Amidst the swirling black smoke, Rui's body was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a large tree.
With a *bang*!
Rui collided with the tree. After a thunderous impact, the tree broke apart with a roar and fell backward.
Bai Ye did not pause. He re-calibrated his position and then…
Teleportation!
Bai Ye's figure flashed, instantly appearing before Rui. He raised the Nanming Lihuo Sword and thrust it forward.
Rui quickly dodged. The Nanming Lihuo Sword struck the broken tree trunk behind him, instantly cleaving it in two.
After creating some distance from Bai Ye, Rui began to pant.
Bai Ye turned around and looked at Rui again.
“It’s about time to end this, isn’t it?” Bai Ye said. “Running around won’t save you.”
*Bang*!
The moment Bai Ye finished speaking, he lunged forward again, slashing the Nanming Lihuo Sword ahead.
Rui swiftly raised his hand, and a large amount of spider silk surged from his fingertips, rapidly forming a web for defense.
Bai Ye curved his lips.
That spider silk couldn’t block the Nanming Lihuo Sword!
But…
The spider silk Rui had conjured suddenly turned blood-red. Then…
*Clang*!
Bai Ye’s Nanming Lihuo Sword struck the spider silk. He then forcefully dragged the silk, slicing it across Rui’s neck, followed by a crisp ringing sound.
Rui’s expression twisted into a grimace as he roared at Bai Ye, “This is the toughest silk! You can’t cut it, can you!”
As he spoke, Rui pushed the spider web, forcing Bai Ye back!
Bai Ye retreated several steps, glancing at Rui. “The Twelve Kizuki… you do have some capabilities!”
The Twelve Kizuki represented the twelve strongest demons below the Demon King.
Thinking about it, Bai Ye felt it wasn’t entirely surprising that Rui could withstand a strike from the Nanming Lihuo Sword.
At the same time…
Rui suddenly unleashed a torrent of spider silk, wrapping himself in a cocoon. “Let me show you my strongest Blood Demon Art: Spinning Threads of Transformation!”
Instantly, the cocoon encasing Rui began to spin at high speed.
In the next moment, countless threads of spider silk shot out in all directions.
The hardness of these threads had dramatically increased, their power amplified several times over.
*Rumble, rumble, rumble*!
The flying spider silk struck the ground, shattering it. It hit trees, instantly felling them.
In that instant, the spinning, sweeping spider silk was like hundreds, even thousands, of blades, scattering in all directions, leaving no blind spots, intent on shredding everything around them.
Bai Ye took a breath and raised the Nanming Lihuo Sword in his hand.
“While you could block one strike from the Nanming Lihuo Sword, it’s not that surprising. However…” Bai Ye said, “You used your full strength to block that one strike, while I…”
Bai Ye slowly let go. The Nanming Lihuo Sword did not fall to the ground but hovered in the air!
“I haven’t even used my full strength yet!”
Instantly, the Nanming Lihuo Sword erupted with brilliant light.
“Lihuo Strikes the Heavens!”
In a flash, the radiance erupting from the Nanming Lihuo Sword spread outward like liquid mercury!
The radiance was a deep azure, flowing in the wind, like a raging inferno.
In an instant…
From within the flame-like radiance, countless swords arose!
Each fire sword was arrayed in all directions, suspended in the air, arranged in a mystical formation.
That was undoubtedly…
A sword formation!
Lihuo Strikes the Heavens (Utilizing Lihuo to deploy a sword formation, for both offense and defense)
Bai Ye waved his hand. “End it!”
With a *boom*!
As Bai Ye's voice fell, the burning Lihuo Sword suddenly exploded, and then…
A pillar of azure flame instantly engulfed the surroundings, soaring upwards into the sky, transforming into a fiery column that reached the clouds.
The chosen ones still wandering Mount Natagumo looked up at the sky in astonishment.
At the foot of the mountain, the Demon Slayer Corps’ rescue finally arrived. Kamado Tanjiro and Inosuke, supporting Agatsuma Zenitsu, looked towards the mountain peak with expressions of horror.
It was an incredibly spectacular sight, an azure pillar of flame reaching the heavens.
The mountain forest looked as though a giant hand had gouged out a section of it.
Even the clouds in the sky were shattered by the pillar of flame as it shot upwards.
In the mountain, Rui’s face was filled with terror.
His proud spider silk was completely vulnerable to the Lihuo of the Nanming Lihuo Sword. In mere moments, it was swallowed by the azure flames.
The cocoon formed by the spider silk was not only capable of offense but also provided excellent defense.
But…
It was all for naught!
The spider silk wrapped around Rui began to melt rapidly. Soon, Rui’s body reappeared, consumed by the flames.
The burning, searing pain twisted Rui’s expression.
He felt death!
This was a sensation difficult for demons to experience. After all, as long as they were not killed, demons possessed infinite life, and as members of the Twelve Kizuki, they were mostly hunters.
This was Rui’s first time feeling the approach of death.
Pain, unwillingness, ferocity, fear, struggle, and then…
Rui suddenly became calm.
Rui remembered his childhood, his sickly self, always making his parents despondent. Despite their best efforts, they could not restore his health.
Then…
That Demon King appeared. He fulfilled his wish and turned him into a demon.
After becoming a demon, he was no longer sickly.
He possessed infinite life.
His parents no longer had to worry with furrowed brows, no longer had to be despondent because of him.
But why did they want to kill him?
Because he was a demon?
Why? Why?
Why!
He had become a demon for them, so they wouldn't have to worry. Yet, they wanted to kill him?
Why!
These were not his parents. They certainly weren't. True parents wouldn't want to kill him.
But, he missed them so much, he really missed them…
Rui looked up at the sky. In that moment, he seemed to see his childhood self, held in his parents’ arms, his father smiling gently, his mother softly telling stories, lulling him to sleep.
Then…
Rui closed his eyes, his body completely incinerated!
“You have completed the Restricted Zone mission: Defeat the controller of the Spider Demon family, the Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki. Mission rewards: Demon Blood x1, Random Blood Demon Art (Spider Demon) x1, Shards of God Stone x15.”
“All Restricted Zone missions have been completed. Survivors will be sent back to the Natagumo Mountain (Supernatural) area in three minutes. Please prepare yourselves.”