First Light of a New Age

Chapter 31: Arrival of a Monster

Tap!

The calm sound of footsteps echoed throughout the city center as everything went silent.

Raising their weapons and head to stare in the direction of where the sound came from, the soldiers caught a glimpse of a figure calmly stepping out of the portal.

At that moment, every single soldier under the gaze of the figure stopped breathing. Their chest constricted, and a suffocating feeling settled inside of their body.

"Kahak!...Kahk!"

Bringing his hands toward his neck, the commanding officer gagged several times as saliva dripped down from his mouth. The other soldiers around him mirrored his actions. Normally, they would have fired at the intruder immediately, but under this crushing pressure, none could even lift a finger.

"Khak..."

Dropping down on two knees, he clenched his throat as a long strand of saliva dripped down from his mouth.

'What is this...'

Forcing himself to raise his head, the commanding officer once again felt his eyes pause on the figure that had just stepped out of the horror, and he choked with horror.

That was because he felt it.

Fear.

An unpleasant and inescapable emotion triggered by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

It begins with your hair standing on end. Next, your palms begin to sweat, and your body experiences a wave of nausea, making it difficult for you to comprehend what lies before you.

The world feels foggy. Everything that seemed so clear the previous moment becomes blurry, and in an instant, your entire body begins to tremble, and your heart beats so loudly inside of your head that it feels suffocating.

Fear starts off as an instinctive and primitive response designed to help us avoid dangerous situations.

…But what would happen when you're in a situation where you can't avoid this so-called danger?

Helplessness.

That was what they would feel.

A crushing wave of helplessness would wash over the individual as they find themselves in a situation where they could do nothing.

"Do none of you celebrate my arrival?" the humanoid said as his words echoed inside of their ears, making the hair on the back of their necks stand up.

Fear was slowly starting to permeate their body.

"Haaa…haa…"

Unknowingly, their breathing grew heavier.

As the commanding officer slowly lifted his head up, his eyes met those of the humanoid, and his heart stopped for a moment.

'A... demon.'

But there was something peculiar about this demon. It resembled a human too much, except for the fact that its eyes were fierce crimson red with black sclera and golden pupils, along with snow-white hair that matched its pale skin, and red horns on top of its head. Not only that, the demon wore an abyssal black attire, which was a first, because the demons were all but naked, the ones they've recently seen. But aside from that, the black attire he wore seemed to absorb all forms of light.

Still, the demon's mere presence alone was enough to overcome a wave of helplessness, enveloping the soldiers and stopping them from moving at all.

"Hm?"