"Red Blood Manipulation: All-Encompassing Web!"
Countless blood-red spikes erupted outward, slaughtering a massive horde of monsters. Not a single one managed to escape.
Although Shinji hadn't expected the remaining monsters to be hiding all together in this spot, it worked out perfectly — he had eliminated them all in one go.
However, after killing every creature there, he took out the Greedy Eyeball, and his brow furrowed in confusion.
He hadn't found any trace of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit here at all.
"Did it run away the moment things started going south?"
It wasn't an impossible thought.
Oh no!
A sudden realization struck Shinji. If the Special Grade Cursed Spirit had been hiding among the group of people Hidan was leading out... then they were in serious trouble.
No one even knew what the Special Grade actually looked like.
Human-shaped?
Or perhaps... disguised perfectly as a human.
Both were entirely possible.
"Let's go! We're heading back!"
Shinji immediately rushed back the way he came, moving at maximum speed, with Kagetsu following close behind.
Even before he reached them, he could hear the noise and chaos echoing from ahead. His heart sank.
Something had gone wrong.
"Hidan?!"
When Shinji finally caught up, the first thing he saw were scattered pinpricks of light and crowds of people running blindly in the darkness like headless flies.
He quickly took the remaining fluorite crystals he carried and embedded them high up on the walls, providing at least some illumination.
That was enough for him to spot Hidan.
When he saw Hidan's body torn apart and scattered in pieces, Shinji froze for a moment.
Instead of immediately trying to revive or heal him, Shinji took out the Greedy Eyeball again. The piles of corpses lying around were perfect fuel for it right now.
Once it had fed, the Greedy Eyeball began scanning the entire surroundings, trying to locate the hidden Cursed Spirit.
Strangely, the feedback showed absolutely nothing. There were no Cursed Spirits nearby at all.
"Did it flee far away immediately after 'killing' Hidan?"
The possibility crossed his mind. Shinji swiftly put the eye away, ignored the panicking crowds, and walked straight over to Hidan's remains.
"How did you end up like this again? Don't tell me... you let your guard down again."
Hidan, who had been pretending to be dead this whole time, suddenly opened his eyes.
Seeing it was Shinji, he let out a breath of relief.
But before he could speak a word, he screamed: "Watch your back!"
That shouldn't be possible!
Shinji had already scanned the area thoroughly and found nothing.
Still, he chose to trust Hidan instantly. He enveloped his entire body in Hexagonal Blood Crystals and entered the state of Leaping Crimson Scales — Release!
Standing right behind Shinji, feet resting upon a pool of shadows, was a small boy with an utterly expressionless face.
Darkness coalesced into a long black blade in his hand. The moment Hidan shouted, the boy slashed several times — not at Shinji himself, but at the shadow cast beneath Shinji's feet.
Swish! Swish! Swish...
CRACK!
The Hexagonal Blood Crystals shattered instantly!
At the same time, several wounds appeared on Shinji's body out of thin air.
"I got hit? But when? And what exactly is this enemy capable of?"
While spitting out blood, countless questions raced through Shinji's mind. He didn't hesitate — he spun around and swung his blade!
But the strike hit nothing but empty air. In the blink of an eye, the boy had vanished and reappeared twenty meters away, as if teleporting.
Shinji didn't dare relax for even a second. He remained alert and focused.
Seeing that Shinji hadn't been killed instantly, Hidan sighed in relief and spoke up.
"I got ambushed by that little brat just now. No warning at all — one second I was fine, the next my head was cut off and my body chopped to pieces."
There was something Hidan didn't say out loud: his instinct told him that against this boy, even his immortality might not save him.
That was exactly why he had chosen to play dead until Shinji arrived.
Otherwise, under normal circumstances, he would have been shouting insults and curses nonstop.
His decision hadn't only saved his own life — it had also ruined the enemy's plan.
The Greedy Eyeball hadn't been able to detect the boy at all. That was why Shinji had let his guard down slightly when approaching Hidan.
If Hidan hadn't feigned death and warned him, Shinji would definitely have fallen victim to the ambush!
And indeed, that was exactly the boy's strategy. Thinking Hidan was truly dead, he had hidden nearby, using Hidan's corpse as bait.
But Hidan's sudden "resurrection" completely threw off his rhythm.
Now that his cover was blown, he hadn't hesitated to attack preemptively.
"So there are humans who possess immortality too..." The boy suddenly spoke, a cold smile on his face. His eyes turned completely pitch black.
"I am suddenly curious... what would you become if you underwent Dark Modification?"
"Dark Modification... So you were born from humanity's fear of the dark?"
Shinji narrowed his eyes as he asked.
He wasn't guessing blindly — this was a logical conclusion.
The pitch-black environment, the so-called Dark Modification, the abilities all related to shadows...
A flicker of surprise crossed the boy's face, but it quickly turned into arrogance and pride.
"Correct. I am Uxas, Lord and Ruler of Darkness."
"If you are willing to swear loyalty to me, I, the great Lord of Darkness Uxas, shall be merciful. I will allow you to retain your human minds even after undergoing Dark Modification."
Before Shinji could reply, Hidan started yelling curses.
"Go to hell! Modification, modification... modify your grandma's ghost!"
It wasn't surprising that Hidan reacted so strongly. They both knew exactly where they came from.
The Ritual of Jashin was itself a forbidden form of human modification.
They didn't talk about it often, but they certainly knew what it entailed.
This time, Shinji didn't stop Hidan from shouting. Instead, he spoke coldly himself.
"Let me tell you something. You aren't the first Special Grade Cursed Spirit I've killed, and you definitely won't be the last. I'm going to gouge out those eyes of yours and keep them as a 'collection'."
The dark aura emanating from Uxas grew denser and heavier. It seemed as if every ray of light touching him was instantly swallowed by the surrounding darkness.
"You have rejected the mercy of the great Lord of Darkness... Then prepare to suffer eternal pain."
"Dark Curse Art: Deprive the Five Senses!"
The colors of the entire space seemed to flicker and dim.
Shinji's world instantly turned pitch black!
Worse yet, he realized he could no longer hear, smell, or feel anything either.
In this state, it felt as if his very thoughts had come to a halt. He could no longer perceive the passage of time accurately.
Every second felt like it stretched out into an eternity.
Loneliness. Helplessness. Panic.
All sorts of negative emotions erupted at once, threatening to consume him completely.
____________________
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