Alone, with a single blade at his side, Ren Kuroda walked calmly to the very center of the battlefield.
Before him, the Kingdom's army surged forward like a living ocean—endless, overwhelming.
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 demonic energy roared skyward like a colossal pillar, piercing the heavens.
The sheer density of that power twisted the sky itself—dark clouds churned violently, spiraling into a massive vortex overhead.
This wasn't the result of any sixth-tier spell like Weather Control.
It was simply… the natural phenomenon caused by his overwhelming aura.
—
Among the hidden observers, the Eighth Seat of the Black Scripture—Thousand-League Astrologer—was not a combatant, but a master of divination.
She had intended to peer into the future of this battle.
But the moment she activated her crystal sphere—
Crack.
A fracture split across its surface.
Then another.
Her face drained of color as the sphere began to shatter in her hands.
What she saw—
—or perhaps what she couldn't see—
filled her with pure, instinctive terror.
—
Far away, the true body of the Platinum Dragon Lord opened its massive eyes.
Even through the remotely controlled armor, he could feel it.
That power.
"That level of magic…" he murmured.
"…That is no human. No—something like that cannot possibly be a 'normal' human."
—
The storm of energy spiraled outward, whipping the battlefield into chaos.
The soldiers at the very front of the Kingdom's charge came to an abrupt halt, their instincts screaming at them not to take another step.
But only for a moment.
From behind them, their commanders snapped out of their shock and began shouting orders.
"Advance! Don't falter!"
"Are you going to be scared off by a single man?!"
It was absurd.
No matter how strong one individual might be, they had hundreds of thousands on their side.
If they turned tail and fled now—
They might as well hand over the Kingdom without a fight.
—
At the rear of the army, the royal guard—Climb and Brain—watched the scene unfold, their expressions darkening.
They recognized this.
That pressure.
That presence.
"Your Majesty, we must withdraw!" they urged immediately.
But the King, much like the nobles commanding the army, refused to listen.
Retreating before a single opponent?
That would be more than humiliation—it would be the end of their dignity as a nation.
—
"It's coming…" Brain muttered, his voice tight.
"That overwhelming killing intent… like being dragged straight into hell."
Only those who had experienced it firsthand could understand.
He and Climb had once endured it themselves—and even then, they had barely held on before losing consciousness.
"I know it's terrifying," Climb said, swallowing hard as he stared at Ren in the distance, "but we have hundreds of thousands of troops. Even if he's stronger now… at most, he could only knock out a few thousand, right?"
Brain shook his head slowly.
"If it were the same level as before, maybe. But look at him now… he's not even trying to hide it anymore."
"This isn't something that stops at a few thousand."
—
As if to prove Brain's words true—
The battlefield changed.
Completely.
—
"You should consider yourselves lucky," Ren said calmly, his voice carrying across the entire plain.
"I'm your opponent."
"If it were Momonga stepping in, he'd open with a super-tier spell… and hundreds of thousands of lives would vanish in an instant."
He exhaled softly.
"I may be a yokai… but I'm still half human."
"I don't enjoy mass slaughter."
"So do me a favor…"
"…and just lie down and take a nap."
A faint smile curved his lips.
"Demon King's Pressure—Maximum Level. Full Release."
—
In this world, Ren's Demon King's Pressure was akin to Momonga's Despair Aura—but far more oppressive, delivering a direct assault on the mind itself.
Behind him, his crimson aura compressed and condensed—
Until it formed something… tangible.
A gate.
A massive, blood-red gate.
Etched upon its surface were grotesque oni faces—fangs bared, eyes glaring with feral malice.
Slowly—
The gate began to open.
From within the darkness beyond, a clawed hand reached out… gripping the edge of the frame.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
A deafening roar erupted.
Then—
It emerged.
A towering oni deity, with crimson hair, jagged fangs, clad in demonic armor.
Three heads.
Six arms.
A being that looked as though it had crawled straight out of hell itself.
It hadn't even fully stepped through the gate—
And yet, with that single roar and a sweep of its icy gaze—
The front ranks of the Kingdom's army collapsed.
Tens of thousands of soldiers foamed at the mouth and dropped like wheat before a scythe.
Not just the men—
Their warhorses crumpled as well.
Because this pressure… this killing intent…
Didn't discriminate.
Human, beast, or monster—
Before a true apex predator, all were equal.
—
"Th-that's… the gates of hell!"
"He's a demon! A real demon!"
"How could humans ever fight something like that?!"
Nearly eighty thousand soldiers fell unconscious before they even understood what had happened.
Further back, those outside the immediate range felt less of the crushing force—
But the sight alone was enough.
The gate.
The oni.
The sudden collapse of tens of thousands of their comrades—
Panic spread like wildfire.
No matter how loudly the officers shouted—
It was already over.
Weapons clattered to the ground as soldiers turned and fled in terror.
—
But in the presence of a supreme yokai—
Fear was not an escape.
It was nourishment.
—
The three-headed, six-armed oni drank deeply from the fear flooding the battlefield.
It devoured that emotion greedily, its body growing larger, more solid—more real.
No longer content to remain within the gate, it began to step out.
Fully.
When the crimson oni finally emerged completely from the gate—
It roared again.
A roar of satisfaction.
And in that instant—
Even the soldiers who had already fled far into the distance—
Collapsed.
Like fields of grain cut down in an instant.
—
The first wave—eighty thousand.
The second—over a hundred thousand more.
Nearly two hundred thousand soldiers now lay sprawled across the plains, the battlefield transformed into a sea of unconscious bodies.
And those who managed to escape?
Barely a few tens of thousands.
—
From beginning to end—
Ren Kuroda had not moved a single step.
Standing exactly where he was—
He had shattered an army of hundreds of thousands.
—
"Monster…!"
"He's a demon… a real demon!"
"How could something like that even exist?!"
...
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