"Eh, you're finally awake."
The voice sounded faint, like an echo in Touka's head, which still felt heavy. His eyes slowly opened, squinting to block the bright sunlight. His head throbbed fiercely, and his body felt as if it had been crushed by rocks.
"Where... am I?" he mumbled, barely audible.
"The hospital, of course," replied the voice, clearly belonging to Ryo, who was sitting casually in a chair beside his bed. "You've been out for more than two days. I thought you'd be in a coma for much longer."
Touka tried to sit up, but the pain immediately pierced his chest. He lay back down, sighing in frustration. "Damn... my body's been beaten like it's training with an Omnivorax."
"Well, you're not wrong," Ryo answered lightly. "You were beaten by an Omnivorax. Luckily, some Aether Corps folks helped you out. Otherwise, I'd probably be visiting your grave right now."
The sentence made Touka's memories start to come back. Heavy rain. The roar of a monster. A bright light. A girl with a glowing sword. "Aether Corps... there was a girl, right? Shina?"
Ryo stared at him intently, curious. "You know her? She seemed like she recognized you. She said your name when she saw you lying there."
That name hit Touka's memory like a tidal wave. Shina. A name he hadn't heard in so long, a figure he thought he would never meet again. "It's hard to explain," he murmured quietly. "But yeah, I know her."
"Interesting," Ryo grinned slightly but didn't press further. "By the way, you saved that little kid the other day. If it weren't for you, she'd probably be dead by now."
Touka gave a dry laugh. "And I almost died because of it." His voice was cold. "My life's just been saved by coincidence. I'm not strong enough, Ryo. I've tried countless times, but nothing ever changes."
Ryo fell silent. Then he exhaled deeply, his tone more serious. "Sometimes it takes time, Touka. You can't judge yourself by one battle."
---
A few days later, even though his body hadn't fully recovered, Touka went back to work. The warehouse, with its pungent smell and the sight of monster corpses, now felt more oppressive than usual.
The decaying body of an Omnivorax stood before him, the smell so sharp it pierced his nose. Touka approached the giant carcass carefully, using advanced tools to lift the crushed chunks of flesh from its stomach area.
As he pressed the tool into one of the bulging sections, a hissing sound suddenly echoed. Before he could react, a burst of corrosive steam erupted, filling the air with hot, toxic gas.
"Ugh!" Touka staggered back, coughing violently. The gas spread too fast, entering his nose and lungs. His chest burned, his vision blurred, and his body collapsed hard onto the ground.
As Touka lay there, the tiny parasites inside the monster's body began to crawl out. These creatures, the size of a fingernail, moved quickly toward Touka's helpless body, piercing his skin and infiltrating his bloodstream.
In the midst of his unconsciousness, Touka's body began to react. His veins felt like they were boiling, his heart pounding wildly. Inside his body, the parasites fused with his cells, beginning a transformation that was slow but undeniable.
Touka awoke in darkness. The world around him seemed blurred, as if he was in a living nightmare. The smell of blood mixed with the rotting stench that assaulted his nose. His stomach felt empty, so empty that the hunger gripped him like iron claws.
He stood, his body trembling, his eyes squinting at the large shadow in front of him—the decaying Omnivorax corpse, wide open like a feast laid out for an honored guest.
No thoughts, no rationality. Only pure instinct.
His hands reached toward the rotten flesh. His trembling fingers gripped a large piece of black-purple meat, moving it to his mouth. As his teeth sank into the tough outer layer, a thick, blood-like toxic liquid exploded in his mouth, but Touka didn't care.
He devoured it. One bite, then another, and the next. The sound of tearing meat echoed in the empty room, mixed with the heavy, hurried breaths of Touka. His hands were now covered in dark fluid, his face dirty, but his ravenous stomach continued to force him to eat.
During this process, Touka began to feel something foreign. With every bite he took, a surge of power flowed through his body. His blood vessels in his arms glowed with a faint purple hue, his skin felt hot, like it was burning from the inside. But he didn't care.
His hunger slowly transformed into something darker. More primal. He wasn't just hungry, he was enjoying the chaos.
In his chaotic mind, the flickering images of the past appeared. The laughter of his younger sibling, the screams of his mother, and the roar of the monster that killed them. Suddenly, he stopped, his breath ragged.
"What... am I doing?"
He stared at his hands, now resembling those of a different creature. Sharp claws replaced his human nails. Between his fingers, pieces of meat and blood dripped, forming pools on the floor. In that pool, he saw his reflection—eyes glowing red, his skin pale and blackened, and a face that hardly resembled a human.
"This isn't me," he whispered, his voice trembling with fear and anger. But the hunger was still there, urging him, like a soft whisper in his ear. Eat more... You need more. You want more.
---
"This is strange..." Mika muttered, holding a small scanner in her hand. "This toxic gas doesn't usually come from a dead Omnivorax."
Ryo looked at the scene in front of him with a serious expression. Amidst the thick fog, a small figure moved. What he initially thought was a wild animal turned out to be a small Omnivorax—and it was eating the carcass of the giant monster.
"That's no ordinary animal," Ryo murmured, raising his weapon. "We need to be careful."
Mika looked at Ryo, her face pale. "But... where's Touka? He should be here, right?"
Ryo didn't answer, his eyes fixed on the creature. His instincts told him something was wrong, but he didn't know what. "Report to the headquarters. This might be part of a larger attack."
"Wait," Mika stopped him. "What if that creature... has something to do with Touka?"
Ryo turned to her, his expression tense. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know," Mika shook her head, her voice trembling. "But we can't move carelessly until we know what's really going on."
They didn't know that the creature was Touka. His body had indeed changed—becoming something new, half human, half monster. And for the first time, an insatiable hunger filled him.