[Chapter 94: Battle Against the Slender Man]
The buzzing of a cell phone came from the room behind Daniel. He immediately stood, pushed the door open, and walked inside. Amy was holding the vibrating phone, her eyes questioning as she looked at him. Erin lay asleep under a blanket nearby, showing no sign of waking.
Daniel glanced at Amy's phone screen -- it displayed an unknown number. In the movie version of events, everyone had received a video call before their deaths, but since it was 2004, video calls weren't a thing yet. It was just a regular call.
"Answer it," Daniel said quietly.
Amy picked up and switched the call to speakerphone. They heard distant footsteps echoing through the receiver. At first, the steps were faint but gradually grew clearer and closer. Then, from outside the room, they heard the unmistakable sound of someone ascending the stairs -- step by step.
"Follow me," Daniel urged, leading Amy to the doorway as he scanned toward the staircase.
The stairs appeared empty, but the footsteps continued relentlessly. Daniel discreetly activated his Spiritual Perception Technique, yet still saw nothing.
Suddenly, the window shattered, and thick tentacles like twisted branches shot in, snaking rapidly toward Amy.
"Hmph! I've been waiting for you," Daniel snorted, spinning around. With a flick of his wrist, a copper coin sword materialized.
"Split and go!"
The lone copper coin blade exploded into 365 smaller swords hurtling straight at the tentacles.
Pfft! pfft! pfft!
The dense tentacles absorbed the hits with dull thuds. They were unnervingly tough, almost flesh and blood. Some copper coins bounced off, but many pierced the flesh, causing the limbs to writhe wildly, tearing the room's interior apart.
The tentacles lashed with tremendous force, toppling furniture and shattering objects in an instant.
Suddenly, they zeroed in on Daniel, stabbing wildly toward him in a coordinated attack. He clenched his hand, and his consecrated ashwood sword, crackling with deep lightning patterns, appeared. This weapon brimmed with potent energy -- rigid, fierce, unstoppable.
Gripping the thunder-struck ashwood sword, magic surged through Daniel's veins. With a thrust, he impaled a massive tentacle. Though the ashwood blade was blunt compared to a normal steel, it sliced through the tendril easily. Lightning erupted through the wound, and the tentacle visibly withered.
Clatter!
The severed limb fell to the floor. "Haha, worthy of the lightning-struck wood," Daniel laughed, launching into a flurry of strikes with the Sacred Sword Technique.
His sword danced swift, precise. Several more tentacles felt the crackling lightning and withered where struck, breaking apart into segments.
Just as Daniel prepared to press his advantage, a sudden searing pain pierced his mind, as if a needle stabbed directly into his skull. The world around him twisted and distorted.
The window shifted erratically from left to right, making it impossible to fix on its real location. The severed tentacles transformed before his eyes into cats and dogs, playfully racing around the room -- a joyful, peaceful scene.
Daniel's focus blurred; memories of his mission slipped away like sand through his fingers.
Not good.
Swearing under his breath, Daniel quickly formed hand seals and intoned a mantra.
May the guardians of every direction bear witness and restore what is true.
By sacred decree and sanctified seal, let this command be known above and below.
By heaven's order and earth's foundation, let all corruption disperse.
By judgment and mercy together, be cleansed and be at peace.
As he recited the Heart Purification Mantra, his spiritual senses snapped back into clarity. The mental assault dissipated silently. His lost memories returned as the playful animals vanished, reverting to severed limbs once more.
"That was close. I almost fell for your trick," Daniel muttered. He knew the Slender Man wielded mental powers and had come prepared for just this.
At the slightest sign of psychic intrusion, he would use the mantra to clear his mind.
His hand flicked, conjuring a wooden plate marked with an evil suppression seal.
Light rises in the east, thunder and flame held in restraint.
By sealed authority, evil is suppressed; by consecrated steel, ill fortune is cut down.
A strong force radiated outward, making the room tremble slightly. The tentacles, thrashing moments before, suddenly froze in place as if crushed by invisible hands.
Daniel's instinct was to leap out and strike at the main body of the Slender Man, but Amy and Erin were still inside. He couldn't risk their safety.
He bit his finger, smearing fresh blood onto the thunder-struck ashwood sword. Even Amy, an ordinary person, felt the weapon's intense energy pulse.
Daniel grasped the consecrated ashwood sword and plunged it into a larger tentacle.
A sharp scream pierced the night from outside the window.
Until then, the Slender Man had not uttered a sound despite all the damage Daniel inflicted.
But this agonized roar shattered the silence, piercing the darkness.
Moments later, the remaining tentacles shriveled and dropped. The desperate scream faded, signaling the creature's retreat.
...
Daniel tossed some sealing charms on the walls. "Stay put. Don't move anywhere."
Then he jumped out the window. Though it was the second floor, his magic shield softened the fall, landing him gracefully. He scanned upward and darted after the shadow into the night.
After a short pursuit, he stopped.
Scattered copper coins littered the ground where he stood -- the coins that had struck the tentacles earlier when his Sovereign Yearblade split. Many had fallen inside as tentacles weakened and detached; only a few had pierced deeply and were taken along by the Slender Man.
Daniel had deliberately left some coins behind, planning to use their sensation to trace the Slender Man's body. But the creature had forced all the coins out as it escaped, ruining his strategy.
"Return!"
Daniel gathered the coins and returned to Bane's house.
...
Inside, Amy and Erin huddled at the head of the bed, their faces pale and terrified. Erin had awoken, trembling with fear.
Relieved at Daniel's return, they visibly relaxed.
Amy asked quickly, "Mr. Cross, what about the Slender Man?"
Daniel shook his head. "It got away."
He looked at Erin. "What's wrong with her?"
Amy explained, "She said in her dream she saw me almost get killed by the Slender Man. It felt so real -- but because you showed up, I survived."
Daniel nodded. In the movie, the protagonist's younger sister witnessed the ordeal in her dream. Now Erin was experiencing the same -- except Amy had been spared thanks to Daniel.
Erin, previously not very scared, now carried a delayed terror. "Uncle Daniel, am I going to die soon?"
Daniel softened his voice, offering comfort. "Don't worry, as long as I'm here, you're safe."
Hearing that the Slender Man had fled, Bane and his wife rushed over. After questioning, they learned Daniel had injured the creature and forced it to retreat, which greatly boosted their confidence in him.
Bane asked anxiously, "Now that it's gone, what do we do? Will it come back?"
Daniel replied, "Not likely anytime soon."
"What should we do then?" Bane pressed, clearly worried. "Can you find it?"
*****
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