Haruka moved through the forest completely alone.
At first, she had walked alongside the search party, all of them trying to determine the whereabouts of the missing Rin. But as soon as she found the slightest opportunity, she moved ahead and separated from the others. It was not an impulse: she had perceived, albeit vaguely, the presence of anomalies in the distance.
Around her, the snow began to accumulate, covering the ground and erasing any trace of the path. Haruka advanced carefully, alert to every sound, every shadow among the trees, while trying to locate the source of those presences she had sensed earlier.
Under normal conditions, she would have known precisely how many anomalies there were and where they were located.
But not now.
The enormous amount of ether in the environment completely clouded her senses, making it almost impossible to determine numbers or exact locations. To make matters worse, that snowfall was not natural: the snow itself was saturated with ether, flooding the surroundings and rendering any attempt at precise perception useless.
With every step she took, the snowfall grew heavier and the temperature continued to drop mercilessly.
Haruka exhaled slowly, feeling a slight sense of relief for not having allowed Mochi to follow her. That environment was far too dangerous for her. Fortunately, Haruka possessed great resistance to the cold; that extreme climate did not represent a real threat… at least not to her health.
Suddenly, she stopped.
"Come out," she said firmly. "I know you're here."
In response, the forest returned an unnatural sound.
Ksssh… ksssh… ksssh…
A dry, cutting laugh, almost like a broken groan, echoed among the trees. Seconds later, two enormous anomalies emerged from behind the trunks.
They had the appearance of large apes, the size of a gorilla. One wielded a crude wooden club; the other carried a large axe of rudimentary design.
Both fixed their gazes on Haruka.
They were smiling.
A twisted, sadistic smile, drool dripping from their mouths as they advanced toward her with complete calm. They shoved each other, as if silently arguing over who had the right to claim the prey standing before them.
Haruka watched them without moving, her expression calm and cold.
"It seems I'm being underestimated here."
Haruka could clearly perceive the level of both anomalies. There was no doubt about it: both were around Rank B.
This was not a confrontation that could be taken lightly.
She decided to be cautious… and strike first.
With a swift movement, she drew her fan from inside her sleeve. Without wasting a single second, she snapped it open forcefully, releasing a blast of icy wind that shot straight toward the apes.
At the very least, she expected to injure one of them.
But that didn't happen.
The ape with the club reacted with surprising speed. It raised its weapon and brought it down in a brutal strike that collided head-on with the blast of wind. The impact caused an explosion. Even the ape itself was forced to stumble several steps backward, swaying on its feet.
The other ape—the one wielding the axe—let out a deafening roar.
It seemed that, at last, they had decided to take Haruka seriously.
Without hesitation, it launched itself toward her, charging at full speed with the intent to take her down in a single blow.
Haruka did not lose her composure.
She flicked her fan upward, and in an instant, a wall of compacted snow rose in front of her. The anomaly charged without thinking, crashing into the wall and smashing it apart with a powerful swing of its axe. Snow burst outward in every direction, forming a white curtain that blocked the view for a brief moment.
The wall fell easily.
But it had served its purpose.
Taking advantage of the fact that the ape had lost sight of her, Haruka swung her fan once more. Another blast of icy wind shot forward at high speed.
The axe-wielding ape failed to react in time.
The strike hit it squarely in the side, throwing it off balance and forcing it down onto one knee in the snow, releasing a growl filled with fury and pain.
That was when the club-wielding ape lunged at her.
"Pierce," Haruka intoned in a firm voice.
From the ground, directly in front of her, several ice spikes erupted, sharp as spears.
Both anomalies immediately understood that they could not take that attack head-on.
The club-wielding ape, already mid-charge, threw itself to the side, rolling across the ground and barely managing to evade them. The axe-wielding ape was not as fortunate. Still affected by the previous blow, it leapt backward in a desperate retreat, narrowly avoiding being impaled by mere inches.
Even so, the ice spikes managed to graze it.
Deep cuts opened along its legs, drawing another harsh growl from its throat as dark blood stained the snow.
That was Haruka's fighting style.
Long-range attacks—precise and devastating. She did not seek direct exchanges, nor did she allow the enemy to get close.
Weaker anomalies fell with a single strike; stronger ones were worn down little by little, their wounds accumulating until their bodies could no longer keep up.
And that plan was working.
One of the anomalies already showed visible injuries, and the ground around them was littered with sharp ice spikes that hindered their movement, forcing them to advance cautiously.
Haruka attacked again.
"Icy Arrows."
Small icicles formed around her, thin and pointed like arrows of ice. They hovered in the air for an instant and, with a subtle motion of her fan, shot forward at full speed.
The apes reacted immediately.
They used the trees of the forest as cover, moving between the trunks to avoid the impacts. The club-wielding ape even raised its weapon as a shield, deflecting several of the projectiles while, with its other hand, it tore a rock the size of a basketball from the ground.
It hurled it at Haruka with brutal force—the rock tore through the air like a cannonball.
Haruka summoned a wall in front of her. This time, it was not compacted snow, but solid ice. The rock slammed into the wall with a deafening crash. Cracks spread across its surface, but the wall held, stopping the impact completely.
Without wasting time, Haruka launched another volley of icy arrows, this time focusing the attack on the club-wielding ape. The projectiles forced the anomaly to retreat until it was shielded behind the thick trunk of a tree… which began to splinter and break under the relentless impacts.
Even so, Haruka did not lower her guard for even a second.
Although she held the advantage, the situation was far from ideal.
Normally, a battle like this would not pose a problem for her. From a young age, she had refined her perception of ether to the point where she could fight with her eyes closed. She not only sensed the ether around her, but also its flow within her enemies' bodies, allowing her to anticipate every movement and every attack.
But none of that helped her now.
The massive amount of ether in the environment completely nullified her perception, and the snowfall continued to intensify. Haruka could only rely on her sight and her hearing… and in an environment where visibility worsened with every passing second, even the smallest mistake could become something potentially fatal.