Rui's eyes trembled as a horrifying realization hit him—
"My body…"
He couldn't move?!
At the same moment, Uchiha Hikari unleashed a "Kasegui no Jutsu" on the spider-faced "Father." Caught mid-step with his fist raised, he was frozen in place. No matter how desperately he flexed his muscles to break free, all he could manage was a furious, helpless roar.
Then…
Hikari turned, drawing a second short blade from behind her.
This time, the three-tomoe Sharingan in her eyes spun silently. As her pupil power surged, a dark red aura flared around her, forming the first stage of Susanoo, enveloping both her and the blade. The two-foot-long sword seemed to stretch nearly double in length, its gleaming edge now faintly coated in dark red.
Hikari stepped forward slowly, raising the dark red longsword bit by bit until it was level with her shoulders.
"What *is* that?!"
Rui's eyes widened, alarm bells screaming in his head!
In that instant, the binding force holding him seemed to vanish for a split second. Without time to think, Rui seized the chance and activated his Blood Demon Art:
"Blood Demon Art: Cutting Thread Cage!"
A web of steel-like threads materialized in the air, densely packed, blocking the space between them.
Hikari's toes tapped the ground, and she accelerated.
As she passed through the Cutting Thread Cage, her figure didn't even pause for a moment. The Susanoo cloaking her tore through the "spider threads" like paper, and she swung a horizontal slash at Rui, dozens of meters away!
"Hundred-Eight Sections: Red Flame Slash!"
In that moment, the dark red longsword grazed the air, igniting crimson flames that swept forward in a massive arc!
*Shing—!!*
If someone were watching from above, they'd see a fiery semicircle over ten meters long unfurling before Hikari!
The blade hadn't even reached its target.
Yet the sword's aura had already spread, engulfing an area dozens of meters around!!
Rui didn't even have time to finish raising a block before the slash sent him flying high, his body splitting into pieces mid-air. Each fragment burst into flames, crashing into the forest behind like cannonballs!
In that fleeting moment of being hurled back, Rui's dark golden eyes—marked with "Lower Five"—locked onto the blazing greatsword in Hikari's hand. The sight seemed to drag up a distant memory:
"…A Hissatsu Blade?!"
"Hm?"
Hikari raised an eyebrow.
Of course, she knew what a Hissatsu Blade was—one of the three key elements in the *Demon Slayer* world. It was said to manifest when a Nichirin Blade reached a certain temperature, making the entire blade appear to burn. Striking a demon with such a blade could mimic the effects of "Sun Breathing," leaving wounds that were nearly impossible to heal, as if scorched by the sun itself.
On Muzan, the Demon King, there lingered scars from a Hissatsu Blade left by Tsugikuni Yoriichi centuries ago, wounds that still tormented him to this day.
When Hikari swung that sword, she hadn't been thinking about Hissatsu Blades. But now, looking at it…
The dark red blade, wreathed in vivid crimson flames, did bear a striking resemblance.
"The appearance…"
A playful idea sparked in Hikari's mind as she smirked.
…
*Boom—!!*
Rui's body hurtled nearly a hundred meters.
After smashing through several trees, his momentum finally slowed, and he crashed heavily into the ground.
A demon's body was far tougher than a human's, especially for the Lower Rank Five. Even so, that single horizontal slash had torn him apart. His bones—probably a hundred or two—were shattered, his flesh reduced to a pulpy mess, and his once-white kimono was now stained a glaring red.
Though his potent regeneration was rapidly repairing the damage, Rui was left confused and enraged.
"That human… what *is* she?"
"Red eyes, some eerie ability that paralyzes people, and a burning Hissatsu Blade…"
Was this some new technique developed by the Demon Slayer Corps?
He couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Father… where's Father? Is he already dead? Why isn't he coming to save me?! Of course… worthless family members like him don't deserve to live! They should just die like those filthy humans!"
His thoughts still in chaos, Rui heard footsteps approaching.
Struggling to prop himself up, he looked toward the ridge.
And then…
"?!"
It was, of course, Uchiha Hikari.
But she looked different now.
Under the moonlight, she wore a red haori that hadn't been there before. Her long, jet-black hair had somehow turned crimson, swaying gently in the night breeze. And on her smooth forehead, a dark red pattern had appeared, vivid as flames.
"That's…"
"A Demon Slayer Mark?!!"
Rui's pupils shook.
Under his gaze, Hikari raised her short blade. Vermilion flames danced along the edge, the "Hissatsu Blade" reappearing!
"So, Lower Rank brat, you seem to *love* playing this little game of house, don't you?"
Her cold voice rang out slowly, like a sharp knife grazing Rui's ears.
"Gathering a bunch of unrelated demons around you, pretending to be a family, manipulating them to slaughter any humans who wander into the village, reveling in the power over life and death… that stuff's fun for you, huh?"
Hikari's face was expressionless, her words steady and unhurried. "But you know what? I don't think it's fun. Not one bit. And it's definitely not funny."
"What do you think…"
"…life *is*?!"
"!!!"
In that moment, Rui was utterly petrified.
Images etched deep in his DNA surged from the Muzan cells within him, flooding his mind.
"These are… Lord Muzan's memories…"
In a daze, the figure of a taller male swordsman appeared in Rui's vision, speaking the same words in the same tone. The only difference was the red sun earrings he wore.
"Lord Muzan is… *afraid*?!"
Yes.
At that moment, a wave of fear welled up from the Muzan cells in Rui's body, rapidly spreading through every limb. For the first time in decades on Spider Mountain, as a member of the Twelve Kizuki, he felt his soul tremble!
"No, this can't be… I'm one of the Twelve Kizuki! How could a human scare *me*…?"
Rui desperately tried to stand, but his body wouldn't stop shaking. It was the primal fear of prey facing a predator! He couldn't even manage something as simple as moving a finger!
Across from him…
Hikari raised her short blade, taking a deep breath. "Sun Breathing… Seventh Form: Solar Flare Thrust!"
*(End of Chapter)*