With Ren Kuroda's current level of power, he was no longer as wary of the Killing Stone as he had been at the beginning.
At the end of the day, fragments of the Killing Stone were merely S-rank items. Meanwhile, Ren's raw yokai power alone had already reached a level comparable to an S+-rank monster. Was he really supposed to be inferior to a lifeless piece of rock?
Previously, the Snow Woman had used the Killing Stone in combination with the snowy mountain terrain to construct illusions. Ren, however, was now doing something far more aggressive—fusing the Killing Stone with his own Demon King's Dominance.
While delivering a devastating psychological shock, he used the Killing Stone to amplify hallucinations, driving the enemy's fear even deeper.
This was his first time attempting such a combination.
Judging from the exorcists' reactions, however, the results were clearly outstanding.
"It's not just the Killing Stone… there's something else mixed in.Even I felt a chill down my spine the moment I met his gaze."
At this moment, Sorasu Ryōsuke, who had previously handled the combined assault of Bushi no Rei and the others with ease, now looked at Ren with undisguised apprehension.
As a member of the Sorasu family—renowned for their sword cultivation—their mental fortitude far surpassed that of ordinary exorcists.
And yet, even so, when Ryōsuke met the gaze of the oni before him, his spirit still wavered violently.
"Anyone with a fragile mind or insufficient strength—withdraw immediately," Ryōsuke shouted toward the exorcists behind him after seeing Ren just once."You'll only be a burden in what comes next."
His words were cruel—but realistic.
Given the disgraceful state some of the exorcists had fallen into earlier, they wouldn't be helping at all. They'd only get in the way.
A yokai's strength was derived from Fear.
The more Fear they collected, the stronger their abilities became.
Fear functioned much like legends—when people feared something, its story spread wider, and the yokai born from it became more terrifying.
In truth, yokai themselves were manifestations of humanity's primal fears. And the more fear that accumulated, the more powerful the resulting existence.
At this moment, most of the exorcists present had already felt fear simply standing before Byakuya Oni.
Forget fighting him—just the Fear they were generating had already become a constant supply of energy for their enemy.
And so, under Ryōsuke's stern command and the tacit approval of the other great family heads, the exorcists whose minds had been shaken retreated with faces full of shame.
What remained before Ren were only the family heads of the exorcist clans, along with a handful of individuals whose mental fortitude had allowed them to resist the Killing Stone's influence.
Ren showed no signs of injury at all.
While this came as a surprise to the Tokyo exorcists, the sheer scale of the yokai power he had just released also caused them to quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
Yes—his aura was terrifying.Yes—their assumptions had been wrong, and he was not gravely wounded.
But things weren't hopeless.
After carefully assessing him, several of the Thirteen Demon-Slaying Families' heads realized something crucial.
This Byakuya Oni had not reached the SS-rank they had feared.
Based on the aura radiating from him, he was—at most—S+-rank.
In other words, while he wasn't injured as expected, he also wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful as they had originally feared.
One miscalculation canceled out the other.
And suddenly, the situation didn't seem all that different after all.
While the exorcist faction had been shaken by Ren's sudden eruption of power, the yokai side reacted very differently.
After a brief stunned silence, cheers erupted across the battlefield.
An S+-rank Yokai King.
Their earlier disadvantage hadn't been due to numbers—it was because their top-tier combat power simply couldn't match the exorcist elites.
The flight of several A-rank great yokai had shattered morale, causing even the lesser yokai who had fought bravely to collapse emotionally.
That was how the battle had deteriorated.
But now—
They finally had someone who could hold the line.
With an S+-rank Yokai King present, turning the tide was no longer a fantasy.
Even on a global scale, yokai kings of this caliber were exceedingly rare.
And now, they had the privilege of fighting under such a being, shoulder to shoulder.
If they defeated the exorcists here…
It would be no different from conquering the Tokyo District outright.
Their status would skyrocket—from regional foot soldiers to members of one of the largest yokai factions in existence.
Ren's appearance was like a shot of adrenaline.
Countless yokai who had been on the verge of despair reignited with renewed—and even fiercer—battle intent.
Before, they had fought merely to survive.
Now, they saw survival and something beyond.
Their former leaders had abandoned them—but the new one?
Far stronger.An S+-rank existence who had scared off nearly two-thirds of the exorcists with a single glance.
Could their former masters compare?
Not a chance.
Those cowards who fled didn't deserve loyalty anyway. They'd truly been blind before.
"This is troublesome… His presence alone has reignited the yokai's morale," one of the family heads muttered grimly."We five will handle Byakuya Oni.As for the remaining A-rank great yokai—stick to the original plan and deal with them yourselves."
Facing the terrifying aura emanating from Ren, Ryōsuke and the others understood clearly—
Against a being of this level, numbers meant nothing.Anyone below the minimum threshold of strength would only be walking to their death.
Thus, the clan elders were dispatched to restrain the remaining A-rank yokai, while the five great family heads faced Ren with grave expressions.
Many A-rank yokai had already fallen.
With the elders' strength, holding back the rest posed no issue.
As long as they could defeat Ren Kuroda—the Yokai King—
Victory would be theirs.
The battle resumed.
But this time, the second half unfolded very differently.
Ren's arrival ignited the yokai faction's morale completely. Bushi no Rei and the others finally unleashed their full strength.
Midoriya, meanwhile, summoned massive waves of Dragon-Fang Soldiers as expendable forces. Then, drawing upon her vast knowledge of cursecraft, she dismantled one carefully prepared formation after another on the exorcists' side.
The situation deteriorated rapidly.
After transforming her body into that of a yokai, Midoriya had effectively become a true curse-sorcerer.
Combined with her accumulated knowledge, she could analyze and dismantle spell formations at terrifying speed.
As formation after formation collapsed, the exorcists lost their buffs, while the restraints suppressing the yokai vanished.
The compounded effect of loss and gain shifted the battle dramatically.
The exorcist faction quickly recognized how dangerous Midoriya was—some even judged her threat level to be nearly on par with Byakuya Oni himself.
Elite squads were dispatched to eliminate her and reclaim tactical advantage.
But the yokai weren't fools.
Realizing Midoriya was their strongest support unit, they instinctively shielded her within their ranks.
As for the five family heads, watching their side lose momentum, they knew there was only one option left.
Defeat the leader.
Abandoning any notions of fairness, all five attacked Ren simultaneously.
In the face of humanity's survival, honor meant nothing. And given Ren's strength, even Sorasu Ryōsuke, prideful as he was, knew that one-on-one combat was impossible.
The first to reach Ren was, as expected, Ryōsuke himself.
Under layered blessings and talismans, all five now possessed combat power rivaling S-rank minus.
Against an S+-rank Yokai King, they believed they still stood a chance.
The blade of Ōdenta Mitsuyo carved a silver arc through the air, its surface blazing with purifying anti-demon power—capable of cleaving even the toughest yokai flesh.
CLANG———!
Yet the strike failed to land.
Ōdenta Mitsuyo was blocked cleanly by a long blade bearing a irregular clove-shaped hamon.
"Good sword," Ren remarked calmly."Your speed and technique are respectable.But your strength… falls just short."
As head of the Sorasu family, Ryōsuke's blade was no ordinary weapon.
Ōdenta Mitsuyo—signed by Miike Mitsuyo, a late-Heian master swordsmith—had been named after its creator, later gifted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to Maeda Toshiie.
Alongside Dōjigiri Yasutsuna, it was revered as one of the Five Great Swords of the Realm.
In this world, famous blades were no different from spiritual or divine artifacts—each possessed mysterious power.
With its deep curvature, Ōdenta Mitsuyo caused slashes to deflect at unpredictable angles during clashes, often striking an opponent's vital points—
—but this time…
It had met something far more terrifying.