The scene around them unfolded like an unraveling tapestry, each moment snapping back into place, as though the street had been replayed from the beginning.
The traffic jam was thick, cars honking and engines growling, stuck in an endless loop of frustration. People wandered along the sidewalks, oblivious to the chaos surrounding them, some laughing, others yelling at their passengers. The sounds of city life filled the air—an overwhelming cacophony of human activity.
Anna's eyes darted around. "This is when everything went to hell. Look at them... they have no idea."
"Whoever this is," Bruno added grimly, scanning the buzzing street, "they must be powerful… S-rank level at least."
A silence fell over the group.
"Or…" Bruno hesitated, then said what they were all thinking. "Maybe one of the First Order."
That suggestion hit like a wave of ice. Every member of the Oath stiffened. Even Anna's eyes flicked sideways, her usual calm disturbed by the weight of those words.
Shelman narrowed his eyes, taking in the quiet signs, the eerie undercurrent that still lingered beneath the rewound city.
He straightened up from the blood-marked street, wiping his hand on his shorts.
"Let's go," he said quietly. But there was steel in his voice.
Without another word, the team dispersed into the crowd, like shadows drawn back into the heart of the storm.
Anna's eyes lit up as she stepped closer to the large wall of televisions. Dozens of crystal-clear screens displayed vibrant colors, playing everything from nature documentaries to intense action scenes. The crowd around her murmured excitedly, customers engaged in discussion with store staff.
She pressed her fingers lightly to the edge of one screen, awe shining in her eyes.
"I always wanted to buy a TV from here," she whispered with sad face "But I guess… it's too late for that now."
Her fingers passed through the glossy edge of the screen longingly.
Just then—
The temperature seemed to drop.
Goosebumps rose along Anna's arms.
A strange sensation prickled at the back of her neck, like static from an approaching storm.
She froze.
The woman hadn't made a sound, but her presence sent a chill slicing through the air. Anna turned her head slowly, to see the trailing edge of a silken green sleeve in one piece heading towards the manager who is with a customer.
"…Who was that?" she muttered, by a wary edge.
The manager saw the woman and his expression twisted between surprise and confusion.
The manager's eyes caught the glint of green silk drifting toward the counter, and his shoulders tensed. He muttered under his breath, barely audible.
"Not again…"
Straightening his tie with a forced calm, he stepped away from the customer and approached the woman slowly, trying to keep his tone professional.
"Ma'am," he began, voice low but clear, "we talked about this yesterday. That model is completely sold out—there's nothing left in stock."
His face twitched with unease. He glanced briefly at the returning salesman near the backroom, who nodded in silent understanding and began scanning the area for security.
The woman said nothing. Her eyes shimmered unnaturally under the store's bright lights. Her hands were still, but something about her presence felt… wrong. Unsettling.
The manager cleared his throat, forcing a strained smile. "Please, I'm asking you politely. If you return again with this same issue… I may have to call the police."
There was a pause.
The woman's eyes slowly drifted from the manager to the television display behind him.
Ma'am—"
Swiip—SHLACK!
A sharp, wet sound tore through the air. In a flash, a tongue—not human, but long, flat, and blade-like—lashed out from the woman's mouth, zapping across the manager's neck. It gleamed like steel, lined with tiny serrated ridges.
Blood sprayed.
Anna gets shocked with heart feeling down and takes a step back.
The manager's eyes widened in confusion before his body crumpled to the floor, head barely hanging by a strand of sinew.
Scared Customer splatters with blood looks at Woman in green turreted eyes with long protuded sharp knife tongue and screams .
People's screams erupted.
People stumbled over one another, rushing toward the exit in utter terror—but the moment someone touched the glass door…
It slammed shut with a hydraulic hiss.
And standing by it… was security.
Only… it wasn't human anymore.
He blinked slowly, unbothered by the blood or screams.
Then something small and scaly wriggle tail was struggling to get inside his ear.
"No... no, no!" Anna shouted.
The creature dove into his ear canal with a wet squelch.
The security guard spasmed once—violently—then stood straight and stiff, lips curling into a glassy, artificial smile. The guard's pupils were no longer round, but tapered, turret-like, rotating unnaturally within glowing green irises.
Inside the store, the woman retracted her weaponized tongue, letting it slither back between her lips like a blade returning to its sheath. Her eyes now shimmered, inhuman and calculating.
She turned, brushing blood off her coat with a flick of her finger towards the crowd.