The sound of shattering glasses ripped through the museum hall like a gunshot.
Four enormous glass-pannel display enclosures, each thick enough to stop a bullet.
Exploded outwards, their thick glass shards raining down like knives. The models they enclosed, grand ships and towering skeletal beasts, held together by cables on the ceiling were obliterated in seconds.
Raviel's instincts screamed, his body jerked as fragments of metal and shards tored at his skin.
He turned back.
And froze.
The thing which was standing amidst the wreckage wasn't like anything he had seen.
It wasn't even alive in the way anything should be.
It's body was void black with jet black flesh that shimmered like grease, something underneath the flesh was shifting and twisting as if thousands of veins pulsed below it's skin.
From it's skull rose five massive jagged antlers like an antelope. Twisted and bleeding a faint purple mist.
It had no face only the bones which looked like a crown were planted on its face like a mask. And a faint sound of exhale that sounded like a reactor was audible.
Raviel's throat went dry, his lips trembled before one word slipped out.
".....Abysswalker??"
The creature tilted his head, the air breaking in uneven patterns near its antlers, and before Raviel's mind could even think.
It vanished.
A wave of distortion pierced through the dust.
Then a deafening crack thundered as a massive lump of flesh buried itself into raviel's gut.
He didn't even have the time to scream.
Blood erupted from his mouth in mid-air, as his body lifted off the ground and slammed through the glass enclosure that held the katana.
The impact shattered the display, embedding razor-edged fragments into his back.
Several shards lodged deep into his flesh, tearing the skin and muscles.
Raviel hit the floor hard, coughing, his blood mixing with the shattered glass beneath him. Every breath felt like fire as he tried to move.
The katana, gleaming black with those red veins. Lay just a few metres away, almost calling to him in the chaos as it's pulse deepened again.
He groaned, dragging himself through the blood and broken shards, fingers trembling as he reached out.
Just a little closer.
Just a few inches more.
Raviel's trembling hand finally wrapped itself around the katana's hilt. It felt cold and pulsing beneath his grip as he held it firmly.
His mind raced even as pain throbbed through his ribcage and spine.
"Why the hell...…is an Abysswalker here?"
The air around the creature warped, bending like a mirage. He could feel its power coiling ,crushing, and suffocating. The aura it gave alone was enough to paralyze his mind.
Raviel instinctively knew it was a grade-4 Abysswalker.
He knew it was something beyond his level. Raviel's throat tightened. He wasn't supposed to see something like that and survive.
The monster twitched, its body glitching in and out of visibility, the antlers scraping the museum ceiling and leaving trails of darkness like smoke.
Raviel clenched his teeth, forcing his body to move despite the pain.
"Fuck it—–"
He unsheathed the katana.
A deep, growl filled the air as the blade left its scabbard.
Instantly, black mist erupted outward, swallowing him whole. The world went dark and soundless for a heartbeat, his lungs tightened as the air had turned to a liquid shadowy mess.
He didn't waste time seeing the black mist. Instincts flaring— RUN.
Using the cover of the mist, Raviel darted behind shattered exhibits and broken displays, sliding on bloodied and broken glass pannels as he ran. He grabbed a rusted flag pole diplayed near a enclosure to show its origin and using it, smashed a overhead display light, plunging the entire section into inky darkness. Then, with a desperate kick, he flipped a marble mural, letting it crash to the floor, its echo bouncing off every wall, masking his movement.
He sprinted towards a broken section of the hall, aiming for an emergency sign above a huge wooden door. His breath came ragged, every step jolting pain up his shattered ribs.
Then.
A low rumble.
Pressure and suffocation warped the air again.
Raviel barely turned before the Abysswalker appeared in front of him almost casually.
Once again its speed blurred reality, Raviel's vision blurred from the immense pressure.
Before he could even raise the katana, its massive pitch black hand shot forward, clamping onto his arm. With an effortless twist.
CRACK—!!!!
The sound was wet and overwhelming.
White-hot burning pain exploded through him as his arm bent backwards unnaturally, the bone snapping through skin. Raviel screamed.
A scream so torn and violent that blood sprayed and foamed from his throat, ripping his vocal cords.
The Abysswalker didn't stop. It swung, flinging him like a ragdoll.
He crashed into the skeletal display behind him.
The ancient bones splintered under the impact, and one jagged femur tore through his thigh, impaling him just above the knee.
Raviel's body convulsed, his breath hitching. The pain was so intense that it blurred his vision into white noise.
For a second, the whole world felt like it was pulsing, black and red, black and red. His own vision was covered in shades of red.
And above it all, the Abysswalker stood motionless, its antlers dripping faint purple mist that hit the ground like tar.