This is a multimedia webnovel with giant city-crushing monsters, a valiant man who dares to fight them, a hero who loses himself on a righteous path, and a darkness which conceives a profound love. But I suck at descriptions, so I strongly encourage...
"Vaida, go onto the boat and protect them from the scattershot. Hatasuko and I will try to find any stragglers still in the city," Lazaro yelled to her over the sound of screaming civilians.
"I want to stay with you! Hatasuko still needs my help," Vaida replied, though Hatasuko could see that she cowered as she spoke. She was terrified of him.
Without any hesitation or warning, Lazaro slammed his fist into her stomach and threw her onto the ground. Vaida let out a high-pitched whelp as she fell into the sand. The scarred girl tried to climb to her feet; Hatasuko could see the wetness of tears in her eyes.
"I never asked for your goddamn opinion. Go to the boat right now," Lazaro spoke, and as he said this, he kicked his heavy foot against her back.
"What the fuck is your problem?!" Hatasuko yelled as he charged Lazaro with his arms outright, but he was too weak to tackle his mentor. Lazaro barely stumbled at all from the impact. With furious golden eyes, Hatasuko glared at Lazaro and searched for an emotional reaction, but there was none. Lazaro did not appear surprised at all.
"We don't have time for anything to slow us down. Let's go," Lazaro said.
Hatasuko sighed and let go of his mentor. Lazaro picked up his shield, holstered his warhammer, and then started running toward the other side of the beach. Hatasuko knew that there was no time to argue, so he angrily ran after Lazaro. With a symphony of anguished voices screaming in his head, Hatasuko looked over his shoulder at Vaida before the fog could hide her face completely. She looked like she was enduring a pain much deeper than abuse, but she ran toward the boat anyway.
"I'm proud of how you handled the man on the boat. There are too many lives at stake for us to let something like decency get in our way," Lazaro said as they ran through the smoky street.
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"It's fine. Anything to fight against the force of misery."
"So I guess this means that you weren't lying, right? It's too much of a coincidence. An Interfectus attacked in the same place you said, at the same time you said. I need you to know that that in itself is more powerful than any weapon I carry," Lazaro explained in between heavy breaths.
"It is the ultimate curse. It is my consequence. If it weren't such a valuable tool for fighting the monsters, I would take my own life in a heartbeat just to escape their endless agony. It is a punishment far worse than death because I cannot waste this power. This is my destiny," Hatasuko muttered.
"You're still insane. I've said it before – anyone who does what we do has something really wrong with their head. But it doesn't matter. No reason to waste time worrying about it when we'll be dead soon anyway. Come on, Hatasuko, I saw a bunch of people hiding in a building when we ran by."
Hatasuko nodded and kept pace with his mentor. It was clear that the onslaught had exhausted them both, but they also knew that they could not surrender. Exhaustion was meaningless because they knew that this was more important than the state of their bodies. Lazaro took the lead and turned left at the next intersection, so as Hatasuko turned to follow, he watched the Interfectus in the northern sky. The demon was partially hidden by the smoke and fog, but it was illuminated by the glow of flames and stars. It had finished regenerating the wound on its arm, and then its eyes opened with a golden glow that pierced the darkness. Immediately after its eyes opened, it unleashed its first weapon.
