Chapter 9 – Penitent(I)
[Arc 1— No Light Left For Us]
….
[Rejoice Severants for you have been blessed]
The group quickly hid behind the protection of a massive trunk.
[Rejoice]
Above, the red moon throbbed in slow, deliberate rhythms— each beat humming through the sky like a colossal heart. The air trembled with it.
Yet, Raven paid it no mind. His gaze was pinned to the forest floor, watching as more and more Damned emerged from their slumber.
'We can't fight this.' Raven realized with horror.
'No, we won't survive.'
The earth quivered beneath him, dirt skittering and rolling as though stirred by unseen ecstasy .
Wind and earth collided with violent passion.
And in their wake, thunder roared, its raging echoes growing louder with every breath.
The forest shook in waves—tempestous storms swallowed the habitual silence, letting the arrogant wind loose in a reckless, world-tearing frenzy.
"What the hell is that?" Mist whispered. "Raven?"
"I don't know."
Shaken and terrified, Zoe asked with agony, "Is it dangerous?"
"I don't know."
"What are—"
Raven snapped, "I don't know!"
He was out of depths here.
One thing was sure, the wrath of thunder was closing in… rapidly.
And it wasn't just them hiding from the terror. The Damned seemed to be running away from the storm. Whatever this cursed storm was appeared to terrify the monstrous creature to their very deformed bones.
Monstrous squeals echoed throughout as the horde of monsters came their way.
It quickly became a brutal battle.
The group ran to the best of their abilities, but they couldn't escape the sheer speed of the horde of the Damned.
Soon, the Damned found them and their lust for carnage took over.
A batch of Damned snarled at them, forsaking the storm and choosing to hunt them. This batch of Damned appeared to be shorter… younger, as though they had given fully into the lust, and lost sight of everything else. In their twisted mind, there was only blood and agony.
"We can't escape this, but maybe…" Mist spoke in a casual voice.
She didn't think they could survive. Statistically speaking, it was a tall task. It had taken them all their might before they could slay a single Damned. To deal with a bunch of damned— now, that's suicide. This would… might be the end.
But at the same time, they had to leave something for their fervent hunters. Something to remember them by.
Mist didn't really care about death, but she surely wasn't going to be eaten alive easily.
Mist cut her wrist, controlling her outpouring blood.
She then smiled. 'Well, this will certainly be fun.'
The group exchanged a reluctant look before breaking out at insane speed.
Slowly riising from the ground, Hayden posed gauntly behind Zoe and spoke coldly:
"I hate this place. I hate the land. I hate the monsters. Every single thing here reeks of depravity."
His body channeled the mysterious energy, singing his every flesh with its ferocity. A few feet from the Damned, he began building up momentum— pressure compounding upon pressure.
Taking one last worried look at Zoe and her injury, determination blazed in his eyes and he screamed, "So just… fuck it all."
Like fire from the heavens, Hayden unleashed his anger in tempests. His head began to ache as waves of pressure blasted through the Damned, repelling as much of the terrors as it could.
In the blink of an eye, a blur dashed through the surrounding area, appearing next to Hayden. And in the next moment, the young boy was swatted like a fly across the gathering of trees.
The batch of Damned rose from the ground, free from the wrath of the pressure. They screamed in delight at their triumph, and then…
Chaos ensued.
…..
『Minute later』
"Urgh," Raven groaned, pushing the cold Damned off his body.
"It seems I survived. Urgh."
There was blood everywhere… from him… from the monsters. It was simply a bloodbath, one that he was lucky to come out of by the skin of his teeth.
He was too weak to move after the altercation, but he needed to confirm the state of the others and then concoct a plan that would take away from this madness.
"Where are they?" Raven looked around. "Just how far did the Damned take me?"
Just after the chaos began, the group had been separated and Raven was attacked by a Damned. He managed to fend it off, tussling with the monster with nothing but sheer grit.
However, the next few minutes were his most grueling periods.
But that was fine.
Raven placed his finger on his bloodied neck. Amidst the fight, an open gash had appeared, and if it wasn't for his innate skills, he would have been panicking about his eventual fate.
Turns out his sigil came with a few perks after all.
The winds shifted as a Damned lunged at him, but Raven was already one step ahead. He had felt the attack before it even happened.
Evading the attack, he lowered his body to the ground and lashed out a sweeping kick.
His skin was pierced by the monster's hide, but it managed to at least stagger the monster, buying him just enough time to pull out a trick.
"Springing up out of nowhere… this world definitely has a 0.5 star review. And that's just me being generous." Raven spat, regaining his breath.
The Damned squealed in rage.
Its callous claws lunged for Raven's already wounded throat. Yet, before it could even sink into the flesh, something happened.
The monster found itself unable to move further, as though it was chained to something.
It noticed a small fragile yellow vine holding its ankles as tight as it could.
"..."
The Damned let out a squeal of annoyance and then proceeded to snap the vine wide.
Raven jumped at the creature, taking advantage of its distraction. He pummeled it downwards with his fists, punching its faceless head even as his bones began to crack under pressure.
The Damned were superior to humans by a gigantic mile. They were faster, stronger… heck, just punching them caused Raven so much pain that he was tempted to let it survive… just tempted.
But the one area where the Damned lacked was their variability. Sure, they could hit or slash trees to splinters, but if one factored their attacks, then with sufficient reflexes and agility, one could vanquish these monsters.
'Well, it's a good thing I'm a human radar,' Raven groaned, musing amidst the pain.
Raven kept punching and punching until the Damned gave in to death. And then he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
『Splendrous Carnage, Severants』
『Wicked Moon harkens』
"Yeah, to hell with you too." Raven let out a sigh.
He picked himself off the ground, not minding his bleeding neck. "I need to find the others."
Amidst his wobbling struggle to find the group, Raven paused, utterly frozen.
'No.'
The moonlight was getting scarce, blotted by clouds of darkness and raging lightning.
'It can't be.'
He had forgotten the more dangerous threat, what he should have focused on.
The world was shaking.
The ground throbbed as though Satan itself had set foot upon the world, waging war on its sacred lands. Gales from far away slammed into him, nearly knocking him off their feet.
'Oh god, it's too late.'
…..
『At the other side of the battle』
"Hold on to something!" Hayden roared, gripping a branch with one hand while pulling Zoe close with the other.
In the distance, the ancient trees bent away from a tumultuous advance, folding outward to form a vast clearing— a path carved from a point too far away to measure.
The agonizing screams of monsters reverberated from every direction, drowned out only by a new horror.
The moon began to bleed.
Crimson streams spilled downwards from its surface, cascading towards the heart of the storm.
High above, the red moon seemed to smile, welcoming her prodigal son.
Suddenly, the world went dead silent.
Ash drained from the faces of Hayden and Zoe as realization settled upon them.
It was here.
Wrath had arrived.
"Ahhh!"
Haze-laden gales swallowed everything, dragging them helplessly towards the center of the arrogant tempest.
『Meanwhile, on the other side』
Raven was also engulfed by the storm.
He fell to the ground, gripping the hair on his head strongly. Streams and streams of blood seeped from his eyes in thin relentless trails. His body convulsed, seized by an abrupt shock and he began to shake frantically.
'Oh no. Not again!'
Sound flooded him.
Not thunder.
Not wind.
Voices.
Mad, fractured ravings clawed into his ears— alien instincts, broken language, endless whispers layered atop one another.
Loud. Relentless. Inescapable. An avalanche of noises burying him alive, beneath meaning he could not comprehend.
Consumed by the storm, he arrived at its eye, along with the monsters and his other other companions.
In their own frozen terror, they had failed to notice Raven's agony.
Because it had appeared.
It was a vivid horror bent into a mortal shape, wearing a skin of nightmares.
The creature walked beneath the bleeding mother moon, bathed in its crimson light, soaked in its sickness. A creature wrought with gore and dread, marching forward with gaunt inevitability.
『Rejoice』
『The Penitent Son』
The Penitent Son towered beyond reason, its head lost somewhere in the roiling clouds, reaching towards and beyond a height of thirteen kilometres— higher than mountains. Higher than the sky. Higher than imagination.
The companions could only see its waist, monstrous pillar of blood and sinew cranked-up with impossible strength.
One leg lifted slowly, rising into the heavens.
For a single, fragile moment, the world held its breath.
Then it fell.