The monster's body began to disappear too, starting with the chains.
Its enormous body hadn't shrunk. It had simply taken on a strange quality, like a holographic projection whose brightness was gradually dimmed until it vanished completely.
The craters, ruins, and clouds of smoke left behind proved that something had indeed happened.
I looked toward the smoke as it began to disperse.
Coughing came from within it, as if someone were trying to cough up a lung. After a string of coughs, the voice weakly resumed cursing.
I stared at the yin energy and gradually made out the traces of gray chains within it.
I passed through the smoke and drifted over.
By the time the dust had settled, I was standing beside the Ghost King.
Half of the Ghost King's body was gone. The ragged edges looked like ink dissolving in water, and yin energy kept leaking out.
Even his head was incomplete. Only one eye remained, narrowed as if it couldn't open.
But he must have seen me.
The half-lidded eye strained to open, but widened only a little.
He was stunned, and the stream of curses coming from him abruptly stopped.
I knew I was different from them.
The child hadn't noticed, but the Ghost King ought to have sensed something was off.
The most obvious thing was that I had no yin energy about me.
A sound squeezed from the Ghost King's throat, as if he were trying to say something.
I raised my head and looked toward the ruins ahead.
A streak of yin energy shot through the rubble like an arrow and pierced the Ghost King's body.
With a pop, the Ghost King, now reduced to half a body, burst apart. His yin energy dissipated, no different from the smoke that had vanished before.