Awakening of the Weakest Slayer

Every single being in the vast, subterranean chamber bowed their heads, their bodies a sea of silent, prostrate forms before the curtained stage.

Heavy silence draped the sanctuary, broken only by the rhythmic, metallic hiss of the ancient machines, their function and purpose a mystery. Mari, small and utterly alone in a crowd of monsters, was terrified. Not by the strange, humming machines or the eerie, artificial light, but being between so many Flesh Reapers wasn't pleasant for her at all.

Stranger still was the fact that neither Sezel nor his companions reacted to the beasts, and the beasts, in turn, paid them no mind. But Mari's attention was not on the creatures. It was fixed on the stage, the source of the suffocating, black energy that had been pressing down on her since they had entered this place. She couldn't contain her fear any longer.

"Mister… Mister… please, let's run away from here," she whispered, her voice a small, desperate plea that was audible only to Sezel.

But Sezel didn't even acknowledge her. His eyes were closed, his mind lost in a state of unbreakable, focused reverence.

After a while, their eyes snapped open. He looked at Mari, his face a mask of clear, undisguised annoyance.

Mari fell silent. She knew, with a certainty that was as hard as the floor beneath her, that they would not listen to her. She lowered her head, her small shoulders slumping in defeat.

Suddenly, the Flesh Reapers, who had been prostrated in silent worship, began to stand. As one, they turned and started walking towards the glass tube lift from which Sezel and his friends had just entered. And Sezel, Vesta, and Shiki followed them, their movements fluid and unhesitating, as if they were one of the beasts themselves.

It was as if they had lost all sense of their own humanity, all memory of who they were.

They all entered the lift once again along with the beasts, The lift was almost as big as the circumference of the metallic tower, and all of them, human and beast alike, fitted inside with more than enough space to spare.

Mari gulped hard, every second was a taking a toll on her, her body couldn't stop trembling. It was a fear that was so profound it was almost a physical pain. She was standing among, creatures of pure terror.

The lift moved upwards, and once again, they were plunged into the familiar, suffocating darkness of the tower. The base of the lift was now acting as the ground.

Mari was afraid to even breathe, who would not be? standing, surrounded by creatures that could kill a human in an instant, and she was just a child. She felt as if she were being pinned down by the hungry, unseen gazes of the monsters around her.

The metallic door, the one from which they had entered the tower, hissed open. But instead of the faint sunlight they had left behind, there was only darkness. The three moons were shining brightly in the night sky, their pale light casting long, distorted shadows across the desolate landscape.

The Flesh Reapers who had been standing silent like corpses till now, started marching out of the entrance one by one.

Mari was lost in her own hellish thoughts when something jerked her hand. She looked up. It was Sezel. He was pulling her, urging her to follow them out into the night, to wherever they were all going, like a mindless, obedient herd.

She simply followed, her small feet stumbling as they moved out of the metallic tower. As soon as the last of the Reapers had exited, the gate hissed shut behind them.

Outside the world was already engulfed by the night sky, the three moons were shining brightly. And there was little to no Spirit essence in this area, it was as if the Spirit essence here had already been taken by someone.

The Flesh Reapers moved in neat, orderly lines, like workers on their way to their designated tasks. Sezel's eyes squinted a little, 'Why am i here?' he asked himself, the question a small whisper in the vast, empty landscape of his mind. And then, a knowing expression crossed his face, as if he had finally discovered the answer to a question he had long forgotten he had asked.

"We have to go and harvest the Spirit Essence," he said, his voice a strange, hollow echo of his own.

Mari looked at him in shock. It was the first time he had ever said such a thing. Even when they had been surrounded by a wealth of Spirit essence, he had never bothered to take any of it.

Vesta and Shiki seemed to share his newfound purpose, their own faces alight with the same strange, fervent zeal. And not before long, they all strode along with the groups of Flesh Reapers who were on their way to the factories.

Three groups of ten Flesh Reapers each went inside one of the three factory buildings that surrounded the central metal tower. Two other groups of ten each fanned out into the open expanse of the walled-off territory. Sezel and his companions followed one of the groups that went inside a factory.

The factory, or rather, the skeletal remains of what had once been a factory, was in ruins, completely hijacked by the thick, choking overgrowth of the wilderness. Inside, it was mostly empty, with only a few demolished, rust-eaten machines littered here and there like forgotten bones.

Shiki and Vesta went ahead, their steps sure and purposeful. As Sezel was about to move, he was stopped by the soft sobs of Mari. He stopped and turned around, his gaze falling on the small, trembling girl. She was crying, silent tears streaming down her face like a waterfall, tracing clean paths on her cheeks.

Sezel felt a weird, unsettling feeling in his chest, a sense of wrongness that he couldn't quite place. He bent down, his movements slow and deliberate, and gently wiped the tears from her face. "What happened?" he asked, his voice a soft, gentle murmur "Why are you crying?"

Mari didn't reply instantly. She just stared at him, her small, tear-filled eyes searching his face for some sign of the person she had come to trust. And then, she started crying even more, her small body wracked with sobs. "Why… Why are you doing this, mister?" she finally said, her voice breaking between sobs.

Sezel looked at her in confusion. Something was clearly wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was. He was doing what his Lord had told him to do. Harvest Spirit Essence and bring it back to the underground Sanctuary. What was wrong with that?