The grudge spirit was deeply confused—so much so that it did something that went against its usual pattern.
It pulled Hojo Yoru out of the water.
"That's it?"
Hojo's hair was drenched, water still dripping from his face, yet he looked at the spirit like it was an idiot. He sighed.
"So disappointing. My partner and I waited here half the day, and all you can do is shove people's heads underwater? I'm not trying to be harsh, but as the first 'grudge-spirit-type' thing Tokyo's strongest devil hunter has ever run into… you're honestly kind of a joke."
Asuna thought Hojo choosing now to critique the enemy was extremely on-brand (and extremely ridiculous)… but she couldn't deny she'd been thinking the same thing.
A spirit that whispers to lure normal people into a river, then holds their head down to drown them…
Yeah, for ordinary people it is terrifying—especially with a body that's around 2.5 meters tall.
But compared to ghouls and devils, this thing felt like it had wandered in from the wrong genre.
"Can't drown…?"
The spirit was shaken. For the first time, it genuinely doubted whether the "thing" in front of it was even human.
What human could hold their breath underwater for ten minutes, emerge, and still be completely fine?
Just as it stood there trying to understand, Hojo spoke softly.
"Do it."
The instant those words left his mouth, a metal sword shot out from the forest in a streak, moonlight flashing coldly along the steel.
Yuuki Asuna controlled her Sword Throne—
…well, with only one sword, it was hard to call it a "throne."
She controlled her single lonely sword and severed the spirit's right arm at the shoulder.
At the same time, Hojo threw a punch and blew the spirit's head apart into a spray of gore.
But in the next second, the spirit's head regenerated—while the severed right arm did not.
The grudge spirit glared at Hojo with venomous hatred, letting out a shrill howl.
"Die die die—"
Hojo didn't even react. He just flicked his hand dismissively.
"Go ahead and eat, Ouroboros."
The moment he said it, the black serpent with pale gold markings rose out of the void below—jaw yawning wide.
Before it, the once "huge" white-clad spirit looked like a snack stick. It was bitten in half at the waist and swallowed whole.
"Chanting like you're reading scripture," Hojo muttered. "You'd almost make people think you could curse me to death."
Asuna let out a helpless laugh.
"Get up here already. Your clothes are soaked—aren't you worried about catching a cold? And just so you know, if you do catch one, I'm not taking care of you."
Hojo climbed out of the stream, utterly unconcerned.
"Don't be silly. Even viruses fear my stats. A cold? I'll make it regret showing up!"
"…Why can you make even that sound so hype?"
Still complaining, Asuna pulled a towel from her bag, stood on tiptoe, and started drying his wet hair.
"Good thing I brought a towel from home. Otherwise you'd be dripping everywhere and making the taxi driver's life harder… Hey—where are you looking!?"
Mid-sentence she noticed Hojo's gaze and instantly flushed, clutching her chest.
Because she'd worn loose sportswear for the operation, and with that posture—and Hojo being much taller—if he just lowered his eyes…
Hojo answered her accusation with complete bluntness.
"Didn't expect it, but your stats are pretty high too."
Asuna frowned, confused.
"What stats? My ability is mainly in the sword—unlike you I don't have some absurd physical body—wait. Hold on…"
Only then did the ultra-pure Asuna finally realize what kind of "stats" he meant.
Her face turned so red it practically radiated heat.
"DIE, PERVERT!!"
They didn't really bother discussing the grudge-spirit fight afterward—because the conclusion was already clear:
Ouroboros can eat non-physical supernatural entities and still gain power, just like when it eats ghouls or devils.
Purely physical damage can hurt the spirit, but the injuries instantly regenerate, so you can't truly kill it that way.
But damage from Asuna's Sword Throne or Hojo's Ouroboros—those "conceptual/supernatural" attacks—doesn't regenerate.
And to Hojo, only one point really mattered:
Edible.
Half a month later — Sobu High, Class 1-A
Hojo hadn't done anything special lately. He and Asuna simply followed intel from the Ghoul Countermeasures Bureau and hunted ghouls. The strongest they'd encountered was only A-rank, which for Ouroboros was basically "snack food"—fun, but almost no meaningful stat growth.
The real purpose was getting Asuna used to combat and refining her ability.
Her power wasn't like Hojo's at all.
Ouroboros was less a "combat skill" and more like a method that boosts his physical foundation; it wasn't always optimal to summon it in battle. But Sword Throne was different.
After killing supernatural targets, Asuna's physical stats rose too—but nowhere near Hojo's scale. Her biggest growth was in the ability itself:
Her sword control range was now 15 meters.
Its strength and speed had improved significantly—she was starting to look legitimately "sword-immortal-ish."
Soloing an A-rank ghoul and winning was still hard, but stalling and holding the line for a while was completely doable.
To reach that level in under a month? Hojo was genuinely satisfied—like a trainer catching a common early-route bird and realizing its base stats were secretly higher than a pseudo-legend.
And with Asuna's looks, she counted as a "shiny," no matter how you sliced it.
"Yoru~"
At that deliberately sweet, drawn-out voice, Hojo didn't even need to look up. Sure enough, in the next second, Hiratsuka Shizuka completely ignored her dignity as a teacher and plopped herself right down on his desk.
"Teacher is very satisfied with how you've been doing lately~"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
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