"Die... die!
The thousands of faces on the worm evil spirit's head suddenly changed expression, snarling and roaring. One of the faces abruptly extended forward, its neck twisting into a spiral shape as it attempted to wrap around Ye Xing's body.
"You really are such simple, easily understood low-level existences."
Facing the evil spirit's attack, Ye Xing stood still without moving. Rio Futaba pulled out one of Bone Woman's bones and threw it like a spear, directly piercing through that distorted face.
"All this 'die', 'you die', 'kill you', 'tear you apart', 'eat you'..."
Ye Xing approached the worm evil spirit, his tone still tinged with amusement.
"As twisted beings, your verbal aggression is far too weak."
After the worm-like evil spirit let out that roar, the thousands of faces composing its head instantly returned to their previous vacant expressions - indifferent and seemingly unconcerned with anything in the external world.
Rio Futaba stared directly at the creature's countless faces, feeling she had seen expressions like these somewhere before.
Her mind began racing once again.
In less than a breath's time, she immediately realised where she had seen such expressions before.
Not just seen them.
But saw them every single day.
During rush hour on the trains, the salarymen all wore exactly these expressions.
Think about it carefully...
Rush hour trains are terrifying places.
Thousands of people crammed into a giant metal box, with only mechanical station announcements breaking the silence—so many people gathered together, yet no one speaking, quiet to the point of deathly stillness.
Just silently moving toward their destinations.
"Could it be..."
Combining this with what Ye Xing had told her about seeing evil spirits dressed in white coats and masks, like doctors, in the hospital morgue, Rio Futaba felt she was getting closer to understanding the true nature of the Reverse World.
"This thing is quite troublesome."
Since Tamamo-no-Mae had decided to show goodwill toward Ye Xing, even facing such a powerful evil spirit now, she felt no fear. She didn't miss this opportunity to demonstrate her goodwill and improve her favour with him.
Despite her delicate appearance, she was still a dominant force in the Reverse World.
Evil spirits without even the capacity for thought were, in Tamamo-no-Mae's eyes, like highly aggressive madmen and serial killers in human terms.
More contempt than fear.
"Here, I call forth my true name."
Tamamo-no-Mae removed her wooden clogs, her small, snow-white, bare feet stepping onto the carriage floor.
From within her voluminous kimono emerged nine snow-white, fluffy tails with pale golden patterns.
Tamamo-no-Mae floated before Ye Xing, facing the worm-like evil spirit directly. Her pink lips parted slightly, her teeth visibly sharpening as she softly uttered:
"Tamamo-no-Mae."
As she spoke these words, a hazy mist rose around her.
Rio Futaba frowned slightly, thinking to herself.
Does Tamamo-no-Mae also have an ability similar to Soul Manifestation?
Apart from slight differences in wording, both the stance and the process of calling forth the true name were the same as when she and Miko did it.
Why would this be?
Isn't Tamamo-no-Mae... an evil spirit?
When psychics call their soul's true name, they manifest their soul and inner self to gain power against evil spirits.
But if Tamamo-no-Mae is already a spirit herself, why would she need such a process?
Fundamentally...
Why would a great demon like Tamamo-no-Mae, known throughout Japan, appear in the Reverse World?
Before the existence of the Gates, there should have been no method to travel between the Reverse World and the real world.
Ultimately...
Is the Gate's function really just a bridge connecting two worlds, as she originally speculated?
Or is it...
Before the existence of Gates, was there truly no Reverse World?
Rio Futaba kept pondering this, yet her movements never ceased. She immediately had Bone Woman erect a white bony shield around the four ordinary people: Soichiro Yagami, Marin Kitagawa, and the Kawasaki sisters.
While battling the evil spirits, she continued to reflect on the matter.
Such dual-tasking posed no difficulty whatsoever for Rio Futaba.
'Quite intriguing.'
Observing the massive figure emerging through the hazy smoke, Ye Xing revealed a faint smile. Instead of advancing, he took a few steps back.
Spectres like Tamamo-no-Mae, who were far more intelligent than humans, were truly rare.
At first glance, it might be hard to judge.
But when using Hachishaku-sama as a comparison, the difference becomes strikingly clear.
That tall figure, Hachishaku-sama, loves nothing more than squatting at home, drinking milk after completing her daily patrols in Kyoto.
Scheming? Far from it.
Since joining the Supernatural Society, Hachishaku-sama's brain has entered standby mode, nearly deteriorating from disuse.
Now consider Tamamo-no-Mae.
Did she actively engage this powerful worm evil spirit because she thought Ye Xing and Rio Futaba needed her help?
Not at all.
Although the worm evil spirit carried heavy resentment, its power fell considerably short compared to that of the ten-metre-tall giant evil spirit.
Tamamo-no-Mae's action served only one purpose.
She wanted Ye Xing to witness her true strength.
Only after achieving this, combined with her previous and current benevolent acts, could deeper cooperation potentially begin in the future.
As the mist slowly dissipated, Soichiro Yagami and the others finally glimpsed the colossal figure within through tiny gaps in the bone shield.
ROAR!!!
The massive nine-tailed fox slammed its white paw onto the ground.
Its sharp fangs glinted coldly, eyes radiating undisguised killing intent as it stared down the worm evil spirit before it.
"What... what is that thing!?"
Soichiro Yagami was utterly dumbfounded.
He had believed the Metropolitan Police Department's greatest challenge was the elusive criminal Mask, who even their armed specialist units couldn't handle.
But now it appeared...
At least Mask was still human!
Soichiro couldn't help but swear aloud.
"What the hell is that monster!?"
The moment he spoke, Saki Kawasaki nearby frowned slightly and said coldly:
"Chief Yagami, there's a child present. Please mind your language."
"Er..."
Under Saki's sharp gaze, Soichiro looked embarrassed and scratched his head.
"S... sorry."
Actually, Keika Kawasaki hadn't heard what Soichiro said at all.
Her attention was completely focused on Ye Xing, nearly forgetting even her own sister.
So cool.
The last time she saw Ye Xing in this outfit, Keika didn't know his true identity, and Ye Xing hadn't obtained Onimaru Kunitsuna yet.
Now with his new equipment, he looked even cooler.
Moreover, Keika felt an indescribable excitement.
Nobody else here knew Big Brother's true identity—only she did.
It was just...
Waku waku, so thrilling!
"Kill you..."
The worm evil spirit's massive body writhed, thousands of stacked human faces twisting and merging together.
Eyes, noses, mouths...
The facial features squirmed into a disgusting, fused mass.
"Kill me?"
Though Tamamo-no-Mae had revealed her true form, she still retained the ability to speak.
Her voice remained gentle, but her tone dripped with disdain and contempt.
"A monster like you?"
As the words fell, Tamamo-no-Mae already swung her sharp claws, piercing flesh with her pointed nails as they plunged deep into the worm evil spirit's repulsive head.
Her slender eyes shimmered with a thirst for slaughter and destruction. She opened her mouth, revealing two rows of sharp, gleaming teeth, and viciously sank them into the worm evil spirit's body.
With a twist of her neck, she tore off a large chunk of flesh, which dissipated into black mist.
Boom...
The worm evil spirit's massive body twitched, causing the ground to tremble.
Immediately after, all thousand of its mouths simultaneously emitted incomprehensible whispers.
As the whispers echoed, hundreds of identical slender ghostly figures emerged from the underground passage. Their forms were eerie and distorted, swiftly charging towards the group behind Tamamo-no-Mae.
Thud!
They crashed directly against the hard, white, bony shield, yet seemed completely impervious to pain, numbly repeating the motions of retreating and charging forward again.
Even the sturdy shield created by Bone Woman gradually developed cracks under this relentless assault.
Saki Kawasaki's pupils contracted as she shielded her younger sister behind her.
Through the gaps in the bony shield, she could sense the slender, ghostly figures—though faceless—had fixed their gaze upon her, her sister, Soichiro Yagami, and Marin Kitagawa, the four ordinary humans.
Their twisted aura felt like evil spirits from hell, threatening to drag everyone into a dark crimson pool of blood.
"Damn it, damn it..."
Watching the cracks multiply across the white bony shield, Saki Kawasaki shielded her sister with one hand, gritting her silver teeth, her eyes revealing frustration.
If this continues...
She wouldn't be able to protect her sister, or Marin.
"Damn it..."
Saki Kawasaki nearly ground her teeth to dust.
For the first time in her life, she felt so utterly powerless.
"Still not able to do it yet..."
Rio Futaba, who had been maintaining her position, observed Marin Kitagawa and Saki Kawasaki's reactions through the shield's gaps, ultimately shaking her head in resignation.
"As expected, awakening isn't something that simple."
Rio Futaba had confirmed one thing.
Ye Xing's method of throwing people into the Reverse World—awaken or die—wasn't feasible.
Facing one's true self wasn't something that could be forced.
If they didn't even understand their own genuine thoughts, how could they confront them?
From the current situation, neither Marin Kitagawa nor Saki Kawasaki had met the necessary conditions.
"Let's go, Bone Woman."
Hearing Rio Futaba's command, Bone Woman gave a slight nod.
Immediately after, she vanished from the air.
Rio Futaba, wearing her white coat resembling a lab coat, strode slowly towards the slender ghostly figures relentlessly assaulting the bony shield.
"Bone Spikes."
As these words left her lips, dozens of sharp spikes suddenly extended from the bony shield.
The slender, ghostly figures charging at the shield impaled themselves on the spikes. Their bodies, once pierced, dissipated into faint black mist in the air.
Witnessing this scene, the worm evil spirit, locked in combat with Tamamo-no-Mae once more, again emitted that eerie sound, resembling thousands of people whispering simultaneously.
The remaining slender ghostly figures instantly changed direction, their new target becoming Rio Futaba as she approached steadily.
Facing hundreds of slender, shadowy figures composed of pure black mist, Rio Futaba extended her right hand with an expressionless face.
"White Bone Hell."
The moment her words fell, the ground in the passage erupted with vast clusters of pale white, beautiful yet razor-sharp bone spikes that gleamed coldly, sprouting like bamboo shoots after rain.
Less than a second passed.
Hundreds of slender, shadowy figures were annihilated.
Seeing this scene, Saki Kawasaki and the others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Yet Rio Futaba showed no trace of joy, merely murmuring to herself.
"Too weak."
These slender, shadowy figures were simply too weak.
So weak that it made Rio Futaba feel suspicious.
Not to mention in the Reverse World.
Even in the real world, the power of these slender, shadowy figures fell below the standard baseline.
Although the slender, shadowy figures could silently kill those rescue personnel and the Metropolitan Police Department team members.
But from another perspective.
If they didn't need to follow the rule of observation, any evil spirit would be an utterly unstoppable monster for ordinary people.
There was one more thing that made Rio Futaba particularly suspicious.
The feeling was wrong.
She didn't have the sensation of having killed evil spirits.
Only a strange sensation, as if she had merely removed empty shells.
"Captain."
Hearing Rio Futaba's call, Ye Xing walked over, carrying Onimaru Kunitsuna in one hand.
"What's wrong?"
Rio Futaba looked toward the writhing worm evil spirit that was locked in combat with Tamamo-no-Mae. Beneath her mask, her face wore a thoughtful expression as she made her habitual gesture of pushing up her glasses when deep in thought.
"This thing doesn't seem to be an ordinary evil spirit."
Rio Futaba spoke slowly.
"These shadowy figures aren't so much evil spirits loyal to it, but rather tools for hunting. They're somewhat similar to the weapons you create using evil spirit power."
"What!?"
Seeing Ye Xing's pupils contract in shock, just as Rio Futaba felt puzzled, thinking how an evil spirit of this level could make the usually unflappable Ye Xing show such an expression, she heard him speak in a serious tone.
"This bastard actually copied me?"
"Um..."
Rio Futaba looked speechless: "Does that even count as copying?"
"Why wouldn't it?"
Ye Xing spoke with complete seriousness.
"You need to understand, I'm the protagonist of this world."
"What's a protagonist?"
Facing Ye Xing's sudden question, Rio Futaba honestly shook her head and cautiously ventured.
"Is it... the strongest?"
"Not necessarily the strongest."
Ye Xing waved his hand and began to explain with great seriousness.
"But the protagonist must be special, possessing uniqueness - otherwise they wouldn't be called the protagonist."
"This guy isn't just copying my abilities."
"He's trying to steal my position as the protagonist!"
Rio Futaba let out a slight sigh and said helplessly.
"So what do you plan to do?"
"What else can I do?"
Ye Xing stood up, glanced towards the writhing evil spirit battling Tamamo-no-Mae, swung Onimaru Kunitsuna in his hand, and said calmly.
"Make it pay the price."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Xing had already flashed to the centre of the battlefield.
"Tamamo-no-Mae, step back."
Tamamo-no-Mae, who was already struggling to hold on, immediately nodded obediently upon hearing this. Her massive form instantly shrank, transforming back into human shape as she quietly retreated some distance away.
She felt rather embarrassed.
Initially, Tamamo-no-Mae had been able to suppress this enormous worm-like evil spirit, even to the point of one-sidedly dominating it.
But for some reason.
During the battle, the opponent's power kept increasing continuously.
As a legendary yokai capable of rational thought, Tamamo-no-Mae looked down upon this kind of twisted evil spirit that only knew killing and didn't even have a human form.
The problem was...
She couldn't defeat it.
It was truly humiliating.
Still, her initial goal of demonstrating goodwill and genuine strength had been achieved.
"Chief Yagami."
Facing the shrieking worm evil spirit, Ye Xing spoke lightly to Soichiro Yagami not far away.
"This is why Onimaru Kunitsuna pledges loyalty to me."
Before Soichiro Yagami could respond, Ye Xing swung Onimaru Kunitsuna through the air towards the worm evil spirit before him.
"Slash."
As this word left his mouth, the black flames attached to Onimaru Kunitsuna's blade transformed into a sharp sword Qi that shot straight towards the worm evil spirit's body.
This single sword strike cleanly sliced off nearly half of the worm evil spirit's head.
Those human faces writhed on the ground, not immediately dissipating into black mist, their mouths still emitting sharp, piercing screams.
"Truly disgusting."
Ye Xing walked forward slowly, turning the tip of Onimaru Kunitsuna downward. Without a trace of pity in his eyes, he directly pierced through the still-screaming human faces.
"Quantum, help me with some crowd control."
Hearing Ye Xing's words, though somewhat tired, Rio Futaba still stepped to his side. She aimed both hands at the shrieking worm evil spirit and said word by word.
"Bone Hell."
This time, the white bones extended not from the ground, but from both sides of the underground passage.
Several sharp bone spikes directly pierced through the worm evil spirit's body, temporarily preventing it from struggling.
"Would you say this counts as our couple's combination technique?"
Hearing Ye Xing's smiling question, Rio Futaba's pretty face beneath the mask flushed red. She smacked his shoulder irritably.
"Stop acting crazy here. If you want to be crazy, do it at home. Hurry up and get rid of this evil spirit so we can go back. I want to go to bed and sleep."
"Alright then."
Ye Xing smiled and nodded. The pale ghost hand and dark ghost hand in mid-air disappeared.
It wasn't that he had cancelled the summoning.
Rather, he had used the ability to merge with his soul's true form.
Onimaru Kunitsuna was originally a greatsword meant to be wielded two-handed.
For the first time, Ye Xing gripped the hilt with both hands.
"Chief Yagami."
The hem of his black coat transformed into burning flames.
Upon the black blade of Onimaru Kunitsuna, a dense aura emerged, resembling both black mist and flickering fire.
Ye Xing stared directly at the enormous worm-like evil spirit before him, his calm words clearly audible to Soichiro Yagami.
"Watch closely."
As he spoke these three words, Ye Xing was already gripping the sword with both hands, slashing downward through the air toward the worm-like evil spirit.
This time, the sword Qi formed by the black flames was at least ten times more powerful than the previous one.
The vertical blade of Qi passed straight through the centre of the worm-like evil spirit's body.
For a moment, the very air seemed to fall silent.
Ye Xing turned and looked toward Soichiro Yagami, standing not far away, sheathing Onimaru Kunitsuna at his waist.
As the blade slid into its scabbard, the massive body of the worm-like evil spirit trembled.
Then, it slowly split into two halves down the middle, the cut surface incredibly smooth and even.
Amid the trembling ground, Ye Xing met Soichiro Yagami's gaze directly and said plainly,
"This is why Onimaru Kunitsuna is worthy of being wielded by me."