"Lord Hidegen… is now really the time to be admiring our enemy?" Yura protested, her voice tight with frustration. "Since you know about Grand Barriers, then you must also know how to break one, right?If that—Ren Kuroda… I mean—if that oni loses because of this, then we truly won't have even the slightest chance to turn things around!"
Crushed by the overwhelming gravity, Yura was forced into a half-kneeling posture. Compared to yokai physiques, a human body was far more fragile under such pressure.
Hearing Hidegen calmly explaining Abe no Seimei's prowess behind her, Yura puffed out her cheeks in irritation. Instead of admiring the enemy, she thought, wouldn't it be better to focus on finding a solution?
"Yura-chan," Hidegen replied gently, "although we stand on opposing sides, as fellow onmyoji, Abe no Seimei truly deserves the title of the strongest in history. My admiration is solely for his mastery of onmyoji arts.
"As for the Grand Barrier, there are ways to break it. In fact, there are two."
Yura's eyes lit up instantly. "Two?"
"The first method," Hidegen continued, "is to attack the weakest point of the barrier—what we call the core or node—either from within or from outside. If the node is destroyed, the barrier collapses.
"Of course, even if the node is found, breaking a Grand Barrier still requires overwhelming destructive power—enough to shake its very foundation. And given that this barrier was created by Abe no Seimei… even if most of us combined our strength, succeeding this way would be extremely difficult."
Trying to overpower a Grand Barrier with brute force was already absurdly hard—let alone one deployed by Abe no Seimei.
And even if they somehow located the weakest point, how many people here could actually move under this crushing gravity, let alone fight?
Almost instinctively, Nurarihyon and the members of the Hoshina family shook their heads at the same time. That option was clearly unrealistic.
"So what's the second way?" someone asked.
"The second method," Hidegen said, "is for someone inside the barrier to create another Grand Barrier.
"A Grand Barrier is, in essence, an independent space. To escape or counter such a space, you must use the same principle—deploy another space to侵蚀 and weaken the first one. In short, you fight a barrier with a barrier."
The moment he finished speaking, nearly every yokai present turned their gaze toward the Hoshina family.
After all, things like barriers and formations weren't exactly a yokai specialty. But fortunately, there were plenty of professionals here.
"Grand Barrier-level onmyoji techniques are incredibly profound," the current head of the Hoshina family said grimly. "They require multiple high-level onmyoji working in perfect coordination.
"On top of that, constructing such a barrier demands massive amounts of preparation and materials. It's not something that can be accomplished on short notice, so…"
He didn't finish the sentence, but no one missed the implication.
In other words, the second method was probably just as hopeless as the first.
"So after all that," Nurarihyon said dryly, tapping his pipe before taking a puff, "your 'two solutions' amount to nothing more than talking for the sake of talking. In the end, all we can do is stand here and watch?"
He glanced at Hidegen—now little more than a lingering spirit behind them—and didn't bother hiding his annoyance.
"Not exactly," Hidegen replied. "I do have some experience with Grand Barriers, and the Hoshina family's spiritual power is still respectable. I could guide them in constructing one.
"It would take time, though. And the real question is… how long can that oni endure under this gravity?"
From Ren Kuroda's earlier fighting style, it was clear that while his onmyoji techniques were impressive, his true strength lay in close-quarters combat.
Now, weighed down by such terrifying gravity and facing someone like Abe no Seimei, even Hidegen couldn't help but worry that Ren Kuroda wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.
But just as Hidegen voiced his concern—
The battlefield changed again.
Ren Kuroda answered not with words, but with action.
Not only could he keep going—he didn't need anyone else's help to break the deadlock.
Still half-crouched under the crushing gravity, Ren Kuroda suddenly pressed his hand against the ground.
A drop of pitch-black substance fell from his palm, like thick ink dripping onto paper.
Then it spread.
Like ink bleeding across rice paper, the darkness rapidly expanded outward, staining the ground in every direction.
The night—already pitch black—grew even darker.
This wasn't the darkness of night alone, but a depthless black that clawed directly at humanity's most primal fears.
Barren land steeped in ghostly miasma spread outward. Dead trees and scattered bones emerged, an eerie wasteland encroaching upon the once-prosperous streets of Heian-kyo.
The sudden transformation was so abrupt that even Abe no Seimei—who had been chanting in midair, preparing to press his advantage—froze, eyes widening in shock.
The shifting environment.The gravity on Ren Kuroda's body rapidly fading.And that presence—more sinister, more malevolent than even his own.
All of it told Abe no Seimei the same thing.
This, too, was a form of barrier.
As the strongest onmyoji in the nation's history, Abe no Seimei could tell immediately—this was not the same kind of Grand Barrier he had deployed.
Yet it shared the same fundamental principles.
An independent space.A domain capable of overwriting reality within its bounds.
What Ren Kuroda had unleashed was his Innate Domain · Oni Realm.
Ever since leaving the Type-Moon world, this innate domain had suffered repeated damage and had never fully recovered.
Fortunately, its power source was All the Evil of This World. As long as that concept itself continued to exist, the domain could never completely collapse.
If it had relied solely on Ren Kuroda's own power, he would've broken it countless times over by now.
Though battered again and again in the main world, the Oni Realm still held firm. While it hadn't recovered enough to summon an oni army, it was more than sufficient to erode Abe no Seimei's barrier—and free Ren Kuroda from the crushing gravity.
"I truly didn't expect this," Abe no Seimei said slowly. "Before, I thought you were merely similar to who I once was.
"But I was wrong. You aren't like my past self… you've already become what I am now."
His lips curled into a mocking smile.
"You speak so righteously. And yet the power you wield exposes your true nature. Look at that evil aura—why, even I fall short in comparison."
After the initial shock, Abe no Seimei's expression twisted into open derision as he sensed the overwhelming malice radiating from the Oni Realm.
Before this, he had believed Ren Kuroda to be someone like his former self—naïve, idealistic, foolish enough to think he could force harmony between humans and yokai through sheer will.
Now he realized the naïve one had been himself.
No matter how well someone disguised it, the nature of their power could never lie.
The oni before him wasn't some innocent do-gooder.
He was a hidden final boss.
That suffocatingly sinister presence made even Abe no Seimei—who had gazed upon Hell countless times—feel a faint chill of unease.
And what disgusted him most was this:
A being radiating such profound evil had dared to speak of "true family," of "the hundred yokai as kin."
Before, those words had merely made him nauseous.
Now, paired with that aura, they were downright revolting.
To Abe no Seimei, it was the height of hypocrisy—like building a shrine to virtue while wallowing in filth.
He himself might be a villain, but at least he was honest about it. He openly declared his desire to rule the world.
Ren Kuroda could tell exactly what Abe no Seimei was thinking the moment he saw that expression.
This wasn't the first time his Innate Domain had branded him as a villainous final boss.
Back in the snowy mountains of the main world, the elders of the Kagari family had reached the same conclusion the moment they saw it—deciding he was an ancient evil yokai lurking in Tokyo, plotting to devour the entire region.
All the Evil of This World was the accumulation of negative emotions from an entire plane of existence. Feeling that it was evil was only natural.
And since every time he deployed the Oni Realm he seemed to acquire a glowing "Final Boss Aura," Ren Kuroda had long since given up on explaining himself.
Even if he tried, most people—like Abe no Seimei now—would simply assume he was lying.
As for those who truly believed in him?
They didn't need explanations at all. Just like the nekomata back on the snowy mountain, they trusted him without question.
If someone was important to him, Ren Kuroda would explain.
If they weren't, their opinions meant nothing.
With the Oni Realm fully deployed, the oppressive gravity vanished from Ren Kuroda's body.
The battlefield itself split like a drawn curtain, dividing into two distinct worlds locked in mutual opposition.
Ren Kuroda and Abe no Seimei stood within their respective domains, staring each other down—both silently searching for the perfect moment to strike.
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