Hollow

"KEEECHHHH!"

The mighty roar shattered the air.

It was the signal for a massacre.

In the blink of an eye, the hunters had become the hunted.

Kaito takashi had probably cursed his gods more times in the past ten seconds than he had in the rest of his life. If the gods really did exist, then they should defeat that evil being right now. Kaito was a faithful man — why had the gods abandoned him?

The gods did not exist.

In the past, he had looked down on those people who did not believe in the gods as fools. After all, if the gods did not exist, how could humanity exist? And now, he realized that he was the foolish one.

The monster before him — a doppelganger, for want of a better word — drew closer.

He took two steps back in response, trying to get away from it.

A shrill creaking noise came from his armour/suit, and the gun he clutched in both hands was trembling uncontrollably. He was not the only one; the other seven mercenaries surrounding the doppelganger were all acting the same way.

Although they were filled with fear, none of them ran. This was not courage — The grinding of their teeth could attest to that. If they could, they would run as fast and as far as they could.

It was because they knew there was no escape.

Kaito's eyes shifted, pleading for help.

One of his friends, a man around his age was sweating profusely. His eyes were wide and filled with despair.

He was not the only one who had wet himself, either. Everyone in the group

Was experiencing the same fear.

This man was Kazu hiroga — the leader of their mercenary team — the golden circle.

The doppelganger was currently in front Kazu, grazing his cheek. Kaito did not want to be in his position, but he also felt bad for him.

The golden circle was made up of people who were experienced in combat but were on the brick of financial ruin, and that's why they would join it.

In the past they had well above 30 members but over time, most had died and only 8 were left including himself. Despite his fear, Kaito knew Kazu was the strongest. He was a survivor. He had the most experience. His gun was one of the best that was for sale and even had been modified to allow him to carry more bullets. And above all, he possessed an incredible will and the charisma to inspire people.

If someone was to lead them all to victory it would be him.

Now, however, Kazu's gaze was unfocused and his whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

Kaito didn't have much to lose in life.

He had no family; his parents had died in a war between megacorps that had raged years before his birth. He had no home, only a old truck, and no purpose in life besides killing things. If he died right now, it wouldn't really mean anything to the world. Still, he wanted to at least try to survive. He was not going to go without a fight. At the very least, he wanted to avenge Kazu's death if he happened to die.

No, he wasn't going to let that happen. He wanted to die a heroic death, like a warrior in old tales who saves his comrades by sacrificing himself. Sure, it may be childish but that's how he always dreamed of dying.

He wasn't going to run away like a coward.

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The doppelganger was only about ten meters away from him now, its form twisted and deformed like something out of a horror movie. When he had first laid eyes on it, he had doubted whether it was actually real, but its presence here now left him with no doubts.

Kaito clenched his gun tighter, trying to psych himself up despite his fear. He had to help Kazu somehow. However, a quick glance at the other mercenaries told him that they would be no help. The others were even more frightened than Kazu. Kazu was trying to stand but his legs were shaking so much that he could not support his own weight. Sweat rolled down his forehead, his face deathly pale. Even his breathing wasn't normal. His chest rose and fell unevenly — some breaths were large enough to be a gasp, others came as short, shallow pants.

He raised his rifle and aimed it towards the doppelganger. He locked the gun onto the doppelganger and with its guidance system, the bullets will always hit.

But could it kill this thing?

The thing in front of him... No, it could not be called a thing. It had a face, and it was alive, but there was something wrong with it.

This monster had walked out of some unholy womb, spawned by some unholy god that had taken refuge in the darkness.

It was not an organic existence. It was not human. It was a demon that walked in the form of a man. A dark monster that had descended upon them in the worst way possible.

No, all of this thinking would only make him falter.

He pushed his finger against the trigger, it was now or never.

His finger squeezed the trigger, and the gun fired. The sound of the gun echoed across the area, a loud bang that temporarily made the doppelganger freeze.

Burst of light from the gun-fire made the only dark area light up for a second.

The others flinched and closed their eyes, their minds unable to handle the noise because of their fear from before.

However, Kaito was not deterred, his training made him used to the sounds and the vibrations. He kept his finger on the trigger, firing again until all the bullets in the clip were used up. His rifle was an advanced weapon, with a high rate of fire. The bullets pierced the space between them, creating a sound like the buzzing of an angry bee swarm.

All the bullets hit.

They had all found their mark, and the bullets pierced the doppelganger's body, but the effect of the bullets was minimal. They ricocheted off its body like they were rubber bullets. The skin of the doppelganger was seemingly harder than steel.

Kaito was not surprised by this and he immediately took a step backwards and reloaded. He was not going to give up and instead switched to the second clip.

He fired once again, but this time, he aimed lower.

The doppelganger's legs had to be weaker than the upper part of its body. Even if it was a monster, it still needed these legs to walk. If the legs were damaged, he might be able to restrict its movements. His shots fell, piercing into the doppelganger's shins. The pain must have been unbearable, but there was not the slightest hint about it on the doppelganger's face.

The bullets struck the doppelganger's legs, creating new tears in its flesh and blood flowing out, but the damage done was negligible.

It was as if he was shooting at an iron wall with a toy gun.

Kaito bit the inside of his mouth, feeling the despair and frustration take over him. He wanted the damn thing to fall down and die, was that too much to ask for?

"Fuck..."

But before he could say anything more, the doppelganger turned its head towards him and let go of Kazu.

The moment it looked at him, he felt like someone had just dropped a ton of ice water on him, his entire body shivered violently. It was intelligent — at least he thought so. The gaze it gave to everyone was almost emotionless, but when it looked at Kaito, it was as if it were looking at an insect it wanted to squash.

It ignored Kazu's crumpled body on the floor and started walking towards him.

Kaito didn't know whether to feel happy or not, the fact that the doppelganger left Kazu meant that there was still a small hope that they could both survive this. But the fact that it was now walking towards him left him with conflicting feelings.

No, it wasn't walking.

In less than ten seconds, it was in front of him.

It grabbed Kaito's head with those bony fingers of its and lifted him up to its head height.

Kaito could now see the face of the doppelganger more clearly; the face of some kind of horrific being who had no business existing but the doppelganger' didn't hold him for long. Instead, it launched him up into air.

Kaito did not know what had just happened. One moment he was being grabbed and the next moment he was now flying. It took him a couple of seconds just to get over the shock. He could feel his body flying through the air, the wind whistled by his ears.

It was a liberating feeling.

The earth suddenly got closer and closer toward him, and the wind roared in his ears.

The fall itself was not painful, but the moment he connected with the ground, pain exploded from his side like a bomb. A sharp, stabbing sensation coursed through every part of his body, the impact of the fall forcing all of the air out of his lungs.

But it wasn't the ground that he fell on.

It was the doppelganger's fingers.

Those cold fingers held his whole body up, easily dangling him in the air. No matter how much he struggled, he could not pull himself free no matter how hard he tried.

He wanted to scream, but he had lost all air. He could not make a sound. The pain coursing through his body made it hard to even open his eyes and like that, his soul left his body.

Truly, he couldn't accomplish anything, even in death.

A worthless life,

Befitting of a pathetic end.