Airi hit the seam harder than she meant to.
The crack she and Kaito had been following through the floor pulsed once under her palm, and this time it didn't fade. It widened.
Light spilled through it like something breathing beneath the surface.
Kaito noticed it at the same time she did.
"That's it," he said, already moving. "It's not a wall. It's a join."
Together they drove their energy into the line.
The space around them shuddered. The smooth white enclosure split open with a sharp, metallic sound, the illusion peeling back like glass under pressure. A rush of cold air swallowed them, and the world of Limbo snapped back into place around them.
They didn't waste time orienting themselves. The clash of steel against warped energy wasn't far.
—
Haru had just set Yui down behind him when the air shifted.
Sayaka didn't arrive with a crash or flare. She stepped out from the distortion like she'd always been there, boots touching the fractured ground without a sound.
Her eyes flicked to Yui's leg first. Then to Haru.
"You're persistent," she said mildly. "I'll give you that."
Haru didn't respond. He adjusted his stance instead, blade lifting just slightly. Yui could see the tension in his shoulders even from behind him.
Sayaka tilted her head, almost curious. "Tell me something," she went on, voice soft. "Did the Watcher explain the rules properly to you?"
Neither of them answered.
Her gaze sharpened. "Did you know you can make more than one wish?"
That made Haru falter, not visibly, not enough for anyone but Yui to notice, but she saw it. She felt it.
More than one.
"The price," Sayaka continued, faint amusement curling into her tone, "gets bigger each time."
Yui's stomach dropped. Bigger how?
Haru's voice was steady when he asked, "What are you talking about?"
Sayaka smiled.
And moved.
She closed the distance in a blink. Haru barely blocked the first strike. the impact drove him back several steps, boots scraping against fractured stone. He didn't give ground for long. Steel met steel again, sparks scattering across the dim air of Limbo.
Yui pushed herself upright, ignoring the protest in her ankle. Energy gathered in her palm and shot past Haru's shoulder, forcing Sayaka to pivot instead of pressing her advantage.
Sayaka's eyes flicked toward Yui, calculating.
"Still fighting," she murmured.
Haru attacked then, sharper, faster. But he was alone in the exchange, and Sayaka wasn't. She moved like she was conserving something, letting him expend energy with each strike, testing him.
A sudden surge of violet light cut across the field and knocked Sayaka back a step.
Airi landed beside Haru without ceremony. Kaito followed a second later, blade already drawn.
"You look busy," Kaito said.
Haru didn't glance at them, but something in his posture shifted—less strain, more balance.
"Took you long enough."
Sayaka's gaze passed over all four of them now, thoughtful rather than irritated. "So you've learned to break containment. Impressive."
The four moved without discussing it. Haru pressed forward.
Airi struck from the side. Kaito disrupted her footing with precise bursts of energy. Yui supported from behind, targeting openings instead of forcing power she didn't have.
It wasn't enough to defeat her.
But it was enough to disrupt her rhythm.
A crack split the ground between them, thrown deliberately by Kaito.
The terrain fractured, light spilling up in jagged lines.
Haru didn't hesitate. He moved back to Yui immediately, crouching just long enough for her to brace against him before lifting her onto his back.
"We're leaving," he said.
Airi didn't argue. Kaito sent one final flare toward Sayaka—not to injure, but to obscure—and the four of them retreated into the distortion created by the broken ground.
They didn't make it far before Sayaka was on them again.
Haru adjusted Yui's weight on his back, ignoring the strain pulling at his shoulders. Airi and Kaito flanked behind them, slowing their pace just enough to keep formation. Limbo's terrain shifted unpredictably underfoot, fractured stone and pale distortions stretching in uneven waves.
Then the air tightened.
Sayaka cut through Airi's barrier without bothering to dismantle it properly. She took the hit to her shoulder and kept moving.
She wasn't pacing herself anymore.
Kaito pivoted, sending a concentrated strike toward her center mass. She deflected it, but not cleanly. The backlash rippled through the ground instead of dissipating. She didn't comment on it. Didn't smirk.
She was closing distance.
Haru felt it before he saw it. The pressure at his back changed, sharpened.
"Left," Airi warned.
Too late.
Sayaka appeared at Haru's side and drove her blade downward. He twisted, barely redirecting the strike away from Yui's legs. The impact forced him to one knee. The shock ran straight through his arm.
Sayaka didn't pause to exchange words. She struck again immediately, faster this time.
Kaito intercepted, buying half a second. It wasn't enough.
Sayaka stepped through his guard and caught Haru's shoulder, fingers digging into the armored seam near his collar.
"You're not leaving," she said quietly.
There wasn't anger in her voice. There was urgency.
Yui felt it.
Sound dragged, like someone pulling it through water. Sayaka's grip loosened, not because she chose to let go—Kaito saw it first. "There—!"
The Jester's Clock they had seized earlier pulsed with light, its hands spinning faster and faster, tearing a small opening in the air itself. The fracture flickered into visibility ahead of them, thinner now but real.
Airi didn't hesitate.
She slammed energy into it, forcing the opening wider. The space resisted, vibrating violently.
Haru pushed himself upright, readjusted Yui, and ran.
Sayaka recovered almost immediately. Faster than she should have.
She lunged.
Kaito moved last, throwing one final strike to delay her. It barely connected. She drove through anyway, reaching for the glowing clock portal as Haru crossed the threshold.
Yui felt the shift of space as they fell through, carried by the spinning, chaotic energy of the Jester's Clock.