Like falling stars, the streaks of light slammed into the leader of the Old Rat Group—yet they didn't cause any visible damage at first.
Instead, the luminous talismans melted into his body like drifting snowflakes.
In the next instant, his body began to swell grotesquely.
Then—before anyone could react—it exploded.
The Yin–Yang technique Ren Kuroda had used was, in essence, a method of implanting specially prepared talismans directly into a monster's body. Once inside, those talismans were stimulated by the target's own demonic power, triggering a violent internal detonation.
Breaking through an enemy's defenses from the outside was far harder than destroying them from within. After all, no matter how tough the exterior, internal organs were always the most fragile part of any living being.
Seeing Ren instantly kill the leader of the Old Rat Group, the yokai of the Nura Clan were completely stunned.
To them, even though the rat leader was just a nobody, he was still a C-rank demon.
Among low-level yokai, he wasn't exactly a top-tier powerhouse—but he was still a respectable figure. Someone you couldn't just casually erase.
And yet… he'd been killed in an instant.
Of course, if what Aotabo had said earlier was true—that this man had defeated an awakened young master—then killing the Old Rat Group's leader shouldn't have been surprising.
But the key issue was how he had done it.
The method Ren used was completely different from what Aotabo and the others had described earlier.
From the refined spiritual power radiating from him and his flawless execution of Onmyōdō, Kurotabo and the others could tell that Ren was a highly skilled onmyoji.
But then how could someone who used orthodox Onmyoji techniques to instantly kill a C-rank demon… be a yokai?
It wasn't just Kurotabo and Kubinashi who were shocked.
The most astonished of all was Nura Rikuo himself—the very person Ren had defeated earlier.
Up until now, Rikuo had been convinced that Ren was nothing more than a fraud trying to deceive an innocent girl.
Yet now, to his disbelief, Ren was openly wielding genuine Onmyoji techniques.
And not just that—he was terrifyingly proficient.
Ren's merciless attack left Rikuo deeply shaken.
If Ren hadn't clearly introduced himself earlier as Ren Kuroda, Rikuo might have seriously suspected that this man had a twin brother.
The overwhelming demonic power he'd displayed in the old school building…And now, these refined and lethal Onmyōdō techniques—
Could one person really possess both demonic power and spiritual power at the same time?
The death of the Old Rat Group's leader shattered the remaining rat yokai's morale.
At the sight of their leader being blown apart, the surviving members of the Old Rat Group screamed in terror and scattered in all directions.
But two legs couldn't outrun four.
Mounted atop Tanrō, the Greedy Wolf, Yura chased them down with merciless efficiency, slaughtering the fleeing rat yokai one by one.
Having fully grasped the nature of the Old Rat Group, Yura learned from her earlier mistake and quickly brought Kana and Saori over to Ren's side.
This was to prevent the girls from being taken hostage in whatever conflict came next.
The moment they were freed, Kana and Saori practically ran straight to Ren.
They had witnessed the entire battle.
Before tonight, they hadn't even believed that yokai and onmyoji truly existed outside of legends.
What shocked them even more was that their new teaching assistant was actually a legendary onmyoji.
Compared to the unfamiliar Yura, Kana and Saori were far more comfortable around Ren.
And Ren's dazzling Onmyoji techniques—obliterating a giant rat demon in an instant—gave the girls an overwhelming sense of safety.
Although the grotesque rat yokai had been dealt with, they all knew this wasn't over.
Aside from the human-bodied, rat-headed monsters, another group of yokai now stood before them.
Admittedly, many of these yokai looked indistinguishable from ordinary humans.
But others bore strange and twisted appearances that clearly marked them as something inhuman.
After devouring the last surviving rat demon, Yura rode Tanrō back to Ren's side, regrouping with him. The massive wolf bared its fangs at Nura Rikuo and the others, growling low in its throat.
"Young Master," one of the yokai asked, "what should we do now? The Old Rat Group has already been dealt with by those two onmyoji. Should we make our move?"
Hearing the question, Nura Rikuo looked conflicted.
Why is it so damn hard to just show off properly?
Tonight, at the old school building, he had awakened for the first time since childhood. Overflowing with excitement, he'd wanted to make a grand debut—only to run straight into the monster known as Ren Kuroda.
He'd been utterly humiliated.
After returning home, Rikuo had reflected deeply. He realized that if he wanted to show off, he shouldn't immediately challenge someone absurdly strong. He should grind experience by taking down some troublesome elite yokai first.
And so, he set his sights on the Old Rat Group and other unruly demon factions.
Leading a large force of Nura Clan yokai, Rikuo had completed his first Hyakki Yagyō—the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons—feeling like he'd reached the peak of his demon life.
Yet now, after mobilizing his entire parade to crush the Old Rat Group with overwhelming force…
Someone else had beaten him to it.
He'd traveled all this way with the Night Parade, but before he could even finish introducing himself, the Old Rat Group was already wiped out.
He didn't get to play the hero.He didn't get to show off.
At this point, Rikuo even suspected that Ren was deliberately targeting him out of jealousy for his good looks.
He had finally awakened his powers once—and Ren had ruined two of his chances to show off in a single night.
"Forget it," Rikuo said, waving his hand. "We came here specifically for the Old Rat Group. There's no need to make enemies with an onmyoji."
After answering his subordinate, Rikuo cast one last glance at Ren and Yura—then turned and left decisively.
His reason for backing down was simple.
He had already promised Ren that he wouldn't bring the Nura Clan's yokai to cause trouble again. As the heir to the Supreme Commander, Rikuo didn't intend to break his word.
Another reason was that, no matter what, Kana and Saori were his childhood friends. If the two sides clashed, it would be ordinary humans who suffered most.
And even with his numerical advantage, the outcome of a real battle was far from certain.
Rikuo's Hyakki Yagyō consisted solely of the Nura Clan's mainline yokai.
He also knew that the number of yokai under Ren's command—especially those tied to the old school buildings—wasn't much smaller.
Though their overall quality might be inferior, Ren's personal strength was a complete unknown.
A real fight would be unpredictable.
After weighing all these factors, Nura Rikuo chose to withdraw with his Night Parade.
Although he failed to defeat the Old Rat Group and his subordinates barely got to do anything, it was already late—and the Old Rat Group wasn't the only troublemaking yokai organization in the city.
There would be other chances to show off.
Right now, Rikuo just wanted to keep his distance from Ren, worried that the man might interfere again and ruin his chances in front of his followers.
Meanwhile, watching the overwhelming yokai presence fade into the distance, Yura actually considered sending her shikigami, Tanrō, to chase after them.
She was immediately rewarded with a merciless smack on the head from Ren.
"Are you insane?" Ren snapped."That was the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, led by the legendary Nurarihyon!""Even if it's not fully matured yet, it's still the descendant of a great yokai—on a completely different level from trash like the Old Rat Group.""And you—barely out of training—were thinking of chasing them alone? Are you trying to get yourself killed?""I seriously don't know how your elders had the nerve to let someone this clueless out on a field assignment."
Chasing after the Nura Clan's main family Night Parade alone?
Forget Yura—even Ren at full power wouldn't be confident doing that.
Defeating Nura Rikuo or Kurotabo one-on-one would be easy for him.
But facing a coordinated force of yokai where most were at least C-rank, with a significant number of B-rank demons mixed in?
Even Ren would turn tail and run.
One of the reasons the Keikain family had sent Yura to Kanto for training was because the region truly was teeming with yokai.
But another, far more important reason lay in history.
The Keikain family had a deep connection to Nurarihyon himself.
For over four hundred years, Nurarihyon had frequently freeloaded off the Keikain family.
More importantly, the original Nura Clan had once helped the Keikain family defeat Hagoromo-Gitsune, the lord of all demons in Kyoto.
The current head of the Keikain family, Keikain Hidemoto, also maintained a close friendship with Nurarihyon.
Because of this, the Keikain family was confident that—even if Yura was a genius completely lacking common sense—sending her to Kanto wouldn't put her in real danger.
Out of respect for Hidemoto, Nurarihyon would likely never deliberately make things difficult for the Keikain clan.
However, there was one crucial detail the Keikain family had overlooked.
After four hundred years, the Nura Clan's mainline yokai had changed many times.
The Kubinashi, Kurotabo, and even the bizarre female yokai currently surrounding Nura Rikuo were all second-generation subordinates of Nura Rihan.
They knew nothing about the Keikain family's historical ties to the Nura Clan.
And unlike in the original timeline, Yura had not yet become Rikuo's classmate.
If Yura had truly chased after the Nura Clan's yokai with hostile intent, she would most likely have been killed on the spot.
The Nura Clan may not harbor hatred toward humans—but they had no reason to show mercy to someone who came seeking bloodshed.
"But, senpai…" Yura protested, rubbing her head and puffing out her cheeks in grievance."They're yokai! Are we really just going to let them go?"
Since childhood, her older brother Keikain Ryūji had drilled one belief into her relentlessly—
Yokai were black.Humans were white.
And if you encountered yokai—
You exterminated them. Every last one.