A burst of silver light ripped through the darkness.
Before Noir was dropped into the gaping hole filled with spiralling rows of teeth, the world split with a clean, wet shhk—! The ripper shrieked, a sound like metal grinding on bone. Its body jolted, convulsing, then tore in half—two disgusting clumps of flesh thudding onto the forest floor beside him.
Noir crashed onto his back as the claws dropped him. His lungs dragged in air that tasted like iron and smoke. His vision swam, a swirling mess of moonlight and dark shapes.
Someone landed in front of him with a soft tap of boots on soil.
A girl—no, a young woman—stood over the dissolving remains, her axe still glowing faintly with a blessed edge. The weapon was nearly as long as she was tall, and she held it with the ease of someone lifting a broom.
Her suit clung to her like a second skin—deep purple leather that shimmered slightly when it caught the moonlight. Sleek, fitted, fast. Black gloves, dark boots, and short hair tied back by a thin silver band.
She nudged one clump of ripper-flesh with her toe and huffed.
"Ugh. I really hate when they explode like that."
Noir coughed, chest burning. "W-Who are you…?"
She turned to him, lowering the axe. Her expression softened immediately—calm, perceptive, eyes sharp but warm.
"You're alive. Good." She crouched beside him and tilted her head. "Can you sit up? Or do you plan to lie there dramatically for a while?"
Noir blinked at the oddly casual tone. "I… think I can."
He pushed himself up, though everything felt like it was shaking under his skin.
"Nice," she said, offering her hand to steady him but not forcing him to take it. "I'm Soo Ah."
He swallowed hard. "Noir."
She repeated it once—"Noir"—as if testing how it sounded, then nodded. "Alright. Noir it is."
Her gaze drifted briefly to the trees, alert, listening. Then her eyes landed back on him.
"You're trembling," she said softly. "That thing almost took your soul."
"That…" Noir wiped dried blood from his lip. "That was a ripper, right?"
"Yep." She tapped the flat of her axe against her shoulder. "Probably a low rank. Nasty one, too. The kind that forms fast when the air around here gets… polluted."
Noir frowned. "Polluted how?"
Soo Ah exhaled and leaned closer—not threatening, but observant. Her eyes shifted down to his chest.
"May I?" she asked.
"May you what—"
She pointed.
"The pendant."
Noir's heartbeat jumped. "What about it?"
She leaned in without touching him, staring at the ruby with a sudden seriousness that cut through her earlier playfulness.
"That's not just a pendant." Her voice lowered. "It's a sacred artefact. One the Ise Order has been searching for… mm, about six years now."
Noir's breath caught.
"And," she added, tapping her chin, "it's the reason that ripper formed so quickly. Sins get louder around that thing. Like shouting into a cave. Echoes turn into monsters."
Noir's chest tightened. "I didn't know. I—"
"I figured." She stood up again, brushing dirt off her knees. "Most people who pick up sacred artifacts don't know what they do. They just… feel drawn to them."
Her eyes cut sideways toward the mangled corpses of the thugs. Noir stiffened.
She didn't comment on them—not directly—but something in her silence made it clear she understood exactly what had happened here.
"You were being hunted," she said quietly. "Those guys weren't... normal."
"No," Noir murmured. "They weren't."
She tilted her head. "You're surprisingly calm saying that."
"Calm isn't the word I'd use."
That earned a small smile from her.
Then she said, almost casually, "I was the shadow from earlier, by the way."
Noir blinked. "You?"
"Mm-hm." She rolled her wrist, stretching it. "Didn't want attention. And it's usually a bad idea to talk to strangers in the middle of the woods at night. Even if they look like they're about to die."
"You still followed me," Noir said.
"True," she admitted. "But only because you felt… off. Not bad-off, just… interesting-off."
"Is that a real phrase?"
"It is now," she said proudly.
For a moment, the tension eased. The forest was still eerie and dim, but her presence cut through the dread like a warm blade.
Then her expression shifted—not hostile, but deeply focused.
"Now," she said, "I need you to tell me something."
"What?"
"How did you get that ruby?"
Noir's throat tightened.
He hadn't told this story in years—not fully. But she waited, patient, hands resting lightly on her axe handle, not judging him, not pushing too hard.
So he told her.
"When I was small… the sky turned red. You remember that day, right?"
Her eyebrows lifted. "Who doesn't?"
He continued, voice low:
"Everything changed. The Devil's Cradle swallowed cities whole. People died around me. And in the middle of all that… a silver-haired man found me."
Soo Ah's playful expression faded completely. She leaned in.
"He offered me something," Noir said. "A misty candy. Said it would help me 'take' the ruby from a wandering child." His fists clenched. "I didn't understand what it meant. I didn't understand anything."
Soo Ah stared at him. "And you did it?"
"No. I mean—I don't even remember how I got the ruby afterward. Everything was a blur. I… I don't know why he chose me."
She studied him silently for a long moment.
Then she said, softly:
"Maybe he saw something in you."
Noir's stomach twisted. "Something like what?"
"That," she said with a small shrug, "is what you need to figure out."
He looked at the ground. His breathing grew uneven again.
"What if it's something bad? Something dangerous?"
Soo Ah's tone softened—not pitying, but steady.
"Then you have two choices, Noir."
He looked up.
"You either learn to control what that ruby does," she said, "or you get consumed by it. Same way those sinners did."
The world felt suddenly smaller, heavier.
"Those are my only options?" Noir murmured.
"For now?" She stepped back, giving him room. "Yes."
The weight of her words pressed down on him. His vision blurred again, the shock from the ripper attack finally catching up to his body. His lungs tightened. The world tilted.
"Noir?" Soo Ah reached for him.
He swayed, the forest spinning wildly.
Her voice grew distant—warm but fading.
"No worries," she said softly. "You're safe now. I've got you."
But Noir barely heard her.
His final thought before consciousness slipped away was a quiet, sinking fear:
"If I can't control this… I'll never survive long enough to face the man who killed my mother."
Darkness took him.