Chapter 7: The Yandere Appears, Everyone Back Off

When Leo and his companions arrived at the scene, they were greeted by a bizarre sight.

A light rain, reminiscent of the previous night's, was falling, imparting a nauseating slickness to the rainwater.

Perhaps for this reason, there were no pedestrians on the street.

Next to a fire hydrant on the street side hovered a gigantic water orb, within which the vague silhouettes of two people could be seen. One was indistinct, and the other was Uehara, his eyes rolled back, showing only whites.

Leo had come across the name atop the water orb in "A Complete Collection of Yokai Paintings" by the folklorist Wei Ikeda, but the entity's current form vastly differed from the legends.

On their way here, Leo had already shared Uehara Yasuki's situation with Mizukawa and received some talismans from Yūki.

Mizukawa patted Leo's back, "It's all yours, Leo-kun. I'll cover for you."

The monster seemed to sense the hostile intent from the newcomers. The surface of the water orb rippled, and like a cow or sheep regurgitating its cud, it "spat" Uehara out.

He fell to the ground, coughing up water.

He seemed to be alive.

For the moment, the monster didn't appear to have any intention of attacking, so Leo first took out a talisman handmade by the shrine maiden.

As a foreigner from another country, applying buffs before the battle seemed a perfectly just and reasonable action.

A Kompira power protection talisman to enhance physical strength, and a Shinatsuhiko speed charm to boost overall mobility and reaction speed.

Reciting the charm's name and placing the talisman on oneself would activate its effect.

As the rain began to ease, Leo drew the "Kind Crowbar," recalling the sensation of imbuing tools with power, and charged forward.

Having already enhanced his physical abilities after defeating the Hidden Widow, and now further boosted by the talismans, he surpassed common sense.

He was like a cannonball, creating a fierce wind, instantly covering a distance of tens of meters, and then, leveraging momentum, swung the crowbar at the water orb.

The slender crowbar emitted a profound sound of cutting through the air, promising a gruesome fate of crushed bones and mangled flesh if it hit a human.

The water orb exploded like a bomb had been thrown into it.

But he felt no joy because he didn't feel the impact of hitting a solid body.

In the world accelerated by his actions, everything seemed to move in slow motion. He could see the water surface forming a depression at the center of his attack, then rippling outward, as if actively dispersing and shedding the force.

The thought was absurd; despite being a large water orb, it reminded him of martial arts masters proficient in deflecting force seen in comics.

Next, the scattered streams of water, as if alive, flowed back together. Leo felt as if his crowbar was stuck in sticky glue, almost slipping from his hand.

He immediately pulled back the crowbar and retreated, simultaneously taking out a talisman, reciting its name, and throwing it.

The talisman ignited in mid-air, bursting into blue sparks, repelling the tentacle-like streams of water pursuing him.

"That water orb isn't its real body; its true form is hidden behind the curtain of water."

The shrine maiden warned, while Mizukawa was already reaching for the ribbon at her collar, presumably a preparatory step for transformation, according to her.

Leo had no time to respond; the enemy, seemingly provoked by his attack, now morphed into a porcupine shape. The surface jets of water converged into high-speed, blade-like shapes, whipping and stabbing like whips, creating sparks and holes upon impact with the ground, demonstrating a terrifying destructive power against flesh and bone.

Though he had previously faced the Hidden Widow and Betobeto-san, one was a desperate counter-attack, and the other involved exploiting folklore tactics for a sneak attack. This was his first true battle against the supernatural.

Leo realized that with the "Exorcist" text above his head, he possessed a significant suppressive effect on these demonic entities, but the previous successes depended on him directly striking the monsters.

He dodged the bullet-like high-speed water stream that attacked him, thrust his crowbar, and detonated another tentacle made of water sweeping towards him. The exploded tentacle seemed to turn into ordinary clear water and fell to the ground.

The rain that had stopped began to fall again, and the monster, replenished by the rainwater, extended a new tentacle.

"There are a total of eleven tentacles. When dispersed, they summon rainwater for replenishment, but the rain stops when the number is complete."

"Why not maintain the rain continuously?"

Despite the seemingly perilous situation, he was still distracted by these questions, partly because he knew there was backup on his side, and partly because he was gradually getting used to the rhythm of the battle.

This should be credited to the effect of "Pure Eye." Initially, he thought it only allowed him to see spirits, but now, fully engaged in the battle with the demon, he realized it was more than that.

He could "see" the trajectory of the enemy's attacks, making evasive or counterattack decisions instinctively, as if some presence had placed the flow of the enemy's power deep within his subconscious.

However, the monster seemed to feel that it had the upper hand on the scene, speaking human language for the first time:

"Foolish humans, dare to disturb my intimate time with the sacrifice."

The voice came from the vague figure inside the water orb, sounding quite muffled and gender-neutral.

"Your love is too heavy!" This was Mizukawa Akie, watching from the sidelines.

"Why refer to Uehara-kun as a sacrifice?" asked the shrine maiden.

The other party did not respond because Leo seized this moment to suddenly get closer.

Just like in stealth games where you can see the enemy NPCs' line of sight and firearm trajectories, he incorporated the water blade's attacks into his anticipation, swinging the crowbar to shatter unavoidable attacks, cutting through waves and streams.

The closer he got to the water orb, the more intense the attacks became. In the end, it was like a boxing match, with the crowbar and the high-speed water blades colliding, making a sound akin to metal cutting, and the splashing water exploded into white foam in the air, looking like sparks from grinding iron.

"It's useless useless useless useless useless!"

The figure inside the water orb shouted, "My carefully studied structural mechanics and fluid dynamics crafted armor, do you, a mere high school student, think you can decipher it?!"

Leo: "?"

To be looked down upon academically by a supposed monster.

But with this, connecting to the name above its head, the last piece of the puzzle was put in place.

He suddenly stopped the assault, instead throwing a talisman.

"Diversion of Water Curse!"

Although the name sounded intimidating, this talisman was actually one of the weakest in the shrine maiden's collection.

Its only function was to summon a stream of clear water.

Barely enough for putting out fires, more suitable for quenching thirst.

However, the monster, seemingly able to control water, reacted to the clean water as if it were poison. The water it touched was hastily flung away, and even the fiercely attacking water knives stopped.

"You've already lost, 'Nureonna.'"

Leo shook the crowbar and turned back to explode the nearby fire hydrant.