Silence all around, so quiet.
Deiba's eyes were red, all red. She got up slowly. Luca was in deep thought, thinking about Kenzo and felt that he must be worried about him.
He was thinking about it and just wanted to arrive at HQ tomorrow. He was staring at the bonfire.
Deiba was staring at Luca. She slowly stepped forward toward him; she started approaching him from behind.
On the other side, Rin started to wake up. His eyes opened slowly. He rubbed his eyes, then suddenly his eyes went to Deiba's direction, who was slowly walking toward Luca, who was still unaware of the danger behind him. Her steps were too quiet for Luca to hear or notice.
Rin quickly turned toward Ming, who was lying a few steps away from him, sleeping. He slid toward him quietly and shook his shoulder to wake him up, trying to make no sound. Ming started to wake up and looked at Rin with confusion. But before Ming could ask anything, Rin placed his hand on his mouth to shut him up. Then, with his other hand, he pointed toward Deiba's direction with his finger, and Ming's eyes followed the direction he was pointing at.
When he saw Deiba like that, he got confused and exchanged a glance with Rin. Then both of them grabbed their swords and got up slowly.
On the other side, Deiba was too close to Luca now—almost so close that Luca could feel her breathing on his neck. He was about to turn, and Deiba raised her hand toward him. Ming shouted, "Luca, move away!!!" And before she could hurt him, Rin grabbed her wrists and pulled her back.
Luca quickly got up and turned toward them. He saw Rin grabbing Deiba's both wrists. Her red eyes and long nails made Luca shocked. It was getting hard for Rin to control her as she was struggling and roaring. Then Ming quickly stepped forward to help Rin, but Deiba pushed them away and attacked them. They dodged her attacks.
---
On the other side, in HQ.
As everyone heard that roar coming from the training ground—Hikari, Daisuke, Fubuki, Amaya, Akiko, Sofia, Soru, Sheto, Ash, the Old Lady, and the others quickly arrived there. What they saw was shocking, because one of their trainees was there—and the terrifying thing was, he was now a monster. But not like other monsters. His neck was twisted at his shoulder, and his eyes were all black, not red.
Around him, there were 3–4 soldiers' dead bodies. Some's eyes were taken and their blood was sucked, and some's heads were cut off and their lips were stitched. The Old Lady quickly covered Ash's eyes to stop him from seeing that terrifying sight. The others took their swords and got into position for the fight. Everyone was shocked, terrified, and had many questions—but right now, they all knew this was not the time for questions.
Then Hikari shouted, "Soldiers! Breathe and be ready for fight!"
Everyone nodded and replied, "YES, SIR!"
Then Daisuke said, "Some of you cover the Old Lady and Ash—protect them! The others, fight with us against that monster!"
They nodded. Then a few (5–6) soldiers shielded the Old Lady and Ash, while the others stayed ready.
Suddenly, that monster ran at flash speed—and in just a second, he was behind one of the soldiers. But Soru reacted quickly. He moved to attack him, because Soru was beside that soldier and noticed the monster's move. Before Soru's sword could touch that monster, he moved again with flash speed, back to his place where he was.
At first, everyone was abrupt and alert. They were sweating after seeing his speed. But as the head commander, Hikari was the only one who didn't react much. He was goddamn serious. He stepped forward, stood in the middle like a commander, holding his sword tightly and glaring at the monster.
---
On the other side, back to the forest.
Deiba kept attacking them. Then Rin shouted, "Ming! Luca! Attack her from each side! Distract her!" Ming and Luca nodded and attacked her from each side, but she dodged. She was fast, but not too fast, because they were three. Finally, Ming managed to injure her arm, but she didn't stop. She lunged at Luca with her long nails.
Luca tripped on a stone and fell to the ground. His sword fell from his hand. Ming and Rin looked worried. Then, as she was about to attack Luca with her long nails, running toward him, Rin quickly reacted from behind her and lunged with his sword. He was about to cut her head when Ming grabbed his wrist to stop him.
Rin looked at Ming with shock and anger, and asked, "What the hell are you doing?! Ming!"
Then Ming responded, "Look at her."
Rin's eyes followed his gaze and saw that she had already stopped her hand and nails just a few inches away from Luca's face. The shocking thing was—Ming, Luca, and Rin—all noticed that there were tears rolling down from her eyes.
Rin was shocked. Luca was frozen, still lying on the ground, staring at Deiba with confusion and shock. Ming, with a serious and alert expression, but with emotion in his eyes, said, "So she's not mindless like other monsters."
---
Back to HQ.
Everyone started fighting against the monster—except one person. It was Kenzo, who was just watching them from the entrance door of the HQ building, with an unreadable expression.
On one side, there were monsters who were not mindless for the first time—and on the other side, there was a friend who wasn't reacting to everyone's struggle.
End of Chapter 27