Deep in the mountains of Colony 62, Taiwan.
A middle-aged man in a sleek black suit moved with deliberate ease through the dense foliage.
His polished dress shoes, seemingly out of place in such rugged surroundings, barely made a sound as he stepped forward. Each movement was precise, every footfall placed with practiced care.
He was tall, standing around six feet seven inches, with a commanding presence that matched his sharp attire.
He paused, taking a slow drag from his cigarette.
'Fwuuup!'
A cloud of smoke curled into the crisp mountain air as he exhaled.
'Huuu!'
Adjusting the earpiece in his right ear, he murmured, "I'm here. This portal... it's different. Bigger than anything I've seen before."
Before him, a massive vortex churned—a swirling mass of dark gray, blue, red, and purple hues, crackling with electric sparks. Faint whispers emanated from it, sending an eerie chill through the air.
Unfazed, he stepped forward. Just as he neared the portal, a sharp voice buzzed through his earpiece.
"Careful, Hansen!" Sara's voice crackled with urgency. "I'm detecting movement. Something's already come through!"
Hansen halted. His grip tightened around his cigarette before he flicked it to the ground and crushed it underfoot.
"Got it, Sara. No need to worry. I've got this."
He drew his handgun from the back of his waist, cocking it with a smooth motion. As he resumed his approach, his gaze swept from left to right, alert.
"Any updates on Uriel?" he asked. "He should've been here by now."
Sara responded quickly, "I lost his signal five minutes ago. The mountain's dense terrain could be interfering. I'm still trying to locate him—"
[GROWLING NOISES]
A low, guttural snarl sliced through the air.
Hansen reacted instantly, spinning and firing a shot into the darkness.
BANG!
TAGHK!
Nothing.
"Hmm?"
He scanned the area, every sense on high alert. The jungle was thick, shadows shifting with the rustling wind. Then—
DRIP.
Something wet landed on his head.
The realization hit like a jolt. His eyes snapped upward.
Perched on a thick acacia branch loomed a hulking silhouette. A single luminescent purple eye fixated on him, burning through the darkness.
A guttural growl reverberated before the creature lunged.
GRAAAR!
The monstrous being resembled a grotesque hybrid—its body akin to a massive, hornless goat but moving with the agility of a kangaroo. Its large ears clapped like hands, and a sinuous tail lashed behind it. Sharp, glistening claws poised to shred anything in its path.
Hansen dodged with practiced ease, pivoting away just as the beast crashed into the ground, sending a tremor through the earth. Dust exploded into the air, momentarily obscuring its form.
Then—
GRAAAAAR!
The beast roared, dispelling the dust in an instant.
Hansen remained impassive. In a fluid motion, he raised his handgun and fired.
BANG!
TING!
The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the creature's thick hide.
'Normal bullets won't work?'
A rare adversary, one he hadn't encountered in a long time.
Before he could react further, the beast lunged again.
SWOOSH!
Hansen didn't move. A translucent barrier flared around him, repelling the attack with an audible TWANG.
Smirking, he holstered his gun and reached out, gripping the beast's face with an ironclad grasp.
"Ke! You really thought you could land a hit on me?" he muttered, his voice laced with cocky amusement.
His eyes flashed a deep blue as azure flames erupted from his hand.
FWOOOSH!
With a powerful heave, he hurled the beast across the clearing. It crashed into a boulder with a deafening impact, half of its face charred.
Hansen didn't let up. Leaping into the air, his fist ignited in a fiery blaze. He anchored himself midair, focusing all his energy into his palms.
"Pyro technique... Second Form—"
A massive sphere of fire formed between his hands, growing larger by the second.
"TWIN... FANG!"
He released the blazing attack. The fireball hurtled toward the wounded beast, tearing through the air and scorching everything in its path.
BOOM!
A violent explosion erupted upon impact, sending shockwaves through the jungle. Birds scattered, creatures fled, and hidden figures in white robes came to a sudden halt, sensing the disturbance.
Amidst the destruction, Hansen lit another cigarette, only to pause as rustling noises and low growls echoed around him.
A grin spread across his face.
"Did I forget that a pack never hunts alone?"
Dozens of glowing purple eyes emerged from the shadows, fixating on him.
"Sara, how many?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Six... and they're not ordinary hollowed beast's, Hansen. Be careful."
Hansen exhaled slowly, tossing his unlit cigarette to the ground. He shed his upper suit, revealing a chiseled frame, broad shoulders, and a dragon tattoo curling across his chest.
Heat radiated from his body, forming a steamy aura. His fists flickered with azure flames.
"Come at me, you damn hollow beasts! I don't care how many there are. I'll burn every last one of you!"
The beasts charged. Hansen stood his ground, eyes locked on his enemies.
Then—
SCHWOOP!
He vanished. A heartbeat later, he reappeared before one of the creatures.
BAM!
His flaming fist punctured its throat.
'One.'
Before the others could react, he moved again.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
'Four down... One left.'
But something was off.
GRAAAAAAAAAAR!
A final beast lurked behind him, undetected until now.
'How did I not sense it?!'
His instincts screamed at him—but before he could react—
SWOOOSH—ZAP!
An arrow whistled through the air, piercing the hollowed beast's skull and pinning it against a tree.
THUD!
A voice rang out, taunting and amused.
"Uncle Han, getting taken down by a mere third-grade hollowed beast? That'd be a disgrace for the Ark knights."
A young figure emerged from the jungle, lowering a sleek compound bow. He was shorter than Hansen, around five feet six, with sharp, monolid eyes gleaming in the dim light.
He grinned, pulling another arrow from his quiver. "Lucky for you, I showed up just in time. You owe me a feast."
Hansen scoffed. "Ke! Shut up, Uriel. I could've handled it."
Uriel tossed a satchel at him, smirking. "At least buy me dinner. I saved your ass, after all."
A vein pulsed in Hansen's forehead. "You damn brat—"
"Cut it out, you two," Sara interjected. "Destroy the portal now. Something's coming through. And it's not a hollow beast."
A tremor rocked the jungle.
BWOOOZT!
The portal flared violently as an unknown entity emerged.
Uriel's confident smirk faltered. "Sara...What is that thing?"
Sara's voice was grim.
"T-that's a Hollow Devil's signature!"
Hansen's eyes narrowed.
"A... Hollow Devil?"
Beyond the portals, otherworldly entities lurk, each more terrifying than the hollowed beast's.
Among them are the Hollow Devils.
These eerie beings bear a semblance to humans, yet something about them is disturbingly unnatural.
Their skin is deathly pale, stretched taut over their emaciated frames, as if life itself has long abandoned them. A gaping hole pierces through their chests, an empty void where something vital once resided.
Their eyes, ghostly white and devoid of pupils, stare with an unsettling intelligence. Behind them, tattered, charred wings—akin to those of a bat—hang uselessly.
Hollow Devils are no mere creatures of instinct.
Unlike the mindless hollowed beast's, they possess an innate cunning, a sharpness that rivals human intellect.
Their speed is unnerving, their movements precise, and their abilities formidable. Even seasoned Ark Knights hesitate before engaging them.
The moment Sara say it's a Hollow Devil, Hansen's expression hardened. Flames roared to life around his hands, burning hotter.
FWOOOSH!!
His heart pounded against his ribs, each beat a warning of the danger ahead.
"Uriel, get behind me!" he ordered, his voice sharp with urgency.
Bringing a hand to his earpiece, he demanded, "Sara, why is there a Hollow Devil here? This shouldn't be happening."
'Something about this felt wrong—deeply wrong.'
'Hollow Devils didn't just appear without reason.'
"This isn't normal," he continued, his voice laced with unease.
"Something strange is going—."
Before he could finish his word, the Hollow Devil vanished from sight.
Hansen barely had time to react before a shadow loomed overhead.
His breath hitched as he snapped his gaze upward—there it was, the hollow devil, plummeting toward them with terrifying speed. Thick, dark smoke coiled around its clenched fist, the sheer force of its presence pressing down on him like a weight.
Thinking fast, Hansen unleashed a blistering translucent barrier, its energy flaring to life in a desperate attempt to shield them from the attack.
The Hollow Devil's fist met the barrier with crushing force...
BAM!
..too much force.
CRACK!
A deafening crack split the air as fractures webbed across the shield like shattered glass.
Hansen staggered-
'Sh*t!'
-overwhelmed by the sheer power behind the blow.
This wasn't like the Hollowed Beast from before. This was stronger—far stronger.
'This is not good'
Before the barrier could fully collapse, Hansen and Uriel moved as one, vanishing from sight in a blur of speed.
In the next instant, Uriel reappeared high above, perched on a sturdy tree branch.
His piercing gaze locked onto the Hollow Devil below. Without hesitation, he nocked an arrow and drew his bowstring back. "You won't escape this," he muttered under his breath before releasing.
SHOOT!
The arrow cut through the air like a streak of light—fast, precise, and deadly.
But the Hollow Devil was faster.
In an almost surreal display of speed, it snatched the arrow mid-flight, its fingers tightening around the shaft just inches from its skull. Slowly, its ghostly white eyes flicked upward, an eerie grin forming on its darkened face.
Uriel's eyes widened in shock. "No way… That speed—it's almost like it saw the attack coming before we even moved."
But while the Hollow Devil fixated on Uriel, it failed to notice Hansen charging in from behind.
Seizing the opportunity, Hansen clenched his fiery fists, a determined smirk crossing his face.
"right here!" he roared, swinging a powerful punch straight at the creature's head.
At the last possible moment, the Hollow Devil turned.
With the same inhuman speed, its clawed hand shot up—catching Hansen's fist mid-strike.
GRIP!
The force of the catch sent a shockwave through the air, but the creature didn't even flinch. Its fingers tightened like a steel vice around Hansen's hand.
Pain exploded through his bones.
"Aghhhh!!!" Hansen's scream ripped through the jungles, raw and agonized.
"Aghhhhh!!"
He could feel it—his fingers cracking, his wrist twisting under the sheer strength of the creature's grip.
"Uncle Hansen!" Uriel's voice was filled with panic. His body moved before he could think, his instincts taking over.
Without hesitation, he leaped from the tree, pulling a dagger from behind his back as he lunged straight at the Hollow Devil.
Hansen's eyes widened in shock. "No! Get back!"
Uriel was a fresh recruit, just assigned to the Twelfth Division of the Expeditionary Force. This was his first real combat experience as an Ark Knight.
He wasn't ready.
But he didn't care.
His dagger gleamed under the dim light as he drove it toward the creature's exposed neck.
"I'll kill you!"
However, no matter how brave you are, acting on pure instinct without thinking can be fatal.
Before Uriel could get any closer, the Hollow Devil swiftly moved, releasing Hansen with eerie precision. With a flick of its fingers, it unleashed a dark, laser-like beam that cut through the air in an instant.
The attack struck Uriel's chest mid-air, the force of it stopping him cold.
His breath hitched, his eyes widened in shock—then everything went black.
His body plummeted to the ground.
Silence.
Hansen's heart nearly stopped.
His mind refused to process what had just happened.
"Uriel…?"
His entire body froze, his breath shallow. But then, something inside him snapped.
A surge of raw, uncontrollable rage erupted within him.
His pupils darkened, his vision blurred, and his whole body trembled with fury.
Then, the flames came.
Azure fire exploded from his body, engulfing him in a searing inferno. The heat distorted the air around him, turning the greenery into a hellish blaze.
The Hollow Devil now regarded Hansen with a serious, almost wary expression.
Hansen's voice dropped into a deep, guttural growl, his aura suffocatingly intense. His teeth clenched so hard they felt like they might crack.
"You… You will pay for what you've done."
His body trembled violently, his fury spilling over.
Then, in a voice filled with pure, unrelenting wrath, he roared—
"YOU WILL DIE!"