Chapter 13: Shuten Dōji, the Demon God at the Pinnacle

The towering man radiated explosive, terrifying demonic power as he walked step by step through the drifting volcanic ash, coming to a stop before Zhou Yan and the others.

Zhou Yan had not yet discerned the identity of the man before him, but Qingming behind him had already spoken out warily: "Shuten Doji!? Why are you here?"

"The world is vast—is there anywhere I cannot go?" The burly man roared with laughter in response.

The others behind reacted with incredible speed, all of them mounting a counterattack in an instant.

Seimei Monzen raised a single finger, and a five-pointed star formation of light materialized before him. The next moment, countless paper cranes burst forth from within, each carrying spiritual radiance, charging toward the towering Shuten Doji as if guided by homing capability.

The great bow on Kagami Miao's back detached and flew up into the air, drawing itself taut automatically. An arrow formed from spiritual power shot forth, curving along a bending trajectory to strike at Shuten's back from behind.

The ground beneath the warrior monk Fudouzen exploded as he launched himself like a cannonball to Shuten's side, his fist wreathed in the phantom image of the Fudo Myoo's arm as he drove a punch forward.

The shinobi Ranmaru leaped high into the air, spinning a massive bladed weapon connected to chains at tremendous speed, slashing toward Shuten.

Oraiya Aya slammed her divine staff heavily into the ground, and lightning condensed from spiritual energy crackled into existence out of nowhere, descending from directly above.

The paper cranes enveloped him entirely. The arrow pierced his back. The fist struck his chest. The flying blade slashed toward his neck. Spiritual lightning coursed across his entire body.

"Hahaha!"

With countless attacks raining down upon him, the target Shuten let out a wild laugh, making no move to dodge or block as he absorbed all the damage.

"Pathetic!"

With a thunderous roar, a tidal wave of demonic power erupted from Shuten's body, instantly repelling every attack that had come at him.

The five who had launched the attacks were likewise rebuffed by the backlash of that demonic power, blood spraying from their mouths.

Four of them, having attacked from range, had suffered relatively light injuries.

But Fudouzen, who had struck at close range, was sent flying more than ten meters away, his arm twisted at an unnatural angle. He struggled desperately several times but still could not rise.

Such ferocity. Such overbearing dominance. He seemed utterly invincible!

Seimei Monzen gazed at the arrogant demon king, bitterness welling in his eyes.

If this were several hundred years ago, though demons and monsters had raged just as fiercely, humanity had possessed heroes of equal brilliance.

The demonic deity Shuten Doji before them was certainly powerful, but he had once been slain and sealed by the likes of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and other sages of old.

But now...

'I bear only the name of Seimei—my gap with the Abe no Seimei of old is as vast as the difference between the sun and moon versus a firefly's glow...'

'If I can barely withstand even a Shuten Doji, how can I speak of sealing the Gates of Hell?'

The foremost onmyoji of the age, at this very moment, finally began to harbor tremendous self-doubt about the campaign he himself had initiated to seal the gates.

*

On Shuten's side, having decisively crushed the combined assault of the era's strongest warriors, he paid their reactions no mind whatsoever.

Instead, with overbearing arrogance, he strode forward two steps, closing the distance to less than a foot between himself and Zhou Yan.

During this, Oboro at Zhou Yan's side gritted her teeth and tried to bar his way, but Zhou Yan caught her gently and cast her behind him.

Shuten Doji looked down at Zhou Yan from his towering height, his voice low: "You... carry the scent of my dear friend on your person."

Zhou Yan looked up at this mightiest of demons, who stood nearly two and a half meters tall, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly: "You mean Ibaraki? Its horn is resting in my pack."

Boom!

A colossal impact resounded like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, sending everyone staggering half a step backward.

The ground beneath the two of them shattered, and a massive cloud of crimson dust was kicked up by the opposing forces of their clash.

Focusing their eyes, they saw Shuten Doji's enormous fist halted beside Zhou Yan's left cheek, held firmly in place by his left arm.

"Not bad strength. Better than those five wastes." Shuten Doji lowered his head, the whites of his eyes turning black, his smile vicious and savage.

The armor over Zhou Yan's face parted, revealing his curled-up grin as he met the demon's gaze without any sign of retreat: "What's the matter? Looks like you haven't eaten?"

*

When he finished speaking, the others behind him, still recovering from their injuries, were all stunned for a moment.

Wait—at a time like this, does Lord Yan still have the audacity to put on a tough front?

His opponent is Shuten Doji!

Shuten's eyes flickered subtly, and he let out a great laugh, baring his gleaming white fangs: "Interesting! Most interesting!"

"In all my years of living, this is the first time a human has dared to critique my strength!"

"Then—"

He withdrew his fist in an instant, drawing it back to his waist. His entire arm could be seen lighting up with demonic power that deepened from blue to near-purple.

"How about this strike?!"

With that power-laden heavy fist, he unleashed an uppercut with devastating force.

Boom!

Amid Shuten Doji's earth-shattering, manic laughter, Zhou Yan's body—struck square-on—shot skyward like a cannonball, flying straight to a height of over ten meters.

But Shuten Doji did not stop there. He crouched his legs, then launched himself straight up into the air, his long, wild red hair streaming violently behind him like flames in the rapid ascent.

His entire body was cloaked in the flames of blue-purple demonic power, and in the blink of an eye, he had already risen above Zhou Yan.

Then, he clasped his hands together and raised them high overhead, the combined fists containing terrifyingly immense power.

His pupils had transformed into black-sclera with golden irises, and a grotesque, savage grin stretched across his face as he looked down at Zhou Yan, who was suspended in midair.

He taunted: "You—have any last words?"

The moment the words left his mouth, before Zhou Yan could even reply, his joined fists came crashing down with brutal force!

Those below watched with eyes wide and hearts nearly split asunder.

Shing!

In the space between moments, amid a resonant hum—

A streak of black light flashed across the sky.

Shuten Doji, who had been descending fists-first, jerked backward violently—but it was already too late to dodge.

SHHK!

The black-flame sword edge swept past.

A massive wound split open across his bare chest and abdomen, with great quantities of black flame clinging to the gash!

Zhou Yan, who had been on the verge of being crushed by that blow, was now spinning rapidly horizontally through the air, the Karma Lotus Calamity Sword in his hand burning with miasmic flames, making him appear wreathed in a ring of black fire.

"Hmph—!" Shuten reacted with lightning speed. Paying no heed to his wound, he seized the opportunity to kick Zhou Yan away.

The two sprang apart in midair.

Shuten executed several consecutive backflips before landing swiftly. By the time he touched the ground, the horrific sword wound across his chest and abdomen had already begun to heal almost completely.

He gritted his teeth and raised his head—only to see that behind Zhou Yan, whom he had kicked away, a pair of black wings had appeared from nowhere.

As the wings gave a gentle flutter, Zhou Yan descended to the ground as if defying gravity. Upon landing, the wings naturally dissolved, transforming into a cape.

"Your sword... is not bad." Shuten Doji stood up straight, his gaze locked tightly onto the Karma Lotus Calamity Sword that burned with black flames in Zhou Yan's hand.

"Thank you for the compliment." Zhou Yan stood perfectly upright, holding the sword horizontally before his eyes with his right hand, the Oboro mark on the back of his hand flickering faintly.

A confident expression crossed Shuten Doji's rugged face: "Interesting. Among all the humans I have encountered, I doubt any can compare to you."

Even as he spoke, he settled into a horsestance. Endless demonic power surged upward, and the demonic flames covering his body had fully transformed from deep blue into violet.

"Next—is round two!" With a wild laugh, Shuten Doji's strength and speed increased by severalfold, and he charged at Zhou Yan as a blurred afterimage that ordinary people could hardly track.

"Then I'll play along with you!" The life armor over Zhou Yan's face sealed itself shut automatically, leaving only his eyes exposed.

*

He pressed his sword finger against the blade. As the Oboro mark blazed, he drew the Karma Lotus Calamity Sword outward, and deep blue flames enveloped the blade.

An immense power fed back through the sword, immediately flooding through his body.

This demonic-power-enhanced strength, if converted into attribute values, would be close to roughly "50."

Combined with the total attributes of his own body and his life armor, the comprehensive function of his physique and agility now exceeded "100."

Without even fusing, he already possessed the power he would previously have had after fusion.

This was the enhancement that the additional "demonic power" granted him.

This was the crushing dominance of the "transcendent system" over the "mortal system."

By that same token, empowered by "demonic power," Shuten Doji's strength was likewise by no means at the ordinary "Tier 4" or even "Tier 5" level.

By now, Shuten Doji had already closed the distance to Zhou Yan. He drove out a heavy punch, the deep-purple demonic flames coiled around his fist bursting forth in the shape of a colossal demonic face.

Zhou Yan, however, no longer met him head-on. His figure vanished abruptly, and with the lightning-fast sparrow step, he flashed to Shuten's side, slipping the Calamity Sword out silently from a blind spot.

Venomous Viper!

The sword's edge extended like a serpent's tongue, soundlessly angling toward Shuten's throat.

"Break!" Shuten's reaction was blindingly fast. Facing the throat-slitting blade, his withheld rear hand shot upward in a sudden strike, slamming against the flat of the blade and deflecting the lethal attack aside.

Zhou Yan's sword was knocked upward, and the balance of offense and defense reversed.

Shuten seized this instant of opportunity with centuries of refined combat experience. With a savage howl, both fists wreathed in raging demonic flames, he unleashed a rapid barrage of over a dozen punches at Zhou Yan. Every single blow was a heavy strike, and the demonic flames carried by those dozen-plus impacts merged into a single massive wall of fire, all of it stamped onto Zhou Yan's armor!

No—

They did not actually land on Zhou Yan. Before the flame-wreathed fists could reach him, he raised his hands and lifted his knee in rapid succession, blocking every single one!

Shuten keenly sensed that the feel of impact was wrong. In an instant, he changed tactics, lifting his leg in a stomping kick that sent Zhou Yan flying backward seven or eight meters.

And at the very moment Zhou Yan was sent flying backward, Shuten once again felt a searing pain tear through his chest.

Looking down, he found that a tremendous wound had been carved into him without his even noticing.

The new wound crossed the old one upon his chest, as if to tell him that if he had moved his foot even a moment later, he would have been cleaved in two.

On the other side, Zhou Yan had just landed, sliding back several dozen centimeters across the volcanic ash from his momentum.

"So you managed to dodge that."

Then he raised his head, playful amusement glinting in his eyes.

"You—" Shuten looked at Zhou Yan, who had risen to his feet as if entirely unharmed. How could he not realize that the man had not been going all out?

This man—facing him, the mightiest demonic deity under heaven—was not even fighting at full strength!?

In the distance, Oboro and the demon slayers watched in utter shock. Oboro was faring better—she was an amnesiac, and the impact was not so deeply felt.

But Seimei and the others had grown up being instilled with the belief that "Shuten Doji" was the supreme, most evil "demon deity." Even the great hero Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who slew him in ancient times, had only succeeded in his campaign through scheming and deception, with the aid of weapons and treasures gifted by various gods.

A demon deity so invincible—was now fighting a human to a standstill!?

No—judging by appearances alone, Shuten was even the one more badly wounded and more disheveled!

*