The streetlights on the road home had been broken lately; only a few were still lit.
In the dim street, there was only the slight sound of Sen Getsusa's sandals hitting the ground. The girl carried the fruit, her small toes painted with wine-red polish, her insteps looking like soft snow under the light.
At the foot of a lamp by a bench ahead, she could vaguely see the back of a little girl.
The crying seemed to be coming from there.
The girl had her back to Sen Getsusa.
The surroundings were silent and deserted. The sorrowful sound gradually grew louder—it was a very bizarre tone, as if the sound wasn't coming from the same space.
As Sen Getsusa gradually closed the distance, the girl's sobbing intensified. She pathetically hugged her arms and squatted with her knees pulled up under the dilapidated streetlight.
The girl's top and pants were torn in places, exposing large patches of skin. There were bruises on her legs, arms, and face. It looked as if she had been assaulted.
Sen Getsusa thought for a moment, frowning as she sniffed the strange scent, her small nose twitching a few times.
Is this... something rotting?
As she murmured, words appeared in the void.
Sen Getsusa frowned, adjusted her direction, and took large strides, visibly moving away from the girl and quickly bypassing her without looking back.
"Big... Sister?"
I'm deaf.
Sen Getsusa walked faster and faster.
"Big Sister, can you help me... contact my family?"
I have no mouth and no phone!
Sen Getsusa grabbed her hem and began to jog!
"Can you... please?"
At this moment, the voice came from directly overhead.
Sen Getsusa looked up.
She saw the girl above her, her neck stretched long, looking down at her from a height.
Her face was thinly elongated, her features displaced, and her eye sockets were filled with countless, densely packed pupils.
Her open mouth was full of sharp teeth, and her rotting neck was wrapped around the streetlight—the bulb had opened a hole in her trachea, and some wriggling worms were crawling on it.
The girl smiled at Sen Getsusa.
"Big Sister? Where are you going?"
As soon as she spoke, the girl's face suddenly became incredibly hideous.
"WHERE! ARE! YOU! GOING!"
Thud—
The bag of fruit dropped to the ground.
—Da-da-da!
Sen Getsusa dropped the fruit bag and charged straight toward the flesh-and-blood streetlight!
While running, she smoothly pulled a sharp steak knife from the maru-obi of her kimono!
The girl's gaze was fixed on the monster. To her side, profiled data was printed on a purple screen.
[Chaos Worm Parasite: Honestly, who could be more disarming than a helpless little girl in the twilight?]
[She will gently hold you and cry about her plight, then pierce your brain with her long tongue made of worms, spinning your eyeballs like wheels.]
[Finally, Chaos will warmly welcome you.]
[Energy Level: Lv0 · 'Contactee']
Sen Getsusa swung her arm, a certain martial art turning into a blade technique.
She had never seen this kind of monster before. Or rather, when she stepped onto the path of a Planeswalker, she should have been prepared to see all kinds of monsters.
Besides the strange creatures seen while traveling through Worlds, Sen Getsusa also had to accept the changes in the real World.
Clearly, the other side of the real World had finally opened its mouth to her in a low, raspy voice tonight.
While thinking, Sen Getsusa kept swinging the steak knife, cutting through pus, blood, and rotten flesh.
After ducking to avoid an attack, she delivered a side kick, sending a fluid-covered tentacle flying.
Her enhanced body pulled out trails of afterimages.
"Torn open torn open pierced through pierced through dead dead dead dead"
The girl—no, the monster—howled and circled unconsciously, diving down headfirst, her mouth splitting open to reveal densely packed worms stuck to her sharp teeth.
Bang!
It slammed into the ground, sending gravel flying like an explosion!
The concrete shook violently, cracking in a ripple of waves!
Sen Getsusa rolled to the side and raised her hand, her long sleeve covering her face to block the multicolored worms splashing from the monster's mouth.
"Hehehe..."
The wriggling slime also seemed to be composed of countless worms. It wrapped around the streetlight like a snake, twisting and bending it until the steel made a tooth-grinding sound.
The girl's face had melted like a wax figure, her eyes drooping down to her chin, and the light bulb in her mouth was bitten to pieces, clattering loudly.
Sen Getsusa looked at the monster before her and took a deep breath.
Then, slowly, slowly... she crouched down, her legs bent and tense, staring intently at the monster's head, her steak knife gleaming silver under the Moonlight.
"Hehe..."
The monster grinned, swung its head wildly, and began to charge at her at high speed!
In an instant, Sen Getsusa's figure twisted and blurred on the spot, a lagging shadow gradually becoming transparent and dissipating—
Afterimage!
The impact shattered the afterimage, and Sen Getsusa suddenly vanished from the monster's field of vision!
The next moment, the sound of rapid footsteps!
A 'pfft' sound suddenly came from the back of its head—within the monster's wide field of vision, a sharp silver horn grew out from between its eyebrows.
Combining Afterimage Strike with physical fitness that surpassed humans allowed for short-range teleportation while leaving behind afterimages.
Furthermore, one could confuse the enemy with multiple afterimages, delivering strike after strike, as unstoppable as surging waves.
However, at her current level, she could only manage short-distance movement, leaving behind a single blurred shadow.
Sen Getsusa crouched on the monster, disgustedly stepping on layers of wriggling worms as she plunged the steak knife into the back of the monster's head, then violently twisted her wrist!
Amidst the monster's shrill screams, Sen Getsusa calmly suppressed the constantly struggling head.
A burst of foul-smelling blood, accompanied by wriggling black multi-legged insects, splattered onto the ground, and pale flames began to burn silently.
Sizzle— Sizzle—
Gradually, the twitching stopped.
Sen Getsusa pulled out the knife and, stepping on the monster's head, stabbed it a few more times—in the girl's sight, its body slowly melted, the flames burning the worms and fluids, the scent dissipating, and the bones and muscles dissolving without a trace.
Before long, the ground was burned clean, remaining as it always was: hard stone slabs and smooth brick roads.
Sen Getsusa glanced at the Profiler, which had already changed.
[Corpse of a Chaos Worm: Since inhabiting the body of a lost girl, it has successfully consumed three humans while feeling right at home.]
[Perhaps with two more, this weak Chaos Worm could have successfully promoted—unfortunately, it will never have that chance again.]
[Being killed by a Planeswalker is the highest achievement of its life.]
[Note: Chaos aura detected; has disappeared.]
[Energy Level: Lv0 · 'Contactee']
Chaos?
Is this the other side of the World?
Sen Getsusa stifled a yawn, folded up the fruit bag and the knife, wrapped them in several layers of plastic, and tossed them into the roadside bin.
She slipped her hands into her pockets and started humming.
Far off, toward home, a light still glimmered in the window and a small figure flitted back and forth.
Sen Getsusa smiled and quickened her pace.
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