Flesh

The tall and muscular scarlet figure still stood in the middle of the road without moving any inches of its body. Awkwardly, the creature was crossing its arms, as if waiting for something to happens. Such a human action on a horrific body was really disturbing.

Plus, something seemed to hide... Directly on the back of the creature, a dark form moving on it, hidden behind the imposing silhouette.

"Celia... Don't tell me that we-"

Before Asaki even finished his sentence, a sudden thunderous noise echoed where the two stood so violently, that his ears ceased to work for seconds.

A firm grip tightly grabbed his collar, pulling him backward at the same moment, as the entire world shook.

When the young man finally reopened his eyes, everything was brown. An immense cloud of dust covering the whole place. In the middle of it, stood a black and gigantic form, inside of the crater it had formed by landing there.

'H-how... W..It was at least hundreds of meters away from us...'

Indeed, the black and gigantic form belonged to the scarlet creature, which stood in the middle of the road a few seconds ago. How did it notice them from so far ?? And... Arrive here ??

Even if he couldn't hear her yet, Asaki knew that the person who saved his life again was Celia. Just standing behind him, as she had let fall on the ground the black hiking bag she wore until now.

Time seemed to have stopped around them, as Asaki's heart pound so much that... The man couldn't feel his heartbeats. Strangely, he wasn't that scared at all, as if he was already dead. Not a single thought was crossing his mind, not a single sensation, and not a single emotion.

Asaki was dead.

Celia was dead.

And soon, everyone will be.

Why ? Why his previously quiet and joyful life had taken such a turn ? How did he go from this, to be lost in an unknown city, surrounded by monsters and corpses ?

What was happening...?

Another strong grip pulled him out of his position, propelling Asaki's body a few meters away from a sudden blurry movement. Not even a second after, another crater appeared, making his entire body shake even more. Luckily, since his ears were already unable to hear yet, the impact didn't ache his head too much.

"R...Ay..."

Celia's voice hardly reached those same ears, her words segmented in so much parties that it was truly impossible to understand a single pieces of it.

Covered by a brown long coat, her blurry figure suddenly lunged toward the creature, prepared to hit it with the fire poker and the knife both of her hands now held.

In the middle of this dusty hell, her figure had disappeared.

And soon, another dark figure replaced it, smaller, but still as dreadful than the Flesh Golem.

°°°

Slowly, Asaki's hearing started to came back, the sound of the wind now finally reaching his poor destroyed ears. Another noises appeared in the middle of this awkward orchestra, that of explosions, or sort of shockwaves, continuously echoing in the middle of the road. Far behind the approaching dark figure, in the middle of the dust, fought two others forms.

One, thin and feminine, jumping and dodging everywhere, as fast as she could.

And the others, absolutely destroying everything around them, desperately trying to reach the smallest figure.

"Asaki !! Please run away !!"

Finally, the angel's voice was now audible, and even if the words it transported weren't supposed to, it filled Asaki with an immeasurable sensation of relief. He, who lost any control over his body and mind.

"C...Celia !!"

The brown hiking bag he wore fell on the ground, as the young man grabbed the axe that he was carrying. In the middle of the action, as the only other person he knew actually fought for them, running away didn't look like an option. It was too late to run away, if he did so... Asaki knew that he'd still die.

But before the young man could ever step in to look for the girl, the dark and approaching figure finally came out of the dust screen, now ready to kill the man.

This time, the creature was around the man's height, if not a bit smaller. The bottom of the creature, and the majority of its torso, looked like human ones, with a skin as blue as the sky. As for its arms... Two sea-spiders limbs replaced it, perfectly matching with the head of the monster.

A crab head.

'Crap... Holy crap...'

This wasn't supposed to happen like this at all !! W... Why was Flesh so strong ??? How could it propel itself from such a distance ??

And where di this Crab-Boy came from ??

"Woaaa !!"

The small creature suddenly lunged toward Asaki, stretching its two dreadful limbs at his direction. If not for the axe that the young man moved by reflex, at this exact moment the creature would've pierced his stomach.

"Ugh..."

The force of the impact was so strong that Asaki's entire arm sent him shivers of pain as his whole body backed a few meters away. A slight scream of pain escaped from his lips, his eyes closing a few instants because of the impact too.

A burning sensation then invaded his right ribs, making the young man brutally open his eyes in pain as he fell on the ground. Covering the black long coat, was drawn a long and deep scratch, revealing a bloody wound on Asaki's body caused by the second limb of the creature.

Another barely contained scream of pain emanated from the young man, pressing his hand against his ribs, as tears started to come out of his eyes. It hurt, gods, it hurt ! It was the first time that the man received such a wound, and he never, never saw that much blood of his life !!

Or... Maybe was it the second time, Asaki suddenly recalling of the wound caused by the crocodile's creature, a bloody one too.

"Uff.... Uff... Uff..."

Small coughs also interrupted his already ragged breath, as the Crab Boy was already lunging again toward the young man.

Just a second before its body crushed on the ground, Asaki managed to roll on the side, causing his wound to hurt him even more. Filled by pain, but mostly... Survival instinct, the partially crying man then yelled of rage, swinging with all his might the axe in the direction of the monster.

"AAAHH !!!"

The metal blade perfectly approached the creature's torso, not even moving a bit out of its trajectory during the attack. Just a second, and it'll finally make this bastard bleed.

Just a second and...

"Huh...?"

Where the axe should've land, stood absolutely nothing.

In fact, the axe even had disappeared from Asaki's hand. The young man not feeling anything, or any weight, between his cold and painful fingers.

And above their heads, as the monster had protected itself from the hit thanks to one of its arms.

Was flying the axe.