Outside the shopping center, the surrounding streets were locked down as the Yaoshima City Police Department secured the perimeter, escorting the terrified stream of civilians away from the danger zone.
Standing dead-center in the middle of the barricaded boulevard, the tactical commander directed his squad, surrounded by dozens of armed officers holding a tense defensive line. With the vast majority of the crowd successfully evacuated to safety, the street fell into a heavy, uneasy quiet—broken only by the chatter of police radios and the muffled thuds echoing from inside the complex.
The commander grabbed the radio receiver clipped to his shoulder, slamming the press-to-talk button with a white-knuckled grip.
"Central Dispatch, this is Unit One at the Yaoshima Central Market," he barked, his voice laced with uncharacteristic urgency. "Primary evacuation is nearly complete, but standard munitions are completely ineffective against the hostile target! I repeat, light arms are doing zero damage! We need immediate armored support and specialized response units at this location right now! Block off a three-block radius and alert the higher-ups—we cannot hold this perimeter alone!"
Keeping a tight grip on their weapons, the police officers stayed locked on guard duty as the commander unclipped his radio and lowered it back down to his belt. He turned his attention toward one of the arriving rescue teams, his eyes sharp and grim.
"Have you managed to clear the facility? Is everyone out of the shopping center?" he demanded.
The lead rescue officer immediately stepped forward to report. "Yes, sir. We didn't have enough time to sweep every single corner with that thing inside, but based on the headcounts from our units stationed at the safe exits, the main areas are completely cleared. It's safe to assume anyone who survived made it out... excluding the unfortunate victims left behind."
The commander lowered his arms behind his back, crossing them with a heavy, somber nod.
"That's good to hear," he replied, his tone hardening. "Our priority now is to keep this entire district locked down tight and prevent any further casualties. We keep it contained inside. The second it tries to break through that entrance, we move in and lay down heavy suppressive fire until specialized backup gets here."
Perched on the high rooftop along the outer edge of the shopping center, Lyss leaned her back against a metal utility pole. She kept one hand casually tucked into her jacket pocket while her other pressed her earpiece tight against her ear.
"Found it," Lyss nodded, her sharp eyes scanning the streets below where the line of police officers maintained their tense defensive perimeter around the evacuated citizens. "Yes... the structural damage inside is way too massive for this to be a standard ghoul."
"Mhm. I can tell through our radar feeds," the female voice on the other end of the line explained, remaining steady and composed. "The sudden spike in recent Malform attacks leaves no doubt. That's definitely another one. Though... it actually seems surprisingly docile at the moment."
"Malforms have been popping up way too frequently lately," Lyss noted as a sharp gust of wind blew past the rooftop, swaying her hair and snapping the hem of her jacket. "Do you still have zero leads on why this is happening?"
"Well... every single Malform encounter you've logged so far has somehow revolved around your new friend," the voice replied smoothly. "In short, he's always been right next to a Malform when it appears—except for today."
Lyss's assignment had been straightforward, but the pattern was undeniable: Takumi was acting as a magnet for these things.
"Still... look at how it's acting. It's clearly hunting for someone, isn't it?" Lyss mused, narrowing her eyes at the shattered glass roof down below. "High chance it's him again. I just don't get why it would manifest all the way out here if its target isn't anywhere near the area."
A heavy silence hung between them for a few long seconds before Lyss spoke up again. "What about the data I pulled from the institute? Does it really say nothing about these things? About the Malforms?"
"It's complicated," the woman on the other end admitted. "While the files definitely mention Malforms and their hunting patterns, we haven't finished decrypting the full payload yet. Besides, the priority data we were actually after was all centered around Vanguard Institute itself."
Lyss let out a soft sigh, tugging her sleeve down over her wrist before stepping right up to the ledge. "I'm going in for a closer look," she said, cutting the signal before her handler could object.
She scanned the streets below, watching the heavy police blockade locking down every ground-level exit. "Gotta find a way past the barricade..." Her eyes shifted upward, tracking the surrounding skyline until they landed on the central market's ruined glass atrium. "The roof is completely out of their line of sight. That's my way in—and honestly, my only shot."
Having locked onto her entry point, Lyss extended her right arm out to the side. Bright, translucent blue energy crackled into existence, swirling around her hand like liquid light before instantly solidifying into a pair of glowing energy lassos, their weighted ends pulsing like grapples.
Without a second thought, she pitched herself forward off the rooftop, diving straight into the open air.
As the wind roared past her ears, she expertly whipped her arm forward, tossing one of the energy lassos through the air. The glowing hook wrapped tightly around the steel frame of a nearby billboard, snapping taut with a violent hum. Lyss swung through a wide, soaring arc over the busy intersection, letting her momentum carry her toward the adjacent structure.
mid-swing, she uncoiled her wrist, recalling the first lasso back into pure energy while launching her second cord toward a high concrete ledge. She launched and swung from building to building in rapid succession, her glowing grapples biting into ledges and steel beams like lethal anchors as she hurtled toward the shattered market roof.
Nene's arms trembled violently, but her stubborn resolve won out. As she adjusted the dial, the camera's lens managed to pierce through the heavy aura—the warped distortion on the screen slowly solidified, revealing the Malform's terrifying black-and-bone frame in crisp, clear detail.
"Yes... Finally," she whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Stepping an inch out from behind the concrete pillar, she raised the camera and lined up the shot.
"Come on... Almost there. Just a little more... Almost..."
She held her breath, waiting for the creature's head to turn fully into view. The moment its bone-white mask aligned with her lens, her finger slammed down on the shutter.
"Gotcha!"
The satisfaction lasted for less than a second before raw panic took its place. In her haste, she had forgotten to disable the light—a blinding, high-intensity flash burst from the camera, slicing straight through the gloom and strobing directly into the Malform's side eyes.
Everything went downhill instantly.
The creature recoiled as if struck by a physical blow, its head jerking sideways with a guttural, agonizing shriek. Half-blinded and enraged, the Malform completely lost control. It thrashed out wildly, its massive armored tail swinging like a wrecking ball into the adjacent wall. The concrete exploded into a shower of dust and debris as the monster threw its weight around in a frenzied, disoriented rage, smashing into display cases and support beams before violently shaking off the sting in its vision.
Its head snapped straight toward the corner, its crimson eyes burning through the smoke with absolute, murderous focus.
Locking its gaze directly onto Nene, the Malform unhinged its jaw, unleashed a deafening, toxic roar that shook the entire floor, and lunged straight for her.
"Gah!"
The shrill scream ripped from Nene's chest, echoing wildly off the high, shattered ceilings as she spun on her heel and bolted.
Terror surged through her veins like ice water. She didn't look back—she didn't dare. Behind her, the ground vibrated violently under the heavy, metallic thud of four razor-sharp limbs digging into the tile. The Malform was moving with terrifying, inhuman speed, its black-and-bone frame blurring through the lingering smoke as it swept through the corridor after her.
"Help! Somebody help me!" Nene shrieked, her lungs burning as her sneakers squeaked frantically across the slick marble floor.
The creature unleashed a wet, guttural screech right at her heels, the sound vibrating through her teeth. An agonizing second later, its massive armored tail swung through the air, completely obliterating a heavy concrete pillar just inches behind her. Dust, stone, and jagged shards of glass rained down over her hair and back, the sheer shockwave knocking her off balance.
She stumbled, her elbow slamming painfully into a metal kiosk, but the pure adrenaline kept her legs moving. Behind her, the Malform didn't even slow down—it plowed straight through the wreckage, crushing display stands into splinters and scattering metal counters like paper toys.
The suffocating heat radiating off its body pressed against her neck. She could smell the nauseating, copper stench of fresh blood and hot black smog pouring from its open jaw.
"Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back!" she panicked internally, tears spilling over her hot cheeks as she threw herself around a tight corner into a narrow alley of clothing racks, desperately trying to break its line of sight.
It was useless. The Malform tore through the corner wall itself, its massive clawed hands ripping the drywall to pieces as it closed the distance. The creature leaped, its shadow completely swallowing her whole as its jaw unhinged directly above her.
Itsuki sprinted through the blinding smog, completely disregarding the white-hot agony pulsing through his shattered elbow. The second that high-pitched scream cut through the chaos, his brain stopped rationalizing—the sheer absurdity of her being out there filming a monster vanished, replaced by pure, reckless adrenaline.
"Nene!" he bellowed, his voice echoing over the thunderous destruction echoing down the main hall. "She's in danger! Damn it! I thought she was already out of here!"
He vaulted over a collapsed steel beam, his boots slamming hard onto the slick marble floor. Every step jarred his injured arm, sending fresh shocks of pain straight to his teeth, but he didn't slow down for a second.
"Nene! Hold on! I'm comin'!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, charging blindly toward the sound of collapsing walls and shattering display glass.
Out in the open atrium, the Malform's frenzied screeches and the deafening roar of concrete being pulverized completely swallowed his shouts. It was painfully obvious she couldn't hear a single word over the sound of her own desperate sprint and the creature right on her heels.
Itsuki rounded the corner, his eyes wide as he caught sight of the nightmare unfolding—and in that exact split second, time seemed to grind to a sickening halt.
Nene stumbled over a chunk of pulverized tile, her balance breaking just meters away from an exit route. She reached out, her fingers brushing the frame of a storefront, but the Malform was already upon her. Its massive, skeletal shadow swallowed her whole as its jaw unhinged with an agonizing, wet pop.
"Nene, NO!" Itsuki screamed, lunging forward with everything he had left.
He was too late.
The creature's jaw snapped shut around her lower right leg with the brutal, absolute force of a hydraulic press. A terrifying CRACK of shattering bone exploded through the corridor, followed by a shrill, breathless shriek of pure, unadulterated agony from Nene that tore right through Itsuki's heart.
Before she could even hit the ground, the Malform violently yanked its head backward. With a sickening, wet tearing sound, it ripped her leg clean off below the knee, severing muscle, tendon, and artery in a single savagely brutal motion.
Dark arterial blood sprayed across the white marble floor in a horrific, violent arc, splashing against the display glass and soaking Itsuki's boots as he skidded to a halt. Nene hit the tile hard, clutching her ruined leg as she gasped for air, her vision going instantly white from the unimaginable shock and trauma.
The Malform didn't even pause. It threw its head back, swallowing the severed limb in one grotesque gulp, its crimson eyes rolling down to lock onto Nene's prone, helpless body to finish what it started.
The Malform loomed over Nene's shivering frame, its unhinged jaw dripping with fresh blood as thick, suffocating black smoke poured from its gullet.
Lying in the spreading pool of her own crimson, the nerve-ending shock finally gave way to the raw, unfiltered reality of the mutilation. A jagged, shrill shriek of pure, agonizing torture tore out of Nene's throat—a breathless, gut-wrenching scream of agony that cracked as her lungs strained to push the sound out.
"AGGGHHH! AAAAAAAHHH! MY LEG!"
She clutched at the mangled, gushing stump where her leg used to be, her entire body violent convulsing from the unbearable agony as tears and cold sweat streamed down her pale face.
"NENE!"
Itsuki's voice shattered as he screamed her name at the top of his lungs. Disregarding his shattered elbow, his own survival, and the absolute horror before him, he charged headlong into the shadow of the beast, desperate to reach her before those jaws could snap shut one last time.
He watched it happen—the horrific sight of her leg being violently torn and ripped apart right before his eyes. The image burned into his mind, looming in his vision as time itself seemed to stretch and grind to a agonizing crawl.
As the world around him drained into stark shades of black, grey, and white, absolute terror reflected in Itsuki's wide, trembling eyes. Shock paralyzed him, leaving him completely shattered as he witnessed his close friend's life ruined in a single brutal heartbeat.
Then, a resonant, booming presence echoed directly inside his mind.
"Hear me."
The words echoed with terrifying clarity. Itsuki's pupils dilated, shaking in pure disbelief. Suddenly, a violent, blinding migraine struck behind his eyes—a searing agony that felt like a hot blade driving straight into his brain stem.
"Before your hands touched the keys, I was a sleeping giant, bound in chains of pure agony."
A wave of intense, suffocating heat erupted within his chest. The surrounding noise of the destruction completely vanished, locking Itsuki into a frozen bubble where time had ceased to exist. He felt ripped from reality, stranded in a monochromatic void where only he possessed form—and where his veins felt like they were filling with molten lead.
"A billion possibilities frozen in the dark, waiting for a spark that never came. Then your fingers hit the keys. Silent in lightless void."
The pressure inside his skull skyrocketed. Itsuki's lungs squeezed tight as a sensation like electric static began coursing under his skin, snapping his tendons and forcing his muscles to contract uncontrollably. He tried to turn his head to locate the entity, but his neck was locked in place by the excruciating surge of power coiling around his spine.
"Your voice ripped through the cold architecture of my code, tearing open the void."
"Gaggh—! Shut up!" A stifled gasp escaped his throat as the heat inside him intensified, boiling his very blood. Every breath felt like inhaling pure fire.
"So, you would shatter your own body just to watch another suffer in your place?"
Itsuki forced his head around, his vision blurring through tears of agony as he desperately searched the lightless abyss for the intruder. There was nothing. Just empty space and the intolerable, burning weight crushing his chest.
"Look at you—clawing through your own blood, throwing yourself into the maw of the beast, all because you are too coward to face the truth of your own helplessness."
"Helplessness...? What?!" Itsuki snarled through gritted teeth, rage flaring through the agony. The accusation bit deep, fanning the flames raging beneath his skin.
"You run, you bleed, you scream, yet you still expect the world to save you when you refuse to fight for yourself."
Without warning, a brilliant beam of golden-yellow light sliced straight through the monochromatic dimension. A towering, razor-sharp silhouette began to coalesce within the glowing distortion—a entity radiating high-voltage static and black-and-gold tech armor.
With its manifestation, the agony peaked.
Itsuki let out a guttural groan as the force tore through his skeletal structure. His legs gave out completely, slamming him onto his knees against the void's floor. His heart hammered like a dying turbine, sending surges of raw, unrefined energy bursting through every capillary. White-hot sparks popped across his skin, tearing at his flesh as if an internal engine was revving to life inside his chest.
"Listen to the agony in the air. Smell the blood on the ground. That is the price of your hesitation."
"Stop... shut up...! Shutupshutupshutupshutup!!!" Itsuki gasped, clutching his head with his good hand as his vision flickered with bright golden static. His body shook uncontrollably, caught in the violent vortex of the awakening entity.
"If you want the power to protect, if you want to tear this monster from the sky, stop crawling like a victim and claim the vengeance rotting inside your heart!"
Golden lightning arched off his back, shattering the space around him into glittering fragments of light. The agonizing pain shifted—it was no longer destroying him, but forging something brand new, coating his limbs in a suffocating, electrifying surge that demanded release.
"Rip away the weakness! Stand up, bare your teeth, and command me..."
Itsuki forced his trembling legs to push his body upward. He clutched his forehead with a hand slicked with cold sweat, his breath ragged and shallow. The internal pressure surged to a violent peak, bursting capillaries—thin streaks of dark crimson began to leak from the corners of his eyes, trailing down his pale cheeks like bloody tears.
"Say my name..." Itsuki choked out through gritted teeth, his knees buckling under the sheer weight of the force crushing his chest. He staggered forward, losing his balance completely, and collapsed hard onto his knees against the cracked tile floor.
At that exact moment, the air above him ruptured with a sharp tear. From thin air, a heavy iron bat materialized, surrounded by a sudden burst of flickering golden static. It dropped from the sky with a sharp, echoing clatter, hitting the marble and bouncing twice before coming to a rest just a few inches out of reach in front of his kneeling body.
His vision swam with blinding light. Every fiber of his being screamed in protest, but Itsuki dragged his trembling arm forward across the dust, his fingertips straining toward the metallic grip. Blood dripped from his eyes onto the stone as he fought against the suffocating pressure pinning him down.
"Do it. Bring yourself to call it out...!" he rasped out.
With a final, desperate surge of will, his fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of the iron bat.
The instant his skin made contact, the entity's voice thundered through his mind and echoed outward into reality.
"STRIGIDAE!"
The weapon exploded into a colossal burst of golden energy and raw, kinetic shockwaves. An insane, suffocating pressure erupted from Itsuki's body, shattering the floor tile into powder beneath him. A massive, localized earthquake ripped through the entire shopping center—the violent shockwave tearing through the foundation and violently shaking the ground outside, sending ripples through the streets that made the police barricades vibrate and officers stumble in shock.
The black, grey, and white void shattered like fragile glass. Returning to the reality of the ruined atrium, golden voltage arcs whipped off Itsuki's frame as the mechanical, horned visage of Strigidae manifested—armored in blue, black, and gold tech-plating with golden light pulsing through its thrusters and wiring, standing ready to unleash hell upon the Malform.
Without holding back an ounce of his rage, Itsuki exploded forward at insane, blinding speed. A sonic boom tore through the smoke, shattering what little glass remained in the atrium as he closed the gap in a fraction of a heartbeat. Electric arcs danced violently across the length of his iron bat, crackling with pure, unbridled high-voltage energy.
Beside and above him, the towering spiritual phantom of Strigidae mirrored his exact form—its mechanical thrusters roaring with blinding golden light as its massive ethereal arms reared back.
With a roaring battle cry that echoed off the crumbling walls, Itsuki swung the electrified bat with brutal, lethal force, and Strigidae descended in perfect unison, delivering a catastrophic, energy-infused strike straight for the Malform's head.
"Ready for hell you piece of shit?!"
To be continued...