The lightning raged like a herd of wild beasts breaking free of their reins.
At the very moment the Raikōhō closed in on her, Enma finally managed to break free from the binding of the Six Rods Prison of Light.
But—
Even breaking free now was already too late.
Given the sheer speed and overwhelming size of the descending lightning sphere, even if their positions were reversed, Ren Kuroda—despite possessing a far stronger physique—wouldn't have been confident in dodging it.
"BOOOOOOM—!!"
The instant the massive sphere of lightning struck the ground, its violent energy was unleashed in full.
Thunder erupted in every direction.
For a brief moment, more than half of the Innate Domain was illuminated as bright as day, and the entire space trembled violently.
The ground began to fracture.
It split apart as though struck by a natural catastrophe, vast fissures tearing through the land.
Cracks spread like a web across a large portion of the domain.
The Demon Realm had already resembled a hellscape—but now, with that colossal bolt descending from the heavens, it felt like divine judgment itself had fallen, intent on annihilating everything.
At the epicenter of the explosion, the heat generated by the lightning melted solid rock into flowing magma. Wild arcs of electricity lashed out in every direction, carving deep trenches into the surrounding earth.
Some bolts struck the swampy areas—detonating violently upon contact with the water and sending towering sprays several meters into the air.
Even the black-mud oni, who had been busy hunting and devouring wraiths, abandoned their feast. Under the command of their generals, they rapidly retreated from the range of this apocalyptic storm.
Even after the initial detonation, the violent lightning continued to ravage the land for several minutes before finally subsiding.
What remained…
Was devastation.
At the center lay a massive crater, hundreds of meters in diameter, its surface scorched red-hot.
Around it, countless fractures radiated outward like spiderwebs—some stretching over a kilometer in length.
Yet as Ren gazed upon the destruction wrought by his attack—
There was no triumph in his expression.
Only tension.
Because he could still feel it.
Enma's presence hadn't vanished.
If anything—
It had grown stronger.
Which meant…
Even after taking an attack of that magnitude head-on, she hadn't suffered significant damage.
That should have been impossible.
Even for someone at the planet-shattering tier, a direct hit from an attack like that should have left them at least severely injured—if not outright destroyed.
And yet, her aura not only remained—it surged.
It was absurd.
Then—
Ren got his answer.
From within the massive crater, Enma's figure slowly rose into the air.
Her appearance had changed.
Gone was the seductive figure clad in a high-slit fox-fur robe.
In its place stood a being radiating solemn authority—her attire transformed into regal garments of dark gold, crowned with divine splendor.
And behind her—
A vast palace materialized.
A grand structure loomed, its plaque bearing the words: "Enma Hall."
Though it appeared as a phantom rather than a solid object, it exuded an overwhelming presence—one that instinctively compelled reverence, as though demanding all who beheld it to bow in submission.
Before, Enma had fought using her power as a yokai.
Now—
She wielded the power of a god.
As the Flame Deity had once said, beings who reached the level of mid-tier gods often possessed domain authority.
And what Enma displayed now—
Was precisely that.
Her domain: Enma Hall.
When the massive Raikōhō had descended earlier, she had known full well that escape was no longer an option.
If she couldn't evade—
Then she would endure it.
But not with her physical body alone.
Even if her body could withstand it, that attack would still inflict severe damage on her soul.
So, after a brief hesitation, she had chosen to deploy her divine domain.
It was only because Enma Hall had taken the full brunt of the explosion that she now stood before Ren, unharmed.
Of course, blocking such a devastating spell head-on with her domain had come at a cost.
Even now, the palace behind her appeared less solid than before.
If attacks of that scale were unleashed once or twice more—
Even Enma Hall might not hold.
"Kneel."
"Wraith Pressure."
Floating high above, clad in her regal divine attire, Enma extended her slender hand—and pressed it downward.
In that instant—
Ren felt it.
An overwhelming force descended upon him.
A crushing weight that bore down not on his body—
But on his soul.
His upright stance faltered, his body bending slightly under the invisible pressure.
Ren was no stranger to gravity-based abilities.
But this—
This was different.
Just like her Soul-Shattering Kick, this power didn't target the flesh.
It pressed directly upon the soul itself.
As the ruler of the dead, Enma's Enma Hall possessed two primary abilities.
The first was the power of Soul Seizure.
The moment the hall opened its gates, it could forcibly strip away the souls of those within its domain.
However, that ability only worked on those significantly weaker than her—or those with fragile willpower.
In simple terms, it was meant for clearing out lesser enemies.
The second—
Was what she was using now.
Wraith Pressure.
As the appointed administrator of the underworld, and the sovereign of this land—
Enma was, in essence, a king among spirits.
And as such—
She had both the authority and the right to make all beings within her domain bow before her.
But unfortunately for her—
Ren was different.
His soul did not belong to this land.
And whether as a human or a yokai—
He would never kneel so easily before another.
If she was the king of spirits—
Then he was something beyond that.
A demon god.
A vast surge of yokai energy erupted from Ren's body.
Within the Innate Domain, the oni army raised a unified cry—
"We exist to serve our king!"
In the next instant, their forms dissolved, collapsing into torrents of black mire that surged toward Ren's feet.
The sludge of "All the World's Evil" flowed like a living entity, climbing upward along his body—
Spreading.
Wrapping around him.
Beginning to consume him whole…
..
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