|| 𝒀-𝑶-𝑲-𝑨-𝑰 || 𝑲𝑵𝒀 𝒙 𝑶𝑪 ||

Chapter 23: Against The Rules

{Rei's POV}

I watched Tanjiro stop moving before hearing footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Rui's headless body moving, his hand moved as threads lowered his head from above them. 'What the..?' I thought to myself, "You thought you'd defeat me? Poor kid. Did your pathetic delusion bring you joy?" Rui asked Tanjiro, ignoring my presence. "I sliced off my head myself with my own threads... before you could slice it off." Rui paused.

"Enough. I'll kill both you and your sister. I haven't been this enraged in a long time." Rui gently grabbed his head from his threads before walking towards us. "But I wonder why you aren't burning up." He then placed his head back on his neck as it slowly connected together. 'He doesn't realize I'm here, does he?' I wondered as I silently stood up.

Baku then walked towards me before stopping right beside me, 'What will you be doing, Rei-sama?', 'Cover his head on my signal.' I instructed making him look up at me before blinking. 'Eh?' He muttered before readying a ball of shadow. "It was only me and my threads that caught fire, right? I don't know if it's your sister's power, but thanks for getting me super-annoyed." Rui thanked as his veins popped out of his head.

"Now I can carve you with no regrets." He stated while Baku had now finished his "shadow ball". 'On the count of three, you shoot. Got it?' I asked Baku. 'Yes, Rei-sama!' Rui held both of his hands out, "Blood Demon Art... Murderous Eye Basket!" The Lower Five chanted. Creating a dome of red threads surrounding Tanjiro. '3..'

I watched Tanjiro's eyes widened in fear as he stayed still while Rui's threads circled him. '2...' I counted down as I saw Rui's arm very slowly stretching it. '1...! Now!!' Baku had shot the ball right at Rui's head making him let go of his threads before it could slice Tanjiro into pieces. Muffled noises came from Rui as I ran towards Tanjiro before slashing the remaining threads around him.

'Baku...' I called as he removed the shadow covering Rui's face. "I'll take care of this, Tanjiro. Get Nezuko and rest." I instructed as I heard him move behind me. "You're like an endless stream of lowlifes always getting in my way!" Rui complained as he lowered his head. "Blood Demon Art..." Multiple threads surrounded him, making a rotation movement. "Cutting Thread Rotation!"

Using his force, he pushed his Blood Demon Art towards me in an instant. "Total Concentration..." I silently chanted to myself, now holding my unsheathed sword in my right hand. "Yokai Breathing, 7th Form: Baku" I finished chanting. "Your seventh form? Who cares about that! You used it a while ago, don't think that I don't know what you're going to do!" Rui angrily yelled at me as I ignored him. 'Shadow wave, Baku.. '

As on cue, Baku created a wave of shadows, catching Rui off guard. Once it formed, it rushed towards Rui swallowing all of the threads that were aimed at me. The shadows had reached Rui at an incredible pace as it hastily crawled up his body to his arms then his head, making his vision disappear.

"What is this?" He asked me, infuriated, as he grabbed the shadows on him before trying to claw them off, only to try again and again without any form of success. Without him knowing, I walked towards him before lifting my sword and placing it on the side of his neck as he froze in place. "I do have tricks up my sleeve, don't I?" I asked him before slicing his head off fully.

I shook off the remaining blood on my sword before a soft "thump" came from behind me. I swung my sword several times to make sure there isn't any spec of blood before placing it back inside of my sword's case. "Your here Giyuu, it's nice seeing you here again. Do you mind if I call you Giyuu?" I greeted him before turning around to face him. He shook his head at me before turning to look at Tanjiro, holding onto a sleeping Nezuko.