Alone, with a single blade at his side, Ren Kuroda walked calmly to the very center of the battlefield.
Before him, the army of the Kingdom surged forward like a living ocean—an endless tide of steel and flesh. And yet, his expression remained utterly composed.
Without a word, Ren drove his divine blade into the ground before him.
In the next instant—
A terrifying surge of power erupted from his body.
Crimson energy roared upward like a pillar piercing the heavens, bursting into the sky with overwhelming force. The sheer density of his aura churned the clouds themselves into chaos, forming a massive vortex overhead.
This wasn't a spell like Weather Control.
It was simply the natural phenomenon caused by power that had exceeded all limits.
Far away, among the hidden observers, one of the covert operatives—a girl specializing in divination—raised her crystal sphere, attempting to glimpse the future of the battle.
But before she could complete her reading—
Crack.
A fracture spread across the surface of the orb.
Then another.
And another.
Her face drained of all color as the sphere shattered in her hands.
"What… is this…?"
Miles away, the true body of the platinum dragon sovereign opened its eyes.
Through the armor it controlled, it gazed upon Ren's overwhelming aura—and reached a single conclusion.
"That… is no human."
Or rather—
"Not a normal human."
—
The storm of power swept across the battlefield, whipping up violent winds.
At the very front of the charging army, the soldiers faltered.
Their feet refused to move.
Their instincts screamed at them to stop.
But behind them, the officers snapped out of their shock and began shouting orders.
"Advance! Don't stop!"
"Are you cowards?! There are hundreds of thousands of us!"
"No matter how strong he is, he's just one man!"
Their logic was sound.
If an army of this size turned back because of a single opponent… then the war was already lost.
—
Far in the rear, guarding the king, two warriors watched the scene unfold—veterans who had seen Ren before.
And their expressions darkened instantly.
"This is bad… Your Majesty, we need to retreat!"
But the king refused.
Retreating before even engaging would be more than a loss—it would be humiliation.
—
"That's it… it's coming…"
One of the warriors clenched his fists, his voice trembling.
"That pressure… that killing intent… it's like being dragged into hell itself."
He had experienced it once before.
He knew exactly what was about to happen.
Another swallowed hard, forcing himself to speak.
"But… even if it's that power… there are hundreds of thousands of us…"
"At most… maybe a few thousand would collapse, right…?"
The first man shook his head slowly.
"No…"
"That was when he wasn't serious."
"This—what we're seeing now—is on a completely different level."
—
And then—
As if to prove him right—
It happened.
Ren stood motionless, his voice echoing across the battlefield.
"You're lucky your opponent is me."
"If it were Ainz stepping in… one super-tier spell, and hundreds of thousands of lives would vanish."
"I may be a yokai… but I'm still half human."
"I don't enjoy mass slaughter."
"So—"
His gaze swept across the army.
"Why don't you all just lie down… and take a nap?"
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Demon King's Pressure—Level MAX."
"Full Release."
—
The world… seemed to stop.
Behind Ren, his overwhelming aura condensed, compressed to an extreme—
And then—
A massive, blood-red gate materialized.
Upon its surface was carved the face of a snarling oni, its fangs bared in a grotesque grin.
The gate slowly creaked open from the center.
From within—
A clawed hand emerged, gripping the frame.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
A thunderous roar erupted, like a demon's howl from the depths of hell.
A colossal figure began to reveal itself—
Crimson hair.
Savage fangs.
Armor shaped like a demonic visage.
Three heads.
Six arms.
An ancient oni god… crawling its way into the world.
—
It had not even fully emerged yet.
And still—
The moment its gaze swept across the battlefield—
Tens of thousands of soldiers at the front convulsed violently.
Foam spilled from their mouths.
Their eyes rolled back.
Like wheat cut down in a harvest—
They collapsed.
All at once.
Not just the men—
But their warhorses as well.
Because fear… and killing intent… spared no living being.
Human.
Animal.
Monster.
Before absolute dominance—
All were equal.
—
"That's… the gate of hell…"
"That man… he's a real demon!"
"How are we supposed to fight something like that?!"
Around eighty thousand soldiers fell before they even understood what had happened.
Those further back, though less affected, saw everything clearly—
The gate.
The oni.
Their comrades collapsing in droves.
And just like that—
The army's morale shattered.
—
"Run…!"
"Drop your weapons!"
"I don't want to die!"
No matter how the officers shouted—
It was useless.
Fear had already taken hold.
Weapons clattered to the ground.
Soldiers turned and fled in blind panic.
—
But before a supreme yokai—
Fear itself… was fatal.
The spreading terror fed the oni behind Ren.
Fear—awe—dread—
These emotions became nourishment.
The more the army panicked—
The stronger it grew.
The three-headed, six-armed deity swelled in size, its form becoming more solid, more real.
It began to step out from the gate.
Fully emerging into the world.
—
"ROOOOOOOOOAR—!"
Another roar shook the heavens.
This time—
Even those who had already fled far from the battlefield—
Collapsed mid-run.
Eyes rolling back.
Bodies dropping en masse.
—
First, eighty thousand.
Then, over a hundred thousand more.
Nearly two hundred thousand soldiers lay unconscious across the plains.
The battlefield had become a sea of fallen bodies.
And those who managed to escape?
Fewer than tens of thousands remained.
—
From beginning to end—
Ren had not taken a single step.
He simply stood there.
And the Kingdom's grand army—
Mobilized with the full might of a nation—
Had already been utterly crushed.
—
"Monster…!"
"He's a real monster!"
"How could something like that… exist in this world…?"