As the sun began to set, people hurried home, locking their doors and shutting their windows with urgency.
Above, the blooming petals of the sky flowers darkened, glowing with an eerie, pulsating light as they began to emit a sinister energy.
Zun stood by his window, confused, watching as the neighborhood quickly retreated into silence. Curtains were drawn. Lights switched off.
"Why are they in such a rush?" he mumbled, puzzled.
His eyes caught sight of a drunk man stumbling along the street below. Zun turned his gaze away—but something pulled him back.
His pupils shrank.
From the man's body, a faint trail of dark energy twisted upwards toward the sky, mirroring the ominous aura of the flowers above.
"What the...?"
Zun looked up. The sky was full of those strange, glowing flowers—only now, they burned with black fire, dripping with dark energy.
The darkness suddenly rushed down, funneling toward the drunkard.
The man's arm twitched. His eyes rolled chaotically, up and down, until finally—his body collapsed.
"Hey! Man! You okay?" Zun shouted, panicked by the sight.
The aura thickened.
Suddenly, the man's belly began to stretch and rupture—bursting open with a beam of pure light. From within, a soul emerged, glowing brilliantly...
But then—
It twisted.
The soul's light turned black.
Zun's eyes widened.
"Am I dreaming or something?!"
Before him, the drunkard's body distorted, skin tearing, bones cracking, limbs elongating—turning him into something monstrous.
"What the fuck?!"
Zun slammed his window shut—but the creature turned its gaze directly at him.
"What the heck did he turn into..." Zun whispered, breath caught in his throat.
Then—tap tap tap
A knock at the window.
He froze.
A cold dread crept over his body.
He knew exactly who it was.
"He—hello? Who's there?" he stammered.
The monster scratched at the glass with long claws, the sound piercing his ears like nails on a chalkboard. Zun covered his ears, trying to block out the horrible screeching.
"ACKK!"
Thunder cracked, illuminating the shadow of the beast.
Large horns. Long claws. Twisted limbs.
Zun stared, paralyzed by fear.
Then, a sudden light flared from outside. A man in a sleek black suit stood at street level, staring directly at the creature.
"Good evening, night dweller," the man murmured. "God's grace."
He bowed.
The creature growled in fury and lunged at the man with terrifying speed.
But the man raised his hand calmly, a faint light beginning to radiate.
"Rise with the sun. Those who fall to darkness must be purified."
The light flared brighter, silent and focused, like the dawn pushing through fog.
The night dweller screeched and flailed, its body writhing in pain under the radiant energy.
Zun threw open his window just as the light surged upward, streaming past him.
"What is that...?"
The man's veins glowed golden. In his hand, a razor-sharp sword formed—its blade shaped like the edge of the sun, glowing fiercely.
"Let's purify thy soul," he declared.
The night dweller shrieked and lunged again.
Zun's ears bled from the monstrous roar.
"ACKKK!!"
He passed out on the floor.
Inside the nearby houses, people covered their ears, trembling behind locked doors.
The suited man charged forward, leaping off the sidewalk and bounding from one wall to another in bursts of radiant speed.
"You screech in agony, but your sins shred louder," he muttered.
He vanished in a golden flash—appearing behind the monster mid-air.
With a swift, elegant arc, he slashed off one of the beast's arms.
The creature stumbled backward, howling.
He struck again.
"O, thy soul…"
The blade flared brilliantly as he sliced through the legs, then across the chest.
One final leap.
The man spun, descending from above.
His sword gleamed like the morning sun.
SLASH!
The head flew from the creature's shoulders.
THUD!
Silence.
Ash swirled in the air.
"May you rest," he whispered.
The night dweller's form disintegrated, revealing the body of the drunkard, now lifeless—but human again.
The man paused.
"Hm. Why did the flower curse this man? He didn't emit any malicious energy..."
He looked up toward a second-floor window—Zun's.
He leapt to the sill and peered inside, finding Zun unconscious on the floor.
The man blinked. His eyes widened with recognition. A grin crept across his face.
From his perspective, Zun glowed faintly. An energy—not of darkness, but of the sun—radiated from within him.
"This guy..."
He placed a hand over his chest, joyful.
"No way... I have to inform the higher-ups."
He leaned closer, voice soft.
"You're the light who will change the world, young man."
Lifting Zun onto his back, the man leapt from building to building, carrying him into the deepening night.
---
TO BE CONTINUED.