Hope

Zeke is furious, extremely furious. The number of corpses in that store could not be counted on both hands, innocent victims who had lived their normal lives up until that point...

"Why...?" he wondered. "Why did these innocent people have to die...? What did they do wrong...?"

Hals used its tail to attack Zeke at that precise moment.

Fortunately, Zeke avoided it, but he had lost his advantage, and the Hals were able to get to his feet.

"You're pretty smart, aren't you? But let's see how tough you are."

Zeke dashed over to Hals, ready to attack. To increase the power of his kick, he rotated his body in the air.

With his forearm, Hals deflected Zeke's attack.

"Oh? Besides that big brain, you also have some pretty strong arms, don't you?"

Hals responded to Zeke with a loud, threatening roar, after which it began to launch a wave of attacks on Zeke.

The main difference between Zeke's and Hals' attacks was that Hals' attacks were far more lethal than Zeke's because his claws, which acted like they were blades, they could easily cut the meat like paper.

Hals attacks Zeke with these claws, trying to tear him to shreds.

Zeke manages to avoid the creature's attacks, but he has to back up slightly because the creature's attacks are becoming increasingly fast.

"I see you're also very fast...dealing with you will be difficult...fortunately, nobody's left here, it's just the two of us, so there's no need to hold back"

Zeke smiled and said "I'm going to face things like you in order to bring her back, I can't afford to lose here!" Zeke continued, running towards Hals and launching an aggressive wave of attacks on it.

A wave of fists was exchanged between the two, and Zeke used his well-trained arms to hit the creature in various blind spots on the upper body, but a ll of his attacks have been deflected.

In addition, Hals deflected Zeke's series of punches after which it unleash a claw-based counterattack on him.

"Sh*t...! I don't think I have enough time to avoid it..."

Zeke leaned back slightly to avoid the attack, then did some backflips to retreat.

"That was dangerously close...too close...I need to find a way to defeat it...but what can I do...?" Something had just entered Zeke's vision, something liquid...and red...it was blood.

"What the hell...? Where do my bleeds come from? I thought I was avoiding his attack...don't tell me...I wasn't fast enough..."

More and more blood was dripping from the cut Hals had made on Zeke's forehead, obscuring his vision.

The Hals approached Zeke and began to attack him, but Zeke was able to deal with it and avoid its attacks.

"This isn't good...I'm not going to be able to finish this fight at this point...

I'm at a significant disadvantage; I need to find a way to defeat this guy quickly or I'll lose this fight..."

The Hals attacked Zeke once more with its claws, but this time Zeke had nowhere to run, so he had to block the attack.

He needed to make a quick decision, so he used his arm as a shield, and Hals left a deep wound on his forearm as a result.

"Ahhhhh!" he screamed in agony. "This is not good, this is definitely not good! I've got to act quickly!"

Zeke is facing a significant disadvantage, he turned around and attempted to flee the Hals for the time being.

As he watched Zeke flee, the creature became enraged. It let out a roar that could be heard all the way through the mall and out into the street.

Meanwhile, outside the mall, police officers and a large crowd had gathered, including Amber and Luis.

"You're not getting it, cop! There are still people inside; you must enter and safely retrieve them! Or, at the very least, give us permission to do it "Luis yelled nervously.

"Look, kid, I understand what you're saying, but we can't lose any more crew members because your friend became trapped inside; we're sorry, but no one came here to waste their lives.

We cannot give our lives for the sake of a young man who did not know when to flee; many of the officers here have families and children to support" The police officer who was speaking to Luis was interrupted by Luis's fist.

He collapsed on the floor, amazed by Luis' actions.

"And can you still refer to yourself as a "lifesaver"? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR WHAT YOU ARE! How dare you say all of this while there are still people trapped inside?!"

"LUIS, PLEASE STOP...!" Amber yelled, grabbing his arm. "Luis I completely understand what you're going through! I don't want Zeke to suffer, but you've seen the creature, and sending more people inside is far too dangerous!"

"I know, Amber, but..." The screams of a woman whose face was filled with tears cut Luis off.

"OFFICER, PLEASE! PLEASE...MY LITTLE GIRL IS STILL INSIDE! PLEASE LET ME GO AFTER HER!"

"Ma'am, we understand your pain, but we have orders not to let anyone in until the Special Forces arrive," said another cop in the crowd.

"Oh my goodness... Please be safe, Emily...my dear...! "The lady responded by crying and collapsing to the ground.

Luis approached this lady, hoping to learn more about her.

"It's okay, ma'am; my friend is also trapped inside, but I'm sure everything will turn out alright."

"Don't try to cheer me up; do you believe a friendship between two people can be compared to a mom-daughter relationship?" exclaimed the woman.

"Ma'am... I understand your feelings, but I just want you to know that everything will be fine in the end," he said as he stood up and prepared to leave.

"I have one more thing to tell you: some bonds are stronger than even blood bonds, so don't try to victimize yourself just because your little girl is trapped inside; someone important is someone important, whether you have a blood bond or not."

"You jerk..." The woman stood up and prepared to assault Luis, but she was stopped by a police officer.

"How dare you speak to me in that manner? Do you even know who I am?! Because if you knew, you wouldn't be able to speak like that."

"Ms.! Please remain calm until you force us to use force."

"Even you! Who do you think you are to keep me on this ground? You'll lose your job with just one phone call! So you'd better go inside and save my little girl before she gets hurt, or you'll live to regret it for the rest of your life...."

One of the other officers approached her and pulled out a taser, which he used to paralyses her.

"Finally, some peace...I couldn't take it any longer hearing her scream. Everyone take a look at the plan; we were told by superiors not to let anyone inside until the special forces arrived to immobilize the creature; until then, our job is to keep the place under surveillance, so we sincerely apologize if anyone close to you was trapped inside, but we can't do anything until the crews arrive."

"What do we do now, Luis?"

"I don't know Amber...I don't know...all I want is for Zeke to be safe..."

Meanwhile, Zeke had found a place inside the mall to hide from Hals until his wound healed.

"Oh, please...heal faster...! What's taking so long? This wound should have healed by now... did it have anything to do with the Hals' rank?

When I think about it, it makes sense that Hals with a higher rank should have stronger magic against regeneration...but it still takes a while."

After his wound had healed enough to stop bleeding, Zeke stood up and looked around to see if the Hals was nearby.

"This isn't a good sign... I'm not sure what rank this Hals is...but I know it's strong...I need to figure out how to defeat it...

Yuki was with me the last time I fought a Hals...but now...I have to do it myself, and if I can't...no...I have to do it...no there's no 'if', I have to do it...

Now, Mr. Hals, where are you hiding? If I were you, I'd most likely hide in..."

"Mommy...! Mommy, where have you gone?! Mommy, I'm scared...why isn't anyone here?" As it passed through the middle of the corridor where Zeke was, a low voice screamed, crying.

"What the hell...? Please don't tell me..."

When Zeke raised his head from where he was hiding to see what it was, he saw a little girl crying in a pink dress with her brown hair in two tails.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy! Mom, where are you?"

Zeke charged up to her, covering her mouth with his hand, and leading her back to where he had been hiding.

"Hey, little girl, I know it's not the best time, but you shouldn't be there right now." he replied with his voice trembling.

The girl appeared terrified, as evidenced by the terror in her eyes. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"OK, here's the deal: I'm not here to hurt you; rather, I'm here to help you, okay? But you must listen to me until I am able to get you out of here and to your mother, okay? So, please, I'll take my hand away from your mouth and let you speak, but pleasde don't scream or make loud noises or we'll both die, okay?"

"Brownie..." was the first thing the girl said after Zeke removed his hand from her mouth and allowed her to speak.

"Excuse me?"

"Brownie is not here, I can't leave without him!"

"Who's Brownie? Is this your brother? Is he in any danger?"

"My plush bunny"

"Excuse me?"

"Brownie is my plush bunny; I lost him when the crowd became agitated, and I also lost my mother."

"And you say you won't be able to leave without him...?"

"Yes, I absolutely cannot leave without him."

"What if I get you out without Brownie...? What will happen?"

"I'm not getting out of here! I'm not going anywhere without Brownie! And if you take me out, I'll come back to find him!"

Zeke sighed in response to the girl's words. "So, here's what we're going to do. I'll take you to a secure location before going in search of Brownie. What do you think? Deal?"

"Hmm...you're not trying to fool me, are you? You're not going to leave me somewhere and then flee, are you?"

"Of course not, why would I do something like that?"

"Well, that's what my previous mother did; she abandoned me in an orphanage when I was still a baby, and my current mother adopted me after that."

"Well I'm not your mom, I'm Zeke, and I'm not going to abandon you"

"Can you make me a promise?"

"I'll go above and beyond to get you and Brownie out of here safely, pinky promise?

"Big bro..." she replied, her eyes welling up with tears. "Pinky promise"

"Good, now I must transport you to a safe location."

Zeke led the little girl to a location near the exit, in a half-destroyed room, where he discovered a still-standing closet.

"You'll hide there until the madness is over, okay?"

"All right...but don't forget about Brownie!"

"I won't...look, I'll give you this until I get back with Brownie, and then we'll trade them, what do you think?" Zeke said, handing his phone to the young girl.

"Do you have any games on there?"

"I do, so you can entertain yourself until I return."

The sight of Zeke's words made the girl's eyes twinkle with delight.

"You're the best, big bro."

"Yes, yes, now hide there, and don't leave until I come to get you, okay?"

"Yes...but, big bro, are you certain you can handle it on your own?"

"I will do my best, you just have to stay here until it's all over, either I or someone else will come to get you out of here," Zeke said as he shut the closed door.

"But I'd like for you to take me out! Big brother! Please return safely, okay?!"

"I'll try...eventually...I have to get stronger," Zeke had already moved away from the closet where he had hidden the little girl.

"This is a pain in the...I wish I could get her out of the building...but I can't because there are a lot of cops outside, and if they see me coming out, they won't let me back in...So, please, little girl...stay safe..."

Zeke went to the mall's center to look for the little girl's bunny and found something similar after a few minutes of searching.

"Is this it? It's very similar to the description of the little girl; I hope this is it, I'm not sure what I'm going to do if this isn't..."

Zeke's monologue was cut short due to an attack that he needed to avoid at the time. The Hals appeared from nowhere behind him, ready to rip him apart alive.

"Why did you have to appear now? Among all the possibilities? At the very least, I got Brownie ba...ck." Zeke realized that he no longer had the bunny in his hand and that he lost it.

"You've got to be kidding me, it was in my hand a second ago, where it could be..."

At a second glance, Zeke had found the bunny, it was stuck on the spiky back of the Hals.

"Someone up there is really kidding me..."

The Hals let out a roar that reverberated throughout the mall and beyond.

Luis and Amber, who were still in the crowd on the outside, heard that terrible sound.

"Luis...?"

"Yes Amber...I heard that..."

Little Emily, who was still hiding in the closet, heard the roar and began to cry and tremble on the inside.

"Will you be okay, big bro? I need to help you with something..."

The fight between Zeke and Hals continued. The Hals attacks Zeke from a distance with its tail, but Zeke manages to avoid every attack. Zeke decided to rush at Hals and attack it after noticing that its ranged attacks were slower. With a lot of his energy concentrated in one fist, Zeke catches an uppercut in Hals' stomach, causing him a lot of pain.

"All right, I've got you now, creature!"

The Hals became even angrier than before. It focused its energy on his hands, where his razor-sharp and lethal claws transformed into true hunting weapons. They appeared to be larger and sharper than before.

"Hey, I don't like what you have here; how about we avoid such dangerous weapons and just use our fists?"

The creature didn't seem to like Zeke's deal; instead, it roared again and charged at him, attempting to sever his head.

Zeke managed to avoid every attack that the creature launched, but everything has a cost in this world...

"Its attacks are getting faster and faster! And it doesn't appear to lose to much stamina...on the other hand, I...the more energy I expend to avoid his attacks, the more stamina I lose... it's not good...I'm at a disadvantage again...I need to act quickly, before I run out of stamina."

Hals continued to attack Zeke with its claws until it was clear that Zeke had lost much of his stamina.

It attacked Zeke with its tail this time, and because Zeke had already lost some stamina, he wasn't fast enough to avoid the attack, so he cashed it in full.

Zeke was hit hard by one of the mall's shattered walls, and he collapsed to the ground, covered in debris that were fallen over him.

"No...it's...bad...not it's good at all," he murmured from beneath the rubble.

Zeke crawled out from under the rubble, but he was clearly in bad shape. Blood flowed from various locations, including his head and mouth. Simultaneously, his left arm appeared to be the most affected.

"You hit me hard enough this time, creature...but I'm still going to beat you...I have to do it...not only for the sake of the people outside...but also for the sake of the little girl who is still trapped in the mall...and, most importantly, I have to beat you...for her..."

Zeke focused his energy on his wounds, which started to heal as he spoke but did not heal completely due to his lack of energy.

"Don't think you'll be able to defeat me if you catch me a few times; as long as there's no one around, this fight can last a long time."

After Zeke's speech, there was a deafening silence between the two.

They both charged at each other, unleashing a powerful attack at the same time. When their fists collided, a wave of waves formed around them, shattering the windows of the surrounding shops.

Zeke and Hals were both thrown in the opposite direction after the impact. They rushed at each other again after they both set foot on the ground.

This time, instead of a single strong blow, the two exchanged a series of blows.

They both suffered in this wave of fists that was exchanged between the two; Zeke caught a few blows to Hals, but Hals also caught Zeke.

"Not only does it have brute force, but he also has good resistance and stamina... unless something changes, this fight won't last long..."

The Hals used its tail to attack Zeke. Because the attack was so fast, Zeke was unable to avoid it and was forced to tank it, using his forearm as a shield. He was thrown in the back, but was not seriously injured.

"You're starting to irritate me, creature...by acting as if you're better than me...don't try to look better than me, because I'm going to beat you right now, and I'm going to show her that I can fight guys like you, and she doesn't have to worry every time I get hurt."

Zeke had taken an attack position and was about to attack the creature when a scream reverberated throughout the mall, prompting him to lower his guard.

"Big brother! Big brother! Where have you gone?!" The little girl yelled.

"Sh*t, this is not good!"

Zeke turned his head in the direction of Hals, but when he saw that Hals was no longer there, he was filled with dread.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS PLACE? DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO KEEP HIDING? "He yelled at the girl.

"Big brother! Big brother! I'm here to assist you! Help is on its way!"

At that point, the entire atmosphere had shifted. It didn't take long for the little girl to blink before something large appeared behind her, ready to rip her in half with its deadly claws.

"NOOOO!" shouts Zeke.

When the little girl turned around, she saw that hideous creature standing behind her, its claws dripping with Zeke's blood, one eye staring at her, and two mouths fully prepared to devour her.

Before devouring its prey, the Hals let out one last roar.

Zeke stood there watching as the little girl prepared to become Hals' food.

"What am I supposed to do now?! All the people that have died...can't I really do anything? Is it true that I'm that weak...? Was Yuki sincere when she left…? Did she really left because I'm too weak...?"

Zeke appeared to have given up fighting at that point. However, in the darkness of his mind, a memory came to light. It was a memory in which he trained with Yuki in order to learn the summoning spell.

"I still don't understand what I should do"

"I told you, the summoning spell isn't that difficult, but learning it as a human is something new to me. Normally, you have to believe in order to summon your signature weapon"

"Believe in what more exactly?"

"In your abilities, and more importantly...in yourself, you must believe in yourself in order to summon your signature weapon."

"Well, I believe in myself, but there hasn't been any result."

"However, believing isn't enough; you have to want it from the bottom of your heart."

"What exactly are we doing here? Is it literature class?"

"Joke as much as you want, but one day you'll remember what I said now and you'll regret that you didn't listen to me."

"...yes..." Zeke returned to the scene with his feet on the ground "I'm sorry, Yuki, for not listening to you at the time...the truth is...I want you to come back...and train with me...because you were correct...

I'm too weak...too weak to do everything on my own...and as a result of me...many people have died...and many more will die...but one thing I want right now Yuki...please give me the strength...give me the strength to defeat this Hals...and the power to bring you back...because...I don't want to be alone anymore!"

Zeke's body warmed up and his eyes shone brightly. A purple spark resembling lightning appeared around him.

Zeke had vanished from his position at that point, and all that remained of him was a faint purple lightning bolt.

Meanwhile, Hals was about a millimeter away from killing the girl with his claws when an unexpected event occurred. The creature's arm fell to the ground, and the little girl vanished from its face.

The Hals was in excruciating pain. Its arm fell to the ground, or rather was severed and fell to the ground.

The Hals turned around to see Zeke standing there with the little girl in his left hand and a sword surrounded by a faint purple energy in his right hand.

"Big brother...? Are you all right?"

"Do you know what I just realized? I don't know what your name is yet."

"This is Emily."

"Okay, Emily...what you just did was extremely dangerous, and you could have been seriously injured."

"Yeah, but I wanted to assist you, Big Brother!"

"Thank you, Emily," he replied, smiling "I'm glad you thought of me as well, you can go now, I'm fine, I can do this."

Zeke threw Emily to the ground.

"Big bro, you don't have to do this alone, help is coming right now"

"It's ok Emily, just trust me, I can do this, you just have to run from here now, get out of the building, and please don't tell anyone what you saw here, okay?"

"Huh? But why is that? Big brother is a hero."

"Yeah...I wouldn't really call myself one...but please, Emily, don't tell anyone what you saw here. Instead if anyone ask you, tell them that this creature escape and that the building is not safe, and it can collapse any time"

"All right...if it's for you, I'll keep my promise."

"Thank you, Emily, and now run!"

Little Emily bolted for the door, leaving Zeke behind to face the Hals.

"Let's see what you can do now, creature...things aren't what they used to be."

Hals picked up his severed arm from the floor and replaced it, and within seconds, the arm was glued together and functioning normally.

"So it's not just raw power, but your regenerative abilities are on another level as well."

Both Zeke and Hals took an offensive stance and prepared for what appeared to be the final round of their fight.

"Yuki, this is it! I learned what you wanted me to learn! I summoned my signature weapon! All I have to do now is defeat this Hals...and make you proud so you can return...so Yuki...I have one last request...please look at me!"