What happened? My consciousness... It vanished. How long have I been here...?

That was what a blond-haired young man, lying on the floor on top of some rubble, was wondering.

Ruins... That was all he could barely see. Darkness surrounded him. What time was it? He could see the night sky, but... it looked cloudy. Although, despite that, he could make out the silhouette of a tree reaching up to the heavens in the distance. Around it were several corpses of people in black suits, either split apart or severely damaged.

He wanted to get up to look around more, but couldn’t. His body was numb, and he felt absolutely nothing. Blood covered his face. It looked like he had broken his head. He couldn’t see out of his left eye. His legs were also injured, with several bruises, though his right leg was worse. It was torn, and the bone was visible. His right arm was bruised; the left, however...

"Ah..."

image [https://i.imgur.com/Y1bVW9w.jpg]

The young man exclaimed, in a surprised tone, after seeing it... Although he almost couldn't even do it since he didn't have enough strength.His arm was completely shattered and was, at the same time, amputated. Half of his arm was missing and the other was with many lacerations. His forearm was much worse. It was also torn down to the bone and you could see his nerves... I think. It also looked like his flesh was ground up.

In addition to all those wounds, he had a hole in his stomach and several broken ribs. He was in a pool of blood, his own blood.

At that moment, sirens could be heard in the distance. I could also hear people screaming. He could also hear things burning, an explosion, a horrible roar of something that was neither a man nor an animal... Indeed, many things were happening around him.

Then, the young man could also see, in the distance, how a long-haired man was walking. He seemed to be walking away from him. A mark was on his left hand, which glowed faintly. The mark was more or less like this:

image [https://i.imgur.com/unB8eLJ.png]

The young man saw it and felt something in him... Something... Strange. The man disappeared into the darkness.

"Ah!"

A woman with short, disheveled orange hair exclaimed as she came into view, carrying a little girl on her back. The girl, for some reason, had dark green, short hair and pointed ears. She appeared exhausted, physically and mentally, with a deep laceration on her right leg, bandaged with a piece of clothing. She also had bruises and scrapes all over her body.

The woman was in no better condition either. Some of her clothes were torn. The sleeves of her T-shirt had been torn to make the rough bandage on the girl. She also had some wounds on her face and seemingly had a broken rib or two. Breathing was a bit difficult for her as well.

They were both horrified by the scenario as well, though... It's not like the rest of the city was any better. What affected them a little more was the sight of the number of corpses, which exceeded twenty.

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Despite all that, she approached the young man. She left the girl she was carrying next to him, sitting down (she did it carefully). Both were frightened and extremely worried, but the woman was almost in tears, seeing the young man in that state. She was wondering if he was still alive or not, but... The thought of the latter... Let's just say it was painful for her to know that there was that possibility.

"M-Mat!" the orange-haired woman exclaimed. "No... it can’t be..."

"*Cough* I wouldn’t die... so easily. You should know that by now..."

He answered weakly, but he smiled.

"Daddy!" the girl exclaimed.

"You’re still alive!" the woman cried, wiping away her tears.

"*Cough* But not for long..."

"Don’t say that, you idiot!" she shouted. "You’re not even serious right now... Agh, that doesn’t matter."

After saying that, the woman wanted to help him somehow, but there was nothing she could do in the situation they were in.

"D-Dad, but... what happened to you? Sob" the little girl asked.

"I... I don’t remember..."

"Mat, you shouldn’t force yourself to talk," the woman said. "Just rest..."

I... I think I know how this happened to him...

"Mom... I’m scared..." the little girl said.

"Don’t worry... we’ll get through this."

But... what are we supposed to do now? Everything is in chaos and... She thought and then noticed something.

"Huh?"

"W-what’s wrong?" the girl asked.

"N-nothing..."

The woman noticed something different about the young man. She felt like something was missing, but didn’t dwell on it. She continued trying to help him.

While she was doing so, another "person" was approaching them.

"T-Trixxie!" the little girl exclaimed, addressing the newcomer. It was a yellow triangle with eyes, little hands, and paws. She looked cute.

"Ah, you came!" the woman said. "B-but... where’s Roundy?"

"I don’t know, we got lost in all this chaos," Trixxie replied. "Ah!"

She exclaimed in fright upon seeing the young man’s condition.

"M-Mat!"

"Huh?"

Out of nowhere, everyone began to feel a strong pressure, and the ground began to shake.

"Agh..." the woman muttered. "This... what’s going on?"

"Look!" the little girl exclaimed, pointing. Everyone turned to look. The young man, who had been called Mat a few times, also tried to look... and almost succeeded. He saw it for an instant.

Moments before, in another place, another woman was carrying a little red, circular (and flat) shaped creature that had little hands and paws. It resembled Trixxie and was named Roundy. He appeared to be badly injured. The woman had a brunette complexion and black, frizzy hair. She wore a black suit.

She walked through the city’s ruins, looking for the group. Amidst all the chaos, it was difficult to find her way around. While carrying Roundy, she tried to avoid any conflict, as well as falling debris, poles, and landslides. Navigating the terrain was tricky.

Where the hell are they? I thought if I found one of them, I’d find the rest, but they got separated...

She glanced around.

Agh... We were supposed to come to avoid this... but... we couldn’t do anything.

She arrived at an area where no buildings remained, only rubble. In the distance, she spotted something.

"What was that?"

The earth began to shake.

Returning to the other group, they saw the same man who had been walking away from Mat. Now, however, he was wielding a huge sickle.

"Ah!"

The woman noticed him and, knowing he had started it all, decided to attack. She pointed at him, making a pistol shape with her hand.

"S-stop," Mat said weakly.

"Huh? W-why?"

"I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but..." he said. "For some reason, he didn’t kill me... Besides, he didn’t seem... Agh!"

"Mat!"

"Dad!"

Mat appeared to be starting to feel the pain now.

Trixxie wanted to say something, but in the end, didn’t. At that moment, everyone realized that the man was fighting someone... or something.

"W-what the heck is that?" the woman asked, frightened.

A deformed silhouette stood in front of the man. It had several tentacles, wings, and glowing eyes. Its appearance shifted constantly, making it almost impossible to describe. The entity shouldn’t have existed. Its body was entirely black, yet it had white edges as if outlined by light. Additionally, it emitted a kind of dark mist, almost pixelated and fading instantly.

"Don’t tell me..." the woman muttered.

"I-is it an angel?" the little girl asked. "Is it helping us?"

They assumed the angel, or Divine, was showing up in its true form.

"No..." Trixxie said. "That... that’s not an angel. That’s... a demon."

The creature continued to deform and grow larger. Several houses and buildings collapsed from the tremor. The streets cracked more and more... everything seemed to be falling apart. A lot of things had happened in such a short amount of time.