Meanwhile, back at the Camp.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
Upon seeing the figure, the trio's eyes went wide.
"!!!"
And especially so for Yui.
"T-There's no way…"
Haru's voice cracked with disbelief.
All three teenagers stared in shock as the familiar figure continued walking toward them with that same unhurried pace.
This wasn't possible.
This person shouldn't be here.
… At least, not that they were aware of.
After all, the person before them is someone that took care of them one way or another since they were still a child…
"Ara ara~ How are you doing, Yui-chan... I missed you so much and you two boys."
Haori Naguya stood there like she'd just finished making dinner instead of appearing in an abandoned camp full of nightmares.
With the same gentle smile, same perfect posture, and same motherly aura that could make grown men confess their deepest secrets.
It was the woman who took care of them and probably knew them more than themselves.
"..."
Yui's medical kit finally hit the ground with a dull thud.
Her gaze was completely trembling as she stared at the familiar woman in front of her.
The woman who'd kissed her forehead every morning before school.
The woman who'd packed extra snacks in her lunch because she worried Yui wasn't eating enough.
And the woman she'd been dreaming about finding for the past month.
"... M-Mom?"
The word barely escaped her lips.
*Thump! Thump! Thump!*
Her heart hammered like it was trying to break out of her chest.
"... Haru, dude, chill."
Meanwhile, Kaito noticed his friend's white-knuckled grip on his staff and rolled his eyes.
"I know what you're thinking… You're acting like we're in some B-grade horror flick where the loving parent turns out to be a monster in disguise."
"Because this is exactly how those movies start!"
Haru's staff crackled with defensive lightning.
His analytical brain was throwing up red flags like a communist parade.
'Empty camp. Missing people. A perfectly fine mother appears out of nowhere. This is textbook horror movie bullshit.'
"Think about it logically! Where is everyone? How did she get here? Why does she look like she just stepped out of a beauty salon?"
But logic had already lost the war.
Because before they could even say anything…
"MOM!"
Yui launched herself forward like a rocket.
Tears exploded from her eyes as she crashed into Haori's arms.
"I missed you so much! I was so scared something happened to you!"
Her emotional dam didn't just burst; it completely disintegrated.
Each day of bottled fear, longing, and desperate hope poured out in sobs that shook her entire body.
"Shh, shh, my precious girl."
Haori's arms wrapped around her daughter with perfect maternal warmth.
Her voice carried that gentle tone that had soothed scraped knees and teenage heartbreaks.
"Mommy's here now. Everything will be fine."
Haru watched the reunion with the intensity of a hawk studying prey.
His Mind Derivative passive skill dissected every micro-expression, every gesture, and every vocal inflection.
But the data kept coming back clean.
Genuine parental love.
Real emotional responses.
Authentic body language.
'Shit. Am I just being paranoid? Maybe she really did make it here somehow…'
"See? Told you."
Kaito's grin was smug enough to power a small city.
"You've been reading too many conspiracy theories, bro. Sometimes people just survive and find their families."
"... Yeah, maybe you're right."
Haru lowered his staff slightly, feeling stupid for jumping to horror movie conclusions.
"I guess real life doesn't always follow predictable plot structures."
"Exactly! We were worried about dramatic twists, but sometimes things just work out."
Kaito stretched his arms with the satisfaction of someone who'd just won an argument.
"No evil shapeshifters, no mind control, no tragic reveals. Just a wholesome mom who missed her daughter and their sweet reunion–"
The words were barely out of his mouth when the area around them exploded into violence.
*Whoosh!*
Something moved in Kaito's peripheral vision.
Pure killing intent aimed directly at his throat.
"!!!"
Haru's eyes widened in absolute terror as instinct took over conscious thought.
*CRACKLE! ZAP!*
Blue lightning erupted from his staff like divine judgment.
The electrical bolt slammed into a shadow creature that had been milliseconds away from decapitating his friend.
*SCREECH!*
The thing let out a sound like grinding metal as it was blown backward into a building wall.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!"
Kaito spun around, his enhancement abilities flaring to life.
Orange energy wrapped around his fists as his brain processed the near-death experience.
"Well, looks like we fell for the cliché after all."
Haru's voice was grim as he charged up another spell.
His staff crackled with enough electricity to fry a small town.
*HISS! GROWL! SNARL!*
More shadows poured out from between buildings like liquid nightmares given form.
Their red eyes burned with malevolent hunger, and they moved with predatory grace that made wolves look clumsy.
But unfortunately, the shadows weren't the only problem.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
Footsteps echoed from every direction as people started emerging from the buildings.
It was the people from the Camp.
People they'd shared meals with and started to get along for the past month.
People who they'd somehow considered family.
"Hey! Everyone's okay!"
Kaito raised his hand in greeting, relief flooding his voice.
"We thought something terrible had happened, but you're all..."
"Kaito, don't!"
Haru's warning cut through the air like a blade.
The people they recognized turned to face them with movements that belonged in a puppet show.
It was jerky, unnatural, and wrong.
Mrs. Arenla from the kitchen staff stared at them with glassy, empty eyes.
But it was what Haru saw in those eyes that made his blood freeze.
There were glowing symbols.
Twisted runes that pulsed with red energy, carved into their pupils like magical tattoos.
David, the guard captain, lurched forward, his normally kind face blank and emotionless.
The same eerie symbols burned in his eyes, controlling his every movement like strings on a marionette.
Little Wendy, the girl who always asked Yui about bandages, moved with mechanical precision that no child should possess.
The glowing runes in her innocent eyes made her look like a living doll operated by an unseen puppetmaster.
*ROAR! HISS! GROWL!*
The entire camp erupted in inhuman noises as their mind-controlled friends charged forward with pure killing intent.
"They're not themselves! Look at their eyes!"
Haru shouted while pointing at the glowing symbols burned into their pupils.
"It's some kind of mind control magic!"
Kaito's fists blazed with enhancement energy as he prepared to fight people he'd eaten breakfast with just a while ago.
*CRACK! BOOM!*
Haru's lightning lit up the surroundings as he targeted the fastest attackers.
But even as his magic was not lethal enough just to restrain them, more kept coming.
"There's too many of them!"
*SLASH! TEAR! RIP!*
Mrs. Arenla's fingernails raked across Kaito's chest, missing his heart by inches.
The woman who used to slip him extra dessert was now attacking with mechanical precision, her movements controlled by those glowing symbols.
"This is so fucked up! They're being controlled!"
*ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!*
Haru's spells knocked three attackers unconscious, but more kept coming with that same eerie puppet-like coordination.
"The symbols in their eyes! Something's controlling them like marionettes!"
The battle was escalating into pure chaos as more mind-controlled survivors joined the assault.
*CRASH! BANG! ZAP!*
The sounds of combat grew louder and more desperate as Kaito and Haru fought for their lives against people they'd once called friends.
*BOOM!*
A particularly loud explosion from Haru's lightning magic echoed through the camp like thunder.
And through it all, in the middle of the chaos and violence and horror, Yui who remained locked in her mother's embrace finally snapped her eyes open.
The noise was impossible to ignore.
Even for someone lost in an emotional reunion.
Her tear-streaked face turned toward the chaos erupting around them.
She saw Kaito dodging Mrs. Arenla's claws.
While Haru is blasting David with electrical magic, engaging into a fierce fight.
Little Wendy is charging at them with those horrible glowing symbols burning in her innocent eyes.
Her friends were fighting for their lives against mind-controlled survivors that they built connections with for the past month.
And she was standing in the middle of it all, completely oblivious.
"W-What..."
Her voice cracked as the full horror of the situation hit her like a freight train.
"...W-What's happening?"
***
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