"Ma... Mask?"
When they saw the black flame-formed coat and mask emerging from Ye Xing's body, the psychics' previously fanatical and murderous smiles instantly froze, their teeth beginning to chatter involuntarily.
"Annihilation of all evil, The End of Eight mill..."
"Stop him!"
Hearing that Ye Xing seemed to want to recite his soul's true name and unleash the power of Soul Materialisation, the psychics, though terrified, immediately launched their attacks.
They greatly feared Mask, but it was precisely this fear that prevented them from considering escape.
Though they didn't understand why they had encountered him here, there was no doubt that turning to flee would merely delay their deaths, serving no purpose at all.
"Fusion, Jorōgumo!"
One of the young women gritted her teeth and called out. Her originally delicate features instantly twisted into a grotesque mask as venom-dripping fangs extended from her mouth.
Her body rapidly transformed into that of a giant spider, paired with a human head - a sight that could only be described as utterly repulsive.
The woman's hair grew rapidly, becoming like black spiderwebs coated with some foul white liquid, swiftly wrapping around Ye Xing's body.
This sudden attack seemed to interrupt Ye Xing's process of calling out his soul's true name, forcing him to defend himself as he swiftly swung Onimaru Kunitsuna in his hand, cutting through the black hair attempting to entangle him.
"That sword..."
The middle-aged man standing nearby, upon seeing the black longsword in Ye Xing's hand and sensing the sharp spiritual power emanating from it, gritted his teeth.
"So it's true... Mask's weapon... is one of the Five Great Swords of Japan... Onimaru Kunitsuna..."
"Fusion, Nuribotoke!"
The middle-aged man also called out his soul's true name, and his entire face, neck, and arms beneath his short sleeves turned completely black, covered with pale, incomprehensible characters resembling scripture.
After fusing with his soul's true form, he quickly approached Ye Xing from the left. Before the latter could swing Onimaru Kunitsuna with his right hand, the spiderweb-like black hair swiftly attacked from a distance, directly binding Ye Xing's right wrist.
The man, transformed into Nuribotoke, formed his five fingers into claws and unhesitatingly struck toward Ye Xing's neck. His eyes, mostly white with chilling pupils, flashed with fanaticism and excitement as he grinned grotesquely.
'Got you...'
Boom!
The next moment, dust erupted across the area.
"Is that all?"
Ye Xing single-handedly grabbed Nuribotoke by the neck, slamming his entire body into the ground with such force that it created a crater.
He raised his foot and stepped on Nuribotoke's black head, crushing it into bloody fragments under the gaze of the remaining three psychics.
Witnessing their companion's death, fear surfaced in the eyes of the other three psychics, though they knew that fleeing would only prolong their inevitable demise.
Mask had seen their true faces, and they had seen his.
From every angle, only one side would leave this place alive today.
"Shinkirō!"
Another female psychic opened her mouth wide, exhaling a cloud of pale black smoke that drifted toward Ye Xing.
In Ye Xing's vision, thousands upon thousands of densely packed, overlapping evil spirits with terrifying, twisted faces suddenly appeared around him, emitting sharp, mournful howls as they charged toward him.
"Have we restrained him?"
Hearing her companion's question, the woman whose soul's true name was Shinkirō nodded, watching Ye Xing standing motionless with vacant eyes. A smug smile appeared on her face.
"Hmph, it seems this fellow's abilities may be strong, but his mind is merely that of an ordinary person. Faced with the illusions I created, he's probably too terrified to move now. After all, the scene of being surrounded by thousands of evil spirits - even without any physical pain - the sheer despair and fear alone is more than any normal person could bear."
"Is it really that simple?"
Jorōgumo stared at Ye Xing standing there, suddenly crying out in pain as her spider silk-like black hair rapidly retracted, her face contorting from the intense agony.
"The spiritual power on this person... it's like flames..."
"After all, he's the legendary Mask, so having some unusual abilities is only to be expected."
The only man who hadn't yet made a move stepped forward slowly, examining the headless, mangled corpse in the crater that Ye Xing had crushed underfoot, and snorted lightly.
"What a useless fellow. If Lady Izanami hadn't casually sacrificed that Akoya Seishu, with his close combat abilities that could hold his own against Mask for a while, he would have been quite useful."
"It doesn't matter. After the plan is completed, Lady Izanami will create another Nuribotoke."
"Hmph."
Jorōgumo, still maintaining her spider body with a human head, looked toward the forest at the edge of the crater, nearly a hundred meters away and snorted coldly.
"Even though he's the one who devised the plan, he hides out there himself, making us face such a terrifying monster directly. Really..."
"Stop complaining."
The male psychic shook his head and spoke slowly.
"A win is a win."
"So now I..."
Shenqilou slowly walked up to Ye Xing, sensing the spiritual power emanating from him, licked her lips, her eyes gleaming as if she were examining delicious food.
"Can devour all his spiritual power and soul with my true spirit form, right?"
"Suit yourself."
"The spiritual power and soul of Mask... what flavour must they have... I'm so curious..."
Shenqilou's eyes showed covetous desire. Though she still maintained a human appearance, her face had twisted like that of a true evil spirit.
"You've really got things backwards."
Just then, Shenqilou suddenly felt a black afterimage flash before her eyes. By the time she regained her senses, her neck was already being gripped by a hand that lifted her bodily into the air.
"You... how is this possible..."
Seeing Ye Xing's completely calm eyes that showed no signs of being affected by the illusions she had created, Shenqilou struggled painfully, feeling the hand around her neck slowly tightening until she couldn't even breathe.
"An illusion of thousands of evil spirits..."
Ye Xing recalled the scene he had just witnessed and shook his head with slight disappointment.
"No pain, no tactile sensation, nothing at all. Just pure illusion. And here I was deliberately suppressing my spiritual power to see what kind of battle plan you'd specially prepared to deal with psychics. So this is it? It's not even as scary as the haunted house attraction at our school festival. How disappointing."
Ye Xing gave no opportunity for the woman whose soul's true name was Shenqilou to speak again. Without hesitation, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the ground like trash, watching as her body burst open and turned into fragments of mixed bone and flesh.
"How could..."
Jorōgumo retreated some distance, staring at Mask, who had killed two of her companions in succession. Even though her body remained monstrous and her face as terrifying as an evil spirit's, the fear in her eyes was unmistakable.
She knew Mask's power was strong, but she never imagined it would be this strong.
The fear one could sense from live stream recordings, news reports, and crime scene photos couldn't compare to even one percent of what she personally experienced facing Mask himself.
"Damn... fusion, Kamaita..."
"Why struggle pointlessly?"
Before the male psychic could utter his soul's true name, Ye Xing—who had been meters away moments before—instantly appeared before him. Onimaru Kunitsuna's black blade traced an arc through the air, cleaving the man's body in two.
Watching yet another companion fall dead, Jorōgumo's massive spider body trembled and froze in place.
"Now..."
Ye Xing turned to look at her, his voice even carrying a hint of amusement as he casually flicked the blood from Onimaru Kunitsuna's blade and spoke softly.
"You should have one more person. Where is he?"
Hearing this question, Jorōgumo immediately realised their encounter with Mask here was no coincidence.
He had come specifically to hunt them down, even knowing exactly how many of them there were.
And the psychic who had initially gone to Miyamizu Shrine to gather information, only to disappear without a trace... had been the first one eliminated by Mask.
Just then, an ear-splitting gunshot, loud as thunder, erupted from the forest at the crater's edge, startling birds into frantic flight from the trees.
And Jorōgumo watched as a fist-sized hole appeared in the left side of Mask's chest, before he slowly collapsed to the ground.
"Victory... victory?"
Seeing Mask's body lying on the ground, Jorōgumo couldn't believe it at first. Only after several seconds did she release her fusion state, returning to her original human form. Staring at the hellish scene of scattered flesh and blood around her, she muttered to herself as if in a frenzy.
"Won... won! I survived!"
Over ten seconds later, a black shadow emerged from the mountain forest, sliding through the ground like a swimming fish. When it reached Jorōgumo, it reformed into human shape, revealing Tenjō-sagari, who had been absent until now and served as the leader of this group of psychics.
"You finally showed up."
Jorōgumo glanced at Tenjō-sagari, noting her completely expressionless face, and spoke coldly.
"Only firing after they were all dead—how heartless."
Tenjō-sagari scanned Ye Xing's fallen form, her voice devoid of any emotional fluctuation as she stated flatly, like a robot.
"I'm not certain whether Mask's reaction speed can evade a sniper rifle bullet. After all, the distance exceeds one hundred metres, and we only have one chance. I'll only fire when he's completely relaxed and believes victory is assured."
Tenjō-sagari then glanced at the three mangled corpses before turning their gaze to the still-shaken Jorōgumo.
"These dead fellows merely prove their incompetence. Although we were all transformed into special ability users by Lady Izanami, that doesn't mean we're comrades. Even if you lot died a hundred times before my eyes, I wouldn't feel anything so long as we can kill Mask."
"You... can you still be considered human?"
"Do you think you're still human? Humans are merely inferior beings compared to us."
As Jorōgumo and Tenjō-sagari were speaking, an unexpected voice made them both startle and change expression.
"Might I mention, I agree with this Tenjō-sagari's viewpoint. Disgusting creatures like you can no longer be considered human."
Jorōgumo and Tenjō-sagari turned around, both wearing expressions of disbelief at the scene before them.
"How is this possible... You should be dead..."
"Ah? You mean this?"
Ye Xing brushed off the dust on his clothes and pointed to the fist-sized bloody hole in his left chest. As wisps of steam emerged, Jorōgumo and Tenjō-sagari watched wide-eyed as the wound healed at a visibly astonishing rate, disappearing completely within mere breaths as if it had never existed.
"A sniper rifle... now that's somewhat creative."
Ye Xing commented with an indifferent laugh.
"If I hadn't intentionally relaxed my spiritual power defence and taken a sniper bullet head-on, it would have at least stung a bit. So this was your plan against psychics? Rather interesting when you think about it."
"Which makes sense, since twisted existences like you don't need to consider spiritual power confrontations - you only need to target the human body. Whereas we genuine psychics have many more considerations."
Tenjō-sagari's pupils dilated in shock as she stammered, "You... you never uttered your soul's true name... How... how can you still wield such power!?"
"Didn't I tell you before?"
Ye Xing shook his head with a light chuckle.
"My companions and I have been fighting terrifying evil spirits beyond your imagination throughout our journey, including actual deities. We have many considerations, such as..."
At that moment, a golden lightning bolt descended from the sky, striking Ye Xing's body directly.
"...maintaining a constant state of Soul Materialisation, enabling us to use our abilities anytime without needing to utter our soul's true name."
As Jorōgumo and Tenjō-sagari watched in horror, Ye Xing transformed into a towering giant, seizing their bodies with both hands and slowly bringing them towards his mouth.
The last words these two heard before their bodies were crushed were...
"Perhaps I should make you two into kuchikamizake as well."
...
One minute later.
"You truly prevailed, Lord Ye Xing."
Seeing the words formed from crimson threads by Itomori Town's guardian deity, Ye Xing merely waved his hand dismissively.
"How could I possibly lose against an opponent of this calibre? If it were an evil spirit born from the collective fear and sorrow of all Japan's people regarding the meteorite impact that claimed every resident of Itomori Town, then perhaps it might have stood a chance against me. But..."
Ye Xing's coat and mask transformed into dark flames that consumed all traces left at the scene as he continued in an even tone.
"Though this battle felt like child's play to me, it did provide valuable information."
Ye Xing could now confirm one thing.
Regardless of who the mastermind might be or what abilities they possessed, their application and theoretical knowledge of spiritual power were worlds apart from the Supernatural Society's level, like primitive humans versus an advanced civilisation.
This made perfect sense when he thought about it.
The Supernatural Society had been battling spectres, evil spirits, and even deities throughout their journey. With members like Rio Futaba, a tactical development master with exceptional intellect among their ranks, if their understanding of spiritual power remained at the same level, Ye Xing would genuinely suspect the mastermind of cheating.
Though he himself employed unconventional methods, his philosophy was clear: he could use them, but others couldn't.
Based on the recent battle, the enemy knew that psychics needed to invoke their soul's true name to unleash their full power through Soul Materialisation. What they didn't realise was that Supernatural Society members had long surpassed this stage.
Chanting the complete Soul Materialisation invocation with the soul's true name - merely speaking the soul's true name to shorten the activation time - according to Futaba's proposal, using Soul Materialisation to create accessories that maintained a constant state of Soul Materialisation, achieving instant activation with zero delay.
While the Supernatural Society had reached the third stage, their enemies were still fixated on exploiting weaknesses from the first stage - the disparity was beyond words.
Moreover, the enemy remained completely ignorant of his capabilities.
Thousands of evil spirit illusions might sound terrifying, but which member of the Supernatural Society would be frightened by such things?
Using this ability on Ye Xing was purely for entertainment value.
Seeing numerous delicious foods appear before him would at most lift his spirits and improve his mood—how could it possibly have any other effect?
"A sniper rifle... now that's an interesting idea."
Ye Xing murmured to himself, thinking that heavy weapons like sniper rifles weren't something one could easily obtain.
Combined with what Light Yagami had previously mentioned about Seishu Akoya being a Metropolitan Police Department member whose psychological counselling records should be strictly confidential, it appeared the mastermind not only possessed the ability to create psychics but also had considerable connections to carry out these acts.
...
Meanwhile, inside the cave where offerings were made.
Hitoha Miyamizu placed the kuchikamizake made by her two granddaughters on the ground, pressed her palms together in prayer, then opened her eyes and sighed softly.
"Is the deity really allergic to alcohol? To show my sincerity, perhaps I should make some kuchikamizake myself to repay the god..."
Before Hitoha could finish speaking, Ye Xing's amused voice came from behind her.
"They really are alcohol intolerant. Besides, kuchikamizake is something shrine maidens make. At your age, you can't be called a shrine maiden anymore—you'd be a shrine crone. Better not bother with kuchikamizake."