The colossal gate summoned by Abe no Seimei did not appear without origin.
It was the legendary Rashōmon.
Rashōmon—also known as Rajōmon—was originally the southern gate standing at the end of Suzaku Avenue, the grand north–south thoroughfare of Heian-kyō, ancient Kyoto.
But as legends accumulated over time, Rashōmon came to be known by another name—
The Gate to the Boundary of Hell.
No one knew exactly what kind of connection Abe no Seimei had with Hell itself, but it was clear that he possessed the power to open a passage leading there.
In the original Millennium Demon Capital incident, Abe no Seimei had planned to seal Hagoromo Gitsune back into Hell once more—and afterward, he himself had seemingly returned there as well, retreating to recuperate.
Facing Ren Kuroda's fully charged Swift as the Wind — Breaking Army, Abe no Seimei hadn't truly had many good defensive options at that moment.
It wasn't that his strength was limited to this extent—rather, under such sudden circumstances, it was extremely difficult to block Ren's attack without sustaining injury.
So in that split-second of life and death, the only thing Abe no Seimei could think to do was summon Rashōmon to block it.
The legendary Gate to Hell was not only overwhelming in presence—
Its defensive power was just as absurd.
With the amplification of Blade Spirit Release, combined with Ren's current SS-tier yōki, this single strike of Swift as the Wind was no exaggeration to say that, even in the Moonlit World, it could rival the highest-grade anti-army Noble Phantasms.
And yet—
When the massive cyan slash struck the enormous gate, it merely carved a deep gash into the demon-faced surface—like leaving a vicious scar across an evil spirit's face.
The gigantic wind slash collapsed as a result, but immediately triggered a second-stage attack. Smaller wind blades continued to ravage the gate, etching countless fine cuts across its surface.
One surge of strength, then decline—by the third wave, momentum was exhausted.
If even the first and strongest Breaking Army couldn't pierce the gate, the follow-up attacks naturally stood no chance of shaking it.
In the end, although the massive cyan slash failed to break through Rashōmon's defenses, it still left behind a groove nearly three inches deep in the gate.
And just as Ren was marveling at how terrifyingly durable the so-called Rashōmon was—how even at his current level, it could still stand firm—
He had no idea that behind the gate, Abe no Seimei himself was equally shocked.
But Seimei's astonishment wasn't the same as Ren's.
He wasn't stunned by Rashōmon's strength—
He was horrified that Ren's strike had managed to leave such an outrageous wound on Rashōmon at all.
This was Rashōmon—the gate that connected directly to Hell.
Abe no Seimei didn't even dare imagine what would have happened if, in that moment of desperation, he hadn't summoned Rashōmon and had instead taken that slash directly with his own body.
Though their clash had been brief, Abe no Seimei had now begun to truly acknowledge Ren Kuroda as an existence on the same level as himself.
"This is the so-called Rashōmon, huh?" Ren said calmly."It did manage to block my Breaking Army—but it also took damage.
"So doesn't that mean Rashōmon isn't actually indestructible?That it's only holding up because my attack power still isn't high enough?"
When Ren suddenly said this, Abe no Seimei was momentarily confused.
But once he fully understood the implication behind Ren's words, his expression changed—and he immediately tried to recall Rashōmon back to Hell.
Unfortunately—
Before he could act, he suddenly saw Ren pull out a massive gourd, easily as tall as a person, and lift it with a strange grin—clearly intending to smash it straight into Rashōmon.
Logically speaking, a gate that couldn't be broken even by such a devastating slash shouldn't be threatened by being hit with a wine gourd. It should have looked downright comical.
And yet, for reasons Abe no Seimei himself couldn't explain, the moment he laid eyes on that gourd in Ren's hands, a deep unease welled up inside him.
He hurriedly tried to send Rashōmon back to Hell.
After all, as a gate connected directly to Hell, Rashōmon was also the channel that allowed Abe no Seimei to freely enter and exit it.
If Rashōmon were destroyed—
Then even Abe no Seimei would lose the ability to enter Hell.
But sadly, though his reaction was quick—
Ren was faster.
Just as Rashōmon was about to sink back into space, Ren's figure had already appeared right in front of it.
And at that moment, Abe no Seimei finally understood why the gourd had made him so uneasy.
The Endless Wine Gourd, originally only human-sized, was now rapidly swelling under the infusion of Ren's yōki—expanding at a visible rate.
In mere moments, it ballooned from human height to a colossal size spanning hundreds of meters.
And yet Ren, lifting this monstrous gourd with both hands, looked as though he were casually hoisting a small hill—an utterly shocking sight.
The expanded Endless Wine Gourd now resembled a gigantic battering ram.
If an entire army couldn't breach the city gates—
Then what about a siege ram?
"BOOOOM—!!!"
The swollen Endless Wine Gourd finally collided with Rashōmon.
A deafening shockwave echoed across the entire sky above Kyoto.
The storm unleashed by the collision swept through Nijō Castle, while countless fragments rained down from above.
Nijō Castle no longer bore even a trace of its former image as a tourist landmark.
It had become a genuine ruin.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but wreckage. Only a handful of structures remained standing; most of the area had already been flattened by the shockwaves.
Whether it was the yōkai present or members of the Hanakaiin family, everyone had been steadily retreating their defensive lines from the very beginning of Ren and Abe no Seimei's battle.
From the posture of their very first clash, it had been obvious—
This was a level of combat that no one else could interfere with.
No matter how many people there were, before power that resembled a natural disaster, numbers meant nothing.
A single casual attack from either side would be enough to wipe them all out.
It was precisely because everyone had withdrawn early that they weren't swept up in the aftermath of the Endless Wine Gourd and Rashōmon's collision.
The shockwave from this clash far exceeded any before it.
Although the point of impact was in midair, the sheer energy release compressed the ground below, carving out a massive crater nearly a hundred meters in radius.
The crater was so deep it was impossible to see the bottom.
Even across the entire Nijō Castle area, the ground was riddled with spiderweb-like cracks—as if the land itself had just endured a catastrophic natural disaster.
Staring at this apocalyptic scene, every yōkai and every member of the Hanakaiin family watching the battle stood frozen in disbelief.
They simply couldn't comprehend what kind of fight could devastate an entire city in an instant.
After all, Nijō Castle was not only one of the sites used to seal Hagoromo Gitsune—
It was also one of Kyoto's spiritual nodes.
For four hundred years, the Hanakaiin family had continuously reinforced its foundations.
And yet even so, the castle had been reduced to this state.
Just how terrifying were the two combatants' strengths?
The answer was obvious.
They didn't even dare imagine what would have happened if they hadn't retreated from the castle grounds earlier—if they had still been at the center of Nijō Castle when that collision occurred.
"It seems we were far too optimistic before," Hanakaiin Hidemoto said grimly as he looked over the ruins."The revived Abe no Seimei is clearly not someone Hagoromo Gitsune from four hundred years ago could be compared to.
"Even though Yura has now learned Breaking Army, and the young head of the Nura Group has mastered Karma…Facing an Abe no Seimei like this, even Nurarihyon and I from four hundred years ago would have fallen short—let alone today's Yura and the Nura Group's Third Head."
Standing behind Yura, Hidemoto's face was filled with worry.
Even as someone long hailed as a prodigy of the Hanakaiin family, he could see no good solution against an Abe no Seimei of this caliber.
The power Abe no Seimei was displaying—
Forget Yura and Nura Rikuo.
Even if Hidemoto, Nurarihyon, and Hagoromo Gitsune from four hundred years ago joined forces as the three great powers of that era, the odds would still overwhelmingly favor defeat.
The Abe no Seimei standing before Ren now was far stronger than the one from the original storyline.
In that original timeline, Abe no Seimei had never absorbed the yōki of other yōkai or Hagoromo Gitsune.
Moreover, due to numerous interferences, he had awakened while still injured—completely incomparable to his current state.
That was precisely why Ren had initially estimated Abe no Seimei's strength at only S+ tier.
It wasn't that Ren had underestimated him—
It was that this Abe no Seimei was vastly stronger than the one from the original story.
In the original timeline, even the weakened Abe no Seimei had managed to withstand a slash from Nura Rikuo—one that carried the accumulated karma of the entire Nura Group's leadership—before retreating to Hell to recover.
But Ren was certain—
Against Abe no Seimei in his current state, even if Rikuo's protagonist luck exploded again, even if he used Demon Binding and wrapped himself in the fear of Ice Maiden, Kurotabō, Sarugami, and others—
It still wouldn't be enough to make Abe no Seimei budge.
Rikuo simply hadn't mastered Demon Binding for long enough.
Binding the fear of a single yōkai might be barely tolerable for his body, but binding multiple at once?
At his current level, it would give him the strength for only one swing.
If that single strike failed to kill the enemy—
Then the one who would fall was undoubtedly him.
The ability and effect of Demon Binding were undeniably powerful.
But shouldering the Karma of the Hundred Demons was never a simple matter.
Resolve alone was not enough.
One also needed the strength to bear it all.