Chapter 88 – The Hollow Silence
Ruby was still curled in her bed, the remnants of restless sleep clinging to her body like chains. The weight of her last defeat lingered in her chest, but strangely, it no longer burned with humiliation. She had learned to accept it. Loss and victory—both were just threads in the endless tapestry of life. To fight meant to experience both, and she had already begun to make peace with that truth. This was her second loss, and it had shaped her differently than the first.
Her black nightdress clung loosely to her as she stirred, hair disheveled, face still carrying the softness of half-dreams.
Then—
Bang. Bang. Bang.
The sharp knocking shattered the stillness. Heavy, frantic, and unrelenting. Ruby blinked, rubbing the fog from her eyes as a yawn escaped her lips. Slowly, she slid off the bed, her bare feet pressing against the cold floor.
When she cracked open the door, she expected silence. Instead, James and Minji stormed in without waiting for her words. Their faces carried urgency, their eyes darting around the room.
"Where is Kuro?!" James barked.
"Where is he?!" Minji echoed, her tone trembling.
Ruby rubbed her eyes, groggy. "Kuro? He sleeps under the bed… he blends in with the darkness, you won't see him unless his golden eyes glow."
James immediately dropped to his knees and peered underneath. Nothing. The space was empty.
The words hit Ruby like a slap across the soul. Her drowsiness evaporated instantly, replaced with a crawling terror that stiffened her bones. She dropped to the floor, hands clawing desperately under the bed, searching every corner with a whisper that cracked into sobs.
"Kuro? Kuro… come out, please…"
Her trembling fingers only brushed against emptiness. No warmth. No soft fur. Just cold, lifeless metal.
Minutes bled away. Ten, maybe more. Every drawer was flung open, clothes scattered, shadows torn apart by trembling hands. They overturned corners, shifted furniture, checked every possible hiding place. But the room mocked them with silence. There was no trace of him.
Ruby spun back to them, her face pale, her voice raw and jagged.
"How do you even know he's missing?!"
James's jaw was clenched, but he didn't speak. Minji, her hands shaking, forced the words out.
"Snow… Snow turned into energy particles right in front of us. So… we came here to check on Kuro."
Ruby froze mid-breath. For a moment her body felt weightless, as though the floor had disappeared beneath her feet. Her throat tightened until air itself seemed like fire. Her eyes widened, the pupils shrinking as if she had been stabbed with an unseen blade.
"You—what?" Her voice trembled. "Minji… do you even understand what you're saying?"
The denial cracked against the silence, fragile and trembling like glass about to shatter.
Minji's lips quivered, but she forced herself not to look away. Her eyes glistened, her voice steady despite the tremor in her chest.
"Ruby… when a bond disappears in particles, it isn't teleportation. It means…" Her breath shuddered, each word scraping her throat. "It means their master has died."
The room went deathly still.
Ruby's mouth opened, but no words came. Her face twisted, torn between rage and despair. Her voice finally broke through, jagged and feral.
"I know what that—" her voice cracked into a sob, "that fucking means! It means Moon, Kuro and Kai , Snow…"
Her words dissolved into a strangled silence. She shook her head violently, tears spilling over.
"No. No, you're wrong. Maybe… maybe it was just a teleportation effect! You've seen that too, haven't you? Maybe—maybe they're still out there—"
But Minji cut her off, her tone not cruel, not sharp, but unbearably soft and firm, like the final nail in a coffin.
"I know what I saw, Ruby. It wasn't teleportation."
The silence that followed suffocated the room. It pressed against their lungs, stole the air, and drained the warmth from every corner. Even the faint hum of the lights felt muted, swallowed by grief.
Ruby stood frozen, one hand covering her mouth, her chest heaving as though her heart was tearing itself apart inside her ribcage. James looked away, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned white. Minji, though steady in voice, had tears trembling in her lashes, blurring her vision.
The three of them sat together in that room, hollowed out by an emptiness that no words could fill. They had only known Moon and Kai for three, maybe four months, but those months had been carved deep—through battles fought side by side, through laughter that had eased exhaustion, through silent moments of trust forged in blood and sweat.
And now… all of that had been severed. Mercilessly. Without warning.
Ruby's chest rose and fell violently. She shut her eyes, swallowing hard, summoning every last fragment of strength to cage her grief. When she finally spoke, her voice was cold steel forged out of fire and tears.
"We can't…" she breathed. "We can't do anything right now. The training still has days left. Let's not…" Her voice faltered, shaking, but she clenched her jaw until it hurt. "…let's not break down yet. Not now."
Her words rang hollow, a brittle shield against a grief that was already devouring her from the inside.
And yet, despite everything, the three of them said nothing more.
Because deep down, they knew—
Minji and James left quietly, leaving Ruby alone with the silence that suffocated her more than their presence ever could.
Later, Minji lay in her bath, submerged in warm water, but no warmth reached her bones. Her hands trembled, covering her eyes as tears slid down her cheeks.
She had never lost anyone before. She had never even understood what it meant to lose.
But Kai… Kai had been different. Somewhere between teasing smiles, sharp battles, and fleeting glances, something had taken root in her heart. Attraction. Love. Liking. She hadn't dared to define it. She hadn't dared to feel it fully. And now—
Now it was gone.
She pressed her face into the water, muffling her sob. When she surfaced, her voice cracked, whispering to the ceiling as though heaven itself could hear:
"If only… if only he comes back… I'll tell him. I'll tell him what I feel. Please…"
She realized how fragile life was, how cruelly unpredictable. Anyone could vanish, dissolve into nothing, leaving only hollowed hearts behind. Snow… the one she had cared for like her own child for over two years… gone. And Kai… the one who made her heart race… gone.
She was drowning, not in water, but in grief.
Ruby too had retreated to her bath, though unlike Minji, she forced herself to stay composed. Her golden lion cub, Leo, splashed about, playfully pawing at the water. Then, with innocent curiosity, his voice brushed against her mind through their bond:
"Where's Kuro? Isn't he joining us today?"
The question shattered her. Her hand froze mid-motion, and she lowered her gaze to the rippling water. Her lips quivered, but she forced words out, her voice breaking.
"He… he went back to his mother."
She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. Her tears slid silently, hidden by the steam.
Kuro had trusted her. Truly trusted her. Enough to form a partial bond so rare, so sacred. He had called her "Papa." The memory burned, tore, and drowned her all at once. She pressed her hand to her mouth, but the sobs still escaped, muffled and trembling.
---
James lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling in silence. Unlike the others, his grief was different. He wasn't thinking of beasts. He was thinking of Moon's endless jokes, Kai's stoic presence that somehow made the room feel alive.
For the first time in a long while, he felt the crushing reality of absence. He had always assumed tomorrow was guaranteed, that banter and battles would continue endlessly. But now—tomorrow had been stolen.
The silence was unbearable.
The three of them grieved in their own corners of the night, but the weight was the same. A hollow, gnawing emptiness that promised to never let go.
To be continued…