The cold air bit at their skin, even though the sun still hung low in the sky. Fog coiled between the ancient pine trees, like ghostly fingers reaching out to grasp anyone foolish enough to step forward.
Ahead of them, an untouched dirt path stretched toward a village nearly swallowed by time. Rotting wooden buildings stood in eerie silence, their shadows creeping long beneath the dimming twilight.
Megumi's team stood at the village's edge. No birds. No wind. No signs of life. Only a suffocating silence—thick and heavy, pressing against their lungs.
Megumi stared straight ahead, his expression carved from stone. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing muscular arms lined with faint scars—remnants of countless battles.
"Alright," he said, voice flat, almost bored. "We keep it simple. Get in, find the missing sorcerer, eliminate any curses, and get out. No unnecessary trouble."
"Hah? No trouble?" Himari smirked, her blonde hair catching the last traces of fading light. "Isn't that the whole point? To prove who's the strongest?"
Megumi glanced at her briefly. "If you want to die first, don't drag us down with you."
Himari clicked her tongue in annoyance but stepped forward anyway, her cursed energy flickering in the air like scattered gold dust.
Ryou said nothing, but he moved slowly, his sharp gaze sweeping across the area like a scanner searching for anomalies. After losing Reika, he no longer trusted assumptions or superstitions. Everything needed to be backed by logic.
And right now, nothing made sense. Beside him, Tetsuya swallowed hard, his face pale. "This… doesn't feel like a normal village," he murmured. Megumi's eyes flicked toward him. "What do you mean?"
Tetsuya opened his mouth, then closed it again. His fingers clenched tightly around his sleeve as his eyes darted through the rolling fog, thick as ocean waves.
"I don't know," he finally admitted. "But something… is wrong." As if to confirm his unease, a sudden gust of cold wind blew from deep within the village.
A foul stench followed. Not the scent of decay. Not the damp earth of abandoned ruins. But something worse. Something long dead… yet not entirely gone.
The air grew heavier as they stepped deeper into the village. The farther they walked, the quieter the world became—not just ordinary silence, but an unnatural stillness that felt wrong.
No twigs snapping beneath their steps. No breathing except their own. No sound at all.
Megumi led the way, his expression as cold as ever, but his eyes never stopped moving, scanning every inch of this place. He could feel something, but he couldn't pinpoint what.
Behind him, Himari scoffed in frustration. "What the hell is this?" Her voice rang out too loudly in the dead air. "I don't like this place."
Ryou didn't respond, but his eyes narrowed. He felt it too—something was watching them. But when he turned to look, there was nothing. Just the long shadows of old, silent buildings.
Tetsuya, already uneasy from the start, was breathing faster now. He swallowed hard, his palms slick with sweat.
"We've passed that house before," he suddenly said, his voice quieter than usual. Megumi stopped. "What?"
Tetsuya pointed to a house on their left. "I remember it. The right window is broken, there's a black stain on the door, and the wooden boards on that side are warped." He swallowed again. "We already walked past this."
Megumi turned, scanning the area—his unease deepening. They were back where they started. Even though they had walked in a straight line.
"Impossible," Ryou muttered.
Himari rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. You guys are overthinking. Maybe everything just looks the same."
"Really?" Ryou turned to her, voice flat. "Then look to your right." Himari frowned, then followed his gaze. And there—at the end of a dark, narrow path—someone was standing.
But the moment they blinked, the figure was gone. Himari froze. Megumi inhaled deeply. "We're not alone."
They continued walking, this time more cautiously. Every step felt heavier, every breath more deliberate.
But then… something shifted.
The path ahead was no longer the same. The once-orderly houses now seemed slightly off, misaligned. Doors that had been shut were now cracked open—gaping, as if ready to swallow them whole. Windows that had been empty before now seemed darker, as if something was peering out from within.
They came to a crossroads.
Megumi narrowed his eyes. "This road wasn't here before." No one answered, but they all knew. This village wasn't just trapping them.
It was toying with them.