WTBFCY Chapter 32

Whoooosh!

He reached toward Noah. Unlike before, a thin membrane spread over both Noah and Sashar. Noah tightened his grip on his weapon as he watched the barrier envelop the entire street.

"I was going to give you an easy death, but I suppose that won't work!"

Bang! Crack! Crunch!

Finally out of patience, Sashar lunged at Noah in a single burst. Noah barely managed to block Sashar's blackened arm with both gun barrels crossed. The heavy force pushed him back, dragging marks into the ground beneath his feet.

"That's my line!"

Noah's arms trembled as he held back Sashar's strength. But he gritted his teeth and held firm until the end, then violently deflected upward and unfolded the blades attached to his gun barrels. Swish—the white blades flashed, and Sashar let out a hollow laugh.

"What are you going to do with those little blades?"

But the next moment, Sashar's laughter crumbled. The blades weren't aimed at Sashar—they were aimed at Noah himself. Slash—as the blade made a shallow cut across Noah's forearm and struck the black barrier, the shadow that absorbed his blood stopped moving.

"So that's your plan!"

Noah grabbed the now-solid barrier with one hand and yanked it hard. Unable to separate his power in time, Sashar was dragged forward by Noah's grip. Thick blood dripped down onto Sashar's face.

"Grrk!"

Terrible pain made Sashar clutch his face and double over. Noah quickly swung his gun at Sashar's back. But the Sashar before him instantly dissolved and avoided the attack. As the liquefied Sashar flowed away, Noah kept firing—then a piercing pain shot through his entire body and his vision went black.

"...Ghk!"

Sharp black spikes rained down from the sky like rain, piercing Noah. The barrier Sashar had spread earlier changed shape and attacked Noah. It was like pitch-black rain so dense you couldn't see an inch ahead.

Whoooosh!

"......!!"

His screams swallowed by shadows, Noah vomited blood. Unlike ordinary rain, this had viscosity—it began sticking to Noah.

Drip, drip drip.

The shadows that absorbed Noah's blood fell heavily to the ground with it. But far more black power than what fell kept pouring endlessly onto Noah, surrounding him.

"...There was a time I wondered why only human-faerie hybrids carried poison, so I hunted only them. That amount of poison doesn't work on me. Though maybe if I drained all your blood and bathed my entire body in it, it might have an effect."

Blood poured in massive quantities from Noah's mouth and punctured abdomen, filled in by black shadows. Noah's fingers, not yet completely consumed by shadow, trembled faintly in the air.

Sashar, who had been curled up clutching his face, spoke to Noah without a scratch on his clean appearance. He whispered as if sharing a secret, but Noah couldn't answer. His mouth and nose were already completely blocked.

It was an overwhelming difference in power.

"...!"

Regina, hiding behind a streetlamp, trembled all over. She had just watched Noah dying right before her eyes. A scream tried to escape, but she barely managed to clamp her mouth shut and hold it in.

She hadn't thought she should save Noah, who had tried to kill her. What could she do to save him? But it was horrifying. This situation of blood and gunfire was terrifyingly frightening, enough to make her skin crawl.

In her entire life—or at least in Regina's memories—she had never hurt anyone or seen anyone hurt, so this situation felt like a nightmare. Regina squeezed her eyes shut to shake off the tears forming and curled up her body.

'Please stop! Please let all of this stop. Please, please!'

With trembling hands covering her ears, she prayed desperately. Suddenly her back muscles tensed and ached. At that sensation, Regina flinched.

Flicker.

Was it coincidence? The streetlamp light slowly flickered. It started with the lamp Regina was leaning against. The light gradually weakened, then once, twice, it disappeared and reappeared repeatedly.

Fwip.

Then all the streetlamps on the entire street flickered simultaneously, going on and off, before fwip—they all went out. And what disappeared was all the light in that area. Streetlamps, buildings, even the small lights remaining in carriages parked on the roadside—all vanished.

The street that had been bathed in orange light was plunged into deep darkness in an instant.

"......?"

Even Regina, who had her eyes closed, opened them slightly at the sudden darkness. Despite opening her eyes, she blinked several times at the pitch-black view.

'...What just happened?'

She looked around with questioning eyes, but saw nothing. As she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, dim outlines began to appear. And not long after, the moonlight floating in the pitch-black sky revealed its presence. Regina relied on that light to stare at the opposite side. Noah and Sashar's figures, hidden in darkness, began to show again.

Regina watched them with trembling eyes.

Fwip—as the view darkened, Sashar, who had been pressing Noah, stopped moving.

In the pitch-black darkness where no boundaries could be distinguished. In it, suddenly, he felt peace. The kind of stillness he had longed for.

Like the light tremor of tension-stiffened muscles gradually loosening when submerged in warm water, Sashar narrowed his eyes.

"……."

How long had it been since he felt this liberation?

Suddenly everything felt trivial. An impulse arose to savor this feeling more. His gaze moved from Noah, wrapped like a cocoon in black shadows, back to the street submerged in darkness.

'If I absorb this one here, this feeling will disappear too. He's half human anyway, so his memories will come in with him. But to just kill him without absorbing would waste power I could take, which is quite regrettable....'

But his deliberation was short. The comfort he felt after several hundred years was sweet enough that Sashar withdrew his power without regret. This was probably a foolish decision. Nevertheless, Sashar gave up absorbing Noah. There were still plenty of opportunities left anyway, so there was no need for him to rush.

Shhhhh.

The black power on the ground and in the air returned and seeped into Sashar like paint.

Thud!

Noah, wrapped in black shadows, fell to the ground with a heavy sound. He didn't even twitch, as if unconscious.

"……!"

Regina, watching from afar, flinched. Noah looked dead. Then Sashar, detecting her faint movement, turned his head. His red eyes aimed precisely at Regina even in the darkness.

"Ah, so it's you. Young lady."

Sashar smiled. Panicking as his gaze suddenly turned toward her, Regina backed away blinking. The next moment, he stood before Regina.

"Wh-what...!"

Thud.

Regina looked up at him suddenly appearing before her, then plopped down on the ground. Sashar smiled apologetically and extended his hand.

"Oh my, I startled you. But there's nothing to fear."

Regina stared at that pale hand with frightened eyes. Seeing her lips tremble, Sashar withdrew his hand. He realized even his extended hand was terror to Regina.

"Mm, yes. It is strange to tell you not to be frightened in a frightening situation."

As he spoke with a smile, the shadow beneath Sashar's feet moved soundlessly. He used his power intending to put the girl before him to sleep temporarily before leaving. It approached Regina's palm pressed against the ground and slap—stuck to it.

"Eek?"

But Regina, startled by the suddenly sticky sensation on her palm, yanked her hand off the ground.

"...Hm?"

Seeing this, Sashar raised one eyebrow. He thought the girl before him was human, but apparently not. A human couldn't sense his power. He tilted his head and looked down at her carefully. As Sashar's face drew closer, her frightened purple eyes trembled faintly.

"Oh my! A black faerie, and newly born at that! Why didn't I notice? ...Ah, you haven't molted yet?"

Surprise spread across Sashar's face as he recognized Regina's identity. No matter how weak her power, that he didn't immediately notice—a question arose but was quickly dismissed. What mattered was that she was a black faerie.

"If you'd properly absorbed a human in spore form, you would have molted naturally. In this form, you must have eaten someone already dead? This is why initial consumption is important."

"……."

It was the tone of scolding a child who ate spoiled food. Regina just trembled faintly with fear. Even though her head knew he wouldn't kill her since they were both fairies, the trembling didn't easily subside after watching Noah get attacked.

"Still, if you absorbed a corpse with little life force, it would have been difficult to even take human form, yet you've formed such an excellent shape.... Perhaps you maintained spore form for quite a long time."

Sashar spoke with a smile as if looking at an admirable child. At the unexpected information, Regina blinked with her head lowered.

"Will you come with me, lady? There's a mansion nearby where black fairies all live together. I'll help you perform 'proper consumption' there so you can molt."

Proper consumption—its meaning was clear. Only then did Regina freshly realize the man before her was a monster who devoured humans.