The weariness of this moment, the eyes etched with the characters "Lower Rank" and "fifth" no longer held the confusion of searching for family, nor that cold composure.
Instead, there were... bloodshot eyes, extreme resentment, hysterical madness, and... a melancholy as if abandoned by the whole world!
In Lei's inner world, if there were an "Annual Most Miserable Ghost Contest," he would definitely be elected champion with a unanimous vote!
More than half a year ago.
He is the Lower Rank Five, the absolute ruler of Mount Natagumo!
He was happily playing his favorite role-playing game in the mountains with his painstakingly cobbled-together "spider family," which, though fake, was at least obedient.
Life was so peaceful and so regular.
Occasionally, they'd grab a few unlucky swordsmen passing by for a quick meal and enjoy their desperate screams.
But!
It was on that dark and stormy night.
That devilish man has arrived!
That was a complete one-sided massacre!
The "father," "mother," "brother," and "sister" he had painstakingly raised... were all chopped into ashes and scattered everywhere by that expressionless man in less than five minutes, just like weeds by the roadside!
As for himself, well...
When Lei thought he was about to be beheaded, he closed his eyes and waited for death.
The expressionless man, however, did not deliver the fatal blow.
Instead, they picked him up like a chick, pinching the scruff of his neck, and dragged him all the way from Mount Natagumo to this godforsaken Mount Fujikasane!
Then, he casually tossed it into the dark woods, leaving behind a comment:
"Stay here and don't wander off. In six months, a red-haired boy with an earring will come looking for you."
"Before that, if you dare to step out of this forest, you will surely die!"
After saying that, the man left!
They're gone!!
"It's been half a year..."
Now,
As Rui floated in mid-air, looking down at Sanemi and Shinobu Kocho, tears uncontrollably streamed down his pale cheeks.
He suddenly stretched out his hands, and even denser, blood-red spider silk shot out from his fingertips. His voice echoed throughout the entire core area:
"It's been a whole six months!!"
Do you know how I've survived the past six months?!
Exhaustion is like a left-behind child driven to madness, desperately denouncing that inhuman demon:
"There's no fresh prey to catch here!"
"There's not even a talking ghost!"
"I have no father! No mother! I have become a complete orphan!"
"That deadpan guy just dumped me here like I was a piece of unwanted trash! He didn't even leave me a doll to play house with!"
Exhausted, his face contorted in pain, and a terrifying Demon Aura erupted from him.
"All I can do every day is talk to these broken trees covered in burls! I'm going crazy with boredom! I'm getting severe depression, you know that?!"
But today!
His bloodshot eyes, exhausted, were fixed on Sanemi and Shinobu, his gaze like that of a starving wolf that hadn't eaten for ten years seeing a piece of fresh meat.
"Today, finally, a living human being has entered!"
"Whether you're the red-haired kid that deadpan guy was talking about or not, I don't care anymore!"
"I'll tear you to pieces! I'll shred you into countless pieces, chop you into minced meat! I'll use your blood and screams to vent my loneliness and depression of the past six months!"
Accompanied by a hysterical roar.
"Blood Demon Art: Thread Prison!!"
The pale white spider silk instantly turned crimson, and the density and cutting power of the silk increased several times over at that moment!
The blood-red cage, carrying a terrifying aura as if shattering space, frantically attacked Sanemi and Shinobu from all directions!
Faced with this overwhelming web of blood.
Shinobu Kocho, standing below, showed no sign of panic or fear.
On the contrary.
Her delicate, doll-like face once again blossomed with that sweet, almost creepy smile.
"Oh dear, even though he's a poor left-behind child, this little spider has such a terrible temper when he wakes up!"
"Tread."
Shinobu Kocho gently tapped her toes on the ground covered with fallen leaves.
She was like a weightless purple butterfly.
Following the tiny gaps in the spiderweb, it gracefully slid out of the strangulation range of the Thread Prison!
In the blink of an eye, she had already gracefully retreated to a branch several hundred meters away from the battlefield.
The whole process was so smooth that not even a single piece of clothing was touched by the spider web.
"Oh dear, what a scary spider web! It made my heart pound!"
Shinobu sat on a high tree branch, swinging her two slender, snow-white legs without any regard for her image.
She rested her chin on her hand, smiling as she looked down at Sanemi Shinazugawa, who was still trapped within the spiderweb's web.
"Mr. Shinazugawa, just as you said, I'm just a frail, petite, and not very good at combat support medical personnel~"
"To deal with this grumpy little spider, we definitely need a manly figure like you, the Wind Hashira, to use force to control it~"
Shinobu raised her delicate white hand, clenched her fist downwards, and made a cheering gesture, her voice sweet:
"Well then, the rest of the battle is in your hands, Wind Hashira! Please make sure you defeat him spectacularly, I'll be here cheering you on, Fight!"
"You scheming, manipulative woman!! You better remember this!!"
Hearing these sarcastic remarks from high above, Sanemi Shinazugawa below was so angry he almost spat out a mouthful of blood!
He cursed loudly, but at that moment, the deadly blood-red spider web was already close to his face!
"But even if you, you bastard, don't try to shift the blame..."
A palpable crimson killing intent instantly erupted from Sanemi's eyes!
The pent-up anger that had been stirred up by Shinobu found its perfect outlet at this moment!
"I've been wanting to find something to vent my pent-up anger!"
Sanemi made no choice to dodge!
"Clang--!"
With a crisp sword whistle, the blue Nichirin Blade that Sanemi had been holding in his hand was suddenly drawn from its sheath!
The dazzling cyan blade light shone like a bursting cyan sun in the darkness!
Sanemi's legs suddenly sank into the ground.
"Wind Breathing - First Form-- "
A terrifying roar, like the howling of a hurricane, emanated from his lungs.
Sanemi's lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with both hands and, facing the overwhelming crimson spiderweb, unleashed an unstoppable horizontal slash!
"--Dust Whirlwind - Slash!!"
"Boom--!"
A violent blue tornado-like blade exploded from Sanemi's sword!
This wind blade carried devastating violence!
"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"
The blood-red spider webs that filled the sky were mercilessly shredded and torn into countless red ash particles the moment they came into contact with the cyan wind blades!
The wind blades continued their relentless advance, even cleaving more than a dozen towering ancient trees in half!
"What?!"
Exhausted in mid-air, his bloodshot eyes instantly contracted.
He simply couldn't understand why his deadly move was so easily shattered by this scarred human with just one strike!
"This is... the power of a Pillar?!"
Before Lei could recover from the shock,
"Where are you looking? You depressed brat!"
A voice as sharp as a demon from hell was already close to his ear!
That's too fast!
The moment the spider web shattered, Sanemi's figure was like a wild beast breaking free of its shackles. Using the explosive force of the Wind Breathing, he soared into the sky against the airflow and directly cut into Rui's face!
The distance between them is less than half a meter!
In Reina's dilated pupils, Sanemi's ferocious smiling face was clearly reflected.
In Sanemi's inner world, this moment was actually filled with resentment.
With his absolute strength as the Wind Hashira, facing a mere Lower Rank Five, he only needed to slightly twist his wrist, and in a fraction of a second, he could remove the head of this chattering little spider and turn it into a pile of real ashes.
But!
His mind was filled with the repeated admonitions of those two "heartless capitalists," Kagaya Ubuyashiki and Giyu Tomioka:
[This Lower Rank is the ultimate test for Tanjiro! We absolutely cannot kill him prematurely!]
[You can cripple him, but please leave him alive!!]
The constraint of "only crippling, not killing" made Sanemi's sword-wielding movements feel as uncomfortable as constipation!
"Since we can't cut your neck..."
The murderous glint in Sanemi's eyes intensified.
"Then I'll beat you until you doubt your very existence!!"
In mid-air,
Sanemi stopped the blade that was about to strike Rui's neck.
He suddenly twisted his waist.
"Bang--!"
A lightning-fast whip kick struck Lei's chest!
"Snap! Snap!"
Lei's pale chest caved in instantly, with at least seven or eight ribs broken!
"Wow--!"
Lei let out a shrill scream, spitting out a mouthful of dark red ghost blood.
He plummeted from mid-air to the ground like a cannonball.
But that's not all!
"I haven't finished venting my anger yet! Don't even think about running away!"
Sanemi made a sudden turn in mid-air, his body moving even faster than the falling Rui.
He arrived first, appearing directly above Lei.
He gripped the Nichirin Blade with both hands.
This time, however, he used the back of the knife!
"Go down there and eat mud!"
Sanemi roared, his arm muscles bulging, and slammed down hard on Lei's shoulder!
"Boom--!"
The power of that strike was terrifying!
Exhausted, his body was struck by the back of the knife and slammed hard into the ground below, which was full of dead leaves and rotten mud!
The earth trembled violently, and a huge crater with a diameter of more than three meters was formed. The rotten mud and fallen leaves shot into the sky like a fountain!
"Cough..."
The bottom of the large pit.
"Lei" appeared in a large font and was firmly embedded in the soil.
His right shoulder was completely shattered, the bone piercing his pale skin, and even the strength to stand up was completely dispelled by the terrifying impact.
Despair!
A profound sense of despair instantly overwhelmed this Lower Rank Five.
I'm so tired, I'm completely exhausted!
He cried!
This time, it wasn't out of anger, but out of deep resentment—resentment that reached its extreme!
"Why..."
Lei coughed up blood and cried out in despair, like a child who had been bullied and abused.
"Why?!"
"It's bad enough that an unreasonable psychopath came in six months ago!"
"Why is it that another one of these completely unreasonable and violent freaks has come in today?!"
"Are there any normal newcomers even in this Mount Fujikasane?!"
"I want to go home! I want to go home!!"