The first sign that the situation in the western sector was deteriorating was an abandoned stretcher in the middle of the corridor.
Yuna stopped a few steps away from it. One of its wheels was bent, and several bloodstains that hadn't completely dried covered the white fabric. Beside the wall lay an open medical kit, with bandages and gloves scattered across the floor.
There was nobody around.
Kenta approached the stretcher and examined the damaged wheel.
"Looks like someone was in quite a hurry."
"Or maybe they couldn't keep pushing it," Chiho replied.
Yuna studied the marks along the floor. The stretcher appeared to have been dragged out of a side corridor before crashing into a corner. Farther ahead, there were signs of impacts against the walls, although they didn't look particularly recent.
"Let's keep moving," she said.
The three resumed walking.
They had left the coordination post shortly after receiving their instructions from Kana. Their destination was one of the western entrances to Tokyo headquarters, an area normally used for transporting supplies and moving maintenance personnel around the building.
Under ordinary circumstances, workers, small transport vehicles, and hunters entering or leaving the facilities would pass through this section.
Now it served as one of the main evacuation routes to the infirmary.
As they approached the next intersection, they began hearing voices.
Two hunters were carrying a stretcher while a third tried to keep the corridor clear. Nearby, a man with a bandaged arm was speaking into a communicator that barely seemed capable of transmitting his voice.
"We need the entrance cleared!" shouted one of the hunters pushing the stretcher.
A small group of workers immediately stepped aside.
Yuna approached the hunter holding the communicator.
"I'm Kirino. We were sent from central coordination."
The man looked up. His uniform was torn around the shoulder, and several dark stains covered his chest.
"Thank goodness. We were starting to think everyone had forgotten about us."
"How many enemies have you encountered?"
"I couldn't give you an exact number. We've eliminated several, but more keep appearing from the inner corridors. We've also lost contact with the security post controlling the loading entrance."
Yuna examined the area.
The main corridor continued toward a large security door. Several storage rooms stood to the right, while a side passage connected to the maintenance stairs.
The medical route lay in the opposite direction.
It wouldn't be a particularly difficult place to defend if every entrance remained under control.
The problem was that several of those doors were damaged.
"How many hunters do you have available?"
"Six who can fight. Another four are injured but can still move. Everyone else is transporting patients."
Yuna nodded.
"We'll keep the connection to the infirmary open. I need the wounded to continue moving out of this sector."
The hunter seemed relieved.
"Understood."
As he walked away to organize the personnel, Kenta examined the main door.
"Well, at least we got here before they destroyed everything."
Chiho studied a crack running across the wall.
"I'd say we arrived while they're still destroying it."
"That's still better."
Kenta tried stretching his shoulders and immediately regretted it. The pain reminded him of the two matches he'd fought during the tournament.
He grimaced.
"Nobody told me winning two matches came with an extra shift."
"Nobody forced you to use that much mana, either," Chiho replied.
"We were competing."
"And now we're working."
Kenta looked at her.
"Do you always have an answer ready?"
"Only when you say something that's easy to answer."
Yuna listened to their exchange while examining the locking mechanism of one of the damaged doors.
"I'm glad you still have enough energy to argue."
Both students fell silent.
Yuna smiled faintly.
"Now I need to know how much energy you have left for fighting."
Chiho answered first.
"I can still shoot, but not at the same pace as during the tournament. If I create too many arrows in succession, I'll start having problems."
Kenta examined his hands.
"I used quite a lot too. But I can still fight."
"I certainly hope so," Yuna answered. "Because we're probably going to need it."
The western corridor had a problem that wasn't immediately obvious.
The security doors had originally been designed to divide the facilities into independent sections. During an emergency, they could be closed to prevent fire, leaks, or other hazards from spreading throughout the building.
But several were damaged.
One of the metal doors had become stuck partially open. Another had its locking mechanism completely destroyed, and the door closest to the loading entrance was badly deformed around its lock.
Yuna spent the first few minutes examining those vulnerable points.
Her technique, Celestial Forge, allowed her to create solid mana structures resembling luminous crystal. She could form plates, platforms, projectiles, or threads, provided she maintained enough precision to preserve their shapes.
The difficulty increased with the size and complexity of each construction.
That was why she didn't attempt to seal the entire corridor behind an enormous wall.
She knelt beside one of the damaged doors and placed a hand against the metal.
A small bluish structure began forming around the mechanism.
Mana extended in thin, almost transparent lines until it created a rigid piece reinforcing the lock.
When she finished, she withdrew her hand.
The reinforcement remained in place.
Kenta approached.
"Will that hold?"
Yuna examined her work.
"Depends on how hard they try to hit it."
"Great answer."
"It's the only one I've got."
At another door, she created two small angled plates to prevent it from opening toward the main corridor. Then she used a thread of mana to secure a beam that had partially detached from the ceiling.
Chiho studied the glowing structure.
"It looks like glass."
"It behaves similarly in certain situations," Yuna replied. "But I can change its shape as long as I maintain the necessary concentration."
"What happens if you stop concentrating?"
Yuna released the thread.
The structure remained for several seconds before its glow began to fade. Eventually, it dissolved into tiny luminous particles.
"That depends on how much mana I've left inside it. Simpler constructions can remain stable for a while without my attention. More complicated ones require considerably more."
Kenta looked at the reinforced door.
"So you could fill the entire building with those things."
"I could try."
"And?"
"I'd run out of mana long before I finished."
Chiho smiled.
Kenta raised both hands.
"All right, I get it."
While Yuna continued inspecting the sector, Chiho found a position from which she could cover much of the main corridor.
It was a small platform normally used for inspecting the ventilation systems. It wasn't especially high and had a metal railing, but it allowed her to watch the two most important entrances without obstructing the stretchers passing below.
She climbed the side stairs and checked the space available for using her bow.
From there, she could shoot without sending her arrows across the evacuation route.
Kenta, meanwhile, remained near the main door.
He appreciated being able to move around a little while waiting.
Although the tournament had left him exhausted, standing still only made the soreness in his muscles more noticeable.
A young hunter approached him.
"You're a student?"
Kenta looked at him.
"Yeah."
"I thought they'd canceled the tournament and sent all of you to rest."
"They canceled it."
"Then why are you here?"
Kenta gestured toward the corridor.
"Looks like plans changed."
The hunter laughed quietly.
Then he glanced at the door.
"Hopefully we won't have to fight anymore."
Kenta studied the marks covering the metal.
"Yeah. I hope so too."
He wasn't joking.
The first attack began a few minutes later.
A heavy blow shook the partially open door leading into the inner corridor.
The nearby hunters immediately turned.
Another impact followed.
Then a grayish hand appeared between the two metal panels.
Its fingers were unnaturally long, ending in dark nails that dug into the edge of the door.
The remnant pulled.
The opening widened enough to reveal a deformed face covered in several protrusions that seemed to grow directly from its skull.
Two more figures moved behind it.
Kenta raised his hands.
Flames appeared around his fingers.
But he didn't attack immediately.
Two hunters were crossing the corridor with a stretcher.
He waited until they had passed.
The first remnant managed to force its head and one shoulder through the opening.
An arrow of mana suddenly pierced the gap.
The projectile struck its neck and violently forced it backward.
From the platform, Chiho prepared a second shot.
She didn't need anyone to tell her where to stand.
She had a clear view of the corridor and could distinguish the enemies' movements without losing sight of the hunters evacuating the wounded.
The remnant tried entering again.
This time, Kenta released a short burst of flame.
The fire struck its torso directly and pushed it against the door. The creature writhed as flames consumed part of its body.
A second remnant slipped through the opening beneath the metal panels.
It was considerably smaller.
It moved on four limbs and had a body covered in dark, damp skin.
It charged toward Kenta.
The student turned and directed his flames toward the floor, cutting off its path.
The creature tried going around him.
A small bluish plate appeared in front of it.
The remnant collided with Yuna's construction and momentarily lost its bearings.
Kenta took advantage of the opening, moved closer, and released another concentrated burst of fire.
The creature fell before reaching the center of the corridor.
The third remnant managed to force its way through.
It was taller than the others, with one disproportionately large arm that dragged along the floor as it advanced.
One of the hunters stepped forward with his weapon raised.
The creature brought its enormous arm down on him.
The man managed to block the attack, but the impact sent him flying several meters backward.
Yuna extended her hand.
A plate of mana formed behind the hunter, cushioning his fall.
The remnant prepared to strike again.
Chiho fired.
Her arrow struck the creature's shoulder but failed to stop it.
She fired a second time.
This time, she aimed at its leg joint.
The remnant lost its balance.
Kenta seized the opportunity.
Fire surrounded his right hand and advanced toward the creature in a narrow line.
The impact brought it to its knees.
The hunter who had received the first blow managed to get back on his feet and finished it off.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Kenta's flames began dying out.
Chiho slowly lowered her bow.
Yuna examined the fallen remnants before looking toward the door.
No further movement could be heard.
For now.
"Everyone all right?" she asked.
The hunter who had taken the blow raised a hand.
"I'll survive."
His companion approached to help him.
Kenta looked at the defeated remnant's oversized arm.
"That thing hit pretty hard."
"Hard enough to send me flying into a wall," the hunter replied.
"Good thing there was something behind you."
The man looked toward the luminous plate that was beginning to dissolve.
"Yeah. Good thing."
Yuna approached the damaged door.
Its mechanism was in even worse condition now.
One of the metal panels was barely hanging from its hinges.
They had eliminated the remnants, but the entrance was far more exposed than before.
The following minutes passed between minor repairs and transporting the wounded.
Yuna reinforced the door again, although this time she had to use a larger structure to compensate for the damage to the metal.
The construction consumed considerably more mana than she would have preferred.
As she worked, she could hear Kenta and Chiho talking near the platform.
"You could've hit it sooner," Kenta commented.
Chiho looked at him.
"Which one?"
"The big one."
"I hit it twice."
"Yeah, but the first shot didn't stop it."
"Because I was trying to keep it from reaching you while you decided how much fire to use."
Kenta opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
"Well, that's true too."
Chiho formed a mana arrow against her bowstring, checking how much effort it required to create it.
She dissolved it before firing.
"Besides, we still need to conserve energy."
Kenta examined his hands.
The flames had disappeared, but he could still feel a faint tingling in his fingers.
It wasn't painful.
It simply reminded him that his reserves weren't full.
"How much have you got left?" he asked.
Chiho thought for a moment.
"I couldn't give you an exact amount. Less than I'd like."
"That's not particularly helpful."
"I didn't realize I was supposed to help you."
Kenta smiled.
"You're pretty charming when you want to be."
"Thanks."
"That wasn't exactly a compliment."
"I know."
Yuna finished reinforcing the door and approached them.
"How are you feeling?"
Kenta answered first.
"Better than that door."
"That's not a particularly high standard."
Chiho laughed quietly.
Yuna studied the two students.
They had fought during the tournament and were now participating in another battle without having enough time to rest.
The difference in experience between them and the veteran hunters was obvious.
But she'd also noticed something positive.
Neither had attempted to resolve the confrontation by using all their power from the beginning.
Kenta had waited for the wounded to cross before releasing his flames.
Chiho had selected specific points of impact instead of firing indiscriminately.
They were small decisions.
In a situation like this, they could prevent someone from dying.
"You did well," Yuna said.
Kenta raised his eyebrows.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I thought you were going to tell us we could've done better."
"You could've done better too."
"There it is."
Yuna smiled.
"But not every conversation needs to end with criticism."
Chiho leaned against the railing.
"You should tell Kato that."
Yuna's expression changed slightly.
"Ginjiro is a complicated case."
Kenta folded his arms.
"Do you know why he went off alone?"
"Because he believes he can fight more effectively that way."
"Can he?"
Yuna looked down the corridor.
"His technique has advantages when there aren't allies nearby. But that doesn't mean he's invulnerable."
Kenta remembered watching Kato fight during training.
Even when he appeared relaxed, there was something about him that made it difficult to imagine him losing.
"I'm sure he's fine," Kenta said.
Yuna didn't answer immediately.
"I hope so."
Silence settled between them for several seconds.
Then another stretcher arrived from the inner corridor.
Yuna returned her attention to her work.
The second incursion began without any of the three immediately recognizing it as an attack.
First, two hunters emerged from one of the side passages.
One walked while clutching his forearm. The other had blood on his forehead and kept looking over his shoulder.
A third man followed them, practically dragging a companion who could barely remain standing.
Yuna immediately approached.
"Where did you come from?"
"The supply corridor," one answered. "There are remnants inside."
"How many?"
"We didn't see all of them. We tried closing the door, but one managed to get in through the ventilation duct."
The man paused to catch his breath.
"The others are still trying to hold them back."
Yuna looked toward the passage.
The supply corridor connected to a part of the sector they hadn't managed to inspect completely.
If the remnants advanced through it, they could reach the medical route from another direction.
While the hunter was speaking, something struck the inside of the wall.
Chiho raised her head.
Another noise came from the ventilation duct.
Kenta turned.
A small grayish creature emerged between two damaged grates and dropped onto the floor.
Before it could stand, one of Chiho's arrows pierced its body.
Almost simultaneously, another figure emerged from the side corridor.
Then a third.
Yuna extended her arm.
Two luminous plates formed between the enemies and the injured hunters.
The creatures crashed into them.
One managed to circle around the defense and advance toward the main corridor.
Kenta gathered fire in his palm.
The flame grew rapidly.
Too rapidly.
Behind the remnant were the hunters who had just escaped.
If he released all that energy, the attack could reach them too.
Kenta reduced the flame.
He concentrated the fire in his palm and released it in a narrower blast.
The remnant took the impact directly in its chest and fell backward.
Another tried slipping past him.
Kenta turned to intercept it, but felt his fire take a fraction of a second longer to respond.
He had already used considerable mana during the tournament and several techniques in the first confrontation.
He gritted his teeth.
He couldn't keep fighting as though he were completely rested.
Chiho fired from the platform.
Her arrow struck the approaching remnant and knocked it toward one of the walls.
Kenta took advantage of the opening to finish it off.
Yuna maintained the two plates while examining the side corridor.
There didn't appear to be an especially powerful enemy.
What concerned her was something else.
The remnants kept emerging from different locations.
They didn't necessarily stop to fight the first hunter they encountered. Some ran directly toward the main corridor, attempting to slip past the defenses and reach other areas.
One creature passed close to an injured hunter without stopping.
The man tried attacking it.
He missed.
The remnant continued forward.
Yuna raised an angled structure in its path.
The creature crashed into it and lost its balance.
Chiho finished it off with a shot from above.
When the last remnant fell, the corridor became quiet again.
Kenta rested a hand against the wall.
He was breathing faster than before.
Chiho descended from the platform to check on the hunters who had just arrived.
Yuna approached one of them.
"Were there more enemies behind you?"
The man shook his head.
"I don't know. When we left, there was still movement inside the ducts."
"Are your companions still in there?"
"Two stayed behind to secure the door."
Yuna looked toward the side corridor.
She couldn't abandon the main entrance to pursue every remnant that appeared.
But she couldn't leave the second route completely open either.
She examined the defensive structures she'd created.
Two plates remained intact.
The third had developed cracks and was consuming more mana than expected to maintain its shape.
She dismissed it.
Some of its remaining mana returned to her control, although much of the energy had already been spent absorbing impacts.
Then she heard a metallic sound.
It came from the far end of the supply corridor.
One blow.
Then another.
The injured hunter raised his head.
"That's the door we were trying to close."
Yuna advanced a few steps.
The secondary entrance consisted of a thick metal door designed to separate the loading areas from the rest of the building.
Its locking mechanism was engaged.
But something was striking it from the other side.
The metal vibrated.
Kenta slowly approached.
"How many do you think are in there?"
Nobody answered.
Another impact struck the door.
This time, a small deformation appeared near the lock.
Chiho climbed back onto the platform and prepared her bow.
From there, she could cover the main door and part of the side corridor, but she couldn't defend both entrances with the same precision.
Kenta examined his hands.
He could still produce fire.
He just needed to avoid wasting it.
Yuna studied the secondary door.
She could reinforce it, although doing so would require redirecting mana away from her other structures. If they abandoned it, the remnants could reach the evacuation route. But if she concentrated all her defenses there, the main entrance would be exposed.
The sound came again.
An impact far stronger than the previous ones shook the entire frame.
Several screws fell onto the floor.
Kenta slowly exhaled.
"Please tell me those are the last ones."
Yuna extended a hand.
A small plate of Celestial Forge began forming in front of her, casting bluish reflections across the floor.
"I wish I could."
Another impact struck the door.
This time, the metal bent inward.