The first remnants came around the corner.
Kaito finished reinforcing his arms and legs with mana, but he did not move forward.
He stayed beside Kagami.
To his right, the hunter they had just rescued tightened his grip on his weapon with both hands. Dried blood covered his face, and his breathing was rough, but his stance remained steady.
Harada stood a little farther back.
He had opened and closed his hand several times since they discovered the exit was blocked. He did not need to explain how he felt. After all the teleportations he had made since entering the sector, even his normal movements looked heavier.
There were at least eight remnants in front of them.
Behind them, more were beginning to approach through the inner corridor.
Kagami kept one hand raised.
The pressure in the air increased.
The first two enemies trying to advance slowed immediately.
One moved on four limbs. The additional gravity crushed its body downward until its joints creaked.
The second resisted better.
It managed to take another step.
Kaito moved.
Not straight through the center.
He went in from the side.
While gravity kept most of the remnant's weight pinned downward, Kaito struck one of its legs.
The joint gave way and the creature lost its balance.
Kaito pulled back before it could respond.
The rescued hunter finished it with his weapon.
Another remnant tried to push through the opening they had left.
Kagami moved two fingers.
The creature was thrown sideways as though the direction of its own body had suddenly changed.
It crashed into the wall.
Kaito moved in again.
One strike.
Two.
Then he stepped away.
He did not pursue the enemy when it retreated, dragging itself backward.
The remnant managed to rise again.
For a fraction of a second, Kaito felt the urge to chase it.
He could reach it.
He could finish it.
He took one step.
Then stopped.
He heard movement behind him.
Kaito immediately returned to Kagami's side.
Almost at the same moment, another remnant appeared from the rear corridor.
If he had kept going, he would have left the group's back exposed.
Kagami said nothing.
He did not need to.
Kaito understood.
"They're going to close us in," the rescued hunter said.
Harada looked back.
Three figures were approaching through the inner corridor.
A fourth had just appeared.
"They already are."
Kagami lowered his hand slightly.
The pressure over the enemies ahead weakened.
The remnants immediately took advantage of it.
Three advanced at once.
Kaito tensed.
But Kagami was not retreating.
He was waiting.
When the three reached roughly the middle of the corridor, he closed his fist.
The air seemed to sink.
Their bodies dropped.
Not all of them fell completely.
One managed to stay on one knee.
Another dug its fingers into the floor to resist.
The third slammed chest-first into the tiles.
"Now," Kagami said.
Nothing else was needed.
Kaito and the hunter entered together.
Kaito struck the first in the neck.
The hunter attacked the second.
The third tried to rise, but Kagami increased the pressure only over its right arm.
The limb sank against the floor.
Kaito kicked the creature out of the route.
He did not try to kill it.
They only needed space.
"Fall back," Kagami ordered.
Everyone moved.
Harada had already started walking.
He did not use his technique.
He simply moved with them.
Kaito looked at him.
"Can't you take us straight to the stairs?"
Harada gave a humorless laugh.
"Sure."
He took a breath.
"You want to come back for my body afterward too?"
Kaito said nothing.
"One person," Harada continued. "Maybe two more jumps if I'm not carrying anyone. But if I keep moving people like this, eventually I'm going to appear somewhere without enough strength to come back."
Kagami spoke without taking his eyes off the enemies.
"Then you don't transport anyone unless it's necessary."
Harada looked at him.
"I love having such great options."
"Save the complaints for when we're out."
"That assumes we're getting out."
Kagami watched the remnants recovering.
"Yes."
He did not say it like a promise.
He said it like a decision.
They retreated to the previous intersection.
Kagami did not try to stop the enemies completely.
He forced them to advance slowly.
Sometimes he increased gravity directly in front of them.
Other times he shifted their weight sideways, making them collide with each other or slam into the walls.
He never maintained the pressure for long.
One second.
Two.
Enough to break their stride.
Enough to stop a jump.
Enough to let Kaito move in and get back out.
As they fought, Kaito began to understand why.
The technique could be devastating.
But keeping an entire area under extreme gravity for minutes would drain even Kagami.
So he used small changes.
One moment.
One location.
Only as much as necessary.
The rescued hunter began adapting too.
The first time Kagami knocked an enemy to the left, the man reacted too slowly.
The second time, he was ready.
He attacked the exposed area and returned to formation before the next enemy arrived.
They did not need to call out every movement.
The structure formed on its own.
Kagami controlled the space.
Kaito intercepted.
The hunter exploited openings.
Harada watched the rear and preserved his technique.
They moved about ten meters.
Stopped.
Held.
Retreated another fifteen.
A security door appeared on the right.
Harada checked the mechanism.
"It works."
Kagami looked back down the corridor.
"Close it once we're through."
They entered.
Kaito was last.
One remnant accelerated the moment it saw the gap narrowing.
Kaito turned.
He could have met it head-on.
Instead, he shifted to the side.
Kagami altered the creature's gravity just as it jumped.
Its trajectory bent violently.
The remnant smashed into the frame.
Kaito struck from the flank.
The creature fell back into the previous corridor.
Kaito crossed the doorway.
Harada activated the lock.
The metal panels slid shut.
A claw appeared through the final opening.
Kaito instinctively moved closer.
He did not need to.
The rescued hunter brought his weapon down on the fingers.
The limb vanished.
The doors closed.
An impact came from the other side.
Then another.
Harada leaned his back against the metal.
"Great."
Kaito breathed heavily.
"I wouldn't lean there."
Harada looked at him.
"Thanks for the advice."
He stepped away just as another hit shook the door.
Kagami studied the map mounted on the wall.
"We keep moving."
"We're not waiting for them to break this one?" Harada asked.
"You can if you want."
Harada started walking.
"You're always very convincing."
The bulkhead bought them less than a minute.
It was enough.
The new corridor was narrower and had several side entrances, but none led directly to the emergency stairs.
Kagami chose the route that brought them closest.
Kaito noticed the rescued hunter beginning to fall behind.
At first it was barely visible.
Then he started dragging one leg.
"You hurt?"
The man shook his head.
"Tired."
"That looks like an injury."
"They didn't hit me there."
He took two more steps.
His knee gave out.
Kaito caught him before he fell.
The hunter cursed under his breath.
"Nothing's broken."
Kagami approached.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
He tried putting weight on the leg again.
The expression on his face answered first.
Harada looked back toward the corridor behind them.
The pounding against the bulkhead had stopped.
That was not necessarily good.
"We don't have time for him to move at that pace."
Kaito looked at the hunter.
Then at Harada.
Harada already knew what they were thinking.
"No."
Kaito said nothing.
"Don't make that face."
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face did."
Kagami checked the map.
"The stairs are two corridors away."
"That's pretty close," Harada said.
Another sound came from a side entrance.
A figure moved quickly across the far end.
"And pretty far," he added.
The hunter tried standing without help.
"I can keep going."
Kaito held his arm.
"Not at the pace we need."
The man looked irritated.
"I'm not staying here."
"Nobody said that."
Harada closed his eyes for a moment.
Then held out his hand.
"Give me your arm."
The hunter hesitated.
"What?"
"Before I change my mind."
Kagami looked at Harada.
"Only to the stairs."
"Yes."
"After that, you don't transport anyone else."
"The previous conversation still applies."
Harada placed the man's arm over his shoulders.
Kaito stepped away.
"You sure?"
Harada looked at him.
"No."
Then disappeared.
The space where they had been was suddenly empty.
Kaito stared at it.
"That's incredibly reassuring."
"Move," Kagami said.
Kaito obeyed.
Harada took longer than usual to return.
Much longer.
Kaito and Kagami had already reached the next intersection when he still had not appeared.
The first remnant came from the left.
It was not especially large.
Its body was thin and almost human, with two arms that were far too long.
Kagami increased its weight.
The creature bent.
Kaito attacked.
The remnant blocked the first strike.
Something the earlier ones had failed to do.
Kaito changed the angle.
The second blow hit its side.
The creature backed away.
Kaito nearly followed.
He heard footsteps on his right.
He stayed.
Another enemy appeared.
Kagami moved his hand and the second remnant was thrown into the ceiling.
Not hard enough to kill it.
Enough to stop it.
Kaito finished the first.
Then Harada reappeared.
He dropped to his knees.
This time he could not stand immediately.
Kaito backed toward him.
"Harada."
"I'm fine."
"That doesn't look fine."
"That's because you're very observant."
He put one hand on the floor.
Breathed several times.
Kagami kept the enemies under pressure while watching him.
"Did he make it?"
Harada nodded.
"Emergency stairs. With the others."
"The first six too?"
"The six from before, the other two wounded, and him."
Kaito did the count.
Nine survivors.
Harada managed to stand.
Not completely straight.
"Can you teleport again?" Kaito asked.
Harada wiped a hand across his face.
"I can come back."
He pointed toward where he had disappeared with the hunter.
"Doing that again? No."
Kagami nodded.
"Then you don't."
A new remnant appeared in the distance.
Then another.
Harada sighed.
"I hope everyone else is getting some rest."
Kaito stood beside him.
"I'm sure they're having a wonderful day."
"Don't ruin the fantasy."
At some point, the impacts against the bulkhead behind them stopped.
Kagami was the first to notice.
There was no sound behind them.
The enemies that had been following through the other corridor had not appeared either.
Only the three remnants ahead continued to approach.
"Something changed," Kagami said.
Kaito looked back.
"They left?"
"I don't know."
Harada took a breath.
"We could take advantage of that and do exactly the same."
The stairwell was close.
One corridor.
One intersection.
Then the door.
Kagami moved forward.
The three remnants responded.
The first charged.
Kagami did not try to slow it gradually.
He closed his fist.
The remnant slammed violently into the floor.
The tiles cracked beneath its body.
Kaito stared.
The pressure was much stronger than before.
The second enemy entered the same area.
It dropped to one knee.
The third stopped just before crossing into it.
Kagami increased the gravity even further.
The first two became completely immobilized.
Even from outside the main area, Kaito felt the air become denser.
"How long can you keep that up?"
Kagami did not answer.
A thin line of sweat ran down his temple.
Kaito understood the answer.
Not long.
He moved in.
He struck the closest remnant while it was trapped.
He did not waste time trying to eliminate it completely.
He targeted one joint.
Then another.
Enough to prevent it from immediately chasing them.
The second tried raising one arm.
Kaito kicked it aside.
"Now!"
Kagami opened his hand.
The pressure vanished all at once.
Dust that had been pressed against the floor lifted slightly.
Kaito retreated.
The first remnant could not follow.
The second needed several seconds to get back on its feet.
The third advanced.
Harada moved beside it.
Not by teleportation.
He had run.
He pulled his weapon and struck the creature, knocking it off line.
"Feels like it's been a while since I fought normally."
Kaito attacked from the other side.
The remnant became trapped between them.
Kagami shifted its balance.
Its torso tilted toward Harada.
Harada stepped away.
Kaito delivered the final strike.
"Not bad," Harada said.
"The part where it almost hit you?"
"The part where it didn't."
Kagami walked between them.
"Stairs."
Both stopped talking.
The emergency door appeared at the end of the corridor.
Kaito could see the blue marking from several meters away.
He also saw something else.
The door was open.
Two hunters were waiting on the other side.
One was among those they had evacuated earlier.
The other belonged to security.
"Over here!"
The man raised an arm.
Harada let out a breath.
"Never thought I'd be this happy to see a staircase."
Kaito looked back.
The remnants were still advancing.
Slower.
But still coming.
"We're not there yet."
"You really had to say that."
Kagami stopped about ten meters before the door.
"You two, go ahead."
Kaito stopped too.
"What about you?"
Kagami looked toward the enemies.
"I'm right behind you."
Kaito did not move.
"No."
Kagami turned his head.
"That wasn't a question."
"Neither was mine."
Harada looked at both of them.
"What a beautiful moment."
Kagami frowned slightly.
Kaito pointed toward the exit.
"Harada's exhausted. You've already used a lot of mana. I can still fight."
"You're coming straight from the tournament."
"And I'm still standing."
"That doesn't mean—"
"I'm not going ahead."
Kagami went silent.
Kaito continued.
"I'm staying here."
Not in front of him.
Beside him.
Kagami watched him for a moment.
Then looked back toward the remnants.
"Then don't move away from me."
Kaito smiled.
"That I can do."
Harada pointed at the door.
"I'm absolutely leaving."
He crossed into the stairwell.
One of the hunters caught him on the other side.
Harada leaned against the wall immediately.
Kaito and Kagami remained in the corridor.
Three remnants approached.
More movement appeared behind them.
Kagami raised both hands.
This time, Kaito felt the pressure before he saw the effect.
The ceiling lights trembled.
The pipes creaked.
The remnants slowed.
The first fell.
The second tried to resist.
The third braced itself against the wall.
Kaito looked at Kagami.
This was different.
He was not controlling a small point.
He had increased gravity across almost the entire width of the corridor.
One remnant tried to rise again.
The pressure intensified.
Its arm gave way.
The floor creaked beneath it.
Kaito could feel a faint weight even outside the main area.
Kagami took a deep breath.
"Back."
Kaito began retreating.
He did not need to attack.
Understanding that was part of learning too.
A few meters.
The pressure continued.
More.
Kagami moved backward with him while maintaining the technique.
One enemy managed to crawl.
Another remained motionless.
The third tried reaching the edge of the affected zone.
Kagami partially closed one hand.
The creature fell again.
They reached the door.
"Now."
Both crossed.
The security hunters activated the closing mechanism.
The door began sliding shut.
Kagami released the technique.
The remnants regained their mobility.
One ran.
Kaito prepared himself.
The creature reached them when only a narrow gap remained between the panels.
It struck.
The door shook.
But closed.
The lock engaged.
Another impact came from the other side.
Harada watched the metal.
"How long do you think that holds?"
Kaito looked at him.
"Don't ask."
"That's his line."
Harada pointed at Kagami.
Another blow.
Stronger.
The security hunter raised his weapon.
Everyone waited for the next one.
It did not come.
Two seconds.
Five.
Ten.
Harada slowly pulled his back away from the wall.
"Did they break?"
Kaito listened.
Nothing.
Kagami approached a small reinforced window beside the door.
The glass was cracked, but he could still see part of the corridor.
The remnants were still there.
At least some of them.
But they were no longer looking at the door.
One began walking away.
Then another.
The third rose with difficulty and followed.
Kaito moved closer.
"What are they doing?"
Kagami kept watching.
More creatures appeared farther back.
None advanced toward the door.
They were moving in the opposite direction.
Back toward the interior of headquarters.
Harada looked over Kaito's shoulder.
"They letting us go?"
Kagami took several seconds to answer.
"No."
Kaito looked at him.
Kagami watched the last remnants disappear through the intersection.
"We stopped mattering to them."
The nine rescued hunters were spread across the lower landing of the stairwell.
Two members of the medical staff had arrived from a nearby sector and were treating the worst injuries first.
The man with the injured leg lay on a blanket.
The second hunter Harada had transported still had his arm immobilized.
The man wounded in the abdomen had received a temporary bandage and was waiting for a stretcher.
The last hunter Harada had carried was sitting against the wall.
When he saw Kaito and Kagami appear, he raised one hand.
Kaito returned the gesture.
Harada reached the landing and practically dropped against the first free wall.
"I'm staying here."
Kaito sat beside him.
"Five minutes ago you wanted to leave."
"Plans changed."
"What's the new one?"
"Not moving."
Kaito took a deep breath.
His legs hurt.
So did his shoulders.
Now that the fight was over, it felt as though all the fatigue from the tournament had suddenly joined everything they had just gone through.
Kagami was still standing.
Though Kaito noticed he was breathing more deeply than before too.
One of the rescued hunters approached.
"You could've followed those remnants."
Kagami looked at him.
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you?"
Kagami looked toward the wounded.
"Because we came here for you."
The man went quiet.
Kagami pulled out his communicator.
The signal took several seconds to establish.
"Kagami to coordination."
A voice answered.
"Go ahead."
Tatsu.
"Central Sector Four. Rescue complete."
"Survivors?"
Kagami looked around.
"Nine located alive."
A brief pause.
"Casualties?"
"Four bodies confirmed during the search. There may be more in other sectors."
Tatsu's voice lowered slightly.
"Understood."
Kagami continued.
"The remnants disengaged and returned toward the interior."
"How many?"
"Can't confirm. At least a dozen across the different contacts."
"Are you pursuing them?"
Kagami looked at Harada.
He was sitting with his head against the wall and his eyes closed.
Then Kaito.
The student was exhausted too, though trying not to show it.
Finally, the wounded.
"Negative."
There was silence on the other end.
"Reason?"
"We have wounded, and my team is exhausted. I'm not turning a successful rescue into an improvised pursuit."
Tatsu took a second.
"Understood. Hold position until relief arrives."
Kagami was about to end the transmission when Tatsu spoke again.
"One moment."
Kagami waited.
Voices could be heard on the other end.
Then the sound of keys.
"We have another report."
Kaito raised his head.
Kagami said nothing.
"Enemy activity near the internal storage areas," Tatsu continued. "Shirogane and her group are tracking the movement."
Kagami looked toward the door they had just escaped through.
Somewhere beyond it were the remnants that had decided to stop pursuing them.
"Understood."
"Can you move?"
Kagami looked at his team again.
"Not immediately."
"I'm not ordering you to. I need your status."
Kagami breathed out.
"Give us time."
"Understood."
The communication ended.
Kaito had heard enough.
"Internal storage?"
"Yes."
Harada opened one eye.
"Sounds important."
"Probably is."
Kaito looked toward the stairs.
"We're not going?"
Kagami shook his head.
"No."
"But if that's where they were heading—"
"Maybe."
Kaito frowned.
"Then—"
Kagami looked at him.
He did not need to raise his voice.
"We have nine people to get out of this sector."
Kaito looked at the wounded.
He went quiet.
Kagami continued.
"If we chase them now, we abandon what we came here to do."
Kaito understood.
He did not like it.
That was different.
Harada closed his eyes again.
"Also, if you try to bring me with you, I'm going to pretend I'm dead."
Kaito looked at him.
"I don't think you'd need much acting."
Harada raised one hand without opening his eyes.
"Thank you."
Kaito laughed quietly.
The exhaustion remained.
So did the unease.
The remnants had withdrawn voluntarily.
Not because Kagami had defeated them.
Not because they were too injured to continue.
They had simply decided those hunters were no longer worth their time.
Kaito looked at the closed door.
Until that night, he had thought a battle ended when one side could no longer continue.
Now he was beginning to understand that there was another way for it to end.
When one side got what it truly wanted.
And they still did not know what that was.
The wounded began moving out several minutes later.
Two more stretchers arrived along with several relief hunters.
Harada managed to stand on his own when one of them tried to help him.
"I'm tired, not dead."
He took two steps.
Then stopped.
The hunter raised an eyebrow.
Harada accepted his arm.
"Don't say anything."
Kaito walked several meters behind.
His legs were not exactly grateful either.
The last rescued hunter, the man they had found in the generator room, walked nearby.
"You fought differently before," the man said.
Kaito looked at him.
"Before when?"
"When they opened that door."
Kaito took a moment to understand.
"Oh."
"You looked like you were about to throw yourself at anything that came through."
Kaito looked ahead.
Kagami was walking beside the first stretcher.
"I probably would have before."
"What changed?"
Kaito thought about Hina.
The tournament.
Every time he had put himself in front because he believed that was always the best way to protect someone.
"I'm still figuring that out."
The hunter nodded.
He did not press further.
When they reached the next landing, Harada dropped onto a metal bench.
Kaito passed him.
"You still alive?"
"Unfortunately."
Kaito smiled.
Harada opened one eye.
"I thought you were going to jump in front earlier."
Kaito stopped.
Looked at him.
"So did I."
Harada let out a short laugh.
Kaito kept walking.
There was nothing else to explain.
Several sections away, far from the stairwell and the hunters they had just rescued, the remnants that had abandoned the fight kept moving.
They were not running.
They no longer needed to.
Two crossed an intersection without looking toward the evacuation routes.
Another passed a door behind which several people were hiding.
It did not try to open it.
It kept going.
Deeper inside, the sound of fighting echoed for several seconds.
Then stopped.
The routes were beginning to converge.
Not toward the sectors with the greatest number of hunters.
Not toward the exits.
Toward the interior.
Toward the storage areas.
And while Kagami finished the mission he had been given, another group was about to discover why.