The scent of blood is thick and horrible; Hijikata hardly notices it in the moment. He lets the airflow return when the U-man loses consciousness -- hopefully he'll wake up again, but there's no real guarantee of it.

They have healers here, anyway. If they cling to life long enough for this to be dealt with, perhaps they'll live to regret it, but there's nothing to be gained by worrying about it now. The absence of Xavier's voice is still a worrisome hollow in his mind.

"Keep moving," he says, voice sharp and cold as steel, though he doubts they really need the order. They need to keep their focus, need to get to the source of this...