"What in the world...?" Inoue's eyes narrowed as he watched the creature's body bubble and distort.
Bone-crunching sounds echoed through the torrential rain, sharp and violent, like dry twigs snapping underfoot. Upon the entity's forehead, the same sickly stag-beetle emblem flared to life. Its head jerked upward with an unnatural snap, locking its sightless gaze onto the clusters of trapped souls floating helplessly above the rooftops.
"Krrrr... Waaahhh...!"
The trapped spirits wheezed in absolute terror, scrambling frantically to ascend toward the storm clouds. But there was nowhere to run. Iron-like chains shot outward from the creature's open torso, whipping through the air like living tendrils to wrap around every last soul, reeling them back into its gaping maw.
"In... kzzzt... ou... e...!"
Yorimitsu's voice flickered briefly through Inoue's mind, crackling and muffled, sounding as though it were being devoured by the roar of a raging fire.
In that brief second of distraction, one of the creature's rust-red chains whipped around Inoue's torso, yanked him off his feet, and dragged him backwards through the boundary line straight toward its snapping jaw.
"Tch! Damn it!" Inoue growled.
Right before he was dragged into the monster's reach, Inoue focused his Reiryoku, shattering the chain's grip and crashing onto the rain-soaked cobblestones below.
"How greedy can you be... trying to devour me as well?!" Inoue snarled, his two cat tails swaying violently behind him as he channelled his Reiryoku for a high-speed spatial teleportation.
His Reiryoku flared brightly, but before the spell could take hold, the blue spiritual energy fizzled out, scattering into useless sparks like dying embers.
"Huh?! What is this...?! I can't use spatial movement?!"
Realising the flow of Reiryoku of the area had changed, Inoue abandoned the spell and sprinted toward the compound's outer perimeter wall. But the instant his paws neared the exit threshold, a violent invisible barrier slammed into his chest with raw force, flinging him backwards across the courtyard to crash heavily onto the muddy ground.
"A boundary...?" Inoue huffed, pushing himself back onto all fours as his breath misted in the cold air.
The creature gave him no time to think. Another volley of rust-red chains whipped through the storm, surging directly toward him. Blurring with speed, Inoue channelled a bright blue light across his paws, swatting the incoming links aside before leaping high into the air.
'This is bad... Is this boundary designed to trap all spiritual entities inside it?' Floating momentarily above the compound, Inoue's sharp gaze caught a glimpse of Shinju-maru's soul struggling to float away as the great chains pulled it in. 'I can't let this thing grow any stronger!'
Manifesting platforms of solid light beneath his paws, Inoue sprinted through the open air like a phantom. His claws flashed like silver blades, cleanly severing every chain the monster was using to reel in the trapped human souls.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Chains shattered into scattering sparks, but amidst the chaotic barrage, one single chain slipped past his attack.
"Damn it!" Inoue snarled.
The remaining chain was instantly yanked backwards into the creature's open torso, which split wide to reveal a horrific, gaping maw lined with jagged rows of bone-like teeth.
CRUNCH!
Grrrr... Grrr...!
The monster's stomach chewed the captured soul, its grotesque jaws grinding with a sickening crunch. Instantly, the bubbling, gelatinous mass of the creature's body subsided. Its pale flesh stretched and tightened with terrifying speed, morphing within moments into a towering, elegant humanoid figure.
Its skin was as stark and colourless as dead bone. It remained completely faceless, save for two long, bull-like horns protruding straight up from its forehead.
"KRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
The entity unleashed a deafening, metallic screech. The raw pressure of its acoustic shockwave tore across the courtyard, blasting heavy gusts of wind outward and forcefully repelling the falling rain away from the compound in a massive, expanding circle.
Inoue skidded across the rain-slicked roof tiles on the far side of the courtyard, his ears ringing as his eyes narrowed into razor-thin slits.
"How the hell am I supposed to defeat that...?"
Inoue's golden eyes reflected the dense, suffocating aura oozing from the creature's white skin, a crimson mist of malice that radiated roughly three meters in every direction.
"Huuunnggg... Huuunnnnggg... Huuunnggrryyy..." the creature wheezed, its faceless head twisting with a sickening pop to lock onto Inoue.
"It developed an ego...?" Inoue growled, his own spiritual energy flaring as he triggered his true transformation.
His feline exterior stretched and expanded dramatically. His paws quadrupled in size, their massive claws digging deep into the mud as his sleek fur shifted from its normal hue into a rich, midnight-blue. His jaws widened to expose razor-sharp fangs, his golden eyes burning with deep power as two ethereal, sail-like wings sprouted from his back, generating a soft, pulsing breeze around him.
'Master tried connecting with me before I was dragged into this boundary, but now I can't hear his voice at all...' Inoue's eyes darted toward the shimmering, translucent wall sealing off the compound. 'Tch... My only choice now is to hold the line and fight until Master breaks through. Otherwise, both Shinju-maru and I will be devoured by this monstrosity.'
'I wonder if me transforming into Guardian Form will be enough to—'
Before Inoue could even finish his thought, the creature vanished.
In a fraction of a second, the beast materialised directly behind him, swinging its pale arm in a lethal strike. Reacting on sheer instinct, Inoue's midnight fur instantly erupted in a torrent of deep, blazing orange fire.
BANG!
The creature's heavy strike connected, but instead of sending Inoue flying, the monster shrieked in pain and leapt backwards!
"KRRRRRRRRRR!"
The deep orange flames clinging to the creature's hand were violently spreading up its wrist, devouring its flesh as the fire surged toward its shoulder. Seeing the fire spread, the entity didn't hesitate; it grabbed its own burning arm, snapped the bone at the socket with a brutal twist, and ripped the limb completely off, dropping it onto the wet ground.
"Relentless, aren't you?" Inoue snarled, his fangs bared. "Those are the secret flames of the Minamoto clan, the Flames of Kita!"
The severed arm shrivelled into black ash on the wet tiles, utterly consumed by the holy fire.
'I might actually be able to pull this off by borrowing Master's Onmyōdō—'
Inoue's eyes bulged in shock.
Where the creature's arm had just been torn away, the pale flesh began to bubble and churn violently. Within seconds, bone, muscle, and skin knitted back together, fully restoring the lost limb without a single scar.
"Regeneration...?!" Inoue gasped.