The atmospheric pressure had reached a point beyond human endurance. The air itself felt like it was thickening, turning into a heavy, viscous liquid that made every breath a struggle. The screeching sound—the one that had been peeling away the layers of my sanity—intensified until it felt like a physical hammer striking the base of my skull. It wasn't just noise; it was a frequency of death. I watched as the carriage horses' eyes rolled back, their hearts exploding from the sheer vibration. Even the indomitable Azure Knight was forced to his knees, his face twisted in a silent snarl of agony.
Then, as abruptly as the world had begun to tear apart, the sound ceased.
The silence that followed was a vacuum, an eerie, breathless void that made my internal circuits feel like they were short-circuiting. My detective's mind tried to calculate the distance, the threat level, the survival rate—but the numbers were failing me. My senses, however, had heightened to a terrifying degree. I could feel the microscopic shift of the wind and the cold, metallic scent of blood-soaked soil. Suddenly, the horizon bled black. Thousands of demons—monstrosities of shadow and bone—were sprinting toward us with a speed that defied every law of biology.
'This is it,' I thought, my heart hammering like a trapped bird against my ribs. 'This time, the 'Death-Link' won't be enough.'
The Azure Rain and the Knight's Transmutation
Kiran stood up, his posture stiff but his eyes burning with a cold, blue fire that looked like frozen lightning. "Stay behind me!" he roared, his voice cutting through the heavy air. I watched in a mixture of awe and terror as his wounds began to knit themselves together—a high-speed regenerative ability that sizzled as it closed his flesh. He shot a glance toward me—a look filled with a strange, hidden trust that felt like a heavy burden—and then he vanished.
Suddenly, the sky broke. But it wasn't rain that fell; it was a celestial, azure downpour. Each droplet looked like a tiny, liquid diamond falling from a fractured heaven. When they touched the demons, the creatures shrieked as their charcoal flesh dissolved like wax under a blowtorch. One of those droplets landed on my hand, and instead of pain, I felt an icy, profound peace—as if I were standing in the heart of an ancient, silent tundra.
I watched Kiran transform. His body seemed to expand, his muscles bulging as glowing blue "tubes"—veins of pure, raw mana—became visible beneath his skin. He moved like a scripted character in a high-speed game, striking in precise, geometric patterns that left no room for the demons to breathe. His blade didn't just cut; it erased.
'He calls himself human?' I thought, my eyes wide. 'His power is limitless, a god-tier machine of war. But his pattern... it's too rigid. They're slipping through the gaps.'The Awakening: The Hero's Ghost
The horde was endless, a sea of obsidian claws and violet eyes. Despite Kiran's display, the demons were flanking us, drawn to the high-density mana of the heroes. "Handle the rear!" Kiran shouted, his voice strained for the first time.
'Handle it? With what?!' Panic flared in my gut. Hina, Yumi, and the maids were paralyzed, their faces masks of pure, unadulterated terror. Then, my skull felt like it was being split open by a rusted axe from the inside. A voice, raw, primal, and dripping with desperation, erupted from the basement of my consciousness.
"LET ME OUT! THEY ARE DYING! GIVE ME THE BODY, YOU PARASITE!"
It was Kenji. His soul was clawing at my psyche, a cornered animal desperate to protect the only world he knew. Blood began to leak from my eyes, thick and hot, and a steady stream of crimson dripped from my ears. The pressure was a physical weight. Just as the first wave of demons reached our perimeter, Kenji didn't just take the wheel; he ripped it out of my hands.
He seized the iron broadsword, and as he swung, I felt a sensation that I can only describe as my soul being pulled through the eye of a needle. The agony was transcendental.
A single strike. A horizontal arc of pure, white-hot energy incinerated thousands of demons instantly, turning them into a fine, gray mist that tasted like ash in my mouth.
'Kenji... he's not just a Hero. He's a monster,' I realized through the haze of pain. But every time he struck, my soul screamed. I tried to pull him back—'Stop! You're tearing our essence apart!'—but he was a hurricane of vengeance. His aura was no longer heroic; it was a jagged, dark energy that made even the air feel sharp. Hina and Yumi backed away in horror, unable to recognize the bleeding, screaming man they once called Kenji.
The Face of the Commander
Then, it happened. One of the three powerful auras I had sensed earlier appeared instantly in front of me. No smoke, no sound—just a sudden presence of absolute dread. He was a master-class monster, a commander of the abyss dressed in the skin of a warrior. He struck, and Kenji countered instinctively. The collision of their powers was so violent that the ground beneath us sank several meters, creating a crater of cracked stone. The shockwave was a physical wall that knocked Hina and Yumi unconscious instantly.
I realized I had no choice. 'Kenji, listen to me! I will help you. We fight as one, or we die as ghosts! Just... hold on to your sanity!'
The demon commander looked at me, a twisted, jagged grin on his gray face. "Such raw, unfiltered power... what is a creature like you doing in a party of weaklings?"
He launched another assault, his fists moving like cannonballs. Together, Kenji and I met him head-on. The shockwave sent the monster flying back into the ruins of the village square, but the cost was astronomical. Kenji's eyes were pouring blood now, staining the front of my armor.
"Calm down, Kenji," I whispered internally, my own consciousness fading. "You wanted to save them, didn't you? If you burn out now, you leave them to the wolves."
The monster was back in a heartbeat, faster than my eyes could track. I didn't even have time to raise the sword before his fist connected with my solar plexus. The force was like being hit by a collapsing building. I was sent hurtling through the air, crashing through stone walls and splintering wooden beams until I hit the base of a destroyed fountain.felt every bone shatter. I felt the copper taste of my own internal organs filling my throat. As I lay in the rubble, the world spinning into darkness, Kenji's soul finally went silent, completely exhausted. The control returned to me.
I was back in the driver's seat of a broken, dying vehicle. The pain was an absolute white noise, drowning out the sounds of the battle. I looked up at the bruised, purple sky, unable to move a single finger. The monster was walking toward me, his heavy boots crunching on the debris, his shadow falling over my broken body like a burial shroud.