Sudden Upheaval

“Run! Run now!” Luna shouted at Eugene and Arian.

The air was thick with the smell of blood, like sticky syrup laced with rust.

The entire street reeked of it, turning the place into something that felt closer to the depths of hell than the world they had been standing in just moments ago.

Arian froze.

For a brief moment, her mind simply couldn’t catch up with reality.

Just seconds ago, the three of them had been sitting on a garden bench, talking and laughing under the night sky.

And now, everything had shattered.

“Your blood… is quite special… hahaha…”

The man laughed.

His smile was warm—gentle, even—like sunlight on a calm day.

But the words he spoke twisted that warmth into something grotesque.

It was a contradiction so unsettling that it made him feel both like a savior and a demon at the same time.

Bodies lay scattered across the ground.

Milen trembled, one hand clutching her aching cheek.

Just moments ago, two horrifying appendages had burst from the man’s back—tails lined with chainsaw-like blades.

They had lashed out toward her without warning.

But she was still a mid-level mage.

In that instant, she reacted on instinct, burning through her energy to cast a granite shield.

The barrier barely deflected the strike, forcing the attack off course just enough to spare her life.

She couldn’t speak.

Her brown eyes reflected only one thing—the man’s smiling face, glowing inside her pupils like a radiant sun.

Then she snapped back to reality.

She kicked open the tavern door and ran.

Behind her, he didn’t chase.

Instead, he casually picked up a wooden cup from the table and took a sip of rum, as if nothing had happened.

With a heavy crash, a pale blue ice wall rose up behind her, sealing the tavern shut.

“Tch… patient… and smart…”

He murmured quietly to himself, his voice so soft that no one else could hear it.

Inside the tavern, corpses were already piling up.

Blood flowed along cracks in the floor, gathering into thin streams that slowly merged into something larger.

Little streams become rivers.

Now, the tavern had turned into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

The walls, the floor, every surface was splattered in red, like layers of paint thrown wildly across a canvas.

Some stains were dark and dried, others still fresh and bright.

It resembled a grotesque abstract painting.

There were no survivors left.

Milen’s thoughts spiraled.

Why had she followed him?

He had smiled like a priest.

She had mistaken him for a gentleman.

When he invited her for a drink, she had followed him without hesitation.

Only after stepping inside had she noticed something was wrong.

The strange red stains on the walls.

The suffocating metallic scent in the air.

And then—

The attack came.

“Madman… madman…”

She muttered unconsciously.

Her voice trembled without her even realizing it.

Her wooden-soled shoes clattered loudly against the stone road as she ran.

People around her stared as if she were insane.

But she had no time to care.

The granite shield she had cast shattered almost instantly.

The backlash made her vision blur, darkness creeping in at the edges.

Under normal circumstances, she would have collapsed.

But the fear of death forced her body to keep going.

Her heart pounded violently.

Adrenaline surged through her veins, pushing aside the dizziness.

She burst out of the tavern like a frightened animal, escaping its cage.

At the same time, she cast an ice wall to block the entrance behind her.

But she knew it wouldn’t hold.

If even the granite shield couldn’t withstand his attack, the ice wall would shatter in a single blow.

Still—

He didn’t chase immediately.

That gave her a chance.

She had to escape the town.

That was the only way to survive.

She ran through street after street, her thoughts racing.

The town center was close.

Beyond it lay the inn where she was staying.

And there—her horse.

Freedom.

Each step sent sharp vibrations through her feet from the wooden soles.

But in this moment, she ignored the pain completely.

She ran like a stray dog chased by death itself.

“Don’t run…”

His voice echoed from behind her.

It was calm.

Almost pleasant.

And utterly terrifying.

He moved as he pursued, swinging those chainsaw-like tails through the air.

Each swing sliced through the wind with a sharp, whistling sound.

Like the warning rattle of a deadly serpent.

Behind her, cries and screams filled the night.

Each swing took another life.

He wasn’t a messenger of God.

He was a guide to hell.

And the path she was running on—

Was the road to the underworld.

She was trying to escape hell.

But no matter how fast she ran—

She couldn’t.

Because hell itself was moving.

Every step she took, it followed.

Faster than her.

Closer.

Closer.

Until—

A flash of steel cut through the air.

One of the tails shot forward like a spear.

It pierced through her shoulder in an instant.

A hole tore through her flesh as blood sprayed out.

Her strength vanished.

She collapsed to her knees, then slowly fell forward onto the ground like a lifeless body.

After striking her, he stopped running.

Now, he simply walked toward her at a leisurely pace.

Like a hunter approaching wounded prey.

She tried to crawl.

Her legs no longer obeyed her.

In that instant, her body had already accepted death.

Her mind whispered to her—

You’re going to die. Stop struggling.

But she didn’t want to accept it.

She tried to move anyway.

Even if it was meaningless.

“Why run?”

He crouched beside her, watching her with curiosity.

Like a child observing an insect.

“Who wouldn’t run…?”

She forced out the words as she crawled weakly forward.

“You want to live?”

He asked with a smile.

“…Psycho.”

Even now, she refused to beg.

Fear shook her body, but her voice remained cold.

“Then how about this…”

He spoke lightly, as if proposing a game.

He chanted a spell and gently tapped her back with his finger.

A soft green light enveloped her body.

“I’ll count to twenty. If you can reach the town center, I’ll let you go. I won’t attack along the way.”

His narrowed eyes revealed nothing.

The pain disappeared instantly.

Her numb legs regained movement.

But it was only temporary.

The bleeding hadn’t stopped.

If she didn’t get help, she would still die.

“Now run~”

She pushed herself up and ran again.

Her wooden shoes struck the ground rapidly.

She hated them now.

“Twenty… nineteen…”

He began counting down.

The distance to the center was less than ten meters.

She had eight seconds left.

It was enough.

She could make it.

She ran faster.

The end was right there.

Hope filled her chest.

She could live.

Just one more step—

She crossed the line.

At that exact moment—

A tail pierced through her heart.

Her body went limp instantly.

Like a puppet with its strings cut.

She collapsed to the ground.

The tail dragged her body back toward him.

“I said I wouldn’t attack… but I never said I wouldn’t use it.”

He smiled.

And at that very moment—

Luna saw everything.