WITCH OF THE END

Surprisingly, humans had adapted and managed to live on and survive in this so-called New World.

Luna was aware of people like Hamido. The few humans who had witnessed the first day and survived the next fifty years so that humanity could continue. This unfortunate group of people hadn't been prepared and still had it worse than anyone else to date.

Most of the survivors were now dead, but the ones with divinity in them were still alive—they were living fossils, a stark reminder of Humanity's spirit.

For Hamido, the fall must have happened when he was in his forties for his divinity to work.

'How unfortunate.' She thought and chanted out a prayer to the gods who were long dead by now.

It was pointless to pray since they couldn't answer. But prayer always brought comfort to mortal hearts. The way Luna saw it, the gods had failed them….

The infected, the cursed creatures, the gates, and the devils. It was all because the gods failed them. They were to blame, even in their graves. Wherever they were.

"So you still pray to them." Hamido smiled with gratitude. "I pray too sometimes…for my family. For their souls to stay at peace. The world was too cruel for them to exist in it."

Suddenly, Luna felt a coldness settle in her heart.

'It's too cruel indeed.'

She thought, listening to Hamido share some of his pain with her. The old man probably didn't have much time left himself.

As if it wasn't already clear, humans were not meant to survive the New World. Cursed Creatures were always crawling in the outskirts, black ether that infected living things, and outrageous climatic changes that made life on Earth inhabitable. It was humanity's fate to be perished. But humans were tough enough to change their fate. They had fought back and flourished in a dying world.

The human spirit was the true essence of the New World.

Just when Luna was about to speak, the train came to a sudden halt and the doors opened. That was her cue to leave.

She was about to stand up when the old man suddenly moved and grabbed hold of her small arm and stopped her by force. He was stronger than he looked because he easily resisted her strength.

Surprised…Luna opened her mouth to speak but the old man beat her to it. His voice tinged with urgency. Yet, his face was ghostly calm. "I may die today, Miss Luna. I am waging war with those who command divinity itself. I'm tired of running, to be honest. I'm glad I've told you about myself."

"What are you talking about?" Luna asked, altered by the man's sudden distress.

He didn't answer her question. Instead, he continued to mumble with broken speech.

"…The stars that watched over the sky…some of those stars fell….I know where…I know where they are. And now they want me to tell them…Yong Feng told me to hide, but they found me. They will kill me if I choose to remain silent. But that's good. I am not running away this time. I won't be a coward this time."

In everything he had just said, Luna only caught one name.

'Yong Feng?'

Her heart skipped at the mention of that name. Very few people knew of Yong Feng. To her family though, he was a very significant person in their history.

The old man must've noticed the look in her eyes because he let her go immediately. His eyes narrowed and his body started to tremble as he looked at her with eyes etching with newfound dread.

"You know him? Yong Feng…you know him…you know him."

He paused for a moment and the dread was quickly replaced by a fierce calmness after something changed in the air.

"I'm sorry child. I can't tell you everything. For now, I need you to run."

With those words, the man's hands emitted a blue ethereal glow that transformed into light blue flames, the color of pure Zenshi. Hamido was indeed an ascender, and a powerful one because of how pure his zenshi appeared.

Confused and startled at the same time, the pale girl fell off her seat and crawled away from the old man who then turned his back to her.

Then, a loud monster alarm sounded across the entire train station and everyone broke into a panic as they fought to exit the train immediately.

Luna stared at the man one last time before she got on her feet and dashed out before the train doors closed.

She wasn't fit to fight a cursed creature. She hadn't fought one before, to begin with.

When she was outside, she turned to the man who smiled at her one last time before shifting his attention to the terror that had appeared on the train.

Shockingly, there was no rift or tear in space to explain where it had come from.

'What the…' Luna frowned at the disgusting sight.

It was about two meters tall with a humanoid body but no head. A head that looked humanoid. Instead, the terror had a flower-shaped mouth with countless teeth growing on every part. How could anyone have missed such a creature? Did it just spawn into existence or had it been hiding in the train all along?

It lunged at Hamido with a deafening screech, swinging its disgusting claws at the ascender. The old man didn't waver as he unleashed strength and stopped the terror's claw with his arm which was now burning with blue flames. Then, with his free hand, he threw a powerful punch in the terror's gut and sent it flying and crashing into the next car.

Not wasting any time, the old man proceeded to use his Aura on the terror. Once he opened the second gate and let its power flow, the entire creature was torn to bits by black spikes that had manifested from the creature's shadow.

The scene was bloody and horrifying...

Luna hadn't taken her eyes off the old man. That Aura felt and looked so unnatural with the way it appeared and disappeared, leaving only the terror's remains and not even its traces.

'Incredible.' She admired how he used his Aura to kill the creature off in such a short time.

He looked at her with a somehow pained expression and mouthed something. He was far but his voice reached her as if he was standing right next to her:

"I die today, but you won't remember. So forget all of this and remember what's necessary, please."

His fingers snapped and Luna's vision blurred for a moment.

…When it returned, the station was back to normal, filled with people as always.

There was no sign of a fight or panic anywhere.

…like nothing happened.