Chapter 26

Skin like the bark of a dead tree, a body emaciated to the bone.

This was the state of Aries' body, looking like someone who had been malnourished for a long time.

However—

Aries had a striking physical feature.

His mouth was very large, and when pursed, the seam of his lips almost spanned the entire width of his face.

Now,

accompanied by the effects of his psychic power, Aries' large mouth began to gradually shrink.

"Anorexic Appetite"

This was Aries' exorcism ability.

He had to "eat" in order to transfer the "thoughts" that needed to be removed from the target to himself.

In this process, each "bite" he took was of a fixed size, which was why his mouth was shrinking.

Additionally—

the process of "consuming" thoughts was as torturous for him as eating was for a severe anorexic. Each bite was a torment.

Moreover, after consuming the thoughts, he had to face the issue of "digestion."

If he couldn't completely digest the thoughts he had consumed, the threat they posed would be transferred to him.

This was exorcism.

Risky and arduous.

Therefore, the number of exorcists was scarce, not just because of talent, but also because of the difficulty of the exorcism work.

If given a choice, would one rather be a powerful combat-type psychic ability user or an exorcist who leans towards support?

Most people would likely choose the former.

A moment later.

Aries' psychic power stopped surging, and his open mouth had shrunk to the size of a ping-pong ball.

Seeing this, Moyu, Hawk, and Kido each had different expressions.

Aries slowly looked at Hawk, not speaking, but conveying his meaning through his eyes.

Hawk understood and said nothing, walking to the edge of the release pond under everyone's gaze.

Seeing Hawk approach the release pond, Moyu's pupils constricted slightly.

After hearing Kido's account and understanding the situation, he had subtly touched Hawk's body but felt no presence of "post-death thoughts."

He found it strange at first, but now it seemed—

Hawk must have used some method to seal the "cost" and the "post-death object" at the bottom of the release pond.

Facing everyone's gazes, Hawk subconsciously clenched his fists.

Life or death, it all came down to this.

He adjusted his breathing and then used his ability to bring out "Ratkin" from the sealed location.

Whoosh!

A strong wind suddenly arose, causing ripples on the surface of the release pond.

In mid-air, a small black dot shimmering with the luster of psychic power appeared out of nowhere.

Everyone immediately looked at the small black dot and saw it instantly expand to the size of a millstone, resembling a bottomless black circular opening.

In the middle of the opening, a vertical, three-dimensional symbol glowing with green light slowly appeared.

"That's Hawk's psychic beast ability..."

Moyu observed the black opening with the suspended vertical symbol.

The psychic beast system could be considered the most complex and difficult type of psychic ability to master.

One had to first use "aura" as a base to materialize various forms of "pseudo-life forms," and then grant these "pseudo-life forms" abilities.

Hawk's psychic beast ability leaned towards the spatial type.

This reminded Moyu of Nobu's "Fourth Dimensional Apartment" ability in the original story.

"Ratkin."

Hawk called out to the opening.

The vertical symbol in the black opening suddenly emitted a bright green light.

Then, a round figure emerged from the light, which was Hawk's psychic beast, "Ratkin."

It leaped out of the black hole and landed directly beside Hawk.

Hawk squatted down, petted Ratkin's head, and then looked at its tail, which displayed an expression made of "aura."

Half a month ago, it was an angry face, but now it had changed to a listless and weary expression.

"Ratkin, release it... Hmm?"

Just as Hawk was about to command Ratkin to release the "cost power," a massive wave of psychic power suddenly surged from the black opening hovering over the release pond.

Black, flowing strands of resentment squeezed out of the opening, resembling vines with their fangs bared.

If one looked closely, they would see a "scale" standing at an angle deep within these flowing strands of resentment.

An extreme and terrifying malice was continuously emanating from this "scale."

The aura it condensed seemed to materialize into dense black threads, raining down on the shoulders of everyone present like a torrential downpour.

Moyu and Kido's faces changed, and they almost simultaneously released their maximum psychic power to cover their bodies.

Aries, who was already prepared for exorcism, only stared wide-eyed at the post-death thoughts trying to force their way out of the black opening, his withered face showing uncontrollable fear.

"Ratkin!!!"

Hawk suddenly stood up, his eyes trembling.

Ratkin, standing beside him, abruptly looked at the black opening suspended in mid-air.

The green symbol that had been inside the opening instantly turned red.

"Prohibited Entry"

The black resentment that seemed to be surging out like a flood was suddenly pulled into the depths of the black hole by an irresistible force.

The oppressive aura in the area also vanished into thin air.

"Snap!"

Ratkin made a sound, and the suspended black opening turned into a black dot and disappeared.

After closing the passage, Ratkin sat on the ground, and the expression on its tail became even more listless and weak.

"The aura... it's different from before. Could it be... a growth type?!"

Kido's forehead was covered in cold sweat, clearly shaken by the post-death thoughts.

As a psychic ability user, she had some resistance.

But what she was concerned about was the threat these post-death thoughts posed to ordinary people.

If these post-death thoughts were allowed to spread,

it would likely—

cause all ordinary people who didn't understand psychic power to wither and turn to ash under the aura of resentment.

This was already a "disaster"-level existence!

Moyu was also in a state of shock and doubt.

Compared to the resentment he had seen that night, this was on a completely different level!

Or rather, the resentment he had seen that night was just a small part of it.

Could the exorcism ability granted by perception really remove this post-death thought unconditionally?

After personally experiencing the aura condensed by the resentment, Moyu had his doubts.

He couldn't even be sure what would happen if he touched the post-death thought.

"Post-death thoughts of this magnitude... I can't swallow them, and even if I could, I definitely couldn't digest them!!!"

Aries' zombie-like face showed a rich array of expressions, mostly fear.

Hawk, still shaken, took a deep breath.

"Mr. Aries, you've chosen the wrong 'target.'"

At this point, he pointed to the spherical expression on Ratkin's tail, made of "aura," and said in a serious tone, "That is your target for removal."

"Huh?!"

Aries' expression froze.

--------

In the distance, on a mountain road.

Several cars were speeding along the road.

"Huh?"

In one of the cars, Ken, sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly looked in the direction of the temple in the scenic area, his narrow eyes slightly narrowing.

"Unbelievable, truly unbelievable..."