The refugee district lay in ruins. Buildings leaned at impossible angles, walls split and crumbled, and concrete dust hung thick in the air, coating everything in a ghostly gray.
People struggled to their feet, coughing, stumbling over rubble. Others fell to their knees, hearts hammering, lungs burning. Some clutched at broken beams as they tried to make sense of the devastation around them.
Then—
A sound cut through the haze.
KRAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
The scream rolled across the entire district, pinning the entire crowd in terror.
From the center of the district, a shadow began to emerge.
Looming. Unmoving. Waiting.
And when the dust finally cleared—
A towering monstrosity revealed itself.
The crowd went silent. There was nothing but a stunned silence, heavy and suffocating.
Some started to flee without thinking, their bodies moving on pure instinct before their minds could catch up. Others remained frozen in place, not out of courage, but out of sheer terror.
Fear. Dread. Angst.
Name it.
Everyone felt the same tension creeping into their bones. As if judgment had already arrived. As if they had always been guilty.
Because they knew what stood before them.
Something that shouldn't be here in the first place. Yet here it stood—unshaken, unholy, unmerciful bringing forth a presence that could only belong to one thing.
A Hollowed Beast.
--
Chapter 05: At the Edge of death
Kandril's gaze was locked onto the monster before him.
The Hollowed Beast.
However, unlike most of the people inside the district, not a trace of fear showed in his expression. Instead, he scrutinized the monster up to its head down to its lower body.
The creature was looming, around twelve meters tall. It had a skinny torso where his four limbs that resembled a grass hopper connected.
Its face was that of an anglerfish. Jaws lined with jagged teeth. Eyes burning with crimson malice.
From the waist down, spiked tentacles unfurled and writhed across the ground, scraping against concrete, curling and twisting like the limbs of a monstrous octopus.
Then there was its chest.
That void.
The unmistakable mark of every Hollowed Beast.
A dark cavity, swirling and twisting like living shadow, as if something inside it was trying to escape.
But near the monster's shoulders, Kandril noticed something... unusual.
'Uh? ...What is that?'
He squinted, trying to make sense of the shapes against the beast's massive frame.
'Those aren't bones...'
Then, his eyes widened.
'A-are those... P-people?'
A cold shiver ran down his spine as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
Then—
The shapes moved slightly on the monster's shoulders.
Two figures.
Strangers.
One was tall and lanky, standing with a lazy slouch. The other was much smaller—barely the height of a toddler.
For a moment, they simply stood there atop the Hollowed Beast like it was nothing more than a hill of stone.
Then a voice broke the silence.
"Jeez... that was rough," the lanky silhouette groaned, stretching his arms above his head. His voice was deep and masculine, but carried the unmistakable drag of someone who found effort deeply inconvenient.
"We really had to dig a hole just to get inside, huh." It wasn't really a question. His voice echoed slightly against the ruined district.
A beat.
Then he added, "...Why couldn't we just destroy the wall instead?"
Beside him, a smaller figure responded instantly, her tone sharp and flat, girly in pitch, toddler-like, but carrying none of the softness either implied.
"It would notify the Ark-Knights, dumbass."
The lanky one paused, tilting his head as if genuinely thinking it over.
"Ah. Right. That makes sense."
After that, both moved along the massive shoulder of the Hollowed Beast, and with them came the light, revealing what they were.
Both wore matching dark robes that swayed in the wind. The upper halves of their faces were hidden behind plague masks cut cleanly in half, leaving their mouths bare and exposed.
And their eyes...
They were burning purple, fierce and unnerving.
The lanky one rested his hands on his hips and looked around the ruined district.
"Uh... are you sure she was here?" he asked. "I can't see her anywhere."
The toddler-like tilted her masked head slightly, as if sniffing the air.
"My nose is never wrong," she said quietly.
The lanky one scratched the back of his head.
"Ehh... you sure?"
A wide grin crept across his lips.
"Because—"
"ALL I SEE IS THIS BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE IN FRONT OF ME!!!"
He meant the destruction. Every last broken piece of it. And he was proud of it—the way a writer finishes a chapter, reads it back, and says 'yeah, I cooked.'
The toddler-sized figure exhaled sharply through her nose, the kind of breath that carried years of accumulated annoyance packed into a single second. Eventually, she dismissed it with a slight shake of her head and began to scan the ruined district.
Then as she looked below—
'...Huh?'
Her gaze stopped. Locking onto a single figure standing in the middle of the street. Still. Unbothered. Staring straight up at them.
There, beneath them—was Kandril.
Not hiding. Not fleeing. Just watching them with wide, unblinking eyes as if they were the ones who needed to be studied.
She immediately called out the lanky one without looking away from Kandril.
"Hey, look below us. Someone is watching. Do you think he is a threat?" she asked.
"...Uh? Where?" the lanky one asks. His head scans from left to right. But still, he couldn't determine where the toddler-like was trying to point.
The toddler-like froze.
Then slowly...
Her tiny shoulders rose.
"Tss."
She stomped her foot.
Hard.
"Down. There."
She pointed.
The lanky one squinted in the completely wrong direction.
"...I don't see anything."
A pause.
Then—
SMACK.
Her tiny hand slapped the side of his face—not hard, but insulting enough.
"Not THERE, idiot!"
She grabbed his chin with both hands and forcefully dragged his face downward, stretching her arm dramatically as she pointed toward the streets below.
Her whole body leaned forward so much she almost slipped off the Hollowed Beast.
"There! The ONE just STANDING there!"
The lanky one blinked. He placed a hand above his eyes as if shading from sunlight.
"Hmmm?"
Then—
He tilted his head. Once. Slow. Like something had caught his attention but hadn't quite earned it yet.
"...Oh."
A beat.
"A human?"
Not alarmed. Not impressed. Just... mildly registered. The way someone notices a stray cat sitting in an odd place and finds it faintly curious.
"Is he lost? Did someone forget their kid down there?" he added, a lazy grin forming on his face.
The toddler-like scoffed. "That's not a kid."
"Really?" he said, amused. He stretched his arms with a yawn. "Man... and here I thought we'd find something interesting."
He placed his hands on his hips, grinning wider now.
"Still... standing in front of us like that?" he chuckled.
"Kinda brave. Or stupid. I like that."
Then—
His expression changed. Like a switch had been flipped. The grin vanished.
His eyes darkened. Something heavy settled in the air
Dreadful. Irritated. Almost... offended.
His gaze sharpened, locking onto Kandril.
"So he isn't scared of us?" he asked the toddler-like, his voice low and raspy—calm, but carrying a quiet, simmering rage beneath it.
The toddler-like didn't respond as she just keep on staring at Kandril.
Then, without a word, and from the shoulders of the Hollowed Beast, the lanky one vanished.
No wind. No sound.
Just gone.
The next moment—
He reappeared right in front of Kandril, fist driving straight into his abdomen without warning.
BAAAAM!
The instant it connected, an inexplicable force surged through Kandril's body, rattling his bones and crushing the air from his lungs. He was launched backward like a ragdoll, skidding across the streets as dust and debris erupted around him. He slammed so hard, the impact left him broken and gasping in the ruins.
But Kandril swiftly staggered upright.
"W-what... the hell is that?" he groaned, clutching his abdomen.
Pain shattered inside him, as if his organs had been twisted by a knife. His knees buckled. His body screamed for him to stay down. But he refused to give in and forced himself upright and instinctively raised his guard.
Then—
The lanky one straightened and lifted his arm, pointing a single finger at Kandril. His gaze was cold, unmerciful, and absolute. As if merely existing without fear in front of him was an unforgivable offense.
For a moment, everything went still.
Until—
Vwwwmmmmm....
A shimmer.
At the tip of lanky one's index finger, a small orb of crimson and deep blue energy bloomed. It pulsed softly, shimmering with a quiet menace that made the hairs on Kandril's arms rise.
Seconds stretched. The orb swelled, thrumming with destructive intent, as if eager to be unleashed.
Kandril's breath hitched.
What could he possibly do against something like that?
He had no answer.
But—
His body moved anyway.
BZZZT—
TBC...