'I messed up! I messed up!' The Older Sister Spider Demon panicked while holding her hands on her head while running. 'And I was the only one who never messed up until now in this Pretend Family game!'
A flashback of the Older Sister Spider Demon reminisced in her head. She is seen running away from someone and she was different than the current. Her eyes were black, her facial features were that of a normal human except her eyes and she wore a green kimono while running away from a bunch of Demon Slayers that are coming to slay her.
She lost her footing and fell down to the ground with a thud. Her eyes looked back at the Demon Slayers that surrounded her.
"We finally drove her into a corner!" A male Demon Slayer, presumably the leader of his squad, said.
"Hey, look at that." Another male Demon Slayer said as he told his squad to look at the house in the middle of the dense forest. On top of the peak of the house stood non other than Rui.
"A demon?" He said.
"It's just a kid." The leader said and narrowed his eyes at Rui. "But even if it looks like a kid, it's still a demon! If we let it go, it'll devour humans!"
Rui looked down on them then turned to talk to the demon girl. "Hey... Hey... You want me to save you?"
"Eh?" She glanced up at the pale demon boy with uncertainty.
"In return, will you do what I ask?" Rui offered her.
"I'll do anything! I'll do whatever you want, so please save me!" She cried out for him desperately.
"Then, become a part of my family." Rui declared, making an offer she can't refuse.
"I will! I'll do it!" Without hesitation, she complied with his demand and was willing to become one of his family.
"What are they talking about?" One of the Demon Slayers asked in confusion, having heard of their conversation.
The leader stepped up, sword in hand, ready to decapitate the demoness. "All right, it's over for you!"
But before he can ever do such a thing, Rui used his threads hidden in the trees and sliced every Demon Slayers in the vicinity into pieces in only a blink of an eye. The demon girl stood up, spectating the dead remains of the leader and his broken sword, then back towards the house with all the family members of Rui.
She looked at them with wonder on her eyes. She didn't imagine a family like this. Her wavering eyes eventually calmed down when she felt her hand being grabbed gently by Rui, who walked beside her.
"Welcome." Rui continued. "Starting today, you're part of my family, too."
They all welcomed her in with open arms with Rui leading the way. She reluctantly abided his way and followed him inside while the others went to their ways inside the household. She wondered why they haven't spared a solemn look at her like they weren't excited to see a new family member being accepted by Rui.
And one thing is bothering her. They were bonded. Demons never bond and be with each other.
It's a mystery she must solve on her own.
Rui and a female spider demon had led her into a room with little lighting and a place where she can be accepted as one of them. Rui cut his thumb as little as possible and blood seeped out from it. He positioned his thumb into a bowl used for Saké and changed the water into pure red liquid blood.
"Drink this." The female spider demon brought the blood-filled water to her. "Our family's power belongs to Rui."
She took the water from the female demon and gazed longingly to it.
"Since we were all weak demons, Rui shared his power with us. Because Rui is one of that person's favorites, he gets special permission to do this kind of thing."
After hearing of that short explanation, the demoness looked down once again with hesitancy, not before drinking it because she had already made up her mind.
After drinking it, however, her body begins to twitch violently and made her drop the plate where she drank the blood-filled water. Veins popped up on her neck area and her eyes swerved everywhere.
"Do you feel it? You don't have to fear those demon hunters anymore." Rui stood up and approached her. "Now then, time for the finishing touches."
He grabbed her face then started to tear it off, making her scream in agonizing pain. Blood flowed down her kimono by Rui continuously ripping off her face in the most gruesome way possible.
What supposed to be a minute that the process was done. She was seen gasping and felt all her pain washed away slowly.
"All right, you can look up now."
She did it as she was told and removed her hands from covering her face. Her face did an entire make-over. She no longer have the black eyes with cat-like slits and instead was replaced with eyes that are pure white with only her silvery pupils separating them from her sclera. Her usual black hair had changed into wavy long silver hair that only flows down her back. Her face morphed that would match the spider family that possesses several red dots on her face.
"Congratulations. You're truly part of the family now." Rui announced.
Afterwards, every member of the spider family had gathered up in one room to partake in the whole dinner act. They sat in silence with no extra movement with empty plates placed in front of them.
"We're only playing house." The Elder Sister Spider Demon said with the newly recruited spider demon.
"What?" She asked.
"We have no blood ties. We're just a clan of assorted strangers." She admitted. Her eyes went to the two people outside of her window and spectated what's going on.
"I'm so sorry!" What sounded like a little girl's voice. "I'll do better, Rui! I'll practice! Forgive me!"
It was Eiko Yushino in her original form. Apparently, she made a mistake and reverted back into her real form, much to Rui's disappointment.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't do it well! It's just that I revert by accident sometimes!" She pleaded.
Rui didn't heed to her pleas and strangled her using his thread. She suffered for about 10 seconds until Rui decided to stop to make her breathe.
"I don't want to hear your excuses, Mother." Rui warned. Eiko coughed a few times then forcefully reverts back to her voluptuous form. "Play the role of mother like you should."
"I know what I must do, Rui."
Rui then walked away, leaving her in her own thoughts to wander.
"We were all so scared of the demon hunters and just wanted companions." She continued after watching their little scene. "It's not like we wanted to take part in this baffling Pretend Family game."
"But those who fail to go along with Rui's demands and orders get carved up or have their intellect taken from them or get strung up, exposed to the sunlight. I've had enough of this."
The Older Sister Spider Demon didn't care what she had said and thought about it. Rui had taken her in willingly and saved her from being killed by the Demon Slayer. If there is anything she'll do for Rui, she'll accept anything what he says.
"I'm going to pretend I never heard you say that—"
"I know you're not a fool." The other demon admitted. "Unlike all the others. Let's run away together."
She finally faced her fully. "I wouldn't say this to anyone but you. You're the one person I truly think of as my younger sister."
The Elder Sister Spider Demon held out her hand, opting the other one to take it. Her intentions were clear by the look on her eyes. She wanted to escape, escape from this Hell Rui created for her.
However, the older sister had other plans regarding that.
The next day, two sisters were seen running from the forest, away from the house while holding their hands and running in unison.
"Tomorrow, Rui is going to be summoned by that person and descend the mountain. That's our chance to escape."
To say that her plan had backfired when they find Rui standing their only escape route. The elder sister was shocked. How did he know of their plan when she knew he was going to be summoned by Muzan?
And that's when she realized, the older sister had betrayed her. She let go of her hand that was intertwined with her own and walked towards Rui by his side. The elder sister couldn't believe it. She had trusted her sister. Only to be betrayed in the end. The look of despair and betrayal is seen on her face.
The next thing she knew, Rui carved her up in threads and hang her at the top of the house, waiting for the sun to rise. Her bloodied figure was shown and she's still audibly alive. If she hadn't become a demon, all those wounds would potentially kill her.
"How disappointing." Rui sighed and walked away with the older sister tagging behind him. With another one last look at the elder sister, she can feel her sadness and hopelessness. And for once, she felt a bit guilty she did this. And it's the first time she feels a sense of guilt from her own actions against her own kind. Normally, people wouldn't do this for the sake of their own love ones.
But aside from it, she's a demon.
And demons don't feel sympathy towards one another.
She'd do anything to survive, with or without Rui.
She snapped out of her trance when she sees Rui waiting for her. Not wanting to waste time, she dismissed her own thoughts and leave the elder sister to rot in her own imminent demise.
Speaking of the elder sister, she still fathomed of the idea of being betrayed by the only one who she truly calls as her own. It was so... indescribable to say at least. When she puts all her trust into her, she felt at ease for the first time. When she was being deceived in the end, that's when she knew.
Her dream for yearning for freedom.
The very exact moment she wanted to be free.
Had been taken away.
All because she was betrayed by her family member, her sister.
She then cried for the last time in her last moments and before the sun completely consumes her in a fiery form, not leaving any traces of her in those flames.
'They were all fools, but I'm not like them! Even so, I messed up!' She exclaimed in her mind then thought about the incident involving Eiko and Blaze. She watched them in the shadows and was deeply enthralled of why a Demon Slayer decided not to kill her straight away.
Which brings her to one new thought.
'That boy from back there... He looked exactly the same as the one I saw with Mother! That red one, and the one in brown! Who are they?'
Her mind reeled back to the one in brown, specifically, to BoBoiBoy Earth.
'He looked at me with those eyes. Those eyes that held no killing intent. But aren't demon hunters suppose to be wrathful? Don't they despise demons as much as they are? Also, that red headed boy...'
She gripped her head even harder than before.
'Gahhh! I can't understand what they are and what they're doing anymore!'
She kept on running and still kept on marking her own objective, which is to find their Mother that had spilled the beans. If she were to go off and escape the forest on her own without following Rui's orders, he'll have her by the thread and string her up and let daybreak do its work like what Rui did to the rest of his fake family members.
She caught sight of Murata walking to what his mind sets him to.
"A demon!" Murata had his blade ready and looked at the Older Sister Spider Demon.
She then proceeded to swarm him using her new Blood Demon Art and wrapped him in her ball filled with what looks like hair, yarn, and threads.
"What the...!?" Murata is trapped inside the ball and tried to get himself out by poking his sword to the threads itself.
"It's futile. You'll never cut through them." She stated with a smirk. "You see, my Ball of Yarn may feel soft, but it's extremely hard."
"Whaaa...!!" Murata frightfully screamed as acid-like substances filled inside his cocoon-ed prison.
"First, the solvent will melt those clothes out of the way. And then, it'll be your turn. You'll be reduced to mush in no time, and then I'll feed on you."
She explained not long before she felt a presence of someone leaning on her from behind.
"How amazing! Do you release those threads from the palms of your hands?"
Ice appeared behind Shinobu and then looked at the Ball of Yarn the Older Sister Spider Demon produced. His ears perked up when he heard someone inside the cocoon screaming for help.
"Someone's inside!" Ice unsheathes his sword and slashed the ball but only for the slice to ricochet due to the ball's angle and durability.
"Good evening. The moon is quite lovely tonight, don't you think?" Sinobu asked the demon and not implying the other meaning to her sentence, which she said to Giyu.
The demon girl bounced away from Shinobu and unleashed more of her threads against the Insect Hashira. Shinobu gracefully evaded the threads with relative ease. She followed it up with a pounce and kicked her multiple times until the demon girl surrendered to her few kicks and fell down on the ground with Shinobu on the top, pinning her down.
"That was awesome!" Ice watched her the entire time and got back trying to crack open the ball.
'I need to freeze it to soften the ball's exterior. It'll shatter once I put one good slash on it.' Ice begins to breathe air and unleashed a soft blow to the ball.
'Ice Breathing, Fifth Form, Frozen Ice Cover.' He tapped his sword at the ball and ice begins to take form at the the very same spot he tapped. The ice encased the ball until it fully covered head to toe. With one final slash at the ball, Ice successfully freed the trapped person inside.
"W-What happened?" Murata asked while shivering from the drop of temperature he suddenly felt while inside. He looked up to see BoBoiBoy Ice staring down at him.
"BoBoiBoy!" Murata was delighted and relieved to see him again and didn't notice this is not the same BoBoiBoy he was looking at.
'I guessed he met my other selves. I have no idea who this guy is.' Ice thought.
"I can see you have no intention of being my friend." Shinobu said in her usual sweet tone.
"W-W-Wait! I beg of you! I'm being forced to do this! If I defy him, I'll be slashed to shreds!" She pleaded and panic arose within her.
'Him? Who is that?' Ice thought since he wasn't with the gang at that time.
"Oh? Is that right?" Shinobu played along with her little act. "That does sound tragic! I'll spare you! Let's be friends!"
'Is Lady Shinobu serious!?' Ice couldn't believe what he just heard. Unbeknownst to Ice, a certain elementalist had already done this similar act to another demon.
"Y-You're going to spare me?" She asked with doubt.
"Yes! But in order for us to be friends, I must ask you a few questions." Shinobu looked at her victim dead-straight in the eyes. "Sweet young girl, how many people have you killed?"
The demon girl leaked tears and gave her answer. "Five." She looked away to the side. "But I was ordered to! I had no choice!"
"Wrong." Ice said, earning stares from Shinobu and the demon girl. "How can you say that when you turned away from someone's eyes like that? Lady Shinobu and I came from the west and spotted multiple hanging cocoons."
She kept up her facade. "But..."
"On the west side of the mountain, I counted at least fourteen hanging cocoons that are all killed inside, all liquefied. Plus, I have incredible hearing senses. So I can depict your tone of voice if what you say is untrue."
Shinobu is impressed by his explanation. She never knew Ice had an ability to detect lies. Even knowing the statement he said, she reconfirm.
"And had she said anything truthful?"
Ice shook his head.
"None."
Shinobu smiled. "You can't counter your way out of this one, my dear."
Her mask begins to break and she displayed physical fear on her asked With two people that can overpower her and deduce her, there's no way she can get out of this one. It's a lose-lose situation.
"On the bright side, my dear, we're only trying to confirm the accurate toll because the punishment you'll be receiving is based on that scale alone. Fourteen humans. All dead. But of course, it's not that I'm angry or anything."
Ice chose not to say it, but in his head, her voice barely holds in her inner emotion that she wanted to blurt out but somehow, she didn't show it.
'Clearly not, I'm afraid. There's something off about Lady Shinobu. I just can't put my finger into it.'
"What good will it do you to confirm that?" The demon girl asked and keeping up with the lying.
"As for the punishment I mentioned, you'll receive a penalty you deserve and be reborn!"
"Reborn?"
"That way, you and I can become friends. If you go unpunished, after having taken all those lives, your victims will never get justice." Shinobu placed her index finger and thumb on her eye and brimmed it open slightly.
"I could gouge out your eyeballs or slash your stomach to rip out your organs. For every person you've killed, I shall torture you. And after you've suffered through all of the pain and agony, your sins will be forgiven."
Shinobu gave a playful look at Ice.
"BoBoiBoy, dear! Will you gladly assist me into doing some sweet methods to our poor girl here? Her actions are unjustified and we need fo correct her for it by doing what I'll say. Will that be okay for you?"
Ice flinched. He never thought he get an opportunity to those things he wouldn't do in his life. He may be a cold person, both figuratively and literally, but his heart isn't.
"I can't do that. Sorry." Ice declined her request, much to her own amusement.
"I see. Such a shame you would miss out on a chance like this to a demon you loathe so badly." She brings her attention back at the older sister.
"Anyways, let's both give it our all! Don't worry! Since you're a demon, my dear, surely it won't kill you and neither will there be any after effects!"
The demon girl snapped, having enough of Shinobu's insane methods. "Who do you think you're kidding?! Die! You damn witch!"
She released a whole volley of threads towards Ice and Shinobu. The latter gracefully flew away from harm and the former jumped back in order not to get swarmed by the threads.
"Hey, you! We'll be taking care of this from now on! Get to someplace safe!" Ice told and warned Murata. Murata nodded and stood back near to some trees and let them handle the situation at hand.
"I can see that we'll never be friends." Shinobu said with a menacing look when she landed and clicks the hilt of her thin sword. "Oh, what a pity!"
She turned around to cast one more Blood Demon Art at them. Her vision was blocked when Ice got right up her face and slashed her shoulder, making her gasp in pain.
"Hold her in place, BoBoiBoy!" Shinobu commanded.
Ice nodded and channeled his breathing.
"Ice Breathing, Fifth Form, Winter Hollow." Ice begins to trap her by encasing her feet in ice. The ice still spreads everywhere and almost got Murata by an inch if he hadn't move.
'I'm trapped! How did he conjure up ice!?' She thought and her eyes swerved everywhere for the Insect Hashira. She didn't see her until she saw a looming shadow above her. Shinobu delivered her attack with imaginable butterflies accompanying her moves.
In some sort of trance, the Older Sister Spider Demon stood, without the ice encasing her feet, and watched as the butterflies swift and flew away past her. She looked back at the fleeing butterflies when one is still flying towards her. She held her hand up and the butterfly descended on her hand. She gave a solemn look at the butterfly, wondering what it can do, what it's purpose is. Her eyes widen as the butterfly turned red and coated with blood. It's not the butterfly's blood.
It's her own.
Her head was covered by her own blood, not wondering where it came from since she didn't feel the pain. Her kimono leaked blood from specific spots. When she came back to reality, she was already bleeding by the time she realized.
"Insect Breathing, Butterfly Dance... Caprice."
Ice was in awe. He saw the whole thing unfolding and was enthralled by the wonderful technique performed by Shinobu. Meanwhile, one thought lingered in his mind.
'Her Breathing Technique is graciously beautiful... and dangerous. Yet, she didn't cut off her head! Did she intend to do that?'
It didn't take a moment for him to examine her sword from afar and was baffled to see how incredibly thin it is.
'Is it possible that... she can't behead demons? Crap! That means she has no arm strength to give a precise slash to decapitate demons! If she can't behead her, I'll have to do it then!'
Shinobu had noticed him taken a stance. "BoBoiBoy. Stop right there."
"Huh?" Ice stared at her in disbelief. "Lady Shinobu, forgive me for this but I can't allow her to kill us! I have to kill her if I—"
She held up her hand and gestured for him to calm down.
"Watch."
Confused, Ice did as she told him and looked at the demon girl. She raised her hand up, about to unleash threads upon Shinobu. Ice almost intervened and tried to prevent her from doing it until, the inevitable happened.
Her hand twitched and her body felt like it was going to melt. Purple spots gushes its way to her body and she gave out a quiet yet painful scream. The veins on her body aren't doing anything to stop it as it just adds the pain factor of pressuring her body to its limit.
In short, she was poisoned.
"Holy—" Ice covered his mouth and tried not to puke at the sight of her spurting out blood from around her and fell limp to the ground. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, signifying that she is declared dead.
"You mustn't think you're safe just because you haven't been beheaded. Because there are swordsmen like me who use poison." Shinobu then expertly twirled her sword around like it's her prized possession. She stopped twirling her sword around and posed gracefully.
"Demon Slayer Corps, Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho. I may be the only swordswoman among the Hashiras unable to decapitate demons, but as I've created a poison lethal to demons, I'm also rather awesome."
Ice, having heard of her introduction and a hint of boasting, couldn't take his eyes off of the deceased spider demon. It led him to the point that he needs to get used to seeing death around his every corner. But the display in front of him is just too cruel and brutal. He could've prevented this to happen, but then again, she killed lots of humans in the past. There is no remorse in his heart that says about this.
But his nature to sense good in people had him a little messed up. As BoBoiBoy, he would save the ones who he deemed to be worth saving, like his old frienemies; Adu Du and Probe from the monster who had EggaBot.
"Is something the matter, my dear?" Shinobu had approached him from behind when she noticed him frozen in his spot.
"I... I just... It's horrible... seeing how this would end... like that." Ice made a gesture as he looked at her, poisoned and in her final moments as she struggled for survival.
"In the end, not every demon is as evil as you think they are, right? They're just like us, wanting nothing but to live, away from all the dangerous people. But what more can we do for them besides killing them?"
Shinobu doesn't understand his wording about demons, but she felt some sort of... sad feeling coming from BoBoiBoy Ice. The way his tone sounded, it was like he had done something like this a long time ago.
"If there's any good I can do for her, it would be someone who has to do the right thing." He knelt down near the poisoned girl.
"BoBoiBoy?" Shinobu's smile faltered and looked at him and what he's about to do. She gasped when he actually closed her mouth and her eyes and prayed for her. And by the time he's done, he stood back, hands in his pockets.
In all her times when she did missions with other Demon Slayers, not one of them stick out like a sore thumb and all they care about is the rank, money, and fame. Right now, she just witnessed an act of true compassion from BoBoiBoy Ice to a demon. It's not something she sees everyday.
"Lady Shinobu?" Ice waved at her face. Snapping out of her thoughts, she put on a smile too forced and noticeably detected by Ice.
"I'm sorry for spacing out, BoBoiBoy. Come! We shall be looking for your friends as well!"
It really bugs him to think that Shinobu is putting on her personality a bit too well but decides not to pursue that part of the topic yet.
Murata walks forward to Ice after spectating them from the sidelines.
"BoBoiBoy..." Murata asked. "You... You gave pity to a demon?"
Ice didn't speak but gave a nod as a reply.
"Why?! Why go as far as to do that?! Demons do nothing but to kill and eat humans and not give a damn about it! Was it a good idea to just give your sympathy to the beings that brutally killed hundred of humans?!" Murata exclaimed in pure shock.
Ice stayed silent, not knowing how to reply to that question. His hair foreshadowed his facial expression. Shinobu felt the tension resonating in the air and cuts it off.
"Pardon me but we will be going to our next destination to find the rest of the Demon Slayers and slay more demons. In the meantime, why don't you go back to the east? There are a lot of Kakushi waiting."
Murata gave one long stare at Ice before deciding to head to the direction Shinobu had pointed at. If they complete this mission, she'll have plenty more time to ask BoBoiBoy a lot of questions concerning this matter.
"Now then, as for the whereabouts of the demon that forced this girl to do his bidding... Did Tomioka beat me to it, then?"
The mention of Giyu sparked Ice's ears. He heard his name before. 'Tomioka... Why does it sound familiar?'
"BoBoiBoy, are you coming?"
Ice didn't look at her general direction and pocketed his hands. Shinobu sighed and deciding that running wouldn't be an option right now with how Ice is in this state right now.
"Why is everyone so difficult to understand of what demons feel...?" Ice mumbled under his mouth. Shinobu fortunately didn't heard it and that's fine by him. He followed her into the woods in search for the rest of his friends.
Back to Tanjiro, Nezuko and BoBoiBoy EarthQuake, with their efforts on defeating Rui, they succumbed to their fatal wounds and fell harshly on the cold ground. The threads had burnt off due to Nezuko's leftover flames from her Blood Demon Art technique. As for Quake, even if his injuries were healed, he succumb to fatigue from the Tenth Form he unleashed on Rui.
"Nezuko...! Nezuko...!" Tanjiro, like a caring big brother as he is, crawled his way to Nezuko's spot when she fell from her hanging spot.
"Tanjiro... W-We won...! We won... somehow...!" Quake chuckled. Tanjiro sighed heavily and chuckled along with him.
"Your new Breathing Technique is so awesome...! I never knew that... you can unleash fire breathing like... me." Quake said in between breaths.
"I'm not sure... how I pulled it off...! My father saved me...! I'm not sure I was able to... unleash that attack with the... kagura that's been in our family... for generations. But that was what saved me!"
"Oh yeah...? Well, my dad also saved me too... I was able to tap in... my Secondary Tier form... in the last second..."
Tanjiro widened his eyes. "You have Secondary Tier forms?"
Quake nods. "I guess... you didn't listen everything... to what I said to Mr. Urokodaki... back then."
He frowned. "You never mentioned that you had—have... Secondary Tier forms."
"Could've asked."
Tanjiro tried to stand up. Clearly not since he's struggling not to be weak for Nezuko nor Quake but the pain is overwhelming.
"Tanjiro..." Quake stood up, ignoring his exhaustion and slung Tanjiro's arm around his neck. "You can't move right now... You gotta rest."
"But Nezuko... I can't just leave her like that." Tanjiro squinted his eyes to see Nezuko but it came out too blurry for him to see.
"I can't see anything. Is it because... I took way too many breaths...?" Tanjiro gripped his chest when his ears experienced ringing and his body throbbed in pain.
"Tanjiro! Are you alright?!" Quake mentally slapped himself for asking that stupid question. Of course, he isn't alright!
"You gotta stop pushing yourself! And stop moving around so much!" Quake's extreme mother mode takes in effect. It's a quirk he developed for being the caretaker of the whole group.
"Not yet...! Not until we get to... Inosuke...! We're still not yet done fighting!"
"Tanjiro, I'm worried about them like you are but how can we go rescue them in your condition like this? You can't even stand on your own two feet!" Quake reasoned. Not to encourage Tanjiro but reminding him of his own limits. He's only human and not a superhuman for goodness sake.
Afterwards, there's a feeling that made all of their hairs stand up. Quake and Tanjiro knew this so well.
"Hey Tanjiro, you feel what I felt...?" He whispered.
"Yeah..."
"When we kill demons, they usually dispersed in ashes. And I hear no ashes being wafted in the air."
"Don't tell me... Don't tell me that...!"
Footsteps approached them from behind. Quake looked behind and was beyond surprised to what he is seeing right now. Rui's headless body is seen walking towards them.
"Even though we chopped his head off?!" Tanjiro was baffled.
"There's no way! Impossible!" Quake thought the same.
"You thought you two had defeated me? Poor kids. Did your pathetic delusion bring you joy? I cut off my own head myself with my own threads... before you could chop it off." Rui's head was attached to some threads and his body slowly grabs it and placed it back to where his head is at.
'Cuts his own head off? But there was no way he could've done that that fast! We had him by the neck before he can do something like that! Does it mean he's lying to prove he's right?' Quake thought. He never considered this option until today since demons hadn't thought of severing their own necks off.
"I'll kill you both and your sister. I haven't been this enraged in a long time." Rui's raging tone is clear in their ears.
"Rui...!" Quake gritted his teeth. "Don't you ever shut up?!"
"What was that?" Rui narrowed his eyes at Quake. "Better pick your words carefully. I will show you no mercy if you mess with me."
He laid Tanjiro behind himself and Quake unsheathes his sword. No matter how tired he is, his battle spirit never gets tired.
"You and me! Right now!" Quake took a stance.
"You're already too late." Rui prepared his threads, which are thickly coated in red by his own blood. "You'll be dead by the time I'm done with him."
"What?" He didn't react fast enough as a threads were encircling them both.
"Blood Demon Art... Murderous Eye Basket!" Rui casted as the threads were nearing their bodies. Quake had to crouch as to not get entangled in the deadly threads.
'Calm down, Quake! You can get out of this alive! If I can get out of this, I can save Tanjiro!' He was about to cut the threads but realizes his sword's condition. 'Damn! I forgot my sword's broken!'
The threads are now dangerously close.
'Is this it...?'
The threads got to Quake.
'Are we really going to die...?'
Massive blood spewed out from Quake.
'Dad... I'm sorry...'
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"Blaze Breathing, Seventh Form, Flare Blitz Cut!"
Flames were seen emitting on the threads, making the red threads glow with its natural light, until they dissolved into nothing but a flow of burning remains.
"Earth!" Blaze rushed over to Quake and hugged him in his arms.
Giyu Tomioka also arrived in the same fashion as BoBoiBoy Blaze, by taking care of Tanjiro with his troublesome threads using his Water Breathing.
"W-Who..." Quake's eyes were a bit blurry but he can make out a pair of orange orbs staring intensely at his golden yellow eyes.
"Earth, are you okay?! Say something! Anything!" Blaze gently shook him to see if Quake can give a physical response. So far, his hand is the only thing that's moving.
"F-Fire...?" Quake's voice was raspy.
"Oh thank god!" Blaze hugged him tightly for almost losing him. "And it's Blaze for your information."
Quake can only smile at that. "And it's Quake you're talking to... Not Earth..."
Fire couldn't handle the urge to smile widely. "So you did it too, huh?"
Earth grinned back. "Yeah."
Blaze gently put Quake right beside Tanjiro and stood beside Giyu, ready to take on Rui.
"You both did a good job holding out until we got here." Giyu applaud for their efforts.
"Rest easy guys. We'll be handling this now." Blaze prepared his blade at the pale demon.
"You're like an endless stream... of lowlifes always getting in my way!" Rui said, annoyed.
"You're gonna pay for what you did to Eiko, Rui!" Blaze fully had his blade prepared and took a fighting stance.
"Blood Demon Art... Cutting Thread Rotation!" Rui gathers his threads and formed a huge rotational volume of lethal threads at them.
"Mr. Tomioka, what now?" Blaze asked the Water Hashira on what to do.
"Stand beside me."
Blaze nodded and stood exactly beside him.
"Total Concentration... Water Breathing... Eleventh Form... Dead Calm." Giyu entered in a state of complete defence to counter, deflect and block Rui's ultimate technique.
'Whoa! What is this?' Blaze felt a sense of relief whenever he's in Giyu's range. 'It's totally deadly calm in here. I guess I don't have to move an inch 'cause here it comes.'
"Eleventh Form?" Tanjiro and Quake said.
"Who cares about your Eleventh Form?!" Rui yelled and continued to charge his attack towards his opponents. By the time the threads made their way to their desired targets, they were immediately snapped whenever it had gotten near Giyu.
'That was awesome!' Blaze cheered. 'Mr. Tomioka rules!'
'What? What's going on? What did he do? The instant I got up in their face, the threads scattered.' Rui was astonished. 'Not one of them reached him? The toughest threads of all got slashed?'
"That's impossible!" Rui exclaimed and prepares for another technique. "One more time!"
"Blaze, now." Giyu prompted him and he understood.
"Blaze Breathing, Third Form!"
His sword powered up in flames. Blaze made a mad dash at Rui in a blink of an eye and darts past him with his head, already decapitated.
"Infernal Hunt!"
Finally! After all the days I've been procrastinating and being lazy, I finally have the motivation to actually finish this chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to publish. Sometimes, you just need to take constant breaks whenever inspiration decides to yeet off my head.
Getting closer to meeting the Hashiras, ey? Only one more chapter to go until we do! Also, I wanna include a character after the whole Spider Arc has been completed. I can't tell who yet cus that would ruin the fun now, would it? :3
Hope you guys enjoyed reading and I'll see y'all later.
~ s a y o n a r a
