Free Web NovelChapter 64: # v @
Hiro went at the Umbral again.
No ranged bursts this time.
He closed the distance and drove straight into close combat, spiritual energy compressed tightly through his arms instead of released outward.
The force stayed concentrated at the point of impact, turning each strike into raw physical pressure reinforced by spiritual output.
His fist crashed into the Umbral’s chest.
The thing staggered back two full steps.
The floor cracked under its heel.
Hiro followed immediately before it could recover balance.
Second strike.
Same spot.
A deeper impact this time. The dark energy around the Umbral’s torso compressed sharply inward around the hit before swelling back outward again, the body forcing itself back into shape.
Behind Hiro he heard seal lines rising across the room.
Natsume.
This barrier structure sounded different.
Denser.
More layered.
Gold lines spread over the walls in overlapping formations instead of a single enclosure.
Hiro caught glimpses of them between movements.
Six anchor points instead of four, each barrier offset slightly from the next so the next layer was already stabilizing before the previous one failed.
"Get it against the wall," Natsume said.
Hiro drove forward harder.
Third strike.
Fourth.
The Umbral started defending properly now.
One arm raised across its centre line.
The impacts landed against the guard with enough force to shake the corridor walls, but the thing held its footing this time, heels grinding into the tile floor as it absorbed the pressure.
Hiro shifted angle suddenly on the fifth attack and drove his fist underneath the guard directly into its ribs.
The Umbral slammed sideways into the corridor wall hard enough to crater plaster.
The first barrier layer rose around it instantly.
Gold seal lines locked shut.
The Umbral hit the barrier from inside immediately.
The entire structure shook violently.
The anchor points held.
The second layer rose around the first.
Then the third.
Three overlapping containment walls sealed the Umbral inside a compressed section of the corridor.
"Binding seals," Hiro said.
Natsume was already moving.
Her hands cut sharp controlled patterns through the air while seal lines spread beneath her feet. Four precise strokes drove into the floor around the barrier perimeter one after another.
Anchor binding seals.
Designed to force spiritual roots through the barrier itself and into the trapped target from multiple angles simultaneously.
Immobilization from inside the structure instead of outside it.
The first seal sank into place.
Then the second.
Inside the barriers the Umbral stopped attacking.
Stillness.
Its shape settled slowly inside the layered gold light.
Then it turned toward Natsume.
Hiro felt something tighten in his chest immediately.
The Umbral moved.
Both fists drove outward simultaneously.
Straight into two anchor points on the first barrier.
Not random impact.
Precise.
The exact structural weak points.
Both anchor points cracked at once.
The first barrier tilted sharply sideways under the imbalance.
Before Natsume could reinforce it the Umbral hit the weakened section again.
The first layer shattered.
Gold fragments exploded outward across the corridor.
The Umbral stepped directly into the second barrier and attacked the anchor points again immediately.
Same timing.
Same place.
It had understood the barrier structure almost instantly.
"It’s targeting the anchor points."
Natsume’s voice tightened for the first time since the fight began.
She was already redirecting energy into the weakened sections of the second barrier, reinforcing the failing points before the cracks spread further.
"It understands the seals."
Hiro’s expression darkened.
"How old is this thing."
The second barrier cracked.
Two anchor points splintered visibly.
Then movement exploded from the side corridor.
The larger possessed man lunged toward Natsume.
Fast. frёewebnoѵēl.com
Dark energy condensed tightly around both fists as it drove in from her left side.
Natsume caught the movement at the edge of her vision.
One hand stayed locked on the failing barrier structure around the Umbral.
The other snapped outward.
A thin emergency barrier appeared across the possessed man’s path.
Fast construction.
Minimal reinforcement.
The possessed man hit it hard enough to bend the seal wall inward.
Second impact.
The barrier shattered.
At the same moment the Umbral struck the weakened anchor points inside the second layer.
Natsume’s attention split for less than a second.
Enough.
Two anchor points snapped completely.
The second barrier collapsed.
The Umbral stepped directly into the third layer and attacked again immediately.
Straight for the anchors.
Hiro launched himself forward.
His shoulder crashed into the Umbral first.
Then a strike to the chest.
Then the jaw.
Three impacts in rapid succession forced the Umbral’s arms upward to defend instead of attacking the anchor points again.
That bought Natsume four seconds.
She used all four.
Both hands drove reinforcement seals into the third barrier structure at once. The failing anchor points stabilized. The binding seals spreading across the floor around the corridor nearly connected completely.
Movement flashed from Hiro’s right.
The second possessed man.
It lunged low.
Hiro turned and caught it with a direct strike to the shoulder powerful enough to spin the body sideways into the wall.
Dark energy burst from the impact.
The possessed man recovered immediately.
The first one was still driving toward Natsume.
Hiro snapped one hand forward and released a concentrated burst directly into its chest.
The impact staggered the possessed man backward long enough for Natsume to throw up a fresh containment barrier around it.
Gold seal lines locked shut around the body.
Hiro turned back toward the Umbral.
It had already cracked three anchor points on the third barrier by the time he turned back toward it.
Thin fractures spread through the seal structure in uneven gold lines.
Natsume was one stroke away from finishing the binding seals.
One.
The first possessed man exploded through the containment barrier around it before she could place it.
Gold light shattered outward across the corridor.
The possessed man drove straight at her.
Natsume spun immediately and raised a personal shield between them.
The impact slammed into the barrier hard enough to bend the seal surface inward toward her body.
The shield held.
Barely.
But her hand left the third barrier anchor points for two seconds.
That was enough.
The Umbral moved instantly.
Both fists drove into the two weakest anchor points of the third layer at the exact same time.
The cracks spread through the entire structure in one violent pulse.
The barrier collapsed.
Gold seal fragments burst outward and vanished across the corridor walls.
The unfinished binding seals on the floor dimmed immediately.
Unanchored.
Dead.
The Umbral stepped free.
Its head turned toward Natsume at once.
Not Hiro.
Natsume.
Hiro understood why immediately.
She was the one constructing the seals.
The one capable of trapping it.
The greater threat.
The Umbral had recognized that from the start.
It moved toward her.
Hiro stepped between them.
The Umbral’s palm struck his chest.
Everything compressed into that single point of impact.
Dark energy folded inward through the Umbral’s arm and detonated directly against Hiro’s spiritual armour at contact range.
The force punched through him.
Hiro staggered backward three full steps before catching himself against the corridor doorframe.
Pain exploded through the right side of his chest.
Sharp.
Deep.
He had broken ribs before.
This felt the same.
"Let’s pull back," Natsume said immediately.
Hiro pushed himself upright off the frame.
They moved.
Fast.
Through the corridor.
The Umbral came through the doorway behind them instantly, keeping pressure on them without giving even a second to recover distance.
The two possessed men spread outward as they followed.
Coordinated movement.
One to each side of the corridor.
Herding them.
Preventing separation.
The Umbral pressed directly from behind while the possessed men cut off angles from the sides, leaving no space for Natsume to stop and build proper barriers without interruption.
Natsume dropped burst trap seals behind them while running.
Fast strokes across the floor.
Four lines each.
The first possessed man stepped on one.
The seal detonated instantly.
Gold light burst upward from the floor and blasted the body backward into the corridor wall hard enough to crack plaster.
The second possessed man ran through the same detonation and staggered sideways from the impact.
The Umbral walked through both seals. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Nothing happened.
The trap lines dissolved harmlessly against its body before activation.
Hiro felt his stomach tighten.
Three steps behind them now.
Close enough that he could feel the pressure of its dark energy directly against his back.
Natsume hit the stairwell door first.
She shoved through it hard.
Hiro followed immediately behind her into the stairwell.
Cold air.
Concrete walls.
Dim emergency lighting casting pale strips down the stairs.
Hiro turned instinctively toward the lower floors—
—and froze.
The Umbral stood at the bottom of the stairwell.
Looking up at them.
Dark energy rolled upward through the stair shaft in slow cold waves thick enough to distort the air between floors.
Three floors above it and Hiro could still feel the pressure climbing against his spiritual energy.
It had not chased them through the corridor.
It had gone around.
Cut off the exit ahead of them.
Behind them the stairwell door opened again.
The two possessed men stepped through onto the landing.
Above.
The Umbral below started climbing the stairs slowly toward them.
At the same time both possessed men began descending from above.
