Chapter 144: The Fusion Monster
As soon as he climbed into Yotsuya Miko's room, Hikigaya Hachiman cast a strange glance at the bed beneath her.
His spiritual power didn't just enhance his physical attributes—it boosted all his senses as well.
So, the moment he entered the room, he immediately understood why Yotsuya Miko had been acting so awkward earlier.
Still, out of consideration for her feelings, after a mere 0.5 seconds of contemplation, Hikigaya decisively chose to pretend like he knew nothing.
He stepped into the room, summoning his Demon-Slaying Blade, and a pale blue glow instantly lit up the space.
The two evil spirits tangled in combat sensed the uninvited guest and paused their fight momentarily.
All the intact eyes and heads on their bodies turned to look at Hikigaya.
The moment the Head Spirit saw the Demon-Slaying Blade, all of its heads suddenly let out a strange, unidentifiable roar. Then, countless massive mouths opened and began biting viciously into the Eye Spirit.
The Eye Spirit hadn't expected the Head Spirit to escalate their fight despite the presence of a powerful enemy. It had assumed they would temporarily join forces—but it was wrong.
Caught off guard, the Eye Spirit had more than half its body torn off by the Head Spirit's savage assault.
After losing so much of its form, the Eye Spirit didn't regenerate. Instead, it began turning transparent.
In contrast, having devoured a portion of the Eye Spirit, the Head Spirit's form became much more solid.
Notably, a third eye emerged in the center of the forehead of each head on its body.
Its body also began to swell enormously, and more and more heads appeared on its surface with every bite it took.
Soon, the Head Spirit's body had outgrown the entire room.
Realizing the danger, Hikigaya prepared to pick up Yotsuya Miko and escape through the window.
"No!"
Curled up on the bed, Yotsuya Miko hugged her blanket tightly, refusing to let him take her away.
Rather than face social death outside, she'd rather just let the spirit kill her right there.
"It's really dangerous to stay here. Besides, your father risked his life to notify me so I could come rescue you," Hikigaya said, trying to reason with her.
He could understand her stubbornness. Honestly, if he were in her shoes, he might have chosen to stay put and get eaten too.
After all, at least then, people would say, "Ah, he was the unlucky guy who got eaten by a ghost," instead of, "Hey, did you hear? That guy totally wet himself that day…"
"My father?" Miko blinked in confusion.
Ever since her father died in an accident a year ago, he had remained at home as a bound spirit.
But as a ground-bound spirit, he should've been stuck in one specific place—how could he have left to find Hikigaya?
"Yeah. He almost lost what was left of his spirit to save you," Hikigaya nodded after glancing at the now-massive Head Spirit, which had finished devouring the Eye Spirit and was still growing.
Taking advantage of Miko's attention being on her father, Hikigaya subtly edged closer to the bed...
"Is my father okay?" Miko asked nervously, suddenly very concerned.
In Japanese mythology, many tales describe bound spirits disintegrating into nothing if they leave their anchors.
She was terrified her father might have already vanished.
"He's fine. He ran into me just before ascending."
The full talisman compendium he'd redeemed earlier turned out to be unexpectedly useful.
He was honestly shocked that it even included talismans capable of pulling back spirits that were already ascending to the afterlife.
Truly worthy of being a product of a multi-verse-traveling system.
"I see... Thank you so much..."
Relieved to hear her father was safe, Miko relaxed a bit.
Though she'd been ignoring him along with the ghosts that constantly harassed her, it wasn't because she didn't care.
Now that she knew he was safe, her body slackened, and her guard dropped just a little.
"Now's my chance!"
Taking advantage of her momentary lapse, Hikigaya swiftly scooped her up and leapt out the window with her in his arms.
"Ahhh!"
Just as she reached to grab her blanket, she realized they were already midair.
"It's over…"
A gust of wind blew past, and as she felt the chill on her skirt, Miko understood: she had just ceased to exist in society.
"Komachi! Take Miko and get out of here—fast!"
Hikigaya quickly handed her over to his younger sister and instructed them to flee as far as they could.
"Wait, what about me?"
Just as Hikigaya turned his focus to fighting the Head Spirit—whose swollen body had burst out of Miko's house—her father floated over and asked.
"Uncle, you run too!" Hikigaya said, exasperated.
You're a completely powerless benevolent spirit—why are you still here gawking at this giant evil monster?
"Oh, right, right…" The middle-aged spirit nodded and took off after Komachi and Miko.
"Damn, I forgot to tell Komachi to take my bike..."
Looking back, Hikigaya saw his bicycle still parked in front of Miko's house.
He sighed in frustration, drew in a deep breath, and then slashed a sword wave from the Demon-Slaying Blade to attract the Head Spirit's attention. Then, he bolted in the opposite direction from the others.
There was absolutely no way he could fight this thing here.
Even if the neighbors couldn't see the building-sized evil spirit, they could definitely see him swinging a glowing sword around.
He didn't want to end up as the center of attention, branded as some delusional teen, dragged away by the police for questioning, and then have Hiratsuka-sensei come bail him out.
He'd never hear the end of it from Yukinoshita and the others if that happened.
Fortunately, the Head Spirit eagerly took the bait.
But rather than it "cooperating," the truth was that from the very beginning, its target—and the Eye Spirit's—had always been Hikigaya Hachiman.
As it watched the sword energy carve a shallow gash in its body, the now fully fused Head Spirit paused for a moment—then turned and charged after him.