Pushed away, the ghost clearly felt furious, his face twisted in a grimace of anger. He bared his sharp teeth, and a puff of dark smoke came out of his mouth, making him look even more terrifying than before.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of Ren, striking with such speed that Ren couldn't see his sword. Yet, his reflexes were finely tuned, and his Jujin met every strike and parried it as his instincts reacted.

The power behind each of those slashes was incredible, far beyond human strength. Each cut could easily bring down a whole house. The evidence was clear as the strikes reached the surrounding tombstones and trees, despite the edge of the ghost’s katana never making contact with them.

‘He will overwhelm me!’ Ren realized, and fear tightened its grip on his heart. But inner wisdom came to his aid. ‘That's good! I didn’t come here to win a duel with him. I came to lure him into a trap!’

So he jumped back, clearly retreating, which allowed him to avoid the last couple of slashes. This further fueled the fury portrayed on the Hearteater’s face, making him appear grotesque, as if from a cartoon, designed to terrify the audience.

The black eyes were so wide that they made the samurai appear inhuman. Combined with the grimace of fury, exposed, sharp, gritted teeth, and visible gums, the picture was unsettling. The final detail was the smoke that surrounded this creature.

‘If I saw this at night, I would be terrified,’ Ren realized, a smirk twisting his lips.

In the blink of an eye, as if teleporting, the Hearteater shortened the distance, delivering those heavy, earth-shattering strikes. Ren blocked them, tensing his muscles to endure and not lose the grip on his katana.

The graveyard around them was completely decimated, but the ghost didn't seem to care. His rage was solely focused on bringing down this intruder. He continued to force the intruder back, and then a slight change in his behavior occurred.

Slowly but surely, he began moving to the left, redirecting Ren's retreat in an obvious attempt to cut him off from his friends. Ren wasn't a fool, so he did everything he could to prevent this, turning the situation into an opportunity to escape. He kept in mind that he was on a timer, which would eventually cause him to collapse without strength, spelling certain death.

The clang of heavy blows reverberated in the area as they clashed, using power so incredible that Ren had trouble believing it was real, even as he witnessed the devastation their slashes caused. The speed, the power—it was all unreal as if lifted straight from a superhero movie or animation.

Although time felt sluggish with all the action, the fact that Ren was able to keep up with the Hearteater, avoiding death at his hands, gave him hope that the plan was heading toward success. He even allowed himself a moment of cleverness when he kicked some dirt at the ghost, hoping it would blind him. However, the attempt was foolish, as the creature didn't react at all, continuing its relentless assault of heavy strikes, causing sparks to spray as if the two were cutting metal with grinders.

Ren's understanding of momentum, his body's capabilities, and the patterns the Hearteater seemed to follow soon granted him a brief window of opportunity. He seized it, distancing himself significantly from the ghost, and forcing him to give chase. This, coupled with the new incredible strength, covered a lot of ground between him and his companions and even allowed him a quick glance at what was behind. He noticed the saiin hiding behind a tree and the doctor taking cover behind some tombstones.

His gaze returned just in time to see the Hearteater's grotesque face, twisted by fury to the point where he no longer resembled a human but rather a caricature. The ghost was charging straight at Ren with such speed that catching up was inevitable. There was no other choice but to prepare to defend, so he stopped abruptly, sliding on the paved path overgrown and weathered by time. He had to lower his center of gravity to avoid losing his footing.

The ghost leaped forward to reach him, and Ren brought up his sword, holding it with both hands. He managed to block the blow, but it was so powerful that his legs buckled under the pressure, forcing him to kneel. The impact shattered the plates directly beneath him even further, while others farther away were pushed outward, emerging from the overgrown plants, just as the loud sound of impact shook the area.

The shockwave scattered nearby dust, although there wasn't much, and it also devastated the closest tombstones. Then a kick came flying as the Hearteater twisted his body to attack Ren with his leg, sending him flying. But Ren wasn't allowed to land as the ghost rushed right after him, attacking once again with the katana. The slash was so strong that it pushed him even further. Fortunately, there were trees in his path, and as he slammed into a few of them, breaking all the wood in his way, he slowed down enough to eventually land awkwardly on one leg. With a jump, he managed to avoid the second attack from the ghost, causing his blade to hit the ground. The pressure from the slash cut through all the graves in its path but didn't harm Ren at all, as his body, strengthened by the pill, was incredibly durable.

'He's getting stronger,' Ren realized. 'Is it his fury that's making him more and more powerful? If this continues, he'll overwhelm me!' Taking a moment of rest, he glanced to the side and noticed that the saiin was quite close, her lips already moving, indicating she was working on her chant.

'I need to buy as much time as I can,' he thought, deciding to charge at the Hearteater, who was already planning the same.

They collided in midair, exchanging a single powerful strike that created a shockwave, sending sparks flying upon impact and throwing them both back. It also tore an opening in the canopy above, providing some more light in the area.

Each landed heavily but immediately rushed forward to exchange lighter, quicker blows. There was no whistling sound as their weapons sliced through the air, but the clashing of their blades resembled a blacksmith hammering a piece of iron with the force of an industrial machine.

Although the exchange lasted only two breaths, the sparks thrown around for a brief moment illuminated the vicinity even further, before the two separated. Only to attack again, each seeking different angles to reach the other. The Hearteater's fury at his inability to kill the intruder grew, making him stronger but also simpler and easier to predict. Ren focused on defense, feeling the painful aftermath of each blocked attack in his bones.

‘My hands are going to shatter if this continues!’ Ren realized. He attempted to redirect the ghost by moving to the side, but the relentless assault continued. Then, it all rapidly stopped as the creature decided to switch his target.

"No!" Ren shouted, realizing that the Hearteater had turned toward Reiko.

The ghost charged at her, but Ren was able to keep up and struck his exposed back. Although the blade hit him, it didn't cut through, only sending this caricature of a human being crashing to the ground as if struck with a hammer, not a sword.

He then jumped over the ghost, positioning himself between the Hearteater and the shinshoku. The spirit didn't need much time to get back up. He rolled to the side, landing on all fours, and like a wild beast, he immediately leaped forward. The seemingly lost weapon reappeared in his hand as he landed heavily right in front of the young warrior, dragging his katana down.

Ren blocked this attack, but it was even stronger than any previous one, driving him to the ground and forcing him onto one knee to withstand the pressure. Fortunately, the Jujin, despite the shattering impact, withstood it without any issue.

As the Hearteater's weapon raised to deliver an even more devastating blow, Ren rammed into him with his shoulder, shoving him away and sending him tumbling due to the ridiculous power granted to him by the pill.

The ghost slammed into a few tombstones on his way, shattering them completely, but just a second later, came charging once again. Fortunately, this time he didn't focus on strength. Instead, he attacked with multiple lighter strikes, which were so simple that Ren was able to block them all, spraying more sparks around. However, the initially favorable turn of events spiraled into a bad situation in the blink of an eye as the pace of the strikes increased, and Ren found himself unable to keep up. A few strikes reached him, cutting and scratching his flesh. While these were minor injuries, they were enough to draw blood and spray it all around.

Then, when the situation seemed to be turning dire, a massive portion of the Hearteater's power vanished.

‘The chant! It worked,’ Ren immediately thought, deciding to attack back. Although he couldn't cut through the creature, he was able to hit it several times just as the saiin began coming forward, chanting different words.

The Hearteater reacted to them, gritting his teeth loudly and even producing short screeches as he tried to cover his ears, which looked quite weird as he was still holding a weapon in one hand. Both the shinshoku and the young warrior were now on the offensive and wouldn't let him block their combined attacks.

Understanding the situation perfectly, Ren began positioning himself to force the ghost to retreat toward the circle with seals. The creature didn't seem to pay it any mind, too preoccupied with both the physical attacks and the mental assault of the words spoken by Reiko.

Even the doctor emerged from his hiding spot, observing the situation with his mouth wide open.

Soon, the Hearteater was pushed far enough to pass by the first red seals, and just a moment later, he crossed the line drawn by salt, entering the barrier. This prompted Ren to stop and even jump back. He didn't drop his guard, remaining positioned between the ghost and the saiin, but didn't attack. The Hearteater clearly took it as an opportunity to strike, but his blade met an invisible obstacle before it was able to reach Ren's Jujin, already positioned perfectly to deflect, despite the distance between the two, which seemingly was enough for the strike to be futile anyway.

The chant of the saiin changed once again. Meanwhile, the Hearteater seemed to grasp the situation he found himself in, and his fury only escalated further. He kept attacking the barrier, swinging with such power that Ren felt relieved that he didn't have to defend against those attacks. Despite all this might, nothing was able to pass outside the barrier, and inside it, only a little dust was raised, and a few marks ruffled the soil.

The Hearteater screamed, turned into a cloud of dark smoke, only to reappear in his grotesque human form to assault the invisible obstacle surrounding him, but he couldn't break it no matter what he tried, nor could he escape.

It seemed as if the operation succeeded. Just in time since Ren began feeling that the power of the pill started to vanish.

Then the Hearteater's black eyes changed color. They turned crimson, and blood poured out of the sockets, marking his face with clear red.

He wailed with his ear-piercing, high-pitched sound, forcing everybody to cover their ears, only to swing his sword once again. The ridiculous power behind this attack was devastating. In the last second, Ren jumped to the side, grabbing Reiko on the way, avoiding the decimating attack that destroyed everything in a straight line, carving a crevice in the ground ahead of the creature.

The spell confining the Hearteater shattered, and the paper seals immediately burst into flames, soon crumbling into dust.