A violent fight inside the Sacrifice Ghoul Web
A pure ghoul exposed and burned
They point at Yuyu (Sakura) and call her a traitor
Yuki confused and trying not to overthink it
Yuki observing how well pure ghouls blend
Later that night, Yuki saves a human from being attacked
Rising tension, dark atmosphere, emotional weight
No academy.
No Sky Web.
Tone: dark, gothic, slow-burn intensity.
---
CHAPTER — The Ash Beneath the Threads
(approx. 2,120 words)
The Ritual Chamber still pulsed from the last gathering, sigils glowing faint red against the stone. A low hum—alive, ancient, restless—vibrated through the Sacrifice Ghoul Web as word spread like wildfire:
A pure ghoul had been found.
Yuki felt the tension in the walls as she walked with Yuyu down the corridor. The torches flickered. The air tasted metallic. Somewhere above them, faint wails echoed through the passageways—ritual winds dragging across the ceiling like sharp claws.
Leaf met them halfway, panting, green hair sticking to his forehead.
"You two! Hurry! They've pinned the infiltrator in the Threadhall!"
Yuki's pulse jumped. "Already?"
"Yeah!" Leaf grabbed her wrist and half-dragged her. "And it's… messy. Like REALLY messy."
Yuyu walked calmly behind them, hands folded in front of her, expression unreadable. The deeper they went, the thicker the aura in the air became—like syrup laced with electricity.
Yuki sensed something else beneath it.
Fear.
Real fear.
Not from the Sacrifice Ghouls.
From the creature they were cornering.
---
The Fight in the Threadhall
By the time Yuki reached the massive hall, a crowd had formed in a circle. Ghouls snarled and hissed, some crackling with spell-threaded aura woven around their hands.
In the center—
A ghoul crouched low on the ground, trembling violently.
At least…
They looked like a ghoul.
At first glance.
But the longer Yuki stared, the more the shape of them wavered. Their skin flickered like glitching light. Their eyes were too deep—black, hungry pits that pulsed like dying stars.
A pure ghoul.
Cornered.
Wounded.
And desperate.
Vespera stood at the front, staff raised, her tattoos glowing fierce violet. "You trespassed into the Sacrifice Web. You wore our sigils. You drank our aura. You pretended to be one of us."
The pure ghoul hissed through cracked lips. "I hid… because you monsters would have killed me sooner."
"You hid," Vespera corrected coldly, "because you were planning to replace one of us."
Hollowstep drifted forward like smoke. His bony arms stretched out, long and ritual-marked.
"Unmask it."
At once, two Sacrifice Ghouls stepped forward holding metallic rods heated to molten orange. The room filled with the scent of burning metal.
Yuki winced. "Wait—shouldn't they question it first? Why incinerate—?"
Soot whispered next to her, eyes wide with fascination. "Pure ghouls can't be questioned. They lie with aura. They mimic any truth they hear. You can't trust their words."
Miren nodded silently.
The pure ghoul looked up suddenly.
Right at Yuki.
Her heart stuttered.
For a moment, she swore they were smiling.
Then the rods pressed against the ghoul's cheek.
Their skin ignited.
Not charred.
Not burned.
Ignited.
Flames burst across their form, peeling away the false layers like paper mulch. The room was filled with screams—high, warped, inhuman. Aura thrashed like wild storm-winds. Ghouls shielded their faces as raw pure-ghoul energy tore outward.
When the flames died—
The creature beneath was unrecognizable.
Bone-white skin.
Hollow eyes.
Sigils carved directly into their flesh.
A thread of black ichor dripped from their jaw.
A true pure ghoul stripped bare.
The chamber erupted with rage.
"Traitor!"
"Imposter!"
"Kill it!"
The pure ghoul stumbled back, coughing black smoke, then pointed a shaking claw—
Not at Vespera.
Not at the crowd.
At Yuyu.
"You—"
Their voice gurgled.
"TRAITOR."
Yuki went cold.
Yuyu didn't flinch. She didn't blink. Her face remained soft, almost sorrowful—like she was looking at a dying animal.
The pure ghoul wheezed. "You… pure-born… wearing a Sacrifice shell… walking among them like—like one of their pets—"
A roar broke from the crowd.
Riven's blade flashed.
Before Yuki could even gasp—
Slash.
The creature's head fell.
Its body followed.
Silence crashed over the room.
Only the hiss of fading aura remained, curling off the corpse like smoke from a dying fire.
Yuyu closed her eyes slowly.
Then opened them again—calm, empty, serene.
As if nothing had happened.
Yuki stared at her, confused, uneasy.
But she forced herself to look away.
She forced herself to focus on the corpse.
On the fact that a pure ghoul had blended so seamlessly.
She couldn't afford to think about Yuyu right now.
---
How Pure Ghouls Hide
The leaders ordered the crowd to disperse, but ghouls lingered in small groups, buzzing with fear and fascination. Yuki wandered closer to the remains.
Pure ghouls weren't supposed to be so… close. So silent. So intelligent.
But she realized now—
They could blend.
Almost perfectly.
Leaf stepped beside her, voice low. "Look at its hands."
Yuki did.
The fingers were still shifting.
Still changing shapes.
Still trying to mimic ghoul marks.
"They adapt faster than we thought," Leaf murmured. "That one was in the Web for weeks. Nobody noticed."
Miren added softly, "Imagine how many more might be here."
The idea made Yuki's skin crawl.
A soft warmth brushed her shoulder.
Yuyu.
"You seem troubled," she murmured.
Yuki's mouth went dry. "A pure ghoul was living among us."
"Yes."
"And nobody knew."
"Yes."
Yuki swallowed hard. "That means they can copy us perfectly."
Yuyu's lips curved faintly.
"No," she whispered.
"They can copy almost perfectly."
Yuki frowned. "What's the difference?"
Yuyu leaned in, voice brushing her ear like velvet.
"A perfect lie fools everyone," she said.
"An almost-perfect one only fools the ones who want to be fooled."
Yuki felt a chill down her spine.
She met Yuyu's eyes.
For the first time since meeting her…
she saw something behind them.
Something old.
Something patient.
Something inhuman.
But before she could speak, Vespera called out:
"Clean the hall. Leave nothing for them to trace."
And Yuyu turned away, her expression smoothing back into harmless softness.
As if nothing had shifted at all.
---
Later That Night — The Rite Streets
The Web's outer streets were quieter at night—dim alleys lit by red lanterns, the stone pathways slick with dew and shadow. Yuki always walked home alone, liking the way the echoes followed her steps.
Tonight, though, she felt watched.
Not by ghouls.
Not by Yuyu.
By something else.
Her hand hovered near her concealed thread-blade as she turned a sharp corner—
A scream split the night.
Human.
Yuki sprinted.
She found the source in a narrow alley where ritual lanterns barely cast enough light to see. A young man—a human civilian, maybe early twenties—was pinned against the wall by a tall, distorted figure.
A pure ghoul.
Another one.
Its body flickered between shapes—a woman's silhouette one moment, a beast's outline the next. Its skin shifted like liquid shadows as it pressed closer to the human's throat.
The man sobbed, clawing at the wall. "P-please—I don't—I don't know what you want—!"
The pure ghoul hissed. "You saw me. That is enough."
Yuki felt her pulse spike.
"Let him go," she ordered quietly.
The pure ghoul froze.
Turned its head slowly.
Then smiled, its mouth stretching too wide.
"A Sacrifice Ghoul. Alone."
Its voice gurgled like shifting tar.
"How lucky."
The human whimpered. "Help me—please—please—"
Yuki stepped forward, drawing her blade. "Run."
He bolted immediately, stumbling past her.
The pure ghoul lunged.
Yuki swung—
CLANG
Its claws met her blade mid-air. Sparks burst out as aura clashed violently. The creature shrieked and leaped back, its limbs bending at impossible angles.
It blurred toward her again—fast.
Too fast.
Yuki dodged by inches, slashing across its chest. Black ichor splattered, sizzling as it hit the stones. The pure ghoul snarled in pain.
Then it laughed.
"You're stronger than the others. Who taught you to fight?"
"Sakura," Yuki said without thinking.
A mistake.
The ghoul's eyes widened. "Sakura? Then you are—"
Yuki slashed its throat before it could finish.
It fell, gurgling, twitching violently before crumbling into ash.
The alley went silent.
Yuki's breath thundered in her chest.
Her hands trembled.
Why?
Why were pure ghouls so close to the Web?
Why were they blending into places they shouldn't know how to enter?
And why—
why did the pure ghoul react to Sakura's name as if it meant something?
Yuki stared at the ashes on the ground.
Slowly sinking.
Slowly disappearing.
When the last ember faded, she whispered—
"Sakura… what happened to you?"
Behind her, unseen in the shadows…
A pair of crimson eyes watched her.
Soft.
Warm.
Patient.
Yuyu's voice drifted through the darkness like smoke.
"You shouldn't walk alone, Yuki."
Yuki's heart jolted.
She spun. "Yuyu—how long were you—?"
Yuyu stepped out from behind the lantern-lit corner, expression unreadable.
"Long enough," she said gently. "Pure ghouls are moving. We need to be careful."
Yuki hesitated. "That one—before it died—it reacted when I mentioned Sakura."
Yuyu paused.
Just a fraction.
Then she smiled slowly.
"Many pure ghouls fear what they don't understand."
Her tone was soft.
Too soft.
Yuki tried to read her expression… and failed. Again.
Tonight had taken so much out of her that she didn't have the energy to push harder.
Instead she walked beside Yuyu through the quiet streets, her mind tangled in knots of confusion and fear.
She did not notice—
The faint dark mark glowing beneath her collarbone.
The duo-bond pulsing subtly with every step.
Or the way Yuyu watched her with a tenderness too sharp to be human.
Yuki only knew one thing:
Something was changing in the Sacrifice Ghoul Web.
And Sakura's disappearance…
had never been an accident.