They decided to run and not stop running until the terrain changed.

Earthy plains gave way to darker boreal trees, the elevation a bit higher than they were at before to get a better vantage.

Mazin skidded to a halt first, throwing an arm out.

"Here!"

Ryn stumbled behind him, nearly colliding as Kato turned sharply and ducked behind a massive trunk. The forest swallowed them instantly as the sheer amount of trees kept visibility low.

"Don't relax just yet," Mazin said sharply. "They're probably right on our tail."

As if to prove the point, something heavy snapped a branch somewhere deeper in the woods. Another sound followed right after the first.

Ryn straightened. "We run back. The doors—"

"We won't make it," Mazin cut in immediately.

Ryn froze. "What?"

Mazin turned, eyes hard. "We're slower in open ground. They've already flanked us once. If we try to retreat…it won't end well."

Kato didn't argue.

He simply leaned his spear against the tree and rolled his shoulders once.

"We stand our ground," Mazin continued. "At least here, the trees limit their movements."

Ryn swallowed. "Against both of them?"

Mazin exhaled slowly.

"That's where the plan comes in."

Ryn looked between them. "What plan?"

Mazin glanced at Kato.

Just once.

"Kato," Mazin said, "tell him."

The forest creaked.

Kato hesitated.

It was subtle, but for the first time since the massacre, Ryn saw something like reluctance pass across his face.

"I can…" Kato began, then stopped. "I can interfere with them. Briefly."

Ryn frowned. "Interfere how?"

"I don't know, " he said after a while. "I just…can."

Ryn's blood ran cold.

"You can control monsters?"

"No," Kato replied immediately. "I can nudge them, at most, a few seconds at a time. And one at a time."

Mazin nodded. "That's our trump card."

Ryn stared at Kato, mind racing.

So this is it.

This is what Kato meant by adaptation.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Ryn demanded.

Kato met his gaze at last.

"Because it doesn't work if I panic," he said simply. "And it doesn't work if I'm wrong."

Another branch snapped—closer this time.

Mazin stepped forward, voice low and fast. "Listen carefully. We don't try to kill the bear. We slow it. I'll draw the bear. Kato buy us time and puts the deer out of commission."

Ryn tightened his grip on his spear.

"And me?"

Mazin looked at him.

"Survive," he said. "And don't waste the moment Kato gives us."

Ryn nodded.

Then something massive pushed between the trees

Leaves rained down in front of them.

Mazin raised his spear.

"Positions."

Kato moved first.

He stepped out from behind the tree and slammed the butt of his spear into the ground. His eyes locked onto the deer just as it burst through the undergrowth, body twisting unnaturally as it lunged.

And then it stuttered.

Just for a fraction of a second.

Its momentum faltered, head jerking slightly to the side as if something had tugged at its thoughts.

"That's it!" Mazin shouted.

He was already moving.

The bear charged.

Ryn barely had time to register it before Mazin sprinted straight toward the massive shape, spear held low.

The bear swung.

A brutal, downward swipe that would've crushed him.

Mazin wasn't there.

He shifted before the claws came down, sliding just past the arc of the strike like he'd already known where it would land. The claws smashed into the earth, sending dirt and splinters flying everywhere.

The bear roared and followed through, twisting its body, jaws snapping—

Mazin ducked again.

Ryn couldn't believe his eyes. It was hard to think that these children were orphans and not trained soldiers with at least 20 years of experience.

Mazin's footwork was precise. Each step placing him just outside danger with no wasted motion. He thrust his spear upward into the bear's shoulder, not deep but enough to stagger it and force its weight to shift.

Ryn stared.

That movement—

He's not guessing, Ryn thought, heart pounding. He's predicting.

It was the same feeling Ryn got when the world slowed, when the same paths of light told him what to do.

Aquila.

The name surface.

Ryn shook his head, forcing his focus back to the fight.

Behind them, the deer shrieked.

Kato stood rigid, face pale, jaw clenched tight as sweat beaded along his temples

The deer lurched, confused, its movements jerky and unfocused as if it couldn't decide which of them to tear apart first.

"Now!" Mazin barked.

Ryn tightened his grip on his spear and stepped forward.

Whatever Mazin was—

Whatever Kato was doing—

This was the opening.

Ryn stepped forward, raising his fingers in the usual motion and thought of Orion. Yet, when he reached for the power…nothing answered.

His breath hitched.

My Blessings—

Nothing.

They weren't sealed or anything.

They simply weren't there.

For a split second, panic flared—

Techniques, he realized. I still have my techniques.

The deer twisted toward him, its hesitation breaking as Kato's control wavered. Antlers scraped nearby wood bark as it reoriented, long limbs waiting to lunge.

Ryn moved first.

He slid in under the creature's reach and drove his spear forward in a straight into the creature's stomach. Then, with all his strength, he carved it all the way up to the deer's chest.

His Essence surged after.

"—Frost Bloom."

Cold flooded along the wound, seeping into muscle, bone, and organ alike. For a single heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then the crystals bloomed.

Ice erupted from inside the wendigo's body, jagged frost tearing outward along veins and joints, rupturing it from within. The creature convulsed violently, screaming loudly as it slowly started to lock-up.

The second burst shattered it.

Frozen fragments hit the ground in brittle pieces, the body collapsing inward on itself as the cold finished its work.

Ryn staggered back a step, breath sharp in his chest.

Kato stared at him in disbelief.

"When—when'd you learn to do that?"

He tried to come up with some excuse, a deflection from Kato's question, but a loud thud distracted them both.

Ryn turned around to see Mazin, slumped on a nearby tree, a large crater left on its trunk, clearly the landing area where he was launched to.

"Shit," Ryn muttered, already moving.

"Now's not the time."

Ryn moved towards Mazin, putting a finger onto his neck to check for vitals. When he heard a heartbeat, his body relaxed for a second. Before tensing up immediately at the sudden pressure from the bear.

He gripped his spear tighter. Now it was his turn to buy time.

Ryn moved as the bear's claw descended onto him.

Too late.

The attack barely managed to graze his shoulder, hard enough to spin him sideways.

He stumbled, barely catching himself before he fell.

Damn it—

This body was wrong.

His reach was shorter. His weight distribution was off. Movements that should've cleared clean instead felt clunky and awkward.

The bear didn't miss.

It advanced methodically now, lunging at him with its jaw.

But it was a feint.

Ryn shifted—

—and the bear's shoulder slammed into him, sending him skidding across the forest floor. He rolled hard, skin scraping off his arm from the harsh floor, breath ripping out of his lungs.

Blood trickled down slowly.

Small hits, he realized distantly. Too many of them.

He forced himself up, legs shaking.

Behind him, Mazin lay motionless against the shattered tree, blood darkening his sleeve. Still unconscious.

It was just him now.

The bear roared and lunged again.

Ryn dodged…but not enough.

Claws raked across his thigh, pain exploding as his leg buckled. He hit the ground hard, spear skittering out of reach.

The bear loomed over him.

Its shadow swallowed him whole as it raised a massive paw, muscles bunching for the final blow.

Shit! I'm too slow, Ryn thought. Not enough time to—

He raised his arm to brace for the impact…yet none came.

Ryn looked up to see the bear completely frozen mid-motion, arm still mid-swing.

Ryn's eyes snapped wide.

He looked past the bear.

Kato stood several meters away, spear planted into the earth to keep himself upright. His face was pale, deathly so. Blood trickled from the corner of his nose, dripping onto the soil.

His eyes were calm, focused, and almost…out of it, like he was staring into a different dimension altogether.

The bear shuddered.

Kato inhaled once.

Then spoke a single phrase.

"Kill yourself."

The words weren't loud, yet the scene happened immediately.

The bear's body jerked violently.

Its frozen limb slammed down—not toward Ryn, but inward, claws tearing into its own chest. Bone cracked and flesh split as it created a massive and gaping hole within its own chest.

Then finally, the bear crashed down hard into the dirt, eyes losing its life.

Ryn didn't move.

He just stared.

Kato exhaled slowly, and dropped to one knee.

The bear didn't move again.

Its body lay twisted in on itself, massive frame collapsed into the forest floor like a broken monument.

"How…" Ryn started, then stopped.

His throat felt dry.

How could someone do that? Commanding monsters was in the territory of relics, he'd seen one before: The Flute of Echoes.

But even a relic could only control impulse.

Kato had just told the bear to off itself.

Ryn's gaze dropped even lower.

Blood was dripping from Kato's nose, dark against pale skin, falling steadily onto the ground.

His chest tightened.

That sight was familiar, more like the consequences.

But instead of the eyes, it was the nose.

However, there was one feeling he couldn't get rid of, one that Ryn could no longer label a coincidence.

It was the instinctual pull inside his head, the same one that got him here in the first place.

Was Kato…part of the Evernight Cult?

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