The Unkillable Crimson Figure

No matter who was behind this, whatever they wanted to do was carried out through the Crimson Figure. Rather than searching aimlessly, the best choice was to deal with this Cursed Spirit first.

Perhaps exorcising the Crimson Figure could even force whoever was behind this into the open.

The group quickly arrived at the gymnasium.

"Leave it to me."

Suguru Geto strode forward, Cursed Spirits appearing one after another behind him.

Eiji did not object. On one hand, he trusted Suguru Geto's strength. On the other, the two Jade Dogs were protecting the ordinary people, which greatly limited his combat power.

"Oni Warrior, Granny Fire."

The over-two-meter-tall Oni Warrior and a fireball that constantly let out bone-chilling laughter appeared on either side of Suguru Geto.

The Oni Warrior was a Cursed Spirit born from people's fear of the departed souls of defeated warriors. It was a very common traditional Cursed Spirit.

Granny Fire lived up to its name. According to folk legend, a pair of unfilial children failed to care for their elderly parent and instead drove the old person into the mountains. In the end, the elder transformed into ghost fire and returned for revenge.

"Hands and faces, all stained red..."

Sensing the movement at the door, the Crimson Figure stopped her creepy singing. She turned toward them, smiling so widely that the corners of her mouth nearly reached her ears.

"Go."

At the command, the Oni Warrior attacked first. The Crimson Figure ducked beneath its slash, then charged toward Suguru Geto.

She was much faster than before.

Suguru Geto was somewhat surprised, but his movements did not stop.

An old woman's face faintly emerged from Granny Fire. Then fireballs flew toward the Crimson Figure, completely cutting off her path of attack.

Boom.

The fireballs exploded, and the Crimson Figure was struck by more than a dozen of them.

Earlier, they had been in Eiji's home, so Suguru Geto had held back somewhat for fear of tearing the place apart.

Now, things were different. The gymnasium was spacious, and Eiji was protecting the ordinary people, so Suguru Geto no longer needed to hold back.

A charred figure rushed out of the smoke from the explosion. The Crimson Figure sprang upward with both legs, aiming for Suguru Geto's head.

Suguru Geto did not evade. He simply clenched his fist and met her head-on.

As fists and kicks collided, the Crimson Figure discovered that she could not gain any advantage in close combat.

Whoosh.

While the two exchanged blows, the Oni Warrior had already circled back and slashed at the Crimson Figure's waist.

The Crimson Figure immediately withdrew from their encirclement.

But the instant she moved away from them, dozens of fireballs surrounded her.

Boom!

A tremendous explosion rang out, and the gymnasium windows shattered under the violent shockwave.

"Keep going."

Sensing that the Crimson Figure had not died, Suguru Geto ordered Granny Fire to continue attacking.

Covered in burns, the Crimson Figure fled about in a sorry state.

"I see. Within this Barrier, the Crimson Figure receives an all-around enhancement?"

Greater speed and strength than before; a body that had previously been severely wounded by just a few strikes from the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit Oni Warrior, yet could now freely move after taking dozens of Granny Fire's fireballs; and wounds that healed rapidly.

"Hair Spirit."

A woman whose entire face was covered by black hair appeared before Suguru Geto. Her waterfall-like hair touched the ground and immediately surged outward in every direction.

Before long, the entire floor was covered in black hair.

Sensing something was wrong, the Crimson Figure leaped onto the basketball hoop. The Oni Warrior immediately followed and cut the hoop down.

The moment the Crimson Figure landed, countless strands of black hair crawled up from her ankles and wrapped around her body.

"Aaaah!"

The Crimson Figure let out a piercing scream and desperately tore at the hair covering her body. Yet every time she ripped away a strand, even more hair coiled around her.

"Eye Crow."

A massive skull appeared and bit down on half the Crimson Figure's body. The bitten Crimson Figure struggled desperately.

At that moment, the Oni Warrior stepped forward and delivered a full-force slash across the Crimson Figure's body.

Grievously injured, the Crimson Figure lost the ability to resist and was swallowed whole by Eye Crow.

The pieces of her body that had fallen to the ground were also claimed by the Oni Warrior, Hair Spirit, and Granny Fire.

"We did it."

"The Crimson Figure was really taken care of! That was amazing!"

"It's finally going to end."

After the Crimson Figure was swallowed by Eye Crow, the people behind Eiji wept tears of joy.

But neither Eiji nor Suguru Geto lowered their guard, because the Barrier had not been lifted and the person behind everything had yet to appear.

Suddenly, Suguru Geto spotted a figure in a corner nearby.

"How is that possible? My Cursed Spirits definitely ate the Crimson Figure just now."

The figure in the corner, drenched in blood and wearing a creepy smile, was unmistakably the Crimson Figure.

While Suguru Geto was still thinking, the Crimson Figure suddenly charged toward the people behind him.

"Not good."

Realizing the Crimson Figure's target, Suguru Geto immediately turned to return to Eiji's side.

But the next instant, a blood-red figure abruptly appeared in front of Suguru Geto.

Squelch.

Before Suguru Geto's startled eyes, the Crimson Figure's right hand pierced his abdomen.

The moment Eiji realized something was wrong, he pulled out his Tang Dao from the shadows and forced the Crimson Figure back.

After dodging Eiji's attack, the Crimson Figure sniffed her blood-covered right hand with her petite nose, then put her fingers into her mouth.

"Round Deer."

After driving back the Crimson Figure, Eiji did not pursue her. He immediately formed a hand seal and summoned Round Deer to heal Suguru Geto.

Suguru Geto was not idle either. Black hair and fireballs immediately attacked the Crimson Figure.

"Are you all right?"

Watching the wound slowly close, Eiji sighed in relief. Fortunately, the difference in their heights had been enough. If his heart had been torn out, things would have been troublesome.

"I'm fine. But that Cursed Spirit..."

Suguru Geto slowly rose to his feet.

"She should be able to teleport in front of anyone who turns around."

"Yeah, that seems to be it."

Back in the Infirmary, Asuka had said that the distant Crimson Figure had suddenly appeared in front of her. Combined with what Suguru Geto had just experienced, the two of them had deduced the condition for the Crimson Figure's teleportation.

The question now was how to exorcise this Cursed Spirit.

Suguru Geto was certain that the Cursed Spirits under his control had truly killed the Crimson Figure just now. So what was this second Crimson Figure?

"What do you think?"

Suguru Geto stepped forward and asked.

"There are three possibilities I can think of right now: a clone, regeneration, or... she can only be exorcised after certain conditions are met."

Eiji voiced his thoughts.

The first possibility was easy to understand. Destroying only a clone while leaving the original untouched would naturally be useless. The second meant that this Cursed Spirit possessed some sort of core, and as long as the core remained intact, she could recover even from a single piece of flesh.

The third possibility was the most troublesome: certain conditions had to be met before she could be exorcised.

As he thought, Eiji recalled the comedian Fumihiko. Even Kenjaku had been unable to defeat that guy by force. In the end, Kenjaku had relied on his own experience to put on a comedy show with Fumihiko, and only after satisfying Fumihiko had he "defeated" him.

If it was the third possibility, what conditions needed to be met?

Did she have to be exorcised outside the Barrier?

Probably not.

At that moment, Eiji recalled the scene when they had been cursed.

"Please help me find my body."

The prerequisite for being dragged into this Barrier was being asked by that strange girl to find her body. Rie had said that there was a Coffin holding a body in the Great Hall.

Asuka, meanwhile, had found a hand.

A guess surfaced in Eiji's mind.

The Coffin contained the Crimson Figure's true body, while the Cursed Spirit before them was merely a clone of the Crimson Figure.

Only once all the body parts were found would the Crimson Figure's true body appear. Before then, killing however many clones would be useless.

With that thought, Eiji immediately made a decision.

"Geto, let's capture the Crimson Figure together. Then I'll stay and guard her while you take everyone to find the rest of the body. We'll meet at the Great Hall."

"No problem."

After understanding Eiji's plan, Suguru Geto summoned several more Cursed Spirits.

Unlike before, when each of them had their own strengths.

These Cursed Spirits all possessed restraining abilities.

Black hair, spiderwebs, Hanging Ropes...

The spiderwebs and black hair attacked over a wide area, continuously compressing the Crimson Figure's room to move. Whenever she tried to leave the area, a Hanging Rope would appear and loop around her neck.

Before long, the Crimson Figure was forced into a desperate situation.

"Max Elephant."

A pink elephant appeared behind the Crimson Figure. Its two pillar-like legs rose, then stomped down viciously on her body.

The Crimson Figure's cries mixed with the sound of breaking bones.

Seeing that the Crimson Figure had lost the ability to resist, Max Elephant wrapped its trunk around her and restrained her before heading for the Great Hall.

"I'll go wait for you at the Great Hall."

"No problem. Leave it to me."

As the words fell, the hundreds of Cursed Spirits that had previously been recalled surged once more from the dark rift behind Suguru Geto. Their numbers were clearly far greater than before.

The large Cursed Spirits searched outdoor areas such as the athletic field, while the smaller ones entered the school building and carefully searched every room.

For a time, the entire campus was filled with a Night of a Hundred Demons, as though it had fallen into hell.