Ishigaki followed Karito into the night in the middle of their nightwatch. Near the market district, where his house was located, he met with Yamato. Which also was following Karito because of his suspicion.

"Kyuuto was our goal, as Yamisuke wanted to kill him to stop the curse. Even though he isn't sure about the outcomes, the chance of success is quite high," Yamato finally explained their true motives, "but amidst all that, Ishimaru and Yusuke seemed to have conspired against him. And planned their own path,"

Ishigaki was reminded of how Hikiri explained what kind of person Yusuke was, and concluded that perhaps he was right, something greater is happening outside of their knowledge, "I thought you were also in on it, as you control the demons that attacked us,"

"That's true. But I'm not entirely on his side. If he's successful in using Kanata as a bait, then it would still be helpful to our overall plan of killing Kyuuto,"

Ishigaki processed the darkness' plan explained by Yamato. Then it was all just a big misunderstanding, Yamisuke was not planning to take over the country once again, instead he wanted to save it from the curse. But the narrative has been flipped on its head and made him the villain of the story.

If that's what happens, then who is the actual villain?

"Volkus, that is. I believe that Ishimaru planned to get him out of Kyuuto, and do god-knows-what. But no one heard my suspicion yet, so I decided to watch both Ishimaru and Karito closely as I think they are related," Yamato then looked around, and asked Ishigaki to follow him to a place where he usually scout the area before the warriors expanded their light barrier.

----

"That's him," Yamato pointed at Karito entering an abandoned underground train station after they arrived at a tall business building that had not fully recovered by the light barrier yet, "that was his hideout way before he rejoined your team. I've been there multiple times, but he set a lot of traps in there,"

"What did you find in there?" Ishigaki asked as he squinted his eyes to get a better vision.

Yamato answered that he found a bunch of scrolls and books, but written in an ancient language. One that came even before his, "I'm not sure why Karito have those, and from what periods those books were from,"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The two observed Karito getting out of his hideout, then...

Both of their eyes were widened when they saw someone arrive and talk to Karito cloaked in shadow, "Ishimaru..." Yamato whispered in shock. Both of their targets seemed to be unaware of their presence at first, talking indistinctively. But after a few moments of observation, Ishimaru suddenly turned his head and focused directly on Ishigaki and Yamato as if he had already sensed them from the beginning. He looked upset, then whispered something to Karito, and with that, Karito went away.

Ishigaki was about to chase Karito, but Yamato held onto his shirt, warning him to not follow through. But Ishigaki brushed off his warning and went further into the darkness, "I'm not gonna let him escape!!" he shouted in anguish.

Yamato was meaning to also follow the two, but then he focused on Ishimaru below. He suddenly heard strange whispers in his head, as if Ishimaru talked to him directly into his brain. Then he felt an urge to follow what the whispers said, to follow Ishigaki and Karito.

----

Karito turned his body around while airborne, then threw his six daggers towards him. Ishigaki blocked his simple attack, and those daggers fell onto the ground. But then Karito flicked both his hands one more time, and controlled the daggers again. They rose from the ground at high speeds, and hit Ishigaki's back simultaneously, making him fall into a dark alley.

When he thought he was getting away from Ishigaki, Yamato came from behind him with blazing speed. His left arm was imbued with darkness, and his eyes were glowing faint purple. He then conjured wood spikes and flung them to his target. Karito then blocked his attack by bending metals around him into a shield, but blocking his own view. With that opportunity, Yamato launched himself forward, and transformed his right hand into a wooden hammer, and hit Karito with full force after he lowered his metal shield.

Karito fell backwards onto a rusty abandoned school bus, while Yamato landed perfectly on the concrete, and quickly turned back to the alley where Ishigaki lay wounded. He pulled the daggers on his back, and once again demanded Ishigaki to cease his chase, and come back to the Ookami residence. But he was adamant, he refused Yamato's request. "I'm gonna prove to her... that the ancestors were planning something bad, there's no other way. If she wants to protect Kurouzu, then I have to protect Kyuuto, even if my methods are different..."

The two then witnessed Karito rise from the broken school bus, with his head bleeding and a wide grin. The moonlight between the clouds shone on him, and the metals around him reflected its light. "Interesting..." Karito whispered, he floated momentarily due to the strong magnetic field his body emitted. The broken metals around him as well as his six daggers flew towards him and stuck on his back, acting as foundations as various other metals stuck to it afterwards.

Karito now has six extra appendages as his weapon.