Chapter 106: Pursuit
A shopping mall?
Taking in the scene before him, Hachiman Hikigaya was briefly stunned. But as soon as he saw Isshiki Iroha being chased by a dark shadow on an upper floor, he immediately put aside his curiosity and began checking his own status.
His demon-slaying sword was still usable. His spiritual energy was abundant. And he was still connected to the system. No problems at all!
Satisfied after confirming his condition, Hachiman nodded, then ran up the stairs through the mall's fire escape.
…
The sound of heavy breathing echoed in his ears.
Isshiki Iroha struggled to move her legs, running down the corridor ahead.
"Why hasn't Senpai arrived yet?"
The intense exertion had consumed a large amount of oxygen and blood sugar inside her.
Her mind was blank, only remembering to keep running forward and wait for Hachiman's arrival.
Behind Isshiki, a figure looked almost exactly like her—only with darker skin—was chasing her slowly and deliberately.
If Hachiman were nearby watching, he would notice a thin multicolored ribbon connecting Isshiki and the figure behind her.
With each step Isshiki took, a thread of light traveled from inside her body through the ribbon to the figure behind her.
"Tonight, it will finally be over."
The shadow, a substitute nightmare demon, smiled mockingly as it watched the girl futilely running ahead.
Did she really think she could escape its grasp in a dream?
The so-called chasing distance was just a trivial comfort for the poor girl about to vanish.
Tonight, it could completely replace this human and live in human society under her identity.
Still, the substitute nightmare demon didn't understand why its master ordered it to give up a high-status human and replace an ordinary female high school student instead.
And the master had also instructed it to be extremely cautious, never letting anyone know it was acting on orders.
"The master is too cautious."
Looking at Isshiki, whose body was already half gray and hazy, the substitute nightmare demon shook its head dismissively.
Apart from the five exorcists who were untouchable, the rest of the little fry couldn't even beat an intermediate evil spirit.
And the positions of those five exorcists had already appeared once, so there was no way they were in Chiba.
Why still be so cautious in this situation?
Ridiculous!
With this thought, a vicious gleam flashed in the substitute nightmare demon's eyes.
It casually swung its hand, sending an invisible wind blade smashing into the ceiling above Isshiki.
Boom!
Countless pieces of broken bricks fell from above, landing just several meters in front of Isshiki.
The sudden event snapped Isshiki's dazed mind back to clarity.
She instinctively glanced back.
Seeing the figure identical to herself behind her, fear immediately spread throughout her body.
Bang!
Another wind blade struck the ground at Isshiki's feet, seemingly urging her not to stop.
Having witnessed the power of the wind blade, Isshiki naturally didn't stand still like a fool.
Controlling her shaky legs, she stumbled onward, continuing to run.
At a corner, suddenly an arm reached out from around the bend and in an instant pulled Isshiki entirely over.
"Ugh!"
Startled by the sudden attack, Isshiki instinctively tried to cry out.
But Hachiman quickly covered her mouth and whispered in her ear, "Don't speak. It's me."
"Senpai!"
Hearing Hachiman's familiar voice, Isshiki's tense body relaxed instantly.
"Go down the stairs through the fire escape door behind us, got it?"
Time was tight. After quickly instructing Isshiki what to do, Hachiman pushed her toward the fire escape door.
Then he stood quietly against the wall, waiting for the evil spirit to arrive.
…
"Changed the escape route?"
Seeing Isshiki not run straight ahead but instead turn the corner and hide, the substitute nightmare demon didn't care.
As long as Isshiki remained in this dream, she definitely couldn't escape.
With the cat-and-mouse game in mind, the nightmare demon grinned fiercely and stepped into the corner.
But the imagined scene of a girl running desperately did not appear.
Instead, a strange man holding a large sword was quietly staring at it.
[…]
"Surprised?"
Seeing the evil spirit's expression freeze suddenly, a mocking smile appeared on Hachiman's normally expressionless face.
Then he swung his demon-slaying sword forcefully forward, attacking the nightmare demon fiercely!
Being hit would mean certain death!
Seeing the sword flashing toward it, the substitute nightmare demon suddenly realized this.
It dared not be careless and immediately dodged sideways and bent down to avoid the strike.
But Hachiman did not stop after this attack.
After the failed strike, he controlled the sword to continue slashing toward the demon.
The nightmare demon had no choice but to retreat quickly, trying to avoid the second strike.
But as it moved, Hachiman followed up with a step, planting his right foot firmly on the ground.
A blue light blossomed on the sword as Hachiman instantly used the sword technique—"Mother's Rosario."
"!"
Seeing the sky filled with slashes flying toward it, the nightmare demon widened its eyes and decisively abandoned its nearly perfected body, turning into a wisp of black smoke and escaping.
Even though the body looked exactly like Isshiki, Hachiman showed no hesitation.
Countless sword flashes instantly enveloped the smoke, then Hachiman broke through the barrier and continued chasing the black smoke form of the demon.
"Damn it, it's a proper exorcist!"
The nightmare demon fled quickly through the mall, glancing back at the relentlessly pursuing Hachiman.
Now it fully understood why its master warned it to be extremely cautious.
Turns out Chiba suddenly had a new exorcist!
What confused the nightmare demon was why its master hadn't just told it about the exorcist directly, only told it to be alert.
Boom!
A huge wave of spiritual power struck from behind, breaking the substitute nightmare demon's thoughts.
The black smoke quickly turned a corner in midair, dodging Hachiman's recently fired Spirit Flow, then ran down the mall's escalator.
Boom! Boom!
Two more Spirit Flow struck right in front of the substitute nightmare demon.
Immediately after, Hachiman vaulted over the railing and leapt onto the next escalator entrance, blocking its path.