From the moment he received Yamato Kuka's message, Ren Kuroda took only a few minutes to travel from Gunma to Nara.
With his current level of strength, such a distance barely even counted as an obstacle.
In fact, if he hadn't been worried that repeatedly using teleportation techniques might land him in some bizarre, unpredictable location, he could have shortened the time even further.
But when Ren arrived at the location Kuka had sent him, he quickly realized—
He wasn't the only one there.
Back when Hakuba and the others had been dragged into that spatial rift and pursued by the Yomi Hags, they had naturally called for backup from the Special Countermeasure Unit.
And as the Unit's current strongest assets—arguably their last trump cards—the higher-ups had no intention of letting Yamato Kuka and the others die.
Since the gods had begun descending, the structure of the world had changed once again.
The Special Countermeasure Unit had once been an official government organization.
But after certain high-ranking officials began siding with the gods—becoming their followers—the Unit's allegiance had shifted.
Unlike those power-hungry elites, the leaders of the Countermeasure Unit had spent years dealing with supernatural entities.
They understood all too well—
Trying to negotiate with beings on an entirely different level was nothing short of foolish.
When you weren't even on equal footing, what made you think they would treat you as equals?
Right now, the gods' influence among the general population was still limited. They still needed human leaders to guide the masses.
But once the era reset—once the world returned to a mythological age—
Would the gods still have any use for humans who could influence them?
The leadership of the Countermeasure Unit saw this clearly.
And so, they made a decisive choice.
They cut ties with the government—
And became an independent organization.
Of course, without official support, funding and benefits plummeted.
As a result, many members left.
By now, the number of personnel remaining in the Countermeasure Unit was quite small.
And Yamato Kuka's team…
Was the very last pillar holding it all together.
When news came that they were in danger, the higher-ups acted immediately, paying a steep price to enlist the aid of powerful exorcist families.
If even Kuka and the others were lost—
Then the Countermeasure Unit would exist in name only.
—
By the time Ren arrived, quite a number of people had already gathered around the ruins.
Most were from the Countermeasure Unit, while the rest were members of hired exorcist families.
Ren didn't spot anyone from the Amamiya household or the Yamato clan.
Most likely, they hadn't yet been informed of Kuka's current situation.
With no time to waste, Ren didn't bother exchanging greetings.
Instead, he closed his eyes briefly, sensing the lingering traces of Kuka's spiritual energy in the air—pinpointing the area where it was most concentrated.
Then, lowering his stance slightly, he focused on the weakest point in the surrounding space.
"Fūrinkazan Style Secret Art—Six Forms as One—Bukkyoku!"
The moment Ren's eyes snapped open—
A dazzling, rainbow-hued slash exploded into existence.
The crescent-shaped strike didn't fly forward.
Instead, it tore violently into the very fabric of space itself—
Ripping open a massive rift.
Through that gaping tear, Ren could see the world beyond.
The sky on the other side was stained a deep, ominous crimson.
And the instant the rift formed, the traces of Kuka and the others' spiritual energy became far clearer to him.
Weaker than he would've liked—
But still present.
Which meant they were alive.
—
Before stepping through, Ren didn't rush in immediately.
Instead, he pulled out a hexagonal crystal—
And crushed it in his hand.
This was an item from the world of YGGDRASIL.
Its function: spatial marking and teleportation.
Of course, something that caught Ren's interest wasn't just any ordinary teleportation tool.
This crystal ignored distance entirely.
It could forcibly activate even during combat.
Even within dungeon instances, it allowed for an emergency escape.
And now, as he prepared to enter an unknown space filled with unpredictable dangers—while also rescuing Kuka and the others—
There was no such thing as being too cautious.
If he ran into something troublesome, he could locate them first—
And then use the crystal to instantly return here.
With his preparations complete, Ren glanced at the rapidly shrinking rift in front of him—
And without hesitation, stepped through.
—
Not far from the site, the Countermeasure Unit's rescue team witnessed everything.
And for a moment—
They were completely dumbfounded.
They had recognized Ren the moment he arrived.
After all, as a former member of the Unit, his face was more than familiar.
Some had even been about to greet him—
Only to watch, stunned, as he casually sliced open space itself with a single strike.
And before they could even react, he had already vanished into the rift.
By the time they rushed over—
The tear in space had already sealed itself completely.
—
"I thought you said entering that space required analyzing the ruins' barrier and reactivating it to open a path?"
A member of the Countermeasure Unit glared at the group beside him, clearly frustrated.
"We've been here this whole time and still haven't figured anything out.
Our boss paid your Kagamori family a fortune for this job—don't tell me you've just been slacking off!"
The exorcist family they had hired was none other than the Kagamori clan—ranked third among the Thirteen Demon-Slaying Houses.
And leading the team was the clan's most outstanding young prodigy—the Kagamori heiress herself.
Since Kuka and the others had been dragged into that space after triggering a seal within the ruins, dealing with such barriers and ancient mechanisms fell squarely within the Kagamori family's expertise.
When they accepted the job, they had confidently assured the Countermeasure Unit that it was no problem—just a matter of time.
And to be fair, they had indeed arrived long before Ren.
After all, Kuka's team had maintained constant communication with headquarters during their investigation.
So the moment something went wrong, the Unit had responded immediately.
"Do you even know what you're talking about?!" the usually composed Kagamori heiress snapped, losing her temper for once.
"The seal your people triggered is an ancient construct! In the entire exorcist world, only our Kagamori family can even begin to decipher it!
Do you think breaking something like that is easy? If you want to enter that space, the only way is to—"
"Yeah, yeah, sure," the Unit member cut in dryly.
"The only way is to break the seal and reopen the passage.
And yet just now, someone walked up, pulled out a sword—
And cut open a way in."