Silence weighed like melted lead in the destroyed station.
Hana could barely breathe. The smell of dust stuck to her lungs, making each breath scratch her throat. Her eyes remained fixed on the man in white before her.
Eren.
He held Yuna's small arms with a gentleness that brutally contrasted with the power emanating from him — fifteen crosses glowing on his forehead like lit embers.
Hana's heart skipped a beat. Then another. Accelerating uncontrollably when Eren took the first step toward her.
The air vibrated.
Sasha's voice exploded in Nemor's mind:
"Sir, twelve hours completed."
Blue and black rays wrapped around bodies like living fibers. Blinding light swallowed everything — not just Nemor, but also Alya, Eren, Yuna and the four men in black suits beside him. One of them was Hansel, with marks glowing on his forehead.
When the dust settled, the rays dissipated.
At the station location, only Hana's weak breathing remained — alone, trembling in that abandoned place.
---
Blue and black rays exploded in gray air.
Nemor landed first in that cursed place. The sky remained oppressive and suffocating, but without black mists this time. Only debris standing out against completely dead space.
Three flashes brought the men who had been beside Eren moments ago. Suits swayed with residual energy vibrating in air.
Their eyes turned left.
Nemor was ten meters away.
Gazes intertwined. Immediate hostility.
Sury — one of them — was ahead, clenching fists. Two small blades like kitchen knives materialized in his hands. Brown hair swayed slightly when he prepared to attack.
Nemor just stared at them. Absolute silence loaded with tension.
Then one of the men's gaze shifted forward.
Twelve meters away, he saw.
Sleepless.
Sitting on a large piece of rubble. Posture too relaxed for something so clearly lethal. Eyes closed. Short gray hair. Thin grayed body. He held a dagger completely fused to his arm like bone extension.
Nharo — the man who saw him first — widened his eyes.
The sleepless rose with fluid movement. Small stones fell, echoing in silence. Everyone's attention turned to him instantly.
Nemor's arms radiated red energy. Two swords materialized — long, thin, crimson glow pulsing intensely.
The men who were about to attack Nemor completely diverted attention to the creature.
The sleepless took a step forward. A macabre smile emerged on his face — lips widening beyond natural.
A flash invaded Nemor's mind. Images of that sleepless — the Failed Archangel — stuck to his memory like tattoos burned on skin.
Then, in the blink of an eye...
A new creature appeared right beside the original sleepless.
Equally similar. Short hair. Thin body. Dagger in arms.
The men widened their eyes even more.
"What the fuck is this?" Nuleny murmured.
The sleepless took another step. Three new sleepless appeared simultaneously, as if they were already there but invisible.
Nemor narrowed his eyebrows.
Wind blew strong, carrying dust and debris.
When they realized, ten meters away...
More than one hundred and fifty identical sleepless were there. Staring. Eyes penetrating beyond souls, even closed.
How did these creatures appear?
Nemor looked at his own left arm. It was marked. The number 5 engraved on skin like grayed tattoo, glowing slightly.
The three men saw the same numbers on their right arms.
The creatures' smiles made their bodies tingle with dread.
"What are the levels of each one?"
Sasha's voice responded:
"Sir, total sleepless is two hundred and fifty. But among them, only one original exists."
"You mean the rest are just a bunch of copies?"
Nicia's voice echoed excitedly:
"My great lord, the level of each copy is equally weak as the original. Level eighty-six."
Nemor widened his eyes.
Eighty-six?
His eyebrows trembled.
Each creature took first steps. Slow. Deliberate. Like predators who know prey has nowhere to run.
---
Meanwhile, in another nightmare zone.
Black mists danced like throbbing shadows. Buildings erected with destroyed halves — impossible structures still standing.
Eren stood, holding Yuna's small arms.
Seventy-five sleepless approached with black blades attached to arms.
Eren's eyes remained completely calm. Without concern. Just... boredom.
"Big brother, can I handle all of them?" Yuna's voice cut the silence as creatures approached.
Eren stared at his little sister. He adjusted white suit calmly.
"It won't be good for you. Let me handle them, okay?" An affectionate pause. "Little sister."
Releasing her arms, he approached the creatures.
With calm movement, he raised his left arm. He pointed at all of them.
"Measure levels."
In his palm, numbers appeared glowing: 25, 30, 28, 22...
He lowered his arm. Absolute disdain filled his voice:
"Weak. Horrible creatures like you will die collectively."
There was no mercy in his eyes. Just cold, calculated hatred.
He raised his right arm. Lips moved in whisper:
"Inface."
The word came out slowly, carrying mountain weight.
At that moment, each sleepless's world — even with closed eyes — became red.
There was no sky. There was no earth. There were no debris.
Just infinite red void.
Right in the center of that impossible space, an enlarged face — just the face — of Eren appeared, occupying almost all visible space.
Without connected eyes. Just giant face floating. With mouth and white hair. Eyes were well above, separated from face, completely red glowing like dead suns.
The lips of that sinister face moved slowly:
"Die."
Silence.
When space dissipated abruptly, returning to that grayed place with black mists...
Half of black blood hit Eren's white suit — dark stains spreading across immaculate fabric.
Looking ahead, he saw the result.
Seventy-five sleepless heads floated in air. Perfectly decapitated. Cuts so clean they seemed made by laser guillotine. Gushing black blood that fell like rain.
When everything fell on ground with multiple muffled sounds, there were no more remnants of life in creatures. All instantly dead.
He turned to Yuna, walking to her with measured steps.
"Big brother, do you think that lady will run away from us? What if she runs? Will we chase her?"
Eren cleaned suit with meticulous movements:
"Nobody needs to run, okay? It's not healthy for anyone."
He went to one of the larger rubble and sat carefully. Yuna approached:
"And what do we do?"
"Hmm... just wait for fifteen minutes to complete."
Yuna held her own dress:
"But only six minutes have passed!"
Eren put hand in pocket. He pulled out phone.
"Come here."
Yuna approached. Eren held her with all care, placing her on his lap gently.
"While we wait, you can watch the new children's videos I downloaded for you."
The word came out slowly, loaded with paternal affection.
---
Meanwhile, in another nightmare zone without mist...
Heaps of sleepless holding grayed daggers surrounded four people.
Nemor stared at all that, gripping red swords tightly.
Sury, without hesitating, also gripped small knives.
"Fuck all of you!"
Red cross and two horizontal red bars glowed intensely on his forehead. Knives erupted in flames — becoming larger, much larger than Nemor's blades, boiling in heat that distorted air.
Without hesitating, he launched forward. He raised flaming blades. Cut went straight — decapitating sleepless. Creature's flesh boiled in steam due to absurd temperature.
When sleepless fell dead, number 5 on Sury's right arm fell to 4.
Another sleepless directed dagger right at Sury's eyes.
His left arm moved, locking dagger with flaming blade. Right one stuck deep in sleepless's throat — which fell dead in seconds.
Meanwhile, Nemor just analyzed. Paying attention to each of Sury's movements.
The other two men clenched fists, about to join fight.
Sury swung blade while number on arm hit 3.
Two sleepless were already close. When they tried to stick daggers, Sury crouched with professional agility. He cut both sleepless's feet — which fell on ground.
He stuck blades right in creatures' chests, killing them instantly.
When one more approached from behind, dagger blade passed close. Pulling right foot, had chance to dodge. He completely stuck flame blade in creature's belly while second blade passed clean on sleepless's neck.
When pulling, sleepless fell dead.
Looking ahead, creatures were still vast in absurd quantity.
He spun blades to advance. Body was completely unharmed.
But then...
Arm trembled. He dropped blades.
Heart beat strongly. He spat exorbitant amount of blood — gushing from mouth in thick jet.
There were no words to say. Just body falling lifeless. Hitting ground with final muffled sound.
The two who were about to join were completely paralyzed.
"Su... ry..." Nharo stuttered companion's name.
Creatures that were six meters away approached. Didn't run. Just walking completely slow.
Nemor approached the two.
"If you don't want to die, better not kill any of them."
Word came out heavy, carrying mortal truth.
Nuleny shouted with growing anger:
"SHUT UP! Are you on these creatures' side?!" Furious pause. "As I thought — I'll kill you!"
"Are you guys so stupid... to the point of not noticing?"
Sasha's voice echoed:
"Sir, if they can't fight, chance of surviving is zero percent."
Nemor then said while Nuleny clenched fists:
"The numbers on our arms..."
Nuleny stuttered:
"What... are you saying?"
Nemor continued calmly while sleepless approached:
"When your friend just killed one of the sleepless, his number dropped to four." Pause letting that settle. "When he killed one more, it dropped to three. When he killed the following — basically took down two at once — number dropped by one. Killing one more, it dropped to zero."
Heavy silence.
"Then he died instantly."
Nharo furrowed eyebrows:
"What does that mean?"
"The number five on our arms represents our lives. If you dare kill a sleepless, it means you killed one of your own lives."
Final devastating pause.
"Summarizing: killing them means killing yourself. When number drops to zero... you die."
Nharo's heart beat strongly. So did Nuleny's. Word penetrated souls like cold blade.
Creatures were already two meters away.
Nemor's blades dematerialized purposefully into red energy that flowed back to arms.
Nicia's voice echoed excitedly:
"My lord is so intelligent! I feel I inherited the same from you!"
But meanwhile, in both their minds — and even Nemor's — the question was obvious:
How to survive among those creatures without being able to kill them?
**END OF CHAPTER 15**