The dust slowly began to settle...
Everyone watched where Minamoto had directed the chain.
Silence.
He yanked the chain hard...
But what emerged wasn't a whole body...
Just a single arm, covered in severed tentacles, writhing slowly as if it were still alive.
Minamoto was confused and gripped the chain tightly.
Everyone turned quickly.
Where's Carradale?
And in the same second...
He was standing behind Kaito.
Deadly still...
He reached out his cold, long, deformed hand towards Kaito's head, as if a single touch would be enough to transform him into something else.
But...
BOOM!!
Suddenly, Taiko appeared like an angry meteor.
With a single punch, he tore through the air and struck Carradale squarely in the face.
A sharp, bone-shattering sound tore through the air.
Caradal was thrown with terrible force and collided with a boulder behind them.
The boulder exploded, scattering debris, and the tunnel shook.
Taiko stood there, breathing slowly, then said in a deep voice:
"In boxing... treachery isn't among the rules."
Kaito approached, stunned, his chest heaving.
He raised his head toward his father, then said in a broken voice:
"Thanks... Dad."
The others followed: Tsuki, Hiro-shin, Hana, Saya...
They all gathered around Kaito, and he smiled faintly.
But...
It wasn't over.
They heard that sound...
Whistling.
A faint melody, as if emerging from a grave...
Slow, cold, and distorted, seeping into the bones.
Caradal stood far away, half of his body shattered, but whistling.
Not attacking...not speaking...just whistling that melody.
And suddenly...
Kaito screams.
He collapses to his knees, clutching his ears tightly.
Tears stream from his eyes, his face trembling.
"Aaaah... Stop him... Stop him...!"
Tsuki rushes over, trying to touch him:
"Kaito! What's wrong? Answer me!!"
But Kaito only screams.
He hears no one.
He sees nothing.
It's as if the melody is piercing his mind.
Taiko and Minamoto move immediately.
They pounce on Carradale,
They beat him... But he doesn't resist.
He just stands there, smiling, whistling.
Taiko approaches him, grabs his head, and with all his might...
He crushes his skull with his iron fist.
He's silent.
The melody stops.
But Kaito... is still screaming.
Minamoto approached him, looked into his trembling eyes, and then reached for his neck...
One blow.
Kaito lost consciousness.
He fell silently to the ground.
Everyone finally breathed...
But their faces were not at ease.
The tunnel had swallowed the echoes of the recent struggle, and the silence was heavier than the stones.
Taiko carried his son's body on his shoulder.
His face bore only a wary expression,
His eyes staring into the expanding darkness, as if searching for answers rather than shelter.
After a period of silent walking,
the group found a deep cave sloping inward, embraced by a stone wall as if nature had deliberately hidden it.
They entered it silently.
The girls skillfully prepared the food, using simple tools.
Minamoto sat guard at the entrance of the cave.
Hairo Shin approached Taiko, who sat on a stone, nursing a deep wound on his arm.
"May I touch these gloves?"
Hairo Shin asked cautiously, reaching for the massive iron gloves.
"If you lift them, I'll give you one."
Taiku replied sarcastically.
Haeru Shin clenched his arms, trying to lift one of them...
But it wouldn't move.
Taiko chuckled softly and continued bandaging his wound.
Kaito was still lying on an old cloak beside the rock wall,
His eyes closed, but his forehead dripped with sweat.
And inside him... he was seeing.
Glimpses...
Distorted images.
A great temple in the blackness,
Men and women in strange cloaks forming circles around a great rock punctuated by cracks of darkness.
Everyone was chanting... the same tune that had torn him apart in battle.
The echo was inside him, as if the tune was summoning these memories, not him.
And suddenly...
Indeed—while Minamoto sat guard—
a faint noise came from his pocket.
He pulled out a small, dark, smooth ball, which began to glow a deep blue, and then a small flame appeared above it.
Everyone gathered immediately, except Kaito.
They crouched quietly around the flame.
But what came next was not heard by ears,
but by spirits.
"Children..."
It was an old voice,
but it carried a power unseen in words,
a voice that inspired stillness, awe, and fear.
Everyone looked toward Minamoto, who said quietly:
"Hello, Chief."
A brief silence.
Then the voice asked:
"How are you, Taiko, and the rest of the squad? And what about the other squads?"
Minamoto responded without emotion:
"We're fine... We're under some pressure. The other squads... have probably been wiped out.
I tried to contact the spirit device... and found no living souls."
A faint sigh was heard from the flame.
"And what about that boy?"
All eyes turned to Kaito, lying voiceless.
Minamoto was about to speak, but Taiko preceded him:
"He's fine."
He said it in a heavy tone, his gaze fixed on Minamoto,
as if the sentence wasn't an answer... but a silent warning.
Silence fell again.
Then the chief spoke his final words:
"Our fate... depends on you."
The flame went out.
And the laurel sank... into the silence of the soul.
Fin chapter