Placing one's life and death entirely in the hands of a single person was, without question, the height of foolishness. Even if there was only the faintest sliver of hope, they would still clutch it tightly and refuse to let go.
High in the sky, Abe no Seimei hovered in midair, gazing down at the mass of yōkai charging toward the third asteroid. A look of open mockery spread across his face.
"Like a mayfly trying to shake a tree… a mantis stopping a chariot. Pure arrogance born of ignorance."
Watching as countless yōkai and onmyōji unleashed everything they had—only to shave off a thin layer of rock from the asteroid's surface—the ridicule in Abe no Seimei's expression deepened.
In his eyes, the third asteroid—whose trajectory he had altered at the cost of everything—was of such immense scale and mass that even Yūdō at his peak would have struggled against it. Let alone these insignificant beings, who were nothing more than background noise to him.
No matter how many ants gathered together, they were still ants. How could they possibly withstand the blow of a giant?
It was true that with the combined efforts of the yōkai and the onmyōji of the Hanakain family, the asteroid's descent had slowed somewhat, and its size had indeed been reduced compared to the beginning.
But it was all meaningless.
The fragments that had been destroyed didn't even amount to one-tenth of the asteroid's total mass.
Its fall had slowed—but it had never stopped.
To Abe no Seimei, what those yōkai and onmyōji on the ground were doing now was nothing more than a final, futile struggle before death. At best, they were merely delaying the moment when the Grim Reaper's scythe would slice across their throats.
And besides—
Did they really think they could act so brazenly, as if Abe no Seimei didn't exist at all?
It was true that repeatedly altering the trajectories of celestial bodies had caused him backlash. The excessive drain on his yōki had forced his power to drop from SS-rank down to S-rank.
But who was he?
He was Abe no Seimei—the ruler of the dark world a thousand years ago.
Even with only S-rank yōki remaining, when combined with his onmyōjutsu and the Demon King's Little Hammer, he could still unleash combat power on par with S+ rank.
Compared to Yūdō, it might fall short.
But sweeping away a bunch of small fry?
That would be effortless.
Just as Abe no Seimei began chanting an onmyōjutsu spell, intending to clear out the yōkai below and stop them from flailing any longer—to let them face death sooner rather than later—
A frost-laced slash suddenly streaked past his body.
Abe no Seimei's eyes sharpened—and only then did he realize that at some point, without him noticing at all, the young head of the Nura Clan, Nura Rikuo, had already closed the distance to an alarmingly close range.
Had he not reacted in time, he might have been struck directly by the opponent's Fear.
"So that's it," Abe no Seimei said slowly."This must be the ability Yamamoto's Eye mentioned before—developed and created by the Second Head of the Nura Clan.'Oni Binding,' was it?
"Hm. Your current appearance does look a bit more presentable than before… but it's still not enough."
At this moment, Nura Rikuo was no longer wrapped in the Fear of just a single Nura Clan yōkai. Instead, multiple powerful Fears intertwined around his body—those of Tsurara, Kurotabo, and several other elite members of the Nura Clan.
Earlier, after hearing Nurarihyon's words, it was as if Rikuo had come to some realization. When he emerged from that moment of deep reflection, he was already capable of bearing multiple Karma at once—just as he was now.
To use Oni Binding, one didn't just need to shoulder another's Karma—one also needed mutual trust. What humans called bonds.
Tsurara, Kurotabo, and the others had watched over Rikuo as he grew up. Bonds were something they lacked least of all. And Rikuo himself, with his half-demon body, possessed the capacity to bear Karma.
However, to bind a hundred yōkai at once, bonds and a half-demon body alone were not enough. The one who bore the hundred demons needed the breadth of spirit to gather all their power together.
Rikuo hadn't understood this before.
But after witnessing the actions of the Kyōkōin yōkai, he understood instantly.
The one who rules over a hundred demons must not only have the capacity to shoulder their karmic burdens, but also the charisma to unite them under a single belief—to make them of one heart and one mind.
Even now, Rikuo was still far from being able to bear the entirety of the Nura Clan's hundred demons. In truth, most of the clan followed him simply because of his status as the young master. He had yet to earn their true acknowledgment.
But Tsurara, Kurotabo, Aotabō, and the others were different.
They had cared for Rikuo since his childhood. Even though the current young master was still immature, they had always believed that Nura Rikuo would one day grow into his role.
Sharing the same wish—and trusting one another completely—they finally succeeded in completing Oni Binding with him.
With the Fears of Kurotabo and the others entwined around him, Nura Rikuo's yōki surged explosively—from A-rank all the way to S+ rank in a single leap, even slightly surpassing the backlash-weakened Abe no Seimei.
The Fear of the Slippery Monk lineage was exceptional to begin with. And Oni Binding granted Rikuo access to an even greater variety of Fears. Even in a direct comparison of yōki, the current Rikuo held the advantage.
And yet—
Despite facing Abe no Seimei in what should have been a near-perfect state, Nura Rikuo gained no upper hand at all. On the contrary, he was being suppressed at every turn.
"I was starting to think this era had changed so much that even I could no longer see through it," Abe no Seimei said with a chuckle."You're all ridiculously young, yet your strength and combat instincts make you look like veterans hardened by countless battlefields.
"But now that I look closely… that oni brat is the real anomaly among anomalies. As for you—You're the type who has power, but doesn't know how to wield it."
By all logic, with Rikuo's current yōki, even against a backlash-stricken Abe no Seimei, he shouldn't have fallen into a disadvantage—even if victory was uncertain.
And yet, reality was cruel.
No matter how desperately Rikuo fought, he was suppressed across the board.
The reason was simple.
A gap in combat experience.
Abe no Seimei was a monster who had lived for over a thousand years—someone who had fought countless battles even back in the era of Heian-kyō.
And Rikuo?
At best, he had only truly awakened for a few short years. His power had grown explosively fast, but he had barely faced any truly formidable opponents. The disparity in battle experience between them was as vast as heaven and earth.
Faced with Abe no Seimei's mockery, Rikuo's face flushed with shame.
Everyone had lent him their strength… and yet he was failing to live up to their expectations.
This was also the first time Rikuo had ever maintained a multi-person Oni Binding. Beyond the physical burden, the sudden, overwhelming surge of yōki left him completely unaccustomed to his own power.
It was like possessing a peerless divine weapon—yet lacking the skill to swing it.
That was the perfect analogy.
And just as Nura Rikuo's prolonged use of Oni Binding pushed him to the brink—As the battle situation grew increasingly dire, and Abe no Seimei was on the verge of turning the tables—
Another figure suddenly entered the battlefield…