When the elder of the Higun family suddenly abandoned all restraint and slammed straight into him, Ren Kuroda knew—without a shred of doubt—that the situation had taken a disastrous turn.
And when he saw the old man abruptly unleash every last ounce of spiritual power in his body, clearly intending to detonate it, an overwhelming sense of dread surged up Ren's spine.
"I know full well that using this method to completely destroy you is unrealistic,"the Higun elder said calmly."But even a great yokai of your caliber—if you take a spiritual-energy self-detonation at this distance—you'll be gravely wounded even if you don't die.
And your subordinates aren't monsters like you. Even C-rank oni, if caught in the blast of an S-rank spiritual explosion… will be reduced to nothing but ashes."
A bold, almost heroic smile spread across the Higun elder's face.The thought had only just come to him moments ago.
After all, he was already burning away his life and soul. There had never been any chance of survival to begin with.And defeating Ren Kuroda was equally impossible.
Since death was inevitable, then why not use the final value of his life to do something meaningful?
An S+-rank yokai leader.At least five A-rank yokai commanders.And thousands upon thousands of C-rank oni soldiers.
The Higun family could scarcely imagine the catastrophe that would befall humanity if such a force truly invaded the Tokyo District.
And now, with what little time and power he had left, all he could do was use his final strength to carve out even the faintest shred of hope for Tokyo.
How terrifying was the self-detonation of an S-rank exorcist's spiritual power?
No one knew.
Ever since the age of chaos began, humans with spiritual power reaching S-rank could be counted on one hand—let alone witnessing one of them explode their own energy.
The Higun elder knew better than anyone that his own power had been forcibly amplified through special means. Its self-destruction would never match that of a true S-rank exorcist.
Moreover, his soul and life were already almost completely burned away. His remaining spiritual power had long since fallen below genuine S-rank.
Even so…
Even so, he was confident that the destruction from his self-detonation would still be more than enough to severely injure the oni before him.
And to ensure the blast reached the C-rank oni troops, the elder used the last scraps of his strength to smash Ren directly into the midst of the demon army.
Ren Kuroda was powerful enough that the explosion might not kill him outright.
But the C-rank oni army?
In the shockwave of an S-rank spiritual detonation, survival was utterly impossible.
Even grazing the edge of such an explosion meant annihilation. Even C-rank yokai specialized in defense would be crushed and erased without resistance.
Without that oni army—and with Ren himself grievously injured—the enemy would not be able to set foot in the Tokyo District anytime soon.
All the elder could hope for now was that the people of Tokyo would realize just how dangerous Ren Kuroda truly was… and prepare accordingly.
That was all a dying old man like him could do.
At the final moment before the explosion, to his own surprise, the Higun elder felt no fear at all.
Instead, the words spoken earlier by Higun Yuichi surfaced clearly in his mind.
"A true exorcist doesn't chase fame or profit.They never forget their original purpose—and silently protect those who need protection."
Yuichi has truly grown up, the elder thought.What kind of future awaits the Higun family…? I almost wish I could see it.
Only now did he truly understand the meaning behind Yuichi's words. Pride welled up in his chest—alongside a quiet regret that he would never meet the man who had guided Yuichi onto this path.
If Ren Kuroda had known what the old man was thinking at that moment, he would've slapped himself senseless.
Because the one who had fed Yuichi all that motivational "chicken soup" wisdom…
Was him.
And now, that same bowl of inspirational nonsense was about to splash back all over his own face.
Ren also desperately wanted to complain.
Sure, the aura emitted by his Reality Domain, combined with his identity, really did make him look like some final-boss-tier villain.
But that sinister atmosphere wasn't his fault!
And he had absolutely zero interest in conquering the Tokyo District!
Joking aside, the people Ren cared about most were his family. His mother and younger sister were living right there in Tokyo.If anything, he worried about other yokai invading and disturbing their peaceful lives—why would he ever start a war himself?
The Higun elder had also seriously overestimated Ren's forces.
A Reality Domain was fundamentally different from the world's so-called "Grand Barrier."
Though both were independent spaces, and the Reality Domain was far better suited for combat—able to deploy anywhere and forcibly drag targets inside—it also had severe limitations.
The Grand Barrier, so long as it remained undamaged, could theoretically persist for hundreds of years.
A Reality Domain, on the other hand, could only last as long as the caster's power allowed.
Of course, Ren's Reality Domain was special.
It didn't rely on his own energy at all, but on the endless negative emotions generated by humanity itself.
In theory, it could persist for an extremely long time—one of the key reasons it was classified as an SS-rank ability.
Even so, there was another crucial difference.
Everything inside the Grand Barrier truly existed and could freely travel between it and the real world.
But the contents of a Reality Domain were merely manifestations of the caster's inner world—things that did not truly exist.
Inside the Domain, they were indistinguishable from reality.Outside it, they could not materialize at all.
Which meant the Higun family's worries had been completely unnecessary.
Even if Ren truly wanted to invade Tokyo, his oni army couldn't leave the Domain with him.
Unless…
Unless he dragged the entire opposing force into his Reality Domain during the battle.
But that would impose an enormous burden. Even with "The Evil of This World" as a power source, it would undoubtedly weaken the oni within the Domain.
A blazing sphere of light—like a miniature sun—continued to swell within the darkness.
Then, at its limit—
It exploded.
In the pitch-black void where one couldn't even see their own hand, it was as if the sun itself had risen.Blades of radiant light tore through the darkness, illuminating everything as bright as day.
Even Tenarai Oni and the others, positioned some distance away from the battlefield, saw a brilliant star flare in the night—shining like the morning star—its light expanding outward at terrifying speed, accompanied by earth-shaking tremors.
At the center of the blast, Ren Kuroda—and the oni army behind him—were instantly swallowed by blinding white light the moment the Higun elder detonated.
At such close range, even with Ren's incredible speed, there was no avoiding it.
The overwhelming kinetic force and heat engulfed his body in an instant.
Since escape was impossible, there was only one choice—face it head-on.
The moment the explosion erupted, Ren unleashed every last drop of his demonic power, wrapping it tightly around himself.
At the same time, the five A-rank oni generals charged forward without hesitation, their massive forms interposing themselves between Ren and the blast.
Crack—crack—CRACK!
How powerful was an S-rank spiritual detonation?
Suffice it to say—even the legendary Three Sacred Treasures wouldn't have been much stronger.
Under the colossal impact, the surrounding space itself seemed to reach its breaking point. Massive spiderweb cracks spread outward as the environment finally gave way.
And when the explosion reached its absolute peak—
Ren's Reality Domain could no longer endure.
It shattered like glass.
With the Domain gone, the world snapped back to the snow-covered mountains. The endless white replaced the previous abyss of darkness.
"Lord Ren!"
Back on the snowy peaks, Tenarai Oni and the others quickly located Ren—and when they saw his condition, panic flashed across their faces as they rushed toward him.
Ren looked… terrible.
His demonic power was nearly depleted, leaving him unable to maintain his Half-Oni Transformation. He had reverted to his original form, fragments of shattered armor littering the ground around him.
Those fragments had once been part of the armor formed by his demonic power. Now, they were utterly destroyed.
Not far ahead lay a massive crater—dozens of meters in radius—like a chunk bitten cleanly out of the mountain itself.
And this was after the Reality Domain had absorbed most of the damage.
If the elder had detonated outside the Domain, directly on the mountain…
Half the mountain would've vanished.
Ren opened his mouth, intending to say something cool like "I'm fine."
Before the words could escape—
Blood spilled from his lips.
Honestly, if that final oni general hadn't rushed in at the last moment and absorbed most of the impact, Ren might still be alive… but standing would've been out of the question.
He wiped the blood from his mouth and muttered bitterly,
"Seriously… if you want to be a villain, you really need to master the art of being ruthless and quiet.So many villains die because they talk too much—why do I never learn?
If I'd pushed it just a little harder this time, I'd have actually gotten myself killed.Did my strength grow too fast… or am I just getting arrogant?"