Despair in the Silver Prison and the Liaison Officer's Breakdown

Deathly silence.

An absolute silence so profound that it made even their eardrums ache.

The night breeze, the chirping of insects, and even the sound of her own heartbeat that had existed a second ago were all completely erased the moment the Barrier took shape. Tayuya's pupils expanded from pinpricks of shock to their utmost limit in an instant, filled with terror.

The world around her had changed.

The ruined shrine, the cold moonlight, the panicked liaison officer... Everything was still there, yet everything seemed separated by a layer. A transparent barrier woven from countless fine silver threads, radiating a cold glow. The Waning Moon Runes slowly turning at the nodes of those silver threads resembled countless opened eyes devoid of emotion, indifferently watching her from inside the cage.

"W-what... What kind of joke is this?!"

After a brief moment of daze, overwhelming fury and humiliation shattered her reason. Tayuya's usually disdainful pretty face was now twisted with savagery.

"Who is it?! Get your ass out here!"

She roared, but her voice seemed to be sucked away by a massive sponge, leaving not even the slightest echo. The Chakra in her body felt as though it had sunk into a viscous swamp, moving with an unprecedented sluggishness.

The sensation filled her instinctively with fear.

But the pride of the Sound Four kept her from ever admitting to that fear.

"It's only a Barrier! Watch me smash it to pieces!"

Tayuya abruptly retreated a step, her hands flashing through seals as she took a deep breath and puffed out her chest.

"Sound Release: Disorderly Sound Waves!"

Bzzzz—!

The invisible sound waves centered on her transformed into visible rings of impact and violently slammed into the Barrier's inner wall! It was a technique powerful enough to shatter stone. Even an ordinary defensive