#006. Shattered World (1)
“What… what is that?”
“It’s definitely not the sound of a car or gunfire.”
Fael’s sleep was completely shattered. His entire body tensed at the unfamiliar sound he had never heard before. Thankfully, it wasn’t loud enough to wake his younger siblings.
Groooan──
The more the sound repeated, the faster his heart raced. Soon, gunfire and screams began to mix in.
“Looks like… the war has started.”
Countless wars. Countless gunshots and screams. Ironically, Fael felt relieved it was a war he ‘knew.’ Unlike Fael, who nervously swallowed his fear, Ray remained lost in thought.
Something was wrong.
Something was going terribly wrong.
The voices he heard now weren’t the shouts of an equal battle but the screams of a one-sided massacre.
‘No way.’
A scene from hours earlier replayed in Ray’s mind.
「Creak─.」
It had been near 18th Street. He’d seen a man step out of a luxury sedan, walking with Hector.
「This way… wait… here…」
The words were muffled, but he’d clearly seen Hector bowing obsequiously to a young man in a monocle.
…And then.
An immense amount of mana had swirled in the man’s chest—a deep, near-black blue. Sticky and gloomy, like oil spilled across the sea. Similar to the color of mana gathered to animate golems. But that wasn’t what shocked Ray.
The man’s mana vessel was utterly different from others’. A wide ring encircled his heart. No—multiple rings, each channeling vast amounts of mana. Though traces of other colors existed, dark blue dominated.
What is this?
For others, mana dissipates from their vessels as emotions resolve. But this man’s mana didn’t vanish—it flowed endlessly through the rings, as if trapped to prevent leakage.
Curiosity flared.
Instincts screamed.
This is dangerous.
I need to tell Niles.
Ray immediately turned and sprinted toward 17th Street.
「Have you seen Niles?」
「Haven’t seen him. He’s been swamped with war prep.」
Ray combed multiple streets but found no trace of Niles. He’d relayed messages to scattered gang members, but couldn’t confirm if they’d reached him.
Grooooooan──
“Th-the sound’s getting louder?”
Fael, too, sensed something amiss.
Screams. Shouts. An eerie resonance.
The muffled cacophony of mixed noises waxed and waned—closer, then farther. Like flickering fire shadows threatening to engulf the underpass at any moment.
Amplifying the boy’s dread.
“…I’ll go check.”
Ray grabbed his coat and mask.
“I-I’ll come too!”
“No. Guard your siblings.”
Fael glanced at his brothers and sisters, still asleep and oblivious.
“R-right. Don’t go far—just scout and return.”
Ray nodded. He pulled his mask on and yanked his hood low over his brows.
Creak─
He stepped outside, shutting the tent flap. Turning toward the underpass exit, he saw a rain-blurred darkness. Wrapping himself in a thin veil of multicolored mana, he began scaling the riverbank toward the noise.
An unidentified roar.
Battle cries. Screams. Gunfire. Occasional shrieks.
Something felt wrong.
For the first time, Ray’s perpetually calm heart began pounding wildly.
He didn’t realize it.
The year spent with the underpass children.
His attempts to feel emotions.
These had carved tiny cracks in his heart.
Crack.
And now, those cracks were splitting further under external strain.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Ray quickened his pace. His vision, once shrouded in darkness, now tinged red.
“……”
The streets burned.
Crumbling buildings spewed acrid smoke as flames danced defiantly through the rain.
Life often presented two types of situations:
The incomprehensible.
Or the willfully ignored.
For Ray, this was both.
Squelch! Squelch!
Mud-caked boots splashed through puddles. Ray approached a figure slumped against a wall and crouched. A small flame lit the person’s face.
“What’s happening…?”
Ray’s words died as he recognized the Niles gang member. The upper half of their torso was gone. The pooling liquid wasn’t rainwater—it was blood.
The dying member strained to speak.
“Ray…?”
“What happened?”
“Those bastards… brought a golem… cough!”
Understanding dawned.
No blade or bullet could obliterate a torso like this.
“A man with glasses… unleashed it… gurgle—”
The member spat blood and fell still. Ray closed their eyes.
Creeping through alleys, he advanced cautiously yet swiftly.
Whoosh! Crackle!
Fires illuminated corpses strewn everywhere—each with massive holes or missing limbs. Niles members and civilians alike. Ray had seen death before, but never this grotesque.
‘Did the golem level the buildings too?’
Golems moved via mana. Though only two meters tall, their strength dwarfed humans’.
…The monocled man from 18th Street must control it.
No—certainly.
Soon, rapid gunfire erupted.
Tudududu─!
Niles and his men were likely fighting the golem. Ray had to help. Niles’ past favors couldn’t be ignored. Moreover, if Niles’ gang fell, survival on 17th Street would crumble—Hector’s child trafficking was no secret.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Knife in one hand, blue lightning crackling in the other, Ray ran.
Then—the gunfire stopped.
Gasping, Ray reached the central square.
Too late.
The square overflowed with Niles members’ corpses. Only one mercy—Niles’ body wasn’t among them.
Groooan──
The roar echoed again, now moving toward the underpass.
“……!”
In that instant—
The crack in Ray’s chest split wider.
An unfathomable emotion seized him. Heart lurching, he sprinted with desperate fury.
Why head to the underpass?
Only Fael and the children were there.
Had the golem been programmed to exterminate all life?
His mind blanked.
Though he ran until his heart might burst, the distance to the roar barely shrank.
By the time Ray reached the riverbank, pale moonlight revealed the golem’s silhouette inside the underpass. A collapsed tent. A spreading pool of blood.
“Ah.”
His veins turned to ice.
Something in his mind snapped.
The gray world began bleeding into color.
Ray hurtled down the slope.
Snap! Thud! Sskreee!
Thorns shredded his coat, but he ignored them. Reaching the bottom, he charged the golem, knife raised.
Whooosh─
The golem turned, red optics flashing as it swung its arm—too fast to dodge. Unthinkable speed for its usual sluggishness.
“……!”
Thud!
Ray was hurled backward, crashing into the riverbank. Agony wracked his body. He vomited blood.
“Fael…! Josephine…! Miles…!”
He screamed through gritted teeth. Only the thickening blood pool under the tent answered.
He knew.
No one inside was alive.
The two-meter abomination of malice proved it, lumbering toward him—its next target.
Thoom— Thoom—
Each step shook the earth. Ray’s heart pounded wildly, his body immobilized from the earlier blow.
No.
He’d never intended to dodge.
Crunch.
His mind held one thought: Kill the golem.
The calm, analytical Ray was gone.
Oooom─!
All nearby crimson mana surged into his grasp.
Oooooooom──!
Whoosh! Crackle!
Mana spiraled madly, birthing scarlet flames. The vortex intensified. Ray stretched his arm toward the golem.
He’d never fired flames at anyone.
But instinct told him how.
The golem halted. Observing the converging mana, it raised its own arm.
Dark blue mana spiraled into its palm.
Groooaan──!
The source of the street’s roar. The same force that had blasted holes through bodies.
Ooom─!
Groooaan──!
Ear-splitting noise. The mana vortices accelerated toward spell completion.
Just as the golem’s attack neared release—
Crash──!
A vehicle rammed its side from the underpass exit. The dented bumper kept pushing, grinding the golem backward.
Screeeech─!
The golem flailed at the driver’s seat but couldn’t reach.
Clang!
The guardrail tore away. The off-balance golem plunged into the river.
Silence fell.
Only the engine’s cooling ticks and warping metal remained. The red mana around Ray dispersed.
Creeeak─
Seconds later, a man stumbled from the car.
Niles.
Blood-soaked, one shoulder dislocated—he’d clearly fought the golem already.
“……!”
Before Ray could speak, Niles staggered over.
“You’re fine. No broken bones. Rest a few days—they’ll heal.”
Ray stayed silent.
How should he react?
Sixteen years of deferred emotions—countless types, overwhelming intensities—crashed over him like a tsunami.
Niles grimaced at the blood-soaked tent.
“Sorry. If I’d been faster…”
Ray forced out words.
“Why… is that your fault?”
A faint tremble in his voice.
“……!”
Niles startled at Ray’s uncharacteristic tone, then quietly pulled him into a hug, patting his back.
Ray’s trembling shoulders and ragged breaths slowly steadied.
After a moment, Ray whispered:
“The others? Your men?”
“Those with me are dead. No clue about the rest.”
Niles’ face twisted.
“Hector. That bastard. Never thought he’d hire an outsider mage. Damn. Where’d he get the funds?”
His glare could kill.
“What now?”
“We regroup. Help survivors. Put out fires. Then…”
Pzzzt!
A fist-sized beam pierced Niles’ chest from behind.
“Huh…?”
He stared at the hole in disbelief.
“Cough!”
As Niles collapsed and the golem crawled from the river, time seemed to slow for Ray.
What nightmare was this?
He wished to wake.
The world felt like a cruel lie.
Tears. Sweat.
Blackish rainwater and blood.
Fluids inside and out mingled, coating him in sticky filth.
The dented golem crept closer, raising its palm.
Mana swirled, darkening to indigo.
Ooom.
The mana wailed.
Ray, entranced, lifted his hand.
Oooooom──!
Blood-red mana spiraled into his palm—incomparably faster than before.
Snap! Crackle!
Scarlet embers traced arcs. A searing ring of flames formed.
When the vortex stilled and the frenzied inferno erupted—
KABOOOOOM──!
Time snapped back to speed.
