Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Renji groaned as something soft pressed against his cheek. A finger. He instinctively swatted it away, burying his face deeper into the pillow. Did Pony really need to wake him up like this every morning?

Not that he minded being woken up. Pony was probably the only person who could actually get him out of bed. No, the problem was that she still insisted on helping him change and brush his teeth. He was seventeen now for the gods’ sake. Those were two things he was perfectly capable of doing on his own.

He’d still take breakfast, though. I mean, come on. Who wouldn’t? That girl could cook.

The finger returned, pressing harder this time.

Renji brushed it away with another sleepy grunt and pulled the blankets tighter around himself. It was always the same comfortable routine with them.

Eventually Pony would give up asking nicely. She’d roll the covers off him, rub the stiffness out of his shoulders, open the curtains, and probably have tea waiting by the time he’d gathered enough strength to become a functioning human being.

His stomach growled at the thought. Maybe she’d made tamagoyaki. Renji smiled sleepily into the pillow. He’d definitely get up in a minute. Just one more minute…

THWACK!

“Gah!”

Something slapped him upside the head, snapping him awake. He jerked upright, clutching the spot that had been struck as he glared at his attacker.

“Pony, for the love of-”

Instead of large green eyes, narrowed amber ones greeted him. Blake Belladonna stood over him with an annoyed expression, her hand still outstretched from where she’d smacked him.

“Good morning to you too.” she said dryly, lowering her arm. “I’ve been trying to wake you up for five minutes.”

Renji blinked, rubbing his eyes as his brain finally caught up to reality. His head was pillowed on a folded cloak. The blanket was his own jacket. The smell of damp earth and pine filled his nose, completely erasing any memory of a warm futon or breakfast cooking downstairs.

“Ah, right. Exam.” He grunted, pushing himself to his feet. His shoulders popped as he stretched, his back aching from sleeping on the ground. The last time he’d slept out doors had been years ago, and Renji couldn’t exactly say he found it comfortable. Although, it wasn’t like he actually got that much sleep anyway.

Four times. They had been attacked four separate times that night by numerous Yokai. And for some reason unbeknownst to him, they only did it during his turn to rest. It was no wonder he felt like shit. His Aura reserves were practically scraping the bottom, his body sluggish as what little remained worked to mend the accumulated damage from the night.

“How’d ya sleep, Belladonna?” Renji asked, looking over to the dark haired girl as she kicked out the fire pit, which was nothing but smoke and ash.

“I slept fine.” She said curtly, not bothering to look in his direction. It was a pretty obvious lie judging by the bags under her eyes. Renji had enough sense not to question her further. She looked like she was a split second away from hurling something at him.

They packed what little remained of their camp and were moving again within minutes. If Renji had his bearings right, Yūei was only a few hours north. They could probably make it before midday, assuming the forest didn’t decide to throw another pack of Yokai at them for the crime of existing.

Fortunately, the woods seemed content to leave them the hell alone.

The dense forest gradually thinned as they traveled north, towering cedars giving way to rocky hills and steep mountain trails. Yūei itself was still hidden somewhere beyond the ridgeline, but every incline brought them a little closer.

Renji stopped beside a narrow stream long enough to refill the flask hanging from his belt. He crouched at the bank, watching clear water rush into the container.

Yesterday had been a wake-up call. Fighting against the Sekihei inside the temple left him with almost nothing to work with except for what was in his water skin. He’d done what he could, but ultimately it was Blake that landed the finishing blow.

Renji screwed the cap back onto his flask.

It didn’t bother him. It didn’t. A win was a win, and as his partner, Blake was supposed to cover for his weakness. He would do the same for her. Blake was quick and agile, but she lacked raw power. That was something Renji had In spades… as long as he was in the right place at the right time. He mentally sighed and stood up.

He turned back to the girl. She immediately averted her gaze.

There it was again.

She’d been doing that for nearly two hours. Every time he looked in her direction, she was already looking away, as if she was worried he would catch her staring.

“What? I got somethin’ in my teeth?” He grinned cheekily. He accentuated the question by grabbing his lip and pulling it to bare his molars. “Cuz If I do, and ya haven’t told me, that’s kinda messed up. I’ve got an appearance to maintain here.”

The girl hesitated as if waging an internal war in her mind before she finally relented. Her eyes flitted to his back.

“Your sword. You don’t draw it.”

Renji blinked, surprised. Was his stoic and mysterious partner actually asking him personal questions? Well, that was definitely progress. He decided to reward her with a half truth.

“I can’t.” He shrugged. She looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, she shot him a glare as if offended that she’d wasted a question on him.

“No, really. I can’t.” Renji reached over his shoulder and gave the scabbard an affectionate pat. “Thing’s sealed shut. Don’t know why, don’t know how, and I sure as hell don’t know what kind of seal it is. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

Blake stared at him.

Renji couldn’t blame her. He’d worn almost the exact same expression when the sword had first been given to him.

He’d spent hours trying to draw the damn thing. Pulling, twisting, prying at the scabbard, even wedging it between two rocks and yanking on the hilt with both hands. Eventually, after exhausting every reasonable solution and several unreasonable ones, he’d done what any mature eleven-year-old would do.

He threw it at a tree and went back to his room.

The next morning, it was sitting neatly beside him in bed. A little piece of paper had been tied around the hilt.

♡Don’t give up! ♡

Renji smiled faintly at the memory. Pony had never been particularly tolerant of him giving up on anything.

“Scabbard’s useful, though,” he continued, tapping it with his knuckles. “Damn near indestructible. Whoever made this thing knew what they were doing.”

Renji glanced at the weapon strapped across Blake’s back.

“What about yours? Gotta admit, that whole ribbon-swinging thing you did yesterday was pretty damn cool. Never seen anything like it.”

He hooked his thumbs beneath the handles of the twin cleavers at his hips and drew them with a metallic hiss.

“These are Suigetsu. Made ’em myself about a year ago.” Renji gave one a lazy spin before squeezing the recessed trigger along its grip. The blade split with a sharp click, sections of steel sliding aside to expose the barrel hidden beneath.

“Dual-action heavy pistol cleavers. Though I barely use the guns anymore.” He snapped the mechanism shut and returned the weapon to his hip. “Why waste Dust when I can make my own bullets?”

Blake’s eyes flicked toward the flask hanging from his belt.

Renji followed her gaze. “…Yeah, yeah. Yesterday proved there might be a tiny flaw in that philosophy.” He waved a hand dismissively. “But hey, I’m learning.”

He rested a hand on one of the cleavers.

“Pony helped me finish ’em, actually. I had the mechanisms working, mostly, but I kept putting off the boring stuff. Filing the edges, balancing the grips, fixing the feed system. She eventually got tired of looking at half-finished parts all over my room and made me sit down until I finished.”

A fond smile tugged at his mouth.

“Wouldn’t even bring me dinner until I did. Cruel woman.”

Blake studied the cleavers as Renji returned them to his belt.

Suigetsu was an interesting weapon. Perhaps a little redundant considering its owner’s Kosei, but she supposed that was intentional. Renji didn’t seem interested in weapons that compensated for his weaknesses. Everything he carried was designed to give him more ways to exploit his strengths.

The cleavers were much like their owner in that regard. Versatile. Unconventional. And considerably more dangerous than they first appeared.

Blake reached over her shoulder and drew Gambol Shroud.

“This is Gambol Shroud.”

Renji’s attention immediately snapped toward it.

Blake thumbed the release near the guard. With a metallic click, the blade separated from the pistol assembly, connected only by the long black ribbon coiled within the handle.

“Variant ballistic chain scythe. The sheath doubles as a cleaver, and the blade can detach from the firearm to function as a kusarigama.”

She flicked her wrist. The blade shot outward, ribbon unraveling behind it before Blake snapped it back into her hand. Renji’s eyes followed the entire motion.

“Thats sick. You make that?”

“Mostly.”

There was something strangely earnest about his excitement. No polite compliment. No thinly veiled criticism disguised as advice. He simply looked genuinely impressed. Blake wasn’t sure why that pleased her as much as it did. She folded the blade back into place.

“Great minds think alike, eh?” Renji continued. He tapped one of Suigetsu’s handles. “I’ve actually been thinking about connecting these two with a chain. Throw one, hook something, pull myself in. Or pull them to me. Haven’t figured out the mechanism yet.”

He glanced toward Gambol Shroud. “Maybe you could help me with it sometime.”

Sometime.

He said it casually, as though there was already an expectation that they’d still be speaking to each other after the examination. Of course, they were partners now. Assuming they both passed, they would be spending considerably more time together whether she liked it or not.

Still, something about the ease with which he’d included her in his future plans caught her off guard.

“I’ll think about it.”

Renji seemed satisfied with that answer. He turned back toward the trail, leaving Blake to return Gambol Shroud to its sheath.

There was that name again.

Renji had mistaken her for this ‘Pony’ when she’d woken him that morning. Pony apparently dragged him out of bed often enough for the mistake to come naturally. Now Blake knew she’d helped him finish Suigetsu after he’d gotten bored halfway through building it.

There had been other little mentions, too. A photograph he’d taken for her. A souvenir he’d promised to bring home.

Blake glanced toward him.

He walked a few steps ahead of her, hands tucked lazily behind his head as though they weren’t currently crossing a mountain infested with Yokai.

It sounded nice.

She’d had something like that once.

She returned Gambol Shroud to her back and followed Renji up the trail. The path narrowed as it climbed higher into the mountains, dense forest gradually giving way to exposed stone and steep ridgelines. By the time they reached the next rise, Blake could finally make out the distant spires of Yūei beyond the mountains.

Less than an hour, she guessed. Whether that made them early or late was another question entirely.

Some candidates had probably traveled through the night rather than stopping to rest. Blake had considered doing the same. After the fight with the Sekihei, however, neither of them had been in any condition to keep moving. Between Renji’s depleted Aura and her own exhaustion, stopping had been the sensible choice.

Sensible didn’t necessarily mean Yūei would reward it.

Blake frowned at the distant academy. Hopefully the instructors cared more about how they completed the examination than how quickly.

A shout echoed from somewhere ahead.

“Help!”

Blake’s hand immediately went to Gambol Shroud.

Two figures stumbled around the bend farther up the trail. A girl was struggling beneath the weight of a boy draped across her shoulders, one arm wrapped around his waist as she practically dragged him forward. His other leg hung uselessly behind him, blood running freely down his boot and leaving dark spots across the stone.

“Oh gods, help! He’s hurt!”

The two were already moving forward. They reached the pair just as the injured boy’s leg gave out. Renji caught him beneath the arm before he could hit the ground and carefully lowered him onto the trail.

“Easy, easy. Sit him down.”

Blake dropped beside them, her eyes immediately finding the wound.

Deep laceration along the thigh. Heavy bleeding, but not arterial. His Aura had either broken or fallen too low to close it properly.

It was bad, but it wasn’t fatal as long as he got proper rest.

“What happened?” Renji asked.

The girl sucked in a ragged breath.

“There’s a monster up ahead. An Ōmukade.” Her voice cracked. “Two people are still fighting it.”

Blake’s heart sank.

Ōmukade were bad news. Greater Yokai. Venomous. Burrowers. Their overlapping armor was notoriously difficult to penetrate, and anything large enough to hunt humans generally had very little reason to fear them.

A distant crash rolled through the mountains. Then another. Blake’s ears twitched beneath her ribbon. Someone was still fighting.

“Please,” the girl whispered. “Help them.”

Blake looked over to Renji, who was already tightening the straps over his chest.

Their eyes met for only a moment. No discussion. No weighing the risk against the examination. Whatever reservations Blake still had about Renji Mizuhara, she knew enough about him by now to know what that look meant.

Renji glanced back toward the girl. “You know the way to campus from here?”

She nodded quickly. “Y-yes. It’s straight down the mountain.”

“Good. Get your partner to the infirmary. They’ll take good care of him.

The girl hesitated, looking between them. “What about you?”

Renji drew Suigetsu from his hips. A grin crept across his face.

“Isn’t that obvious? We’ve got a bug to squash.”

He glanced sideways at Blake.

“Right?”

Blake’s fingers tightened around Gambol Shroud.

“Right.” She stepped past him, heading up the trail. “Let's go."

<><><><>

“Setsuna, please.” Mezo Shoji sighed, watching as the girl’s head floated around him in circles. The girl merely grinned, snapping her sharp teeth in response. The rest of her body lay across his shoulders, resting. She had apparently grown tired of walking and decided that he’d make an excellent perch.

He adjusted Aegis Leviathan on his back, the tower shield growing heavier as they marched back towards Yuei. It had taken them nearly half the day to locate the Shrine of Tsukuyomi hidden beneath a sprawling network of caves.

Setsuna had proudly declared she’d found the sacred offering within minutes, only for Mezo to notice the flawless silver idol was quietly rotting beneath its polished surface. The true offering lay much deeper, guarded by a powerful Yokai that Setsuna insisted had been “totally worth the detour.” After defeating the creature and returning the weathered offering to the shrine, the relic of Tsukuyomi revealed itself. Moments later, the shrine’s guardian awakened, sending the pair sprinting through the collapsing tunnels with the relic in hand.

“I’m booored. Got anything to snack on? I could really go for a steak right now. Or fish! …Actually, no. Chicken. Wait, no, definitely steak. I don’t know how you’re a vegetarian, Mezo. Meat is so good! Aw, I need to stop talking. I’m just making myself hungrier.”

Mezo sighed, readjusting the mask covering his mouth. His new partner was eccentric to say the least. He didn’t necessarily consider that a bad thing, but she was very distracting. though she certainly had a talent for filling otherwise quiet moments with conversation.

“I have a few spare dried mushrooms in my bag. You may help yourself to those if you are hungry.”

Setsuna’s eyes lit up as she floated down to his waist, sticking her head into his bag. “Score!” She exclaimed, pulling out a small bag of mushrooms. She popped one into her mouth, chewing happily as the two continued to make their way towards Yuei.

After some time, they reached the peak of the mountain where the path began to widen. Yuei was in view, its spiral towers jutting out from the earth.

“There it is! Finally, I’m starving!” Setsuna grinned, hopping off of his shoulder. She slowly floated to the ground, dusting herself off. Mezo readjusted the shield slung to his back. At this distance, they’d be at the campus within an hour. Although he wouldn’t admit it, he was feeling quite famished as well.

“We still have a bit further to travel, Setsuna.” He grumbled, walking alongside the girl. She merely shrugged, skipping beside him with her war scythe spinning around her wrist.

Tktktktktk.

Mezo stopped.

Flesh shifted along one of his forearms. Two folds emerged from his skin, cartilage forming beneath them until a pair of ears opened along his arm.

“What is it?” Setsuna asked, turning back to him with a raised eyebrow. Mezo merely place his hand up to silence her. The mountain had gone quiet. The sounds of birds chirping and animals grazing had ceased, leaving a sudden silence that made his hair stand on end.

“Something is wro-” A sudden explosion rocked the ground, echoing in the distance. He could hear the sounds of frightened screams and combat. He looked at Setsuna, who had already begun heading toward the direction of the commotion.

“Finally…some action!” She roared, brandishing her War Scythe, Ryujin. Mezo sprinted after the girl, losing track as she leapt over the hillside.

He caught up to her just as he heard the sound of a low whistle. The girl swung her scythe in front of her, cutting down a set of projectiles that had been headed her way.

The first thing that Mezo saw was its mandibles. Massive blade like protrusions covered slick with green venom. Then he saw its body. The Yokai was massive, towering over them at nearly twenty feet long. It body was covered in thick crimson armor, its many legs scraping at the rock as it scuttled around the mountain side.

The second thing he saw was blood. A blonde boy was barely hanging on, blood dripping from his leg as his partner, a blue haired girl, defended him. Her face was twisted in fear, her hands trembling as she held her twin daggers close to her chest.

The juvenile Okumade lunged towards the duo, its mandibles bared ready to tear into them. It never got the chance.

A flicker of green flashed through his vision. The wind whistled as Setsuna spun like a saw blade, her War Scythe slamming into its skull. The beast recoiled, twisting as it crashed into the earth. Setsuna landed, skidding across the dirt as she spun with a grin. Mezo moved, standing in front of the two injured candidates.

“Get out of here. We will delay it as long as possible.” He grumbled, reaching behind himself and grabbing the edge of his shield, Aegis Levi. He lifted it, slamming it into the ground.

The Okumade rose once again, shaking its head before setting its red eyes on the two people behind Mezo. It didn’t care about Mezo or Setsuna. It didn’t even acknowledge them. No, it smelled blood in the air.

Mezo nearly crumbled as the Yokai slammed into him. He grit his teeth, the impact rolling up his arms and across his entire body. The ground gave way beneath him as his boots were buried into the rock.

CLANG!

Setsuna’s foot planted itself on his shoulder as she leapt into the air, Ryujin held high. Sparks exploded from the point of impact as her scythe skidded across its armor, carving a long white streak through the crimson shell.

“Shit, you’re a toughie, aren’t ya?!” She shouted, running along its body. Her eyes scanned the length of its body, looking for anything she could tear into.

The last of the fleeing candidates disappeared around the bend. The Okumade’s antennae swept through the air, noticing the scent of blood growing more and more distant. Its attention finally shifted to Mezo.

TKTKTKTKTKTKTKT!

Without warning, the ground beneath Mezo’s feet began to tremble. The Yokai shuddered before it began to coil, its armored plates grinding against each other like a rubber band.

Mezo’s eyes widened. “Setsuna!”

He was too late. The Okumade uncoiled like a spring. Its armored body whipped outwards, its body rolling like a tidal wave. Setsuna only had a second before several tons of crimson chitin slammed into her. Mezo could hear the sound of bones cracking as Setsuna was sent skidding across the rocks before crashing through a dead tree in an explosion of splinters.

Mezo didn’t fare any better. The Yokai’s mandibles tightened on Aegis Leviathan, venom dripping down along the metal. It squeezed, bending metal under its grip before it threw its skull back.

For the first time in years, the giant of Mineoka felt himself completely weightless. The Okumade flung him across the mountainside, his body slamming into the stone. He bounced, rolling across the rocks as pain shot up through his body.

He came to a stop, his vision swimming. Every muscle protested as he forced himself upright. Across the plateau, the Ōmukade circled the splintered tree where Setsuna had disappeared, its countless legs clicking against the stone.

Mezo drew a slow breath.

If it was still targeting her… she was alive.

Aegis Leviathan split apart with a metallic hiss, the massive tower shield separating into two reinforced bucklers that locked over his forearms. Two additional arms unfurled from beneath his coat, then another pair. They struck the mountainside with heavy thuds, fingers digging deep into the rock.

He lowered his center of gravity, the muscles in legs coiling. One foot slid back, the other planted forward. His eyes locked onto the Yokai.

Charge.

Eight limbs drove against the earth in perfect rhythm. Stone cracked beneath his hands and feet as he bounded across the mountainside. The Yokai heard him coming- he didn’t care. His muscles burned as he gained speed, his body a battering ram hurtling toward the creature.

The sound of Mezo’s body colliding with the side of the Okumade’s skull echoed throughout the mountain range. Chitin and bone both shattered under the force of the attack. Venom sprayed from the wound as the Yokai was thrown sideways into the ruined tree.

Pain exploded from his shoulders to his fingertips. He landed hard, rolling across the mountainside before finally digging four hands into the earth to stop himself. He winced, his two main arms hanging limply at his sides. Broken.

It would heal.

The Yokai thrashed in the splintered wood, its body twitching as it struggled to regain its footing. It had enough. One claw lashed out, catching Mezo across the chest and hurling him backward. His armor absorbed most of the impact, but the sheer strength behind the blow made his ribs ache.

The Yokai rose, its head dripping with blood and venom. It let out a noise that Mezo could only describe like the sound of nails scraping metal. It turned, raising its head towards the sun.

Its eyes weren’t focused on Setsuna. They weren’t focused on him. No, it was staring at something in the distance.

Something blue streaked across Mezo’s vision.

It struck the Ōmukade square in the head.

BOOM!

Water erupted across its armor, exploding into a cloud of white mist.

Two figures dropped onto the plateau between Mezo and the Yokai.

One male. One female.

The girl landed first, a black ribbon curling through the air behind her. The boy touched down beside her with twin cleavers already in hand, another small blue sphere clenched between his teeth.

“Where’s your partner?” The girl asked. Mezo opened his mouth to respond, but the boy was already moving. He drew two cleavers from his hips, charging towards the Yokai like a black bullet. Water coalesced around his body, forming into razor thin vibrating blades.

“He’s so reckless.” The girl sighed, turning back to Mezo. “Can you still fight?”

Mezo flexed his damaged arms. He could feel the bones snapping back into place, his regeneration stitching muscle and tissue back into place.

“Always.” He grunted, his voice strained.

She nodded at him, drawing a black blade from her back. She didn’t say anything else, accelerating forwards and into the fight.

Mezo charged right after her.

<><><><>

Renji shot forward with Suigetsu drawn, disappearing into the mist as quickly like a shadow. He pulled the surrounding vapor towards himself as he moved, wrapping it around his body until the back of his body became little more than a shining silhouette. With a grin, he popped another condensed sphere of water between his teeth.

It was about damn time he got to use this technique in an actual fight.

Renji bit down.

The sphere burst between his teeth just as he exhaled. His warm breath caught the released water and carried it outward as a dense plume of mist, thickening the cloud already covering the battlefield. Moisture curled around his arms and shoulders as he ran, moving with him until it became almost impossible to tell where the fog ended and Renji began.

The Ōmukade didn’t seem particularly impressed.

Its segmented body twisted with startling speed, dozens of hooked legs gouging into the stone as its tail came whipping through the mist. Renji caught the movement at the last second and brought Suigetsu around. Water spiraled along both cleavers, extending beyond their edges before compressing into two vibrating blades.

He planted his foot and prepared to meet the strike with this own. He never got the chance.

A green streak dropped from the sky above like a green meteorite.

“YOU DICK!” Setsuna screamed.

Ryujin came down with enough force to bury its blade between two overlapping plates of crimson armor. The Ōmukade shrieked as the scythe punched through the softer flesh beneath, silver blood spraying across Setsuna’s arms.

Its body immediately bucked beneath her, but she refused to let go, hooking one leg around the weapon’s shaft while both hands remained locked around the grip.

“Yeah, you remember me!”

The Ōmukade reared violently, trying to tear the scythe free along with its passenger. Setsuna only laughed and wrenched Ryujin sideways, forcing the blade deeper into the gap.

Renji burst from the mist below.

“We need this thing on its back!” he shouted.

Suigetsu swept forward. Several thin blades of compressed water peeled away from the cleavers and streaked across the plateau, hammering into the Ōmukade’s armored flank. They couldn’t punch through the chitin, but each impact burst against its shell with enough force to stagger the creature sideways.

“Someone control its head!”

A familiar black ribbon flitted overhead. It hissed through the mist and snapped around the Ōkumade’s left antenna. Blake planted one foot against the jutting stone and pulled, wrenching the creature’s head sharply to the side. The Yokai’s attention snapped towards her, pain lancing from its delicate sensory organ.

“That works!” Renji shouted.

The Ōmukade screamed and thrashed with renewed fury, caught between Setsuna carving into its back, Renji battering its flank, and Blake dragging its head away from both of them.

“Stay still already!”

Setsuna tightened her legs around Ryujin, clinging to the Ōkumade’s back as it thrashed violently. She wrenched the scythe from side to side in an attempt to wide the gap between its armor.

The Ōkumade had apparently had enough.

The creature suddenly broke away from Renji and charged toward the cliffside. Its front legs struck the stone without slowing, hooked feet punching into the rock as its enormous body curled upward. In the span of a heartbeat, the battlefield turned vertical.

“WOAH!”

Setsuna flattened herself against its back as the Ōmukade surged up the mountainside, dozens of legs hammering against the cliff in a blur. Stone splintered beneath each step, raining down onto the plateau below.

Blake wasn’t nearly as fortunate.

Gambol Shroud’s ribbon snapped taut. Blake was ripped from her feet so violently that her stomach seemed to remain somewhere on the ground behind her. She shot through the air after the fleeing Yokai, both hands tightening around Gambol Shroud as the ribbon dragged her toward the cliff. Her boots struck stone for half a second before immediately skidding upward, kicking loose gravel into the air as she fought to find her footing.

Below, Renji skidded to a stop at the base of the cliff and stared upward.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Water gathered beneath his armored boots on instinct, but he dismissed the idea immediately. He could propel himself in short bursts, but carrying himself up an entire mountainside was out of the question. By the time he’d reached them, the fight would be over.

Something heavy struck the cliff beside him.

Mezo had driven all six hands into the stone. Thick fingers sank into cracks along the rock face as his feet planted beneath him, his enormous frame already beginning to climb.

He glanced down at Renji.

“Get on.”

Renji blinked, confusion evident on his face before he realized what the other boy meant. He launched himself onto Mezo’s back, feeling the boy tense beneath him.

“Please try to avoid vomiting.”

The muscles beneath Mezo’s coat swelled as he drove into the mountainside, eight limbs launching him upwards towards the fleeing Omukade. Stone exploded beneath his hands as he bounded from ledge to ledge, carrying Renji with him.

Far above them, the mountainside had become a blur.

Blake’s boots scraped desperately across the stone as the Ōmukade dragged her higher. Gambol Shroud’s ribbon remained stretched taut between them, every violent movement of the Yokai jerking her several more feet up the cliff. She tried planting her heels, but there was nothing to brace against. Loose stone simply broke beneath her boots and disappeared into the mist below.

“Would you… stop moving?!” Blake hissed.

Her boot finally caught itself against a narrow piece of rock. She immediately pushed off. For a split second, she was moving faster than the Ōmukade could drag her. Gambol Shroud recognized the sudden slack and its internal mechanism whirred, rapidly retracting the ribbon. Blake let it pull her the rest of the way, shooting upward until she slammed boots-first onto one of the creature’s armored segments.

She crouched low, slamming her fingers in between the gaps of its shell. A burst of laughter echoed from in front of her.

“THIS IS AWESOME!” Setsuna clung to the Ōmukade several segments ahead of her, Ryujin still buried between two plates of crimson chitin. Her hair whipped wildly around her face as she laughed, apparently having the time of her life while being carried hundreds of feet up the side of a mountain by a giant centipede.

What is wrong with this girl?

The Omukade let out another ear piercing shriek.

Its legs suddenly dug deeper into the mountainside, halting its ascent so abruptly that Blake nearly pitched forward. Before she could recover, the creature twisted its enormous body and threw its entire weight sideways.

Blake blinked.

BOOM!

The Ōkumade slammed itself against the cliff.

Stone exploded around them. Blake’s shoulder struck first, the impact rattling through her Aura as she was crushed momentarily between the mountain and the creature’s armored flank. Ahead of her, Setsuna disappeared beneath the same collision.

The Ōkumade ripped itself from the wall, tearing Ryujin and by extension, Setsuna with it.

WHAM!

Setsuna collided with her before Blake could move. The impact ripped Blake from the Ōmukade’s back, sending both girls tumbling into open air. Gambol Shroud’s ribbon snapped taut a heartbeat later, catching them before they could fall more than a few feet and swinging them violently back toward the creature.

Blake twisted just enough to take the impact against her shoulder rather than her skull. Armor slammed against her side, rattling her Aura as she bounced across one crimson plate and nearly lost her grip on Gambol Shroud.

The she realized two arms were wrapped around her. The green-haired girl from earlier latched onto her tightly, their faces barely a few inches apart. Wide green eyes stared back into her amber ones.

Setsuna beamed.

“Hi! I’m Setsuna!”

Blake stared at her.

“Wanna be best friends?!”

“…What?”

Apparently offended by the conversation happening on its back, the Yokai twisted violently against the mountainside. Gambol Shroud’s ribbon whipped sideways, taking both girls with it. Blake barely had time to brace before they were swung into the cliff.

The impact punched the breath from her lungs.

Blake coughed, her vision flashing white as her Aura absorbed the worst of it. Setsuna, somehow still wrapped around her, seemed considerably less concerned.

The Ōmukade’s body curled.

Blake caught the movement of its tail from the corner of her eye. It crawled towards them, its hooked legs digging into the loose stone.

“Not today, ya jerk!”

Setsuna planted both feet against the cliff and kicked off with everything she had, taking Blake with her. The Ōmukade’s tail swept through the space they’d occupied a heartbeat later, smashing into the mountainside hard enough to send chunks of stone cascading into the mist below.

For one dizzying moment, the two girls were weightless. Then gravity kicked back.

Blake’s stomach lurched as they began to fall. Wind tore through her hair and clothes while the mountainside blurred beside them, the plateau hundreds of feet below rapidly growing larger.

“WOOOOOHOOOOO!” Setsuna screamed, her grip on Blake tightening.

Blake forced herself to twist in the air, reaching for Gambol Shroud. If she could get the ribbon around something solid, she could arrest their fall before-

“Got em!”

Five arms plunged into the mountainside at once.

His fingers buried themselves into the stone, shoulders locking as his entire body went rigid against the cliff. Renji nearly flew from his back from the sudden stop, catching himself around Mezo’s shoulder before looking up.

Setsuna and Blake were falling directly towards them.

“Oh, shit.”

A hand firmly pressed itself against his upper spine as he locked his legs around Mezo’s torso.

Blake fell directly into him.

Renji caught her by the waist as the girl slammed into his chest, his left arm extended to grab the other girl. For half a second, everything seemed strangely still.

Blake found herself cradled against Renji’s chest, one arm instinctively wrapped around his neck. Their faces were close enough that she could see the tiny cuts scattered across his cheek from the previous day. Renji stared back at her, equally surprised.

“Uh…” he managed. “Hey.”

Blake blinked once.

Renji barely managed to look up as Setsuna slammed into his left arm. Pain exploded through his shoulder.

“AAAAAGH!”

His arm was wrenched violently downward as Setsuna swung beneath him, his shoulder giving an extremely concerning POP. Renji’s grip on Blake tightened instinctively while Mezo immediately caught the back of his jacket with another hand.

Setsuna dangled from Renji’s arm over several hundred feet of empty air.

She looked up at him with a smile.

“Heya!”

Renji’s face had gone pale.

“My… shoulder…!”

A violent clicking sounded from above.

Everyone looked up.

The Ōmukade had twisted around on the cliff face, its enormous body curling until its head pointed directly down at them. Its antennae swept across the stone before locking onto the four Hunters clustered below.

“Oh, SHIT!”

The Ōmukade lunged.

Dozens of hooked legs hammered against the mountainside as it charged downward, moving with terrifying speed.

Blake barely had time to tighten her grip before Mezo dropped. He descended the cliff in enormous bounds, alternating between freefall and catching himself against the mountainside. Four hands punched into the rock at a time, arresting their fall just long enough for his feet to find purchase before he released again. Stone shattered beneath his fingers as the three passengers clung to him.

Above them, the Ōkumade was gaining.

Renji glanced over Mezo’s shoulder. His injured arm hung close to his side, shoulder still throbbing from Setsuna’s less-than-graceful rescue.

“We need to peel that thing off the wall!”

He ripped the stopper from his waterskin with his teeth. The remaining water poured free and split around him, flattening into several thin discs. Each began rotating faster until their edges blurred, hovering around Renji like circular saws.

“Wait.” Blake caught his wrist. Her eyes weren’t on the Yokai itself. They were on the mountain.

“Don’t aim for the Ōkumade. Aim for the wall. I’ll handle the rest.”

Renji looked at her for a moment, his eyes widening before a grin split his face.

“You got it, partner!”

Renji swept Suigetsu toward the cliff.

The spinning discs screamed through the air, deliberately passing beneath the Ōmukade rather than striking its armor. They buried themselves in the mountainside instead, carving through shelves of stone and pulverizing the footholds beneath its legs.

The Greater Yokai shrieked as several of its claws slipped free. Its enormous body lurched sideways, dozens of remaining legs scrambling for purchase against the crumbling rock.

“There!” Blake shouted.

Renji drew back his cleavers, preparing another volley.

“Leave that to me!”

Setsuna’s voice screamed from somewhere above him. He blinked.

From above?

He looked down.

A moment ago, one arm had been wrapped around Setsuna to keep her anchored against Mezo’s back.

Now he was holding a torso.

Just a torso.

Renji stared at the girl’s armless, legless, and headless body tucked in between his shoulder and bicep.

“What… the fuck?”

“Don’t worry about!” Setsuna’s voice screamed as she rocketed through the air. arms. Her legs had already launched themselves farther up the cliff, each separated piece of her body streaking toward the Ōmukade under its own power.

“ᴴᵒʷ ᵃᵐ ᴵ ˢᵘᵖᵖᵒˢᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᴺᴼᵀ ʷᵒʳʳʸ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ?!”

Renji’s voice disappeared somewhere far below her. Her pieces struck in rapid succession.

One foot smashed into a hooked leg just as it found purchase. An arm slammed into another. Her other leg swept beneath a cluster of claws, knocking them loose from the fractured stone. The Ōmukade tried to compensate, shifting hundreds of pounds toward the opposite side, only for Setsuna’s fist to crash into its antenna and send its head jerking sideways.

Its rhythm collapsed. Dozens of its legs slipped at once, its upper body lurching away from the mountain.

Blake’s eyes narrowed.

Renji immediately understood. He shifted his weight, planted himself as firmly as he could against Mezo’s palm, and thrust out his good arm.

Aura flooded the limb. Blue light crawled beneath his skin, concentrating through his shoulder, elbow, and palm as Blake’s boot came down against it.

“GO!”

Renji shoved.

Blake kicked upwards.

She hit the mountainside running, boots hammering against the near-vertical stone as momentum carried her several strides above them. The Ōmukade scrambled desperately overhead, hundreds of legs clawing against the crumbling cliff.

Blake ripped Gambol Shroud free. It fired past the Yokai, its black ribbon unfurling before Blake snapped her wrist, whipping the line around the Ōkumade’s antennae. The ribbon snapped tight.

Blake’s legs surged with aura as she flooded them with everything she had left. She coiled the muscles in her legs before she leapt, Gambol Shroud’s mechanism firing with it.

The Ōmukade’s head was violently wrenched backward, its remaining front legs ripping free from the fractured stone. For one suspended moment, the enormous Yokai hung from the mountainside by nothing more than the scattered claws Setsuna hadn’t knocked loose.

But it wasn’t enough. The bastard still held on, its back legs burying themselves into the stone.

Blake pulled with everything she had, her arms straining desperately. She couldn’t do it.

Then something slammed into.

Renji.

His back crashed against her chest as Mezo bounded upward beneath him, nearly knocking what little air remained from Blake’s lungs. Before she could even process what was happening, she felt multiple hands wrap around her own.

Renji’s.

Mezo’s.

And, inexplicably, one of Setsuna’s.

“PULL!”

They hauled back with everything they had.

It was the final straw. Stone erupted beneath the Yokai’s remaining footholds as the spinning blades carved through the cliff itself. The hooked legs lost their grip, sliding on broken stone as the beast lurched forwards.

The Ōmukade fell in slow motion, its body twisting against gravity as it dropped like a crimson meteor. Every moment it fell made it look larger, impossibly heavier. Its armor gleamed in the morning sun as it accelerated, a twisted screech echoing through the mountains as it plunged.

They plunged with it.

Blake still had Gambol Shroud wrapped around its antenna. The ribbon whipped violently in the open air, threatening to tear the weapon from her hands as the Ōmukade twisted beneath them.

“Flip it!” Renji shouted.

Blake grabbed the ribbon.

Mezo understood immediately. Four arms joined theirs, locking around the line as he twisted his enormous body through the air. Together they hauled sideways, wrenching the Ōmukade’s head around and forcing the rest of its segmented body to follow.

Setsuna didn’t bother with the ribbon.

Her scattered pieces shot past them.

Both feet slammed into the creature’s armored flank. An instant later, her torso followed, crashing shoulder-first into the opposite side with enough force to finish what the others had started.

Its hundreds of legs clawed uselessly at empty air as the crimson shell turned beneath them. For the first time since the battle began, its armored back faced the earth.

Gambol Shroud released.

The Greater Yokai struck the mountain back-first.

BOOM.

Stone burst outward beneath its enormous body, the earth collapsing into a shallow crater as several plates along its back buckled beneath its own weight. A shockwave of dust rolled across the mountainside, swallowing the Ōmukade completely.

Something moved in the dust.

A leg. And then another. Somehow, despite all odds, the Yokai had survived the impact. It squirmed, its legs wriggling uselessly in the air as its shrieked. Its underbelly was exposed.

Four shadows streaked through the sky.

There was no order given. They didn’t need one.

Renji crossed Suigetsu beneath himself. The last ribbons of water surrounding his body collapsed around the cleavers, vibrating violently along their edges.

Renji crossed Suigetsu.

Blake inverted Gambol Shroud.

Mezo drew back every fist.

Setsuna raised Ryujin overhead.

The Ōmukade looked up.

For one final moment, the warmth of the morning sun touched its skin.

Then four shadows swallowed the light.

And then…

Nothing.

<><><><>

Civilization had never looked so beautiful.

Blake stumbled along the mountain trail with one of Renji’s arms hooked around her shoulders, her own wrapped tightly around his waist. His head lolled against hers with every uneven step, boots dragging uselessly through the dirt behind them.

He’d made it about fifteen minutes after the fight before he finally collapsed. His left arm still dangled helplessly at his side, his aura reserves too low to properly mend it. Renji had been running on fumes since the night prior.

Blake shifted his weight higher against her side with a grunt.

He’s heavy.

Beside her, Mezo carried Setsuna across his back, her arms hanging loosely over his shoulders and her cheek pressed against the side of his head. Unlike Renji, however, Setsuna had suffered no catastrophic Aura exhaustion.

“Mmmm…..”

Mezo glanced sideways at the girl’s head. Drool leaked from her mouth.

“…Steak…”

His eye twitched.

“It’s a miracle she survived this long,” he muttered, his deep voice gruff with exhaustion.

Blake couldn’t disagree.

The journey back to Yūei didn’t take particularly long. Under normal circumstances, Blake doubted it would’ve taken them more than an hour.

These were not normal circumstances.

Every incline felt twice as steep. Every stretch of trail seemed twice as long. Exhaustion had settled into Blake’s muscles until even breathing felt like work, her Aura flickering dangerously close to depletion as it struggled to mend the accumulated damage from the past two days.

Still, they walked. One foot after another. Eventually, when Blake next looked up next the academy’s enormous gates stood before her. After two days of Yokai, temples, sleepless nights, and one particularly unpleasant giant centipede, the sight almost didn’t seem real.

Her knees buckled and she collapsed into Mezo. The boy said nothing, simply holding the two of them as he fell to his knees.

For a moment, Mezo remained there, kneeling just beyond the gates with three unconscious comrades held against him.

A shadow fell across the four prospective Exorcists.

Mezo tried to raise his head, but his vision had already begun to blur. He couldn’t make out the figure standing above them. Couldn’t understand whatever was being said around him.

He only knew that suddenly, his body felt a hundred times lighter.

Someone had taken the others from him.

The last thing Mezo saw was a satisfied smirk gazing down at the four of them.

“Not bad.”

A pause.

“Not bad at all.”