The shockwave threw Mike and Ravel back, along with several others who hadn't been instantly transformed into meat paste.
The crowd's screams of terror echoed for blocks. But the screams weren't just coming from there; cries and destruction quickly filled the entire city, joined by the scent of blood that took over people's nostrils.
Some of those who had been thrown were getting up, dazed. The reality hadn't set in yet, but when they saw the creature covered in human blood, it did. Some vomited, while others began to run.
The unlucky ones who started to run were struck by the creature's feather projectiles, piercing their flesh and organs, causing more blood to spurt.
Ravel hadn't stood up yet, much less understood the gravity of the situation. Suddenly, he felt someone grabbing his arm and pulling him.
It was Mike, but he wasn't terrified in the least. His expression was calm, almost as if he had been through this type of situation before. Ravel finally managed to look around and soon spotted the humanoid bird. The bird seemed to be dancing as it sliced through the wind, skin, flesh, and bone of those trying to flee, while occasionally firing feather projectiles.
Ravel's instinct screamed at him to run, to vomit, to hide. But he did none of that, because, more frightening than the bird, was the expression on Mike's face as he stared at him.
"Don't do anything, don't move, don't breathe too loud. Do not show threat."
Mike spoke with the conviction of someone who had lived through this many times before. Ravel had always listened to everything Mike told him to do, and his friend had always been right. But this time was different; it wasn't something common—far from common, actually. It's not every day that a half-human bird with steel feathers lands from the sky to massacre humans.
But as suicidal as it seemed, Ravel nodded and remained still.
'Aiden, can you hear me?' Ravel tried to contact the entity, but nothing answered back.
He judged that Aiden must have used too much of himself to enter the material world. Ravel had been through several desperate situations before and had fought for his life many times, so he managed to stay calm while averting his eyes from the massacre. He couldn't help but notice some people around him standing still like statues; he didn't know if it was because they were so afraid they couldn't move or because they understood the bird was only attacking those who moved.
After a few seconds, the creature finally stopped. Of the crowd that had been there before, only a few remained. The others had all been reduced to corpses and ground meat.
The bird then turned its body toward the few survivors, and soon everyone met its gaze. The eyes of that human torso were red, as if possessed, and its skin had already lost its healthy color and seemed to be in the process of decomposition.
Ravel's body froze in place. He could clearly feel the bird's bloodlust, along with its frustration at having no more prey. Then, the bird began to take slow steps toward the group of survivors. Each step seemed to make the ground tremble and the hearts of the few people skip a beat.
A young man in front of Ravel could no longer contain himself; he stood up and started to run, bumping into Ravel in the process and making him fall.
'Shit, what are you doing?'
The man didn't make it very far before being hit right in the middle of the head by one of the bird's feathers.
The bird continued walking until it stopped right in front of Ravel, who was now lying on the ground. Mike was beside him like a statue, not even breathing.
Ravel felt his blood run cold and his heart stop beating for a moment.
Time seemed to freeze before being suddenly interrupted by one of the wings slashing toward Ravel's chest. The speed was superhuman, impossible to dodge or react to. Before the slash could reach Ravel, a bone blade placed itself between the feather and Ravel's skin. The blade wasn't enough to completely stop the blow, but instead of splitting Ravel in two, it only made a superficial cut from side to side.
The world seemed to slow down as the superficial cut spurted a bit of blood. Ravel followed the bone blade until he saw the person wielding it. It was Mike. His wheat-blonde hair was flying in the wind caused by the collision. His green eyes were emotionless as he looked at the wing, his sword, and the cut on Ravel's chest.
The world returned to normal when the bird instinctively recoiled while Mike assumed a fighting stance.
The few survivors around seemed to feel it was a good moment, and they all began to run, leaving Ravel and Mike with the creature.
'Mike, what is this?' That was all that crossed his mind as he looked at Mike's figure, back turned to him, about to face the creature.
Mike charged like a comet toward the creature, aiming his bone sword at its torso.
The creature reacted instantly, firing several feathers toward Mike. He spun in the air, dodging them all while, in less than a millisecond, he stepped on one of the projectiles and propelled himself forward. He brought his arm down on the creature's torso, making a deep cut that went from its neck to the middle of its belly. The creature screamed while firing more feather projectiles. Mike, who was now pressed against it, had no choice but to take some of the projectiles.
A layer of bone grew over his skin, so resistant that it caused some projectiles to ricochet, hitting the creature back.
Mike stretched out his palm toward the creature's humanoid face; the bone from his arm shot out of his hand with a point as sharp as a spear and pierced right through the middle of the creature's head, causing its body to go limp and fall to the ground like a corpse.
Mike stood with one of his arms swinging like rubber in the wind as he stared at the dead creature.
Then, a realization seemed to hit him as he turned and ran toward Ravel, who was wide-mouthed and speechless.
"Are you okay? Was the cut too deep?" Mike began to inspect Ravel for injuries beyond the cut on his chest.
Ravel interrupted him abruptly.
"What the hell was that? I mean, since when can you use your bone as a sword... and fire bone too! Your arm! Are you going to be okay? And who the fuck are you? No... what the hell is going on?" Ravel bombarded Mike with questions while glancing at the creature out of the corner of his eye.
Mike sighed and seemed to wither. "I think I owe you an explanation, but first, let's get out of here."