With that, Kagerou and Kanae spent the rest of the day resting. When dusk returned and the second night of the Final Selection began, the air grew heavy again... yet even then, Kanae still hadn't answered Kagerou's question.
That night, they didn't stay in one place.
Instead, they roamed the forest together, no longer the hunted, but the hunters.
Whenever they heard the faintest sound, a growl, a whisper, a tremor in the wind, they came, and they slew.
All through the night, that was what Kagerou and Kanae did. They fought side by side, and along the way, they found other participants struggling to survive. Those who could no longer continue, they carried or guided to safety, telling them to wait until morning. Those who still had strength left, they aided briefly before moving on again.
As the night deepened, they ventured farther and farther into the forest. The deeper they went, the fewer demons appeared, but the ones that did were stronger, fiercer, more desperate.
Yet to Kanae, it wasn't about the hunt anymore.
With Kagerou beside her, silent, steady, and unshakable, that endless night became something precious.
A fleeting moment of calm in the midst of chaos. A memory she didn't want to lose. An experience that would help her grow stronger than she already was.
---
On the fourth night, after another fierce battle, they rested beneath the shadow of the withered trees. The scent of blood still lingered faintly in the air, iron, ash, and damp earth.
Then they heard it.
A scream.
Not the shriek of a demon, but a human's desperate cry for help.
Kagerou's eyes snapped open. Kanae froze mid-breath. Their gazes met.
"…Have you already taken a good rest, Kocho-san?" Kagerou asked, his tone calm but his hand already reaching for his Ninjato.
"I'm ready to go," Kanae replied, pushing herself to her feet.
"Good." Kagerou nodded once, the faintest trace of a smile crossing his face. "Then let's see what kind of demon this time"
They ran, swift and silent, their footsteps barely disturbing the forest floor.
The scream came again, weaker now, trembling with terror. It led them into an open clearing, where the moonlight pooled like silver water.
And there it stood.
A grotesque figure crouched over the shattered body of a boy. Its skin was a sickly shade of green, covered in swollen, pulsating arms that twisted and writhed like serpents. Each hand moved with a will of its own, gripping, clawing, grasping at the dirt as though hungry for more flesh.
Its face was warped, the mouth split too wide, teeth jagged and yellowed, eyes gleaming with ancient hatred.
Kagerou's gaze sharpened. "So… this is the one," he muttered.
Kanae felt her breath catch as the creature turned toward them, its countless hands flexing in eerie anticipation.
The Hand Demon grinned, a trembling, soundless grin that cut across its warped face like a wound.
"Ohh… more meat, huh?" it hissed, voice bubbling with malice. "But where are Urokodaki's little brats? He used to send me such sweet ones… Has he stopped?"
Kanae's blood ran cold.
Kagerou stepped forward, his hand resting on his Ninjato.
"Kocho-san," he said softly, eyes narrowing. "Stay sharp. This one isn't like the others"
The words had barely left his mouth when the earth shuddered.
The Hand Demon lunged forward, dozens of arms clawing into the soil, propelling its grotesque form toward them like a beast unchained.
Kanae instinctively stepped back, her grip tightening around her katana. But before she could move, Kagerou lifted one hand slightly, palm open.
"Stay back," he said quietly. "I'll handle this. You stay low and look for an opening"
Kanae hesitated for only a breath, then nodded.
And then... she felt it.
The air around Kagerou changed. The still calm that usually surrounded him sharpened, condensed into something colder… heavier. A silent pressure rippled outward, so subtle yet suffocating that even the falling leaves seemed to stop midair.
Kagerou inhaled deeply... slow, deliberate.
"…First Form: Soul Mist"
A long, controlled exhale followed.
Smoke burst from his lungs, thick and gray, curling around him like a living shroud. The moonlight dimmed behind the haze; the forest blurred into soft silhouettes and shifting shadows.
Within that fog, Kagerou's outline flickered, there one heartbeat, gone the next. His presence wavered like a reflection on rippling water.
The Hand Demon roared and swung, dozens of arms slamming through the smoke. Each strike cut through the mist and through Kagerou's form alike, only for its claws to meet nothing but air.
Its grin faltered.
Another blow... nothing.
Another... still nothing.
The fog thickened, curling around its limbs, whispering with every failed strike.
The demon's expression twisted, confusion bleeding into rage. "Wh-what trick is this?! Where are you hiding, brat?!"
But Kagerou's voice came from everywhere and nowhere, low, calm, almost carried by the smoke itself.
"Right here"
The demon turned, and for a fleeting instant, Kagerou's figure shimmered into view, then... vanished again.
The fog twisted.
Shadows within the mist began to move... too many, too fast.
Then-
"Third Form: Shrouded Shadow!"
Kagerou's body fragmented into countless silhouettes that darted through the haze, every movement leaving behind a lingering afterimage.
To the demon's eyes, it was chaos incarnate. A dozen swordsmen encircled it, each one moving with lethal precision, every blade gleaming faintly in the moonlight that filtered through the drifting smoke.
Every swing of Kagerou's sword molded the fog itself, reshaping it, animating it, until the smoke became his ally, his weapon, his reflection.
The Hand Demon howled in fury, claws slashing through the air as it tore at the phantoms around it. But each time, its target dissolved into vapor, reforming elsewhere.
It struck again, only to meet empty air. Again, and the mist swallowed its attack whole.
"Too slow," Kagerou's voice echoed, soft and distant, as if whispered from the smoke itself.
Then...
*Slash!*
A single flash of steel cut through the haze. One clean, merciless strike.
The demon roared as its arm spun into the air, disintegrating into ash before it could touch the ground.
Kanae stood frozen, eyes wide. The rhythm of battle unfolded before her like a dance, each motion deliberate, serene, and deadly. The way the mist followed his breath, the way it obeyed him, this wasn't just mastery.
It was art.
The forest became a stage of smoke and moonlight, where sound and light were muted, where breath and death shared the same air.
And within that ephemeral haze, Kagerou was both ghost and blade.
Untouchable.
Invisible.
Inevitable.