[Third Person Pov]
Momo dove after Ken Takakura without hesitation, her heart pounding as the boy—now fully possessed by Turbo Granny—sprinted at terrifying speeds that easily approached 100 km/h. He was wall-running down the sheer cliff face with unnatural agility, his sneakers scraping against the rock. Turbo Granny’s grotesque features had completely overtaken his face: his hair had turned stark white and straw-like, standing wildly on end, while his eyes glowed a bright, manic yellow and spun crazily in their sockets like spinning tops.
“HELP MEEEE!!” Ken screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking with pure terror.
“I’m gonna!! Calm your titties!” Momo shouted back, visibly annoyed as she flew parallel to him along the cliffside. Despite her sharp tone, her focus was razor-sharp.
Her senses pierced deeper into Ken’s body, searching for the spiritual flame that represented his soul. Normally, a person’s inner flame burned steady and tame, but right now it was a raging wildfire spiraling completely out of control. With practiced precision, Momo reached out with her powers and squeezed the chaotic blaze, suppressing it firmly until it shrank back down to a manageable flicker deep inside him.
The horrifying transformation around Ken instantly canceled out. His white hair reverted, his eyes returned to normal, and he let out another blood-curdling scream as he lost all momentum and supernatural speed. He dropped like a stone from the side of the cliff, plummeting toward the road far below.
Thankfully, Momo was quick enough. She swooped in and caught him smoothly in a princess carry, cradling him securely in her arms. Both of them let out long, simultaneous sighs of relief as they descended gently toward the ground.
Ken nervously adjusted his glasses with shaky fingers, his face still flushed from the ordeal. “I wanted to be carried this way by Superman,” he muttered under his breath, “but… I suppose this isn’t so bad.”
“What?” Momo asked, giving him a weird look as they continued floating downward.
“I-I said thanks for the save! It was really super,” he stammered shyly, avoiding eye contact and trying desperately to hide his embarrassment.
Momo scoffed lightly and set him down on solid ground, brushing her hands off. “Seriously, what a pain in the ass,” she grumbled, her annoyance flaring up again as she remembered how recklessly he had ignored her. “Didn’t I tell you not to go into that tunnel?!”
“Sorry… I didn’t mean to be such an inconvenience to you,” Ken muttered, staring down at his shoes with genuine shame written across his face.
Momo sighed deeply and waved him off. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’m not as mad as I seem. I just have a resting bitch face.”
She paused, noticing that Ken had started fidgeting awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot to foot as if searching for the right words—or trying to figure out how to say them without sounding like a complete fool.
“What? Just spit it out, dude. I don’t have time for charades,” Momo said, crossing her arms. She pointed dramatically toward the distant horizon where the massive alien spaceship still hovered ominously. “Can’t you see we’re in the middle of an alien invasion right now?”
For the first time in his life, Ken Takakura didn’t care about the aliens just within his reach. His attention was completely captured by the fiery, strong-willed girl standing right in front of him—the one he still didn’t know properly. “Sorry, I’m an awkward guy,” he admitted quietly, Momo paused for a second, staring at him with wide eyes. “Last time… you said if we met again…”
“Ah, right! I said if we met again, you would give me your name and I would give you mine,” Momo recalled, blinking for a moment before smiling. It had only been two days ago, after all. “I honestly didn’t expect to see you again so soon, Glasses. It seems like we’re really destined to know each other, huh?”
Momo flashed him a bright, simple smile that caught him completely off guard. Ken couldn’t help but become flustered, his cheeks turning pink as he looked away and nervously adjusted his glasses again, his ears burning red. “You first…” he muttered.
“The name is Momo Ayase,” she declared confidently, striking a deliberate pose with her hands planted firmly on her hips. “And don’t you forget it!”
“K—Ahhhhhhhhhh!!” Ken suddenly screamed in fright, his eyes widening with horror at the monstrous spider aberration wrapped in roaring flames that had manifested silently behind Momo.
“That’s a funny name, but I’m not one to—” Momo started to scoff, completely unaware.
One of the creature’s giant, blazing spider legs swung forward at supernatural speed, striking her hard in the side. Her body folded violently on impact as the force sent her ragdolling across the road. She skidded and tumbled violently along the pavement before finally rolling to a painful stop in the open field nearby, where she let out a deep, pained groan.
“Ms. Ayase!!” Ken shouted, his voice filled with raw horror and deep concern as he watched the giant fiery spider aberration completely disregard him. The monstrous creature began marching toward Momo with unnatural, terrifying speed, its eight legs moving in a horrifying synchronized blur that made the ground tremble beneath it.
The giant spider suddenly reared back and shot a thick, sticky casing of webs from its gaping maw. The webbing enveloped Momo from head to toe in an instant, trapping her inside a tight, pulsating cocoon that shimmered with an eerie, draining energy.
“Ughhhh… I feel so weak and sluggish all of a sudden,” Momo groaned from inside the cocoon, her voice strained. She could feel the webs actively siphoning away her willpower and spiritual energy, leaving her body heavy and unresponsive.
“Don’t you dare hurt her!!” Ken roared as the scurried towards her with malice intent, his voice growing increasingly distorted. With Momo’s concentration broken, the curse inside him began spiraling wildly out of control once more. The grotesque transformation started taking hold again — his features twisting as he suddenly kicked off the ground with explosive force, distorting the air around him with the sheer power of the movement.
“She’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a friend!” he bellowed, pure determination blazing in his eyes. “I won’t let you lay a finger on her, even if I have to turn into a monster to stop you!!”
He charged forward like a demon, the wide mouth of the emerging face mask opening impossibly large before clamping down viciously on one of the spider’s eight flaming legs. With a sharp, violent twist, he tore the limb clean off, sending dark blood splashing wildly around him. The monster let out a blood-curdling shriek that echoed across the battlefield.
Enraged, the aberration retaliated instantly, unleashing a barrage of fireballs and sticky webs in a chaotic storm. The explosions and impacts sent Ken flying backward, crashing hard into the ground as Turbo Granny’s influence began seizing full control once again.
Momo, despite her thoughts being muddled and her body growing weaker by the second, pushed through the haze with sheer stubbornness. She knew she couldn’t allow Turbo Granny to completely take over Ken, but she also refused to leave him powerless against this monstrous threat. In that split second, she settled on the most logical solution.
She closed her eyes tightly and focused every ounce of her remaining strength on Ken’s inner spiritual flame. Slowly, deliberately, she clenched her metaphorical grip and suppressed Turbo Granny’s wild consciousness, leaving Ken in control while still channeling the apparition’s raw power.
The transformation took a drastic but more stable turn. Turbo Granny’s grotesque face retreated, replaced by a wide, menacing mouth mask that now covered his jaw. His hair lost its straw-like texture, flowing more naturally while remaining a striking white. Bold red lines traced down his face over his eyes, giving him the striking appearance of a half-human, half-apparition warrior.
“What is going on-yo?” he asked, his voice suddenly taking on a languid, almost bored tone. “Why am I suddenly feeling so depressed? I’m seriously bummed out…”
“Yo, Momo, this your doing?” he called out nonchalantly, glancing toward the webbed cocoon.
“F-Focus, you dingus,” Momo struggled to reply, her voice fading as she slowly lost even the ability to speak clearly.
The aberration stabbed one of its massive flaming limbs downward with lethal intent. Ken managed to dodge it at the very last second, the leg slamming into the earth and sending a violent wave of flames rippling outward. He shuffled backward with eerie, supernatural grace, his movements fluid and unpredictable as he evaded strike after strike from the spider’s thrashing legs, along with the relentless barrage of fireballs and webs.
Explosions rocked the surrounding area, shaking the ground and filling the air with smoke and heat. Ken moved in a rapid zigzag pattern at superhuman speeds, leaving faint afterimages in his wake. The roaring flames reflected off his glasses as sweat poured down his temples from the intense heat and pressure. His naturally low stamina made the fierce battle far more exhausting than it needed to be.
The spider monster created a massive ball of webbing and yarn, igniting it with hellish flames before launching the devastating projectile straight at him. Instead of dodging this time, Ken charged directly toward it with reckless determination. At the last moment, he leaped into the air, executing a sharp corkscrew spin. His powerful legs connected with perfect timing, folding the fiery projectile under the force of his kick and redirecting it straight back at the aberration with explosive momentum.
Momo, even while trapped in the suffocating cocoon, could clearly read the monster’s malicious intent. She sensed it preparing to dodge at the last second. Acting faster than the creature could react, she focused intently on the small, flickering spiritual flame hidden deep beneath its layers of seething malice. With her free hand, she reached out with all the remaining strength she possessed and clamped down hard, holding the flame firmly in place.
The flaming projectile that Ken had redirected struck the aberration like a cannonball. The impact was devastating. It detonated violently on contact, sending gore and mutilated pieces of the spider monster flying in every direction. Chunks of burning flesh and shattered exoskeleton rained down around them as dark blood splattered across the grass, turning the once-green field into a gruesome crimson battlefield.
Ken stood a short distance away, breathing heavily. He bent forward, supporting himself with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath after the intense fight.
“A little help here—!” Momo shouted with a troubled groan, feeling increasingly suffocated inside the thick, energy-draining webs.
“Oh crap, sorry babe” he called out normally, suddenly speeding over in a blur. “Was just catching my breath.” He began ripping and tearing the sticky webs away with surprising strength, carefully pulling her free from the cocoon.
“Who the heck are you calling babe?” Momo scoffed, though there was a hint of amusement in her voice as he helped her to her feet and offered support. “Talk about a complete 180 on the attitude change.”
“You okay? What the hell was that-yo?” Ken asked, glancing between her and the gruesome remains scattered around them, his expression filled with genuine concern.
“I’m fine… just a little lightheaded,” Momo replied, massaging her throbbing temple in slow circles as she tried to clear the persistent headache. “And that was an aberration. They form when a massive amount of curse gathers in one place.”
Seeing the confused look on his face, she gave him a quick but clear rundown. “Curse is what you might call the leftover of creation. They react strongly to human emotions and desires. It fluctuates depending on people’s feelings — fear, anger, lust, whatever builds up. When it gathers in excess, it mutates the environment and living things around it, creating dangerous monsters and aberrations like the one we just fought.”
“Sounds dangerous,” Ken said calmly, almost casually, while staring at the patches of burning grass still smoldering around them.
“Not as much as you’d think,” Momo explained, brushing her disheveled hair back from her face and finally regaining her bearings. “They’re actually pretty rare. Think of them like a bad weather forecast. They mostly appear randomly or when a major event triggers strong emotions across a lot of people at once.”
“You mean like an alien invasion?” Ken asked. He took off his glasses, carefully checking them for damage, and caught a glimpse of his own transformed reflection in the lenses for the first time.
“Like an alien invasion,” Momo repeated with clear exasperation. “So the quicker we resolve this alien situation, the faster the curse storm cloud hanging over everything will vanish.”
Unseen within the tall grass, the lingering curse energy moved like thick, dark miasma, slowly corrupting everything it touched. It slithered toward a hidden cluster of locusts, seeping into them and triggering rapid, horrifying mutations. The insects grew grotesquely, twisting into monstrous new forms.
Suddenly, the entire horde leaped out from the grass, jumping high into the air with buzzing wings spread wide, creating an ominous, droning sound that filled the battlefield.
“Yo Momo, I don’t want to freak you out—” Ken started, motioning behind her with a wary expression.
“It’s fine,” Momo said confidently, not even bothering to turn around. “I was caught off guard last time. I’m more ready now.” She could sense all the tiny spiritual flames burning inside the swarm — small and weak, like mere candle lights.
Like multiple invisible spiritual hands extending from her body, she reached out and grabbed hold of each one. Her hands remained open for a brief moment, steady and controlled, before she clenched them shut. With a single, focused breath, she snuffed out all the flames at once.
Ken watched in pure surprise, lifting an eyebrow as every single monster in the air suddenly swelled up grotesquely. They burst open like overfilled balloons, showering the area in a grisly crimson rain of blood that drenched both of them from head to toe.
Momo ruffled her hair with a tired but satisfied motion, shaking off some of the mess, and looked at Ken with a faint, playful grin. “So… what did you say your name was again?”