"Enough! All of you, shut it! Kujo—what exactly did that kid give you earlier?"
Even though Detective Gouda Yuzaburō hesitated the moment his eyes landed on the frayed hemp net in Hinano Kujo's hands, the memory of Ren Kuroda—his supernatural aura, and the effortless way he had cut down rat demons one after another—rekindled a spark of confidence inside him.
Besides, they really didn't have anything else to rely on anymore.
"Captain, this is what Ren gave me. He said if I put these on the net, it would work."
Hinano pulled out the two blue talismans Ren had entrusted to her, their surfaces covered in cryptic runes that pulsed faintly in the moonlight.
Seeing the talismans, Yuzaburō's suspicions jolted sharply into clarity.Just maybe… the girl really was connected to some shrine-trained onmyoji. Or that boy—Ren—was one himself.
"T-talismans that actually work…? Is that boy really one of the legendary Onmyoji? Do people like that seriously exist…? No—you know what, forget it. After everything we've seen tonight? If giant man-sized rats are real, then an Onmyoji is the least of my worries!"
And it wasn't just Yuzaburō and Hinano. Everyone present had fully accepted by now that Ren was not remotely normal. If anything, they silently cursed their captain for dragging the boy into this mess—but also silently thanked him, because without Ren, they wouldn't have even a sliver of hope left.
Yuzaburō grabbed the net Hinano thrust at him, signaling another officer to take the other side.He shot Hinano a quick nod.
They were out of options.Right now, all they could do was believe—truly believe—that Ren Kuroda had not lied to them.
Even if using such a ragged net to restrain wolfhound-sized rat demons sounded insane.
But when Yuzaburō glanced toward Ren—who was unleashing his full demonic power on the battlefield like a war god—the doubt inside him vanished. A "master" like that would never hand them something useless.
Hinano exhaled, steeling her nerves, then pressed one of the worn blue talismans onto the rope net.
The reaction was immediate.
Yuzaburō and the officer holding the other end felt the entire net thrum in their hands.The previously cheap hemp fibers suddenly glowed with an otherworldly blue light, hardening into something far from ordinary rope—something dense, unyielding, and thrumming with power.
The rat demons noticed too.
The monstrous creatures flinched backward, their whiskers trembling as they sensed the demonic pressure rolling off the net.
"I-It actually works!"Yuzaburō almost choked on his joy, marveling at the absurd reality unfolding in front of him.
But Hinano quickly splashed cold water over their heads.
"Captain—the boy, Ren Kuroda… he told me this talisman only lasts for one minute."
Two talismans.Two minutes.That was all the time they had.
At Hinano's reminder, Gouda Yuzaburō glanced at the pack of hulking rat demons in front of him, gritted his teeth until his jaw creaked—
—and charged.
It wasn't bravery.They simply had no other choice.
The net had been prepared specifically for these monsters.And while the sight of rats the size of wolves made his stomach twist, standing still meant waiting to be eaten.Charging, at least, meant gambling with their lives—rather than surrendering them.
And unbelievably—
—the gamble worked.
Most of the giant rats were focused on Ren's wild, devastating swordplay. They had no attention left to spare for Hinano's squad.
With the Rat King's control stretched thin, the aura of Ren's demonic talisman was enough to terrify the lower-ranked demons.The sheer suppression caused by the difference in demonic power made them recoil instinctively.
So when Gouda Yuzaburō came barreling toward them, net in hand—
—the rat demons scattered like terrified vermin, squealing as they scrambled over one another to escape.
Yuzaburō, who had been fully prepared to die, froze for a heartbeat.Then he burst into incredulous laughter.
"Ha! Ha! HAHAHA! They're running—they're running from ME?!"
Seeing wolfhound-sized monsters fleeing with their paws over their heads ignited a wave of reckless courage inside him. Yuzaburō gripped the net and charged directly into the thickest cluster of rats.
And then something even more bizarre happened.
While running with the net, his body suddenly felt lighter—faster. The rats that had previously been nimble enough to dodge bullets couldn't even outpace him anymore.
Watching their captain barrel forward like a man possessed, the officer holding the other side of the net felt courage spark in his own chest. He rushed in from another angle, and together the two men swept forward, closing in on as many rat demons as possible, steadily shrinking their escape routes.
Cornered, sensing imminent death, the nearly brainless rat demons finally snapped.They ignored the terrifying demonic aura and lunged at the glowing net in desperation, tearing and biting at it with all their strength.
But their razor teeth—which could chew through car metal—did nothing.
No matter how they gnawed, ripped, or flailed, the net held firm, like woven steel.
"One minute!" Hinano shouted. "Fire!"
Hinano and the remaining officers raised their guns and pulled the triggers without hesitation.They didn't need to aim—the net was overflowing with targets.They simply unleashed a storm of bullets.
Muzzle flashes lit the alley like strobe lights.Gunfire roared.Rat demons shrieked.
And when exactly one minute passed, the blue talisman burned away into ash—
—and the ground beneath the net was buried beneath a mound of dismembered rat corpses.
Hinano and the others exchanged looks, chests heaving, confidence flickering back into their eyes.They quickly readied the second talisman, preparing to strike again after a brief breath.
Meanwhile—
—on the other side of the battlefield…
Ren Kuroda stood drenched in blood.
None of it was his.
The ground around him was carpeted with rat corpses—so many that the stone beneath them was no longer visible. The earth had been gouged into trenches by the sheer force of his demonic-infused sword slashes.
If Hinano and the others could see the scene, they would have drowned in shame.They had burned a precious "Demonic Aura Talisman"—something Ren had exchanged for a full 100 reputation points—and still killed less than one-tenth of the number he had already cut down.
Ren dragged his sword along the ground, sparks skittering from the blade's edge.Every casual swing—just lightly infused with demonic energy—reaped entire clusters of rats in a single stroke.
When a rat demon lunged during the gap between his swings, Ren simply reached out with his free hand, grabbed the creature by the skull, and crushed it with a single twist.
He lifted nearly a hundred pounds of demon-infested pest with one hand and snapped its neck as easily as cracking a peanut.
His half-demon body wasn't comparable to a true demon, but it was more than enough to render D-rank demonic rats meaningless.
He didn't even need proper swordsmanship anymore.Just brute force and demonic energy.Each sweeping arc cleaved through bodies like a scythe through wheat.
Somewhere in the darkness, the presence he had sensed earlier—the Rat King—finally understood that Ren was no ordinary foe.It hid itself deep in the shadows, choosing to command from afar rather than confront him directly.
The Rat King, trembling in instinctive horror, recognized the truth the instant it sensed Ren's demonic aura:
This half-demon…was something it absolutely could not provoke.
But even knowing that, the Rat King refused to retreat.The world was changing.Demonic energy was leaking back into it.A new age of monsters—true monsters—was coming.
Pure-blooded demon that it was, the Rat King felt this truth in its bones.If it didn't seize this chance now—if it didn't evolve—it would be swallowed alive in the coming hierarchy of demons.
The demon world was a realm where only the strong survived.And this time—this era—it felt chosen.
Why should rat demons always be the bottom feeders?With enough stolen demonic energy…with enough human flesh to fuel its evolution…
—it would ascend.It would break the limits of its species.
It would become a true demon lord.
At least…that was the delusion burning inside the shadows.