In the darkness, within the sewers.
The unexpected meeting between Leona's group and Caroline's group was finally about to lead to a solution.
Lillian's offer of help had a strong impact on Leona.
Despite her suspicions toward that girl, she needed to help Anas.
After a long exchange of looks, Leona finally opened her mouth to speak—
but a strange sound cut her off.
Tak… tak taktak tak… DOOOOM!!
The place shook with a loud crashing sound.
Everyone turned toward the source.
Their eyes widened as dust filled the air.
The sewer ceiling had collapsed.
Edward immediately raised his sword toward the rising dust.
For a moment—
everyone stopped breathing.
Without exception.
The rays of the setting sun began to pour into the sewers…
but they were not the only thing that entered.
A head appeared from the opening.
A monster.
Its tightly packed sharp teeth, muscular build, long tail, and gray skin made everyone stare at it.
Before anyone could think—
it charged toward them.
Edward took his stance, ready to defend his sister and his allies, but—
suddenly, without warning,
a hoof… attached to a black leg—
black as if it were a piece of the void—
extended through the opening.
This time, even before anything fully entered,
the air was filled with a strange smell…
the smell of death itself.
Everyone—including the gray monster—
froze.
No—
their blood froze in their veins.
As if their freedom to move had been taken.
Their eyes widened to their limits—
when that thing entered.
It looked like a living embodiment of primal fear…
as if nature itself had lost balance and decided to give birth to something that should not exist.
Its head resembled a distorted mixture between a deer skull and a predator from deep within nightmares.
Its antlers were branched, long, and twisted—
but they were not a symbol of noble strength like those of deer.
They looked like… silent arms stretching toward the sky, searching for something unseen.
Its mouth—
filled with irregular sharp teeth—
large enough to tear a wide hole in a person's chest.
As if they had grown without order or mercy.
Black saliva dripped from them in thick strands,
like something cursed with endless hunger—
not only for food,
but for something deeper.
Its eyes were empty.
Round.
Without pupils.
Like black whirlpools mixed with faint white,
driving anyone who tried to understand them into madness.
As for its body—
it looked as if it was slowly dissolving into darkness.
Huge.
So huge that the massive hole in the sewer ceiling could not contain more than its front leg and its enormous head.
A gasp escaped from the brown-haired girl.
The creature turned its head slowly toward the group…
and toward the gray monster.
Looking into its eyes felt like staring into a bottomless abyss.
Time lost its meaning—
stretching—
until a second felt like thousands of years.
The gray-skinned monster tried to step back and turn around to escape.
But the nightmare entity did not allow it.
The moment the gray monster touched the water—
and the faint sound broke the silence—
the entity's head lunged forward,
shattering the sewer wall as if it were soft clay,
impaling the monster with its antlers.
The gray monster trembled violently for a moment—
then the light vanished from its eyes.
Blood began to flow over the creature's antlers,
down across its face.
The wound in the monster's body was like a massive hole.
The entity pushed its mouth inside it—
and began tearing and devouring its scaled flesh as if it were nothing.
Blood sprayed.
Its bony mouth was smeared with thick black liquid.
Everyone remained frozen.
But the brown-haired girl began to run—
trying to escape.
Sera looked at her, as if telling her to stop—
but she did not care.
Her dark-skinned friend tried to grab her—
to stop her—
but—
Bshhhh!
Blood had already begun to flow.
The brown-haired girl was split in half.
The other girl's arm was torn off from its place.
Caroline covered her mouth and nose tightly to suppress her frantic breathing.
Sera covered her eyes to stop herself from vomiting.
Edward stared with wide eyes—
but somehow managed to stay conscious.
The pain in his bruises and injured leg distracted him—
even if only slightly.
Naivy struggled to breathe,
but her harsh past reduced the intensity of her fear.
Lillian's legs lost the ability to carry her.
She collapsed onto her knees, trembling.
But the worst state of all—
was Leona.
Her heart pounded wildly—
as if trying to escape her chest.
The taste of fear filled her throat.
She trembled without stopping.
Instinctively, she tightened her grip on Anas,
pulling him closer—
like a drowning person clinging to a lifeline in a raging sea.
Her breathing became rapid—
as if she had lost the right to breathe.
Cold sweat ran down her back.
Her teeth clattered against each other.
It felt like dying on a deathbed.
She could not think.
Her mind was gone.
Only fear remained in this world.
The dark-skinned girl screamed loudly.
Her severed arm was turning black—
just from a scratch caused by that thing.
Her scream made the creature turn toward her.
It stared.
She went silent.
Her broken scream stuck in her throat.
She began walking toward it—
like a puppet controlled by its master.
As soon as she got close—
it opened its massive mouth—
and devoured her in a single bite,
tearing off her legs, which flew away from the force.
What remained of the two girls—
was nothing but lumps of flesh…
and two legs.
Silence returned.
The nightmare entity trembled slightly,
as if expelling something from its body.
Then it turned back to the monster's corpse—
and continued eating it in a brutal manner.
The only sounds were chewing…
and tearing.
Leona had lost control of herself from fear.
Tears streamed down heavily.
Caroline began vomiting,
trying desperately to suppress the sound—
even swallowing some of it.
Lillian raised her hand and bit it—
to stay conscious.
The scene looked like a fragment of pure hell.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
After less than a minute—
the entity had finished the monster's body.
Nothing remained.
Even the bones were crushed.
Then suddenly—
it raised its head,
looked toward a distant place,
and began to leave.
The sound of its hooves striking the ground
was like the knocking of death.
By sheer luck—
the group, now smaller in number,
remained alive.
If what they were in
could still be called "alive"…