As Abe no Seimei, born from humanity's collective imagination, Nue's greatest expertise lay in Tenmon-dō—the celestial arts of Onmyōdō.
Derived from this, his mastery over stellar phenomena granted him the ability to manipulate gravity: Celestial Control.
The meteorite now striking Nijō Castle wasn't an actual celestial body pulled from outer space, but one Nue had previously enhanced with Tenmon-dō secrets and levitated using gravitational techniques.
With the enhancement of gravity and the methods of celestial astronomy, a hundred-metre-wide meteor became Nue's weapon.
Under the acceleration caused by the gravity technique, the meteor shattered the barrier without resistance and struck the ground of Nijo Castle mercilessly.
Boom!
The deafening impact reverberated throughout Kyoto!!
In the outermost green garden of Nijo Castle, Tenkai Gokadoin, who had been using barrier techniques to trap Shin Natsume, was about to finish off his long-time adversary when Nue's meteor descended from the sky, obliterating all the barriers he had set up in an instant.
At that moment, the backlash from the shattered barrier forced Tenkai to grunt in pain, his movements freezing momentarily.
Seizing this brief opening, Shin Natsume abruptly opened his golden Dragon Eye and, in that split second, swung his ritual sword while Tenkai was still staggered.
The silver-white blade flashed.
With a metallic clang, Shin Natsume sheathed his sword, Reiki, and calmly stated:
"From the moment I first saw you, my eyes have been waiting for this very instant."
"So it was foresight, then?"
Tenkai Gokadoin murmured in realisation, staring blankly at the sky.
"The Natsume family's Dragon Eye truly lives up to its reputation."
As he spoke, a crimson light flickered, and Tenkai's body split cleanly in two, collapsing to either side.
Only then did Shin Natsume let out a relieved sigh, clutching his throbbing Dragon Eye. He glanced toward the mushroom cloud rising once more over the Inner Citadel Palace, snapped a few photos of Tenkai's corpse with his phone, and promptly retreated.
Locking onto a single enemy with his Dragon Eye was already his limit. Seeing the commotion at the Inner Citadel Palace, only a fool would charge toward that chaos.
After all, he still had two big-chested, adorable girls waiting for him at home—no way he'd let some despicable man swoop in and take advantage!
...
At the same time as Shin Natsume's retreat, the battle between Takina Inoue, Chisato Nishikigi, and Hakuzōzu had long since concluded.
Under the gravity suppression of the Skill Demon God Black Iron and Silver's dimensional slash combo, Hakuzōzu was instantly defeated in their first exchange, giving the two ample time to prepare.
"The predetermined coordinates have been set according to Luo Shu's plan," Takina Inoue announced, having already finished deploying the device. As the tremors subsided, she immediately turned her gaze toward the mushroom cloud and the faintly visible meteor over the Inner Citadel Palace.
"Given the current situation, this must be the planned second impact?"
"Has Nue really become so troublesome that both Tatsuya Shiba and Angelene had to resort to Strategic Magic?"
Before the operation was set in motion, Takina had privately thought Luo Shu suffered from severe paranoia, given the sheer number of contingencies he had prepared.
Using himself as bait to lure Nue's attention, he exploited the information gap—Nue's ignorance of Tatsuya Shiba's existence—to set up the first killing move: Mass Disintegration.
If the first strike failed, Luo Shu would then use illusion techniques to create a phantom of Tatsuya Shiba, feigning a second Mass Disintegration to divert Nue's focus, allowing Angelene, hidden in the shadows, to unleash her trump card: Heavy Metal Disintegration.
And if even that failed, Luo Shu would activate the coordinates set by Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue, using a Demigod Rank Abyss Artefact to immobilise Nue, enabling Kirika Tachibana at the Hidden Management Department headquarters in Tokyo to remotely snipe him with another Demigod Rank Abyss Artefact as the third and final strike.
If the third attempt also failed, Luo Shu would feign retreat, disregarding the risk of Kurumi Tokisaki's intelligence being exposed, and have a true Demigod personally intervene to deliver the final attack against Nue.
After considering these four consecutive moves, Takina Inoue put herself in Nue's shoes and genuinely couldn't think of any way to break out of this situation.
According to the intelligence records, Nue excelled in celestial and divination techniques, with a created Class likely related to the duality of Yin and Yang, and strength at the peak of Hero Rank.
Yet, each of Luo Shu's four killing moves possessed the attack power of a Demigod Rank. After these four layers of preparation, Takina highly suspected they were sufficient to assassinate even a Demigod.
But now, Takina had to admit—Luo Shu was truly far-sighted.
Because Nue had already withstood the second killing move.
Meanwhile, standing atop a tree trunk and surveying the battlefield, Chisato Nishikigi frowned and said:
"No, no—something's very wrong. That meteor earlier clearly wasn't Angelene's Heavy Metal Burst."
"Though Luo Shu didn't explicitly explain the specifics of Heavy Metal Burst due to confidentiality rules, judging by the name alone, it definitely shouldn't have been a meteor."
Takina's expression immediately shifted, her voice tense:
"Meaning... the meteor was the enemy's attack? Then Luo Shu, he—"
Chisato quickly reassured her:
"Relax. If it's Luo Shu, he definitely has a way to dodge the meteor. Just think about how many contingencies he's prepared."
Hearing this, Takina stopped worrying at once.
If he had laid out four or more trump cards for offence, then even more defensive measures were undoubtedly in place.
To put it bluntly, even if she died here, Luo Shu at the heart of the battlefield would remain unharmed.
"Then should we go support him now?" Takina asked.
Chisato glanced in the direction of the meteor strike, thought for a moment, then shook her head:
"No. We retreat as planned."
"Understood." Without hesitation, Takina began packing their equipment, soon leaving the scene with Chisato and their spoils.
...
Shortly after their departure—
Within the meteor crater that now occupied the former entrance of the Inner Citadel Palace, the remnants of the meteor dissolved like sludge, revealing Nue inside, bare-chested, veins pulsing across his skin as he gripped the Maō's Hammer.
As a creation of Onmyōjutsu, the meteor naturally contained Nue's contingency.
This technique—where anything touching him would dissolve into liquid via his technique, negating damage—was the core ability of his created Onmyoji Class: Yin-Yang Reversal.
And now, he had used this move, employing a meteor strike that appeared to be self-destruction, to reduce everything on-site to ashes.
Nue slowly raised his head, tightening his grip on the Maō's Hammer as he surveyed the glassing crater around him, then coldly declared:
"Come out. I know you're unharmed."
"As you wish!"
The moment the words fell—
Thud.
So'unga pierced Nue's heart from the right.
In that instant, Nue's pupils contracted sharply as he whipped his head toward the greatsword—the Maō's Hammer—gripped in his right hand.
At the same time, indigo mist gradually dissipated, revealing Luo Shu's figure.
In truth, the moment Nue had formed hand seals to activate the meteor strike, Luo Shu had already swapped himself with Maō's Hammer.
From that point on, what Nue had been holding was Luo Shu's left hand all along.
And Nura Rihan, far from nobly stepping in to rescue Luo Shu, had instead fled the scene with his Nura Clan companions.
The so-called rescue of Luo Shu by Nura Rihan was actually an illusion technique deliberately created by Luo Shu for Nue to see, exploiting his understanding of Nura Rihan's loyalty and righteousness.
"You bastard..."
Nue, with a blade piercing his heart, revealed an expression of uncontrollable fury.
Time and again, he had fallen victim to Luo Shu's underhanded tricks. This time, even his heart had been pierced—how could Nue not be enraged?
Facing Nue's wrath, Luo Shu, whose left hand was gripped by Nue, curled his lips into a faint smile and said:
"I suppose you've read my dossier and know of my rumoured expertise in illusion techniques. Yet clearly, your guard against them wasn't high enough."
"But then again, conventional illusion techniques require interference with the target's mind. Unfortunately for you, mine doesn't operate that way."
Because the state of being ensnared by an illusion had already taken effect the moment Luo Shu laid eyes on Nue.
This was the dominion of misfortune illusion bestowed by the Calamity Bringer!
The battle seemed to have reached its conclusion...