I fell to the ground with a loud thud.
What just happened?
I remember the alleyway lighting up with a bright light instantaneously. I also remember Akane running towards me, and behind me was—
—What was behind me…?
I looked up to see the red-haired girl. Her long fiery scarlet hair was fluttering along with the impact that has been produced. She was panting heavily as if she just ran a marathon, and across from her was a man that stood with his chest impaled by Akane's fist.
What was Akane doing?!
"Akane, how could you—" Before I could finish the sentence, Akane quickly pulled back her fist that pierced through the man's body and dashed towards me.
"Get away from here!" As she yelled, she took me by the arms and threw herself towards the opposite side of the alleyway with me.
In confusion, I looked back to the man who was now trembling to an extreme extent. It was as if it was a vibrator. Then, in an instant, a low-pitched groan escaped from its throat as he burst into fierce ghostly green flames. The flame completely engulfed the man, and its low-pitched moan began to shift to a high-pitched shriek.
"KIAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The sound of the screech was unbearable to my ears, so in instinct, I covered my ears and closed my eyes.
Just what was happening?!
As the screech stopped, I uncovered my ears and slowly opened my eyes to see Akane beside me, still holding onto my arms. I turned my head towards the man who just burst into flames to see that the flames have been completely snuffed out. But, amid the smoke, there stood a now-tall man with a slender body and unbelievably long and skinny arms. The man was too tall to be considered human. Its skin looked ashy and grey, which looked like it was about to rot away at any instance. Now, its looks resembled that of Slenderman that I have once read about on a western creepy-pasta forum.
Out of all its bodily features, the head was the most inhuman part: It looked as if all the skin had already rotten away from its face and only the skull remains. Its grotesque features were enough to frighten even grown-ups. If I could feel fear, I definitely would have been shaking endlessly.
I looked beside me towards Akane, but surprisingly, she didn't show a single sign of fear. I had a feeling from her eyes that she was taking pity towards the creature and something else. Something I could never figure out. What was she feeling?
As Akane stood up, the creature let out a high-pitched shriek and began dashing towards Akane.
"…!"
Its lengthy arms reached out for the girl's head with the intent to kill, but Akane swiftly dodged its strike and began dashing towards the creature.
Everything was happening all at once, so I was confused by what I was witnessing, but seeing Akane fighting and countering that monster's attacks, I could only assume that she was accustomed to combat—combat with otherworldly creatures.
As she hastily dodged the creature's whip-like arms, Akane closed the distance between herself and the monster in an instant, and now, she was going in for the final blow.
"Tanaka arts, 1st form!" As she began chanting out these words that I've never heard of before, I felt a sudden sensation of the vibrant air.
What was this sensation…?
"Infermme—" It was at that moment that, before she could finish chanting these words, the creature's arms bent like as if it was a tape measure and heavily struck Akane on the stomach.
"AKANE!"
As soon as she was struck, her body went flying sideways onto the walls with such force that the dilapidated walls were shattered along with Akane's body's impact flying towards the walls.
"Kak!"
As soon as her helpless body collided on the wall, she fell to the ground, spewing blood.
What could I do in this situation? Everything happened so quickly that I was unable to process the situation. It was already difficult to cope, knowing that there was a monster straight out of a manga standing right before me and the fact that Akane was moving at an inhuman speed and strength, but I couldn't believe what I was witnessing.
The creature slowly crept towards Akane, whipping its deadly arms. With that amount of force, no one would be able to withstand a single strike; it was a miracle that Akane's life was still intact.
"Kah…" Akane was struggling to get up while coughing up even more blood.
I had to do something. If I didn't take any actions this instant, there was no turning back. I didn't want to regret my decision.
Before I could even think, my body moved on its own as I dashed towards the collapsed Akane and the rip-off Slenderman.
"AKANE, WATCH OUT!"
"D—dummy, don't… come near!"
At the spur of the moment, I burst out running to save Akane without thinking of a plan. As the creature creaked his head towards my way, its arms changed directions. Now the arms were whipping towards my course.
Now that I got the attention of the creature, what now?! The arms' velocity was tremendous, and a regular person like me would be unable to take a single hit. I observed the area to find the corpse that Akane had been stepping on initially.
If I could use that—!
The decapitated body was closer to me than it was to the creature, so I had the chance here. But, if I were to mess up and missed the corpse, my time would end here and now. I couldn't afford to fail because I didn't want to die.
Death was the last thing I needed while I still had a sister to take care of.
I bent my knees, getting ready to run with all my strength. The creature slowly crept towards my way, with its arms still spinning around like a whip. As it continued making small click sounds, it came closer and closer.
I had to get the creature away from Akane far as possible.
Now was the chance.
"Tch!" As I launched myself off the ground, I ran with all my strength that I could muster. As I launched, the creature let out a high-pitched screech and swung its whips, attempting to eliminate everything caught in the range of fire.
In two and a half seconds, I promptly grabbed the corpse and as the whip was shot towards me at a violent speed, and I managed to use the corpse as a shield in time to reduce the impact. But it wasn't impeccable.
"Gah!" The impact of the whip launched me towards Akane's direction. Although I was able to block the attack, I still received this much damage…! As I lost altitude, I plummeted onto the ground with a loud thud.
"GAK!" I screamed in extreme anguish.
After landing on my back, the pain was so great that I couldn't make any movement.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
I was mentally screaming in agony. This was the first time that I felt such pain that I didn't know how to cope with this torment. Although I was suffering greatly from the pain, but I was proud that I achieved my primary objective—to drive the creature away from Akane.
I turned to the side to see that Akane was breathing heavily, but she didn't seem to cough any more blood.
"Ar…e you alright," I asked by whispering.
She replied quietly but angrily, "Are you crazy?!"
As we conversed, I heard a small thud near the creature to be followed by a loud screech and the sound of a whip strike.
What just happened?
I observed the dark alleyway to figure what had happened, and I opened my eyes widely in realization. I wondered why the creature hadn't attacked us yet, but that small sound has helped me come to a deduction.
"So that's its weakness."