Sekien Academy, Ema — 7:20 pm. Lilith looked down to check on Tomoe, gasping at what she saw. Tomoe had completely vanished, leaving only a small puddle of blood where she had just been. The yokai looked around wildly for any sign of the human girl, but there wasn’t any blood trail leading away. It was as if she had simply disappeared into thin air.

That’s when Lilith spotted an odd shape moving across the ground far away near the wall. It was like a shadow, quickly slithering along at a fast speed. Once it reached the stone wall, the shadow sped up the ninety-degree angle seamlessly. However it was then that she could see it clearly; this wasn’t a shadow but a person.

They were completely flat, lacking any depth. If the figure stood completely still, they could easily be mistaken for a realistic mural or painting.

“Mura, get over here! The killer is getting away over the wall!”

Gripping his sword in hand, Mura sprinted across the campus to Lilith’s location. He ran next to Lilith; connecting their hands like a runner passing the baton in a relay race. In a brief flash of white, Lilith has merged into her friend as his eyes and veins glowed.

“He just went over the wall! We have to get there fast,” Lilith said, speaking to Mura’s thoughts directly.

—I assume he took the girl too, shit! This guy is a pro, that’s for damn sure.

Mura narrowed his eyes and tapped the hilt of the Jigoku ni Tekine twice, causing it to spring into its spear form. As he approached the wall, Mura grabbed the polearm tightly and thrust the blade into the ground. As he did, the demon successfully vaulted over the barricade. Landing with a somersault that continued into a sprint, Mura began his chase once again.

His eyes caught a glimpse of a flat shape darting along the pavement at breakneck speeds. With the sheer weight of his weapon weighing him down, he sheathed it back into his ring. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead as his legs pistoned him forward.

Overhead on a building above them, Kirin watched as Mura chased the suspect on foot. She touched her hand to a device located on her ear.

“Tenth has made contact with the suspected perpetrator. Shisa, make sure to keep Fifth far away… the suspect could be a Poacher,” the blue-eyed captain said.

“Yessir!” Shisa responded through Kirin’s communicator.

She crossed her arms, looking down at the young Jikininki running after the figure.

“He might actually be useful... To successfully catch a Poacher in the act, that's a feat very few of our best have accomplished,” Kirin murmured to herself.

Mura huffed as his lungs began to sting. An uncomfortable ache rose in his throat from the labored breathing, yet he still continued on. The shadow sped along the clean black roads, both it and its pursuer illuminated as they rapidly passed the bright streetlamps above. The suspect made a conscious effort to steer towards the crowds of pedestrians that walked around the upcoming block.

—Oh crap, what the hell!?

“Don’t let him kill anyone!” Lilith demanded.

—I’m trying my best here!

The shadow ran beneath the feet of the people, completely unobstructed as Mura pushed and shoved to get through the crowd.

“Sorry, excuse me! Pardon me!” Mura apologized as he continued onwards.

Several people began to get out of the demon’s path as those less fortunate were brushed aside. The shape was smart, it was trying to lose Mura in the nightlife traffic.

—I’ve never seen a power like this before. Can they even see him??

“I’d assume no, since folks are freaking out over you and not him!”

Mura didn’t understand, but he didn’t care anymore. The only thing racing through his mind was a singular goal. He had to rescue Tomoe. The suspect on the other hand was becoming irritated at the Jikininki’s persistence. As it serpentined along the sidewalk, it reached out its hand.

As it did, the shadow’s hand emerged from the sidewalk; regaining its dimensional depth once again. Without mercy or concern, it began slashing at the legs of several young women before its appendage submerged back into the flat dimension.

Blood sprayed from the ankles of the victims, causing them to scream and throw down their belongings in confusion and pain. Unfortunately for Mura, the women toppled over in front of him to create a living obstacle course. With quick thinking, Mura bounded overtop them one by one as onlookers gasped and gazed. As Mura passed over them, he flicked his wrist — casting a small healing spell to fix their injuries.

—You goddamn bastard!

The shadow began making its way forward into the busy city streets, where sleek grounded cars drove over the kidnapper unaware. Mura shook his head in disbelief, wiping sweat off his forehead before diving straight into the traffic ahead.

He pressed on as fast as his legs could carry him, knowing he was risking serious injury or even death as long as he remained in such a dangerous area. A horn blared past as a gust of wind accompanied it, pushing him forward. A vehicle had just barely missed him. Up ahead Mura saw another car approaching fast, this one unavoidable unless he stopped entirely.

Not willing to lose his target, Mura continued forward as the car quickly blocked his path. Using his momentum, Mura jumped forward and used the approaching car’s front hood as a stepping stone. Never stopping, Mura pushed off the hood and with his additional airtime, managed to clear the road and reach the other side of the street.

The only thing fueling Mura now was his adrenaline and the melded Tamashiryoku that coursed through his shimmering veins. It helped take his mind off the pain in his legs and chest. His breathing had become a short, rhythmic trance. His eyes had become green beads fixated on the shadow like a hawk onto its meal.

“He’s heading towards an area, Mura! I-I think I can remember what it was!” Lilith said.

—Then you gotta tell me now!

“Right, right! It was a… um… Oh! It was a bullet train station! I always loved riding those!

—A bullet train?!

Sure enough, Mura looked up and realized that ahead of them were elevated tracks not unlike a bridge positioned several meters over the roadways. In the distance to his right he could hear something that was seconds away from reaching their location.

The shadow approached the large stone struts holding the tracks in place and quickly zoomed up the vertical structure. Mura stumbled slightly as he tried to speed up, but was forced to catch himself and maintain his current speed. With the train fast approaching, Mura looked for a way to get up to the tracks.

“The other side, I remember a staircase leading up to the station!”

—Got it!

Mura made his way underneath the overpass and forked a right to sure enough, discover a staircase awaiting his view. He smiled with relief as he quickly leapt up the steps, clearing sets of two at a time. As he neared the top, the bullet train showed no signs of stopping. Instead, it sped on past at incredible speeds. Looking to his right, Mura spotted the shadow snake its way across the white train blowing past them and onto the roof.

—Get ready to heal me, this is gonna hurt!

Mura summoned his spear and sprinted across the station’s deck. The bullet train was already halfway past the station by this point as warning signs chimed to stay clear of the sides. The demon paid them no heed and planting his spear tip into the station’s floor, vaulted up through the air towards the roof of the speeding locomotive.

Tapping on the spear once more, it flipped back and returned to its sword state. As Mura quickly descended towards the ivory roof of the blurring train, he gripped the hilt with both hands and summoned his strength.

Mura planted the blade into the roof, albeit for a brief moment. The second he came into contact with the lightning fast train, his body’s inertia jolted to a stop. He smacked into it at full force, causing his stomach and shoulders to spasm in pain. The train continued onward, uncaring of the demon’s suffering.

He violently tumbled across the roof, rolling and flipping like a ragdoll. As he began to slow, Mura seized his chance and once again, dug the sword’s unbreakable blade through the metal roof. This time, it stuck and he grinded to a halt as the sword carved the train’s top like a tin can.

“R-Renewal…” Mura said, causing a warm fuzzy feeling to overtake his body.

The spell healed his fractures and bruising while also restoring some stamina. Slowly, Mura struggled to kneel on the moving train as he could hear passengers gasping and reacting below to the blade protruding through their cabin.

Mura looked up briefly through squinted eyes, the blistering wind stinging his eyes and drying them out almost instantly. His shaggy black hair was blown back as the current whipped around it. For a short moment, he could spot the distinct shape of the shadow atop the peerless white roof.

—Bingo, he’s still here.

Mura smiled as he could imagine his suspect cursing him mentally for the relentless pursuit. Retracting his blade back into his slipstream ring, Mura used both hands to steadily begin moving toward the stationary shadow.

”Why isn’t he moving?”

—Well… he knows I can’t chase after him like this, for one. Second, he’s most likely waiting for his stop.

“You think he’s leading us somewhere?”

—At this point? Definitely. We’ve discovered him, so there’s no way he’s letting us live. He knows we can’t leave without his head, so most likely we’ll be walking into an ambush.

As Mura inched closer to his target, he could see the shape standing still and tapping its foot. The sight was surreal and reminded Mura of flipbook characters he’d seen as a child. Completely flat as paper, yet still moving as if they were alive and well.

After a few more seconds, the train approached a part of the city Mura hadn’t spotted before. It appeared to be a small but dense forest away from the packed city life; most likely used as a camping or wilderness destination. The train’s overpass was built running above the entrance to it, and within milliseconds they had reached it.

This was the moment the shadow was waiting for. It slid down the left side of the train onto the tracks and down the bridge to the trees below. Mura wasted no time, slowly standing to achieve a sense of coordinated balance before leaping off the bullet train.

Wind passed through Mura’s hair as he narrowly passed the stone supports holding up the bridge. Turning in midair, he quickly summoned his weapon for a third time and jammed it into the concrete structure.

The supernatural steel ripped through the stone like butter, yet achieved the desired effect of slowing Mura’s rapid descent. As he neared the ground, Mura yanked the blade from the support and gracefully fell the remaining meter to the ground.

By now the shadow was already deep into its forest lair. Mura brushed himself off and took in a deep breath of fresh air.

—We’re in his territory now. Be ready to come out if I need the backup.

Mura steadied his breathing, focusing the energy within his body. With only moonlight to light his path, he began to walk into the dark and foreboding nest of trees.

Luckily there was a dirt path that prevented the average traveler from straying off the beaten trail. Mura’s ears had slowly adjusted back from the intense ringing of the train, allowing him to hear the myriad of evening insects in the foliage.

“This is just like a horror movie… At least I’m nice and safe inside of you.”

—If I die you’ll kick the bucket as well.

Mura could hear Lilith’s shivering within his mind. Clearly she wasn’t a fan of the rural outdoors.

—Wait... I’m detecting a strong presence of Tamashiryoku nearby.

Mura felt the magical presence increase the further he walked into the depths of the forest. At this point, the exit was far behind them and nowhere in sight. He kept his guard up, tightening the grip on his sword. Up ahead around a curve in the trail was a barrier of rope with a yellow sign in Japanese.

It was a cautionary sign, forbidding people from going off the trail from this point onwards. Mura could make out a steep incline beyond the rope, likely sectioned off to prevent accidents. Of course, he also knew that meant far less people would interrupt any squatters making camp this far off the path.

Stepping over the rope, Mura approached the steep dip in land with care. He knelt down to prevent losing his balance and began to shimmy down the slope. The dry leaves underneath his feet provided a frictionless decent; causing the demon to slide down the hill like a snowboarder.

Once he reached the bottom, Mura could spot a faint glow in the distance to his left. It was partially obscured by a thick brush of towering trees and numerous bushes.

“Is that a campfire??” Lilith spoke with renewed vigor.

Mura agreed with the conclusion, staying near the bushes to avoid taking the obvious path. The light looked like it was coming from deep within a small cave, located underneath the large hill they had just been at. As he made his way closer, Mura could smell the scent of smoldering bark. Someone did have a fire going, yet there wasn’t any smoke to be seen.

However, Mura could smell something else. Something foul from the direction of the cavern, like rot and decay. That was when he took a step back and crouched lower to the ground. In the distance, Mura spotted two Shitidama nestled alongside the cave’s opening.

One was monstrously fat, lacking any sort of definition or shape to its body other than the rolls of blubber rippling down mounds of flesh. The other was sitting, but even without standing its height challenged the trees surrounding it. It was abnormally tall, with its limbs and torso so thin it was as if it had been constructed from toothpicks.

Both of the shitidama looked motionless, as if asleep. Clearly, they had reached the lair of whatever monster was plaguing the city of Ema. As Mura tried to come up with a plan of how he could possibly sneak past the two guard beasts, he detected the bushes rustling up ahead.

“What the hell was that? Another of those monsters?!”

—I don’t know for sure, but do you hear it? Listen closely…

Lilith listened again through Mura’s ears, gasping lightly when she heard the soft sounds of someone sniffling.

“That could be Tomoe! Maybe it’s even that Junko girl!!”

Mura kept that hopeful optimism in the back of his mind, but readied his sword nevertheless as he crouch-walked towards the rustling bushes. The sleeping shitidama were too far away to hear them, but Mura still approached with caution.

He loomed over the dark brush, spreading the branches aside to discover the source of the mysterious whimpers.

It was a girl they had never seen before. A child with purple braided hair and a ribbon bow secured onto her head. She looked up at Mura with a tear-stained face and terror in her eyes.

The girl opened her mouth and screamed.