A severed head hovered midair, its tangled hair writhing like living tendrils. Empty eye sockets locked onto Ethan as its lips parted:
"Have you seen my body?"
A sight to shatter ordinary minds.
Ethan remained unmoved.
"Just as I thought."
Seraphina's description and Lucian's Catalog of Aberrations had prepared him.
D-class Aberration: Severed Specter
•A flesh-type entity born from lingering resentment
•Disembodied head with rudimentary intelligence
•Evolves by consuming human heads → B-class Human Demon
The latter were nightmare fuel—shape-shifting infiltrators that had once nearly blood-sacrificed an entire city.
No wonder governments exterminated Severed Specters on sight.
"The Bureau must've mistaken you for a Headhunter Ghost," Ethan mused. "Less dangerous cousins."
This one was weak. Younger than the Eight-Foot Lady he'd slain.
"Bad luck running into me."
Straw erupted from Ethan's wrists, hissing like serpents.
The Specter recoiled—some primal instinct screaming predator—before fury overrode caution:
"YOU stole my body!"
An invisible blade of wind shrieked toward Ethan's neck.
He'd anticipated this.
Crack!
The windslash carved a foot-deep gouge into the wall as Ethan's backbend avoided decapitation.
From the bedroom, Seraphina heard:
ROAR!
Ethan's diaphragm compressed, replicating a tiger's fury.
Xingyi Quan: Tiger Pounce
(Eight Extremes Fist Style - mimics apex predators' movements)
Hair needles shot from the Specter—
—only to meet straw-forged claws.
Shrrrk!
Ebony strands rained down as Ethan closed the gap.
Ba Bu Beng Quan!
（Eight Steps Shattering Fist' - Chinese martial arts technique focusing on explosive close-range strikes）
His fist cratered the Specter's forehead. Brain matter geysered against the wallpaper.
Before it could scream, straw tendrils nail-gunned its remains to the wall.
Black light streamed into Ethan.
[Ding! D-class ability acquired: Curse]
[Curse (D-class): Harm yourself to inflict equal damage on a visible target. Ineffective against high-constitution foes.]
Ethan's nose wrinkled. A suicide skill?
Then—epiphany.
His right arm unraveled into straw. A slash severed it cleanly.
Across the room, a priceless Ming vase split identically.
"Sympathetic linkage!" He jammed the detached limb against his stump. Straw fibers interwove—good as new.
System Update:
[Host: Ethan Cross]
[Strength: 3 | Speed: 3 | Constitution: 3 | Mind: 5]
[Aberrations: Scarecrow (D) | Curse (D)]
[Rating: D+]
(Baseline Human: All stats 1)
D+. One step from C-class elite status.
As he turned to inform Seraphina, a glint caught his eye—
—a smeared bloodstain where the Specter had bounced.