The elevator dings, a sharp, mechanical chime that echoes unnaturally loud in the stillness of the corridor. The doors slide open with a faint hiss, and the creature steps out, its charcoal-black hands casually brushing against the polished metal frame, leaving faint smudges of blood in its wake.

It strides toward the apartment door with a deliberate ease, its white locs shifting faintly with each step. The creature pauses as it reaches the door, tilting its head slightly, golden eyes gleaming as it studies the worn wood and the faint scratches around the lock.

Slowly, it raises a hand, its fingers curling into a loose fist. The knock it delivers is rhythmic but offbeat, a strange, disjointed pattern that echoes hollowly in the confined space.

From within, there's a pause, a beat of hesitation before Maria's voice cuts through the silence, cautious and wary. "Who is it?" she calls, her voice steady but faintly strained.

The creature's lips curl into a smile—Obinai's smile, but stretched too wide, too sharp. When it speaks, the voice is perfect, a flawless mimicry of Obinai's familiar tone, casual and warm. "Come on, Mom, it's me," it says, the words rolling off its tongue with unsettling ease. "Forgot my key again."

Inside, Maria hesitates, her breath catching audibly through the thin barrier of the door. There's a moment of silence before the sound of footsteps approaches, hesitant and measured. The faint scrape of the lock disengaging echoes down the hallway, louder than it should be.

The door creaks open slowly, the dim light from the apartment spilling into the corridor...

Back to…Somewhere...

The ruins of home stand in grim silence, the devastation overwhelming. Twisted steel beams protrude like skeletal fingers from crumbling walls, and jagged shards of glass glint dangerously amid the dust-covered floor. Smoke hangs heavy in the air, acrid and suffocating, its bitter tang stinging Obinai's throat as he stands, his chest heaving with exertion and fear.

Before him, the angelic creature looms. Its ashen-white skin gleams faintly in the dim light, the numerous eyes scattered across its head darting restlessly, scanning the space with frantic energy. Yet, despite the oppressive presence it exudes, the creature appears almost detached, as if searching for something unseen, its gaze refusing to settle on Obinai.

"What do you want?" Obinai yells, his voice raw with desperation, cutting through the silence. His fists clench at his sides, his nails digging painfully into his palms. "Why are you doing this?"

The creature does not respond. Its eyes continue their restless motion, unbothered by his words, its towering form eerily still save for the shifting of its gaze.

Behind him, Mya's faint sniffles punctuate the chaos. Her small footsteps echo unevenly as she stumbles through the debris. Obinai's stomach twists at the sound. He glances back, catching a glimpse of her tiny figure weaving through the rubble, her pace unsteady but determined.

His heart pounds as a surge of panic overtakes him. Turning back to the creature, he screams again, his voice cracking, "Look at me! I'm right here!" He takes a step forward, his hands shaking, his entire body trembling with the effort to keep the creature's attention on him and not on Mya.

The creature remains silent, its myriad eyes flickering over him for the briefest of moments before resuming their frenetic search of the surroundings. Its indifference ignites a spark of frustration in Obinai, the desperation in him boiling over into rage.

"I said look at me!" he bellows, his voice reverberating through the hollowed-out space. He grabs a chunk of concrete from the ground and hurls it at the creature with all his strength. The makeshift projectile strikes the angel's arm, bouncing harmlessly off its ashen-white skin.

The creature's movement pauses for a fraction of a second, its many eyes freezing in their restless search. It tilts its head slightly, as if acknowledging the act, but the moment passes, and its gaze resumes its chaotic wandering.

Obinai's vision blurs as tears sting his eyes. "Damn it!" he shouts, his voice breaking. His breaths come in sharp, ragged gasps as he staggers forward, his knees threatening to buckle.

In the corner of his vision, a faint, pulsating glow catches his attention. The angel's weapon—a long, sinister spear—exudes an aura of malice that seems to draw the very light from the space around it. The shaft, impossibly black, absorbs the dim light, creating a depthless void that unsettles the mind.

The spear's surface is alive with movement. Symbols etched into its length writhe and twist, their serpentine patterns glowing faintly. Each rune pulses in time with the oppressive energy radiating from the weapon.

He tears his gaze away, his breath ragged, and spots Mya. She's nearing the corner, her trembling steps carrying her closer to the faint promise of safety. The destruction around her looms like a dark specter, and Obinai's heart races as panic takes hold...and realizes...

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"No!" he screams, his voice cracking as he pushes himself forward, limping desperately on his injured leg. The pain radiates through his body with every step, but he doesn't care. "Look at me! Look at me, damn it!" His voice echoes off the wreckage, raw with desperation.

The angelic creature remains unmoved, its countless eyes flickering as it lifts the spear. Time seems to slow as the runes along its length flare with a sinister brilliance. The creature rears back, its movements deliberate, almost reverent, as it takes aim.

"No, no, no!" Obinai yells, his voice rising in pitch as he waves his arms frantically, his injured leg buckling beneath him. He stumbles and hits the cracked earth but forces himself upright, clawing at the ground to propel himself forward. "Leave her alone! It's me you want!" His voice is hoarse.

But the angel does not waver...it hurls the spear...

The weapon cuts through the air, its hum rising to a deafening pitch before silencing with a sickening crunch.

Obinai's blood runs cold as he hears the wet, fleshy impact. The world around him blurs, his body trembling as he turns toward the sound. His eyes widen in horror as they land on Mya's small form, pinned to the ground by the spear. Her wide, unseeing eyes gaze vacantly at the sky, her mouth slightly open as blood pools beneath her, staining the fractured earth in deep, vivid red.

"No… no…" Obinai whispers, his voice barely audible, his knees giving out beneath him. He crawls toward her.

"Mya," he chokes, his trembling hand reaching out to touch her face. Her skin, once warm and full of life, is cold beneath his fingers. Her blood, thick and sticky, soaks into his clothes as he pulls her into his lap. "Mya… please. Please don't…" His voice cracks, the words breaking into desperate sobs.

Tears stream down his face, mingling with the blood on his hands. He rocks her gently, his chest heaving with each ragged breath. The angel looms nearby, watching with an unsettling...quiet...

Obinai's grief turns violent. He clenches his teeth, his body shaking as he pounds his fist against the ground, the sharp pain grounding him for a brief, agonizing moment. He lifts his free hand and smacks himself hard in the temple, the impact jolting him as he screams, "Why?!"

"Why are you doing this?!" he yells at the creature, his voice cracking. "What did we ever do to you?!" His sobs wrack his body, his fists gripping his hair as he cradles Mya closer.

The angel says nothing, its expression unreadable, its eyes all staring at him. Its silence is deafening.

He slams his fist into the ground again, harder this time, the skin splitting against the sharp edges of debris. Blood drips from his knuckles, mingling with the crimson pool beneath him. "She didn't do anything!" he screams, his voice hoarse. "She didn't deserve this! None of us did!"

The creature steps forward, its massive footfalls landing with a heavy, deliberate thud that sends tremors through the ground. Each impact rattles Obinai's teeth and vibrates deep into his spine, the sound reverberating in the desolate silence. The air seems to grow heavier with each step.

Obinai's vision is blurred by tears, the salty streaks cutting through the grime on his face. He clutches Mya's lifeless body tightly, his arms wrapped around her as if his hold alone could bring her back. Her blood stains his clothes, warm and sticky, mingling with the dirt and sweat already covering him.

The angelic creature stops mere feet away, its towering form casting a long, oppressive shadow over Obinai. Slowly, its eyes—too many to count—begin to shift, their movements grotesque and unnatural. They twist and slide across its pale, ashen face, converging at the center of its head. The sound is sickening, a fleshy tearing and squelching that makes Obinai's stomach churn.

His sobs falter as he watches, his breath hitching in his chest. The eyes coalesce into one enormous, unblinking orb, its golden iris glowing faintly. Then, with a wet, grinding sound, the eye shifts upward, just slightly, revealing a dark slit below it. Obinai freezes, his grief momentarily overtaken by a fresh wave of terror, as the slit widens into a jagged, grotesque smile.

The smile spreads impossibly wide, tearing across the creature's face. Its teeth—if they could be called that—are uneven shards of bone, gleaming wetly in the dim light. The sight is...horrifying...

An uneven rhythm of chills course down Obinai's spine.

The creature crouches slowly, until its face is mere inches from Obinai's. Its massive, singular eye locks onto him, the golden light within pulsing faintly. Obinai stares back, his breath shallow, his entire body trembling.

The silence is broken by a sound—no, a feeling—that invades Obinai's mind directly, bypassing his ears entirely. The creature's voice resonates within him, a groaning, dissonant echo that seems to ripple through his very thoughts.

"Fear… of what could be… and fear of what has been," the voice intones, each word heavy and deliberate, pressing into his mind like the weight of the world.

Obinai shakes his head violently, his tears spilling anew. "Shut up!" he screams. He smacks himself in the temple with trembling hands, the sharp pain barely registering as he struggles to drown out the creature's voice. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

The creature tilts its head slightly, as if amused by his futile defiance. It straightens, its towering form rising to its full height once more. Obinai can do nothing but stare, his anger twisting into helplessness as he watches the creature lift one massive foot.

"No… no, no, no!" Obinai sobs, his voice cracking. He cradles Mya closer, shielding her as though it might protect her from the inevitable. His fingers dig into the ground, his nails scraping against the dirt and debris as he tries to drag them away.

His injured leg gives out beneath him, and he stumbles backward, his grip faltering. Mya's body slips from his grasp, and he rolls onto his back with a sharp gasp. The world spins around him, his tears blurring the ruined landscape. Desperately, he scrambles to sit up, his breath hitching as his gaze lands on her still form.

The spear. He had forgotten.

Its shaft juts cruelly from her small chest, the runes along its length still glowing faintly, pulsing like the dying embers of a once-blazing fire.

The creature's foot still hangs above him for a moment, casting an even darker shadow over the broken boy. Then, with a terrifying finality, it crashes down.

Obinai feels the pressure first—a crushing, suffocating weight that presses him deeper into the ground. The world around him fades into darkness, the sounds of destruction and his own screams muffled and distant.

As the darkness closes in, there's a fleeting moment of clarity, a final, desperate thought: I failed her.

And then, there is nothing but the cold, overwhelming void.