"Lord Byakuyaki brought us here days ago, but ever since that day, he hasn't appeared even once. Could his injuries really be that serious?…Or was Lord Byakuyaki just fooling us from the start, planning to dump us in a godforsaken place like this and leave us here forever?"
Several days passed like this, and complaints began to surface once again.
Ever since they could no longer gather Fear the way they used to in order to grow stronger—and ever since Ren Kuroda, wearing the mantle of "Byakuyaki," had retreated behind the scenes under the pretense of recuperating and failed to show himself for days—murmurs of dissatisfaction spread among the yokai.
To be fair, it wasn't that these yokai were deliberately stirring up trouble. Yokai, by their very nature, survived by collecting Fear.Without Fear, they couldn't grow stronger. And in the current environment, danger wasn't limited to ordinary humans alone—weak yokai were just as vulnerable.
Especially now that humans had developed something called "Yokai Serum."It was no longer just yokai hunting humans—humans had begun hunting yokai as tools to grow stronger.
With Ren Kuroda—their pillar and backbone—absent for so long, and with powerful figures like the Samurai Spirit and the Nekomata who had distinguished themselves in the recent battle seemingly vanishing into thin air, it was only natural that these displaced yokai would feel uneasy.
Some even began to secretly speculate whether Ren Kuroda had saved these weak yokai with ulterior motives—whether he truly intended to accept them as his Hundred Demons, or if there was some hidden agenda at play.
As time went on, unease and rumors spread unchecked.
Until one day—
Yuki-hime, acting as Lord Byakuyaki's representative, appeared before the gathered yokai. Trailing behind her were several lively little girls hopping about excitedly. Without much ceremony, Yuki-hime began distributing strange, purple, crystal-like objects.
In that instant, all rumors and anxieties collapsed on themselves.
Because the moment the yokai looked at the purple crystals in their hands, they realized these were anything but ordinary. Within them surged an incredibly powerful and pure yokai aura.
Even just holding them, they could feel it—their bodies were craving the crystal that shimmered with an eerie, bewitching light.
"Lady Yuki-hime… what exactly is this crystal?""And Lord Byakuyaki… what does he want us to do by giving us something like this?"
Staring at the crystals glowing in their palms, many yokai swallowed hard. They could clearly sense that this object would bring them immense benefits, yet precisely because of that, they dared not act rashly. Such a precious item—what intention lay behind distributing it so freely?
Yuki-hime smiled gently.
"We are all yokai here. Lord Byakuyaki understands that choosing such a remote place for our settlement has caused everyone some inconvenience.After all, if you wish to grow stronger, you must continuously collect Fear—and this location clearly cannot provide that."
"So, to make up for it, Lord Byakuyaki has prepared these crystals for all of you.They are called Yokai Power Crystals. Just now, I distributed different grades and quantities based on each of your current strength."
"As for their effects…"She paused, her eyes sweeping over the crowd."I believe you can already feel it. Yokai Power Crystals directly amplify a yokai's power—with absolutely no side effects."
The moment her words sank in, every yokai present looked back at the crystals in their hands with blazing eyes, excitement and fervor burning within them.
A crystal that could directly boost yokai power—without any drawbacks.Such a thing was beyond their wildest dreams.
At first, a few yokai remained skeptical—until a simple-minded, food-loving Mountain Hare yokai finally couldn't resist the temptation. With a determined gulp, she swallowed her Yokai Power Crystal whole.
In the next instant, her aura surged.
Her strength jumped from C+ rank straight to B– rank.
The reaction was explosive.
The yokai crowd instantly boiled over, and one after another, they followed suit, swallowing their own crystals.
Thousands of yokai consuming Yokai Power Crystals at the same time was a truly spectacular sight. In moments, the entire mountain forest was engulfed in an overwhelming tide of surging yokai aura.
Those who consumed the crystals immediately felt—clearly and unmistakably—just how terrifying the boost from a Yokai Power Crystal truly was.
A crystal no larger than a fingernail provided a power increase comparable to years of accumulated Fear.
It was simply unbelievable.
And according to Lady Yuki-hime, as long as they earned enough merit or rose to become cadres in the future, they would even be able to receive Yokai Power Crystals on a regular basis.
Faced with such an incentive, every yokai present was utterly exhilarated.
Especially since the majority of the Hundred Demons under Ren Kuroda's command were not combat-oriented yokai—house spirits like Zashiki-warashi, Mountain Hares, and various tsukumogami.
In the past, when collecting Fear, they constantly risked being hunted down by exorcists. Even when they succeeded, the Fear they gathered was barely enough to survive—forget growing stronger.
Now, they didn't need to risk their lives collecting Fear.They could stay somewhere safe and grow stronger continuously.
Was there anything happier than that?
More importantly, this gesture convinced the Tokyo-area yokai of one thing:
Ren Kuroda truly regarded them as his Hundred Demons.
His prolonged absence wasn't abandonment—it was most likely because Lord Byakuyaki's injuries really were that severe.
After all, what kind of deception would involve sharing something as precious as Yokai Power Crystals with a group of weak yokai—and even caring so much about their emotions?
Didn't this alone prove that Lord Byakuyaki was both powerful and benevolent?
Yokai like them—those with little combat strength—normally had only one fate after becoming subordinates of other yokai kings: cannon fodder.
Yet Lord Byakuyaki not only saved them, but also provided them with treasures to grow stronger.
Where else could one find such a "Lord of the Hundred Demons"?
As for why Ren Kuroda exchanged for such a massive quantity of Yokai Power Crystals in one go—that was a decision he made after careful consideration.
After the Tokyo Ward battle, his reputation could only be described as overflowing.
Since these yokai had chosen to follow him, helping them quickly become viable combat forces would only benefit him in return.Besides, most of that reputation had come from them in the first place—this was merely giving back.
And if they were to stand against the exorcist forces of Tokyo Ward, maintaining their former level of strength was simply not an option.
After the Tokyo Ward conflict, both the yokai and exorcist factions suffered heavy losses.
However, as traditional exorcist forces weakened, a new power quietly rose—the emerging exorcist groups formed through the use of Yokai Serum.
War brought devastation, but it also left behind opportunity.
Since its development, Yokai Serum had struggled to enter the market due to the extreme difficulty of acquiring its raw materials.No matter how advanced the technology became, without materials, it was useless.
But after the yokai invasion of Tokyo Ward, although the yokai retreated, they left behind vast numbers of corpses.
Among the remains were countless B-rank and C-rank yokai, and even a handful of A-rank yokai.
Naturally, the A-rank materials were immediately divided up by the major clans who participated in the battle—ordinary people never even had a chance to dream about them.
As the greatest contributor in the conflict, Ren Kuroda himself was rewarded with two vials of A-rank Yokai Serum.
To someone with a yokai constitution like him, the serum was little more than a chicken rib—barely useful. Still, it could be sold for an enormous sum.
The exorcists who survived the battle also made fortunes. Killing yokai earned them points they could exchange with major clans, and selling yokai remains to biotech companies earned them even more.
With abundant materials available, the previously mature Yokai Serum technology finally had room to shine.
Soon, large numbers of non-exorcist "Serum Warriors" began to appear.
B-rank and C-rank Yokai Serum flooded the market—and were immediately snapped up by wealthy elites and capitalists.
They had money to spare. What they needed now was power and security.
Of course, the technology wasn't flawless. Occasionally, people lost control after failing to resist the erosion of yokai factors and were killed on the spot.
Even so, the high risk failed to deter demand.
The Tokyo Ward battle made many ordinary people realize one thing:Rather than hiding in shelters and waiting for fate, it was better to seize fate with their own hands.
Every vial of Yokai Serum was sold at an astronomical price.
Some lucky individuals even awakened yokai talents after using the serum—and defeated same-rank exorcists in one-on-one combat.
Those victories became the best possible advertisement.
They proved that even ordinary people without spiritual talent could defeat exalted exorcists through the power of Yokai Serum.
In short, after the Tokyo Ward battle, although the exorcist faction weakened significantly, humanity's overall combat strength actually increased.
So if Ren Kuroda didn't want his newly formed Hundred Demons to fall behind, boosting them with Yokai Power Crystals was the only choice.
After all, his reputation was more than sufficient—and low-grade or inferior Yokai Power Crystals were already completely useless to someone at his level, or to powerhouses like Kumo-hime.
Better to use them to forge a truly formidable Hundred Demons under his command.