Natsume caught him beneath the arm before his head struck the linoleum and lowered him carefully onto the floor.
His breathing came shallow and uneven.
The black was already fading from his eyes.
Above them the ghost writhed in the air, dense dark mass folding against itself with unstable shifting edges.
Edges shifting constantly, unable to fully hold shape after being torn from its anchor.
Then it surged downward toward the unconscious man.
Toward the body.
Hiro stepped between them.
Both hands rose.
Golden cleansing seals spread instantly from fingertip to fingertip in overlapping circles of burning light.
The ghost slammed into them.
The corridor exploded white.
Dark energy tore apart piece by piece beneath the cleansing light.
Black fragments burned away into pale drifting sparks until the screaming stopped abruptly and the pressure vanished from the corridor entirely.
Silence settled over the floor.
The curtains stopped moving.
