Yuigahama Yui huddled under her cute blue bear blanket, trembling, but looked at the message on her phone like it was a lifeline.
"Ah, I'm finally saved!"
In her room, the question "Can you see me?" echoed repeatedly.
Clearly, there was an evil spirit present.
Yukinoshita Yukino and Kato Megumi saw the message on their phones and took note of it.
They also saw evil spirits, but due to distance, it seemed the spirits would need a few more minutes to reach them.
At this moment, the entire world plunged into a massive change.
Only a very small number of people who could see the evil spirits knew that apart from humans, the world was now filled with ferocious and terrifying ghosts.
However, these evil spirits couldn't harm people who couldn't see them.
In the eyes of those who couldn't see, the world remained the same as always.
----
The Land of Shadows
Having just annihilated a wave of demonic beasts, Kawashima Toya looked at the proud, regal figure on the city wall
"Shishou, I'm about to face an enemy who might be extremely powerful. What should I do?"
"Do you not trust your spear?" A clear, calm, and melodious female voice sounded slowly.
"Or do you not trust your own body?"
Scáthach descended lightly, landing smoothly and elegantly on the ground.
"As a warrior, if you cannot even trust yourself, how can you defeat your enemy?"
Scáthach's blood-red eyes gazed at Toya. "If you truly lack confidence, then temper yourself."
"When your own power is strong enough, it will bring you sufficient confidence."
"I understand." Toya pondered for a moment. "I will train hard."
Scáthach watched Toya quietly, catching a faint glimpse of a corner of the future.
However, before she could see the fleeting fragment of Toya's future clearly, it was scattered by a force.
"Blocked by an existence of equal standing?"
Scáthach murmured in her heart, then turned to leave.
"Train well. No slacking off!!"
"In a while, I will teach you Rune Magic."
----
Morning
Toya slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a disheveled Kasumigaoka Utaha with heavy dark circles under her eyes. "Trying to scare me?"
Through his training in the Land of Shadows, he had become immune to these jump scares.
Even if a real evil spirit popped up suddenly, he wouldn't feel any fear.
"I didn't sleep all night." Utaha looked at Toya resentfully with her wine-red eyes. "The appearance of evil spirits shattered my common sense too much."
"I was worried all night that an evil spirit would suddenly crawl out of the wall."
"But the whole night passed, and nothing happened."
Toya burst out laughing. "Do you think evil spirits are idiots?"
"Evil spirits lack intelligence, but they possess a primal instinct for self-preservation."
"To them, the aura of the strong shines like a sun in the dark night. They scramble to escape it; why would they come looking for trouble?"
His current strength was comparable to a Heroic Spirit. Even a wisp of aura inadvertently leaked was a terrifying attack against evil spirits.
Evil spirits would be too busy fleeing to come knocking.
"Then what happened last night?" Utaha asked in confusion. "The evil spirit that attacked me didn't seem afraid of you, Kawashima."
"Who told you to trigger the evil spirit's rule?" Toya said with a grin.
"Evil spirits have their own rules. Once a rule is triggered, even if their instinct to flee is strong, they will charge."
Remembering something, Toya asked, "It's this late already. Why are you still in my room?"
"You think I want to be?" Utaha pointed outside the door, wanting to cry but having no tears. "There's an evil spirit in the living room!"
"I was just about to go out when I heard it constantly asking if you can see it."
"Get used to it." Toya said helplessly. "You'll see them often from now on."
With that, he walked out and skillfully slew the evil spirit.
The apartment finally returned to a quiet atmosphere.
Ten minutes later, Toya and Utaha, carrying large and small bags, went out together.
Watching the evil spirits running rampant on the streets, Utaha sucked in a breath of cold air. "There are actually so many evil spirits in reality?"
The bustling streets were full of evil spirits.
There was one following almost every person, constantly asking if they could be seen.
Even without receiving a response, they asked tirelessly.
With a calm expression, Toya walked straight into the body of a burly evil spirit blocking his way.
Utaha was about to stop him, but unexpectedly, the blocking evil spirit exploded directly.
It instantly turned to ash and scattered.
The numerous evil spirits witnessed this scene but made no move.
Toya said calmly, "Just follow me. Evil spirits are weak."
"Remember what I said? When you have time, buy a Consecrated Wooden Sword. If you encounter an evil spirit, just slash it."