"Yukiteru and A-ya, they…" Shinichi looked concerned.

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't even bother."

"Shinichi," said Migi seriously, and Shinichi looked at his hand with a frown. "If there's anyone you wish to help, it would be those four over there… I sense the power in the snake demon building exponentially with his violent intent. Now is the time. What will you do?"

Shinichi looked down, thinking of A-ya and Yukiteru with regret. If he ran, he'd be able to catch up to them easily, but… He looked at Ciel. "Are you alright on your own for a bit?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll just go back into the woods again…," he griped, heading into the trees to do so as Kaneki the half-ghoul crashed in front of them. Overhead, Yato was slicing and dicing at the one-armed Sebastian.

Shinichi stared into the pupil-less eye of Kaneki, raising his hands slightly in peace. "I don't want to fight you," he said to him.

Migi opened his eye to look at the half-ghoul. Then he looked at his host. The two of them… thought the parasite, …seem to be a lot alike…

Shinichi refrained from glancing back to check on Ciel. He took a tentative step towards the crouching half-ghoul. "I'm going to help your friends with the snake demon over there, okay? I mean no harm."

Kaneki gnashed his teeth. "Don't—know. What you mean…"

Shinichi backed up a pace. "Your group over there… I'm going to help them."

"I don't know—what you're talking about," he growled lowly, voice muddled. "I—don't—…"

"Shinichi, be careful!" warned Migi, and Kaneki dove for the half-parasite, ready to sink his teeth into his flesh. Migi spread out, blocking with his knife-like appendages. "Shinichi! Try to pin him down!"

Giving a quick nod, Shinichi ran to the side, allowing his right arm to stretch like silly putty as he rounded the half-ghoul. Migi fought the centipede while he tried to do this, but Migi kept finding his appendages to be sliced clean off by Kaneki's kagune. He's fast, thought Migi to himself, watching his host as he tried to catch Kaneki from behind. Their opponent too fast, Migi tried to compensate. With this speed, it was impossible to surround him and catch him off-guard. "Shinichi!"

Shinichi looked at his hand, focusing hard in order to hear over the sound of Kaneki's distorted battle cries and the sound of kagune on organic metal.

"Listen!" Migi shrunk back closer to his host, trying to continually block Kaneki's attacks. "I'll take care of those insect-like appendages of his. I do believe they are reminiscent of a centipede. I will take care of those. You take care of the ghoul himself, though. Got it?"

"Got it," Shinichi confirmed.

Ciel watched from behind the trees, eyes narrowed. How ridiculous this all was… And how long would Sebastian take, anyway?

He looked up at the blurry battle between the god and the demon, annoyed with how tedious this was becoming. He very much wished to go back to his manor and have some tea. And a pastry. He very much wanted a pastry.

Up above, Yato fought despite knowing his insides were ruptured. His eyes were glowing a luminescent and electric bright blue, his own pupils slits just as Sebastian's were in his own smoldering red eyes. With only one arm, Sebastian was at a disadvantage. After what had happened with Shizuo, Yato didn't let him anywhere near the original battle area, knowing he'd pick up more of the bullets. With a howl of resolve, Yato sliced his blade downwards, parting Sebastian from his remaining arm. The demon's eyes widened in surprise as Yato lifted his hand, pointing his index and middle finger forward. The tips of them glowed azure. "Thou who hast desecrated this Land of the Rising Sun…"

Time slowed. Sebastian was caught midair. Yato was running his fingers along the side of his blade, which began to emanate a bright light.

"…with my advent, I, the Yato god…"

Sebastian tried to twist his body away from Yato's reach, attempting to make his way back to the ground with the aid of gravity. Somehow gravity seemed too slow.

"…lay waste with the Sekki…"

Sebastian looked to his young master, brow creased. This couldn't be… He could make out Ciel's face below, at the edge of the forest. Young Master, I…

"…and hereby expel thy vast defilement!"

…Although, Young Master, demons cannot experience faith nor loyalty to direct us in our actions, there are two aesthetics we will never fail to uphold. The first is that any order made by a contractor is absolute. We mustn't go against such orders. The second is simply to obey these orders while keeping the contract. This is why, in the end, we value the lives of our masters over our own.
After all, that is the way of a Phantomhive butler, is it not?
Despite everything, I must admit… I did rather like my role as a butler. It was very pleasant. Really a shame, my lord and master, that I…

Sebastian landed on his feet, and Yato came down on him, swiping his spell-charged blade down. "Rend!" he exclaimed, and carved through the entirety of Sebastian Michaelis, just in front of Ciel. Yato landed behind his target. Sebastian stood there for a moment; the air went red. White light exploded out from within the demon, and he burst in a blast of crimson before being gone entirely.

Yato lowered his blood-stained sword, head bowed.

Ciel, overcome with shock, screamed the name of his butler. It sounded to his own ears as though he couldn't make any sound at all.

Back with Kuroha and the contestants he was facing, the serpent repeated to them that they couldn't kill him. "I know you can't kill me," the android smiled. "I just won't let you."

Seidou, eyes narrowed, shot the quinque, but Kuroha blocked it, allowing it to get caught in the arm without a hand. Just as soon as he did that, the quinque was knocked to the ground and Kuroha had one of his legs free, swinging it around and knocking over both Seidou and Izaya before slamming his foot into the side of Shintaro's head and jabbing Shirazu in the gut with his stub, knocking all the air out of him and making him choke. Shintaro lost the ability to respond, dazed. As Seidou tried to reach for his crossbow, Kuroha stepped on his hand and crushed it. Seidou gave an exclamation of shock as pain shot down his arm. Izaya threw his pocketknife with the flick of the wrist at the same time, but Kuroha turned and caught it with his teeth, jerking his head to the side and consequently stabbing Izaya in the shoulder.

It was at this point that Yato appeared after having slain Sebastian, stained with the red of the demon. He looked at Kuroha, and the serpent paused. "…Konoha, you who have been possessed… I will cut your ties with everyone you've ever known. In doing so, you may be exorcized." He wielded his Sekki, pointing it at Kuroha. "Everyone will forget you, but you will be free, and you may make new memories."

Kuroha blinked blankly, then burst into laughter. "That stupid android is an amnesiac as it is! And you know what? If none of the people he knows ever interacted with him… if I never became a part of his life, do you know what would happen?" He grinned at the god of calamity as though the snake were a child about to tell a secret. Yato only gazed at him with a cold expression of nothingness. "If you did that, and I'd never interacted with him, he'd never exist! I'm the reason he's alive! Without me, his heart would have stopped beating two years ago!"

Recognition flitting across Shintaro's features, his grey eyes widened, mouth opening slightly.

"In that case," Yato answered bluntly, "I'll just have to kill you."

"Oh, no, no, no…" Kuroha laughed drily, breathily, hunching forward with that manic grin of his. "No, I'm no idiot… I'm done with this fight. I know where to draw the line." He glanced over at Yoh and Tsukiyama. Yoh, though rather beaten up, straightened when he saw Kuroha looking at him. He nodded to Yoh with a menacing smirk. "If anything," Kuroha continued, "I'll be finishing off that damned group that injured me badly in the first place. Now if you'll excuse me…" Kuroha disappeared. Yato waited, then lowered his sword with a relieved sigh. His sword transformed back into Yukine, who collapsed into a sitting position, exhausted and distressed. They didn't save Shizuo…

"…We're alive," said Seidou breathlessly from his place on the ground.

"Not all of us," said Roppi in empty tones, still clinging to the body of Tsuki. He didn't raise his head.

"I don't think it's over yet," Izaya added, looking over to where Kaneki was facing Migi.

Kuroha appeared behind Yoh and Tsukiyama, bringing his stub arm and his broken arm around both of them with a wide smile. "Hello, you two. How'd the fight go?"

"It went splendid, monsieur," Tsukiyama bit out, frowning at the demon.

Kuroha laughed cruelly. "Now, Deceiver… Well, Deceiver #2… I have an order for you…," he said in low tones so only the three of them could hear. Tsukiyama glowered at the demon behind his back.

"What's that?" Yoh asked, fist tightening around the hilt of his blade.

"Now, you're going to do as I ask, or else I'll see to it that you won't make it home to find your sister. Do you understand?"

He swallowed, then nodded, though his eyes remained indignant.

"What you're going to do is you're going to use that sword of yours to kill the little blond-haired sword boy over there. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

Yoh bobbed his head.

"Good. If you fail at killing him and make it back, I will kill you. If they kill you, you will be dead anyway. As I said before, if you don't do it at all, I'll kill you. Get it?"

Another dip of the head in confirmation. He stood stiff as a rod.

"Wonderful," Kuroha grinned. "If you manage to kill the god, too, I'll never threaten you again. Anyway… I'm going to go check on that annoying little parasite in the meantime."

Tsukiyama scowled. He knew that he couldn't go on and tell Kuroha not to touch his Kaneki-kun, but that would only serve to show weakness and make Kuroha want to kill him even more than he might already. Before he could think of what to tell that bastard snake, he was gone again. He looked at his only human team member. Poor Yoh-kun… "Do you think you can do it?" Tsukiyama inquired. He wasn't worried or anything.

"Of course I can," Yoh huffed stubbornly, loosening his grip on the blade. He smiled lopsidedly. "I already know how I'll go about it, anyway."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, don't underestimate me, Ghoul."

"Ovviamente!" cried Tsukiyama. "Of course!" He touched his cheek, eyes warming. "You really are quite the deceiver, aren't you?"

"Takes one to know one, you manipulative little shit," Yoh smirked at him, and Tsukiyama laughed.

"I'm offended!"

"Oh yeah? You look amused." His visible eye narrowed. "No, actually, you seem touched. What, is that a compliment to ghouls?"

"No, no, ce n'est pas vrai! No, I merely admire your determination, Yoh-kun. For anything you say to them, I will remain here and go along with whatever you say, if need be. You have earned due respect from me. I'd like to see you as my pet, for I do not wish to eat you."

Yoh raised his eyebrows, then scoffed and turned away. "I'm not your pet, you creep," he waved him off before proceeding to approach the group of seven up ahead, sword behind his head, blade pressed against the back of his neck. He had his head bowed as though he came in peace. By then Shirazu and Seidou were heading over to Kaneki to try and retrieve him and snap him out of whatever craze he seemed to be in, so it was only a group of five.

Kaneki was still facing Shinichi and Migi in his kakuja form. It was partial parasite versus half-ghoul. Monster versus monster. Though Shinichi and Migi struggled a bit with his erratic behavior and high speeds, with Migi watching out for the kagune and Shinichi fighting Kaneki himself they ended up finding themselves evenly matched with him. Somewhere in his mind, Shinichi realized that if they were to continue this way, they'd all end up killing each other off.

When Sebastian was eliminated nearby, Shinichi had been caught off-guard, earning a bite on the shoulder that snapped Shinichi back to reality. He grabbed Kaneki and tossed him off of him, slightly unnerved by the blood-tainted saliva oozing from the ghoul's mouth. Staggering backwards, their opponent gave a blood-curdling screech. "I di'n't wan' it! Did—did— No good FOOd latel y! Even, even—a dirty parasite will do…!" In a moment of mad clarity, Kaneki tilted his head towards Shinichi and Migi, cracking his knuckle. A Cheshire's grin spread across his face. "…Right?" And Kaneki attacked again.

Shinichi began to remember as they fought that this guy had said he was an 'artificial half-ghoul.' Did that mean he had started out human, just like Shinichi? Looking at the inhuman way his face contorted in his madness; listening to his grotesque, distorted, and broken speech… This monster that was before him, it wasn't 'Ken Kaneki' that had introduced himself. No, not even that. 'Ken Kaneki' might have been someone else entirely, from before he became this way. How did Shinichi know? He saw in Kaneki where his own path may well lead. His 'humanity' was already slipping away from him. He didn't start out this way either. His name wasn't Shinichi anymore. He was not 'Shinichi Izumi.' Slowly but surely, he was becoming the monster that he despised. And eventually… he might end up like that…

He felt hot agony blossoming in his chest at the thought, and his breathing came in short gasps. Kaneki struck a blow to his gut, sending him into the air and causing him to collapse to his knees, choking. Every feeling at once was raging in his head, in his chest, all around inside of him. Who was he? What would he become? Who was 'Shinichi Izumi'? Was he still alive, or had he died? Am I human?

"Shinichi, snap out of it!" Migi called to him, and his breath caught. "Hurry and calm down like I know you do! Now is not the time for you to break!"

Chest pounding with pain, Shinichi closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and stood, numb again. What did it matter who he was? Right now, his only priority was to survive. No one could expect anything less, he assured himself. I am a self-preserving being, and that's all.

It wasn't long before Migi spoke again, however. "There are people approaching." The two sides pushed off from one another and faced the two approaching.

"Hey, hey!" shouted Shirazu, running up along with Seidou. "Kane-kun – he's on our side…!"

Seidou looked at Kaneki, just a little bit horrified. The half-ghoul was on all fours, insectile appendages writhing around him. His human eye had rolled back in its socket and the ghoul eye was covered by his half-kakuja mask. A third eye had formed on the mask where his forehead would be, twitching and rolling sporadically, unable to focus on any one thing. The half of his face that was covered by a mask was painted with an eerie smile, while what would have been the 'human' half was caught in something kind of like a scowl, more like a grimace.

"Yo, um…Kaneki," said Shirazu.

Seidou grabbed Shirazu by the shoulder, stopping him from going any further towards Kaneki. "Wait… I don't think… he's himself right now." He held his crossbow close, hand trembling ever so slightly. Would he really have to shoot him?… I told him I would. "Kaneki, snap out of it," Seidou said to him, careful to keep his voice level. He cocked his crossbow.

Shinichi and Migi looked between the three of them, on guard in case anyone chose to attack again.

"Hey, what are you thinking?!" Shirazu grabbed at the quinque. "You're not planning on shooting him, are ya? That's Kane-kun! That's Sassan; you can't do that…!"

"He asked me to do it," Seidou answered seriously, jerking his quinque out of Shirazu's grip.

The orange-haired partial-ghoul ran out between Seidou and Kaneki. "We'll figure it out, okay?" He turned and went to Kaneki. "C'mon, Kane-kun, let's get back to the group, okay?"

Kaneki's answer was a swipe at Shinichi that Migi blocked just in time. "H u ngr y…"

Seidou stared. Eyes narrowing, he aimed the quinque. "That guy saved my group before, Kaneki… You'd really convinced me you were all human on the inside— really, you're just falling into the same ends as a ghoul, aren't you?"

"Seidou!" Shirazu protested, and Seidou shot.

Kaneki blocked before attacking Seidou. "Snap out of it, damn it, did everything we planned mean nothing to you?!" Seidou gasped as Kaneki took a hunk out of his side. The CCG officer ignored the pain, preparing to shoot again. This was more difficult now that he had a crushed hand, courtesy of Kuroha.

"I… I don't… know…"

"The coffee shop we stayed in last night? That conversation we had on the rooftop? Helping everyone out? How badly you wanted to protect everyone here?!"

"I dOn't! KnoW!" Kaneki curled forward, gripping tightly at his bleach-white hair. "I don't know… I don't… want… to eat… I'm not… hungry… I don't want it… I don't want it… I don't want it…"

Slowly, Seidou relaxed. He lowered his quinque with caution, hand still on the trigger. "It's okay, Kane-kun, the fight's pretty much over," said Shirazu, kneeling in front of Kaneki only to have Kaneki's kagune pierce him straight through the stomach. "Oh—shit…" He choked up red. "Kaneki…?"

The kagune began to shrivel and die, the kakuja armor protecting him began to wither. "Shi…Shirazu… I…" Kaneki stared at him, wide-eyed. What had happened? He couldn't remember. "Wh…what…? Did I… do that…?"

"Kaneki, really, it's fine…," he choked out. "You're back now, so we should head to our group before something else stupid happens. I heal fast, this is nothing…"

"S… sorry… I'm sorry… Shirazu, I'm so…" he began to apologize to him repeatedly, curling forward with his shoulders shaking with sobs.

"Hey, no… It's fine, I can heal, see? I told ya. I'm not dead or nothin'… C'mon…" Shirazu looked to Seidou, and Seidou nodded as he bit his tongue and went over to help coax Kaneki to come with them.

Shinichi gave them a bow. "Thank you two. I appreciate that you brought him back. I wanted to tell him… that I'd like to better meet him. It was an honor going head-to-head with you, Kaneki. I wish I could have met you in the past."

"I think you two may understand each other better than you think," Migi said to Shinichi and the distraught Kaneki. "Pleasure to meet you, Ken Kaneki."

Kaneki was unable to respond, bowing his head with tears freely falling to the grass below. "I'm sure he feels the same," said Seidou. "I'm sorry for that. I'd like to thank you again for last time."

Shinichi nodded. "Of course…. Take care. If ever we meet again here, I will not attack you."

The CCG officer nodded and gave another nod before leading Kaneki back to the others. "Psyche… is Psyche alright?" Shirazu drew his lips into a thin line. Seidou set his jaw. Kaneki lowered his head, realizing the truth behind the silence.

As they walked back, Kuroha appeared behind them, facing the equally battered Shinichi and Migi. "Hello there," Kuroha smiled eerily.

Yoh had reached Yato, Yukine, Izaya, Shintaro, and Roppi a few minutes before, eyes downcast. "Hey, uh… While Kuroha's distracted, I… I wanted to apologize for everything. I really didn't want to fight…" It wasn't a lie. "At this point, I just want to make it out of here. I…wanted to apologize to the people I've faced so far, and to anyone I will face in the future, even if they beat me. I just wish we all weren't caught up in this shit…"

"You could say that again," said Shintaro weakly, hand to the side of his head.

"I completely understand, Takami-kun," Izaya smiled thinly.

"Yoh's fine, if you want," Yoh shrugged, carefully lowering his sword. "So, um… That guy I faced… is he…?"

"You mean Shizuo?" asked Yato, voice hollow.

"The bartender guy, if that's the one," Yoh confirmed. "I've faced him twice now." Yato, Yukine, and Izaya all got very quiet.

Shintaro looked at them. "D…did he…?"

"I want to see him one more time," said Yukine, voice strained. "Just one more time." He looked very upset.

"Jeez, I didn't know…" Yoh rubbed the back of his head, blue eyes cast to the side. "I guess it might be disrespectful to join you."

"You can if you want," Yato said flatly as Yukine got to his feet. "Izaya, are you coming?"

"Mm…" He distractedly wiped his own blood from his switchblade. He gave a sidelong glance to Yoh. "Yeah."

Shintaro stuck by Roppi while the four went back to climb the hill. Shizuo lay on the earth in his pool of red. Izaya's hands were still stained. "It was Sebastian?" guessed Yoh, and Yato nodded before kneeling down to move the deceased into a more comfortable-looking position. Yoh remained behind the three of them, out of respect.

Well, really, he was just excited that they were so caught up in their grief. With Yato kneeling like that, he might even be able to take out the god… If Yukine needed Yato to call on him to turn into a sword, he couldn't do anything if his god were dead… It was now, as Yato was positioning Shizuo's arms over his chest, that Yoh's grip tightened on the handle of his crimson blade. "Like I said…" he began, raising it, "…I'm sorry about all this."

The blade came down as they all turned to look at him. Yukine jumped in front of Yato to protect him – despite all the teases, and despite his arguably poor job as a master, Yato was like a father to him…

Yato screamed when Yukine was struck, falling into two halves while Yato felt his soul get ripped away from him as the loss pierced his chest and leaved him heaving in emotional turmoil. At the same moment, Izaya had turned on Yoh and sliced down his chest, giving him, one, two, three gashes along his torso. Izaya finished the combo with a stab to his gut, pointed upwards and into Yoh's ribcage. The informant twisted the knife and pulled it out. "Rather disrespectful of you, Yoh-kun, being in such close proximity of our fallen friend." Izaya's eyes narrowed as he fell to his knees, dropping the sword. "But don't worry, Yoh-kun… I'm very sorry for what I just did to you." His tone was oozing with sardonic humor.

Yoh stared at the halves of Yukine, wanting to feel satisfied but honestly feeling nothing but horror and disgust. He thought of the day he'd tried to find an entrance to G Ward, the very center of the prison he was kept in called Deadman Wonderland. He remembered how it had showered blood, and how someone's decapitated and deformed head had fallen right in front of him. He remembered Ganta's head… a mess of goopy red even though his face still looked fine save for that little red dot in his forehead. Yoh shuddered, eyes jaded as he curled forward and waited, sure that Izaya would kill him.

Izaya watched, then turned to Yato, who was on his hands and knees in anguish, one hand clutching at his own chest as he gasped for air. "…Yato-kun, perhaps we should teleport away from here. I don't know about you, but I think it'd be better to get away from everyone for now."

Croaking out some kind of agreement, Yato tried to breathe. He didn't want to leave Yukine, seeing how his body hadn't dissipated yet, but he knew he didn't have the strength to bring him along. Giving Yukine one last embrace, the god whispered a heart-wrenching farewell before releasing him gently and weakly gripping at Izaya's leg. The two disappeared in a flash of blue. Yoh remained immobile. Tsukiyama ran to him to see whether he was alright.

Kuroha approached Shinichi and Migi a bit north. Having given his greetings, he sped towards the half-parasite and attacked with his stub arm. Though Migi blocked, both of them slid backwards with the force, blown back by the power in his hit. "Can we really fight this guy?" Shinichi asked, winded.

"Yes, but we'll die," Migi answered. Shinichi stared at him. Kuroha attacked, and Migi blocked again, trying to use extra appendages to fight back. "Shinichi, find Ciel. Run away with him. This demon will stop at nothing. He wants to create death. If we part, one of us will make it. I cannot survive without you, but you can survive without me."

Shinichi's shoulders sank as Migi detached from his arm, leaving him with his own stub that ended in the middle of his right forearm. Migi became a blob-like entity on two tiny legs, single eye raised above his blob-ish base. "Migi…! I'm not leaving you; we don't have to fight him!"

Kuroha laughed at the irony as Migi responded, "Go to Ciel! Now, Shinichi, while there's still time!"

Hesitating a few moments, Shinichi ran for the woods and found Ciel, limply sitting on the ground. "Get away from me…" The twelve-year-old earl's voice was small, quiet.

Shinichi shook his head. "I'm getting you out of here. Like I said in the beginning, if anything happens to Sebastian, I'll protect you…alright?" Ciel looked at him, eyes guarded and suspicious. Hurt. "Get on my back." He crouched down to allow Ciel to do so, and the earl obliged, if slowly. "Hold on," he warned, and looked at Migi. His parasite didn't look at him. His friend…hah. To think he was really sacrificing himself… There was too much of that going on around here. Shinichi forced his gaze away from Migi's battle and shot forward at inhuman speeds, running through where Yukiteru and A-ya had run. He listened intently for their voices, eardrums resounding with every sound on the playing field. His feet, pounding on the ground beneath him. Migi's clashes with Kuroha… The sound of Tsukiyama's fretting over Kaneki as he approached, and Kaneki's cold tones in response… ("I don't want to deal with you right now, Tsukiyama-san… Kindly go away." "Kaneki-kun, please… please remember that it isn't your fault.") He listened to the weak sounds of mourning from Yato to the far south, and before him, he could hear Yukiteru and A-ya. Where were they? Stopping, he closed his eyes.

Below?

Looking around on the ground, Shinichi saw a hatch. "Ciel, you holding on?" A weak, "Yes, Shinichi," responded him, but when he reached down to open it with his left hand, he found it to be locked.

Deciding it was better to leave it be for now than pry it open, Shinichi looked around for a bit before running into the nearest shop and sprinting up the stairs. Upon finding a bedroom, he lay Ciel down to rest. The child sat on the edge of the bed, gaze focused on the floorboards. Besides Shinichi's heavy breathing, all was silent. Heaving a sigh, Shinichi sat on a chair beside the bed Ciel sat upon. What now…?