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Chapter Text

-Introduction-

"Hey kid, how many times have I told you not to think that just because you are a hunter that you would be invincible, if you let your guard down for a second you will become the hunted, so let me ask you a question, what are you?"

"Why don't you give up? You are the last person standing. If you agree to accept my power, you will surpass the limits of a mortal."

"What can you do, you are just a human being."

"Run, don't stop, don't cry for me, live like a human."

"So let me ask you again, what are you?"

"Isn't the answer already obvious? I'm…"

Day 3

"How could he have chased me all this time? What kind of monster is he? I've never even heard of his existence."

The red demon named Erik continued to run through the night of the dark city with a red sky. He never thought he would get into such big trouble. In fact, this was just a simple drug delivery job, so how could it turn out like this.

He simply had to go to the place to pick up the drugs and then transport them to the designated place, but what he didn't expect was that before he could start his work, he appeared in just a second and everything fell into darkness.

When he realized it, it was too late. The last thing he heard was gunshots and screams. He just put his head down and waited for everything to pass, finally all the noises disappeared and when he looked up he swore to Satan what he saw could not be described in words alone.

The flesh of the demons is pinned with long, straight chisels and linked to those chisels are chains that radiate a mysterious purple energy. Standing in the middle of that chaos was a figure immersed in mysterious darkness. He wore a pair of boots with a pair of black leather gloves and a long black coat with a black brimmed hat that had gone through a period of war.

The interesting thing is that the face is hidden, the lower part is covered by a tattered but mysterious looking scarf, the eyes are covered with a pair of thick round glasses that look like a mad scientist in a movie.

And all of that leads to this moment, 'If I just keep running then I'll definitely be able to distance myself enough to escape so I just need to keep runni...'

Before he could finish his thought, his shoulder was stabbed by a chisel and that caused him to fall forward. He tried to get up to try and keep running, but he heard his pursuer utter a word.

"Chain."

From the stalker's sleeve a long chain was released and attached tightly to the chisel that had been pinned to the prey.

"What the hell is this!" The demon exclaimed.

Before Erik could recover, he realized he had been pinned by three more chisels and they were linked to the chain in the mysterious person's arm, completely blocking the poor demon's ability to move.

"What are you, I have never heard of a demon with such power in this hell," Erik said, trying to buy time for himself, hoping that a miracle would appear.

The chain from the stalker's sleeve separated from his sleeve, instead the chain appeared to connect with the chisels and bind Erik's arms and legs, causing him to lie face up.

With the footsteps approaching Erik could only become more panicked and afraid. When he turned his face to look at the footsteps, the stalker was walking calmly and coldly, the closer the figure stepped, the more closely Erik could see.

His face, once covered by a scarf, was now clearly seen, his right hand holding a metal hammer, his left hand holding a long chisel like a dagger blade. He walked over and knelt close to the pathetic demon in front of him and now Erik could only swear to Satan at what he was seeing.

'How could he be here? Aren't they a bunch of weaklings like Millie said.'

"If you ask me what I am, then I can only answer you."

The stalker placed the chisel in front of the demon's chest then raised the hammer high above his head.

"Human."

And the last thing the demon could hear was the sound of the hammer falling and the cold feeling of his heart being punctured, in the end there was no miracle at all.

-End- ( For now )

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: The Exorcist Hunter - Part 1

The mysterious person stood up after completing his hunt, the chains and chisels stuck to the demon's body slowly disappearing into nothingness. He took a small notebook out of his pocket and started taking notes.

'Day 3 of hunting: The weapons have the ability to fire at a high speed and continuously but are too useless when the enemy approaches too close and due to continuous firing, it is easy to jam (2/8 guns jammed when firing at me). There are demons that look like people mixed with sharks. They are strong in close combat but their defense ability is no different from normal humans. On the contrary, the red demon with big horns looks weak but their speed cannot be overlooked but like the above demons there is nothing too remarkable about defense ability. Both types of demons do not have immortality'

He closed the notebook and put it back in his coat pocket and walked away from the bloody scene. Even walking in the dark with his sense of direction, he didn't feel any discomfort. After a while, he stopped in front of a large abandoned mansion and went inside.

Stepping inside the abandoned mansion, the first thing we can see is a creature tied with chains and nailed to an iron cross. He looked at the crucified body for a moment and then continued walking into another room.

The appearance of the new room was not too bad, but what was more notable was that the room looked much neater than the other room. He started to walk towards the corner of the room and sat down at the same time he launched two chisels towards the door with the command "Chain" a chain was created connecting the two chisels together to block the entrance.

He began to close his eyes and his mind became more and more foggy until what remained in his head was a familiar voice:

"Hey kid, you think you're strong just because you killed a few mice. So let me tell you, if you only know winning, you will never understand why you lost."

"In this world there are only two types of people: living and dead. The difference is simple, it's whether you study or not because if you want to live, you have to learn and adapt, and if you can't, you will die."

"Simply if you only focus on winning, you won't be able to win forever. We win because we are simply never allowed to lose."

"That's enough talking around, in short, I can only tell you that don't lose, Ad..."

The sound of rustling made his sensitive senses alert. In the blink of an eye, he stood up in a ready-to-fight position. Disappointingly, the rustling sound he heard was only canned food that he "borrowed" from the demons. Although it looked quite disgusting, it was not the worst food he had eaten. He sat back down and began to close his eyes, the last thing he could think of was: 'Why am I here.'

Once again darkness covered the quiet space.

Day 4

He woke up in a hot atmosphere that seemed to be simply because the weather in this place was quite harsh (at least not as bad as when hunting mummies). The fatigue had gradually faded after sleep. With just a snap of his fingers, the chain in front of the door disappeared. He stood up and opened the door to enter the main room where the giant cross was.

The demon was still nailed to the cross and chained from top to bottom, with only a few parts of the demon's skin exposed. He approached the cross and with a snap of his fingers, the chains covering the demon's head dissolved into nothingness.

The demon's head is not too different compared to a human's, except that where the eyes exist have become two mouths and his mouth is no different from a butt, in the middle of his forehead is a chisel so deep that only the handle can be seen.

In one swift movement the chisel was pulled out, the demon's motionless head began to show signs of life and the first thing it did was fart with its butt (mouth).

"SOMEBODY SAVE ME!"

The demon started screaming again with its mouth (eyes). Until he heard a voice.

"silent"

The sentence was uttered briefly and gently. But behind it is a deadly cold that will do everything to silence it if it screams one more time.

In front of him was an ordinary person with a handsome face and cold and experienced purple eyes. Although he was a human when he was in the human world and had met many people, this was the first time he stood before a person who was both normal and so terrifyingly different. But even so, he still wanted to force himself to ask.

"Why do you want to capture me, I'm just an ordinary Sinner with nothing special and how the hell do you…"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a chisel stabbed into his lung. The pain made him only able to continue screaming, but he remembered what the person who forced him to "be quiet" tried to endure the pain and keep his mouth shut. After the demon had closed its mouth, the hunter began to ask questions.

"What is this place? What are you? And how can I leave here?"

The demon really wanted to burst out laughing after hearing the questions, but what stopped him was a look that seemed to chop him into hundreds of thousands of small pieces. He coughed and began to answer the questions.

"Firstly, this is hell, or rather, one of the levels of hell: Pride. Second, I am one of the Sinners in this city. We were human before coming here. Third, as far as I know, there is no way to leave hell once you are here."

After hearing the answer, the hunter stood silently for a moment, then continued his questions.

"What is the difference between you and mortal demons?"

He looked up for a moment and then replied, "You mean the Hellborn? As far as I know, they are creatures born from this hell and they are the working class here."

'So that's the difference between the two demon races: Sinners, who were human until they weren't, have the potential for immortality with the ability to slowly regenerate. Hellborn are creatures born in hell that possess the unique characteristics of different monster species.'

The hunter stood for a moment then pulled out a smartphone from his pocket. And keep asking.

"How can I use this magic device?"

"Isn't that my phone? Don't you know that you shouldn't touch other people's things?"

Before he could speak more, the chisel stuck in his chest suddenly moved deeper, as if it wanted to penetrate his entire chest. The hunter was standing there waiting for an answer with his hand pressing firmly on the chisel that was inserted into the demon's chest.

"Okay, I'll tell you what you want to know, don't torture me anymore, okay?"

A moment later

"And that's all we know about phones. Now can you let me go? I promise not to tell anyone about what I saw and heard. So please forgive m…."

His plea was too late as the chisel once again entered the middle of his forehead with the command "Chain" and the chains once again covered the demon's head.

'If on this device I can find the things I need to know, I want to try to see if it can tell me how to find my way back.'

After a while of searching, he finally found some clues. But that made his cold face show some anger and utter three words:

"I.M.P"

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 The Exorcist Hunter - Part 2

Today was another slow day for Blitz. Waking up next to the person you love is a wonderful thing (the best) but with Stolas' presence, I.M.P's spending situation must also increase, especially with Stolas spending lavishly to relieve stress after being rejected by his daughter. The jobs also became less for some reason, even Blitz with the help of acquaintances but the situation was not too positive at all.

After hearing the door open, Blitz looked towards the door and there were two figures entering. It was Millie and Moxxie arguing about something.

"This isn't like him at all Moxxie, I've been trying to contact Erik for a few days now but no one picks up the phone. It's like he disappeared from hell, I can't contact the place where I introduced him to a job. I really don't know how to talk to his siblings."

"Calm down, Millie, we can drive to Pentagram City to ask for more information. I think he just lost his phone or he was too busy, just calm down first." Having finished speaking, Moxxie placed his hand on his wife's shoulder.

Millie breathed softly again, she was finally not so worried anymore. "Thank you so much, love."

Hearing that, Moxxie rushed to hug his wife when the two were about to kiss when a voice interrupted.

"Can you two stop acting like that?" Loona, who was sitting at the secretary's desk, spoke up.

"What the hell are you doing here, isn't Mr. Stolas supposed to be working there?" Moxxie said, annoyed at being commented on.

Before Loona could answer, Blitz interrupted.

"Stolas is shopping for some supplies for us and he'll be back soon."

Moxxie and Millie looked at each other with concerned expressions and then Moxxie took a deep breath and walked closer to Blitz and spoke.

"Sir, really, if Mr. Stolas keeps shopping like that, will our company be able to overcome difficulties, especially when we are going through a difficult period at work."

"No need to worry, Mox, I still have a lot of money in my checking account."

The atmosphere suddenly became strangely silent, everyone knew it was just a terrible lie. IMP's current situation has become more difficult than ever and the company might go bankrupt.

"Who wants to eat sushi!" Stolas kicked the door in with two heavy baskets containing dozens of different large and small items.

Blitz smiled when he saw Stolas walk in. Stolas ran closer carrying two large packages and said.

"I bought a lot of clothes, shoes, guns and bombs. It's strange that weapons and clothes are on sale at the same time. I bought the staff and Loona sushi at this five-star store."

"Whoa! Thank you, Stolas, I and my staff will appreciate your gift."

Moxxie could only sigh at Blitz's attitude as he didn't take his words seriously. Loona just pretended to read the magazine as if it had nothing to do with her (actually, she cared a lot).

Interrupting the odd atmosphere was the sound of the phone ringing on Loona's desk.

"IMP is hearing what you need." Loona tiredly picked up the phone and said.

A moment later Loona shouted loudly.

"Blitz you have this big deal. They said they would pay $1000 in advance for this mission. The mission is to kidnap a few humans, and if it works well they are willing to reward you for this mission.

"OF COURSE WE WILL TAKE THE JOB!" Blitz shouted happily.

"Apparently they have some conditions. The first is that they will need our entire force. Second, we need to go to Pentagram city to receive the quest directly. They will send the location later, the meeting will be tonight."

"Tell them that for that amount of money, they can sleep with me if they want."

Loona looked at Blitz contemptuously and hung up immediately out of embarrassment.

Moxxie walked over and spoke to his boss.

"Blitz I don't want to doubt you but isn't this too suspicious? Who in this hell would be willing to pay that much money to let us kidnap a few weak humans, and capturing them alive is much more difficult than killing them."

A loud *Ting* rang out, Blitz picked up his phone to see the information

"Look at that, they've already transferred the money. See, Mox has some faith in me."

Moxxie could only be shocked that the first time someone actually transferred money in advance, it was usually only after completing the mission that this was possible.

"Honey, I also want to go to Pentagram to check if Erik is okay. I'm really worried about him, this is really a good opportunity for me to check on him." Millie begged

"See, even my first-class employee wants to accept this mission, not to mention how easy it is for this mission to succeed.

Moxxie can't really complain about this deal because in theory it's really nothing, but Moxxie just can't let go of the uncomfortable feeling like he's facing death.

"Okay, enough talking, everyone let's eat sushi" Stolas interrupted to break the gloomy atmosphere. He picked up and gave Moxxie a box of the famous electric eel sushi (in case you were wondering, it tastes like grilled eel).

"Thank you very much Mr. Stolas."

So the I.M.P family's talk ended. If they had known that this was probably the last time they would talk together as a family, they would have treasured it more.

At the same time in Pentagram City.

The hunter hung up the phone after completing his transaction. He stood still for a moment, then turned around to check the chisels arranged in the room. At the same time, he went around checking the windows and back doors, all exits were arranged with chisels, the only exit was probably the main door. After completing the inspection, he chose a corner of the house to sit down, took out a small and old harmonica from his coat pocket and began to play.

"Hey kid, if you can play this harmonica as well as me, I'm willing to be your horse for you to ride. But with your musical talent, you won't be as good as me in a thousand years. HAHAHA…."

After the song ended, he pushed his hat down to hide his face.

'Calm down, don't let your emotions take over, you'll get home, just do it slowly and don't let your emotions affect you. Remember the winner is the one who is not allowed to lose.'

The hunter continued to play the harmonica, waiting for the final decisive moment.

At the same time in Japan.

"Hey girl, come hang out with us for a bit and we'll reward you with some pleasure." The thugs stood around a weak girl and said.

"Please forgive me, I'm just coming home from part-time work so please forgive me," The pink-haired girl begged pitifully.

"We didn't do anything to you, just play for a bit, we won't do anything to you."

But before they could finish speaking, they felt a chill as if there was a predator staring at them, just waiting for an opportunity to hunt. They face the same direction.

Standing there was a teenager about 16-17 years old with messy, spiky hair that reached past his shoulders. That teenager was wearing a pair of elastic pants, and instead of a shirt, he was wearing a dark green robe. He pointed at the thugs and spoke a strange language that they did not understand but for us it could be. translated as.

"Prey."

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: The Exorcist Hunter - Part 3

"Hurry up, we're going to be late." Blitz said urgently.

Everyone in IMP started moving to the car with the newest member being Stolas, but it seemed the car was still a bit too small for him.

"Blitz, are you sure it will be okay if I join the mission?" Stolas said

"It's okay, you'll get used to it sooner or later. Besides, they called all the members, so that included you."

"That's right Stolas having you join the mission would be great too." Loona spoke in a cheerful tone.

But in that happy atmosphere was Millie's somewhat worried face. Realizing that, Moxxie held his wife's hand tightly with a comforting look.

After making sure everyone is ready, Blitz activates the stone on his wrist. From there, a space door opened leading directly to the edge of Pentagram City. Blitz turned on the engine and rushed through the gate onto the highway.

When approaching a location near the city, Millie and Moxxie decided to split up to find Erik and then they would gather at the destination. The remaining people decided to go around the city to visit and then meet customers later.

A moment later.

"I can't believe this place is worse than where I live, I really can't trust these Sinners." Stolas said with a voice full of disgust.

"Come on Stolas, they are potential customers, I'm even thinking about opening another branch here. If this place weren't the main location for the purge, it would be a gold mine," Blitz replied.

Stolas had also heard about Princess Morningstar's project, something about repentance for Sinner or something, if it was true then it would be the most ridiculous idea in hell

Stolas can only hope that his little owl will not become as paranoid as the princess.

After a while the car stopped in front of a large villa that looked like no one lived there. Blitz got out of the car and said.

"Stolas, Loona, you two wait here, I'll go inside to discuss with the customer first. And please wait for the other two."

Having finished speaking, Blitz began to enter the yard of the villa

"So do you have a boyfriend yet, Loona?" Stolas asked Loona with an embarrassed look. Hearing that, Loona just sighed.

At another place.

"This is it, Mox, this is where I introduced Erik to the job." Millie pulled her husband to a stop and said.

In front of them was a large apartment building that looked abandoned. They decided to enter the apartment building and based on the map on their phone, they found Erik's workplace. When they opened the door, the first thing they saw was black blood stains all over the room. What should have been a room full of opium was now empty. They suddenly heard the door open behind them.

"How many times have I told you cannibals to go away?" Entering was an old hellhound who seemed very ferocious.

"Wait, you guys aren't cannibals, you guys came here to get opium. So I give you bad news, I've sold it all, don't try to get it back from me." The hellhound spoke firmly.

"Sir, we have no purpose here. We just want to know what happened to this place. Wasn't this once an opium factory?" Moxxie asked softly.

Seeing that, the hellhound started thinking, after thinking for a while he decided to answer.

"Okay, I'll tell you. It's not much, it's just that somehow all of them were killed."

"WHAT!" Both of them shouted.

"That's right, even though I don't know who they are, they work really quickly. I just heard the gunshots and before I could react, it was all over. The only thing is that the imp survived and ran away from this place. But then I heard that he also died and was eaten by cannibals."

Hearing that, Millie immediately asked.

"Is the person you mentioned named Erik!"

"That seems to be true, I vaguely remember because I heard the opium makers call his name a few times."

After hearing the hellhound's confirmation, Millie felt like she was about to collapse because she couldn't believe what she had just heard. But before she could fall, her husband hugged her. Now the only thing Millie does is cry. Seeing that, the hellhound also closed the door so the two could comfort each other.

After a while, Millie finally stopped crying and the couple decided to leave the apartment and go out into the street.

"Are you sure you're okay? If you need it, I will contact Blitz to let you take leave, and we will handle the matter." Moxxie said sympathetically, even though he knew it wouldn't work.

"No, I'm fine, I'm just a little sad. Besides, customers require all employees, if I'm absent it could affect business." Millie tried to speak calmly.

Hearing that, Moxxie just sighed and continued walking towards the place where they would meet with the customer.

At the meeting location.

The door opened, outside air rushed into the room, creating a shady atmosphere. The room was so dark that Blitz could hardly see anything. Even though the imp species had the ability to see dimly in the dark, it would still take time to adapt. Blitz step by step entered the room, he decided to break that silent atmosphere with a loud scream.

"IS ANYONE AT HOME? WE ARE HERE TO DISCUSS WORK."

Blitz's scream echoed throughout the mansion, but there was no response.

"Maybe we have the wrong address, but how could it be wrong? This is obviously correct. Or have we been hoaxed? No, we haven't done anything yet and we've already received an advance payment.' Blitz could only rack his brain to think where the problem lay.

Then a noise occurred, the room that had been in darkness was now filled with the dim light of bright moonlight (heaven). Blitz could only narrow his eyes at the sudden change, he also heard the door close behind him.

Blitz opened his eyes and the room was now clearer, it really didn't look like anything out of the ordinary for an abandoned house. But Blitz was bewildered by a figure standing on the grand staircase. Not paying attention to that, Blitz spoke loudly so that his customers could hear clearly.

"You know there's no need to do that, we'll meet anywhere. The atmosphere here is so gloomy, can we talk about my job? I need to take my husband and daughter out. So just give us the name and address of the person who needs to be kidnapped and everything will be done before you can pleasure yourself in this abandoned mansion."

Having finished speaking, Blitz stood waiting for the customer's answer. But the customer did not answer. Instead, his right hand pulled out the hammer worn on his right thigh, and his left hand stretched out chisels from his sleeve. Now that he looked closely, Blitz realized that the customer's face was completely hidden behind the scarf and glasses.

Then a voice spoke up. Listening to the voice, Blitz really couldn't guess whether the person was a boy or a girl because for some reason the voices seemed to overlap each other, making it impossible to distinguish. But what Blitz should worry about is the answer the customer gives him.

"You."

Chapter Text

Chapter 4 : The Exorcist Hunter - Part 4

'There are only three of them in this place. There was an appearance of a demon that wasn't included in the information I gathered. And two imps are missing.' The hunter thought to himself.

'Should I deal with this demon first, he seems to be the most dangerous one. No, I need to gather information and then lure them in to destroy them all, but before that.'

"Hey, are you deaf? I'm asking you."

Blitz finally calmed down. He felt a strange and dark atmosphere, so just in case, he put his hand in his pocket and placed his hand on the gun.

The hunter still stood there waiting for a movement, until he began to throw the chisel in his hand high into the air. Attracted by this action, Blitz stood still, watching every move of the customer. As the chisel began to fall, the customer swung his right arm. In an instant, the hammer hit the falling chisel so hard that it shot out like a bullet.

Seeing that, Blitz also began to react and quickly pulled out his gun, but the last thing he could see was the chisel moving straight towards him like a bullet. Before he could pull the trigger, the chisel stabbed straight into his gun, causing it to shatter.

"What the hell is this!" Before Blitz could finish speaking, a chisel came towards him like a bullet. He dodged to the left, just a few centimeters away from the chisel going straight into his chest. Before he could figure it out, Blitz realized his enemy had disappeared.

'Where is that bastard? How could he just disappear?' Once again a chisel appeared flying towards Blitz but this time he was prepared, he rolled to the right and in the meantime pulled out the dagger from behind his belt (bought by Stolas). He took a defensive stance, but the attack stopped.

While Blitz was still looking around on alert, suddenly everything became dark as he looked up. The hunter changed his tactics from long range to close range and before Blitz realized, a chisel was stuck straight into his right thigh. Before he could scream, he was kicked in the stomach and thrown 2 meters away.

Before Blitz could stand up, the hunter rushed straight towards him. Blitz tried to stand up and fight, but once again a chisel rushed towards him, but this time Blitz knocked it away with his knife. Before he could celebrate, his left cheek was hit hard by an iron hammer, which sent him flying a distance.

'What is this, he doesn't get tired, how the hell can he keep attacking like that, what kind of monster is he?' Many questions arose in Blitz's mind but he realized that at this rate he would really die. He needs to distract his opponent and then take him out with the gun hidden in his shoes.

But he did not know that his actions were clearly understood by the enemy.

'This demon clearly still has a trump card, I need it to live long enough to be able to interrogate how it got to the human world, but it seems that this method is not too good. Maybe I need to capture other demons to make this demon confess what I want'

Once again the hunter continued to rush towards Blitz. This time Blitz really had no other choice, he decided to bet everything on this gamble. He waited until the hunter got close enough and then threw his knife at the enemy. The hunter easily dodged, instead he threw a chisel towards Blitz, but it seemed that because of the poor throwing range, the chisel stuck straight on the floor to the right of Blitz.

The hunter continued to approach Blitz, and when he was in attack range, he swung his hammer. Blitz just waited and then he brought his gun straight towards the hunter's head. And then what remained was a deafening sound.

When Blitz realized, he actually pulled the trigger but something was wrong. He was clearly looking straight at the enemy but now his vision had become lower. When he realized it, he was pulled down by the chain that appeared to wrap around his leg. And before he could confirm it, Blitz's right hand holding the gun was stabbed straight into the ground. Before he could realize the pain, the chisels pierced parts of Blitz's limbs, pinning him to the floor.

Blitz could only scream with pain throughout his body. After the hunter had confirmed that all the chisels were pinned, he snapped his fingers, and with the command "Chain" a circle began to appear below Blitz, the chains linked to the chisels created a circular circle of purple energy with symbols that Blitz had never seen before.

[Supernatural Sealing Circle]

Blitz could feel the circle absorbing his energy, making him unable to move. The hunter approached and started talking to Blitz.

"How can I go to the human world? If you tell me I will not hesitate to give you a quick death and will not harm the demons you know." Even though he knew it wouldn't work, the hunter still wanted to give the demon some pity. But it was not surprising that the demon refused in a foul manner.

"I will tell you, like I told your father when I slept with your mother." Blitz tried to say it jokingly to reduce his stress.

But before he could finish speaking, the hunter shook his head at the demon's stupidity and then he threw a chisel at Blitz's left shoulder. Then turned around and said:

"Remember everything is your choice."

Just as he finished speaking with the sound of the window cracking, the figure of a wolf rushed inside, aiming straight at the hunter. The hunter simply threw the chisel at the wolf and then dodged to the left in a gentle and terrifying manner.

Ignoring the prey in front of its eyes, the wolf rushed straight towards the red demon. When she was close enough, she knelt down and said:

"BLITZ!" Loona tried to pull out the chisels and destroy the chains, but just as she touched them, a purple flame appeared on the chisels, causing Loona's hands to burn painfully. Loona ignored the pain and still tried to pull out, but after a while she realized her strength was being swallowed by the circle.

Before he could finish, there was the sound of someone kicking the door in. It was Stolas who had a machine gun in his hand. When Stolas had detected an enemy, he opened fire on the enemy. The hunter reacted quickly, from his sleeve a chain appeared to pull him away from the bullets.

After making sure he chased away the enemy, Stolas ran towards Blitz in panic. When he got close enough, like Loona wanting to remove the chisels to help the person he loved. But Loona was able to stop Stolas before being injured. She explained to Stolas what she knew when she touched the circle.

'Finally, it seems they have fallen into the trap and there are only two left. Someone like that owl might not seem like such a big deal, but that wolf is another story. If it has the ability to heal and transform like a werewolf this will be very troublesome, I need to deal with it first.' The hunter landed and prepared to attack again.

Seeing this, Loona could only leave Stolas with her father, hoping that Stolas would find a solution. She rushed straight towards the hunter, but the hunter was not an amateur. He immediately threw chisels in front of the Hellhound demon, but with her speed Loona dodged them all. She continued to rush towards the enemy. Seeing that the chisels were not enough to stop the demon, the hunter changed his tactics to close combat.

Meanwhile Stolas was examining the sealing ring, it was a power that did not belong to this world. But he can still have a basic grasp of the ring, sealing the energy and abilities of the bound creature, so to break it, Stolas must pour his energy with high intensity. He took the knife lying next to Blitz and cut a long line on his hand to spread his blood. Every drop of blood Stolas had to pour his life into if he wanted to neutralize the circle. This will shorten his life but he doesn't care because Blitz is everything to him.

'I may have underestimated the owl demon. Although he has no magical power, perhaps his blood carries ancient power. Not to mention, he also poured life force into the blood to increase its effectiveness.' Loona continues to attack, but all attacks are only lightly dodged or blocked. The hunter was only focusing on the developments on Stolas' side, to him Loona was no different than a child clumsily holding a knife.

With just a few simple movements, the hunter left Loona's body full of small wounds. The bad thing is that the wounds heal very slowly and the more she fights, the more tired Loona becomes. Taking that opportunity, the hunter threw a chisel at Stolas, but before it got far, it was shot down. At the same time, two imp demons appeared, Moxxie holding two pistols and Millie holding an axe and rushing towards the enemy.

Seeing that, the hunter sighed.

'It's finally time to end this battle.' As he thought, he snapped his fingers and spoke the command.

"Chain."

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 : The Exorcist Hunter - Part 5

All the doors and windows were locked with chains. This was the hunter's plan, to lure the demons into his hunting ground and lock them in, creating the perfect hunting ground.

IMP could only stand in shock as they witnessed the once hopeless battle becoming even more hopeless. This was no longer just a fight to buy time and escape, it had become a fight for survival. The only way out was to kill their enemies, and that was what the demons chose.

Millie continued to charge straight at her enemy, while Moxie's bullets continuously fired behind her. Loona continued to fight despite her pain, Stolas was maintaining his concentration to speed up the process of breaking the seal, his black fur now had silver hairs. Witnessing this, Blitz just wanted to beg his lover to stop, he began to remember the hunter's words.

"Remember everything is your choice."

His choice was wrong.

Meanwhile, the battle seemed more balanced due to the appearance of the veteran warriors of IMP, but that was only true in theory because since the battle started, they had not been able to cause a single scratch to the enemy. Loona's aggression and Millie's agility were a fearsome combination, combined with Moxie's shooting ability, they were confident in attacking in succession. But the hunter not only avoided the bullets but also used those bullets to create an invisible distance with the other two. And although they were said to be in the advantage, if you looked closely, Millie and Loona's bodies were covered in wounds while the enemy did not have a single scratch.

'This bastard can actually fight two of them hand-to-hand at the same time, while paying attention to his bullet trajectory. He's a Sinner. NO! Higher than that, he's one of the Overlords?' Moxxie kept firing but the action was just wasting bullets.

The hunter was just fighting calmly because compared to his world, these demons weren't too surprising. Perhaps the only demon that surprised him was the owl demon; the rest of the demons, except for their fighting skills and agility, weren't too out of the norm. Compared to vampires with their semi-immortality or werewolves with their super-fast recovery abilities, they were like heaven and earth.

'I should really end this battle, the sealing circle is being destroyed quickly. I have gathered enough information.'

Past

"Are you stupid? If a hunter only knows how to fight and kill, then what is the point of being a hunter?" A tall man with chestnut hair and a goatee said.

"What do you want me to do, hug them!" A teenager said in an annoyed voice.

The man looked annoyed at the answer. He advanced towards the child as if ready to punch him, but the child dodged easily. But the man kept swinging his fist, the child dodged in the same rhythm.

After a while the boy's actions slowed down until he fell to the ground from exhaustion.

"You ask the difference? It's simple, warriors always focus on the battle to defeat the opponent, but we are not like that, we are hunters because our opponent is not an enemy but a prey."

"Hunters don't fight with our muscles, we fight with our heads, turning the fight on our side by exhausting our prey and then executing them. As hunters, we always have a silver bullet up our sleeve."

Dawn was breaking over the hill, and all around them were corpses hanging from trees. As the light reached them, the seemingly dead bodies suddenly burst into flames.

In the middle of that scene was a man standing strong and steady, his eyes were filled with pain but at the same time a strong fire was burning.

Present

The hunter decided to create distance by shooting a chain from his sleeve, the IMP wanted to get close but they were really tired from the constant fighting. In the end they allowed him to keep his distance to focus on each other, although Moxxie kept firing but still no bullet could hit the enemy and he was out of ammo.

As the hunter landed on the stairs, before the demons could even gather, he made a two-fingered downward gesture and said the command:

"Unchain."

Moxie's instincts told him something was wrong, he looked towards the stairs where his enemy was standing, he decided to look up in the opposite direction of his enemy's finger. On the ceiling were hundreds of chisels connected to chains on the ceiling in a checkered pattern. And in a moment the chains broke and the chisels started falling. The only thing Moxxie could do was scream.

"EVERYONE FIND A PLACE TO HIDE!"

[Holy nail]

The chisels didn't just fall with the usual slowness of loose objects, they moved as if someone had thrown them, and then all that was left was a thin layer of dust from the shock of the falling chisels and a dusty floor.

The floor was riddled with chisels, even with the warning it was too late. Loona and Millie were probably the least injured, with Loona's arm and Millie's leg being the only ones injured. But that was probably because the most injured was Moxxie, who was covering them. Moxie's arms, legs, shoulders, and back were riddled with chisels, a few centimeters from his internal organs, but he passed out from the pain.

Blitz could only hear Moxie's scream and the shockwave that created the dust. Something cold fell on Blitz's head as he opened his eyes, the sight was beyond Blitz's comprehension. Stolas's body was filled with chisels, unlike Moxie's, the chisels completely penetrated Stolas's body, probably only avoiding his heart and head. Black blood continuously flowed out and blurred the circle, making the chains that held Blitz disappear. But even though he was free, his body could no longer move. As a last resistance he tried to open the teleportation stone, but it seemed to have run out of energy.

'They're not all dead yet, maybe I should catch them.' Before the hunter could finish his thought, Stolas's blood had flowed into the teleportation stone, and this had recharged the stone. Stolas took the opportunity to say:

"H…ome"

A giant portal appeared next to Stolas and the hunter was caught off guard by the element of surprise. Seeing that opportunity, Loona used all her strength to lift Millie and Moxxie up and rushed towards the portal. Stolas used all his remaining strength to throw Blitz towards the portal.

But the truth is that the miracle can only get them so far. With Stolas standing closest to the gate, the hunter used the command "Chain" to lock Stolas's body, but that was probably what he wanted the most. He used all his remaining strength to throw Blitz through the gate at the same time Loona used all her remaining strength to rush through the gate. The last thing Blitz saw was Stolas being bound by chains and then the overloaded teleportation stone shattered, closing the portal.

Left behind was the image of Stolas kneeling before the gate, the only difference being that Stolas's fur was now white as if opening the gate had come at a price. Before he could do anything else, Stolas' body was pulled up and pinned to the large cross, surrounded by other large crosses.

[Crucifixion]

'Although I let the other demons escape, it might not be so bad, I might underestimate them and get killed instead, which would be worse. But I still managed to capture the most mysterious demon among them, which will help me return home.' He thought as he pinned and hammered the chisels into Stolas's body.

At this moment, Stolas's entire life was like a movie running before his eyes, from when he was a little owl until he met Blitz, and accepted his fate when he had to endure an arranged marriage. But in all the images that appeared, there was one person who kept appearing, not his father, not his wife, not his best friend, not the person he loved Blitz, but that was the image that he always loved with all his heart and only wished to speak to even just once more.

"I'm sorry Octavia. If I could do it all over again, I wish you didn't have someone like me as your father. I love you so much my little owl." He said in a delirious state.

The hunter stood there thinking because he had seen this many times before, it was obvious that monsters would always beg even if it was a lie, but he still waited for the monster to finish.

The young man held the chisel to Stolas' chest and spoke.

"If you regret it, you should think before you act next time. But maybe there won't be a next time for you. Maybe that's the same thing between you and me," the hunter said, his expression as cold as the night mist.

Finally the only thing Stolas could hear was the sound of the hammer and everything went black.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 1

Nestled in an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, Pitcairn Island (UK) is one of the most remote places in the world with just 38 residents. The tiny island is 3km long and 1.6km wide, about 5,600km east of Peru and the same distance west of New Zealand. Its nearest neighbor is Tahiti (France), 2,170km away.

The island is known as a tourist destination full of novelty and natural beauty that is rarely found anywhere else. The islanders live by fishing or farming and raising livestock, and the pleasant climate makes these jobs easier. Although the location is difficult to travel, every two weeks there are boats coming to deliver goods or pick up tourists. Clean water is also not a big problem because the island has a clean water source underneath, the energy source is provided by solar panels and wind turbines.

The biggest problem seems to be that because of its unique location, it is obvious that the communication system is somewhat limited. Without the merchant ships, the islanders would have almost no contact with the outside world. Another problem is that because of the low population, the island lacks many jobs such as teachers, electricians, etc. However, everyone on the island still cares for each other and always considers each other as family.

So come live with us, we will wait for you. (free VISA)

-Jacqui Christina-

Sitting on the ferry dock was a 17-18 year old girl, attentively writing each word on a piece of paper. The girl had tanned skin due to the hot weather, but that skin did not fade her beauty, it only highlighted her long, wavy black hair that passed her shoulders. She wore a yellow dress that looked old but still noble.

The girl sat there thinking intently about what to write next until she heard a call:

"Tina, it's time for dinner!"

The voice came from a man with hair that was a mix of black and white. His face was full of wrinkles due to old age, he was wearing a normal t-shirt that did not stand out much.

"I'll be right there." She stood up in a hurry which caused her hair to be pushed back revealing the normal face of a teenage girl but what was noticeable was the burn on the left side of her cheek as if cut by a hot iron bar.

She ran towards the man in a hurry, and she and the man began to leave the dock.

They started their walk from the lowest point of the island, to get home they had to rely on the path built by previous generations. Each step they took made the path more and more solid, after a while they passed a few simple houses, although the households were mostly elderly, the atmosphere was still bustling with old men and women sitting and talking and drinking beer together. After a while, the two of them finally reached the place they called home.

The house was simply a two-story house for a small family. In front of the house was a fence planted with colorful flowers, the house was painted white, although not outstanding but added to the elegance and hygiene. Standing next to the flower garden was an old woman with short black hair, she was wearing a normal housewife's outfit.

"Hurry up, you two, the food is getting cold." The woman said impatiently.

"We're coming right away, honey," the man replied.

The inside of the house is nothing too outstanding, not too old-fashioned but not very modern either. The house is not too big but is fully equipped with amenities such as a living room and a dining room.

Entering the dining room, we could see before their eyes a table full of dishes from fish, eggs, vegetables, soup. The girl rushed to the table but was chased away by the woman to wash her hands. After washing her hands, the girl and the other two sat at the table.

Before eating, the three of them closed their eyes and held hands, then the woman began to pray. This was something Tina disliked the most, but because she didn't want her grandmother to be sad, she just closed her eyes and did it. Every time she did this, she only had one thought:

'If God exists, then why did he…' Before she could finish her thought, she heard a voice say "Amen."

She opened her eyes and began to devour the food in front of her. Her hunger was only interrupted by a question from the man.

"How was your presentation Tina, do you need any help? If you want, I can ask my friends on land to help you."

"No need, I can do it. It's not difficult. I just want to be sure of my decision."

That was a lie, she really wasn't okay. Promoting the island's image was one thing, but giving a speech about it was another. But if she told the truth, she would only make things more troublesome. While she was thinking, the woman's voice cut in:

"Tina, if you don't want to, we can find another way to get you to the mainland without taking a boat."

"No need, Grandma, it's just a boat ride, then go to the mainland, take a taxi, finish your speech, then take the boat back. Easy."

The girl ate and stood up to put the dishes in the sink, then went upstairs and into her room.

The room is plastered with pictures of bands like BIG BANG, BTS, The Bootleg Beatles, Maroon 5, and singers like Jessica Simpson, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, and more (What do you expect? She's teenage). But not only that, the room is also filled with books, from small to large, arranged on the table. They are all books ranging from botany and biology to geography and history.

Near the wall, there is a table next to a wooden window with a view of the sea. On the table is a photo of two men, two women and a child under 7 years old standing in the middle smiling.

The girl lay down on the bed and reached for her old headphones and her MP3 player that had been used many times. She started to choose her favorite song, titled "Demons" by Imagine Dragons. Then she fell asleep and everything went back to that day.

"Dad, Mom, help me!" Everything seemed to be upside down, the boat was on fire, the wind was blowing so hard it seemed like it wanted to smash everything. The raindrops fell like bullets that hurt to the bone, the waves hit the boat like claws scratching their prey.

In the midst of the chaos was a little girl crying, looking for her parents. Until the girl looked up at the cloudy sky, the only thing was a red light and her parents were being held up by two tentacles of water.

She could only stand there and watch as the water tentacles that covered her parents turned crimson with blood, all she could hear was her parents' pleading voices.

When she realized, she was already sinking into the water with her left cheek slashed by a hot iron bar. The last thing she saw was the strange red light and the debris of the sinking boat with her.

Now that she looked closely, the light was very similar to something she had seen countless times, something very familiar. 'Oh right, that was it a…n…'

'Eye'

Chapter Text

Chapter 7 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 2

Tina woke up from her nightmare, her forehead was covered in sweat due to the horror she had experienced. She wiped her sweaty forehead and teary eyes with her hand, after she had steeled herself. She decided to get up and go out into the hallway, because she had slept without a shower yesterday, so her whole body felt uncomfortable and sticky.

After she finished cleaning herself, she changed into a pink dress. She decided to go to the kitchen to get something to eat, but when she got there, she found a plate of pancakes that were only for special occasions. Next to it was a note about her grandparents going to the port, after reading it, Tina could only sit down to eat her breakfast.

Once she had finished eating and cleared the dishes she decided she needed a walk, Tina headed out to the backyard where the barns and small vegetable gardens were. Behind her house was a road that looked old and deserted, despite being an island in the middle of the ocean the air here wasn't too hot. Tina looked up at the familiar sights from the tree branches that sheltered her from the rain, to the large rocks where she sat to read.

Everything here reminds her of when she was still a little girl, when "they" were still with her, when everything was so beautiful. But she can only accept and move on, even though she can't get back what she lost, she still tries not to give up.

After walking for a while, Tina came to a small beach surrounded by large rocks. Nearby was a large tree, with green leaves that seemed to cover the sky.

Tina decided to sit under the shade of a tree to avoid the scorching sun. She looked towards the sea where everything happened, where she lost everything, where it left her with a scar that could never go away.

'I wonder what the mainland is like, will it be as beautiful as in the books or will it be as noisy as in the movies.' In her mind now are the images she imagined, where everything is like a dream far away from reality. Where she can live happily with her family on the mainland.

But when she woke up from that dream, in front of her was the reality of the endless blue sea, but in front of that blue sea was something else, it was a human body lying on the shore.

Seeing that scene, Tina could only scream loudly while running towards the man's body. This was truly the first time she encountered a drifting body even though she had been taught by her grandparents what to do in such a situation.

She put her ear to the man's chest to see if his heart was still beating, then she checked to see if he was having difficulty breathing but still performed basic first aid just to be sure.

Only after she was sure that the man was breathing normally did she breathe a sigh of relief. Once she was sure, she used the walkie-talkie she had to report the incident (Yes, she forgot to report the incident first before giving first aid), and once she had reported it, she decided to pull the man into the shade of a tree. And really, all she could say was:

'What did this person eat that made him so heavy?' She thought as she pulled with all her might, but the progress seemed quite slow, but after a while it got better.

It would take at least fifteen minutes for everyone to get here, ten minutes if they ran at full speed. Now that she had a chance to relax a bit, she noticed the man's appearance.

The man was wearing a Toga outfit like in ancient Roman movies, the cloth covering his body was the color of the ocean but it was not just made of cloth but rather like scales arranged evenly on top of each other. From the right shoulder wrapped around the waist was a pure white cloth that seemed to be made by light, even lying on the sand it would not get dirty. On the man's head was a laurel crown made of a material like gold.

Tina could only guess that the man was an actor who was swept away by the waves (which made sense). Then she noticed that on the man's left hand, on his ring finger, was a ring shaped like a dragon wrapped around his finger. The ring was decorated with a blood-red ruby in the middle.

Now looking closely, the man was around 27-30 years old, a vigorous age. The man's hair was the color of the sea, but it looked like the clear sea contained a gentle honesty. The man's face looked like the face of a prince in a fairy tale (if possible, Tina wanted to give the prince a kiss to wake him up), not showing any signs of fatigue or hunger from being lost at sea.

The ring on the man's hand is a reminder of the presence of someone still waiting for the man to return (the ship has sunk).

After a while the islanders ran to where Tina was waiting, they decided to take the man to Jacqui's family home since they were the closest at least until the doctor arrived. Jacqui's parents decided to let the man rest in their son's old room, although Tina didn't like it at all, she still didn't want to object because it seemed cruel (mainly because she wanted to see the man's handsome face).

Once they were in bed, they decided not to touch the man for now, fearing that he had internal injuries, so they would wait for the doctor to come and check him first. Tina volunteered to stay in the man's room. Mr. and Mrs. Jacqui were quite surprised by the change in their granddaughter, but did not object.

Once alone she decided to take out her drawing book and draw the man.

Because for Tina, the man was not just a drifter but also a story, something new that happened in her life. A sign from fate, an invitation perhaps, she continued to draw each stroke attentively, although she was not an artist, she still had very vivid strokes.

Until everything became blurry and she fell asleep without knowing.

When she opened her eyes, the figure of the man had disappeared, the only thing left was the rolled up blanket. She looked towards the window that was opened to let the wind in, she could only run and look out the window and luckily the only thing left were footprints (not the body). Tina decided to rely on the footprints to follow the man.

The man's footprints led out to sea where they found him. Tina ran after them and since there were no predators, she had nothing to fear even at night.

The closer she got to the sea, the more clearly she could hear a voice humming, and as she got closer, she slowed down, not wanting to miss the melodies.

When she arrived, she saw the man standing in the sea water up to his knees, and despite that, he continued to hum the same tune. Witnessing that, although she did not want to break the melody, she was still worried about the man's health.

"Hey, you should stop and go home and rest. Do you know how tired I am running after you?" Tina decided to walk closer to the man with an urgent look.

The man stopped singing, his face facing the sea suddenly turned slowly towards Tina.

Tina had seen almost everything about the man but there was one thing she had not had the chance to see (not what you are thinking you dirty-minded people). That was the man's eyes, those eyes were a combination of two colors, amber orange and metallic gold, creating a rare highlight.

At this moment, all the thoughts in Tina's head were like rushing waves, but there was one thing that kept repeating over and over again in her head until she couldn't bear it anymore and let it out.

"Beautiful."

Chapter Text

Chapter 8 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 3

"Honey, would you like to come with me to see the whale migration? I heard the whale chief wants us to attend to celebrate his grandson's birthday. I heard that the child really wants to meet the King of Atlantis."

"Hey, did you know that today is the month for the mermaids to find a mate? Do you really want to have an affair with a mermaid? If so, I will roast and eat you."

"A king always needs to rest, as long as you are by my side everything will be fine."

"I love you Ad…."

Present

"Hey Salad, you need to take it slow, if you squeeze too hard the cows won't milk. Take it slow." The man said in a teaching tone.

The man who washed up on the shore was known to the locals as Salad (Salad Caesar). Dressed like an emperor of ancient Rome, he spoke a language that even the books did not mention. After a medical examination and no problems were found, the islanders decided to leave him on the island until his family arrived.

The man had changed out of his Toga into a brown long-sleeved sweater and blue jeans, his navy blue hair was tied up in a ponytail. The only thing left was the ring on his ring finger.

He tried to do as the old man said and after a few tries he was finally able to milk the cow. The man continued to teach him like he was his own son while Tina could only stand outside thinking:

'And yet grandpa said he was just letting him stay. They are like father and son now.' Tina could only sigh at the change in her grandparents.

When I told them that Salad would be living here, they seemed worried. I had to convince them for a while before they agreed to let him stay. They had to show him how to use the appliances in the house (even though they didn't share the same language, he could still grasp how to use the tools).

They decided to let him use my parents' room since it was the only place with a bed. They treated him like a member of the family (more than me), and despite his princely appearance he was very good at farm work.

After finishing his work on the farm, Mr. Jacqui let Salad and Tina deliver eggs to the neighbors. Because of his princely beauty, Salad made the ladies restless and the husbands uncomfortable (probably because they were not as handsome). But Salad was the complete opposite, even though he did not understand the language, he always smiled even though the other husbands did not like it.

Even though it had only been less than a week, he had already adapted to his surroundings. Although the people on the island were still not used to his existence, they had already tacitly accepted him.

Once they had delivered the eggs, the last place they needed to go was the dock, on the dock were three fishing boats used by the locals. And this was also where they would deliver the last batch of eggs, standing on the boat was a man with tanned skin and long black hair. When she saw the man, Tina spoke:

"Uncle Enoch, we brought you the eggs that our grandparents asked us to deliver." The man who was sitting folding the net stood up when he heard the voice. If you looked closely, the man was no more than 40 years old. His body was covered with small scars that made him look more masculine.

"Tina, you came just in time. I have some dried fish here, you can take it back to your grandparents. Salad, I have told the cruise ship drivers about you and they will call the police for you." Even though Salad didn't understand, he still tried to reply with the word "thank you" he learned, seeing that the other two smiled at his effort.

When they finished their task, the two of them decided to go home in time for dinner. Today they would have fish and chips, as well as every time everyone prayed together including Salad (though he had no idea what they were doing). After everyone started eating, (Salad too) while everyone was eating attentively, Mr. Jacqui asked:

"How far have you prepared your speech Tina, our offer still stands. If you don't want to then we will let someone else read the speech for you." The man spoke slowly, hearing that made Mrs. Jacqui become sad, seeing that Salad also stopped eating, but on the contrary, Tina sighed.

"Grandpa, I'm all grown up now, it's time for me to face the truth. And who can give a better speech than me?" After saying that, Tina ate and went back to her room, leaving the three people sitting there eating in amazement.

Tina was still the same, she could only turn on the songs she liked and lie on the bed to listen. Everything became hazy again as Tina once again fell asleep, not knowing that what she had was the calm before the storm and once again the memories she didn't want to see would play out before her eyes.

Pacific Sea

Lying at the bottom of the ocean is full of mysteries besides whale skeletons and plankton. No one really knows too much about it, humans have only been able to explore 5% of the entire ocean so it is not surprising that there are things there that humans cannot describe.

The mystery of the ocean is not only a curiosity to explore but also a fear of the unknown. The ocean is a place full of fear and at the same time, is a place of profound knowledge where the most ferocious and dangerous creatures call home.

Sharks are arguably the most feared creatures in the ocean (though there are actually far more terrifying creatures). And the great white shark is known as the largest predatory shark and one of the master predators of the ocean.

But no one knows that the true tyrant of the ocean should only belong to the true king of sharks, Megalodon, and that is why we are here to witness the majesty of that king. At least the last king.

In the middle of the dark ocean, a red gem floated, surrounded by the corpses of large creatures from whales to small scavengers that lived on the ocean floor. The only thing left was a Megalodon with a body as large as 20 meters, suddenly the gem glowed as the bones of the ocean creatures began to melt like hot magma.

The gem continued to absorb the life essence from those creatures until it exploded with a huge burst of power. The red color from the gem became stronger than ever due to the meal it had, in the center of the gem was a strange little black shadow. It looked towards the shark lord and said:

"Thank you, my friend. Don't worry about my promise that I will definitely help you reclaim this ocean from humans. These things will still have to wait a little longer until I have enough human flesh and blood. So I will give you my friend a little power from "MOM". Come here."

Hearing this, the Megalodon slowly approached the red gem. Although it wanted revenge, it still did not want to put all its trust in the gem. When it got close enough, a source of power from the gem began to surround and flow into the giant shark's body.

The shark's form gradually changed, its body began to grow larger, its scales also turned from blue-gray to blood red. The scars were now replaced by mouths that grew giant teeth, and bones also began to grow out of the skin.

But then that power began to shrink. The once-huge Megalodon was reduced to a 4-meter tall, blood-red, shark-human hybrid. The once distinctive features were gone, leaving only a bloodthirsty monster.

"If you want to become stronger, you need to absorb more human flesh and blood. I can only help you so far, my friend. Now it's time for revenge, my friend."

Hearing that, the shark immediately rushed away with the speed of a swordfish because it simply did not want to miss any moment for its revenge.

When its species was betrayed by humans and angels, when the higher beings decided to exterminate its species. It would make them pay. It would kill everything that belonged to the two of them. It roared a name:

"ADAM!"

Chapter Text

Chapter 9 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 4

*Sneeze*

Salad kept sneezing while helping Mrs. Jacqui with the dishes. He really felt strange sneezing like this because he shouldn't be sick anymore. Seeing Salad keep sneezing made Mrs. Jacqui take over the remaining work to let the sick Salad rest. Mr. Jacqui was making Salad a cup of hot water to help him stop sneezing, they sat down to play chess together (or rather, rematch because Mr. Jacqui still hasn't won a single game against Salad).

In the end, things were still the same, Mr. Jacqui still couldn't win any chess games (this time he improved a little). When Salad felt better, he decided to go to bed to prepare for the new day. When he went up to his room, in the middle of the room was the shadow of a person sitting on the window frame.

It was Tina, she was listening to music with her earphones while looking out the window. Seeing that, Salad could only come closer and sit opposite the other window. Tina didn't react much, she simply started sighing and said:

"I was born on this island, almost my whole life has been tied to the island. When I was seven years old, my parents decided that it would be better for me to move to the mainland. At least if nothing changed, not long after leaving the port, our boat entered a storm and when we realized, it was too late. My parents both died in the storm. I was lucky to be found by Uncle Enoch's boat while he was fishing. Everything became a blur after that, I don't remember much of what happened after that."

Tina said as she remembered what happened on the boat, in the storm, the deadly red light. Tina's face was filled with sadness and emptiness, nothing but a sense of death. That face reminded Salad of the words his wife had said:

"If you make a woman sad, it's best to ignore them and stay a few meters away. And if it's me who's sad, you'd better hold me tight, because if not, I'll eat you."

Salad's mind urged him to follow his wife's advice, but his heart wouldn't allow him to not comfort a sad child. In the end, his heart won out, and with that decision, he hugged Tina gently like a father hugs his daughter.

Tina's face remained unchanged due to surprise but then that indifference changed when a stream of tears began to fall. Tears kept falling as she hugged Salad tightly like a lifebuoy, refusing to let go. Her cries echoed in the room of old memories.

A moment later

Salad was carrying Tina princess style, because after a while of crying she fell asleep, her cheeks were red from crying too much. When they reached the bed, Salad put her down and covered her with a blanket, he left Tina's room and headed to his own.

The room was now empty, the only thing left was a headphone that was still playing music. Seeing that, Salad curiously picked up the headphone to check it out, although he didn't understand all the words being sung, he understood the emotions behind it. The music in this place was really beautiful, everything here was very warm and new, but that made him miss his home even more.

But then Salad felt a chill running down his spine from the sea. It was as if someone wanted to tear him apart, as if surrounded by a school of sharks. To put it simply, perhaps the word "enemy" would be more appropriate, he had relaxed too much in the peace that he had forgotten his own ignorance of the world.

Whatever it was, it was still a threat to everyone on this island. Perhaps even though this was a peaceful place, war would eventually come just like the place he called home. But as a king, he would never let innocent people get involved in this war.

The sky was clear as if a storm was coming. Salad closed his window and lay down on his old bed with his headphones still on. He raised his left hand to the ceiling and looked at his engagement ring with his wife.

"Come invader, let me show you the power of the king of Atlantis."

Tahiti Island (France)

Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia, located in the South Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed by volcanic activity and is surrounded by coral reefs. With a population of 178,133, it is the most populous island of French Polynesia and accounts for 68.6% of the total population of the territory.

Rather, it should have been, the island had lost contact during a storm, making it impossible to leave the island. But for the islanders, this would not have been too much of a concern, as it was not particularly unusual for a location so close to the sea.

But what we once knew as a beautiful island is now just a bunch of broken down houses with blood stains from the walls to the doors. Body parts are strewn everywhere, regardless of gender or age.

The island that was once home to its inhabitants has become a bloody hunting ground. Body parts appear to be half-eaten or riddled with holes as if they were stabbed. Blood flows so profusely that the surrounding waters turn red, attracting countless sharks.

The gunshots continued to ring out, but gradually faded away in the roar of the storm. What remained on land was a blood-red monster strangling a man who was trying to escape from its giant hand.

"These are the descendants of Adam, because of these creatures the angels massacred our species. How ridiculous, these creatures are nothing but weak insects." After saying that the monster crushed the man's body, all that remained was his lower body.

It dumped the body into the nearby waters and ordered the sharks that were holding the body nearby.

"You guys take those corpses back to my friend, the rest you can eat freely." The sharks heard the order, gnawed the corpses in their mouths and disappeared into the bottom of the sea.

After giving the order to the sharks, the monster jumped into the water and started charging straight for its next prey. The storm also started moving with the monster to its next hunting ground.

'I need to become stronger if I want to kill the angels and wipe out humanity, to do that I need more blood.'

Humanity faces extinction once again, the confrontation of two kings will decide the fate of creation.

The Upper Floor of Heaven

An angel was flying quickly through the clouds. The angel looked like an Exorcist but instead of the usual outfit, the outfit was equipped with armor from bottom to top. Instead of wearing a LED mask, the angel wore a helmet.

When she reached a golden palace, she landed straight on the ground. In front of the door were two angels wearing shining golden armor, in their hands were sharp silver spears.

"State your names." The two angels said in cold, mechanical voices.

"Captain of the scout company under Archangel Gabriel." The angel said urgently. As soon as she finished speaking, a voice rang out.

"Come in."

Chapter Text

Chapter 10 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 5

"No, please stop, Salad. We are friends."

"Please Salad if we do this again we won't be able to go back, it hurts. Please stop, it hurts."

The more she spoke, the more Salad's actions became more forceful until Mr. Jacqui's voice was heard.

"I think that's enough Salad, if you keep pushing Tina's arm like that, it will turn to powder." That's right, Salad and Tina were arm wrestling (Tina's idea) and the result was not too surprising as the overwhelming winner was Salad.

"Salad, you won so let go of my hand it's about to break." Tina begged uncomfortably.

Arm wrestling was a favorite sport of children and big men, a way to prove one's strength. In this era, it has become a mainstream sport with professional players and real prizes.

But that only applies to our world, just as our waving gesture is a greeting, elsewhere it can be a gesture of war. For Salad it also has a different meaning.

"My dear, if the whale tribe invites you to arm wrestle, you absolutely must not refuse them because that would be like an act of defaming their strength. You can lose, but you absolutely must not surrender or be lenient with your opponent, whether you win or lose."

And with that thought, Salad decided that he would not make Tina lose face in front of her family, so he would make her lose as quickly as possible. But only when he saw Tina's eyes filled with tears did he remember that the things he had learned did not apply in this place.

Finally, Salad let go of Tina's hand. Tina jerked her arm away from the table quickly. Her arm was red from being pressed down on the table for so long, she tried to blow on her hand as if it was burned.

"You're such a jerk, I told you to stop but you just pushed harder. I'll never play with you again." Tina looked angry, and Salad's face turned sad and guilty. But Mr. Jacqui wouldn't let Salad be unfairly blamed like that.

"I remember that the one who challenged Salad was you, Tina, so don't complain if you lose. Besides, if Salad had used all his strength, your hand would have been turned to powder." It was true that if Salad had wanted to, Tina's hand would have been turned to powder compared to the strength of the whale tribe. But with the patience of a teenager, Tina would not be humiliated.

"Grandpa, he's a man, so he should give in to me. You shouldn't judge by his appearance." After saying that, Tina made the appearance of a weak woman being bullied, which made Salad feel even sadder. Before Mr. Jacqui could say anything, the alarm went off, which only sounded when there was something serious and urgent that needed to be reported.

Jacqui's family quickly walked towards the door and headed towards Uncle Enoch's house, this was where everyone on the island had gathered to hear the emergency announcement. On the way, Tina's hand kept holding Salad's hand. When they arrived, everyone had gathered to hear Uncle Enoch's announcement.

"There is a storm coming in from what I can tell, it is at least a category 3 and probably getting stronger. I think to be safe we should move to the highest ground to get out of the storm."

After hearing Uncle Enoch's words, everyone began to talk, because this was the first case they had ever encountered where a storm suddenly appeared without warning from the mainland. But all the talking disappeared when Mr. Jacqui began to speak.

"I think everyone should move to my place, it's the furthest house and it's built to withstand hurricanes. But we should still gather everything we can in case the storm lasts too long. Does anyone have any ideas for that?"

After listening, everyone decided to go home to get the necessary things and then go to Mr. Jacqui's house. Uncle Enoch and Mr. Jacqui were discussing the problem of the sudden storm. Tina was left standing in a corner, stunned, until she realized that Salad had disappeared.

When Tina ran out, Salad's figure had already started walking towards the sea, although dark clouds could be seen from this direction, signaling that the storm was not far away.

'It's getting too close, if it continues, someone will get hurt. That kind of oppressive power doesn't exist on our continent, it's different but this energy isn't good.' But before Salad could go any further, he was held back by something.

"Let's go Salad, the storm is coming." Tina's hand gripped Salad tightly, not wanting to let go. Salad was just wondering what was going on, at least until the first drop of rain hit his face.

The people also headed towards Mr. Jacqui's house, Tina's hand still holding Salad's hand tightly. In the end, Salad could only give in to Tina's wishes and go home.

At last the islanders gathered in Jacqui's house. They sat and talked as the rain continued to pour down. No one knew that death was creeping up on the island.

'Something is wrong. There aren't many humans here, but there's something strange going on here. Maybe an angel. But it doesn't matter, I'll kill them all the same.' When the monster surfaced, all it saw were abandoned houses and docks, with no one in sight.

The further he went, the more people he felt, but at the same time his instincts told him to run away. A feeling so oppressive that it wanted to drown him in the abyss. He decided to assert himself by attacking the buildings, from his body mouths formed, from them long shark teeth like spears grew. They shot out in all directions around, piercing through the buildings like pieces of tofu.

The shockwave had reached Jacqui's family, even though the storm was still roaring, everyone could feel it. It startled everyone, even Enoch, the bravest of the island, felt a bad premonition. Only Salad sat there with a face that was not surprised, partly because he had already noticed when the monster stepped on the island.

"Maybe a house collapsed in the storm. It was the right choice to evacuate." Although surprised, Uncle Enoch still acted calmly, but if you noticed, his grip on his rifle (used to fight pirates) was tightened.

Tina was also startled, she wasn't too shy but it still startled her. But when she came to her senses something was wrong, the front door was opened 'by the wind?' but then she realized Salad was gone.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 6

Tina panicked and wanted to run straight to the door in the face of the storm, but her hand was pulled back by Mrs. Jacqui.

"What's wrong Tina? Why are you so panicked?"

"Salad, he ran out into the storm when I wasn't looking. I should have paid more attention, I didn't expect him to run away like that."

If Tina knew about Salad's identity, she wouldn't have to worry like that. But in her eyes, Salad was no different from an ordinary person, so her worry was completely justified.

"Let me go find him, he probably just wants to check the commotion just now." Uncle Enoch, as the known hero of the island, volunteered to look for Salad in the storm that continued to roar.

"Uncle Enoch please take me with you, I'm afraid his mental state has become bad before the storm, he won't care about what you say." Tina begged her grandparents and Uncle Enoch to let her go find Salad.

Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Jacqui decided to let Tina leave with Enoch to go find Salad. After being fully equipped with raincoats and flashlights, they followed Salad's footprints in the mud to find him.

Meanwhile the monster had gotten close enough to sense the direction of the survivors but then when he looked in that direction he saw a figure approaching him. He was surprised because this was the first time he saw a person not afraid but slowly approaching him.

The figure drew closer and closer until they were finally less than 6 meters apart. The surprise caused the monster to forget to attack its target. Their eyes met, one was the bloodlust of an unjustly treated race, the other was the calm amber eyes of the day before the storm.

"Quite a praise for a human who shows no fear when facing the king of the sea, you are perhaps the only being who can live up to the name of a descendant of the sinful Adam." Before the monster could finish speaking, the figure spoke to it in a strange language.

"Descendants of the whale tribe, I don't know why you called the storm and attacked innocent humans. But don't you remember the treaty signed by all the sea tribes under the witness of the sea dragon god." Even though he knew it was too late since the monster's body was covered in the smell of blood. Salad, as a king, wanted to understand everything before attacking. But to the monster, the words it heard were no different from those of a madman.

"Perhaps I overestimated you, you are just a madman." From the palm of its hand a mouth opened, and from it a long fang appeared as long as a spear. It aimed straight at the head of the madman in front of it. But before it could attack, a gunshot rang out, causing it to stop its attack.

It was Enoch and Tina who witnessed the monster's appearance that was about to attack Salad. Enoch opened fire at the monster, hoping to kill it, but the bullet bounced off its skin. Before Salad could turn his face to look at the sound of the gunfire, he was punched and sent flying to the buildings on the left. Tina could only call out Salad's name in despair, while Enoch continued to fire at the monster.

To show true desperation, the monster let Enoch continuously fire bullets at it while it slowly raised its arm to shoot its fangs at the two of them. Luckily with Enoch's agility he pushed the two of them to the right but the tree was not so lucky as the fangs punched holes in the trees in its path.

Tina felt her body shaking with fear as the monster's killing intent was now aimed at the two of them. She felt like she was lying in the middle of the ocean surrounded by hundreds of sharks as her life could be taken away at any moment. Enoch who pushed Tina from death was affected by the vibration of the fang as it scratched, causing him to faint.

Tina mustered up all her courage to pick up the gun to at least buy time for everyone on the island to wait for a miracle. But when she pulled the trigger, the bullets were gone. Witnessing Tina's strong will, the monster would give her a quick death.

"Maybe what I think about humans is wrong. Or maybe it's just that you can't beg because of fear. But it doesn't matter, you'll still die all the same." It raised its arm that had already hit Salad, a long tooth sprouting from it, and aimed it straight at Tina.

But before it could attack, it noticed something was wrong with its arm, or rather, after it attacked the human. His hand was swollen as if it had punched a large rock. At first, it thought it was just its imagination, but now it couldn't deny it anymore. But in the end, it still chose to prioritize attacking the prey in front of it.

When the fang shot towards Tina everything seemed to slow down from her life when she was little and had her parents. To the days when she missed her parents, cried until she had no more tears, to the times her grandparents cooked her favorite pancakes, to the times when Uncle Enoch and she grilled fish by the beach.

Even the closest memories were of meeting him who changed Tina's world. But everything came to an end when the flow of time finally returned to normal and everything suddenly disappeared.

All that remained was the roar of the storm. Sadly, that was not the end the monster had hoped for.

When its attack was only a few centimeters away from Tina, it was shattered into pieces. Rather, it was because it collided with something too hard that it shattered into pieces due to inertia.

Tina couldn't believe her eyes as the fang that was just a few centimeters away slowly crumbled away. In front of her were large scales stacked on top of each other to form a hexagonal shield less than 50 centimeters long.

The noise came from inside the building the monster had knocked Salad into. It was Salad slowly walking out onto the main street.

Salad's clothes were torn by the monster's punch, but his body did not show any injuries.

Tina's face went from absolute fear to a happy one as she witnessed Salad's safety. Meanwhile, the monster could only wonder at the completely normal appearance of the one he thought was dead.

He decided to confirm the truth before his eyes, from his back mouths opened from them fangs flew straight towards Salad. The fangs moved so fast that Tina didn't even realize that Salad was being attacked.

The fangs moved quickly towards Salad but even though they touched his body they still couldn't penetrate, they shattered when overwhelmed by the force of inertia.

Salad's face didn't change even as he faced those terrible attacks. His clothes became more and more torn. He turned his eyes towards the monster and started walking towards it, his tattered clothes suddenly burst into a blue flame.

The monster felt like it was being strangled by something, with every step the human took. If the monster killing intent was a school of sharks circling its prey, then the killing intent coming from the human was like making it like one of the tunas in the mouth of a giant sea monster, just waiting for it to close its mouth.

The tattered clothes were completely burned by the blue flames, replaced by the Roman Toga he used to wear, the scales that formed a shield to protect Tina also returned to the clothes. The golden laurel crown appeared along with his outfit.

The ring on his ring finger also began to change its shape. It was like a liquid metal that steadily changed shape. Once it took shape, it took the shape of a long silver trident, a red gem located at the tip of the trident. Around the body of the trident was the image of a sea serpent wrapped around the weapon.

"I gave you a chance to explain your actions and surrender. But if you are sure of your decision, then I won't bother trying to show you my mercy." While Salad's left arm was holding a trident, his right hand was holding a ball of water that continuously absorbed the raindrops that kept falling.

The monster completely gave up on attacking, its mouth opened this time and instead of shooting out fang bullets, it became a solid shield. The water ball in Salad's hand grew smaller instead of getting bigger, it was now only the size of a tennis ball. But before Salad attacked, he still wanted to say something to the monster.

"Oh, and I should also remind you of something. If my wife were here, she would have lost her temper and beaten me up for not teaching you a lesson. But the next time you see a king, you should…"

"Kneel"

The water ball in Salad's hand shot straight towards the monster. When it collided, it broke through the monster's defenses and hit the monster straight on. With a tremendous force, it sent the monster flying into the sea.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 7

The attack sent the monster tumbling into the sea, leaving Tina standing there staring at the unconscious Enoch and Salad walking towards her. When he was close enough, Salad bent down to Tina's eye level, and patted her head as a way to praise her for her courage.

It was then that the islanders ran out, hearing Enoch's gunshots, including Mr. and Mrs. Jacqui. They gathered around Tina and Enoch, while Salad turned and walked towards the sea. But then Tina's voice called out.

"Salad please come back." That was the line Tina chose, she knew she couldn't do anything to help him right now, so saying goodbye was the only thing she could do. But when he heard Tina's words Salad's face went from angry to gentle with a smile on his lips, "Okay" a short but affectionate answer.

A giant column of water appeared from under Salad's feet and then his image disappeared from the islanders.

Meanwhile, the monster was still in shock as the attack not only shattered its defenses but also pushed it out to sea. Although the attack did not cause any bloodshed, it could feel its ribs breaking.

Its body started to recover, this was probably the blessing it received from "MOM" through its friend. Finally its body touched the bottom of the sea, it put all its strength into its legs and with just one kick it shot straight up to the surface.

When it surfaced, its enemy was already waiting on the dock. He stepped into the water, but his body did not sink, it was as if he was standing on normal ground. It reminded it of the miracle worker who had lived here, although it had never met him, but he was said to be a god in a human body.

But it also realized that it was now in the perfect environment for sharks to fight. It roared loudly enough for the islanders to hear, but its purpose was not to threaten but rather to call for help.

From the bottom of the sea, a school of sharks up to hundreds of them surrounded Salad, forming an absolute deadly spiral. But that did not bother Salad, he only focused on the opponent in front of him.

Once again mouths opened all over the monster's body from which giant red fangs emerged. It shot out in all directions around, making no distinction between friend or foe.

So it was no surprise that the attack also hit the sharks. On the contrary, the monster's attacks didn't even cause Salad to react at all.

The water turned red from the blood of the sharks, but the sharks continued to swim, creating a ghostly spiral. In that situation, Salad also decided to counterattack with a water bullet.

Before the attack could take shape it was broken by a long fang. This startled Salad as the direction of the shot was not from the monster. And then once again a strike aimed straight at Salad's head was launched but was luckily blocked by the scales.

This time Salad understood that the attacks came from different directions. His gaze turned towards the direction of the attack, perhaps he was right, in front of him was a mutated shark. From its mouth was a spear made of long fangs aimed straight at him.

Now looking closely, Salad was surrounded by mutated sharks without realizing it. This was also the bet that the monster had made.

'As expected, I can transfer my power to my subordinates through these teeth. But that might just be temporary until I run out of energy.' It roared loudly this time the sharks opened their mouths simultaneously, long fangs appearing from them aimed straight at the enemy.

In just a second, Salad's surroundings were covered with long spears, but even with that pressure, he didn't show any fear. He spun the trident in his hand and slammed the tip of the trident into the water.

[Columna maris]

A pillar of water appeared around him at the same time nullifying the attacks that were coming at him. Seeing that the monster ordered the shark to continuously focus fire in that direction, wanting to buy time to weaken and kill the enemy when it had the chance.

But it also doesn't understand that its opponent is doing the same thing to buy time.

'The mana pool I can access without my wife (Sea dragon queen) here is probably more limited than I thought. Even though we fought in a suitable environment, continuing like this will endanger everyone on the island. Okay, then let's end this as soon as possible.'

Outside the monster saw that Salad's defenses were weakening, it decided not to let the human live any longer. This time it went straight down to the bottom of the sea, mouths began to open around its body. It gained momentum and shot straight up to the surface like a bullet.

Its movement speed is on par with a cannonball, while rushing towards its target it continuously turns around creating a drill strong enough to pierce through large rocks.

And in just a second the monster's attack had already reached Salad's water curtain. Just like that its attack slowly began to pierce through Salad's defense until finally the fangs surrounding its body were broken but its hand grabbed and tore the enemy's barrier.

Its fingers were being torn apart by the water pillar but it continued to use all its strength to break the barrier. After much effort it had created a hole the size of a human head but when the hole opened what it saw called for it to run immediately. But it was too late.

Salad once again spun his trident, this time it was in his right hand. His left hand touched the spear and blue energy radiated from it. His left hand moved away from the spear and with it the blue energy followed his fingers like a path.

Once the preparations were complete, he gripped the trident tightly and threw it forward. The monster could only let go of the water curtain and raise its arm to block, but the trident was too fast and in one motion it went straight for the monster's heart.

[Aqua hasta magicae: vena oceani]

The monster's hand grabbed the trident shaft but it was too late, as the weapon had already pierced through its flesh and was slowly making its way towards its heart. Around its chest, mouths opened from which fangs gathered to prevent the trident from going any further.

Due to the force of inertia, the monster's body was pushed back, its body continuously jumped on the water surface and gradually pushed down to the sea surface. As time went on, the weapon penetrated deeper and deeper, only a few centimeters away from the heart. Seeing that stopping the weapon was too difficult, it decided to at least change its attack direction.

Gathering all of its strength it slowly pushed the weapon towards the left and then with the final impact it successfully redirected the attack. The price for redirecting the attack was that its left arm was taken away.

That didn't stop the trident either as it continued forward but then it started to turn back towards the monster.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 8

The trident after having taken the monster's arm it did not stop moving but started turning back towards the monster again. This time the monster was more prepared as it kicked hard and launched towards Salad at the same time it let out a loud roar attracting the sharks to swim towards it.

On this side, Salad was still standing still because the sharks had left. He was trying to concentrate as much as possible. A blue light appeared on Salad's left finger like flowing water. Every movement of his finger affected the movement of the the sharks being pierced, the monster had no time to think of anything other than how to prolong its life even for a second. It roared again as the sharks swimming towards the trident suddenly had long bones growing from their bodies.

Salad was like a conductor conducting an orchestra. The trident moved like a musician following the given commands and tearing apart the sharks that got in its way.

Seeing the sharks being pierced, the monster had no time to think of anything other than how to prolong its life even for a second. It roared again as the sharks swimming towards the trident suddenly had long bones growing from their bodies.

They used themselves as shields to block the trident's pursuit. It was a good plan to use the sharks as a sensory shield with long, hard bones that would slow down the trident. This was only a good plan when the monster was fighting a rookie and that was where it went wrong.

On Salad's side, he also realized the monster's plan to stall for time, so he immediately changed his finger gestures. The trident also felt the command that this was its master's finishing blow. Before colliding with the shark shields, the tridents began to spin, surrounded by a glowing blue energy.

It was like a sharp saw cutting through the monster's entire defenses.

[Aqua hasta magicae: vidit ferrum]

This time Salad's attack cut through the sharks like butter. The element of surprise in the attack caused the monster to only create bones to block the attack from advancing. And in just a moment the monster had taken the full brunt of the attack.

It could feel its bones being cut apart, its lower body was severed. The attack successfully cut the monster in two, which turned the water red with blood. The trident, having completed its mission, began to fly back towards Salad, leaving behind the monster's corpse surrounded by sharks.

This was also what decided the battle, at least that's what Salad thought.

The trident returned to Salad's hand once more, his body finally relaxing. Although he didn't appear to have any injuries on the surface, he was also reaching his limit with his limited mana. This was also the reason why his fighting style was so limited.

Salad's role in battle is support, defense and long-ranged attacks, while his wife (sea dragon queen) will focus on widespread destruction and moving around the battlefield. That's why he can barely move much in battle otherwise he will reduce his defense power.

Weather and location were also major deciding factors in the battle as if it was in a place without water or too far from the sea he would have been at a greater disadvantage. But luckily the battle ended without much issue, at least it should have.

The monster was seriously wounded and was on the verge of death. This was the last vestige of the Megalodon, the lord of the seas.

But how could it accept that ending when the descendants of the sinner continued to exist, when they were the ones who destroyed the "paradise" of all living creatures.

As a final protest, it let out a loud roar that created a small ripple in the water. Its body opened hundreds of mouths even at the wounded places, from its eyes to its bones.

It was like a water balloon about to burst due to the pressure of its body continuously expanding. But it had no intention of dying together with its opponent, it needed more energy. Seeing that, the sharks also rushed forward to use themselves as part of the monster's energy.

Before he could regain much of his strength, Salad sensed the monster's rapidly increasing power, which meant that the finishing blow had failed. That didn't stop him from launching a second finishing blow, but before he could attack, he received an attack on his body.

It was a long fang! No, fangs combined to form a destructive drill. Being unprepared, the blow sent him straight back to the opposite side of the island when he thought it couldn't get worse the fangs started glowing and then *Boom* Salad disappeared.

The monster's form had changed from humanoid to nothing more than a 30 meter megalodon, its body sprouting hundreds of mouths with deformed bones growing all over its body.

At this moment, his mind was filled with nothing but hatred and the cries of the ocean creatures. Although he had obtained absolute power, it was at the cost of his own mind.

[Chimera Transformation: Deep Sea Madness]

On this side, Salad had promptly ordered his scales to form a shield, but his body still received the shock and fell into a state of unconsciousness. Currently, his body is sinking into the ocean.

With the blessing of the sea dragon, drowning was impossible for him, even though he was unconscious, he still held the trident firmly in his hand.

Lying in the embrace of the water reminded him of the days before he became a king, before he became the guardian of the sea dragon queen.

"Hey, if you want to help me win the war, you should focus a little." A gorgeously dressed girl said with a haughty look, annoyed at the man's weakness. Meanwhile, the man continued to focus on his trident to perform his magic.

Despite hearing the woman's cruel words, he never gave up because he understood how much of a failure he was. That was also the reason why he didn't want to accept the truth, he wanted to try harder for the villagers, for the promise he made to the woman.

But in the end he still couldn't hold on and fell to the ground, his breathing was rapid due to the continuous training. Seeing that scene, the woman started to approach but instead of teasing or being annoyed with the man, she just looked at the man and said.

"You can give up, this battle is something humans should not have gotten involved in, in the first place. This is a problem that the sea tribe caused and should be solved by themselves." The girl bent down to pick up the trident from the man's hand. But then her movement stopped, it was the man's hand that was holding the trident tightly and not letting go.

"Again." The man said firmly, this made the woman freeze for a few seconds before a smile appeared on her annoyed face.

"Okay, honey."

Salad opened his eyes resolutely, he used both hands to grip the trident tightly. The energy of the trident began to spread out in the vast ocean, the ruby glowing intensely.

This was his counter move.

[Vocate aquam draconis]

Chapter Text

Chapter 14 :  Eye of the Storm - Part 9

Tina knew she shouldn't do this, but she still didn't want to leave Salad to face that monster. Even though Salad had disappeared, she knew where Salad was heading. It was the sea.

She ran with all her might towards the sea, ignoring the howling storm as she continued to run. Her vision was blocked, but she could still see Salad standing on the water, still holding his trident in his hand. But then for a minute, he seemed to disappear, and then a huge explosion occurred in the distance.

She still held onto Enoch's gun tightly in her hand, hoping that Salad wouldn't be the one to get hit by the explosion. When she looked back, she couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her was a shark with a giant body and hundreds of mouths. But its eyes were directed towards the explosion, it slowly moved towards it as if it wanted to finish off its prey, an animal instinct.

Tina understood the monster wanted to destroy its enemy, she understood too well that she wanted to run away from here to get someone to come help. Even though that was what her instincts screamed at her, she still couldn't run away. Then she remembered his eyes, the one who promised to come back just like her parents who promised that everything would be okay.

This time she won't run away.

She ran to the remaining ships at the dock, she chose Uncle Enoch's boat even though she had never sailed before but he had given her some brief instructions. She pushed the boat to maximum power, since the monster was only moving slowly towards the explosion, she still had time to prepare.

She took the ropes tied to the rudder, she moved to the front of the boat where the main engine of the boat was. She used her dress as a fire starter and the lighter available on the boat, after putting the flaming cloth on the engine it started to make the fuel burn, creating a small fire.

The ship continued to charge forward despite being repeatedly hit by the waves that seemed to tear it apart. The fire attracted the monster's attention, causing it to stop moving. But it couldn't let the ship get any closer, it shot its fangs piercing the ship.

But even so, the ship continued to move forward without stopping. This time it fired all its fangs and successfully sank the ship. Fortunately, Tina had long since jumped into the water, but another problem arose.

She was being engulfed by the waves, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape. Then a glowing blue light spread across the sea, it was so bright that it made her instinctively close her eyes.

When she realized it, she was already in the air, or rather her body was in Salad's arms.

His eyes are still the same but now there is a slight change, the color of his eyes from amber now has a bit of blue in them his eyes have a small vertical line like the eyes of a snake.

Now that Tina looked closely, she saw that they were standing on a giant column of water that was at least 30 meters high. The column of water constantly rotated like a tornado but it seemed more tame. The shape of the column of water was like something out of a fairy tale book.

It looked like a biblical creature her grandmother had mentioned with a long body, like a dragon. It was the Leviathan of legend.

If Tina really knew that the Leviathan she mentioned in legends, known as the tyrant of the ocean, was just a demon with two snake heads that only knew how to envy each other. Then who knows how disappointed the girl would be. But at least she didn't need to worry about that because the sea monster in front of her was already troublesome enough.

The monster sensed the threat from the sea dragon. It shot all its fangs at its enemy, but before they could reach Salad and Tina, they exploded continuously as if they had hit a wall.

Learning from her experience, not letting those fangs get close enough to explode, Salad split the small scales and scattered them in all directions. Causing the exploding fangs to not be able to get close.

The monster also understood that its attacks were no longer effective on its enemies, in its head were thousands of angry roars, it no longer knew what to do. But then the light from the trident was shining into its eyes.

But instead of feeling angry, that light somehow made his mind at ease. It turned out that the light was a message from his enemy, without any evil intentions in it, wanting him to give up.

But he and the other side both understood that would never happen.

With all the remaining strength in its body, it grew hundreds of long fangs soaked in flesh and blood, on them were red veins that seemed ready to explode at any moment.

Salad understood that this attack would be the last move for both sides. He used his left hand to raise the trident high in the air, even though his right hand was holding Tina, he still focused on the finishing blow.

The water dragon began to open its mouth, revealing a blue ball of fire inside. It continuously absorbed power from the trident and slowly grew larger until it reached its maximum size.

Then in a moment both of them launched the final attack of the battle. The shark's body surged like a giant drill tearing apart everything in its path, while the blue fire looked gentle but even getting close to it made the sea surface boil.

[Fangs of blood vengeance] / [Spiritus aquae draconis]

There was a loud explosion that shook everything around her, so loud that Tina had to close her eyes and cover her ears. When everything was over, Tina didn't dare open her eyes even though she knew who won with the proof that she was alive.

When she opened her eyes, the only thing left was the monster's charred body, only the lower part was still burning. The blue flames were still burning, burning the remaining part of the monster, the attack had made the sea surface boil to the point of constantly smoking.

Salad's eyes were sad but he still showed his certainty. Everything seemed to be standing still until Tina heard people on the island calling them. Salad immediately controlled the water dragon to approach the island, he turned the trident into a ring and seriously picked up Tina with both hands (Tina blushed but did not refuse) and jumped to the ground.

When he got down to the ground he let Tina down, seeing her grandparents made Tina's tears continuously flow. Finally maybe her fear finally caught up as she once again returned to the arms of her family.

Salad could only stand far away, not daring to get any closer. Seeing the image of everyone surrounding him reminded him of when he was still at home. While he was still standing there, he felt a hand grab his.

It was Tina, even though her eyes were still filled with tears, she understood who had saved everyone on the island. She also wanted that person to be praised. When the villagers realized Tina's actions, they also came forward to cheer for the warrior's victory.

Salad's face changed from indifferent to visibly happy. He responded to everyone with a few words that he understood as "Thank you" to respond to everyone's compliments.

'You've grown up, Tina.' Uncle Enoch stood aside, watching the crowd cheering for Salad and Tina. It reminded him of the day the baby was born, the day he became an uncle, the day he still had his little sister by his side.

Little did everyone know that on the shark's body a gaze was watching them.

[InNn…TEerREsS….TIiNgG]

Then the eye closed and disappeared from the monster's body which was slowly being burned by the flames.

The final battle had ended, leaving behind a bloody battlefield that would forever be etched into the island's history. The storm had not yet left, but for now, things had temporarily calmed down. The eye of the storm created a clear sky filled with the sunlight of a new day, a hopeful future.

But it is also just a step towards destruction.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15 : A monster - Part 1

Japan is known as a developed country where the beauty of tradition and the advancement of science and technology are in harmony. Known as the paradise of anime and cosplay fans, here everyone can find what they need and what they think is unnecessary.

Known to have a very low crime rate compared to the world average of 568,104 cases. This is perhaps only partly true as Japan in recent years has seen a rapid increase in crime.

Today was no different from any other day, in that another murder had occurred. No, it was more like a serial murder, because due to the brutal nature of the event, the entire park was put on lockdown.

The case took place at Kanagawa Green Park, there were a total of 5 dead people including 4 men and 1 woman. The men's bodies were chopped into pieces by something sharp, while the woman's body (or rather what was left) had lost important parts, only 1 leg remained and the body had lost all internal organs.

The interesting thing is that there was no camera recording, rather all the cameras were suddenly broken so they did not leave any images (although they were working normally before). The special thing is that the woman's body was full of teeth marks that when tested did not match any type of animal.

The only thing the investigators could figure out was that it had a slight resemblance to a human. The case hit a dead end once again, and the police are now offering a reward for any possible leads.

"You're still researching the case, Kindaichi." A policeman said in a joking voice.

"Can't you just shut up and let me think for a bit, Toma?" The person called Kindaichi replied in an annoyed tone.

"It can't be helped since this case is too difficult to solve. I still don't understand why Captain Shinichi assigned us to investigate such a difficult case." Toma replied with a bored expression.

Kindaichi knows, because they are a perfect pair who have solved countless difficult cases.

But this time they really felt like they were at a dead end, everything was too open with too many illogical factors that could not be explained by science. In the end, after looking through countless documents and not getting much clues, they decided to go to LeaF ramen to eat.

Even on the way there, the two continued to discuss the case. There were a few points, such as the fact that the men were acquaintances or that the woman's uniform suggested that she had a part-time job. But that said nothing about the method of the crime or the killer's ultimate goal.

They continued to discuss the incident while eating, and when they left they still couldn't figure out anything more. Kindaichi and Toma decided to start investigating further tomorrow morning, and they split up to go home.

Having said that, Kindaichi still had no intention of going home, and once again headed back to the office to conduct further investigation.

'Perhaps reviewing the evidence will help me realize more elements of the case.' Kindaichi still did not want to give up, at least until he found new clues. He was so focused on thinking that he did not realize that he and the murderer had crossed paths.

Even though he didn't look closely, he still remembered the features like his long, messy hair, wearing a flimsy, oversized cloak, not wearing any shoes, and his body giving off an unpleasant smell that was hard to describe in words.

But perhaps the most noticeable thing was his black eyes, which looked like a pure black color with no light escaping them. Inside those eyes was a light purple color that seemed to highlight his eyes even more.

'What's wrong with the youth these days, running around dressed up in cosplay. It's really embarrassing for the country.' His comment was only true when he applied the standards to normal people, but unfortunately, the thing in front of him was not.

This isn't the last time they'll meet, but the next time they won't be as strangers, but as rivals (this only applies to Kindaichi, the boy doesn't care).

If Kindaichi goes back to where he is working, the one he is chasing goes to his next hunting spot.

Once the young man was out of sight, he jumped lightly into the air. And in that single jump he landed on a nearby rooftop.

He continued to move between rooftops quickly.

His scenery changed after a while of moving, from the houses now changed to a vast forest. In the middle of the forest was a small lake no more than 10 meters, with creatures gathering around to drink water.

The deer followed the herd, even small creatures like chipmunks all drank water. That was before they heard a noise behind them, stepping out was a huge black bear with a body full of scars. When it came, all the creatures were scared and retreated.

It was the lord of this mountain, or rather it had been. For when it smelled a familiar scent it had turned its back to the trees, it was the scent of the city rather than the scent of people.

But something was wrong as the scent was accompanied by the scent of blood, or rather a lot of blood. When the humans stepped out from the trees, the animals could only see a monster covered in blood. They stood still because they knew that running away was impossible.

Ignoring them, the human took off his cloak and jumped straight into the water. After a while he surfaced with fish in his hands and even another fish in his mouth.

He jumped straight onto the shore to the amazement of the animals and began devouring the fish without cleaning them.

But after eating for a while, the kid suddenly raised his arm towards the bear. Thinking that he wanted to kill him, the bear tried to fight back, but the human only wanted to give him the fish. At first, the bear hesitated, but in the end, because of hunger, it gave in and ate.

Finally the animals stopped worrying about the human and started to lie down and sleep.

The moon lit up the whole sky, the bear lay there with its belly full of food lying on its fur, the human who had shared the food with it. The human still looked up at the sky that was sparkling with stars.

These were probably the rare times he was free without having to return to the organization. It seemed like the organization had lost the ability to track him, but that didn't mean the "dead walkers" would disappear.

Even though they weren't enemies he knew, he would kill them all the same. Even after eating, his stomach still felt uncomfortable, that small meal could only satisfy him a little. He knew that killing the fish more than necessary would lead to a decrease in the fish population in the pond, affecting other feeding creatures.

He tried to close his eyes and ignore the hunger.

"You did very well A.02. Go back to your room to rest, we will call you when we need to do research." That was the scene of a female doctor or as everyone called her "Doctor", checking the battle data that the intelligence team gathered from the dead walkers.

"What else do you need A.02?" The doctor said coldly, but in front of that familiar scene, A.02 just turned around and went back to his room to rest.

Once again he returned to his room, it was a room with walls. This was where he had been since he had been conscious, the room was kept clean the only thing special was probably the models placed on a table near his bed.

It was a gift from an employee of the organization, it belonged to the thing that person called "little brother", after he killed an enemy. Although he didn't understand, he still wanted to keep it in a place where he could see it. Seeing him take care of the model given to him helped the employees know his interests, they used that point to give him new models.

And they were scolded a lot by the leader, but A.02 liked the models he was given so much, that they allowed him to keep them.

Perhaps even just a little, he really missed his "home", missed the staff in the organization, missed the models placed on the table. Perhaps in his heart he also missed the Doctor.

But he also knew this place needed help, as long as the "dead walkers" existed, he would still be a monster.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16 : A  monster - Part 2

Toma wasn't really surprised to see Kindaichi working through the night like this, what surprised him was that he fell asleep while working. The soda cans were piled up along with the ashtray full of cigarettes.

Hearing the door open, Kindaichi sat up, looking exhausted.

"You really know that doing that isn't good for your health, right." Toma tried to joke first at Kindaichi's annoyed expression.

"Even after spending the whole night, I still couldn't find any more information." Kindaichi said with a tired and annoyed expression. But then the phone rang, making them suddenly jump in surprise. Toma instinctively picked it up and answered.

Finally after a while, Toma put the landline phone back in its place and looked towards Kindaichi and said.

"Here's some good news, we've found out the woman's background. Her name is Kaia Miko, and she lives alone in a small apartment 50 meters away from the crime scene. She has no outstanding life, no criminal record, the only thing we know is that she has been with many men, according to the neighbors." Along with that were the names of the men.

"Then we will find the men so we can ask for more information. Perhaps one of the men is the culprit of this case." After saying that, Kindaichi immediately took the list of names to look up on the computer.

Knowing that having a name alone is not enough, they will narrow down the recent search area to get more specific information.

Little did they know that their pursuit would lead them to even greater secrets. But for now, he still wouldn't be able to find the culprit.

Ota, Tokyo

His stomach was always growling with hunger, he had used up too much energy by constantly moving without eating or drinking anything. Although he was hungry, with what he had learned from his caretaker, he also understood that stealing or killing innocent people was not okay.

While hunger still tormented him, he continued to walk around a neighborhood full of people. His way of dressing made people think he was a cosplayer, so no one paid him any attention.

He finally came to a small park with slides and swings and children playing. They were holding food like burgers and cream puffs, which made his hungry stomach even hungrier.

He chose a bench to sit down on, he decided he would sit here in the hopes of finding something to eat.

As he sat there for a while, a child wearing a mask suddenly ran up to him. The child was wearing a popular superhero mask, and he started doing the "Henshin" transformation and fighting poses of a superhero.

"You monster, prepare to receive a blow from this masked knight." The child threw a punch at A.02, but it was nothing more than a scratch. On the contrary, A.02 did not understand what was happening, but he knew how to respond.

He stood up and made a scary pose of a monster, not understanding but he still tried to act out the role of superhero movies as much as possible. In the end, the kid jumped up and kicked A.02, receiving the kick he pretended to flip over as if seriously injured.

The masked hero eventually won against the monster, but after the battle ended, a figure of a woman with blonde hair ran over. She carried a cloth bag containing cooking ingredients.

"Bjorn, you had fun playing just now." She bent down and used her handkerchief to wipe the boy's face, which reminded A.02 of the actions of the care staff whenever he went through the tests.

After wiping all the sweat off the child, she turned to look and said to A.02

"Thank you so much for playing with my child. Here, please take this." The woman took out a small, carefully wrapped cake from the packaging.

A.02 received it with great appreciation but after receiving it, the child immediately stood near him and raised a fist as if waiting for something.

"Gbo-fist" The boy kept repeating that word over and over again, only until A.02 held his hand and touched his hand did the boy stop and run towards his mother.

The sky had turned dark as the sunlight had set, everything was replaced by dim lights. In his hand was still the cake that he was given, although he was hungry, he still wanted to admire it.

He didn't know how long it had been since he had been sitting there alone. Still sitting there with the cake in his hand, until he smelled a familiar scent of prey.

In a single second, A.02's figure disappeared.

It was the figure of a woman walking down the deserted street, she walked leisurely until she heard footsteps approaching behind her.

Seeing that, the woman immediately turned her head towards her footsteps and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the person walking closer to him was a teenage boy.

"What are you doing here at this hour, little boy? Don't you know it's dangerous to go out at night? Why don't I take you to my place to stay?" The woman said in a gentle and seductive tone.

If this was said to any man, they would jump at the chance immediately. But A.02 didn't care, he just stood there as if waiting for something. Then in a second he disappeared into the night, or rather, he rushed straight towards the woman.

Before the woman could react, his arm had pierced her heart. His arms and legs were covered in black armor stained red with the woman's blood.

"Wh…y?" Before she could say anything more, A.02's remaining arm had already cut off the woman's head.

The woman died without any reaction, only a few thoughts remained in her mind.

'Mon…ster.'

Those were the last thoughts that ran through the woman's mind. The woman's body collapsed to the ground, her severed head falling no more than 2 meters to the left.

No one could understand why A.02 decided to attack the woman, perhaps because his senses told him so or because he was so hungry that he went crazy.

These things have marked the change of the world, so let's see if he will become a hero or a monster. The line between the two is much blurrier than you think.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17 : A  monster - Part 3

'It's tiring, every answer leads to a dead end.' Kindaichi and Toma investigated everything they could about Kaia Miko but things kept coming up against dead ends over and over again.

First of all, her background, although she legally has all the necessary documents, is lacking too much history, her existence is so vague that it is hard to believe. Not to mention the names that the woman knew either suddenly disappeared or were confirmed dead not long after.

An unsolved mystery, the more they investigate the more they sink into the mysterious mud.

At least until the phone rang. Toma tiredly lay down on the table, leaving everything to Kindaichi. The phone call wouldn't last long, but it would lead them to new evidence.

After hearing that, Kindaichi's gloomy face turned into a smug smile.

"Wake up Toma, we should be catching up soon." Kindaichi said, taking a sip of coffee and quickly heading towards the door. Seeing this, Toma could only smile sadly.

A moment later

Once again the killer struck, resulting in the body being missing parts like the internal organs, limbs, and head being taken away. What was left behind was only the torso and bones, which made the theory of a predatory animal become absurd when the parts were lost so selectively.

It was a murder case targeting women, but beyond the target being a woman, the perpetrators were beyond what humans are capable of.

As strange as it was, there were more clues this time, the most special of which was that there was a camera facing this direction.

But even so, apart from the image of the woman entering the park, there was nothing else to show for it, and things came to a standstill as there was still nothing to open the door.

"Are you kidding me, we still can't find the answer in the end." Toma said helplessly.

Meanwhile, Kindaichi continued to watch the video seriously. Although there was nothing yet, this was the best they had.

"I need to catch my breath, do you want me to buy you some water?" Toma asked but Kindaichi was only focused on watching the video. Seeing that determination, Toma could only leave on his own.

Kindaichi couldn't understand what he was investigating. There were too many things in the case, from the behavior to the method of the crime, what exactly were they investigating?

The only thing Kindaichi is wrong about is that he is still limited to what is possible for normal humans.

At least until he finally gives up that limitation.

'Everything is so absurd from a human perspective. Yes, from a human perspective.' Kindaichi looked at his palm for a moment, then started the video at 0.1x slow speed.

Finally, after so much effort, he got the result he wanted.

It was a shadow that passed by, perhaps because it was so fast that he thought it was just an insect flying by, but now with the slow speed, he saw that the culprit was a human.

The image quality of the cheap camera made it difficult to identify the perpetrator's face, but one thing was easily recognizable even though it was not clear. The perpetrator of the case had the body of a teenager, with distinctive black hair, and he was wearing a dark green cloak.

This made Kindaichi's brain immediately recall the image of him and the young man meeting. How could he forget that special scent, a scent filled with unpleasantness, a strange rusty smell like…

'Blood'

Perhaps because of fatigue or anger, Kindaichi completely failed to realize that the unpleasant scent on the young man was the smell of blood that had dried over time.

'Damn it! I let my fatigue affect my reasoning. And now we've let the real murderer escape.' The more Kindaichi thought about it, the angrier he became.

Kindaichi immediately stood up and hurried out the door. But before he could leave, Toma, who had just returned from buying water, stood in front of him.

"Hey, where are you going? I just bought some water."

"Go catch the killer. Get in the car and I'll explain."

After saying that, Kindaichi immediately ran away, leaving Toma stunned for a moment before immediately running after his partner.

At another place

'Today is a terrible day. Why does this have to happen to me!'

Before she could finish her thought, something hit the woman in the back.

It was A.02 who continued to hunt the prey before his eyes, different from his usual calm demeanor. This time, from A.02's body, an unusually intimidating aura of absolute hatred continuously emanated.

A.02's attack left the girl's back scratched by A.02's claw-like hand. But despite her body being covered in blood, the girl continued to run with all her might.

But unlike every other time, A.02 did not use its speed to take down its prey, but instead let it continue to run away. Realizing that the distance between the predator and herself was getting farther and farther, even if only for a moment, she was happy.

At least before seeing the killer was right in front of her eyes.

Before she knew it, something had crossed the woman's face.

Then gradually everything seemed to slow down as blood continuously flowed down the woman's face. The surprise made her hug her face in pain and scream. A.02's claws took away one eye and the woman's beautiful face.

However, A.02's face showed no sign of concern as he left the woman in pain and despair instead of giving her a quick death.

The woman started to stand up, ignoring her bleeding face and her cut eye, she continued to run with all her might.

Once again the woman ran headlong forward, but this time fate smiled upon her as she bumped into something in front of her.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18 : A  monster - Part 4

"Hey are you okay!"

It was Toma clutching the New Nambu Model 60 pistol that Japanese police officers are equipped with.

With his experience as a police officer, Toma immediately took off his jacket to use as a first aid kit for the girl. Although he was busy treating the girl, he still pointed his gun in the direction the woman ran from.

From the shadows of the trees a figure slowly stepped out. It was a young man with his hands and feet covered in sharp jet-black armor.

His eyes were filled with black with light purple irises. Despite the gun being pointed at him, he didn't show any fear as he continued to advance towards the woman.

"STOP THERE AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" Toma shouted loudly but A.02 paid no attention and continued to move towards the woman.

"SHOT HIM NOW, OFFICER. HE'S A MONSTER." The woman yelled, startling Toma.

With each step of A.02, Toma's heart beat faster. Kindaichi reminded him many times that if he encountered the culprit, he should shoot him immediately, because he was not human.

But Toma couldn't pull the trigger. Even though he knew very well that the creature standing before him was not human, even though he knew that it was a monster killed without mercy. Even though he knew that it was not his younger brother. But...But.

Finally the gunshot rang out and the bullet went through A.02's head causing him to fall to the ground and start moving.

Toma's face was covered in sweat, in his hand was a gun that had not been pulled yet.

Then a voice shouted towards Toma

"Toma, I told you to shoot immediately when you see the culprit. Even though it has human form, it is just a monster." Kindaichi angrily walked forward, still holding a smoking gun in his hand.

Kindaichi knew very well that Toma wouldn't shoot, especially when the perpetrator was a minor. That's why, even though he said he was going to separate to search for the perpetrator, Kindaichi always kept a close enough distance to support Toma when he encountered the perpetrator. And thanks to his screams, it was easy to identify him.

But Kindaichi is not as benevolent as Toma. As a more experienced man, he has witnessed some terrible scenes that have caused new police officers to quit.

Sometimes children are worse monsters than even the adult perpetrators.

If they had been late, the monster would have had another victim.

"I'm sorry, it's just…" Toma tried not to feel regretful as he talked about his slow actions that almost caused an innocent person to die again.

In the end, Kindaichi couldn't blame Toma after "that incident".

"You go check on the woman and get her out of these mountains. I'll stay here and look for any information about the killer." With that, Kindaichi started walking towards the body while Toma immediately ran towards the woman holding the blood-stained shirt.

"Hey, we're going to take you to the hospital right away so please try to stay awake," Toma tried to keep the woman calm.

But in contrast to Toma's kindness, the woman's heart was filled with anger.

'You bastard! Are you kidding me, if they find out they will laugh at me. I can't let them find out. I WILL NOT LET ANYONE LAUGH AT ME ANYMORE!'

The woman's hatred caused the deep-seated memories she tried to bury to begin to resurface.

Past

Yumi remembers the day the bomb was dropped on her country. Luckily she was very far away from the explosion so she completely survived when it happened.

But perhaps dying in a moment might not be so bad when the falling "snowflakes" bring absolute death afterward.

Yumi didn't know that, how could she know that those "snowflakes" were so deadly.

Time passed quickly when people around her started to fall ill, their hair started to fall out, they started coughing up blood, their skin felt like it was on fire. It was hell if one could describe it.

In the end, everyone around her died gradually over time. From her father, mother to her siblings, so that in that scene, only she was left "alive".

Lying on the sparse straw mattress was a person, or rather a person, struggling for every second of her life, struggling for every breath of air. Her internal organs were gradually ceasing to function, it was painful beyond description. All that remained was a bit of hot coal, to warm herself, but her body was getting colder and colder.

Yumi wanted to kill herself, she really wanted to end this tormenting pain. But sadly her body could no longer move. Now she could only wait for a slow death, maybe starvation or cold, but as long as she was free from this pain, it was fine.

But before falling asleep, the door to the room suddenly opened, from outside a misty mist entered and surrounded the room. From outside came a woman wearing a pink kimono decorated with crimson cherry blossom motifs. Her face was lightly made up, still preserving the beauty of her natural skin. The woman's hair was a striking white like new winter snow.

The woman walked so softly that no sound could be heard, in her hand was a long pipe that was puffing away at the smoke. She didn't know how much time had passed, but by the time Yumi realized, the woman was already sitting next to the slowly extinguishing pile of coal. The woman took out a small cloth bag, no bigger than a handful, from which she took out something like a small green candy.

But before the woman could put it in her mouth, she noticed the presence of Yumi lying on her straw mattress, gasping for breath. Seeing Yumi's miserable appearance, the woman gave a small, ghostly smile.

"You want to eat." The woman said teasingly, knowing full well that Yumi could no longer move or eat.

Chapter Text

Chapter 19 : A  monster - Part 5

Yumi couldn't understand why someone dressed so expensively like a noble lady was doing in a place filled with the smell of death. But it didn't matter anymore, in just a few minutes Yumi would leave this world, everything no longer had any meaning.

Not knowing when, the woman sat next to Yumi, still smoking a pipe, making it even more difficult for Yumi to breathe. The woman placed a green candy on Yumi's lips as a tease.

"You want it, it's the magic medicine I made. It can help you recover quickly."

"Look, all your teeth are gone. "MOM" was right about human nature, if you give them a little power, they will kill each other in the blink of an eye." As she spoke, the woman took out a shining bronze mirror from her sleeve.

At this moment, in front of Yumi was the reflection of a dry corpse that looked like it had been starved for a long time, all its teeth were gone, and its silky hair was gone. The thing in front of her could no longer be considered human.

"How pitiful that you were abandoned by your own kind. Now that you are slowly dying here without anyone remembering you, I ask you if you still want to live."

Yumi actually knew her answer. She wanted to die.

She has suffered enough, now she just wants to rest.

In Yumi's mind, images of her and her family sitting around eating New Year's mochi filled her mind. Her siblings were happily chatting, her younger siblings were chasing each other around the house with mochi in their hands, and her parents were still pounding new mochi. It was so peaceful.

But then that scene began to be covered by a "deadly snow curtain" everything around her kept dying, her parents started to "melt", her siblings were talking when their mouths started to fall to the ground, the children running around turned into skeletons.

What was once a peaceful scene has now turned into hell on earth.

Yumi's tears kept flowing even though she wanted to die but she really couldn't accept this ending.

'I WANT TO LIVE!'

Yumi used all her remaining strength to open her mouth to swallow the candy.

But before Yumi could put the candy in her mouth, it was taken away by the woman.

"Hey, didn't you want to die so much, and now you want to live? Humans are creatures that only know how to lie." The woman immediately put the candy in and chewed it. What was left was a broken Yumi before the woman's cruelty.

Yumi's eyes were slowly closing.

'I…want…to…live'

Before Yumi's last moment, the woman smiled, but she didn't expect that her joke would almost cost her a useful chess piece.

'Enough joking around'

Yumi felt her lips warming up, the warmth gradually spreading to every corner of her body making her feel healthier than ever.

When she opened her eyes, the sight before her made Yumi's face turn red.

It was the scene of a woman giving Yumi an adult kiss. The woman's mouth was continuously spitting green liquid into Yumi's mouth. After finishing the "kiss", the woman sat up and wiped her mouth with a small towel in her hand.

"Not bad for a first kiss, girl. But the real change begins now."

In a moment the warm energy turned into a glacier that made her every nerve feel like it was being torn apart a hundred times.

"Grow up fast, little caterpillar."

Present

"It's not far, we're almost to the car. Just a little more." Toma said to the woman and started walking towards the car. Even though the path was difficult because of the trees covering everything, he still moved forward.

"Is…it…beautiful?" A voice spoke next to Toma's ear. This startled him a bit but then he realized it was a woman's voice.

"Don't worry, miss, as long as you get to the hospital, I'm sure they can help your face." A lie born from kindness, knowing that the wound the girl received would be difficult to fully recover from.

But then the woman whispered a small voice into Toma's ear.

"So…please…help…me."

In a moment the ground was dyed red with blood.

Kindaichi didn't think too much about the consequences when he fired the shot. He should have cared a little more, but who could blame him when the culprit wasn't human.

But that didn't matter now he needed to find out as much information about the killer as possible.

But Kindaichi's steps suddenly stopped as he approached the corpse.

It was A.02's corpse slowly standing up. This made Kindaichi freeze and unable to react.

A.02's body completely stood up after a few seconds, from the wound a bullet began to protrude and fell to the ground.

'I underestimated this monster.' Kindaichi once again held the gun tightly and aimed it at A.02's head, preparing to pull the trigger. In contrast, A.02's eyes looked straight at Kindaichi, filled with confusion.

A loud sound made the whole mountain fall into silence.

But Kindaichi hadn't even pulled the trigger yet, for a moment he looked towards the sound of the gunshot and a thought suddenly ran through his head.

'Toma.' Kindaichi almost let his guard down for a moment but then reality woke him up as the gun was still in his hand and pointed at the culprit.

Right now Kindaichi had to choose between running towards Toma or letting the monster escape again. Contrary to Kindaichi's difficult choice, in just a moment A.02 started running straight towards the gunshot with a speed that no normal person could imagine.

Chapter Text

Chapter 20 : A  monster - Part 6

Toma couldn't understand what the hell was going on anymore. From the mysterious cases, to the "monster" murderer, and now himself, holding his bleeding, stabbed stomach.

'Damn…it.' Toma held his bleeding stomach with his left hand while his right hand held the gun tightly, aiming it at the woman or rather, what used to be a woman.

Yes, the thing before him could only be described as something that was once human.

The woman's body was now completely covered in madness. Her arms had turned into a scythe as sharp as a mantis' claws, seemingly made of bone. The woman's legs had transformed into those of a predator. On her back, where the murderer had inflicted a wound, a set of insect wings had grown.

Half of the woman's face was now replaced by that of a weasel. The woman's mouth was split open as if someone had taken a knife and made a long slash across her mouth, revealing countless fangs growing out randomly.

Toma could not believe his eyes, what was once a woman had now become nothing more than a monster.

"Beautiful…no" The monster kept repeating over and over again in a crazy manner. What was more remarkable was that the bullet Toma fired was completely split in two and fell to the ground.

In the face of this despair, Toma was not discouraged and continued to fire bullets at the monster. This time, instead of blocking the bullets, it moved gently like a dance and used that movement to quickly charge straight towards Toma.

Ignoring the pain of his wound, Toma somersaulted and avoided the monster's attack, but it left a superficial wound on his back.

Toma had only one bullet left and realized that reloading was impossible in this case so he had to take a risk with this last bullet.

When it realized it had missed, the monster immediately charged straight towards Toma to instantly kill its prey. But this time Toma had absolutely no intention of running away.

When the monster charged once more, having already passed his comfort zone, he did not show any fear or panic, but only focused on holding the gun tightly with both hands.

The monster finally launched a slash with its mantis arm. But against the instincts of all living creatures, Toma instead of jumping back, charged straight forward.

Before it could react, the gun was thrust straight into its mouth. And then *Tung* the monster fell to the ground.

Finally the nightmare ended, Toma immediately fell to the ground due to continuous blood loss, just staying conscious was very difficult.

But did you know that a praying mantis can live even without its head?

The monster's body once again started moving. Toma couldn't believe his eyes as the bullet hit its target, proving that the monster's brain was still scattered all over the ground.

"Help…me…beautiful." Even though it was obvious that its brain was damaged, the monster still stood up to finish off its prey.

Toma's body shook as his last will was drained away but his body could not move. In the end, human strength could not defeat the power of a monster.

Yes, to kill a monster sometimes what you need is another monster.

When the scythe was only a few centimeters away from Toma's head in just a moment the monster's body was pushed away like a cannonball and crashed into the detectives' four-seater car.

It was A.02 coming to end his prey.

A.02's feet had barely touched the ground when he once again charged towards the stunned monster.

Using the acceleration of his jump, he focused all his strength into his next punch. His punch was as fast as a rifle bullet aimed straight at the monster's head.

The punch would have crushed the monster's head if it hadn't used its scythe-like right arm to block the blow. But A.02 immediately turned around and kicked the monster straight in the chest.

This time the kick hit home as the monster coughed up blood from its mouth, the kick was so strong that it pushed the car back 6 meters and flipped over, crushing the monster underneath.

But once again a *Tung* sound was heard, Kindaichi was standing next to Toma, but instead of hitting the monster, the bullet went through A.02's neck, causing him to fall.

Kindaichi misjudged the current situation and chose A.02 as the one responsible for Toma's injuries and the woman's disappearance.

Even though he knew that shot wouldn't kill the culprit, Kindaichi's priority was to bandage the unconscious Toma's wound.

But then a strange sound interrupted the action, causing Kindaichi's face to turn indifferent. In the small smoke that the car emitted, a human figure stood up.

Seeing the reaction from the car, Kindaichi came to the most obvious decision that it was the woman. That was also the most logical reason for the perpetrator to attack their car.

"Please calm down after I stabilize my partner. We will leave immediately." Kindaichi shouted towards the woman as a way to reassure her.

But when the smoke cleared, Kindaichi realized his mistake because what came out was not human.

The left arm that once had a human form was now completely replaced by a scythe or rather two scythes. All of the clothes on the woman's body were completely torn off, revealing a body covered in fur and the hard shell of an insect.

The other half of the face has now transformed into the face of a mantis with eyes filled with death.

[Chimera Transformation: Kamaitachi]

Kindaichi really couldn't believe his eyes anymore. This was really their end.

The two scythes were covered with a transparent energy as if the wind currents were overlapping each other. In just an instant, it released that invisible energy straight towards Kindaichi.

Knowing that dodging was useless, Kindaichi immediately jumped straight and hugged Toma tightly with the intention of using himself as a shield.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21 : A monster - Part 7

Kindaichi looked up and his eyes met the figure of A.02 who had blocked the attack for both of them. Blood continued to ooze from A.02's body, leaving two diagonal cuts.

The wound on his neck had just healed when A.02's body once again received a terrible wound that made him feel like collapsing again. If he had focused on destroying the monster instead of protecting the two detectives, he would have definitely defeated the monster.

But he couldn't let more people die, because he let his guard down and the people at the park died. The only thing he could do was focus on healing his wounds as quickly as possible.

But the monster wouldn't give him that chance, as that invisible energy once again swirled around the monster's right arm. A.02's body was already at its limit as he had been fighting without food for days, the injuries he had received made the already difficult battle even more difficult.

Once again a loud bang rang out, A.02's body instinctively stopped, but this time the bullet wasn't aimed at him, it flew straight towards the monster. Or rather, where the gasoline was continuously flowing out, in just a moment the monster was engulfed in flames.

"I'll try to hold it off, recover quickly, and get Toma out of here." Kindaichi, after making sure Toma's bleeding had stopped, once again ran towards the monster.

The flames had not yet engulfed the monster before being completely extinguished by an invisible energy source. However, its body was not completely unharmed as it was covered in burn marks everywhere.

Not giving the monster time to recover Kindaichi once again fired at the monster but it simply used its scythe arm to block the bullets.

Once again its arm was covered in invisible energy and in just a moment it swung its arm towards Kindaichi.

The attack was so fast that Kindaichi knew dodging was useless, but he still wanted to buy time for the other two. In that split second, a bullet was fired and by a miracle it dodged the monster's attacks and flew straight into its shoulder.

'Not bad, at least I got one hit.' Kindai gave a mocking smile towards the monster.

But before he could taste the taste of death, Kindaichi's position had completely changed in an instant. To be exact, from facing death, he was now 3 meters away.

His body was being held tightly by A.02's right arm. Rather, somehow A.02 was able to hold him as easily as holding a large teddy bear.

Once he was sure it was safe, A.02 put Kindaichi down.

"Go." A.02 said and pointed to the far side of the battlefield where Toma was sitting near a large tree.

Kindaichi didn't say a word and immediately ran towards where Toma was located. Because he knew that from this moment on this battle would be decided by the two monsters. He could only hope that the human-like monster would win, because at least negotiation was still an option.

The monster ignored Kindaichi running towards Toma because it knew the real danger that needed to be eliminated was the creature that was radiating a strong will to kill.

On this side, A.02 also couldn't be confident that he could defeat that monster when the power that was sleeping inside it had awakened. But fighting or not was no longer an option, it had become a must.

'I'll have to use "it"'

A.02 made a decisive movement and in that single movement the cloak he always wore was completely removed. He placed it down as far away from the battlefield as possible.

A.02's body was now completely exposed. His body didn't look much different from that of other teenagers, except for a small black gem in the middle of his chest that was previously covered by his cloak.

But the monster could no longer restrain its killing urge. And in just one leap it charged straight towards A.02 without hesitation.

On the contrary, A.02 just stood there indifferently as if he was just waiting for the monster's aggressiveness. The black gem on his chest suddenly emitted a small blue lightning bolt that could not be seen with the naked eye.

"A.02, it is absolutely forbidden for you to activate the Entropy core. Especially without receiving orders from the council." It was the organization person explaining to him what they called the En… something core

Everything would have been peaceful if this thing hadn't suddenly appeared while he was fighting the "dead walker". When it appeared, it helped him a lot in facing the enemy but it seemed that the organization and the Doctor didn't like this very much.

A.02's face was completely expressionless to everything even though everyone around him was talking. Until one sentence was said.

"Everyone go out, I need to talk to A.02 alone." The Doctor said firmly, leaving A.02 still sitting on his white bed.

The Doctor sat down and removed the mask that covered the long scar on the right side of her face that looked like a beast's scratch. They sat there in silence until the silence was completely broken by the Doctor's voice.

"The Entropy Core, also known as the Flame of Destruction. A special energy extracted from the strongest "dead walker" which is also the A.00 specimen, with that power it destroyed three coastal cities. The destruction only stopped because this power destroyed itself." She suddenly stopped and sighed.

"Your predecessor Specimen A.01 was said to have mastered the Entropy core at least until it was once again devoured by itself. The result was the destruction of half the city along with the lives of over 100,000 people." The Doctor once again gripped her mask and continued.

"I lost my husband and child in that incident." Her fist clenched the mask tightly.

"Then tell me, will there be a third time?" Her eyes looked straight into A.02's black eyes.

A.02 really didn't know how to answer this. Because from the beginning there was no right answer, nothing that was certain that he could control it, that he wouldn't destroy everything. Nothing, that's right nothing could be certain. But then his eyes met the Doctor's and he realized his answer.

"I can do it. Because the Doctor believes I can do it." That was the answer he chose because he knew the Doctor believed in him and that was enough.

After hearing A.02's answer, she could only smile slightly and put her mask back on.

"Then I will trust you in using the Entropy Core."

"Don't let me down A.02"

Even though he had practiced a lot, this was the first time he had used it in a state where he was actually this exhausted. But that didn't matter anymore.

When it got close enough the monster immediately swung its scythe arms towards A.02. Time seemed to stop, this moment reminded him of the child he met at the park earlier.

A.02 remembered the two's pretend fight where he played the role of a monster and the child played the role of a warrior of justice. But now the one who had to be the warrior of justice had to be him.

'What did the child say?'

…

…

'Ah! that word.'

"Henshin"

Chapter Text

Chapter 22 : Burden heavier than a mountain - Part 1

Indian culture is among the oldest in the world, beginning about 4,500 years ago. It is known as "Sa Prathama Sanskrati Vishvavara" – the first and supreme culture in the world.

Today, India is a very populous country, with over 1.2 billion people, making it the second most populous country after China. Different regions have distinct cultures.

India is the birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism, the third and fourth largest religions. About 84% of the country's population is Hindu, with many variations of Hinduism and four dominant sects: Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakteya and Smarta.

In the remote Gehlour district of Gaya, Bihar, northern India, there is a village surrounded by 100 meter high mountains that are located right next to the village. This has prevented the villagers from getting the basic necessities of daily life.

Because there are no roads, people are forced to go around the mountain and the trip always takes several hours and even to get out of the village to the nearest town, it is 75 kilometers away.

This turned the small village into a place where it was difficult for people to live because the conditions were so harsh.

But that has never been difficult for the human will, when there are still people who choose to live here. Or rather, they refuse the obstruction of nature to their peaceful life.

Standing on the slope was a man who was continuously breaking large rocks with a chisel and hammer in his hands. The man worked without rest despite the heat that could have knocked many adults down.

At least until the man looked up at the sky and saw that the sun had passed its zenith, the man dusted his hands and hurriedly began to descend the slope.

After a while of walking, the man finally reached a house made of mud with a roof made of straw. Inside the house was the thin figure of a woman weaving a Sari (traditional Indian dress). When she saw the man entering the house, the woman immediately stood up to go to the kitchen to get tea for her husband.

The man, upon arriving home, immediately sat down on the old wooden chair with the tools placed next to it. The woman came out with a glass of cool water in her hand.

"You should drink quickly and go inside to rest for a bit. The food is almost done." After saying that, the woman sat down at the loom again to continue her work.

"I don't need much rest, there's still a lot of work to do at home. Especially since we have an old person in our family." The man said as he drank a glass of cold water.

After hearing her husband's words, the woman's face became sadder than before. The woman once again stopped her work and turned to talk seriously to her husband.

"My dear Maniji, I know your actions are out of kindness. But taking in a foreign man with dementia is a very big deal for our lives." The wife paused with a sad face.

"Dear Phaguni, I understand your concern but the gods have always taught us to be kind and forgiving. This is a test the gods have sent us and the only way to overcome it is to accept the test." The husband said affectionately.

Hearing her husband speak, the woman could only sit still. It was not wrong for the husband to say that the old man was a "test of the gods" when one day the foreign old man suddenly appeared in the village without any explanation.

And it seemed that no matter how many questions were asked, he would only answer with a short answer, "Sancho," which made it impossible to find the old man's family.

Fortunately, Maniji's presence somewhat eased the chaos. He let the old man stay in his house until the old man's family could find him.

That was 2 weeks ago and there has been no news of the old man's family since then. This has led to Maniji's family having difficulty in their daily lives.

Phaguni and her husband had many arguments about how to solve the old man's problem. In the end, they still could not agree on a common solution, at least until now.

From outside the door, two figures, a boy and a girl, ran in excitedly, holding a bag full of cassava in their hands. The girl immediately ran towards her mother and hugged her tightly, while the boy ran towards his father and handed him a bag full of cassava.

"Look mom, our neighbor Uncle Buji gave us a lot of cassava," the little girl said happily.

"That's right, Mom. He said that because he couldn't contribute much to the road construction, he gave us some extra cassava." The little boy said excitedly.

This was the village's contribution to Maniji's tireless efforts in creating a new road. Although they were skeptical at first, after months of hard work by Maniji, the village eventually had no more doubts.

Some people contributed their efforts, some contributed tools, some contributed food. This road was no longer the dream of one man but it had become the dream of this entire poor village.

But it is impossible for a small village to realize this dream. That is why the villagers came up with the idea of asking for help from the local government.

There was someone in the village who knew a local official, and they said they would consider the villagers' intention to open a road. But the application needed a representative to go there and do it in person.

And that was the purpose of the bag of cassava that Maniji's family received. It was a gift from the villagers when Maniji went to the nearest local office to ask for support.

The next day was the day Maniji set out for the nearby town. That was why he decided to come back early today to spend time with his family.

"Jiji and Pani, wash your hands thoroughly and call the guests to come out and eat with us." The mother said gently. Hearing her words, the two children immediately ran to the back of the house.

Maniji looked at his wife affectionately, even though Phaguni's body was always carrying an incurable disease, she still knew how to care for the people around her.

After washing his hands, little Pani rushed to the dining table, ready to dive straight into the delicious Adai cakes. But in contrast to his brother, Jiji was slowly walking out.

Next to the girl was a foreign old man with a modest height of about 1m6, his hair had turned white due to old age. His face was full of wrinkles mixed with small scars as evidence that he was once a soldier or more accurately a warrior. The old man wore a normal long-sleeved outfit that looked like a costume from the European Middle Ages.

The old man's eyes were squinted due to his aging eyesight, making it difficult to see. His left hand still held Jiji's hand tightly to keep him steady, Jiji's face always had a bright smile, not at all annoyed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 23 : Burden heavier than a mountain - Part 2

In contrast to the joy of the younger sister, the face of the elder brother Pani showed extreme discomfort. This was understandable because the presence of the old man had made the boy's family's life more difficult.

Jiji slowly guided the old man to the dining table and she also sat down next to him. After the husband said thanks to the gods, everyone started eating. Because the Indian way of eating is to eat with bare hands, this is very difficult for foreigners, especially for the old man whose hands kept shaking, causing the food to fall. And that was also Jiji's job when it came to giving the food to the old man.

The old man also willingly cooperated without any objection, although when chewing the food, the old man still dropped small pieces of food. This made the place where the old man ate dirty, but the little girl still did not hesitate to continue to feed the old man.

The elder brother's face, on the other hand, showed extreme displeasure when he saw the old man eating. Even though he knew that the old man was no longer lucid, he was still annoyed that the old man was wasting food by eating too much.

The mother just smiled slightly and fed her son, making his angry face look extremely adorable. The father could only sigh at his son's indulgence, but he also understood that this was the only way to ease the tension.

Just like that, everything passed by like a wind blowing from a hot afternoon into a quiet night. Only the sound of insects chirping somewhere remained, creating a faint natural music.

Standing in the middle of that space was an old man with long white hair and eyes wrinkled from old age. The man stood there for a long time as if he was sleepwalking, although the man's gestures showed otherwise.

This scene caused his absent-minded mind to start functioning normally, even though it was only for a few short seconds, it was enough to transform the surrounding space into a palace.

That was his most honorable day, the day he surpassed all his fellow warriors to become a true warrior of this kingdom.

For an orphan like him, this was probably the greatest honor. In the entire magnificent palace filled with countless nobles, he was the one kneeling at the center.

He did not look up because he did not have the king's approval, but from the moment he entered this hall he heard it.

It was the sound of hammers hitting metal, but unlike the sound of hammers in weapon forges, this talisman had its own rhythm that not only carried power but also immutable solidity.

If it can be described in the easiest way, it is the beating sound of a "heart".

A voice suddenly cut through the silence.

"You may look up now. The warrior chosen by the 'sound of the hammer'."

Only then did he dare look up in the direction of the voice. Before him sat the dwarf on a throne made of black crystal with golden veins running through it like tiny blood vessels.

The dwarf wore a white crystal crown on his head that constantly emitted an indescribable, dim light. He wore a royal outfit, but hidden beneath the expensive clothes was a body covered in countless scars, the legacy of a legend.

The king spoke again loud and clear.

"The warrior chosen by the "hammer" you have surpassed all other warriors and become the greatest of them all but don't think that you are invincible."

It was sincere advice, a lesson learned from countless years on the battlefield. Faced with such sincerity, he could only reply with "Yes."

How dare he think he was invincible when the Titanlophics were as big as hills and could destroy everything with just one blow. With their strength, humans were no different from insects.

But that does not mean that humans are completely hopeless before that power, for through countless generations and countless years humans have always fought against them.

As it was then, so it is now, we will never give up until this long war is over.

The more he thought about it, the more powerful the hammering became, to the point where the entire palace began to shake slightly. This caused the surrounding nobles and soldiers to panic, but the dwarf king just sat there, looking straight into the eyes of the young man before him.

Then a loud laugh rang out, causing the whole palace to fall silent again.

"I'm sorry but it seems I misjudged you when I said you were too cocky but perhaps it's more correct to say you'll be invincible because you're truly more determined than anyone else, warrior."

The entire palace began to shake as if there was a small earthquake. From the ceiling, countless long silver chains were gradually descending. Along with it, the sound of hammers grew louder and louder.

"So from today on, the burden of humanity's survival rests on you."

"I hope you will stand firm under the burden of hope. Ad…"

"Old man, where are you going? If you need to pee, the toilet is behind the house." It was Pani who was awakened by the old man's disappearance, causing the boy to go looking for him because he didn't want to disturb his mother's sleep.

The boy took the old man's hand and led him towards the small house.

The old man did not show any resistance and agreed to follow the boy. But then something fell on the boy's head with a *Thud, startling him.

But it was just the old man's hand gently stroking the boy's head.

"Sancho, my back hurts." The old man slowly punched his back as a signal.

"I know you'll have a backache again, let's go inside first and then think about it." So the boy led the old man towards the small house.

Once again the sun is shining brightly on everything. It is also the day when Maniji has to set out to the nearest town to apply for government assistance in building a road.

"Dad, please let me go with you." The girl Jiji was hugging her father and begging to go with him.

"Let go of Dad you idiot, he needs to get to town as soon as possible if he wants to finish the whole journey." Pani's brother said as he unloaded his belongings onto the cart.

"But I'm worried about dad, I don't want him to be lonely." The more she spoke, the more she cried, protesting her brother's words. Seeing that, the older brother gritted his teeth because of his little sister's whining.

"If Jiji is good, I will buy a doll when I come back." Hearing that, the little girl let go and ran towards her mother with a bright smile.

"While I am away, you are the pillar of this family. Please take care of everyone for me." Maniji said while stroking Pani's head.

After finishing, Maniji started pulling the rickshaw forward, but before leaving, he turned back to look. There was the image of his family waving to him.

For him, that was enough because they would always keep him moving forward.

Chapter Text

Chapter 24 : Burden heavier than a mountain - Part 3

Today, on top of the mountain, there is still a person who is continuously hammering his hammer into the large rocks without stopping.

After a while of hammering continuously the person finally breathed out due to fatigue. When he realized the sun was at its peak he began his journey down the mountain.

Facing the hot sun, that person's footsteps still steadily moved forward. Only when he reached a small house did he finally let out a sigh of exhaustion.

In front of the small house was an old man looking out at the distant mountains with a sad face.

"That idiot Jiji left you standing out here, old man. Mom just got sick and everything is already a mess." Pani complained about her sister's clumsiness in leaving the old man standing out without supervision.

The boy took the old man's hand and led him into the house. His mother's loom had been unused for only a few days and was already gathering dust, and the house was in disarray.

The fire was still burning at the back of the kitchen. After letting the old man sit down to rest, Pani started walking towards the back of the kitchen.

Jiji was running around the kitchen preparing the meal, but perhaps because of her lack of experience, everything turned into a chaotic battlefield. But then, while she was in turmoil, a hand reached out and pinched her ear.

"I told you not to cook anything if I'm not home. You want to burn down our house before dad comes home." Pani said irritably.

"I saw that mom and grandpa were hungry so I just wanted to cook for the two of you." Jiji said in a wronged manner. Pani could only sigh at those words.

"Okay, okay, we should make some food instead of arguing." Pani walked over to Jiji and started cooking. Jiji also went in to help her brother.

After a while of working, the dishes were completed. Pani let Jiji and the old man eat first while he brought porridge to his sick mother.

The woman lay on a simple straw bed, her body looking tired from illness. As the boy approached, the woman slowly opened her eyes, her eyes were blurred with fatigue but at the same time filled with determination.

"Have you eaten yet, Pani?" the woman said sympathetically.

"I already ate, Mom. You should also have some porridge." That was the lie that he had brought in for his mother, despite his own hunger.

He slowly started to lift his mother up, each movement slow as if he was carrying a new snowflake in winter. He gently blew on it while feeding his mother porridge.

At least until the atmosphere was ruined again by the sound of the door suddenly being opened loudly.

"BROTHER! MOTHER! DAD..aa..he…." Before Jiji could continue, the mother, ignoring her sick body, jumped up and ran straight to the door, followed by Pani.

It was the image of their neighbor Uncle Buji carrying their father on his shoulders. Maniji's body had many bruises and his body was thin as if he had been starving for many days.

Buji gently placed Maniji on a nearby straw mat. Then he ran to find the village chief because he used to be a doctor.

Seeing her husband's condition, Phaguni kept crying and hugging her husband tightly. On the contrary, Pani and Jiji could only look on motionlessly, unable to understand what was happening, how could a healthy man end up like this.

Everything fell into chaos and Pani lost track of how much time had passed.

It was not until the old man's hand stroked his head that he suddenly realized how much time had passed. From the village chief's words, he was only tired from not eating for many days and the remaining wounds were only superficial. After examining him, the mayor said he would go home first because it was getting dark and would bring some medicine the next day.

Pani and Jiji stayed up all night taking turns and the old man stayed up with them to take care of their injured father, although he just sat there stroking Jiji's head. As for the mother, who was not feeling well, she fell asleep without realizing it. Don't know how much time had passed but the sun was starting to rise.

Suddenly a hand slowly and gently stroked Pani's head, startling him awake.

Pani immediately opened his eyes, he was startled when he realized that it was his father lying on the bed recovering from his injuries. For a moment he cried and hugged his father tightly, feeling the movement that had awakened Jiji and like her brother, she immediately rushed to her father.

The two children cried so loudly that the silence in the space disappeared, leaving only the sound of tears of joy.

"When did you wake up?" Pani said, wiping away his tears.

"I just woke up too." Maniji said as he patted Jiji's daughter's head.

"Are you thirsty, dad? Let me get you some water." When she stood up, she realized that a glass of water had been filled and placed next to her, not to mention that the water was still warm, meaning it had been recently boiled.

Not to mention that on the two of them was a thin blanket, someone had covered them with a blanket and they were taking care of their father while they slept. At first, both children looked at the scene of their mother's room but it was still not open, meaning that their mother was still sleeping.

So there was only one person left who could do this while they were still sleeping. The two children faced the front yard, still the image of the old man looking towards the mountains.

"He was the one who took care of me while you two were resting." Maniji spoke gratefully of the old man's care.

Then a sound came from the door.

"Pani, Jiji I brought food and medicine." It was the voice of the village chief who had prepared everything since early morning.

"Hello, village chief," both brothers said in unison.

"You're awake Maniji, do you feel any discomfort anywhere else?" The village chief asked worriedly.

"It's okay, village chief, other than the superficial injuries, I don't have many problems." Maniji replied confidently.

"Okay then, what the hell did you go through to get yourself so bruised?" Because if he had been robbed, there would have been no way back.

Hearing the village chief's question, Maniji could only sigh.

Chapter Text

Chapter 25 : Burden heavier than a mountain - Part 4

On the steep mountain is the scene of two people continuously using hammers to hit large rocks. Each sound of hammering against the rocks is each human will being honed.

In the end, the giant rock cracked, which was a testament to the strength of man. After confirming that today's work was complete, the two people began to walk down the mountain.

It was that small house again, lying quietly in the middle of a peaceful scene. Inside the house was a woman and a little girl sewing together. In front of the house was an old man looking towards the high mountains.

"Jiji, Dad is home." When he heard the call, Jiji, who was sewing with his mother, suddenly ran out into the yard and hugged the man. The son went inside the house to hug his sick mother.

"Honey! Come in and eat, the food is ready." The wife said softly.

"That's right, today I helped mom cook a lot of dishes to help nourish dad." Jiji said with interest.

"Okay, okay, I'll be right in. Grandpa! Come eat with us." Maniji slowly led the old man inside the house.

It had been three days since their father returned home, and it had also been some time since his injured body had recovered.

According to Maniji, the person who caused this was the town's big boss. He bribed the police and beat their father to this state because he didn't want the road to be approved by the government. Fortunately, some villagers helped their father escape from the big boss's grasp, so the application was unsuccessful.

After hearing that, the villagers wanted to go to town to beat up that boss, but fortunately the village chief stopped them, and instead he would directly send a letter to the government, which would be safer.

While waiting for the result of the letter Maniji once again started his road work although he himself was still not fully recovered.

Sometimes he gets help from his neighbors, but mostly he has to do all the work.

After her husband returned, Phaguni's health improved a little. But with the old man's help, the housework was not too difficult.

The family was reunited once again and lived a peaceful life, but sadly this peace did not last long.

The next day Phaguni's illness suddenly became worse.

Despite her husband and children's efforts, the situation did not improve. In the end, Maniji was forced to make a difficult decision.

"We need to take your mother into town." Maniji said hurriedly as he packed the clothes onto the cart.

When they heard their father's decision, the two children's faces froze as if they had just heard shocking news.

Knowing that it would take several days to get to the nearest town without rest, this was really the only option they had at the moment. If the road was completed, the nearest town would only be about 5 kilometers away.

"Then I will go with you too." Pani said firmly.

"Then I will go too." Jiji followed suit.

"You fool, if you go, who will take care of the old man?"

"We can ask Uncle Buji or the village chief to take care of him."

So the two children kept arguing with each other even though both of them came from love for their mother.

Facing the love of the two children, the father could only grit his teeth because of his helplessness. Then he looked towards the yard where the old man was still standing looking towards the mountain.

In the end, the man made his choice.

"You two have to stay and look after the house, I will take care of taking mom to the hospital." The father said firmly

"But" The two children immediately asked a question

"Listen to your father, you two don't need to worry about him. Because I will go with him." It was Buji holding the cassava cakes in his hands.

"And don't refuse, my wife won't let me in until your mother comes back." Buji said in a pained voice.

"As for your house and children, I and the neighbors will take turns taking care of them." It was the village chief who appeared with a cow standing outside hunting.

"I'll lend you a cow to help you pull the cart faster."

Maniji could only silently shed tears of gratitude at the help of everyone.

After all the preparations were complete, the last thing he did was to put his wife on the cart.

Jiji continued to cry and hugged his mother tightly. Meanwhile, Pani kept holding his mother's hand.

But the cruel truth is that despite the help and support of the villagers, the death of the mother was decided by fate.

Fate is a tower built on small bricks of decisions, that is how a person's fate is decided.

The distance that Maniji had to travel was too long, even if he walked without stopping, it would be too late to reach the town, that was the truth that fate had arranged.

Yes, it was the same cruel fate as when humans faced the giant Titanlophics.

The cries of the small humans before the absolute power that could level villages with just one step. With just one strike of the hand on the ground, the earthquake would swallow everything. With just one roar, the mountains would collapse.

Faced with such absurdity, humans could only do one thing…

There was a sound that echoed throughout the village, the sound of hammers continuously pounding metal, so loud that both old and young could hear it clearly.

But the strangeness did not stop there, when the whole quiet village began to shake, rather the mountains surrounding the village were the ones shaking.

At this time, everyone could only bend down and wait for the shaking to pass, Maniji hugged his wife and children to avoid it. Everyone closed their eyes to wait for the hardship to pass.

After the shaking ended, everyone began to open their eyes to observe the surroundings.

The first scene they saw was.

The sky shattered like glass.