もののけ | monster | soshiro hoshina (Kaiju No. 8) (COMPLETE)

ななじゅうさん | seventy three

もののけ | kaiju | monster

73

[A lengthy chapter ahead]

Kiyomi

THE SOUND OF LAUGHTER ECHOED THROUGH THE VOID—low, guttural, and twisted in a way that felt like it was mocking every part of my existence. I couldn't see anything, just an endless, suffocating darkness wrapping around me, pulling me deeper into its cold embrace. My heart pounded in my chest, the sound deafening in the silence, but I didn't flinch. I was used to this... used to the darkness, used to the torment.

"You think everything is good now? Foolish child." The voice was sharp, cutting through the silence like a knife, each word dripping with venom. "Such foolishness would only lead to your demise."

I felt a sudden chill creep up my legs, and when I looked down, I realized I was standing in water, the cold seeping into my skin. The ripples spread out from where I stood, distorting the reflection beneath me. But when I focused on it, I was met with a sight that made my blood run cold— my own reflection, grinning back at me with a twisted, mocking smile.

"You think everything is good now? That you'll have a happy ending?" My reflection's voice was a distorted version of my own, dripping with contempt. It spoke to me as if I were a child, naive and foolish, unworthy of even the smallest bit of hope.

I didn't move, didn't speak. I just stood there, staring at the warped image of myself, the water beneath me rippling with every slight movement. I felt my breath hitch, my chest tightening as the words sank in, each one a cruel reminder of the reality I was desperately trying to escape.

"You're naive if you think that. You think they wouldn't kill you? Very soon, they will, because that monster inside you... it will consume you, Kiyomi. It will devour every last shred of humanity you have left, until there's nothing left but the darkness."

The words hit me like a sledgehammer, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe. The fear was overwhelming, crashing over me in waves, drowning me in its suffocating grip. My reflection's eyes bore into mine, filled with malice, with the truth I had tried so hard to bury.

"You're nothing more than a ticking time bomb," it sneered, the voice growing darker, more sinister with each passing second. "And when you finally explode, no one will be safe. Not Soshiro, not your baby... no one."

My knees buckled, and I fell into the water, the cold shock jolting through my system. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. The darkness was everywhere, pressing down on me, squeezing the life out of me until I felt like I would shatter into a million pieces.

"You can't escape it, Kiyomi. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you want to, the darkness is always going to be there, lurking, waiting to take everything from you."

The reflection leaned closer, its voice now a whisper, soft and deadly.

"And when it does... you'll be the one to destroy everything you love. You'll be the one to kill them..."