The two ghosts closed in again—
But the fox was no longer looking at them.
Her turquoise eyes gleamed faintly.
Not with fear.
With interest.
A ghost banner refined through mass resentment.
Stable output.
Foundation-level constructs.
Continuous yin supply.
Her lips curved slightly.
"…What a generous delivery."
Her own tools had been damaged during the earlier clash.
Her talismans were expended.
Her concealment plates cracked.
Her reserves strained.
And now—
Someone had walked out and presented her with something this useful.
Her smile deepened.
Through voice transmission alone, calm and razor-sharp:
"Why are you still sitting there?"
A pause.
"The hunt has begun."
Her gaze never left the man standing within the formation.
"He's seventh layer."
Her tone carried quiet confidence.
"That's not even one full realm above you."
A faint pulse of intent passed upward through their connection.
"You can easily deal with him."
The man, unaware of the silent exchange, continued manipulating the banner.
"Struggle all you like," he sneered.
But atop her head—
The lizard's golden eyes had changed.
Still blank.
Still emotionless.
But deeper now.
Focused.
Its ears twitched once.
Twice.
It had already mapped everything.
The formation veins pulsing beneath the earth.
The banner's spiritual tether.
The rhythm of the man's heartbeat.
The fox's breathing.
The shared current feeding the ghosts.
Then—
It moved.
It leapt from her head in a blur.
Midair—
Its body expanded.
Bones lengthened with sharp, fluid cracks.
Muscles condensed and thickened.
Scales reformed in overlapping plates of hardened sheen.
It returned to its true size within a single breath.
And then—
Lightning erupted.
Crackling violently across its entire form.
Not wild.
Not chaotic.
Condensed.
Compressed.
The air screamed under the sudden voltage.
It landed between the charging ghosts with a thunderous impact—
A circular lightning discharge exploded outward from its body.
The shockwave tore through both spirits instantly.
No gradual erosion.
No resistance.
They didn't even have time to reform.
They were obliterated.
The street split under the impact, stone fracturing outward in a jagged ring.
Residual lightning crawled across the ground like living veins.
In the distance—
The banner flickered violently.
The man's eyes widened.
"…Impossible—"
The lizard stood there now in full form.
Larger.
Heavier.
Lightning dancing across its scales in disciplined arcs.
And its aura—
No longer seventh layer.
It was eighth.
Stable.
Dense.
Refined.
Residual electricity continued to crackle along the fractured ground.
Smoke drifted faintly where the two spirits had existed only seconds ago.
The fox watched the fading sparks with visible satisfaction.
"…Perfect."
She folded her arms loosely.
"Lightning against ghosts."
Her turquoise eyes shifted briefly to the lizard.
"A direct counter."
She tilted her head slightly.
"If that had been a purely physical strike, it wouldn't have done much."
Her lips curved faintly.
"But that?"
"Clean."
The lizard stood still, electricity flickering faintly along its scales.
So it worked.
Exactly as calculated.
Lightning disrupted their cohesion at the core.
No regeneration.
No reforming.
Behind the formation—
The man's expression had completely changed.
Eighth layer.
Lightning attribute.
A natural counter to spirit constructs.
And there are two of them.
His thoughts raced.
Fine.
If spirits won't work—
He slammed both hands into a seal.
The formation flared violently.
"All corpses—rise!"
The dried bodies beneath him jerked upright.
Then—
All across the village—
Doors burst open.
Bodies staggered into the streets.
Villagers.
Dozens of them.
Eyes black.
Movements stiff and unnatural.
They began charging.
Not toward the fox—
Toward the lizard.
The ground trembled under the uneven stampede.
The fox did not intervene.
She simply stepped aside calmly.
"Careful," she said lightly.
"Don't destroy what we might reuse."
The lizard's ears twitched rapidly.
Footsteps.
Bone friction.
Cloth tearing.
Wind displacement.
It perceived everything.
Through sound.
Through vibration.
Through subtle shifts in air pressure.
The charging corpses filled its perception like glowing outlines in darkness.
Its maw began to glow faintly blue.
Heat condensed within.
Not lightning.
Something deeper.
The man's eyes narrowed.
"What now—"
The lizard opened its mouth.
A wave of blue flames erupted outward.
Not wild fire.
Not explosive.
A controlled, sweeping arc.
The flames rolled forward like a tide.
They did not burn wood.
They did not scorch stone.
They did not consume air.
They engulfed only the corpses.
Blue fire passed through them—
And instantly ignited the yin residue saturating their dried flesh.
One by one—
They collapsed.
Burned clean, leaving nothing behind but faint drifting ash that dissolved into the night.
The wave continued outward—
Sweeping the street clear.
In seconds—
Silence.
Again.
The formation flickered violently.
The man stumbled back half a step.
"…Corpse-burning flame…"
His voice tightened.
Lightning to erase ghosts.
Flame to purge yin-infused corpses.
This was not coincidence.
This was calculated suppression.
The lizard closed its maw slowly.
Blue embers faded between its teeth.
The last corpse collapsed fully, its yin energy completely incinerated along with the body itself.
Silence returned to the ruined village.
But this time—
It was clean silence.
No lingering resentment.
No spiritual residue clinging to the air.
The lizard remained standing in the center of the street, lightning faintly flickering along its scales before gradually settling.
Within its mind, it observed the aftermath calmly.
The lightning discharge earlier—
Precise.
Contained.
No unnecessary spread.
The blue flames—
Directed.
Selective.
They burned only what it intended to burn.
It paused.
So it seems…
Its control has improved.
When it was weaker, its abilities had felt heavy.
Wild.
Like forcing power through a narrow channel that could barely contain it.
Now—
The energy responded instantly.
Smoothly.
The stronger it became…
The easier it was to control.
Not because the power diminished—
But because its body could finally withstand it.
Shape it.
Refine it.
Its ears twitched once more, mapping the battlefield again.
No residual ghosts.
No moving corpses.
Only one heartbeat left ahead.
Elevated.
Unsteady.
The man near the formation.
The fox watched the lizard quietly for a moment.
Then she smiled faintly.
Her gaze shifted to the man.
"…You're running out of options."
Her voice was calm.
Almost conversational.
"Do you have anything else worth taking?"
The man's breathing had changed.
The night no longer belonged to him.
The formation beneath his feet flickered weakly.
And for the first time—
He understood.
He was no longer the one in control of this battlefield.