Strictly speaking, the “Spirit” in the Head-Pressing Spirit’s name referred to a divine rank, so she could be considered a magical beast with the caliber of a demigod.
That was why she could affect her surroundings with nothing but the influence of her existence, as she was doing now.
‘The Great Sage Equaling Heaven may not have come here just to see me.’
Why a magical beast of this level was in the Academy’s school grounds was something I could not know at the moment, and it was not important right now.
“Hmm! Can you not hear me?!”
It was a bizarre voice with ages mixed together. The Head-Pressing Spirit was ready to tear me apart at any moment, yet she treated me familiarly.
‘She’s a little different.’
The Head-Pressing Spirit had a violent nature and was said to crush people’s heads with monstrous strength, so I had inwardly expected her to be burly.
However, the Head-Pressing Spirit I actually faced was closer to the image of a beautiful woman, aside from her disheveled hair and crimson eyes.
That made the situation even more chilling. I quietly looked at the Golden Headband.
‘His tastes are very clear.’
On one hand, I understood why the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, who had been quiet until now, was reacting so much.
Because the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was originally famous for beating beings like magical beasts to death on the spot when he saw them.
“Phew......”
In any case, an encounter between a Hero and a magical beast inevitably had death as its premise. Who that death would be directed toward would soon be decided.
Honestly, as someone who had only just entered the world of Heroes, catching the Head-Pressing Spirit was an impossible realm.
‘It’s worth trying.’
But that was only if I were alone. Right now, I was not alone.
On one side, I had the Thunderbird, called the Spirit God of Lightning, and on the other, I had the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the troublemaker of the celestial realm.
With those two at my back, I crossed my arms and looked at the Head-Pressing Spirit.
‘She doesn’t know how to stay still.’
I had to learn about my opponent one thing at a time. First, I confirmed that the Head-Pressing Spirit had emotional instability.
“How should I eat you? No, first I need to decide whether I should crush you to death or tear you apart. Sorry, it’s been so long-!”
She cracked the joints of her fingers without pause, and since that cracking spread throughout her entire body, there was no way it was not emotional instability.
‘Why does she keep talking about eating? She should say that kind of thing in her head.’
I spoke in a candid tone.
“There’s nowhere to run.”
“Hm......? You can’t run anyway!”
“No, I mean you. You.”
I entered the psychological warfare that was an extension of real combat. My purpose was provocation, but both of the Head-Pressing Spirit’s cheeks flushed red.
“Heh heh heh! What will you taste like?”
The Head-Pressing Spirit’s shoulder twitched, and then a twisted sound of tearing air burst out with enough force to warp the entire cave.
“......!”
Why was it that Teacher Kwon’s lesson came to mind in that instant? The lesson that humans had difficulty reacting to things they had never experienced.
‘Does that even make sense?’
Where was I supposed to experience the sight of someone compressing the air in the atmosphere with absurd brute strength and forming it into a translucent sphere?
WHOOOOSH!
Moreover, the fact that she could throw that sphere was truly astonishing.
‘Where would be best?’
I was quick to choose. With my current movement, there was no way to dodge that sphere.
So with the Heavenly Hound’s eyes, I quickly searched for a soft wall.
‘Hm? They’re all the same?’
Unfortunately, there was no wall that stood out. It was a very evenly made cave.
Tap!
The method I chose was to push back against the ground in order to reduce the impact, even if only a little.
Even then, the Head-Pressing Spirit spoke cheerfully.
“See you later!”
KABOOOM!
***
With this, I came to understand a little of a mole’s life. Still, I was certain even an esteemed mole would have trouble digging a cave with its back.
‘I’m dying here, seriously.’
My whole body felt as if it had been put through the wash over and over, but since things had turned out this way, I had bought a little time.
“Is this why they say bad things follow good things?”
Of course, in this case, it was more that good things had followed a bad thing.
I rose while pushing away the pile of stones covering me like a blanket.
“She said see you later, so she must want to play tag.”
Fortunately, I knew a thing or two about tag. I examined the stone walls pierced through here and there, as well as the paths on my left and right.
‘This is unfavorable.’
This place was no different from the Head-Pressing Spirit’s palm, so the fact that she had blasted me away in the first place also revealed her confidence.
A certain memory suddenly came to mind.
“What a coincidence. Right?”
It was the memory that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, too, had once been toyed with in the palm of the Tathagata.
“Where could she be?”
However, even while knowing that, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had done his best and resisted to the end.
‘I’m sick of being toyed with.’
I had lived my whole life in lies, and in a staged life.
From now on, like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, I resolved that I would no longer be toyed with.
“I’ve received a lesson.”
For some reason, right as I gathered my resolve, the memory also came to mind that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven ultimately lost and was trapped beneath the Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years.
“......”
At times like this, one had to think, “That won’t happen to me,” in order to move.
“That won’t happen to me.”
***
I barely arrived at the place where I had first met the Head-Pressing Spirit, but it had turned desolate.
‘This won’t be easy.’
The moment I entered the cave itself, the flow of demonic energy became jumbled, so it was difficult to use it as a signpost.
VMMMM!
Suddenly, as if the Great Sage Equaling Heaven were glaring, the Golden Headband began leading me in search of the Head-Pressing Spirit.
One of my arms stretched all the way out, but this was not an incomprehensible phenomenon. After all, the Golden Headband was a divine artifact that guided one along the right path.
I took the Golden Headband’s guidance as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s lesson and searched for the Head-Pressing Spirit.
‘Is that my spot?’
At the place I arrived while chasing the Head-Pressing Spirit, there was an altar just right for one person to lie on. In front of it, the Head-Pressing Spirit was decorating as if she were decorating a diary.
She was so serious about decorating that she had not even noticed I was within arm’s reach.
“Stay still for just one second.”
The Head-Pressing Spirit was startled, but even that reaction was close to a prank.
‘I walked carefully for nothing.’
Judging by her reaction, it seemed she had known and simply ignored me.
“You should’ve waited a little. I was just about to go find you. Hee hee!”
“No thanks.”
“But that bracelet from earlier is......?”
For the first time, the Head-Pressing Spirit’s movements stopped. Her gaze was fixed on the Golden Headband.
After thinking only of eating me the entire time, she seemed to have finally noticed it.
“......Ugh.”
The Head-Pressing Spirit’s eyes opened so wide it was bizarre. That image would definitely appear in my dreams.
Even so, I thoroughly hid what was inside me and played dumb.
“Ah, it’s my friend’s. My friend’s. He’s on vacation.”
I was only playing dumb; I had not lied. After all, it was an undeniable fact that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven himself had asked to be friends.
The Head-Pressing Spirit spoke in a tone that seemed to say she did not trust me at all.
“......The Stablemaster became friends with a human who is not Tripitaka?”
“......Huh?”
Not only the Head-Pressing Spirit, but I was surprised too.
‘Is she insane? No, she is insane.’
It was not that I was being rash.
Because the title Stablemaster that the Head-Pressing Spirit mentioned was, contrary to its grand name, merely a horse handler.
It had been no different from the catalyst that made that Great Sage Equaling Heaven overturn the celestial realm.
I secretly glanced at the Golden Headband. The Head-Pressing Spirit did not know, but I knew this was the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.
‘People may not change, but monkeys do.’
It seemed he truly had settled his past. Even though the catalyst had been detonated, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven......
An indescribable light source emerged from the Golden Headband.
“......Again?”
Because it resembled the pure white space the Thunderbird had created, I was not greatly flustered.
‘The feeling is different.’
Unlike with the Thunderbird, there was a quiet pavilion, and there, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had his pipe in his mouth and his back turned to me.
“......Will you try?”
Because I had been thinking of him as a monkey until just before, I felt somewhat embarrassed, but I did not show it.
“To be honest, I think it’ll be hard in my current state.”
The atmosphere felt as if he was asking whether I could kill her, so I answered honestly.
Then, because I was truly curious, I asked.
“But why don’t you do it yourself?”
“I said it was a vacation, did I not......!”
The number of times the Great Sage Equaling Heaven drew from his pipe increased sharply.
‘......He’s angry.’
At some point, thick smoke had formed like fog within the space.
Surely, if this were the Great Sage Equaling Heaven I had heard of, he would have beaten the Head-Pressing Spirit to death right here.
Afterward, he would have chased her all the way to hell, beaten her to death one more time, and then beaten the god who governed the underworld on his way back.
“If you were to...... what would you need to do it?”
I formed a faint smile.
“I’d need something new. To give an example, maybe a red Authority.”
“Hah hah hah! You resemble Tripitaka even more.”
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven soon sprang to his feet as if making a decision and turned to look at me.
“It could be called the Authority of my elder brother’s son. In other words, my nephew.”
I stared blankly at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, pretending to be surprised.
‘It was real?’
In truth, I had kept it in mind all along. But could he pass down something even if it was not his?
“I will watch.”
However, before I could ask, the space of light filled with smoke warped and returned to the cave in an instant.
Still, it should at least be only moderately disorienting. What was I supposed to do with things going this way and that?
“......Hmm.”
To my disoriented self, the Head-Pressing Spirit came to greet me with eyes glittering like a chameleon’s.
“Why are you spacing out?! I asked you a question!”
It seemed the time spent hovering in that place converged almost to zero in reality.
There was clearly no change on the surface, but one thing had changed for me.
‘She’s a little gentler now.’
After seeing the angry Great Sage Equaling Heaven, looking at the Head-Pressing Spirit reduced the burden.
‘Let’s give it a try.’
Riding the momentum, I resolved to activate the special ability.
The moment I held that will, a terrifying pain struck me, as if my soul were being split in two.
“Urgh......”
At the unimaginable pain, a groan burst out on its own.
‘Did my mana split?’
There was no way I would not know what was happening inside my own body. It seemed my unique mana, which had been one, had been forcibly divided.
However, that was not the end.
THOOM! THOOM!
The divided mana gathered in one place again, but instead of mixing, it rubbed against itself.
HISSSSS-!
Because of the mana burning and mutually destroying itself, my body temperature rose rapidly.
‘I didn’t think it’d be this much.’
If I let go of the thread of tension even for a moment, a terrifying pain arose, one that would make me lose consciousness dozens, no, hundreds of times over.
“What the fuck are you trying to do?!”
There was no way the Head-Pressing Spirit would take my circumstances into account, and I had not expected her to.
The Head-Pressing Spirit’s merciless strike toward me carried enough force to crush my body at any moment. Because that force was aimed at my entire body, I instinctively drew a large circle in front of me.
FLARE......!
The crimson flames that appeared at some point followed the motion of my hand and formed a ring of fire.
The ring of fire climbed along the Head-Pressing Spirit’s body as if devouring her.
‘I didn’t do that.’
It was an arrogant flame that seemed to possess a self. It was closer to the desire to burn the world simply erupting through my hand.
In the end, the Head-Pressing Spirit tore off the arm wrapped in Samadhi True Fire and burst into a fit.
“How can someone like you handle Samadhi True Fire?! Why?!”
The final part was an impressive high scream that rose endlessly, so I covered my ears.
I thoroughly hid my own pain.
“Looks like it’s a vacation gift.”
I did not know the Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s intentions either, and I was more curious than she was.
Still, I knew one thing.
‘It’s hard to use for now.’
My current body was not ready to handle Samadhi True Fire. My body was a problem, but the mana consumption was also unprecedented.
As for mana, I could respond with Kubanda’s special ability, but.
‘I don’t even know what gets consumed.’
Strictly speaking, I had not completely grasped Kubanda’s special ability either.
‘So this is why they call someone a celestial maiden.’
It seemed the Thunderbird had kept a situation like this in mind.
Suddenly, a bitter metallic taste spread in my mouth, and red blood surged backward, then fell down my chin.
“This is driving me crazy.”
FLARE!
It seemed blood was a powerful medium for Samadhi True Fire. The flames’ savagery had enough force to turn even my body into ash.
Seeing the Head-Pressing Spirit unable to pull herself together, a hollow laugh escaped me.
‘Ah, if only I were a little more skilled.’
I only felt regret.
At the reality that I could not end it.
Right now, I genuinely did not have the strength to move even the slightest bit.
Suddenly, the feeling I had felt when responding to Teacher Kwon’s magic lit my chest once more.
‘......So that was competitive spirit.’
Because I had never competed or contested with anyone until now, it was an emotion still immature to me.
WHOOOSH!
But the emotion called competitive spirit that had lit my chest began interfering with Samadhi True Fire.
‘This is insane.’
More precisely, it was closer to Samadhi True Fire being affected by my emotions. The flames, swelling beyond control, soon wrapped around my entire body.
It was truly a dreadful fire demon.
When the flames were stealing even my hearing, a voice that had become somewhat familiar cut through in one piece.
“If this punk were skipping class for a date, I was going to let it slide, but what are you doing?”
Instructor Wagner, who was always lighthearted, had never felt so reliable.
“......Instructor?”
But for some reason, the instructor’s ruthless blade was pointed not at the Head-Pressing Spirit, but at my neck.