At the Same Time

  Before That Dawn

  Kogana Restaurant in Douragon

  Rooftop

  Karl raised his left arm toward the face of that Oculi man whom he was torturing, pinned to the wall by iron restraints. With an almost glacial calm, he placed the palm of his hand against the side of the man's face.

  The man, eyes wide open, tried to pull away, dominated by fear and dread of Karl's touch.

  [(Man — frightened and incredulous thought)] I cannot reveal what I know! My lord, Astaroth! Trust me, I would rather die than tell this human monster what I know! [Deep, angry breath]

  The man saw the world around him, which had previously held negative tones, become completely dark the moment Karl's palm touched his cheek. In a single microsecond, he perceived Karl's true essence.

  [(Man — frightened and incredulous thought)] ...My God, how can something like this exist? This can't be real... [Deep, trembling breath]

  As he felt his essence connect to the man's, a full smile formed on Karl's lips, one that conveyed absolute indifference toward the life before him.

  Through the connection between his essence and that of the Oculi man, Karl gained clear access to the most unprotected memories of his mind. He discovered that this Oculi had not only killed humans during his missions for the Inanis faction.

  [Karl — merciless and vengeful whisper] ...So you truly are the kind of Oculi that stands at the very top of what is most despicable. [Deep, empty breath]

  He had also abused human women in the worst ways imaginable, using his Oculi abilities to control their minds and force them to satisfy desires that were not merely carnal, but psychopathic.

  [Karl — merciless and vengeful whisper] And you still continue to breathe and walk upon this land, which should belong only to humans. [Deep, empty breath]

  [Echoing, pleasurable deep breathing of the man coming from within his mind]

  That Oculi had pleasures unlike those of humans. Though he appeared beautiful at first glance, beneath his flesh and essence he was something entirely different.

  [Echoing screams from the past of terrified women, muffled, coming from the man's mind]

  Karl saw, like flashes in his mind, the overlapping memories of the hundreds of human victims whom this man had abused both physically and mentally, even though many of them were not part of his official targets or missions ordered by the Inanis faction.

  [Echoing, satisfied deep breathing of the man coming from his past memories]

  Seeing so many people suffering and begging desperately for mercy made Karl feel the stares of countless women, often tied against their will, used as toys and even as food.

  [Echoing screams from the past of horrified women, muffled, coming from the man's mind]

  The Oculi of the Inanis faction, unlike those of the Reginae faction who felt repulsion at feeding on human flesh, used fear and psychological terror to make human meat more delicious to their egocentric palates.

  Human cells, under extreme stress, acquired a new flavor that the Oculi found genuinely pleasurable, regardless of the victim's age or sex.

  After witnessing all of this, Karl finally accessed what he truly wanted: the current objectives of the Inanis faction to further infiltrate human society.

  [Karl — deeply disgusted whisper] ...There were 278 female victims. [Deep breath] -

  Unlike before, when they acted more stealthily, this came after two years of searching for an Oculi who held such information.

  [Karl — deeply disgusted whisper] 278 innocent lives, with bright futures, that you dared to destroy against their will. [Deep breath] -

  This information was restricted to trusted individuals and respected agents within the Inanis faction. With a gaze completely devoid of humanity, Karl fixed his frightened, utterly black eyes on the Oculi.

  [Karl — deeply disgusted whisper] Nothing less than your despicable mouth and your filthy body upon each and every one of them. [Deep breath] -

  The man, whose human appearance was gradually returning, cried black tears. Through the temporary connection of their essences, he was able to access Karl's memories and recollections.

  Seeing the memories painted in shades of gray within Karl's mind, the Oculi understood, in a terrifying way.

  [Echoing, cheerful and muffled voice of a happy Suzi from the past]

  For Karl to reach the current essence of a human being so frightening, his ordinary human existence had to endure immense suffering.

  [Echoing, joyful and muffled voice of an excited Suzi from the past]

  Not only physical pain, but also mental pain for many years, due to the loss of his little sister, Suzi, some years ago, on a hospital bed, still so young.

  [Echoing and muffled voice of Suzi from the past, very tired and sleepy]

  That shaped Karl into the man he is today, knowing it was the Oculi who put her in that bed, making her suffer without being able to walk or enjoy her childhood like any other child.

  [Echoing cry from the past of a grateful and sleepy Suzi]

  Karl, taking a deep breath, lowered his gaze before the vision of the man abusing so many people as if they were not human.

  [Echoing alert sound from the past of medical machines with flatlined pulses]

  With a single, subtle slap to the side of the Oculi man's face, who now wore an expression of begging for mercy, Karl understood what he had lost to have such a dense and calm essence.

  [Karl — deeply empty whisper] Not even the worst demon from the countless stories created by us humans. -

  He knew that this Oculi man deserved death more than any other, for there was not a single human reason to consider any possibility of change after the atrocities he had committed.

  [Karl — deeply empty whisper] I would feel pleasure in doing to you what you did to your last victim a few weeks ago in the city of Osaka. -

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Using nearly two-thirds of the power of his abilities, Karl began to employ the method he had learned as the only effective way to completely erase the existence and essence of an Oculi.

  [Karl — deeply empty whisper] Granting that young girl, victim of your actions, the same dream that my little sister, Suzi, could not fulfill in life before dying so young. -

  Karl turned and walked away, his back to the man, after removing his hand from the side of his face. He took a pack of cigarettes from one of his pockets, lit one, and placed it between his lips.

  Calmly, he pulled a lighter from his other pocket, lit the cigarette, and moved a few meters away from the edge of the rooftop. Once more, he observed the city from above, in the vastness of the dawn.

  At his feet, the man seemed to writhe in pain, even while restrained by the irons that pierced his body and held him against the wall, bleeding black blood. His expression revealed extreme agony, intensified by his incessant, muffled screams.

  The irons limited his movements, and one of them choked his neck, preventing him from screaming fully. Karl, the cigarette in his mouth, remembered the last human victim he had seen within the mind of the Oculi man pinned to the wall.

  In the Last 3 Months

  Location: Japan

  Surroundings of the City of Osaka

  The last young victim of that cursed Oculi was none other than a human girl who had just begun high school after graduating from middle school and was returning home happily after her exciting first day.

  Her house was only a few kilometers from the school where she would now study until finishing high school, alongside her best friends, who were happy for her because she had managed to get accepted after studying for so many nights for the entrance exam.

  The name of that young girl, who was about to have her future changed forever, was the same as Karl's little sister's.

  The victim of the Oculi man was the young student Suzi, who, after saying goodbye to her friends who did not live in the same direction as her home, ended up being kidnapped by him.

  Suzi had entered an alley that would take her home more quickly, just a few minutes before nightfall. That Oculi had seen Suzi in her school uniform, which he found very interesting.

  Karl had briefly analyzed the mysterious case of the disappearance without any trace in Osaka while he was on a major mission in Japan.

  Now, in the present, knowing everything he had involuntarily discovered by accessing the memories of the Oculi man's mind, Karl understood that young Suzi had been abruptly taken from the alley, unable to scream, due to the Oculi's abilities that completely enveloped her.

  Suzi was lifted and taken to the place that had become that Oculi's temporary home in Osaka. After weeks of searches by the Osaka police and reports on Japanese television, the hopes of finding her alive grew more distant with each passing day.

  For those who did not know about the existence of the humanoid beings known as Oculi, the case seemed destined to be forgotten. Karl, on the other hand, through his independent investigations, without any connection to Japan's public authorities, was the first to find young Suzi after so many weeks.

  On a stormy night, after gathering all the information from his investigations, Karl was guided to a location nearly 15 kilometers away from where Suzi had been kidnapped.

  When he finally found her, his heart seemed to tighten in an almost nostalgic way, faced with the pain of seeing a young girl whose essence was so similar to that of his little sister who had died so many years ago.

  In a devastating physical state, anyone who still possessed even a fragment of humanity would feel a deep sadness upon looking at young Suzi.

  She was lifeless, visibly placed there only a few hours before the storm that struck the city of Osaka. Her body bore clear bruises from moderate beatings and light cuts, and she was completely naked.

  She was also covered in blood mixed with the rainwater that seeped in beneath the rubble. Suzi lay on her back, forced to rest eternally after so much suffering.

  Before that scene, Karl lost all strength in his legs and fell to his knees in front of young Suzi. He looked at her while holding his chest with one hand, feeling a deep pain over the tragic end of the one he had wished to find alive and save at any cost.

  The second floor of the Sukiro building, which had once been a vibrant commercial space, was now destined to collapse due to the damage to its structure after the intense earthquake that had struck Japan and shut down buildings like Sukiro in the center of Osaka.

  All the reports Karl had prepared and accumulated in his investigations, searching for family members and friends and carrying out continuous searches after the police had given up after two weeks, led him to call the police to the location.

  Thus, Suzi's body was removed from the rubble and taken to a more appropriate place for a dignified burial. Karl was the first to find Suzi and the last to remain after hours of the painful, closed-casket funeral.

  The next day, Karl was in his room at the Fuji Hotel, in the center of Tokyo. Once again, he knew in the worst possible way, as had happened repeatedly over the last five years alongside the human organization Sagittarius.

  Karl, sitting before the large window that occupied his entire room with its beautiful view of the city of Tokyo and its glow, felt the city appear colorless and lifeless.

  Karl understood that yet another young life, like Suzi's, a student who wished to graduate and obtain a good job to financially help her two younger brothers after the death of her parents and the move to her aunt's house, had been cruelly interrupted.

  Finally piecing together the puzzle involving the disappearance and death of young Suzi, Karl discovered that everything was connected to the same man he had been investigating for the murder of humans at the behest of the Inanis faction.

  That Oculi was currently a relevant member. Karl released the smoke from the cigarette in his mouth, letting it be gently carried away by the breeze, while his gaze drifted away, fixing itself on the ground instead of looking forward.

  With his eyes closed, he replayed in his mind the last recording of that young student before her death. His body seemed to have gained even more weight in the face of what he now knew about Suzi's suffering.

  Before her death at the hands of that repulsive Oculi, Karl, defying his own will and the orders of the Sagittarius organization, decided to investigate the case.

  For almost two months, Karl devoted himself to this specific case, seeing in the missing student the innocent and gentle representation of his own little sister, who had died years ago.

  Back to the present

  A few moments later

  Still on the rooftop

  Behind Karl, the Oculi man, who was now looking upward with an anguished expression, had his mouth wide open and his teeth exposed, as if he were feeling all of his internal nerves burning simultaneously.

  The man screamed incessantly, giving the impression that he was drowning in his own black blood, which poured from his mouth due to the intense pain he was suffering inside.

  His Oculi eyes, with a human-like appearance, gradually began to ignite with flames of negative color, resembling beams of fire almost ten centimeters long projecting forward from his eyes.

  The man thrashed about desperately, begging Karl for mercy because of the extreme pain he was feeling, as the world that had previously been entirely negative in its colors slowly began to recover its original hues.

  While he was being consumed by the flames that burned his body and essence from the inside out, in a process that was agonizing for any Oculi to endure.

  After the disappearance of the Oculi man, a stronger breeze swept across the restaurant's rooftop, causing the metal restraints that had once held him to fall to the ground.

  Karl, with his black garments swaying in the gentle wind, still had his back turned to where the Oculi man had screamed before disappearing completely.

  Shortly afterward, Karl extinguished the cigarette in his mouth, as the breeze had stopped and the brief ember was no longer enough to keep it lit.

  In response, Karl breathed deeply and heavily, revealing exhaustion in both his breathing and his expression. Before him, the city of Tokyo stretched out with its luminous and grand buildings.

  [Karl — whispering, deeply exhausted] That young little girl, Suzi, did not deserve to go through so much pain like the one I saw her suffer, through the mind and eyes of that cursed Oculi. She had a dream and something so beautiful, that... [Sighing, slightly trembling] —

  To become something so painful to witness, after what I have once again seen an Oculi of the Inanis faction do to humans in five years of activity within the Sagittarius organization, which commands humans against the Oculi infiltrated into society.

  [Karl's little sister from the past — echoing, gentle, happy & playful laughter]

  [Karl — whispering, deeply emotional] Which was interrupted by one of those damned Oculi. These deaths of innocent people in the shadows have to stop... [Trembling & painful breath] —

  [Karl's little sister from the past — whispering, sleepy] ...Brother, my body feels like it's getting lighter... I'm cold, can you hold my hand?... [Slow and deep breathing] —

  Karl, looking downward, then slowly lifted his gaze forward, toward the buildings and then to the sky, now filled with gathering clouds, signaling the beginning of a light storm over the city.

  [Karl's little sister from the past — echoing, gentle, lively & excited laughter]

  [Karl — whispering, deeply pained] I am trying to be the light that shines in the darkness, but... with each passing day, I feel like I am sinking deeper into it. [Slightly trembling breath] —

  [Karl's little sister from the past — whispering, sleepy & tired] ...I think I'm going to sleep for a bit, brother. You... you can stay by my side while I sleep, right? [Slow and deep breathing] —

  [Karl — whispering, deeply pained] ...Little sister, I promised you, after your death so many years ago, that I would prevent more people like you from dying. [Slightly trembling breath] —

  His eyes, now with a human appearance, were evident; his irises were visible and no longer entirely white, as they had been when he used his abilities against the man who no longer existed.

  [Karl's little sister from the past — whispering, sleepy & tired] I don't want to be alone tonight. I'm scared and feeling something strange, but... [Slow and deep breathing] —

  [Karl — whispering, emotionally exhausted] ...But I am not as strong as you were in life, enduring so many surgeries before leaving on that cursed hospital bed before my eyes. [Deeply painful breathing] —

  [Karl's little sister from the past — whispering, sleepy & tired] I know, deep down, that by your side everything will be fine after I fall asleep... Big brother... I... lo... ve... you... [Echoing sound of machines with no heartbeat] —

  [Karl from the past — a deeply emotional, crying & painful scream]