couldn't even touch them, let alone cut them.
'We're dead...' The thought echoed in their minds. If their swords snapped that easily, their bodies stood no chance.
Fortunately, just as the red silk reached within a foot of them, it stopped.
Looking up, they saw Goku had dashed in front of the Lower Moon. He had reached out and grabbed the blood-red silk with his bare hands, physically yanking the entire "cage" back toward himself.
"Are you a spider? You can spit silk, and it's actually pretty elastic," Goku said, giving the remaining threads in Rui's hands a sharp tug. He pulled them taut and tested their strength. "Hmm, much better than the silk my friends make."
The "friends" he meant were the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. They could spin silk too, but theirs wasn't nearly as sharp or sturdy as this red thread. To be honest, if Goku hadn't reinforced his hands with ki, these threads might have actually cut him.
"You dare mock me!"
Rui stared at his now-empty hands, feeling utterly insulted. He no longer cared about having a brother; he was going to shred this person.
"Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Rotation!"
The red silk was his Blood Demon Art; even if it was taken, he could regenerate it infinitely. The hardest threads he could produce erupted from his fingers, weaving into a massive, high-speed rotating vortex of death, looking capable of cutting through anything in existence.
"This is my strongest technique! Even if a Hashira comes, they will be cut to pieces! Let's see how you block this!"
"Since this is your strongest move, then to show my respect, I'll use my strongest move too. Let's see whose is better!"
Goku's expression turned serious. It seemed the demon had been playing around before and was only now showing his true potential. As one of the Twelve Kizuki, his ultimate move had to be infinitely stronger than what he'd shown.
To show proper respect, Goku decided to skip the probing melee and go straight to his own trump card.
"Here goes... Ka-me-ha-me-HA!!!"
Goku gathered his ki and released it in one fluid motion. A massive, brilliant beam of energy surged forward, screaming toward the blood-red vortex and Lower Rank Five, Rui.
***
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