"Are you insane?! That aura is pure malice—how could you just absorb it directly into your body?!"
By this point in the battle, Enma had already grasped a few things. The black sludge was undeniably vile—corrupt, foul, and steeped in evil—but it didn't seem to be the same existence as Ren Kuroda. There was a connection between them, yes, but they were still fundamentally separate entities.
But what Ren was doing now—taking in that "Evil of This World" straight into himself—left even her utterly stunned.
She didn't know exactly what that black substance was, but the aura it gave off was enough to make even someone as battle-hardened as her feel a chill of genuine danger.
It was something that could devour gods and yokai alike without discrimination.
Any sane being would avoid it at all costs.
And yet Ren Kuroda had chosen to embrace it.
Ignoring Enma's shock, Ren continued to absorb massive amounts of the "Evil of This World." His body began to change, and the energy radiating from him surged at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Under the corrosive influence of that darkness, his entire body shifted toward a pitch-black palette—until even the whites of his eyes were swallowed by pure, inky void.
His reason still clung to him—barely.
But the countless negative emotions contained within that evil gnawed at his mind, twisting his temperament into something far more frenzied and unrestrained than before.
And that fragile grip on sanity… wouldn't last long.
If he failed to suppress the "Evil of This World" within a limited time, the outcome would be inevitable—
Total corruption. Complete berserk.
"The ruler of the underworld… and a mid-tier domain to boot. Either way…" Ren's lips curled into a manic grin, his voice laced with battle-hungry madness. "You're worth cutting down."
Fully aware that he couldn't maintain this state for long, Ren didn't waste a second.
A terrifying, oceanic surge of yokai energy erupted from him in an instant.
Within the windless bounded domain, a storm equivalent to a category-13 tempest exploded into existence, centered entirely around Ren. A violent maelstrom of demonic energy tore through the entire space.
The colossal Palace of Enma hovered in the sky, unmoving even amid the raging storm—
But Enma's expression darkened with every passing second.
She had already revised her estimation of Ren upward again and again.
And yet he kept surpassing it.
That kind of vile, violent substance—and he could absorb it, retain consciousness, and merely have his personality altered?
What kind of monstrous willpower and mental fortitude was that?
At that moment, Enma finally understood why even after his soul had been severely damaged earlier, Ren had only shown signs of momentary disorientation.
The storm of yokai energy continued to rage.
That overwhelming power began to condense, almost becoming tangible as it poured from Ren's body.
The ground, unable to withstand the sudden explosive increase in energy, began to crack apart. Even the bounded domain itself trembled, as if on the verge of collapse under the strain.
Behind Ren, thick, viscous violet energy gathered in massive quantities.
Then—
With a violent tremor shaking the earth, the energy coating the ground surged upward.
From beneath the surface, a colossal gate slowly rose into view—
Its surface engraved with the visage of a snarling oni.
CRACK—!
A thin beam of light slipped through the opening seam of the gate—
And with it, an overwhelming flood of deathly aura burst forth, as though it had finally found an outlet.
The legendary Rashomon Gate creaked open.
From within, a towering figure—over a hundred meters tall—began to emerge.
A death god.
Its skin was a ghastly blue, its fanged maw twisted in a ferocious snarl, its long crimson hair whipping wildly. With three heads and six arms, clad in demonic armor, it radiated an overwhelming presence.
Its blazing red eyes held nothing but absolute disdain for all living things.
Just standing there, its very form alone was enough to crush the will of most who beheld it.
Yet even as it stepped forward from the Rashomon Gate, it was not truly free.
Heavy chains bound its wrists, ankles, and even its waist—
The other ends of those chains extended deep into the darkness beyond the gate.
One couldn't help but wonder—
What kind of existence could possibly restrain a being like this?
"ROOOAAARRR—!!"
The divine oni behind Ren let out a furious roar toward the heavens.
It paid no mind to its own restraints, instead thrashing violently. The chains binding it screeched under the strain, emitting a grinding sound that set teeth on edge.
But no matter how it struggled, it could not break free from the Rashomon Gate.
In the end, it could only vent its fury upon the enemy before it.
Ren had used this ability once before, in another world—
But back then, the oni god hadn't even fully emerged. A single roar had been enough to knock hundreds of thousands of soldiers unconscious.
Now, however—
It had stepped out.
And its presence was far more terrifying than before.
Realizing it could not yet escape its confinement, the three-headed oni cast a resentful glance back at the massive gate behind it—
Before turning its gaze toward its current opponent.
When its crimson eyes fell upon the towering palace in the sky—and Enma, whose body exuded both deathly aura and divine authority—
A faint trace of contempt appeared on its faces.
Then, one of its right hands reached into the void.
As if answering its call, vast quantities of the "Evil of This World" began to gather rapidly before it.
In mere moments, a massive jet-black odachi—formed entirely from that same evil—was pulled forth from within the bounded domain.
Its blood-red eyes, brimming with disdain, merely swept over Enma once—
And the ruler of the underworld felt a chill run through her entire being.
The crushing spiritual pressure of the Palace of Enma, which had once weighed down on Ren's soul, had already lost all effect the moment he absorbed the "Evil of This World."
And now—
With the sudden emergence of the Rashomon Gate and the three-headed, six-armed oni god, everything had spiraled far beyond Enma's expectations.
Her gaze locked onto the man standing below.
Who… was he?
The aura and presence radiating from that monstrous being were enough to instill pure dread.
Simply standing against it was enough to shatter one's will to fight.
And the moment it stepped out from the Rashomon Gate—
Enma understood.
She had already lost.
It wasn't that she hadn't considered fleeing.
But her presence… had been completely locked onto by that terrifying oni.
And those crimson eyes—
Devoid of even the faintest trace of emotion—
Told her everything she needed to know.
Escape was not an option.
Not here.
Because this space—
This very domain—
Was part of his power.
As the ruler of the underworld, there were few beings who had ever made Enma feel such overwhelming despair.
In fact—
Since the time she had stood before Lady Izanami herself—
This was the first.