The air stank of smoke and blood. The ruined town square burned behind her, corpses strewn across the rubble.
Miyu's tendrils writhed like a storm around her, slamming into the ground, cracking stone, tearing through walls. The mouths shrieked with inhuman joy, gnashing their teeth as if tasting the fear radiating from the two men standing against her.
Sam and Dean Winchester.
Dean raised his shotgun, aiming for her head. "Alright, freakshow, round two. Let's dance."
Miyu's eyes flared crimson. Her lips peeled back into a grin that split too wide, too sharp. "Dance? No… let's feed."
She lunged.
The ground shook as her tendrils slammed toward the hunters. Sam rolled to the side, chanting a Latin exorcism spell as he flung holy water toward her. The liquid hissed as it splashed against her shadows, smoke rising where it touched, but the wounds sealed almost instantly.
Miyu shrieked, her laughter jagged. "It doesn't work! Nothing works! I can't die!"
"Yeah?" Dean muttered, pulling a grenade from his jacket. "Let's test that theory."
He hurled it.
The flashbang exploded in a burst of holy light. Miyu screamed, clutching her face, her extra eyes boiling red as blood streamed down her cheeks. The tendrils thrashed wildly, smashing through buildings in blind rage.
Sam seized the moment. He rushed forward with an iron blade etched in runes, slashing across one of the tendrils. It shrieked, black ichor spilling as it recoiled. Miyu staggered back, clutching her chest as if the wound were her own.
"Stop it! STOP IT!" she screamed, her voice cracking into sobs.
Dean fired round after round into her shadows, each consecrated bullet ripping chunks of flesh that hissed and smoked before sealing again. But each shot made her weaker, slower, more erratic.
Finally, Sam raised a large flask of holy oil and hurled it across her back. Dean lit a match and tossed it.
The shadows ignited.
Miyu shrieked in agony, her tendrils writhing, the mouths screaming with her as black fire consumed them. She dropped to her knees, clutching her head, blood streaming from every eye.
Sam lowered his weapon, breathing heavily. "Dean—she's down. We can end this—"
But Miyu wasn't finished.
With one last surge of desperate strength, she lashed her tendrils outward, smashing the ground, sending debris flying. A massive stone struck Sam, knocking him unconscious. Dean staggered, coughing, blinded by the dust and smoke.
By the time it cleared, she was gone.
The hunters scanned the ruins, weapons ready, but only silence remained.
Dean cursed under his breath. "Damn it! She slipped us again."
Sam groaned as he pushed himself up, blood dripping from his temple. "Dean… she's not just some monster. She's fighting herself. You saw it—those moments she hesitated."
Dean grimaced, slinging his shotgun over his shoulder. "Doesn't matter. If she keeps this up, more towns are gonna end up like this one."
Sam nodded grimly. "Then we'll stop her. One way or another."
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, Miyu staggered through the darkness, her body smoking from burns, her shadows weak and trembling. She collapsed beside a river, staring at her reflection in the water.
Her smile was gone. Her laughter was gone.
All that remained were her bloodshot eyes, weeping silently as the voices whispered:
> You can't escape them forever, Miyu.
But you can kill them first.
Her tears rippled into the river, mingling with her blood.
And the hunt continued.