Beyond the broken gate, the mist parts in slow folds. A narrow guard path emerges, slick with blackened rainwater and rotting leaves. Somewhere ahead, a bell answers once, thin and uneasy.

Two Nomaru gate guards step out of the haze, spears lowered but not yet hostile. Their eyes fix first on the ruined Hachiman Gate behind Arimari, then on the sealed scroll at his side.

A deeper pulse runs through the mist. For an instant, a dark seam seems to crawl along the road ahead, then vanish under mud and reeds. Reina shifts closer to Arimari, watching the guards for their reaction.

The nearer guard swallows, glancing toward the inner path, where faint torchlight flickers through the fog. His spear wavers. To secure Nomaru, Arimari must make the threat plain before the oni's stain spreads farther inland.

Arimari lifts the scroll into the dim light, its seal catching the guards’ attention. With his free hand, he traces the dark seam in the mud, where the road seems to drink the rain.

The nearest guard lowers his spear a fraction and leans in. The black line is not mud alone, it runs straight from the broken gate toward the inner path, as if something once pressed through here.

Reina steps beside Arimari and points with a sharp nod toward the same trail. Her fur is bristling, but her voice stays level. The shape of fear is easier to read than denial.

Arimari keeps the scroll raised while the guard stares from the mark to the seal. The second guard shifts back toward the inner torchlight, suddenly less certain of his own footing.

The wary man swallows and turns partway toward the checkpoint interior, as if weighing a name he does not want to speak. His spear dips, and the passage ahead opens by a handspan.