I Am The Strongest Ghost Hunter

Chapter 21

Without wasting a second, Akito punched through the door with full force—wood splintering outward like it owed him money. The door flew off its hinges and crashed into the hallway beyond.

The moment it did, Sakura burst out.

She didn’t pause. Didn’t look back. Didn’t wait on the other side of the doorway—which was now a long, sterile hospital hallway lined with flickering lights and closed doors. She just ran—face dead serious, eyes burning with something dark and furious.

“Hey—wait for me!” Akito yelled, scrambling after her.

Their pounding footsteps echoed down the corridor, drawing attention fast. A couple of nurses stepped out from side rooms, blocking the path—whips coiled in their hands like they’d been expecting trouble.

“You should’ve stayed saved in your cage like the little kitten you are,” one of them sneered, voice dripping with fake sweetness. “Now you’re going to suffer for leaving it.”

“Cage…?” Akito repeated, disbelief cracking his voice.

But Sakura—Sakura was already past words.

“Where is he!” she demanded.

No tiny voice this time. No whisper. Just raw, boiling anger that made the air feel heavier.

“You mean this?” the nurse asked with a mocking smile. She swung her whip—fast, vicious, the leather cracking through the air straight toward Sakura’s face.

But Sakura didn’t flinch.

She caught the end mid-swing—fingers closing like steel. Head down. Eyes hidden behind her hair.

“I said…” Her voice dropped dangerously low. “…where is heee!”

She yanked—hard.

The nurse’s arm ripped clean from the shoulder—torn muscle and bone spraying outward. Blood gushed in a hot arc, splattering across the other nurses’ faces.

The hallway froze for half a heartbeat.

Akito almost lost it.

For a split second he still clung to the hope this was reality—some twisted hospital, some nightmare coincidence.

Then he saw it.

The other nurses—licking the blood splattered across their faces. Slow, deliberate drags of tongue over skin, eyes glazing with something hungry and wrong.

They charged—whips forward, slashing through the air with sharp, cracking sounds that echoed off the sterile walls.

Sakura didn’t hesitate.

She snatched the dead nurse’s whip—leather still warm from the grip—and swung it in one fluid motion.

The tip snapped forward—caught one charging nurse square in the eye.

The woman dropped to her knees, screaming, palm clamped over the ruined socket as blood poured between her fingers.

Sakura dodged the second whip—low, graceful—then spun hers in a tight arc. The leather wrapped around the nurse’s neck like a noose.

She yanked—hard.

The woman stumbled forward.

Sakura spun again—kicked with perfect force.

The head—still tangled in the whip—tore free.

It hit the floor with a wet thud and rolled.

One nurse left.

Sakura turned to her, voice flat, emotionless except for the cold anger underneath.

“Take me to him. Now.”

The nurse laughed—high, jagged.

“Hahahaha. You must be stupid to think I will.”

She charged—whip spinning, cracking through the air.

Sakura didn’t dodge.

She stood still.

The leather smacked across her skin—left a bloody welt that split open instantly.

“Please,” Sakura said this time, voice small and pleading. “Take me to him.”

“She’s pleading now of all times,” Akito muttered from behind a corner, still half-hidden, voice shaking.

“I don’t want to kill you yet,” Sakura continued, calm as glass. “Because if I do… there’s a chance I won’t be able to find him myself.”

Akito’s eyes widened from his hiding spot.

‘Now I see what she did… she’s so smart.’

The nurse sneered.

“You imbecile. So you’re saying you spared me just so I’d take you to him? You must be the biggest fool of all fools.”

She swung again—whip cracking viciously.

Sakura didn’t dodge.

The whip struck again—and again—leather cracking against skin, each lash splitting open fresh bloody traces across her arms, her shoulders, her face.

She kept walking forward.

Through every strike.

“Please take me to him,” she said on the first.

“Please take me to him,” on the second.

“Please take me to him,” on the third.

Her voice stayed soft, pleading, even as blood dripped down her chin.

Then she was close—face to face.

The nurse’s arm froze mid-swing.

Sakura looked up.

“Can you please take me to him now?” she asked, this time with a maniacally wide grin, teeth gleaming almost predator-like. “Please.”

The nurse’s breath caught.

‘Wait… how’s she—’

Before the thought finished, one arm was gone.

Sakura had ripped it clean from the shoulder—muscle tearing, bone snapping, blood spraying in a hot arc.

“Where is he?” she asked quietly.

The nurse screamed—high, broken.

No answer.

Another second passed.

Sakura yanked again.

A leg tore free at the hip.

The nurse collapsed, clutching the stump, gasping.

Another second.

An eye—plucked out like a grape.

The nurse was down to one leg, one eye—crumpled, sobbing, ruined.

“The boy is in the last room—number 3,” she choked out. “Please… spare me.”

Sakura tilted her head, smile softening into something almost innocent.

“Thank you. Can you take me there, please?”

“I wish I could,” the nurse whimpered, “but I can’t. I’m missing an eye… and I can’t walk because there’s no leg.”

Sakura’s expression turned sympathetic.

“I’m so sorry,” she said sweetly. “I wonder who did that. People are so heartless, aren’t they?”

She stepped past the nurse—calm, unhurried.

Akito hurried after her.

The moment he passed—the nurse’s head rolled off her shoulders.

Sakura’s doing.

Quiet. Clean.

Akito swallowed hard.

‘This is so grim… even if they’re not real, this is too far. How in the world can she just… do that?’

He glanced up.

Sakura was staring at him—menacing, that same wide, manic grin splitting her face.

“Did you just say something?”

Akito felt his skin crawl.

“N-n-n… no… no… no,” he stammered. “I just want us to get to Raito quickly before anything bad happens.”

Sakura’s face softened instantly—scared, apologetic.

“Please… let’s go.”

She dashed down the hallway.

Akito followed.

The hallway stayed eerily silent.

Until they reached a big door labeled Room 3