Drip… Drip…
A faint, wet sound echoed in the darkness.
Izumi's eyes fluttered open. His body ached. His breath was ragged. He was alive.
He lay on something soft—but when he moved, the sickening crunch beneath him made his stomach turn.
He wasn't on the ground.
He was lying on a pile of corpses.
The realization sent a shiver down his spine. The air was thick with the stench of rotting flesh, mixed with something metallic—blood, fresh and old.
Izumi forced himself up, his arms trembling. Then, pain shot through him.
His hands were gone.
The memory came rushing back. Raikou. The smile of a devil. The blade flashing. The pain. The fall.
He was supposed to be dead.
But he wasn't.
Gritting his teeth, he fumbled he's right hand for a small metal vial in his jacket. His fingers, slick with blood, barely managed to pull it out. It was a healing potion—one his sister had given him, insisting he carry it "just in case."
"…Guess you saved me, sis."
He bit off the cork and poured the liquid over his stumps. Burning pain spread through his arms. The potion stopped the bleeding instantly, sealing the wounds with a raw, aching heat.
Izumi let out a long exhale. He wasn't dying. Not yet.
His mind raced.
I knew that guild was planning something.
Raikou's job offer had been too convenient. Too easy. But Izumi ignored his instincts—he needed the money.
And now, he was at the bottom of a goddamn abyss filled with corpses.
His heart pounded. How the hell do I get out of here?
Then, he saw it.
Something moved among the bodies.
A shadow.
It loomed over the corpse pile, shifting unnaturally. Izumi froze, barely breathing.
The shadow picked up a body and dragged it into the darkness.
Slow. Silent. Methodical.
Izumi's blood ran cold. Something was hunting down here.
He needed to see what it was.
Slowly, carefully, he crawled across the dead, positioning himself higher up in the mound. His heartbeat thundered in his ears as he finally got a clear view.
And then—
His breath caught.
A creature. Massive. Chained. Wounded.
It stood hunched over, its hulking body covered in deep scars and fresh wounds. Shackles bound its arms and legs, the metal rusted and stained with dried blood.
But the most terrifying thing—
It had eyes.
Not wild, mindless eyes like a beast. No, its eyes were deep, dark, and filled with something worse than hunger.
And then—
It locked eyes with Izumi.
For a moment, the world stilled.
Izumi couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
A thought echoed in his head.
I'm dead.