Rui

## Portrayal

**Rui Ayaki** was the former Lower Moon 5, promoted to Lower Moon 2, and also a primary antagonist of the Tokyo Arc. He is the middleman between Muzan Kibutsuji and Taichi Tsuyoi.

## **Appearance:**

Rui was a tall, lanky man with extremely pale, near-white skin. His hair matched his skin shade with it too being white, styled in a spider-like shape. Rui's eyes had red pupils, and the Kanji for Lower Two is engraved on his left eye. During the battle against Murata Suiten, Rui renounced his position, and the kanji disappeared.

Rui often wore a nearly entirely black suit, save for the red shirt underneath. He also wore dark sunglasses to conceal the kanji in his eyes.

## **Personality:**

Rui was a cold, callous man who was pretty much amoral in his actions, as long as they further his objective. Congruently to how he could and would do anything if it helped him achieve his end goal, Rui would abstain from doing anything, regardless of morality, should it potentially slow down his progress.

He was a polite, charismatic individual, harshly contrasting his first appearance's cold, distant demeanor with a much warmer facade. He was often seen smiling, and remains civil at most points. He has a tendency to be incredibly dismissive of others, and sometimes uses it to his advantage, seeing as how he taunted Murata so that the man would lose focus and potentially die.

Rui was highly egotistical, and sees himself as far above dealing with certain things with his own hands. While that feeling was strengthened by the existence of his family, Rui insisted on not doing anything until the complete integrity of Shinka Corp. was jeopardized. While he did care deeply about what the company can achieve for him, he didn't like to get involved. However, Rui also believed that if he must he did get be involved, he should finish the mission without fail, caring very little about bystanders or others at all.

Rui was incredibly sadistic, mocking Murata over the people he killed and even blaming the Pillar for their deaths because he was "weak", and furthermore, doing so with the idea that Murata was pathetic, as he was aging. Another example is picking a strategy that, if completed, would see the entire Tomioka Family meeting gruesome and mind shattering fates forced by his hand. Rui, even if he knew about Shinobu's pregnancy, would have acted no differently.

Rui, however, strictly kept his "professional" life away from his child, Inochi. He refused to kill, or even hurt Ryo during their first and only meeting because he didn't want his son to watch, or even hear what would happen, much less the possibility of his body being on the newspapers, which Inochi might read. Rui was a family man, and similarly, did like to take his time with his family, when he didn't want to be bothered by his work.

Rui was protective of his wife, but he wasn't opposed to letting her fight on the occasion that she was needed, and she wasn't fighting anyone too strong.

Rui, when compared to his original, child persona, has shown a sizeable amount of development that can be equated to Tanjiro's words, and his meeting with his parents in the afterlife. He regrets his original self, believing to be immature and petty, and that the lesson that a family isn't built by fear or subservience came far too late. This was best shown when Rui is given the chance to rejoin his parents in the afterlife but chose to go to hell, and apologize with the members of his fake family which he wronged.

## **Synopsis:**

Rui was born into a relatively stable family as a sick and only child. Isolated due to his bodily weakness, Rui saw his health decline continuously, to the point where survival seemed implausible at best. He was subsequently met by Muzan Kibutsuji, who took pity on the boy, and turned him into a demon. During a few weeks, he continued living with his parents, only to mistake his father's suicide for an attempt on his life, and subsequently killed both of his parents.

Rui, long after becoming a demon, formed a family composed entirely of demons, the Spider Family, residing on Mount Natagumo, was an incredibly abusive set of relationships, where Rui was their sole leader, and the one to be protected at all costs. During a raid at his mountain, stronger reinforcements than expected arrived, and Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu slowly dealt with the Family, leaving Rui to be killed by Giyu Tomioka, while his 'sister' was killed by Shinobu Kocho.

Long after his passing, he was brought back to life by Muzan, and matured into the man we see in the story.

## **Abilities:**

**Monumental Strength:** Rui, albeit helped by his webs, can fling around entire buildings with relative ease.

**Monumental Speed:** Rui is immensely fast, being capable of moving out of the borders of Tokyo and back to where he started in but a few seconds.

**Regeneration:** Rui, being a member of the 12 Kizuki, has extremely powerful regeneration, being such that he can recover from damage almost instantly without paying mind to it.

## **Fighting Style:**

**Thread Manipulation:** Rui's Blood Demon Art allows him to manipulate and shape threads that can be controlled to either slice cleanly through metal, or stick to things for mobility and flinging blows. Rui can also dispel his threads at will. Rui can coat his threads with his blood to harden them

**Acidic Cocoons:** Rui can form silky cocoons filled with acid to break down and decompose his enemies, until no trace is left of them. Because of how much muscle mass is sealed within each slayer, it does take a while to decompose them.

**Poison Production:** Rui's body can produce poison, which he can unload into opponents however he deems fit. He has a quick acting poison that deals immediate damage with nausea and organ decomposition, and a slow one that takes about two weeks to began activation. The slow one, to compensate for its waiting time, will kill the infected instantly both in its activation, and should it detect wisteria in the poisoned's blood. Rui can also manage cures for both of his poisons.

**Metamorphosis:** Rui can shed his own skin to grow a stronger, more monstrous form. He has a limit of only being able to do such after a certain period of growth, and his physical change is minimal, only getting mildly bulkier and with sharper claws. Despite this, his power skyrockets

### **Techniques:**

• **Cutting Thread Cage** *(Kokushiro)* - Rui summons a dome of thread that diminishes in size until it slices its target to bits

• **Cutting Thread Cage: Reverse** *(Kokushiro: Gyaku)* - Rui summons a dome of threads that increases in size until the string becomes so thin it disappears

• **Murderous Eye Basket** *(Ayame Kago)* - Rui spawns a relatively small bundle of threads that expands as it reaches the target

• **Cutting Thread Rotation** *(Kokushi Rinten)* - Rui summons a vortex of moving thread that will slice through whatever it comes in contact with, while having range, it is easy to avoid.

• **Cutting Thread Rotation: Double** *(Kokushi Rinten: Baizo)* - Rui spawns vortexes of threads in opposite sides to crush the opponent, or force them to move on a straight line

• **Cutting Thread Rotation: Tornado** *(Kokushi Rinten: Tatsumaki)* - Rui spawns a vortex of threads from his feet, destroying everything in a radius

• **Cutting Thread Rotation: Singularity** *(Kokushi Rinten: Tokui-Ten)* - Rui spawns a gigantic, circular formation of threads that slice through everything. The formation is so powerful it razed an entire section of Tokyo to dust without leaving a trace.

• **Thread Gauntlet** *(Ken no Ito)* - Rui creates vortexes of threads around his fists, which cause immense damage should they ever strike. A single well-placed punch will kill someone.

• **Thread Bullet** *(Dan no Ito)* - Rui spawns a minuscule bullet made from threads, which explodes on contact, and decimates the opponent with cutting wire.

• **Thread Puppet** *(Ito no Ayatsuri)* - Rui encircles his targets with webs, rendering them into puppets of his control. The threads climb under the infected's skin, allowing them to perform techniques based on muscle memory

## **Equipment:**

**Pistol:** Rui is known to have a pistol, which he uses for the sake of convenience. It was destroyed in his first confrontation with Gikuro Tomioka

## **Battles:**

* Rui vs Tanjiro
* Rui vs Giyu
* Rui vs Gikuro
* Rui vs Murata, Yushibo and Gikuro
* Rui vs Murata

## **Trivia:**

* Rui's name means "Accumulate", while his family name, [Ayaki], means "Uncommon Figure"
* Rui's character progression reflects actual human growth, as before, Rui wished to be protected by his family, but when he grew up, he formed a family of his own, which he would protect.