An unknown number of days passed uneventfully in idleness, what was once a spacious office with a view of the ocean had become a cramped cage with only a scene of the ever-growing crowd of soulless, on the neighboring warehouse roof. Noah would see the occasional prismatic beam of light shining down through the fiery sky as they traveled through the overrun city, emanating from the spaceship the alien merchant called a Pylon.

He sat at the desk with his feet up as he awkwardly used the sword to trim his toenails. He let out a curse as his hand slipped as he lightly cut his thumb, he quickly put the bleeding thumb inside his mouth.

Noah now looked like a filthy madman. His hair was a knotted mess sticking out in random directions with a short-scraggly beard while he sat there in only his underwear. The [Grade 1 Spirit Armour Chestplate] leaned against the side of the desk with his remaining clothes discarded across the floor. The bathroom's water supply was disconnected, meaning Noah could not bathe or maintain basic grooming habits. Without the [Grade 1 Rations], he would've had to leave early to find food and water. He was down to his last ration after eating one earlier in the morning after another nightmare fuelled sleep.

Noah wasn't mentally prepared to face the hoard of monsters outside while he was undergoing his [Rite of Awakening]. The hazy symbol still hadn't taken form, leaving him worried that he could become a beacon at any moment.

Looking out of the window to examine the hoard of soulless, they were now crowding the streets outside the warehouse he was hiding in. Pressed tightly together with no room to maneuver between them. Noah glanced toward the sky, which was still obscured by thick clouds that appeared to be on fire.

I'm going to have to face them soon. I'm almost out of supplies. Then it won't be long until I'm driven to desperation by hunger and thirst.

Should I use my sword and end it all now? It will be quick and relatively painless.

But, I'll still turn into one of those monsters regardless of how I die. I'll wait until after I finish my rations to decide. I can last a few days before I need to eat it.

As the sky began to darken, Noah took his bloodied thumb from his mouth as he put the sword down atop of the desk with a sigh. He grabbed his coat from the floor before sitting back into the chair. He draped the coat that initially belonged to the office's former inhabitant onto the back of the chair, pulling his knees to his chest as he struggled to get comfortable.

I need a miracle to get out of this mess.

Noah thought as he went to sleep in anxious anticipation of his next few days of hunger beginning tomorrow.

A sound disturbed Noah's sleep. He instantly awoke and grabbed the sword from the desk as he turned to see in the hazy darkness that he was no longer alone in the office. Someone or something was standing among the glass of the broken window. He got back to its feet when the creature abruptly turned to face Noah in the darkness. The dim light reflected off the glass on the floor to reveal the creature's twisted features.

His body froze as he felt the demonic creature's gaze land on him, black eyes stared into his soul as drool dripped from its terrifying fangs onto the broken shards piled at its feet. Noah felt his soul struggle as it resisted terror as he got drawn into the dark empty abyss of the soulless' black obsidian eyes. The nightmarish creature let out a wet snarl as it lunged towards him, illuminated by the scattered moonlight.

***

Noah awoke from his vivid nightmare to find himself drenched in cold sweat lying on the floor. The office-chair beside him had tipped onto its side from his wild thrashing in his sleep.

"I can't stay here anymore. I need to get out of here before I go insane."

Noah uttered to himself as he quickly dressed into his filthy clothes then equipped the [Grade 1 Spirit Armour Chestplate].

Tomorrow I'm going to risk it all and try for one of those boats. In the past month, I've seen a few people make it...

I've also seen even more people fail. That poor little girl...

Don't think about that, Noah.

SCRATCH...SCRATCH...SCRATCH...

Noah froze with the sword held ready in his hand as he listened intently to the new noise. The scratching appeared to be coming from the wall connecting to the neighboring attached warehouse. After a while, he didn't hear anymore scratching. Just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief, the wall exploded with a shower of debris.

As the debris settled, the silhouette of a large soulless figure was revealed standing on the other side of the wall through the newly-formed hole. He no longer hesitated as he saw more soulless arrive behind the monster.

Noah began to panic as he noticed sounds representing the horde stirring outside, he let out a panicked wind blade towards the soulless rushing in his direction as he fled through the office door. He leaped down the now ruined staircase.

[User receives lifeforce from Omega Role for killing Grade 1 Soulless.]

[User receives lifeforce...]

Noah ignored the string of notifications from the [System Interface] as his [Omega Role] absorbed a significant amount of lifeforce, which indicated there was a greater amount of soulless following him than he could have imagined. More likely, there was a grade two among them.

The stacked rows of shelves of the warehouse floor appeared eerie and menacing lined up in the darkness. He felt that a soulless could be hiding behind any of them.

As Noah hid behind the nearest shelf, he peeked through the gap between the racks to see that none of the soulless had followed him down from the broken staircase.

He saw a soulless with a leg half cut off at the thigh limp up to the window while he watched.

It saw Noah hidden behind the shelves in the darkness. Noah watched in disbelief as it let out a piercing shriek then swan dived through the office window towards the warehouse floor.

He heard a wet crack as the creature landed face-first on the hard concrete floor with its feet bouncing into the air, before twitching into stillness.

A short time later, Noah recovered from his shock as he began to laugh hysterically. He regained control of his tense emotions as he climbed the shelves beside him to peek over the top to peer inside the office.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see any signs of movement inside as he squinted into the darkness. Noah descended the shelf cautiously, before approaching the unmoving soulless on the ground.

Noah silently raised his sword overhead as he paused to wait for a reaction. He then swung the sword down with as much force as possible on the motionless soulless' neck, severing its head from its body.

It was only now that Noah could relaxe. He dug out a grade one black origin crystal from the corpse.

Zombie movies did nothing to prepare me for any of this. Reality is far more terrifying… and messy.

I really need to find some clean clothes. There's blood and filth all over me.

There's no water even to rinse them again. Without the rations from the Store, I would have already died from thirst.

REOWWWW!

Noah jumped as he heard an echoing scream of rage from what sounded like a cat far off in the distance. There was the sound of a building collapsing a moment later. He heard screeches from the amassed soulless outside the warehouse in reaction to the sound. The floor began to shake as countless soulless moved in the direction of the disturbance.

He decided that now was his best chance to escape from the warehouse. After the footsteps moved away, he removed the barricade to the front door before placing his ear against the door. Noah resolved himself as he gripped his sword tightly in one hand as he swung the door wide-open with his free hand.

A few wandering soulless were revealed in the dark empty street in the distance, too far away to notice Noah. He let out a sigh of relief, then placed his sword against the doorframe as he double-checked that his chest plate was on correctly. He retrieved his sword as he cautiously set off towards the harbor.

***

The morning found Noah hiding on the rooftop of a building facing the harbor, illuminated by the fiery sky. He had become used to seeing the burning clouds after a month without change. There was only a short distance between him and the docks. Countless soulless gathered at the docks, a few of the piers had collapsed under the weight of the hoard.

Tethered to the docks were half-submerged boats along with more intact ones. The intact vessels bobbed rhythmically in the water, surrounded by trash and flotsam. He could also see cargo ships a bit further away moored in the commercial docks. There was even a cruise ship anchored at the harbor's mouth with smaller boats tied to it. Other vessels drifted nearby.

The majority of the boats drifting were empty. Some held ragged survivors, watching any boat that drew near warily or hungrily. A rare few of the vessels held soulless.

A pulse of light flashed through the sky overhead, causing Noah to look up at the fiery clouds. A moment later, the soulless on the docks all looked towards the red sky in unison. The monsters all opened their jaws wide to scream silently.

The rooftop under him began to vibrate as the previously-unnoticeable humming in the air rose in volume until even the air began to shake. While he watched, the soulless began to mutate.

The already twisted features became even more convoluted and inhuman as their teeth and claws grew in length and sharpness. Hair fell from their bodies as they grew in size.