Although his sneak attack had just failed, Tachibana Kyoya had still managed to evade Ren Kuroda's slash. At a glance, it almost looked like the two of them were evenly matched.
But only Tachibana himself knew the truth.
That was absolutely not the case.
Just moments ago, he had been the one launching a surprise attack, while Ren had merely been forced to respond. Tachibana hadn't held back at all when using "Exterminator", yet Ren had been fighting while holding a small girl in one arm—clearly still leaving himself plenty of leeway.
Who was stronger and who was weaker was obvious at a glance.
Among the three Transmigrators, Tachibana Kyoya was the most scheming. He had always made a habit of feigning weakness, even toward Razan, the being who had summoned them into this world. Let alone Ren Kuroda standing before him now.
Ren gently set the little girl down. She immediately ran back to her mother. The earlier fight had been far too intense, and the onlookers who had been enjoying the spectacle had already fled far away.
Even so, perhaps because they were worried about Ren, the mother and daughter—though they retreated to a safe distance—kept their eyes fixed anxiously on him.
Blades continued to form in midair, shooting toward Ren's position from every direction. At the same time, Taguchi Shogo—who had been blasted away earlier—finally recovered and joined forces with Tachibana.
Tachibana's "Exterminator" allowed him to generate blades at will, while Taguchi's "Berserker" granted him the trait of adamantine invulnerability.
Their strategy was simple: Taguchi would tie Ren down in close combat, while Tachibana bombarded him from afar with a relentless barrage of summoned blades.
Even if Tachibana's blades caught Taguchi in their area of effect, it wouldn't matter. With adamantine invulnerability, Taguchi wouldn't be harmed. In the end, the only one who could be injured was Ren.
Unfortunately for them, absolute power still stood in their way.
Most of the blades didn't even make it close to Ren before being swept aside by his revolving sword aura. As for Taguchi—despite his impressive physical strength—his hand-to-hand combat skills were abysmal. In Ren's eyes, he didn't even qualify as third-rate.
That so-called adamantine invulnerability was a joke. One strike of "Swift as the Wind" was enough to carve an X-shaped gash across Taguchi's crossed forearms, blood spraying everywhere.
And just as Ren closed in, preparing to finish him with "Ravaging as Fire," the mother and daughter suddenly rushed into his path.
Ren had no choice but to divert his slash at the last moment.
The flame-like blade arc tore through empty air. In that instant, the atmosphere grew blisteringly hot. A massive trench—over a hundred meters long—was carved into the bluestone street.
The cut was clean and smooth on both sides. The stone was scorched black, and lingering flames still flickered along the edges, refusing to die out.
Seeing the sheer power of that slash, Taguchi—having narrowly escaped death—imagined what would have happened if it had landed on him.
A chill ran straight down his spine.
On the other side, Tachibana's expression darkened as well.
He had always prided himself as the strongest swordsman. But the destructive force of Ren's slash just now was a merciless slap to the face of that self-proclaimed "strongest."
When Ren had gone after Taguchi earlier, Tachibana hadn't failed to try to intervene. No matter how many blades he generated or from which angle he attacked, Ren reacted as though he had eyes on the back of his head, effortlessly deflecting every strike.
Thankfully, Mizutani Kisei had come through at the critical moment—using "Mad Speaker" to force the mother and daughter into Ren's path as human shields.
And Ren really had hesitated.
Because he was forced to alter the trajectory of his slash mid-swing, Ren took Taguchi's punch head-on, sending him flying dozens of meters away.
That was the only truly effective hit the trio had managed to land since the battle began.
Ren skidded across the ground before finally coming to a stop. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at the three of them with even greater disdain.
"So not only is your intelligence below standard," he said coldly, "your moral bottom line is nonexistent as well. Using women and children as shields—don't you feel even a shred of shame?"
"Mad Speaker" might not work on Ren, but that didn't mean it was ineffective against everyone else.
Judging from Ren's earlier actions, he clearly cared about that mother and daughter. Mizutani Kisei decided to gamble—and she won. Ren was monstrously strong, but as long as he had something he cared about, he could be restrained.
"Mad Speaker is my ability," Taguchi sneered. "So what if it's a bit despicable? As long as we win, that's all that matters.If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being alone. You're dying here today."
Neither Taguchi Shogo nor Tachibana Kyoya had any intention of letting Ren leave alive.
The reason was simple. From the very start, Ren had been mocking them in every possible way. Ever since arriving in this world, they had been arrogant and proud—how could they possibly tolerate that?
Worse still, Ren was around their age, yet his strength was absurdly overwhelming. They were the Transmigrators. Why did he get to be this strong while they didn't?
In short, the trio was jealous.
They were jealous of Ren's power—power so great it surpassed all three of them combined.
If such power couldn't be taken for themselves, then the best option was to destroy it.
Hearing Taguchi try to justify their despicable actions, Ren let out a soft, mocking laugh.
"So you think numbers are an advantage, and fairness doesn't matter in a fight?In that case, I don't need to hold back either.No—actually, against trash like you, I never should have followed the rules in the first place."
As he spoke, Ren slowly raised one arm. A massive surge of demonic power poured into it, and the oni crest on the back of his hand began to glow with an eerie light.
In front of him, three magic circles flared to life.
As the circles pulsed brighter and brighter, three silhouettes gradually took shape within them.
"Damn it—he's using summoning magic!" Tachibana was the first to realize the danger. "I don't know what he's calling, but we have to stop him now!"
He immediately generated a storm of blades in midair and sent them raining down.
But before they could reach the magic circles, a slender figure stepped forward from the center one and casually raised a hand.
A massive white spiderweb burst into existence, spreading through the air and snaring every incoming blade.
Tachibana's summoned swords were as sharp as divine weapons, yet the threads of the web were astonishingly resilient. His barrage was completely neutralized, every blade suspended helplessly in midair.
After hearing Tachibana's warning, Taguchi was the second to charge forward, throwing a punch at one of the magic circles.
Whatever Ren was summoning, it couldn't be allowed to complete. They were already struggling against Ren alone—if he brought reinforcements, they'd be finished.
Confident in his strength, Taguchi smashed his fist toward the leftmost circle.
But the massive figure inside let out a mocking snort and threw a punch of its own.
The two fists collided with a thunderous boom.
The summoned figure didn't budge an inch.
Taguchi, on the other hand, staggered back several steps.
As the light of the magic circles faded, the three figures fully emerged and dropped to one knee in perfect unison before Ren.
"Spider Princess—along with Hand-Washing Oni and the Samurai Spirit—answers the lord's summons!By your command, Ren-sama, we shall annihilate your enemies!"
When the magic circles vanished completely, the three standing before Ren were unmistakably Spider Princess—summoned from his original world—and Hand-Washing Oni and the Samurai Spirit, summoned from the Nura Clan world.
Back in that world, both the Samurai Spirit and Hand-Washing Oni had been reinforced by Ren using Lesser Demonic Power Crystals. Their power now stood at B–rank demonic energy.
By this world's standards, they were roughly equivalent to Special A–class monsters.
As for Spider Princess, she was on a completely different level. Empowered by the spiritual energy vortex and大量 of Lesser Demonic Power Crystals, her current strength was not much weaker than Ren in his normal state—reaching A–rank.
And because she could also summon her own minions, her overall threat level, by this world's classification, had likely reached Disaster-Class.
This was the first time Ren had summoned them in this world, and all three were visibly excited.
Ren commanded many yokai, but being summoned meant he truly valued them.
Spider Princess took it in stride—her feelings toward Ren were already special, and Yami and Ruki treated her like family. She was happy, but not overly so.
Compared to her, however, the Samurai Spirit and Hand-Washing Oni were practically vibrating with excitement.
There were many yokai under Ren's command—some no weaker than them—but he hadn't summoned his beloved nekomata or others. He had summoned them.
Which meant that, even if Ren didn't say it out loud, he truly valued them.
This chance to fight under Ren-sama's command was something they fully intended to capitalize on.
After all, once they returned, they'd have a hell of a story to brag about.