Just then, the sound of crashing glass filled the air as Hayato broke an antique jug. “That won’t do!” he exclaimed. “We must find Reika, one way or another! We’ll tear this place apart, brick by brick if we have to!”

Suddenly, the air around them turned icy, and Shingo’s breath misted in front of him. The room seemed to grow colder with each passing moment. A woman’s voice echoed through the chilling air, sending shivers down their spines.”Let alone tearing this place apart, I can’t allow you to even break a jug here!”

Hayato was quick to respond. “Just cut the empty talk and show yourself, woman!” he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

As the air grew colder, Mariko, Chiyo, and Shingo began to shiver. “T-this is unexpected. I know this is almost winter, but still…” Shingo stuttered.

Mariko spoke up, “Stand close to each other! I sense a chilling, evil aura close by!”

Suddenly, the stairs beneath their feet began to shift and move, causing the team to stumble and struggle to keep their footing. They soon realized that they were about to encounter a very powerful supernatural entity.

As if in response, the temperature dropped even further, causing Mariko, Chiyo, and Shingo to tremble involuntarily. They huddled closer together, seeking comfort and strength in each other’s presence.

Shingo’s eyes darted around the room, searching for any signs of presence. The shadows danced ominously, and a faint figure materialized before them, floating in midair. It was a beautiful, yet fearsome sight of a woman with long black hair that trailed behind her like ink.

The wore a long white kimono, her face as beautiful as it was deadly. Her eyes glowed with a cold, blue light, and her lips were curled in a malicious smile. Her skin was all white like marble, but her eyes glowed with an otherworldly light, and her hands were gripped tightly around a pair of big scissors.

Mariko, the expert in supernatural beings, gasped as she stammered, “I-it’s Yuki Onna, the Snow Woman! B-but she’s flesh-and-bone now! She must’ve possessed a living person’s body!”

The floating woman spoke with an icy, dreamy voice, “Yes, I am Yuki Onna. I am one of many, yet none of them is as pure as I, the one truly blessed by Muramasa’s sacred Ice Katana.”

“Muramasa, you say?” Shingo snarled. “There’s nothing sacred about that fiendish sword that only brings death and destruction wherever and whenever it was swung.”

“But it was! It made my spirit powerful and eternal.”

Chiyo chimed in, “It’s more like a curse, I say. A curse for you, and you spread it on your victims like a ravenous predator.”

A person with a conscience might realize the fault in his or her mindset after hearing that warning. However, Yuki Onna gave out a shrill laugh instead.

“You’re wrong!” she bellowed. “I’m blessed, not cursed! And I want to spread that blessing to the tortured souls everywhere, starting with this tower! Ghouls of Sekishou! Let’s destroy those infiltrators, and agents of the city government together! Attack!”

The room was filled with tension as the ghoul queen summoned her army of Sekishou ghouls to fight against the team.

Shingo quickly drew his katana. It was an ordinary weapon, yet the quality of the blade, hilt, and all was good enough to be relied upon in tough fights.

The ghouls loomed at them like a swarm of angry mobs, but Shingo and his team fought back with skill and determination. Shingo’s movements were fluid and graceful, like a dancer’s, as he sliced through the ghouls with ease.

Chiyo stood beside him, her hands raised as she chanted ancient spells, causing the ghouls to writhe in agony. While Gale and Hayato used their strengths to fend off the foes that got close.

Mariko, the team’s spiritual advisor, was busy chanting prayers to protect them from Yuki Onna’s icy powers. The air was thick with the sound of clashing swords, knocking, and chanting.

As the battle raged on, Yuki Onna grew increasingly desperate. Her army was dwindling, and she was losing ground against the team. Her once beautiful face twisted into a maniacal frown.

Shingo’s mind raced, thinking of the tales he had heard of Yuki Onna’s power and the information he might be able to use from those tales. He knew they had to act swiftly and decisively. With a swift motion, he lunged forward, his katana slicing through the air. But the Snow Woman was equally swift, parrying his attack with a fluid motion.

Hayato followed suit, launching a flurry of strikes with his double claws. Each strike aimed at vulnerable spots, but Yuki Onna moved with eerie grace, dodging and countering with her lethal precision.

Gale’s kung-fu skills were put to the test as he engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. His punches and kicks were swift and powerful, but Yuki seemed almost ethereal, her movements flowing seamlessly, evading most of his attacks.

Chiyo, channeled her Lightning Bolt magic, unleashing bolts of electricity toward the Snow Woman’s spirit. The crackling energy filled the air, but the target seemed to absorb it, her body surrounded by an ethereal shield.

Mariko called upon her light magic to bolster her allies and mend their wounds. Rays of light shot from her hands, providing a protective aura that shielded them from the chilling touch of the Snow Woman’s spirit.

As the battle raged on, the room became a whirlwind of clashing weapons, lightning bolts, and bursts of healing light. Her ghoul army gone, Yuki Onna fought back fiercely, her eyes gleaming with an otherworldly intensity.

But Shingo and his friends fought with equal determination, refusing to yield to the darkness that threatened to consume them. They unleashed their combined might, coordinating their attacks and exploiting their strengths. Lightning bolts crackled, kung-fu strikes landed, and healing magic mended their wounds.

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The battle reached its crescendo, the clash of steel and the crackle of energy filling the room. Time seemed to blur as they fought, their movements becoming an intricate dance of survival and defiance. Their determination burned bright, pushing them forward despite the odds.

As the battle reached its climax, a moment of vulnerability presented itself. Yuki Onna momentarily lost focus, and Mariko seized the opportunity. With a burst of radiant energy, she unleashed a powerful light spell, Solar Shower, enveloping the spirit in a blinding cascade of luminescence.

Howling a snarl or rage, Yuki Onna summoned all her remaining power. Her ultimate spell, a Blizzard of snow and ice engulfed the room, obscuring everything in a swirling vortex of white. Shingo and his team were thrown back by the force of the blast, their bodies battered and bruised.

But even as they lay on the ground, gasping for breath, they knew they could not give up. They had come too far to let Yuki Onna defeat them now.

With fierce determination, they stood up and charged toward her, their weapons raised. Shingo’s katana glowed with a bright, white light as he swung it at Yuki Onna’s head. Yuki tried to block it with ice, but the blade changed direction abruptly.

Shingo’s blade sliced through the air, cutting through the blizzard and striking Yuki Onna squarely in the chest.

The room fell silent, and the blizzard dissipated, leaving only the sound of the team’s heavy breathing. Shingo and his group of friends had finally defeated the powerful Yuki Onna. As they basked in their victory, the defeated spirit screamed in frustration and disappeared, leaving its hostess behind.

A moment later, a young girl, who had been possessed by the ghost, awakened from her slumber.

“Urgh! W-what happened? I feel like waking up from a long dream. I was going in circles in a maze without an exit,” she said, struggling to make sense of her surroundings.

“Well, you’re out of that maze now that Yuki Onna is gone,” Mariko reassured her.

However, the hostess of Yuki Onna had a different story to tell. “Not really. She’s still inside my body. I can still see her in a corner, curling her body like a rickety old woman in shame,” Omiya said, her voice trembling.

Shingo looked at her in disbelief. “What’s your name? How come Yuki Onna possessed you?” he asked.

“My name is Omiya Eguchi. As a History student, I did research on Sekishou Clock Tower. I wanted to make a paper and hope that this place will be preserved as a historical landmark of Daitoshi City. But it turned out this place is haunted and the queen of the ghosts and undead here, Yuki Onna, possessed me instead,” Omiya explained.

Chiyo shrugged nonchalantly. “Necessity is greater than cause for ordinary people. Only the enlightened ones can do otherwise,” she said.

Mariko stepped forward to comfort Omiya. “Just rest easy, Omiya. The priests from Tsubaki Temple will come shortly and exorcise the evil spirits from this place,” she said.

“Thank you very much. By the way, may I know your names?” Omiya asked.

“These are Shingo, Mariko, Chiyo, Hayato, and the most handsome of them all, yours truly, Gale,” Gale introduced the team with a charming smile.

Omiya giggled amusingly at Gale’s remark.

“By the way,” Hayato interjected, “while you were possessed, did you aware of what happened in this place?”

“Well, yes. What Yuki Onna saw or heard, I did too.”

“Thank goodness. Look, I only need to ask you one thing. Did you happen to see Hannya and a lady named Reika Diose?”

“Yes. That Hannya-masked man came here and put the unconscious, very beautiful lady under Yuki Onna’s care. True to her promise, Yuki didn’t possess or harm her. But the next day, several men in black came and picked the lady up. They said Hannya sent them, so Yuki Onna let them take the lady away.”

Gale asked, “Men in black? Did they tell Yuki who they were?”

“They were GI agents. But I don’t know what GI stands for.”

Hayato hissed, saying, “I knew it! Hannya works for the GI, and that double-dealing Todo is covering him up! He deliberately sent us here to eliminate us!”

Startled, Shingo interjected, “W-wait, Godbrother! Something is amiss here!”

Gale rebuked, “What do you mean, Shin? It was obvious, wasn’t it?”

“My intuition said this is too easy! Even if Hannya works for the GI, he wouldn’t give his or his men’s identity away!”

“Shin’s right! I think we better keep this information for ourselves and do more investigations to find the truth of the matter,” Mariko defended her boyfriend with a logical suggestion.

Chiyo concluded, “Yuki Onna is just a scapegoat, controlled by Hannya, the current master of Muramasa’s Katana! And this is nothing more than Hannya’s trap!”

“Enough!” Hayato shouted at the top of his voice.”Come, let’s get Omiya out of this place before Yuki Onna recovers again!”

As they walked away, the Yakuza Boss spoke without looking back. “And let’s get prepared. We’ll raid the GI Headquarters immediately!” he said with a determined voice.

Shingo looked around at his teammates, seeing the exhaustion etched on their faces. But he also saw the determination and courage that had brought them this far. And he knew that they would not rest until they had uncovered the truth behind Hannya and the GI, no matter how crazy and impossible their mission would be.

Suddenly, Shingo’s face turned pale. He just got a nasty feeling that the worst was yet to come. And it would come immediately.