In the ravaged expanse of Ashwood, the once-majestic skyscrapers now pierced the smog-choked sky like jagged teeth. Solar lights, a distant memory, had given way to the cold, unforgiving glow of luminescent drones that patrolled the city's ruins. The air reeked of smoke, ozone, and the acrid tang of burning synthetics.
It was amidst this desolate backdrop that the horror emerged. A behemoth of twisted, pulsing flesh, its body a mass of writhing, tendril-like appendages that seemed to defy the laws of nature. Eyes glowing with an otherworldly green fire, the creature rampaged through Ashwood's streets, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
. The screams of the terrified mundane populace were drowned out by the creature's deafening roar, a sound that seemed to shake the very foundations of multiple buildings .
As the creature turned a corner, its gaze fell upon a small, screaming teen, cowering in the ruins of a once-great library. The creature's eyes flared with an unholy hunger, its jaws opening wide in anticipation of the kill.
But it was not to be. In an instant, the creature's head fell from its shoulders, a fountain of noxious, yellow-green blood gushing forth like a grotesque parody of a fountain. The teen, still screaming, stumbled backward, tripping over its own feet as it desperately sought to escape the carnage.
As the creature's lifeless body crashed to the ground, a figure emerged from the shadows. A woman, her starry hair blowing in the wind like a black canvas smeared with white dots. Her eyes, an unnerving shade of indigo, seemed to bore into the very soul of the creature, her gaze a mixture of disgust and contempt.
With a swift, efficient motion, the woman swung her sword, a blade of gleaming, silvered steel that seemed to drink in the faint light of the luminescent drones. The sword sliced through the air, cleaning off the putrid blood that had splattered across its surface. As the last of the gore was wiped away, the woman's gaze fell upon the creature's lifeless body.
"Despicable."