Samurai Spirit nodded in agreement with Spider Princess's advice. She was right—sometimes, not knowing the truth wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Not everyone had acting skills as good as his.
Case in point: himself.
Because he was too perceptive—because he had grasped Lord Yūdō's "true intention"—the pressure on his shoulders had skyrocketed.
Whether his performance would be convincing, whether it would truly move those yokai… that depended entirely on how hard he committed to the act.
And now, Samurai Spirit had fully decided to commit.
No more half-hearted skirmishing.
The moment he made up his mind, he discarded his previous, slightly lazy fighting style and unleashed his demonic power in full.
His current opponent was an exorcist from one of the Thirteen Demon-Slaying Houses, the Kūsuka Clan, whose spiritual power hovered around B-rank.
Earlier, relying on the Kūsuka family's sword-based curse techniques, the man had managed to trade blows evenly with the deliberately restrained Samurai Spirit.That had led him to believe he'd found a worthy, evenly matched opponent.
But when he saw Samurai Spirit suddenly erupt with overwhelming demonic power, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Evenly matched?Like hell.
The demonic aura now pouring off Samurai Spirit was at least A-rank, a full major tier above him. It was obvious now—earlier, the yokai hadn't been fighting seriously at all. He'd just been playing around.
The Kūsuka exorcist's swordsmanship was undeniably impressive, but Samurai Spirit had been forged from the soul of a warrior. He was battle-hardened by nature.With his demonic power completely overwhelming his opponent, the fight was decided in just a few exchanges.
The Kūsuka exorcist was defeated cleanly.
Behind Samurai Spirit, several tsukumogami stared at him with eyes filled with awe and worship.
As the fighting intensified, battles erupted across multiple districts of Tokyo.But it didn't take long for the exorcist side to notice something deeply unsettling.
All around Tokyo, unknown powerful yokai were appearing one after another.
Tokyo was one of humanity's largest population centers, and the yokai forces in the surrounding areas had long been thoroughly investigated by human organizations.
Yet tonight's yokai-hunting operation had gone completely off-script.
Many exorcists, in the middle of exterminating their targets, suddenly encountered yokai that didn't exist in any intelligence reports.
Worse still—every single one of these unknown yokai was A-rank or higher.
Small-family exorcists stood no chance.Even members of major exorcist clans were getting utterly crushed when they ran into them.
At the same time, someone else was equally confused—
Ren Kuroda, who had already entered a state of partial demonization and was moving toward his next objective.
The reason he was so baffled was simple.
Starting just moments ago, his system notifications hadn't stopped.
[You have gained Yokai Reputation.][You have gained Yokai Reputation.][You have gained Yokai Reputation.]
When he had previously saved large numbers of Tokyo's civilians, he'd earned massive amounts of Human Reputation, even unlocking the title Redeemer.
But now—what was going on?
Sure, he had instructed Nekomata and the others to rescue innocent yokai caught up in his rampage, but he wasn't the one saving them personally.
So why was his Yokai Reputation skyrocketing nonstop?
What Ren Kuroda didn't know was that it wasn't just Nekomata.At Samurai Spirit's suggestion, Shion, Hook-Needle Woman, and the others were all making a point of loudly spreading Lord Yūdō's—Ren Kuroda's—name while rescuing yokai.
Under the relentless propaganda of these enthusiastic "Ren Kuroda stans," his reputation among yokai naturally exploded.
—Scene Divider—
On the other side—
Ren Kuroda, currently operating under his artificial human identity, had rejoined the Countermeasures Division.
This time, their assigned target was an A-rank yokai faction.
At the head of that faction was a yokai whose demonic power had reached the A-rank threshold: a Umi-bōzu.
The Umi-bōzu—also known as the Sea Monk—was a legendary sea yokai, said to be the husband of the Sea Woman.Its head was completely bald (unsurprising, given it was monk-type yokai), its body massive—standing roughly five to six meters tall.
It was infamous for appearing on stormy seas and was one of the yokai fishermen feared most.
This particular Umi-bōzu had taken up residence near a coastal fishing village.
Since its arrival, the village had been forced to offer daily "tribute" to prevent it from rampaging.
As for what that "tribute" was…
No one needed to spell it out.
The villagers had pleaded for help more than once.But in the current state of the world, even the major powers were overwhelmed—who had time to care about a small fishing village?
The villagers tried to flee.
The Umi-bōzu responded by surrounding the village with seawater barriers. Anyone who attempted escape was swarmed by summoned schools of fish and devoured alive.
Strictly speaking, the Umi-bōzu itself only possessed A-rank demonic power, and it was accompanied by just a handful of fish yokai lackeys.Ordinarily, that wouldn't qualify as an A-rank faction.
But because of its unique abilities—and the fact that it could retreat into the sea at will—it was far more troublesome than most A-rank yokai. That was why it had been classified as such.
By the time Ren Kuroda and the Countermeasures team arrived, the village was nearly empty.
Only women and children remained.
And they had completely lost the will to live.
Their husbands and fathers had already died—standing up to the Umi-bōzu when it came to collect its tribute, sacrificing themselves to protect their families.
When the Countermeasures Division entered the village, they weren't welcomed.
They were greeted with curses.
Venomous, desperate curses.
Faced with the abuse, Kamishiro Kazuma and Yamato Kuka chose to endure it in silence.
This tragedy wasn't their fault.They hadn't even known the village existed—because in a world overrun with yokai, suffering villages like this were everywhere.
But the pain of these women and children was real. They had lost their loved ones.
So no matter how unfair the blame, Kamishiro and the others swallowed it, hearts heavy.
Once, these villagers had hoped to be saved.
All they'd received in return was disappointment—again and again.
That feeling… Kamishiro understood it all too well.
Now, having lost everyone they loved, they'd given up on life itself.So what difference did it make if Ren Kuroda and the others showed up now?
Watching this scene unfold, Ren felt his chest tighten.
This is the world we live in now.
Waiting helplessly for someone else to save you wasn't enough.There were too many suffering people—no one was guaranteed salvation.
In an age like this, only power you held in your own hands was real.
Don't rely on others.Protect what you want to protect with your own strength.
As he looked at the women and children who had lost all hope, Ren silently swore to himself—
No matter what happened, he would never allow his mother and sister to suffer like this.
"So why did we even come here?" Yamato Kuka suddenly snapped."Even if we kill that Umi-bōzu, what does it change?!"
Compared to the battle-hardened Kamishiro and the monk Hakuba, the emotional blow hit Yamato far harder.
After all, she had chosen the path of a Sword Shrine Maiden precisely because she believed that standing on the front lines—blade in hand—was the best way to protect those she cared about.
Yet the scene before her told her something cruel:
Even with a sharp sword.Even with the power to slay evil yokai.
Some outcomes could never be undone.
"It's cruel," Kamishiro said quietly, "but as an exorcist, you have to get used to this. Compared to this village, we've seen far worse."
"Have you ever arrived at a site where no one survived?""Have you ever heard people screaming for help—only to watch them be torn apart because you arrived one second too late?"
He pointed toward the villagers.
"The women aside… look at the children. Their eyes still have light in them.If you choose to do nothing now, they are the ones who will truly lose their last shred of hope."
For someone who was usually so flippant and shameless, Kamishiro Kazuma was shockingly good at delivering motivational speeches.
At the very least, his words succeeded in redirecting Yamato Kuka's fury.
Straight toward the Umi-bōzu.
"I'll tear that monster apart!" she growled.
Despite their cold reception, the Countermeasures Division had no intention of leaving.
The Umi-bōzu came every day to collect its tribute—it had effectively turned the village into livestock.
And because it lived at sea, tracking it down in the vast ocean wasn't easy.
After a brief discussion, the team decided to stay put and wait for it to come to them.
If it wanted "tribute" so badly…
Then this time, they would be the tribute.
The only question was whether the Umi-bōzu's teeth were strong enough to chew through them.
"So why is it always me who ends up as the bait?" Ren complained, glaring at the fisherman's outfit shoved into his hands."And since I'm doing dangerous work every time, can I at least apply for hazard pay?"
Unfortunately for him, assigning Ren as the "tribute" had passed with a unanimous vote in Countermeasures Group Nine.
And objectively speaking…
He really was the best choice.
"Ahem, I'll see what I can do about the bonus," Kamishiro said with a grin."It's not personal—it's just that you're the most suitable candidate."
"First, no one here is better than you at suppressing their presence.Second, you're the strongest, so you can handle emergencies."
"Look at Kuka-chan—her rage meter is maxed out. Forget acting as bait; she'd probably charge in and start chopping the moment she sees it."
"Monk Hakuba's bald head and overall vibe scream 'not a fisherman.'And I need to set up the barrier in advance so the Umi-bōzu can't escape back into the sea."
Kamishiro spread his hands.
"So when you narrow it down like that… you're literally the only option left."
..
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