Chapter 5: Wait for me.

-"NATSUME!" –Forcing my battered body to repair itself through the spiritual concentration of vegetation, the grass around me had completely withered, thereby allowing me to partially recover the health of my chest. Giving me the opportunity to shout my friend's name, hoping to wake her up so she could fight to free herself from the great kappa's clutches.

- "It's useless girl, as long as that yokai is still alive, the magic that keeps your friend unconscious cannot be dispelled."

- "Luxfera, please. Tell me how I can stop that thing" – Materializing my spiritual weapons once again, I stood up on my feet barely holding the posture with my knees slightly bent, while panting heavily from the lack of air.

Every breath of air I pulled into my lungs burned as if I were breathing fire that burned inside me. That punishment was inhuman, because even if my body was nothing more than a living corpse, the nerve endings were as active as the time I was still alive.

- "Haruka-chan, try to attack him from the flanks and not from the front. The angle of peripheral vision of the kappa is very small because they are aquatic creatures."

- "Understood" – Putting the hilt of the wakizashi in my mouth to hold the katana with both hands, I ran at full speed against the kappa making zigzagging movements to try to confuse it.

Disoriented by appearing and disappearing so continuously from its field of vision, that monster began to launch indiscriminate attacks with its mouth, projecting powerful jets of water that left large furrows on the ground.

- "Be careful! If one of those attacks hits you squarely, you can say goodbye to this world. Even damage as severe as that is impossible for a guardian to repair."

- "Idiot, I already know that. Don't distract me" – Hitting the edge of my sword with the speed of lightning on the monster's legs, the metal managed to penetrate its thick skin until reaching the tendons. At times forcing the kappa to kneel so as not to fall face down on the ground; using those openings to climb up the shell of its back, digging into the wakizashi to hold me tightly while I propelled my right arm with the katana like a drill against the hard crust.

Seeing how my continuous efforts were paying off when I noticed that the kappa loosened its grip on Natsume's body, I became overconfident and ran on his arm to reach my friend. The instant I lowered my guard, a sudden attack of the water jet came from my left flank, forcing me to dodge it very reluctantly. Losing my eyes due to the remaining edge formed by the air displaced by the jet of water.

Blinded and disoriented by the monster's sudden attack, I felt my left leg being grabbed furiously by the beast. Who crushed the member completely, crushing the bones and flesh to the point that that part fell off of me, when I threw myself with enormous force against the ground, feeling how my bruised body left a furrow in the ground.

- "HARUKA! Resist, try to stand up once more!" – Although I instinctively used my arms to cushion the impact of my head against the ground, the impact had fractured my skull causing internal bleeding. My ears were failing, barely hearing those desperate screams of Luxfera so distant, even though I felt the warmth of her hands holding my back.

- "Lux…fera. No, I can't feel my legs. I'm nauseous and my tongue is starting to go numb. I feel very cold…" – With my body shaking due to shock, my being experienced the fear of dying once again.

- "Girl, please. Try… eat this" – Saying that broken sentence, Luxfera placed a piece of fresh meat on my lips that had a tender texture to my palate. At first I thought it was some field rodent, but as my eyes regenerated, I looked in horror at where the meat that was eating me came from.

- "Nooo! Luxfera, get that away from me! For mercy's sake, anything but this!" – Crying and screaming desperately, I waved my arms vigorously, pushing the astral entity, who held me firmly against his body with an expression of anguish on his face.

- "Luxfera, this meat belongs to the children! Don't force me to eat their corpses!"

- "Moron! Do you think I do this with pleasure? Even I feel bad for doing this to them, but they are already dead. I am only taking the remains that were mutilated, the bodies of the rest I do not dare to touch. Think that by doing this you can avenge them!" – Luxfera had a feeling of pain in her eyes, a genuine pain that contrasted with the cynical attitude she usually showed when she addressed me.

- "Can you see better now?"

- "Yes, I can see. "I see everything clearly, but my leg has not grown back."

- "It is understandable, I have only given you enough meat for your eyes to regenerate again. If you want to recover your leg you need to consume an entire body, but I know very well that you are going to refuse that" – Putting his shoulder under my arm to help me stop, Luxfera managed to stand up while we contemplated the immense kappa who raised his hand. with which he held Natsumi over his mouth to devour her.

- "I can't get to her, there is no time. Curse!" – Clenching her teeth while lowering her face, Luxfera shouted in my ear that I should look up and focus on the yokai.

- "Haruka-san, are you going to let your friend die?"

- "No! But I don't know how to save her. "I won't be able to get there in time, all my attacks are mainly melee."

- "Listen to me carefully, the weapons that a magical girl projects are a product of her conscience. "They are not weapons that stay stationary all the time." – The first time I materialized my weapons when I faced the Kuchisake, the idea that came to my mind when I looked at her sharp scissors was that of two swords. During all that time that I had been taken to face other low-level yokai as part of my training, my perception of the weapons I used was changing in its structure. But I believed that the change in them was because my spiritual power was growing .

- "Extend your arm and hold it firmly. Let my hand guide yours and place your eyes on his chest kappa; Now take a deep breath and think about the shape of an arch, the strongest arch that comes to mind. And with your other hand, imagine that you are tightening the rope little by little by pulling it towards you." – Closing my eyes for a few brief moments, I inhaled air into my lungs and focused on the image of an Olympic archer that I used to admire when I was a child. Every time I saw her on television, the look on her face and the firm posture of her body captivated me as she let the arrow fly against its target.

- "Alright, you got it Haru-chan. Keep your weapon energy stable and channel an arrow, aiming for the center of the chest. When you are going to shoot, release all the spiritual energy you have left and do not be afraid."

When the kappa was about to release Natsume's body, I gave a loud cry of fury as I released the energy arrow, which made a loud roar in the wind as it cut the air in its path.

Like a bolt of lightning that illuminated the darkness of the night, that bolt of pure energy crossed the imposing yokai from side to side. Who gave a piercing scream that shook the tense calm of the night.

The body of that imposing specter disintegrated in the midst of a tide of blue flames, while Natsume's body fell to the ground.

- "NATSUME!" – The moment my senses came back to me, I begged Luxfera to take me to where my friend was. Carrying me in his arms, the imposing appearance of the astral entity's face was bathed in the rays of moonlight. That pale skin shining as if it were the pristine snow of the beginning of winter.

Every step we took through that terrain where the weeds were grown, I contemplated how their greenery mixed with a bright and clear crimson red. Arranged like dark ornaments, the bodies of the children lay inert on the ground, their clothes stained by blood and mud that melted into a painful hue.

Some with their serene faces, the lucky ones who died while still asleep in a deep sleep, were like angels who had been snatched from their mothers' arms. While others less fortunate had expressions of agony marked on their faces with their mutilated bodies. Those poor unfortunates had fallen from the kappa's mouth while being devoured; awakened from their deep sleep by that immense pain and anguish, finding themselves outside the safety of their room.

One of those poor souls would always remain stuck in my memory as if it had been carved in fire; a girl of no more than seven years old, with her hair tied up in two pigtails and wearing a small T-shirt printed with flowers. Clutching to her chest with her cold little hands, a rag doll handmade from scraps of old cloth; That girl had the deepest expression of sadness in her eyes, where tears did not stop flowing until she exhaled her last breath.

- "That girl, her mother must have made that doll for her. Surely her mother made it for her to please her because she couldn't buy one from the toy store... she must have liked that girl a lot... look how she clings to it..." - Choking on the tears that didn't stop flowing, I snuggled my face against Luxfera's chest trying to avoid continuing to watch her.

Without saying a single word to me, the astral entity put his hand on my head trying to comfort me, with his trembling fingers as if his own conscience reproached him with guilt.

When we finally reached Natsume, I began to move her slightly to wake her up from the trance, but despite my attempts and how much I raised my voice, my only friend was unable to come to her senses.

- "Natsume, please wake up! You, silly. It's not time to continue sleeping, come back to you damn it" – Desperate not to make it, I collapsed on top of my friend crying helplessly while Luxfera remained firm and stoic under the firmament of the night sky.

- "Haruka-san, be on your guard. The fight is not over" – The night breeze that caressed the grasslands soon began to flow with great force, shaking the grass, managing to tear off small pieces as if the blade of a scythe had brushed past it.

Standing on a rock, a mysterious silhouette suddenly appeared with a Buddhist staff from which six tendrils hung, which jingling among themselves making a sound like the bells that are usually hung in the windows of houses.

Wearing the clothing of a traveling monk, on his head he wore a straw hat that partially covered his face and at the height of his nose, a white veil completely covered his mouth.

When I saw that cane, I immediately remembered that weapon that had killed me in the landfill that night, causing my body to tremble with fear while my eyes could not move away from that subject who remained motionless on the rock.

Disappearing into the air as if he had vanished, that monk appeared in front of us with a threatening aura while raising the tip of his staff against Natsume.

- "Hey idiot, even you have rules you have to follow. You can't kill this girl, she is not one of our chosen ones. He's just a victim of those damned yokai, so cool your ideas, you cone-headed bastard" – Extending her arm with a bo staff made of pure energy, Luxfera faced the monk, who remained silent as if waiting for my reaction.

Just at the moment he tried to stab his staff against Natsume's chest, I instinctively put my body in the way, receiving the impact of that weapon, causing the last resistance of my armor to collapse. Letting my transformation fade, showing my human form where I was still wearing my school uniform.

- "PLEASE KILL ME! She is innocent, just let her go, I beg you" – Raising my face to ask the monk for mercy, my face was transformed into an expression of suffering and dismay.

At that precise moment, the mysterious monk knelt before me and took my face with his hand by the chin, fixing his penetrating gaze on mine. Letting me see a subtle sign of disapproval in those brown eyes.

Throwing me to the ground, the monk stood up and took a few steps away from us, stabbing me with his staff as he placed his hands in a prayer position with a juzu, whose beads glowed like embers of fire.

When the intonation of the sutras that the monk recited reached its most solemn point, a series of luminous orbs emerged from the river water, floating over the bodies of the children to acquire the shape of Jizo.

The souls of those who had been killed emerged with expressions of surprise, as their hands were taken by the guardian deities to be escorted on their way to the underworld.

One by one, those innocent children disappeared into the air along with the Jizos, as if they were fireflies that had lost their light in the immensity of the dark night.

When the last of the children's turn came, the Jizo who was holding his hand found the difficulty that the soul of that creature was clinging to the world of the living for an object that it could not take with it.

Feeling attracted by that scene, I began to crawl on the ground trying to reach them, but was intercepted by the monk, who put the tip of his staff against my face in a threatening attitude.

Being so close to them, the energy entities in front of me took on a clearer shape to my eyes, making me cry when I realized who the creature it was.

Dressed in her flowered t-shirt, the ghost of the girl with pigtails struggled to hold with her hands the doll that still held her physical body. That doll that she had clung to until her final moments was an object that held her in this world like a burden of regret.

The ghost of the girl turned to see the Jizo, opening her lips as if speaking to the guardian deity trying to convince him, but that ghost shook her head slowly while still holding the girl's hand.

- "Little girl, go with him. You have to continue on your way, she will be fine" – Addressing the ghost of the girl while I put my hands on the little girl's corpse, I tried to control my crying by giving the little girl a smile. Who looked at me intently, while he let go of the Jizo to reach me to hug me.

At that moment, my mind was shaken by an accumulation of memories that hit my subconscious like the waves of a raging sea.

Before my eyes, those foreign memories began to flow like a movie, showing me the moment when the little girl's mother made that doll with scraps of fabric during the night while she was sleeping. The vivid and warm images of that girl's memories hit me in the heart, making me hug her while I begged her to forgive me for not being able to protect her from the yokai.

- "Forgive me! If only I had been stronger, you could have returned to your mother. "I'm sorry, I really am!" - Unable to control myself, I clung tightly to the spiritual body of the girl, who cried silently, pitying me.

Exasperated by my intrusion, the monk separated us with his staff while having the Jizo hold the girl again. Who pointed his small hand towards the doll, making a gesture to take it for me.

- "Take care of her for me" – Just for a brief moment, I could hear the voice of the little girl who, accepting her inevitable fate, began to walk with the Jizo until she disappeared into the air like the others.

With his task completed, the monk took his staff and once again approached me, remaining silent, taking his juzu in his right hand, pressing it tightly against my forehead. Etching an inscription with fire on it making me let out a scream of agony.

- "Coward! You are going to attack her when she cannot defend herself" – Angered by the monk's attitude, Luxfera violently pushed him away, placing herself between us. Holding his bo staff while a reddish aura emanated from his astral body as if he were ready for combat.

Seeing the attitude of the astral entity, the monk took a few steps back and placed his right hand with his index and middle fingers raised in a sign of prayer. Pronouncing a chant in a low voice and then disappearing in an explosion of air that shook the loose dust from the ground.

- "Haru-chan, are you okay?"

- "Yes I think so. But who was that? Why do you seek to attack us?"

- "That guy belongs to the Meikai no Kaze cult. They are the guardians of the underworld and hunt down any spiritual entity that challenges the established rules of the world. "They are our natural enemies."

- "Meikai no Kaze? Hunters? If they also hunt yokai like us, why are they our enemies?"

- "Girl, you don't understand it yet. Do you forget what your own nature is? The magical girls that we create are an abomination to the natural balance. Yes, you and the others equal to you; "They are guardians who fulfill a similar mission to those guys, but they themselves consider them an existence that challenges the spiritual order."

- "Curse! "Then why don't you just let the yokai take care of it?" – Exasperated by Luxfera's evasive answers, I slammed my fists against the ground, lowering my head, feeling the rage flowing through my chest.

- "For them yokai are worth more than human lives. If a yokai attacks a human being and even kills them, they limit themselves to escorting the soul of the deceased to the underworld and do not do justice. They only see what it would be like for a lion to kill an antelope.

That is why you exist Haruka-san, to give justice to the people who are victims of yokai. Tonight you couldn't save those children, but you saved your friend and avenged the innocent" – Taking me by the shoulders, Luxfera hugged me against her chest and placed her head on my shoulder, holding the back of my neck with her right hand.

- "Luxfera. Will I be able to save lives?"

- "Yes, Haruka-san. "You can do it, I am sure you will be able to do it"

While I was still in Luxfera's arms, the distant sound of police patrol sirens was beginning to get closer. Forcing us to disappear from the place, while I refused to leave Natsume alone.

- "No, we have to take her with us!"

- "Moron! "That girl needs medical attention, we can't take her with us."

- "But what will the police do with her? I can't leave her here!"

- "She is also a victim! They will take her to a hospital, don't be stupid. But instead you could go to jail. Look to you! Your clothes and face are completely covered in blood, even if they check the contents of your stomach they will know that you ate part of the bodies. Do you think they will feel sorry for you?" – With the expression on her face full of annoyance, Luxfera pressed her hands on my arms trying to make me see reason, while opening a dimensional portal to my apartment.

- "Trust me, Haruka-san. Let's go" – Taking one last look at Natsume, I had no choice but to listen to Luxfera, jumping into the dimensional portal, disappearing into the air, just as the patrols were arriving at the scene.