The newly formed squad slowly approached the strange structure. All the members, besides Takeshi, were very wary—and Takeshi himself was beaming with curiosity.
Once they reached its entrance, they saw that the layer of soot on the ground before it had been shifted to the sides, forming what resembled a pathway. It stretched from the church's entrance all the way further into the bone labyrinth.
Then, they entered the church itself.
From inside, it gave off ancient vibes, and it was nearly falling apart. Its dark walls, made of rock, looked fragile—and the right wall even had a huge gap in it, close to the ceiling, revealing the dark sky covered by the hanging silk-like material.
The aisle, surrounded by ancient wooden pews on both sides, still had a sense of importance.
As they walked down the aisle, Takeshi—who was the farthest left in line—noticed that two rows of pews and the ground beneath them were completely destroyed. Embedded in the middle of the shattered floor was a black spear. Based on its color, it seemed to be made of iron and an exaggerated tip: with an elegant yet lethal design. The spear was embedded into the ground at an angle Takeshi roughly estimated to be around 60 degrees.
He then looked up at the hole near the top of the church's right wall, which extended a bit into the ceiling nearby. Based on that, Takeshi deduced that the spear had flown in from the air and crashed into the church—destroying the ceiling and impaling the ground.
After coming to that conclusion, he was both confused and curious about the origins of the spear. Since he couldn't find an answer, he chucked the thought to the back of his mind and continued moving forward with the rest of the group.
Each member of the squad was carefully examining the interior of the church. Though the structure was unknown to most of them, they all found it pretty ordinary in its current state, with no noticeable abnormalities.
When they finally arrived at the altar, Renji sensed something. It was a feeling very similar to what he experienced whenever there was a flame or fire nearby. He always felt a certain connection—a bond with the flames—as if they were a part of him.
But what he felt now was different.
While similar in nature, instead of a sense of belonging, he felt foreignness. It didn't feel like it came from a single place—it was scattered all over the church's interior.
Instinctively, Renji tried to control the source of the familiar feeling to uncover what it was. He reached out with his power and grasped each and every one of the sources.
The moment his power made contact, the sources materialized and revealed themselves.
A dozen blobs appeared in the air inside the church. Each one was slightly larger than a fly, made of an undefined matter. They resembled flames, flickering wildly in every direction—expanding and contracting without any clear pattern. They shifted erratically in color, a chaotic dance of black and red.
As soon as Renji made contact, the air inside the church grew heavy. Takeshi, Aiko, and Rin all felt an incredible force press down on their bodies, nearly bringing them to their knees.
For Renji, it was even worse.
The moment he touched the power, every muscle in his body tensed. Cold sweat instantly appeared on his forehead, the veins on his face bulged to the point of nearly bursting, and blood began to run from his nose and ears.
All of it happened in less than two seconds.
Then, a female voice echoed inside his head.
"Stop!"
At that moment, he did just that—but truthfully, he didn't need the demon's warning to make the decision. He had already realized it himself: if he held onto that power even a second longer, he would die.
As soon as he severed his connection to the blobs, they disappeared instantly.
Renji collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. The demon's voice rang again in his mind:
"This is something beyond both your and my authority… and power."
Renji sat in silence, still panting, wiping away the blood leaking from his nose and ears. As for the incredible force that had been weighing down on his teammates—it vanished the moment he let go of the connection.
After a few moments of stunned silence, Aiko whispered quietly,
"What was that…?"
A few seconds passed before a hoarse voice echoed inside her mind:
"It was destruction in its purest form."
Destruction? Aiko repeated in her head, still in shock.
Then, the voice muttered again, as if commenting to itself:
"Just remnants of His power… and still, they hold such a powerful aura."
Aiko whispered internally,
"Who is He?"
The old voice paused, then answered, as if trying to avoid the question:
"I suggest you all leave this place."
Aiko nodded silently. The voice went quiet once more.
She quickly helped Renji to his feet and turned to the others.
"We should leave. Now."
The rest of the team nodded in agreement and began heading for the exit.
As they left, Takeshi couldn't shake a strange feeling that had surfaced when the force disappeared. It came from within—as if someone inside him had been watching everything through his own eyes.
Was it my demon? Did he also feel it through me? he wondered.
Once they were finally out of the church, Renji felt a small wave of relief wash over him. He had narrowly escaped a terrifying fate, and yet his body still trembled uncontrollably.
The rest of the party cast wary glances his way, but seeing that he clearly didn't want to talk, none of them asked any questions.
Without a word, they all agreed to follow the path that had formed from the absence of soot, revealing the shifting grey sand beneath.
They walked along it, winding through the bones, for about a minute before arriving at a large clearing.
There, they found seven houses, all built from the same dark stone. Their architecture, once again, didn't resemble anything native to this world. However, Takeshi noticed something familiar—the style of these buildings reminded him of houses that once existed on Earth.
The clearing had only a few bones protruding from the ground, but something far more shocking caught their attention.
Spears.
The entire ground was covered in spears, each one identical to the black spear they had seen embedded in the church floor. The rooftops of the houses were collapsed, suggesting the spears had struck there as well—none had been spared.
As they neared what seemed to be a tiny village, they walked between the countless spears that jutted from the earth like monuments of an ancient, forgotten age.
Takeshi couldn't suppress his curiosity. Reaching out with his left hand, he grabbed one of the spears, intending to pull it from the ground.
But the moment he touched it, he felt an overwhelming, crushing force descend upon him, pressing him down.
Panic surged through him, and he immediately let go, retracting his hand.
As he regained his senses, he glanced around. The others were still walking, seemingly unaware of what had just happened.
It only affected me... he thought.
Suddenly, a searing pain flared in the palm of his left hand. He looked down—and saw a fresh, blackened burn mark. The flesh where he had touched the spear was charred and raw.
Gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, he quickened his pace to catch up with the group.
Now they stood within the heart of the miniature village.
In a hesitant tone, Rin asked, "You don't think there are people—or demons—that live here, do you?"
After a brief silence, Aiko responded, "I don't believe so. It looks like this village has been abandoned for a very long time… just like the church."
Rin nodded and seemed to calm down a little.
They soon agreed to enter the first house, which marked the entrance to the tiny village.
Takeshi took the initiative and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. Something was blocking it from the other side—remnants of the collapsed roof.
Seeing that opening it normally wouldn't work, Takeshi decided to kick it in.
With one swift kick, the door gave way and collapsed inward, landing on the rubble from the fallen roof.
Inside, the house was a wreck—also destroyed by the collapsed ceiling—but beneath the rubble, traces of furniture could still be made out.
There was a table, chairs, a bed… everything a typical house would have.
What is all this furniture doing here? Don't tell me demons also live in houses like humans… That seems hard to believe.
He wanted to voice his thoughts, but found the idea too strange, maybe even a little embarrassing.
Fortunately, there was someone in the group who didn't find it embarrassing at all—Rin.
She asked aloud, "Is it possible these houses belonged to demons? Could they live in them?"
Both Renji and Aiko shook their heads.
"To my knowledge," Aiko replied, "demons don't have such habits or needs. A village like this in the Shadow Realm… it's an anomaly."
Just as Takeshi was about to offer his own theory, something caught all of their attention.
A skeletal hand burst from the ground and gripped a piece of rubble. Using it for support, the creature pulled itself up and revealed its full form.
It was an undead skeleton.
While it wasn't nearly as large as the one Takeshi had encountered on his first night, its appearance was otherwise identical. It stood about the size of a human, and in its eye sockets burned two white flames, streaked with gray and black.
In its hand, it held a short sword.
Takeshi instinctively reached for his weapon, but before he could unsheath it, he heard the sound of clattering bones behind him.
He and the others quickly turned around.
In front of the house, several dozen more of the undead rose from the ground.