Hori remained curled beneath the rubble, trembling uncontrollably. Dust and smoke still drifted through the ruined street like slow-moving fog. Each shallow breath tasted of ash and scorched stone. She waited, eyes squeezed shut, hoping the colossal shadow above her would simply move on.
It did not.
The dragon "Arson" rested atop the half-collapsed building, its wooden body far too massive for the structure. The beams beneath it groaned faintly, a low, continuous protest that seemed to vibrate through the ground itself. Occasionally, the creature exhaled long plumes of thick black smoke from its nostrils, the tendrils curling lazily into the darkened sky as if it had all the time in the world.
'Haruki-san.... Matsumoto-san..... They must be dead....' she concluded since no groan came from the littered charred corpses around her.
'How am I still alive...?' Hori asked herself in the silence.
Apart from her bleeding forehead and impaled calf, she had survived the explosion.
She swallowed hard, the sound painfully loud in her own ears.
'C-calm down...a priest will come.'
It didn't help. Her limbs wouldn't obey, the dread made her stomach turn. If she didn't move at that moment, she was going to scream.
She was alone.
Absolutely terrified.
She had to move.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, she lifted her head just enough to peer through a narrow gap in the debris. Her heart thundered in a dull, heavy rhythm. The dragon's glowing eyes were half-lidded, almost bored. It waited, as though expecting something… or someone.
Hori gulped before thinking.
'I....I should run...From what I remember… Sins carry themselves with pride,' she thought, the words forming sluggishly in her fear-fogged mind. 'They rarely bother with a single, insignificant human. It… it probably won't chase me.'
Tears slipped silently down her ash-streaked cheeks. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, voice barely audible even to herself. "I'm so sorry…"
The guilt sat like a stone in her chest. Haruki-san. Eguchi-san. The only two people who had shown her any kindness since such a nightmare began.
They were dead. Now preparing to abandon any hope in finding their corpses, all to save herself and leave everything behind. An utterly human act.
"Please… forgive me." She cleaned her tears and made up her mind.
With infinite care, Hori began to crawl.
Every movement was measured. Her palms pressed softly against jagged concrete and splintered wood. Her teeth sank into her lip. Every pull of her stabbed leg over the rough ground demanded it.
She dragged her body forward inch by inch, barely disturbing the rubble. The sound of her own breathing felt deafening. Each shift of fabric against stone made her freeze, waiting for the dragon to turn its burning gaze upon her.
'So that is Arson…?' The thought drifted through her mind, thin as smoke. 'W-why is it so enormous? Are all Sins this....overwhelming? My legs feel like they belong to someone else.' She catalogued the pain to keep herself awake. Wood impaled her right calf, each pulse screaming. Yet that was the least of her worries.
The path ahead gradually opened, a narrow clearing through the debris that led toward the edge of the devastated street. Freedom lay only a short distance away. Her muscles tensed, ready to make a quick run for it.
She clumsily stood up about to bolt.
A vast shadow fell over her. Erasing any trace of hope the naive girl once heard.
"No, you don't."
The dragon's claw descended with terrifying gentleness. One single wooden finger came to rest atop her dark-blue hair, pinning her in place without crushing her. Hori froze completely. She did not breathe. She did not blink.
Hot breath, thick with the scent of smoldering wood and something far sweeter ....charred flesh, washed slowly over her skin. It sent icy shivers racing down her spine.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Arson questioned.
The world tilted. Shock flooded her veins like freezing water. Her heart hammered so violently she felt it in her throat, in her fingertips, in the roots of her teeth.
'H-How…? How did it see me?' that was Hori's only thought at the moment.
She had made no sound. She had barely moved. So how?
'Why didn't I hear it approaching…? It's massive! S-surely I should have noticed it drawing closer.' What was the point? Why ask questions? Her fate was already sealed.
Hori thought the same, causing her legs to buckle unwillingly.
Before she could collapse, the claw closed, carefully, almost tenderly around her head alone and lifted her into the air. Her body dangled helplessly, the full weight pulling downward on her neck with brutal intensity.
The pain was immediate and overwhelming. Tears poured freely now as soft, broken whimpers escaped her lips.
Up close, Arson was even more monstrous.
Its body was carved from lacquered wood the color of deep mahogany, every artificial scale and joint meticulously detailed. Delicate white paper frills adorned its neck and wrists, fluttering faintly in the disturbed air like ceremonial decorations on a demon.
Its eyes glowed with molten heat, chasing embers from its optics, with an intense gaze fixed directly on her face.
"A human child…?" the Sin rumbled, the vibration traveling through its claw and into her skull.
It continued after a 5 seconds pause "Arson prefers the taste of smokers. Their charred lungs are always a delight to feast on."
Hori's mind refused to catch up. This could not be happening. She was hanging inches from the face of a Sin. The satanic creatures her father always prevented her from studying.
"Tell me, girl," Arson continued, its tone carrying a faint edge of annoyance, "Why is this place so lacking in Priests?"
She could not answer. Her body shook violently in its grasp. She could only quiver, hoping desperately that the creature was not truly speaking to her.
Arson shook her gently, but with unmistakable firmness. A wave of dry, scorching heat rolled from its mouth, brushing across her skin like invisible flames. "Answer me." It bellowed.
"I-I don't know…" Hori's voice came out as a broken whisper. "Please, sir… j-just let me go…I beg of you..."
She covered her eyes with trembling hands. Warm urine trickled down her leg, soaking into the borrowed shorts.
Arson hissed sharply, the sound like dry kindling catching fire. "You dare you defile flame with filth?! Abomination!!"
Speaking at higher volumes only terrified the girl more.
Yet all hope wasn't lost. In the distance, a bold scream shook the air, old, husky, and unmistakable.
"Stop right there, you demon!" he bellowed, pointing with a large red glove. The sight of his luchador mask sent hope surging through Hori from afar.
Still caught in Arson's grasp, she gasped. He was a priest — the first she'd met.
"N-Nakamura-san!" Hori screamed before she could stop herself, joy breaking through the pain. A priest had finally arrived.
Arson rose a brow, judging from his victims relief. That Priest must be strong.
Unlike before, the old man wasted no time in unnecessary poses.
'I've surveyed the area. About 4 survivors, heavily injured.' he spoke to himself timing Hori's rescue.
The golden cross at his neck rang, breaking his concentration. He spoke quickly into it.
"This is local priest Nakamura Hiroshi. I've arrived at the scene, requesting immediate backup!"
Hori cried out. She wanted a fast rescue, yet here he was, conversing with jewelry.
Arson tilted his huge head, uncertain. Was the man truly strong?
A reply came from his cross. [Nakamura-san, retreat. You have insufficient experience for confronting a sin.] The response was calm and blunt, but he refused.
'I just need to get it's attention, then I can save the blue haired girl!' he convinced himself and motioned both hands, about to illustrate a hand sign.
He inhaled and yelled, "Goodwill: Ma-
Splat.
In an instant.
He was gone.
A large hand flattened the priest with a single motion. Arson had effortlessly ended his life like swatting a fly.
Hori's smile remained plastered for 3 seconds before she blinked. Awaiting a comeback of some sorts. There was only silence.
Her expression slowly fell to despair.
"....huh?" She had to ask herself.
Arson lifted his palm deliberately, excruciatingly slow, revealing the carnage beneath.
Blood pooled thick across the concrete, bones ground to powder dusting its surface.
"Pathetic...."
He brought his palm towards Hori who was still processing it all. The thick scent of blood brought her to her senses.
Arson was unforgiving. He smeared it all on her body, every lump of meat, clog of blood. He rubbed it all, face first, head to toe.
Hori couldn't hold it anymore, she vomited violently while screaming at the top of her lungs.
The intricate detail of the flattened human body made her crave death.
"Stop it!! I said stop it!" She ordered with a frustrated but terrified tone.
"T-this isn't fair! How is he dead?! How did you notice me?! Why is all of this happening to me?!"
A barrage of questions for the beast that held her captive.
"I was quiet wasn't I? So.... how?" Hori asked with clenched fists. Her clothes a mosaic of ash, blood, urine and vomit.
She was fed up, the mixture aromas clawed at her throat. Luring her consciousness to rest.
"Please....a-answer! "
Arson stared. Impressed such a young girl was still in the right state of mind for a conversation. He always heard nothing but screams from humans, so he respected Hori and responded honestly.
"Look at this." He said, lifting his tail up. Bringing it to sight for Hori to observe. To her surprise and terror, instead of a wooden ending like the rest of Arson's body. The bud of his tail had a Molotov cocktail, lit with a bright flame.
It was one of the most iconic ways of vandalism by burning.
Arson continued, lecturing with a mock intellectual tone. "When I quench the fire and look through the green glass. I am able to see a person's Flame."
His explanation left Hori confused, terror slowly dying by curiosity.
"Observe..." Arson quenched the bright fire from the rag in the bottle. Peeking with his Incandescent eye.
He looked at Hori through it, acting as a magical microscope of sorts. Behold, Arson saw a conceptual torch lit in her position. Burning unnaturally with high sparks then dim flames.
"By seeing a person's Flame, Arson can catch prey easily. Detecting them through rubble and dirt. The dead do not own such burn, girl." His lecture came to a close as it stretched Hori a great height up.
Widening it's mouth for such a small meal. A hellish warmth erupted from within, evaporating the tears and bodily fluids Hori produced in drums. This was it.
Arson let go. Hori fell to her demise. The stomach of a Sin was where it would all end.
During her descent, time seemed to slow down as it all happened. Her life, what most would consider boring and simple, flashed before her eyes.
Pony rides she had with her father in the Kantei. The countless nights of studying to impress the man she respected the most. The scolding she received when in the wrong. And alas, her terrible experience since she woke in Fukui. It all played in order, like an old film tape.
Hori instinctively closed her eyes, bringing both arms to her face as if that would make a difference. Her last thoughts read,
'Father.... will be proud of me.... I am sure of it.' her fists clenching as she drew closer to Arson's salivating tongue. 'I lasted 8 days!' she added before losing consciousness.
The world narrowed to an ending.
Then came arms.
Huge.
Unbreakable.
Hori was folded into the chest of a goliath of a man, and just above her, his golden cross hung shining.
It glimmerd with hope. Her story wasn't over...