Upon suddenly seeing a terrifying evil spirit, Miko Yotsuya's expression and gaze showed no fluctuation whatsoever. She simply stood up as if noticing nothing and looked towards her mother, who was examining the electrical circuits, speaking calmly.
"Mum, I'm going out for a bit to ask the neighbours if they've lost power too."
"Ah, that's right. If the neighbours have also lost power, it means the problem isn't our electrical box but a circuit failure in this area. I'll leave it to you then, Miko."
"Mm, don't worry, I'll handle it."
Miko Yotsuya changed her shoes unhurriedly and then left home.
"You... can see me?"
That terrifying evil spirit with the distorted face kept its head pressed close to Miko Yotsuya's, repeating its words.
"You... can see..."
"Yes, I can see you."
Miko Yotsuya's sudden response made the evil spirit pause for a moment, before intense killing intent bloomed in its pupils.
"You can see..."
"Hyakume."
Before the evil spirit could launch an attack, Miko Yotsuya summoned her true soul, Hyakume.
In the next second, she drew Mikazuki Munechika, handed over by Hyakume, and, with a clean, decisive movement, directly severed the evil spirit's ugly head.
Then, turning the blade tip, she pierced through its head.
Watching the headless body of the evil spirit slowly dissipate into black smoke, Miko Yotsuya flicked Mikazuki Munechika in her hand and said calmly,
"Now you can't see."
Just as Miko Yotsuya's words fell, her mobile phone chimed.
She took out her phone to look; it was Rio Futaba who had sent a message in the Supernatural Society team group chat.
Rio Futaba: Have you all been attacked, too?
Mai Sakurajima: Yes, but it's already dealt with.
Yui Yuigahama: Same here.
Miko Yotsuya quietly typed two brief symbols underneath.
Miko Yotsuya: Mm.
Rio Futaba: Just as I suspected. The feeling Futaba and I have had these past few days, of being watched by something in the shadows, really wasn't a mistake after all.
Rio Futaba: Another issue: my whole area has lost power. How about you all?
Mai Sakurajima: Yes, it's out.
Yui Yuigahama: Same here.
Miko Yotsuya: The four of us don't live particularly close to each other, yet the power went out at the same time. Could it be... the whole of Kyoto City has lost power?
Rio Futaba: That might be the case, but don't interrupt yet, the situation is urgent, let me finish first.
Rio Futaba, holding her phone, pushed her glasses frame up with her left hand, then began typing on the screen with the fastest, most urgent movements of her life.
Rio Futaba: A power outage on this large a scale, plus all four of us being attacked – this is definitely not a coincidence. It's the first step of the evil spirits' full-scale assault.
Rio Futaba: I just tried to contact Ye Xing, but the number didn't connect. His phone is always kept on, yet he suddenly became unreachable. This can prove only one thing: he was the enemy's primary target.
Rio Futaba: I know what you're all thinking, but given that guy's capabilities, it's impossible for him to have died so silently. This only proves one thing.
Rio Futaba: Ye Xing isn't dead - he's just unable to move freely for some reason.
Rio Futaba's mind raced as she processed all the available information, then asked the most crucial question.
Rio Futaba: When you were attacked, the surrounding area wasn't dragged into the Reverse World, was it?
Mai Sakurajima, Yui Yuigahama, and Miko Yotsuya all confirmed this was true.
Although evil spirits had appeared earlier, they weren't the type that had fused with Gates and could forcibly merge the surrounding real world with the Reverse World. They were just ordinary evil spirits.
Rio Futaba: Just as I thought...
Rio Futaba had already reached her conclusion.
Rio Futaba: It appears that Ye Xing is currently in the Reverse World. The reason he's trapped... heh, they've cut the ground from under his feet by destroying the only Gate... How cunning of the enemy.
One could only say, this was truly Rio Futaba.
From the sudden attack by the evil spirits until now, less than two minutes had passed, yet she had already pieced together the complete picture.
Why hadn't the surrounding area been dragged into the Reverse World when they were attacked earlier?
Was it because there were no powerful evil spirits fused with Gates among the enemy ranks?
How could that be possible?
To evade Hyakume's observation, and have numerous evil spirits with strong killing desires towards humans hide throughout Kyoto without leaving any traceable evidence - regardless of what the true form of the mastermind spirit might be, one thing was certain...
The individual's power was immense, strong enough to suppress those restless evil spirits, forcing them to restrain their instinctual impulses and not dare disobey the hidden commands.
How could such an entity not have several powerful evil spirits fused with Gates under their command?
Impossible.
The only explanation Rio Futaba could think of was that the enemy didn't dare merge the real world with the Reverse World.
Why?
Because within the Reverse World, there existed someone they feared.
If they merged an area of the real world with the Reverse World, it would render all their previous efforts meaningless, actively opening a door for the strongest exorcist in history to return to the real world.
Based on this reasoning, Ye Xing definitely wasn't dead.
If the enemy had confidence in killing him, they wouldn't need to trap him in the Reverse World using this method.
But why?
Why would the evil spirits go to such great lengths to trap Ye Xing in the Reverse World and apparently cut off the entire city's power supply? What were they trying to achieve?
"Think faster, Futaba, faster..."
Rio Futaba murmured to herself, her eyes gleaming behind her glasses as her thoughts raced at lightning speed.
Power outage...
It was dusk now...
Darkness.
If all of Kyoto City plunged into the darkness of a power outage, it would inevitably cause panic among the people.
And what effect would the intense negative emotions of millions of people, growing stronger over time, have on the Reverse World?
Or rather...
What kind of terrifying evil spirit would be born from the convergence of so many people's negative emotions?
While contemplating this, Rio Futaba sent her analysis about the evil spirits' plan to plunge all of Kyoto into panic to the group chat.
Yui Yuigahama, Miko Yotsuya, and Mai Sakurajima immediately realised that if such a thing really happened, even if it lasted only one night rather than several days, it would have an immeasurable, unpredictable impact on the Reverse World.
Rio Futaba's thoughts didn't stop there.
Having deduced the enemy's objective, she now needed to think from their perspective to predict their next move.
Rio Futaba realised that the mastermind behind this incident was completely different from ordinary evil spirits.
The other party knew that psychics could travel between the two worlds through the Gate during Demon Hour and Human Hour - at dawn and dusk.
They also understood the nature of the Reverse World, which was why they could devise this plan to cause changes in the Reverse World through the real world.
And they knew about Mai Sakurajima, Yui Yuigahama, Miko Yotsuya, and even her own identity.
Rio Futaba's current reasoning was based on the premise that the hidden enemy knew everything about all members of the Supernatural Society.
So what was the thing the other party feared most, dreaded most, and least wanted to see?
Or rather, who was the person evil spirits dared not face?
It was Ye Xing.
And who could bring Ye Xing back from the Reverse World where he was trapped?
Thinking this over, Rio Futaba quickly sent a message.
Rio Futaba: Hachishaku-sama, only Hachishaku-sama! We must go find Hachishaku-sama now!
None of the four psychics in the Supernatural Society, not even Light Yagami, who was far away in Tokyo, possessed the ability to bring Ye Xing back to the real world.
There was only one.
That was the non-human member who had fused with the Gate, who could temporarily open a passage between the Reverse World and the present world, and truly stood on the Supernatural Society's side.
Hachishaku-sama.
When Yui Yuigahama, Mai Sakurajima, and Miko Yotsuya saw Rio Futaba's message, they also realised the crux of the problem.
As long as Hachishaku-sama still existed, they had the possibility to liberate Ye Xing from the Reverse World.
This was what the enemy least wanted to see.
In that case, Hachishaku-sama was actually the enemy's primary target for elimination!
Just as the four were about to continue sending messages, they saw their phone signals disappear completely, turning off and unable to connect to the carrier servers.
"Tch... So they considered this too..."
Rio Futaba put away her phone, lightly biting her teeth as she murmured to herself.
Like electricity.
The mobile carrier servers in Kyoto City had clearly been destroyed by evil spirits as well.
Darkness alone wasn't enough - they also had to take away people's ability to confirm the safety of friends and family through phone calls, text messages, and emails, thereby creating even greater panic.
Was the enemy... really just evil spirits?
They understood human weaknesses far too well.
Though somewhat unwilling to admit it, Rio Futaba didn't make the kind of foolish mistakes that only appeared in television dramas.
Before communications were cut off, she had already conveyed all her analysis and set objectives for the other three.
Go to where Ye Xing lived, go protect Hachishaku-sama.
Buying time was their only chance of victory.
Otherwise, if unprecedentedly powerful evil spirits were born in the Reverse World due to the intense panic among Kyoto's citizens...
The first to face danger would be Ye Xing, who was in the Reverse World.
"Miko?"
Hearing her mother's call from behind, Miko Yotsuya turned around to see her mother staring at the Mikazuki Munechika in her hand with a puzzled expression.
"Why... are you holding a sword?"
"Sorry, Mum."
Miko Yotsuya didn't say much, only clenched her teeth tightly as she turned and ran outside.
To be honest, during this dangerous time when evil spirits were running rampant in Kyoto City, she really wanted to stay by her mother's side to protect her.
But if she thought rationally, she was just worrying unnecessarily.
In a city as large as Kyoto, there certainly wouldn't be just one power station.
The fact that power stations in the real world could be damaged proved that the evil spirits that had fused with Gates could directly interfere with the real world.
And according to Rio Futaba's recent analysis, after cutting off mobile communications and electrical circuits in Kyoto, the other side wouldn't risk using a Gate's power again, which might allow Ye Xing to leave the Reverse World.
This meant...
Most ordinary people in Kyoto City were actually quite safe now because they couldn't perform observation.
Those truly in danger were instead the four ability users of the Supernatural Society, along with Menma and Hachishaku-sama at Ye Xing's home, and Shoko Makinohara, who possessed Mystic Eyes.
By actively distancing herself from her mother, she would actually be safer.
"Miko, look ahead."
Hearing Hyakume's reminder, Miko Yotsuya raised her head and saw that the front of this originally peaceful and tranquil residential area beside her home had, from some unknown time, become filled with dozens upon dozens of ferocious evil spirits. Even the utility poles had several clinging to them.
Hundreds of pairs of eyes filled with distortion and killing intent rotated to lock onto her face.
"You... can see!"
Miko Yotsuya's golden eyes flickered as she single-handedly drew out Mikazuki Munechika, which glowed with a pale golden light and could be called exquisitely beautiful, like a work of art. Her fair fingers tightened as she took a deep breath, facing the hundreds of densely packed evil spirits ahead, and spoke softly.
"Open your eyes, Hyakume."
Following Miko Yotsuya's words, a pure white mask and clothing with pale golden patterns, formed from the power of Soul Materialisation, covered her body.
Beneath the mask, her pair of golden eyes briefly transformed into double pupils for an instant, flashing with a strange colour.
"Haa..."
Ye Xing had once said that merging with one's true soul was quite risky.
The higher the degree of fusion, the greater the possibility of the user losing control.
Facing hundreds of evil spirits, Miko Yotsuya chose complete fusion this time.
She could hear very chaotic whispers echoing in her mind.
'Give up.'
'Turn a blind eye.'
'If you pretend not to see, you can survive.'
'Evil spirits are not something humans can oppose.'
The words in her mind felt very familiar to Miko Yotsuya.
Because these were all her genuine thoughts from the past.
Under Miko Yotsuya's resolute will, the chaotic voices gradually merged into a single one.
It was Hyakume's voice.
Her golden eyes shifted from confusion back to determination as her gaze fell upon the evil spirits before her, slowly raising the Mikazuki Munechika in her hand.
Bathed in the glow of pale golden spiritual power, Miko Yotsuya parted her lips lightly, her own voice and Hyakume's voice speaking simultaneously, converging into the same words.
"I will never run away again."
...
Meanwhile, Rio Futaba, Mai Sakurajima, and Yui Yuigahama were facing similar obstacles, though the number of evil spirits they confronted wasn't as numerous.
After all, although Miko Yotsuya's soul essence wasn't combat-oriented, her innate spiritual power strength, extraordinary mental fortitude beyond ordinary people, and the powerful spiritual object Mikazuki Munechika - the renowned sword she recently obtained - still established her position as the strongest psychic in the Supernatural Society aside from Ye Xing.
Clearly, the mastermind behind this conspiracy also knew that this human girl with golden pupils was the strongest.
Of course, the most crucial battle wasn't the obstruction Miko and the others encountered.
...
At Ye Xing's home at this moment.
"Die!"
Hachishaku-sama, whose figure had swollen to nearly three metres tall with her head almost touching the ceiling, utterly devoid of her usual naive and sweet appearance but instead wearing a ferocious expression while emitting astonishing pressure, was using her waterfall-like black hair to literally twist a humanoid evil spirit into fragments.
Without the slightest hesitation in her movements, she immediately extended her left hand and grabbed the head of another evil spirit in the room, crushing it outright.
Hachishaku-sama looked out the window at the dozens of compressed evil spirit faces, staring intently at herself, Shoko Makinohara, and Menma, feeling a heavy sensation in her heart.
The one silver lining in this misfortune was that Kazusa Touma had left early this morning because she needed to return home to play piano.
Of course, even if Kazusa Touma were still here, as she was just an ordinary person who couldn't observe the existence of evil spirits, there would be no danger to her whatsoever.
"Big Sister Hachishaku..."
As Hachishaku-sama's tall figure shielded herself and Shoko Makinohara, Menma's small face showed worry and fear.
"Menma, Shoko, don't worry."
As her figure grew larger, Hachishaku-sama's slender, pure white fingers also grew sharp claws.
She swung her right hand like a blade, cleanly slicing through an evil spirit's throat, then thrust out her left hand and plucked its head from the tenuously connected neck as if uprooting a radish.
"I will protect both of you."
Having received numerous infusions and, due to her evil spirit constitution, allowing Ye Xing to proceed without restraint until he was fully satisfied, Hachishaku-sama's power was now far beyond what it once was.
Yet, facing the relentless onslaught of evil spirits that had continued for a full quarter-hour without a single second's pause, she began to feel exhaustion.
How much longer...
Could she hold on?
Five minutes?
Ten minutes?
Crunch.
The moment Hachishaku-sama's attention wavered, an evil spirit broke through her defence, sinking its teeth into her snow-white right arm, the two rows of teeth tearing viciously and ripping away a chunk of her flesh.
"Mm..."
Watching the evil spirit swallow her flesh, Hachishaku-sama clenched her teeth and retreated two steps.
Intense frustration surfaced in her eyes.
Was this where it would end?
Hachishaku-sama turned to glance at Shoko Makinohara, who was holding Menma and hiding behind the sofa, then pressed her lips together and revealed a gentle smile.
How ironic...
Born as an evil spirit, she was about to meet her end—devoured by evil spirits—while protecting a human girl and the soul of a young human girl.
Perhaps...
This was her true self...
Just as despair gripped Hachishaku-sama, a voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
[Have you finally found your true self?]