Everything else was a blur.

Everything felt hazy, harsh, and light, with a death-defying intent to live engrained in Liohime's heart as he had to think quickly.

"[SHI-]"

SHK!

Before he could summon Shihon, Kaza let a pocket knife fly, and unable to dodge, Liohime could only take on the force of the piercing blade into his right palm as he screamed with pain.

Instantly, the buff man from the room leaped towards him, extending his arm backwards to slash through his head with one clean strike.

Unable to summon his partner again in time, Liohime's instincts kicked in as he sidestepped the attack with only an inch of a gap and instantly ripped out the knife from his flesh, grunting and panting heavily

The blade of the axe smashed into the chair and through the floorboard with incredible strength, but Liohime held his breath as he sent a spinning kick into the head of Kaza, trying to take her down quickly so that he could get her out of the way in order to escape through the exit that was behind her.

With a swift move, Kaza blocked the kick with a strong right arm, but it was enough to still send her flying back due to the sheer force of the impact, leaving her arm stinging with numbness and pain altogether.

Just as Liohime tried to take a step forward, he realized that there was still a presence behind him, and with a split-second decision, he flipped backwards, over the direct swing of the man and his axe, before launching himself off of the wall with his feet and landing an axe kick to the head, sending the man sprawling while Liohime dashed to the door-

-And was instantly stopped by Kaza, who sent a mean right hook straight into his face, but was caught at the last millisecond by Liohime himself.

The impact of her punch against the open wound on Liohime's palm made him scream out, but amazingly, he did not flinch or pull his hand away.

Kaza let a punch fly with her left fist, which was also caught by the young man, and after a split-second standstill, she headbutted him with power, making him hobble back with pain before she sent a spin kick that bashed into his lower thigh, sending him flying backwards.

"GUH!!"

"I'll make sure you release Kanshido to us! I'LL MAKE SURE OF IT!!!"

She leaned forward and punched with her right, but Liohime dodged just in time, caught her right hand with his left hand, and sent a flying backfisted strike into her face with his right, knocking her back with force, just before he caught the diving attack of the axe from above, stopping the man with his own two hands.

However, with his strength diminishing quickly due to the overwhelming pain, he had been slammed into the ground, unable to completely stop the recoil of the attack, but just as he was now cornered by the two…

He whipped out his handgun from his pocket, and he held the trigger, ready to shoot as the duo flinched on instinct-

Click.

And nothing came out.

Liohime's heart skipped a beat, but he improvised as if he knew that his gum was either out of bullets or jammed.

"[Receive Abilities]."

With a perfect distraction granting him enough time, he opted for Shihon's Magical Beast powers for his own usage, and as he outstretched his hand, he slapped the floorboards beneath him, summoning vine spikes that shot out from below with an uncountable quantity.

The stabbed right through the man killing him instantly, while others grazed and slashed against Kaza's arms, legs, abdomen, thighs and the sides of her face as they held her up in midair, with a very lucky scenario of not one vine piercing through her completely.

Either way, Liohime did not have time to waste on checking the status of his two opponents, so he immediately dashed towards the door and sped out, catching the glances of many passers-by, and a guard that was just about to enter the room.

He ran, and ran, and ran, until he reached the gate, with some people from the Killcount camp eyeing him suspiciously and following him until a scream and pandemonium erupted from within the base.

Knowing exactly why, Liohime did not spend any more time standing still, and leapt off into nearby bushes, traversing and searching for the entry to the third layer.

***

"What? Are you fucking serious?"

"Do you really think that I'm joking about this, Poly!?"

"W-Well, you joke about a lot of things, so I just assumed-"

"Not about this, I won't!" Melty replied in a panic.

The two of the three Piglet Squad members, Poly and Koro, exchanged worried glances, and instantly decided to follow Melty, who had rushed over to their settlement on the southernmost side of the Killcount camp.

Melty had just been told that Liohime Kitagami had attacked Kaza, the leader of their base, and was now on the run.

Kaza had survived the attack, but she now had several injuries on her body. Despite this, they had ordered an extensive manhunt in order to kill the young man, stating that he currently had one of the two Magical Beasts that governed their entire land. There might be a plan from Liohime to also retrieve Kinen, the second one, so-

"-So watch the people that we all captured even more closely as they must be associated with him," Melty continued, "and the manhunt will split into two groups. One will look for Liohime on the second layer, throughout the Lost Forest. He couldn't have gone far. The next group will go along with Kaza to the third layer just in case they meet anyone there or heading there."

Koro nodded. "Okay, but we should also request assistance from the Dalquestis camp."

"Agreed. Let's do this, girls."

With Melty, Poly and Koro now joining the Liohime Manhunt Regiment, they all looked ahead to Kaza's next instructions.

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