I opened the apartment door and briefly looked around. I didn't know where I was. No memories, no sense of home. Just an unfamiliar space, an unfamiliar world, and a silence that suffocated me more than I expected. Everything felt out of place, like waking up in a body that doesn't belong to you, even though it was mine.
I closed the door behind me and locked it. I fumbled for my phone in my pocket – at least something familiar. Thank goodness for the maps. Without them, I wouldn't have a clue where to go. Even though I didn't need food, for some reason, it felt... human. Soothing. Maybe it's a remnant from my past self. Or just an empty routine.
I headed for the nearest convenience store. Inside, it was empty – no customers, just a bored clerk behind the counter. I grabbed a few packs of instant noodles, purely out of habit. Without a word, I paid and left, stepping back into the silence of the night.
I didn't want to go back just yet. I walked through the streets, absorbing the local architecture, soaking in the atmosphere. The city looked like any other. Should I check out the typical Japanese countryside? I've always wanted to visit Japan, I should take advantage of being here.
According to the documents created for me, I moved here from Osaka – sounds believable. I wanted to at least find my way to school, so I'd appear normal.
But as I walked, something else caught my attention – mana. The local supernatural beings couldn't hide it at all. It was as if they were screaming it at me. Such raw and unrefined signatures... only rookies would be this careless.
I could feel fallen angels here. They were keeping their distance for now, but the atmosphere was thickening. The beginning of the canon was likely approaching. I should be careful, not mix in too much. Not now.
Finally, I arrived at the school – it wasn't far. That's good. Who would want to spend an hour walking to school, right?
By then, the sun had completely set, and the city was immersed in darkness. I turned around to head back, but the peace didn't last long. A scream echoed from an alleyway. Loud, desperate.
I stopped.
I knew what it meant. A lost, hungry devil had decided to find easy prey. I'm not a hero. I never was. But... I have something like a conscience. Or something that resembles it.
Without a word, I threw the shopping bag into my shadow – it was immediately consumed. Shadows are obedient. As always.
I ran.
When I arrived at the scene, the first thing that hit me was the smell. The stench of rotten meat and foul magic. And then I saw it – that.
A monstrosity.
A creature so grotesquely twisted that it made my stomach churn. Three arms, each ending in something different – a claw, a tentacle, a piece of skull. A face? No, it couldn't be called a face. More like flesh with eyes that moved independently of each other. A red aura coiled around its body. Devil mana. But corrupted, wildly mutated.
In front of it knelt an old woman. Tears were streaming down her face, her hands trembling. "Please... spare me…" she whispered, not even noticing me.
The monstrosity laughed. A deep, rasping laugh. Its eyes focused on her, as if it had already swallowed her whole in its mind. I stopped a few steps from them.
"Have you finished?" I said quietly.
The monstrosity turned. The laugh again. This time directed at me.
"Another worm... come closer…"
Its sentence ended before it could finish it. My shadow rippled under my feet, and a black flame rose from it, beginning to shape itself into a sword. A weapon made of shadows – my will materialized in the blade. The sword I got from Paul, infused with my mana.
I grasped it and stepped closer.
"You're nothing more than waste," I said, without emotion, without anger. It was a fact. Precise, cold, and absolute.
The monstrosity screamed and lunged at me. Its body elongated, tentacles shot forward like whips.
I was faster.
With one step, I disappeared and appeared behind it. The sword struck in silence. I heard nothing. Only the subsequent snap when its body split in two. No scream, no warning.
Silence.
Darkness.
And dust.
The monstrosity was gone – as if it had never existed. Consumed by my shadows, dissolved into nothingness. Every trace of its existence vanished without a trace. No body. No evidence. Just pure, absolute erasure. That was the only thing I thought about in that moment.
And that's what stopped me.
I killed. With my own hands. For the first time. It wasn't a skill, it was with my hands.
And I felt nothing.
No hint of remorse. No adrenaline rush. Just silence. An inner calm that was far too cold. Death wasn't taboo for me, just the natural result of a decision. That monstrosity... it was no more to me than waste. A coding error in a game that someone poorly designed.
All that remained was a shadow.
And me. And the old woman, who was collapsed on the ground, stunned by the shock. I walked slowly to her. I knelt and placed my palm on her temple. The shadows around me stirred, slipping into her mind – gently, almost tenderly. They didn't harm her. They simply slipped through her memories.
The living room. Family photographs. A small boy smiling, a man with a hat. The smell of tea. The everyday routine. Loneliness.
I now knew her home.
The shadows rose around us like a veil. Without a spark, without dramatic magic – just engulfing the space. In an instant, we were in her apartment. She had fallen asleep on the couch. The room was filled with peace. The air was thick with herbs and old books.She remained there. Unaware that someone like me existed. And she never would.
I closed my eyes and transported myself back to the alley.
In the spot where the monstrosity had just perished, only darkness remained – my own energy. But I didn't want it to end just with death. Death is the end, but the shadow... the shadow is eternal.
I raised my hand, and the shadows around me swirled. They were my strings, my puppets. And I, their master.
"Rise," I spoke quietly, but the command resonated through the entire street.From the dark spot on the ground, a silhouette began to form. A body without its own will. A memory of the monstrosity I destroyed. Not flesh, not soul. Just essence. The shadow I took back.
The creature before me knelt. Without pride. Without ego. Its body trembled – not from fear, but from the natural submission to me.
"You will serve me now," I said. "Not as a monstrosity. But as a tool."
The creature dissolved. Not in an explosion, not in light. Just smoothly, like water disappearing into sand.
And its essence entered my shadow.I gained a new servant. A tool I could summon at any time. And all without the need for emotion. Without a single feeling.
I stayed there for a while longer. Listening to the silence. The silence after the first death.The silence after creation.
Finally, I made my way home. I have to go to school tomorrow. I don't know how I'll use this monstrosity, but it will come in handy in time...