The people around me exchanged wide-eyed glances, their faces painted with disbelief. None of us could accept what we were seeing—that black-winged figure hovering in the sky above.
I couldn't tear my eyes away either.
The Dark Angel's blazing golden eyes burned through the darkness, radiating an aura that made me feel utterly crushed. Was I afraid? Absolutely. But something deep inside me was... awakening.
"What the hell is this? Some movie shoot?" the man beside me muttered, rubbing his eyes frantically. "Must be some new CGI effect."
Several people actually pulled out their phones to record. They still thought this was entertainment!
How naive.
"You think this is a joke?" The Dark Angel's voice dripped with pure rage. "Disgusting insects who dare treat our presence like cheap entertainment!"
His piercing gaze swept across the crowd below us. "Look at yourselves. Fighting for scraps of bread, scrambling for crumbs of power, then dying without meaning."
Those words hit me like a physical blow.
Scraps of bread. Dying without meaning.
The phrases felt intensely personal, as if he'd reached into my soul and read every moment of suffering I'd endured. Anger began to blaze in my chest.
"You bastard!" A burly man in a leather jacket stepped forward, his face flushed crimson with rage. "Don't you dare spout that bullshit!"
His hand moved with practiced speed, drawing a pistol from beneath his jacket.
"Die, you freak!"
BANG!
I held my breath. The bullet streaked straight toward the Dark Angel's chest.
But it bounced off. Like hitting an invisible wall. Thin ripples of energy shimmered around him. The bullet clattered harmlessly to the asphalt with a tiny ping.
"How brave of you, insect. But your courage is nothing more than foolish arrogance."
In a split second, the Dark Angel vanished. Then reappeared directly behind the leather-jacketed man. I couldn't even follow his movement!
Before the man could react, the Dark Angel's hand was already gripping his skull. His fingers glowed with an eerie blue light.
"Let this be a lesson to all of you."
CRACK!
The man's head exploded in his grasp. Burst like a watermelon hitting concrete. Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere.
Hysterical screams erupted around me. The metallic stench of blood filled the air. People scattered like panicked ants. I jerked backward, nausea crawling up my throat. This wasn't ordinary violence—this was brutal slaughter.
"STOP!"
His voice reverberated through the air. Suddenly, the atmosphere became impossibly heavy. My legs felt like lead, my knees buckling. Within seconds, I collapsed to my knees. The entire crowd crumpled to the ground, unable to stand. Gravity felt a thousand times stronger.
I struggled to lift my head, neck muscles straining against the invisible pressure. Around me, faces were twisted with terror and tears.
The Dark Angel hovered low above us, a thin smile carved across his lips.
"Calm yourselves, little insects. Our presence here isn't to annihilate you all... at least, not all of you."
Not all of us? That meant some would be destroyed!
My heart hammered against my ribs.
"Listen carefully. We've come for a purpose that will change your destiny forever."
I fought to breathe under the crushing weight. Change our destiny? What did he mean?
"You've lived too long in ignorance and weakness. Trapped in cycles of suffering, hunger, and despair."
Each word struck me like a hammer blow. Suffering. Hunger. Despair. That was my entire life! Did this creature somehow... know about me?
"We've come to offer you a choice." Blue light swirled around his palms, growing brighter. "A choice between remaining powerless insects that we can crush at any moment, or... becoming something more."
His golden eyes swept the crowd, pausing briefly on me. In that gaze, I felt him peering deep into my core, seeing every bitter memory, every invisible wound that had never healed.
"Carrot, or Stick."
The phrase echoed in my mind like a death knell. Two contrasting options with unimaginable consequences. What was this creature offering? Sweet promises that would end in destruction? Or new suffering that would finish everything?
The air around him began to spiral. Blue energy formed a vortex, expanding rapidly. The sky above seemed to bend, pulled by invisible forces.
I stared up at him, transfixed.
The pain from the gravitational pressure was excruciating, but my curiosity burned stronger. I had to know. What exactly was this being offering us? What did he mean by "something more"?
That thin smile returned to his lips as his aura reached its peak. The night had just begun, and for me, this was the dawn of a destiny I could never have imagined.
But would I survive long enough to see it?