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[Word Spirit: Bind — Deals minor damage to the target and restrains them]
Looking at the skill description, Asher knew it wasn't particularly powerful.
Even so, he couldn't help feeling excited.
Before transmigrating, he had been nothing more than an ordinary person. Supernatural powers were something he'd never even dreamed of touching.
Just as he was wondering whether he should find a place to test out his new skill, a realization suddenly struck him.
If the system existed to help him become the strongest onmyoji in a world that fused multiple anime universes…
Then that meant this world definitely had evil spirits, monsters, and all sorts of supernatural horrors.
And if he wanted to grow stronger, there was no way he'd avoid dealing with them.
Thinking about facing demons and evil spirits in the future, Asher felt no fear at all.
Instead, he was thrilled.
With a system backing him up and powers beyond imagination at his fingertips, what was there to be afraid of?
More importantly, as someone who had once been an ordinary guy, the thought of stepping into scenes that had only existed in movies and anime before made his blood boil with excitement.
"Hoo…"
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
Just as he was about to use the beginner ten-pull—
The next second—
"Ahhh—!!"
A sudden scream ripped through the quiet, shadowy alley and reached his ears.
Asher stopped what he was doing.
Driven by curiosity, he only hesitated for a few seconds before moving quickly toward the source of the scream.
Meanwhile, on a quiet side street not far from the alley…
A girl in a standard Japanese high school uniform clutched her schoolbag tightly to her chest. Her face was pale with panic as she ran blindly through streets she didn't recognize.
Anyone could tell she was terrified.
Yet even when passersby happened to see her, none of them had any idea what she was running from.
From behind her, the street looked perfectly normal. Calm. Empty.
But to her, it was anything but.
What looked ordinary to everyone else was, in her eyes, a place filled with unspeakable horror.
Because for reasons she'd never fully understood, she had been able to see things others couldn't ever since she was born.
And just moments ago, by sheer bad luck, she'd accidentally locked eyes for less than a second with a vengeful spirit that had been wandering this area for a long time.
The instant that grotesque thing realized the girl could see it, its attention snapped onto her.
A cute, fragile-looking girl. The kind who made people feel protective at first glance.
"You can see me."
"You can see me."
"You can see me…"
The hoarse, rasping whispers of the pursuing spirit echoed right behind her ears.
Even though she was already exhausted, her breathing ragged and burning in her chest, she didn't dare slow down.
If she stopped, even for a second, she knew she'd be torn apart by the monster chasing her.
Someone… please save me…!
Her heart screamed in despair as fear seeped into every inch of her body.
Because she could see spirits, she'd grown up cautious to the point of paranoia, always afraid of drawing the attention of those terrifying beings.
And yet, all it took was one moment of distraction to drag her into a deadly situation.
Was she really going to die here today, at the hands of a vengeful spirit?
That thought echoed in her mind as her steps grew unsteady.
A spirit's stamina was endless. A human's was not.
And she was just a girl.
Her strength was almost completely gone, her vision blurring at the edges. All she could hear now was the harsh sound of her own breathing.
Smack.
Her fading focus finally betrayed her.
She tripped and fell hard onto the rough concrete of the street.
The gritty pavement scraped her knee, leaving a bloody red gash against her pale skin.
"Ow!"
She cried out instinctively, but there was no time to worry about pain.
She hurriedly turned her head to look behind her.
The moment she did, a massive shadow swallowed her whole, and her eyes went wide.
"Kehehehe!"
"You can see me!"
The spirit had caught up. The instant she fell, it was already there.
Floating in midair, its enormous form loomed over her, hollow black eyes staring down at the girl sprawled on the ground.
It would've been easy for the spirit to kill her.
But like a hunter playing with its prey, it had no intention of ending things right away.
Hunters chased their prey until it was completely exhausted, until all that remained was despair-filled eyes waiting for death.
And now, the spirit had had its fill of fear and satisfaction.
"Kehehehe… Human who can see me, die!"
Its sinister laughter rang out as it stretched forward hands tipped with razor-sharp claws.
Feeling the icy wind of something that shouldn't exist, the girl's face turned deathly pale. All she could do was shut her eyes in despair.
She didn't even dare imagine how horrific it would be to be torn apart alive.
Just as she resigned herself to death…
A sudden young voice rang out beside both her and the spirit.
"Word Spirit. Bind."
Whoosh!
The instant the words fell, two sharp sounds cut through the air.
The spirit's claws, less than a centimeter from the girl's face, froze in place.
When it snapped out of its stunned confusion, it realized something was wrong.
Two glowing, blue chains had appeared out of nowhere, coiling tightly around its body.
The luminous chains locked the spirit in midair, completely immobilizing it.
At some point, the girl had opened her eyes.
She stared in shock at the sudden change, then followed the chains back to their source.
About ten meters away, at the entrance of a nearby alley, stood a long-haired boy who looked not much older than her.
His hands were forming seals. Beneath his feet, a circular formation glowed blue, inscribed with intricate, mysterious patterns.
The ethereal blue chains weren't physical at all. They extended straight out from the glowing formation, binding the spirit that had almost killed her.
"....."