The Sudden Silence.

In the outer forest, the race against time had become desperate.

Natasha stopped for a second, analyzing the terrain while processing the drone information. The main route was too long. If they followed it, they'd only arrive in time to see corpses.

"Something is very wrong here, Kyosuke," she said, her breath ragged. "Someone moved that drone here."

"I know," Kyosuke replied, tightening the chains on his arms. "But if we run at full speed on the east route, we'll be there in ten minutes."

"I don't have ten minutes," Natasha cut in sharply. "I know a shortcut. It's dangerous, but I'll get there sooner."

Without waiting for a reply, Natasha veered left, leaping over a ravine and disappearing into the thicket. "Wait, Natasha!" Kyosuke shouted, but she was already gone. Cursing, the Squad A instructor followed his own path, praying he'd make it in time.

Meanwhile, down in the crater's darkness, the battle had erupted.

The Ushi-Oni was like an unstoppable locomotive. With a shriek that mixed a bull's bellow with an insect's screech, the beast charged.

Its first target was Naomi. The creature sensed she was the physically weakest. It thrust one of its front legs like a spear, aiming to impale her. "Not happening!" Kenta and Hiro yelled in unison.

Both boys intercepted, crossing their swords to block the impact.

Metal rang against the beast's hard claw. The force drove them back, their feet scraping the ground, but they held.

"Now!" Sato yelled. The rest of the group moved to the sides to flank it. They launched slashes and thrusts at its joints, but the Ushi-Oni was surprisingly fast for its size. It thrashed violently, forcing the boys to roll on the ground to avoid being crushed, and then agilely scrambled onto a pile of rubble, hissing as it searched for a new angle of attack.

It was fast. Too fast to keep up with.

Then, Ken made his move. Without a word, without a complex plan, Ken shot out from the formation. He ran straight for the monster's face, yelling to draw its attention. It looked like suicide. Pure ego.

The Ushi-Oni roared and lashed out with three of its legs to crush the human charging head-on. But it was all part of Ken's improvised plan.

"Hold it!" Ken roared.

Kenta, Hiro, Sato, and Naomi understood the play instantly. They threw themselves against the legs attacking Ken, blocking them with their weapons and using their full body weight to pin them to the ground.

That left Ken alone against the remaining legs and the bull's gaping maw. The Ushi-Oni tried to crush him with one free leg. Ken didn't dodge it. He caught it. With a roar of effort, Ken wrapped his arms around the thick, hairy spider-limb. His muscles strained to their limit. The creature, sensing danger, began to thrash violently, slamming Ken against walls and the floor, trying to shake him off.

Ken felt like his shoulders would dislocate, but he didn't let go. "I... won't... let go!" In an act of raw savagery, as his hands slipped, Ken opened his mouth and bit down on the leg's joint, sinking his teeth into the creature's soft flesh.

The beast shrieked in pain. Seizing the moment, Ken planted his feet on the monster's thorax and pulled with all the strength in his back and legs.

With a sickening tear, the leg ripped free from the body.

Ken fell backwards, the severed limb still in his grip. The Ushi-Oni, now missing a leg and gushing black blood, lost its balance. It tried to back away, but stumbled and crashed violently into a concrete column, ending up stunned and belly-up.

"You're mine!" Ken yelled. He jumped onto the creature's abdomen. He didn't use a knife. Instead, he clenched his fist and started punching. One. Two. Three blows. Each impact sounded like a sledgehammer hitting meat. The bull-like skull deformed under the fury of Ken's fists until the beast stopped moving and its final breath escaped in an agonized hiss.

Silence. Then, the shout of triumph.

"We did it!" Sato yelled, raising his spear. "My God, Ken! You bit its leg off!" Kenta laughed, his eyes shining. "That was completely insane!" "A C-Class!" Hiro exclaimed. "We just killed a C-Class by ourselves!"

They were euphoric. They felt like kings of the world. They had survived hell and won. Ken climbed down from the monster's corpse, wiping the black blood from his mouth with his forearm. He was panting, but smiling. He looked at Naomi, who was also smiling with relief.

"Well done, team," Ken said, walking over to them for high-fives. "Tanimoto's going to have to buy us dinner."

Kenta, who was a little further back, was laughing as he sheathed his sword. "Hey, Ken, when we get back to base, you have to teach me that moveme..."

Kenta's voice cut off abruptly. There was no scream. No warning. He simply stopped speaking.

Ken, who was about to reply, froze. "Kenta?"

Everyone turned. Kenta's smile was still on his face, but his eyes were glassy, staring at nothing. His body stood still, unnaturally rigid, as if someone had pressed pause on his life.

And then, the sound of something dripping broke the silence of victory.

Ken looked down. A black, long, serrated sword blade was protruding from Kenta's chest. It had entered through his back in complete silence.

No one moved. Ken's brain couldn't process what he was seeing. They had just won. The test was supposed to be over.

Behind Kenta, in the darkness untouched by the torchlight, an immense shadow began to take shape.