By the time the top of Tenshu-kaku was split open by the giant, Kiana and the others had already reached Tenshu-kaku's entrance.
They saw the enormous blade cleave apart the top of Tenshu-kaku, and they saw the giant that had grown from its summit.
And now, Yae Village... no longer had its former peaceful atmosphere.
The current Yae Village was filled with screaming ghosts, all crowding and surging toward Kiana and the others.
What had seemed like a prosperous village moments ago had now completely become a ghost village.
Most of the ghosts seemed to have lost their minds, attacking anything that could move.
The moment they emerged from Tenshu-kaku, Kiana and the others were assaulted by a tide of ghosts.
What troubled them most was that the overwhelming ghosts of Yae Village could barely be harmed with fists and kicks alone.
They were like real ghosts. Even when attacks struck them, it felt light and insubstantial, as though nothing had truly been hit.
Yet the ghosts' claws could leave wounds on them.
If the Soul Steel weapons they had obtained from Xu Yanwu had not been able to harm these ghosts, Kiana and the others, having forced their way out of Tenshu-kaku, truly would not have known what to do.
But the ghosts dispersed by the Soul Steel weapons turned into clumps of energy that were absorbed by Tenshu-kaku.
And Tenshu-kaku had begun to shake—or rather, to self-destruct.
Countless twisted, vein-like things had appeared across Tenshu-kaku's structure, supporting it and keeping it from collapsing.
Those veins continually writhed, absorbing the dispersed ghosts and sending them upward.
Even after leaving the vicinity of Tenshu-kaku, Kiana and the others could still clearly hear the sounds coming from it.
"WE ARE ABNORMALS!!!!!"
At the top of Tenshu-kaku, the giant fought the