The red liquid on the darkened ground gleefully reflected her mirror image. Her pain was felt even to me, the powerful shout of agony coming from her as she covered her ear, only reinforcing my idea that it had to hurt.

  The meat piece had been separated from her body in an instant. The red flow from the cut gushing down her cheek, continuing to drop it's droplets one by one.

  "Allison, are you okay?"

  Anybody would be concerned in this situation; Li worries were only natural.

  "I've seen better days."

  The hold she had on the left side of her head was very strong.

  Jessica rushed to her, a mass of darkness devouring her path to Allison.

  *Bang!*

  The mass dissipated, a small area revealing itself back through the darkness.

  I focused my senses to feel from where that shot came from.

  To my surprise, I could feel someone on a rooftop nearby. Shooting from this distance and with this much precision could only mean one thing.

  It was the work of a professional sniper. An amateur wouldn't even be able to manage to nd such precise shots. They would miss their target most of the time.

  ***

  To be honest, I had no idea what was happening right now. Scratch that, I had no idea what was happening to the world right now...

  My belief had always been that believing in such frivolity as demons or monsters was only a sign of immaturity, nothing more.

  As, in the end, I was the one that was being proven childish and immature as my entire beliefs became challenged.

  Forced to watch as my comrades swiftly got consumed one by one by darkness itself.

  For a woman of duty like myself, there could be no greater honor than to die for the cause of my country, but I had to recognize this was too much.

  Humans may be cruel, but they are still humans when you get down to it. When it comes to a monster, anything that you consider humane is thrown out of the window.

  In this singur month, this country turned into the pything of those monsters like the one I currently see in my scope.

  I am a soldier.

  I shouldn't tremble when holding a rifle, but I can't combat the fear of the unknown caused by the uncertainty the thing I could see with my own two eyes caused.

  Deep inside, something, a sensation, a feeling, told me this fight wasn't just for the sake of this country...

  But for the world itself.

  So, regardless, I will hold my gun, even if the attempt to shoot such a thing is futile.

  This is nothing but my duty for the sake of my country... No, the world.

  I noticed shadows moving closer to the golden-haired teenage girl below.

  I shoot on sight, instinct overtaking my mind and body.

  In this singur instance, I felt like I had become one with my gun.

  "Phew."

  I let out, relieved, managing to put that girl out of harm's way.

  Why are those teenagers even here in the first pce? Wasn't there an order to evacuate citizens by all means necessary?

  ...

  I know firsthand how futile an act trying to stand up to those beings is. I've been witnessing it all this time, what could mere teenagers hope to accomplish.

  They aren't mature enough to understand the gravity of the situation.

  Those children should value fear more. Fear is not shameful, it is part of any living being.

  It doesn't matter wether you're human or animal, the sensation in itself is natural.

  Those kids clearly aren't normal, as they wouldn't be here in the first pce otherwise but my conscience would never forgive if I let those fledglings die under my eye.

  So even as my comrades continue to be consumed by this ever encompassing darkness, I chose to brandish my weapon.

  This futile motion is my decration of war.

  ***

  I understood perfectly that those gods were right, fighting that thing was pointless, we should retreat and see to Allison's injury.

  Aria pointed to the area the shots had cleared, the darkness had completely vanished from it. Why was that?

  Jessica tried to stab Allison with her needle, only for the object to be grabbed by bck tendrils.

  A descending motion hit those tendrils, Marth stomping his massive axe on them.

  Unfortunately, it seemed to have no effect, as they simply reformed, grabbing the needle and throwing it away.

  The creature melded into the dark scenery, it's singur red pupil showing back up near Allison and Li.

  A wall of fire separated it from them, María standing before this divine being.

  Following her call to action, Alma and the cat came to join her.

  "Bruja, how long will it take for you to open a portal rge enough to transport all of us?"

  The announcement of the time limit she imposed on us only served to push an impossible demand on all of us.

  "One hour..."

  She lifted a single finger, emphasing her point in the comfortable embrace of Allison.

  "There's no way we can survive against this thing for one hour..."

  María expressed, fear deforming her features .

  The pressure Li had just imposed on all of us from just uttering this time limit was the st thing we needed.

  Do we really have to fight what is essentially just a concept for one hour? Just those five minutes we already spent shaving off it's attacks were already taxing on most of us.

  "Alright, do your thing", I simply responded to her, not having much choice in the matter.