The blizzard raged, a swirling darkness that blotted out the sky. The distant mountains were vague, indistinct shadows.
Two massive snowballs, stacked one upon the other, rose over twenty meters high like a great white beast dominating the snowy plain. A network of dark crimson blood trails, each about a meter wide, crawled across the ground from all directions, converging at the beast's base.
Hoshino focused his gaze. Beneath the shadow of the snowballs, he could make out several dark blue holes. The bodies were probably being transported inside through those.
To the left, about seven Devil Hunters stood their ground, none making a rash move, their expressions grim as they stared at the snow structure. Himeno stood at the back of the group, a melancholic look on her face, the slender woman's cigarette between her lips vanishing quickly in the wind.
Noticing the newcomers, the entire group tensed as if facing a mortal threat.
"Hoshino?! Kobeni?!" Himeno exclaimed, the cigarette falling soundlessly from her fingers.
In the blink of an eye, she dashed forward, arms spread wide.
Hoshino sidestepped. Kobeni wasn't fast enough and was swallowed by the… boobs.
"Waaah! I thought something terrible had happened to you!" she fake-sobbed, vigorously ruffling Kobeni's hair.
Kobeni let out a series of incoherent protests, her hair becoming a mess under the assault. Himeno then turned her gaze to Hoshino, arms opening again.
"Hoshino-kun, be a dear! Let me make it up to you."
"Pass," Hoshino said, raising a hand with a blank expression.
"How can you say that? Your captain will feel too guilty!" Himeno puffed out her cheeks.
"If you're truly feeling guilty…" Hoshino rubbed his hands together.
Himeno caught on and grinned. "Ooooh~ I see! Boys never let an opportunity like this slip by! Go on, ask anything, no matter how rude!"
"Really?"
"Of course!"
"Next time I'm in a life-or-death situation, you step in and take the hit for me. Then offer everything to a Devil to buy my escape time. Do that, and I'll forgive you."
"..."
"Haha!" Himeno scratched the back of her head with an awkward laugh. "You know, I suddenly don't feel quite that guilty anymore!"
Changing the subject, she continued, "About the cost… I still don't know what to choose. Anything that affects my appearance, or makes me look weird…"
"Your left hand. It wouldn't look weird," Hoshino suggested.
"Why?" Himeno asked, puzzled.
"A hook would suit you."
"..."
"Then why not my right hand!" Himeno said fiercely.
"You like using your right hand to scratch your head."
"..."
Himeno found herself consistently unable to get an interesting reaction out of Hoshino's stoic face to satisfy her mischievous side. Slightly deflated, she steered the conversation back to business.
After they had separated, she had headed towards the shrine as agreed, but ran into a few Devil Hunters who were quietly fleeing.
They had survived the avalanche. One of them had a power from the [Scapegoat Devil], allowing him to create fake corpses—both his own and others'—to mislead pursuers.
The shrine was too isolated and obvious, so the group decided to head back to the Onsen District. Fearing the enemy might send patrols to check, they had all turned off their phones.
After discussing, they holed up in the most dangerous, yet safest place—the hospital—using another hidden ability of the [Scapegoat] to successfully evade the police.
The search and rescue patrols lasted a full day. It wasn't until noon the next day, when the police withdrew, that they had a chance to charge their completely dead phones. They tried calling back, but couldn't get through.
Hoshino pressed his lips together. During his first run in the hotel, he'd been too preoccupied with… other things… and forgot to charge his phone.
"Hoshino-kun, you went to the hospital too?"
"Mn. To look for you."
"We were hiding in the very back of the medical supply warehouse. We happened to overhear a doctor selling contraband to some silver junkie. The buyer's voice sounded pretty young."
"…"
Hoshino quickly learned a piece of information that differed from his own understanding: After the first clash, the enemy actually had nine Contractors left. Including the five Hoshino had taken out in the shadows, four Contractors actually remained.
Hoshino had thought only the white-haired one was left.
'So, in the second blizzard of the first run, those seven people fought desperately and took out three Contractors.'
Himeno then introduced Hoshino and Kobeni to the six other Devil Hunters. Four were official, two were civilian.
The youngest was about Hoshino's age, also a prospective university student, from a civilian organization. His name was Hirofumi Yoshida. He had a cold, sharp demeanor, a tall and well-built frame, with choppy bangs partially covering his dark eyes, and a small mole near the corner of his left lip. His contracted Devil was the Octopus Devil.
The team's composition was: two with the Fox Devil, one with the Scapegoat Devil, one with the Stone Devil, one with the Octopus Devil, and one with the Curse Devil. Himeno had the Ghost Devil.
Hoshino shared some of the information he had. Things like the 'wall' and the ritual. He altered the source, claiming it all came from a certain high-ranking member of the Neighborhood Association who wasn't a Contractor. He also didn't mention killing five people, instead saying those five had been sent to the administrative center on a mission and weren't an immediate concern.
"So you're saying, if we stop the ritual, we can get out?" Hirofumi Yoshida asked.
"That's the information I received."
Hoshino asked, "Are the remaining enemies all inside?"
"Just one person," Himeno said.
"Then what are we waiting for? Shouldn't we take them out while they're alone?"
"That 'one person' is a Fiend powerful enough to wipe out all of us."
The speaker was Hayato Yamamoto, an official Devil Hunter from Sagae City contracted with the Curse Devil. The fear in his eyes was clearly visible even through the snowy night.
"Fiend?" Hoshino had only seen the term in the system and didn't know the specifics.
Himeno explained, "A Fiend is a hybrid formed when a Devil takes over a human corpse. In the vast majority of cases, the Devil is in control. You can just think of it as a human-shaped Devil. If you want to know more, you can look it up when we get back."
"But… will we even make it back?" Yamamoto's face was pale.
It wasn't just him; the other Devil Hunters looked much the same. The calmest one was actually the youngest, Hirofumi Yoshida. Himeno hadn't participated in the first battle and didn't know the Fiend's strength, but they knew all too well.
"The government didn't take the Okura Village incident lightly. They dispatched a large force—24 Devil Hunters in total, both civilian and official. But that Fiend, along with another Devil, killed half of them. First, they scattered us, then the slaughter began…"
Yamamoto was about to say more when his words cut off.
"It's here! The Blizzard Fiend!"
'Blizzard?!'
Hoshino followed his gaze.
From one of the holes directly opposite them, a white-haired youth emerged, dressed in long white cult leader robes. His features were delicate, his demeanor languid, his skin a sickly pale white. Two pairs of snowflake earrings danced wildly in the wind.
'So it's the host!'
The blizzard intensified with his appearance. Hoshino's already red, stung ears were filled with the crackling sound of snow particles exploding.
The Blizzard Fiend looked at them, a faint, mocking smile on his lips.
"You all are so predictable."
A crescent moon pointed towards the group.
Or rather, it was a blade forged from condensed snow, its surface gleaming a stark, eye-piercing white.
"Are you ready?!" he asked, his tone casual, as if playing a game he was guaranteed to win.
Himeno's expression was grave. She informed them in a low voice, "Our mission is to assist Yamamoto in stabbing it three times with the Curse Devil's sword. Three strikes, and it's guaranteed to die!"
Hoshino nodded in understanding, shifting closer to where Kobeni was, positioning Hirofumi to block him.
"Hoshino-kun, are you any use in a fight?" Himeno suddenly asked.
"Very weak."
"Don't die."
"I'll try."
The Blizzard Fiend stepped forward. The group stepped back.
The square had been a priority for the snow blowers; the snow only came up to their ankles, not hindering movement. That was some good news.
The Blizzard Fiend lowered its stance, poised to strike.
The group stopped retreating to maintain formation, their expressions serious. But their focus wasn't entirely on the Fiend; many were glancing around warily, as if expecting something else.
A violent, pounding heartbeat erupted, so loud it overpowered the raging wind.
"…"
Hoshino rolled his eyes and glanced back.
"I-I-I-I'll provide support at the c-c-critical moment… probably…"
"Okay."
From the front, the Fiend suddenly smiled and straightened up.
"Just kidding."
A snap of its fingers.
The earth shook.
"It's here!" Yamamoto yelled.
The distant mountains, now little more than faint grey smudges, suddenly collapsed. The ground heaved, throwing up a massive wave.
"The Avalanche Devil! It's here!"
"Avalanche? What does that have to do with the mountains?" Hoshino's eyes widened.
"Those aren't mountains! They're over forty giant piles of snow!"
Hoshino: Huh?
The massive wave split unnaturally around the large snow structure, then crashed back together. A thirty-meter-high wall of white, its edges lost in the storm, screamed towards them.
The Blizzard Fiend rode the crest of the second wave, its white robes whipping violently in the wind. Behind it, vaguely visible in the dark curtain of the storm, more waves surged forward.
In an instant, everyone was engulfed in a shadow that blotted out the sky.