The ruined city tremble.
A heartbeat pulsating throughout the area.
THUMP!
The black cocoon swelled.
Dark veins spread across its surface like roots beneath the rotten flesh.
The air grew heavier.
Even breathing became difficult.
Kai wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Kai's gaze never wavered.
The System floated before him.
Manifestation Progress: 47%
Kai whispered.
"...Almost halfway."
"There's still time."
Without another word—
BOOM!
Kai shot forward once more.
The White Flame erupted behind him like a comet's tail.
The cocoon answered with a beat.
The ground exploded.
Tens...
No—
Hundreds of black tendrils burst from beneath the streets.
It erupted from shattered buildings.
From abandoned vehicles.
Even from the corpses buried beneath the rubble.
The city itself had become part of the ritual.
Every direction became a death trap.
Kai never slowed.
One tendril descended.
Kai dodged.
Sidestepped.
Another swept across the ground.
Kai leaped.
Three tendrils targeted toward Kai's chest.
Kai spun through the narrow gap.
The burning chain danced like a ribbon of white flame.
SHHK!!
One tendril burned away.
Another.
A third.
Ash scattered into the wind.
Yet...
For every one destroyed—
Two more grew.
"...Damn it!"
It wasn't trying to kill Kai.
Like a distraction trying to buy time.
The realization struck Kai like lightning.
"The cocoon..."
"It wants to buy time."
───
THUMP!
Manifestation Progress: 58%
The gray sky crack open.
Not with lightning.
But with darkness.
Long fractures spread across the gray sky.
Beyond them...
Something moved.
Countless eyes.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Watching.
Waiting.
The city groaned.
Buildings slowly sank into the earth.
Roads softened beneath Kai's feet.
Concrete became soft like flesh.
Steel twisted like living bone.
Seems like the world reject its own reality.
Kai gritted his teeth.
"What are those eyes?..."
[WARNING!]
Unknown Authority Identified: Black Maiden's Blindness
Manifestation: Countless Black Eyes (Pre-Decend)
Description: A God who foreseen the future which refuses to accept its reality. Wanting to change its predetermined fate and destiny, ends up corrupting itself in process.
"Who ever named that Nightmare, clearly haven't thought it well."
A black tentacle burst from beneath Kai.
Kai barely avoided it.
Its tip pierced his thigh.
Blood splashed across the broken street.
Kai's leg buckled.
Pain shot through Kai's body.
A tendril wrapped around Kai's left arm.
A second coiled around Kai's waist.
A third seized Kai's ankle.
Pulled.
Trying to drag Kai toward the cocoon.
Toward the endless darkness.
Kai's body screamed.
His ribs felt ready to shatter.
His vision blurred.
Every instinct begged Kai to stop.
To rest.
To surrender.
"...Not..."
"...This time!"
White flames ignited.
Quietly.
Then violently.
BOOOOOOM!
The chains exploded with blinding light.
Every tendril wrapped around Kai burned to ash.
Kai fell—
Only to set foot against the broken pavement.
Then sprint forward.
───
THUMP!!
Manifestation Progress: 71%
The heartbeat became deafening.
The area are no longer resembled a neighborhood.
Buildings folded inward.
The streets bled.
The sky twisted into a massive spiral centered above the cocoon.
Black rain began falling.
The world was dying.
Kai pushed through it.
Every step slower.
Every breath harsher.
Kai's wounds reopened.
Blood dripped from Kai's fingertips.
Yet Kai continued.
"...Move..."
"...Move!..."
───
The cocoon trembled.
A crack spread across its surface.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Something inside shifted.
A massive fetus can be seen through the cocoon.
No bigger than any houses...
It was calm.
As if under its mother's embrace.
The shell bulged outward.
It was coming.
Manifestation Progress: 84%
Kai accelerated.
Ignoring every warning Kai's body gave him.
A black tentacle tore through Kai's shoulder.
Kai ripped himself free.
Another grazed Kai's side.
Kai kept running.
A third struck Kai's back.
Still—
Kai never stopped.
Blood painted a trail behind him.
The White Flame continued burning.
Brighter.
Hotter.
As if refusing to let its owner fall.
───
THUMP!!
Manifestation Progress: 91%
The cocoon is starting to swell.
Bigger.
Bigger.
In any moment it would explode.
Then a single eye opened.
Not brown.
Jet black.
Ancient.
It stared directly at Kai.
The pressure alone nearly forced Kai to his knees.
The System flashed red.
[WARNING!]
Hostile Entity Awakening.
Unknown Existence Detected.
Priority: SURVIVE!
Kai smiled.
"...Too late."
"I won't let it happen."
───
THUMP!
Manifestation Progress: 94%
The cocoon grow further.
The fetus inside started to tremble.
It slowly stretch its limbs.
Waiting for its birth.
The entire city shook.
───
THUMP!
Manifestation Progress: 97%
Silence.
Everything stopped.
Even the wind.
Kai stood directly before the cocoon.
Only a few meters remained.
Kai's body was tired.
Kai breathing ragged.
Kai's vision dim.
Yet...
Kai's resolve burned brighter than ever.
The White Flame gathered around Kai's right arm.
Every link of the chain glowed white.
The fire compressed.
Smaller.
Smaller.
Brighter.
[WARNING!]
HP: 20 / 137
Further consumption of HP will endanger the host.
Kai ignored the warning.
He continued to gather more power.
It continuously burn Kai's HP faster than before.
Until it resembled a newborn star held within his fist.
Kai slowly pulled his arm back.
The cocoon pulsed one final time.
Something inside laughed.
Kai answered with a whisper.
"...You..."
"...were never meant to be born."
Kai stepped forward.
Just one step.
And Kai threw everything he had into a single punch.
"WHITE BURST!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
The street turned white.
From the burning white flame.
The White Flame erupted like the birth of a sun.
The shockwave vaporized every remaining tendril.
The ritual circles shattered.
The countless eyes above the sky closed.
The cocoon burned to crisp.
Black.
A crack appeared.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
The cracks raced across its surface like glass.
The thing inside screamed.
Not in pain.
In denial.
The cocoon collapsed inward.
Then—
It exploded.
The darkness that had swallowed the street had burned away.
For the first time since the apocalypse appeared...
The light emerged from the grayish world.
Blinding.
The ritual...
Had failed.
To Be Continued...