The duo shifted apart the moment the possessed man dropped from the ceiling.

He hit the floor badly.

One leg folded too far sideways beneath the body’s weight and the knee cracked hard against the linoleum.

The other foot landed late.

His spine twisted sharply while one shoulder jerked higher than the other.

Then he caught himself and forced the body upright again.

The ghost still did not move like a human.

The man staggered forward with uneven jerking motions.

Left arm hanging too low while the right shoulder sat unnaturally high.

His head snapped toward Hiro.

Dark energy burst outward from him violently.

The pressure rattled the curtain rails hard enough to shake them against the ceiling mounts while a ceiling tile near the far end broke loose and shattered across the floor.

Hiro started walking toward him.

Completely calm.

"Hiro," Natsume said.

"I see it."

The man charged.

Too much force immediately.

The ghost threw everything into the legs without understanding the narrow hospital corridor.

It’s body slammed shoulder-first into the wall before violently correcting direction and lunging forward again.

Hiro stepped aside cleanly. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

His palm struck the man’s back as he passed.

A sharp burst of spiritual energy detonated through the corridor.

The possessed body crashed into the opposite wall hard enough to crack plaster before collapsing against it.

"See," Hiro said.

Natsume ignored him completely.

The man rose again.

Dark energy pulled inward around the body now instead of exploding wildly outward.

The second movement came cleaner than the first.

His balance adjusted faster now. Steps landing closer to where they should. Less wasted motion.

Shoulders uneven.

Steps slightly mistimed.

Head turning too sharply before movement.

But the second charge came straighter than the first.

Hiro caught it properly this time against both forearms.

The collision cracked through the corridor like a gunshot.

Dark energy exploded outward from the man in every direction at once, shredding plaster from both walls while the final working light near the far end burst overhead in a shower of sparks.

The corridor dropped into dim emergency lighting.

Behind Hiro, pale lines spread rapidly across the floor beneath Natsume’s feet.

She was already constructing the barrier seal.

"How long?," Hiro asked.

"Thirty seconds."

"I’ll try to survive."

The man attacked again immediately.

Hiro shifted sideways to avoid the charge.

The body corrected direction in the middle of the lunge.

Hiro’s expression changed.

The fist missed his face by less than an inch and shattered the wall behind him with a heavy crack that ran through the plaster to the concrete underneath.

Hiro drove his elbow into the side of the man’s jaw.

Bone cracked loudly.

The body skidded sideways across the floor.

It hit the wall.

Stayed there for half a second.

Then one hand planted against the vertical surface and the body ran across it sideways.

Three uneven steps.

Then it launched toward Hiro again.

Hiro blocked the strike but the impact still drove him backward hard enough for his shoulder to slam against the corridor wall.

The curtains lining the patient rooms lifted and twisted toward the dark energy instead of away from it.

Inside one of the empty rooms a heart monitor suddenly started beeping.

Then another farther down the corridor.

Natsume did not look away from the seal lines spreading beneath her hands.

"Fifteen seconds."

Hiro exhaled once through his nose and rolled his shoulder back into place.

"Fast learner."

The body came again.

Faster now.

The movement still looked unnatural but the hesitation between actions was disappearing.

The hesitation between movements was disappearing.

The body turned more smoothly now.

Feet landing correctly beneath the weight.

Attacks chaining together without the violent overcorrections from before.

Hiro redirected the first strike.

Caught the second one cleanly.

The third almost landed.

Dark energy burst across his shoulder after he mistimed the recoil by half a step.

His spiritual armor split apart across the impact point and pain flashed sharply beneath it.

Hiro clicked his tongue and stepped back.

Behind him the final seal lines ignited.

Golden light rose instantly from four points along the corridor walls and connected overhead, sealing the entire section floor to ceiling inside a pale glowing barrier.

The man hit it immediately.

Dark energy exploded across the seal in violent black waves.

This time the barrier answered.

The golden lines brightened sharply and strands of dark energy peeled away from the body on contact, pulled directly into the seal where they dissolved into pale drifting sparks.

The body jerked backward violently.

Then hit the barrier again.

Harder.

More dark energy tore loose from the shoulders and spine.

Black streams peeled away from the body while the ghost forced the limbs forward again, trying to hold itself together faster than the barrier could strip it apart.

Again.

Again.

Each impact weaker than the last.

The smell of burning air slowly filled the corridor.

Hiro crossed his arms.

"This part’s boring."

"This is the safest way," Natsume said.

The violent bursts stopped first.

Then the shaking.

The dark energy pulling from the body slowed.

The man finally stopped moving in the center of the corridor.

Black eyes fixed directly on Hiro.

Natsume’s gaze sharpened slightly.

"The anchor is stable."

Then:

"Now."

Hiro moved instantly.

The man swung wide with his right arm but Hiro ducked beneath it and caught the wrist before the strike fully extended.

The body jerked violently backward against Hiro’s grip.

Too late.

Natsume was already there.

Both gloved palms struck flat against the man’s chest and the extraction seal ignited between her hands in blazing gold lines.

The body convulsed violently.

Its spine arched hard enough to lift both feet from the floor while black lines moved beneath the skin of the throat and chest, dragged upward piece by piece toward the extraction seal.

Then he screamed.

The sound tore through the corridor sharp and inhuman while dark energy burst from the man’s mouth and eyes in thick black streams.

The extraction ripped the ghost free in one violent separation.

The corridor shook.

Ceiling panels crashed downward.

Curtain rails tore loose from the walls and slammed across the floor.

The body collapsed immediately.