The bell tolled again louder this time, shaking the very stone beneath their feet. The sound rolled through the shrine grounds like a wave of thunder, scattering birds from the treetops and sending loose dust swirling through the air. Hiroto instinctively raised his arms, the unstable shadow-blade flickering with every trembling heartbeat.
Yui stumbled out of the hall, eyes wide with fear. "H-Hiroto!"
"I'm here!" Hiroto shouted. "Stay behind me!"
Before he could run to her, the shrine maiden lifted a glowing hand and a silver barrier shimmered into place around Yui, gently but firmly keeping her inside the main hall.
"She is safer there," the spirit said.
Yui pressed against the barrier, crying out, "Hiroto!"
"I'll come back," Hiroto promised. "I won't let anything happen!"
But he didn't know if he was making a promise… or a lie.
Goro unsheathed his blade with a slow, deliberate movement. "Spirit," he said to the shrine maiden, "what exactly is coming?"
She didn't answer immediately. Instead she stepped to the edge of the courtyard and extended both arms. Her sleeves drifted like pale smoke.
Then the fog shifted.
Something thundered through the forest below heavy footfalls crushing branches, accompanied by the dragging scrape of metal on stone.
Goro frowned. "That's no human."
"No," the shrine maiden whispered. "It is a Gloombeast."
Hiroto's breath froze. "A… what?"
"A creature of shadow bound by the Black Daimyo," she said. "Born from corrupted spirits and human malice. I sealed one beneath this mountain centuries ago."
Goro's face drained of color. "You… sealed it?"
"Yes."
"And now it's free?"
"Yes."
Goro groaned. "Why are spirits always terrible at sealing things?"
The shrine maiden glared at him. "Why are humans always terrible at not breaking seals?"
Goro raised a hand. "Fair."
The forest exploded.
Trees snapped as something massive forced its way through, throwing splinters into the night sky. A wave of cold, dark pressure washed over the shrine grounds. Hiroto staggered back, his shadow-blade flickering violently.
Then he saw it.
A monstrous shape emerged from the treeline twice the height of a man, hunched, its limbs long and twisted. Its skin was pitch-black, veined with glowing crimson lines pulsing like molten cracks. Its head was a warped, skull-like mask with too many teeth and no eyes.
The beast sniffed the air and roared, the sound split across multiple voices like a tortured chorus.
Hiroto felt the roar vibrate deep inside his bones.
Goro raised his blade. "Well," he muttered, "that's uglier than I expected."
The shrine maiden's eyes flashed silver. "Do not let it approach the hall. If it reaches the child, it will devour her spirit first."
Hiroto's stomach dropped. "Why her?!"
"Because she has awakened spiritual sight," the maiden said. "A delicacy to creatures like this."
Hiroto stepped forward without thinking. "Then it goes through me first."
"Kid!" Goro snapped. "Don't be stupid"
But the beast had already locked onto Hiroto's shadow-blade. Its head tilted. The crimson veins along its body brightened.
And then it charged.
It moved faster than Hiroto expected impossibly fast for something so large. In a blink, it was halfway across the clearing, claws gouging deep trenches in the earth.
"Hiroto! MOVE!" Goro shouted.
Hiroto barely leaped aside as the beast's arm smashed into the ground, sending rocks flying. He rolled, dirt scraping his elbows, and stumbled to his feet.
The beast turned toward him again, its faceless head twitching.
It could sense the shadow in him.
Goro dashed forward, sword flashing. "HEY! Over here, monster!"
His blade slashed across the creature's arm sparks flew, and black ichor splattered the ground. The Gloombeast shrieked, spinning toward Goro.
The ronin grinned. "Come on, big guy. I've danced with worse."
Hiroto swallowed hard. He'd never seen Goro fight seriously.
This was different from the drunken swagger.
Different from the lazy, half-sleepy ronin.
Goro moved like a storm.
He darted around the beast, blade striking at joints, tendons, and cracks in its corrupted flesh. Each impact was precise, calculated.
But the beast was strong, stronger than anything Hiroto had ever seen.
It swung its arm, and Goro barely dodged. The wind of the attack alone sent the ronin skidding backward.
"Okay," Goro gasped, "maybe tougher than I thought."
Hiroto lifted his trembling blade of shadow. "W-What do I do?!"
"Kid," Goro shouted, "don't get close! Your shadow power is unstable—you'll get yourself killed!"
But the shrine maiden shook her head sharply.
"No!" she said. "He must help! The beast feeds on shadow. But a Shadowforge blade can wound it deeply."
Hiroto stared at her. "My blade's barely staying together!"
The shrine maiden's voice softened. "Because you shape it from fear. You must anchor it with purpose."
Purpose.
Hiroto clenched his jaw.
What is my purpose?
To live?
To run?
To hide?
No.
To protect Yui.
As if answering his thought, Yui pounded on the barrier. "Hiroto! Don't leave me!"
Her cry cut through everything.
Hiroto tightened his grip. "I'm not leaving you."
The shadow-blade steadied.
The Gloombeast lunged again this time at the shrine maiden. She raised a barrier of moonlight, but the creature shattered it with one strike, sending her spiraling backward through the air.
She hit the shrine steps hard.
"Spirit!" Goro shouted. "Dammit!"
The beast prepared to leap on her, "HERE!" Hiroto screamed.
The beast froze, head snapping toward the sound.
Hiroto sprinted across the courtyard, adrenaline exploding through his limbs. His feet barely touched the ground.
The beast charged at him, claws digging into the stone tiles.
"Hiroto! STOP!" Goro yelled.
But Hiroto didn't stop.
He leaped.
The beast swung its massive arm and Hiroto slid beneath it, shadow trailing behind him like smoke.
He slashed upward with every ounce of strength he had.
The blade cut deep into the beast's arm.
The Gloombeast shrieked, stumbling back, ichor pouring onto the ground like steaming tar.
Hiroto rolled and landed shakily on his feet.
He stared at the wound.
"That… that worked?!" he gasped.
The shrine maiden stood, clutching her side. "Yes. Your shadow is one of the few things that can harm it."
The beast roared, enraged.
"Hiroto!" Goro barked. "Now that it sees you as a threat, RUN!"
Hiroto turned and sprinted. The beast lunged after him, claws slashing where he'd been a heartbeat before. He vaulted over a fallen pillar, rolled behind a stone lantern, and gasped for air.
The shadow-blade flickered. Its edges wavered like smoke in wind.
"No," Hiroto whispered. "Stay with me. I need you."
The blade steadied slightly.
But it wouldn't last long.
Goro regrouped beside him, ducking behind the lantern. "Kid, this is bad. Really bad."
"You think?!" Hiroto shouted over the roar of the beast.
"You need to land another hit," Goro said, "but you won't survive face-to-face."
"So what do I do?!"
Goro exhaled. "You trust me."
"That's not comforting!"
The beast slammed a massive fist into the courtyard, sending a shockwave toward them. Goro grabbed Hiroto's collar and yanked him aside as the shockwave shattered the lantern.
"Kid," Goro said urgently, "your power, does it respond to emotion?"
"Yes," Hiroto said. "Fear makes it worse."
"Then stop being afraid."
Hiroto stared at him. "Goro, I'm sixteen and being chased by a nightmare monster. I think fear is reasonable."
Goro smacked the back of his head. "I'm not telling you to be brave. I'm telling you to focus on what matters more than fear."
Yui's scream echoed from the hall.
"Hiroto! Please don't die!"
His heart clenched.
He inhaled sharply.
Goro smirked. "There it is."
The shrine maiden appeared beside them, floating slightly above the ground. "I can weaken it briefly, but only if you time your strike."
"How briefly?" Goro asked.
"One heartbeat."
Goro winced. "Of course."
The beast roared again, claws scraping against the stone as it searched for them.
Goro put a hand on Hiroto's shoulder. "When she binds it, you strike. Don't think. Don't hesitate."
Hiroto nodded shakily. "I'll do it."
"Good." Goro cracked his neck. "Because I'm about to piss it off."
Before Hiroto could stop him, Goro vaulted over the broken lantern and charged toward the beast.
Binding the Beast
The shrine maiden's markings glowed white as she lifted both hands. "Moonlit Chains awaken."
Silver threads shot from her fingertips, weaving through the air like glowing spider silk. They wrapped around the beast's limbs, tightening.
The beast roared in fury, muscles bulging against the bindings.
Goro sprinted past it, slicing at its Achilles tendon. The beast stumbled, dropping to one knee.
"Hiroto!" the shrine maiden shouted. "NOW!"
Hiroto ran.
Everything else blurred.
The beast's roar.
Goro's shout.
Yui's cry.
The moonlight.
The cold.
The fear.
All of it melted into a single point in Hiroto's chest.
He leaped.
His shadow-blade lengthened, sharpened, stabilized.
He brought it down with a cry ripped from deep in his soul,"STAY AWAY FROM HER!".
The blade sank into the beast's chest.
Black ichor erupted outward, hissing where it touched the ground.
The beast shrieked a horrible, distorted sound that rattled the rafters of the shrine.
The silver chains shattered, the beast thrashing wildly.
Hiroto held on, forcing the shadow-blade deeper even as it flickered violently, threatening to break.
The beast bucked, flinging him into the air.
He hit the ground hard, pain blooming across his ribs.
The beast staggered, wounded, but alive.
"Hiroto!" Yui screamed.
Goro gripped his sword tightly. "Kid… move!"
But Hiroto couldn't.
He tried to stand. His legs wouldn't respond. His vision blurred.
The beast limped toward him, ichor dripping onto the stones.
Its maw opened.
GONG.
The sound blasted through the grounds like a shockwave.
The beast froze.
The shrine maiden's eyes widened. "The bell… it rang itself?!"
A second GONG shook the forest, louder than the first.
The bell tower glowed its ancient runes blazing to life.
Moonlight surged around the bell, gathering at its edges.
The beast roared in confusion, stumbling back.
A third GONG echoed, and moonlight exploded from the bell in a massive wave.
The light washed over the beast.
It shrieked one final, tortured sound before its body cracked like glass and shattered into drifting black smoke.
And then Silence.
Hiroto collapsed to his knees, breathing shakily.
Goro lowered his sword. "That… was new."
The shrine maiden stared at the bell tower, eyes wide. "The Bell of Judgment… I never thought it would awaken again."
Hiroto swallowed. "Is… is it over?"
The shrine maiden turned toward him slowly.
"Yes," she said. "For now."
Goro helped Hiroto to his feet. "Kid… you did well."
Yui burst through the fading barrier and ran into Hiroto's arms, crying. He hugged her tightly, ignoring the pain.
He had protected her.
That was all that mattered.
The shrine maiden approached him, her expression unreadable.
"Hiroto," she said softly. "Your Shadowforge is awakening faster than I expected."
Hiroto looked up. "Is that… bad?"
She paused.
"Not yet," she said. "But soon, others will sense it. Stronger enemies. Stronger hunters."
Goro sighed. "Great. No rest for the wicked."
The shrine maiden looked toward the shattered treeline.
"The Black Daimyo knows you exist now," she warned. "And he will stop at nothing to take your shadow."
Hiroto tightened his fist.
"Let him try."
But the shrine maiden did not look relieved.
Instead, she whispered:
"Then we must begin your training… immediately."