Fighting while concussed was nothing new to me.
Using my right hand for support, I pushed myself up, fully expecting to be attacked again before I could even get to my feet. But the red-eyed man remained disturbingly still, as if frozen in place for reasons I couldn't understand.
I didn't waste the opportunity.
Propping myself into a sitting position, I quickly used the Boss-Holzach matter technique to force my shoulder back into place. It wasn't something anyone sane would attempt under normal circumstances—it was risky, painful, and generally advised against unless absolutely necessary.
This qualified as an emergency.
A sharp jolt of pain shot through me as the joint snapped back into alignment, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through it, rising to my feet.
Now steady—at least on the surface—I studied the man closely.
His normal eye… was watering. Not in panic, not in pain—just tears streaming down without any emotion to match. His face remained blank, empty, like something wearing a human expression rather than feeling it.
Then, in a low, subdued voice, he spoke a single word.
"...Help."
The word caught me off guard. Confusion flickered through my mind, cutting through the tension.
"What happened to you?" I asked, my voice sharp but uncertain. "And why did you suddenly attack me—?"
I didn't even finish.
He moved again.
This time with a violent, primal intent—like something ancient and starving had taken control, bent on tearing everything apart.
I reacted instantly.
At the last possible moment, I sidestepped, his charge barely missing me as he rushed past. In the same motion, my hand reached behind to the small of my back, gripping the metal rod tucked into my waistband.
With a single fluid movement, I drew it out—
—and snapped it to its full length.
For a missed takedown, it should have been almost impossible for him to recover and come after me so quickly.
But he did. Almost instantly.
That alone was enough to shake me. I lost my composure and went all in, swinging the metal rod down with everything I had, aiming straight for his head.
The impact was solid.
Any normal human would have collapsed from that—skull cracked, blood pouring, writhing in agony.
But this… thing barely reacted.
All it did was buy me a brief moment—just enough to notice the rod in my hands… slightly bent from the force of the strike.
From the moment I saw that burning red eye, a question had been clawing at the back of my mind.
Now, staring at the warped metal, I finally accepted the truth.
Whatever I was facing…
It wasn't human.
Or at least, not anymore.
And I didn't stand a chance against it.
The rabid thing wearing human skin lunged at me again, its movements erratic and predatory. It feinted to the left—then abruptly shifted mid-motion, leaping from the opposite side.
I barely avoided it by leaping out of its way.
Not wasting a single second, I scrambled up and ran—straight toward the tree, pouring every ounce of strength I had left into each step.
Behind me, it was already closing in.
Closer.
Closer—
Just as it was about to catch me, my fingers brushed against the bark of the tree.
And in that instant—
The world changed.
A blinding cascade of pale golden light descended from above, engulfing the tree in a radiant column. It spiraled around it like a divine storm, swallowing everything in its reach.
I felt myself fading within that light—my body dissolving, weightless, untethered.
Behind me, the creature let out something between a scream and a snarl—
And then it burned.
Not with fire, but with something far more absolute.
Its form broke apart, disintegrating into fine particles, scattering into nothingness as if it had never existed at all.