The air inside the Angel's Garden pulsed with decadence—neon lights slashed through the haze in streaks of electric blue, violent violet and searing crimson, casting jagged shadows across the writhing crowd.
The club's heartbeat thumped relentlessly, a bassline that shuddered through the floor and burrowed into the bones of every soul lost in its grip. Sweat and perfume wove a cloying tapestry in the humid haze, sticking to the skin and stinging the nostrils with every breath. The revelers swayed and stumbled, their laughter and shouts devoured by the music's roar, blind to the dread coiling tighter with each fleeting second.
Amid this chaos,
On the first floor, two figures in dark robes charged at Karan with preternatural speed, like predators honed by something beyond flesh and bone. Their hoods flapped like raven wings, catching the neon's glow in ghostly flickers.
Karan stood poised at the edge of the floor's balcony, his silhouette a dark anchor against the kaleidoscope below. He exhaled sharply, his breath a faint plume in the stifling air. "Are we doing this again?" The words barely left his mouth before the fight exploded into motion.
A synchronized assault came at him—a vicious hook sliced toward his jaw from the left, while a roundhouse kick whipped toward his ribs from the right. The two men moved swiftly, their strikes blurring with lethal intent.
But, instead of dodging the vicious assault, Karan's hands flashed up—Baam!!—his palms slamming into fist and foot with a bone-jarring thud that sang through his arms, halting their momentum cold.
Finding that their attack is useless and the opponent is more powerful than their estimation, they yanked themselves free, retreating a few steps to reassess. Their movements were too fluid, too precise, hinting at something beyond human.
Dropping his coat to the floor with a heavy pat!, "I did find your previous movement a bit suspicious but now it's clear," Karan rolled up his sleeves, revealing forearms corded with muscle, veins like steel cables beneath his skin. His gaze drilled into the robed men's murky yellow eyes—barely visible beneath their dark hood, "You guys... aren't humans, right?" he growled, voice a low rumble slicing through the music's pulse.
"Kuaargghh!!!" A guttural scream ripped through the club, shattering Karan's focus, jerking his head toward Lucien's office. There he saw Lucien Carver dangling in the air, held aloft by a figure in a crimson robe.
The man's usual swagger was gone—his body trembled crazily as he clawed at his scalp, tearing out clumps of thinning hair. Blood streamed from deep gashes he raked into his face, his manicured nails now weapons of desperation. His voice cracked into a wavering screech as he pleaded, "No—no, please, it's not supposed to—" His words dissolved into a gurgle as his back arched grotesquely, muscles swelling and shrinking in erratic spasms.
Crack! Crack! Bones snapped like dry twigs, his skin splitting open in wet, crimson rents, shredding his tailored suit into a gore-soaked ruin. Blood and viscera splattered the floor, the stench of iron and bile flooding the air.
"What the hell...?" The scene before his eyes left him speechless. But danger didn't wait—"!!!" A fist rocketed toward his face, knuckles whistling through the air. Reacting with inhuman speed, his hand shot up, stopping the attack midway, fingers locking like steel. With a savage twist, he yanked the attacker's arm back and spun it counterclockwise, muscles straining against the resistance.
Crack!
A crisp crack sounded as the attacker's shoulder popped free, dangling uselessly. Yet to Karan's surprise, the man didn't flinch, didn't cry out in agony but just stared at him with those unblinking yellow eyes.
"!!!" A chill snaked up Karan's spine.
Releasing the arm in his grasp, he ducked low. Swish! A finger jab sliced the air above him, whistling like a blade.
Raising up, he seized the second attacker's wrist with his left hand and drove his right elbow into his face.
Baam!
The figure staggered back as blood dripped from beneath the hood, trickling onto the polished floor. Beside him, the first attacker shrugged his dislocated shoulder—Crack—and it realigned with eerie precision.
"This compelling feeling," Karan growled, breath sharp and fast, "Who are you guys?"
His question received silence that hung heavy with each passing second, thick with unspoken weight.
Just then—Roar!! a jagged, inhuman bellow tore through the club. Karan's eyes snapped towards the room—towards the crimson-robed figure, who now clutched a very scrawny, glabrous bipedal creature.
Its whole body glistened with blood, foam bubbling from its jagged maw as it thrashed, claws slashing wildly to free the grip around its neck.
"A failure." the crimson-robed man intoned as he looked at the strange creature, his voice a frigid void, lacking any hint of warmth and empathy. After passing his final verdict, the man locked his cold, blood-red eyes with Karan's brown ones and, with a flick of his wrist, flung the creature into the crowd below.
Boom—it crashed into one of the towering speakers that stood by the DJ platform. A massive plume of acrid smoke rose high, followed by the bitter stench of burning wiring and electronics.
As the dark smoke reached the high heights of the ceiling and entered the territory of smoke detectors, OOUUWWIIEE— OOUUWWIIEE—the fire alarm shrieked to life. Fwish! Fwish! Fwish! Cold water began to be sprayed around the closed enclosure through the water sprinklers installed on the ceiling, in the wake of the fire alarm, drenching the room in a relentless cold cascade.
Karan hurriedly came up to the cold, wet railing, its icy slickness biting into his palms as he gripped it tight. From hair to toe, he was completely soaked, making his black shirt cling tightly to his body, outlining every taut muscle as he peered into the chaos below.
Zzz—a crisp static sounded before all the speakers died and the EDM music came to halt.
"W~what was t~that?"
"Oye D~dj! What a~are you doing..!?"
People raised complaints to the DJ as their merry time got interrupted, totally oblivious to the unfolding horror.
Amidst all the tipsy complaints, two lanky, clawed arms creepily streached out of the wreckage, gripping each sides of the metal box. The creature slowly crawled its way out, its movements jerky and unnatural. Screech—it let out a loud wail that sliced through the air like shattered glass.
"Uwaaaa!!!"
"W~what the!?"
"Hey! What's that?"
"Is this some kind of visual entertainment?"
At that moment—Baam—a thud snapped creature's head towards the terrified DJ who cowered in the corner, shivering uncontrollably.
Unlike the intoxicated crowd, the DJ was fully aware that the thing standing before him was not the result of some visual effects, but a real, living nightmare.
"A-a-a-Aaargh!!" Affrighted by the dreadful appearance of the creature, the Jockey let out a frantic scream and tried to scramble up to make a run for his life. Thud—but he fell to the ground as his shacky legs gave out.
Screech!! With a horrifying roar, the creature leaped at the Jockey.
"Shit!" Karan cursed as he prepared to jump from the railing to go and save the Jockey.
But before he could act further, Swish! A small piece of metal—an empty metal syringe—whizzed past his ears, narrowly missing his ear. With a dull Pat!, It penetrated the wall and embedded itself deep within.
"Where are you going in such a hurry, Doomwalker?" A cold, venomous voice slithered from behind. Turning around, Karan saw the crimson-robed man, the one who unleashed the calamity below, standing with his two companions, eyes blazing red, dread rippling around him like heat haze.