"Quite interesting."
Looking at this blood-written message brimming with provocation, Ye Xing smiled.
"A declaration of war from a psychic? The enemy seems quite arrogant."
"Arrogant, certainly, but..."
A hint of haughtiness flashed in Light Yagami's eyes as he shifted his tone.
"Also quite foolish."
"Leaving such a message not only exposes their identity as a psychic but will also draw attention from Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department. Though publicly declared as sudden accidental deaths, internally the police have likely already combined these cases into a serial murder investigation."
"And there's one more crucial point."
Light Yagami's slender fingers gently tapped the table as he spoke slowly.
"Considering the fire in Kyoto last time, the enemy doesn't know our true identities. Perhaps due to foolish arrogance, or perhaps they simply lack the ability to analyse intelligence through various clues as we do. Simply put, they're quite stupid."
Ye Xing showed no surprise upon hearing this, merely nodding.
"That's only natural."
Just look at the lineup of Supernatural Society members.
Setting aside their Soul Materialisation abilities and any special powers, the members were exceptionally capable individuals even before awakening their spiritual power.
Take Miko Yotsuya, with her strong psychological resilience; Rio Futaba, with her outstanding intelligence analysis skills and sharp intuition; and the heavyweight figure, Light Yagami, who has been matching wits with the world's number one detective, L, for so long without being caught.
Moreover, present-day Kyoto isn't a place where one can casually gather intelligence.
Want to obtain information from the Metropolitan Police Department? Soichiro Yagami is one of us.
Want to conduct street inquiries? Whether this method would work is questionable, but it would undoubtedly attract the attention of Natsumi Suga, a professional media person who collects rumours daily.
The only vulnerability lies with Oda Noto and Godmother Granny. As Kyoto's most famous exorcists, they receive many commissions daily. Anyone with spiritual power who understands the truth of this world would definitely notice something amiss.
But as the saying goes...
Pure delivery.
At the very least, within Kyoto, no one can connect the Mask appearing on television to Ye Xing, the outstanding student from Sobu High School, without exposing their own whereabouts.
And the consequence of exposing one's whereabouts...
Tasuke Tamura has already demonstrated that.
Kyoto's grand stage - come if you dare.
Did you think it would be easy to operate in a city where evil spirits are becoming an endangered species?
"So, what do you want to do?"
"What do I want to do?"
Light Yagami let a slight smile cross his face, his eyes sparkling with pleasure and excitement.
"Of course, to fully enjoy the pleasure of tracking down that guy and ultimately delivering justice. Moreover, now that psychics not from our faction have appeared - two of them within just half a month, both committing such attention-grabbing crimes - it can't be a coincidence. During the investigation process, I can gather more intelligence, too."
Ye Xing responded noncommittally.
"Having to face pursuit from Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, evil spirits in the Reverse World, and now adding an unidentified psychic to the mix - you really aren't afraid of death."
"Heh, it doesn't matter. Mere petty villains."
"You really know how to put on airs. In terms of pretentiousness, I've never met a more powerful opponent than you. I, Kyoto's number one playboy, declare you the strongest."
Here, Ye Xing changed his tone.
"But with your capabilities, if the situation becomes unexpected, you'll probably struggle to cope. Accidents could easily occur."
As soon as he finished speaking, a tall figure wearing a white dress and sunhat suddenly phased through the wall, accompanied by that classic line.
"Boss, I have an idea..."
"Don't say it."
Ye Xing directly interrupted Hachishaku-sama's words, speaking with great seriousness.
"This idea really shouldn't be entertained."
After speaking, Ye Xing looked towards Light Yagami sitting opposite him and said with a smile.
"Well... how about this, I'll send a member to assist you. This way, the chances of resolving the incident will be greater."
"Thank you for your kindness, but I refuse."
Light Yagami waved his hand, speaking in a calm tone.
"I don't want to cooperate with anyone besides you. Even those psychics around you are no exception - they would only hinder me."
Ye Xing curled his lip, saying speechlessly.
"Are you mad? How could I possibly send someone close to me to help you? You're thinking rather wishfully."
"Then...?"
"Come on, you'll know when you see."
...
Twenty minutes later, at that shrine in the Kyoto suburbs.
"Goat-Headed Deity, you've been promoted."
Hearing Ye Xing's words, the Goat-Headed Deity standing before the shrine was so happy that its hooves waved in the air.
Excellent!
Finally made it through!
Recalling all the hardships along the way, if only the Goat-Headed Deity had the function of shedding tears, it would be moved to tears right now.
Had those dangerous days of constantly teetering on the edge of life and death, fighting evil spirits every day, sometimes even clashing with deities, finally come to an end?
From now on, could it just peacefully nest in the shrine and become a shut-in?
"Your new position is..."
Ye Xing pointed at Light Yagami beside him and said to the Goat-Headed Deity with a smile.
"Member of the Supernatural Society's Tokyo branch. From now on, you'll follow his commands."
"Roar?"
The Goat-Headed Deity froze for a moment, emitting a confused sound as it examined Light Yagami standing there.
Light Yagami wore a kind, amiable smile and nodded gently.
"Please take care of me from now on."
He finally understood why Ye Xing had said on the way that the member sent to help him wouldn't cause any obstacles and could provide genuine assistance.
So the so-called member wasn't human at all.
This worked perfectly.
The Goat-Headed Deity, named a deity but actually an evil spirit, also possessed the ability to remain unobservable to ordinary people, leaving no traces for the Metropolitan Police Department to follow. Although its own power wasn't particularly strong, for Light Yagami, it was already quite a useful asset - it could be deployed during battles and could independently search for clues within Tokyo while Light Yagami remained at school, attending classes to avoid exposing his whereabouts.
It was practically the perfect tool.
"Pfft."
The Goat-Headed Deity examined Light Yagami for a while, then shook its large head, emitting what seemed to be a disdainful sound.
"@＆!@!＆@!￥)￥!"
Facing the Goat-Headed Deity's obscure, incomprehensible, strange language, Ye Xing nevertheless seemed to understand its meaning and said with a smile.
"You mean the shrine? Tokyo is full of shrines everywhere; you can just go occupy one. If that really doesn't work, there's an old deity in Tokyo who oversees land - we're acquaintances. You can go stay at his place."
The Goat-Headed Deity examined Light Yagami once more, then chattered away again.
"@(!@*@())!"
"Oh, I see."
Ye Xing turned to look at Light Yagami and said with a light laugh.
"He said with your sorry state, possessing no real capability whatsoever, not even worth a single strand of Lord Ye Xing's hair, how dare you expect a deity like Him to work for you? Keep dreaming your grand delusions; go take a good look at yourself in the mirror, step on a scale, and see exactly how much you're worth. He has His dignity too—how could He possibly submit to a mentally unstable person with questionable sexual orientation..."
"Stop, stop, stop."
Light Yagami wore an expression caught between laughter and tears.
"Are you using translation as an excuse to insult me?"
"Not at all. The wording might not have been that intense, but the general meaning is roughly the same. You get the idea."
"Ah, really now."
Light Yagami shook his head helplessly, took two steps forward, and stood before the Goat-Headed Deity. In front of the other's colossal frame, his own figure seemed rather insignificant, yet the sudden surge of spiritual power emanating from him made the Goat-Headed Deity's heart tremble.
"Release your resentment..."
Light Yagami's brown eyes shifted to a crimson hue. Distorted, viscous, dark-red spiritual power accompanied his increasingly deranged, contorted expression, forming a scarlet Great Tengu Mask and a set of pure white, ornate robes with tassels hanging from the shoulders.
"Emperor Sutoku."
Witnessing this scene, Ye Xing casually found a spot to sit down, looking thoroughly bored.
"Hurry up and finish this. I need to get home."
"Yes, it'll be over soon."
Behind Light Yagami, the illusion of Great Tengu materialised. His usually calm brown eyes had now turned crimson, filled with madness and excitement.
"Go, Emperor Sutoku."
As Light Yagami's words fell, the towering figure of Emperor Sutoku flapped his wings and charged towards the Goat-Headed Deity at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye.
The Goat-Headed Deity wasn't foolish either - it immediately split its mouth open, reverting to that ugly and terrifying form, with the divided mouth segments tearing towards Emperor Sutoku.
Yet the next moment, Light Yagami approached the Goat-Headed Deity's massive form from another angle, whispering.
"Disappear."
As these three words were spoken, Emperor Sutoku, who had been floating mid-air, instantly vanished, causing the Goat-Headed Deity to bite empty air.
"Emperor Sutoku."
Before the Goat-Headed Deity could retract its mouth, Light Yagami had already called out the soul's true name once more, followed by the sound of Emperor Sutoku's sharp claws piercing into the Goat-Headed Deity's body.
"ROAR!!!"
In pain, the Goat-Headed Deity directly swung its massive claw towards Light Yagami standing there.
It knew the weakness of psychics lay in the psychics themselves. Compared to attacking Emperor Sutoku, who could be summoned countless times, attacking the main body - Light Yagami - was clearly the wiser choice.
BAM!
Light Yagami dodged the claw swung by the Goat-Headed Deity, while Emperor Sutoku, positioned on the opponent's body, opened his abyss-like mouth and directly tore into the Goat-Headed Deity's massive form.
"Not bad at all."
Ye Xing sat at the sidelines watching this battle, thinking that Light Yagami truly had remarkable talent.
Although exorcism wasn't his primary occupation, his aptitude for Soul Materialisation was genuinely rare.
After all, Soul Materialisation was the power of one's true inner self. Someone like Light Yagami, who possessed unwavering conviction and never faltered, was naturally powerful.
In fact, the trigger for his awakening of Soul Materialisation ability, like Ye Xing, occurred immediately after fulfilling the condition of observing evil spirits.
This indicated that Light Yagami had always known what his true self was like. Even while constantly maintaining a facade, he remained fully aware of and accepted his genuine nature.
Thinking Tokyo only had Kira, so they took the initiative to invade?
The enemy was truly foolish to the point of not knowing what was good for them.
...
Two minutes later.
"You've lost."
Emperor Sutoku's sharp claws hovered above the Goat-Headed Deity's neck, accompanied by Light Yagami's emotionless tone.
The Goat-Headed Deity at this moment was on the verge of tears.
Who could understand - where did this monster come from?
Light Yagami's strength wasn't exactly overwhelming, but if the Goat-Headed Deity hadn't been caught off guard at the battle's start by his ability to complete the dismissal and re-summoning of his soul's true form within a single second, thus losing the initiative, it wouldn't have been defeated so quickly.
The key point was that in battle, Light Yagami displayed a fanaticism completely devoid of fear, like that of a devout believer, which was precisely what terrified the Goat-Headed Deity most.
In its entire existence, it had only encountered three people who showed absolutely no fear when facing it, a being known as a deity.
One was Ye Xing, one was Miko Yotsuya, and the last was Light Yagami before it now.
Miko Yotsuya simply wasn't afraid, or at the very least, didn't appear to be.
But these two - Ye Xing and Light Yagami - were practically insane, pure and simple mental cases!
The Goat-Headed Deity couldn't take it anymore.
It didn't dare continue fighting, fearing that if the battle went on, Light Yagami might get carried away and, forgetting any contracts, simply have Emperor Sutoku tear it apart with his bare hands.
"!@*#&!(())!"
Hearing the Goat-Headed Deity's obscure, incomprehensible language, Light Yagami looked towards Ye Xing, sitting not far away.
"What did it say?"
Ye Xing smiled and, under the Goat-Headed Deity's miserable expression, uttered one sentence.
"It said, hitting so lightly, haven't you eaten? This won't do, Light."
...
An hour later, when Ye Xing took out his keys to open his front door, before he could even step inside, he heard footsteps and Haruno's cheerful greeting.
"You're back? Come on in and change your shoes."
Ye Xing shook his head and laughed.
"What's all this? Some kind of devoted wife cosplay? You can't compete with Mai Sakurajima in that field."
"Can't you say something nice?"
"Alright then, I'll feed you some milk."
"Drink... what milk... you... stop talking nonsense..."
Haruno Yukinoshita was acting out of character. Faced with Ye Xing's sudden dirty joke, her pretty face actually flushed red, showing some fluster.
The reason for her reaction was Yukino Yukinoshita, who was sitting on the sofa with a completely calm expression.
In front of her younger sister, Haruno Yukinoshita still felt somewhat embarrassed.
Seeing Ye Xing return home, Yukino hesitated for a moment before finally standing up, walking over to Ye Xing, and giving a slight nod.
"You're back?"
Being welcomed home by both Yukinoshita sisters - such a scene was truly wonderful.
"I asked Yukino over today because there's something important to discuss."
Haruno pulled Ye Xing over to sit on the sofa, pursed her lips slightly, then looked at Yukino Yukinoshita and slowly began.
"Yukino, when mother visited Kyoto last time, she told me... she wants Ye Xing to become the manager of the Yukinoshita company after he advances to higher education... what... are your thoughts about this?"
Hearing this, Yukino first froze for a moment, then slightly furrowed her brows as if somewhat disbelieving.
"This... having Ye Xing become the manager of Yukinoshita company? Did mother really say that? Is it like father... marrying into our family?"
"No."
Haruno shook her head.
"There are no special conditions. If I had to say, it would just be marrying me."
"Mar...riage?"
Yukino Yukinoshita softly repeated, suddenly feeling as if her heart had been gripped tightly. After taking several deep breaths, she finally spoke slowly.
"Then... what about Touma and the others?"
"That's nothing to worry about."
Haruno Yukinoshita smiled and waved her hand dismissively.
"Although Mother cannot accept it, if you're asking my opinion... I actually don't care about these matters. Dealing with this guy alone would indeed be somewhat difficult - I don't want to die young."
The Harem God detected the slightly peculiar atmosphere in the room. Passive skill: Natural Enemy of Love Triangles had been triggered.
While Yukino appeared to be asking on Kazusa Touma's behalf, Haruno, as her elder sister, could see through it at a glance - Yukino's clearly abnormal reaction upon hearing this news.
And when Haruno said she didn't mind, it wasn't that she didn't care about Kazusa Touma, Mai Sakurajima, or Futaba; rather, she was speaking for Yukino's benefit.
"If Elder Sister has no objections... then of course I won't object either."
Yukino Yukinoshita regained her composure, raising her hand to brush aside the black hair near her ear, maintaining her usual aloof demeanour as she spoke softly.
"The success of Yukinoshita Corporation has nothing to do with me - it's all the result of your and Mother's efforts. I have no right to express opinions on this matter. Since both of you agree, then I agree as well."
Hearing this, Haruno Yukinoshita's smile gradually faded as she looked directly into Yukino's eyes and said meaningfully.
"I wasn't asking about company matters. Is this really alright?"
Yukino Yukinoshita lowered her head, avoiding her sister's gaze, placing her hands on her knees and unconsciously clenching them. After remaining silent for a long while, she finally replied in a low voice.
"I... I don't understand what you're talking about."
With that, Yukino Yukinoshita stood up and said calmly.
"I'm rather tired. Tomorrow is still the school festival, so I'll head home to rest first."
Watching Yukino's retreating back as she walked straight out the door, Haruno Yukinoshita shook her head and sighed softly.
"What an dishonest girl."
Saying this, Haruno leaned against Ye Xing's shoulder and said with a teasing smile.
"Harem God, you need to work harder. Don't let it remain just at the sister-in-law relationship. Although Yukino has a difficult personality, she's quite lovely. It would be unfortunate if some other boy snatched her away."
"That's impossible."
Seeing Ye Xing's confident expression, Haruno Yukinoshita asked curiously.
"You're that confident?"
"Heh."
Ye Xing chuckled and gave Haruno a reason she couldn't possibly refute.
"Yukino doesn't even know any other boys."