“Yuzu, stop!” I shouted as loud as I could, pounding my fists against the translut bubble that surrounded me. My voice echoed slightly within the barrier, muffled as if the air itself swallowed my cries. No matter how hard I struck, the bubble refused to budge.Below, the se unfolded at an arming pace. Yuzu, mid-fall, held two gleaming khat had materialized in her hands. Without hesitation, she flung them forward, the bdes slig through the air toward Catheriheried instantly. With a firm grip oaff, she flicked her wrist, summoning a glowing magic circle in front of her. The kruck the barrier, defleg harmlessly to the side. But Catherine didn’t stop there. In a swift motion, she turned her staff toward Lisa and Elise.Before I could even process what was happening, the two sisters were lifted into the air by an invisible force. A heartbeat ter, they vanished beyond the dereetops, whisked away to safety.Everything happened so fast that my mind struggled to keep up. My thoughts were still rag when Yuzu nded with a trolled but heavy impact, about teers in front of Catherine. Her knees bent slightly to absorb the fall, but she didn’t waver.All of her focus, all of her energy, was locked onto Catherine.Yuzu nded gracefully, her cloak billowing as she crouched upon impact. Her dark eyes remained locked onto Catherine, her expression unwavering. The silver moonlight bathed the battlefield, refleg off the twin knives now embedded in the magic barrier before vanishing into blue wisps.Catherine exhaled, her grip oaff tightening. The air crackled betweehe remnants of her hastily cast levitation spell lingering where Elise and Lisa had oood. She had removed them from danger without hesitation, but now, her focus was entirely on the fox girl standing before her.I pounded on the bubble again, frustration bubbling inside me. "Yuzu, stop this! I don't need fixing!" My voice echoed faintly ihe magical prison, but Yuzu didn’t even gnce my way.Instead, she rolled her shoulders, adjustiance. "Mashiro is tricked by the witch," Yuzu stated firmly. "Yuzu will fix everything."Catherine narrowed her crimson eyes. "You really think you take me on? You're strong, but you're reckless.""Yuzu doesn’t o be stronger," Yuzu replied, tilting her head slightly. "Yuzu just o be faster." And with that, she vanished.No, not vanished—moved. In the blink of an eye, she closed the distance, her knives materializing mid-air as she lunged for Catherine’s blind spot. I screamed her name, but all I could do was watch as the battle unfolded below.I summoned my sword and swung it at the shimmering bubble that caged me in midair. My bde met the surface with dull, useless thuds, each strike boung off as if I were cutting through air. No matter how much force I put into my swings, the barrier refused to yield.Below, the battle raged on. Yuzu moved like a shadow, her every motion fluid and precise. In her hands, a katana had materialized—a sleek, dark bde that matched her robes and flowing bck hair. She struck at Catherilessly, each attack faster tha, her bde fshing uhe moonlight.Everything was happening too fast for me to process"Yuzu will save Mashiro from the witch," she decred, her voiwavering. "Just like Yuzu saved Lady Sumi from the Sealed Hunter!" With those words, she lunged, her katana aimed straight for Catherine’s heart.Hearing the word ‘Sealed Hunter’ Catherine flinched for a sed, however she immediately twisted her body, narrowly avoiding the thrust as her staff pulsed with energy. The moment Yuzu's bde missed its mark, Catherialiated with a flick of her wrist, sending a burst of crimson magic crag toward her oppo.Yuzu leaped backward, her movements eerily fluid, the dark katana in her grip pulsing faintly as if responding to her will. "Witch is tricky," she muttered. "But Yuzu is trickier!"With a sudden burst of speed, she kicked off the ground, vanishing from sight for a split sed before reappearing behind Catherihe fox girl swung her katana in a downward arc, her bde slig through the air with a high-pitched whistle.Catherine barely had time to react. She spun, raisiaff just in time to intercept the strike. Sparks of magical energy erupted from the collision, casting flickering light over their faces.Catherine gritted her teeth as she braced against the force of Yuzu’s strike. The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the air, rustling the trees around them. Sparks crackled where staff and bde cshed, the lingering energy dist the space between them.Yuzu’s dark eyes gleamed, her fox ears twitg. "Witch has strong hands," she said, tilting her head slightly, as if analyzing Catherine’s strength. "But Yuzu has fast hands!"Before Catherine could ter, Yuzu twisted her grip and shifted her stance, pressing her weight into the katana. The sudden ge in force forced Catherio slide back a few inches, her boots scraping against the dirt.Catherine exhaled sharply, her crimson eyes narrowing. "You're not bad," she admitted, her voice low and steady. Then, with a flick of her staff, a series of glowing red runes spiraled outward, f a barrier between them.Yuzu grinned. "Witch pys defense? Yuzu breaks defenses!"With a flick of her wrist, she vanished once more—only this time, instead of appearing behind Catherine, she reappeared above her. With gravity on her side, she swung her katana downward, aiming straight for the ter of Catherine’s barrier.The instant Yuzu’s katana touched the barrier, it shattered—not as mere gss, but as a dazzling explosion of light. Shards of ice scattered through the air, refrag the moonlight like tiny, frozen stars. The brillianentarily obscured my vision, and by the time the glow faded, I saw Yuzu sprawled on the ground, her footing lost to the slick ice that now covered the battlefield.“I don’t just py defense,” Catheriated coolly, her staff leveled at the fallen fox girl. Her crimson eyes gleamed uhe moonlight.Catheriook a step closer, her staff still trained on Yuzu. "Answer me," she demanded, her crimson eyes glowing. "Where did you meet the Sealed Hunter?"Yuzu blinked up at her, then huffed. "Why does witch care?" she muttered. "Yuzu not tell witything. Witch bad. Witch tries to keep cute Mashiro under spell!"Catherine sighed, rubbiemple with her free hand. "Your obsession with 'fixing' Mashiro aside, the Sealed Hunter isn’t something to be taken lightly." Her gaze sharpened. "If you've crossed paths with her, you’re either incredibly lucky or incredibly foolish."Yuzu’s expression darkened, her pyful demeanor slipping for a brief moment. "Yuzu not foolish," she muttered. She averted her gaze, her fiightening around the hilt of her katana. "Sealed Hunter… very scary. Very strong."Catherine’s grip oaff tightened. "So you have met her."The tension in the air grew thicker, pressing down like an invisible force as the frontation unfolded beh me. From my floating prison, I let out an exasperated sigh, shoving my sword bato my iory with a fliy wrist. My fingers curled into fists as I gred down at them.“Hey! If you two are done fighting, maybe get me out of here?!” I yelled, my voice muffled slightly by the shimmering bubble that held me captive. My words echoed faintly within the enclosed space, making my frustration feel even more ridiculous.Yuzu didn’t respond immediately. She stood eerily still, her dark eyes locked onto Catherih an unreadable expression. The pyful air around her seemed to wane, repced by something far more focused, far more calg.“Yuzu not dohe moment those words left her lips, her entire form seemed to unravel.Like a mirage shattering, her cloak billowed unnaturally, dissolving into a flurry of bck feathers. The strands of her long hair melted away, merging into the dark wings of tless crows that burst outward, scattering into the night sky in a chaotic frenzy. Even her katana—once solid and menag—fractured into shadowy fragments, vanishing into the swarm of birds that took flight around Catheriheried instantly, grippiaff tighter. Her crimson eyes flickered with sharp awareness as she took a firm step back, her body l slightly into a defeahe ice-crouh her reflected the moonlight, making the fluttering shadows of the croear even more ominous as they circled her like vultures waiting to strike.She narrowed her eyes, sing the moving mass. “Tch… Illusion magic?” she muttered under her breath.From above, I watched in stunned silence, my heart hammering against my ribs. Yuzu was fast. Too fast. One moment, she had been standing there—her usual quirky self—and the , she had pletely disappeared into the night, leaving only the haunting flutter of wings behind.The crows swirled around Catherine in a violent vortex, their wings beating the air with an almost deafening sound. For a split sed, the world seemed to hold its breath. And then, in an explosion of feathers, the crows vanished—only to be repced by dozens of identical figures.Eae was Yuzu.They were scattered around Catherine in a perfect ring, their cloaks billowing, their dark eyes gleaming with mischief and daheir movements synized, eerily fluid, as if they shared a single mind. “Take this! Yuzu crows thing attack!”