Akira's mind raced. He had maybe seconds before that thing reached the front door. He couldn't use his powers openly, not with Ayame watching. But he couldn't let it attack innocent people either.

"Options?" he thought frantically.

"Limited, darling. You could try to lure it away, but it's locked onto the beacon. Or you could…"

The café's front door chimed as someone entered.

The slime demon squeezed through the doorway, its gelatinous body compressing unnaturally to fit through the opening.

Immediately, the temperature in the café dropped several degrees. The fluorescent lights flickered, and a foul smell, like rotting garbage mixed with bleach filled the air.

"What the hell is that smell?" someone muttered.

Akira watched in horror as the creature reformed in the café's entryway. Its translucent green body wobbled and pulsed, those dark spot-eyes scanning the room hungrily.

The first person to sigh it was a woman sitting close to the door.

"ARRRRGGGHHH!" She screamed.

That's when all hell broke loose.

The slime lunged forward with surprising speed, one of its pseudopods whipping out toward the nearest customer, a college student with headphones.

The appendage made contact with his jacket, and the fabric immediately began to dissolve, smoking and melting away like sugar in hot water.

"My jacket! What the fuck!" The student scrambled backward, his expensive leather coat dripping off him in sticky chunks.

More screams erupted.

Customers jumped from their seats, knocking over tables and chairs in their panic. Coffee spilled everywhere. The old man with the newspaper backed against the wall, his eyes wide with terror.

"Everyone out! Move!" Akira shouted, trying to herd people toward the back exit.

But the slime was faster.

It surged forward, pseudopods extending in multiple directions. One caught a woman's designer handbag; the leather dissolved instantly and her belongings scattered across the floor. Another appendage swiped at a man's shirt, leaving his chest bare and him looking confused.

"It's melting clothes!" someone shrieked. "What kind of monster…"

The creature's maw opened wider, revealing those dissolving teeth, and it let out a wet, gurgling roar that made Akira's skin crawl.

He needed to do something. Now. But how could he fight this thing without revealing himself?

"Akira, I'm reading Ayame's position," Ai reported. "Rooftop across the street, fifty meters out. She has some kind of spiritual sight active. She's watching everything."

"Can she see through my Essence Cloak?"

"Not directly. But if you use any obvious supernatural abilities, she'll know something's wrong. You need to look like a civilian."

A civilian… right. Just a normal guy caught in an abnormal situation.

Akira grabbed a metal tray from an abandoned table and held it up like a shield. "Hey! Over here, you ugly bastard!"

The slime's attention snapped to him. Those dark eyes focused, and it began oozing in his direction, leaving a trail of dissolving residue on the café floor.

"That's right, come on…"

"Akira!" Yuki's voice cut through the chaos. She was still at their table, frozen in fear. "What is that thing?"

"Yuki, get out of here! Back exit, go!"

But she didn't move. The slime was between her and the exit now, and her legs seemed locked in place.

The creature lunged toward her.

Akira threw the tray. It hit the slime's body and immediately started melting, the metal hissing and bubbling. But it bought him a second. He jumped over a table, landing between Yuki and the demon.

"Stay behind me!"

A pseudopod whipped toward his face. Akira ducked, feeling the displacement of air as it passed inches from his head. He grabbed a chair and swung it like a bat, connecting with the slime's center mass.

The chair dissolved on contact.

"Okay, new strategy," he muttered.

"Akira, you have to…"

Just then, the front window exploded inward with Rina coming through the glass like a bullet, her body moving with impossible speed. She hit the ground in a roll, and immediately came up running. Her eyes, now glowing a soft violet, focused on the slime demon.

"Get away from him!" she snarled.

Akira could feel the Soul Seed's power radiating from her. Her movements were quite fast for a human, and precise as well. She grabbed a metal chair… one of the heavy ones, and swung it with enough force to dent steel.

The chair connected with the slime's head, and the impact sent the creature reeling backward. Pieces of its gelatinous body splattered against the wall.

"Well, there goes subtlety," Ai sighed. "Rina just revealed herself to Ayame."

But Akira didn't have time to worry about that. The slime was regenerating, pulling its scattered pieces back together. And this time, it was pissed.

It roared again, this time focusing all its attention on Rina.

"Rina, watch out!"

Three pseudopods shot toward her simultaneously. She dodged two with inhuman agility, but the third caught her sleeve. The fabric dissolved instantly, exposing her arm.

"You little shit!" Rina swung the chair again, this time targeting what looked like a darker core floating in the slime's center mass. But she missed, the chair passing harmlessly through the gelatinous body.

The slime's maw opened wide, preparing to engulf her.

Akira saw his chance. While the creature was focused on Rina, he activated the system Scan, analyzing its structure.

[SLIME DEMON - DISSOLVER TYPE]

[WEAKNESS: PHYSICAL CORE LOCATED IN CENTER MASS]

[ACIDIC SECRETION: DISSOLVES ORGANIC MATERIALS, PRIORITIZES CLOTHING/FABRIC]

[CORE VULNERABILITY: PIERCING DAMAGE]

The core. He needed to hit the core. But with what? Everything he touched dissolved.

His eyes landed on a pair of wooden chopsticks on the abandoned table next to him.

"Seriously?" Ai said. "You're going to fight a demon with chopsticks?"

"Watch me."

Akira grabbed the chopsticks. The slime surged toward Yuki again, apparently deciding she was easier prey than the supernaturally-enhanced cheerleader.

"No!" Yuki screamed.

A pseudopod wrapped around her waist. Her blouse began to smoke and dissolve immediately, the fabric peeling away to reveal her bra underneath.

"Get off me!" She clawed at the slime, but her hands just sank into its gelatinous body.

Akira didn't think. He activated Flow State.

[FLOW STATE ACTIVATED - FREE ACTIVATION]

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