CHAPTER 30 — "Echoes Beneath the Stone"
(Focused pacing • Light ability tease • Light clash • Rising dread • Haruto subtle)
The shrine interior swallowed them whole.
The mist outside was cold, but in here… the air felt still, like it had been waiting for them.
Faded murals covered the walls — warriors kneeling before a woman whose face had been scratched out long ago.
Candles sat melted into stone, their wax having long since dried.
Shoto swallowed hard.
Shoto: "…Creepy place for a treasure hunt."
Temari ran her fingers along the mural.
Temari: "These scratches… someone didn't just erase the face. They tried to destroy it."
Ashura said nothing.
His eyes scanned the shadows as if expecting them to move.
---
A faint sound…
Like someone breathing beneath the floorboards.
Temari froze.
Temari: "…Tell me you heard that."
Ashura lowered his stance a little — careful, controlled.
No reckless lunging.
Ashura: "Stay behind me. Slow."
They advanced deeper.
What looked like an altar lay ahead — broken, cracked, overgrown with black moss.
A faint symbol glowed beneath the dust, similar to the mark on Ashura's hand.
Shoto leaned in to look closer—
Something shifted behind them.
A small stone statue — cracked and half-buried — suddenly jerked, creaking like bone.
Its head snapped toward them.
Temari stumbled back.
Temari: "It… moved—"
The statue lunged —
Not fast, not strong…
but unnatural, snapping like a marionette pulled by invisible strings.
---
Ashura stepped forward, no panic in his eyes.
Ashura: "Tch… annoying."
His fist ignited lightly — not full force, just enough.
> Ninpō: Enken — 焔拳 (Burning Fist)
A short burst of flame wrapped his knuckles.
He struck once —
A controlled blow.
The statue shattered into fragments, embers flickering across the stone.
No flourish.
No shouting.
Just precision.
Temari stared, half-relieved but still tense.
Temari: "Only one…?"
Ashura inhaled slowly.
Ashura: "No. That was a warning."
---
Something deeper awakens…
The fragments twitched.
Not reforming —
just… writhing, like something inside them wanted out.
Shoto backed up, tightening his wooden blade.
Shoto: "Bro… that was a sneak attack and you barely reacted."
Ashura: "…I'm used to worse."
---
Haruto's presence returns — subtle
Footsteps echoed from behind.
Haruto emerged from the misted corridor — perfectly calm, perfectly timed.
A lantern in hand.
Haruto: "My, that was quite the noise. Is everything alright?"
Not a hint of surprise.
Not even a raised brow at the shattered statue.
Too calm.
Temari blinked.
Temari: "You… didn't notice anything?"
Haruto smiled, just a little too polite.
Haruto: "These halls… play tricks. Best not to lose focus."
Ashura stared at him.
Not convinced.
Not for a second.
But Haruto simply turned and continued deeper into the shrine.
Haruto: "Come. You seek answers, yes? Then follow."
Ashura stood still, watching the man's back disappear into darkness.
Shoto: "…I don't trust that guy."
Temari: "Same."
Ashura:
"…Stay close.
And don't look away from him — not even once."
---
Before following, Temari knelt where the statue broke.
Inside a fragment…
A tiny paper talisman lay curled, binding something black and slug-like.
The talisman flickered once —
then crumbled to ash.
The black mass evaporated into thin smoke—
gone.
Temari's face paled.
Temari: "…This isn't a normal shrine."
Ashura: "Keep it together.
We finish the mission."
He stepped forward, into the mist where Haruto vanished.
Temari and Shoto exchanged uneasy looks…
Then followed.
---
Ending tone — rising dread
Far in the corridor, hidden from their eyes—
Haruto walked ahead, lantern lowered.
His polite smile faded.
His lips curved into something sharper…
unnatural…
almost eager.
Haruto (whispering to no one):
"…Wonderful."
The lantern dimmed.
He kept walking.
As if he knew exactly where the three would break.
To be continued…