Chapter 295: Ibaraki-dōji
As Tokugawa Daliang finished forming the hand seal, the spiritual pressure around him surged to its peak.
The ground cracked inch by inch under the invisible force, and the surrounding Exorcist Division agents were forced to retreat.
At the epicenter, crimson demonic energy burst into the sky.
Tokugawa Daliang’s eyes flew open as he held his sword with both hands, bowing deeply in kneeling worship.
The Tokugawa family held a forbidden technique known as the Reverse Summoning Ritual. Onmyōji typically had three ways of dealing with demons and monsters: annihilation, sealing, and banishment. The third—banishment—was only used when facing overwhelmingly powerful creatures and often required the sacrifice of many Onmyōji to successfully exile a single monster.
And even then, there was still a chance the monster would return.
The so-called Reverse Summoning Ritual was about bringing back the banished.
The Tokugawa family had once used this technique to fight the heavily armed U.S. military to mutual destruction. The summoned monster had taken a direct hit from a nuclear blast—falling silent in the aftermath—but it also happened to spare the Tokugawa family from extinction.
But he could use the Reverse Summoning Ritual to connect with Osaka’s Hyakki Yagyō.
Drawn by the ritual’s energy, the resulting spatial rift would be immediately sensed by the most powerful nearby demon.
How strong the summoned demon might be—Tokugawa Daliang had no idea. It was basically like pulling a random item from a blind box.
The summoned monster would attack indiscriminately, which was exactly why his subordinates were all terrified.
But it was also the only way to survive now.
“Let me show you the demons of Neon!”
Tokugawa Daliang focused and shouted, a mist of blood spraying from his mouth: “Open!”
A crimson rift tore open above his head. A pale giant claw, covered in red runes, reached out from the rift, gripping its edge. With a crack, it tore the portal wider, revealing a monstrous face and golden beast-like pupils.
“Mmm—! The scent of humans!”
The creature’s language was twisted and ancient, yet every word echoed clearly in everyone’s minds, easily understood.
The monster pushed its head out of the spatial rift. Fiery orange-red hair whipped wildly behind it. Crimson bull horns curved from both sides of its skull. A massive mouth stretched across half its face, filled with fangs that gleamed menacingly under the twilight sky.
It wore a tattered samurai armor on its upper body, exposing a broad chest covered in blood-red demonic tattoos.
The moment they saw the creature’s face—
Tokugawa Daliang stood frozen in place, eyes wide, as if something had stuck in his throat.
“Ibaraki-dōji?” Zhao Ying’s face darkened. This was bad.
Ever since the Hyakki Yagyō erupted in Osaka, all sorts of legendary demons from Neon’s mythology had emerged.
And Ibaraki-dōji was one of them. Legend said he was the subordinate of Shuten-dōji—immensely powerful, nearly impervious to blades or bullets. Arrogant, brutal, yet cunning—not just brute force but also a formidable schemer. A top-tier demon.
The joint task system between Neon and Huazone hadn’t been updated in ages.
It was likely Neon’s Onmyōji organizations were overwhelmed and could no longer manage system updates. Based on last week’s expired data, Ibaraki-dōji had been ranked as Marshal-Level upon arrival, same as the Demonic Blade.
Since then, he had wreaked havoc across Neon—his power had undoubtedly soared.
Zhao Ying herself was now at Marshal-Level.
And yet, even with Ibaraki-dōji not fully emerged from the rift, she could already feel the crushing pressure.
That meant Ibaraki-dōji was at least Marshal-Level… possibly even King-Level!
“Oh? So you’re the one who summoned me, little bug from the Tokugawa clan,” Ibaraki-dōji's gaze landed on Tokugawa Daliang, a wicked grin tugging at his lips. He stepped out, slamming a massive foot to the ground.
The ground buckled violently.
Blood and flesh splattered, drenching the Neon agents nearby.
“Summoning me comes at a cost. Your lives will do! Heh heh!”
Under Ibaraki-dōji’s oppressive presence, the Tokugawa Onmyōji could only watch in horror as his foot came down—none could even move.
Once all the summoners had been crushed—
Ibaraki-dōji suddenly spun around, his savage gaze locking onto Zhao Ying and her group.
Only then did he have time to observe his surroundings—on nearby storefronts were familiar yet unfamiliar block-style characters. Ibaraki-dōji froze, pupils narrowing into slits—where the h*ll had he been summoned to?
“Hey, woman. Is this the Huazone?”
Ibaraki-dōji turned his head toward Zhao Ying and the others.
“That’s right. This is indeed the Huazone,” Zhao Ying replied. She’d used the moment he was slaughtering to evacuate all Exorcists below Marshal-Level. Now only a dozen remained—either Marshal or Pre-Marshal ranks.
Only they might have a chance of contending with Ibaraki-dōji.
Too bad the Governor was still at the Monster Hunting Tournament—otherwise, this foreign demon wouldn’t have had the chance to act so wildly here.
What Zhao Ying didn’t know was that just hearing this was Huazone had already made Ibaraki-dōji hesitate.
“I'm not allowed to descend into Huazone yet... That damned Tokugawa bug—why the hll did he summon me here?!”*
Ibaraki-dōji’s gaze flicked between the Exorcists who were already forming a battle formation, a storm of uncertainty in his eyes.
He hadn’t gotten official permission to descend.
But slinking back to Osaka with his tail between his legs wasn’t his style.
He was one of Neon’s most infamous demons—he had appearances to maintain.
“It’s just a projection anyway. I’ll kill a few and leave... What’s the big deal? Those higher-ups probably won’t even notice...”
With that thought, his eyes turned vicious again.
He raised his hand and pulled a mass of sticky flames from the void—
The fire condensed into a three-meter-long spiked mace.
Then, with a stomp of both legs, he launched like a crimson blur straight toward Zhao Ying at the front.
“Kill ten and then leave!”
The blazing mace slashed through the air in a wide arc, like it was about to shred the dawn light itself.
Unstoppable! Zhao Ying’s heart screamed a warning.
“All units, fall back! Don’t take the hit head-on!”
Before the words finished, in that critical moment—
Zhao Ying pulled out two sword spheres from her spatial gear and activated them, diving into a roll to avoid Ibaraki-dōji’s strike.
“It’s useless! Just let me kill you! Once I’m done, I’ll leave—don’t waste each other’s time! Heh heh!”
He didn’t even care about the two black spheres Zhao Ying threw.
Assumed they were just fragment grenades or something—maybe laced with holy water.
But diluted holy water had no effect on a demon of his rank.
All pointless struggle…
The moment those black spheres hit the ground, a terrifyingly sharp aura erupted.
From where the spheres activated, two phantom sword cultivators appeared—each in gray robes, right hand loosely gripping invisible sword hilts.
Their features were blurry, but both raised their heads, cold light glinting beneath messy hair.
They stepped forward, lowered their stances—
Then suddenly drew their swords.
Twin arcs of sword light slashed the gloomy sky into four,
Sword Qi howled in all directions.
Ibaraki-dōji’s arm—gripping his mace—was instantly severed and torn to shreds by the rampaging Sword Qi.
Currently known female actors: En Jing, Lin Qiting; the other two remain unknown.