Kidero began to pull.
The metal groaned as it came out, scraping against flesh and bone with a wet, cruel sound that seemed to tear through the corridor itself.
Kazuko's body arched all at once.
His scream didn't fully come out — it got stuck in his throat, broken between pain and lack of air. His fingers clenched hard against the stone, nails scraping the surface as his entire body trembled.
Mia kept both hands over the wound.
Healing magic spread in green around the blade, pulsing in rapid waves, trying to contain the damage as the sword was being pulled out. The glow ran across Kazuko's bloodied skin, sealing small ruptures, holding broken vessels together, trying to keep life from escaping along with the metal.
— Slowly! — she shouted, her voice far too tense. — Don't pull it all at once!
Kidero didn't respond with words.
He simply adjusted the motion.
His flames concentrated on the still-embedded sword, climbing along the blade in controlled heat. It wasn't offensive fire. It was raw precision — the maximum heat he could sustain without cooking Kazuko alive.
The goal was simple.
Burn.
Seal.
Prevent the blood from flowing too freely.
Kazuko let out another low, suffocated sound and tried to rise by reflex. Shirō grabbed him by the shoulders before he could strain his body further.
— Stay still! — Ayame ordered, kneeling on the other side, gripping his arm. — If you move, it gets worse!
— I… know… — Kazuko managed through clenched teeth, his face far too pale, drenched in sweat.
Mia increased the magic.
The green grew more intense.
She felt the healing enter his body, touch the open wound, try to close the internal damage…
…and then vanish.
Not fade from exhaustion.
Be pulled away.
Mia frowned immediately.
— No.
Arthur noticed it first in her expression.
— What is it?
She didn't answer right away. She pressed her fingers harder against the wound and poured in more energy. The green light spread across Kazuko's skin in firmer lines, trying to stabilize the blood flow.
Again, the healing sank in.
Again, something drank it from within.
Kazuko trembled.
A sharp spasm ran through his body, strong enough to make the sword shake in Kidero's hands.
— Mia! — Ayame called.
Mia lifted her eyes for just a moment.
— Something's wrong — she said, her breathing tightening. — My healing is going in… but it's not staying.
Shirō looked at Kazuko more closely.
— The shadow.
Mia pushed more magic.
This time with real force.
The green burst between her fingers, shining so brightly that the corridor walls reflected spring-like tones over blood-marked stone. The wound reacted for a second — tissues began to knit together, flesh closing around the heated blade…
…and then a dark line pulsed beneath Kazuko's skin.
It was fast.
Almost a twitch.
But everyone saw it.
A thin shadow moved from within outward, as if something had tensed inside his body, irritated by being touched.
Kazuko screamed for real this time.
His body arched, neck strained, eyes wide and unfocused.
Mia pulled her hands back by reflex — then immediately returned them.
— Don't stop! — Arthur said.
— I won't! — she snapped, more green energy already gathering between her fingers. — But something in there is consuming my magic!
The corridor fell into a tense silence.
Until Kidero spoke, jaw clenched:
— Then I'm pulling it out now.
He pulled harder.
The sword gave a few centimeters.
Kazuko's entire body shook, blood flowing more heavily for a moment before the heated blade began to cauterize part of the damage. The smell of iron and burned flesh rose into the air, thick and suffocating.
Ayame turned her face away for half a second.
Shirō didn't take his eyes off the wound.
Mia kept forcing healing, now almost in a continuous stream, the green crashing against Kazuko's body like waves against a cracked stone. Part of the magic stabilized him. Part vanished instantly.
It was draining.
That was it.
The shadow was feeding.
— It's drinking my mana — Mia said, her voice lower now, almost disbelieving. — Everything I send… part of it gets pulled inside.
Arthur looked at Kazuko's chest.
You couldn't see the shadow clearly, not its full shape.
Only small dark tremors beneath the skin, like veins appearing and disappearing too quickly to follow. But it was enough.
That thing was alive.
Or close to it.
Kidero took a deep breath and planted his feet firmly.
The flames rose once more along the sword.
— Hold him.
Ayame and Shirō obeyed immediately.
Kazuko barely seemed to hear. His body felt heavy, muscles failing between involuntary tremors. Even so, when Kidero pulled again, he tried to resist by pure instinct.
— Hold on — Kidero growled. — Just hold on.
The blade came out further.
Halfway now.
Blood surged out in greater volume before being restrained by heat. Mia pressed her hands harder against the wound and the healing answered in quick green bursts, almost desperate, sealing what it could.
But the shadow reacted again.
This time, everyone saw it clearly.
A dark contraction ran through Kazuko's chest, as if something had turned its attention toward the light. The green energy dimmed upon contact, drained before reaching the center of the wound.
Shirō spoke without looking away:
— It doesn't want to leave.
Arthur felt a chill run down his spine.
— Then it's already rooted.
Mia clenched her teeth and pulled more magic from within herself.
The green around her hands trembled, flickered, then surged back stronger.
— I'm not trying to remove it — she said. — I'm trying to keep him alive until we figure out what it is.
Kidero pulled again.
Kazuko let out a broken sound, barely a voice.
The sword came free with a final jerk.
The metal left his body all at once, hot and blood-soaked, and for a moment the wound looked like an open mouth in his chest.
Mia reacted instantly.
Both hands pressed against the cut and the healing exploded in vivid green, while Kidero pressed the heated blade against the edges to cauterize what he could.
The smell worsened.
Ayame closed her eyes for a moment.
Arthur heard Kazuko try to breathe… and fail.
Mia increased the pressure.
— Breathe! — she ordered, as if her voice could pull him back. — Kazuko, breathe!
The shadow moved again.
Smaller.
Weaker.
But still there.
A short, internal tremor, irritated — as if it were being burned along with the wound, even without being directly struck.
Kazuko suddenly drew in air.
Harsh.
Uneven.
But he did.
Mia didn't stop.
She kept healing, sustaining, slowly closing what damage the heat and magic could reach.
Not everything closed.
Not everything responded.
But he was still alive.
Kidero stepped back, holding the sword covered in blood and residual heat. His chest rose and fell heavily, more from what he had just done than from the physical effort.
Ayame looked from the wound to Mia's face.
— Well?
Mia didn't answer immediately.
Her eyes were fixed on Kazuko's skin, on the small dark vibrations that still insisted on appearing beneath the surface and disappearing again moments later.
When she spoke, her voice was low.
— I closed what I could.
Arthur already knew there was more.
— But...
Mia lifted her head.
There was sweat on her forehead, tension in her shoulders, and something new in her eyes.
Real concern.
— But that thing is still inside him.