Kaido pulled Yumi towards the back of the restaurant, away from the shattered windows and the panicking crowd. The air was thick with smoke, screams, and the relentless rumble of destruction.
They burst through the back exit, stumbling into the alleyway. The wind howled through the ruined buildings, whipping their hair and clothes. The earth trembled beneath their feet as distant explosions sent tremors through the city.
A massive chunk of debris crashed nearby. Kaido instinctively pulled Yumi closer, shielding her with his body. Overhead, a murder of crows took flight from a nearby rooftop, their eerie caws echoing through the chaos.
He looked up. The sky was darkening, not just from smoke but from something far worse. A monstrous shape loomed above, blotting out what little light remained. Its shadow stretched over the alleyway, swallowing them in its abyss. Then, the creature moved—a colossal claw reaching down, smashing through buildings and tearing apart the city.
Kaido's breath caught in his throat. His body refused to move. Terror rooted him to the ground.
Elsewhere...
A ruined command center lay in shambles. The high-ranking officer slumped in his chair, his uniform disheveled, his once-proud posture reduced to exhaustion. Outside, the crows circled, their black wings slicing through the smoke-filled sky.
His half-lidded eyes stared at the ruined monitors, reflecting the end of everything he had fought for. His lips barely moved as he thought:
"It has been 500 years... and now, we are going to end."
Slowly, his eyes closed. His body stilled.
The Aftermath
The city was a graveyard. Smoke rose from collapsed buildings. Scorched bodies littered the ground, their lifeless forms sprawled amidst the ruins. A deathly silence hung in the air, broken only by the eerie whisper of the wind.
Near a large slab of fallen concrete, a woman knelt, her face twisted in anguish. Tears streamed down her dirt-streaked cheeks as she clawed at the rubble, desperate to free something—or someone—trapped beneath.
A few feet away, a man clutched his leg. Blood poured from the jagged wound where his knee had once been. His face had gone pale, his breaths shallow.
Amidst the wreckage, a small child sat in the dust, his tiny hands trembling as he reached out. His wide, tear-filled eyes fixated on a crushed head lying just beyond his grasp. A crow pecked at the remains, indifferent to the horror around it.
The Monster's Arrival
Kaido and Yumi's escape was cut short. A massive slab of debris crashed between them, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky.
Kaido's eyes widened in horror. Through the swirling smoke, a nightmare emerged.
The monster loomed over them, its jagged, bloodstained teeth glinting in the firelight. Its eyes burned with a deathly glow, the eerie gaze of a shinigami. Flames wreathed its body, flickering wildly as it moved. The devastation around them—the shattered buildings, the wreckage, the bodies—was a mere testament to its power.
Military rockets shrieked through the sky, striking the beast. Tanks fired relentlessly, explosions flashing across the battlefield. Helicopters circled, their guns blazing. But the monster didn't flinch. One by one, the helicopters fell, crashing in fiery eruptions. Thunder cracked, illuminating the creature's grotesque form.
Kaido couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
The Realization
"Kaido!" Yumi's desperate voice broke through his trance.
He turned, still in shock.
"You're hurt!" she cried, pointing at him.
Kaido blinked. His vision swam. Then, he looked down at his hands.
They were red. Dripping.
Blood. His own blood.
His fingers trembled as he touched his forehead, feeling the deep wound he hadn't even noticed in the chaos. His breath hitched as a chilling realization crept in.
"Am I going to die?"