Geno closed his eyes and reached out with his senses — and found nothing. He let out a helpless sigh.
So it seemed the reason he'd been unable to track this thing wasn't just the cockpit. The creature itself had something to do with it.
Three times now, the same enemy had slipped through his fingers. Since the moment his consciousness had awakened, this had never happened to him before.
Geno also noticed something: this Sacrificial Wraith was different from the one he had encountered before — the one shaped like a giant white hand. At first, this thing hadn't been particularly powerful, relying on cheap tricks and underhanded tactics. But there was no denying it — every action it took was efficient and bold.
What Geno could feel even more clearly was that this creature's strength and combat intelligence were rising continuously, and the pace of that growth was accelerating.
"Is it because the Crete Hollow keeps expanding?"
An Ethereal's growth influenced the Hollow, and in turn, the Hollow's changes fed back into the Ethereal. The Sacrificial Wraith was not a purebred Ethereal in the traditional sense — but perhaps the same logic applied to it all the same.
'If this keeps up, sooner or later that thing will grow to a point where none of us can handle it.'
The thought sobered Geno instantly.
He was an Ethereal himself — by all rights, the expansion of the Crete Hollow should have been affecting him too. And yet Geno had felt no Ether amplification whatsoever. He hadn't even noticed the Crete Hollow shifting in the first place.
That could only mean one of two things: something was different about him, or the Crete Hollow had undergone some unknown change that set it apart. Either way, the realization only steeled his resolve to end the fused Sacrificial Wraith as quickly as possible.
"Clear your mind. Focus."
Breathe in — breathe out.
He calmed himself, then began to think: if he were the Sacrificial Wraith, what would he do right now?
This thing was skilled at concealment.
This thing harbored hostility toward Koleda and the others.
This thing excelled at schemes that used the small to overcome the large.
If I were it, right now I would…
"Slip out through the wall."
The moment that possibility crossed his mind, a cold sweat broke out across Geno's entire body. If the Sacrificial Wraith managed to escape the cage it had drawn around itself, the people outside would be in grave danger.
Grace was critically wounded, Koleda had taken a devastating blow — that left only Anton, Ben Bigg, and Manato. Geno genuinely did not believe the three of them alone could hold off a Sacrificial Wraith whose core power had already surpassed that of a Rank Four Ethereal.
With that thought, Geno didn't dare delay another moment. He burst into a sprint straight for the enclosure wall.
Several Blinks in rapid succession carried him to the top of the wall. The scene that greeted him on the other side left him stunned.
The Sacrificial Wraith — which, just moments ago, had been running from Geno's relentless pursuit — was now standing before the Belobog Heavy Industries crew, biding its time, waiting for an opening.
Not long before, it had pulled off a brazen disappearing act right under Geno's nose, slipping quietly out through the enclosure wall. Because as time had passed, the Sacrificial Wraith had come to a clear-eyed conclusion: it could not beat Geno — that absolute monster of a fighter.
So it had decided to preserve itself and live to fight another day — lay low, build up its strength, and come back to deal with Geno and his lot later.
As for the people outside? Not a single one of them was worth worrying about.
It could take out Koleda in an instant, then slip away — completing its revenge and securing its escape in one clean stroke.
Reality, however, had turned out somewhat differently than it anticipated.
"Don't you dare hurt my family!"
The short, stout Koleda charged in with hammer and wrench, driving the Sacrificial Wraith back — and in the same instant, Ben Bigg's concrete pile came crashing straight into its face.
"Brothers, let's go!"
"Ignite your doom!"
Anton and Manato swung their weapons and surged at the Sacrificial Wraith together. One lightning, one fire — the two of them, aiming to trigger overload damage, showed the creature exactly what the combined force of thunder and flame could do.
The Sacrificial Wraith had assumed that dealing with this group in its current state would be effortless.
It had not counted on this: the injuries Geno had inflicted were far more severe than it had imagined.
Now, as it faced the assault from Koleda and the others, it found itself on the back foot.
In truth, that was hardly surprising. The Sacrificial Wraith's primary ability was self-enhancement through the fusion of various objects and organisms. But Geno had driven it into a corner where its only option had been to abandon its iron body — and while its raw combat power was nothing to sneer at even then, facing multiple opponents at once was clearly not so simple.
Driven steadily backward, the Sacrificial Wraith began to show signs of exhaustion.
Manato and Anton saw the opening and immediately pressed the advantage, intent on finishing the creature off then and there.
From atop the enclosure wall, Geno watched the scene without relaxing in the slightest — because he knew this cunning Sacrificial Wraith would never concede so easily.
And sure enough: after taking hits from both Manato and Anton, the Sacrificial Wraith — left with only a single arm — seized Manato's greatsword. Enduring the searing agony of the flames burning into it, it wrenched the blade free from Manato's grip by sheer force.
Then it kicked Manato away, reversed the sword to beat Anton back, and finally hurled the greatsword at Koleda and Ben Bigg — who had been winding up for a combo — cutting their chain of attacks short.
The Sacrificial Wraith surged forward. It kicked Ben Bigg and Koleda aside, their rhythm already broken by the flung greatsword, then lunged and snatched Grace up from where she lay on the ground, pulling her in front of itself as a shield.
Koleda was the first to recover. The moment she saw the enemy holding a hostage, her pupils contracted to pinpoints. She stared at the Sacrificial Wraith with undisguised alarm, her eyes fixed on Grace dangling in its grasp.
"What do you think you're doing?! Let her go!"
Even as the words left her mouth, she was already moving to charge — to tear Grace free from the creature's grip.
Then something happened that no one had anticipated.
"Don't… come closer — I'll… kill her!"
The Sacrificial Wraith, one hand around Grace's throat, actually spoke — in human words — issuing a threat to everyone present.
"The monster… it can talk!"
Everyone there stared in shock at the Sacrificial Wraith — clutching Grace, stumbling through a clumsy, unpracticed imitation of human speech — and every face in the room went pale with astonishment.
That included Geno, watching from a distance. He was just as stunned.
He had fought the Sacrificial Wraith before. He had never once seen it speak a word of human language.
But whatever the explanation, the situation had just transformed from a straightforward battle into a hostage negotiation.
"Stay back! Come any closer and I'll wring this woman's neck!"
The Sacrificial Wraith's voice was ragged and hoarse, but underneath the roughness was something else — a hint of unhinged, undefinable madness.
In the beginning, it had operated on nothing more than raw instinct and the urge to attack. But it was a fast learner — just as Geno had feared, it was still growing, still getting stronger.
Now, with reason gradually reclaiming its grip on the creature, it understood clearly: in its current state, it had no way of breaking free from the encirclement these people had it in.
Even if they couldn't overpower it outright, all they had to do was stall for time — and that lunatic would come climbing back out of the wall and come for it soon enough.
But with a hostage in hand, things got a great deal simpler.
Use the hostage to threaten them into letting it go free. After that, all it needed was to bide its time, build its power piece by piece — and sooner or later, it would get what it wanted.
But would things really go as it wished?
____
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🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
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