The wood of the Infinity Castle groaned as the Biwa echoed again, but Okarun was no longer subject to its gravity.
His feet remained planted in mid-air, anchored by the Eternity Devil's stagnant weight.
Akaza lunged, his "Compass Needle" flaring under his feet.
"Destructive Death: Air Type!"
He roared, unleashing a barrage of shockwaves that should have pulverized a human body.
Okarun didn't flinch.
He activated the Phase-Step Mirror.
In a flash of violet light, five Okaruns appeared, moving with a fluid, terrifying grace that Akaza's combat sensing couldn't keep up with.
"You're fast,"
Okarun's voice echoed from all five directions,
"But I am faster!"
Okarun blurred past the shockwaves, appearing directly in Akaza's guard.
He struck with a palm thrust, but it wasn't a punch.
His hand Phased into Akaza's chest, reaching past the ribs and grabbing the very core of the demon's biological energy.
"What is this?!"
Akaza gasped, his regeneration stuttering. He tried to swing his arm to decapitate Okarun, but his limb simply passed through Okarun's head like smoke.
Okarun began to pull.
The dark, ancient energy of Muzan's blood—concentrated over centuries—flowed out of Akaza and into Okarun's arm.
The violet marks on Okarun's skin turned a deep, bruised crimson as he "ate" the demon's kinetic potential.
Akaza withered, his skin graying as he was drained of his supernatural fuel.
"I can't kill you,"
Okarun whispered, his eyes flashing with the rings of the Control Devil,
"But I can take what makes you strong."
The castle shifted violently. Nakime, sensing the loss of a High Moon, began to slam the rooms together to crush the intruders.
Dozens of Lower Moons and demon scouts began to pour from the sliding doors.
"Okarun! The exit is closing!"
Momo shouted, her pink aura crushing a group of spider-demons that had crawled from the rafters.
Makima remained calm, her eyes fixed on the shifting geometry.
"Okarun-kun, don't waste time on the fodder."
Okarun released the shriveled Akaza and grabbed Momo and Makima.
He didn't look for a door. He looked at the Golden Path on his palm, which was now burning with the stolen energy of the Upper Moon.
"We're going through the walls!"
Okarun roared.
He didn't just move fast; he phased the entire group.
They became intangible shadows, passing through the sliding wood, the shifting stairs, and the very foundation of the Infinity Castle.
To the demons watching, it looked as if the trio had simply turned into ghosts and vanished into the woodwork.
A second later, they erupted into the cool, mountain air. The nightmare of the shifting castle was gone, replaced by a silent cedar forest under a crescent moon.
Okarun collapsed onto the grass, his body steaming. The energy he had taken from Akaza was "hot"—it felt like drinking liquid fire.
But the Phase-engine was humming with a steady, powerful thrum.
"Engine at 40%,"
Okarun wheezed, looking at the forest around them.
"That was... a lot more intense than the Wagyu."
Makima knelt beside him, wiping a smudge of demon blood from his cheek.
"The quality of the 'Food' here is excellent, Okarun-kun. If we find more of these demons, we won't need weeks."
Momo looked at the dark forest, her eyes narrowing as she sensed a new presence nearby.
"I don't think we're alone. I hear breathing... and it's not a demon."
From the shadows of the trees, a young man with a checkered haori and a box on his back stepped out, his hand on the hilt of a black sword.
8/10