The observer didn’t move. It simply stood there at the edge of the hallway, featureless, still, and silent.
Like a cutout of darkness shaped into the outline of a person. No face, no eyes, no mouth. Yet Mikail could feel it. Its attention was like cold fingers brushing against the back of his neck.
It watched them.
Not with malice. Not with fear.
But with curiosity.
And then it was gone. lted into the shadow behind it, vanishing like it had never been there.
The room was quiet now, save for the shallow breathing of the three defenders.
Then, a sound.
Not a growl, not a shriek.
A scream. A human scream.
Mikail’s head snapped toward the direction it ca from, beyond the living room, through the back corridor, and out into the streets of the Zero Zone.
"That wasn’t a Shadow," lisa said, eyes wide.
"No," Moona agreed, her barrier dropping as the imdiate threat faded. "That was a person"
Without hesitation, Mikail turned. "We move. Now"
The front door, once a solid boundary, was now warped open, stretched like lted wax, revealing a twisted version of the suburban street beyond. Houses were bent and elongated, streetlamps flickered with pale, ghostly light, and the sky above was a canvas of swirling ash-gray clouds, lit by no sun or moon.
The world outside was unnaturally vast... An open battlefield.
And in the center of the cracked road ahead, surrounded by twitching shadows but untouched by them, was a lone figure.
A girl. Young. Barefoot. Wearing what looked like torn sleepwear. Her scream echoed again, raw and panicked, as she turned and ran.
"They’re chasing her," lisa said, raising her weapon again. "We’re not letting them catch her"
"No ti to plan," Mikail muttered. His blade of light flared brighter in his hand. "Cover her escape. Moona, we need a path"
"Already on it," Moona whispered, her hands glowing once again.
And just like that, the battle shifted, from survival to rescue.
They ran, Mikail leading, lisa at his flank, and Moona behind, tracing a glowing circle in the air as she conjured a protective field.
The shadows sensed their charge and shifted, twisting and crawling over the cracked asphalt to intercept them. But this ti, the three weren’t caught off guard.
Mikail’s blade cleaved through the tendrils of darkness as he dashed ahead, his mind focused on the girl.
She was stumbling, her legs shaking from exhaustion, but she kept running, pure survival instinct.
lisa raised her gun and launched a burst of Mana bullet, clearing a path through a cluster of approaching shadows. "Left side’s clear!"
Moona’s voice ca next, steady and calm, despite the chaos. "I’ve locked the area around us. We have two minutes before the shadows adapt"
Mikail reached the girl first. She turned to face him, wild-eyed and gasping, but she didn’t scream this ti. She just stared, confused, terrified, lost.
"It’s okay," He said gently, lowering his sword of light. "We’re here to help. What’s your na?"
"...A-Ayu," She stamred, voice barely audible. "W-where am I?"
"You’re in the Zero Zone," Moona answered, stepping beside him. "You weren’t supposed to be here"
Ayu’s knees buckled, and Mikail caught her before she hit the ground.
Mikail scanned the shadows still writhing in the distance. And then, looking at lisa, "How did she get in?"
"So people slip through when the boundaries weaken," lisa replied. "But not just anyone. Only those with the potential"
"Potential?" Mikail asked.
"She could awaken," Moona said quietly. "Only those who have the potential to awaken their core could enter The Zero Zone, and once they enter the Zero Zone, so could make it back, but so... Stay here forever, beco an Echo"
Ayu looked between them, clearly not understanding but clinging to Mikail’s arm like a lifeline. "I... I was just sleeping in my room... And then... Everything changed... What gonna happen to now?"
"You’re safe now," Mikail said. "We’ll make sure to protect you until the sun cos out. And when we do, we’ll help you understand what this ans"
The shadows began to stir again, drawn by her presence, or perhaps her potential.
lisa readied her weapon. "No ti to chat. Let’s keep moving"
Moona opened a shimring path of light, a rift through the twisted street, leading them toward the nearest stable zone.
"Follow the line," She said. "It’ll hold the shadows back... For now"
They moved quickly, Mikail still supporting Ayu, whose steps grew steadier but whose eyes darted with lingering fear.
The street bent unnaturally as they passed, curving upward like a wave frozen mid-rise. Lamp posts leaned in, as if listening. The air itself thrumd with tension.
"The Zero Zone’s unstable tonight," Moona muttered. "More than usual"
"It’s her," lisa replied. "Sothing in her presence is resonating with this place"
Ayu looked up at her, confused. "What do you an?"
"You’re what we call an Unawakened Core. Most people never activate theirs. But if soone with potential ends up in a place like this..." Moona paused, eyes scanning the shadows, "The Zone reacts"
"Reacts how?" Mikail asked.
Before anyone could answer, the street ahead cracked open.
A massive shadow surged from beneath, rising like an oil-slicked beast, not formless like the others, but shaped. It had arms. Legs. A jagged mouth. And worse, it had eyes.
"Shadow-type Alpha!" Moona shouted, forming a barrier of fla in front of them. "It’s aware!"
Ayu scread again, instinctively hiding behind Mikail.
"We hold it here," he ordered. "Moona, can we bypass?"
"No ti. We fight"
The Shadow roared, its cry distorting the air around it. Smaller shadows scattered as if fearing it. It stepped forward, eyes locking onto Ayu, and took another step.
It wanted her.
"Mikail," Moona said grimly. "It’s not attacking randomly. It’s hunting the girl"
Mikail stepped forward, sword blazing. "Then it’s our job to make sure it never reaches her"
The three defenders readied themselves as the Shadow lunged.
The shadow’s footsteps cracked the pavent, sending jagged pieces of asphalt into the air. It bared its mouth, a cavern of writhing black tendrils, and let out a low, guttural snarl.
The shadows around it pulsed with hunger, agitated by the scent of awakening potential.
It wanted Ayu.
Because that’s what these creatures did.
They hunted those on the verge of awakening.
To consu them before their Cores could bloom.
"Moona, shield her!" Mikail roared.
A wall of shimring energy snapped into place around Ayu, encasing her in a do of protective light. She flinched as the Shadow slamd into it, claws scraping against the barrier with a horrible screech.
lisa didn’t wait. She launched forward, twin bursts of Maba bullet soaring from her gun.
"We take its eyes first!"
The Shadow turned to et her, raising one massive, malford arm to block the upcoming attack. The Mana bullet seared its flesh if it could be called flesh, but it didn’t stop. Instead, it learned, twisting its body unnaturally, creating a crude carapace over its vulnerable parts.
"It’s adapting!" Moona warned.
Mikail darted in low and fast, his blade slicing along the Shadow’s side, leaving a trail of burning light. The creature hissed and countered, its arm lashing out like a whip. Mikail ducked, the blow narrowly missing, but the force sent him skidding across the street.
"This one’s fast," He muttered, regaining his stance. "Too fast"
Behind them, Ayu watched with wide eyes, frozen. But inside her chest, sothing moved. A tremor. A pull. Like a heartbeat that wasn’t hers.
She could feel the creature calling to it.
It wasn’t just hunting her.
It was trying to devour what was still sleeping inside her. And made her one of them.
The Shadow struck again, this ti with a concentrated burst of shadow. Moona’s shield wavered.
"She won’t hold if this keeps up!" lisa shouted.
Mikail snarled. "Then we end this... Now"
He reached deep, calling on his Core. His blade shone white-hot, radiant as the first rays of dawn. lisa mirrored him.
Together, they attacked Mikail from above and lisa, targeting the lower part of The Shadow’s body. Moona focused all her will on holding the barrier, her hands trembling.
The Shadow roared in fury, lashing at them with limbs like blades, but the two defenders were faster. Precise. rciless.
Sword of light and Mana bullet t shadow.
The creature shrieked as Mikail’s sword pierced its eye, the blade flashing through its skull like lightning. At the sa mont, lisa’s Mana Bullet burst into its chest, detonating with a force that shook the street.
The Shadow staggered.
Then collapsed.
The shadows that had followed it recoiled. So hissed. So scattered. Others simply faded into the cracked earth.
Silence returned.
Moona dropped to her knees, breathing heavily. "It’s down..."
Mikail turned to Ayu. Her barrier had vanished.
She hadn’t moved.
But her eyes, those were different now.
No longer filled with pure fear.
Now, there was sothing else in them.
A spark.
A sign that she will be awakened.
....
...
..
.
Reviews
All reviews (0)