Chapter 45: Kalia
Inside the pitch-black cargo hold, dozens of [Maw] units swarmed from the shadows. The Stand user, Zoeila, shrieked and scrambled behind a large pet carrier, desperately trying to hide.
But [Maw] doesn't have eyes. It hunts by scent. Hiding was as useless as trying to hide from a shark in a swimming pool. The next instant, under Zoeila's horrified gaze, the swarm of [Maw] descended, sinking their fangs into her shadow.
Countless, bleeding cuts instantly erupted all over her body. The soul-deep agony made her veins bulge as she collapsed, a sound of pure, unadulterated torment tearing from her throat. The smaller [Maw] units lacked the power to kill her instantly, but they were exceptionally good at torture.
Her mind reeling, she forced herself to think, to remember the intel Enya had provided. 'The weakness... hide the shadow... in a darker shadow...'
Her eyes darted to the side. A small battery-powered lamp, which a passenger had attached to a pet carrier, cast a single, weak pool of light in the oppressive darkness. It was the only light source.
I have to... put it out!
A desperate, primal urge to survive forced her to drag her mutilated body toward the light. Just... let... me... reach it!
She was centimeters away, her hand outstretched, when a new, despairing sight met her eyes.
A single [Maw] creature, its fanged mouth wide in a silent giggle, snatched the small lamp and scampered away with it into the darkness.
"WH-WHAT?! NO!!" Zoeila screamed.
As [Maw] consumes more shadows, its base intelligence grows. Jonas, in fact, was already considering forming a dedicated unit of them just for "illumination and retrieval duty."
Zoeila was in absolute despair. She looked back. The swarm of tiny creatures was gone. In their place, a single, merged Stand now stood. It was the size of a large hunting dog.
It opened its jaws, and with a single, vicious CHOMP, it tore the shadow of Zoeila's arm clean off. Her real arm was simultaneously, painlessly severed at the shoulder. The newly merged [Maw] was powerful enough to dismember.
The shock and agony sent Zoeila's mind into a white void. When she came to, her vision was spinning.
She was watching her own headless body slump to the floor.
[Maw] had taken her head's shadow. Her own head dissolved into ash before it even hit the ground.
With her life extinguished, the parasitic [Sweet Child] on Jonas's waist let out a final, silent shriek and dissolved.
A cold smirk touched Jonas's lips. "A fully merged [Maw] is a terrifying thing," he mused. "From now on... I'll call this form [Maw General]."
The plane, no longer being drained of its kinetic energy, stabilized. Jonas returned to his seat. That should be the last of them for this flight, right?
With a lingering trace of caution, he put on an eye mask, and, under the meticulous, invisible care of [Oni]'s massage, finally fell asleep.
Eight hours later, the plane landed safely in New York City.
This was the city of his second birth. His parents, who had lived most of their lives as a DINK couple, had decided in their old age that a quiet death was too boring. And so, at the ages of 60 and 63, they had Jonas. His own robust, powerful body was a product of their remarkable genes.
They had, of course, both died as they had lived. His father, from hypoxia, near the summit of Mount Everest. His mother, to cope with the grief, had taken up skydiving. A sudden, violent crosswind had sent her into an uncontrollable spin, and her parachute never opened.
As his relatives put it, they had "gone out with a bang."
Jonas, thankfully, was already a legal adult, well on his way to completing his medical studies. Perhaps it was the realization that medicine couldn't save his parents from themselves that led him to abandon it for a writing career shortly after their funerals.
He stepped out of the airport... and walked directly into a scene of pure chaos. A fashionable, stunningly beautiful woman was in the process of beating a man to a pulp with her high-heel shoe.
"I TOLD YOU I'm waiting for my sweetheart!" she shrieked, raising the shoe high. "Don't you understand plain English, you... you... slimy, slug-mucus bastard?!" She aimed the stiletto heel directly at the man's eye.
"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY, LADY!" the man whimpered, curled up on the ground, his face already a canvas of bruises. "I didn't know you were taken! Please!"
"TOO LATE! TAKE YOUR LECHERY TO HELL!"
"HELP MEEEE!!"
Just as the heel was about to descend, a hand calmly intercepted her wrist.
Jonas sighed. "Kalia. You're as reckless as ever. Aren't you afraid you'll finally be arrested?"
The moment she saw him, Kalia's entire demeanor changed. Her face, which had been a mask of rage, melted into one of pure, unadulterated joy. She dropped the shoe and threw herself into his arms.
"JONAS!" she squealed, crushing him in a hug. "You're finally back! Do you have any idea how lonely I've been?! Ah! My Jonas! I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you...!"
Jonas awkwardly patted her back. "It's good to see you too, Kalia. You haven't changed a bit."
Kalia. His neighbor, his childhood friend. And, for as long as he could remember, his obsessive, self-proclaimed admirer. Jonas, possessing an adult's mind even as a child, had always seen her as a... high-strung kid.
She was also his lawyer.
"I couldn't help it!" she said, squeezing him tighter. "You were gone for so long, all my pent-up longing just... overflowed!"
"Alright, alright," Jonas said, gently detaching her. "Let's go. You're causing a scene."
"Okay!" she chirped, instantly linking her arm with his.
Jonas's home, his parents' primary inheritance, was a high-class villa in an expensive neighborhood. It was beautiful, the service was immaculate, and the property value was steadily rising. Its only downside was the crushingly high property tax and service fees. If he weren't a best-selling author, he'd have had to sell it years ago.
He walked in, dropped his bag, and collapsed onto the sofa like a dead dog. The constant travel, the battles, the fundamental unraveling of his understanding of reality... he was exhausted.
But he couldnt rest. Not completely. Enya was still out there. She would send more.
He summoned [Oni] and split the Stand into seven distinct bodies—his new maximum. Silently, the ninja-like shadows fanned out, one remaining with him, while the other six melted into the shadows of the villa, the yard, and the surrounding streets, establishing a perfect, invisible perimeter.
...
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Stand User: Jonas Jourdan
Stand Name: [Invisible Black Monster: Maw General]
Destructive Power: C
Speed: C
Range: A
Stamina: A
Precision: E
Developmental Potential: A