The chase continued between the two of them.
A relentless pursuit that devoured breath itself.
Fortunately for William, the narrow alleys and the recently abandoned, shattered houses occasionally disrupted the man's spiritual senses, granting the boy a few precious minutes to escape.
He slipped into any dark building that leaned beneath the weight of destruction.
Waiting…
Listening…
Breathing like a man hiding from death itself.
But with every passing moment, he felt only one thing:
This wouldn't last.
What he didn't know was that the man chasing him was not working alone.
Elsewhere in the darkened district, one of the subordinates was watching the cracked black building where William had taken refuge.
He raised a small communication device—the same mysterious tools the "occupiers" had brought, devices whose workings no human truly understood—and whispered,
"Chief Kaite… the boy is inside the black building. He's hiding, waiting for the right moment to escape."
Kaite's voice answered with cold sharpness.
"I'll distract him. The moment he moves… strike."
The subordinate closed the device and began moving with nearly silent steps.
Amid the ruins…
Kaite advanced slowly.
And inside him burned something worse than anger.
Kaite did not see this as a mere chase.
To him, William was a personal insult.
That earlier strike had not only wounded his pride—it had made his subordinates whisper among themselves.
"Has Chief Kaite lost his authority?"
"How could a mere child escape him?"
Those words were enough to ignite a black fire inside him.
I will break his spirit before I break his bones…
Every step he took while fleeing will become an eternal regret.
His eyes burned red with bloodlust.
And a twisted, cruel smile slowly spread across his lips each time he felt closer to his prey.
This was no longer a pursuit.
It was punishment.
Inside the cracked building, William struggled to keep watch.
His throat was dry.
His limbs were weak.
His head spun from hunger and thirst after a day and a half without food.
Every breath he drew felt like a stab in his chest.
But fear—
fear forced him to keep going.
He saw Kaite's shadow pass through a crack in the wall.
This time, he ran without hesitation.
He ran even though his legs felt like two blocks of stone.
But he didn't know…
the trap had already closed.
As he burst out of the building trying to change direction—
a human shadow appeared before him.
He hadn't sensed it.
He hadn't heard footsteps.
He hadn't expected it.
A hand like an iron shackle lunged out of the darkness.
Strong, rough fingers wrapped tightly around his neck.
The air vanished.
He couldn't scream.
He couldn't even understand what had happened.
The subordinate stood directly behind him, gripping William's throat with a strength far beyond that of an ordinary human.
His feet lifted off the ground for a moment.
His vision began to blur.
Darkness crept from the edges of his sight toward the center.
Sound faded into distant murmurs.
And with the last remnants of his consciousness, he saw Kaite emerging from the rubble.
His eyes were red.
His face twisted with rage.
And a horrifying, slow smile spread across his lips—
the smile of a butcher watching a lamb collapse.
William tried one last time to resist—his entire body convulsed.
But it was useless.
With every passing second, the air was pulled from his lungs.
Then…
he fell.
Completely unconscious.
Far away from that hellish place, inside the quiet house…
Maria sat in heavy silence when suddenly a sharp pain struck her chest, like a cold blade plunging straight into her heart.
Her hand flew to her chest as a hot tear slipped down her cheek without permission.
Then another.
The feeling…
was not ordinary fear.
It was a primal pain tearing her chest in two, as though a soul were being ripped from her heart by force.
She suddenly stood, as if some unseen force had pulled her from within.
She rushed to the door and threw it open—
but a hand grabbed her arm firmly.
"You're not leaving."
Jack's voice tried to sound firm…
but it came out broken, closer to a plea than a command.
Maria screamed, her voice trembling like smoke rising from fire.
"Let me go! I feel it… I feel something terrible is happening to my children!
I… I can't breathe!"
With every word, another tear burst forth, as if her eyes had become a raging river that could not stop.
She tried to push Jack away with everything she had left.
She kicked him.
She shoved his chest.
Then…
she bit him fiercely, like a trapped doe fighting desperately to protect her fawn.
Blood ran from Jack's hand—a bright red line across his skin.
But he did not let go.
He could not allow himself to.
He pulled her into a tighter embrace—
the strength of a man trying to hold the entire world on his shoulders before it collapsed.
"Maria… stop… please."
His voice trembled despite his efforts to control it.
He knew.
He knew perfectly well that the fear consuming her was real.
And he had felt the same thing minutes earlier.
But he hid it—because she needed his strength.
She struggled…
then broke.
She collapsed in his arms, her sobs suffocating the scream inside her heart.
When she saw the blood running from her husband's hand, something inside her quieted.
A sliver of awareness returned—
before exhaustion suddenly dragged her down.
She fell into his arms without resistance, drained of both strength and years.
In that moment, her face seemed to age ten years at once.
And finally—
for the first time in years—
Jack allowed a single tear to fall.
A heavy…
burning tear from a man who had always been the final wall standing.
But that tear meant only one thing.
Somewhere…
their son
was in mortal danger.