"There is no one so daring as to wake him up; who then can stand before me?" - Job 41:10
The forest of Limbo, already a nightmare in itself, had given birth to an abomination that defied all logic and nature. His skin, blackened by putrefaction, cracked into multiple oozing sores from which a yellow, viscous pus flowed and fell to the ground with a wet sound.
His body was an amalgam of rotten flesh: long, gnarled arms, one leg shorter than the other, giving him a wobbly but eerily agile gait. From his abnormally long, hooked fingers oozed a blackish liquid that reeked of death and decay, leaving a trail of blackness where it passed.
But the most disturbing thing was his face... or the absence of one. His disproportionate head was dominated by a huge mouth that opened in a grotesque grimace, revealing irregular rows of teeth sharp as obsidian blades.
It had no eyes, but instead, a constellation of red, slimy orbs flickered in no apparent order, as if trying to look in all directions at the same time. He was a being created to hunt and destroy.
Ryuusei felt a chill that chilled the blood in his veins. The adrenaline of the previous massacre had been replaced by pure terror. Beside him, Aiko, small but untamed, looked up determinedly, her hand clutching her own dagger.
Haru, sharp-minded and precise, scrutinized the creature's movements with an analytical eye, looking for a weak spot. Daichi, the quietest of the group, positioned himself firmly, his katana already drawn, ready for battle. Kenta, for his part, broke the tense silence with a nervous laugh.
"Well... That was fast," he muttered, his trembling smile a mask for the fear in his eyes.
The ground rumbled as the beast, despite its misshapen appearance, moved with an improbable speed. He did not attack one, but his tentacles, covered with thorns and blackness, rushed towards them with the violence of an unleashed storm, trying to sweep them all away with a single blow.
Ryuusei barely had time to react, rolling to the side as the creature's claws tore through the air where it had been an instant before. The impact was so strong that it knocked down several nearby trees.
Kenta dodged on instinct, panting between each movement, his face drenched in sweat. Haru, with his lethal precision, drew a pair of daggers and lunged into the attack with calculated blows, tearing at the beast's rotting skin.
The cuts healed almost instantly, but the pain made her recoil. Daichi, impassive and focused, unloaded a brutal blow with his katana into the creature's side, and although the flesh gave way, the damage seemed minimal.
But the horror was just beginning. The creature recovered in a second, letting out a roar that made the leaves of the trees vibrate. Ryuusei, in the midst of the chaos, heard a sound. A sound of something approaching.
It was not a growl, not a scream, but a deep hum that made the air vibrate, like a bronze bell that is struck thousands of times at the same time.
The air became dense, cold, as if the world itself were holding its breath. From the gloom behind the creature, a new silhouette emerged: tall, imposing, an abyss of darkness made flesh.
Its presence devoured what little light there was, transforming the atmosphere into a vortex of despair. Every step he took made the earth tremble, and a deeper darkness spread around him, one that was not the absence of light, but a shadow that absorbed hope.
He held in one of his icy hands a dark sword, with a black edge and dripping with a sticky liquid that corroded the ground where it fell.
He was the Herald of Destruction. A being of a magnitude that Ryuusei never thought would exist. Their mere presence made the creature they were fighting look like a simple plague. The Herald had a face with human features, but he lacked skin. His jaw, his cheekbones, everything was bone.
In their empty sockets shone a constellation of eyes that looked like nothing human, and on their chest, a dozen red and slimy orbs flickered in no apparent order, as if trying to look in all directions at the same time.
Ryuusei's muscles tensed, and for the first time he felt the certainty that he was on the verge of a sealed fate. The Herald's multiple eyes locked onto him, shining with a crimson glow that seemed to look beyond his flesh, straight into his soul. Aiko, with a thread of voice that was barely a whisper of terror, managed to say one word:
"Ryuusei...
The Herald needed no more words. There were no shouts, no speeches, just a simple movement. He raised his titanic sword, the cold steel of Limbo echoing, and pointed it at Ryuusei. There was no noise. Just a silent message: the combat was about to begin. And this time, it wouldn't be a massacre. It would be annihilation.
Tightly clenching the handles of his hammers, Ryuusei inhaled deeply. Adrenaline burned in his blood, a mixture of terror and a strange rage. He twirled the gun in his hands, feeling its weight with each racing beat of his heart. Around him, his teammates prepared for the inevitable. The rotting creature let out a roar of glee and lunged at them once more.
The battle for their lives had begun.