The Spider Demon sister and Spider Demon brother were both frozen in place by the bloody scene before them, completely shattered by this second shock.
After all, the Spider Demon father was the second strongest in their entire spider family, right after Rui. Seeing him fall so easily to this man utterly overturned their understanding of the world.
It was at this moment that Shinobu arrived as well and witnessed the gruesome sight.
Sukuna crooked a finger at her. Shinobu glanced at the Spider Demon brother and sister, then came to his side.
"Keep an eye on them." Sukuna tossed the remaining upper half of the Spider Demon father at Shinobu's feet.
"What do you mean by 'keep an eye on them'...?"
"Don't let them escape. Don't let them die." Sukuna shook the gore from his hands as he spoke.
"...Don't let them escape and don't let them die? Sukuna-sama, you don't intend to kill them?" Shinobu repeated the strange request.
"Not yet. I need their blood. By the way, you use poison, don't you? Do you have something with a numbing or anesthetic effect? Use it on them. Prove yourself useful." Sukuna vanished from Shinobu's side as he finished speaking.
"You need demon blood...?" Shinobu muttered, turning to look at the Spider Demon mother and father struggling on the ground.
Under normal circumstances, Shinobu's first thought about demon blood would be its ability to infect humans and turn them into demons.
But if Sukuna truly wanted to become a demon, he could have simply asked Muzan himself when they met in Asakusa. Given Sukuna's terrifying strength, Shinobu could not imagine any reason Muzan would refuse.
Still, the mutilated state of the two demons brought her no satisfaction. This was torture worse than death, the kind of cruelty only a demon with immense regenerative ability could endure.
A strange sense of resignation rose in Shinobu's heart. In a way, Sukuna's cruelty did not change based on who stood before him. Perhaps in his eyes, human lives and demon lives were both worthless.
Shinobu eventually took out her anesthetic and sprayed it on both demons. The severity of their injuries only enhanced the drug's effect.
Sukuna's first target was the Spider Demon brother. The stench radiating from this one was a targeted weapon against his keen sense of smell.
Not that the Spider Demon brother's poison would actually affect Sukuna. It simply annoyed him.
His Nichirin blade flashed, severing the spider legs and gutting the brother to reduce his activity.
The Spider Demon brother could not react to any of this. Beyond releasing his poison instinctively, he could only watch helplessly as Sukuna carved him up.
He had not even felt the blade before it was over. Only when Sukuna impaled him and tossed him to Shinobu did the pain register.
The Spider Demon sister realized her fate the moment she sensed Sukuna had vanished from beside her brother.
Her mind went into panic. She tried desperately to escape.
"No!"
But the next instant, she saw the beautiful sight of a flaming Nichirin blade dancing before her. Sukuna, executing Fourth Form: Scarlet Flame's Winding, moved like an elegant dancer, not a single wasted motion.
After reducing the Spider Demon sister to a masterfully butchered state, Sukuna kicked her over to Shinobu.
He could tell these demons were considerably stronger than ordinary ones. Their regenerative abilities should be enough to gather a single bath's worth.
By "single bath," he meant enough to fill a bathtub, not the amount Uraume had once prepared to fill an entire room.
And that was only accounting for these four. They were just the baseline. Sukuna had not even factored in the yet-unseen Twelve Kizuki.
Just then, from a high distance, a figure stood on two thin spider threads. It was Rui, Lower Rank Five, Sukuna's true target.
Sukuna looked at Rui and frowned with annoyance. "Another brat? How many of these do I have to cut down before the Twelve Kizuki hiding in this mountain shows up?"
Rui swept his gaze over the four bodies near Shinobu, then at the scattered limbs of the Spider Demon sister and the blood covering Sukuna. He concluded that Sukuna was the cause of it all. Looking down coldly, Rui asked, "...What are you doing?"
"Take a guess."
Sukuna did not answer Rui directly. He stomped hard and launched into Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun.
Amplified by Sukuna's terrifying physical strength, the long trail of fire left by his Nichirin blade under the night sky resembled a surging flame dragon. It elevated Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun to a level rivaling the ultimate form, Ninth Form: Rengoku.
Even though Rui realized Sukuna was unusual, he could not respond to the attack in time.
His hastily released Blood Demon Art, Thread Cage, could not stop Sukuna's slash at all.
The cage of crimson spider threads never fully enclosed Sukuna. The few red webs that blocked his path snapped before even touching the blade.
The next instant, Rui parted ways with the left half of his body. Blood rained down like scattered droplets under the moonlight.
With his anchor threads severed, he fell from the height to the ground.
"AAAAAGH! DAMN IT!" Rui roared in agony, manipulating his threads to retrieve his severed body parts.
It was then that Sukuna caught sight of Rui's left eye, marked with the character for Lower Rank Five.
"So it was you. All that fuss, and the active Twelve Kizuki is still just this level?"
"You bastard...!?"
Only now did Rui notice the second pair of eyes on Sukuna's face, different from any ordinary person.
--------------------------------------
If you are enjoying the story, Drop some power stones to push the story forward.
The fanfic is already completed on patreon!
Patreon.com/GoatMama