Shinobu Kochou's current state was far from normal.
She was gripping Horitake's arm with a desperate strength, preventing him from giving chase. Half-kneeling on the floor, she clutched her chest as her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. Her breath came in short, jagged gasps, and an unnatural, feverish crimson bloomed across her cheeks. Her body temperature was skyrocketing.
For a heartbeat, Horitake didn't fully grasp the situation. He reached out to pull her up, his voice laced with concern.
"Shinobu-san, what's wrong? Was it that mist just now...?"
Before he could finish the sentence, his own body revolted.
The symptoms were a mirror of hers: a racing pulse, a surge in body heat, and a tightening in his lungs. But beneath the physical discomfort, Horitake felt something far more insidious—a primal, overwhelming wave of desire rising from the depths of his soul, an impulse so sudden and violent it felt unstoppable.
He looked down at Shinobu.
Damn it! The air around her was practically radiating a heavy, intoxicating aura of raw lust.
The sight of her in such a state acted like a catalyst. The surge of desire within Horitake intensified, roaring through his veins and clouding his mind.
That bastard demon!
Deep within his mind, a single thread of clarity remained, and Horitake used it to curse the creature with everything he had.
This demon... she was truly a depraved piece of work.
To think she could exhale a mist with such potent aphrodisiac effects! He should have known. The moment he saw that sickly pink hue, he should have realized the "poison" wasn't meant to kill, but to subvert.
The effect was terrifyingly strong. It took every ounce of his willpower just to keep his hands to himself.
His earlier suspicions were correct: this wasn't just a man-eating demon; she was a predator in every sense of the word. She didn't just devour those boys; she likely... toyed with them first. It was the only way to explain a Blood Demon Art like this. She would cloud their minds with this mist, "consume" them in one way, and then literally consume them in another.
It was utterly repulsive.
These thoughts flashed through Horitake's mind in the span of a second. But in that same second, Shinobu reached her breaking point.
Horitake had been further away and had inhaled less of the vapor, but Shinobu had taken the blast head-on. The poison was coursing through her system with unchecked ferocity.
Shinobu lunged upward, her eyes shimmering like moonlight on water, glazed with a hazy, desperate longing. She threw herself against him, her body pressing into his.
In that moment, Horitake could feel the scorching heat radiating through her uniform.
This is bad. Very, very bad.
"Horitake..."
As she breathed his name, the deep-seated affection she held for him surged to the surface, amplified a hundredfold by the demon's toxin. She couldn't fight it anymore. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, her teeth grazing his skin in a feverish, uncontrolled nip.
Horitake froze. He had never seen Shinobu lose herself like this.
But he knew this couldn't continue.
Gritting his teeth, he fought the roar of his own blood. He tried to gently push her back, his voice strained as he pleaded with her.
"Shinobu-san, no! Stop! If it were any other time, or any other place, maybe... but look where we are! We're in a place of debauchery and vice. We cannot lose ourselves here!"
His voice seemed to pierce through the fog. Shinobu's movements stiffened, her desperate nuzzling coming to a halt.
Seizing that brief window of hesitation, Horitake took a sharp breath, forcing his mind into a state of absolute calm. He channeled the Thunder Breathing.
Crackle!
Violet sparks of electricity erupted from his skin, coursing through his internal organs and nervous system. The sudden, controlled shock of the lightning acted like a purge, forcibly suppressing his body's erratic reactions and clearing the haze from his brain.
He quickly grabbed Shinobu by the shoulders. Seeing her agonizing struggle, he pressed his index and middle fingers together into a sword-hand. A bright, focused spark of violet lightning crackled at his fingertips. Without hesitation, he pressed them firmly against the center of her forehead.
Zzzzt!
The purple current surged through Shinobu, jolting her entire nervous system.
She gasped, her eyes snapping wide as the clarity returned to her gaze. The feverish flush receded, and her breathing steadied. The "spell" was broken.
She stood there, staring at Horitake in stunned silence. As the memory of her behavior flooded back, her face burned with a different kind of heat—sheer, unadulterated embarrassment. She felt as though she couldn't even look him in the eye. Had that really been her? Acting so... shamelessly?
Horitake didn't have time for explanations or comfort.
"Are you back with me?" he asked urgently. "Good. Shinobu-san, we don't have a second to waste. I have to catch that demon. I need the truth about Senjuro's whereabouts, and I am going to slay that lecherous monster once and for all. Follow me!"
The moment the words left his lips, Horitake's speed exploded. He vanished in a blur, launching himself upward through the gaping hole the demon had smashed in the ceiling.
Shinobu shook off her daze and, gritting her teeth, followed his silhouette into the night air.
They landed in the center of the establishment's massive garden. Horitake scanned the surroundings, his jaw tight with frustration.
Damn it. We lost too much time. She could be anywhere by now.
He activated his Spirit Vision, his eyes glowing as he searched for the faintest trace of demonic energy.
Fortunately, the demon had been in a rush. Her trail was still warm.
Through his Spirit Vision, Horitake saw a lingering trail of foul energy leading toward the artificial river that wound through the garden. The trail didn't stop there; it followed the current downstream, leading out of the garden and away from the building.
The garden's river was fed by a live water source, specifically designed to connect with the larger river systems nearby. It was a perfect escape route. If she stayed in the water, she could be miles away in minutes.
Nearby, a few guests and attendants were huddled by the bank, pointing toward the lower reaches of the stream.
"Did you see that? Something just dived into the water and shot downstream!"
"Yeah, I saw it too. Must have been a massive fish."
"No way, it looked like a person!"
"Don't be ridiculous. How could a person swim that fast? It had to be a fish."
Their chatter confirmed his vision. The mermaid demon had dived in and fled via the current.
You think a little water is going to save you?
Horitake's expression darkened. Arcs of violet lightning began to dance across his limbs again as he pushed his body to its absolute limit. He became a streak of purple light, tearing through the landscape as he sprinted along the riverbank.
Shinobu, though not as fast as Horitake in a pure sprint, pushed herself to her maximum capacity, keeping pace as they tracked the fleeing creature.
Horitake covered two kilometers in the blink of an eye.
The establishment sat on the very edge of the town, and these two kilometers had brought them into the rural outskirts. Ahead, the artificial stream merged into a much larger, naturally formed river.
Horitake skidded to a halt at the junction, his eyes scouring the churning water.
The demon was nowhere to be seen.
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