The battlefield was a sea of fire and blood.

  The Tenshu stronghold loomed in the distance, its towering walls bathed in the glow of torches and warding spells, but the nd before it had become a sughterhouse.

  The air was thick with screams, the cng of steel against steel, the roars of Oni warriors cshing against Tenshu samurai.

  Men fought desperately, their katanas slicing through demonic flesh, their Onmyoji chanting binding spells, their archers loosing volley after volley of enchanted arrows.

  But the Oni didn’t stop.

  They ughed as bdes cut into them, their wounds closing almost instantly as they crushed men beneath their massive fists.

  A lone Onmyoji, his robes tattered and soaked in blood, finished a binding incantation, forcing a powerful Oni to its knees—

  Only to be backhanded so hard his skull snapped sideways, his body flung lifeless across the ground.

  The humans fought valiantly.

  But valiance meant nothing against pure force.

  And then—Kaida arrived.

  A Goddess of War Enters the Fray

  The moment she stepped onto the battlefield, everything changed.

  A massive leather-cd figure, her long, powerful legs wrapped in thigh-high boots, her taut, battle-hardened body glistening in the torchlight, moving through the chaos like a force of nature.

  She wasn’t rushing.

  She wasn’t screaming battle cries.

  She simply walked—and with each step, the battlefield trembled.

  A squadron of Tenshu samurai turned to face her, their bdes at the ready—

  Kaida grinned.

  Before they could move, she lunged forward faster than they could react, her bare hands closing around one of them.

  With a casual flick of her wrist, she hurled him into his comrades, sending them scattering like broken dolls.

  One man tried to run.

  Kaida’s boot came down.

  The crunch of bone and flesh beneath her sole was unmistakable.

  She pressed down slowly, twisting her foot just slightly, feeling the pathetic attempt of his hands grappling at her ankle before his body went limp.

  "Tch," she clicked her tongue, rolling her shoulders. "Is that it? Really?"

  A desperate Onmyoji unleashed a fire spell, the roaring fmes surging toward her—

  Kaida simply swung her arm, and the fire snuffed out midair, as if the very force of her motion extinguished its existence.

  "I was hoping for a fight," she sighed.

  A warrior, screaming in defiance, leaped at her from the side, his bde gleaming with a sealing spell—

  Kaida caught the sword between her fingers.

  The man’s eyes widened in horror as she tilted her head, amused.

  "Oh? That was cute."

  Then she snapped the bde like a twig and drove her free hand straight into his chest.

  She could feel his heartbeat under her fingertips for just a moment—then she crushed it.

  The warrior’s body convulsed before going completely limp, his blood dripping down her hand like spilled ink.

  She let him drop.

  "Next."

  Tenshu’s Last Stand

  The battlefield was in shambles.

  Tenshu warriors y in ruins, the ground painted red with their blood.

  The few who remained standing were retreating—some still fighting, others dragging their wounded back to the stronghold.

  Kaida could hear their frantic voices, their desperate pleas for reinforcements.

  It was pathetic.

  "So much for your legendary defenses," she murmured, stepping forward, her boots leaving deep imprints in the blood-soaked ground.

  She could end this now.

  One final push, and she could tear down their gates, walk into their stronghold, and find whatever they were hiding.

  And then—something changed.

  A shift in the air.

  A hum of power, subtle but unmistakable.

  Kaida’s eyes narrowed.

  From the ranks of the retreating Onmyoji, a lone figure stepped forward.

  An old priest, his wrinkled hands etched with the scars of a thousand rituals, dressed in robes of deep red and bck, the symbol of Tenshu’s highest spiritual authority.

  "Oh?" Kaida smirked. "You’re finally sending out the big ones?"

  The priest ignored her.

  He began chanting.

  The air grew heavy.

  The remaining Onmyoji joined him, their voices overpping, forming an intricate, ancient incantation.

  Kaida felt the shift immediately.

  Her body stiffened for just a moment.

  The ground beneath her feet glowed—faint, at first, then brighter, forming an intricate ttice of symbols.

  Her grin faltered slightly.

  "…What is this?"

  The chanting intensified.

  The symbols expanded, spiraling outward, weaving into the air itself, forming a shimmering dome of golden energy.

  A divine cage.

  Kaida snarled.

  She lunged forward—but her body barely moved.

  The sigils tightened, the air around her solidifying, binding her limbs, her very essence, forcing her to a halt.

  For the first time—Kaida struggled.

  Her muscles flexed, her veins burned, the raw force of her physicality pushing against the barrier—

  But it wouldn’t break.

  Her breath came faster now, her lips curling into a frustrated snarl.

  "You… damn humans…"

  She realized too te.

  She had been pyed.

  The Tenshu were never the true prey.

  She was.

  And standing in the distance, watching calmly from the shadows, was Mayume.

  The real hunter.

  Kaida locked eyes with her.

  And Mayume smiled.

  "Did you think you were the only predator here?"

  Kaida roared in fury—but the seal had already closed around her.

  Her body shimmered, her form fading into the binding sigils—her strength being drained, her essence being taken.

  She had walked right into their hands.

  And as her vision darkened, the st thing she saw—

  Was Mayume, stepping toward her, her fingers outstretched, ready to cim everything.