Aotori went to rescue Kanata who was held on a metal pole tens of meters above the ground. When they arrived, they were confronted by Karito and Ishimaru. Ishimaru then turned out to be Anrui all along, and he finally realized that his patience was getting thinner. Anrui aimed to execute his plan with brute force, of which Kyuuto and others have not known yet.

"I... was waiting for so long... even longer than any of you have lived... for this moment. The Ookami were too obedient with their silly 'Curse of Yamisuke', and I do admit that Volkus' requirements are too specific for its own good," Anrui grinned and chuckled in-between his speech, "but at last, this long wait will be over soon... and I will be able to fix everything by bringing back the past..." Anrui then gripped his poison sword tighter.

Aotori were surprised by Anrui's true intention even though he left it ambiguous, just how much power does Volkus actually have to enable Anrui to commit his plans. What is he, actually?

Kyuuto was pondering what Anrui meant by bringing back the past, but then he kept on going explaining everything, "Volkus... needs you. He needed a vessel that is not weak enough that they just die before doing anything useful--- and not strong enough that they could commit suicide and prevent him to even be summoned... but he's different from any other summoning, he needs the vessel to be mature enough to burst out,"

"Summoning--- what are you talking about?" Rin asked him, followed by moments of silence.

Anrui then chuckled...

Then he laughed...

Maniacally...

"It seems like I talked too much already. Well, it's about time---" he then glanced at Kanata who was slowly opening her eyes and looking around. She was weak and confused, but found hope when she saw her teammates.

"Kyuuto... everyone... you're all here...! I-Ishimaru is actually---" Kanata tried to warn them, but got cut by Karito which was surprising for Kanata because she had not seen him since she got kidnapped.

"Yeah, they already know..." he then looked at Aotori below while slowly standing up, "now, because you're already awake," he then controlled the metals around him just like before, and constructed his spider legs once again, "this is the highlight..."

----

Karito then jumped from where he was standing directly towards Kyuuto with his sword. Fortunately Kyuuto was able to block with his sword that was drawn within milliseconds of Karito's leap.

Karito pressed on, he then triggered a chainsaw that was attached to one of his extra appendages, "You are the perfect vessel for Volkus, and now, your time is done!! We don't need you anymore, and finally we can bring a better world than this!!"

Seeing the power tool buzzing towards him, Kyuuto focused his power on his arms and pushed Karito significantly back, he then turned around while summoning an ice spike from the ground with a blunt end to further push Karito behind. After that, Kyuuto jumped back towards his allies and Hikiri jumped forward. Doing a switcheroo.

Hikiri with his wind element and incredible speed tried to hack Karito from multiple directions, most of his attacks were avoided and blocked by Karitos' numerous arms. Then once, Karito attacked with one of his arms that became a huge metal pole swung from the side and right to Hikiri's chest. Pushing him behind with a powerful force.

But then from behind him, came Ishigaki with his already flaming aurics. He tried to jab Karito with his right hand, in which he managed to dodge fairly easily, then followed up with an uppercut with the left, that was so fast that Karito did not have the time to properly process the punch, he then got hit on the chin, and blasted upwards. Rin then followed up from behind Ishigaki also with her pure light element aurics, "This is for the betrayal!!" she punched Karito diagonally downwards until he crashed into the ground, making an impact crater once again.

Lying down and looking upwards, Karito thought Aotori's attack was over, but then Aosuke leapt to directly on top of him, and started to spin his zodiac sword, bursting a strong gust of fire from it, burning Karito alive inside that crater. He then landed near the others. Holding their breath, preparing for something to happen, or Karito finally getting defeated. But with Anrui smiling menacingly still in his original spot, making Aotori nervous of what is to come next.

They then heard the creaking metals from Karito, who slowly rose from his crater with half of his body burnt but still pretty much intact. Part of his face melted and revealed his left cheekbone which was made out of metal. "Interesting, it seems like you guys' synergies have gotten better over time... but in the end, we're the ones that will win!!" Karito then launched one of his metal arms with a mechanical claw directly towards Kyuuto, choked his neck, and brought him closer to him.

"You've been played--- by Anrui--- it's--- all his plan---" Kyuuto tried to console him as well as escape from his grasp, but failed miserably as he slowly lost consciousness. Not listening to Kyuuto, Karito choked him even tighter, but still remembering that he should not kill him just yet, as Volkus needs a live vessel to break out properly.