"Haa... haa..."
In the forest clearing, Tanjiro held his sword, panting heavily as he stood firmly in front of Nezuko.
The four wounds on his left shoulder burned like fire, and blood had soaked his haori.
Behind him, Nezuko kept her eyes fixed on Rui, growling in warning.
They had held that formation for quite a while.
Their combat method consisted of Nezuko, from the rear, using her Bakketsu to burn the threads Rui launched. The threads, originally indestructible, would become brittle, and then Tanjiro would cut them and attempt to counterattack.
But when Rui made blood sprout from his palms and fused it with the threads extending from his fingertips, that tactic stopped working.
Although the Bakketsu still managed to weaken the blood strands to some extent, it was almost impossible for Tanjiro to cut through them in a single strike. And if he failed, the blood repaired them instantly, returning them to their original state.
The wounds on his shoulder were precisely the price of a moment of carelessness against those reinforced threads.
"This has to end now."
Faced with their stubborn resistance, Rui began to get bored. "If I kill them… that human will probably get mad, right?"
"Cage..." His hands, reddened with blood, crossed in front of his chest with all ten fingers intertwined. "Of Murderous Threads."
It was the first time he had used that technique in a fight, and also the sign that he had decided to end it all.
Swish!
In an instant, hundreds of blood-red threads sprouted around the siblings.
It wasn't a straight-line attack: the threads traced a massive circle over ten meters in diameter on the ground.
At first, it was flat, but in the blink of an eye, they straightened and connected with each other, forming a hemispherical cage.
The threads spun frantically, weaving a curtain of slashes that closed in on Tanjiro and Nezuko from all directions.
Faced with this, Tanjiro didn't stand still and immediately used the Second Form of Water Breathing to test the new threads.
But the spider web was a completely different concept now. The instant the blade struck a thread, it would soften strangely and absorb the force of the slash, and as soon as the momentum decreased, it instantly regained its terrible hardness and sharpness, repelling the sword!
A single thread grazed Tanjiro's calf, slicing a deep cut. Nezuko rushed to support him and, palms facing upward, made her flames erupt, trying to open a breach at the top of the cage.
But it was useless… Burning them wasn't an easy task.
"..."
Rui simply watched coldly. He made a grabbing motion with his hands, and instantly, the web began to contract at a brutal speed!
!
Tanjiro jumped and attacked again, but once more he returned without achieving anything.
"I-I can't... I can't cut them...!" Sweat ran down his forehead, and his breathing began to spiral out of control.
The offensive power of Water Breathing was insufficient against those blood threads.
If he used the Tenth Form, he might have a chance… but that required enough space to rotate, and with the web closing at that speed, it was impossible to execute it.
The cage was already less than three meters away.
Then, a flash of absolute determination crossed Nezuko's eyes.
She took a step forward, placed herself in front of Tanjiro, and without any hesitation, tore her wrist open with her nails.
Rass!
With a swing of her arm, a large amount of blood sprayed out, and the flames erupted instantly, flooding the inside of the cage.
Even though she couldn't burn the threads completely, she barely managed to slow their advance, buying just a split-second margin.
Nezuko used that brief window to do a roll, dragging Tanjiro along with her.
With one hand she pressed down on Tanjiro's sword, infusing it with her burning energy, and with the other she held him firmly beneath her body.
Tanjiro froze. His heart stopped dead. Was his little sister... using herself as a shield over him?! Was she going to give up her own body, her flesh, her life, just to protect him?!
"NEZUKO!! GET OUT OF THERE!!"
He roared, trying to break free, but his sister's hand held him like an iron shackle, unbreakable, impossible to shove aside.
He couldn't move… He couldn't do anything!
And even so... Nezuko kept smiling. With that sweet, serene smile, the same as always.
The flames flooding the air were starting to dissipate. The hilt of his sword burned hotter and hotter against Nezuko's palm. And that screeching, that horrible screeching of the threads slicing through the air, was getting closer, closer, closer…
Tanjiro's eyes went wide, while a dreadful chill ran down his spine. He understood… He understood what was about to happen.
His sister. The only family he had left in the world... was going to be torn to pieces right before his eyes.
No!!
THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!!
NOT AGAIN!! NOT HER!! NOT AFTER EVERYTHING!!
But in the midst of the panic, everything around him seemed to slow down.
Scenes from the past flooded his mind, mixed with self-reproach and regret.
Ever since she met Marcus, Nezuko had been treated by him like a treasure, his spoiled girl: cared for with a constant fear that she might fall, that she might melt, that she might suffer the slightest scratch.
She had never received a single wound.
And now, after barely ten minutes alone with him... she was going to be torn to pieces right before his eyes?!
NO!
NEVER!!
Without knowing where he got the strength, he flipped Nezuko over with a yank and placed her behind him.
It didn't matter that he knew Nezuko wouldn't die.
It didn't matter that he knew he would be the one to die.
He couldn't let his sister step in to protect him! He couldn't! That wasn't the way an older brother was supposed to protect his little sister!
And besides... if Marcus ever found out about this, he would kill him!
[Tanjiro, I'm going to tell you a secret.]
Wait…!
MARCUS?!
Suddenly, a memory from half a year ago popped into Tanjiro's mind, the night his senpai got black-out drunk.
[You know something? That family of yours, the Kamados... they're actually the heirs to Sun Breathing.]
[Bro, you're completely wasted. What sun are you talking about? I train in Water Breathing.]
[I don't give a shit what you train in, kid... hic… What matters isn't what you train in. What matters is what the HELL you're good for!]
[Yeah, yeah, sure. And yours must be Drunken Idiot Breathing, for sure.]
[You son of a bitch...! And you don't even believe me? Bah, do whatever the hell you want. But drill this into that thick skull of yours:]
[The day you truly find yourself backed against the wall, with death breathing down your neck... think of your father. Think of that dance. The one he danced. You hear me? THAT DANCE!]
Sun…
It wasn't water.
IT WAS THE SUN!
What his family had passed down from generation to generation... was the technique of the sun!
Half-crouched on the ground, facing the bloody web, Tanjiro's eyes suddenly burned with an unquenchable fire.
Before Nezuko's astonished gaze, a stream of scorching air erupted from her brother's nose and mouth, carrying burning sparks.
Upon the edge of his sword, the embers of Nezuko's flames and the incandescent force bursting from the very depths of his body met, recognized each other, and fused into one!
And a torrent of crimson flames surged toward the sky!
"Hinokami Kagura…"
Tanjiro moved.
Following the steps of an ancient dance, the sword accompanied his body like a living extension, transforming into a spinning tornado of fire that roared as it turned.
With the threads closing in on him from all directions, he charged with all his soul against the blood web.
"Heki-ra no Ten!"
_______
Sun Breathing has officially awakened in the most spectacular way. Drop all your Power Stones right now to fuel the flames💎💎!
THANK YOU FOR READING.
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