08 / 07 / 2018, ??:?? - Tuesday, ????????????.
Whether eyes hid behind the visor or it perceived the world in some other way, no one could tell. It drew a rattling breath, as though recalling what it meant to live… or mocking the idea of life itself. Silence followed. Then the figure tilted its head skyward, sensing something far beyond the nebula-covered skies.
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At the same moment, in the eternal night of the endless forest, it also stirred. Magenta eyes slowly shifted, piercing the shadowed realm. Calm, collected, it perceived the will across the Boundary of the Universe. A presence it had long awaited, a subtle smile curved on its lips.
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"Your Thorns will bring the 'Destined Serpent,' oh, mayflower." The voice rang deep, flat, resonant.
A lance of green light tore across the void, striking the knight, mending its shattered shell. The armor shuddered as cracks and gashes knitted themselves anew, unnatural vigor coursing through its form.
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"Rest assunder, oh inflorescence… Your Thorns will surely bring it back to you." The words fell softly, yet carried weight.
Around it, creatures stirred from the shadows, tumbling into motion. Eternal night momentarily swallowed the scene, then light returned, a subtle herald of preparation.
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For a brief moment, the city itself seemed to warp and stretch. A jagged rift tore open the heavens like a shredded paper. Against it, a scene loomed, a horizon of meaningless light.
The figure steadied itself, ignoring the world around it. Everything was useless, and so was it. And yet, it stepped forward into the rift, to find meaning, or to erase it.
Then it was gone. The city fell silent once more, as if nothing had stirred at all.
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The creatures it had awakened became its silent puppets, gathering around in eerie obedience. The sky of the realm cracked open, revealing a distant shadow of paradise. Eternal night, like a veil of shards, gave way to this sky, exuding pleasure, passion, torment, and serenity all at once.
One by one, the creatures vanished, and finally, it glanced in a single direction, smiling faintly, before disappearing with the last of them.
Life no longer lingered here; eternal night reclaimed the sky, restoring it to its previous, unbroken silence.
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08 / 07 / 2018, 15:30 - Tuesday, Nakagawa First Elementary School.
The bells rang, marking the end of the period. Afternoon sunlight spilled through the window, slanting across his desk. Some classmates still chattered, tidying their desks and stuffing books into their backpacks; others lay lazily, stretching or slumping in exhaustion. One by one, students hurried out.
"Farewell, Akane! See you tomorrow!" Asakura called, leaving last after some bickering.
Akane didn't move. He sat, eyes on the window, immersing himself in the calm, the quiet of the classroom, the sunlight sliding along the floor. Slowly, he shook off his weariness and prepared to join the others at the gate.
Then the sky darkened. The familiar sunset vanished, replaced by a deep, starry sky. Grey light surged from the horizon until it swallowed the entire sky. Everything happened in seconds. Confusion slammed into him; his heart shuddered.
A faint sense of crisis prickled at the edge of his mind. He bolted toward the door, instincts screaming to reunite with his siblings.
Through the windows, he saw it: the sky cracking open like shattered glass. But there was no time to marvel; the creatures poured down, cascading like a monstrous waterfall. And this was only the beginning. Farther away, more cracks appeared simultaneously, and from each emerged a flood of horrors, heading straight for the school.
Screams erupted, panicked, unthinking, desperate. Bodies were thrown aside. Blood and debris littered the hallways. Akane's head throbbed, a dull ache crawling across his temples. What… what is happening? This can't be real…
He clenched his fists, forcing his thoughts to align. Focus. Think. Move. Find them.
"I need to find Irina… Ayato should be thinking the same thing." He pushed past instinct, converting fear into cold, precise action.
He bolted into the first-floor hallway. Screams intensified around him. Teachers tried to direct the students, herding them into groups, shouting calm words that meant nothing in this chaos. Akane pressed himself against the wall, eyes scanning. This crowd… is useless. Crowding only slows you down.
The hallway was the fastest route to the garden between buildings, the shortest path to Irina's class. Missing it would cost precious time.
But then, as if answering his rising frustration, a monster broke through from the garden outside.
It was a hunched, gorilla-like creature. Eyeless, its head opened like a flower petal, its mouth lined with jagged, grinder-like teeth capable of tearing flesh with terrifying ease. Its thick, gray skin was tough and armored. Habitually analyzing it, Akane dubbed it Stalker, muttering the name under his breath to calm himself.
The creature roared, and chaos erupted. Screams ripped through the hallway as it pounced on random students, tearing bodies apart with horrifying efficiency. The survivors scattered instinctively, fleeing in every direction.
Akane forced himself to remain calm, pressing close to the wall at the end of the corridor, closing his eyes for a moment of mental readiness. Calm down, Akane! You cannot move forward like this. Think. Concentrate. Analyze what you missed. Never stop thinking…
He opened his eyes and peeked around the wall, focusing all his senses. Though at a distance, he observed the Stalker, mentally cataloguing every movement, every twitch of muscle, every shift of weight.
Unnoticed even by himself, he began to adapt. Rationality slowly overrode panic; empathy, though still present, was suppressed as he analyzed with precision. His gaze sharpened, his mind mapping patterns.
This creature has no sight, so how does it perceive and hunt these students? Logically, we gain information by sight, right… No, no, I forgot something, yes, hearing, sounds, we can also expand to other possibilities, such as vibration...
The first hypothesis is that it will hunt others as long as they make sounds. If we take the hypothesis into account and with the actual environment right now, it is expected that a panicking scream will trigger this...
Just then, the Stalker's head snapped upward. Akane froze, holding his breath, eyes wide. Then it turned, sprinting toward the garden and vanished from sight.
Relief washed over him, fleeting, replaced immediately by tension. He stared at the pile of bodies in the hallway. Nausea threatened to overwhelm him, but he forced it down, imprinting the carnage into memory.
Now, minimize noise. Socks. Balance your feet… yes. Steeling himself once more, he crept toward a fallen student, ignoring the blood and gore, focusing only on survival. He peeled a sock from the corpse and slipped it on, adjusting carefully.
Tiptoeing along the wall, Akane scanned the garden outside. He was at the front of Building 1; to the right lay Building 2. The front gate was visible. Screams echoed, punctuated by the occasional gunshot as the police engaged whatever chaos had erupted.
The sky above had shifted completely, a curtain of grey light, unnatural and oppressive. The more he stared, the more it gnawed at his sense of self.
A tap on his shoulder made him snap his head to the side, instinctively taking a defensive stance. Relief came quickly when he saw Ayato, his older brother, gasping as he ran toward him. Apparently, they had the same idea. Fear lingered in Ayato's eyes, but his priority was clear: get their siblings to safety.
As Ayato caught his breath and tried to speak, Akane quickly covered his mouth, whispering into his ear.
"Careful. There's a monster outside with super hearing. Mind yourself."
Ayato blinked in understanding, then withdrew his hand. Akane's gaze returned to the garden, scanning for threats.
"I'm glad you're okay," Ayato whispered, his eyes still moving over the garden.
"Glad you're alright too. This whole situation is a mess," Akane replied, his voice quiet, tired, and slightly annoyed.
"I hope Irina is still in the classroom… she should know we'll find her, right?" Ayato said, a hint of worry in his tone.
"It's not 'hope,' it's a must. We'll search the entire school. She won't go anywhere without us," Akane said firmly.
"Of course. Then let's move, second stairs of Building 2," Ayato reminded, keeping his voice low as they readied themselves to continue.As they go outside, they now notice the spot that they overlooked, behind the bush on the outermost side of the tree at Building 2, where the Stalker is still munching his prey.
They both tensed up, both looked at each other and gestured silently, Akane also points at the rock, gesturing to take and collect them, to be thrown as sound cues.
Nodding as Ayato understood, he carefully gathered the rock while Akane was on watch to observe the Stalker's movement. After Ayato was done with them, each holding one rock in their hand.
They slowly move, avoiding the Stalker as an axis of their movement, slowly but surely. But, suddenly, the creature stops to listen, and he moves.
Both stop their step as Stalker is near the entrance of Building 2. Despairing, Ayato wants to find another way, but Akane whispers to him to go first, while Akane creates sound cues to distract.
Ayato wants to refuse, but Akane flashes his sharp gaze and tells him, There is no time. If we don't hurry up, Irina will be in greater danger.
Ayato nods in acceptance. Akane then throws the stone toward the far side of the yard.
Clack!
The sound bounces sharply against the concrete wall. The Stalker instantly dashed, its grotesque head snapping toward the echo, body twitching with unnatural precision. It prowls, claws scraping the floor, and slithers in the direction of the noise.
"Go," Akane whispers, his voice barely audible.
Ayato clenches his jaw, then slips past the entrance of Building 2, keeping his steps light as a feather. Akane waits until his brother disappears inside, then grips the last stone tightly. The Stalker pauses, sniffs the air, and tilts its head back, its empty sockets facing the corridor. It begins creeping back toward the entrance.
With calculated calmness, Akane threw the second rock across the bushes. The pebble strikes against broken glass, ringing louder than he expected. The Stalker jolts and darts toward the new sound.
Akane doesn't wait. He crouches low and bolts for the door, every step cushioned on the balls of his feet, double socks muffling his movement. He slips into Building 2 just as the Stalker crashes into the bushes outside, repeatedly tearing apart leaves and soil in confusion.
Inside, Ayato is waiting, eyes wide with worry. Akane presses a finger to his lips, his grey pupils gleaming faintly red under the dim light.
"Stay sharp. It won't be fooled twice," he murmurs.
Together, they press deeper into the building's darkened corridor, where the air grows heavier, and another presence seems to lurk ahead.
As they push deeper into the dim corridor, muffled screams echo from a side classroom. A group of students stumble out, eyes wide, blood spattering their uniforms. They see Akane and Ayato, and desperation overrides their reason.
"Help! No, don't leave us!" they cry, their voices piercing through the hallway.
Akane's breath hitched. Too late.
The Stalker, still prowling outside, snaps its head toward the noise. The beast slams against the broken window, its claws hooking the frame as it forces its way in.
Ayato instinctively moves to help the students, but Akane's hand clamps on his arm like iron. His eyes were flashing red. Without hesitation, he seizes one of the panicking boys by the collar, yanks him forward, and shoves him toward the corridor they came from.
The boy's scream echoes as the Stalker crashes down on him, shredding flesh and bone in a frenzy. The other students scatter in terror.
Ayato stares, frozen.
"You—"
"No time," Akane cuts him off, voice sharp. His hand tightens on Ayato's wrist, dragging him toward the stairs. "Irina's waiting. Run."
For a brief second, Ayato glimpses the red tinge in his brother's pupils deepen, a chilling clarity in those grey eyes.
They moved as quickly as they could, letting the distant screams cover the sound of their footsteps.
Finally, after what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, they reached the classroom. The tension in those moments stretched time; each of their heartbeat magnified.
Ayato said nothing of what had just passed; his focus was entirely on Irina. Akane still gestured for silence as the screams gradually faded.
Opening the classroom door cautiously, they immediately spotted her under the teacher's desk. Her small frame was curled up, trembling, tears streaming down her face.
"Irina!" Akane and Ayato called out, but quickly pressed their hands to their mouths to keep their voices low.
Irina lifted her head, hugging her knees tighter, then leapt forward as soon as she recognized them, embracing both brothers.
"Sob… Aka-nii! Aya-nii! I thought I'd never see you again! And then the monsters… and the sky…"
Akane and Ayato gently massaged her back, coaxing her to calm down.
"It's alright. I'm still alive and kicking, aren't I? Not that easy to take me down!" Ayato said, flashing a deliberate, reassuring grin.
"Well, let's see if you can make it back in one piece after being thrown into the streets," Akane teased, a faint tinge of red in his grey eyes adding a subtly unsettling edge.
"Now, we need to get back home, and we can only do it together," Akane said firmly, regaining control of the situation.
"So let's plan our route home," he continued, and both siblings nodded, quietly listening as Akane laid out the steps.