"The spirit is underground…" This realization dawned on both the young shaman and the spirit. Their gazes locked on the root before them, and then something shifted. A smile—no, a malicious grin—formed on the twisted root.
"Well, there's no point in hiding now, is there?" the spirit sneered.
Cyrus's eyes widened, and he shouted, "Umeboshi, get away from that root now!"
Without hesitation, Umeboshi grabbed his wooden staff, instincts guiding his next move. With a swift, decisive slash, he struck at the root. His timing was perfect—an instant before the root transformed into a massive, gaping maw, ready to clamp down on him.
The force of Umeboshi's strike knocked the root several feet away, its grotesque form recoiling under the power of his staff.
Then, multiple screams echoed from all directions within the amusement park. Cyrus and Umeboshi turned toward the area where the class had been gathered at the dining tables—and what they saw chilled them to the core.
Roots, grotesque and unnaturally large, burst out of the ground, shattering the pavement and clawing at everything in their path. Students, teachers, and visitors were dragged screaming into the earth by these monstrous tendrils.
Those who managed to avoid the initial assault fled in panic, their cries filling the air. Unable to perceive the spiritual force behind the chaos, they could only see an invisible terror—a seemingly unseen hand pulling victims underground.
"God damn it! It was hiding the whole time, and now it doesn't even care if the public sees its attack? What does it think it's doing?" Umeboshi shouted, slashing away the roots attacking him.
Cyrus, fending off roots with his wooden sword, suddenly heard a voice beneath him, cold and mocking:
"Isn't it obvious? This place isn't valuable to me anymore."
The words sent a chill through Cyrus. Without hesitation, he slashed downward with his wooden sword toward the source of the voice.
But as his blade moved in a precise arc, a hand shot out of the ground and caught the sword mid-swing. The impact echoed through the park with a deafening bang, a cloud of smoke rising from the strike.
"But wouldn't it be a shame to leave without a feast before moving to a new hunting ground?" the voice continued, now laced with a cruel amusement.
With a surge of strength, the spirit hurled Cyrus and his sword aside. He tumbled back but managed to land on his feet a few yards away.
The ground beneath him quaked as more of the spirit's form emerged, the earth cracking and shifting where Cyrus had stood moments before. Finally, the spirit fully revealed herself, stepping out from the shadows of the soil to face her prey.
She was a hauntingly beautiful woman, her long, dark hair flowing like shadows made tangible. Her eyes were voids of absolute darkness, devoid of even the faintest glimmer of light—a chilling embodiment of emptiness.
She wore a sleek black dress that clung to her unsettlingly slender frame, emphasizing her ghostly, grey-toned skin that stretched from her face to her bare feet. Her presence was otherworldly, and her mocking grin only deepened the sense of dread that clung to the air.
With that grin, she turned her gaze upon the shaman and the spirit, her expression dripping with malice.
Cyrus sighed, his expression steady.
"Looks like we finally found you after all…" he said, raising his wooden sword into a battle-ready stance.
Beside him, Umeboshi mirrored the action with his wooden staff, a wry grin spreading across his face.
"You've got to be seriously twisted to turn something as fun as an amusement park into a bloodbath," he quipped.
The spirit let out a cold, mocking laugh at his remark.
"Don't lecture me, Second Zone Spirit," she sneered.
The moment her words faded, her form blurred. She moved so fast that Umeboshi's eyes couldn't follow. In an instant, her fist was mere centimeters from his stomach—when suddenly, it stopped.
A wooden sword stood in its way.
"Then allow me to lecture you on his behalf," Cyrus said coolly, deflecting her punch with a sharp swing. The force of his counter sent her staggering back a few steps, her predatory grin momentarily replaced by surprise.
"You might be stronger than the other two bugs," she sneered, her voice dripping with disdain, "but you're still just among the trash. A bug slightly better than the rest is still a bug!"
With that, she slammed her hand into the ground. Instantly, hundreds of roots erupted from the earth, twisting and surging toward Cyrus and Umeboshi like a ravenous tide.
"Can you keep up?" Cyrus asked, casting a quick glance at Umeboshi.
Umeboshi's grin widened, and he twirled his wooden staff with a confident flair.
"I'm a tough guy!" he replied, bracing himself for the oncoming onslaught.
The two dashed forward with tremendous speed, their movements a blur as they cut through the sea of roots surging toward them. Roots fell left and right, and even from above, as the pair carved their path toward the woman.
Cyrus's slashes were a display of elegance, precision, and control. Each swing of his wooden sword sliced cleanly, severing roots with surgical accuracy.
In contrast, Umeboshi's approach was sheer brute force. Every deflection from his staff shattered the roots on impact, obliterating them with raw power. The difference in their styles was striking, yet together, they pressed forward, unstoppable.
The roots twisted and surged, forming a towering wall around them, completely cutting them off from the outside world.
"Crap, we're trapped!" Umeboshi shouted, slamming his staff against the root "wall" in an attempt to break through.
Before he could swing again, a fist shot out from within the root barrier. The spirit's attack collided with Umeboshi's staff in a thunderous clash. The force of the impact wrenched the staff from his grip, sending it flying to the opposite side of the enclosure.
"Damnit!" Umeboshi growled, his eyes darting toward his fallen weapon.
Before he could react, the woman lunged forward, grabbing him by the collar of his leather jacket. Her eyes gleamed with cold malice as she sneered, "Weaklings like you have no business meddling with spirits like me… Second Zone Spirit."
Without hesitation, she delivered a devastating punch to Umeboshi's face, the impact launching him across the trap. He crashed into the opposite wall of roots with a sickening thud, the barrier trembling from the force.
"Umeboshi!" Cyrus shouted, his voice laced with urgency as he turned to where his companion had been launched.
But before he could react further, the woman appeared behind him in an instant, her cold breath brushing against his ear.
"You brought him along because you thought he was 'strong,' didn't you?" she taunted, her voice dripping with scorn. "How naïve of you to believe that a Second Zone bug like him could ever keep up with me!"
As the venomous words left her lips, her fist hurtled toward the back of Cyrus's head, just centimeters away from striking.
In a split-second move, Cyrus twisted his entire body, his wooden sword coming up in a sharp arc to meet her blow. The impact echoed through the trap, her attack deflected by his quick reaction.
For a moment, neither Cyrus nor the woman could overpower the other, their strength locked in a tense stalemate. In that brief pause, Cyrus narrowed his eyes and asked the only question that burned in his mind:
"How do you know that?"
The question lingered as both combatants pushed back, breaking the deadlock and stumbling a few feet apart. The woman straightened, a smug smile curling on her lips. She ran a hand through her long, dark hair, her eyes gleaming with wicked amusement.
"How do I know?" she repeated, her voice dripping with mockery. "It's because of my abilities, of course."
Cyrus shifted back into his usual defensive stance, his grip tightening on his wooden sword. "Your abilities?" he asked cautiously.
The woman let out a soft, mocking giggle, tilting her head slightly.
"One of my abilities," she began, her voice almost playful, "allows me to not only see anyone's memories if they come into contact with my roots but also erase them—whether short-term or long-term. All I had to do was spread my roots just centimeters beneath the ground across this entire park. Do you know what that means?"
Before Cyrus could respond, Umeboshi broke the tense silence, his tone grim.
"It means as soon as we stepped foot in the park, you knew we were here. Not just that—you learned everything you needed to know about us."
The woman raised her hand into the air in exaggerated amusement, her grin widening unnaturally, almost splitting her face.
"Exactly! You're smarter than you look for a Second Zone Spirit. Smarter than that foolish girl with the black and purple hair… what was her name again? Ah, yes. Viora."
Cyrus took a step forward, his eyes narrowing as he demanded, "Viora... what have you done to her?"
The spirit shrugged nonchalantly, a wicked grin tugging at her lips.
"Nothing much," she replied, her tone dripping with mockery. "That fool thought so little of me, so I ordered death upon her—a hundredfold, perhaps even more. But don't worry, shaman boy, she's still alive… for now."
Cyrus's mind raced, frustration boiling within him. I told her not to do anything stupid! he thought angrily.
He clenched his fist, letting out a curse. "That fool!"
The spirit stepped forward as well, her grin widening with malicious delight.
"Couldn't have said it better myself. She's the pure definition of one!"
In an instant, all three combatants vanished into blurs of motion, their forms darting and clashing with blinding speed. The air crackled with the intensity of their movements, the ground trembling beneath their relentless assault.
Each strike, block, and counter came faster than the eye could follow, the battlefield erupting into a chaotic symphony of power and precision. The clash of wood against force and the sound of tearing roots echoed through the enclosed space as the fight escalated to an entirely new level.
chapter seventeen end