Edward and Sam leaped from the high building's roof, landing where countless hollows clashed below. Though hollows themselves, they sensed something unusual—rage coursed through their enemies, yet beneath it lurked hesitation. Edward noticed this immediately, while Sam's expression remained unreadable.
"They're hesitating," Edward muttered. "After all this time, after being dead for so long without seeking revenge, they hesitate now?"
At least a thousand hollows gazed up at the mountain-bladed, sixteen-eyed figure. The creature retained a humanoid shape, though darkness consumed it. Blades protruded not only from its hands but also from its shoulders and back, forming long spines of razor-sharp metal. The monster had grown taller—nine, perhaps ten feet—and radiated pure menace.
Multiple hollows charged forward, their pitch-black eyes shimmering with hatred. All had returned to battle since their bodies simply reconstructed themselves, rage refusing to let them die. The creature did something unprecedented: it shot the blades from its shoulders like bullets toward the hollows. Bodies crumpled as dark blood pooled across the ground. They fell, but soon rose again, rage denying them permanent death.
As soon as the beast fired its blades, new ones instantly regrew. It began shooting projectiles from its shoulders, back, and arms while swinging its bladed hands. Multiple blades fired like rapid gunfire, killing at least a hundred hollows at a time. Its hands carved through the horde with surprising ease—a slaughter, a massacre.
Sam rushed forward, diving toward the monster. It fired several blades at him. He dodged, caught one mid-flight, and hurled it back with equal force, stabbing one of the creature's sixteen eyes. The eye healed quickly, rage preventing any lasting damage.
Meanwhile, in the demon mansion, Sin stood beside his two spawns, Dice and Knox. Kylie positioned herself at the hall's far end—an impressive distance given the corridor's enormous size, lined with hundreds of rooms. Their enhanced eyesight allowed them to see each other clearly. Members of the demon family possessed sharp vision, and Sin, having absorbed the orb weeks ago, had improved all his senses exponentially.
He stood at the hall's opposite end, his spawns flanking him. Knox appeared blank, expressionless. Dice looked equally blank, but his mind churned frantically. Though he couldn't control his body, he retained control of his mental state—a privilege he would do anything to preserve.
*He's acting strange,* Dice observed, watching Sin. *Like he's trying to hold something back.*
The Shadow Demon crawled up Sin's consciousness. Sin tried holding it back, tried preventing it from seizing control of his body. It had returned—actually returned. He remembered the mindscape where it had faded away. He had witnessed it disappear, yet the Shadow Demon wasn't finished.
Sin's mouth began twitching, curving upward. Eventually, he couldn't resist anymore. His willpower proved strong, but not strong enough against that thing. His mouth curved fully into an uncanny white smile. Shadow armor climbed up his body. His eyes bled shadow, turning purple and black.
He looked at his spawns and smiled wider.
"Let's go," it said in a staticky, unnerving voice.
Dice felt utterly terrified, his mind screaming danger, yet his body remained frozen. When the demon Sin stepped forward, Dice moved unwillingly. Knox did the same.
Kylie fled, refusing to approach that monster.
The Shadow Demon Sin grabbed both spawns and sank into the shadows.
Meanwhile, Sam battled the monster blow for blow, using every blade it shot at him as a weapon.
"I might be an average hollow," Sam said, "but unlike these fools, I actually know what I'm doing. They're just fighting blindly."
Sam continued fighting, holding the monster back. He hurled one of its own blades into the same eye he'd targeted before, causing the monster to shriek. Then it healed instantly.
"How am I supposed to destroy this thing?" Sam shouted. "It keeps healing! Edward, a little help here!"
Edward leaped forward, his white clothing piercing the dark, cloudy sky. He extended his hand, and a dark beam shot forth, covered in hate. The attack rushed toward the beast, but before it connected, the creature sliced it in half with its bladed hand.
The thing had grown so powerful it could cut energy itself.
Edward and Sam, leaders of the hollow army, stood stunned. Sam jumped high, landing on a rooftop. Edward landed beside him.
"We can't fight this thing," Sam said. "You saw what it did—it cut your energy beam in half."
"So what do we do?" Edward asked.
"I don't—"
Suddenly, dark purple and black shadows erupted from the ground, pooling around the monster. Three figures emerged: one wearing shadow armor with an uncanny smile and dark, shadowy eyes; another taller figure, expressionless with darkened eyes; and one on the left, nearly the same height as the middle figure, with dark hair and shadowed eyes that retained some humanity.
Sin, Knox, and Dice had arrived—but they weren't under Sin's control. They served the Shadow Demon.
As soon as Sin pointed toward the monster, their bodies knew what to do. Knox and Dice leaped forward, coordinating shadow energy attacks, but the creature simply cut the energy in half with its bladed hands and fired multiple blades from its shoulders, back, and elbows. The two dodged using inhuman speed.
The Shadow Demon Sin leaped forward, creating multiple shadow chains to bind the thing, but when the chains contained the monster, it broke free instantly. Its strength proved overwhelming.
This battle couldn't be won.
Sin leaped again, creating orbiting shadow blades that closed around the entity, but the creature cut them in half with its bladed hands and fired projectiles from its back, shoulders, and elbows, destroying them. The blades floated away into the wind.
Sin's body landed, his shadow armor protecting him. Suddenly, he began controlling blood. Blood and shadow combined, creating a giant drill he hurled toward the monster. It nearly cut through, but resistance remained—blood proved denser and stronger than shadow.
The Shadow Demon fired multiple blood bullets like a machine gun, but the creature either dodged with inhuman speed or absorbed the shots and healed automatically.
While this occurred, the hollows didn't remain idle. They rushed forward, punching, attacking, using fallen blades from the monster and their deceased friends—who remained alive due to rage. They wielded these blades to cut the monster's flesh. Some hollows threw multiple blades toward its sixteen eyes. All hit, making the thing permanently blind.
Or so they thought.
Ten seconds after the strikes, its eyeballs healed, taking longer because it focused on other threats. This meant it couldn't dedicate full attention to healing its eyes, giving the hollows an advantage.
Finally, all hollows began targeting the eyes. But the creature adapted, covering them with pitch-black shadow. Somehow, it could still see, meaning their slim advantage had vanished.
The darkened eyes shimmered with anger as the creature rushed forward again.
But something went wrong.
Sin—the Shadow Demon Sin, crazy, unnervingly sadistic, psychopathic, merciless—paused. Dice and Knox paused as well. So did all the hollows.
Sam and Edward, still atop the building, looked down.
"Why are they frozen?" Sam asked.
Soon they stopped moving too, their bodies stiff. The monster had also frozen. Everything outside—trees, birds, grass, wind—everything stopped. They didn't even appear to be breathing.
A young man looked up, somehow still moving. He wasn't a hollow—just a normal human. He carried a wooden sword.
He walked forward with calmness, raised his wooden sword, and dashed, cutting into the monster's flesh.
Time resumed.
The monster's leg flew through the air, hitting a hollow in the head, knocking it off. The head rolled back, jumped up, and reattached itself.
The man stood there, radiating composure as he held his wooden sword.
"How?" Edward stammered. "It's like we blinked and he was already there, cutting through its flesh. And with a wooden sword?"
The man turned back and explained his ability.
"I can change my wooden sword's properties—from wood to a blade that cuts through anything. It still looks wooden, which lets me trick enemies. I can switch between forms in a split second. I could fake a hit with what appears to be a real sword, then change it to wood, or do the opposite—make it look wooden, then change it and cut your head off. The blade can slice through anything in sword form. If you try to hurt me, you will die."
He turned his attention toward the monster.
Time stopped again.
"Forgot to mention—I have time stop. But of course, time's stopped, so you already know my ability."
The man smiled for the first time.
"Now it's time to fight a real monster."
But as his wooden blade touched the creature's flesh, the sixteen shadowed eyes suddenly blazed crimson. The monster's mouth opened impossibly wide, revealing rows of teeth that hadn't existed before.
And it spoke.
"Finally," it rasped, "someone worth consuming."