After Azure was exhausted and collapsed to the ground... his body began to feel heavy and his eyes started to tire. But suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his mind and began to scream in agony."What exactly is happening?" he said in his mind, gritting his teeth.
He noticed his body starting to lose control. "Don't tell me they want to control me now, the sons of the..."He didn't finish the sentence before his consciousness slowly began to fade, and all he heard was the calm voice speaking in its usual gentle tone: "Sorry, boy, but I have people I must return to protect."
"Son of a bi--" were Azure's last words before he lost all sensation and consciousness, falling into a deep sleep.
He suddenly woke up with a scream, breathing hard, cold sweat on his forehead, and his vision blurry and foggy. He looked around and found himself on a train — the same train he was on before the incident. It seemed all the passengers were staring at him strangely because of his odd reaction.
"What... is happening?!" He started looking around in panic and confusion, recognizing some passengers — including the woman who had been killed first, and children whose heads had been devoured by the monster directly.
He looked around nervously. "Was I dreaming? Maybe I didn't sleep well, just dozed off? But the dream felt so real."
Lost and confused in his thoughts, a voice came from beside him: "Are you okay?"
Azure looked toward the voice and saw a girl sitting right next to him. She had long black hair flowing down her back, and silver eyes like snow, with calm and gentle features.
"There's something strange about her, but I don't understand what," Azure thought to himself. Then he realized he hadn't answered her question and was just staring. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," he said quickly, blushing and looking away, "I'm fine, thank you for asking."
The girl said nothing and just gave a light laugh.
Azure sat on the train with his eyes closed, trying to decide if what happened before was a dream or reality, until he heard her voice again. "May I ask your name?" she said in a soft, gentle voice.
Azure opened his eyes and looked at her nervously, since it was the first time a girl had spoken to him and asked his name. "My name is Azure Hunter," he said quietly, looking at her, then asked, "May I ask your name too?"
She smiled, "Nice to meet you, Azure. My name is Rika Arata."
After that, Azure and Rika exchanged small talk and phone numbers.
When Azure's stop came and he decided to say goodbye, he found out she was getting off at the same station, so they left together and then parted ways.
Azure walked home alone, still thinking about what had happened, looking at the sky from time to time. "I'll go straight to sleep once I get home... maybe I'm just tired..."
He walked for more than two hours, and as night fell, he reached his home and opened the door. As soon as he opened it, strong winds blew from inside the house, and the entire neighborhood's lights, streets, and buildings went out.
Azure felt as if a sharp blade was at his neck, ready to kill him at any moment.
He quickly looked around but found nothing unusual except the power outage.
He started calling out, "Mom, Emilia... is anyone home?" He searched the house but found no one.
Then he heard the feral voice in his head: "Stop shouting so loud, you're giving me a headache."
Azure froze in place for a few seconds.
"You didn't expect to see us again, did you?" said the calm voice with a laugh.
As soon as he heard it, Azure grew angry: "And you even have the nerve to talk after trying to control my body by force, you son of a bitch!"
"Calm down, boy. This is not the right time, and anyway, my attempt to control your body failed. I can't do it again."
"Are you going to try again?!" Azure shouted angrily, on the verge of losing control and about to insult him, when he heard a noise coming from upstairs.
Azure rushed up the stairs to the upper floor and saw his sister being eaten by a slimy monster. Her body was burned and decomposing.
Azure froze in place, his heart stopped, and he felt shattered. Emilia — innocent and kind — had become a distorted, decomposed corpse, with one eye dangling beside her face, ready to fall off, and the other dead, lifeless, hopeless. Her insides spilled out.
Without thinking for a second, Azure rushed toward the monster, threw his bag at it to push it away, and took what was left of his sister's body far from the cursed beast.
He carried her into his bedroom and closed the door, then stared fiercely at the monster.
Without hesitation, he charged at the slimy beast that had killed his sister.
The monster was huge — its dark, slimy skin glistened like a twisted gelatinous mass. Its glowing red eyes shone coldly and mercilessly. Its long arms ended in sharp claws resembling guillotine blades. Despite its size, it moved with terrifying speed, and guttural sounds of tearing flesh came from its mouth full of sharp, decaying teeth.
Azure tried to attack the monster with furious punches, but it easily dodged his blows, grabbed his left fist, and tore through his skin down to the bone. Then it threw him hard against the wall. Although his hand was injured badly, his anger made him ignore the pain and continue attacking.
The monster stabbed its claws into his right leg and threw him down the stairs. Azure tried to stand but the beast quickly appeared in front of him and attacked his left shoulder, severing it completely.
The pain was unbearable. Azure screamed and fell to the floor, but he tried to glare at the monster with hatred. The beast didn't care and raised its claws to strike again, but Azure's body rolled on the ground and evaded before rising to put distance between them.
The monster was surprised by the sudden movement and stared at Azure with its red eyes.
Azure wasn't fully in control of his body — the feral voice was the one guiding him now.
The feral voice spoke angrily and sharply: "Rage is a good weapon, but blind fury won't help you... Damn it! With this body and this state, I can't do anything to that monster."
The calm voice said, "You don't have to fight it directly. Use the monster's weakness."
The feral voice took control of Azure's body and tried to move toward the kitchen, but the monster quickly blocked the way and stabbed with its claws. Azure barely dodged and rolled on the floor, crawling to the kitchen, trying to stand.
The monster kicked him and slammed him into the refrigerator, which fell on top of Azure.
"If I survive this, I'll make that boy learn a lesson for putting me in this damn state," the feral voice growled as it struggled to lift the refrigerator with one hand to escape.
But the monster appeared again, ready to stab Azure's face with its claws. Azure moved the refrigerator to block the attack. The monster ripped the fridge away and threw it aside.
Azure's body waited for that moment and lunged for the stove, pulling the gas pipe to fill the kitchen with gas. He smiled madly at the monster in front of him. "I hope you enjoy your barbecue, you bastard."
He quickly turned on the stove, igniting the gas. He ducked from the first wave of the explosion, then closed the gas valve and stepped out of the kitchen.
The monster was burning, starting to melt.
Azure's body collapsed, and the feral voice returned control to him, though he was still disoriented. Azure ignored his state and ran upstairs to check on his sister's body — only to find it gone.
He searched everywhere, checked all the rooms, but found no trace of her remains.