"Shit! Shit! Shit! Why is this day getting worse by the second?!"
Unix was running across rooftops while being chased by three dog heads. He leapt from roof to roof, panting, craving a moment's rest, but stopping meant death. One of the heads got dangerously close, opened its mouth, and lunged at him. Unix slid along the edge of the roof to dodge the attack, then jumped to another roof. As soon as he landed, another head struck, breaking part of the surface. Unix nearly fell but grabbed onto the broken edge, only to see the three heads glaring at him, drool dripping from their mouths.
"For hell’s sake! Don’t you guys get tired?! Let me catch my breath at least!"
One of the heads lunged at Unix, who let go of the ledge to avoid being bitten. The dog bit the stone instead, and Unix fell into the house, landing hard on his backside.
"Damn, that hurts… These rocks are too hard!"
The head that had bitten the stone glared at Unix with fury. They locked eyes before the creature spat a chunk of stone at him. Unix dodged it just in time as the rocks hit the ground and left a gaping hole. He quickly stood up and started running inside the house, the heads chasing him. He found himself in a hallway that ended with stairs leading down. Two of the heads chased behind, so he sped up. Reaching the stairs, he instead jumped at the wall, kicked off it, and flipped. The dogs crashed into the wall, while Unix landed and said smugly:
"How about the skills I learned in the forest, you fat mutts?!"
Unix remembered only two heads attacked, and when he turned, he found the third head waiting in front of him. It rammed him so hard that blood burst from his mouth. Unix was launched through a broken wall, and while airborne, he looked down and saw the other two heads coming at him, jaws wide open. Time slowed. He thought:
(I can’t breathe… That hit was too strong… They’re below me… I’m going to die! I have to do something!)
He aimed his hand, hoping his power would activate again but nothing happened. Despair appeared on his face. Suddenly… one of the nearby houses exploded, releasing thick white smoke. Debris flew through the air, striking the three heads. A shadow appeared within the smoke, a dark mass moving toward Unix, catching him midair and landing with him.
Unix raised his head and saw Darker standing, blood-stained, holding his sword, locking eyes with him.
"Well done surviving even though we got separated, Unix. From here on out, leave everything to me."
Unix, between consciousness and unconsciousness, looked at Darker as if he were his father and muttered:
"Da… Dad?"
He passed out. Darker looked at him, sighed, and placed a hand over his face:
"I hope this kid doesn’t get too attached to me..."
He was interrupted by six dog heads standing before him, growling. He tucked Unix between his arm and side, then glanced at three of the heads to his right—their faces scarred and torn. But suddenly, their wounds began to heal.
"Stop doing that! It’s cheating! Do you guys know how hard it is to land a hit on you all?!"
The heads bared their fangs. Darker mocked:
"What? Don’t like compliments?"
Two heads charged from left and right, but just before biting him, Darker’s body turned to smoke. Two smoky hands appeared—one grabbed Unix and flew him to a nearby rooftop, the other took his sword and followed. The rest of the smoke reformed into Darker on the roof.
"If you want to kill me, you’ll have to be faster than that, you bloated freaks!"
Darker started running, the heads chasing him, while Unix lay unconscious in his arms, bleeding from his head.
"Fuck!, he’s badly hurt… That little body couldn’t handle the blow… I have to treat him before he dies in my arms… I would do that if I wasn’t being chased by six ugly dog-headed tentacles!"
Suddenly, Darker stopped. He planted his sword in the rooftop and yanked it up, flinging a chunk of the roof into the air, then kicked it into one of the heads’ faces. He jumped into the gap, crashing through the floor, and landed in a half-destroyed living room. He headed for the door, but a head burst through the ceiling, blocking the way. The other heads followed, trapping him.
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One head lunged Darker hurled his sword, impaling it. He grabbed a wooden chair and smashed it over the beast. Another attacked from behind. He ducked just in time. Clenching his fist, smoke burst from his elbow, and he punched the creature so hard its fangs shattered. Two more came at him. He jumped over them, grabbed his sword from the dog’s head, and positioned himself in a corner. The two recovered, and all six heads began merging into a single mass.
Darker sensed danger, eyes widening.
"Shit!"
He stepped back, looking around for a way out. Suddenly, his back hit a table. He looked at it, then at the mass of heads backing up like a ram preparing to charge. Smoke poured from his back, curling around the table. He grabbed it and held it horizontally in front of him to absorb the impact.
"This is gonna hurt…"
The heads charged so fast they shattered windows. They slammed into Darker, smashing the table and carrying him through a wall… and then another. Eventually, he rolled to a stop against a wall. The heads stood before him as he coughed up blood. But suddenly… Unix was gone.
Darker smirked:
"What? Looking for someone?"
He stood and said:
"Sorry, but now… it’s just you and me!"
He caught his sword and readied himself:
"Now that the kid is away … I can fight with no restraints. I’ll cut you down, one by one, you dirty little fuckers!."
The air began to swirl around Darker. Smoke poured from his body, filling the area. He vanished within the smoke, leaving the heads confused, unable to locate him. Suddenly, Darker appeared behind one, slashing it with his sword. Another spotted him and lunged, but he disappeared again like a wisp of smoke. Before the head could react, Darker reappeared and stabbed it, then vanished once more. He reappeared above another, stabbed it, then vanished again—repeating the assault multiple times. The dogs shifted to a defensive position, pressing their backs together and scanning their surroundings.
"What? Are you scared now?"
Suddenly, multiple versions of Darker appeared, circling the dogs with swords in hand.
"How do you feel now?… Surrounded… scared… cautious… These are the feelings you’ve made humans suffer for years… But enough! I’ve had it. Because people like me exist special ones who can kill you… Monsters are filth… a mistake that needs correcting."
All the copies stopped, pointing their swords at the heads. charged, crashing into the heads but suddenly, the clones vanished. Nothing happened.
Steam began to gather at a single point. The view cleared gradually… and Darker stood revealed.
All the smoke returned into his body, then vanished completely. Darker stood there… holding Unix his arm, and his sword in the other. The heads turned their hateful, furious gazes toward him, beginning to move in preparation to attack.
Darker said calmly, “Sorry, I don’t have time to play with you all. This kid will bleed to death if I don’t help him.”
A massive cloud of smoke burst out of Darker’s body, violently throwing the heads back. The house exploded along with the smoke, and black clouds spread everywhere. The heads emerged, rising into the sky. As the smoke faded, six identical copies of Darker appeared, each one carrying a version of Unix. All of them spoke in unison:
“How about a game of chase? You win when you find the real me among us! Ready?... 1... 2... 3 Go!”
The clones scattered in random directions, each monster chasing a different one.
The house’s door was blown open, and Darker entered, carrying Unix on his shoulder. He looked around, then gently laid Unix down on the floor and began frantically searching the house cabinets, shelves, rooms thinking to himself:
(Shit! This boy will die in my hands if I don’t find something to stop the bleeding… while my clones deal with those ugly heads.)
He rushed upstairs into the nearest room, spotted a small wooden box beneath a desk in the corner labeled "Supplies," pulled it out, and opened it. Inside food, wine, a wooden doll… all useless. He tossed them aside one by one until he found bandages and a small bottle. His eyes widened in shock:
“Dragon saliva?! How the hell did this end up here?! It’s extremely rare...it’s”
His words were cut off by Unix’s groaning in pain down stairs.
“I don’t know where this came from… and I don’t give a fuck too! But I have to use it now or he’s dead.”
He grabbed the bandages and the dragon saliva, dashed downstairs to find Unix had bled even more. He knelt quickly beside him, turned Unix who was lying on his stomach onto his back, brushing aside his white hair to examine the head wound. He secured Unix’s head, opened the bottle with his teeth, and spat the cap aside:
“Sorry, kid. This is going to hurt a little… actually, a lot. Just hang in there.”
He began pouring the black liquid onto the wound. As soon as it touched his forehead, steam hissed up as if the skin was burning. Darker poured a little more, then stopped. Unix began to tremble, scratching the wooden floor with his nails, baring his teeth in pain, nearly screamingbut Darker covered his mouth:
(If he screams, they’ll know where we are!)
After several seconds, Unix stopped shaking. The saliva had dried, crystallized like glass on his forehead. Darker exhaled in relief and sat down, thinking:
(Damn… I would’ve lost him for sure without the dragon’s saliva. But why was something that rare here? Is it just luck that I chose the only house with it? …I doubt it.)
He looked at Unix, remembering when the heads pierced him and launched him toward the wall. slamming into it, Unix had been thrown upward through a window leading to the upper floor. Darker smiled:
(It’s like the gods are protecting this kid.)
But his moment of calm was broken by a terrifying presence behind him… one of the dog-heads stood there, drooling, eyes filled with rage. Darker glanced at it from the corner of his eye, then to his sword lying beside Unix. He sprang forward, grabbed the sword, and turned to face the beast. It lunged, but with a swift movement, Darker sliced its jaw, then slashed its eyes. He picked up Unix and ran toward the door, kicked it open, and found three more heads waiting outside and another three emerging behind him from within.
Smoke burst from his feet as he launched into the air, landing on the roof and sprinting. But three heads burst through the ceiling. He turned back, only to find more monsters blocking his way… completely trapped.
He looked behind him and saw the harbor. He readied to dash toward it but then heard a terrifying roar from behind. Turning, he saw the giant hound in the distance, glaring with seething hatred.
“Did that bastard plan all this to trap me?! Damn it! I don’t have enough spirit energy left to fly again.”
Darker was in a hopeless situation, surrounded, with the giant beast preparing to attack. Suddenly, he felt a massive surge of spiritual energy from the monster it began glowing with red lightning, all of it condensing into a massive orb of energy in its mouth, growing larger and larger… until it was the size of a house.
“Shit! What in hell is that?!”
Feeling true danger, Darker wrapped Unix in his black cloak, putting hes back like a shield. Then, a burst of smoke erupted from his back, forming a half-formed clone his last-ditch effort to reduce the damage.
The monster fired the huge red orb. It struck the clone, causing a deafening explosion. Stones rained down as burning debris, and houses melted in the blast.
Darker found himself in the harbor, buried under rubble, severely burned and bleeding. He tried to get up but his arm was broken.
“fuck!… I can’t feel my body… Unix!”
He remembered Unix and looked around frantically then saw him lying atop some wreckage to his left, still unconscious, but unharmed. Darker smiled with relief.
But suddenly a massive foot crushed the stones before him. Darker’s face filled with dread. He looked up and the giant beast loomed above him, its glowing red eyes staring straight into his soul.
(So… this is how I die, huh? Killed by a beast.)
He lowered his head and smiled:
(Sorry, Iskander… I failed to protect the kid.)
But then… a shadow cast itself over Darker’s body. He looked up—to find Unix standing in front of him, fists clenched, facing the beast with unwavering resolve.
“You idiot! Get away! Run! You can’t fight that thing!”
But Unix didn’t say a word. He stared the monster down, eyes full of fury. The beast growled, baring its fangs, but Unix took a step forward and said:
“No matter how loud you roar… you won’t scare me. I’ve made my choice… I will protect Darker, even if it costs me my life!”