Rui: The Demon Slayer Corps Is So Underhanded!

The very center of Mount Fujikasane is now completely unrecognizable.

Right in the center of that scorched earth that had been forcibly cleared.

A dense network of blood-red spider silk wove a giant web that covered the entire sky!

At the very center of the spider web, a gaunt figure, exuding overwhelming power, hovered silently in mid-air.

Lower Rank Five - Tired!

No... the exhaustion I feel now is far beyond what you'd expect from a typical Lower Rank Five!

He hovered in the center of the net, low growls escaping his throat as he teetered on the brink of collapse.

"Boom--!"

Just as Lei was immersed in the endless frenzy brought on by the drug, the bushes to his side suddenly exploded!

A red afterimage, like a falling meteor, stepped onto the battlefield!

Tanjiro Kamado has arrived!

When he clearly saw the evil spirit emanating a terrifying aura before him,

The combat skills Tanjiro developed under Sakonji Urokodaki at Mount Sagiri made his movements faster than instinctive!

"Sun Breathing - Second Form-- "

Tanjiro, suspended in mid-air, gripped his Nichirin Blade tightly with both hands. His waist strength exploded instantly, and he tumbled through the air, unleashing a mighty, soaring blaze of fire from below!

"--Azure Blue Heaven!!"

"Boom--!"

A golden-red sun, like a blazing wheel, rose from the scorched earth!

The intense, domineering heat instantly ignited the air, burning and tearing apart the spider silk that blocked its path!

"What?!"

Lei's pupils suddenly contracted as the scorching wind, like the core of the sun, sent a stinging pain through the demon cells within his body!

In the critical moment, my ten fingers twitched from exhaustion.

"Blood Demon Art: Residual Image Blood Net!!"

"Sizzle--!"

Several layers of crimson spiderwebs, formed from Blood Demon Art, instantly appeared in front of him, colliding head-on with the golden-red blade wheel!

The raging fire and the air currents generated by the bursting spider silk created rings of destructive shockwaves, sending the surrounding broken wood flying again!

Exhausted, his body was violently thrown backward several meters along the spiderweb by the heavy force, his ten fingers burning from the intense heat, emitting plumes of blue smoke.

"Tread."

Tanjiro landed lightly, his swords held horizontally in front of him, his eyes fixed on the demon before him, his wine-red eyes filled with an unprecedented solemnity.

Lei steadied himself mid-air and shook his smoking fingers.

When his bloodshot, scarlet eyes pierced through the scattered sparks and fixed intently on Tanjiro's face below—

That head of medium-length red hair flowing in the night breeze.

And... on either side of the boy's earlobes, swaying gently with his breathing... Sun Wheel Hanafuda Earrings!!

"Giggle... click click!"

His teeth started chattering from exhaustion, and his anger and resentment were so intense that he trembled all over the spider web like a late-stage Parkinson's patient!

He slowly raised his pale finger, pointing at Tanjiro below, and two streams of bloody tears streamed down his face!

"It's you--!"

"You bastard!!"

"Red-haired boy with earrings!! I'll never forget you, even if you turn to ashes!!"

"Do you know how I've endured the past six months?! Do you know how much pain I've been in?!"

"I have no father! I have no mother! I've become an orphan with no one to even play house with! It's all because of you!!"

"Why?! Why should the Demon Slayer Corps use an innocent little spider like me as a stepping stone to train new recruits?!"

Tanjiro:...

[???]

Tanjiro maintained his defensive stance, holding his sword horizontally across his hands.

He blinked his clear, large eyes, looking completely bewildered.

"That... that ghost gentleman covered in bulging veins..."

Have we met before... at some temple fair or market? Are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?

"And... why do you look so wronged, like you're about to cry your eyes out right here?!"

"Puff--!"

"You've mistaken me for someone else?! You dare to play dumb with me?!"

Exhausted and furious, as if his skull were about to burst, the crimson Demon Aura emanating from his body suddenly erupted, causing the entire spiderweb to shake violently.

"Enough with the nonsense! You dare play innocent with me when you're about to die! Even if the King of Heaven himself came, you'd have to pay for my wasted six months of youth!!"

"Die!!"

Anger completely shattered the last shred of reason that Lei had left.

"Blood Demon Art - Modified"

The creature, suspended in mid-air, moved so fast that only a blurry, crimson afterimage could be seen!

"--Ultimate Murderous Thread Prison!!"

"Hiss--!"

In the void,

The crimson spider silk was imbued with extreme cutting power, densely packed and blotting out the sky, forming a spherical net of blades that converged and crushed towards Tanjiro!

Quick!

Too fast!!

"Sun Breathing - Fourth Form - Mirage Sun Rainbow!!"

Tanjiro unleashed his full potential with incredible speed and agility, creating several afterimages enveloped in flames that instantly refracted through the air!

"Snap! Snap!"

Several afterimages were shredded into countless fragments of light by the blood-red spider web!

Tanjiro, relying on his beast-like instincts, forcefully twisted his torso to avoid the nine fatal lines aimed at his throat and heart!

However...

The density of the spider webs is absolutely terrifying!

"Sizzle--!"

Blood sprayed into the air!

As Tanjiro rolled to the side, three lines of blood smoothly swept across the middle of his left arm!

His entire left arm, along with the sleeve, spun through the air for more than ten meters before crashing into the mud!

"Ugh...!"

An arm was severed, and the excruciating pain felt like a hot iron being branded into the bone marrow!

But what's astonishing is that this red-haired boy, who was only fifteen years old, only let out a muffled groan.

"Bang!"

Tanjiro slashed the aftershocks beneath his feet with a backhand strike, using the airflow to propel himself backward thirty meters, finally slamming his back into a broken giant wooden stake and bringing himself to a steady stop!

Blood flowed down the cut of his left shoulder.

Seeing this scene, Lei, suspended in mid-air, instantly felt a surge of triumphant satisfaction at having avenged his great grudge.

"Heh heh heh! See that?! This is what happens when you anger this young master! A cripple with one arm gone, let's see how you wield a knife now! Prepare to die--"

However.

"Wait... wait! What the hell is that?!"

On Tanjiro's smooth, mirror-like severed arm, the gushing blood miraculously stopped after just two seconds!

"Sizzle..."

Pinkish new granulation tissue is growing and wriggling!

The fractured humerus was extending outward at a visible speed, revealing a pale, bluish bone fragment. Thick, bluish blood vessels and muscle fibers then slowly wrapped around it, like knitting a sweater!

However... because Tanjiro is still in a state of pure human mental dominance at this moment, the demon cells in his body are being suppressed.

This rate of regeneration is far inferior to that of a true demon.

It would take at least fifteen seconds for bones, muscles, nerves, skin, and nails to completely regrow!

Even those "slow" fifteen seconds, in the eyes of Rui, the Lower Rank Five, shattered his entire worldview of demonic existence!

"Flesh buds?! You're growing flesh buds?!"

"Arm reconstruction?! Flesh and bone regeneration?! This is clearly super-fast regeneration that only we demons possess!!"

The demon was nearly driven mad with exhaustion. Pointing at Tanjiro, he uttered a question that seemed to resonate deep within his soul:

"What kind of monster are you?! What are you even worth?!"

"I understand... I understand everything!!"

"What a prestigious Demon Slayer Corps! What a glorious tradition of slaying demons passed down through generations!!"

"You humans keep chanting slogans like 'Justice will prevail' and 'For the dawn of humanity,' but behind everyone's backs, you're secretly raising cannibalistic demons as swordsmen in the Mount Fujikasane examination hall?!"

"You even transformed demons into weapons that can use Breathing Style!!"

"Hypocritical! Vulgar! Schemers! You humans are the most disgusting and filthy liars in the world!!"

Faced with exhaustion and frantic complaints.

Tanjiro Kamado's kind and honest face instantly turned bright red!

"You're talking nonsense!!"

"I am a true human being! My household registration, my birth certificate, and even my tax records are all fully documented with my Master!!"

"I'm just... I just have a slightly special constitution and a tiny bit of self-healing ability!!"

"Please stop your baseless slander against the Demon Slayer Corps immediately! Every member of the Demon Slayer Corps is a great hero of integrity!"

"???"

Upon hearing this explanation, Lei was so angry that his lips twitched violently, and his eyeballs almost ripped out of their corners.

"Easily healed on its own?! Your bones have grown out of your flesh! And you're telling me that's 'slightly easy to heal on its own'?!"

"Do you think I'm blind?! Do you think I'm a three-year-old?! What human in the world has the self-healing ability to grow hands out of thin air?! You bastard!!"

"That's the truth! I believe in science, and I believe in Tamayo's research findings!"

Tanjiro stubbornly argued loudly, his expression as serious as if he were rebutting a court case.

"I believe you?! Die!!"

"Click!"

Just as I was exhausted from walking,

Tanjiro's newly healed left arm skin has healed perfectly, and his fair and flawless forearm and slender fingers are loosely clenched into a fist in the night breeze!

"Crack!"

Tanjiro gripped his Nichirin Blade again with both hands, slowly shifting his weight into a lunge stance, sinking his entire body into the ground.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Now, I'm going to get serious."