Hayato walked forward steadily, one hand gripping the water bottle while the other slowly twisted the cap open. His expression showed no hint of worry. The plastic crinkled softly under his fingers.
"If you surrender now, I might consider letting you go."
But the creature approaching him displayed no fear whatsoever. Its grotesque eyes tracked him without hesitation.
"No self-awareness, huh? So this monster isn't the result of a transformation like what happened to Horikita and Taisuke?"
Maybe it couldn't recognize danger, making it completely reckless?
This was completely different from the possessed Taisuke at the hotel. When faced with the threat of adult toys, that one had immediately begged for mercy, displaying the strong survival instinct of an intelligent being.
But this one...
Aside from still having a vaguely humanoid shape, there was nothing human about its appearance anymore.
The charred, cracked face dripping with liquid made its features indistinguishable. Apart from a pair of eyes that remained somewhat visible, the mouth and nose seemed completely fused together. The flesh had melted and reformed into something wrong, something that shouldn't exist.
"A real monster?"
The burnt smell in the air intensified, growing thicker with each passing second.
The temperature rose higher. Heat waves distorted the air between them.
A stark contrast to the cold night air that should've dominated this hour.
The distance closed.
Hayato clearly felt that at the same distance as before, the perceived temperature had increased noticeably. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cool breeze.
The burning was accelerating.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle.
The sound of burning fat echoed through the empty street, wet and revolting.
Tap.
Tap.
Hayato's gaze remained locked on the creature. He still showed no sign of panic, his breathing steady.
ROAR!
With a sudden howl, the creature exploded into motion. Its expression twisted savagely, eyes bulging white like boiled eggs. Chunks of flesh split apart, revealing deeper layers of burnt tissue. Its charred body burst forward with speed far exceeding anything before.
Faster. More ferocious. The sudden acceleration sent a jolt through the air.
In the blink of an eye, it closed the gap.
The creature lunged at Hayato, that grotesque grin stretching wider. Its right hand raised high, fingers spread like claws. As if already seeing the scene of Hayato being smashed and burned, sizzling in agony.
WHOOSH.
But its hand met only empty air. The momentum carried it forward, it's stumbling.
The creature froze in confusion once again, its head swiveling left and right.
"Over here!"
It immediately whipped its head around, eyes finding their target.
Hayato had activated [Time Stop].
"So it does have consciousness after all...."
That sudden sprint from seven or eight meters away proved it had been calculating, setting a trap. Luring him into a false sense of security before striking. Anyone else would've fallen for it.
Too bad for this monster, it was facing someone who have timestop superpower.
"Here, let me give you a nice bath! It's too hot for you, right?"
Five hundred milliliters of water, every last drop, poured directly over the creature's head. The liquid caught the streetlight, glittering as it fell.
Once finished, Hayato put significant distance between himself and the target to avoid any backlash. His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline sharp in his veins.
SPLASH.
Time resumed. Flow returned.
BOOM!
The instant time restarted, a deafening roar erupted. White steam exploded outward in all directions, billowing and expanding as if a bomb had gone off.
Hayato felt waves of heat radiating from the expanding cloud. It hit his face like opening an oven door, making him squint and raise his arm protectively.
"Did it work?"
In the distance, Tachibana watched intently, her hands clasped together in prayer.
She didn't understand how Hayato had done it, but changes were definitely occurring in that monster.
The night wind picked up, stronger than before. Cool air rushed in to fill the heated space.
The white mist rapidly dispersed, carried away in wisps and tendrils.
The creature's form became visible again. But its eyes held an expression of... amusement. A twisted mockery.
It wasn't dead. In fact, it seemed barely affected. If anything, it looked more amused than hurt.
"No damage!?"
"The water didn't work!?"
Impossible.
If water wasn't the key item for defeating the creature, then the whole setup with the coin dropped by the monster being used in the vending machine made no sense. The game wouldn't give false clues.
I must be missing something. A crucial detail I'd overlooked.
"Not enough quantity?"
"Did I need two bottles because in this space, Tachibana sensei and I count as participants?"
Hayato immediately twisted open the second bottle of mineral water he'd been carrying. The cap came off with a soft pop.
Hayato activated time stop again and closed in on the creature, heart hammering against his ribs. At one meter distance, Hayato could clearly see the mocking emotion in the creature's gray eyes. The contempt. The confidence.
No.
Something's wrong.
This isn't right.
This monster didn't lose its mind!
The realization hit him like cold water. Hayato pulled back his hand and screwed the cap back on.
Hayato calmed himself and observed the surroundings once more. In the distance by the vending machine, Tachibana showed only anxiety and worry, her face pale in the artificial light. The street remained empty. A few fallen leaves hung frozen in mid-air, suspended impossibly. The streetlights continued releasing white light that pushed back the darkness.
How to properly kill a possessed abnormal entity?
"Have I... actually seen the fire?"
At that moment, understanding finally clicked. Like puzzle pieces snapping into place.
The key wasn't the water itself. It was extinguishing the flame!
"Light in the Dark Night..."
The task name echoed in his mind.
"Ah... The title!"
Hayato needed to find where the light was located.
Hayato immediately grabbed stones from the roadside, rough and heavy in his palms.
CRASH.
CRASH.
Hayato systematically destroyed all four streetlights in the immediate vicinity, front and back. Glass shattered and rained down, tinkling against the pavement.
Sparks flickered and died.
"ROAAAR!"
The instant time resumed, the creature howled. Confusion and rage mixed in the sound.
But then it suddenly noticed the change in ambient lighting. Its movements stilled.
Everything had gone dark. The streetlights were out. Yet the creature itself glowed faintly, radiating a subtle luminescence from within its charred flesh. In this pitch-black night, it stood out like a beacon. A lighthouse of wrong, burning energy.
The fire revealed itself.
"I finally figured out why you deliberately slowed down in sections without streetlights. Why wouldn't you chase us relentlessly, instead of hanging back until we'd moved far away before following?"
"It was for this reason all along."
Hayato looked at it with a knowing smile, triumph flickering in his eyes.
And at that moment, the creature could no longer maintain its composure. The confident expression of certain victory finally crumbled, replaced by something that might've been fear.
When Hayato took a step forward, it instinctively retreated. A jerky, uncertain movement.
"So you do have consciousness after all. In that case... please die now!"
As those words fell, the creature turned and ran. Its movements were panicked, desperate.
But time stopped once again.
Hayato poured water directly onto the creature's burning core. The glowing center of its chest, where the fire truly lived.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Screams erupted. Raw and agonized, echoing off the empty buildings.
From a safe distance, Hayato watched the creature collapse to the ground, writhing and howling in agony. Its body convulsed, the glow flickering and dying like a candle in the wind. He exhaled slowly, tension draining from his shoulders.
"Bye-bye!"
The possessed entity was finally eliminated.