Beneath the cross hung a man clad in black who did not even have the strength to lift his head. A shining silver spear piercing through his stomach pinned his body against the wall. As his feeble limbs dangled, blood flowed nonstop from his wounds. Some of that dark, murky substance trailed to his fingertips before dripping down into a steadily growing puddle on the floor.
As he took shallow breaths, one after another, the man heard the quiet footsteps of someone approaching.
A calm voice resounded through the desolate church. “So this is what the end looks like for a monster who has stolen innumerable lives over the course of countless years.”
Clouds drifted through the sky on a gentle night breeze, parting to let moonlight shine through the stained glass and illuminate the source of the voice.
Silver.
Her hair, her eyes, the spear she held with one hand, and even the motes of light lingering around her all shone silver.
The girl looked down at the bloody man with a coldhearted glare. “How unsightly.” Disgust crossed her face, distorting the faint scar running down her cheek. Pure animosity filled her silver eyes, and the spear she held awaited its turn to end the man’s life.
“Urgh... Wh-Why... Why is no one...coming to my aid...?” As the man lifted his hand in the air, fresh blood flew from the remains of his severed fingers.
And yet, nothing happened.
The girl held her spear level, right before the eyes of the man trembling in agony. “You really don’t know why your underlings and retainers aren’t coming?”
“What...are you saying...?”
“I’ll give you time to think. You should arrive at the answer soon enough.”
While his face showed open irritation at the girl’s words, the man’s thoughts raced. After his dark red eyes glanced over the church, they shot open wide in shock.
“No... It cannot be...” He hung his head once more in despair.
“You finally figured it out. That’s right... You’re the last one,” the girl calmly stated. She brought her silver spear closer to the man. If she took just one step, that sharp tip would pierce his skin and draw even more blood.
He glanced at the instrument that would take his life before his whole body started trembling.
“Mwa... Mwa ha ha!” The man let out an unnerving laugh. His lips twisted into a grin at the girl standing in front of him. “Ah, I cannot help but laugh thinking of what shall become of people like you once I am no more.” The man paid no heed to the blood dripping from the corner of his lip and simply kept grinning with pure mirth. “Young hunter, it is precisely because we exist that your life holds meaning.”
The girl stood in silence.
The smile on the man’s lips grew all the more twisted—perhaps her reaction had amused him. “You were born and trained to fight us. That is why you exist. Honestly, such senseless, deluded conviction truly is something to be admired. How pitiable, to think that your foolishness has led you to try and destroy the last of my noble brethren... Once I am gone, what shall become of you?”
The girl offered no reply.
“Your people are denizens of the darkness now, just like my kin. You are heretics, fated to live in a world of pure and utter chaos. If you try to carry on in a peaceful world instead, you will have little choice but to await your own end... Now, if you understand all that, then swing your spear and end my—”
A swish cut through the air and the rest of the man’s words. A diagonal slice through his neck sent his lower jaw flying and made his head tumble back in an eruption of blood.
With an unbelievably cold look in her eyes, the girl—the silver hunter—uttered, “Such a sad attempt to beg for your life.”
Just then, the man’s corpse began to change. His body seemed to dry up, and cracks formed all over his skin. An ashen darkness spread from his fingers, and what had once been a man soon turned to mere sand.
The hunter swung her silver spear to the side, sending black ash across the floor of the church. She looked down at the black attire, now absent its wearer.
“What will I do after killing you?” That’s obvious, she thought. “I’ll go to school.”