Chapter 10: The Proper Way to Face a Combat Situation

"Ahhh!" Before Hikigaya Hachiman could even figure out how the high-level evil spirit had suddenly appeared, a terrified scream from Yotsuya Miko rang out in his ears. Shaking his dizzy head, Hachiman used the Demon-Slaying Blade to support himself and stood up. What he saw was a terrifying sight: a black evil spirit with a bird's head and a human body, sporting a pair of large wings, had grabbed Yotsuya Miko in its hand and was lifting her toward its beak. Miko struggled desperately, pounding on the spirit's arm to break free. But the spirit's massive hand didn't budge an inch. As the beak came closer and closer, despair surged in Miko's heart. Thump thump thump... A rush of footsteps suddenly came from the left. Hachiman, gripping the Demon-Slaying Blade, charged straight at the high-level evil spirit, aiming for its head. Seeing the blade in the human's hand, a flicker of fear flashed through the spirit's eyes with startling human-like clarity. From the air earlier, it had clearly seen this human eliminate two of its subordinates with that very sword. Because of this, the spirit did not continue trying to devour Miko. Instead, still holding her in one hand, it flapped its enormous wings to whip up violent gusts of wind, aiming to slow Hachiman down. But Hachiman channeled his spiritual power into a cone shape in front of him and continued charging forward. Realizing it wouldn't have enough time to escape into the sky with Miko before Hachiman reached it, the bird-headed spirit decisively gave up trying to fly. It stabbed its sharp feathers into the ground, lifting chunks of rock and dirt, and hurled the debris at Hachiman. As expected, compared to mere wind, the mix of stones and dust significantly slowed him down. To protect his eyes from injury, Hachiman had to shield them with one hand, reducing his speed as he pressed on. Seeing this, the bird-headed spirit judged that the threat Hachiman posed had decreased significantly. After all, no matter how strong the blade, it meant nothing if it couldn't land a hit. Flapping its wings, the spirit summoned several small tornadoes around itself. When combined with the blazing fire left behind by the samurai spirit earlier, they transformed into powerful fire whirlwinds. Satisfied with its creation, the spirit beat its wings, sending the flaming twisters howling toward Hachiman. "This is going to be a problem..." Seeing the fire whirlwinds barreling toward him, Hachiman's heart skipped a beat and he instinctively stopped running. Fear of fire isn't unique to animals—humans feel it too when faced with raging flames. But! Hachiman hesitated for less than half a second before accelerating again. Ignoring the fire scorching his skin, he plunged straight through the bird-headed spirit's trap. "DIE!!!" The bird-headed spirit, now hovering more than two meters above the ground, suddenly heard Hachiman's furious roar filled with rage. It looked down in search of him, but before it could spot him, a sharp blade sliced down from above. In the next instant, Hachiman—engulfed in flames—descended from the sky and chopped off the hand holding Yotsuya Miko. She tumbled through the air along with the severed hand, falling toward the ground. Seeing the earth rapidly approaching, Miko closed her eyes in fear. But the impact, the dizziness, and the pain she expected never came. A pair of strong arms caught her firmly! When she opened her eyes, she saw Hachiman's face, blackened by fire and smoke, and a complex emotion flashed through her gaze. They had only met once, and yet he had saved her multiple times. How could she ever repay this debt? But before she could dwell on the thought, Hachiman suddenly threw her away. Yes—he threw her. Still in mid-air, Miko was utterly dumbfounded. Why throw her? He had just saved her—why change his attitude so suddenly? But before she could figure it out, the sound of metal clashing rang out beside her, and she immediately understood. Fighting through the pain in her body, Miko got up from the ground. She looked toward the fierce battle between Hachiman and the bird-headed spirit and abandoned any thought of rushing in to help. Instead, she staggered away from the fight. She remembered what Hachiman had told her earlier: There were 18 evil spirits in total. He had already eliminated all 14 low-level ones, and just recently defeated two of the three mid-level ones. That meant, aside from the high-level evil spirit currently fighting him, only one unmasked mid-level spirit remained in the entire academy. As long as she wasn't incredibly unlucky, her life shouldn't be in danger. Sure enough, when he saw her retreating, Hachiman didn't get angry—he actually let out a huge sigh of relief. He had been worried that Miko would hesitate and stay rooted to the spot, limiting his movements. Now that the only person he was worried about was out of harm's way, he could go all out against the high-level spirit. In stark contrast, the bird-headed evil spirit grew visibly anxious when it saw Miko escaping. It had searched for so long in the human world and had finally found such a delicious target—how could it let that meal slip away now? But Hachiman was proving to be an exceptionally tough opponent. Especially after fighting the samurai spirit, Hachiman's combat instincts had improved significantly. The bird-headed spirit had been stuck on the ground this whole time, unable to ascend and unleash its full aerial strength. Suddenly, Hachiman faltered mid-movement, his face contorting in pain. The bird-headed spirit's eyes lit up instantly. This was the chance it had been waiting for! Although the spider spirit had gone down easily, the samurai spirit had dealt Hachiman considerable injuries. And after barging through the fire whirlwinds, his wounds had worsened. The spirit had gambled that Hachiman wouldn't be able to sustain high-intensity combat for long—hence its decision to remain on the ground and wear him down. If Hachiman tried to drag things out until daylight, there wouldn't be much it could do... Now, the long-awaited opening had finally appeared. The spirit slashed its wings toward Hachiman's neck. It was certain that, with his battered body, Hachiman wouldn't be able to dodge! "Spirit Flow Technique!" Suddenly, a massive surge of spiritual energy erupted from Hachiman's hand, and a stream of spirit energy pierced straight through the bird-headed spirit's chest. Having learned from his experience with the samurai spirit, Hachiman didn't let his guard down after the hit. He rushed in, cleaved off the spirit's head, and continued hacking at its body. He didn't stop until the body's spiritual energy collapsed and it disintegrated into a puff of black smoke.