At the same time Azura ran to set up the anchor points, Azusa took off in the opposite direction of the rift with her shikigami leading the way. She was getting adjusted to the sounds of the night warden's screechings now, though it was still gnawing like the noise of nails tearing across a chalkboard.

As she ran, she witnessed all the stragglers dealing with the night warden's terrible song.

There was a group of four being cornered by a swarm of ten, a pair wrestling with each other, and a single individual chased down by five. She saw how all of them were locked in a tight struggle with those possessed and were being overwhelmed by their sheer numbers and tenacity.

"Forgive me."

Azusa apologized to all of them as she ran past their struggles. She wanted to give them a hand, of course, but she was not capable of doing so. If only Li Hua was with her then something could be done, but alas. Not to mention that, even if they ended up becoming possessed, as long as they lived and were not in any immediate or mortal danger, everything would be okay in the end as long as she and her brother could set up the ritual barrier.

However, what she could not ignore was the sharp and ear ripping crack that was distinct to only one sound she knew.

"Gunshots?"

And from a powerful rifle, no doubt. It was the first she had heard since the initial panic began. Moreover, she could tell it came from very close by. The possessed did not seem to have the mental acuity to use a firearm, so that could mean only one thing.

Hurriedly looking around for the source, Azusa found what she sought. Who it sourced from though, surprised her.

"I swear! Don't step any closer or I'll blow your heads off this time!"

It was Samantha, her fellow Specialist, and she was poised to unload a round at the first person to dare inch closer to her.

"Don't do it, Samantha!"

Shouting loudly, Azusa changed course and practically threw her shikigami to intercept the Felid's line of fire. She acted right in time too. As the first few shikigami erupted into an instantaneous burst of winds that forced both sides to stagger a few steps back, Samantha pulled the trigger. The resulting round fired off into the air and it struck the central barrier at an angle where the arte embedded within it detonated like fireworks, demonstrating with a burning hot shower of white flames.

For a moment, Azusa almost failed to register the fact her friend had actually shot with the intent to kill, but she quickly wiped away the thought as she sent two more pairs of shikigami flying. They enveloped the group of possessed in front of Samantha and entrapped them within a barrier exclusion zone. Then, she cried out loud to stop the girl from firing again.

"Samantha, relax! It's fine!"

"Ah? Oh am I glad to see you, Azusa! Great timing too. I was going around trying to set up the FBDSs before these crazies suddenly turned on me! They're like zombos! I swear, how dare they try to turn me into one of them! I'll show them not to fuck with this Felid! You think I don't have claws? I'm gonna blow their fucking brains to bits! Feed them to my K/D ratio, these fuckers I will."

Samantha walked closer to the exclusion zone. When she came within arm's reach, she raised her rifle again and pointed it at the heads of those stuck within.

"No! Stop, stop! Samantha, why would you even consider killing them? They're from the guild, jeez! Calm down! They're being possessed by the night warden at the rift, meaning they can be helped as long as we can cut off its influence!"

"Tch." Clicking her tongue, Samantha laid down her rifle. "It's a cat eat cat world, Azusa. When shit hits the fan, it's kill or be killed. Everyone for themself, you know? I'll fight for my friends, but I won't fight for some acquaintances."

Hearing this, Azusa showed a face of disapproval. But even still, seeing her friend safe during this crisis made her breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad you're alright. It's a good thing you had your hearing protection on you. I'm sure that it helps somewhat against becoming possessed."

"Well yeah, nobody wants to hear that awful screeching anyways."

"I have to keep moving now. Brother and I are trying to set up a ritual barrier to cover the entire rift. If it works out, we might be able to solve this entire situation. Ah, but before I go, here."

Azusa reached out with a talisman and gently pressed it against Samantha's head. Once that was done, she only had to activate it using a simple key arte.

"This should completely block out the effects of the night warden's song."

"Yeah, I can feel it already. It cleared up my mind right away. Oh, do you need any help?"

"I'll be fine on my own. My role will keep me far away from the rift and any dangers that might be here. My brother might need help though, if you can find him."

"Gotcha."

"And one last thing, please don't shoot at anyone again. They have friends and family too."

"No promises. Ah! Wait, catch!"

Samantha called out just as Azusa turned to leave, then she tossed what looked to be a key fob towards her friend's arms.

"This is…?"

"There's a scooter around the corner, use it. I was going around the camp with it before, but it looks like you'll need it more than I do now."

"Thanks!"

…

As Azusa took off, Samantha was left alone with the possessed field operators caught within the talisman barrier. Notably enough, they were quite subdued now and only lingered around standing still. Even their gazes were downcasted and blank, which was a stark contrast from their earlier nature.

"I wonder… if it really is just one more layer to block out the screeching, then maybe…"

As she recalled what Azusa had said before, her eyes laid upon a barrier stick scattered on the ground from the previous scuffle. The beginnings of a brilliant idea was surfacing to her. At the same time however, a terrifyingly powerful arte broke free and shook the entire central barrier. Being so close to it, she felt everything in her surroundings rattle in the aftermath.

The screeching had stopped with it as well. It was very well timed to give Azusa some breathing space to get far away from the camp.

"Oh… Oh my…"

When she looked, she witnessed a scene straight out of a mixed horror action film. The head of Scouts was contending with the night warden and its unfathomable spider-like arms protruding like snakes from its back. But though the arms were long, fast, and nimble as if each had a mind of its own, they failed to grasp a hair on the untouchable head of Scouts who was even faster and more nimble.

They fought. Each time one of the night warden's many arms got cut off by the head of Scouts, another one immediately sprouted to take its place. The monster was unrelenting, and there was no end to its assault. Even as the head of Scouts bifurcated the top half of its body– splitting it down the middle like bamboo– and taking off its parted head with an arte, the thing simply made a new one with the countless white walkers and fought on as if it had not even noticed the damage.

"Oh man… this is insane…"

Being in awe, Samantha was unsure of who the real monster was at this point, the night warden who shrugged off biological limitations as though they were merely a suggestion, or the head of Scouts who could fight alone against such a creature while being in the contaminating fog of the White Night.

"It looks like the head of Scouts isn't slacking either. Yikes, did she just look me in the eye? I better start looking busy or I might get yelled at later."

…

…

"Aiyah, why are there so many of them? Just what did you do to offend so many people?" Y'ihex cried out loud.

"Shut it!" Azura screamed in response.

"They're grabbing my face! Hey, take your fingers out of my nose! Ow, my eyes! Stop pulling on my ears!"

"Just keep pushing!"

Together, the both of them made an attempt to break through the barricade of possessed field operators. It was the group awaiting them right outside the first anchor point to the ritual barrier and nothing could be more suffocating. With what little opportunity he had, Azura managed to set up the first of eight, but now there was a need to finish the remaining seven.

Yet, the situation was precarious and he would need to make it out alive to continue.

"Uh-oh, trouble! I see an arte incoming!"

"It's fine, just keep pushing with the barrier shield."

"Hot! Hot! Hot? Hey, I'm alright!"

Y'ihex yelped out in a panic as one of the possessed prepared an arte their way. He saw their hands shimmering orange as aether gathered around them and intensified in color. But with nothing else either of the two could do, Azura told the Scout to rely on his shield, which turned out to be the right decision as the stream of liquid fire cast towards them simply clashed and bounced harmlessly against the face of the barrier.

"What did I say?" Azura asked as a matter of factly.

As an individual piece of equipment, the barrier sticks were unequivocally reliable. That was why even their Vanguards relied on it proudly. Against artes of this level, the barrier shield generated might as well be unbreakable.

"Another one incoming! I got this!"

"Wait, no, you dumbass. Look around you!"

After blocking the previous arte, Y'ihex was especially keen on blocking more. Yet in his eagerness, he failed to notice his surroundings, where there were even more artes prepared to fire towards him. Luckily for him, Azura did, and the Kitsune pulled him down by the back of his collar. Above, the collaboration of elemental artes slammed violently against each other right where their heads were just prior, before then fizzling out into nothing more than dust and hot air.

"Yikes! Why are they being so aggressive all of a sudden? Do they not care about friendly fire?"

"I don't know, but it seems like it."

Azura frowned. Glancing up, a few of the possessed were caught in the crossfire and they received quite serious looking injuries. One had their entire head of hair lit aflame, while another ended up with a gash torn across their cheeks to reveal the bare bone and teeth underneath, and he was pretty sure that someone had their entire ear taken off.

"Uh oh, they're not slowing down even after getting hit!"

"Just keep pushing and we'll be fine!"

They had no time to dwell on others though. By pushing with all their might, they were eventually able to make it free of the mob by just a hair. But there would be no simple reprise for them just yet, as what awaited them out in the open were even more of the possessed honing in towards them.

"Boss? Now would be a good time to do something!"

Even without Y'ihex's urgings, Azura had been prepared to act. He gathered the shikigami around him and sent them towards the oncoming crowd. This time, when they detonated, it was into a blast of strong winds that staggered and even knocked over the wave of runners. With this, they were given just enough of an opening to dash straight past them before they had an opportunity to stand back up.

Still, it was only creating space to delay the inevitable. With the second anchor point being so close to the first, they would be overrun the moment they stopped to set it up. Or rather, it did not matter how far they ran, because the possessed would be able to catch up to them before he would be able to finish setting up a single anchor point.

And so, Azura was left with little option but to hope and try anyway.

He got to work.

"Can't you freeze them to the ground like before?"

"What will that do? They can still cast their artes from a distance."

"What if you keep knocking them down with those paper things of yours?"

"Listen, you! I only have so many shikigami to spare! You think I can just keep pulling them out of my ass? You're an Arcanian too, aren't you? Cast an arte! Do something! Are those ears and tail of yours just cosplay?"

"Sorry! Felids aren't good at artes!" Y'ihex apologized. "Not to mention I'm just a normal Scout! I can't fight!"

Before Azura knew it, he felt his palm sliding against his own face. It was an action of pure unabated anguish. He swore under his breath.

"This useless Felid! Ah… seriously! There's too many of them! I'll take anyone's help at this point."

Despite having made it to the second anchor point, Azura had little optimism things would work out in his favor again, not when all he had to back him up was this Scout tow along.

…

"Yo, delivery! I've got one order of help for Azura!"

However, showing up out of nowhere, a familiar face called out to him.

"Samantha? What are you doing here?"

It was his fellow Specialist, and she came with reinforcements.

"Your precious little sister sent me this way, so you better be grateful! Alright people, things have gone to hell and this man is going to be the one thing who can put an end to this shitshow! So protect him like your life depends on it!"

With her appearance, Samantha brought along at least fifteen people and one of which was a Medic that stood closely by her side. These were the stragglers who she found to have escaped the night warden's influence and they were all SGs who had the experience to do exactly what she called them out for. They immediately stood into formation and raised a wall of barrier shields to protect Azura and the anchor point he was working on.

"Get ready…! Do it now!"

On her mark, the SGs all grabbed barrier sticks from their belts and threw them at the oncoming mob. They activated the moment they struck a target and generated a barrier dome just large enough to encapsulate four or five people each. Just like that, the tide of chaos changed to their favor in an instant. Over half of the possessed were caught and the remaining half were hampered by the irregular spread of barriers that boxed them in.

"Wow… I'm impressed."

Azura had to admit, he was amazed by what he saw, especially by the amount of organization she managed to scrounge up during such a time of unrest.

"They stop moving if you put a barrier over them, did you know that?" Samantha pointed out.

"But how did you know?"

"You can thank your sister for that one."

"Ayo, that was awesome! Can I throw one too?" Y'ihex asked.

"Sure. Just don't miss."

Samantha hummed a tune as she fiddled with the settings before passing over a barrier stick to Y'ihex's hands. As the remaining possessed got captured, she explained to Azura her line of thought.

"If you don't want to hear someone talk, you either shut their mouth or cover your ears, yeah? Well, if it's really just one more layer of barrier to block out the screeching, then what does it matter if it's over the central barrier or the individual?"

"Huh." Azura touched his chin in sheer realization. "I mean, I knew that already, but I don't know why I didn't think of putting barriers over the possessed until now."

"Chalk it up to pressure or something." She shrugged.

"But where the hell did you get so many barrier sticks? They might be cheaper than the FBDSs, but it's not like they pass it out like candy."

"Ehe."

"Don't tell me you—"

"Relax, I just found a box full of them. Picked it clean, that's all. Still, we don't actually have that many though. Aside from the ones being used as a shield, I'm guessing there's just about a dozen or so more remaining. So with that said, hurry it up. You know they don't last forever. I'm guessing we've got about 20 minutes left on the batteries tops before they start swarming us again."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it."

Azura understood that this was a golden opportunity that Samantha had brought him and it might even be the last one that he would get. So knowing that, he really had to push himself to hurry it up.

"Alright, finished! Let's hurry to the next point!"

"Come on guys, you heard him!"

…

…