*Knock* *Knock*
'Did I fall asleep?!'
The strange sound outside the window caught his attention again. It was the sound that awakened him from his sleep.
Walking over to the window, Gray opened the curtain. A small black bird tapped periodically at the window.
'Sandy? What is she doing here?!'
The little bird was their team's personal beast-the mailman. On Judgment Day, this was often practiced.
Because of the badly damaged and nearly destroyed electronics, it was impossible to communicate at the same speed as before.
Turning his gaze to the street, he saw a strange silhouette with no outline. No matter how hard he tried, Gray could not make it out clearly.
Under the lampposts of the night, this silhouette was clearly looking in his direction.
Goosebumps ran down Gray's back.
Instantly closing the curtains, he tried to calm his breathing.
'What!? Why am I panicking?!'
Slowly regaining his breath, he rose once more and opened the curtains.
The silhouette was gone, but it was replaced by a burning street, overgrown with vines, on which hung many corpses.
Corpses with which Grey was well acquainted.
His former comrades and acquaintances were hung by their feet and bleeding. Some were missing limbs, and the extent of their external injuries could not be described in words alone.
But it was worth it for him to see just a few particularly prominent, exsanguinated corpses. The anger, inside Gray, began to build uncontrollably.
The quiet creak of a floorboard in the hallway awakened the young man from his stupor.
Turning, he saw a shadow flicker outside the office door.
Rushing after it, Gray hurriedly grabbed his two knives.
In the long hallway lit by moonlight.
The shadow that had disappeared right out from under him stood in the middle of the corridor. Tauntingly, it beckoned him toward it.
"Who are you?! Show yourself!"
Rushing toward her, he didn't notice how the floor beneath him began to creak and fall hard.
Falling to the floor below, Gray got up from under the pile of rubble with severe pain in his rib.
'Just wait! Wait till I catch up with you!'
After running for a while, he stepped out into the main hall.
The main hall was a spacious room, with various museum exhibits.
Strange drawings, utensils, animal remains, and statues dressed in various armor.
The half-empty display cases reflected the moonlight, giving an ancient and mysterious hue to these things.
In this dark hall, in the center of it. Under the moonlight stood a dark figure holding one man's throat in his hand.
When Gray saw who this dark figure was holding, his eyes reddened and his breathing and pulse quickened.
"You beast! Whoever you are, I'll kill you right here!"
As he sprinted toward them. The windows began to shatter one by one, scratching and slashing Gray's clothes.
Covering himself with his arms, he continued running straight toward that shadow!
From one of the many storefronts, a giant, one-and-a-half-meter blade flew toward him.
"Aah!"
Before he could dodge it, the blade grazed Gray's arm, severing it at the root.
The blood didn't stop pouring, but he didn't care at all.
All he wanted now was to kill the freak!
As soon as he ran up to the figure, the figure finally stepped forward.
A small, ritualistic blade flew toward him, catching his carotid artery.
Seeing the outline of the silhouette, but not the silhouette itself, the young man finally confirmed his hunch.
As Gray stared into the outline of the figure, his eyes began to bleed and his vision blurred.
Closing his eyes, Gray strained all his senses.
The figure standing before him was not something a mere mortal could look at.
At that moment, as Gray stood in the middle of the hall, his consciousness suddenly cleared. He straightened his back and grinned slightly.
'Is this how my young body, affects me?'
With wonder and interest, he looked at his reflection on the floor of the broken window.
Slowly, his body was covered with strange tattoos, from his feet all the way to his neck. The wounds on his body had healed, and even his severed arm was reattached.
And his appearance returned to the day he blew up the city, taking a couple of titans with him.
"Come on! Now we can start playing tag for real."
The dark figure stared in confusion at the sudden change in the boy's aura and appearance.
His face in particular was alarming. He had that bloodthirsty smile on his face.
"Why are you so surprised? Didn't you know it's not just the mental type who can manipulate memories in the dream world?"
Taking a few steps toward the shadows, Grey stopped.
"At my level, it's enough to clear my mind a little. But you're pretty good for a beginner, I'll give you that!"
Standing beside that very statue, Gray appraised the blade that had severed his arm.
Picking it up and examining it, he threw the blade with one hand in the direction of that shadow.
The blade pierced through Alex, ripping off that shadow's arm.
"Aaah!"
A pained scream came from the silhouette.
Rushing toward the shadow, Gray grabbed it by the throat with his eyes closed.
"No! Away! Out! Out... Kha! "
"This is my dream, and it's up to me to decide when it's time for the intruders to go home!"
Breaking the victim's limbs with his bare hands, he brought his fingers to the face of this shadow. Excruciating moans were accompanied by cries for mercy.
"And now it was time to pay the bill."
Extending his fingers to the figure's eyes, he plucked out the left eyeball in a sharp motion.
"Aaah!"
"The left one for using "His" disguise!"
Reaching out his hand to the other eyeball, he pressed it mercilessly into the skull box.
"Aaaaah! Aaaaah!"
"The right one, for the picture you showed me outside."
Throwing out his squirming body in pain, Grey looked around.
The hall was big enough. But there was nothing of interest to him. Only fragments of broken windows were scattered everywhere.
But his purpose was not to look around for antiquities. He was trying to find something. To find the location of an evolving mental type.
Finally finding the supposed location from which he had been attacked. He approached the trembling body and forcibly poured his blood into it.
It began to twitch and somersault in agony. Gasping and trying in every way to kill himself, he suddenly stopped. Like an abandoned puppet, his body lay breathless on the floor.
After that, the world began to crumble. When Gray opened his eyes, he found himself back in the room.
Werner stared thoughtfully out the window.
"How was it out there?"
"It's still the same... foggy."
Nodding, Gray walked over and began to dismantle the blockage covering the door. The noise couldn't help but wake everyone up.
"Gray, where are you going?"
Kayra watched excitedly as the young guy opened the door with a frown.
"To the bathroom... I'll be right back."
"You won't need my help, will you?"
"Thank you, I'll find it myself!"
On being told no, Werner looked strangely at Gray's face and at the gun protruding from beneath his jacket.
Frowning slightly, he continued to observe the scene outside.
'It's not going to be such a quiet night tonight.'
Although he didn't know what had happened, he heard the strange scream clearly. Immediately afterward, the guy woke up, too, tearing up, looking as if his parents had been killed in front of him.
Strange things were happening one by one. The old veteran felt less and less safe. He thought anxiously of his daughters.