Dust rained from the ceiling. Broken glass crunched beneath Kyle's boots as he and Cassie skidded to a stop in the main corridor. And then came the sound.
Shhht... shhhht... shhhht.
Threads, slicing through the hospital, sharper than razors. They slithered out... embedding into the floor and walls, cutting through tile, wood and metal alike.
Cassie's eyes widened. "It's here."
The demon stepped into view, its frame eerily humanoid. It was the same little-girl but its body was unraveling now... hair spilling into endless strands of thread, eyes too wide. It's grin split from ear to ear.
It tilted its head. "Here you are, Kyle..."
Kyle tightened his grip on his scythe. His throat was drynbut his voice held steady. "You'll regret saying my name."
"Don't taunt it." Cassie hissed, her twin blades sliding free.
The demon laughed... then it's threads lashed. The hospital convulsed. Walls shredded like paper, the ceiling splintered and the floor cracked open in a spiderweb of fractures.
Kyle spun his scythe, the curved blade slicing the threads aside, sparks flying as steel ground against supernatural fiber. He swung in arcs, wide and sweeping, carving out breathing room. Cassie blurred forward, cutting through threads before they could bind Kyle's legs but a strand whipped out, coiling around her arm.
"Cassie!"
She yanked free but the thread cut deep, blood splattering across the wall. Her face twisted in pain but she didn't slow. "I'm fine! Keep moving!"
More threads rained down.
Kyle and Cassie moved like dancers at the edge of death, blades flashing, dodging, parrying and retreating step by step. Every strike of the demon sent another section of Saint Owen crashing to ruin.
Kyle's chest burned. Sweat slicked his grip on the scythe. His arms screamed with every swing. Still, he spun the weapon... carving threads into pieces before they could pierce him but every cut spawned two more.
Cassie staggered as one thread slashed across her side, blood darkening her uniform. She gritted her teeth and kept fighting.
Kyle's heart hammered. He risked a glance at her. "You're hurt..."
"Shut up and focus!" she barked, parrying three threads in a blur.
The demon's grin widened. "Bleed for me!"
Threads erupted from the ceiling, raining down like spears. Kyle spun his scythe in a full-circle defense, sparks bursting as blade met fiber. Still, one slipped through... cutting across his shoulder, biting deep.
"Ah... dammit!"
Blood poured hot down his arm. He clenched his teeth and screamed inwardly:
"You in my head! I need you! Now!"
No answer.
"Please! I can't do this alone! Give me something!"
Silence again... desperation clawed at him, louder than the collapsing hospital.
The demon cackled, threads swarming, forcing them both back against a half-collapsed wall.
Cassie bled from three wounds now, her breath ragged. Kyle's scythe trembled in his grip. The demon's threads coiled back, then launched forward like a tidal wave of razors, blotting out every path of escape.
Kyle tightened his grip.
Then...
SNAP!
Every thread in front of them exploded into fragments, shredded mid-flight as if torn apart by an invisible storm. The shockwave blasted through the hall, knocking dust from the rafters, shattering the remaining windows. The hospital groaned as if it would collapse under the sheer force.
Cassie staggered back, eyes wide. Kyle blinked against the sudden rush of wind.
And then a voice, almost lazy... cut through the chaos:
"You kids got your Captain all worried."
A blur of movement and a figure stood between them and the demon. A tall frame, his coat hung heavy and torn at the edges, ragged from battles that would've killed lesser men. His hair was wild but what froze both Kyle and Cassie was the weapon that had appeared in his hand.
A sword... pure black, glowing faintly with pulsing red strips that ran like veins along its length. It was massive, taller than Kyle, yet the man carried it like it weighed nothing at all.
"Who the hell..." Kyle muttered.
The man raised the blade and rested it across his shoulders. His grin widened. "Name's Rashad... North Division's Vice-Captain."
Cassie's eyes went wide. "Vice-Captain...?"
"Yeah." Rashad replied, tapping the blade with his free hand. "And this here is Wind Breaker."
"More prey wandered in... good. I was getting bored!" The demon screamed, hurling thousands of threads at once, enough to blot the hall.
Rashad blurred, and the giant blade cleaved through the barrage like air, threads bursting into dust.
Kyle's jaw dropped. The speed... he'd barely even seen the swing. The blade had moved like a feather in his grip but the force…
The walls exploded outward. Every thread within reach disintegrated.
Rashad twirled the blade once and grinned. "What's wrong? Threads too thin?"
The demon shrieked louder, lashing out with everything it had but Rashad's blade danced. Wide arcs and lazy cuts... every swing annihilating the attack before it could touch him. It wasn't even a fight... it was bullying.
Kyle and Cassie barely had time to retreat, shielding themselves from the sheer force blowing off every swing.
And then something shifted. The demon stopped pressing forward. Its threads coiled inward, layering and weaving.
Cassie's breath hitched. "It's… defending?"
Kyle stared, wide-eyed. "It was tearing us apart and now..."
"...it's scared." Cassie finished, smirking in pain. "Guess the game's changed."
The demon screeched, its body unraveling into a web of living fiber, wrapping itself in a cocoon of threads.
Rashad tilted his head. "Cute but I'm bored now."
His stance shifted. The air trembled and the pressure in the corridor spiked, making both Cassie Kyle's knees buckle.
Rashad whispered:
"Wind Breaker: Force of Nature."
He swung.
And the blade didn't need to connect. But the sheer force of the swing ripped through the air, condensing into a pressure wave so violent it howled like a hurricane.
The demon had no time to scream. The cocoon ruptured inward, threads snapping like wet sinew before the pressure crushed everything inside. Bones splintered with a sound like breaking glass... it's body collapsed into itself, compressed until flesh and marrow squelched into a single exploding mass.
And the force didn't stop with the body, the hospital buckled as though struck by a colossal fist. Walls cracked and caved, vomiting plaster and brick dust. Windows across the entire block blew outward, the shockwave carrying gore with it... slick streaks splattering the outside glass of houses a street away.
And the blast also threw Kyle and Cassie like ragdolls, slamming them against debris, leaving them coughing and bruised.
When the dust cleared, half the hospital was gone.
Rashad whistled low, lowering the blade. "Oops... I over did it again."
He looked down at the mess, then scratched the back of his head like a guilty child. "Dammit, buddy... you're gonna get me yelled at again. Boss is definitely gonna be pissed."
He sheathed the blade into nothing... it simply vanished and walked away, casual as if he'd just finished a stroll.
Cassie groaned, struggling to her knees. Kyle pushed rubble off his chest, his ribs screaming.
Rashad paused at the exit and looked back once. And then he was gone without a word.
Kyle coughed, blood flecking his lips. He looked at Cassie. "What… the hell… was that?"
Before she could answer, Liam staggered into the ruined corridor. Blood soaking his uniform and one arm hanging limp.
He looked at the carnage and the collapsed building. "Whoa… who… did this?"
Cassie and Kyle exchanged a look.
"Don't ask..." Cassie muttered.
"Yeah..." Kyle added weakly. "Trust us, you don't wanna know."
Together, the three of them limped through the wreckage, bleeding and battered but alive. Behind them, Saint Owen Hospital collapsed in on itself, dust rising like smoke into the night sky.