Hill's eyes flew open and he gasped. He sat up too fast and his head started spinning. As a result, he had to wait for a moment for the spinning to stop. When it did, it was immediately evident to him that something was wrong.
He couldn't see anything.
Am I blind? He turned his head left and right in an attempt to spot even the faintest speck of light. Wait... I died. I actually died. Is that why everything's black?
When he looked down at himself, he flinched hard. His body was back to normal. There was no wound in his chest where the beast's claws had torn through. His red boat-neck shirt that Meira had given him was also back to normal as well. It was if whatever had happened earlier was some bad dream and he had just woken up from it.
"What—" He flinched once more. The reason being that his voice felt as if it was swallowed up just as it left his mouth. The atmosphere within this place seemed to distort it, and gave it a staticky texture.
[Ah, you're awake.]
Hill jumped and flailed at the darkness around him, but his hands found nothing.
What the hell? Where did that come from?
A laugh echoed through the void—neither male nor female, crackling like a broken radio. The sound made his skin crawl.
Brilliant white light blazed in front of him. Hill threw his hands up, squinting against the glare.
"What's happening to me?"
[You died.]
His stomach dropped. He'd hoped this was all some nightmare, but hearing it confirmed made it real. Cold dread spread through his chest.
"So this is what comes after?"
That unsettling laugh again. [No. This is the trial of your soul.]
The void shuddered beneath him. Hill hit what felt like solid ground as a massive boom echoed around him. The light began to dim, and the black void that surrounded him slowly unfurled like a scroll, giving way to a twilight sky that caused light to fill the area.
He found himself in an enormous arena, who's stage was fashioned from white marble. Around it, an iron bar fence, like the ones from prison, rose around the fighting platform like a bird cage. The fence stretched so high that he couldn't even see the top of it. Beyond the fence was a larger array of seats. However, in each one, decaying corpses could be seen. They were positioned upwards unnaturally, as if some mysterious force was holding them up. Their clothes were still in tact, and Hill was able to recognize some of the brands despite the distance between him and the seats.
"Good god," he whispered, not knowing what to think. "Is this hell?"
The light pulsed once. [Look ahead.]
Hill turned, and his blood turned to ice.
The plague beast stood at the far end of the arena—the same creature that had torn his sister apart, that had killed him.
It looked even worse than he remembered. The plague beast was as tall a man but stretched vertically in a strange manner, as if someone had grabbed it by the head and feet and pulled. It had gray-green skin that hung loose over its bones. It had very long arms that ended in claws that scraped against the marble beneath. Its face was a nightmare in itself: sunken cheeks, a mouth split wide and crammed with sharp teeth, and sick yellow eyes.
The beast stood perfectly still with its head hanging low, which somehow made it a thousand times worse.
Hill's legs gave out. The memory of those claws punching through his ribs, scraping against his spine as they burst out his back was simply too vivid and too strong for his mental state.
"What do you want from me?" He asked, his voice shaky.
[That is your opponent. Earthling Human Plague Beast.]
Something in the voice had changed. There was amusement there now, as if this were all some sick joke.
"My opponent? You want me to fight that thing?" Hill's voice cracked. "Are you insane?"
[Five minutes. Kill the Earthling Human Plague Beast that ended your life. Do this, and you will live again. Your soul core will awaken.]
The beast's head snapped up. Those yellow eyes locked onto his across the arena. It opened its mouth and shrieked—a sound that made Hill's soul try to crawl out through his skin.
Then it charged.
Hill scrambled backward as the thing came at him. It was moving faster than anything its size should, which caused his heart to work overtime.
"No, no, NO!" He squeezed his eyes shut as he turned to run.
Agony exploded through his right side. In an instant, his arm was gone, just ripped away like paper. The pain was so intense his mind went blank, and all he could manage to do was scream.
He crawled away on his belly, leaving a trail of blood, until his head hit the iron bars. His severed arm lay a few feet away while the beast crouched over it, tearing off strips of meat with its teeth.
Hill stared at the blood pumping from his shoulder. His vision started to gray around the edges.
Think! You have to think!
He had to kill this thing somehow, but how? He was down to one arm—his non-dominant one—and his two feeble legs. The beast was much faster, way stronger, and armed with claws that seemed to carve through flesh like butter.
Maybe he didn't have to be stronger, though.
Hill looked up at the iron fence behind him. It was tall—really tall. High enough that a fall would probably kill anything, even something as tough as the plague beast.
It was stupid. It was desperate. But it was his only chance.
Hill grabbed the fence with his left hand and started climbing.
The rough metal sliced his palm, but that was the least of his problems. Every time he pulled himself up, fresh agony shot through his right shoulder. The overwhelming blood loss was making him dizzy, and as a result, his hand kept slipping on the bars.
Behind him, he heard the beast finish with his arm and come looking for the rest of him.
It figured out what he was doing quickly enough. Hill heard its claws scraping against the fence as it launched itself at him.
He kicked out at it. His feet connected with something solid, and the beast slammed into the fence below him. The whole structure shook with the impact. Hill grunted and kept climbing even though his vision was starting to blur.
The thing recovered fast and came after him, scrambling up the fence like some nightmare spider. It wasn't smart, but it was strong enough that it didn't need to be.
Hill's arm started shaking. Each pull upward was getting harder. He could feel his strength bleeding away with every drop that hit the ground. When he finally stopped, he was maybe fifty feet up. It was definitely high enough to die from, but not so high he'd had time to come up with something better.
He looked down. The beast was right there, reaching for him with those horrible long arms.
This is it. Do or die.
"Come on," he whispered. "Just a little closer."
The beast stretched higher, claws almost touching his leg. Hill took a shaky breath and let go.
He dropped straight down, aiming for the creature's back. Its yellow eyes went wide as it realized what was happening, but it was too slow.
Hill crashed into it and wrapped his legs around its torso as well as his good arm around its neck. He used what was left of his strength to push off from the fence, sending both of them tumbling towards the ground.
The beast tried to grab onto the fence, but Hill's weight pulled it away.
They fell together. The beast shrieked in his ear as it clawed at his back and neck. Hill tried to twist around and make sure the thing would hit the ground first, but he was too weak and way too dizzy. The blood loss had taken too much out of him. They spun through the air in a tangle, which caused Hill to be unable to tell which way was up anymore.
Everything went black.
When the dust settled, both bodies lay twisted and broken on the arena floor. Hill's bones were shattered and his skull was caved in from the impact. The plague beast's spine had snapped like a twig, and its skull was split open like rotten fruit with its contents spilt all over the marble.
Both were dead.
The arena fell silent. Even the crowd of corpses seemed to be holding their breath. Then everything began to fade—the bleachers, the fence, the bodies. In moments, there was nothing but void again.
The entity that had been watching was quiet for a long time.
[This is unexpected.]
[Both the Earthling Human Plague Beast and the Earthling Human died at the exact same moment.]
A pause occured.
[I cannot accept this result. The trial demands a clear victor, but what am I to do with this anomaly?]
Another long silence.
[Perhaps I should simply let his soul fade away. It would be easy enough to conceal. The other Sovereigns are occupied with the Earth invasion. They would never know.]
[But no, that's too dangerous. Ryudai would have my head if he discovered it. He's obsessed with preserving every soul worthy of awakening.]
The entity considered its options. Then, slowly, an idea began to form.
[Ah. Yes. I see now.]
[I have been keeping these Remnants for far too long, unsure how to punish them for their transgressions. But if I were to merge them together, using this human's dying soul as a binding agent...]
In the endless dark, something smiled.