Send out the signal and I'll fly low

If it means the death of me, I won't let go

And if I'm lost in the world's shadows

I'll use the light that comes to me

From your halo

-

「7 | End of First Section」

「10:02 PM | Cine Undrehart」

The entirety of the events was splattered in dark enigma and utter chaos. Everything seemed to be screaming.

It was quick enough for the tendrils to shoot forward like a bolt of lightning, the utmost-black being leaping much quicker.

The tendrils retracted for a second, then hurled towards the being once more, or to be specific, to Ashe who was still calmly sitting without falling over. The killing was one-sided. A chase between a cat and a mouse. Everything went to speed at that point, blurring in and out of sight. The tendrils of the girl almost transparent. The being nimbly dodging every attack. Countless of missing its only target, the ground was punctured with deep crevices.

The blurring motion went for some time until the girl hurled a nearby black being out of the blue.

Cine saw a glimpse of Ashe faltering for just a split second before the being with her suddenly dissipates into nothingness. As wide Cine's visions can see, the similarly black figures also disappeared at the same instant.

Ashe fell, stumbling backward, but managed to get back to her feet. The girl charged forward, her five tendrils on her back sprouted like wings, looking like cracks of a portal in mid-air.

At the same time, in one, swift motion, Ashe grabbed something from her personage.

Their eyes met.

They're not the color of the calm and dark seas that Cine knew, but they hold of brightest twinkling stars. The circlets above her head vanished.

Someone white and brown went passed her visions. It didn't take her a moment to know who fits that description. She tried to yell out over the young man, only to stifle, not knowing his name from the beginning. So she yelled something else, picking up her own words a bit later. She remembered the object Ashe brought up, now stretched forward. It glinted.

"Cred—!" A sharp bang.

The young man squalled.

In pain.

"Bugger, I missed," said Ashe. Her revolver clattered on the ground. The tendrils that were frozen in place suddenly jerked forward. They were aiming directly at Ashe who wasn't moving from her spot. Or that she couldn't move a muscle anymore. Cine was already running, already closing in. Tendrils more than halfway toward Ashe.

"No!" she bawled, and intervened between them—

In time the tendrils froze in mid-movement near her eye sockets.

Twitching, they retracted away.

She heard a stifled gasp behind her.

"I'm okay!" groaned the young man aloud over the girl, clutching his arm, however, no signs of bleeding from it. "Aagh, I didn't know it would hurt this much!"

It was then the Chief yelled among the thrashing crowds— "Run for cover! It's going to—!" —that there was an explosion.

Muscles still tensed as knotted rope, Cine rolled away by instinct, a sound of cement crashing as she did so. Springing her legs to stand, she turned behind her and took several steps backward. Apart from the fallen debris, Ashe was not from where she stood.

An arm around her neck stopped her from moving forward, swiftly dragging her away, but was sent sprawling. The falling debris almost crushing her flat by few meters close.

Being kidnapped crossed her mind firstly. The chaos and memories corrupting her momentarily. But seeing the person on top of her disintegrated the thought. Getting up on his feet next to her, her boss grabbed her up, and they ran together.

"The ceiling is collapsing," called over by her boss as they avoided the upcoming rocks down their way, weaving through the area. Splinters and ear-splitting crashes falling all around them. They were different sources of muffled screams. "We have to get out!"

"But Ashe is—!"

Debris blocked their only path to escape, having to retract, but only to be met with more debris falling right in front of them. They couldn't evade the next one, as it was falling straight down their heads.

In that moment, a black being appeared, using its own towering body as a shield.

More from the upper floor continued to collapse, not only rocks but also identifiable objects such as tables, chairs, and shattered mirrors. Another being appeared before them, burdening the added tremendous weight. Something loud and heavy overtook the rest of the noise, followed by splintering blocks of cement and clattering rubble. Then silence, thick and heavy, can only be heard at last.

The black creatures over them pushed the boulders aside with relentless effort, letting them pass. Her boss gently pushed her first to duck her way out before warily getting out of the rubble as well, taking a dubious glance at the motionless creatures in a pose of pushing a boulder with its back. The creatures didn't make a move of attacking them.

What's left of the mall became a dilapidated building. The ceilings and upper floors with it were missing like a broken tooth from the jaw. The glass arched-ceiling revealed the full moon, casting a little light onto the mass destruction.

There was an unscathed little girl kneeling on the floor, faintly sobbing beneath her hands. Lycas was standing beside her, his unblinking gray eyes too soulless to stare at.

The creatures who had helped them flickered then disappeared into thin air.

A distorted voice came from the distance. They saw a black being cradling Ashe on its arms. "This was not in the plan."

"Hell you think it isn't," snarled the girl who managed to protect herself and the young man from their deaths. Her tendrils were hanging on her back, looking like dead seaweeds as they were taking a long time to return to their roots. The girl looked tired, weakly panting.

"Just as those other people you killed!" added the young man in a half convulsing bellow who was still clutching his left arm.

Ashe subtly looked puzzled with closed eyes. The distorted voice spoke for her. "Killed? I did not kill anyone."

There was a momentary pause.

Everyone, except for the little girl quietly sobbing, looked utterly shocked.

"You're the mole," The Chief started, containing his anger, disbelief, and immense pain that doesn't seem to have been caused by his injuries. "You're the one behind all of this, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I did not kill anyone," repeated the distorted voice. "It is too much of a burden for me to steal more than one life."

"Then who did," It was Lycas asking the question, which was not even a question. He was not angry but extremely unnerved. Cine felt a blood-curdling sensation as she stared at his face dripping with blood.

"I-I don't know."

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Lycas prodded on, now with a tinge of deep emotion, holding his head in a tight squeeze.

The black being suddenly dissipated in the air, leaving Ashe to fall flat on the floor. She got up quite slowly, her quivering arm went to cover her entire face. "I do not know."

"They were maimed from the inside," explained Cine's boss with an unusual dark tone. "Every single one of them went through a wholesome physical trauma, resulting in a cruel death. Your black puppets could've done all of that."

"I merely programmed my creations to knock all of you from consciousness," Ashe seemed to be telling herself. "They did what I told them to- I did not...."

Dropping her arm, her face showing a look of subtle horror. "That's it... He knew that I'll kill her. Predicted that I'll betray him, so he betrayed me first."

"Enough with the pronouns," The Chief asked impatiently. "Who in damnation is he?!"

"The one who's targeting you all. He's my—"

They heard the siren from a mile away.

The Chief muttered something to himself, before cussing.

"This is going to be insane," he bellowed. "But I need you all to stick together and flee the city!"

---☆--||--★---

This story is not over.

Let's just say someone had finished eating their box of pizza. And since that'll take long to digest, that guy needs a long break before chomping the next box. And that applies to me as well, for I do need a long break from this story.

So, this is now officially on-hold and will be my last priority.

I want to make a new story, that's my lamest excuse.

With that being said... uh, drop a comment on what you think about this story so far. And if you find this decent over-all, click the star.