The ugly swings its tentacles at Kuina, but she dodges with ease. Unfortunately, the thing can phase its strikes right through walls—so taking a hit from one of those would be very bad news. She quickly realizes this opponent won’t go down as easily as the last, but she still believes she can overwhelm it. With that confidence, she lunges forward and throws a massive haymaker.
Bad idea. Turns out this ugly can sprout tentacles from literally every part of its body—even its head. It twists out of the way and skewers Kuina in the shoulder. She staggers back, trying to recover, but the monster wraps its slimy limbs around her arms and slams her around the room like a pinball machine on tilt.
Meanwhile, Rokuro is cowering in the corner, doing his best impression of a terrified housecat. He watches helplessly as Kuina is tossed around, unable to break free. She’s dazed, and the ugly takes full advantage—slamming her head into the ground over and over, as if it’s trying to play whack-a-mole until her brains decorate the floor.
Rokuro realizes this is bad. Like, really bad. If nothing changes, Kuina is done for. He wants to help her, but he’s frozen in place, convinced that stepping out means instant death. He keeps telling himself, “Maybe someone else will show up and save her…” but deep down he knows the truth: he’s the only one who can. Still, he can’t bring himself to move.
And then it hits him—when did he become such a coward? He wasn’t always like this. He remembers back when he had his first crush, Lulu. Around her, he never missed a chance to show off—whether it was little stunts or, in one extreme case, jumping off a cliff just to look cool. (Yes, a cliff. Because nothing says romance like a potential trip to the emergency room.)
Even when Lulu scared him half to death, making his hands shake, he forced himself to stay calm. He refused to look weak in front of her.
Rokuro was born in a quiet town tucked away in the woods, where humans and Oni lived together in peace. He and Lulu would often spend their days dancing—a memory he treasures deeply. But then, one day, she suddenly fell ill. When an Oni’s horns first emerge, their blood chemistry changes completely, so she couldn’t see a regular doctor anymore. Thankfully, there was an Oni doctor in town. With treatment, Lulu was expected to recover fully.
But of course, life had other plans. Just a few days later, the village was attacked by agents of the Momotaro.
Lulu and Rokuro were lucky enough to survive the raid without being discovered. But the only Oni doctor in town wasn’t so fortunate. With him gone, there was no one left who could treat Lulu’s illness. Her condition began to deteriorate, day by day.
Rokuro did everything he could for her, but let’s be honest—his medical knowledge peaked at “apply bandage, hope for best.” Desperate, he started going from town to town, searching for another Oni doctor, no matter how long it took. Unfortunately, he was already out of time.
One day, Lulu grabbed his hand to say goodbye. Her final words were that she had always thought he was cool—so she wanted him to stay that way even after she was gone. Moments later, her arms went limp, and she drew her last breath.
Rokuro spent days crying over her body. He had leaned on her as his safe haven for so long that he had no idea what to do without her. Eventually, all he had left was her scarf. With Lulu gone, all the fear and sorrow he’d buried for her sake came flooding out and consumed him. His hair turned white from the stress, he developed severe insomnia, and before long, he was no longer the same person.
Back in the present, Rokuro watches helplessly as the ugly monster prepares to finish off Kuina. But he’s still too paralyzed by fear to move. He tells himself she’s going to die—because he’s too useless to save her.
Then it hits him. He remembers Lulu’s final words, asking him to remain cool and confident for her sake. And if she could see him now? Oh, she’d definitely be disappointed. Just as the ugly is about to crush Kuina’s skull like a watermelon, Rokuro finally snaps out of it. He dashes out from hiding, scoops her out of the way, and sets her down gently.
He feels awful—Kuina only got hurt because she was protecting him. If Lulu could see him now, he knows she’d be ashamed of the coward he’s become. He can’t keep living like this. Right then and there, he swears to become the kind of man Lulu would be proud of.
Of course, that means dealing with the tentacle nightmare currently glaring him down. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t terrified—his heart is pounding so hard it feels ready to break free and start its own solo career. But he forces a smile, telling himself, “Everything will be fine. I’ve got this.”
Rokuro bites into his finger, letting his blood flow, and forms a visage of Lulu. He quietly asks her if she’d be willing to stand by his side again—even if he’s not as “cool” as he once was. The blood-made figure floats behind him, and Lulu gives him a gentle hug.
As his blood wraps around his body, Rokuro literally feels the panic and anxiety drain away, replaced by confidence he hasn’t felt in years. This is his Blood Eclipse Release—basically a magical version of anti-depressants, but with the added perks of a badass jacket and a killer aura.
The ugly monster lashes at him with its tentacles, but with his blood awakened, Rokuro blitzes past the attack and slices both of its arms clean off in a single strike. The technique is called Frigid Ash Dance, which he modeled after the dances he once shared with Lulu. Razor-sharp petals swirl around him in sync with his movements, cutting everything they touch to ribbons. And that’s just the opening act—he’s still got more moves to showcase.
The ugly lashes out again, but it’s nowhere near fast enough to keep up. Rokuro feels lighter than ever, as though he’s dancing with Lulu at his side. With that confidence, he aura-farms for a moment—because hey, even heroes need to flex—before unleashing a barrage of slashes that reduce the monster into bite-sized chunks.
He’s beyond proud of himself. For once, he didn’t freeze up—he looked cool, he fought bravely, and he actually won. Too bad no one was around to witness his anime protagonist moment.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the building, Shiki is hiding in a room with Mei. Once the coast is clear, he tells her it’s safe to come out. But something feels off—Mei seems… defeated.
When he asks her what’s wrong, she admits that with her parents already dead, maybe she’s better off dying too. Shiki understands why she feels that way—it’s a cruel world, and despair is heavy—but he won’t let her give up. He tells her she can’t allow herself to die, because her parents most likely wanted nothing more than to protect her. If she dies, then their efforts will have been wasted. But as long as she survives, their fight isn’t over.
He encourages Mei to live on and keep fighting. He even promises that he himself will fight—and crush—the Momotaro agents who took her family away. When that day comes, he hopes Mei will be cheering for him.
For now, he asks her to stay hidden. The monsters may be gone, but Momotaro agents are still lurking, and he refuses to let them capture her.
Mei protests. She can’t believe Shiki is seriously planning to face the Momotaro agents head-on. Those guys are leagues stronger than him, and she doesn’t want him to die. But Shiki, with the stubborn confidence only a shounen protagonist can pull off, tells her not to worry. He doesn’t know how he’ll win—but his heart is screaming that he can’t lose. And for him, that’s good enough. So he’ll keep fighting, no matter how hard it gets.
Meanwhile, outside the barrier, Naito finally regains consciousness. He groggily asks the guys how long he’s been out. They tell him it’s only been about 15 minutes—but a quarter of an hour is more than enough time for Tsubakiri to wreak some serious havoc.
The men apologize, saying the only reason Naito got hurt was because he protected them. But Naito brushes it off—what’s done is done. Right now, he has bigger problems to deal with. So he pushes himself up, battered but determined, and starts skating away.
The men panic and try to stop him, reminding him he’s too injured to be moving around. They ask where he could possibly be heading in that condition. Naito, stubborn as ever, explains that he’s going to the base at Ayuda Temple, because his students are there—and if Tsubakiri shows up, they’ll need his help. (Translation: “I may be half-dead, but sensei duty calls!”)
Back at the clinic, Shiki enters the main hall and finds Tsubakiri patiently waiting for him, like some creep who showed up to a duel early and decided to practice his evil smirk in the mirror. Recognizing the Momotaro uniform, Shiki recalls hearing from Kuina that this was the guy responsible for hijacking corpses and siccing them on the clinic earlier.
Shiki demands to know if he really is Tsubakiri. Instead of answering, the man asks what his name is. Shiki doesn’t understand why his name suddenly matters, but he gives it anyway. The second Tsubakiri realizes this is the Oni he’s been hunting for, his grin stretches even wider. (Not a good sign. Creepy smiles are never a good sign.)
Shiki demands to know why he attacked them earlier, accusing him of being a sicko for desecrating the dead. But Tsubakiri just bursts out laughing, because he honestly finds the whole thing hilarious. He doesn’t even deny being a sicko—in fact, he owns it. Then he twists the knife, telling Shiki that it’s funny hearing an Oni complain about desecrating corpses, as if they had human rights in the first place. To him, only humans deserve rights, so everything he’s done to Oni is perfectly “fair game.” And he has no plans to stop.
That cruel mockery pushes Shiki into a blind rage. He pulls out his gun and aims it straight at Tsubakiri.
Meanwhile, down in the tunnels, Jin is making his way to check on Kyouya when he’s suddenly blocked by Yomogi. She asks if he’s headed there—because if so, he’s wasting his time. Kyouya has already been dead for a while.
When Yomogi mentions this, she notices Jin’s face falter, and she mocks him, laughing at the idea that “monsters” like them could actually care for one another.
But Jin quickly composes himself. He coldly tells her that the only thing he cares about is his goal—and that goal is killing every single Momotaro agent. And since she’s right in front of him, he’ll start with her.
Activating his Blood Saw, Jin lunges at Yomogi with full force. For a moment, he’s sure he’s landed the blow. But something feels off. He glances back—only to see Yomogi casually encased in one of her barriers. His saw didn’t even scratch her. It’s going to take a lot more than brute force to bring her down.
Back in the clinic, Tsubakiri is still barely taking Shiki seriously. With a smirk, he casually bats the gun from Shiki’s hand using nothing but a pocketknife—because apparently, this guy just lives to be insulting.
Rokuro taunts Shiki, telling him to try a little harder—because there’s no way a puny toy like that could actually beat him. Naturally, Shiki refuses to let that insult slide. Instead, he whips out his inner mad scientist and builds a fully-modded arm cannon… complete with a scope. (Because why stop at “functional” when you can go for “overkill chic”?)
Mego had warned Shiki not to use his power since he still doesn’t have control over the output. But hey, when a deadly fight is happening, safety instructions suddenly feel like optional reading. Without hesitation, Shiki pulls the trigger on Subakiri, blasting him and everything within a 5-meter radius straight to Kingdom Come.
Somehow, Subakiri dodges the attack completely unharmed. (Probably a master’s degree in “Dramatic Villain Evasion.”) Still, he admits he wasn’t expecting Shiki to pack that much firepower, and it genuinely startled him.
Of course, Shiki mocks him right back, asking if Subakiri is really scared of just “a little old gun” like this—because if he thinks that was impressive, he hasn’t seen anything yet. And this time, Shiki isn’t planning on holding back. So, Subakiri better brace himself… or invest in a stronger pair of pants.
