"Hey, it's Takae, coming this way," Mei called out to Juro.
He turned to see her walking toward them. Her posture was slightly off, and sweat lined her brow.
"Are you okay?" he asked as she approached.
"I'm fine," she said, brushing off their concern. "What about you guys? What happened when my barrier fell apart?"
"Yuriko swooped in and slashed away at all the falling branches," Mei said, a glimmer of amazement in her eyes.
"All those branches by herself?" Takae asked, shocked.
"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either," Juro said. "To think she was just a normal girl scamming people in the village for money a few months ago."
"You guys have really changed."
"Yeah," she replied, slightly downcast. "I guess we have, haven't we."
Mei noticed the shift and quickly changed the subject.
"While we were leaving, did you happen to see a kid stray away?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Takae replied. "We were at the back of the crowd, so we would have definitely noticed something like that."
"Why do you ask?"
"There was some woman pestering us about her lost kid just a few minutes before the barrier broke," Juro replied. "The whole scene just worsened the villagers' opinion of us."
"You can feel their hateful eyes on us right now, can't you?" he asked.
It was true. The loathing in the air was so thick it felt like it pressed down on them.
"Yeah, I feel it," she said. "But there's nothing we can do about it. It's best to just ignore them until—"
She stopped mid-sentence, her expression turning serious. Her eyes grew distant as her hand clenched into a fist.
"What a heavy presence… how did I not sense something that big until now?"
Her hand moved to the hilt of her sword.
"What do I do? Do I put up another barrier first, or find out where this presence is coming from?"
Before she could decide, the wind shifted suddenly.
She turned—
A massive tree was hurtling straight toward them.
Juro stepped back, pushing Mei's wheelchair with him—but it was too fast. There was no way they could escape in time.
Then he saw Takae drop low, her right hand gripping the hilt of her sheathed sword.
A burst of wind shot from beneath her feet as she launched herself forward.
Breathless. That was the only word Mei could think of.
In a single motion, Takae split the tree clean down the middle. The halves crashed on either side of them.
She landed smoothly and immediately faced forward.
Ahead, Yuriko, Izumi, and Miyuki already stood in their stances—silent, watching the shadows beneath the canopy.
Takae glanced back at the crowd.
"Should I focus on the barrier first?"
Looking around, she saw more trees being hurled toward the field.
It wasn't coordinated—but it could happen again at any moment.
She made her choice.
Standing guard would have to come first.
She steadied herself—
—and then she saw it.
A silhouette, rapidly approaching.
"Is that Master Ichiro?"
As it drew closer, she watched him adjust his body midair before landing.
"Who could do something like that to him?"
Then—
Her body stiffened. Her breath grew heavy.
Her sword arm trembled—but she forced it still.
And then she saw it.
That yellow gaze.
It sent a chill straight down her spine.
It stepped out of the shadows, and the sight was one to behold.
Claws like sabers—large and overbearing. A bare chest, with black fur spreading along its sides. A long tail dragged behind it, and its lower robe hung stretched and torn.
He was the largest thing she had ever seen in her life—two, no, three times her size. Foam gathered at his mouth as he grunted, his gaze fixed on them with something that sent a chill straight down her spine.
He took a step forward.
The ground gave way.
Another step.
Then another—each one striking the earth with a tremor that echoed like a distant quake.
A realization struck her.
She remembered the encounter in the village, before everyone got separated. She remembered his name.
"But that couldn't possibly be him…"
Yet his face—distorted as it was—still carried something familiar.
Her mind raced further back, to the night of the festival in their old village.
Asahi.
He had taken on a similar form. But his had been different—refined, controlled… complete.
The thing before them was none of that.
It felt wrong. According to her words incomplete.
Its eyes failed to settle, darting from one person to another, never truly focusing.
Was he even sane?
There was no time to dwell on that.
She watched as he approached Ichiro, step by step, until he loomed directly over him.
Ichiro looked up.
Only a couple of feet separated them—yet the difference in scale made it feel far greater. He barely reached half its height.
Then it struck.
Those saber-like claws tore through the air toward him.
Ichiro raised his blade and blocked—
—but the moment their weapons met, the ground beneath his feet collapsed. He faltered for a second before forcing himself upright, pushing back against the weight of the blow.
Sparks burst where steel met claw.
"Don't think you can sucker punch me like that again!" he grunted.
No response.
Only low, broken sounds—like something trying to form words and failing.
Ichiro exhaled once, briefly glancing away, before forcing the creature back a step.
Still, it gave nothing but those strained, animalistic noises.
"That's enough," Ichiro said, raising his sword and pointing it forward. "It's disgraceful to see you fall this far. All because you couldn't conquer whatever it was that was holding you down."
His gaze hardened.
"Don't worry," he said, steady and cold, "we'll put you down from your misery."