The so-called Land of Yomi was also known as the "Root Country."
In contrast, the realm of the gods was called Takamagahara, while the human world in between was referred to as the "Ashihara no Nakatsukuni."
Enma was not the ruler of the Root Country.
At best, she was more like an administrator—someone doing the job.
If one were to speak of the true sovereign of Yomi, it would be Izanami herself—the same Izanami who once stood on equal footing with Izanagi.
According to legend, Izanami had dispatched the Yomi hags to hunt down Izanagi, yet they repeatedly failed.
In the end, just as Izanagi was on the verge of escaping the Land of Yomi, Izanami herself was forced to give chase.
But when they reached a place known as Yomotsu Hirasaka, Izanagi sealed the entrance to Yomi with a massive boulder.
Unable to pursue him any further, Izanami, seething with resentment, cursed him:
"I will curse you—and all the life you have created. Every single day, I will claim a thousand lives!"
Izanagi, however, did not yield in the slightest.
"If you take a thousand lives each day," he declared, "then I shall bring fifteen hundred new lives into the world!"
And so—
Humanity came to know birth, aging, sickness, and death.
And each day, more lives would be born than would perish.
But while cursing others might feel satisfying in the moment—
Actually having to process a thousand new souls entering Yomi every single day quickly became a burden, even for Izanami.
Unlike Izanagi, who could leisurely create life, she was left managing the dead—an exhausting and thankless task.
Thus, beings like Enma and the various judges came into existence—
Hybrid entities, neither fully yokai nor fully divine.
Their role was to assist Izanami in managing the Root Country and maintaining order within it.
—
Enma belonged to the highest echelon among yokai—
Yet she was far from an ordinary one.
Within the domain of the Root Country, calling her an absolute authority would not be an exaggeration.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't personally deal with souls that entered Yomi.
Instead, she would leave such matters to the Yomi hags.
After all, even if she wasn't the ultimate ruler, she was still effectively management.
No boss handled every minor task themselves.
But the moment Ren entered this realm—
She noticed him.
As the nominal overseer of Yomi, nothing within its boundaries could escape her awareness.
The Yomi hags had been cut down with ease.
And the aura emanating from Ren was leagues beyond that of the previous group of living beings who had wandered in.
Gods from Takamagahara rarely, if ever, died—so they had no reason to come to Yomi.
But even without encountering them directly, Enma knew what level they operated on.
Ren's power—firmly in the upper tier of the transcendent class—was impossible to conceal.
And that was precisely what shocked her.
Because someone with that level of strength—
Was not a god.
But a half-yokai.
Throughout history, there had indeed been yokai who reached the transcendent level.
But those were legendary beings—great yokai whose names were etched into myth itself.
Or special cases like her—
A yokai blessed directly by Izanami.
But Ren was neither.
From him, Enma could sense only yokai energy… and a trace of human presence.
Which meant—
He was simply a half-yokai.
Not a legendary figure.
Not a being recorded in myth.
Because if he were, there was no way she wouldn't recognize him.
—
Power at the transcendent level was enough to disrupt the order of Yomi itself.
The Yomi hags stood no chance against him.
And so, Enma could no longer remain a passive observer.
She had no choice but to step in.
—
"My companions and I entered the Land of Yomi by accident," Ren said evenly. "We have no intention of making enemies here.
If possible, I hope Lady Enma will allow us to leave.
From a broader perspective, we shouldn't be enemies.
After all… we share a common adversary—the gods."
If Izanami truly hated Izanagi as the legends claimed, then perhaps she wasn't their enemy at all.
There was even a possibility they could become allies.
But more importantly—
Ren simply didn't want to provoke a conflict with Yomi.
The strength of the Enma before him was difficult to gauge.
At a conservative estimate, she was at least on par with him—if not stronger.
And this was her domain.
Even if he managed to defeat her, who knew whether Izanami herself—the true ruler behind the scenes—would appear next?
One of the supreme deities of this realm—
If he were to face her now, Ren had no chance of winning.
He might not even be able to escape.
—
"Intentional or not, once one enters the Land of Yomi, it signifies death. None may leave."
Enma's voice was calm, but absolute.
"This is the law of Yomi.
You have already disrupted its order.
Regardless of your position, I cannot allow you to depart."
Because Izanagi had once escaped Yomi—
While she herself remained bound to it—
Izanami had long since established an unbreakable rule:
All who enter may not leave.
It was, in a way, her pride.
After all, she—a supreme deity—was confined to this realm, unable to pursue Izanagi for vengeance.
If lesser beings could come and go from Yomi as they pleased…
What would that make of her authority?
—
The cloud Enma had been reclining on dissipated.
She rose, one hand holding her pipe, the other resting on her hip—
And her aura began to surge.
Rapidly. Intensely.
She was preparing for battle.
"Honestly, I'd rather not work overtime," she said lazily. "But judging from your aura and what you've shown so far…
The Yomi hags—and the other administrators—aren't enough to deal with you."
The moment her words fell—
Her figure vanished.
And when she reappeared—
She was already in front of Ren.
Just like before—
Even with Ren's current strength, he couldn't perceive her movement at all.
The old iron pipe in her hand cut through the air with a sharp whistle, expanding rapidly in his vision as it aimed straight for his throat.
At the very last instant—
Ren reacted.
Without hesitation, he threw a punch.
This wasn't a casual strike.
He activated the oni clan's monstrous strength—Kairiki Ranshin—
And poured his demonic energy into it without holding back.
BOOM—!
The seemingly slender, fragile pipe collided with his fist—
And instead of shattering, it rang out like steel striking stone.
At the same time—
The shockwave from their clash crushed the ground beneath their feet, causing it to collapse inward—
While a violent storm of force erupted outward, sweeping everything in the surrounding area away in an instant.