"It came from the town center."
Inase's ears had never betrayed his sense of hearing. If a moment they did come, it would be the moment he'd be deemed useless for any future missions given by the Facility.
Both jumped to their feet and ran in a hurry towards the turmoil, not minding to leave the seekers' bodies behind.
"Holy…"
He whispered once they found themselves in the middle of the town.
The air reeked of ash, and the streets filled with an uproar of screams and cackling flames. Rising embers spread widely on the rooftops, breaking the dark night, and shattered windows reflected their eerie glow.
Some locals fled in every direction, running in a frenzy, screaming…. while others scattered around the place with full buckets in desperate attempts to calm the fire. Their hands trembled, nearly spilling the water everywhere.
From the shadows cast by the orange tint, they emerged.
The specters, black as the night—their silhouettes more visible in contrast to the light of the fire, more defined, more… sharp. Dozens of appendages tore through their victims, who moved as if trapped in slow motion, with time itself grinding to a halt around them.
"The hunt has begun."
Hosen didn't expect the action to take place this quickly, but then again, he wasn't too surprised either, knowing that the information traveled through the hivemind network almost instantly.
The adumbrali must have sensed that one of their creations was killed.
"They finally found our dimension plane. Now they can freely kill humans at their will," the scientist muttered.
One after another, the locals fell under their piercing attack—their bodies dropped dead on the ground like broken porcelain dolls, halting to work.
In a frenzy, Mrs.Nancy, the fish stall vendor, had filled all the buckets with seawater. She had given them away to anyone who came to help.
She couldn't even blink when a tentacle ruthlessly pierced through her heart; her body collapsed lifelessly with a loud thud.
The bucket in her hands loosened, spilling all the seawater, if not for Inase, who caught it at the very last second.
"Oof-"
Quite heavy.
"I won't let your sacrifice go to waste, old lady."
He quickly found the closest man to hand over the water container.
"Put out the fire, quick!"
"Uh… Got it!"
The man, though utterly bewildered, obeyed every command without question, stumbling when he dashed forward in frantic haste.
Yet, the flare spread vast.
Due to that, the shadows shifted unnaturally, curling around the feet of the two like living smoke.
They were already this close; their forms flickered against the light as if reality itself couldn't fully capture their essence.
One lunged forward, its movements a blur, its appendages slicing through the air with razor precision.
Hosen ducked low, rolling under the sweeping strike whilst the tip of a shadowy blade grazed his shoulder.
He grimaced as his feet hardly found balance on the uneven ground, "Watch their movements," and called out, spinning to face whichever dark blob was obstructing his way. "They are faster than you perceive them to be!"
"Ugh, such a pain in the ass!"
Even though his rowdy partner seemed to complain, his expression said otherwise—focused eyes sparked with excitement.
"Then, I just need to destroy them before anything happens!"
Inase met the other bunch head-on, blocking a strike with a spinning kick that disrupted its specter-like form and scattered its silhouette momentarily.
The entities hissed for the first time—their voice screeched like nails dragged across glass.
They extended their thin tendrils once more, but the man swiftly leaped back, dodging the first, and twisted mid-air to evade the other afterward.
Landing with well-trained agility, he countered with a wide arc of his knife—the steel glowed faintly against the sea of flames. The weapon sliced through with ease, making the creatures recoil in caution.
"Aha, so physical attacks can affect them once they enter the third dimension!"
The blonde informed, charging his own opponent.
Good to know they weren't completely powerless since they definitely couldn't do anything against them being invincible in their two-dimensional forms.
"To hunt their prey, they have to become vulnerable," expose themselves.
Hosen nodded in agreement while dodging another moving vine by a hair.
"We can deal with them—"
However, fate wasn't going to be that kind to them, was it?
They thought they were doing alright, when…
"I'm so glad you two are alright!" Once she realized they were here, she couldn't hold back her happiness and ran out of the inn without a second thought.
The painter opened the doors as soon as she saw them.
"What's happening? What's all the ruckus about?"
But Inase's head snapped violently towards her oblivious self, prone to the danger scattered outside.
"Miss Roberta—!?"
How stupid of her to leave a relatively safe place and walk straight into those deadly maws…!
"Idiot, what are you doing outside!?"
"What…?"
Her smile vanished in a heartbeat when she noticed a shadow entity catapult toward her, sliding across the ground with ruthless ferocity.
"Ah-"
The blonde wanted to rush to her side at once, but it wasn't an option at the moment. Both of his hands were busy protecting himself. He tried to reach her, but he couldn't—it was especially proven when Roberta brought one of the monsters' attention.
Hosen couldn't either. He was too occupied to notice the girl leave the building in the first place.
"Watch out!"
Roberta was done for. Surely.
Inase couldn't get to her on time. He thought they had lost their precious painter...
Until—
BANG!
Detective Watson, with his thick noir accent, came to the rescue at the last second. His trusty gun shot through the shadow, scattering it away from the lady.
"Well, well, look who decided to show up. I've been looking for you this whole time, partner, and I gotta say, you're harder to find than a needle in a haystack."
"Detective…!"
Inase had never imagined he'd be so relieved to see this man. Ever.
"Protect her at all costs!"
With a surge of confidence settling in, he snapped back to focus for the rest of the battle.
"Right-o!"
Watson seemed like a reliable fella for the first time in his life.
When the detective guarded her, Hosen was the one to hold a burning piece of wood to repel the enemies with its light (keeping in mind the last time he used a chemical reaction for it, the current method was less effective in comparison).
And when it was his time, Watson made sure he had a fully loaded gun to distract anything from approaching—he had filled in the supporting role pretty well.
They continued their formation, all while they helped others evacuate as well. With no time to spare, they repeated their strategies over and over.
Again.
...and again.
For Inase, after a hundredth time in a row of round-kicking or cutting off a tentacle, it had become exhausting. Not only that, but also an irritation had replaced the feeling of thrill for a while now.
"It would have never happened if it weren't for those cursed paintings—!" He clicked his tongue.
It earned him a glare from his buddy for slipping up. Hosen didn't want to further the topic if, by any chance, Roberta overheard.
Being insensitive was one thing, but complaining about someone in front of them was another. Especially when this complaint would take a toll on their mental state during a battle for survival, lessening their chances of coming out of it alive.
He believed that people's minds were brittle. Confronted by danger from an outer dimension, they quickly folded.
What would become of a young lady like her after hearing that everything happening here was triggered by her innocent actions of curiosity?
She would break.
"...what?"
Unfortunate as it was, Roberta did hear it. Her eyes widened in shock.
They've done it now...
At first, her pupils were fixated on the man, but soon, her gaze scanned the surrounding buildings that crumbled under the destructive power of the flames and the aggressive nature of the shadows.
"All of this…?"
She had witnessed the disaster of a lifetime, all it was because of her?
"It was my paintings that did it!?" It was too much to process. "All of these atrocious monsters… were my creation?"
Her gaze pleaded silently, hoping it wasn't, begging to deny it, while her mind struggled to accept the truth.
"..."
Well, this is awkward…
However, no matter how much she wanted to believe it wasn't the case, the two strange men had confirmed her fears by staying silent.
Her legs stopped moving just as her shoulders slumped in resignation.
"Hey—what are you doing?"
Inase had to pull her away from another chasing shadow. Her current state was a dead weight.
He gritted his teeth, not able to withhold his frustrations within.
"Yes, your paintings were all at fault! But what are you gonna do about it now? Absolutely nothing!" He hissed. "Regretting it won't solve the problem we're facing at hand!"
Crying over spilled milk was something he deeply hated—a display of emotions (such as whining or sobbing) wouldn't help their case.
"You better move your ass if you don't want to be more useless than you already are!"
He spat out without any consideration for her feelings.
"Will!"
Even Hosen had to react to these harsh words. First, he blurted out the truth that should stay hidden, later he turned on the person it concerned. There was a limit to how much of an asshole he could be.
"You better hurry it up, fellas!"
Detective Watson urged them to get it over with, covering their backs.
"..." But she stayed silent.
"Give me a break, I don't have time to be babysitting a crybaby right now!"
Another swing of the knife, yet his words still dripped with venom.
"..."
Roberta's mind was cluttered with thoughts. Was it all her fault? Why? She only wanted to bring happiness to those who saw her work.
"..."
Her passion for painting was what brought this town to its demise…? Wasn't she allowed to follow her dreams? Why?
…why?
"..."
Whatever it was that she did, she wanted to undo it.
"..."
She couldn't leave the situation the way it was...!
"..."
Suddenly, her arm shot out, grabbing Inase by the wrist as she leaped to his side. The swift motion caught all of them off guard.
"What now?!"
However, the man growled as he tried to shake her off, yet she didn't budge.
"..."
Her fingers trembled as she held onto the hem of his fabric, tighter and tighter, until her knuckles had turned white.
"...please..."
At first, it was a quiet whisper, barely audible to anyone. But, after collecting herself through a deep breath, she repeated it once more, this time louder.
"Please, burn it all…!"
…was her final decision—a change of heart they didn't see coming.
"What…?" Inase blinked. "But-" It was her livelihood.
"I don't care!"
The young lady stopped him from finishing that sentence. If he had, tears would have rolled down her cheeks.
"Burn it! I don't mind if it means it'll save the townspeople!"
She was confident in her words.
"Burn them all—!"