"Who is at the door?" the man on the bed asked without looking, his face still turned toward the wall.
The beast raised the half-head in its hand and opened its mouth. Its jaws unfurled like a blooming, nightmare flower, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
*Crunch... Crunch...*
The rest of the skull shattered, spraying blood across the face of the man staring at the beast. He could neither scream nor move; the blood in his veins had frozen. Behind the monster, he saw a lake of gore and a trail of dismembered corpses.
With absolute terror, a man's soul broke.
The beast gripped the standing man's head with its skeletal hands and—*Snap!*—tore it clean off. Blood splattered against the wall and rained down onto the man still lying on the bed.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" the man grumbled, wiping the liquid from his face. But as soon as he looked at the crimson on his hand, his expression shifted. In that same moment, he heard a gurgling rattle escaping from his roommate's severed neck.
The man turned and was struck by a horror beyond words. "What... what is this?!"
The beast swept its arm, and—*Boom!*—the headless corpse was tossed aside, slamming into the wall and sliding down, legs splayed upward while blood continued to geyser from the stump.
The monster advanced slowly, chewing on the victim's head, relishing the man's escalating terror.
**FEAR.**
The man scrambled backward, sweat pouring off him. "What... what do you want?" his voice trembled.
The beast smiled—a grotesque, twisted grin, as if it found the man's fear delicious. It raised a skeletal leg. The man held his hands up in a futile shield, but—*Crack!*
His arms snapped like dry twigs, and the beast's foot crushed his face against the floor, shattering it like a melon. Its skeletal feet, once pale, were now stained a deep, visceral red.
***
Minutes earlier...
"There is a strange smell in this place," Yousafer had said.
"It's not an ordinary smell," Yuray replied.
...A hand flew into the sky... a white bone writhed like a serpent... a bone pierced a mouth and exited the back of a skull...
Behind a distant window in the factory, eyes watched it all. A middle-aged man with a balding head drenched in sweat stared as Yuray slaughtered three men. He crouched down, unable to watch any longer.
"We're doomed... who are they? What is that bone coming out of him?"
Terror consumed him. He wanted to run, but his legs refused to move. He was alone in his room; his roommate had been the one whose head was just pierced by the bone. This was a man who knew nothing of the **Possessed**, nothing of the horrors of the wider world. To him, this was the end of all things.
He sat on the floor, pulling his knees to his chest, shaking and muttering gibberish. Suddenly, black shadows began to stretch beneath him... expanding until they swallowed the room in darkness and dread.
And within that darkness, a form took shape: skeletal limbs, an inverted torso, eyes like a frog, and a white bone emerging from the base of its spine.
The man looked up at the beast. The monster looked back, smiled, and brandished the bone that had just claimed a life.
***
Back to the Commander climbing the stairs toward the roof. He had left the screen-filled room on the second floor, desperate for fresh air to ease the tightening in his chest.
Deep down, he knew something was wrong. His nerves were frayed. *Is it the fluid?* he muttered. *Is it starting to affect me? Should I request a transfer?* Every step he took felt heavier, as if the air itself was turning into lead. *Is this... death coming for me?*
He reached the roof, where the rain was pouring and the wind whipped the water eastward. He tilted his head back, eyes closed, letting the scent of wet earth fill his lungs. His racing heart finally began to steady.
"Finally... it's passing," he sighed. He lowered his head, his brown hair and clothes soaked. He removed his black spectacles and turned to leave, but then... he saw him.
A young man with wet black hair, wearing black clothes striped with purple, sat perched on the factory wall. The wind whipped his clothes, sending sprays of water into the air.
The Commander's face went pale. He hadn't noticed the youth until he turned. It was Yousafer.
Yousafer gazed at the black clouds and whispered a voice that the wind carried to the man's ear: "Contemplating the clouds while the rain falls and the scent of the earth perfumes the air... it is a wonderful thing."
*Who is this? How did I not notice him?* the man thought frantically.
He regained his composure and demanded, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Who am I? What am I doing here? Don't worry about who I am," Yousafer replied. "As for what I'm doing here... it is your sins that led me to this place."
The man gritted his teeth. "What nonsense is this?"
Yousafer stared at him. "You wretch... you stole the freedom of dozens of people, and you ask me what I'm doing? You shouldn't regret it when that freedom is snatched from you in return."
"What are you babbling about? Are you mad?" the man shouted. He hesitated to attack, held back by a lingering caution and the tightness in his chest.
"Who owns these factories?" Yousafer asked.
The man felt a surge of arrogance. "And why would an insect like you want to know who the owner is?"
Yousafer's expression shifted. One eyebrow rose as the other dropped, his lower lip curling slightly while his eyes widened. "You made the villagers work in your factories for years. You took their freedom, their passion... you displaced their children and left them hungry. How do you intend to pay that debt?"
Yousafer sighed, shaking his head as rain flew from his hair. "Ah... can you even return those lost years? No. You cannot."
"The villagers? Ah... I see," the man realized. "You're one of the two who entered the forest. What happened to my men?"
"If you want to see your men... you can go to them. They're at the entrance. But you must answer my question first."
"Go to hell with your question, you brat!"
"Prepare for your death, then." Yousafer stood up, his clothes billowing in the gale. A terrifying expression took hold—a wide, arched smile, a red tongue darting between his lips, and sleepy, shimmering eyes. He looked like a predator savoring its prey.
The man's eyes stretched wide with primal fear. He took an involuntary step back. But his pride quickly returned, followed by a surge of hatred for his own cowardice.
"You're quite confident, aren't you, boy?"
Yousafer's expression remained unchanged. "Confidence has nothing to do with it. When you have the power to back up your words, you can say whatever you like."
The man laughed. "Are you saying you're stronger than me?"
"Yes... by far."
The man snarled, dropped his glasses, and charged. Rage had blinded him to the danger. Something beneath his green clothes began to move. The fabric tore—*Rrip... Rrip*—revealing tufts of thick brown hair.
He swung his arm toward Yousafer. **HAIR GERM: HAIR NEEDLES.**
Sharp strands of hair shot forward. Yousafer smiled and performed a mid-air flip to the side, effortlessly dodging the attack. The man swung again, sending waves of needles toward him.
Yousafer spotted a gap in the barrage and lunged through it. He was a blur of speed, closing the distance before the man could react.
*Boom!*
Yousafer's fist sank into the man's stomach. The Commander was lifted off his feet, water and bile spraying from his mouth. He slammed into a wall and slid through the puddles on the sloped roof.
The man clutched his stomach, using his other hand to push himself up. He glared at Yousafer, who stood with his arms crossed. He knew now he was facing someone extraordinary. The man stood, wrapping his body in a protective layer of hair, and rushed forward again.
Yousafer scoffed. The man swung a hair-covered fist; Yousafer dodged and countered. The man blocked, smiling as if unhurt.
Suddenly, the hair on the man's body detached, forming dozens of needles aimed at Yousafer's abdomen. But with a sneer, Yousafer swept his right leg, kicking the man's knee. The Commander lost his balance, falling forward right into Yousafer's swinging arm.
*Boom!*
A fist connected with the man's face. It happened so fast the Commander didn't even feel it until he was sliding back across the roof.
"You have the **Hair Germ**... but you use it in such a pathetic way," Yousafer mocked. "It's like a tuft of wool being chewed by a toothless rabbit. Just answer my question, and we can end this quickly." Yousafer had seen a master of this Germ before... in his nightmares.
The man wiped blood from his nose. He stood up but didn't attack. "I won't tell you anything, you arrogant brat!"
Yousafer narrowed his eyes. "It seems you're in a hurry to die."
"What do you want from me?" the man stammered, terrified by Yousafer's dark gaze.
"I told you... you will pay for the lost years of those villagers."
"And what do you care about their lives?"
"I don't. But people who wished for a simple life, who needed a shred of freedom... shouldn't they have it?"
"So what? Are you some kind of wish-granter? Ha!" the man laughed. "You're playing with fire. If I told you who owns these factories... you'd wet your pants and beg me for your life."
Yousafer looked at him with pure contempt and spat on the ground. One thing Yousafer hated was someone boasting of another's power. He lived by a rule: *If you cannot take pride in yourself, you are a disgrace to your own soul.*
"I'm eager to find out who this person is—the one who's supposed to make me wet my pants."
The man stood tall, his face twisted in fury. "Tell me your name first—"
*Clink... Clink...*
The sound of a chain cut through the air. The noise was so sharp it seemed to drown out the very sound of the rain and wind.
*Clink... Clink...*
Suddenly, the man collapsed. But his leg was no longer where it should be.
"AAAAAGGGHH!" A horrific scream tore from his throat as he watched his severed leg lying beside him, while a thin black chain, glowing with a faint purple aura, coiled around his neck and body.
**End of Chapter**