A Few Minutes Earlier…

"Hoi—Hoi… what's going on?"

A young female hunter staggered back, eyes wide as she saw the zombies they'd been in a heated fight with suddenly pivoting as one, all turning and lurching toward a single direction, dragging their mangled limbs like iron filings pulled by a magnet.

"Guys!" shouted another hunter, the one manning the arcane fetters. "They're breaking the bindings—like something's calling them. This isn't normal!"

The reek of old blood and burnt salt thickened in the air.

Then came the thunder of hooves.

A horse-drawn cart burst from the alley haze, iron-shod wheels sparking against cracked stone. It plowed through a knot of staggering undead, trying by all means to evade many and not run over them until it skidded to a halt before the hunters struggling to keep their captives pinned. The S-ranks were already on guard.

From the cart leapt Priestess Seraphina of the Holy Church of Eldoria, robes of gold-white billowing like a falling banner. But her face was pale, drawn tight as a bowstring.

"Priestess! Thank the stars, with you here, we'd—" Liloth began.

"Hold the infected ones. Make sure none of them escapes." Seraphina's command cut her mid-sentence. She dropped to her knees beside a thrashing man held by two huntresses, her palm trembling as it pressed to his fevered brow.

"Goddess Veyra, Mother of mercy and endless grace,

your servant kneels in the shadow of ruin.

Your children are falling to the blight of the restless dead—

a devil's breath beneath their skin.

Shine your boundless compassion.

Drive out the darkness that gnaws their souls,

and let your light be the barrier no evil may cross."

Golden radiance seeped from her hand, slow and warm as sunrise over winter stone. The man's black-mottled flesh flushed pink; the rattle in his lungs eased to a steady breath. His eyes fluttered open.

Gasps rippled through the hunters. They felt hope –a fragile, dangerous thing.

Until the fifth prayer.

Seraphina doubled over, coughing thick clots of near-black blood onto her robes, staining them.

"Priestess, stop! You're out of mana!" cried one of the holy church nuns, her voice sharp with fear.

Seraphina only shook her head, hair damp with sweat. "There are still so many…"

She lurched to the next victim, vision blurring, joints quivering as more blood streaked her lips.

The hopeful crowd faltered into silence. And their faces were now filled with terror and fear.

"Shouldn't we stop her?" Aria muttered to Freya who only shrugged.

"She's been at this since we left the church, going around praying for every zombie we came across, almost over two hundred cleansings in such a short period of time." whispered the nun.

Freya's eyes narrowed. "Divine magic can scorch the soul. If her core burns out, there's no reigniting. That's death."

Liloth swore under her breath. Another hundred infected writhed nearby, and gods knew how many had fled toward one direction. But they could be over four hundred. She moved in, swift and silent, and struck a precise blow to the priestess's neck. Seraphina sagged into her arms.

"Keep the rest of the zombies bound," Liloth ordered. "I'll guard the priestess until she regains her mana. We don't want her burning out. Aria—find out where those other infected are headed. Freya, hold this line."

Aria groaned. "Why do I get the corpse-crawl assignment?"

"They aren't corpses. They're still human," Liloth snapped. "As a hunter, it's your job to protect humans."

"Yeah, yeah. Suppose this is where I say count on me—but honestly, hard pass." Aria fished a stick of gum from her pocket, smirked, and tossed it into her mouth and started chewing. Then, she took a dramatic position and began sparkling with blue lightning like some kind of a human Sonic the hedgehog.

"Flashy, fast, and fabulou—"

"Um… excuse me!"

"Gods' rotten teeth!" Aria spun. "Who ruins a catchphrase mid-spark?"

A round-faced boy shuffled forward clutching a long bleached bone in his right hand. "Sorry. Can I… tag along? I'm looking for my girlfriend. She's missing."

Liloth eyed him with open disgust. "Every citizen was ordered to the Academy Stadium for safety. Why aren't you there?"

"I was. She wasn't. I got worried—"

"Tsk. Suit yourself," Aria cut in. "Only an idiot chases romance in an apocalypse." She chewed her gum more and rolled her eyes. "And kid, keeping up with me? Good luck."

Lightning cracked. In the blink of an eye she vanished, just a scorched ozone trail where she'd stood.

The round, fat boy was none other than Brian. He set his bone gently on the stones and began to chant. Hunters traded wary looks as pale fragments erupted from the ground, rattling into the air. More bones—femurs, ribs, skulls—spun and clicked together, the sound like distant thunder made of teeth.

"What in the nine moons…" Liloth whispered, clutching Seraphina closer in her arms.

"I dunno!" Brian shouted over the din, eyes wide. "Just a spell I wanted to try!"

The whirling bones fused, shaping something immense. Gasps rose.

"It's… it's forming a—"

"A dragon," someone breathed. "A skeletal dragon!"

The creature's vast, ivory frame coiled and then bowed in front of Brian like it knew he was its master, its hollow eye sockets glowing faintly. Brian gawked. "That bone… it was a dragon's all along?"

The blessing he had received from the God of Gluttony—summon any beast from its remains. A chicken bone for a skeletal hen; a dragon bone for… this.

No time to marvel. Mirai was still out there.

Brian vaulted onto the dragon's spine. With a thunderous beat of ghostly wings, it launched skyward, overtaking the crackling trail of lightning that marked Aria's path.

Below, the horde of zombies writhed like a black tide.

Then the air itself shivered.

A pulse of pure malice rolled across the field, heavy as a storm front. An aura evil enough that even Zombies froze mid-lurch and an S-rank like Aria skidded to a halt, her lightning sparking wild around her.

"What the hell is that?" her voice carried up.

Brian barely glanced down. The evil aura filling the air wasn't his concern. He had only one thought:

Find Mirai.

TBC

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