The current situation was beyond awkward; it was bordering on the farcical.
Shinobu and Kanao remained blissfully unaware of the reality of their surroundings. To them, they were simply standing on a sturdy branch, while in reality, they were putting the full weight of their bodies onto a demon's back.
Hidden in the shadows, Horitake watched the scene unfold with a growing sense of hysteria.
As for the demon being stepped on? Horitake had no idea what it was feeling, and frankly, he didn't care.
What could he even do? There was no way out of this stalemate without a direct confrontation.
Could he blame the two women? No. They were following his orders to the letter, moving with as much caution as their skills allowed. This kind of oversight—stepping on a target that was perfectly camouflaged—was simply outside their current pay grade.
If anyone was at fault, it was Horitake for failing to consider the demon's extreme cowardice and mimicry skills.
Still, there was a silver lining: Horitake himself remained undetected. As long as he stayed still, the plan could survive.
In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Shinobu and Kanao being "exposed" might actually work in his favor. Once they left the area, the demon-branch would likely breathe a sigh of relief.
It would think to itself: I knew it! My intuition was right! There really were people following me!
Once the girls were far enough away, the demon would eventually drop its guard, resume its original form, and continue its journey. All Horitake had to do was wait for that moment of overconfidence to track it back to the "Big Fish."
With that logic in mind, Horitake remained rooted to his spot, settling in to watch the drama play out like a silent observer in a theater. It felt a little cruel to let Shinobu and Kanao play the "bait" without knowing it, but it was the most efficient path forward.
Perched atop the demon-branch, Shinobu scanned the area. Seeing no immediate signs of a threat, she gestured toward the path ahead.
Her signal was clear: Horitake went this way. We should keep moving forward quietly.
Kanao nodded in agreement.
Without a sound, Shinobu gripped Kanao and leaped, their forms blurring as they landed gracefully on a different branch several yards away.
Good, Horitake thought. Now just keep moving, and we can get back to the mission.
But as the saying goes: You never know which will come first—tomorrow, or an accident.
Horitake watched the sisters' retreating figures and began to relax. He turned his gaze back to the demon-branch, focusing on the "line" he was supposed to follow.
Suddenly, a violent jolt of dread surged through his heart.
It was an instinctive, soul-deep palpitation—the kind that made his skin crawl and his blood run cold. It was the feeling of impending loss, a visceral warning that if he didn't act now, he would be haunted by regret for the rest of his life.
What is it? What am I about to lose?!
Horitake's expression shifted instantly from casual observation to deadly seriousness. He abandoned his watch over the shape-shifter and fixed his eyes on Shinobu in the distance.
His intuition screamed a single, terrifying truth: Shinobu is in danger! Lethal danger!
The moment that thought crystallized in his mind, the threat manifested.
Because of her current level of strength, Shinobu hadn't sensed it yet. But with his Spirit Vision wide open, Horitake saw the anomaly with terrifying clarity.
It was an arrow. A plain, unremarkable feather-tipped arrow.
It looked like any other arrow used by a common hunter, but it was fundamentally "wrong."
As it sliced through the air, it moved with a supernatural smoothness. There was no whistle of wind, no rustle of feathers—it was a silent reaper moving through the pitch-black night. It threaded the needle between a dozen gaps in the foliage, heading straight for Shinobu's temple.
The moment he saw it, the hair on Horitake's neck stood on end.
Where did it come from? Who fired it? When? He had been monitoring the area with high-level perception, yet he hadn't detected the launch.
I was too careless! I failed her!
Watching the silent projectile close in on the woman he loved, Horitake's heart twisted in an agonizing grip.
He didn't care about the mission anymore. He didn't care about the "Big Fish" or the shape-shifter. Nothing in this world mattered compared to Shinobu's life.
Horitake moved.
The silent arrow was less than ten meters from Shinobu when she finally sensed a disturbance. She turned her head in confusion, only to be met with the sight of an arrow inches from her face.
Too fast! I can't dodge! That was her last, frantic thought.
CRACKLE!
A blinding explosion of violet lightning tore through the darkness.
In that heartbeat, Horitake unleashed every ounce of power his body could generate. He pushed his Heavenly Thunder Breathing to its absolute, agonizing limit.
His movement wasn't a dash; it was a localized teleportation. In a flash of purple light, Horitake appeared directly in front of Shinobu.
With eyes wide and focused, his hand lashed out like a strike of lightning itself.
Thwack.
The arrow stopped dead, gripped firmly in Horitake's fist.
He stood there, bathed in the flickering glow of the purple lightning that still danced across his skin. The electricity crackled with a frequency that mirrored his raw fury. Veins pulsed on his forehead as he stared at the arrow in his hand, his eyes burning with a murderous rage.
This single piece of wood and iron had almost ended her life.
He blamed himself for his lapse in vigilance, and he blamed the coward hiding in the dark.
The sudden, violent appearance of Horitake left the other four "participants" in this scene in a state of absolute shock.
The first was Shinobu. Just a fraction of a second ago, she had accepted her death. She thought she was saying goodbye to the world. The arrow had been too silent and too fast. But then, like a god descending from the heavens, her boyfriend had appeared out of thin air to snatch death away from her.
Her heart raced—not just from the near-death experience, but from a profound, overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude.
The second was the shape-shifting demon. It was utterly terrified. Where did this man come from? Why is he glowing with lightning? The aura radiating from Horitake was so oppressive that the demon, true to its cowardly nature, remained frozen in its branch form, praying it wouldn't be noticed.
The third was Kanao, who was simply dizzy from the sheer speed of the events unfolding before her eyes.
And the fourth... the fourth person in shock was the culprit lurking in the shadows, the one who had fired the shot.
Horitake didn't need to see them to know they were there. He squeezed the arrow in his hand until the wood began to splinter, his gaze piercing through the dark forest toward the hidden archer.
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