The head of the Yamato family lived up to his reputation as the undisputed leader of the foremost support clan. Under a succession of his expertly executed spells, the grievous injuries on the White Horse Monk—wounds that had previously left Yamato Kuka completely at a loss—were restored in a remarkably short span of time.
More than that, beneath several blessings far stronger than anything Kuka herself could cast, the nearly exhausted spiritual reserves of both Kamishiro Isshin and the White Horse Monk were replenished in an instant, like parched earth finally meeting a long-awaited downpour.
"How embarrassing," the Yamato family head said coldly. "You're the next head of the Yamato clan, and yet your healing spells are this poor. With skills like that, how do you expect to lead the family in the future?"If we hadn't arrived in time, this monk might not have died—but his cultivation would have been permanently affected."
Faced with her father's unrestrained scolding, Yamato Kuka did something rare. She didn't argue back as she usually did. Instead, she lowered her head, her expression filled with guilt, silently accepting the rebuke—until Sorasu Ryosuke, standing nearby, finally couldn't watch anymore.
"Brother-in-law, that's enough," Ryosuke said. "What happened isn't Kuka's fault. And you know better than anyone that her talent in swordsmanship is truly exceptional."Everyone's time and focus are limited. Kuka may be gifted, but we can't demand that she excel simultaneously in both swordsmanship and spellcraft."
He continued, voice steady. "And if not for Kuka's combat ability, they wouldn't have survived that situation at all. Rather than lecturing the younger generation, shouldn't we be asking just how strong the yokai they encountered really were?"
Not long after, the clan members of the Yamato and Sorasu families—who had been left behind earlier—arrived one after another. Through Kuka and the others' account, the Yamato family head and Ryosuke gained a rough understanding of the enemy's strength.
Both the Yamato head and Sorasu Ryosuke, as leaders of major exorcist clans, possessed spiritual power on the S-rank level. However, the Yamato clan specialized almost exclusively in support and assistance; their direct combat ability was not particularly strong.
Which meant that, in the worst-case scenario, Ryosuke alone would be forced to face five A-rank great yokai.
Purely in terms of spiritual power, Ryosuke far surpassed Hair-Eating Demon and the others. But everyone knew one simple truth: yokai were far more troublesome than exorcists.
The Yamato clan was the strongest support force in existence. With the Yamato head's layers of buffs, Ryosuke might not be able to slay five A-rank great yokai simultaneously—but merely holding them back would not be a problem.
Even so, according to Yuto and the others, aside from those five A-rank great yokai, there were hundreds of additional monsters on the mountain, each with strength at least at the C-rank level.
The combined forces of the Yamato and Sorasu clans amounted to barely fifty people in total—and the Yamato members were all support-type exorcists.
Even with the Yamato clan's enhancements greatly boosting the Sorasu clan's combat power, when divided among hundreds of yokai, each Sorasu exorcist would still have to face close to ten monsters on their own.
Not everyone was like Yuto or Kuka.
Even though the Sorasu clan ranked among the strongest of the Thirteen Demon-Slaying Families, and even with the Yamato clan's support, having one person face nearly ten yokai—each at least C-rank—was simply absurd.
"Five A-rank great yokai, and hundreds more at C-rank or above… The fact that the five of you made it out alive is already a miracle," the Yamato family head said.
Upon learning just how terrifying the ambush at the mountain's midsection had been, both he and Ryosuke stared at Yuto and the others in disbelief.
"In truth, there were quite a few others with us at first," Yuto said. "If we'd managed to organize our formation even a little, we wouldn't have been defeated so badly."But the moment they saw that many yokai, their mental defenses collapsed."
He paused, then added, "As for why the yokai withdrew… it was probably because they sensed the aura of the Kusanagi Sword. They thought they'd fallen into a trap, so they chose to retreat."
Meanwhile, back at the mountain's midsection, Hair-Eating Demon and the other yokai had regrouped and were now questioning Grey坊 Priest about what had just happened.
Grey坊 Priest spoke frankly. The young man he had fought was none other than the master of the Kusanagi Sword—the same one who had confronted Hundred-Night Demon head-on during the great Tokyo District battle.
"The master of the Kusanagi Sword?" the yokai exclaimed. "How strong is he? Wasn't it said that after that battle, the Kusanagi Sword's divine power had been completely exhausted?"
The reason Hair-Eating Demon and the others dared to openly defy the Snow Woman was simple: they believed that Hundred-Night Demon, who had not appeared for a long time, was already dead.
It wasn't that they didn't fear Hundred-Night Demon.
On the contrary—they were terrified of him. That was precisely why they only dared to rebel after he had vanished for so long. The scene of a heavily injured Hundred-Night Demon casually crushing an A-rank great yokai to death was still vivid in their minds.
If Hundred-Night Demon was that terrifying, then someone capable of facing him head-on—the master of the Kusanagi Sword—was obviously not an existence they could afford to provoke.
"Damn it," Hair-Eating Demon cursed. "We've been played by that Snow Woman bitch after all. Just what kind of method did she use to lure so many exorcists here?"This is Hundred-Night Demon's territory—are those Tokyo District exorcists really not afraid of death?"
As the Kamaitachi brothers and Grey坊 Priest analyzed the Kusanagi Sword wielder's combat strength and debated whether they stood a chance if they attacked together, Hair-Eating Demon suddenly erupted into curses once more.
During their retreat, he had left behind a strand of his severed demonic hair at the battlefield where Kuka had cut him.
Through that hair—and by means of a special technique—he had sensed the arrival of the Yamato and Sorasu clans afterward.
From those newly arrived humans, Hair-Eating Demon could clearly feel powerful spiritual fluctuations. These weren't the earlier rabble at all; every single one of them carried formidable spiritual power, clearly members of major exorcist families.
One divine artifact wielder alone was already troublesome enough. Now there were two major exorcist clans.
No—two had already arrived. Who was to say more wouldn't follow?
Realizing the full scope of the situation, Hair-Eating Demon felt an overwhelming sense of danger. He genuinely couldn't fathom what methods Snow Woman had used to drive so many exorcists here.
Even the so-called disturbance caused by the "Killing Stone" back then hadn't drawn this much attention. Could it be that Snow Woman was a mole planted within the exorcist factions?
His imagination ran wild—but soon he realized that Snow Woman's true identity mattered far less than the immediate question:
How were they supposed to escape this predicament?
Because through his demonic hair, he had just sensed yet another powerful human team ascending the mountain.
And judging by the spiritual aura they gave off, this group too clearly hailed from a powerful exorcist clan.
At the foot of the mountain, human forces were gathering in ever greater numbers, and Hair-Eating Demon was growing increasingly frantic.
They were no longer the hunters.
They had become the prey.
If they wanted to escape alive, there were only two options.
The first was to swallow their pride and submit to Snow Woman. If they did, she might bring the remaining yokai of the Tokyo District to rescue them.
At worst, it would lead to another massive conflict like the previous Tokyo District war. With their current surge in strength, it wasn't as though they had no chance of victory.
"Lady Snow Princess," Hair-Eating Demon shouted into the snowy mountains. "I know you've been hiding nearby, watching this all unfold."I don't know how you managed to lure the Tokyo District exorcist families here to attack us—but we're all yokai. Using humans to interfere in our internal conflict is going too far, don't you think?"
His voice echoed as he continued, "We admit defeat. We truly admire your methods. For the sake of our past camaraderie, could you help us out of this predicament?"
His words reverberated through the snowfields—
—and were met with absolute silence.
Not a single response came.
Hair-Eating Demon's once handsome face twisted instantly with rage.
"That filthy bitch… She's dead set on using humans to wipe us all out!"
"Everyone here understands the situation now," he continued grimly. "I don't know what kind of relationship that bitch Snow Princess has with humans."But if we want to live, there's only one choice—force a breakout before the exorcists below fully gather."
He clenched his teeth. "If even one of us escapes this mountain alive, spread the word outside. Tell everyone that Snow Woman is a traitor among yokai—that her approach to Hundred-Night Demon was nothing but a human conspiracy!"
Since submission had failed, a forced breakout was their only path.
And yet, as that thought settled in, regret crept into Hair-Eating Demon's heart. They had been far too arrogant.
They had known Snow Woman was plotting something—but believing that with their newfound power they had nothing to fear, they had dismissed the danger.
That arrogance had led them straight into this trap.
The casualties from their earlier clashes had been negligible, but if they wanted to break through now, it had to be before too many exorcists converged at the mountain's midsection.
"You mentioned Snow Princess," a calm voice suddenly said. "The same Snow Princess who serves as one of Hundred-Night Demon's officers?"So those exorcists gathering below were lured here by her schemes?"
The speaker chuckled softly. "An internal conflict, hm? How interesting. I never expected that the Hundred-Night Demon faction—so recently risen, so famous worldwide—would be anything but united."
He continued casually, "Then again, that's only natural. A mob forcibly gathered together was never going to be of one heart and blood."
There was a brief pause.
"So tell me—since you've chosen to turn on each other, which side is Hundred-Night Demon on?"Ah… perhaps that's not important. What matters is that, thanks to all of you, I seem to have been dragged into this as well."
The man tilted his head. "Or should I say… I, too, was part of the calculation?"
Without any warning, a figure clad in a black robe appeared before Hair-Eating Demon and the others.
They were absolutely certain of one thing—
There was no such person among their ranks.
And judging by his words, it seemed he had never even met Snow Princess or Hundred-Night Demon.
That alone was strange.
Any yokai living in the Tokyo District—even if they had never seen Hundred-Night Demon—would at least recognize Snow Princess, the public administrator of the region.
If this man didn't even know Snow Princess…
Then that could only mean one thing.
He wasn't a yokai from the Tokyo District at all.
..
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