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Byakuya vs. Rui is Episode 3 of Koboldy’s Death Battles. It features Byakuya from the Under Night fighting game franchise, and Rui from the Demon Slayer anime/manga.

Byakuya vs. Rui
Byakuya vs Rui
Season 1
Season Episode 3
Air date 6/29/2021
Written by Koboldy
Episode guide
Previous
Adam vs. Gilgamesh
Next
James Ironwood vs. Handsome Jack


Description[]

Under-Night vs. Demon Slayer! Two spider themed teenagers with an obsession over their family members. Who will be caught end up caught in a web that ends their life in this fight to the death?

Interlude[]

Wiz: Family is…difficult, to say the least. When you’re not dealing with them at the dinner table, half the time you feel pressured to keep in contact with them on a regular basis.

Boomstick: Of course, some people become a little too attached to their family members, for better or worse.

Wiz: Byakuya, the spider themed In-Birth.

Boomstick: And Rui, the spider demon of the Twelve Kizuki.

Wiz: And it’s our job to analyze their weapons, armor and skills, to find out who would win…a Death Battle.

Byakuya[]

(Under Night In-Birth - Gathers Under Night)

Wiz: The town of Kanzakai is a quiet town located in Japan, however, it holds a dark secret. It hosts a great number of In-Births, superhumans bitten by the Void, and of course the Voids themselves. Dark, shadowy monsters that only exist to consume a person’s existence, or in this universe, EXS. Though only those with a strong will and grip on their sanity can become In-Births.

Boomstick: In comes Byakuya who has!...neither of those things, really. A middle-schooler with a…not-so-healthy attachment to his sister, but other than that, he was just your average student!

Wiz: Of course, things drastically changed when Byakuya’s sister, Tsukuyomi, was killed in a car accident. Going mad with grief, Byakuya soon began to lose his grip on reality, and believed that his sister was still alive. Going out in the dead of night in an attempt to find her.

Boomstick: Of course, seeing as she was, you know. Dead as a doornail. He never actually found her. Lashing out at the number of people that were out at night and screaming at them, before he eventually broke down and left the town itself. Probably planning on killing himself!

Wiz: However, as fate would have it, Byakuya came in contact with a Void. Though he accepted his fate, he survived. Searching for his sister once again, Byakuya sprouted claw like appendages from his back, and makes his home a nearby area, where he slaughters anyone who comes near.

Boomstick: Again. Sis is still dead though.

Wiz:...Though Byakuya did end up coming across a woman who bares a remarkable resemblance to his deceased sister, even going so far as to name her “Tsukuyomi” in honor of his dead sister.

Boomstick: Christ, someone needs to get this kid a therapist.

Wiz: Regardless, Byakuya’s messed up family history isn’t what we’re here to talk about. Being an In-Birth, Byakuya has access to the ability to manipulate his own EXS, giving him access to an EXS Ability. The EXS of Dark Spikes: Chelicerata.

Boomstick: And if you couldn’t guess from the eight claws hovering from his back, Byakuya is spider themed! Not only can he just, well, shank people with those claw spider legs of his, but also swiftly spin webs as well!

Wiz: Though “spinning webs” is a bit of a misnomer. It’s more that he can simply place a web in an area, and if you touch it, you get stuck.

Boomstick: And these webs are friggin’ nutty! Being able to hold someone like Waldstein up who weighs two-hundred and eighty-nine kilograms! And even super powerful In-Births like Hilda and Gordeau are unable to break free from those webs of his!

Wiz: Granted, Byakuya’s webs aren’t perfect. They can certainly be avoided if the opponent is careful, plus they don’t last very long, lasting only a few seconds. Though those few seconds may be all Byakuya needs, in the end.

Boomstick: Byakuya himself has also been described as being pretty frail, though considering he manages to go toe-to-toe with other In-Births, that’s kinda hard to quantify just how “frail” he is. Though Byakuya doesn’t exactly do much fighting with his fists, preferring to let his claws do most of the work.

Wiz: Those claws of his are surprisingly versatile as well. Due to not actually being attached to his back, he can manipulate them in a lot of ways. Extending his blades forward, as well as being able to spin them around himself or his opponent. Though, those blades do offer little in the way of range. He can extend them out pretty far, but not to a particularly ridiculous or lengthy degree. If someone was able to completely shut him out from a distance, Byakuya doesn’t have much of an answer to that. Though, that being said, he's surprisingly spry, being able to jump around and dance around the battlefield with little effort at all.

Byakuya Combo

Boomstick: Wh- But I just said- frail my f***ing ass!

Wiz: In…any case, Byakuya’s speed is also one of his strongest attributes as well. Being able to dodge and react to large flashes of light that trigger an In-Birth’s Infinite Worth EXS, as well as being able to outrun Linne’s Air Fang, which is based in light in origin.

Boomstick: Speaking of Infinite Worth EXS, and no, I’m not going to say that every goddamn time it comes up, Byakuya has a doozy of one. When enough EXS is absorbed, Byakuya can pull off a super attack, spinning his blades in a ring formation below an opponent and then trapping them in a giant ball of spider silk! Where his claws do the work of stabbing his opponent like fish in a barrel!

Wiz: Of course, when pushed to the brink, this attack takes another form as well. The opponent’s vision becoming covered in webs to such a degree that Byakuya only appears as a shadow before, well…I don’t need to fill in the details.

Boomstick: And all that’s not even mentioning the second part of Byakuya’s ability, which straight allows him to eat the EXS of other people!

Wiz: While the only examples of this happening have been towards other In-Births in Byakuya’s Arcade Mode, EXS is something that is said to exist in “all earthly matter” and is described as the “source of all things”. So, to Byakuya, it doesn’t really matter who he fights.

Boomstick: You could say he’s not really a picky eater.

Wiz: Regardless, Byakuya is a tricky opponent. Between his webs and claws’ versatility, anyone who threatens him or his…”sister” will be in for a rough time.

Byakuya Entrance


Byakuya: Yeah, please stay down like that…I wouldn’t want my clothes to get too dirty.


Rui[]

(Demon Slayer - Brother Spider Appears)

Boomstick: Okay, so imagine this, right? Let’s say you’re a little, frail kid who’s super sick! When suddenly, a dude in a fedora with ~magic blood~ offers to cure you of your sickness and make you super strong, just by taking in some of his blood!

Wiz: Boomstick…

Boomstick: Of course, you have to kill your parents…but they were trying to kill you!...because you were a horrible demon monster and they were going to join you in the afterlife…but on the plus side, you got sick demon powers now!...that gives you psychological torment and a unending hunger to devour humans…

Wiz: BOOMSTICK.

Boomstick: Alright, alright, I’ll get to the point! Well, you don’t have to imagine! Because that’s exactly what happened to poor Rui over here. The murder of his parents basically scarred the little runt, making him seek out other demons to bring him into his twisted notion of what family should be like.

Wiz: And despite his small, child-like body, Rui is actually considered to be the strongest member of his family. Being a member of Muzan’s Twelve Kuzuki, specifically in the lower ranks.

Boomstick: Of course, after Rui died, Muzan decided to just say f*** it to the lower ranks, but that’s, uh, not important right now.

Wiz: Every demon comes equipped with a “blood demon art”, and Rui is no exception. Being the spider-like demon that he is, Rui can utilize thin strings of spider webbing that allow him to easily slice through skin like it was paper. And while Tanjiro managed to escape the attack, he can also construct a cage out of his webbing in order to turn his opponent to pieces.

Boomstick: These web strings aren’t indestructible however, but they are damn hard to tear through! They managed to shatter Tanjiro’s Nichirin Blade pretty frickin’ easily, and those were weapons designed to slice through a demon’s enhanced durability and actually be able to put down the little buggers for good!

Wiz: Tanjiro did manage to slash through Rui’s webbing eventually, but it took some heavy effort on his part. First he needed to rotate using one of his Water Breathing techniques to strike with enough force, and then when it was revealed that Rui wasn’t even using his strongest webbing, it took utilizing the hidden power of the Dance of the Fire God to break those.

Rui Webs

Boomstick: Though it isn’t all web piano wire for spider boy here; Rui boasts some surprising amount of strength. Being able to deliver a kick to Tanjiro that sent the kid flying into a nearby bush!...what the hell is with this episode and scrawny brats being able to do wild shit?

Wiz:…in any case, all of this is pretty much owed to Muzan’s blood and the powers that it gives to anyone that is corrupted by it. We mentioned how the Nichirin blades were designed to specifically kill demons, and that’s because they are nigh unkillable thanks to Muzan’s blood in the first place.

Boomstick: That being said, they aren’t completely immortal. There are things that can take them down; the most notable things that are shown being the Nichirin blades, the sun, certain poisons, or, well. Muzan himself.

Wiz: Though even without that special immortality, demons have been stated to have much higher durability compared to humans. Though to what degree for Rui specifically is iffy to say the least, as the only non-neck related attack that Rui suffered was when Nezuko used her claws to slash at Rui’s face, leaving a gaping wound. Though Rui barely reacted to the attack itself and the wound healed up rather quickly.

Boomstick: So, in addition to all that crap we talked about before, demons also get a regeneration ability! What’s the downside of being a demon again?

Wiz: You mean besides devouring everyone and everything you hold dear?

Boomstick: Eh, I’ll manage.

Wiz: *sigh* Regardless, Rui is no slouch when it comes to speed either. While Rui only had one notable combat encounter with Tanjiro, Tanjiro himself provides a perfect metric by which to judge Rui by.

Boomstick: Before Tanjiro and his troupe of rejects wandered into Rui and his spider family’s forest, he had fought a demon that fights utilizing sounds as a weapon. Since Rui can keep up with Tanjiro, and Tanjiro could dodge attacks that move at the speed of sound, it’s not farfetched to say that Rui has similar speeds!

Wiz: However, that is not to say that Rui is all powerful. While those webs of his are versatile and incredibly powerful, in terms of combat, they’re basically his only weapon.

Boomstick: While him launching Tanjiro with a kick was pretty impressive, Tanjiro was both distraught by his sword breaking and his sister being heavily wounded by Rui’s threads. And later on in the fight, Rui primarily focuses on getting away from Tanjiro rather than engage in good ‘ol fisticuffs. So, it’s a pretty easy assumption that Rui would prefer not to engage in close quarters combat unless it’s to make a point.

Wiz: Regardless, most of the time, his threads are enough to put an enemy down. Rui has shown to have incredible control over them, being able to create a deadly web of razor thin wire that moves fast enough that Tanjiro was unable to react to it.    

Boomstick: This is one spider web you definitely don’t want to get caught in.

Rui Entrance


Rui: The way I see it, if you don’t understand your own role, there’s no reason for you to live.


DEATH BATTLE![]

Byakuya vs Rui 2

(Demon Slayer - Nada Spider Mountain)

“Sis…hey, sis?! Where’d you wander off to?”

The purple-haired teenager wandered through the forest; his dark eyes glancing around the forest he found himself in. He and his sister, Tsukuyomi, had found themselves inside of the forest, though had gotten split up. Tsukuyomi had said that it was important to her plans to traverse through this forest, and of course Byakuya was always at his sister’s side.

“Ew, what’s the deal with all the webs? So gross…” Byakuya muttered to himself as he touched the sticky silk of one of the many spider webs that littered this forest, shaking his hand to rid himself of the white silk. Annoyance setting in as Tsukuyomi was still nowhere to be seen.

“Tell me. Do you typically waltz in and ruin people’s homes? Or is this a special occasion for you?” A quiet, gentle voice carried throughout the air, catching Byakuya’s attention. The middle-schooler looking around the forest for the source of the voice, only to find it above him. A small, pale boy with odd markings on his face hovered in the air. No…that wasn’t quite right. Byakuya was keen enough to see he wasn’t flying, but rather standing upon near invisible spider threads.

“Do not disturb my family. If you leave now, I may spare your life, human.” Rui spoke once more. His pure, white eyes and odd looking pupils staring down at the teen with disdain. Though Byakuya merely shrugged his shoulders; he wasn’t here to kill anyone. Not yet, at least.

“Hey, that’s fine by me. Just one quick question before I go. Have you seen a young girl around here? About my age; long, purple hair? I really need to find her, y’know?” Byakuya explained; getting back in contact with his sister was his utmost priority, of course. Nothing much else mattered.

“Hm. I do believe I remember such a human wandering around our home.” Rui said as he closed his eyes in thought. “Though I imagine she’s already been devoured by mother or father by now.”

Byakuya’s pupils shrank at Rui’s statement as his fists clenched for a brief moment, before breaking into laughter. Rui merely staring blankly at Byakuya’s laughing fit, expression unchanging.

“I-I’m sorry…it’s just- c-could you repeat that for me, just real quick?” Byakuya asked, wiping away a tear from his eye. Laughter still slightly persisting from his previous fit.

“Leave, human. You are testing my patience.” Rui bluntly stated, raising his hand simply so he could shred this human to ribbons if he did not leave within the next few seconds. Byakuya merely continuing to laugh in response to Rui’s threats.

“Y’see, that’s pretty funny…because that’s my sister, you’re talking about. And anyone who hurts her…” Byakuya’s laughter swiftly subsided as his eyes went wide, and his eight claws appearing behind him as he looked up at the small child. “…will suffer.”

“Sister, you say…?” Rui seemed to be lost in thought at the mention of that word. Before snapping back to reality as he heard Byakuya’s shoes scrape against the dirt. The boy clearly meaning to move in aggression towards Rui. The pale-skinned demon raising his other hand up as well this time. Both people ready to kill each other for the sake of their family.

FIGHT!

(Blazblue - Thin Red Line)

Immediately, thin, wire-like spider threads were shot forward from Rui’s fingertips. The silk moving fast enough that Byakuya didn’t even notice it at first, until it sliced the side of his cheek and through his clothes. Byakuya already bleeding as he noticed the small web that had essentially trapped him in place. Simply a closing of his palm is all Rui would need to slice Byakuya into pieces; bringing the webs inward to slash through his body.

“Oooh, how fun! Hey, let me try!” Though Rui was taken off guard briefly as Byakuya acted much differently than any human he had encountered before. Though just based on those claw appendages that had appeared near his back, he was beginning to think that this “human” was anything but.

Byakuya gripped the silk thread, the threads cutting into his hands as blood began to drip onto the ground beneath him. Pulling the threads towards himself as Rui was pulled forward as well, though the demon child was obviously not going to let himself be pulled to the ground. Quickly snapping the threads from his fingertips before he was completely set off balance.

But that brief moment was all Byakuya needed, a grin coming across his face as he narrowed his eyes. Taking a running start to a nearby tree and pressing his feet against, launching him in the direction of another tree. He again pressed his feet against the bark of that tree, pushing himself off of it yet again. Constantly repeating as he traversed higher and higher, all in a matter of a few seconds. It wasn’t long before Byakuya had reached Rui at high level, his claws appearing in front of him rather than behind him as they slashed at Rui himself. Though Rui was deft enough to dodge backwards before those claws struck him, only missing by a hair as his silk wire was slashed apart in his place. Rui’s eyes wide as he gracefully fell to the ground, preventing himself from taking any sort of damage from the fall.

“You’re no ordinary human. But I suppose that goes without saying at this point. You’re not part of the Demon Slayer Corps either. And you don’t smell like any demon I’ve ever encountered.” Rui spoke, his facial expression unchanging as he stared at this opponent who also had just landed onto the ground. Bits of blood dripping from his body as he still had that accursed smile on his face. “So, what are you?”

“Aw, man…am I really that stinky?” Byakuya wondered aloud as he lifted up his right arm, seemingly more concerned with the prospect that he smells bad rather than him currently bleeding. A twitch of anger coming across Rui’s face as he was seemingly ignored, raising his hand once again.

“Fine. It matters little. You’ll suffer the same fate as every other human that trespasses in our home.” Shooting more threads of silk from his fingertips, this time not aiming for Byakuya directly, but rather the surrounding area around him. Byakuya keeping his eyes on the threads this time, clearly expecting Rui’s mode of attack this time around. Effortlessly dodging out of the way this time. A smirk coming across his face as he began to step forward. Though as Byakuya walked forward, Rui merely moved one of his fingers, as one of the silk threads moved near instantaneously and slashed the top of Byakuya’s shoulder. This time inflicting a much deeper wound than the previous ones.

“Ahah…I see. My bad! I should’ve figured you can just move these things, huh!” Byakuya shouted towards his opponent, clutching his bleeding shoulder. Still all with a smirk on his face.

“Goodbye.” Was all Rui said in response, as he closed both of his hands and the silk wire began to enclose onto Byakuya. Though now that he was aware of just how fast the threads could move, he had very little to be afraid of. The blades on near his back coming back to life as they spun around, slashing the thin silk threads to ribbon in an instant. Byakuya quickly taking this opportunity to lunge forward towards Rui before the small demon could recover, blades at the ready. And unfortunately, Rui was too slow to react to Byakuya’s sudden assault. Four tips of the blades plunging into Rui’s neck, before his head was violently cut off. Blood spurting from the neck stump as Rui’s decapitated head was launched into the air, before coming back down to the ground with a sickening *SPLAT*

“Huh. Well, that was easy.” Byakuya said as he shrugged, beginning to walk back off deeper into the forest so he could find his sister.

“Idiot.” Though before Byakuya wandered off too far, he heard the boy’s voice yet again. As his claws became restrained by the threads extending from Rui’s hand, his headless body still standing as threads from his other hand shot forward. Swiftly, more threads shot forward, this time wrapping around Byakuya himself. Restraining him as the threads contorted his body, forcing his hands behind his back, and sliced into his skin, cutting open parts of his clothes as well.

“Are you truly so ignorant that you do not recognize a demon when you see one?” Rui asked as one of the spare threads of silk had grabbed his head, pulling it back towards his body as it was placed onto his stump of a neck. His expression unmoving as ever as he watched blood drip from Byakuya’s body, his wire bondage tightening every passing second. While Byakuya did have an expression of distress, that distress swiftly turned to laughter, much to Rui’s confusion. Who merely tightened his threads in response, causing Byakuya to recoil in pain as more blood was spilt from his body.

“You are truly beginning to anger me.” Rui coldly stated. He was growing tired of this pointless fight, and all he had to do to end was crush Byakuya in his web.

“Sorry, sorry! It’s just…” As Byakuya trailed as off, his claws began to shake, catching Rui’s attention. And it wasn’t long before those same blades slashed through Rui’s webbing like it was nothing but paper. The strings holding Byakuya in place were next to follow as well, as they quickly shredded through the thin wire.

“…I’ve gotten just so curious as to what you taste like.” Byakuya ravenously stared at Rui before dashing straight towards him with his claws extended, causing Rui to quickly dodge out of the way of Byakuya’s attack. Byakuya relentlessly pursuing, however, as Rui began to struggle to keep up with Byakuya’s attacks. Even as he continued to send out his threads, they merely found themselves quickly slashed apart by Byakuya’s claws. Until finally another attack from Byakuya connected, a few of his claws piercing Rui in the gut as he was slammed into a tree. Pinned against it as Byakuya’s claws became red with Rui’s blood.

“Really…” Byakuya laughed to himself as he raised his claws up, his bleeding hands seemingly pressing two invisible buttons in the air next to Rui’s head as well. “Haven’t you ever heard of the definition of insanity? Those threads of yours don’t really work on me.”

“Tch.” Rui grunted as he felt the pain of Byakuya’s claws digging into his stomach. But Rui wasn’t beaten. Not only did Byakuya not have any way to actually kill him, but he wasn’t even close to going full strength against this annoyance. “Do you really think that I-“

Rui raised his right hand, but he was quickly taken aback by the sensation he felt. His hand was stuck. Turning his head, a web had appeared where Rui’s hand was raised, causing his hand to become stuck in the web.

“Pahahaha!” Byakuya laughed as his claws slashed at where Rui’s hand was, and though Rui had felt his hand become free, it was too late.

*SCHWING*

Byakuya’s claw had sliced through Rui’s hand, causing it to collapse to the ground with a splat, much like his head had prior. Blood coming out of the stump as Rui blankly stared at his now lack of a hand. Though his attention wasn’t focused on that for long, as he turned to face the still laughing Byakuya. Not even anger filling his body; just annoyance.

Annoyance that he thought he could win.

While Byakuya was laughing, Rui raised his leg up. The position Byakuya had put him in, even with his stomach pierced, gave him the perfect leverage to deliver a forceful kick directly into Byakuya’s laughing face. Sending the purple-haired boy flying backwards until his back collided with a tree.

It wasn’t long after that Rui had stood up, the gaping wound in his stomach healing near instantaneously as threads reattached his severed hand, much like what had just happened to his head.

“Since you seem to be completely ignorant, human. No, whatever you are. Let me inform you of something.” Rui began to speak as his threads shot out across the entire forest, though these were not the same thin, near invisible wires that had captured Byakuya before. No, these were colored a deep scarlet, and dripping with malice. Rui’s hands had become blood red as well, as if they were soaked in blood despite Rui’s hands never touching Byakuya.

(Hollow Knight - Mantis Lords)

“You cannot kill me.

It wasn’t long before more threads began to fly towards Byakuya’s direction, the purple haired boy quickly getting out of his prone state lest he be pierced by each and every one of those deadly threads. Byakuya had actually begun to sweat now; it was pretty easy to tell that these threads were far more dangerous than the previous ones that Byakuya had taken with little problem. They were glowing blood red! Of course, that could potentially be deadly, not to mention how Byakuya had evidently pissed Rui off.

But that mattered little to Byakuya. All this meant that this meal would take a little bit more preparation than some of his other ones. Byakuya dodged through the threads with a surprising amount of grace, though he couldn’t manage to dodge through every single wire. A few nicking him across the face or slicing through his arm or legs. But he was catching up to Rui, was the important part. Though Rui barely responded to Byakuya’s encroaching threat, clearly not viewing him as a problem. All he would have to do is skewer him with wire once he got his claws stuck in Rui’s body.

However, once Byakuya got close, it wasn’t a leaping stab attack that he went for. Nor did he attempt to go after Rui’s head. Instead, Byakuya crept down to the ground and…disappeared? Rui was about to look around to see where Byakuya had vanished to, but he was swiftly cut off from doing so. As his body became wrapped in a web that had appeared instantaneously, keeping him from moving any part of his body within the purple colored web he had gotten trapped in.

“W-What is-!?” Rui shouted before being cut off by Byakuya yet again.

“Almost ready to eat!!” Byakuya laughed as his claws slashed open the web, but also slashing open Rui as well. As Byakuya spun his blades across Rui’s body, splattering blood onto both Byakuya and Rui himself. Even launching him up into the air only to send him crashing back down to the ground by piercing his blades through his heart. Laughing the entire time as blood and guts painted the forest.

“Ehehehe…” Byakuya giggled as he wiped some of the blood from his face, staring down at the bloody, mangled, corpse-like he had pinned to the ground. “So how shall I prepare you?”

“Tch…” Rui coughed as he spat blood directly onto Byakuya’s face, the boy’s expression changing in no way at all as he raised one of his claws. “You really…just don’t listen, do you?”

Even though he was pierced to the ground, it mattered little to the boy who could not die to conventional weaponry. Or even non-conventional, in the case of Byakuya. It mattered little how much pain Rui was currently suffering as his body bled like a stuffed pig. It mattered little how much he slashed, stabbed, or pierced.

Rui could not die.

A fact that Byakuya was quickly reminded of as Rui moved his hands slightly, causing threads to pierce through his body. A state of shock coming across Byakuya’s face as he noticed the position he was in; webs piercing through his body and a giant cocoon of threads appearing around him. A swift kick to his gut removed the blades from Rui’s stomach as the cocoon began to shrink in size, threatening to turn him to pieces in the blink of an eye.

“Hmph.” Rui merely grunted as he stood up, once again his wounds healing instantly as if they had never happened. “Cutting Thread Cage.”

Within seconds, the cage of threads began to collapse in on itself. Causing Byakuya to become nothing but bloody chunks of In-Birth.

…or so Rui had thought, anyway.

*SCHWING*

The blades around Byakuya’s body danced as they slashed even Rui’s most powerful threads to ribbons, the purple-haired boy ready to pounce onto Rui’s exposed body as he lowered his upper body. A smile so wide it was like it was trying to stretch off his face. Dashing forward almost caused Rui to wince as he reassembled his bloody threads, this time swirling and spinning the web in front of him before he placed his hands forward.

“Cutting Thread Rotation!” Rui shouted as the web shot forward; one of his strongest attacks, one that very few of even the highly trained Demon Slayer Corps could avoid.

But Byakuya had grown hungry. The web of threads that should’ve turned Byakuya into ribbons getting sliced into harmless pieces of silk as Byakuya continued to run towards Rui. And it wasn’t long before those blades found their mark yet again, slashing at Rui’s chest only for the wound to instantly heal.

“How many times must you try and fail, before you understand, you worthless piece of garbage!” Rui shouted as he made a bloody web in his hands, presenting it in front of him. “Murderous Eye Basket.”

Threads in the shape of the web Rui had made shot forward, cutting through Byakuya’s skin as he was brought to his knees. Blood dripping from near every point of his body, as Byakuya’s breathing had gotten heavy by this point. Exhausted from the battle at hand, Rui figured it wouldn’t be long before he died. Whether from exhaustion or Rui killing him himself.

So why not go for the latter, and make him suffer in the process?

One last barrage of threads was all Rui would need to end this. To pierce through every part of his body and string him up, letting him bleed out like some useless animal.

(Under Night In-Birth - Beat Eat Nest)

But he was interrupted by the sound of laughter. And the feeling of Byakuya dashing forward instantaneously and grabbing his throat.

A flash of purple light was all that Rui saw before his vision became encased in webbing. He wasn’t sure if he was covered head to toe in the purple webbing, or if his entire forest had been covered in it. Only the faint shadow of Byakuya as he walked towards him could be seen.

“Definition of insanity…’Oh, I can’t be killed!’, ‘You’re an idiot!’…Did you really think I was stupid enough to think that if I just kept on hitting you that I’d manage to kill you that way? Hehehe…no.” Byakuya’s shadow continued to walk up towards Rui, who was helpless to move or dodge away from the purple spider child. It wasn’t until they were, assumedly, face to face that he raised the shadows of his blades. “It’s just simply no fun if my meal isn’t prepared well.”

Byakuya’s blades sunk into Rui’s body. First went his left arm, cut clean from the shoulder as that part of the web was opened. Then his right leg, slumping to the ground with a wet sound as Rui felt himself become unbalanced. His left arm was the next to be torn off, as Rui felt the blood spurt from his stump and seep into his white clothing. His left leg being the second to last as he felt gravity push his torso down, only being held up by the webs itself.

And then he felt the blades plunge into his neck, the second time he felt an imminent decapitation. Though it certainly didn’t kill him, it certainly caused him great pain.

The webs disappeared, though rather than let Rui’s body and head split apart, Byakuya grabbed the boy’s head by the hair. Holding it up as the two spider children looked each other in the eyes.

“This…doesn’t matter…I can just…” Rui spat out between pained gasps. While he couldn’t get exhausted, the sheer, indescribable pain he was feeling certainly made him get close.

“Ah, ah, ah.” Byakuya interrupted him however, putting his bloody pointer finger to his lips to shush the boy. “No more talking. I do hate a stomachache.”

“Wait…what…what are you…” Rui’s head was pulled closer to Byakuya’s maw, which as Rui got closer, became more and more unnatural. Panic setting into the spider demon’s mind as he desperately tried to do something, anything! “N-No! NO!!!”

But it mattered little to the In-Birth who could devour a being’s existence.

An audible gulp was heard as the rest of Rui’s body began to turn to ash, dissipating into the wind as Byakuya patted his stomach.

“Now then…where’d my sis run off to?”

KO!

Conclusion[]

(Under Night In-Birth - Gathers Under Night)

Boomstick: Wait, wait, hold on! I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this on the internet somewhere!

Wiz: Ignoring that. At first, this seemed like a pretty clear-cut case for Rui to win this completely. Due to the fact that, well, he just couldn’t die due to normal means.

Boomstick: But, unfortunately for spider child, Byakuya wasn’t exactly a normal teen. Not only did he have weird spider blades that allowed him to slice and dice through most of what Rui could throw at him, but he also had the perfect counter to Rui’s immortality. His EXS ability!

Wiz: As mentioned, Byakuya’s EXS Ability Chelicerata not only allows him to spin webs, much like Rui’s Demon Art, but it also allows him to eat the EXS of other people. Which…Byakuya usually does by just devouring them wholesale. While, yes, EXS is not explicitly called out in the Demon Slayer universe, again, EXS is described as a form of energy found in “all earthly matter”. So, it’s not unfair to think that EXS would naturally exist in Rui as well, even if the extent of Rui’s “living” is to be debated.

Boomstick: That being said, Byakuya eating Rui wouldn’t have mattered if he had possessed an upper hand on Byakuya!...which he kind of didn’t.

Wiz: While Rui could theoretically keep Byakuya at bay with his threads, considering their wide range and versatility, it was pretty unlikely. Byakuya had no ranged options to be sure, but in this battle, he really didn’t need them.

Boomstick: Rui was fast, sure, being able to keep up and outright avoid Tanjiro for a while, who managed to dodge attacks that moved at the speed of sound. And those webs of his moved fast enough and were difficult enough to see that even Tanjiro couldn’t avoid them. But Byakuya can dodge and react to the light that In-Births emit when using their super attacks, making him much faster comparatively.

Wiz: While Rui’s webs are incredibly powerful and versatile, their ability to do anything to someone who moves and reacts at lightspeed is very little. And while Rui’s inability to die might take Byakuya off guard at first, it would only work the once.

Boomstick: Yeah, Byakuya may be a psycho teenager, even he can realize that stabbing an opponent that can’t die over and over again is a dumb move.

Wiz: Not to mention that Rui’s webs, powerful as they are, can be slashed apart, nullifying their usefulness. Though Tanjiro could slash through Rui’s threads eventually, it took a lot of effort to do even that much. That being said, Tanjiro’s best feat shown in terms of attack power at that point is his slicing the boulder during his training with Sakonji clean down the middle.

Boomstick: Buuuuuuuuut compare that with Linne, a fellow In-Birth, who managed to strike the earth so hard with her sword that she caused lava to explode from the ground! While it isn’t an actual thing Byakuya himself has been able to do, being able to keep up and in some cases defeat such powerful In-Births means it’s pretty easy to scale him to them.

Wiz: Rui had a lot going for him. If it had been any other opponent, Rui could’ve clutched out a victory just due to the insane power of his regeneration and his own immortality. But, Byakuya had an answer to most all of Rui’s strengths.

Boomstick: In the end, Rui was slain under the night sky.

Wiz: The winner is Byakuya.

Byakuya Win

Trivia[]

  • The connection between the two fighters are that they are two young, spider-themed individuals with incredible powers. Rui being a demon, and Byakuya being an In-Birth.
  • A track for this fight would be called "Beat Slay Nest", referencing Byakuya's theme and the name of the anime Rui comes from.
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