The lightning bolt struck directly in front of me, just as we were about to start the Christmas party. The impact, the dust, the rising smoke, and the collapsing ceiling, there’s a single silhouette in the middle of it all.

My mother instinctively moved to protect Hina and me, but before she could, I was snatched up by someone or something.

‘At last, it has borne fruit!!’

A voice echoed directly in my head, reverberating as if it were vibrating my very bones, like the sensation of bone-conducting headphones. It wasn’t sound exactly, but more like a vibration being driven into my skull. It was a disturbing, sickening feeling.

The next moment, I was slammed into a wall.

“…Guh?!”

I had no idea what was happening. But the figure in front of me was clearly an enemy. A monster!

Just as I was about to extend the “Silveit Threads,” the pocket on my chest heated up.

‘What?!’

Suddenly, light burst out from my chest pocket! With a roar, the weighty light blasted the monster that had grabbed me.

The monster’s right arm disappeared with a sizzle. But with incredible speed, it retreated from me, crashing through the shoji screen and out into the garden.

…It’s the protective talisman I received during the Kamiarizuki festival!

The talisman that I was told to keep on me at all times had saved me. But this was no time to feel relieved. I quickly extended the “Silveit Threads” in a web-like pattern to support the falling ceiling to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

“Is everyone okay?! Any injuries?!”

It was Momoka-san who called out. As the dust settled and visibility returned, the room was a wreck, but everyone was unscathed.

“…Thank goodness. Everyone’s safe.”

“Everyone, follow me. We need to escape.”

Standing next to a relieved Momoka-san was my mother, holding Hina. They were both too composed. How could they be so calm in this situation?

Meanwhile, I, who had been an ordinary person in my previous life, was still in a state of confusion. As I was impressed by the two of them and preparing to run, the voice of the monster echoed from the garden.

‘Fleeing is commendable for the weak!!’

The insane voice once again reverberated through my brain.

‘But the child is at the perfect age to be devoured now!!’

“Child,” meaning a boy…

‘Well done, well done indeed! Thank you for raising him for me!!’

I had no idea who or what it was talking to. But the overwhelming pressure from the monster in the garden dominated the entire area. Both Momoka-san and my mother, who had been ready to flee, were frozen in place as if facing something truly terrifying.

…This is bad.

When dealing with something this dangerous, the best course of action is to avoid getting involved. If you do, you might end up dead, just like in my previous life!

“Mom! We need to run!!”

I called out to snap the two adults’ attention back from the monster, and my mother’s face changed as she realized the urgency.

“Yes, you’re right, Itsuki.”

The moment she said that, there was a crackling sound of lightning. Before I knew it, there was a figure standing right in front of me.

The figure was about two meters tall, with a body covered in what looked like impenetrable muscles.

Despite having lost its right arm earlier, it stood there with an overwhelming presence.

Its entire body was covered in black armor-like exoskeleton, with four fangs protruding from its mouth. But what caught my attention the most was its head, it had something no human could ever have.

Horns. Two horns extended from its forehead.

With such a distinct appearance, there was no mistaking what kind of monster stood before me.

Anyone born and raised in Japan would recognize it immediately.

They would call out the name of this monster without hesitation.

“—’Oni.'”

‘Indeed. I am called Raikou Douji.’

…Wha…?!

It spoke its name!!?

This was the first time something like this had happened, and I was momentarily speechless.

The Oni, as if appraising everyone present, then looked at Aya-chan and spoke in a gentle tone.

‘You have potential! Keep honing your skills!!’

…D-did it just…praise a human?! A monster praising a human?!

The understanding I had of monsters was crumbling away.

But just as I was trying to suppress my shock and weave the “Silveit Threads,” Momoka-san grabbed hold of me. She carried me in her arms and leaped out of the room and into the garden.

“Itsuki-kun! We need to run!!”

“Huh?! Momoka-san!!?”

I noticed that she had the “Silveit Threads” wrapped around her legs.

She was using the body-enhancing magic!

“Named monsters, those with names, are all ‘Sixth Rank’! They’re not something we can fight!!”

Sixth Rank!?

That means it’s thirty times stronger than the monster I fought in the forest!?

Why on earth would a monster like that show up today, of all times!?

“But Mom, Hina, and Aya-chan are still—!!”

“They’ll be fine. It won’t target anyone. Not yet. Raikou Douji isn’t that kind of monster!”

“…It won’t eat them?”

“‘Raikou Douji’ is a hunter that waits until talented children are fully grown before devouring them. Hundreds of exorcists have been eaten by it!”

“Why…why is such a monster here!?”

“I don’t know…! It’s been more than 30 years since it last appeared! That time, a 15-year-old boy was eaten…or so I’ve heard.”

As Momoka-san and I landed in the garden, a shadow slithered across the ground.

The shadow grabbed onto Momoka-san’s shadow.

“…What?!”

Suddenly, Momoka-san’s body froze as if pinned in place.

“W-what is this…?!”

‘Oh dear. Have you never encountered a shadow Oni?’

A female Oni appeared, dripping shadows as she emerged. But this wasn’t Raikou Douji, it was a different Oni.

‘When your shadow is grabbed, you can’t move. Even a child knows that.’

“…’Kama Itachi’!”

But already in a combat stance, I wouldn’t let the monster escape! I activated a compound magic that combined “Attribute Change: Wind” and “Form Change: Blade”!

Just as I was about to slice through the Oni, she melted back into the shadows.

“…!”

‘Don’t be in such a hurry. Your opponent is not me, but Lord Raikou Douji.’

In an instant, lightning surged from the mansion. It struck the ground before me.

The lightning took on a human form and stood in front of me, arms crossed.

Before I knew it, even the right arm that had been purified by the talisman had regenerated.

W-what are these things?!?

‘Hmm, hmm. You’ve ripened well.’

As if inspecting a piece of fruit, Raikou Douji looked down at me and smiled.

…Th-the pressure is on a completely different level from the one in the forest.

I can’t breathe.

It’s as if I’ve forgotten how to breathe; my breaths are shallow, getting shallower and shallower.

It’s right in front of me.

I should use magic. Or physical techniques.

But my body won’t move. Fear has paralyzed me.

‘Prey is meant to be eaten at its most delicious moment. Otherwise, it would be disrespectful to both the prey and the one who raised it. That is the hunter’s code. Don’t you agree, boy?’

The sticky madness seeped into my entire being.

I felt like I was being impaled by murderous intent.

In the face of such abnormality, memories of my previous life flooded back.

I vividly recalled the moment I was stabbed in the chest with a knife.

No matter how much I tried to breathe, no oxygen entered my lungs, and I remembered the suffocating agony of drowning on land.

Death.

That absolute fate gripped my legs.

“Stop right there!!”

‘Hmm?’

But suddenly, a voice broke through everything.

Standing there was my mother.

She was charging at us, wielding a naginata, with an expression I had never seen on her before.

“Get away from Itsuki!!”

‘Stop. It’s the natural order for a rabbit to lose to a lion.’

Ignoring the warning, my mother swung down her naginata.

“…!!”

‘I told you to flee.’

But, of course, it was futile against a Sixth Rank monster. Raikou Douji easily caught the blade in its hand.

‘However, if you insist on facing me—’

In a split second, Raikou Douji extended the “Silveit Threads.”

They shot straight toward my mother’s heart.

If I didn’t do something, my mother would die.

She would be killed.

—Move.

My heart pounded violently.

A cold shiver ran down my spine, like cold iron was being driven into it.

Fear clung to me like sludge.

—Move!

‘Then you must be prepared to die!!’

Move, damn it, body!!!

In that instant, I extended the “Silveit Threads” from my entire body, creating a wall of earth in front of my mother. The next moment, Raikou Douji’s lightning sliced through the air.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!

A deafening sound echoed as it struck the earthen wall.

But it didn’t reach my mother.

I had intercepted it.

“Raikou Douji…was it?”

The Oni turned to face me at my words.

“You just tried to kill my mother.”

Until now, I’ve been trying to get stronger so I wouldn’t die.

I’ve tried to stay strong so that I wouldn’t die again.

Kill before being killed.

That’s the best way to avoid death.

But that means I haven’t truly overcome my fear of death.

So, let me be honest.

I’m scared. Really scared.

The fear of possibly dying makes my legs tremble.

But even if I might die—

“Then that means you’re prepared to be killed by me.”

—I cannot forgive this creature.

‘No hunter is killed by its prey.’

“Then you’ll be the first hunter to be killed by its prey.”

That’s why I—

“‘Homura Bachi (Blazing Hornet)’!”

—will exorcise this one right here!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep