The ritual chamber erupted in chaos, the air thick with smoke, chanting, and the clatter of overturned altars. The rescued girl, who was now tucked behind one of the support pillars, trembled in silence as I crouched beside her, shielding her with one arm while gripping my sword with the other. My muscles still buzzed with panic, but the worst of the fear had passed. Souta's arrival was like the pressure drop before a thunderstorm—sudden, powerful, and impossible to ignore.
Kento deflected another wild swing from a cultist and shoved the man into the fog. "You good back there?" he called out, glancing toward me.
"I've been worse," I said through gritted teeth, rising as two more cultists surged through the smoke.
"Really? When?"
I swung to parry the first, ducking under the second's staff. "Every day before you started talking."
Souta moved like a blade unsheathed. He didn't speak, didn't grunt, didn't waste a single motion. He swept through the smoke and robes like he had memorized every step of this battle hours ago. Ensho, the priest, had retreated behind his followers but hadn't run. That was the part that worried me.
The cultists fought with more desperation than skill, but something was wrong. Their eyes were glassy, their movements too synchronized, too unnatural. One by one, Souta knocked them back or dropped them entirely, but they kept rising. Like puppets pulled on strings.
[System Notification: Kettai Distortion Detected – Pattern Unfamiliar]
[Technique: Marionette Flame – Subtype: Cognitive Bind | Control Source: Ensho]
My breath caught.
"He's using his Kettai," I shouted to the others. "He's controlling them!"
Souta turned sharply, eyes narrowing. "Then we stop him."
Ensho stepped forward through the haze, hands raised. The air around him shimmered faintly—heatwaves laced with flickering gold. His eyes, once warm and inviting, now burned with fanatic calm.
"You don't understand," he said again, this time to all of us. "This village needed purpose. They begged for it. I gave them structure. The Flame gave them the truth."
"Truth?" Kento said, parrying a half-conscious cultist and pushing him aside. "You turned them into zombies."
"I gave them clarity," Ensho whispered. "They will thank me when the last voice of doubt is extinguished."
The floor underneath shook slightly.
From beneath his robes, Ensho raised both hands. Flames danced from his palms—real now, not symbolic. They curled along the ground, snaking toward us. The fire didn't burn like normal. It hissed, whined, screeched—like it was alive. I raised my sword, feeling a surge of static along the blade.
Kento lunged first. "Aoto, left!"
I moved on instinct, circling wide as Souta drew Ensho's attention with a quick volley of feints. The monk's control faltered just long enough for Kento to strike low, slicing through the hem of his robes and drawing blood. Ensho hissed, whirled, and retaliated with a wave of Kettai-infused fire that nearly swallowed the platform whole.
[System Update: Proximity Threshold Reached – Combat Support Activated]
[Inazuma Nuki Available – Timing Critical]
[Reminder: Path Progression Tied to Emotional Precision]
My moment slowed as I remembered the girl's still form behind the pillar. The boy's eyes when he begged us to save her and The way my hands had shaken the first time I touched lightning.
This time, they didn't.
I stepped forward and drew.
The strike cracked the air, lightning flashing along the length of my sword and searing through Ensho's barrier. Sparks danced across the floor, tracing the patterns of the Kettai runes carved in the stone. The impact forced Ensho back, with his stance crumbling.
Souta didn't hesitate. He closed the distance and delivered a single, precise blow to the monk's chest—non-lethal but devastating. Ensho crumpled, gasping as the flame in his hands extinguished.
Soon, The chanting stopped.
The cultists froze mid-motion, blinking as if waking from a fevered dream. A silence fell over the room, it was not empty, but filled with the sound of people realizing what they'd done.
Ensho tried to rise. Souta kicked his weapon away and said nothing.
A woman near the back of the room stepped forward, her expression trembling with recognition. "He… he made us believe we were cursed," she whispered. "He said our children were already dead unless we obeyed."
The murmurs grew louder. The villagers' eyes began to fill with something I hadn't expected—rage.
Two of the stronger men grabbed Ensho by the arms. Others circled, their voices rising, questions becoming shouts, shouts becoming accusations. I looked to Souta for direction.
He nodded once.
"We're done here."
We emerged from the underground chamber with the girl in my arms and smoke curling behind us. The villagers flooded the courtyard, shaken but no longer entranced. The little boy—the same one who had scratched our door and risked everything—ran forward as he caught sight of his sister, with his voice cracking as he called her name.
She stirred weakly in my arms when I lowered her down, the boy embraced her, holding her close like she might vanish if he let go.
Their parents approached next—still dazed, but tears in their eyes. They fell to their knees in apology, in awe, in quiet horror at what they'd almost allowed. I stepped back, letting the moment belong to them.
[System Mission Complete: The Marked Girl Saved]
[Reward Unlocked: Map Fragment Stored | Lightning Trait Progress: 68%]
[New Emotion Registered: Resolved Compassion – Logged to Kettai Core]
Kento leaned over, rubbing his sore shoulder. "So… no paperwork, right?"
Souta gave him a long look. "You're lucky we're not writing your obituary."
Kento flashed a grin. "That's fair."
We left the monk behind at the villagers' mercy.
And for once, I didn't feel guilty about it.
We had come to this village strangers.
We left knowing we'd saved something more than a girl.
We had saved a family.
And maybe… a little more of ourselves.