As he dashed through the woods with great speed, Shiki merely looked forward as he followed the talisman. Far behind him, Rika was seen panting as she struggled to follow the boy as he was heading to where Ruri was.

"She really followed me for this long just to see Ruri again? I don't know whether to call that loyalty or just plain obsession."

As Shiki said this, he noticed something in the distance. The talisman stopped itself as landed in front of a cave. Seeing this, Shiki began to put his right hand on Asuramaru's hilt. Soon the boy turned around as he looked at Rika with a serious expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Mr.Shiki?"

"Rika, I want you to hide up one of these trees. It looks like i'll be doing my job sooner than expected. Make sure you don't move from that spot unless absolutely necessary. Can you promise me that?"

Hearing this, Rika merely nods her head as she heard the serious tone in Shiki's voice. As the girl turned around and ran towards the nearest tree, Shiki suddenly turned around as he drew Asuramaru out of its sheath as he performed a horizontal slash.

The moment he did this, he noticed the head of a small wolf rolling onto the ground. The blood of the animal began to stain the ground as Shiki flicks off any remaining blood off of Asuramaru. Before he knew it, Shiki saw a pack of wolves. The most noticable feature he could see on them were how all of them had three pairs of eyes.

"Asura-Kannon."

As Shiki charged forward, he materializes dozens of floating swords roughly in the shape of a fan above him as he launched all of them towards the pack of wolves. The beasts scattered in several directions in order to avoid the blades. Soon one of the wolves dashed around Shiki and lunged towards the boy with its claws ready to sink into the boy's flesh.

"Got you, dumbass."

Before the wolf could manage to tear into his flesh, the swords that were previously launched suddenly shot themselves towards the wolf as they pierced its flesh in multiple directions. Soon Shiki snapped his fingers as all the swords were suddenly homing in on the rest of the pack while the boy ran forward.

"Being able to summon these bastards from the shadows and outnumbering your prey. You're smart for a mere "beast", but that trick won't work on me."

As Shiki was heading to where he believed the beast was located, Rika was watching everything that transpired from a tree branch. Various swords were impaling the wolf pack at an alarmingly fast rate. However, when she looked at the wolves, a look of horror began to form on her face.

It looked as if the claws of the wolves were slowly turning into hands. Their fur-like shadow falling off of their bodies as underneath was human skin. Soon Rika fought the urge to vomit as she witnessed what was happening.

"These wolves.......they were human? So when the Beast devours someone.....do they become part of its pack? Wait, then that means-"

"Ri.........Ri.......ka......"

A weak voice managed to reach Rika's ears. Her gaze slowly fell upon one wolf that was impaled through the gut and pinned to a tree. As the wolf was slowly starting to revert to its original state, Rika couldn't help but feel a sense of dread washing over her when she saw the true face of the dying wolf. With sorrow and utter despair, Rika could only say one word to the victim she saw.

"M......mommy?"

~With Shiki~
As the boy was dashing through the woods, he could feel it. His grip on Asuramaru's hilt tightening, the way his heart was beating at an alarming rate, and the smile forcing itself upon his face. He could tell that he was getting close to his target.

"Now then, it's time for me to do my job, Monster."

As Shiki said this, the sound of rushing footsteps as the ground began to shake. Shiki's grip on Asuramaru grew tighter as he felt like he was seeing red. The closer his target got, the more Shiki felt himself getting consumed by his own bloodlust.

Suddenly Asuramaru was clashing against the giant claws of the Beast of Jinoshima. The beast jumped back as it let out a mighty howl. The moment it did, several wolves emerged from its shadow. Soon the large pack of wolves all lunged at Shiki at once.

As Shiki held onto the hilt of Asuramaru, he swiftly lunged forward while having the swords that were above him fire themselves at the wolves while he did so. One after another, the wolves fell to the ground as they all had swords impale them through their skulls as Shiki swing Asuramaru at the beast. However, Shiki's eyes widen in shock when the Beast was suddenly out of his line of sight. Just as the boy turned around, it was too late.

The beast swung its claw at Shiki's back as the boy was sent flying through a tree. As Shiki was trying to get up, he felt blood escaping from the top of his head as it was spilling on the ground. However, he didn't look to be in pain. If one were to look closer, they would see a smile slowly forming on his face. Seeing this, Asuramaru merely thought to itself.

"With that brat out of the way, Shiki can focus on offense. Not to mention, without that half-breed executioner around, his focus will solely be on the beast. The perfect position for Shiki to let his instincts run wild and for him to fight his hardest. Well then, I won't take this from you. Dance to your heart's content, egoist."

~Meanwhile~
"The Holy Church, as well as the Demon Hunter Organization, follow these two rules. No outsiders should be aware of the supernatural. If an outsider is drawn into this matter, they either work for them or get put down like a dog."

Mahito was smiling to himself as he saw Mirei standing before him. In order to get her to listen to him, he simply told her about how the church operates and how Shiki is affiliated with them. Upon hearing this, Mirei could only clenched her hands into fists.

"This isn't fair........if what you said is true then, aren't they just keeping Shiki hostage?! This isn't fair, it's not like he wanted to be apart of whatever is going!"

"I know, right! But there might be one way for you to save your precious Shiki."

As Mahito said this, he placed his right hand upon Mirei's head. While Mirei was just confused by this action and can only see Mahito, she couldn't sense what was happening. She couldn't sense the cursed energy that the cursed spirit had.

And she couldn't sense the cursed technique being used on her.