North ridge - Yasui's team
The group crouched behind a jagged ridge of collapsed terrain, the steam-thinned air clearing just enough to reveal shadows moving across the basin below.
Yatzuls - at least seven of them - skulked through the shallows, their whip-thin bodies glowing in patches as they moved, limbs folding and unfolding like blades, claws scraping against submerged debris. Every so often, one would pause, its eyeless head tilting as it sniffed the air, listening for prey.
Nishihara tilted his head lower, watching one Yatzul rake its claws across the water's surface, testing vibrations.
'They're spread out,' he muttered, eyes narrowing as he tracked their pacing. 'We could funnel them into this pocket if we set troops here, here, and here.' He tapped on his map displayed on Ike's tablet, rough coordinates blinking in the dark.
'Or,' Yasui said, her gloved fingers drumming on the fabric of her trousers, 'we drop in and slice them up now while they're wandering around like headless chickens.'
Ike glanced at Yasui, then at Nishihara, and back again, helmet light catching the hard line of his jaw. 'She's right,' he said quietly, but firmly. 'Captain's call. We're wasting time sitting around.'
Nishihara's jaw tightened. 'And if they scatter? We get surrounded in the mist, and there won't be enough of us to hold formation.'
Yasui's dark eyes glinted with annoyance and quiet hunger as she watched a Yatzul twitch its tail near the far rocks. 'If we wait, they'll leave, or worse, call in more of them. We have blades, we have enough rounds, and they're out in the open. It's now or never.'
A low rumble of growls rolled across the basin as two Yatzuls snapped at each other, fighting over a torn piece of something unrecognizable, flesh tearing with a wet rip.
Ike's hands clenched around the grip of one of his pistols. 'We can use the ridge here to get the drop. Hit the closest three hard, keep them confused, force them back here so that the guys back there can take shots.'
A younger soldier shifted beside Nishihara, eyes wide as he watched the creatures fight. 'S-sir, I don't know if we can take that many up close—'
Yasui's hand shot out, gripping the kid's shoulder. 'You'll be fine. You stay with the back line, you won't die. Got it?'
He swallowed, nodding.
Nishihara's eyes flicked from Yasui to Ike, then back to the basin below, watching the glowing tails flick like knives through the fog.
'You get ten minutes,' he said, voice low, resigned. 'We hit hard, but if it goes south, we retreat to the upper ledge and I went hold the line.'
Yasui's mouth curled into a grin. 'That's all I need, darling.'
Ike's shoulders loosened, the tension dropping for a heartbeat as he pulled out both his pistols, shedding his coat to reveal a short-sleeved YNS. 'Finally, some fun.'
They lowered into position, weapons drawn, the distant sounds of the Yatzuls' rattling breaths filling the gloom, their shadows pacing like predators unaware of the retribution about to fall upon them.
'On my mark,' Nishihara whispered, eyes locked on the nearest Yatzul. Then—
'Come on, boys! Let's get killing the bastards!'
She leapt from the ridge like a falling blade, boots crashing into the shallows with a hiss of steam, her deep red eyes fixed on the nearest Yatzul.
From her shoulders, two large, hollow disks unfurled, sliding down her arms before solidifying in her hands the moment she gripped them. The edges blurred, spinning at impossible speeds in total silence, a shimmering haze of heat outlining each disk as she pulled them close to her chest.
The nearest Yatzul turned, head tilting, its serrated maw parting in a hiss.
And Yasui was already there.
With a flick of her wrists, she threw the spinning disks, and they cut through the air like phantoms, slicing clean through one of the Yatzul's limbs. The beast's elongated arm hit the water with a splash, steaming blood spraying up in thin arcs.
Before the limb had even settled, the disks whipped back around, turning in the air with impossible precision, guided by subtle twitches of Yasui's fingers - like they were another organ of her body. She caught them without looking, stepping sideways to avoid a lunging bite as she drove both disks forward, the edges screaming silently through muscle and bone.
A second Yatzul charged, whip-tail lashing for her neck.
Yasui ducked, letting the tail carve the air above her, then hurled one disk underhanded, the spinning blade slicing the creature's tail clean off. The beast reared back, screeching in confusion as its tail thudded to the ground, twitching.
Without hesitation, Yasui snapped her fingers, and the disk reversed direction in the air, arcing upward in a tight spin before decapitating the creature in a single, wet snap.
Blood steamed on the surface of the water as Ike dropped in beside her, pistols flashing with loud, precise shots that dropped a smaller Yatzul trying to flank them.
'Damn, Captain!' Ike shouted, grinning despite the chaos.
'Keep up, Ike!' Yasui barked back, eyes alight with a focused, violent joy.
The other Yatzuls had noticed now, hissing and rattling as they closed in, but Yasui moved like a dancer between them, disks flicking out from her hands like living, spinning guillotines. Each throw was clean, severing limbs, slicing through knees, or removing heads, before returning with a whisper to her palms, warm and pulsing as if alive.
To the squad watching from the ridge, it looked like the disks were tethered to her heartbeat, bending to her will with unnatural precision.
A larger Yatzul lunged, claws extended.
Yasui threw both disks horizontally, the spinning edges tearing through its forelimbs at the elbow joints before whipping back around to slice its legs at the knees, dropping the creature in a heap as its head slammed into the water, body thrashing helplessly.
Ike fired two rounds into its exposed spine, silencing it.
'Clear here!' he yelled, glancing to Yasui.
She stood amid the carnage, disks spinning slowly now, steaming blood dripping from their edges before the liquid flicked off, evaporating in the heat-haze shimmer. Her eyes burned with adrenaline, dark hair sticking to her cheek as she turned back toward Nishihara on the ridge.
'Next up!' Yasui shouted, her lips curling into a wild, hungry grin.
Behind her, the Yatzuls twitched and fell, the water rippling with spreading blood as their severed limbs floated, steam rising like low smoke in the clearing basin.
Nishihara exhaled, jaw clenched, watching as Yasui signaled them forward. Shaking off his uniform coat, revealing the long-sleeved YNS, he dropped from the ridge behind her, his Odachi unsheathed in a single, ringing slide.
Two Yatzuls broke from the edge of the basin, limbs folding and unfolding like knives, glowing veins pulsing under their raw, muscle-like skin as they lunged for Nishihara.
He didn't flinch.
The first Yatzul swiped low, claws raking for his legs, but Nishihara sidestepped, dragging the Odachi in a wide arc. The blade met the creature's limb with a heavy, metallic crack, severing it at the joint, dark blood splattering across his arm and face. The Yatzul shrieked, stumbling sideways, just as the second one lunged in with its serrated maw gaping open.
Ike dashed in beside him, water splashing up to his knees, both pistols barking in rapid, precise succession. The bullets punched into the charging Yatzul's shoulder and neck, the impacts driving it back a step before it recovered, leaping again with jaws snapping.
Nishihara moved in, planting a foot in the water to steady himself as he swung the Odachi upward in a brutal vertical cut, the long blade cleaving through the creature's lower jaw and skull with a crunch of bone and tearing flesh. The upper half of the head peeled away in a steaming spray as the Yatzul collapsed, twitching, at his feet.
Behind them, the injured Yatzul tried to crawl away, whimpering, but Nishihara stepped over and drove the tip of his Odachi down into the back of its head, pinning it to the mud until it stopped moving.
'Keep them coming!' Ike shouted, reloading quickly, his eyes scanning the mist for movement.
Across the mist, a few remaining Yatzuls shrieked at the scent of blood, claws scratching against submerged rock as they turned and began to charge in a staggered, loping sprint toward Nishihara and Ike, the water churning around their limbs.
'Now!' Nishihara barked.
They turned and retreated toward the ridge, footsteps splashing, breathing heavy, the Odachi held low but ready. Behind them, the Yatzuls gave chase, their screeches echoing through the steam as their claws sliced ripples into the water.
'Move! Move!' Nishihara roared.
Ike turned as he ran, firing controlled bursts, bullets ripping into the nearest Yatzul's shoulder, sending it skidding sideways before it regained its footing and kept coming.
From the ridge above, soldiers were already taking positions, barrels braced on rocks, eyes narrowing down scopes and sights.
'Targets inbound!' a squad leader called out.
The Yatzuls hit the slope, claws digging into the rock, surging toward Nishihara and Ike. As they fell back, the ridge exploded with muzzle flashes.
Rounds slammed into the pack, cutting down the first Yatzul as it reached the top, the creature's body flopping backward with a guttural death cry. Another took shots to its legs and stumbled, shrieking as it tried to crawl forward, only for a final bullet to punch through its skull.
'Hold fire, pick your shots!' Nishihara shouted, swinging his Odachi to deflect a lunging claw swipe from a Yatzul that had made it close. Ike fired point-blank into its open maw, the creature's head snapping back as it tumbled off the ledge into the basin below.
Steam and blood mist mixed into the air as the last three Yatzuls skidded to a halt, hissing, heads tilting, claws flexing as they listened to the gunfire, trying to locate their prey.
Nishihara's breath was steady, Odachi angled downward, the blade dripping dark blood onto the wet rock. Ike stood beside him, smoke curling from his pistols, eyes locked on the remaining threats.
'We keep them here, we bleed them out,' Nishihara said calmly, eyes tracking the pack. 'If they rush, we cut them down.'
'I'll move out, round the perimeters to check on the others,' Ike said, lips pulling into a tight, eager grin as he thumbed back the hammers of his pistols.
Below them, the Yatzuls circled, snarling low, before one let out a high-pitched screech that tore through the basin, the others joining in - a chorus of hungry death calls as they prepared to charge again.
Above them, soldiers adjusted their aim, the quiet before the next storm of gunfire pressing like a hand around the ridge.
Yasui watched the whole ordeal with a wide grin, eyes remaining caught on Nishihara as he barked orders and fought off the Yatzuls.
Her eyes quickly zipped across to Ike, who dropped off the ridge to dash around the pack, heading for one of the large cave mounds, leaving the area.