Under the astonished gazes of Miko Yotsuya, Yui Yuigahama, and Mai Sakurajima, as Rio Futaba's words fell, hundreds of chilling white bones suddenly extended from the ground around them, reflecting cold light under the sunlight.
"Futaba... when did you learn Domain Expansion? And..."
Miko observed the surrounding bones, felt the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from them, and, combined with the fact that Rio Futaba's words when expanding her Domain were different from her own, immediately realised something.
Compared to her own half-baked Domain, the Domain that the other had expanded seemed to be closer to Ye Xing's Demon-Slaying Divine Purification - a complete Domain?
Looking at the surprised expressions of Miko, Yui, and Mai-senpai, as well as Haruno Yukinoshita, who seemed completely nonchalant, smiling as she surveyed the surroundings as if admiring a holiday resort, Rio Futaba explained.
"Actually... during the previous train malfunction incident, that evil spirit that fused with the Gate, formed from people's negative impressions of the concept of trains, was devoured by Bone Woman."
"However, at that time we didn't know yet that only by devouring an evil spirit fused with a Gate could one gain the ability to expand a Domain."
"To be honest, before I saw you perform it, I didn't even know that spiritual power could be used this way."
Although Rio Futaba had rich theoretical knowledge and was good at providing directions for each member to develop their Soul Materialisation abilities, her talent as a psychic clearly couldn't compare to Miko Yotsuya's.
Simply put.
Rio Futaba was the type who, once she thought of how to use something, could work hard in that direction and eventually achieve her goal.
As for Miko Yotsuya...
She would only comprehend the principles after unconsciously mastering a new ability.
There was no theory whatsoever, only pure, instinctual prodigious talent.
Miko's greatness required no elaboration.
Miko Yotsuya's Domain remained incomplete, but this wasn't due to any lack of talent compared to Rio Futaba.
Rather, the latter had previously allowed her Soul Manifestation, Bone Woman, to independently devour a powerful evil spirit fused with a Gate during the train malfunction incident.
Simply put.
Compared to Hyakume, who had only consumed one-third of a Gate-bearing evil spirit, Rio Futaba's Bone Woman contained a higher concentration of the power of a Gate.
"Break free from restraints, Suzuhiko-hime!"
"Chase your obsession, Kiyohime!"
Although Yui Yuigahama and Mai Sakurajima hadn't yet mastered Domain Expansion and couldn't provide direct assistance to Ye Xing, they had already locked onto their target.
That would be the divine envoy currently overwhelming the Goat-Headed Deity and Tamamo-no-Mae, casually summoning gales, lightning, torrential rain - the Weather God's envoy.
Haruno Yukinoshita watched as these two summoned their Soul Manifestations and joined the distant battle, yet they remained deadlocked against the divine envoy. She shook her head and sighed softly. Though her tone sounded like complaining, her face still wore a smile.
"Really now, having to save the world alongside a bunch of high school students... I wonder what expression Yukino would make if she found out."
Immediately after, Haruno's smile gradually faded as she enunciated each word clearly.
"Heed your heart, Hienma!"
With three psychics joining the battle simultaneously, the tide of combat instantly shifted.
Even the most powerful divine envoy of the Weather God felt immense pressure facing the simultaneous assaults of Tamamo-no-Mae, the Goat-Headed Deity, Mai Sakurajima, Yui Yuigahama, and Haruno Yukinoshita. From initially having the upper hand, she had been forced into continuous retreat, barely managing to defend herself.
"Ye Xing."
Rio Futaba and Miko Yotsuya manifested spiritual armour formed from parts of their Soul Materialisation, choosing to join Ye Xing's battle against the Weather God.
"You're here?"
Ye Xing's tone carried a hint of confusion.
"How did you get in? Even with the Itomori Town guardian deity's help, with your constitutions, you shouldn't have been able to force your way into this area."
Without much thought, Miko Yotsuya drew her Mikazuki Munechika while explaining.
"We didn't use that Itomori Town guardian deity's help. Didn't we mention before? If people outside achieve soul resonance with someone who has entered this area, they can..."
Before Miko could finish, Rio Futaba sighed and interrupted beside her.
"Miko, how could he not understand? He's just teasing you, wanting to hear you say it yourself."
Hearing Rio's words, Miko only then realised belatedly, noticing Ye Xing's amused gaze. Her cheeks beneath the mask flushed completely red with both embarrassment and irritation.
"You... you never miss a chance to tease people, do you!"
"Hey, it's just soul resonance, why be so shy?"
Ye Xing said with complete seriousness.
"Not just our souls, our bodies are also quite..."
Rio Futaba/Miko Yotsuya: "Shut up!"
With the arrival of the five psychics from the Supernatural Society team, the situation on the battlefield completely reversed. Combined with their familiar banter, the atmosphere momentarily became quite cheerful.
Meanwhile, the Weather God's expression had grown so unpleasant that it nearly resembled a snarling dog.
What... what is this situation!?
Regarding the evil spirit attack in Kyoto City a few days ago, the Weather God had watched the entire process from the shadows.
Although during the decisive battle at Kyoto Tower, because Ye Xing had immediately deployed Demon-Slaying Divine Purification, he hadn't been able to gather intelligence about that fight, the outcome was clearly these humans' victory.
But the Weather God had been quite confident.
On one hand, within his Divine Territory, his spiritual power source was nearly limitless, making him essentially impossible to eliminate.
Yet now, his spiritual power source had been cut off, and his current consumption rate far exceeded his replenishment rate.
On the other hand, since this was called a Divine Territory, that meant not just anyone could enter.
The Weather God could have accepted Ye Xing entering alone.
He had originally wanted to kill this exorcist who had devoured so many of his divine envoys anyway, so the other party delivering himself to his doorstep had thrilled the Weather God.
But goddamnit...
First, Ye Xing enters, then five more people follow?
What does this mean?
Group tourism in his Divine Territory?
Just how many women's souls does this guy resonate with!?
"Don't get it, do you?"
Ye Xing looked at the Weather God standing there with his dog-like unpleasant expression and spoke with a slight smile.
"Do you now understand the true value of the Harem God, whose soul resonates with every club member? I don't think you understand at all."
The Harem God saves the world once again.
Rio Futaba and Miko Yotsuya wanted to retort.
But after careful consideration... actually, it really did seem to be true.
If Ye Xing's relationship with them wasn't this intimate, and he only treated them as battle companions, they probably wouldn't have achieved this so-called soul resonance.
Taking it even further.
If not for the Harem God attribute, putting Hina Amano aside for now, at most, only one person could have entered this Divine Territory with Ye Xing today.
Even if that person was the strongest Miko Yotsuya, or Rio Futaba, who could unleash her complete Domain...
Before such a powerful existence as the Weather God, it would likely be useless, unable to bring any substantial change to the battle situation.
Did having a harem really save the world?
Watching Ye Xing, Miko Yotsuya, and Rio Futaba standing together, their respective Domains encroaching upon this Divine Territory and resisting the Weather God's spiritual power, Hachishaku-sama, who had been standing in the distance, suddenly clenched her teeth, her expression firm, her fair cheeks flushing red.
"Damn it..."
At this moment, Hachishaku-sama voiced her most genuine inner desire.
"I... must drink milk!"
"Domain Expansion!"
For the sake of drinking milk, Hachishaku-sama gave it her all at this moment.
However...
"Eh?"
Miko Yotsuya and the others could sense that Hachishaku-sama's body indeed emitted special spiritual fluctuations similar to a Domain, but unlike Miko and Futaba's, it didn't alter the surrounding environment.
It felt...
Like she had activated a blank slate?
"That's enough."
Ye Xing wasn't disappointed; instead, he nodded with satisfaction.
The Domain's effect wasn't important. Besides his own Demon-Slaying Divine Purification meant to sever the Weather God's connection to the outside world, the domains of Miko Yotsuya, Rio Futaba, and Hachishaku-sama were only meant to overwrite the Weather God's influence on this area.
Pure white with nothing could also cover things.
Hachishaku-sama's barely activated, completely ineffective Domain became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
The Weather God's face showed terror, realising it could no longer resist as the surrounding Divine Territory gradually transformed into a pitch-black colour.
At this moment, it was truly afraid.
"Wait... wait! Stop, stop!"
The Weather God looked at Ye Xing standing there, its expression panicked.
"You... you can take that girl away, all of you can leave, I'll back down... isn't it enough that I'm backing down!?"
"Back down?"
Hearing the Weather God's plea for mercy, Ye Xing just chuckled lightly and shook his head. The entire black mist behind him had completed the final blockade of this area.
Demon-Slaying Divine Purification, complete.
"Today, I will definitely devour you. Pleading for mercy is useless."
Watching the black mist that had completely overwritten its Divine Territory and feeling the replenishment of spiritual power from outside cut off, the Weather God's face became ferocious and twisted, having long since lost that so-called divine superiority, revealing the true nature of an evil spirit.
"You... you're forcing me into this!"
The Weather God realised that its only hope for survival was to kill everyone before it.
It chose to exhaust all its spiritual power and go all out.
BOOM!
Accompanied by blinding lightning, the thunder converged into an enormous serpent, while the surrounding clouds formed a towering, mist-shrouded humanoid figure, along with the familiar, rainbow-hued giant whale swimming ceaselessly.
After all, this was a deity that had existed for hundreds of years.
These three entities were all its true forms, each possessing terrifyingly powerful spiritual energy.
"Well, that's quite the intimidating display."
Ye Xing dispelled his Mask attire and ended his fusion with the black and white ghost hands.
"Seems it's time to go all out."
Tamamo-no-Mae, the Goat-Headed Deity, and the members of the Supernatural Society all tacitly retreated a considerable distance.
Judging purely by the size of these three true forms of the Weather God and the spiritual energy fluctuations they emitted...
If Miko Yotsuya and Rio Futaba were at full strength, they might have qualified to participate in this god-slaying battle. But after the consumption from the earlier Domain collision, they obviously wouldn't push themselves beyond their limits.
"Go on."
Rio Futaba took a deep breath, gazing at Ye Xing standing there as she spoke softly.
"The battle against a god... You must win."
"Of course I'll win. After all..."
As he spoke, Ye Xing's right hand suddenly gathered a ball of dazzling, blinding light, his fingers slowly clenching into a fist.
"I'm the strongest exorcist."
Following several seconds of blinding brightness that made even Miko Yotsuya unable to keep her eyes open or look directly at it, before anyone could even open their eyes, they suddenly felt a powerful tremor shake the ground beneath their feet.
BOOM!!!
When they opened their eyes, they were completely stunned.
Looking at the scene before them, Hina Amano, Miko Yotsuya, Rio Futaba, Mai Sakurajima, Yui Yuigahama, and even Haruno Yukinoshita, who was a master of controlling her expressions, were all utterly dumbfounded.
"Wh-what in the world is this!?"
A giant, fifty metres tall, a veritable behemoth with a black-and-red colour scheme resembling a humanoid form but with pitch-black eyes, had appeared before them.
Even Yui Yuigahama and Hina Amano, who had witnessed Ye Xing using The End of Eight Million's power to transform into a giant before, were completely shocked now.
This giant before them...
Was clearly not on the same scale as the one Ye Xing had transformed into before!
A dark light shot from the giant's wrist, forming a crescent moon-shaped energy blade. Moving too fast for the Weather God to react, the lightning serpent was instantly sliced in two.
Immediately after, the giant that Ye Xing had transformed into swiftly stepped forward, grabbing the lightning serpent's body with both hands. The roaring, flashing lightning seemed to cause him no harm whatsoever as he directly swallowed it whole.
And when the Weather God finally reacted, with the rain-formed giant whale and the cloud-formed giant preparing to charge...
Ye Xing unleashed another dark ray, cleaving their bodies apart.
Finally, witnessed by the members of the Supernatural Society, he devoured all the rain and mist that composed the giant, along with approximately seven-tenths to eight-tenths of the whale's body, tossing the remaining small quivering portion before Hina Amano.
Hina Amano hadn't yet grasped what was happening, but her soul's true form, Hiyoribo, instantly understood and swiftly pounced upon the massive chunk of the enormous whale's body, beginning to devour it without restraint.
And then...
There was no more after that.
The battle concluded in seven seconds. Ye Xing reverted from his transformation, returning to his normal human form.
After Hiyoribo devoured the final remnant of the Weather God's main body, and as Demon-Slaying Divine Purification was dispelled, the entire Divine Territory began to tremble.
As if awakening from a lifetime apart, their vision gradually blurred.
When the members opened their eyes, they found themselves lying on the rooftop of that dilapidated building.
And what met their gaze...
Was a clear, sunny sky.
"Did we... win?" Rio Futaba sat up, her tone still carrying some uncertainty.
"Yes, we won." Ye Xing stood up, stretching lazily with a light laugh. "That was thoroughly satisfying. The taste of a god is indeed as delicious as I imagined."
Rio Futaba first glanced around, confirming that all members of the Supernatural Society team—including Hachishaku-sama, Tamamo-no-Mae, and the Goat-Headed Deity—were safe and sound. Only then did she relax, though she still couldn't quite believe it, murmuring, "It ended... just that easily?"
"Easily?"
Ye Xing leaned back against the ground with an expression of utter exasperation.
"The one who conjured light with bare hands was me, the one who transformed into Ultraman was me, and the one who exhausted all spiritual power was still me. So of course you, Miss Futaba, had it easy, didn't you?"
Rio Futaba's cheeks flushed pink as she pulled her glasses from her pocket and put them on, letting out a light humph.
"I know you worked hard this time. I'll think of a way to reward you later."
Haruno Yukinoshita covered her mouth with a light chuckle nearby, teasing meaningfully.
"It seems to me the one you want to reward isn't Ye Xing, but yourself, right?"
"You... even after going through a battle, you're still this sharp-tongued, aren't you?"
"Hehe, I'm not like some people who, even when panting from exhaustion, are still thinking about those kinds of things..."
While the girls exchanged sarcastic remarks and verbal sparring, Ye Xing stood up and walked over to Hina Amano's side, pointing up at the sky with a smile.
"Sunny weather and you have both returned. Perfect clear, achieved!"
Hina Amano looked up at the clear sky and couldn't help but smile faintly.
As she gazed at Ye Xing beside her, her eyes shimmering, she honestly wanted to give him a big hug and a passionate kiss.
However...
Listening to Haruno Yukinoshita holding her own against Mai Sakurajima and Rio Futaba in their verbal battle, with Yui Yuigahama awkwardly laughing and trying to intervene, while Miko Yotsuya sighed in exasperation, Hina Amano dismissed the thought that would likely make her a common enemy.
She'd kiss him in private later, as much as she wanted.
"Speaking of which..."
Hina Amano looked at the completely clear sky and asked curiously.
"How did you know that after defeating that creature, the weather would return to normal?"
What completely surprised Hina Amano was that Ye Xing gave an unexpected answer.
"Oh, I just guessed."
"You guessed? But if you were wrong..."
"Didn't I say it before?"
Ye Xing looked directly into Hina Amano's eyes and said softly.
"Compared to sunny weather, I would choose Hina Amano without hesitation."
A direct attack, yet another direct attack with no cooldown!
Hina Amano felt her heart was about to leap out of her chest.
She had completely fallen for him.
On the way home, red threads representing the deity of Itomori Town suddenly appeared before Hina Amano.
She froze for a moment before lowering her voice.
"Thank you for today. Otherwise, Ye Xing wouldn't have been able to find me."
"Hehehe... well..."
The Itomori Town deity let out an awkward laugh first, then formed words that delivered another direct attack against Hina Amano.
"Actually... my red thread was severed the moment you entered that area."
"The fact that Lord Ye Xing could enter that area means you two... You know what I mean, right?"