Ren Kuroda knew very well how the Seven Travelers of the Four Kingdoms had met their end in their final confrontation with the Nura Clan.
Although a small number of them had indeed fallen to the Nura Clan's core elites, the vast majority had actually been killed by the very master they served—Lord Tamaki.
Among those victims was Inugami, whose loyalty to Tamaki bordered on blind fanaticism.
Given Inugami's nature, the possibility of him turning against Tamaki was practically nonexistent. In that sense, dying by Ren's hand was a far kinder ending than being personally executed by the master he trusted most.
Such was the cruelty of yokai conflicts.
Ren was not naïve enough to spare Inugami simply because of misplaced loyalty.
Now that even the strongest of the Seven Travelers had been slain, the remaining captives stared at Ren with naked terror in their eyes.
They had arrived under Gyokushō's orders, intending to destabilize the region and forcibly absorb Ren and his local faction.
Instead of sowing chaos, they had been utterly crushed—and those who survived were now prisoners.
"I'll give you a chance to live," Ren said calmly."You came here to subdue our Oni Combat Academy, didn't you? Then I'll give you that chance."
His gaze dropped to the unconscious Tessai-ki, the Handwashing Demon lying on the ground.
"Kill him. That will be your pledge of loyalty.As long as you're willing to abandon Gyokushō, I may allow you to join the Oni Combat Academy."
To be honest, Ren didn't like Crochet-onna and the others very much.
Not because they were weak—but because of their character.
However, the Oni Combat Academy was still far from complete. It would take a long time before he could assemble the Thirty-Six Demons of the Night Parade.
Strong yokai were rare.
As for whether these newcomers could be disciplined, Ren believed that was something he could mold over time.
Upon hearing Ren's words, Inuhō, Kishigaya Kōzō, and Crochet-onna—now bound by control techniques—hesitated.
Survival versus loyalty.
It was a cruel dilemma.
Betraying Gyokushō meant eventual death.Refusing meant immediate execution.
In the end, the three made very different choices.
Inuhō was the first to act.
He rushed toward the unconscious Tessai-ki, intent on striking without hesitation to prove his loyalty to his new master.
Before he could land the blow, Ren raised a hand and stopped him.
"I'll wait until I see everyone's decision," Ren said flatly.
After a moment of silence, Kishigaya Kōzō also chose to submit.
Among yokai, strength was justice—and in Kishigaya's eyes, Ren surpassed Gyokushō in both presence and power.
However, when it came to killing Tessai-ki as a pledge, Kishigaya hesitated.
His loyalty to Gyokushō had never been absolute like Inugami's. It was rooted in fear and respect for power, not devotion.
Still, no matter how strained his relationship with Tessai-ki had been, Kishigaya could not bring himself to kill a former comrade just to save himself.
As for Crochet-onna, her choice was the most decisive of all.
After struggling internally, she chose not to betray Gyokushō at all.
Like Inugami, she prepared to accept her fate.
"How ridiculous, Crochet-onna!" Inuhō sneered."Do you still not understand the situation? Gyokushō is finished!All of us Seven Travelers are dead or captured. What does he even have left to fight the Nura Clan?"
He turned toward Ren, lowering his posture with exaggerated reverence.
"This lord is both brave and wise. Compared to him, Gyokushō is nothing!"
The cat yokai and samurai spirits of the Oni-Tōin looked at Inuhō with open disdain.
But Inuhō didn't care.
To him, survival justified everything.
Unfortunately for him, he soon realized just how wrong he was.
"It seems you've all made your choices," Ren said evenly."Kill this one. Leave the other two for now."
Inuhō froze.
He looked down at Ren's extended finger.
It was pointing… at him.
As the surrounding yokai surged forward, Inuhō's face twisted in terror.
"Master—! You've got it wrong!" he shouted desperately."I was the first to submit! Why am I the one who dies instead of them?!"
But against the swarm of Oni-Tōin yokai, Inuhō had no chance.
Ren's voice cut through the chaos, cold and absolute.
"You betrayed your original master without hesitation. Who's to say you wouldn't betray me just as easily?""You show no mercy toward former comrades and possess no sense of loyalty or justice."
"What use does a traitor like that have?"
Inuhō—the Dog Phoenix—died an ugly, pitiful death.
He had thought himself the smartest of them all.
The Cliff Monk and Crochet-onna watched in horror as Inuhō was torn apart, their hearts pounding violently.
The Cliff Monk, in particular, felt a wave of cold fear. He had nearly made the same choice—and now realized how close he had come to death.
Then another worry crept in.
Ren clearly despised traitors.
Hadn't he betrayed Gyokushō as well?
Ren glanced at him.
"Although you chose submission, your earlier hesitation shows you're not the type to stab others in the back. I'll keep you—for now."
Then his gaze shifted to Crochet-onna.
"Loyalty is admirable," Ren said calmly."But you should also consider whether the one you serve is worth dying for."
"Gyokushō—eighth son of the eighty-eighth wife of the Hidden God Gyōbu Tanuki?"
Ren's tone was faintly mocking.
"I won't force you to decide now. But after what your 'Lord Gyokushō' has done tonight… I hope you can still say he's worthy of your loyalty."
With that, Ren looked up through the shattered ceiling toward the night sky.
"The ukiyo-e exhibition should be getting lively about now."
Meanwhile—
Elsewhere.
Wielding the divine artifact Demon King's Little Hammer, Gyokushō felt everything falling perfectly into place.
The surrounding factions were being absorbed smoothly.
If he could bring the Oni Combat Academy under his control, his forces would rival the Nura Clan's main house in sheer strength.
True, the Eighty-Eight Demon Parades of Shikoku had not fully assembled—but the Nura Clan's Hyakki Yagyō was scattered throughout the Kantō region. Gathering them all at once was no simple matter.
With the power Gyokushō currently possessed, he already believed himself capable of challenging the Nura Clan head-on.
As the eighth son of the eighty-eighth wife of the Hidden God Gyōbu Tanuki, Gyokushō inherited his father's purest bloodline and strongest power.
His name—Gyokushō, "Jade Glory"—was a symbol of his father's expectations.
For centuries, Shikoku's Eighty-Eight Demon Parade had lived in the shadow of Kantō's Hyakki Yagyō.
That humiliation would end with him.
In terms of bloodline, ambition, and presence, Gyokushō believed himself vastly superior to the third-generation heir of the Nura Clan.
What right did a half-blood who spent his days mingling with humans have to be called the Lord of One Hundred Demons?
Gyokushō, on the other hand, had inherited everything—power, lineage, resolve.
How could Nura Rikuo compare?
Especially after seeing Rikuo's weak human form, Gyokushō's conviction only grew stronger.
That was the new Lord of One Hundred Demons?
It was laughable.
Even though the Seven Travelers hadn't yet returned from recruiting forces like the Oni Combat Academy—
Gyokushō's jealousy finally boiled over.
He declared war on the Nura Clan.
Killing Rikuo in human form would have been effortless—but Gyokushō didn't do it.
He was ambitious.
Kill Rikuo, and Nurarihyon himself would inevitably appear.
If Gyokushō wanted to become the true Lord of One Hundred Demons, he needed recognition—from all yokai.
So he would crush the Nura Clan publicly, defeat their useless third-generation heir before the eyes of the entire yokai world, and prove once and for all that Shikoku stood above Kantō.
Just as Gyokushō was lost in those grand fantasies, a voice spoke from behind him.
"Lord Gyokushō… the Seven Travelers were sent to absorb the Kidōin and other factions as ordered, but something has gone wrong."
It was Yotsuki, reporting in a low voice.
Gyokushō stiffened.
"You're saying… only part of the Seven Travelers returned? And the one controlling the Oni Combat Academy is actually a powerful demon-class entity?"
The smug expression on Gyokushō's face twisted instantly into fury and disbelief.
He had never imagined the Seven Travelers would fail so catastrophically—
Much less that a seemingly insignificant local faction would be hiding a monster of that level.
..
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