Hori remained curled beneath the rubble, trembling uncontrollably. Dust and smoke still drifted through the ruined street like slow-moving fog. Each shallow breath tasted of ash and scorched stone. She waited, eyes squeezed shut, hoping the colossal shadow above her would simply move on.
It did not.
The dragon "Arson" rested atop the half-collapsed building, its wooden body far too massive for the structure. The beams beneath it groaned faintly, a low, continuous protest that seemed to vibrate through the ground itself. Occasionally, the creature exhaled long plumes of thick black smoke from its nostrils, the tendrils curling lazily into the darkened sky as if it had all the time in the world.
No rescuers came. The self proclaimed Priest from earlier was long dead. Most likely too weak for a Sin this strong.
Civilians as well had all fled. No one wished to stay so close to such monstrosity.
Hori swallowed hard, the sound painfully loud in her own ears.
She was alone.
She was terrified.
She had to move.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, she lifted her head just enough to peer through a narrow gap in the debris. Her heart thundered in a dull, heavy rhythm. The dragon's glowing eyes were half-lidded, almost bored. It waited, as though expecting something… or someone.
Hori gulped before thinking.
'From what I remember… Sins carry themselves with pride,' she thought, the words forming sluggishly in her fear-fogged mind. 'They rarely bother with a single, insignificant human. It… it probably won't chase me.'
Tears slipped silently down her ash-streaked cheeks. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, voice barely audible even to herself. "I'm so sorry…"
The guilt sat like a stone in her chest. Haruki-san. Eguchi-san. The only two people who had shown her any kindness since this nightmare began.
Were dead. And now, she was preparing to abandon any hope in finding them, to save herself and leave everything behind. An utterly human act.
"Please… forgive me." She cleaned her tears and made up her mind.
With infinite care, Hori began to crawl.
Every movement was measured. Her palms pressed softly against jagged concrete and splintered wood. She dragged her body forward inch by inch, barely disturbing the rubble. The sound of her own breathing felt deafening. Each shift of fabric against stone made her freeze, waiting for the dragon to turn its burning gaze upon her.
'So that is supposed to be Arson…' The thought drifted through her mind like smoke. 'W-why is it so enormous? Are.. are all Sins this… overwhelming? My legs feel like they belong to someone else.'
She described the experience to maintain consciousness. The wood impaled in her right calf caused a sharp pain. But that was the least of her worries.
The path ahead gradually opened, a narrow clearing through the debris that led toward the edge of the devastated street. Freedom lay only a short distance away. Her muscles tensed, ready to make a quick run for it.
A vast shadow fell over her. Erasing any trace of hope the naive girl once heard.
"No, you don't."
The dragon's claw descended with terrifying gentleness. One single wooden finger came to rest atop her dark-blue hair, pinning her in place without crushing her. Hori froze completely. She did not breathe. She did not blink.
Hot breath, thick with the scent of smoldering wood and something far sweeter ....charred flesh, washed slowly over her skin. It sent icy shivers racing down her spine.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Arson questioned.
The world tilted. Shock flooded her veins like freezing water. Her heart hammered so violently she felt it in her throat, in her fingertips, in the roots of her teeth.
'H-How…? How did it see me?' that was Hori's only thought at the moment.
She had made no sound. She had barely moved. So how?
'Why didn't I hear it approaching…? It's massive! S-surely I should have noticed it drawing closer.' What was the pointq? Why ask questions? Her fate was already sealed.
Hori thought the same, causing her legs to buckle unwillingly.
Before she could collapse, the claw closed, carefully, almost tenderly around her head alone and lifted her into the air. Her body dangled helplessly, the full weight pulling downward on her neck with brutal intensity.
The pain was immediate and overwhelming. Tears poured freely now as soft, broken whimpers escaped her lips.
Up close, Arson was even more monstrous.
Its body was carved from lacquered wood the color of deep mahogany, every artificial scale and joint meticulously detailed. Delicate white paper frills adorned its neck and wrists, fluttering faintly in the disturbed air like ceremonial decorations on a demon.
Its eyes glowed with molten heat, chasing embers from its optics, with an intense gaze fixed directly on her face.
"A human child…?" the Sin rumbled, the vibration traveling through its claw and into her skull.
It continued after a 5 seconds pause "Arson prefers the taste of smokers. Their charred lungs are always a delight to feast on."
Hori's mind refused to catch up. This could not be happening. She was hanging inches from the face of a Sin. The satanic creatures her father always prevented her from studying.
"Tell me, girl," Arson continued, its tone carrying a faint edge of annoyance, "Why is this place so lacking in Priests?"
She could not answer. Her body shook violently in its grasp. She could only quiver, hoping desperately that the creature was not truly speaking to her.
Arson shook her gently, but with unmistakable firmness. A wave of dry, scorching heat rolled from its mouth, brushing across her skin like invisible flames. "Answer me." It bellowed.
"I-I don't know…" Hori's voice came out as a broken whisper. "Please, sir… j-just let me go…I beg of you..."
She covered her eyes with trembling hands. Warm urine trickled down her leg, soaking into the borrowed shorts.
Arson hissed sharply, the sound like dry kindling catching fire. "You dare defile flame with filth?! Abomination!!"
Speaking at higher volumes only terrified the girl more.
Being the embodiment of deliberately burning of property. Arson felt insulted witnessing liquid being produced in its presence.
With a frustrated but terrified tone, Hori completed one more sentence.
A question for the beast that held her captive.
"B-before you kill me... answer this..... how? H-how did you...How did you see me? I was quiet wasn't I? So.... how?" Hori asked with clenched fists. Fed up with everything that had happened so far. "Please....a-answer! "
Arson stared. Impressed such a young girl was still in the right state of mind for a conversation. He always heard nothing but screams from humans, so he respected Hori and responded honestly.
"Look at this." He said, lifting his tail up. Bringing it to sight for Hori to observe. To her surprise and terror, instead of a wooden ending like the rest of Arson's body. The bud of his tail had a Molotov cocktail, lit with a bright flame.
A Molotov cocktail was a hand-thrown incendiary weapon, consisting of a glass bottle container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a fuse, often a rag that is set on fire.
It was one of the most iconic ways of vandalism by burning.
Arson continued, lecturing with a mock intellectual tone. "When I quench the fire and look through the green glass. I am able to see a person's Flame."
His explanation left Hori confused, terror slowly dying by curiosity.
"Observe..." Arson quenched the bright fire from the rag in the bottle. Peeking with his Incandescent eye.
He looked at Hori through it, acting as a magical microscope of sorts. Behold, Arson saw a conceptual torch lit in her position. Burning unnaturally with high sparks then dim flames.
"By seeing a person's Flame, Arson can catch prey easily. Detecting them through rubble and dirt. The dead do not own such burn, girl." His lecture came to a close as it stretched Hori a great height up.
Widening it's mouth for such a small meal. A hellish warmth erupted from within, evaporating the tears Hori produced in drums. This was it.
Arson let go. Hori fell to her demise. The stomach of a Sin was where it would all end.
During her descent, time seemed to slow down as it all happened. Her life, what most would consider boring and simple, flashed before her eyes.
Pony rides she had with her father in the estate. The countless nights of learning to impress the man she respected the most. The scolding she received when in the wrong. And alas, her terrible experience since she woke in Fukui. It all played in order, like an old film tape.
Hori instinctively closed her eyes, bringing both arms to her face as if that would make a difference. Her last thoughts read, 'Father.... will be proud of me.... I am sure of it.' her fists clenching as she drew closer to Arson's salivating tongue. 'I lasted 8 days!' she added before losing consciousness.
As it all seemed to end. Hori was tucked tightly in the large arms of a Goliath of a man. The golden cross which hanged from his necklace shining with a glimmer of hope.