Chapter 82: The Frenzied Malevolent Spirit

"Are you okay?" Although it was obvious to the naked eye that Miko Yotsuya was only a little shaken but otherwise unharmed, a polite greeting was still necessary. "I'm fine, thanks to you showing up just in time..." Shaking her head, Miko looked at Hachiman Hikigaya with an undeniable smile. The feeling that he would come to her rescue no matter where she was was truly comforting. "I..." Hachiman was about to say something when the malevolent spirit in his hand suddenly began struggling violently. "Let's find a quiet place first..." Miko, who could also see the spirit, noticed it was struggling hard to escape from Hachiman's grasp and suggested finding a quiet place. Hachiman nodded in agreement but soon grew troubled as he looked around at the crowded street. With so many people around, finding a quiet spot wouldn't be easy. "I'll handle it!" Seeing the worried look on Hachiman's face, Miko volunteered to find a suitable place. Unlike Hachiman, who preferred solitude, Miko's friend Hana was quite the energetic type. Almost every weekend, Hana dragged Miko out of her room to go shopping. Because of this, Miko was very familiar with the area. After a brief moment of thought, Miko confidently led Hachiman to a nearby KTV on the plaza. As soon as they entered, the loud noise hit Hachiman's ears. He frowned instinctively at such a noisy environment, since he liked quiet. "This way..." Miko also disliked the noisy atmosphere, but the spirit in Hachiman's hand was very unusual. They needed a closed space for interrogation. After casually booking a private room at the front desk, they found their room following the hallway numbers and went inside. Once inside, they shut the door, immediately cutting off the noise. It was clear this KTV had heavily invested in soundproofing so customers could enjoy privacy. After carefully checking the room for hidden cameras, Hachiman gave a mischievous glance to the struggling spirit in his hand. He summoned his Demon-slaying sword decisively, preparing to end the spirit's life—but Miko suddenly stopped him. "What's wrong?" "I want to ask it some questions..." Miko turned solemnly to the spirit firmly sealed by Hachiman's spell "Shield." "You want to ask me questions?" Hachiman was stunned by her words, and even the spirit, who had been wasting effort trying to escape, froze. Humans actually think of interrogating spirits? Was this woman suddenly stupid or did she just think the spirit was an idiot? "Do you have a way to interrogate spirits?" Ignoring the spirit's puzzled look, Miko studied it carefully and then looked at Hachiman for help. "How could there be something like that... maybe?" Hachiman initially wanted to reject the idea outright. After all, in this world, there shouldn't be any tools or methods to interrogate spirits. But then he glanced at his system panel and suddenly remembered his all-purpose system shop. Opening the shop interface, he searched for interrogation tools for spirits... Looking at thousands of items packed into the shop, his mouth twitched involuntarily. This world really had everything—even spirits were subjected to torture. He spent 3,000 spirit coins to buy a spell called "Blazing Inferno" designed to torture spiritual entities. Immediately, a ghostly flame flared up in his palm. Seeing the eerie fire, the spirit, which had been loudly demanding they either kill it or let it go, instantly shut its three mouths. "Actually, asking questions isn't totally out of the question..." "..." They exchanged a silent, dumbfounded look. Such candid spirits truly were a disgrace to the spirit realm! "Have you ever met someone like me who can see spirits?" Miko seized the chance to question the spirit for information. "That's right! Once we're promoted to Special Grade spirits, the king summons us and orders us to eliminate all humans who can see spirits..." The three-headed spirit instinctively wanted to refuse to answer. But when it saw the subtle ghost flame in Hachiman's hand, it changed its mind immediately. Although the end result was always death, it preferred a quick death to a slow, torturous one. "Why target those who can see spirits?" Miko quickly pressed further after hearing the answer. "You have an exorcist with you, don't you know why?" The spirit looked up in surprise, but not at Miko—instead at Hachiman behind her. Especially after seeing Miko's confused expression after hearing the explanation, it finally understood. "I see, I see... you're not a formal exorcist..." Suddenly, the spirit's body began to swell. "What do you mean by that?" Miko tried to ask more but was pulled behind Hachiman, who watched the spirit's transformation with a serious expression. "Wild exorcists must be eliminated immediately..." The spirit muttered to itself. It twisted its swollen body, and the binding spell on its surface instantly shattered. Then it stretched its neck out, and the three heads fiercely lunged at Hachiman. "Spirit Flow!" Hachiman raised his hand and cast the powerful "Spirit Flow" spell. The attack instantly shattered one of the spirit's heads. But the remaining two heads showed no fear and charged straight at him. "Has it gone berserk?" Hachiman cast the protective spell "Shield" again to shield Miko, then gripped his spirit-slaying sword and stepped forward to confront the spirit.