Demon slayer: Breath Of The Eclipse

Chapter Twenty One: Corp Rules

On a cold winter day, a young boy was watching as children play on the snowy streets, as he approached them the boy fell to the ground as he struggled to breathe. He turned over and looked to the sky, just as a woman came to tend to her son...Rui.

Rui's mother scolded him, the boy knew that he shouldn't go outside. Rui recalled his past, from his birth Rui he always been frail. He couldn't even run as even walking was challenging for him until Muzan appeared before him one night. The Demon Progenitor "Pitied" the boy and offered a way to save him. Rui's parents soon learned what became of their son.

Despite now possessing a physically strong body, the boy could no longer be in sunlight and had to devour humans to sustain himself. He still remembers when his mother and father first discovered that he had eaten someone, his mother cried in devastation while his father was in a state of utter shock and disbelief!.

Rui's mind then when back to a story he heard growing up about a man who died trying to save his drowning son. Rui was so moved by this story and by this act of deep parental love and by such a close bond, to him that man had fulfilled his role as a parent perfectly. On the  other  hand Rui never understood why his parents tried to kill him. One night as he slept his father raised a knife at Rui while Rui's mother did nothing to stop him, all she did was stand and sob next to the bedroom.

Rui woke up and mortally wounded them.

Afterward, he sat on the porch of his house. As Rui reasoned that his parents were imposters, he refused to believe that they had a real bond. As Rui sat there he heard his mother's final words.

'I'm sorry that i couldn't give you a strong body' Those were the mother's final words to her son before she passed away, this shook Rui so much that he suddenly remembered his father's final words to him.

'It's all right, Rui we're going to die with you' Rui was so enraged at his father's attempt to kill him that he ignored his last message, he was willing to die with him to atone for Rui's murder of another person. That is when Rui finally realized that they did have a genuine bond, but he severed it with his own hands!. Muzan then came to him and pushed the contrary, telling the young demon it was his parents fault for their inability to accept him. Devastated by what he had done,  Rui forced himself to believe Muzan's words, unable to bear the wight of his actions.

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As he dies Rui's headless body began walking to Tanjiro. Rui understood that he is solely to blame he missed his parents every single day it was too much to bear and even after creating a fake family the feeling of emptiness never left him, and because he was the most powerful demon in his family no one could genuinely protect him like he wanted. Rui also realized that the more powerful he got he started to remember even less about being human, and as his memories faded away he had lost sight of what he truly wanted, to seek a bond he could never claim.

Rui feel just short of Tanjiro and as he continued to fade and try vainly to reach out to him. Tanjiro picked up the scent of unbearable grief coming from Rui. 

Tanjiro gently put his hand on Rui's back to show his sympathy, causing the demon to experience the feeling of warm gentle sunlight. Rui remembered that he wanted to apologize to his parents hoping that they can forgive him but Rui was certain that he would not go where his parents are, he had killed so many people, he was surely going to Hell and his chance of earning his parents forgiveness was gone, but then a familiar voice spoke from the afterlife.