The green threads finished spreading throughout the corridor.
Some remained stretched between pipes and doorframes, while others crept slowly along the walls, searching for new points to anchor themselves. Within seconds, the entire passage had become covered by an irregular web that blocked almost every exit.
Kanzaki examined the ceiling before turning his attention back to the remnant.
Mukuro stood several meters away. His arms hung at his sides, and the filaments emerging from his fingers continued to move even when he remained perfectly still.
Behind Kanzaki, Yui protected the stretcher with a mana barrier.
The hunter lying on it had suffered a deep wound to his leg and was barely managing to remain conscious. His companion, who was struggling to breathe, leaned against the wall beside Hana.
They had successfully rescued the two men from a room occupied by remnants.
Now all they had to do was reach the infirmary.
But the enemy standing before them had no intention of letting them through.
"So no one can leave?" Kanzaki asked.
Mukuro tilted his head slightly.
"No one."
"What if you simply moved aside?"
The remnant glanced at the closed door behind them.
"No."
"That's what I thought you'd say."
Kanzaki stepped forward.
The first thread dropped from the ceiling without warning.
Yui reacted immediately, intercepting it with the narrow barrier she had positioned above the stretcher. The filament struck the glowing surface, bounced away, and wrapped itself around a nearby pipe.
Before she could examine it, two more threads appeared from opposite directions.
Kanzaki avoided the first. The second grazed his sleeve and buried itself in the wall, leaving a thin crack in the concrete.
Hana sensed Mukuro's mana flowing through the threads.
Some moved in short bursts, while others remained almost motionless, as though waiting for another command.
She tried to follow them all with her perception.
There were too many.
Pipes, cables, and ventilation ducts crisscrossed the ceiling. The green filaments blended into those structures, constantly changing position.
Mukuro raised one hand.
A pipe began tearing loose from its supports.
Metal groaned above the stretcher.
Yui expanded her barrier just as fragments of the ceiling started falling. Several bounced off the glowing surface, while the rest scattered across the floor.
The injured hunter instinctively covered his head.
Kanzaki watched the debris fall.
Mukuro didn't even need to strike them directly with his threads.
He could turn almost any part of the building into a weapon.
And the longer they remained there, the harder escaping would become.
Kanzaki advanced toward the remnant.
Mukuro responded by extending three threads along the floor before whipping them upward. Kanzaki dodged two, but the third abruptly changed direction and blocked his path.
He pressed a hand against the wall.
A small mana mark appeared beneath his fingers.
When the thread pulled taut, the mark flashed and temporarily reinforced the surface where it was anchored. The filament lost some of its momentum as it tried to drag its attachment point, and Kanzaki used that fraction of a second to duck underneath.
He moved close enough to throw a mana-enhanced punch.
Mukuro retreated.
The blow struck his shoulder, although several threads pulled his body backward and absorbed much of the impact.
Kanzaki didn't pursue him.
He returned to his position between the remnant and the injured hunters.
Mukuro examined the shoulder where he'd been hit.
"You're not trying to kill me."
"I'm considering my options."
"You could keep attacking."
"And you could stop blocking the exit."
Mukuro didn't answer.
Instead, he slowly closed his fingers.
The threads covering the ceiling began to move.
Hana sensed mana gathering behind them and immediately turned.
A green filament had crept along the frame of the closed door and was advancing toward the hunter leaning against the wall.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.
The thread passed through the space where his neck had been a moment earlier and buried itself in the metal doorframe.
The hunter nearly lost his balance, but Hana managed to support him.
"Sorry..." he murmured between labored breaths.
"Don't worry about it. Lean on me."
Yui raised a second barrier to protect them.
Two impacts struck it in rapid succession.
The surface trembled.
A sharp pain shot through Yui's fingers.
She had already spent a considerable amount of mana during the tournament, and her previous fight against the three remnants had demanded more than she'd expected. She could still create barriers, but each one required greater concentration than before.
When the next thread struck, a thin glowing crack appeared across her defense.
Yui gritted her teeth.
She couldn't let the attacks reach the injured hunters.
She poured more mana into the barrier.
The pain spread to her wrist.
Noticing her struggle, Kanzaki shifted one of his marks toward the point where the enemy's filaments were anchored instead of issuing another instruction.
The reinforced pipe resisted the threads pulling against it for several seconds, forcing Mukuro to redirect his attacks.
Yui took the opportunity to reduce the barrier's size.
Immediately, she felt the pressure on her mana lessen.
Protecting a smaller area was better than trying to defend the entire corridor.
Meanwhile, Hana continued studying the enemy's movements.
Something wasn't right.
The threads seemed to extend in every direction, but Mukuro never attacked from every position simultaneously.
Whenever he concentrated his filaments in one area, the tension weakened elsewhere in the web.
He couldn't maintain the same pressure across the entire corridor.
Hana closed her eyes for an instant and narrowed her perception.
She stopped searching for enemies beyond the walls.
She stopped trying to track every trace of mana scattered throughout the sector.
Instead, she concentrated solely on Mukuro and the threads close enough to reach them.
Gradually, their movements became clearer.
The web wasn't nearly as perfect as it appeared.
About fifteen meters away stood a maintenance door.
Kanzaki had noticed it when they'd entered the corridor. He also remembered the evacuation map he'd consulted earlier: beyond that door lay a series of service passages, some of which connected to the medical sector.
It wasn't a regular evacuation route.
But it might provide a way out.
The problem was reaching it.
Mukuro had positioned several threads between the door and the stretcher. Some hung from the ceiling, while others crossed the corridor at different heights.
Kanzaki began moving to the right, drawing the remnant's attention.
A thread descended toward his leg.
He dodged it.
The next grazed his back, tearing a small piece from his uniform.
Kanzaki attacked again.
Mukuro retreated while several filaments tightened around his body. One attempted to coil around Kanzaki's arm, but he pulled away before it could trap him.
Mukuro tilted his head.
"You keep returning to the same place."
Kanzaki stared at him.
"And you still won't let me through."
Mukuro raised both hands.
A web of threads began forming between them.
The green lines crossed rapidly, creating an irregular barrier that occupied most of the corridor. Some stretched across at chest height, while others ran close to the floor to prevent anyone from slipping underneath.
Kanzaki examined the structure.
The web was sturdy.
But Mukuro had just concentrated a considerable number of threads directly in front of him.
Hana sensed it too.
On the opposite side, three anchor points had lost tension.
She looked toward the maintenance door.
Then she glanced at Kanzaki.
The instructor was looking in exactly the same direction.
She understood what he was trying to accomplish.
Without waiting for instructions, Hana helped the hunter who could still walk move behind the stretcher. She leaned closer to Yui and discreetly indicated the side entrance.
Yui followed her gaze.
Together, they began carefully moving the injured men.
Mukuro noticed.
One of his threads separated from the web and advanced toward them.
Kanzaki touched a mark he'd placed earlier.
The stored mana released all at once.
The concrete reinforced by the mark resisted Mukuro's attempt to pull against the threads anchored there.
Caught by the unexpected resistance, the remnant momentarily lost the tension needed to maintain part of his web.
Several strands loosened.
The opening was small.
But it was enough.
Yui pushed the stretcher forward.
Hana supported the other hunter, who was struggling to keep pace.
Mukuro tried to recover his threads.
Kanzaki intercepted him with a punch that forced him another step backward.
This time, the blow struck his side.
The remnant collided with the wall.
For an instant, his threads stopped moving.
Hana seized the opportunity and reached the maintenance door.
She pulled the handle.
It wouldn't open.
She tried again.
The frame was warped.
Crouching to examine the mechanism, she discovered that a metal plate had shifted during an earlier impact, blocking the latch.
She drew her weapon and wedged its tip between the plate and the frame.
The metal barely moved.
Behind her, Yui continued protecting the stretcher with a small barrier.
Hana applied more force.
The plate bent.
The latch released with a click.
She pushed against the door with her shoulder and finally managed to open it.
Beyond lay a narrow passage illuminated by a row of emergency lights.
Hana quickly checked for enemy presences.
There were none.
She helped the walking hunter inside before returning for the stretcher.
By then, Mukuro had regained control of his web.
His gaze shifted from Kanzaki to the open doorway.
"You found an exit."
Kanzaki retreated until he stood in front of it.
"Looks that way."
Mukuro extended his fingers.
The threads covering the ceiling began detaching from their anchor points.
Hana sensed the change immediately.
The remnant was gathering them.
And this time, every single one seemed to be heading toward the same place.
The first filaments shot through the corridor like spears.
Kanzaki managed to deflect two using a mark near the floor, but the third struck his left shoulder. The thread's tip tore through his uniform, opening a shallow wound before continuing into the wall.
Blood began staining his sleeve.
Kanzaki barely looked at it.
Behind him, Yui and Hana were trying to maneuver the stretcher through the maintenance doorway.
The first wheel crossed the threshold without trouble.
The second struck a piece of bent metal.
The stretcher stopped abruptly.
The injured hunter cried out.
Yui tried lifting it a few centimeters, but the movement only made the man groan more painfully.
Hana crouched to examine the obstruction.
The metal fragment was wedged between the wheel and the frame.
She pulled.
It didn't move.
Another impact shook the nearby wall.
Kanzaki retreated several steps.
Mukuro's web was descending upon them.
Yui looked toward the corridor.
Small cracks already covered her barrier.
She could abandon it and help Hana, but that would leave the stretcher exposed.
Gritting her teeth, she concentrated her mana where the attacks were converging.
The barrier shrank into a narrow panel, just large enough to shield the injured hunters.
One thread struck.
It held.
Another hit the edge.
A sharp pain shot through her right hand.
Her fingers trembled.
Hana finally managed to bend the metal fragment and free the wheel. Together, they raised the back of the stretcher slightly and carefully moved it forward to prevent it from getting stuck again.
The stretcher cleared the doorway.
Kanzaki began retreating.
Mukuro advanced after him.
The threads emerging from his fingers now spread across the entire width of the corridor, piercing the walls or wrapping around pipes and pulling hard enough to deform them.
Kanzaki's room to maneuver was rapidly disappearing.
A green line swept past at neck height.
He ducked.
Another blocked his escape.
He redirected it toward one of his marks, but the reinforcement shattered under the pressure.
He understood that he was about to run out of space.
Kanzaki retreated to the doorway.
Mukuro raised one hand.
A mass of threads descended toward him.
Kanzaki activated the final mark he'd prepared in that corridor.
The concrete beneath his feet flashed.
The lines of mana he'd left at several anchor points glowed briefly. The walls and floor where Mukuro had attached his filaments were reinforced, creating unexpected resistance against the remnant's pull.
Several threads lost their trajectories and collided with one another.
Kanzaki took advantage of the opening and crossed the doorway.
Hana shut the door behind him.
But she couldn't close it completely.
A green thread had slipped between the door and the frame.
Then another appeared.
The door began opening slowly.
Mukuro was pulling from outside.
Kanzaki examined the narrow gap.
The wood and metal frame wouldn't withstand that pressure for long.
"We need to keep moving."
No further explanation was necessary.
Hana helped the walking hunter advance through the service passage.
Yui stayed beside Kanzaki to move the stretcher, maintaining a reduced barrier over the patient.
The passage was narrower than the previous corridor.
To their right stood a row of doors leading to electrical installations and storage rooms. On the left, several pipes descended toward the underground levels.
At the far end stood a security bulkhead.
Kanzaki recognized it.
It was one of the emergency partitions designed to isolate certain sections of the building in case of fire or structural damage.
If they could close it, they'd buy themselves some time.
Behind them, the maintenance door flew open.
Green threads began crawling along the walls.
Mukuro appeared on the other side.
He didn't seem particularly angry.
He was simply continuing what he'd come to do.
Block the passage.
Nothing more.
One of his filaments reached a railing beside the stretcher and coiled around it. Metal groaned as the thread began pulling.
Yui raised her barrier to protect the injured hunter's side.
Another thread advanced toward the man who was walking.
Hana detected it and pulled him out of its path.
For an instant, her perception managed to follow several of Mukuro's movements. But maintaining that concentration caused a stabbing pain behind her eyes, forcing her to narrow her range again.
Her vision blurred for barely a second.
When it cleared, they had almost reached the bulkhead.
The walking hunter crossed first.
Hana helped him sit against the wall on the other side.
Yui and Kanzaki maneuvered the stretcher through.
Yui's right hand was trembling so badly she could barely grip its frame.
Kanzaki pushed it almost entirely by himself over the last few meters.
Beside the bulkhead was an emergency manual control.
The instructor activated it.
A secondary alarm began sounding, and the heavy metal partition slowly descended from the ceiling.
Mukuro watched.
One thread extended toward the mechanism.
Kanzaki intercepted it with his arm and deflected it using a burst of mana. Pain shot through his injured shoulder, but he managed to keep the filament away from the controls.
The bulkhead descended farther.
Mukuro advanced.
His threads repeatedly struck the walls, searching for an opening.
One managed to slip through the gap that remained beneath the descending partition.
Yui tried raising another barrier.
Only a small, unstable surface appeared.
Its light trembled and began to fade.
Her hand was no longer responding as it had before.
Hana saw the filament approaching the injured hunters.
Without waiting for assistance, she grabbed a metal bar lying near the wall and struck the thread, deflecting it just enough for it to wrap around a pipe.
Mukuro pulled.
The bar flew from Hana's hands.
She staggered backward.
Kanzaki pressed the control again.
The bulkhead finished descending.
The threads trapped between its metal plates pulled taut.
Mukuro tried to keep them in place, but the pressure of the closing partition and the mana reinforcement Kanzaki had applied to one of its supports eventually forced him to withdraw them.
A heavy metallic crash echoed through the passage.
The bulkhead sealed shut.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Yui leaned against the wall and let her arms fall.
Hana was breathing heavily. The hunter she'd helped sat near the stretcher, pressing one hand against his side.
Kanzaki checked that the locking mechanism had engaged.
An impact came from the other side.
The bulkhead vibrated slightly.
Another blow rang against the metal.
Then silence.
"Did he leave?" Yui asked.
Hana closed her eyes.
The presence was still there.
"No."
Kanzaki examined the bulkhead's reinforcements.
"Then we'd better move before he finds another way through."
Yui looked up.
"Can he do that?"
"Probably. Given enough time."
Hana stood and helped the injured hunter once again.
"Then we can't stay here."
Kanzaki nodded.
"Exactly."
They continued forward.
On the other side of the bulkhead, Mukuro stood motionless.
The emergency partition was covered with small marks and deformations left by his threads.
One filament slid slowly across the metal, searching for a gap between the plates.
It found a narrow seam.
Pressed against it.
The structure held.
If he continued attacking, he would eventually break through.
He'd already forced his way through several entrances during the invasion, and that bulkhead would likely be no exception.
However, behind him there were still numerous corridors he had to keep blocked.
Some of his threads were beginning to lose tension after stretching too far from their anchor points.
If he devoted all his strength to pursuing the hunters who had escaped, he would have to abandon part of the network he'd established.
Mukuro slowly lowered his hand.
The threads crept back along the walls.
Three hunters had escaped, accompanied by two injured men.
Five people who were no longer under his control.
The remnant watched the bulkhead for a few more seconds.
Then he turned away.
There were still other exits.
And there were still hunters trying to use them.
The provisional infirmary occupied several rooms near the central sector.
The original medical facilities remained operational, but the growing number of wounded had forced the staff to extend treatment into the adjoining corridors. Additional stretchers, tables of supplies, and improvised partitions had been set up to separate patients according to the severity of their injuries.
When Kanzaki arrived with Hana and Yui, two hunters were helping carry an unconscious man, while a doctor examined another whose uniform was completely stained with blood.
Voices filled the area.
Some people called for their companions.
Others asked about family members who worked at headquarters.
The doctors struggled to maintain order while continuing to receive new patients.
Kanzaki approached the nearest available station.
A doctor looked up when he saw the stretcher.
"What have we got?"
"Deep leg wound, significant blood loss, and difficulty remaining conscious," Kanzaki answered. "The other one has an injury to his side and trouble breathing."
The doctor called two colleagues.
Together, they transferred the first hunter onto a clean stretcher.
Yui helped by carefully holding his arm while they moved him. Once they finished, she stepped aside to let the medical staff work.
She tried closing her right hand.
Her fingers barely responded.
She tried again.
A stabbing pain ran through her wrist.
Hana approached.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah."
Hana glanced at her hand.
"Yui."
"I'm just tired."
"Show it to a doctor."
Yui sighed.
"Now?"
"Now."
Eventually, Yui agreed.
The doctor examining her found no serious external injuries, but identified considerable exhaustion caused by excessive mana use.
He instructed her to avoid using barriers until she recovered and recommended rest.
Hana was examined as well.
The prolonged strain of using her perception had taken its toll, and she needed to regain her energy before attempting to maintain it over a wide area again.
The two were given water and sat near one of the walls.
For several minutes, they remained silent.
Hana watched the medical staff move one of the hunters they'd rescued.
The man was still conscious.
She could see him talking to a nurse preparing his treatment.
That alone brought her some relief.
"I thought we weren't going to get them out," she admitted.
Yui looked toward the stretcher.
"Me too."
Hana lowered her gaze.
"When all those threads appeared, I tried to detect every single one. I wasted too much time."
"And I used too much mana trying to protect the entire corridor."
Yui rested her hands on her knees.
"I guess neither of us did particularly well."
"But you got out."
Kanzaki's voice came from beside them.
The students looked up.
The instructor had returned after submitting his report to the personnel coordinating evacuations.
A small bandage covered his left shoulder. The wound Mukuro had inflicted wasn't deep, although dried blood remained on part of his uniform.
Kanzaki glanced at Yui's hands.
"What did the doctor say?"
"That I need to rest."
"Then rest."
Yui made a face.
"There are still people fighting."
"And there are people working here too. Once you've recovered, you can help them."
The instructor took a bottle of water from the table and drank a little before continuing.
"Besides, you did enough to bring those two men back alive."
Hana raised her head.
"But we couldn't defeat him."
Kanzaki looked at her.
"Mukuro?"
"Yes."
"That wasn't our mission."
Yui crossed her arms.
"He's still there, though."
"I know. I've already reported his position. Now the people responsible for that sector will have to decide how to contain him."
Hana remained thoughtful.
During the tournament, every fight had a clear beginning and end.
They won, lost, or drew.
This time, they hadn't managed to eliminate their enemy.
And yet the two hunters they'd been protecting were receiving medical attention.
Kanzaki noticed she was still thinking about it.
"Sendai."
"Yes?"
"Don't get into the habit of judging everything by the number of enemies you defeat. If you do, one day you'll forget why you're fighting in the first place."
Hana nodded slowly.
There was something she'd wanted to ask him, but she hadn't been able to find the right words.
Finally, she decided to speak.
"Are you never afraid, sir?"
Yui looked at him too.
Kanzaki took a moment to answer.
"I am."
Both girls seemed surprised.
"Really?" Yui asked.
"It would be rather worrying if I wasn't."
"But you always seem to know what to do."
Kanzaki placed the bottle on the table.
"Not always. Sometimes you simply have to make a decision before you run out of time."
Yui looked down at her hands.
The instructor continued.
"What matters is whether that decision accomplishes something."
Hana glanced toward the rooms lined with stretchers.
She understood that if Kanzaki had tried to defeat Mukuro at any cost, they might still be fighting in that corridor.
Or perhaps none of them would have escaped.
She was about to answer when Kanzaki's communicator sounded.
He removed it from his belt.
"Kanzaki speaking."
At first, only interference came through.
Then a voice from coordination reached him.
"We have an update on Corridor Seven. We've lost contact with the detachment assigned there."
Kanzaki stopped looking at the students.
"Since when?"
"Approximately four minutes ago. The last report mentioned enemy activity near the inner access points."
The instructor remained silent.
His gaze shifted toward the corridor connecting the infirmary to the rest of the building.
"Has the situation been confirmed?"
"Negative. Nearby units haven't been able to establish communications either."
Kanzaki briefly checked the clock on the wall.
"Understood. Report it to central coordination."
"Do you need support?"
"Not for now."
The communication ended.
Hana had noticed the change in his expression.
Kanzaki put the device away and stood.
"I have to go."
Yui immediately looked up.
"Another mission?"
"Yes."
"Then we'll come with you."
"No."
There was no hesitation in his answer.
Hana also stood.
"We've already been examined. We can still help."
"And you will. But here."
Kanzaki indicated the rooms where the wounded were receiving treatment.
"This sector needs people to help receive the evacuation teams. There are hunters arriving who don't even know where to take their companions."
Yui glanced toward the corridor.
"Where are you going?"
The instructor waited a second before answering.
"I have another job to do."
Hana frowned slightly.
"Do you have to go alone?"
"I'm not taking two exhausted students on a mission they don't even know anything about yet."
"But we might be able to help."
Kanzaki looked at Hana.
He didn't raise his voice when he answered.
"You already have."
Hana fell silent.
"We brought two hunters out of that corridor," he continued. "They're alive, and now they're receiving treatment. Don't treat that as worthless just because we didn't defeat the enemy."
Yui opened her mouth to argue, but ultimately said nothing.
She knew he was right.
Even so, she didn't like the thought of him leaving alone.
Kanzaki picked up his communicator and checked that it was functioning properly.
Then he adjusted the bandage on his shoulder and headed toward the exit.
"Sir."
Hana called after him.
He stopped.
"Yes?"
Hana hesitated for a few seconds.
"Are you going to be okay?"
Kanzaki looked at her.
"I don't have enough information to promise you that."
It was exactly the kind of answer she would have expected from him.
And somehow, it reassured her less than she'd hoped.
"Then please be careful," she said.
Kanzaki nodded.
"You two as well."
Yui stood.
"Thank you for helping us."
The instructor looked at both students.
"I wasn't the only one doing something back there."
With that, he left the room.
Hana and Yui remained watching the doorway for several seconds.
Neither knew where he was going.
They couldn't understand why he'd decided to leave without requesting reinforcements, either.
But something about his attitude made it clear that they wouldn't convince him to stay.
Eventually, a nurse approached them.
"Could you help us carry some supplies to the next room?"
Yui looked at Hana.
Hana nodded.
"Yes, of course."
Both girls stood.
There was still plenty of work to do.
Kanzaki passed through two corridors before stopping beside an information board.
From there, he could easily return to the central coordination station. He also had access to the northern routes and the passages connecting to the medical facilities.
He consulted the map on the wall.
Then he took out his communicator again.
The information he'd received was still displayed on its small screen.
He read the report one last time.
He hadn't been able to confirm the detachment's condition.
Nor did he know how many enemies had reached that area.
Nevertheless, he'd already waited long enough.
He put the communicator away and adjusted his uniform over his injured shoulder.
Then he started walking.
At the next intersection, he passed two hunters carrying medical supplies. One recognized him and raised a hand in greeting.
Kanzaki returned the gesture briefly, but didn't stop.
He continued until he reached a section where emergency lights had replaced the usual illumination.
There, the corridor split into three directions.
To his right lay the shortest route to the central coordination room.
To his left was a secondary passage used by maintenance personnel.
The passage straight ahead descended toward a part of headquarters that students normally weren't allowed to enter.
Kanzaki stopped in front of that last passage.
For several seconds, he listened to the distant alarms.
Then he checked that he had the necessary equipment.
He didn't know what he would find when he arrived.
But he knew he couldn't afford to wait any longer.
Kanzaki began descending.
Behind him, the automatic doors slowly slid shut.
The noise of the infirmary gradually faded away, until it was replaced by the silence of the underground sectors.