"What the hell are you doing?!"
A furious growl cut through the night breeze near the train station. A massive bow, woven from nine serpentine strands, was drawn taut by a girl with long black hair and a tear-shaped mole near her eye. Her aim locked onto a figure in a red-and-black theatrical outfit standing not far off.
"This doesn't concern you, Ritsuki Shiina," the other girl, with medium-length hair, said coolly. She summoned a shadowy veil to cloak herself, her words only stoking Ritsuki's rage.
"Kairin, you bastard!"
Ritsuki released the bowstring, sending a venom-laced, deep purple arrow of demonic energy slicing through the night. "Hydra!"
"Same old, same old," Kairin replied, effortlessly swallowing the arrow with her shadows. She drew a pitch-black dagger from her side. "I told you, my name's Timoris now—Fear."
She melted into the shadows, reappearing at Ritsuki's side, her dagger flashing toward her neck. "Why do you keep chasing me? Don't you have someone else worth worrying about?"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Ritsuki blocked the dagger with her bow, locking eyes with Kairin's emotionless stare.
Kairin used to be her friend.
They didn't go to the same junior high, but they still hung out now and then. After Ritsuki's demon-hunting team fell apart, she never spoke about it, but Kairin picked up on her pain. She was there for her when Ritsuki was at her lowest.
But then, everything changed. After starting high school, Kairin—who'd promised to enroll at the same school as Ritsuki—vanished. Ritsuki searched tirelessly for her, only to uncover the truth while investigating another missing classmate. On a moonlit night, she saw Kairin… as a demon.
Kairin hadn't just disappeared—she was causing the disappearances. The revelation nearly broke Ritsuki's spirit.
But she wasn't one to stay down. Every night since, she armed herself with her demon-slaying weapon—the nine-headed Hydra bow—and patrolled the city, hunting Kairin, who could slip through shadows at will, to stop her schemes.
Tonight, though, was different. For once, Kairin didn't flee when Ritsuki found her. She chose to fight.
"Exactly what I said," Kairin replied in a flat tone. "Tonight's target is too important to screw up… or she'll have my hide."
Ritsuki's heart skipped a beat. "Someone I know?"
"Yep." Timoris smirked, glancing over Ritsuki's shoulder. "And she's here."
Even if it might be a demon's lie, Ritsuki couldn't help but turn. The moment she did, she froze.
"Takanotsume?"
It was Tomori Tak松, the girl who'd recently fled from two others. She was also one of Ritsuki's former teammates.
"Takanotsume!" Ritsuki shouted, but Tomori didn't respond. She stumbled forward, clutching a notebook, her eyes vacant, like a puppet with cut strings. Not far behind her trailed a pink-haired girl Ritsuki didn't recognize.
"It's no use," Kairin said coldly. "She's ours now."
"You think you can pull this off alone?!" Ritsuki snapped, her anger boiling over for the first time in years. She drew her bow, nine deep purple arrows materializing on the string, aimed skyward without hesitation.
This was Hydra's ultimate attack. The nine arrows would rain down a toxic deluge feared by any demon, pooling into a viscous swamp of poison on the ground. In the past, paired with Tomori's aerial barrages, no demon could withstand it.
But— "You really think I'd come alone for a target this important?" Kairin said.
A horde of massive demonic puppets appeared, surrounding Tomori. A green-haired girl leapt from the lead puppet, arms outstretched as if to embrace Tomori.
Ritsuki's eyes widened. "Mutsu?!"
She whipped her gaze back to Timoris, fury in her voice. "Why is she with you?! What the hell did you do?!"
Kairin didn't answer. Trapped in their duel, Ritsuki couldn't break free to save Tomori. All she could do was call out in despair, watching helplessly as Tomori walked into Mutsu's embrace.
"Takanotsume!!!"
Meanwhile, Aine, who'd followed Tomori out of concern, cowered in a corner, trembling.
"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!"
She hadn't expected to stumble into another demon trap. The archer nearby was likely Soyo's ally, but facing two demons alone, she was clearly outmatched.
"Well, isn't this a bad spot, missy."
A voice sounded beside Aine. She turned to see a silver-haired girl with crimson eyes, dressed in a tailcoat, mask, and top hat.
"Samael?" Aine gasped, hope flaring.
This girl had once saved Aine from demons—or so Aine believed. She figured Samael was like Soyo and the archer, bound by a contract with Ace.
"Stay low," Samael said with a grin, unsheathing a whip-like serpent sword from her coat and charging into the puppet horde.
"…Her again?" Kairin muttered, frowning at the newcomer.
Ritsuki seized the moment. She fired two arrows into the ground, the poison seeping in to block Kairin's shadow escape. Raising her bow, she aimed at her former friend.
"Such a pain," Kairin growled, deflecting the toxic arrows with a shadow-forged blade. She retreated from the poison pool and sank into the shadows.
Ritsuki moved to pursue, but her own shadow writhed, breaking free from the ground and morphing into a demon. In a blink, Kairin reappeared behind Mutsu—Death.
"Death, we keeping this up?" she asked.
Mutsu nodded silently, faint red threads glowing behind her. Tomori, drawn to the light, reached out to take Mutsu's hand.
But in an instant, Samael's hand pressed down on Tomori's head. Tomori collapsed, unconscious, crumpling to the ground.
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