In a luxurious bar, packed with people indulging in exquisite delicacies and expensive liquors, Ethan was restless as he meticulously arranged a table with expensive wines and essential elements for the party his brother's group was going to have.
With skill and precision, he placed each bottle of wine in its designated spot.
Cough! Cough!
Every now and then, Ethan could hear some people in the bar coughing. However, he was accustomed to it, knowing that they were minor symptoms caused by the red rain from the previous day, something akin to a passing cold.
"Huh...?"
Strangely, just as he was about to place a couple of glasses on the table, his pupils suddenly shifted upward!
Crash!
With the sound of the glasses shattering against the floor, darkness engulfed him abruptly. Strangely, despite the lack of light, his mind continued to function as if everything were in order.
"I-I thought I fainted, where am I?" his voice resonated in space, generating multiple echoes.
Ethan surveyed his surroundings with a certain fear, unable to comprehend what was happening. He could feel his body, and upon examining his hands, he found no strange changes.
"...A'I dreaming?"
Thud! Thud!
From the depths of this bewildering darkness, he heard a loud sound, as if someone were hammering the ground.
As he focused his gaze toward the source of the sound, he could make out a large silhouette approaching slowly. It stood nearly ten meters tall, and its strange form evoked intense panic in Ethan, making him feel as if he were immersed in a horror movie!
"W-what is that!?"
Before him, the colossal figure finally revealed itself fully to his astonished eyes!
It possessed six enormous wings reminiscent of a bat's wings, four horns menacingly rising on either side of its head, a muscular body, and a pair of red eyes that seemed to ooze blood.
"Oh? How interesting, too interesting. I dare say it's quite amusing!" a dark and sinister voice, as if the embodiment of all the world's evils, resonated in his ears.
"Although it could very well be false... But even if it is, I couldn't care less. As long as I'm entertained, the rest is utterly insignificant."
Ethan was paralyzed, a wave of horror ran down his spine as his heart raced. Unable to utter a single word, his body trembled uncontrollably.
Sigh...
"Look at me, trembling and speechless, so pathetic, so weak, so insignificant!" Every word spoken by that strange creature contained more and more anger to the point that Ethan knelt in fear, unable to control his own legs!
"!"
A huge hand with sharp claws slowly approached him. Despite his attempts to retreat, Ethan felt trapped like a small doll in the hands of a child.
"N-no... Don't kill me! D-don't harm me! I'll do anything!" Ethan cried out, tears and mucus dripping from his terrified face.
He didn't understand what was happening, but he could feel an intense intent to kill emanating from this... demon! Yes, what held him was clearly a demon, emerging directly from hell!
At first, he thought he was immersed in a dream, but the pain he felt in his body being squeezed by that gigantic hand was all too real.
It was so real that he could truly die!
"...How repulsive it is to see myself begging, so degrading! That's why I didn't want to remember anything from that shitty past; I was so pitifully pathetic!"
With a great fear that paralyzed him, not understanding anything the creature was saying, Ethan remained motionless, silently observing as the demon spoke to itself as if completely out of its mind.
"But, what can you expect from such a tiny and insignificant creature? Humans are truly garbage!"
With a cruel smile plastered on its terrifying face, the demon increased the pressure on Ethan with merciless force. Its eyes, filled with sinister gleam, reflected clear anticipation of what would happen next.
"N-no, ple-"
Crack!
Showing no trace of remorse, Ethan impassively watched as his twenty-year-old self turned into a mass of shattered flesh and bones.
He could no longer bear to see himself act so weak!
"He didn't offer the slightest resistance; it was like crushing a rotten fruit..."
Was he considered insane for killing himself? Maybe, but he didn't care. If he wanted to do something, he would do it without anyone or anything stopping him. And if someone tried to hinder him, his fists would speak for him!
Indeed, his younger self should be thankful that his pathetic existence ended sooner than fate had intended!
He raised his imposing arm and carefully examined his own body for any changes, but everything remained the same. This ruled out a theory he had conceived about what would happen if he killed a version of his past self.
But once again, doubts were sown about this situation; perhaps he was still adrift without a clear direction, and this was nothing more than a deceptive hallucination.
"Oh?"
Whoosh!
Ethan curiously watched as the crushed blood and bones transformed into a golden liquid that shot towards him in an instant, at a speed so fast he couldn't react at all!
"..."
Helplessly, he watched as his body was enveloped by the viscous liquid and stretched in different directions, adhering to something in the darkness that lifted him in the air, leaving him suspended and unable to move.
Ethan struggled with all his might to free himself, but it was futile!
He no longer cared if it was real or not. It was unheard of that there was something in the universe capable of containing him!
"More and more damned strange things happen, and now this fucking golden thing!" Ethan growled with fury, exerting all his strength to break free.
Not long ago, his eyes opened in this strange place after traveling for an unknown time through that mysterious space that defied all logic. But he knew that much time had passed!
He walked for a few minutes until he encountered a younger version of himself, whether genuine or false, and now he was trapped like a fool...
"This has to be a damn joke!"
Ethan shouted with such intensity that the entire space trembled, although it quickly stabilized, leaving only echoes of his scream reverberating in the air.
"Aaargh!"
"...What the fuck is happening to me!?"
Abruptly, he began to feel dizzy, and his vision blurred. Before he could say anything else, everything plunged into darkness...
In the bar, a group of people gathered around the unconscious Ethan, some gently shaking him in an attempt to wake him from his stupor.
"Be careful, don't shake him too much. You might make things worse," a man cautioned, his face showing a hint of concern.
In the background of the bar, barely audible whispers of regret for the ruined dinner due to this incident could be heard. Even some, with disgusted expressions, were preparing to leave the place.
Meanwhile, a young waiter, holding a cellphone in his hand, hurriedly contacted his manager.
For him, the situation was serious and required immediate attention. However, in the back of his mind, he worried that the wealthy customers were about to leave the place.
There was clearly a mix of concerned, indifferent, and even disgusted people in this bar.
"Ugh..."
To everyone's surprise, Ethan's body began to stir, and his lips started moving.
"..."
A silence fell over the place, including the waiter, as they watched him awaken.
His eyelids fluttered open slowly, revealing small shards of glass scattered on a dark brown floor with veins and black accents.
"Where the hell am I now?" Ethan questioned, feeling the frustration of waking up in an unknown place for the second time.
As he struggled to get up, his icy eyes scrutinized the human beings surrounding him. Upon observing the tables, decorations, and the presence of technology, he immediately understood that he was on Earth.
Furthermore, even though much time had passed, he vaguely remembered where he was: the place where he first saw real zombies!
He had traveled a hundred years into the past!
Honestly, he couldn't distinguish anymore whether it was real or not, but not wanting to exhaust himself unnecessarily thinking about it, he decided to let everything flow without further ado.
"Are you alright?" the waiter asked, reaching out to touch Ethan's shoulder. Suddenly, he found nothing but emptiness before experiencing a sharp pain on his face and falling forcefully to the ground.
"Eh?"
The man didn't understand what had happened until he felt something warm trickling from his mouth and, looking down, realized that his nose was bleeding!
The people surrounding Ethan were shocked and astonished by the sudden violence.
Murmurs of surprise and confusion spread through the place as everyone watched with wide-eyed stares. Some instinctively stepped back, fearful of what might happen next.
"Oh my God, what's wrong with him?" exclaimed a woman, taking several steps back in fear of being struck.
"Maybe he's mentally ill," whispered a man to his daughter, who silently nodded while coughing softly.
The waiter, taken aback by the blow, quickly retreated, bringing a hand to his sore face. His expression of concern transformed into a mix of anger and fear.
"T-This won't go unpunished. I'll call the police!" stammered the waiter, never taking his eyes off Ethan as he searched for his fallen cellphone.
Ethan, despite having no intention of harming that pitiful waiter, didn't care in the slightest. After all, years of fighting and killing demons had caused his body to react instinctively to any living being attempting to touch him.
The others present, between confusion and fear, distanced themselves even further, cautiously observing the scene.
Some of them were secretly trying to call the police.
"What's going on?" asked a male voice from the bar's entrance.
Ethan followed the voice, and his eyes widened as he saw a face he had never forgotten, someone he had longed to kill over and over again!
"Why don't you come in? I'm already itching for a drink!" resonated another voice, this time belonging to a beautiful, slender woman with dark hair.
"Apparently, something interesting is happening in this bar," the man from before spoke again.
Soon, a group of six people entered the bar: three men and three women. Ethan didn't recognize the others very well, but he knew they were the friends of the man in the center, his brother, Matthew!
The bastard who had caused his death a hundred years ago!
"!?"
Unexpectedly, Ethan felt all his strength suddenly leaving him, forcing him to kneel helplessly. He experienced an insatiable hunger, but it wasn't hunger for food; there was something that his body and soul desperately craved.
He grabbed his head, his face contorted with the pain that engulfed him!
Matthew approached slowly and, upon seeing Ethan kneeling in pain, spoke with a smug smile on his face: "Well, it seems like your successful work has taken its toll," he commented mockingly.
He assumed Ethan was getting sick due to overworking.
"Be careful, that guy hit me in the face out of nowhere when I was trying to help him!" the waiter warned, struggling to contact the police. But no matter how many times he dialed, there was no answer on the other end of the line.
The other bar patrons who tried to do the same got similar results.
"Pfff!"
Matthew and his friends burst into laughter upon hearing those words: "My harmless brother did that to you? You're pathetic, letting yourself be hit by someone like him," he sneered at Ethan with disdain.
The other people in the bar turned their gazes toward Ethan, trying to determine if they had exaggerated in fearing him.
However, they were met with a dark and menacing gaze that sent a shiver down their spines and made them break out in a cold sweat.
Harmless? He seemed genuinely dangerous to them!