The vibrant Pleasure District, once the bustling heart of entertainment for the lower sector, now stands eerily silent.
The once lively streets where drunkards staggered and laughed are now littered with cold, lifeless bodies, their faces frozen in terror.
Several buildings lie destroyed or half-collapsed, their broken windows swaying slightly in the soft, dawn breeze.
Instead of freshness, the dawn is now tainted with the stench of blood and decay, enveloping the district like a curse.
Close to the district's boundary, a sizable contingent of Imperial soldiers, a part of the 6,000-strong army, stood silently, watching the monstrous creatures devouring their prey.
The eerie creatures, with their hulking masses of pulsating blue flesh, slimy tentacles, and nine glowing eyes, stood motionless except for the occasional twitch as they feasted on the lifeless corpses.
The soldiers watched in horror, each grotesque beast growing larger with every corpse they consumed, their slimy appendages dragging what remained of the fallen toward their monstrous maws.
"Emperor's mercy… What are these creatures doing?" one soldier whispered, his voice trembling. His grip tightened around his rifle as he watched the creatures consume the corpses with a sickening, slurping sound.
Another soldier beside him gagged, the sight too much to bear. "I can't watch this. Those things… they're growing."
A third soldier nodded, his face pale beneath his helmet. "Keep it together. If we break rank now, we're dead for sure."
The Imperial commander, overseeing the soldiers, barked orders to maintain formation, but even he seemed unsettled. His gaze occasionally flickered to the black-clad figure who controlled the beasts.
The man with the grotesque, bulging forehead. His veins pulsed unnaturally, like a ticking bomb beneath his skin, as he waved his hand with chilling calmness, controlling the monsters with an eerie, detached authority.
"He's the one controlling them," another soldier muttered, his eyes locked on the man. "As long as he's around, those things won't attack us. We're safe… right?"
But even as he spoke, a wave of unease spread through the soldiers. They were watching something unnatural, something far beyond the realm of human comprehension.
The man controlling the monsters was not just a man anymore. His bulging forehead, the dark aura surrounding him. He was something else, something twisted.
SWISHH!!
Suddenly, there was a deafening crack in the air. The soldiers froze, eyes widening in shock.
A second later, the grotesque man's head exploded, splattering the nearby soldiers with gore. His body stood frozen for a split second before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.
The silence was suffocating. The soldiers stared in disbelief at the headless corpse, a wave of icy dread settling over them.
"What… just happened?" one soldier stammered, his hands trembling as he wiped blood from his face.
The commander, momentarily stunned, shook his head. "I… I don't know."
A sudden, eerie silence filled the air. The monsters, who had been so still and controlled just moments ago, twitched.
Then, slowly, all fifty of them turned their nine eyes toward the soldiers.
"They're looking at us…" a soldier whispered in terror, taking a step back.
GRRR!!!
The beasts let out a low, guttural growl. Their tentacles twitched, their massive bodies quivering with newfound hunger.
The man who had controlled them was gone, and now, without his presence, they had no restraints.
"They're coming for us!" one soldier screamed, his voice breaking the silence.
The monstrous creatures began to move, their tentacles writhing as they lumbered toward the soldiers, their grotesque forms dripping with the blood of the dead.
Panic spread through the ranks like wildfire. The soldiers took a collective step back, their formation breaking as fear overtook them.
"Run!" someone shouts, panic erupting through the ranks like wildfire. In seconds, dozens of soldiers turn, ready to flee from the grotesque horrors.
"Stand your ground, you idiots! Showing your backs or making noise will only make them attack—" the tense commander barks, but his sentence is cut short. His head explodes into a mist of blood and bone, splattering the men closest to him. His body crumples to the ground in an instant.
A wave of horror sweeps through the soldiers, their eyes wide with disbelief.
Some scream, others stumble back, the sight of their commanding officer's sudden and violent death shattering what little resolve they had left. Chaos takes hold as they begin to flee, their movements frantic and disorganized.
But before they can take more than a few steps, a hail of bullets rains down from above, tearing through the air with deadly precision.
The sound of gunfire echoes through the district, sharp and relentless, sending soldiers diving for cover.
The bullets strike the creatures feasting on the bodies, piercing their grotesque forms and splattering dark, oily blood across the street.
At first, there's a flicker of hope among the soldiers as they watch the beasts stumble under the barrage.
But that hope dies quickly. The monsters, though wounded, begin to regenerate almost immediately.
Their bodies stitch back together, slimy tentacles reforming as if the damage had never been done. Their nine glowing eyes blink in unison, locking onto the soldiers with renewed hunger.
"They're regenerating! What kind of monsters are these?!" a soldier screamed as he fired his rifle in vain, watching the holes he created in the beasts fill themselves as though nothing had touched them.
One of the creatures lets out a low, guttural growl as it lurches forward, its enormous form shifting as it begins to move toward the soldiers.
The other beasts follow suit, their bloated bodies dragging across the ground, leaving trails of black ichor behind them. The soldiers, frozen in terror, begin to back away slowly, their weapons raised but hands shaking.
"They're coming!" one of the soldiers yells, his voice trembling with fear.
"Fire!" another orders, but the panic in his voice betrays his own terror.
"Don't fire at them bastard, you are provoking these abominations!!" a soldier shouted, but it was already too late.
"Grawhhhhh!!!"
The creatures roared, their tentacles snapping at the soldiers.
The monsters lunged, and the air was filled with the sound of tearing flesh and desperate screams as the soldiers fired back, their bullets doing little more than delaying the inevitable.
"Helppp meee ahhhh-!!" a soldier screamed, but his head was ripped apart by an abomination's maw.
"Keep firing! Don't stop!" one soldier yells, desperation clear in his voice.
Several men, seeing that bullets are useless, rush forward with their swords drawn, hoping to cut the creatures down at close range.
The first soldier swings his blade with all his might, slicing through one of the beast's thick tentacles, severing it from the main body.
But before he can even step back, the tentacle regrows in seconds, lashing out violently and wrapping around the soldier's waist.
"Argh!!" the soldier screams as he's lifted off the ground, his bones cracking under the pressure, before the monster hurls him into the side of a building, his body hitting the wall with a sickening thud.
Another group of soldiers, seeing the failure of close combat, try to encircle a smaller beast, hacking at it with their swords.
Blades clash against slimy flesh, but it's like cutting through rubber, their swords barely penetrate the surface.
One soldier thrusts his sword deep into the creature's glowing eye, thinking he's found a weak spot.
The eye bursts in a spray of dark fluid, and for a moment, it seems like they've done some real damage.
"GRRRR!!!"
But the hope is short-lived. The creature roars, its tentacles flailing wildly as it crushes two soldiers with a single swipe, sending their broken bodies skidding across the ground.
The eye, which was destroyed just moments ago, begins to reform, new tendrils growing out to replace the damaged ones. The soldiers' efforts to cut down the monsters only seem to make them angrier.
"Fall back!" a voice screams through the chaos, but the soldiers are already in retreat.
They stumble over each other, fear overtaking any semblance of order. The creatures lurch after them, their mouths gaping as they begin to feast on the fallen.
Swishhh!!
Suddenly, thick smoke begins to billow out from multiple locations around the district.
The once-clear view becomes obscured by the dense fog, and panic sets in even further as the soldiers realize they can no longer see the beasts or each other.
"Where are they?!" a voice cries out in the haze. Which bastard used smoke grenades! I can't see anything!"
"They're everywhere!" another screams, firing blindly into the smoke.
The once-clear battlefield became a chaotic haze of gunfire, roars, and panicked shouts.
In the midst of the smoke, the soldiers stationed near the cages where the beaten women were held began to feel a cold, invisible presence around them.
CRACK!!
One by one, the soldiers' necks twisted unnaturally, a sickening crunch echoing through the air as they dropped dead in quick succession.
"Ahhhhh!!! What is happening!!" the trapped women screamed, their cries filled with terror as they watched the soldiers die without seeing who or what was killing them.
In the midst of the smoke and chaos, a large figure emerged from the smog.
A towering figure clad in white armour, his face hidden under the helmet, approached the cages.
His steps were slow, the sound of his boots echoing against the ground as he approached the iron bars.
SCREACHH!!
Without a word, he gripped the bars of the cages and, with sheer, unimaginable strength, began to pry them apart, breaking them one by one.
The women inside the cages hesitated, their eyes wide with fear. Was this figure friendly or hostile? But his silent, imposing presence left them with little choice.
With a simple gesture, the armoured figure pointed them in a specific direction, away from the battle.
"[Go]," the person said, his voice deep and commanding. Though they hesitated at first, the women soon complied, rushing toward the opening he had created for them.
As the women fled, the soldiers continued to battle the regenerating monsters, their efforts growing more desperate with every passing second.
The smoke made it impossible to see anything beyond a few feet, and the constant sound of gunfire and monstrous growls only added to the chaos.
Out of the smoke, two more figures emerged, moving swiftly toward the barricades.
One of them, a smaller pink haired figure carrying a large weapon, raised the rifle to her shoulder and aimed at the nearest barricade.
BOOMMM!!
With a deafening blast, the barricade was obliterated in one shot, the force of the explosion echoing through the district.
The soldiers, already overwhelmed by the monsters and smoke, barely had time to react as the three figures disappeared into the haze, vanishing as quickly as they had appeared.
Panic gripped the remaining soldiers. The monsters were closing in, the smoke was suffocating, and now their escape routes were being destroyed.
"Retreat! We need to fall back!" they shouted, their voice barely audible over the chaos.
But it was too late. The monsters lunged through the smoke, tearing through the soldiers as their screams filled the night.
The border Pleasure District had become a nightmare, and for the Imperial soldiers, there was no escape.
The three figures who had caused the destruction disappeared into the heart of the district, leaving behind a scene of carnage and chaos as they made their way deeper into the district.
And above it all, the monstrous creatures continued to feast, their grotesque forms growing larger with each passing moment.
A/N: We're getting close to the fight! (Sorry, I thought it would be sooner, but I realised it wouldn't make sense to jump straight into it. It would've messed up the story and I don't want you guys to lose some of your brain cells that happens with other novels.)
Also one important announcement : Remember, I mentioned that once this fic hits 100 chapters, I'll start writing and uploading my other fic.
Don't worry I'm not going to break my promise, I'm going to make that happen. Also I will continue this fic along with the other one.
Now about my next fic, I've already started preparing for it, it'll be Demon Slayer fiction. I'm collecting notes about that world from wiki,manga and anime.
So, if you guys have any interesting ideas like new types of blood arts, breathing techniques, characters, Mc or such (seriously, anything except turning the MC into a woman-magnet "chad" or a horny dog), feel free to share! Also, if there are things you'd like to see in the new novel, let me know in the comments. Thank you.