-526- [ Orge Eater ]

"You... you are...!?"

A instructor showed a mix of excitement and fear.

"It... It's him...!?"

Natsume was also shaken.

"That guy..."

Kyouko seemed to recall the identity of the man before her, looking somewhat surprised.

As for the still conscious students, they were both startled and excited.

"Hey, isn't that...?"

"Ah, yeah."

"It's him."

The students all made such sounds.

Evidently, everyone present knew the man slowly approaching.

Including Rozen, who also knew this man.

"Kagami Reiji..."

Rozen observed the man and spoke out his name.

In response, the man named Kagami Reiji halted his steps and glanced at Rozen.

"You're the little brat who claimed to deal with the Nue just now, right?"

Kagami Reiji evaluated Rozen, then continued with a disdainful expression.

"Clearly, your spiritual energy is so weak. Just being able to maintain consciousness under Phase 3 miasma, you should be thanking your lucky stars. Yet you have the audacity to boast like this. A little brat is just a little brat. Hurry up and go away."

Saying this, Kagami Reiji acted as if he were kicking away a small pebble by the road—annoyed yet dismissive. He didn't give Rozen a second look, and his tone was so vile it was infuriating.

"You...!"

Natsume impulsively took a step forward.

However, as soon as this step was taken, she involuntarily froze in place.

Because of Kagami Reiji's gaze.

"Huh? This little brat wants to speak up too?"

Kagami Reiji's eyes, sharp as malicious intent, stabbed into Natsume, forcing her to freeze in place. He taunted as much as he could.

"Don't think this is a school for you to play around in. If you want to act stubborn in front of me, believe me, I'll make you regret it."

Kagami Reiji's tone was brutally rough, and his eyes leaked a bit of killing intent, clearly telling everyone that he wasn't just joking.

"...!"

Natsume's expression turned somewhat ugly.

"This person...!"

Kyouko's face also showed signs of anger.

As for the students and the instructors, they were all left speechless, their faces looking rather unpleasant.

"Independent Exorcist!"

An elderly instructor spoke up loudly to Kagami Reiji.

"The people here are all students of Onmyo Academy, please show some restraint!"

The elderly instructor spoke loudly with these words.

However...

"It seems like you're the one who wants to get beaten up, old man."

Kagami Reiji's gaze turned towards the instructor.

"Such an eyesore."

Saying this, Kagami Reiji directly cast a talisman towards the instructor.

"Boom!"

The talisman summoned flames, turning into a blaze that surged and covered the direction of the instructor.

"What...!?"

The instructor was shocked.

Not only the instructor, but everyone else was also taken aback.

This person actually attacked someone just because he didn't like them, and he even used jujutsu directly.

Even if this strike wouldn't burn the person to death, it would surely scorch them badly.

"Order!"

Fortunately, the instructor had some skills and promptly cast a water talisman, summoning moisture to form a vortex, blocking the incoming blaze.

"Chi...!"

The flames clashed with the water, creating a large amount of steam.

"Ugh...!"

The instructor was pushed back by the rushing steam, and in the end, even fell to the ground.

Although water should counter fire, the lecturer's water talisman didn't completely block Kagami Reiji's fire talisman, instead, it was neutralized by the latter.

This proved the immense strength of the other's spiritual power, capable of overwhelming the instructor.

And this attack seemed like a casual display of power for him.

"Listen carefully."

Kagami Reiji snorted coldly at the instructor.

"If you dare to be annoying again, I'll really kill you."

After saying that, Kagami Reiji ignored the instructor, turned his gaze towards the administrative building.

At this moment, everyone present lost their voices, their eyes fixed on Kagami Reiji, filled with fear.

Including Natsume and Kyouko, both wearing uncertain expressions.

Rozen didn't intervene in Kagami Reiji's arrogant behavior, watching him coldly, muttering to himself.

"So this is the Ogre Eater?"

———Ogre Eater.

This was Kagami Reiji's alias.

Exclusive to the Twelve Divine Generals.

Usually, exorcists operated in teams, emphasizing mutual assistance and cooperation, rallying everyone's strength to effectively and safely complete exorcism work, equal to the natural disasters they faced. Therefore, exorcists were strictly forbidden from acting alone and had to adhere to team-based standards, or they would face penalties.

Only one type of person could disregard this behavioral norm and perform exorcism work alone.

That person was an Independent Exorcist.

And those who could become Independent Exorcists were all onmyoji capable of dealing with all types of spiritual disasters individually.

They passed the national-level onmyoji exam, possessing incredibly strong abilities, standing at the pinnacle of the sorcery world, admired by people.

———Twelve Divine Generals.

Only exorcists at this level were allowed to act alone and become Independent Exorcists.

The man emitting a dangerous aura in front of them, with extremely rude behavior and personality, belonged to the Twelve Divine Generals, one of the only four Independent Exorcists.

His name was Kagami Reiji, said to be unrivaled in tracking dynamic spiritual disasters, possessing unique intuition, sense of smell, and jujutsu.

Among all the Twelve Divine Generals, he was outstanding, particularly skilled in dangerous spiritual disaster combat. His strength was formidable, his spiritual power high, a level far beyond ordinary onmyoji.

However, Kagami Reiji was also a problematic individual. He lacked a sense of responsibility for his work, had personality issues, enjoyed violence, hated the weak, and regarded the strong as nothing more than prey. Once fixated on a target, he would pursue relentlessly. For the Onmyou Agency, he was a dangerous figure that needed to be monitored.

In light of this, Kagami Reiji had very little exposure in magazines and reports. Only texts mentioned him, accompanied by photos, allowing people to know who he was and how dangerous he was.

Rozen had long known about these things. However, facing Kagami Reiji in person, Rozen realized that he had underestimated this man.

There were two aspects in which he had underestimated him.

One was his strength.

The spiritual power emanating from Kagami Reiji was even stronger than Rozen had imagined, akin to a ferocious beast, full of aggression and danger. Among all the onmyoji Rozen had encountered so far, except for the inscrutable Miyachi Iwao, Kagami Reiji's spiritual power was probably the strongest, indicating that his strength was definitely not low.

The other was his personality.

This man was even more wicked and brutal than Rozen had imagined, surpassing any person Rozen had encountered so far in terms of malevolence and ruthlessness.

Therefore, Rozen was almost certain.

"I don't like this guy."

And it was an incomparable feeling.

This kind of feeling resulted in the intense conflict between Rozen and Kagami Reiji.

A true and absolute conflict.