Evan was curious to find out what had triggered such a strong reaction from his death sense, but he would have never imagined finding a scene like this in front of him,
and even less so at the hands of someone this unexpected.
Luna, the girl who had been abandoned by her team in the forest and had nearly gotten herself killed just a few days ago.
He hadn't known her for long, but he had formed a rough idea of what kind of person she was, and what he was seeing now was completely different from the image he had built of her.
For some reason, he could feel a strange sensation coming from her, something that gave him an odd sense of familiarity, though he had no idea what it was.
That said, it seemed that the surprises for today were far from over, because in the very next moment a voice echoed inside his head as a system window appeared before his eyes.
[Ding! The system is detecting an anomaly in the subject in front of you.]
[Analyzing...]
[Ding! Presence of void energy detected!]
[Emergency mission initialization in progress...]
---
[Emergency Mission]
Rank: E
Description: You have been targeted by a Hollow. You must act immediately, or your situation will only get worse. The void energy in the target is rising. 60 seconds remain until corruption reaches 10%.
Suppress the target within this time limit!
Mission Status:
>Suppress the Hollow: 0/1
Time Limit: 60 sec
---
'Wait… what?'
Evan was once again caught off guard by the situation.
What did it mean that he had been targeted and was in danger?
Hollow?
What the hell was a Hollow?
He suddenly found himself with dozens of questions running through his mind, but a moment later a certain coldness appeared in his eyes as he forced himself to calm down.
As curious and surprised as he was, he had a problem right in front of him that needed to be dealt with immediately. He doubted the system was making all this fuss for nothing.
If it said the other party was dangerous, then she most likely was.
Especially since he could feel a strange energy growing inside her, and more importantly, it seemed that along with it, her strength was increasing as well.
'Damn… she's already E-Rank?'
Evan remembered the girl had barely been at mid-stage F-Rank just a few days ago, and now she had already climbed to early-stage E-Rank, and worse, she was still continuously and rapidly growing stronger.
It didn't take him long to understand what the system meant by his situation will get worse.
At this pace, she could very well surpass E-Rank in no time.
He didn't know what Hollows were, but this small demonstration in front of him was enough to tell him they weren't something to be taken lightly.
And as if to confirm that assumption, Evan suddenly felt a sharp spike of alarm as Luna, who had been crouched among the bodies, vanished from her spot without warning.
A violent gust of air brushed past his face as Luna reappeared right in front of him, her hand already slicing toward his throat. Evan twisted his body sideways just in time, the attack grazing past him by mere centimeters.
Her movements were jagged and unpredictable, yet frighteningly fast.
Evan slid backward, his boots scraping against the rough stone of the alley, barely creating distance before she was on him again.
He raised his arm to block.
Bang!
The impact reverberated through his bones. Luna's bare fist had collided with his forearm with enough force to numb it instantly. Before he could even react to the pain, her other hand shot forward, aiming straight for his chest.
He stepped back again, barely avoiding the strike, and retaliated with a swift punch of his own.
She didn't dodge.
Instead, she caught his fist with her bare hand.
Evan's eyes widened slightly.
Her grip tightened, fingers digging into his skin, and in the next instant she twisted his arm and drove her knee toward his ribs. He barely managed to shift his body, the blow glancing off his side but still knocking the air from his lungs.
They separated for a brief second.
In the corner of his vision, the translucent system window flickered.
[Time remaining: 54 sec]
At the same time, he could feel it.
That strange, suffocating energy inside Luna was growing, slowly and steadily, like a rising tide.
Her strength was increasing with it.
'So this is the void energy?'
Luna lunged again, her movements even faster than before. Evan parried, their arms clashing again and again in a rapid exchange of blows that echoed through the narrow alley. Each strike she threw carried more weight than the last, her body moving as if it were being driven by something other than instinct or reason.
Her violet eyes burned with a chaotic light, the red pupil at their center trembling like a living flame.
[Time remaining: 49 sec]
Evan clicked his tongue.
He could keep dodging and blocking for a while, but at this rate she would only grow stronger. The system's warning wasn't exaggerating, if this continued, the situation would spiral out of control.
He stopped holding back.
A faint ripple spread through the air around him as he activated his ability. The ground beneath his feet trembled slightly, and in the next moment, three figures materialized beside him as coils of dark smoke twisted into shape.
His clone's summons.
Now it was four against one.
For the first time since the fight began, Luna hesitated,
only for a fraction of a second.
Then she charged straight into them.
The alley erupted into chaos. Evan and the summons attacked from different angles, fists and kicks flying in rapid succession. Luna moved like a wild animal trapped in a corner, blocking with her forearms, dodging by the narrowest of margins, and counterattacking with brutal precision.
One of the summons managed to land a solid kick to her side, sending her staggering a step back, but before it could press the advantage, Luna's hand shot forward and drove straight through its chest.
The summon's body flickered, then shattered into fragments of light.
[One of your clone's summons has been destroyed]
[Time remaining: 37 sec]
Evan's expression darkened.
Even after eliminating one of his summons, Luna showed no signs of slowing down. On the contrary, the aura around her had grown thicker, heavier, almost visible to the naked eye.
'Damn it… she's already reached the mid-stage of E-Rank.'
Evan was at the early stage of E-Rank, but despite that, his current strength was more than enough to hold his own against a mid-stage or even an advanced-stage E-Rank opponent.
And yet he was struggling against Luna, which made it clear that her strength was going well beyond her current rank.
That sadi, while attacking, she made a mistake.
As she twisted to deal with another summon, her back was exposed for a split second.
Evan didn't hesitate.
He dashed forward, gathering all his strength into a single strike, and drove his fist straight into her abdomen.
A dull, sickening thud echoed as the blow connected.
Luna's body bent forward, a gasp escaping her lips as the force lifted her slightly off the ground before slamming her back down onto the cold stone of the alley.
She didn't get up.
Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, her breathing ragged and uneven. Deep bruises spread across her torso, and one of her arms lay twisted at an unnatural angle.
But she was still alive.
Evan approached cautiously, his remaining summons standing guard around him.
Then he saw it.
The wound he had just inflicted… was slowly closing.
Not fast, but unmistakably healing.
His gaze shifted to her face.
Those chaotic violet eyes were still open, still glowing, but beneath the madness, beneath the violent flicker of that red pupil…
there was something else.
A trace of consciousness.
A faint, almost desperate clarity that hadn't completely vanished.
Evan raised his hand, a sword already forming within his grasp, preparing to deliver the final blow.
He had only known the girl for a few days, so he didn't feel particularly troubled by the idea of killing her.
And yet…
That same strange sensation from earlier surfaced again, tugging faintly at his instincts, whispering that ending her life here… wasn't the right move.
He hesitated.
The feeling grew stronger.
Slowly, almost without realizing it, Evan stepped closer to her fallen body and crouched down beside her. Luna's chest rose and fell weakly, her body trembling as that ominous energy continued to churn beneath her skin.
He reached out and placed his hand over her chest, right above where her heart was.
The moment his palm touched her, he felt it clearly.
That energy.
Cold, deep, and endless, like a bottomless abyss.
But instead of rejecting him, it reacted to his presence. It stirred, shifted… and then began to move, slowly flowing toward his hand as if drawn by an invisible force.
Evan's eyes widened, a faint glow reflecting in them as he watched something strange begin to unfold.