“SAATO!”

Ariyama felt a big body crash into him, and his eyes flew open as Yaranagi tackled him out of a lethal cut from the sword. The blade still sliced him badly, opening a long gash down his arm, red seeping through his clothes.

Ariyama grunted in white-hot pain as he landed on his injured arm, twisting and turning as he fell in a tangle of limbs with Yaranagi.

The bigger of the two got up first, helping Ariyama to a seated position.

Yaranagi spoke in a broken, shaken voice.

“What the hell, dude? You can't just freeze up like that. Takemichi… Just don't think about that right now, OK? We need to get out of here before…”

His breath hitched and he scrunched up his face, baring his teeth in frustration.

“Damn it. I messed with the guy so much and now he's… gone.”

Ariyama could see the look of pure disbelief and anguish in Yaranagi's eyes. He hadn't been as big an asshole to Takemichi as Jack had, but everyone knew he liked to intimidate and ‘fool around’ with him. But now the boy was dead, and Yaranagi had no chance to take it all back.

Damn it, there he was again. Thinking of Takemichi, even though it helped nothing about the situation they were in. He and Yaranagi were curled up on the floor, Takemichi was dead, Matsune was fighting that stone giant with a glowing chain, Jack was gone somewhere in the haze of yellow gas that remained obscuring the right side of the room. As for Yasami, the whole time he had been banging on the sealed door, his fists bloody from trying to reach the stairs leading out of this place.

“Let us the hell out of here! What kind of sick damn prank is this?”

Did he really think this was one big prank, after all this? Ariyama almost laughed in hysterics at his idiocy.

As Ariyama glanced at Yasami's direction for a moment, he could only watch in horror as the wall beside him exploded outwards all of a sudden, scattering dust and rock, the sound of crashing reverberating through the floor.

Yasami cursed and stumbled away, hands raised to block the debris from hitting his face.

And from that new hole in that wall came a long, fleshy thing, veiled by the darkness.

But as it peeked out further and became illuminated by the blue light from the torches, Ariyama could make out its full form now.

It was a massive tentacle, colored a hot pink riddled with veins and cuts. On its underside, it had stingers like an octopus.

And then the tentacle noticed the cowering boy to its left.

And it flew at him.

And when Yasami was touched by those stingers, his whole body jolted violently like he had been electrocuted. Wide-mouthed, body stiff, eyes bulging, Yasami collapsed onto his back like a flesh and blood statue.

Its prey neutralized and vulnerable, the hulking tentacle wrapped itself around Yasami's leg and whisked him away.

And Oichi Yasami was dragged back in through the hole into the wall, unable to even scream as he was pulled into the tentacle's den.

Ariyama was having difficulty breathing, his eyes glazed over due to his drained energy and his thundering heart.

When Takemichi had died, Ariyama was screaming and crying and throwing up.

But now that Yasami was dead, he felt nearly nothing, save for a dull throb in his chest. Yasami had been an asshole and a tool – a pawn – used by Jack. He was big and dumb and could only talk with his fists hitting innocent flesh.

But he also had a family, Ariyama knew. He knew he had a mother and a father, and a little sister, who was the only person he actually loved.

He was a bad person, but he was still young. He could've been saved, been redeemed.

But now his life was cut short by just another of the mystical and terrible creatures that resided in this ‘Shrine’.

The massive stone knight, the swarm of locusts dispensing esoteric yellow gas, and now a massive tongue-like tentacle with stingers that render the human body function-less.

All of it didn't seem real – none of it could be real. Just that morning, Ariyama had been worrying about homework and Jack being a jerk to his friends, and now, not a day later, he was fighting for his life in an underground structure against fantasy-like creatures of all variations.

“...to… aato… SAATO!”

It was Yaranagi. His voice was pained and distant, as if he was screaming from the opposite side of a cavern.

Ariyama gasped, inhaling the dusty air of the Shrine, suddenly able to feel his body again after losing focus. The warm rush of blood through his veins, the hurtful pounding of his heart, the slight weight of his chattering teeth in his mouth.

“Y-Yasuke? That was Yasami. He's dead now… just like–”

“Shut up! Don't talk about that now. How many times do I have to tell you? Come on, we have to move now–”

And in that moment, Ariyama realized what Yaranagi was talking about.

The stone knight was back, diving from them in an almost desperate state, swinging its sword wildly. It seems to be slowly losing its calm and imposing nature from before, descending into something with more bestial qualities.

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“Oh, I see..”

Ariyama spoke with such calmness and indifference that he scared himself. But why did it matter? Why did any of this matter? Two, maybe three, of them were already dead. Now it was just Ariyama and Yaranagi about to be cleaved by that massive sword with nothing to defend themselves.

Well, they had nothing.

But not no one.

Speeding like a swan diving for a fish in water, Matsune came into view out of nowhere, clothes tattered and skin dirtied. She planted herself between the two of them and the knight, twisting her hips and bringing her mystical chain and kunai around in a sharp arc.

The kunai hit the tip of the stone blade and deflected the blow. A long crack ran down the saber held in the knight's hand, almost reaching the hilt and breaking the blade in two.

A low, crunching growl came from under its earthen helmet, and Ariyama could feel the deadly glare from its invisible eyes.

Matsune righted herself again, chest heaving from no breath in her lungs, slight shoulders shaking.

Ariyama had a faint view of her face, and he was surprised at just how different she looked.

In school, she did of course take part in many sports and athletic-themed clubs, so she wasn't unfamiliar with getting a little sweaty, even if she held herself with such natural and casual beauty while in classes.

But now, in the middle of all this, she didn't look like a schoolgirl or even an average teenage girl.

She looked like a warrior, the look in her eyes showcasing some sort of experience and knowledge of the situation.

But even from the start, Ariyama knew she had that experience and knowledge, even if he didn't want himself to believe it.

“What is she?”

Yaranagi spoke quietly through gritted teeth, more of a question to himself than anything else. Matsune was known by everyone as that perfect girl, after all.

As Matsune Sasya continued her desperate last assault on the knight, Ariyama couldn't even feel his legs anymore. He wouldn't have been surprised if he had looked down to see they had been unknowingly chopped off at some point, and his panicked adrenaline was the only thing keeping him conscious.

But he was lucky, because Yaranagi was there, like he always was.

“Let's move.”

Yaranagi's voice was more reserved now, the fury he had shown before sapped from him. While on shaky knees himself, he got Ariyama to his feet, wrapping his non-injured arm over his broad shoulders and dragging him back, further to the opposite end of the room.

As Ariyama looked up, he made out that pedestal through the blue haze, and the fractured sword that hovered slightly off its surface.

He let out a little gasp, as much as the air in his lungs could muster. That sword…

They had no defense whatsoever, except for Matsune and all her acrobatics and her fantastical chain weapon. So if they could just reach that blade, maybe they could have a sliver of a chance at defending themselves. Not from anything like the stone knight, obviously, but at least they could fight back against something smaller, like if those grotesque locusts decided to return to spew more toxic gas at them.

“Yasuke, that sword…”

“Already on it, Saato. Stay close, OK?”

Yaranagi's voice was still sounding as gruff as ever, and in the light of the blue torches, Ariyama thought he could make out a shine of tears brimming in his eyes. Tears of frustration or tears of sadness, he didn't know.

As the two of them hobbled, silently but at a quick pace, towards the sword, the sounds of battle dying out behind them. Matusme was fighting for her life, and what could Ariyama do? Jackshit, that's what.

But she was clearly more equipped for this situation, despite how freakish of a situation it was.

His breath was wheezing through his chest, the wound in his arm burning like it was on fire.

But still Ariyama Saato trudged on, hanging off Yaranagi's broad frame, his own state of mind not much better.

Within a few moments of walking at their brisk pace, they finally reached the end of the steps leading up to the pedestal. And hovering above that pedestal; the broken sword. Their one chance at defending themselves.

“Go.”

Yaranagi spoke in a strangled tone, sweat beading down his face. Ariyama frowned up at him, holding onto his bloody injury.

“What are you on about? I'm the one with a sword wound and you're fine. A little shaken, maybe, but not–”

Ariyama's words died on his lips as he saw the look on Yaranagi's face, his eyes. His scarlet eyes were widened with a fear Ariyama couldn't begin to imagine. It made his heart miss a beat.

Yaranagi Yasuke, the thug who was always acting hard and extraverted and confident, but now was shivering on the spot, unable to even walk a few steps.

Ariyama wasn't the only one reeling from all the death and trauma suffered today.

Swallowing thickly, his tongue dry and heavy in his mouth, Ariyama rasped.

“You know what? It's OK, I got it. Just stay here and… don't die, I guess.”

Untangling himself from Yaranagi's bone-breaking grip, Ariyama ascended the half dozen steps towards the pedestal. Every step made him feel like his knees were going to cave in and make him fall back onto his neck.

But through all the tribulation, he persevered.

Ariyama let out an audible moan as he reached the top, leading over the pedestal, staring down at the floating sword.

He only noticed it now, but as he had been scaling the steps, the temperature in the air was going higher and higher. At the end of the steps, it was as cold as it was before, but now, as he stood over the sword, Ariyama felt some burning iridescent glow on him that he couldn't see, but just felt.

He turned around, looking down the steps to where Yaranagi stood rigidly. Ariyama managed a defeated smile.

“Yo, Yasuke, I've got it–”

There was massive boom, so loud the whole room shook, and Ariyama's heart nearly burst out of his chest as he saw the floor splinter like wood and Yaranagi stumble into one of the fissures, half of his body disappearing down the gap before he reached out to grab the ledge.

“YASUKE!”

Ariyama felt the breath rush from his lungs, and his wobbly legs were moving already, even as he gasped for breath. He tripped down the last two steps, landing painfully on his hands and knees.

Time seemed to slow, his brain scrambled and his limbs struggling to work properly. Cursing under his breath in pure desperation, Ariyama forced all his limbs to go into overdrive.

His joints aching and his teeth grinding, he stumbled to his feet and raced forward with a yell.

He fell to his knees in front of Yaranagi, watching as his friend tried to pull himself up. Yaranagi was a really strong guy, but even as he tried to get over the ledge, the loose rock crumbled under his fingers.

“Yasuke, it's OK. It's going to be OK.”

Ariyama was probably repeating that to himself more than anything. Yaranagi was going to be OK. He had to be…

“Gah… Dammit, I can't get up. Saato… You have to get out of here if you can. Even grab that sword to defend yourself or something, just don't stay here.”

Ariyama's gaze narrowed and he growled.

“Yasuke, shut up!”

He reached down to grab the hands of the slightly-flabbergasted Yaranagi. Ariyama never got so aggressive with him.

“Listen, I'm not leaving you! I don't care about what you said to me or what I said to you. You're my best friend in the whole world. I've known you since I Was a child, damn it! So there's no way in Hell I'm abandoning you now!”

Grunting with effort, Ariyama poured all his strength into getting Yaranagi over the edge. He only got about the top half of him over before he felt his arms weaken to unusability.

And then, vaguely somewhere to his left, he heard a loud crunch of stone.

The knight.