The first thing I notice when I wake up is silence.
Not the thick, crushing silence of Big Bad Hell's forests. I blink. My body aches like I've been dropped from the sky and slammed into the ground a few times for good measure. Which, honestly, might not be far from what just happened.
My vision clears. The trees are gone. No black forest. No ash choking my lungs. Instead… ruins.
Crumbling stone buildings stretch in every direction, their walls cracked, their roofs collapsed. Wooden beams jut from broken homes like ribs. The air is heavy, but not poisonous—more like dust that hasn't been disturbed in centuries.
I snicker under my breath, forcing myself upright. My body still feels like it's made of glass, one wrong move and I'll shatter. The ash I devoured back there is gone, burned through just keeping me alive.
I stagger to my feet, looking around.
Ghost town. That's what it is. Streets empty. Windows shattered. A fountain in the center of what must've been a plaza—dry, cracked, its stone angel statue worn faceless by time.
For a second, I almost feel relief. No demons. No monsters. Just… ruins. Then my stomach twists. Because ruins mean something came before. And whatever wiped it out might not be far.
[Environmental scan complete.]
Hag Lady's voice makes me flinch. It's calmer than mine ever could be, matter-of-fact.
[Designation: Western Border Ghost Towns. Territory—formerly human. Abandoned: two centuries. Current threat level: low to moderate.]
"…Two hundred years, huh? So humanity gave up on this place."
I kick a loose rock across the plaza, watching it bounce off the cracked fountain. "…Figures."
For a while, I wander the streets. Broken doors, fallen walls, weeds forcing their way through stone. The ghost towns stretch further than I thought—block after block of emptiness. A whole city. Part of me wants to just collapse and stay here. To give up moving. But every time I slow down, the voice in my head pulls me back.
[Directive: Locate stable shelter. Recommend conserving strength until further anomalies detected.]
"Okay I get it hag."
No answer this time. I push open what's left of a door, stepping into a house. Dust coats everything, chairs broken, table collapsed. The floor creaks like it might cave under me. But the walls are still standing. The ceiling hasn't given up. Good enough. I sit. My body sinks against the wall. My arm still throbs from the demon's claws, but the wound is faint now, ash knitting it together in messy lines. I trace them absentmindedly.
"Guess I'm really stuck with this, huh." I don't realize I've drifted until a sound cuts through the quiet.
A footstep. My head snaps up. Not mine. Not Hag Lady's. Real.
I push myself up, biting back the ache in my legs, and step into the street. There, at the end of the plaza. A figure.
Small. Thin. Moving carefully, like every step might give her away. A girl. short red hair catching the dim light. White dirty shirt, and grey shorts. She looks weak—too weak to even be wandering here. Her arms are thin, her movements sluggish. But her eyes—sharp, darting everywhere.
She hasn't seen me yet. I almost call out. But the words die in my throat. Because if she's human… then what the hell am I supposed to say?
"Hi, I'm a demon that just crawled out of hell. Please don't stab me?"
Yeah. That'll go over great. Instead, I just watch. For the first time since I woke up in this nightmare, I'm not alone. But being seen might be worse than being alone.
The girl crouched near the fountain, brushing dust away with careful fingers. Something glinted faintly in the cracks of the stone, a coin, maybe, or a charm. She picked it up, turned it in her hand, then tucked it into a pouch at her hip.
Her movements told me enough. She was used to this. Used to wandering alone. And that unsettled me more than if she'd been some kind of armed soldier. Humans aren't supposed to survive in places like this.
[Recommendation: avoid contact. Probability of hostile reaction from human—71%.]
"…Wow, thanks old hag."
The voice in my head wasn't wrong, though. She looked fragile, yeah, but I knew better than to assume that meant safe. I've already learned one thing in this world: the weak don't last. So if she's still here, she's either desperate… or dangerous. Her head turned suddenly. Her eyes swept the street, scanning the shadows.
Crap.
I pressed my back against the wall, holding my breath. The Adaptive Camouflage flickered across my skin, a faint shimmer that made me blur against the stone. My heart thudded anyway, loud enough that it felt like it might echo across the plaza. Her gaze lingered near me for a moment, sharp and suspicious. Then she moved on, steps cautious but steady. She started down another street, disappearing between broken houses. Only when her footsteps faded did I let myself exhale.
I slid down the wall, hand gripping my knee to stop the shaking. "…Close call."
[Observation: she is alone. Carrying no visible weaponry.]
"Yeah, that's what scares me. If she's lasted here without a weapon, then what's she hiding?"
No answer. This hag never argued. Never speculated. Just left me with my own thoughts. I sat there for a long time. Dust settled on my shoulders. My stomach growled like it was ready to turn inside out. I wanted to move, to scavenge, to find food. But the image of her—red hair, sharp eyes, fragile frame—kept clawing back into my head.
A human. Alive. Proof I wasn't stuck in a world of nothing but demons and monsters. The silence pressed down again, heavier now. And for the first time since waking as Kirai.
My head snapped up. From the alley opposite the plaza, shadows poured like liquid, crawling across the ground. Shapes twisted into bodies—half-formed demons, their skin peeling, eyes glowing dim red. Smaller than the Abyssborn I faced, but there were three. Maybe four.
The girl froze mid-step. Her head whipped toward the sound. The demons hissed.
And for the first time, she saw me. Her eyes widened, meeting mine across the plaza. I stood. Slowly. My body still aching, my mind screaming at me not to move. But the demons were closing in, their claws scraping stone, their teeth snapping at the air. She looked at me like she didn't know whether I was worse than them.
The demons moved first. They skittered across the plaza on all fours, twisted bodies jerking like broken puppets. Their teeth gnashed against stone, leaving sparks. Their red eyes fixed on her—small, alone, easy prey. I didn't think. I just stepped forward. The ash in the air stirred, threads pulling toward me like smoke drawn into a fire. My veins burned as it wrapped around my arms, layering over my skin in a thin gray shimmer.
[Use Skill Ash Devourer?]
"Yeah, yes." My throat was dry, but I forced a grin. "Let's see how long this carries me."
The first one lunged. A blur of claws. I ducked under its swipe and slammed my fist into its chest. The ash reinforced my arm just enough, the impact cracked bone, sent it sprawling across the plaza. It screeched, writhing on the ground. The second came from the side. Too fast. My body twisted late, claws raking across my ribs. Pain flared. I staggered, sucking in air. My vision blurred.
[Your losing blood at an accelerated rate.]
"Like I didn't know." I hissed through clenched teeth.
The third was already on me. I barely managed to bring my arm up before its jaws clamped down. Ash armor cracked, but held. Its teeth scraped against my skin, trying to dig deeper. With my free hand, I smashed my fist into it's face. The demon shrieked, thrashing, and I shoved it off, collapsing to one knee.
This wasn't sustainable. And then I realized, I wasn't the only target.
The girl. The fourth demon had circled wide, cutting her off. It lunged, claws raised.
Her eyes went wide. She froze.
"Move!" I shouted—voice raw, throat tearing. But she didn't. Her legs locked, her arms trembling. She was nothing but prey to it.
Before I could think, my body moved. I pushed off the ground, every vein screaming, ash burning through me like fire. I slammed into the demon from the side just as it reached her. My shoulder hit its ribs with a crack, knocking it off course. We both crashed into the dust, rolling. Its claws raked my back, tearing skin. I screamed, and used Ash Devourer to slowly kill it.
Silence followed, except for my ragged breathing. The plaza reeked of ash now. I dragged myself upright, legs shaking, chest heaving. The girl hadn't moved. Her back pressed to the fountain, eyes wide, lips parted. She looked at me like I was just another monster.
"…You're welcome," I muttered, spitting blood into the dust. Her voice finally came, quiet but sharp:
"…What are you?" The words hit harder than the claws had. Not "who." "What." I almost laughed. Almost. But the sound caught in my throat and came out a bitter rasp instead.
I didn't say anything.
Surprisingly, she trusted me enough to start walking with me more into the city. The girl walked a few steps ahead of me, her hair swaying gently with each cautious step. She kept her eyes on the ruined street, scanning corners and rooftops as if something could leap out at any moment. I kept my distance, not too far, but enough to make sure she didn't feel trapped.
Her breathing was steady now, though I'd noticed how tight her grip was on the small pouch at her side. She hadn't let it go once since I saw her. We moved through what had once been a marketplace. Wooden stalls rotted into nothing but blackened frames, roofs caved in under centuries of rain and wind. Faded signs still clung to stone walls, letters chipped away until only fragments of words remained.
Neither of us spoke at first. Her silence wasn't awkward, it was deliberate. Mine was because I wasn't sure if opening my mouth would make things worse. Finally, she broke it.
"You're not human."
Her voice was steady, though I caught the slight tremor she was trying to hide.
My first instinct was to say something sassy as hell, but I didn't wanna come off rude yet. "…And what gave it away?" I asked.
She turned her head slightly, just enough for one sharp green eye to fix on me. "The way you fought. The ash. No human uses magic like that.". I didn't argue. There was no point. My body was still bleeding in places, patched together by the same ash she'd just seen me wield.
"Then why didn't you run?" I said, my tone sharper than I meant it. "You saw me, and you froze. You could've left me there to deal with those things myself." Her steps slowed. For a moment, I thought she might stop completely. Instead, she glanced forward again and muttered, "…Because you weren't the only one who looked like a monster." I didn't have a response to that.
[Skill Acquisition Successful.]
The voice in my head nearly made me stumble.
[New Skills obtained:– Resist Skill: Pain Resistance (Minor).– Resist Skill: Bleed Resistance (Minor).– Common Skill: Ash Manipulation.– Common Skill: Detection.– Common Skill: Minor Magic Sense.– Special Skill: Devour Archive.]
"…Tch." I hissed under my breath, shaking my head.
"What?" She caught it immediately, her tone sharp.
"Nothing."
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't press further. Suspicion lingered between us like smoke, but she seemed just as unwilling to waste energy on an argument as I was. We crossed another street. A broken tower leaned against the husk of a library, its windows shattered. In the distance, what might have been a church stood with half its spire collapsed, leaning sideways like it was bowing. I tightened my fist, feeling the ash respond faintly to my thoughts. The new skills buzzed at the edge of my awareness, like doors waiting to be opened. Detection flickered faintly, small pulses of awareness stretching just a few meters around me, giving vague shapes of rubble, shadows, and the faint outline of the girl walking ahead.
Pain Resistance dulled the ache in my ribs, just enough that I didn't wince with every step.
She finally spoke again, her voice softer this time. "What's your name?"
The question caught me off guard.
"…Kirai."
She glanced back, her face unreadable.
Silence followed again, but it was lighter this time. Not trust. Not yet. But the kind of silence where neither of us felt the need to keep defending ourselves. The road curved, and as we stepped into another plaza, I noticed something strange. At the center of the square, a statue stood almost completely intact. Unlike the broken angel from before, this one still had its features. A warrior, sword raised, cloak flowing behind. His eyes carved sharp, his stance protective. The girl slowed, her lips pressing into a thin line. She looked at it with a mixture of reverence and grief.
"This was a hero's city," she said quietly. "Once."
I stared at the stone figure, the silence around us pressing heavier now.
"…Looks like the hero lost."
She didn't answer.
We walked on, the statue's shadow stretching long across the empty streets, following us deeper into the ghost town.
The sky above the ruins was beginning to change color, streaks of violet bleeding into the fading orange of dusk. The wind carried a sharp bite, curling through broken windows and hollow doorframes, whistling like distant whispers.
The girl quickened her pace, scanning the streets more often now. "Nightfall isn't safe here," she said, not looking back at me.
I didn't reply again.
She didn't reply either. Just adjusted the strap of her pouch and ducked into a side street, one that wound between collapsed homes and leaning walls. I followed, keeping the ash simmering faintly in my palms, ready in case something came crawling out of the dark. After a few turns, she stopped at the remains of a small inn. Its sign was half-buried in the dirt, the wood split and rotted, but the walls were mostly intact. The roof sagged but hadn't caved, and the stone hearth inside still stood, cracked but upright.
"This will do," she murmured, stepping over rubble.
I leaned against the doorway, scanning the corners. My new Detection skill hummed faintly, tugging my senses outward, enough to tell me there were no other living things in the building. Just us. She set her pouch down near the hearth and pulled out what looked like dried roots and a cracked canteen. She worked with quiet efficiency, arranging the roots into a small pile, searching for anything that could pass as tinder.
I watched, arms crossed. "…You planning on eating those?"
Her eyes flicked to me. "You don't have to share if you don't want to."
"Didn't say I was hungry." My stomach growled immediately, betraying me. She raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, simply striking two stones together until sparks caught on the tinder. A small flame grew, licking at the roots. The faint warmth spread quickly, cutting through the chill that seeped into the inn.vI sat down on the opposite side of the hearth, keeping space between us. The firelight painted her face in shifting gold and shadow, highlighting the sharp edges of her expression.
"What's your name?" I asked, more out of instinct than interest.
She hesitated, then answered. "…Lira."
Lira. A simple name, but it carried weight the way she said it, like she wasn't used to speaking it aloud anymore.
The fire popped between us, filling the silence that followed.
She leaned closer across the fire, studying me. Her eyes weren't just suspicious now—they were curious. Searching. I met her stare, unwilling to look away. "Believe what you want."
Her lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn't push further. Instead, she leaned back, pulling her pouch close again. We sat like that for a while, her tending the weak fire, me listening to the faint hum of Archive in the back of my mind. My body ached, my blood still sticky on my skin, but the Resist skills dulled it enough that I could sit upright. The ash swirled faintly around my fingers, like it was restless, waiting for me to command it.
Finally, Lira spoke again, her voice quieter than before. "This city used to belong to the Order of the Silver Banner. A hero led them. People came here for safety."
"And?" I asked, though I already knew where the story was going. She looked into the fire, her expression unreadable. She didn't finish.
I leaned back against the wall, staring at the cracked ceiling beams overhead. Her words settled in the air, heavy and sharp. Her head turned, confusion flickering across her face. But I didn't explain. I let the fire do the talking, the crackle and hiss filling the hollow inn as night fully swallowed the city outside.
The fire hissed and popped, the glow throwing shadows that danced across the ruined walls. For a long while neither of us spoke. The weight of the place pressed down heavier than the cracked stone above our heads.
Lira finally stretched out, leaning against the wall with her knees pulled close, the pouch clutched to her chest like she expected someone to snatch it at any moment. Her eyes drifted shut, but I could tell by the way her hand twitched that she wasn't asleep, not really. Just resting on the edge. I stared into the flames, trying not to think about the faint warmth that still lingered in my fingers from the carvings.
"…Silver Banner, huh." I muttered it under my breath, low enough I thought it wouldn't carry.
Lira shifted but didn't open her eyes.
My body still ached, but the pain was dull now, manageable. The Resist skills were doing their job, but it wasn't comfort I felt—it was more like numbness. The kind that didn't last forever. I pulled the cloak tighter around me, the ash whispering faintly in my veins, restless. My eyelids grew heavy despite myself. As the fire burned lower, I let myself slide down the wall, my eyes closing against the dark. The silence in the inn was total. Not peace. Just the kind of silence that comes when nothing living remains to fill it.