The scene before Kamo Itsuki's clone was almost surreal.
Sitting atop the guardian barrier at Tokyo Disneyland, he watched as an army of beloved cartoon mascots waged war against a tide of Cursed Spirits. Mickey Mouse—giant, somehow menacing despite his friendly features—grabbed two large spirits and hurled them like cannonballs through the horde. Donald Duck, still wearing his signature sailor suit, pecked through the enemy lines with a beak that now resembled a siege weapon.
Minnie, Daisy, Duffy, ShellieMay, StellaLou, Gelatoni, LinaBell, CookieAnn, Pluto, Goofy—every beloved character had been transformed into Yaga Masamichi's puppet soldiers. Where they once brought smiles to children, now they brought death to Cursed Spirits.
Behind them, the guardian barrier pulsed, protecting the unconscious families within.
The master of this chaos stood nearby, breathing heavily.
Yaga Masamichi had wanted to impress. To show his son and Kamo Itsuki that the principal of Jujutsu High was still a force to be reckoned with. He had told Panda to stand back, that he would handle everything.
Now he was exhausted, controlling dozens of puppets simultaneously while trying not to collapse.
Panda lay on the ground nearby, stretching lazily. "Shouldn't you ease up a little? Think of the reconstruction costs."
Yaga shot him a look. "Should I withdraw the puppets and let you handle it? I'm a bit tired."
"You're the one who wanted to show off."
"I wasn't—" Yaga stopped himself. He had been showing off. And now he was paying for it.
"In this situation, we should be grateful if anyone survives," he muttered defensively. "Buildings can be rebuilt. They're external things. Minor in the face of life and death."
Panda raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you teach us to minimize collateral damage?"
Yaga had no response to that.
Then the atmosphere shifted.
Two figures appeared—human-faced, each with a pair of black wings growing from where their ears should have been. Their aura was unmistakable.
Special Grade.
Yaga straightened immediately, sending mental commands to his puppet army. Mickey turned. Donald pivoted. The mascots swarmed toward the newcomers.
The winged spirits ignored them completely. They wove through the attacks with contemptuous ease, heading straight for the guardian barrier.
Bang. Bang.
Two soft impacts. The barrier held.
From the shadows, Dolrub Rakkadvara watched in disbelief. His independent Shikigami—creatures whose trajectories became the range of his Domain—should have been able to unravel any Barrier they touched. It was his signature ability, honed during the period when he single-handedly suppressed entire archipelagos.
Yet here, against this simple guardian barrier, they had failed.
"How is this possible!"
Yaga and Panda exchanged glances, relief washing over them. The barrier was intact. Kamo Itsuki's creation held.
But Dolrub wasn't finished. His eyes narrowed, calculating.
If the barrier couldn't be broken from outside...
He looked at Yaga Masamichi, at the puppets, at the exhausted sorcerer controlling them all.
Perhaps the key was not the barrier itself—but the man maintaining it.
"Father, stay right there. Don't move."
Panda rose from his lounging position, dusting off his backside with an air of casual confidence that immediately put Yaga Masamichi on edge.
"Can you handle it?" Yaga's voice carried genuine concern. "Those two Cursed Spirits are likely Special Grade."
"You've noticed too, haven't you?" Panda tilted his round head toward the winged spirits circling above. "Those aren't ordinary Cursed Spirits. They're someone's Shikigami."
He stretched, joints popping.
"With this type of Shikigami user, no matter how powerful their summons, the user themselves is usually the weak point. You know that better than anyone."
Yaga opened his mouth to respond—then felt a chill run down his spine. He turned slowly.
Two puppet mascots stood behind him, cracking their knuckles with expressions that were definitely not friendly.
"Calm down." Panda's voice had gone up an octave. "I wasn't saying you're weak. I was just making a general observation about—"
The mascots took a step forward.
"I'm going! I'm going right now!" Panda sprinted away so fast he left cartoon dust clouds behind him. Anything to escape the wrath of his father's puppets.
Panda's dash followed the trajectory of the human-faced Shikigami, tracing the invisible boundaries of Dolrub Rakkadvara's Domain. His nose—enhanced, sensitive—led him unerringly to the source.
In a shadowed alcove between collapsed attractions, an old man waited. Bare torso, three long beards draping down his chest, eyes narrowed with predatory focus.
Dolrub Rakkadvara.
He saw Panda approaching and immediately recalled his Shikigami. The winged human-faced spirits wheeled in the air, diving toward the charging panda.
Too slow.
Panda lunged, grappling one Shikigami before it could fully orient itself. And then—
Split.
From Panda's body, two more Pandas emerged.
One had the build of a gorilla—broader, more muscular, fur bristling with power. Panda's Gorilla Core, manifested. The Ferocious Elder Brother.
The other had the armored hide and charging posture of a triceratops—lower to the ground, horn gleaming, built for devastating impact. The Shy Elder Sister, given form.
Kamo Itsuki's modifications had elevated Panda's abilities dramatically. Where once three cores shared one body, now they could fight as three.
The Gorilla Clone didn't waste time. It seized the second Shikigami and struck.
Violent Shock Palm. *
One hit. The Shikigami rocketed backward, disappearing over the ruined park, completely removed from the fight.
The Triceratops Clone was already moving.
It accelerated. Each step faster than the last, hooves tearing through asphalt, building momentum with terrifying efficiency. By the time it reached Dolrub Rakkadvara's position, it was moving at over three times the speed of sound.
The old sorcerer's eyes widened. He threw his hands forward, summoning both Shikigami to block—but they were too far, too slow, too late.
The Triceratops Clone's horn struck true.
BOOM.
The sonic boom followed the impact, rattling windows for blocks around. Dolrub Rakkadvara and both his Shikigami were simultaneously pierced through, their forms flickering, dissolving, dying.
The ancient sorcerer who had once suppressed entire archipelagos fell in seconds to a charging panda.
In the distance, Yaga Masamichi watched through his puppets' eyes. He saw Panda stand over the defeated enemy, saw his son's round face break into that familiar, endearing smile.
A warmth spread through his chest. Something paternal. Something proud.
His boy had grown strong.
Behind him, the guardian barrier pulsed steadily. The mascot puppets continued their work, systematically clearing the remaining Cursed Spirits.
And somewhere in the chaos, a panda was probably looking for a place to hide from his father's conversation about that "weak point" comment.