Blaze leads the way out of the tunnel, leaping up and into the city above, her fellow yōkai right behind her. The tri‑tailed vixen then sprints down a wide street, leaving scorched pawprints in the tarmac as she runs.
"Blaze, do you know where you're going?" Silver asks.
"Obviously," Blaze growls in reply.
"She's going the right way," Oak confirms.
"I know," Silver admits. "I'm just worried what she's going to do when we get there."
In Kasai‑dojo, believing the Elemental Protectors have Tsubaki Moto and Kaede Himura captured, Hideyoshi Takenaka is leading Chika Ueno, Ryoichi Nakano, Sally Flynn, General Gong, and the handcuffed Neera Li outside.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Chika asks Hideyoshi.
"Tsubaki and Kaede are captured, and the tide of the war is turning," Hideyoshi reminds. "By nightfall, the day will be won."
"I hope you're right," Chika replies.
The group exits the dojo in time to see the two Shade Mutants running past.
"What were you saying about the day being won?" Chika asks.
A moment later, the five yōkai race past in pursuit of the Shade Mutants.
"Are they…?" Ryoichi begins to ask.
"The Elemental Spirits," Hideyoshi confirms. "Legends made manifest."
"We should go back to the bunker," Chika suggests.
"I agree," Hideyoshi replies.
In the western reaches of the city, with morale among the invading forces destroyed by the earlier actions of Maria, Danny, Xander, and Sally, the Yamakasai army is slowly but surely pushing the invaders back and out of the city. Most of the battlefront has moved to the edge of the city, but there is still a sizeable incursion that steadfastly refuses to retreat.
Suddenly, a hideous cacophony rolls over the incursion's battlefield.
With low morale now totally shattered, the invaders abandon all discipline and flee as fast as they can, desperate to escape the city before something terrible happens. However, the defenders don't notice, as they're too busy diving for cover, petrified by the dæmonic sound.
Their fears are confirmed when the Shade Mutants descend on the battlefield and immediately start laying waste to anything that hasn't already been destroyed. Panicking, the defenders flee the area as quickly as they're able.
A shrill, haunting scream echoes over the battlefield.
The defenders and the Shade Mutants freeze and turn to the source of the sound. Slowly, a murmur spreads through the defenders, the sight of Blaze Kitsune atop a short office building a source of resolved morale.
"This ends now!" Blaze declares, her dæmonic voice echoing across the battlefield as her fellow yōkai arrive at her side.
The Shade Mutants roar in defiance, the Scorpion's boom shaking foundations, the Succubus's scream shattering windows.
"Cute," Blaze mocks, leaping down from the building and landing in front of the Shade Mutants. "But no match for a yōkai," she adds as her companions join her. "Let me show you how it's really done."
Blaze's dæmonic haunting scream hits the Shade Mutants with the force of a landslide, knocking them both back several feet, and shattering the exterior walls of several nearby buildings.
"Easy Blaze," Silver cautions. "We don't want to wreck the city we're trying to save."
Blaze glares viciously at Silver, who falls silent. "Which of you wants to burn first?" she asks the Shade Mutants.
With a defiant roar, the Shade Mutants charge at Blaze.
"Perfect," Blaze grins malevolently, charging the Shade Mutants, her fellow yōkai right behind her.
Yōkai and Mutant clash violently in the centre of the battlefield, sending a shockwave all around that blasts a wall of dust down the city streets. Blaze and Silver double‑team the Shade Scorpion, while Oak, Slate, and Aqua unite against the Shade Succubus.
Blaze gets the first strike, a vicious swipe with her forepaw that leaves deep gashes down the side of the Scorpion's face, just missing the eyes. As she follows up with a second swipe however, the Scorpion catches her leg, clamping down hard. Blaze howls in pain and fury as the Scorpion lifts her high and throws the vixen towards the beast's tails. Blaze catches one of the tails in her flaming maw, her incandescent fangs cleaving straight through. However, she cannot counter the other two tails, their stingers sinking deep into the vixen's flank.
As Blaze rolls past the Scorpion, Silver drives his metallic claws into the Scorpion's face. Howling in agony, the Scorpion counters with her other arm, closing the pincers around Silver's neck intending to crush it. However, the Metal Crystal protects Silver by encasing his neck in inches‑thick steel, allowing the yōkai to continue his attack on the Scorpion's head. But Silver only gets one more hit in before the Scorpion throws him high in the air.
As Silver soars into the air, Blaze recovers to her paws. Ignoring the piercing pain from the two stingers hooked in her flank, she leaps onto the back of the Scorpion, and sinks her foreclaws into the flesh at the base of the beast's neck. Howling in pain, the Scorpion clamps both pincers on the yōkai's forelegs, lifting them off her back. Blaze tries to fight the beast's strength, but is unable to. With no other option, the yōkai attempts to lock her fiery jaws around the Scorpion's neck, but the beast lifts her just high enough to mean the yōkai cannot reach.
A moment later, Silver lands heavily on top of Blaze. The impact flattens the vixen against the beast's back, bending her forelimbs painfully beyond normal motion. The Scorpion takes advantage of Blaze's prone position, throwing the yōkai across the battlefield, and through the front of a six‑storey building, partially collapsing it on top of her. The Scorpion then bucks hard, throwing Silver into Blaze as the vixen tries to extract herself from the building, collapsing it fully and burying them both.
"This isn't working," Silver admits.
"Tell me something I don't know!" Blaze snaps back. "And get off me!"
"Bit tricky when there's a building on top of us both," Silver informs.
Meanwhile, Oak, Slate, and Aqua fare little better against the Shade Succubus. Oak is the first to strike, slashing at the Succubus's calves. However, her claws don't go deep enough, and the beast remains standing. As Oak passes between the Succubus's legs, the beast wraps a tentacle around the feline's tail, and yanks hard. A moment later, Oak finds herself hanging helplessly in the air, swiping futilely.
Aqua is next in, aiming for the Succubus's neck, intending to strike while she is occupied with Oak. However, the Succubus isn't so easily distracted, closing a pincer around Aqua's snout, holding it shut. But she cannot arrest the wolf's momentum: Aqua slams into her with his full weight, almost knocking her off her feet. The Succubus stumbles, but keeps her footing, and slams Aqua into the ground head‑first, pinning him down with a cloven hoof on his neck.
Slate is last in, and at first, his luck looks good as he strikes the Succubus's abdomen hard, rending several deep gashes across it before slamming his weight into the beast, knocking her back a few feet and off Aqua's neck. Aqua pulls his head from the shallow crater the Succubus was holding it in, then charges at her legs, sinking his canine teeth deep into the flesh of her right leg.
Howling in pain, the Succubus wraps her other tentacle around Aqua's neck, squeezing hard to crush it. The Water Crystal kicks in and forms a protective ice layer, but it doesn't weaken the beast's grip. Slate takes advantage of the distraction to clamp his jaws around the Succubus's other leg, but he doesn't notice the pincers heading for his tail. The Succubus clamps one set of pincers on Slate's tail, the other on Aqua's, and pulls taut. She then uses Oak as an improvised club to first dislodge Slate, then Aqua.
With all three yōkai now held in mid‑air suspended by their tails, the Succubus lifts them and whirls them around her head, building up impressive speed before releasing each yōkai in turn towards the office building next to the one Blaze and Silver are buried under. Oak hits first, taking out the lower floors, Slate taking out the top floors and Aqua the middle floors before the building collapses and buries all three yōkai.
"This is going poo," Oak observes.
"We have to move this fight out of the city," Slate concludes.
"How?" Aqua asks.
Slate has no answer.
The Shade Mutants leap on top of the ruined buildings, pinning the yōkai further, and emit a roar of victory.
"You haven't won yet!" Blaze yells, starting to glow brightly.
"You're not going to‑" Silver begins.
The collapsed building Blaze and Silver are trapped under detonates, sending debris across the city for a mile in all directions. Silver and the Shade Scorpion are propelled high into the air, landing hard in the middle of the battlefield. But Blaze isn't done yet: she turns on the Shade Succubus, unleashing a torrent of intense flame that drives the beast backwards, screaming in agony.
"BURN!" Blaze cackles as she marches towards the Succubus, maintaining the fiery blast, pushing the beast ever further backwards.
As Blaze roasts the Succubus, Silver shakes off the impact of landing, and digs the other three yōkai free.
"Thanks," Slate smiles as he scrambles free, Aqua and Oak right behind him.
"That hurt icky bad," Oak winces.
"We're being tossed about like ragdolls," Aqua observes. "We need to move this fight out the city so we can unleash our full power."
"Agreed." Silver thinks a moment. "Follow my lead: I have an idea."