Ayame's dark eyes swept the café, and Akira watched her expression shift from professional assessment to barely controlled fury in the space of a heartbeat.
She could see everything: the Shades feeding, the tendrils capturing people, the painting pulsing with demonic energy, and the six faces already trapped in the canvas.
"Holy shit," she breathed. Then louder, her voice cutting through the screams: "EVERYONE OUT! THIS IS A CONTAMINATION EVENT! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"
But everyone was too lost in the thrall or too panicked to process coherent commands. Some tried to run and got tangled in tendrils. Others were too affected by the Shades to move at all.
Ayame didn't wait. She pulled a talisman from her pocket, covered in silver kanji that glowed with holy light, and threw it at the nearest Lust Shade.
