Because she had already steeled herself—and because she never expected Yūdō to suddenly appear right behind her—the holy water Yūki Yako had thrown went flying without warning, splashing straight across Yūdō's body.
Fortunately, Yūdō was only a half-yokai, and the holy water in Yako's hand was nothing more than a low-grade product. As a result, it failed to cause him any harm at all.
Otherwise, whether it injured him or not was one thing—but his identity would have been exposed on the spot.
The blazing Wanyūdō came roaring in, its flaming body rolling violently forward. Wherever it crushed across the concrete road, the intense heat scorched the surface, leaving behind a long, pitch-black burn mark.
Yet that rolling inferno of a wheel never even reached Yūki Yako.
Halfway through its charge, it was stopped dead—blocked by Yūdō, who held his blade in one hand.
The reason Yūdō hadn't appeared the moment Wanyūdō showed itself had been deliberate.
He wanted to see whether the girl had the makings of an exorcist. If she didn't, then after helping her through this incident, he intended to advise her to abandon this path as soon as possible.
There were plenty of people in this world with spiritual aptitude—after all, the population base was enormous.
But those who could truly become exorcists were few.
Until recently, people had lived in a peaceful society. The sudden appearance of unnatural beings like yokai had caught most of them completely unprepared.
When facing yokai, raw strength alone wasn't enough—mental fortitude was just as crucial.
After all, yokai grew by feeding on human fear.
In the presence of such creatures, exposing one's inner terror and unease was nothing short of foolish.
Those emotions would only become nourishment, making the yokai even stronger.
The policies of exorcist academies had proven effective. Many students had successfully graduated in recent years—but those raised like flowers in a greenhouse suffered alarmingly high mortality rates.
Ultimately, it came down to fragile mindsets.
What Yūdō hadn't expected was that Yūki Yako—an ordinary high school girl—would show almost no trace of fear even when facing that raw, suffocating terror of imminent death.
She had even resolved to bite back at the enemy in her final moments.
Her heart was far stronger than her timid appearance suggested.
As Yūdō blocked Wanyūdō's charge, Yūzaburō and the others finally arrived from the other side. Jingū Suzuna immediately pulled Yūki Yako away to a safe spot, urgently warning her not to look at Wanyūdō's body.
Because Wanyūdō's fear-mark was still locked onto her, Yako remained its target. If she turned around to look at it now, her soul would be instantly taken.
Wanyūdō's fear-based ability was terrifyingly powerful—almost a literal "death upon looking back."
However, because this fear-mark could only be applied to one person at a time, Wanyūdō always targeted lone victims.
Anyone locked by its fear-mark, as long as they weren't stronger than it, was almost guaranteed to die by this near-unsolvable ability.
After settling Yūki Yako in safety, Jingū Suzuna looked back at Yūdō—who stood firm, blade raised, effortlessly halting Wanyūdō's full-speed charge—and her face filled with shock.
Wanyūdō's massive rolling body was moving so fast it threw sparks against the asphalt.
Yet the man holding the sword before it stood like an unbreakable fortress—his body not moving an inch.
Yūzaburō and the others had clashed with Wanyūdō once before.
Back then, Yūzaburō—the physically strongest among them—had attempted to block its charge head-on.
And yet, as a C-rank serum warrior, he'd been sent flying in an instant.
A C-rank serum warrior only possessed the physique of a C-rank yokai.
Wanyūdō, however, was a genuine C-rank yokai—and its rolling acceleration further amplified its destructive power.
When Yūdō had previously mentioned that he was both an exorcist and a serum warrior, Yūzaburō and the others had assumed he'd consumed, at most, a C-rank yokai serum—just like Yūzaburō himself.
After all, even for exorcists, acquiring serum above C-rank wasn't easy.
Most of what circulated on the market were E-rank and D-rank yokai serums. The creepy old man had paid a fortune just to get his hands on a D-rank serum from the black market.
As for C-rank serum, very little was available. Most of it was monopolized by institutions and wealthy elites. Even Yūzaburō had only obtained his through Kujō Hina's connections.
B-rank yokai serum, meanwhile, was practically mythical.
Yokai at B-rank or higher were considered greater yokai—exceptionally powerful and extremely rare.
Only major exorcist families and powerful organizations could hunt such creatures. And any serum produced from those hunts was kept for internal use—never sold.
But judging from the current battle—
There was no way in hell Yūdō had taken only a C-rank serum.
Even a C+ serum warrior couldn't suppress a near-berserk C-rank Wanyūdō this effortlessly.
From Yūdō's relaxed, unhurried posture, he had—at the bare minimum—consumed B-rank serum or higher.
C+–level spiritual power.B-rank or above physical ability.
At this point, even if Yūdō claimed he wasn't from an exorcist family, Yūzaburō and the others wouldn't believe him for a second.
Someone this young, with this level of strength, could only come from a resource-rich elite family—and judging by his age, he was likely a standout even among them.
Of course, they didn't know why this so-called "young master" Yūdō had chosen to team up with them.
But they knew one thing for sure—
This subjugation mission was basically guaranteed now.
After throwing everything it had into the assault and still failing to break through Yūdō's defense, the ghostly face at the center of Wanyūdō's wheel turned grim.
Clearly, it had realized this opponent was a tough nut to crack.
Rather than risking a disastrous loss here, it would be better to retreat and find easier prey.
Soon, Yūdō felt the pressure on his arm shift.
Wanyūdō's rapidly spinning body suddenly veered aside—turning sharply in front of him and racing off in another direction.
"Shit! It's running—stop it!" Yūzaburō shouted.
The moment Wanyūdō changed direction, Yūzaburō knew it had decided to flee. Worse, it had chosen the weakest defensive line—the creepy old man's position.
Wanyūdō still remembered Yūzaburō and the others from before. It knew Yūzaburō wasn't a match for it, but could still slow it down.
As for Jingū Suzuna, Wanyūdō could sense the spiritual power on her—so it avoided her entirely.
That left only one path.
The creepy old man.
Mabayashi Genji had once been nothing more than a high-paid office worker. He'd never imagined he'd become a serum warrior one day—let alone one of the "lucky ones."
Facing the onrushing Wanyūdō, fear surged through him—but he knew retreat wasn't an option.
If he dodged and let it break through their encirclement, they'd never catch it.
Worse still, Wanyūdō was an intelligent yokai. If it escaped today, it would never return to this area again.
Finding it in the future would be far harder.
They finally had a powerful ally today. If they missed this chance, someone as gifted as Yūdō would never keep teaming up with them.
Genji was a D-rank serum warrior—but a fortunate one.
He had inherited the flame-manipulation ability of the D-rank yokai Lantern Wisp.
As Wanyūdō charged at him, Genji's mouth stretched wide in an inhuman grin. A red lantern-shaped phantom appeared behind him, and he spewed out a massive torrent of orange flames.
Like a raging fire serpent, the blaze roared through the darkness, wrapping straight toward the rolling Wanyūdō.
But as it watched the fire snake approach, the ghostly face on Wanyūdō displayed unmistakable mockery.
Its spinning body didn't slow down in the slightest—instead, it crashed straight into the flames.
Wanyūdō's outer body was already wrapped in blazing fire. Rolling through the night, it looked like a colossal flaming windmill.
Genji's fire was shredded almost instantly upon contact.
In the same moment, Wanyūdō slammed into him.
"So this is what humans call serum warriors?" Wanyūdō sneered, its voice dripping with contempt."Borrowing our power to fight—what a joke. You picked the wrong opponent.I use flames too, you know. And even if you were a real Lantern Wisp, what then?A mere D-rank yokai dares challenge me, a C-rank Wanyūdō?And you've only inherited part of its power—yet you thought you could stop me?Know your place."
The mocking voice echoed through the air.
By the time the words faded, Wanyūdō was already hundreds of meters away.
At speeds exceeding several hundred kilometers per hour, it had never lost a race.
Those humans had actually thought they could ambush it.
Now they couldn't even see its taillights.
Genji was sent flying, ribs snapping instantly, severe burns covering his skin.
But more painful than his injuries—
Was the bitter frustration of letting it escape.
Given Wanyūdō's movement speed, unless it was restrained from the very beginning, once it started running, even a B-rank serum warrior would struggle to catch up.
..
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