Eternal Malediction (RE)

Roy slipped the mask into his pocket, and so did his clothes, with it being replaced with the ones he initially wore to the tournament that day.

The moment that mask disappeared, so did Nova. The posture changed first; it was subtle to the eye. Roy was less rigid and less deliberate. The sharp edge of intent softened just enough to pass as normal. His presence folded inward, blending into the noise of confusion around him, and he disappeared into it.

People were waking up. They were groaning, panicking with their disoriented voices overlapping into a rising swell of noise. Some clutched their heads while others scrambled to their feet far too quickly, only to stumble again.

A few just sat there, staring at their hands like they didn’t belong to them. Alive, that alone was enough to keep the chaos contained for now.

Roy moved through them without drawing attention, stepping past bodies while swaying side to side, acting out his weakness in his unused limbs, letting himself become just another survivor in a crowd that hadn’t yet processed what had almost happened to them.

Then... He saw him across the shifting mass of people. Kieran, already standing tall and steady. Of course, their eyes met, and just like that, everything else blurred into background noise.

There you are.

Roy stopped acting weak, as they both started walking at the same time, not directly towards each other, just gradually adjusting their paths, closing the distance without making it look like that was the intention.

People moved between them, stumbling, turning, and calling out to one another, but neither of them lost track. Their focus stayed locked, threading through the disorder with quiet precision.

Close enough that shouting would feel... wrong but too far to speak normally.

Roy almost scoffed under his breath. Of course this is how it goes. When he should have consulted with them, he did not.

Kieran looked like he was about to say something.

Roy caught it, the slight shift in his expression and the inhale just before words. He was thinking the same thing. Say something. Anything.

But the distance lingered in that exact, irritating middle ground where neither silence nor speech felt natural.

So, they kept walking towards each other. A few more steps. A few more seconds.

Then... Light.

It pierced through the clouds; it didn’t build up or even give a warning of its arrival.

It simply pierced.

A beam of white light tore down from the sky. Sharp, clean, and absolute. No sound followed it. No delay. Just a column of white cutting through the open air and slamming into the ground like it had always been there.

People froze while taking in the sight. Not understanding what is happening.

Roy’s eyes snapped upward.

Another beam. Then another. They didn’t spread randomly.

They selected.

Each column locked onto individuals within the crowd precisely, unerringly. One moment those people were standing there, confused like everyone else... The next...

They were doused in the light.

There was no struggle, nor was there time to react. Their bodies were lifted into the light, slow at first, then gradually got fast as they were drawn upward into the column of light as if gravity had reversed direction just for them.

”What...”

Someone nearby started to speak, but the word broke halfway through; they were gone.

The person they were looking at vanished into the beam, their form dissolving into the brightness as if swallowed whole.

No residue. No sound. Nothing left.

The crowd fractured as panic spread instantly, ripping through the fragile calm like fire through dry brush. People stumbled back, shouting now, real shouting, pointing at the beams, at the sky, at anything that might make sense of what was happening.

”It’s taking them!”

”Run!”

”Where do we even?!”

Another beam struck. Closer this time to Roy, but he didn’t move. His gaze tracked it, not the light itself, but its target. A man. Mid-thirties. Still disoriented, barely standing.

The beam hit him and then lifted him with little to no resistance. Just... acceptance. Like the world had already decided.

Roy’s eyes narrowed; this was not random. Definitely not random.

His focus sharpened, scanning the pattern, the spacing, and the timing between each strike; there was some sort of a selection criteria.

There has to be one.

Across from him, Kieran hadn’t panicked either. Of course he hadn’t. Their eyes met again.

This time, no awkward distance.

No hesitation. The situation had erased that completely, and a silent exchange passed between them in an instant.

Do you see it?

Yeah.

Are you thinking the same thing?

Yeah.

Another beam descended even closer to Roy now.

Too close.

The light carved into the ground just a few metres away, catching someone at the edge of the crowd. A girl, young and barely conscious, was pulled upward before she even had time to understand what was happening.

Roy stepped back slightly, just enough to avoid the edge of the column.

The air around it felt... wrong. Distorted like space itself was being stretched thin.

He exhaled slowly. ”...So that’s the next problem.”

Because whatever was choosing... They hadn’t finished yet as a bright flash of light engulfed Roy and Kieran at the same time and absorbed them.