With six minutes left on her timer, Hisako's foot touched down on tangled roots roiling over the clearing.
In the jungle ring, the grass was sparse but rich in color, a far cry from the golden-jade fields outside. Its meager height offered cover only to the snaking, tricky roots that snagged at Hisako's feet as if they had malicious minds of their own, and they likely did.
"Serizawa-san!" Hisako called out.
Serizawa grunted in acknowledgment, caught in a tug-of-war with Stinger and the woman Trapdoorer. The chain of his weapon was tangled with her rapier in a way that looked intentional, not on his part, but hers.
The hand not holding the rapier was darting about, forming walls of tangled roots to keep the tiger back. The orange beast darted back and forth, only mildly hindered by the walls. They were definitely faster than her, but she was able to juggle her priorities with Serizawa being so tangled up.
Hisako would fix that.
Serizawa yanked uselessly, then was yanked back with far more power. The woman was using her plants as helping hands, leaving Serizawa struggling not to be overwhelmed.
Hisako raised her hand, summoning Toraichi, and threw the blade before charging to Serizawa's side. Toraichi bit through the bases of the vines holding Stinger back, and Hisako helped him yank the weapon before Toraichi returned.
Before they could disarm the woman of the rapier, she flicked her wrist and loosed Stinger. Serizawa staggered as Stinger returned, and he took a moment to catch his breath.
With a swipe of her rapier, the Trapdoorer sent a sharp line of roots at them while Serizawa recovered. Hisako jumped before them both, bearing Toraichi like the world's heaviest riot shield.
The roots smashed her back, slamming her into Serizawa, who struggled to brace them and keep them upright. Wood as strong as stone splintered against the blade before it finally bent and frayed as the attack subsided.
Hisako's shoulder vibrated with pain, and she grit her teeth. Getting hit by one of the roots would probably hurt just as much as the attacks of the godling from Strömberg's door, and she still ached sometimes from that fight.
"Oh man," Serizawa breathed.
He was swinging Stinger carefully, building up momentum and making the air scream as it split.
"She hits like a truck, yeah," Hisako groaned.
"Your shoulder–"
"Yeah." Hisako nodded.
His free hand rose, and a healing bubble formed.
"It happened a few minutes ago, it's fine–"
The healing, gentle warmth flowed, and Hisako felt the wound close and energy pump back through her body.
"I've been training," Serizawa said with a smile. "My new timeframe is almost ten minutes now."
Hisako smiled back at him.
Another attack lashed out–a rippling wave of roots meant to knock them off their feet. Hisako sprang into a handstand atop Toraichi. She pulled Serizawa up to stand on Toraichi's crossguard, taking them both off the ground.
They were left somewhat face-to-face.
Hisako chuckled. "That's so awesome, man. You're already the MVP."
The ground rattled beneath them. Toraichi trembled and threatened to fall over, but Hisako pushed every ounce of her power through, and Toraichi stayed upright as the earth roiled.
The attack didn't stop, though, which was new. Hisako couldn't hold herself up much longer, even fully healed, and they couldn't stay on Toraichi forever.
Serizawa was clearly thinking the same; He threw Stinger at the closest, tallest tree, and coiled the chain around his arm steadily.
"Regroup and attack from new angles?" he suggested.
"Yeah," Hisako breathed.
Serizawa nodded and swung away. Hisako took to the sky, Toraichi swinging into the air and taking it with her. As she did, her eyes searched for Tiger-san–she hadn't seen them in a while.
She detected them quickly, slithering through the coiled piles of root walls and attacks. The Trapdoorerer wasn't yet aware of them.
Hisako threw Toraichi again, struggling to balance her ability between keeping herself off the ground and guiding Toraichi to its target. She didn't really need to hit the woman, but she did need to keep her distracted.
Toraichi flew true enough. Hisako's breath caught.
The woman threw her hands up, summoning a thick trunk to catch the sword, but the momentum brought the blade through the wood with enough energy remaining to catch her in the hip.
The wound wasn't deep, Hisako saw, as the woman fell back, clutching it, but it was large and clearly very painful. The roiling attack below stopped, and Hisako let herself down to concentrate on pulling Toraichi back to her.
Stinger flew out just as Tiger-san did; Hisako found it to be a miracle that they didn't hit each other.
The kunai at the end of the chain knocked the woman's rapier from her hand, and the chain wound around the blade with a flick. A moment later, the rapier flew back toward Hisako as Serizawa pulled Stinger back. Hisako caught the blade alongside Toraichi, a sword in each hand.
Tiger-san dove at the woman as she writhed in the grass. When she saw them, she screamed, and roots began to rise from the ground to protect her, but Tiger-san was faster.
Sharp teeth tore into her outstretched arm. Their powerful jaws snapped and shook, eliciting more wails.
Hisako felt ill as she held the rapier. She remembered what having someone else hold Toraichi felt like, and the woman couldn't really fight back effectively anymore.
Serizawa seemed to be thinking the same; Stinger flew back out, wrapping around the woman as she tried to sit up into a waiting shell of roots. Her arms were bound to her, and the chain just kept going, coiling around her.
As soon as she couldn't even move, Tiger-san backed off, skulking backwards on hunched shoulders before bounding to Hisako's side. Serizawa flinched back as the beast arrived, but relaxed when Hisako's hand went to brush at the blood-wet fur.
"Did you set a timer?" Serizawa asked.
Hisako pulled her phone from her pocket. "Just under three minutes to go."
Serizawa sighed in relief, looking at the twitching cocoon of chains that the woman had become. "Good riddance."
Then he yelped and flinched back again when Tiger-san snarled. Hisako followed their gaze, noticing a blot against the ever-bright sun above.
The hairs on the back of Hisako's neck stood on end as the blot spawned smaller, glinting spots.
Hisako shoved Serizawa back as hard as she could and pulled herself clear with her ability, throwing the rapier as far as she could away from the chained-up woman.
"It's Miu!"
The volley of knives pincushioned the grass they'd been on. Hisako grit her teeth, trying to collect herself.
Tiger-san was charging at another figure breaking into the arena. Noboru.
Miu stumbled onto the ground, unable to stop her dive without both wings, and Hisako ran at her. Toraichi swung out, and Miu's full wing snapped out.
They collided. Toraichi cut through countless feathers, halving the wing horizontally, but was stopped by the line of knives hidden beneath. The other wing–not even a wing anymore, but a fan of blades–snapped out.
Hisako let Toraichi go and grabbed Miu, vaulting off her shoulder to avoid the swing. She twisted and threw Miu down as she landed, but Miu collapsed in a thrashing of wings that forced Hisako to retreat.
Noboru was engaging Tiger-san again. Hisako caught a glimpse of them tangling with each other–Noboru would lash out in wide attacks, and Tiger-san would slip through them. Tiger-san would lunge and bite, but Noboru would bat the attacks away or dodge them. Their progress against each other was measured in small scratches.
Serizawa was on defense, maintaining his hold on the other Trapdoorer, even as roots flexed and plants grew wildly around her. The woman was encased in chains, so it was useless, but the plants were tugging on Stinger in ways that Serizawa couldn't afford if the other Trapdoorers turned their attention to him.
They were going to lose this fight, Hisako realized. It was only a matter of time. Not only that, but they–the Doorkeepers–were stuck. Serizawa couldn't let go of Stinger, or the plant-woman would be freed, and Hisako and Tiger-san weren't making any headway in their fights.
Miu stood herself up and howled. "Kotone! Get up!"
Kotone–the plant lady, for sure. Kotone couldn't, though. She thrashed harder, but couldn't free herself.
Miu dashed for Serizawa.
Hisako's heart lurched–she should've known better and positioned herself between them. Now she was on the back foot, forced to chase. Her hands went out, surging through the air with her powers.
Miu's wings flashed out in another powerful burst, and a hailstorm of knives flew out. Hisako's overclocking brain took each moment in slow-motion.
Serizawa saw the attack. His eyes widened. He pulled on Stinger, using Kotone as an anchor to try to pull himself out of range, but the attack's cone was too wide from so far away.
Hisako's fingers brushed against Miu's hair, just the ends.
The first knife stuck in Serizawa's calf. Then another, then another. Too many. They dotted him, from his ankles to his stomach.
Hisako's grasp closed on Miu's head, and then Hisako's body slammed into her, but she wasn't focused on following through with her tackle anymore.
Serizawa was down, twitching as the poison kept him from shaking in pain. His arms pulled to his chest, and Hisako saw the sparks of him trying to heal himself, but the bubble kept dissipating as he struggled.
Hisako squeezed her eyes shut. A scream was caught in her throat as if she was choking.
She felt the whole world of her door in her mind, and she closed it.
Her door appeared behind her and, like an accordion, she shut the world. Her body screamed as space folded and collapsed before spitting her out.
Like turning a pocket inside-out, everyone was dumped back into the desert. In a burst of momentum and energy, they were scattered like a puff of debris into the dunes.
Hisako was just as surprised as everyone else seemed to be. When she opened her eyes against the harsh rays, she saw them glancing around in shock.
Hajime had landed in the oasis pool, sputtering and splashing toward dry sand where a shady phantom had paused in washing their face.
The Trapdoorers were strewn about on a high dune behind Hisako, having been launched into it at various speeds. Stinger was loose around Kotone, and Miu was helping her free. She seemed spitting mad to be back in the desert, slapping Noboru's back as he reluctantly rooted around for her rapier in the sands while still half-buried himself.
Hisako struggled to find Serizawa, but the patch of crimson sand was hard to miss once she saw it.
He was laid out against an obelisk, still half-curled in on himself, but no longer moving. His back was to her, so she didn't have to see his face. Stinger was nowhere near him after the expulsion from Hisako's door.
"H-Hisako-san!"
Hajime was screaming. Hisako bit her lip as she had to look away from Serizawa.
Hajime was right to scream; a massive hippo had risen from where he was wading through the oasis, and it looked furious to see him. The shadowy gardener had gotten up and was running. As they passed by Hisako toward the ziggurat, they faded away like a ghost.
Hisako had to jump up and run to the shore. The wet sand was slowing Hajime down, but the hippo had no such issue and was almost upon him.
Up close, Hisako realized she had no idea if hippos were actually that big, or if this was some kind of oversized Doorwalker hippo, and honestly, she was too pissed at the whole situation to care.
She pulled Hajime from the water and raised Toraichi at the hippo. The beast had the instinct to back off, thankfully, because Hisako didn't know how thick a hippo's skin was.
Her heart was racing too quickly, and she had to shrug off her jacket because she was getting too hot. Her breath came in pants. She pulled at the first button of her shirt. She was wearing too many layers. She tugged at the turtleneck of her undershirt.
Each breath was a gulp of air that needed to be swallowed and choked down, she–
"Hisako-san?"
Hisako turned, slow as a tank, vision blurry and head light. She felt like she was about to collapse; her legs were going to give up.
The Trapdoorers were ready. They stood, armed and dangerous. Miu's wounds had been wrapped, as had Kotone's hip and tiger bites.
Hisako couldn't clench her fingers around Toraichi's hilt. With each breath, she felt less stable on numb feet.
She tried to summon her door. She could put Hajime there, and maybe he'd survive the day. Tiger-san wouldn't hurt him, she thought. Hoped, maybe.
But she couldn't summon her door. She tried several times as the Trapdoorers seemed to realize she was unable to continue. They smiled wickedly, and she began to shiver.
Finally, a door appeared, but it wasn't hers. Hisako's alarm went off a few heartbeats later, and she was startled enough to jerk the phone free from her pocket and silence it.
The door had appeared before Hajime, who gasped in relief at the sight of his door. His hand went out to open it, but someone beat him to it.
The door swung open, and two people walked out.
"Nanae!" Hisako gasped raggedly.
She felt ready to break into tears at the relief that shot through her body like a cool drink of water.
Nanae and an unfamiliar man had arrived.
He looked a bit like Nanae, and he was tanner than most Japanese people, but had features Hisako couldn't place that he didn't share with Nanae. He wore the uniform without the suit jacket, and his bare forearms were covered in dark, swirling tattoos. Hanging from his belt loops was a necklace-style chain with far too many metal tags–Doorkeepers' dogtags. Some were far more damaged than others, but none were his, Hisako knew.
The man grabbed Hajime by his collar and shoved him through the door with a rough haste.
"Hajime-san!" Hisako cried.
Nanae rolled her eyes at the man but put a calming hand on Hisako's shaking shoulder.
"He'll be fine. Another Doorkeeper is waiting outside to help him." She sighed when the man stepped past them toward the Trapdoorers. "Hisako, meet Enforcement Division's Hachirou Sasaki."
"Sasaki?" Hisako echoed.
The man slammed the door shut, but it didn't fade like Hisako expected it would. She didn't have the energy to think about it.
"Hachi," Nanae replied dryly. "My cousin. The black sheep of the family, really."
"As if," Hachi scoffed. "Where's Kumagai?"
Hisako shrugs. "I-I don't know, but…"
Serizawa is still on the ground. She couldn't say it.
"Whatever. I'll leave the door open for her."
He pointed a finger-gun at the midpoint between them and the Trapdoorers, and a shack-worthy wooden door faded into existence like a shadow and opened with an ominous creak.
"Last one in dies first!" he called cheerily to the Trapdoorers.
The wicked, manic grin on his face told Hisako he wasn't joking, and she was happy he wasn't.
What a thought.