Aizawa Chikumo slammed into the ground, instinctively reaching out to brace herself and stabilize her position.
[Author's Note: Kill boredom by reading novels every day; ttks.tw is super reliable.]
But how could Kawakami Tomie allow that? Her left hand clamped onto Aizawa Chikumo's bracing wrist, her knuckles pressing into the gaps of the wrist joint. Her right hand pinned the girl's shoulder blade. Using the very force Aizawa Chikumo exerted to stand up, Tomie channeled her entire body's strength, twisting and then pressing down in one fluid motion following that momentum.
"Ah!"
The girl let out a cry of pain. A piercing ache radiated from her shoulder joint. She struggled frantically, her legs kicking against the floor in an attempt to buck Kawakami Tomie off.
However, Kawakami Tomie's control over her strength was terrifyingly precise. Her knee pinned the girl's lower back, while her hands controlled the shoulder and wrist, locking Aizawa Chikumo into a physical blind spot where she couldn't generate power. No matter how she writhed, she could not escape from beneath Kawakami Tomie.
When Mamiya Yuka arrived with the steel pole from the IV stand, she saw that Kawakami Tomie had already successfully subdued Aizawa Chikumo. Clutching the steel pole, she hesitated, unsure if she still needed to hand the weapon to Kawakami Tomie.
"Attack her neck. Knock her unconscious,"
Kawakami Tomie commanded Mamiya Yuka while still pinning Aizawa Chikumo down.
Aizawa Chikumo could not be allowed to die!
As the daughter of the Apology Demon and a human, this girl possessed immense physical prowess along with a resistance to the melting power. As long as neural needles were shot into the girl's oral cavity to connect with her cranial nerves, bringing this Daughter of the Demon into the Tomie Network, the danger posed by Aizawa Yuuma could be reduced to a certain extent.
"Let go of me! Let go! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all! Gua! I'm going to kill you!"
Chikumo was still screaming and struggling, her small body exploding with incredible strength despite being in the most difficult position to exert force.
Even though Kawakami Tomie was using joint-locking techniques designed for the weak to overcome the strong, and was pushing the effects of her Breathing Method to the absolute limit, she was beginning to find it difficult to keep her pinned.
Hearing Kawakami Tomie's urging, Mamiya Yuka gritted her teeth. She tossed the IV tubing aside and picked up the detached base of the stand. Steeling her heart, she aimed at the center of the back of Aizawa Chikumo's neck and swung down with all her might.
Thump!
With a dull impact, Aizawa Chikumo's neck was nearly knocked out of alignment. Her frantic struggling came to an abrupt halt; her tensed body instantly went limp. Her eyes, once filled with malice, rolled back until only the whites showed, losing focus. Her small head slumped powerlessly, thudding against the floor.
Breathing heavily, Mamiya Yuka cast aside the base, discovering her palms were drenched in cold sweat.
She was a university student, after all, and knew exactly how dangerous that spot was to attack. A single mistake could be fatal.
She didn't want to be a murderer, but the situation was dire; she had to act.
"Well done."
Kawakami Tomie gave a brief evaluation, nodding toward Mamiya Yuka to signal her approval.
She released Aizawa Chikumo's arm and quickly inspected the girl, confirming she was only unconscious. Though her breathing and heartbeat were somewhat erratic, they remained steady.
Such a heavy blow hadn't even killed the girl; she truly was a hybrid of demon and human.
There was no time to lose.
Kawakami Tomie leaned down and squeezed Aizawa Yuuma's—no, Chikumo's—jaw, forcing the unconscious mouth to hang slightly open.
Then, she opened her own mouth. Her throat rippled slightly. In the next moment, dozens of tentacles tipped with needles erupted from her mouth, shooting out in unison and stabbing directly into the interior of Aizawa Chikumo's open mouth!
The neural tentacles delved deep into the throat, moving along the palate and pharyngeal wall, piercing the mucosa to burrow toward the depths of the skull base, where the brain and nerves connected.
The unconscious Aizawa Chikumo's body twitched involuntarily, as if instinctively resisting this horrific intrusion.
But it was already useless. Once Kawakami Tomie's neural threads successfully entered Aizawa Chikumo's mouth without being bitten off immediately, the outcome was sealed.
The ends of the neural threads had already pierced into Aizawa Chikumo's cranial nerves. During this brief period while Aizawa Chikumo was unconscious, they would remodel and assimilate her cranial nerves, linking her brain to Tomie's own.
Not only that, but cells belonging to Kawakami Tomie were already infecting Aizawa Chikumo's body. Within a few days, Aizawa Chikumo's physical form would also become Kawakami Tomie.
"Connection complete."
As the neural threads vanished once more, Kawakami Tomie closed her mouth with satisfaction.
However, it was at that very moment that Kawakami Tomie saw a claw.
It was a pitch-black, sharp claw, like that of a bat but far larger than a human hand.
The claw extended a single sharp, needle-like nail and gave a light flick in front of Kawakami Tomie.
"—!"
An indescribable sound rang out.
The dozens of neural threads connected to Aizawa Chikumo's brain were severed!
The Tomie Network lost the presence of Aizawa Chikumo; it could no longer sense her location through the neural threads.
Kawakami Tomie instinctively looked up.
A massive figure appeared before her eyes—a demon!
There was no need for thought; merely seeing that black silhouette, which radiated evil and a sense of profound profanity, naturally birthed the realization that this was a demon.
It had a head resembling a goat, topped with three curved horns. The horns on either side curved backward like scythes, while the central horn on its forehead stood straight up like a trident. Embedded in the center of its forehead was a mysterious pentagram mark.
A tangled, fluffy mane like withered grass covered its face and body. A pair of reptilian, vertical pupils presented a distorted shape, gazing down at her with indifference.
Immense bat-like membranous wings were fully spread behind it, casting a shadow that completely enveloped Kawakami Tomie. Merely by hovering there, it emitted an aura that made the soul tremble, like a literal tsunami swallowing the entire space.
Light seemed to vanish around it, as if falling into a black hole, and the air in its vicinity became viscous, as if pulled by an invisible gravitational force.
The scent of blood that had filled the hospital lobby was replaced by a deeper atmosphere—a mixture of sulfur and ash, coupled with a smell of malice and mockery directed at humanity.
"The Apology Demon? Actually entering the fray in person? According to Amamiya's words, a guy like you should be a final boss... Oh right, Kayako is also a major boss. Don't you demons and evil spirits care about the proper order at all?"
Kawakami Tomie looked at the textbook image of a demon, a mocking smile appearing at the corners of her mouth.
The Apology Demon's pupils constricted as it turned its head to look at its daughter.
The severed line, which extended from Aizawa Chikumo's mouth and existed in another dimension, had actually reconnected with the other end after the demon had cut it.
"Though I don't know how you did it—is it because you're a demon? In another dimension like the Khala? Or is it because she's your daughter and you can directly interfere with her? In his records, you shouldn't be able to act personally; you could only generate evil electromagnetic waves through Aizawa Yuuma's apologies, right?"
Kawakami Tomie faced the demon composedly, reciting her deductions and intelligence.
The demon also turned back to look at Kawakami Tomie. Although its expression did not change, the sense of oppression radiating from its body grew even more powerful.
____
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