As the six of them sat on the ground, still processing what had just happened, they turned their confused gazes toward Amber, who stood confidently before them. “Amber… you were the other person Leon called?” Rex asked, piecing it together.

“Yeah,” Leon confirmed, rising to his feet. The others followed suit, but the tension in the air was palpable.

Nur’s eyes narrowed as he shifted his attention to Hanako and Akira, the two Yeager foxes who had been accompanying them. “It was you damn foxes, wasn’t it? You can teleport, right? So you could’ve teleported the Yeagers into the ship,” Nur accused, his voice dripping with suspicion. He grabbed Akira by the collar, lifting him off the ground as he clenched his brass knuckles menacingly, ready to strike.

“Let me down, you brute!” Hanako shouted, her eyes blazing with anger.

“Put him down,” Rex ordered, stepping forward and grabbing hold of Nur’s arm.

Nur turned to face Rex, his eyes filled with defiance. “And what are you going to do about it?” he sneered, tightening his grip on Akira.

Rex’s eyes narrowed, and his hand began to glow with the dark energy of his Flux. “I’ll burn your arm to a crisp if you don’t,” he threatened.

“That’s enough, both of you,” Leon interjected, stepping between them. “Nur, I don’t think Hanako and Akira had anything to do with this. From what I’ve seen, they can only teleport themselves. If they’d brought a Yeager onboard, we would’ve sensed it immediately.” He gestured for Nur to let Akira go.

Nur hesitated for a moment, then dropped Akira to the ground. Hanako rushed to his side, glaring daggers at Nur. Rex, still on edge, positioned himself protectively between the foxes and the rest of the group.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Baluka asked, her voice trembling slightly as she tried to keep her composure.

Amber glanced out the window of the plane, which had just landed in a field. “We could fly over there,” she suggested.

“No,” Leon said, shaking his head. “From what I’ve seen, the Yeagers can teleport too efficiently. We’ll continue on foot. We can’t risk getting ambushed mid-air.”

Baluka looked at him incredulously. “Wait, how the hell are we going to get there in time? We’re in the middle of the woods, and the meeting’s in Kushiro! How are we supposed to walk there?”

Leon turned to Akira. “How long until the meeting starts?”

“One week from now,” Akira replied, dusting himself off.

“Good,” Leon said, nodding. “We can make it in time.”

“Let’s get going, then,” Rex said, stepping toward the plane’s exit. The group followed, each of them steeling themselves for the journey ahead. The night was still dark, the only light coming from the distant stars and the faint glow of the plane’s lights. They moved cautiously through the forest, senses heightened as they scanned for any signs of danger.

Hanako and Akira, still feeling uneasy after the confrontation with Nur, stayed close to Rex. Akira looked up at Rex, his eyes filled with curiosity. “Hey Rex, why did you defend us back there?” he asked.

Rex’s expression softened slightly. “My master once told me about the second Dark Flame user, Carlos Locke. He never killed a Yeager, only knocked them out with a wooden sword. He believed that if he did kill them, he’d be stronger than any other Dark Flame user.”

Hanako tilted her head, intrigued. “But why? We Yeagers kill humans and eat your kind to gain immortality. Why would he show mercy?”

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Rex shrugged. “My master didn’t know either. But she believed that Carlos saw something in the Yeagers, something worth sparing.”

Hanako pondered this for a moment, then smirked. “Interesting… How about this, then?” She leaped from a tree branch above and shrank her height, landing on top of Rex’s head. “Your head is cozy,” she teased. “Akira, you should try it.”

Akira looked up at Rex with pleading eyes. Rex sighed, resigning himself to the situation. “…Fine,” he said. Akira grinned and shifted his size, sitting comfortably on Rex’s shoulder.

As they continued walking through the dense forest, the group suddenly came to a halt.

“I can sense it… but it’s moving fast,” Nur said, his eyes darting around, trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance.

Without warning, something shot out from the shadows of the trees. A sickle, gleaming wickedly in the moonlight, sliced through the air, narrowly missing Amber’s head. She dodged just in time and retaliated by stabbing her spear into the tree, but the sickle vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The five warriors immediately formed a tight circle, weapons at the ready.

“It’s moving even faster,” Baluka said, her voice tinged with fear. She didn’t have time to react as the sickle reappeared, this time cutting clean through her leg. She collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony as blood pooled around her.

Baluka looked at her severed leg in horror, her mind barely able to process the pain. The sickle came at her again, aiming for her neck. Just as it was about to strike, the sickle shattered upon contact with a shield of sand that had formed around her neck.

"My sand… it was able to break its weapon," Baluka thought, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

Leon and Nur immediately moved to her side, forming a protective barrier around her. "Dark Flame Style: Dark Burst," Rex thought, summoning small orbs of dark energy that appeared all around them. "Release!" he yelled, and the orbs unleashed a wave of dark flames, scorching everything in their path. The trees around them were reduced to ash, but the Yeager remained elusive, its presence still lingering just out of sight.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Shockwave," Amber thought, slamming her spear into the ground. The earth erupted with electricity, sending tremors through the ground and creating a massive explosion. Despite the power of the attack, the Yeager still didn’t show itself, though a shadowy arm suddenly emerged from Amber’s back, wielding a sickle that stabbed her in the neck.

Amber’s eyes widened in shock as she felt the cold steel penetrate her skin. She could barely comprehend what had happened before Rex was on the move, his blade slicing through the air. He managed to cut off the arm, but not before the sickle slashed across his eye, leaving a deep, bloody gash.

Rex roared in pain but refused to falter. He swung his sword with precision, severing the arm completely before it dissipated into nothingness. Using his Flux energy, Rex healed his eye and then turned to Amber, focusing his energy on her neck wound. Her flesh began to regenerate, knitting itself back together. He then moved to Baluka, who was still in shock from losing her leg. Rex’s energy flowed into her, and slowly but surely, her leg began to regenerate as well.

"How the hell are we supposed to hit this thing?!" Nur shouted, his frustration boiling over.

Leon’s mind raced as he tried to piece together the puzzle. "The arm appeared on her back… but how did it do it?" he muttered to himself. Then, it hit him. "Nur, send up a Light Beacon, right now!" Leon ordered.

Nur didn’t hesitate. He clenched his fist and channeled his energy. "Light Style: Light Beacon!" he yelled, punching the air. A massive column of light burst forth, illuminating the entire area and erasing every shadow in sight. The light banished the darkness, leaving no place for the Yeager to hide.

Forced out of the shadows, the Yeager was finally revealed to the group. He was a tall, slender figure with pale skin and cold, emotionless eyes. The tattoo of Yeager Rank Three was engraved into his body, marking him as a formidable opponent. The sight of him sent a wave of dread through the group.

"You’ve got good instincts," the Yeager, known as Shadow, said in a flat, detached voice. "But it won’t matter. The sun is coming up, and before it sets again, all of you will die long before you ever reach Luna."

With those ominous words, Shadow disappeared into the remnants of the shadows just as the first rays of sunlight began to pierce through the trees. The forest was eerily quiet, the only sound being the rustling of leaves in the gentle morning breeze.

Rex, his expression grim, turned to the others. "We need to move, now," he said with urgency.

"Where’s the nearest town?" Leon asked, already calculating their next move.

"Iwate," Baluka answered, still catching her breath. "But we’ll have to run there before the sun sets again."

"Then we run," Rex said with finality. The group didn’t waste any time; they knew they were racing against the clock.

As they sprinted through the forest, the rising sun cast long shadows that flickered ominously around them, a constant reminder of the danger they faced. Every step brought them closer to their goal, but also closer to another confrontation with the relentless and seemingly unstoppable Rank Three Yeager. They knew they had until sunset to reach safety before Shadow will appear again