"Great One-Eyed God above… when I get back, I swear I'm settling the score with Professor Kaede."
The moment he hung up, Kisaragi Akira felt a sharp ache all the way down to his molars.
Just half a year ago, he'd been a scrawny kid who had to run for his life even from a weak Hollow.And now? Now he was apparently someone who could survive being hunted by a Menos Grande and an entire swarm of lesser hollows.
Professor Shutora Senjumaru must have thought far too highly of him.
"Daichi-Tsumai can hold off the Kurokisa swarm for a bit. For now, we just need to focus on the big one," said Aizawa Sōsuke, voice steady, as if this nightmare scenario was nothing more than a tactical exercise.
"We just don't know whether it's a Gillian-class or an Adjuchas."
"…Could it be a Vasto Lorde?" Akira muttered.
Aizawa slowly turned toward him with the exact same look one would use on someone who had just asked whether the sun was edible.
Surviving an Adjuchas was already a coin toss.If it really were a Vasto Lorde… their best option would be deciding what kind of death they preferred—something noble, or something with a little flair.
While the two spoke, the earth in the distance began trembling again.Raw, condensed spiritual pressure surged from the cracked ground, radiating like ripples across a lake—except everything those ripples touched quivered in terror.
Seeing this, Akira felt his scalp tighten.
He had imagined a hundred different scenarios of encountering a Menos.Not one came close to this.
A suffocating pressure surged upward from below as the ground caved in, forming a massive crater.Fresh soil crumbled inward, and from within the darkness, razor-sharp limbs dragged themselves upward, cold light glinting off every edge.
When the creature finally emerged, it towered over them.
Another member of the Kurokisa clan—but several times larger than the ones they'd fought earlier.Just the limbs on either side of its body were several meters tall.
When its massive body rose to full height, a suffocating shadow fell over them.Two blood-red glints lit up within its pale mask—predatory, merciless, the apex of the food chain.
An Adjuchas-class Menos.
"Aizawa, this time—"
"You take point. I'll support with kidō."
Akira blinked.
"…Huh? That was my line!"
He was seriously beginning to suspect that Aizawa had learned some forbidden telepathic kidō that let him steal the words straight from his mouth.
Why else would he always say exactly what Akira was thinking?
"You're not joking, right?" Akira raised his right arm and pointed at his own skinny—but deceptively toned—bicep."With these stick-arms? One tap from that thing and I'm done."
Aizawa shot him a sidelong glance. "I have to maintain Daichi-Tsumai. Otherwise we'll be fighting both the Kurokisa swarm and the Adjuchas at the same time."
"Well, if you're sure—"
"An Adjuchas is nothing. I'll cut it down with a single strike!"
Akira's expression flipped instantly. He rolled up his sleeves, and his spiritual pressure flared like a rising tide.
Before they could exchange another word, the massive Kurokisa fixed its murderous gaze on the two "insects" before it and roared.
The roar wasn't just sound—it was a physical force.The shockwave tore through the forest, punching massive holes through the trees before slamming straight toward Akira.
Trees toppled in waves, dust billowing like a storm.
"Hadō #4 — Byakurai!"
But even before the lightning fully formed, Akira gripped his blade with both hands and unleashed a heavy downward strike, cleaving straight into the incoming shockwave.
BOOM!
Thunderous arcs crashed against invisible sound pressure, the resulting collision ripping cracks across the ground around them.
"Tch… so this is an Adjuchas?" Akira muttered, staring at the long trench carved out beneath his feet—and at his trembling hands.
He couldn't even withstand its roar without being forced backward.Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.
At this rate… how was he supposed to reach the throne of the skies?
Doubt gnawed at him.
"Aizawa! Don't forget your support!"
Akira forced himself to focus, spiritual pressure surging once more.
The Adjuchas lunged, its giant limbs digging into the earth like a runaway construction truck with the engine maxed out.
Akira let out a low roar—mostly to psych himself up—and charged forward.
Aizawa watched his back with an unreadable expression.
He considered telling Akira that the shockwave he'd just blocked was actually the Kurokisa's primary attack, second only to its charged Cero.
Judging by Akira's reaction, he'd misunderstood something pretty major.
Still…
The fact that Akira blocked a full-powered Adjuchas attack at all was genuinely impressive.With only seat-officer-level spiritual pressure, achieving that was borderline absurd.
Maybe… he really didn't need that much help.
"Shinken-ryū — Reverse Wave!"
Akira's body tightened like a drawn bowstring.Spiritual energy churned around him, distorting the air like rippling water.
Just as he closed the distance, chaotic arcs of lightning burst along the edge of his blade, rumbling like a storm ready to break.
KRA-BOOM!
Limb met blade, metallic echoes shaking the entire forest.
Akira held nothing back—he unleashed every last drop of spiritual pressure he had.
Though far weaker than the Adjuchas, his abnormal spirit body compensated, narrowing the gap just enough for his strike to push the monster into a stalemate.
"Hadō #31 — Shakkahō."
A calm voice sounded behind him. Aizawa had finally joined in.
A blazing sphere of fire dropped from above, smashing directly onto the Adjuchas' white mask.
BOOM!
Flames exploded outward, scorching the air.The mask blackened, and the Kurokisa opened its gaping jaws in another furious roar.
The battle instantly escalated into a frenzy.
Akira quickly realized that the Adjuchas wasn't as invincible as he feared.In close combat, its massive size worked against it—its movements were clumsy.
Hit, reposition, slash from another angle—A guerilla style worked beautifully.
His shunpo wasn't high-level, but between his lightweight spirit body and the Byakurai-enhanced bursts of speed, he could dart around well enough.
The only problem—
He was running out of energy.
As a Level-10 spiritual pressure holder, his "blue bar" was already looking dangerously empty.
"Aizawa! Pull its aggro—I'm charging up a big one!"
Aizawa didn't know what half of that meant, but he understood the general idea.
He glanced at the cracking barrier behind them—the Kurokisa swarm was almost upon them.
Time was short.
"Carriage of thunder, weave the threads of fate; gather light and divide it into six."
His quiet voice cut through the Adjuchas' deafening roars.
If kidō of this level couldn't kill it, then…he'd just have to trust this reckless idiot.
"Bakudō #61 — Rikujōkōrō."
Six rods of golden light pierced down from above, pinning the Adjuchas' front limbs and freezing its hideous head in place.
But the moment Aizawa completed the spell—
Darkness swallowed the battlefield.
At the center of that darkness stood Kisaragi Akira.
Pitch-black energy poured from the single-eyed emblem on his white coat, flowing like ink, gathering behind him into a sacred yet eerie silhouette.
The very spirit particles in the air—began to twist.