"Mom... Mom..."
"It hurts... it hurts so much..."
"Help me..."
The infant evil spirit was still wailing. It really was, in the most literal sense, an oversized baby. It possessed tremendous power, but seemed to have no idea how to use it.
"It's not coming to attack us."
Yayoi Hozuki spoke softly. She had already released Taira no Masakado from the alien doll, and he stood at her side like a guardian deity.
"More like it can't come over here, right?" Xu Fu said, holding the Lady Yu Doll in one arm while stroking her chin with the other as she analyzed it. "With those tiny arms and legs, there's no way it can support that bloated body."
"So that means we have to go to it?" Yayoi glanced at Taira no Masakado beside her, then at Red Hood standing by Xu Fu, utterly confident in this fight.
Suddenly, Xu Fu's eyes narrowed.
"Wait... it looks like that Angel-sama is about to do something."
The souls hanging from Angel-sama's branch-like wings suddenly opened their mouths in unison. Countless warped notes spilled out and merged into an indescribably eerie song, one that sounded at once like a hymn praising an ancient god and the death-cry of the dying, trembling through the rotten air in unsettling harmony.
"Ah~~ ah~~"
"Ah~~ ah~~"
"Ah~~ ah~~"
"Quick! Cover your ears! Don't listen to their singing!"
Yayoi hurriedly thrust the earplugs she had prepared into Xu Fu's and Red Hood's hands. When it came to Eiko Hozuki, she did not merely hand them over—she put them directly into Eiko's ears.
Using sound as a medium for curses was a classic trick of evil spirits. One example was the Graduate in Yayoi's collection—[High Priest of the Evil Sutra].
[High Priest of the Evil Sutra] was a domain-type evil spirit. Its curse worked by unfolding a domain centered on itself, then sitting within it and endlessly chanting unspeakably vile sutras. As long as one remained inside that domain, whether living human or dead spirit, whether person or animal, after hearing the chanting for long enough, their soul would be forcibly consigned to hell, while their body would be assimilated and made to join in reciting those evil sutras.
When [High Priest of the Evil Sutra] first appeared in the story, his enemies had cut off his jaw to stop the chanting, but the crows, squirrels, and other animals that had died from hearing the sutras earlier were still able to continue reciting them. It was a truly vicious and troublesome curse.
But this time, Yayoi had misunderstood.
"Wait, Yayoi. That song isn't meant for us."
At Xu Fu's reminder, Yayoi immediately turned her eyes toward Angel-sama.
What sounded to Xu Fu and the others like the incomprehensible murmuring of an ancient god instead soothed Angel-sama like a lullaby. At the same time, the stomach Xu Fu had violently torn open began writhing madly. The chunks of flesh grew and spread at a visible pace, and in no time at all, Angel-sama's belly was restored to perfect condition.
Xu Fu sucked in a sharp breath, her gaze sweeping over the figures hanging from the evil spirit's wings.
"So they're a whole squad of healers! This evil spirit's really got style—showing up with nearly a hundred healers built in! Just how afraid of dying is it?!"
Now that its wounds were healed, Angel-sama stopped crying.
But it had not forgotten who had hurt it.
Even a newborn baby that had never been taught understood the principle of paying back an enemy.
"You are...!"
"Bad people...!"
"We'll beat you to death...!"
Just as Xu Fu and the others had expected, its limbs were far too short to prop up its grotesquely bloated body. But that did not mean the evil spirit lacked other ways to attack.
The space before Angel-sama twisted. An invisible telekinetic force gathered in front of it and condensed into a devastating shockwave.
Xu Fu's expression sharpened. Stepping forward to shield the others behind her, she began to chant, and at the same time, mysterious, profound crest-patterns appeared around her.
"HIDDEN QI< MERGE AS ONE; SCARLET LIGHT, FORGE THE WALL."
"FOUR SPIRITS GUARD THE BOUNDS; EIGHT VISTAS SEAL THE COURT."
"STARS HANG AS MIRRORS; DIVINITY BECOMES THE CITY."
"UNBROKEN THROUGH TEN THOUSAND KAPLAS; ONE BREATH ENDURES FOREVER."
"BY SWIFT DECREE, AS THE LAW COMMANDS!"
The instant the incantation ended, the crest-pattern array before Xu Fu abruptly expanded. Countless flowing sigils interwove and spread like living things, instantly constructing a half-transparent, resplendent barrier before them, like an ancient city wall.
The telekinetic shell slammed hard into that "wall."
The collision of the two forces erupted in a deafening roar.
BOOM!
The violent impact made the entire space tremble, yet the city wall formed from Xu Fu's crest-pattern array did not budge in the slightest. Its surface only flickered a few times.
Before Eiko and the others had even recovered from their shock at the sudden appearance of that wall, Xu Fu had already stepped out from behind its protection. She raised a finger toward the evil spirit ahead, and a crimson point of light gathered at her fingertip.
"It'd be rude not to return the favor, so here's my gift back~!"
In an instant, crimson light dyed Angel-sama and the surrounding space the same color. At the same time, a terrifying repulsive force descended upon it like an avalanche.
"Gyaaaaaaahhh...!!"
The evil spirit's scream, along with its figure, was swallowed up by the crimson radiance.
Xu Fu let out a long breath, then fixed her eyes on the front. By then the crimson glow was already beginning to fade, revealing Angel-sama again.
The body that had only just been healed was wounded once more. Great slabs of flesh had been annihilated by Xu Fu's strike. Deep within the grotesque wound, pale ribs and pulsing organs lay fully exposed, while black-purple blood poured from the gash like a breached dam.
Then the figures on Angel-sama's wings began singing again, and the strange power hidden in the song caused those gruesome wounds to heal at a visible speed.
"So the telekinesis it showed just now is its main method of attack. It's very powerful, but it's also very straightforward. As long as you predict it in advance, you can dodge it."
While Xu Fu was analyzing the situation, Red Hood had already darted out like a phantom. Her scarlet cloak spread behind her like wings, making it seem as though she were flying just above the ground.
The wind carrying murderous intent reached Angel-sama even before Red Hood did. Sensing the danger she posed, it once more condensed telekinetic shells and hurled them at her.
Compared to the hair attacks of those evil spirit clones before, these telekinetic shells were faster—but their movement paths were much easier to predict. Red Hood shifted and slipped between them, dodging every half-transparent projectile that came at her, as though she were running with the wind itself. In the blink of an eye, she appeared behind the infant evil spirit.
A flash of steel.
Red Hood instantly cut off one of Angel-sama's wings.
"Ah~ ah ah~~"
The singing rose once more, and from the severed end of the wing stretched countless tiny strands of flesh, reattaching it at once.
"So just cutting the wing off isn't enough?"
Seeing the whole regeneration process with her own eyes, Red Hood's gaze flickered slightly. Her body flowed in motion like a swift, drifting wind, skimming past the telekinetic shells Angel-sama kept hurling at her.
At that moment, Taira no Masakado suddenly rushed in and devoured one of the singing spirits like a shark scenting blood.
Red Hood had drawn too much of Angel-sama's attention, which gave Taira no Masakado the opening he needed.
This time, the spirit Taira no Masakado had eaten did not recover through the song.
Xu Fu and Yayoi immediately understood why.
"Those spirits are ordinary people and Wandering Ghosts sacrificed to Angel-sama by that father and daughter. The song can repair its body, but it can't replenish the spirits."
Xu Fu instantly gave Red Hood an order.
"Red Hood! Prioritize the spirits!"
Even without Xu Fu saying it, Red Hood already knew what to do.
After all, when it came to team fights, everyone knew you cut down the healers first.
Before Red Hood even made her move, Taira no Masakado had already swallowed seven spirits whole.
It was like eating apples—plucking ripe "fruit" from a tree, then rudely stuffing it into your mouth. One bite, and red "juice" immediately sprayed everywhere. If the "apple" was too big, you broke it apart with your hands first before eating it. Of course, that method made it easy to get "juice" all over your clothes, so it was not recommended.
Not to be outdone, Red Hood gripped the Drake Sword and used [Dragon Shockwave]. Behind her, the phantom of the drake Helkaiser released a devastating dragon's roar.
The half-transparent sonic wave thundered forward, and the dozens of spirits hanging from one of Angel-sama's wings were struck with overwhelming force, shattering and dispersing one after another.
[Dragon Shockwave] was an extremely wide-area group attack. It not only erased the mass of spirit-figures in the soundwave, but also struck Angel-sama itself, blasting it open in gore.
"Waaahhh...! Waaaahhh...!"
Angel-sama broke into loud sobbing, crying and howling without stop.
Crying was the main way children vented emotion, drew attention, and won sympathy—but Xu Fu and the others did not pity this creature in the slightest. For the sake of the innocent people it had already killed, and for the sake of their own survival, they had to kill it here.
After all, if they failed to kill it, then the ones who would die were them.
And Angel-sama would eat them too. They might even end up becoming part of the many spirits hanging from its wings.
Red Hood and Taira no Masakado rapidly eradicated the singing spirits. None of the spirits the two of them destroyed showed any sign of regenerating or reviving. Everything seemed to be proceeding very smoothly.
With the Drake Sword in hand, Red Hood's kill efficiency was far higher than Taira no Masakado's. She could clear out a whole swath in an instant.
And not one of the telekinetic shells Angel-sama condensed could hit her. She dodged every last one. Taira no Masakado, on the other hand, did not possess Red Hood's nimble footwork, so whenever he could not evade in time, he simply tanked the hits with his powerful body.
Any spirit Taira no Masakado consumed became nourishment for his growth. They not only helped him recover the power and memories he had lost, but also healed his wounds. Injuries inflicted by Angel-sama's telekinetic attacks could be fully restored so long as he swallowed one or two more spirits.
"Hood and Yayoi-chan's evil spirit are amazing." Gradually calming down, Eiko watched the two of them perform brilliantly and could not help exclaiming in admiration. "That evil spirit looks so terrifying, and it's so huge, I thought it'd be really hard to deal with. But Hood and Yayoi-chan's evil spirit have it completely pinned down."
"Eiko, don't celebrate too early." Yayoi turned to her and warned her.
"Huh?" Eiko froze for a second, then asked nervously, "D-Does that mean... something unexpected could still happen?"
If nothing unexpected happened, then at this rate Red Hood and Taira no Masakado would soon wipe out every last singing spirit. Once Angel-sama lost those spirits, it would no longer be able to regenerate, and under the righteous group beating from Red Hood and Taira no Masakado, it would be utterly defeated. At that point Xu Fu and the others could leave this special space created by Angel-sama and return to the haunted House of the Annunciation.
Of course, all of that depended on one premise:
if nothing unexpected happened.
And the "unexpected" Eiko had just mentioned came very quickly indeed.
All three of Angel-sama's faces split open at the forehead at the same time. Flesh peeled back to reveal jagged, fang-lined fissures, and deep inside each cavity rolled a murky eyeball, the pupils swirling with ominous light.
One of those three wicked eyes locked directly onto Red Hood. That sticky gaze wrapped around her like a web, clearly reflecting her nimble figure inside its pupil.
Then the fang-filled slit suddenly snapped shut, as though it were biting apart the Red Hood reflected inside that eye.
And at that exact same moment—
Splurt!
With the sickening sound of flesh being torn.
Everything below Red Hood's chest vanished.
It was as though some invisible monster had appeared in that instant and devoured most of her body.
Shock flooded Red Hood's eyes. Missing everything below the chest, her body kept moving forward from sheer momentum, then hit the ground and rolled some distance, leaving blood and chunks of organs scattered in its wake.
The face of Angel-sama that was turned toward Red Hood opened and closed its mouth, making the unmistakable sound of chewing.
"Thank you... for the meal..."
Its other two faces, meanwhile, turned toward Taira no Masakado and Xu Fu.
And in the evil eyes set in their foreheads, the figures of Taira no Masakado and Xu Fu were now reflected clearly.
---
T/N: rip red hood