Fumiko cannot move.
It is not just fear that holds her in place...it is something deeper, something far more suffocating, as if an invisible force has wrapped itself around her entire body and tightened just enough to remind her that resistance is meaningless. Her lungs strain for air, her chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths, yet it feels as though each inhale only brings in less oxygen than the last.
In front of her, the beast's claw descends slowly, deliberately, the way a predator toys with its prey before delivering the final blow.
There is no rush in its movement, no hesitation, only certainty, as if her death has already been decided and this moment is merely a formality.
Her heartbeat echoes violently in her ears, so loud that it drowns out everything else, the creature's presence, the shifting of the crimson world, even her own thoughts. It pounds against her ribs like something desperate to escape, like it knows what is coming before she fully accepts it.
'Am I… really going to die like this?'
The thought doesn't come as a scream.
It comes quietly.
Cold.
Final.
A hollow laugh forms somewhere deep inside her, though it never fully escapes her lips.
"How pathetic…"
Her vision trembles slightly, blurring at the edges as tears begin to gather, clinging stubbornly to her lashes.
'To be devoured by something I don't even understand…'
Her fingers twitch weakly at her sides, but her body refuses to obey her. It feels distant, disconnected, like she is no longer fully inside it.
'I didn't do anything…'
The realization cuts deeper than fear itself.
'I never became someone important… never protected anyone… never even figured out what those dreams meant…'
The claw inches closer, now so near that she can almost feel the distortion in the air around it, thick and suffocating like the pressure before a storm breaks.
'Was my life… really that meaningless?'
The question lingers.
And this time—
She doesn't fight it.
Her eyelids slowly lower, shutting out the grotesque image before her, as if darkness might be kinder than what awaits her.
A Past That Refuses to Fade
At first, there is nothing.
Only silence.
Then, like faint ripples spreading across still water, memories begin to surface,fragile, distant, yet painfully vivid.
"I was only three years old when everything changed…"
The voice echoes softly in her mind, unmistakably her own, yet layered with a kind of clarity she does not usually possess.
The world around her shifts.
The crimson fades.
And in its place
A hospital room appears.
The walls are stark white, almost blinding in their emptiness, carrying that familiar sterile scent that clings to places where life and death coexist too closely. The rhythmic beeping of a monitor fills the air, steady yet cold, like a reminder that survival does not always mean safety.
A small girl sits on the bed.
Fragile.
Silent.
Her fingers clutch tightly to a thin blanket, knuckles pale from the force of her grip.
Beside her stands a boy.
Young.
Far too young to carry the weight already resting on his shoulders.
And yet
He does.
Kenzo.
"Don't cry, Fumiko…"
His voice is gentle, but there is something beneath it, something firm, something determined in a way that no child should need to be.
"I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you."
He reaches out, wrapping his small hand around hers, holding it tightly as if letting go would mean losing the only thing he has left in the world.
And perhaps… it would.
The memory shifts again, flowing seamlessly into the next like pages turning in a story she had forgotten she once lived.
An orphanage.
The air is louder here, filled with children's voices, some laughing, others crying, many simply trying to exist in a place that never truly feels like home.
Fumiko stands apart from them.
Watching.
Always watching.
Like someone unsure whether she belongs in this world or merely exists within it.
But Kenzo is always there.
Always close enough to reach.
Always standing just slightly in front of her, as if placing himself between her and everything that might hurt her.
"I'll protect you, Fumiko."
He says it again.
Not once.
Not twice.
But over and over, like a promise he is engraving into reality itself.
Then
Everything burns.
The Day the World Broke
The memory fractures violently.
Fire erupts across the sky, painting everything in shades of orange and black, thick smoke choking the air as screams tear through the once peaceful surroundings.
The world twists into chaos, into something unrecognizable, where fear replaces order and survival becomes the only instinct left.
Shadows move.
Not like normal shadows.
They crawl.
They stretch.
They consume.
Fumiko's small body trembles as Kenzo suddenly grabs her arm, pulling her toward a broken structure before pushing her down beneath it.
"Stay here!"
His voice is louder now, urgent, desperate, edged with a fear he is trying desperately to hide.
"No matter what happens, don't come out!"
"B-but–!"
"I'll come back for you."
He smiles.
And that is what hurts the most.
Even in a moment like this, when the world is collapsing around them, he stillsmiles.
Then he turns.
And runs into the darkness.
The memory skips.
Fragments scatter.
Smoke.
Ash.
Silence.
"When everything ended… I was alive."
The words feel heavier now.
"But Kenzo… was gone."
No body.
No trace.
No explanation.
Just absence.
The Life She Built After Losing Everything
The world shifts again, softer this time, like a memory trying to comfort rather than haunt.
A hospital.
Then a home.
Warm.
Gentle.
Safe.
A couple smiles at her—kind, patient, offering her something she had thought she had lost forever.
Love.
"You're safe now, Fumiko."
And slowly…
She begins to believe it.
Time moves forward.
She grows.
She learns how to smile again.
She moves to Yokohama.
Starts over.
And then
She meets them.
Ami, with her endless energy and unwavering warmth.
Yuki, bright and loud, filling every silence with life.
Rin, calm and steady, like someone who quietly keeps everything together.
And for the first time in a long while—
She feels whole.
"For a while… I thought I could be happy again…"
The Moment Everything Changes
The memories fade.
The darkness returns.
The beast is still there.
Its claw still hangs above her.
Waiting.
But something inside her shifts.
'What if… he's still alive?'
The thought emerges suddenly, but once it appears, it refuses to disappear.
'What if Kenzo is still out there somewhere…?'
Her fingers twitch.
This time
They move.
'What if he's been searching for me all this time… just like I never stopped thinking about him?'
Her breathing steadies.
"No…"
Her voice is weak at first, barely more than a whisper carried by the empty air.
"I refuse…"
Strength begins to return, not to her body at first, but to something deeper.
Something unbreakable.
"I refuse to die like this."
Her fists slowly clench.
"I haven't found him yet…"
A faint light flickers beneath her skin.
"I haven't protected anyone yet…"
The ground beneath her feet begins to glow faintly.
"I haven't fulfilled anything yet…"
Her voice rises, no longer trembling, no longer uncertain.
"So I will NOT die here!"
The Light Awakens
A brilliant radiance erupts from her body, expanding outward in a wave of pure, blinding light that tears through the crimson world like the first ray of dawn breaking through endless night.
The beast recoils instantly, its massive form staggering backward as something unfamiliar grips it.
Fear.
"This light…!"
Its voice distorts, twisting with something dangerously close to panic.
"No… this shouldn't exist… not here… not now…!"
Fumiko's body lifts slightly, suspended above the glowing surface as the mark at her neck ignites, shining brighter with every passing second.
Behind her
A presence forms.
A glowing figure.
But this time, its presence feels different.
Heavier.
Sharper.
Like something ancient… watching.
The beast freezes completely.
Its instincts scream.
"No… that presence—"
The light explodes.
The End of the beast
The world is consumed.
The beast lets out a horrifying scream, its body unraveling as if reality itself rejects its existence, tearing it apart piece by piece until nothing remains but silence.
After the Light Fades
Fumiko collapses onto the surface below, her body trembling uncontrollably as she struggles to breathe, each inhale dragging in air as though she has just resurfaced from deep underwater.
"I'm… alive…?"
Her voice is fragile, barely holding together.
"You seem confused, my child."
She freezes.
Slowly turning
She sees the figure again.
"You…"
Her voice shakes.
"Did you kill it?"
The figure shakes its head.
"No."
"It was you."
Her breath catches.
"You destroyed your first Abyss creature."
Her mind refuses to process it.
"I… did…?"
Before she can question further
The figure speaks again.
"There is something you must do."
Its tone shifts.
Urgent.
"A fragment has fallen into this world."
"If the Abyss reaches it first… it will be corrupted."
Fumiko's chest tightens.
"Then what am I supposed to do?!"
The figure looks directly at her.
"Find it."
Its voice echoes across the endless space.
"Before darkness does."
The world begins to shatter into light.
"Go now… child of dawn."
Fumiko reaches forward
"WAIT—!"