It was strange to feel any relief at all when five monstrous canines were still closing in around them, snarling and biting and aiming to rip them apart, but Ken did. Hawke's jovial confidence made it clear that he wasn't hurt and that he had more than enough strength to continue the fight. "I guess that's why you're the Champion. ね?" he answered, deflecting more incoming attacks with neat turns of his weapon and knocking the beasts back. He understood that the three of them were all fighting as a unit now and that the older man was trusting him to have his back; he wouldn't let that trust be misplaced. The gruesome plan made his jaw clench for a moment, but he nodded and steeled himself as best he could. This would be messy. "はい! Understood."
How he would carry out that objective, though...Ken didn't know. He could keep the attacks from getting through, but remaining on the defensive like this would never give him a chance to deal the fatal blow that Hawke had described. "Koromaru!" the boy called suddenly, "Cerberus!" The dog, circling with one of the canine monstrosities and growling, dove to the side as the monster lunged for him and then let out a sharp howl. The mechanized collar around his neck whirred, blue energy escaping from it in shard-like sparks as the dog summoned his Persona: an immense, three-headed beast that appeared to be a blend of flesh and fur and ornate metal. It roared and struck out at two of the creatures with its bladed paw, not killing them, but slicing one almost entirely in half and knocking the other into a tree with bone-shattering force. It would give them time.
Now faced with only one of the monstrous dogs, Ken was able to knock the creature back, striking it multiple times as he spun the spear and then ducking low to aim a slash up into its throat. It was a clean strike, hard and precise and cutting deep into the thick muscle of its neck, but he lacked the strength to completely sever the head. He yanked his weapon free and dodged to the side as the bleeding beast came after him again.