Hearing Nurarihyon's words, Ren Kuroda was naturally not the type to let himself take a loss. He revealed his figure as well and immediately fired back with a sharp retort.
Don't be mistaken—although Nurarihyon stood as the supreme commander of the Kantō great yōkai, carrying himself with an air of lofty authority, his true personality had always been this carefree, devil-may-care attitude.
And really, that wasn't strange at all. Slippery Monks were yōkai famous for showing up uninvited, sneaking into people's homes to eat their fill. Being thick-skinned was practically a racial trait.
If anything, among the three generations of leaders of the Nura Clan, the only one who could be considered relatively reliable was Nura Rikuo. As for Nurarihyon and Nura Rihan, one was more outrageous than the other.
Of course, that probably had something to do with Rikuo having thinner yōkai blood—lacking that uniquely yōkai-like recklessness and willful abandon.
"Ah, come on now. I'm a several-hundred-year-old old man, you know. Isn't this era all about respecting the elderly and caring for the young?"Nurarihyon sighed theatrically."You, a young man in the prime of your strength, bullying a washed-up old geezer like me—shouldn't you show a little restraint?But fine, fine. I never really expected to beat you from the start anyway. The younger generation truly is terrifying. After stalling for so long, Ushioni and Hitotsume should've finished their task by now, right?"
If he could help it, Nurarihyon naturally didn't want to concede so easily. In his youth, he'd been just as proud and high-spirited as anyone.
But with his current condition, refusing to acknowledge his age simply wasn't realistic. Even if he forced himself to keep going, he would still be the one to lose in the end. In that case, he might as well admit defeat cleanly and save what little yōki he had left.
"What I still can't understand," Nurarihyon continued, his tone turning serious,"is that ever since the Karasu Tengu reported your existence to me, I've been watching you in secret.And in you, I saw my former self—someone who sheltered the weaker yōkai, just like I once swore to protect all yōkai.
"That's precisely why I went against the opposition back then and allowed your organization—Kidōin, was it?—to grow within my territory.But now, I truly can't understand this. You and I share the same wish… so why would you choose to help Hagoromo-gitsune and fulfill her ambitions?"
With the battle over, Nurarihyon sheathed his short blade, then pulled an old-fashioned smoking pipe from his waist. He packed it with fresh tobacco and began smoking openly, as if no one else were present.
As thick clouds of smoke rose and spread, the once 180-centimeter-tall Nurarihyon steadily began to shrink within the haze—until he returned to the short, hunched figure barely over a meter tall.
That face which could drive women mad with a single glance rapidly aged as well, wrinkling and withering until it became the dry, shriveled visage from before.
Yet despite the drastic change in appearance, his eyes remained just as sharp. Through the drifting smoke, they locked onto Ren, as though awaiting his answer—or perhaps reassessing him all over again.
"To be honest, it's a little embarrassing to say," Ren replied calmly."When I first founded Kidōin, my goal wasn't nearly as noble as yours.But after spending time with them, I began to understand the weight carried by the title 'Lord of a Hundred Demons.'
"In the past, I cared about very little. My actions were driven entirely by self-interest.But they taught me something—that many things in this world can't be accomplished alone."
Ren's gaze hardened slightly.
"Now I understand this much: since they chose me, they are my family. I won't betray that trust. I'll answer their expectations.Whether it was four hundred years ago or now, Hagoromo-gitsune has always been nothing more than a pawn behind the scenes. Instead of leaving such a hidden danger unresolved, it's better to give her a chance—and end everything once and for all."
He continued, his voice steady.
"And in today's world, yōkai haven't completely declined, but we're barely hanging on.The former Lords of a Hundred Demons—whether it's Hagoromo-gitsune or you—one has become a puppet used by others, and the other… a withering old man nearing the end.
"My family wants me to become the next 'Lord of a Hundred Demons.'But defeating opponents like you in your current states—this title would feel hollow, undeserved.So I want to find myself a more fitting opponent."
Hearing Ren's words, Nurarihyon was visibly stunned. He truly hadn't expected Ren's reason for helping Hagoromo-gitsune to be something like this.
He and Hagoromo-gitsune had once stood at the very peak of the yōkai world—yet now they'd fallen so far that being challenged by others was considered beneath them?
"If you understand that even someone like Hagoromo-gitsune is merely a pawn," Nurarihyon said slowly,"then you should also understand just how evil and dangerous that thing called Nue truly is.Are you really willing to drag so many people into this disaster… just for your own personal desires?"
While Ren and Nurarihyon spoke, the situation elsewhere in the city had already begun to change.
After Nurarihyon successfully held Ren back, Ushioni and Hitotsume rushed straight toward the massive flesh sphere at the center of the battlefield, intent on destroying it before whatever lay inside could emerge.
Unfortunately, what lay within that sphere was the legendary Abe no Seimei himself—closer than ever to a full resurrection. There was no way he would be eliminated so easily.
The moment Ushioni and Hitotsume drew near, the Nue inside sensed the danger and began crying out for its "mother," plunging Hagoromo-gitsune into a state of panic. Even at the cost of further injury, she forced herself to intercept Ushioni and Hitotsume once more, stopping them from attacking the sphere.
Hagoromo-gitsune was undeniably powerful—but she had just given birth, and her opponents were far from pushovers.
She had been able to maintain an advantage against Nura Rikuo and the elite onmyōji of the Hanakaiin clan, but with Ushioni and Hitotsume added to the mix, the situation rapidly deteriorated. She herself began to look increasingly endangered.
"Mother… I'm hungry!"
At that moment, the enormous infant faintly visible within the flesh sphere made an utterly unexpected move.
Along with a violent eruption of sinister yōki, thick tentacles began sprouting from the surface of the sphere. These appendages seemed alive, stretching outward the instant they appeared, reaching toward every corner of the battlefield.
Before anyone could figure out what these tentacles were meant to do, the first Nura Clan yōkai was snatched up.
With a single scream, the yōkai was drained into a dried husk.
Yes— from the moment the tentacle wrapped around him to the instant his yōki and blood were completely siphoned away, it took only a heartbeat.
By the time everyone reacted, all that remained was a shriveled corpse. The stolen yōki flowed back through the tentacle into the flesh sphere, flickered once—and was fully absorbed by the Nue inside.
When the first victim fell, panic instantly spread among all the yōkai and onmyōji present. They began frantically dodging the tentacles reaching toward them.
And no—there weren't just one or two of those things.
The tentacles sprawled across the area like rampant weeds, densely covering the surroundings.
Clearly, even before being fully born, the Nue had realized the situation was extremely unfavorable. To escape this fragile stage as soon as possible, it began accelerating its revival by other means.
In theory, once Hagoromo-gitsune had given birth to it, the Nue could already be considered resurrected. But to emerge in its strongest possible form, it had continued gathering nourishment from its surroundings.
And right now, Nijō Castle had one thing in abundance—yōkai.
Countless yōkai crowded the battlefield. The yōki they unconsciously leaked, along with the corpses of those already slain, all served as nourishment for the Nue within the sphere.
But with Hagoromo-gitsune now clearly unable to hold the line alone, it was obvious that waiting patiently to emerge at full power was no longer an option.
So the Nue chose violence—treating the yōkai and onmyōji of Nijō Castle as raw sustenance.
That's right.
Every yōkai in Nijō Castle was now a target.
Whether they belonged to the Nura Clan, Kidōin, or Hagoromo-gitsune's own faction—it made no difference.
The Nue, Abe no Seimei, aimed for the world itself. Naturally, he didn't want to be born into it utterly alone.
But given the circumstances, he could only hope that after absorbing enough nourishment, there would still be a few usable pieces left on the board.
This sudden upheaval instantly plunged Nijō Castle into chaos. The yōkai present no longer had any mind for fighting—they scattered in all directions, fleeing for their lives.
After all, survival came first. Continuing to fight amid such danger would be foolish, especially after witnessing the fate of the first victim.
Those tentacles were nothing short of messengers of death. In mere seconds, they could drain a yōkai with decent strength completely dry.
"Bakudō Number Sixty-Two—Hyapporankan!"
As tentacles spread throughout Nijō Castle, even the yōkai of Kidōin were caught in their range.
Just as some of them found themselves unable to dodge in time, glowing rods of light suddenly fell from the sky like thrown spears, pinning the tentacles firmly to the ground.
Immediately afterward, an angry voice rang out from above, chanting at rapid speed.
"Beastly bones scattered, spire of red crystal steel,wheels of iron turn—motion is wind, stillness is void,spears clash, resounding through the empty castle!Hadō Number Sixty-Three—Raikōhō!"
Where glowing rods had fallen moments ago, massive orbs of lightning now rained down from the heavens.
Crackling with explosive thunder, the luminous spheres streaked across the sky like a small meteor shower, slamming into the ground and blasting crater after crater into the earth.
And without exception, every lightning orb struck—the tentacles that had just been pinned in place.