Sadako vanished. Through his Hannya mask, Ogun scanned the area. He extended his psychic power, probing the surrounding region.
Hmm? She's gone? The thought barely formed before he sensed something wrong.
He looked down sharply and found Sadako emerging from the ground, both hands locked around his calves, climbing upward with terrifying speed.
The flames from his blade still burned on Sadako's body, but now that they were in contact, the fire spread to Ogun as well.
"Foolish!" Ogun's resistance to such flames was high—he wasn't afraid of being burned. He immediately prepared to detonate his mana completely, but suddenly discovered Sadako's long hair wrapping around his neck, coiling round and round, constricting, tightening.
An even more vicious attack came from Sadako's left hand. The two were locked together—from a distance, they looked like lovers embracing. But the woman's hand suddenly pierced through the man's chest and tore out a bright red heart.
"Kh... kh..." Beast-like sounds emerged from Sadako's mouth as a corrupting mist with powerful dizzying effects began to surround them both.
No more hesitation! Ogun ignored his extracted heart and erupted with full force.
His expression suddenly went blank. Sadako, who had been strangling his neck, froze.
The next moment, Ogun phased out of his body like a ghost, emerging as a spirit. He wielded an invisible blade and struck downward from above, stabbing fiercely at Sadako's spiritual core.
"AHHHHH——!!" The soul-piercing pain forced a wail from Sadako's spirit.
Heaven was unjust. This world was unjust. She hated it! Hated this world with every fiber of her being!
Her overwhelming resentment and the spiritual wail made both Ogun and Bella—strong enough to sense psychic forces—go pale at once.
Bella, who had been playing cat-and-mouse with old man Yashida's soldiers, stumbled and fell. Ogun had it worse. Too close to the source, his spirit—having just left his possessed body—nearly scattered. His consciousness grew hazy as a large mass of pure psychic energy peeled away from his spiritual form.
The aftereffects of multiple possessions were catching up to him.
He was still mortal. Even with extensive secret techniques to nurture his soul, four hundred years had left it internally ravaged to the extreme.
With his spirit wounded, the connection between Ogun and his possessed body became incredibly fragile. The body even began to faintly reject him.
"Heh heh heh..." Sadako let out a sinister laugh. Without a word, she dove toward Ogun's body.
Who wanted to die when they could live? If she could occupy this body, she'd profit. If not, no loss anyway.
With this mindset, Sadako attempted to possess the body by attaching her soul.
Ogun couldn't let her succeed. His soul blade struck down again.
"Ah——" Another piercing shriek, but this time Ogun was prepared and suffered almost no damage.
Both had lived for four hundred years, but his methods far exceeded most other spirits'.
Now he had two choices: return directly to his own body and deal with Sadako afterward, or let her enter his possessed body while he used that time to cast a spell.
He chose the latter, wanting to solve this problem once and for all. Ogun didn't stop Sadako from entering his possessed body—instead, he took the opportunity to slash her once more with his blade.
Sadako was severely wounded. She had little combat awareness and couldn't see through Ogun's scheme. All she knew was that this body was an empty shell, and her overwhelming survival instinct drove her to force her way inside.
She was now just a mindless beast, while Ogun was a cunning and ruthless old hunter.
Watching Sadako enter his possessed body, Ogun felt neither joy nor sorrow.
Losing one body meant nothing—he still had a trump card and could switch again later. Right now, this female ghost had walked into his trap. Truly exciting.
"Seal!" He was somewhat lacking in suppression techniques, but body possession was his specialty—he'd prepared for this long ago.
Ogun's spiritual form formed hand seals, working from inside out, preparing to lock Sadako firmly within the body before refining it entirely to create a shikigami.
"I'll... kill... you!" Having regained a body, Sadako also recovered partial speech ability. She raised both hands, reaching for Ogun's throat.
But her movements were stiff. As Ogun's seals continuously struck the body, Sadako's mobility grew increasingly sluggish.
"Catch!" Suddenly, a mysterious force surged into her body. Sadako felt herself regain partial movement. At the same time, a pitch-black tachi flew toward her from afar.
She caught it reflexively and instinctively drew the blade. Instantly, she felt an indescribable tearing sensation from the hilt, as if something was voraciously draining her life force.
Did Sadako have life force? What life force could a ghost have? She'd been dead for thirty years!
However, life force existed within this body. The momentary drain affected not only Sadako but also interrupted Ogun's sealing once again.
"Damn it! I'll kill you!" Ogun roared, glaring at Bella in the distance—the one who had just thrown the tachi to Sadako.
The next moment, he recognized the blade's extraordinary nature. What kind of sword was this? Overflowing with the aura of Yomi.
An excellent blade! What would happen if this sword were in his hands?
Before he could think further, Sadako gripped the sword with both hands and thrust it fiercely toward his spirit.
Normal weapons couldn't harm spirits, but what about this blade?
Ogun didn't dare gamble. The death energy on this sword was so intense that he felt one strike would send him straight to Yomi.
"Using a blade in front of me? Hmph! Childish!" Having once studied under Miyamoto Musashi, Ogun had his pride.
Now, with Sadako wielding a weapon before him, it was like teaching fish to swim.
He guided with one hand, making Sadako's blade thrust miss its target, then deflected it with his other hand. Recognizing the sword's danger, Ogun avoided touching the hilt directly. Instead, he grabbed Sadako's icy hands and, like controlling a puppet, reversed the blade to stab into the possessed body's heart.
In his eyes, Bella—his great enemy—had already dealt with those soldiers. He had no time to continue tangling with Sadako. He had to eliminate her first before facing Bella.
Hmm? At the moment of piercing, his peripheral vision caught Bella not attacking, but closing her eyes to cast some spell.
"Pfft!" The black tachi pierced through the possessed body's brain from front to back, completely through. Sadako suffered critical damage as well.
But this critical hit was completely different from what Ogun had anticipated. The head portion of the possessed body had transformed into Sadako's long-haired, face-covering appearance. A pair of crimson eyes stared at him, filled with unwillingness.
The malevolence that erupted in that instant startled even Ogun. He had no idea what had gone wrong.
The next second, a figure appeared before him—resembling Sadako but two sizes smaller, like a young girl. Little Sadako glared viciously at Ogun as a vortex invisible to mortal eyes rapidly formed behind her.