If I had known that death had a face—and that face would be a shy girl in an oversized cloak—I might've laughed.Or cried.Or simply refused to leave the house ever again.
But life doesn't give warnings.
It just hits you with a bus and expects you to stand up afterward.
It was late afternoon when I first felt it.A pressure.A weight.Like the air itself got heavier.Like gravity doubled.
Ami and Yergba stiffened at the same time, eyes snapping toward the door.
Sam was on her feet in an instant, shoulders squared, jaw tight—like she'd been expecting this moment her entire life.
"Aki," she said sharply."Get behind me."
My heart lurched."Is it… her?"
Sam didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
The door knocked softly.
Three little taps.
Almost timid.
Ami gulped.Yergba clenched her fists.Sam's hands shook—just once.
Then the door slid open on its own.
A girl stood there.
Small.Petite.Wrapped in a black nun-like cloak too big for her tiny frame.Her hair was short and dark, almost messy, with bangs covering her eyes.
She clutched a bag to her chest like a scared child.
"Um… h-hi…" she whispered. "I… I think I'm lost…"
Ami blinked in confusion.Yergba lowered her guard just a little.Sam didn't move.
Something primal in me screamed.
This girl was wrong.
Too innocent.Too small.Too fragile.
Nothing that looked like this should carry the kind of dread crushing my lungs.
The girl took one step into the room.
Instantly—the temperature dropped.
My breath fogged.
Ami shuddered violently.Yergba's aura flickered.Sam's eyes sharpened.
"…Luci," Sam whispered.
The girl froze.
Then she slowly… slowly lifted her head.
Her bangs parted.
And I realized why she kept them down.
Her eyes—
One eye was normal.Human.Timid.
The other was a swirling black vortex with a red slit like a beast.
She smiled.Small. Sweet.Heart-shattering.
"Oh. You already know my name."She giggled softly, clutching her bag tighter."That makes this easier."
Ami snapped her sword into existence.
"St—stay back!!"
Luci tilted her head.
"Why? I'm not here for you."Her twisted eye swirled, stopping directly on me."I'm here for him."
My blood froze.
Yergba stepped in front of me instantly."Like hell you are."
Sam moved too—her body lowering into a stance so sharp it nearly cut the air.
Luci blinked at all three girls.
Then she sighed softly.Like she was inconvenienced.
"Fine. If you insist."
Her cloak split open.
Half of her body transformed.
Muscle tore.Bone cracked.A monstrous arm burst from her left side—twisted, obsidian-black, pulsing with shifting eyes embedded in its skin.Fangs protruded from her shoulder.Dark smoke curled around her.
The air itself recoiled.
Ami staggered back.Yergba swore loudly.Sam's pupils shrank.
Luci's voice deepened—layered with something inhuman.
"Shall we play?"
Then—
She disappeared.
Not moved.Not dashed.
Vanished.
Ami didn't even have time to scream before Luci reappeared behind her, grabbing her hair and slamming her face-first into the floor with brutal, humiliating force.
Ami gasped, blood spraying.
"A—AMI!" I screamed.
Luci giggled, stepping on the back of Ami's head.
"Oops. Too slow."
Yergba roared, launching forward with cosmic fire around her fists.
Luci flicked her monstrous arm.
One hit.A single lazy hit.
Yergba flew through the wall, smashing into the neighbor's shed.
My heart stopped for a second.
Sam bolted forward, blade of raw Hunter energy forming in her hand.
Luci met the strike with her bare monstrous palm.
The room imploded.
Shockwaves blew the curtains off.The air detonated.My ears rang.
Luci pushed Sam back effortlessly, grinning.
"Oooh, Hunter strength. Cute."
Sam snarled.
"I'll kill you."
Luci smiled sweetly.
"Oh no, you won't."
She snapped her monstrous fingers.
Chains of shadow erupted around Sam's legs, dragging her down until her knees hit the floor. She struggled, but the chains wrapped tighter, slicing into her skin.
Ami crawled up, blood dripping from her forehead.
"Y-you monster…"
Luci turned toward her—still stepping on Ami's head like she owned her.
"A monster…?"She giggled."Thank you."
Sam roared, breaking one chain—but Luci kicked her across the room, sending her crashing into my desk. The wood splintered.
The Devourer walked toward me.
Every step made the room shrink.Her shadow stretched unnaturally, swallowing the light.
I couldn't breathe.
"Don't you dare—!" Yergba coughed from outside, trying to stand, ribs probably broken.
Luci ignored her.
She stopped inches from me.
Her normal human eye softened—almost lovingly.
"You're smaller than I expected…" she whispered.
I trembled.
Luci raised her monstrous arm.
Sam screamed.Ami screamed.Yergba screamed.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
The claws pierced my chest.
It wasn't cinematic.It wasn't heroic.
It was real.Sharp.Cold.Burning.Wrong.
My breath left me in a choking gasp.
Ami fell to her knees."No—NO—AKI—!!"
Sam's voice broke like shattering glass."Aki—stay awake—!!"
Yergba slammed a fist into the ground, sobbing.
Luci leaned close to my ear, whispering with soft innocence:
"See? You're so easy to break."
She pulled her arm out.
My blood hit the floor.
My knees buckled.
Ami caught me just before I fell completely.
"AKI—AKI PLEASE—PLEASE—SAY SOMETHING—!!"
I couldn't.
I couldn't move.Couldn't breathe.Couldn't think.
My heart stuttered once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
The world faded.
Ami screamed like she was being torn apart.Yergba roared in despair.Sam broke free from the chains with a terrifying cry, but too late, too late—
Luci dusted off her cloak like she'd spilled water instead of murdering me.
"I'll be back later," she said cheerfully."With the rest of me."
And she walked out.
Calmly.
Smiling.
Leaving the girls broken.
Leaving me dead.
✦ The World Without Sound
I floated.Weightless.Cold.
Nothingness wrapped around me like a blanket.
Then—
Warm hands grabbed my face.
"AKI—DON'T YOU GO—DON'T—YOU—DARE—GO—!"
Ami's voice.Shaking.Raw.
Yergba's voice cracked."He's—he's not—he's not breathing—!"
Sam's voice—hoarse, trembling, desperate:
"I can fix this—MOVE—LET ME—"
Light hit me.Warm.Burning.Alive.
Sam's hands pressed against my chest.
"Hunter's Resurrection—! Don't you dare fail now—COME ON—!"
Energy surged through me.
Pain.Fire.Life.
My heart jerked.
Again.
Again—
Then—
THUMP.
Air rushed into my lungs like a tidal wave.
I gasped violently, choking, clawing at the floor.
Ami sobbed.Yergba collapsed.Sam fell onto her hands, shaking.
I was alive.
Barely.
But alive.
Sam looked at me through tears she tried to hide.
"Aki… please… don't scare me like that again…"
Ami hugged me so tight it hurt.
Yergba punched the floor, crying into her arm.
And for the first time since the story began—
I realized something terrifying:
Luci didn't attack us to win.
She attacked to warn us.
And next time—
She wouldn't leave me alive.