"Bastard! Let go of Grace!"
Koleda forced herself upright, squeezing the words out through her throat — but it accomplished nothing beyond enraging the Sacrificial Wraith further.
"Shut your mouth! You little beast of Hors! That red hair of yours — just the sight of it turns my stomach."
The words hit Koleda like a physical blow, and her eyes went wide. Hearing something about her own father from the mouth of this monster — how could she possibly stay calm?
"You know where my father is?! Where did he go?!"
"Your old man is dead! I killed him with my own hands! Now that you know, sit down and shut up!"
Big talk — and nothing more. In truth, the Sacrificial Wraith was bluffing. After Hors had sealed it away, it had lost all perception of the outside world, and had only managed to break free today. Besides, if it had truly already killed Hors, why would it be going through all this?
Time. Just a little more time, and I can…
The Sacrificial Wraith had expected Koleda to go quiet after that. Instead, it found her eyes blazing with a fire so fierce it seemed like she wanted to burn it alive on the spot — her gaze locked onto it and refusing to let go.
"You said… that you killed my father with your own hands…"
Koleda's voice dropped to a low, hollow register, as though containing an infinite store of fury barely held in check.
"That's right. And right before he died, he was begging me — 'Please, don't kill my daughter.' Pathetic words like that."
The Sacrificial Wraith kept pushing, trying to provoke her further. It did, in truth, enjoy the feeling of venting its hatred on the daughter of its enemy — but it never forgot to keep its guard up and scan its surroundings.
It had already sensed it. That madman had come out.
Then stop talking so much!
Koleda ground her teeth, face twisted with rage, and at the same time the strength in her hands kept building.
"My old man — would never lose to something like you! Not human, not demon — whatever the hell you are!"
Koleda tightened her grip on her hammer and charged recklessly toward the Sacrificial Wraith's position — but the moment she reached it, her movements froze again.
Because this bastard had actually used Grace as a human shield, holding her up in front of itself.
At the sight of Grace — still unconscious, still limp — Koleda's instincts pulled her hammer back short. The Sacrificial Wraith seized the opening and drove a kick straight into her, sending her tumbling.
"Heh. What's wrong? Does this woman matter to you? Oh — now I remember. You were calling her 'big sis' earlier. So she's Hors's daughter too, is she…"
As it spoke, the hand gripping Grace's throat tightened further. Grace's slender neck visibly caved inward under the pressure.
Her face began to flush red from the lack of oxygen.
"Stop!"
Seeing Grace's life hanging in the balance, Koleda's composure shattered completely.
The Sacrificial Wraith, for its part, seemed utterly deaf to her cries — its entire attention fixed on tormenting the Grace it held in its grip.
"Don't worry. I won't let her die so easily. We have plenty of time ahead of us — we can take it slow."
The Sacrificial Wraith gauged the timing and decided it was about right.
It hoisted Grace over its shoulder and made to flee deeper into the Hollow.
If I don't move now, and Geno catches on, things will get messy.
"And where do you think you're going? Mind if I tag along?"
A familiar voice rang out from behind it. A gut-wrenching instinct made the Sacrificial Wraith reflexively twist to the side.
Geno's longsword grazed past its flank — leaving one more wound scored into its body.
Geno moved to tear Grace free from its grasp, but the Sacrificial Wraith reacted with frightening speed — it slung Grace up onto its shoulder, then pivoted its torso and slipped clear of Geno's horizontal slash.
Having evaded the killing blow, the Sacrificial Wraith rapidly widened the gap between itself and Geno.
It knew full well that Geno possessed the ability to Blink. If it let him get too close, he'd be in its face before it could react.
"Tch. A rabid dog — basking in the Progenitor's blessing, and yet running with filth like this."
The words brought Geno up short.
"What do you know?"
Geno was genuinely surprised. This thing had only just been released from the monument — how could it possibly know anything about him and the Progenitor?
"Want to know? Too bad — I'm not telling you!"
The Sacrificial Wraith savored its little verbal jab — then suddenly sensed something, and its mood surged with delight.
"Ha! Finally! Don't need to play with you lot anymore — I'm out of here!"
Excitement bled through the Sacrificial Wraith's voice. A moment later, the thunderous crash of collapsing stone — and the black wall it had created came tumbling down.
The mechanical abomination — fused together from the prototype unit and the other machines — came striding out.
Geno stared in shock. Hadn't the Sacrificial Wraith already separated itself from inside? Why was the iron hulk still moving?
What Geno didn't know was that inside the mechanical creature's cockpit, the severed arm he had cut from the Sacrificial Wraith had fused seamlessly with the machine's control interface.
Severed from its main body, the Sacrificial Wraith had not lost control of that limb. Instead, it had used the arm to merge with the mechanical creature, obtaining an independent ally that acted entirely apart from itself.
From the very moment it had stepped outside the enclosure, it had already been preparing for this. It had waited all this time, and at last gained full control.
"Hope you enjoy my parting gift. I won't be staying to keep you company."
With that, the Sacrificial Wraith turned and pressed onward into the depths of the Hollow. It needed time to recuperate — and letting the mechanical creature stall Geno and the others was perfectly suited to that purpose.
Geno wanted to give chase, but the mechanical creature stepped into his path, grinding his advance to a crawl. All he could do was watch as the Sacrificial Wraith carried Grace further and further away.
And yet — for all its careful scheming, the Sacrificial Wraith had overlooked one small, easily-missed detail.
The hostage it had seized, to buy itself an even safer margin of time.
"Hm?! What's going on."
The Sacrificial Wraith suddenly noticed that the Grace it held in its grip was beginning to emanate a continuous glow.
Colorful, fine-threaded lines were spreading across her body — dense as embroidery, vivid as stained glass.
This was the mark of Ether Corruption.
"Tch. Already giving out? What a waste — dying so easily."
The Sacrificial Wraith had been looking forward to toying with Grace a while longer — payback for ten years of imprisonment — but it seemed Grace couldn't hold on. She was on the verge of becoming an Ethereal.
Finding the whole thing rather unlucky, the Sacrificial Wraith moved to throw Grace aside — to spend her last remaining value, let her buy it a little more time as a distraction.
But before it could act, its arm was seized — locked in the grip of a slender hand.
"Who did you just say you killed with your own hands?"
Grace — the same Grace the Sacrificial Wraith had been strangling by the throat — had finally opened her eyes. Only the light in them had changed. Gone was the vibrant spark that had once lived there. What remained was something cold and flat as steel — indifferent and merciless.
The Sacrificial Wraith blinked instinctively, caught off guard — then immediately felt a flash of irritation at having been rattled by a little girl.
"Your father, obviously. Hors Belobog — that spineless coward."
But the words had barely left its mouth when the Sacrificial Wraith felt a wave of cold wash over it — and something else. A faint… tingling?
____
👻🔥Read More: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
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