The roar split the jungle like a crack of thunder.
Birds scattered from the canopy. Leaves shivered. The ground itself seemed to hum beneath Sakura's boots. She gripped the stone pillar beside her, pulse leaping.
Renji cursed. "Damn it. It's back."
But even he could tell: this wasn't the same wild sound they'd heard before. It was controlled. A command, not a cry.
From the shadows of the ruins' entrance, that same Beast emerged. Its massive shoulders brushed the archway, muscles coiled beneath fur that shimmered unnaturally in the faint light. Its amber eyes were sharp—not hungry, not desperate. Focused.
Sakura's throat went dry. "It's different now."
"Yeah. Last time it looked like a feral tiger. Now it looks like… like a soldier."
They backed away slowly as it prowled forward.
Then it lunged.
Renji barely had time to shove Sakura aside before claws raked through the space they'd occupied. Stone exploded where they struck, shards flying.
"Move!" he shouted.
Sakura scrambled behind a pillar. Her mind screamed with options, calculations. But instinct took over—she imagined a wall of light, and her shield snapped into being just as the Beast's tail whipped around.
The barrier cracked under the impact but held.
Renji whistled even as he ducked. "Not bad, princess!"
"This isn't a game!" she shouted back, sweat beading on her brow.
"Feels like one to me!"
The Beast twisted, focusing on Renji. It pounced, jaws gaping wide.
Time stuttered.
Renji blinked—and suddenly he was two seconds earlier, still crouched, the Beast mid-lunge.
"…What the—?!" He rolled aside, heart hammering. "Sakura! It happened again!"
"Less shouting, more surviving!"
The chamber became chaos.
Sakura projected barrier after barrier, each cracking like fragile glass under the Beast's relentless strength. Every impact sent a shiver through her bones. She tried shaping them differently—angled walls, domes, even spikes—but the more complex the image, the more strain it placed on her.
Her hair clung to her damp face. Another strand of silver gleamed under the torchlight. She didn't notice.
Renji darted between broken columns, instincts sharper than ever. Twice, three times, the world rewound for him by mere seconds—just enough to dodge what should have been fatal strikes. Each rewind left him gasping, chest burning, as though his body hated being unraveled.
"Okay—new rule!" he panted. "We do not let this thing touch us. Ever."
"You don't say, idiot?!"
The Beast's tail slammed down, cracking the stone floor. The ruins shook. Dust rained from above.
Sakura staggered. Her shield flickered.
The Beast sensed weakness. It lunged again, faster, sharper—directed.
For a heartbeat, Sakura froze. Her dream from the other night flashed in her mind—shields shattering, fragments stabbing into her chest. Fear clenched her lungs.
But Renji's voice cut through. "SAKURA!"
She gritted her teeth, forced herself to imagine not just a wall—but a dome, enveloping them both. Light burst outward, shimmering, enclosing them just as the Beast struck.
The impact rang like a gong. The barrier trembled, fractured—but didn't break.
Renji stared, wide-eyed. "…Okay. That's actually badass."
Sakura collapsed to her knees, breath ragged. "Don't… flatter me now…"
The Beast snarled, circling. It pressed against invisible strings, movements too deliberate. Not hunting. Testing.
And then—for the briefest instant—both of them saw it.
Beyond the archway, half-veiled in mist, stood the cloaked figure.
Its hand was raised.
And when it clenched its fist, the Beast roared and charged again.
Renji swore. "Sh*t! It's on a leash! Someone's controlling it!"
Sakura forced herself upright, legs shaking. "Then we cut the leash."
"How?!"
She didn't answer. She imagined harder—imagined her shield not just as defense, but as a blade. The dome warped, reshaping. A shard of light jutted outward.
The Beast slammed into it—howling as the shard sliced its shoulder. Black ichor hissed against the floor.
Renji seized the chance. He darted forward, grabbing a broken pillar spear. With a yell, he jammed it into the wound.
The Beast convulsed, shrieking. The chamber rattled.
But before they could press the advantage, the figure lowered its hand.
The Beast froze mid-motion. Its amber eyes dulled, dimming to something glassy. Then it staggered back, retreating through the archway like a puppet with cut strings.
Sakura and Renji stood heaving, sweat-drenched and trembling.
The ruins fell silent again.
Renji let out a shaky laugh. "Well. That sucked."
Sakura's voice shook. "We weren't fighting the Beast."
He looked at her, frowning. "What do you mean?"
Her eyes hardened. "We were fighting whoever was controlling it."
They both turned toward the archway.
The figure was gone.
But the echo of its presence lingered, thick as smoke.
And they knew—next time, it wouldn't just be a Beast.
...
Night has passed and they both returned back to where they camped yesterday. Foraging for edible plants, fishing, and building fire.
Sakura made mental notes on which plants are edible or poisonous or medicinal after some... experiments... on some extra fishes Renji caught.
Renji's fishing skills have improved after some trial and error.
Both sat by the fire as they grilled their respective fishes. They were both quiet for a while as they contemplate on what just happened.
Sakura broke the silence as she suddenly made a declaration on Renji. "We need to train."
Renji, being serious for once, nod in agreement. "I agree. Since we'll just be stuck in this world for some time, we need to train ourselves to get stronger."
He stared at his right hand that held the stick with the grilled fish in it. "We can both see that we've actually gained powers the moment we got sent into this world. Your dream-like powers and my time manipulation thingy."
"Right. Just as how he had envisioned for humanity. We've gained powers beyond human comprehension."
She picked out a stick used to burn the fire and used the burned part to draw on the ground. "So approximately yesterday, we arrived at this world after a mishap with the Chrono Splicer. It was also yesterday when when started showing signs of powers."
She drew arrows and encircle the Beast's name-or lack thereof-as the illustration slowly formed a diagram. "The Beast then sensed us and attacked us yesterday. And just a while ago, it attacked again. This time, controlled by that mysterious puppet master."
Then, she wrote both of their names on the other side of the diagram and drew another diagram. "We have a bit of an understanding on how our powers worked. From what you mentioned, you can go back in time for a few seconds while I can make anything that I imagined come true."
"The problem is that we're both weak. We nearly died from that monster if it weren't for you creating that blade shield thingy." Renji stated as he took the stick from her and added some words on the diagram, pointing towards their abilities.
"That's right. We lack so many things. One of them being stamina as we easily get tired after using our powers for a while. Another is strength. We are both weak. We cannot exactly hold on to our powers for long. My shield easily broke. You can only turn back for a few seconds but was still nearly decapacitated."
Renji nodded at her observations. "But how should we train? We don't exactly have any teachers and we can't exactly leave this place yet and find civilization. Maybe other wild monsters like that beast a while ago may target us again."
Sakura pondered on that question for a while. Then, she looked at Renji with seriousness on her face, "We'll do our training via cultivation-style."
Renji looked surprised at her suggestion and grinned like an idiot. "Cultivation style? I thought you were all work and no breaks. Guess you also have some hobbies, huh?"
"Of course I have hobbies. I'm not an AI." she deadpanned.
"But seriously. I think cultivation style is our best way of training. Personally speaking, they have a better tier system and we can gauge our abilities' strength with their system. We can follow how those Chinese cultivation novels and manhuas do it. We'll first start with meditation to increase our own aura or qi or whatever our spiritual energy is called."
"Damn. You already have it all planned out, huh? Sure. Cultivation way it is. Thankfully, I'm also familiar with them and not just our Japanese fantasy manga and sh*t," said Renji as he still grinned like an idiot.
He stood up and stretched his arms. "With the Chinese' cultivation way, we might become immortals ourselves."
Sakura smirked at his antics.
For now, they need to get stronger to survive in this new world.
And who knows? They might return back to their own world or as what he said, become immortals themselves.
Unbeknownst to them both, their own mentally and moralities have slowly changed and their own bodies have slowly undergone transformation.