Somewhere in Tokyo city, stood a certain luxurious mansion. Someone looking at it would start to doubt whether they were still in Tokyo, as the mansion's outer design was heavily influenced by the White house. In fact, it was so alike, one would think they had suddenly been transported to Washington DC. It even had a fountain, except this one had a large statue of a man dressed in a suit standing on a pedestal in the middle. Various statues could be seen along the path around the fountain, the path leading to the fountain from outside, and the path leading from the fountain area and into the mansion.

One would normally think that so many statues would make the place look gaudy, however, the place gave off a feeling of extravagance that inspired awe instead. If that wasn't already pushing the limits of luxury, the path from the gate to the fountain in front of the mansion was a distance that only someone who would do well in a triathlon could walk without getting exhausted; and this long path had cherry blossom trees dotting along it on both sides. Whenever spring came, the path would truly be a sight to see.

The mansion, the fountain, as well as the incredibly long path leading from the gate to the residence, were all placed on a small mountain that the mansion's owner also owned.

The entire mountain was their property!

And the mansion was on a flattened part at the top, looking down on the rest of Tokyo!!

If this wasn't luxurious, what was!?!?

With the outside pushing the boundary of how luxurious a place could be, it went without saying that the inside of the mansion, where the owner resided, would be luxurious as well. It had a carefully designed interior, decorated by only the finest and most expensive artworks the mansion owner could get his hands on. Anyone trying to describe its interior would no doubt run out of words to say. The author of a book with such a place as its setting would throw down his pen in frustration from the monumental task of describing the place.

A little girl was skipping along one of the many halls of this luxurious mansion. She was dressed in a pretty pastel-colored dress, and her shiny black hair was tied in a ponytail. Her doll-like, bright blue eyes were narrowed in happiness. The sweet smile on her face, combined with her inherently cute looks, made her look like a little fairy.

"Hm hm hmm~♪" The girl hummed happily, as she skipped.

The girl's name was Kagami Kyouka, and she had just turned six years old the other day. She was wearing the dress she had received as a gift from her big brother. She had actually worn the same dress the day after her birthday as well and accidentally spilled juice on it, but she wanted to wear it as much as possible, so she asked the maids to wash it immediately. She naturally made sure to ask in the cutesy way her big brother taught her to do, so the maids did as she asked right away. Of course, as their employer's daughter, the maids pretty much had to do what Kyouka asked them to do anyway, but being asked so politely and in such an endearing way would make anyone want to do their best to do anything she asked.

"Hehe. I bet big brother will be surprised that I'm wearing it already!" Kyouka couldn't help but giggle at the thought.

The maids and manservants that were also walking in the hallway would walk to the side and bow as Kyouka walked by, and Kyouka would always greet them cheerfully with a smile on her face. The servants would bow toward Kyouka because she was their employer's daughter, however, all of them cared dearly for this cute and charming young mistress of theirs.

"Ah young mistress, please be careful! If you skip around like that, you might trip!" One of the many concerned maids, finally called out what everybody else had been worried about.

"Okay!" Kyouka chirped. She stopped skipping, but she was still walking as fast as she could. She wanted to get to her big brother's room as quickly as possible.

It didn't take too long for her to reach her destination. She stood in front of her big brother's room and was just about to knock on the door, but she suddenly remembered something. She walked towards one of the windows, so she could check her reflection, but it was too high up. This was not good.

She looked around to find any reflective surfaces she could use, but when she couldn't see any, she instead walked up to a maid who was standing to one side while bowing her head to her.

"Uhm!" She called out to the maid.

The maid stopped bowing and smiled at her young mistress. "Yes, what can I do for you?"

"My hair... is it messy?" Kyouka asked while turning her head to the side to give the maid a better view.

"It's a bit...excuse me." The maid inspected Kyouka's hair, and after asking for permission, started smoothing it down with her hand. "There, it's done now, young mistress."

"Am I pretty? Am I cute?" Kyouka asked. She tilted her head at an angle, then looked the maid in the eye with her eyes widened a bit. She added a bit of a pout to her lips. 'Big brother said to do it like this...'

"Ah..." The maid was stunned. She felt like her soul was being purified.

'How can someone be so adorable?' The maid thought.

"Yes! You're absolutely the cutest in the world, young mistress!" The maid exclaimed after she snapped out of her stupor.

"Hehe~♪. Thanks!" Kyouka said her thanks to the maid, then made her way back to the door to her brother's room. She then proceeded to slam the door open, or at least try her best to do so, since she wasn't very strong. She would normally knock, but she had just received a compliment, so she was in high spirits. Her big brother would forgive her with a smile on his face when she apologized later, anyways.

"..."

What greeted Kyouka when she opened the door was silence. It wasn't that her brother was stunned speechless or anything, it was simply because there wasn't a soul in sight.

Her big brother was not there.

"He's not here!" Kyouka couldn't help but exclaim. She had aimed to surprise her big brother, but she ended up being the one surprised by his absence.

"Fufu. The young mistress, the young master is currently in the back garden. I believe he was training the puppy he recently received as a present." The maid who had helped Kyouka earlier called out from the side. She had known that the young master wasn't there from the very beginning, however, she didn't tell Kyouka immediately as a small prank. She was one of the more mischievous maids. However, the number of maids who would have done the same as her was more than just a few.

"Oh!" Kyouka, who hadn't even realized that she was just pranked, ran off immediately to the back garden. She had been away from her big brother for far too long (from her perspective). She couldn't take it anymore. "Thanks!"

The maid smiled as she sent her mistress off. But then she called out worriedly ."Please be careful!! if you keep running like that you might trip!"

After seeing that Kyouka had stopped running, yet was still walking quite briskly, she walked over to the door her young mistress had left open.

She couldn't help but envy her young master for having such an angelic younger sister, as she closed the door.

"There he is!" Kyouka exclaimed. She had walked as fast as her little feet could carry her. Her hair got a bit disheveled, but she couldn't care about that right now. She started walking towards her big brother.

Kyouka's big brother, Kagami Ken, was indeed in the back garden, just as the maid had said. He was a handsome young boy of ten years old. With short black hair and bright blue eyes, as well as facial features obviously foreign in nature, it would not have been wrong to call him an older male version of Kyouka. If Kyouka could be described as cute, Ken could only be described as handsome. Despite still being a young child, Ken was maturing at a faster rate than boys his age. Although still retaining a boyish charm, there was something about him that would make one unconsciously not want to treat him as a child. His eyes and smile carried a calmness and tranquility that one could not associate with a boy his age.

"Sit," Ken said calmly to the three dogs in front of him while holding a small cloth sack in his left hand.

Two of the dogs, A German Shepherd, and a Siberian Husky sat down immediately upon hearing Ken's command. Both dogs were quite big, even for fully grown adult dogs.

The last of the three dogs, a Belgian Shepherd puppy, didn't sit down. It looked at the two bigger dogs beside it, but instead of following their lead, it started growling fiercely at Ken instead, baring its little, but sharp fangs at him.

"I said..." Ken looked down at the disobedient puppy, his gaze had suddenly grown colder. He commanded in a voice that could freeze summer itself. "Sit."

Kyouka, who had been walking in from behind Ken, suddenly stopped after hearing this unusually cold voice.

'Eh? Who... was that big brother just now? But he sounds so weird... I don't like it!' Kyouka thought. She shrunk into herself, as she just stood there gazing at her brother's back. She also unconsciously covered her ears.

All three dogs started at Ken's voice. The two older dogs were visibly shaking, their tails tucked between their legs. The husky had started whining a bit, although it kept its volume in check. The young pup, on the other hand, was also startled, but rather than fear, it showed caution. It was completely on guard against Ken, however, it didn't dare to attack either.

"You won't?" Ken asked in the same frigid voice. He squatted down on the grass, all the while not letting his gaze leave the disobedient pup. He pointed at the pup with his right hand. His thumb and forefinger were positioned in a way that he looked like he was pointing a gun at someone. It was a fairly common thing that young boys did when they played soldier or policeman.

However, as if being given a command, the two dogs, who had been shaking in fear suddenly sprang into an attack stance, ready to dash forward and attack immediately. They growled fiercely at the disobedient pup, seemingly ready to tear it apart with a single command from Ken.

"Let's do this again, hm?" Ken said. His voice had returned to normal and his smile returned. However his eyes were still cold, and his 'hand-gun' was still pointed at the pup. "Sit."

The two older dogs immediately sat down, however, their glares were still trained on the insolent pup, who kept being disobedient towards their master. Their fangs were still bared, ready to strike.

It was unknown whether it was due to the two bigger dogs' intimidation, or the seemingly harmless child with the cold eyes and a frosty voice in front of it, however, the pup finally obeyed. Although it still had a hint of defiance in its eyes, it was actually quite afraid. The pup would have tucked its tail between its legs had it been a bit longer.

Seeing the pup finally obey, Ken beamed happily. Like any ordinary young boy would. "Good boy!"

Ken then proceeded to take a dog treat out of the small cloth sack he'd been holding. He lightly tossed it to the pup.

The pup was apprehensive at first, it sniffed the treat Ken threw to the ground close to him and sniffed cautiously. But after the first sniff, it immediately gobbled the treat up.

"Haha, it's yummy, right?" Ken said to the pup. He took out two more treats and tossed them to the two other dogs. "Bruno and Slay, here."

Bruno the German Shepherd and Slay the Siberian Husky, deftly snatched the treats up as it was in the air with practiced motions. The little pup saw this and looked at the two older dogs in envy.

"Okay next... Bark!" Ken commanded.

**BARK!!**, Bruno and Slay barked simultaneously.

"Good. Here, Bruno! Slay!" Ken took out two treats and tossed one each towards Bruno and Slay. The two dogs, snatched it up mid-flight yet again.

Ken then proceeded to look at the pup expectantly. The pup looked towards, the two bigger dogs, who were currently chewing on their own treats, then looked at Ken, hesitantly. After a few seconds...

*bark* The pup let out a tiny bark. Not very loud, but it was a bark all the same. Ken was satisfied.

"Good boy! Here you go!" Ken took out another treat and tossed it to the pup.

The pup excitedly tried to snatch it from the air just like the other two did. It wasn't as used to it as the other two though, so it failed and the treat hit him in the face instead. It wasn't thrown with any force and the treat was actually a piece of high-quality beef cut into a somewhat large cube. It didn't hurt the pup, at all. The pup stared at the treat seemingly frustrated that he failed to catch it, but the smell the treat was letting off was just too enticing, it couldn't take it anymore. It dug in.

Ken then proceeded to try out various other commands. Bruno and Slay would do them first, as they'd done plenty of times, and the pup would then try to do its best to copy them. Eventually, the fingers Ken reached into the sack found nothing.

"Ah, I'm all out. We'll do this again tomorrow... or not. We have to leave early tomorrow, so I guess it'll have to be the day after." Ken mused aloud. He then looked at the pup who had become quite a bit more docile. It had even started trying to lick Ken's face as he petted it while squatting down. "Now, that you've become a bit more obedient, I guess I can start thinking about giving you a name."

'It's good that I don't have to put it down. Belgian Shepherds are cool, so It would've been a shame if I had to get rid of another one. The question now, is what do I name it?'

Ken hadn't named the pup yet. He knew from experience that he would be hurt more if he had to get rid of a dog he had named himself. After the first time, he decided to only name a dog if it showed absolute obedience, for a certain amount of time. If a new dog grew up to a certain size, and still didn't get a pass from Ken, it would be put down.

Of course, Ken wasn't training these dogs to have absolute obedience because of some twisted purpose, or because he wanted some loyal toy or something. Nor was he putting them down out of cruelty.

He actually loved dogs.

He thought dogs were the best animals in all of existence.

In particular, he liked big dogs. He thought they were really cool.

But he loved his little sister more than any number of dogs.

His tiny little sister, who was scared of big dogs. It was understandable. The types of dogs Ken liked were usually bigger than Kyouka. By a lot. It would be weirder if she wasn't scared of them

But even though he loved his little sister more, he still really wanted to have pet dogs.

So, he compromised. He would train them to be as loyal as possible. That way, he could have the dogs learn to avoid Kyouka, as well as remove the possibility of them hurting her.

The thought of one of his dogs hurting Kyouka, who probably wouldn't be able to resist at all, was absolutely terrifying for Ken. That's why even if he really didn't want to, he had to get rid of them if the training didn't go well.

Of course, the thought of selling them or putting them in some kind of animal shelter had crossed his mind. However, one of the conditions his father had put into place was that 'One had to take responsibility for one's actions. If you cannot take responsibility for it, then don't do it at all.'

Ken wasn't some super genius, but he was quite good at getting a feel for people. Even if their parents weren't really there most of the time, they had certain expectations and bottom lines for him and Kyouka. As long as they lived up to a minimum of their expectations, and didn't go below their parents' bottom lines, they were left to do as they pleased. Ken had been more than living up to what was wanted of him. He's also never been scolded, precisely because he knew exactly what his parents wanted, and never went beyond what they could tolerate.

And he knew his father wouldn't tolerate him getting a pet dog, then returning it after he gave up on training it.

'Jeez, why don't you just decide on a stance and go with it to the end old man? Do you care about us, or do you not? I barely see you, and yet I have to consider your opinion before I do stuff.' Ken inwardly complained.

In any case, because of his father's annoying rules, he had to put down dogs he couldn't train in time.

Getting a pet, for Ken, was a very serious matter, since if he couldn't properly train it himself, he would have to kill it with his own hands.

While thinking about how great it was that he didn't seem to have to do that to his newest pup, he suddenly noticed Bruno and Slay acting strange. They had suddenly started running away from him. The pup, who had learned by now that he should just do whatever the other two dogs were doing, followed after them. After, running a certain distance, Bruno and Slay stopped and looked at him again. The pup also stopped, but instead of looking at Ken, it looked at the two bigger dogs in confusion.

'No, what are you even doing? Don't just run off like that...' He was about to scold the two when he heard the rustling of leaves behind him. He looked over to find his little sister peeking out from behind a bush.

"Kyouka? What are you doing over there? Come here." Ken didn't know why his sister was hiding behind a bush, but that didn't really matter to him. He smiled as he beckoned Kyouka to come over with a warm smile.

'Ah, It's the normal big brother! I thought maybe he was someone who just looked the same, like from that movie we watched... but it's him, alright!' Thinking that it was a good thing her beloved brother didn't get replaced by some alien or something, Kyouka walked out from behind the bush. After she had snapped out of the shock from hearing Ken speak in such a cold manner, she hid while observing the situation. As she gradually felt surer that the Ken in the garden was her 'real' brother, she wanted to go to Ken but was scared by the dogs. Those mean dogs might eat her before her big brother could get to her, so she decided to go from bush to bush to get as close as possible, that way the dogs wouldn't see her but she would still get close to her big brother. Once she got to her big brother's side, she could leave the rest to him. He would protect her.

It had completely slipped her mind that she could have simply called out to her big brother and had him come to her instead.

She did all this not knowing that Bruno and Slay had been aware of her before she had even entered the garden. They had been strictly trained to stay far away from her after all. Her scent was very familiar to all of Ken's dogs.

A wasted effort indeed.

As Kyouka pattered over to him, Ken immediately noticed that she was wearing the pastel-colored dress that he had given her as a present the other day. He smiled exasperatedly. "It seems you really like the dress."

"Ah!" Kyouka had completely forgotten about her original intention. She'd wanted to surprise her brother by wearing the dress so quickly right after wearing it the day before. Her mood fell rapidly.

'Haha. It's cute that she thinks she can surprise me with this.' Ken inwardly mused.

Ken had noticed that Kyouka had asked the maids to wash her dress quickly. The stain on it would have come off easily enough, the problem was that the dress was the kind you had to wash by hand and sun-dry if you didn't want various parts of it to come loose or come off.

'I don't know much about washing clothes, but I'm sure the maids wanted to go the extra mile for it. And that made it easier for me to spot it.'

Ken had spotted the maids hanging the dress to dry in a secluded part of the mansion's grounds. Normally their clothes were dry-cleaned so hanging anything anywhere was sure to stand out. At the very least, it stood out to Ken.

'You're not at the level to prank me, your big brother, just yet. I have to put you in your place for even thinking you could get one over on me.' Ken inwardly snorted.

After he had already finished exerting his dominance as the elder sibling, Ken couldn't very well let her remain in that depressed state any longer. He had six years of experience dealing with Kyouka, so he knew how to cheer her back up.

"You look really cute!" Ken smiled warmly at Kyouka.

"...Really? Hehe~♥." Kyouka beamed happily. Her happiness index shot up to a hundred instantly. Already forgetting what she was sad about in the first place.

'I always like how easy to deal with she is. Though it worries me a bit too...' Ken was beginning to think that maybe he should start training Kyouka to hate men since she seemed to be the type to be easily tricked. In any case, she needed some more education.

"Ah, look! Big brother look at that!" Kyouka suddenly shouted, pointing at something in the distance.

Ken looked towards where she was pointing, but couldn't really see anything unusual.

'What is she pointing at? There's nothing but trees and bushes. She can't be pointing at those, since she sees them all the time, so what exactly is she pointing at?'

Ken could tell Kyouka wasn't lying about seeing something, so he tried his best to look for whatever it was. After a while, he still couldn't see.

'Eh, seriously I can't see anything...' Ken was a bit dismayed. 'Is my eyesight bad?'

His pride as an elder sibling was causing him to feel immense frustration over this.

"What are you looking at? I can't see it..." Ken couldn't help but give up. He couldn't overcome his curiosity either, so he asked.

Kyouka, who didn't even realize that she had gotten one over on her brother, pointed far into the distance. "There's something weird over there! It's black and... uhm...anyways, it's weird!"

'I also have to teach her more vocabulary...' Ken thought. He was a bit frustrated by Kyouka's lackluster explanation. He looked into the distance again, looking for something black and weird. But he just couldn't see anything.

'No, what is it really? I'm stupidly curious now. Or rather, how good is Kyouka's vision anyways? Or is it me? Do I need glasses?' While Ken was ruminating on how lacking his 20/20 vision was, Kyouka was already running off into the distance.

"Wha- Hey!" Ken called out.

"I'm gonna go check out the weird thingy!" Kyouka shouted back, then proceeded to run off without looking back.

Ken was about to worriedly chase after her, but then he remembered where exactly he was.

'Well, she'll be fine. This is the Kagami Manor's grounds. There are people who make sure there aren't any snakes or anything dangerous on the grounds. Probably only birds and small insects are here. She'll be fine.' Ken calmed down as he thought that.

The mansion and its grounds only became the possession of Ken's father about a dozen years ago, but the Kagami Manor's grounds have been in this state for centuries. Centuries worth of maintenance should have definitely flushed out any dangerous creatures. Ken was sure of this. But this was this, and that was that. He couldn't leave his sister alone like that.

Now that Kyouka had left, Bruno and Slay had returned to Ken's side. The pup followed as well, albeit still looking a bit confused.

Ken was troubled. The place where he kept the dogs was a bit far, and he had sent away all the servants since he wanted to be left alone while he was training his dogs. So there was no one nearby who Ken could foist the dogs on. He didn't really want them to stay here either since it might start raining or something. Even though he could be cruel, he didn't want the dogs to stand in the rain for any amount of time.

After a bit of hesitation, he decided to take them with him.

Ken threw the sack in his hand aside then whistled with his mouth once, clapped once, then pointed to himself. Whistling once, then clapping once was a signal for the dogs, which meant to follow the person he pointed to.

Bruno and Slay both barked once to signal that they understood. The pup also barked once after a delay, although it was most likely just copying the other two again.

"Okay, let's go," Ken said. He started jogging towards the place where Kyouka ran off to. The two older dogs followed, with the pup holding up the rear.

It wouldn't take long for Ken to catch up. Kyouka was a six-year-old girl, who was prone to getting sick over the slightest thing, while Ken was a very physically active boy.

Ken jogged across the grass with swiftness and consistency.

The area they had arrived at was quite far from the Mansion. There also weren't any paths or anything here. Beyond the garden were a few hectares of flat grassland, and after that was full of cherry blossom trees.

Whenever spring came, these trees' colors would change, as was the case with cherry blossom trees. He would enjoy looking at them from the rear veranda with Kyouka while drinking tea and eating snacks. He was about to enter that copse of trees when he noticed the abnormalities in the area.

There was nothing wrong when looking at it from afar, but it was more noticeable the closer you got. There was a dark haze spreading out from within the small forest of trees. It was like the mist that showed in the early morning, except it was black.

'How could I have not seen this from farther away? Am I actually blind!?' Ken felt dark thoughts slowly seeping into his mind. His panic grew as he observed the surroundings.

The area further into the copse of trees was like an entirely different world, compared to its surroundings. The trees were visibly withered, especially in comparison to the trees that could be viewed from the garden. There was no longer any grass on the ground, just the bare dirt. Upon closer examination, the black haze was actually rising up from beneath the soil.

More than any of that, It smelled absolutely horrible.

'To borrow a phrase I heard the other day: It smells like shit.' Ken thought. 'Geez, Kyouka. You Moron!'

One would have normally thought that a sheltered six-year-old girl wouldn't even think of going into a place as creepy and stinky as this.

Kyouka was different though.

Kyouka was never scared of creepy things.

Kyouka was also, never really one to mind bad smells.

Ken thought back to how Kyouka never really reacted while watching scary movies. She would even say they were boring, or how the monsters looked cute or funny.

Ken thought back to how he had brought home a durian as a souvenir from his trip to the Philippines. He had meant it as a prank, but Kyouka ended up liking it so much, it became her favorite fruit. Now he had to eat it with her every few weeks, cuz she throws a tantrum otherwise.

Ken could feel his head aching. His sister's weird eccentricities, which he always just thought of as another part that was kind of cute/annoying about her, actually made it so that she wouldn't mind entering this weird place at all.

Hearing a dog's whining, Ken turned to look behind him. The two older dogs, although visibly on guard against the odd place, seemed to still have every intention of following him. They stuck close to Ken.

The pup at the very back was different. He seemed to have absolutely no intention of following him into such a creepy place.

'Well, that's understandable. Even I wouldn't want to follow anyone to this kind of place. Normally, that is.' Ken shook his head inwardly.

'My dear sister, a dog has better judgment than you...' Ken doubled his determination to increase his sister's intelligence.

But first, he had to bring her back. He looked at Slay, seeming to have decided on something.

"Slay" Ken called the dog's attention. Then he whistled once, clapped twice, and pointed at the Pup. The instructions were similar to the ones he used previously, except clapping twice meant that they had to protect whoever he pointed to.

Slay, who would have normally followed his orders seemed to be reluctant to stay behind. Ken, moved by his loyalty, patted Slay on the head. "Don't worry boy, We'll be back."

Ken then proceeded deeper into the weird place. The odd smell grew more intense with every step. He looked at the trusty companion behind him. It must have been harder for the dog.

As he expected, Bruno was very visibly distressed. He was walking while keeping his head as high as possible, trying his best to avoid the putrid smell coming from underground.

'He's still coming, though. I have to give him an extra special treat after this. Like, maybe an entire cow. Or a mate just for him. All of my dogs are male so he must be lonely.' Ken thought, his heart warmed by Bruno's loyalty.

Ken and Bruno kept trudging through the horrid stench. After what felt like an eternity, they eventually made it out of the copse of trees.

In front of the boy and his dog was a clearing. Kyouka was there too.

"Kyouka!" Ken called out.

"Ah, big brother! You caught up!" Kyouka beamed at her brother, who had caught up to her so fast.

"We're leaving this place," Ken said firmly. His tone brooked no argument. He couldn't help but let a hint of iciness into his voice. This place was just way too strange. He had to take his sister out of this place as fast as possible. Kyouka was used to getting spoiled by him so she would probably try to convince him to stay a while longer. He had to take a stronger tone, seeing the situation they were in.

"O-okay..." Kyouka sensed that her brother wasn't going to let her have her way this time, and he was a bit scary right now, so she obediently nodded. She started walking towards her big brother when they suddenly heard a sound from the other side of the clearing. Both siblings turned to look at where the sound was coming from. They couldn't really see it clearly, but something big was slowly moving towards them from beyond the black fog.

Squeee!

An ear-shatteringly loud screech akin to someone dragging their nails across a chalkboard except a hundred times worse, made Ken, Kyouka, and Bruno recoil from the shock to their eardrums. Kyouka fell down on her butt with her eyes closed shut in pain, while doing her best to cover her ears. Ken somehow stayed upright, however, he still couldn't help but curl forward while shielding his ears. Bruno was laying on the ground and also covering his ears as best as he could with his front paws.

Once the screech finally came to an end, Ken endured the ringing in his ears and the headache that accompanied it to look at the source of the soul-shaking wail. He couldn't believe what he saw.

It was a rat.

A really, really big rat.

Its eyes glowed a light green color. Looking into them would instill a primal fear into all who lived, a sign that this creature was indeed at the apex of the food chain. There were four of such eyes.

Fur colored a black so deep, it was as if one was looking at a bottomless hole coated its body in darkness, with an additional layer of thick black smoke surrounding it.

This black smoke was different than the fog in the surroundings. Any creature who lived under the light would feel an instinctual disgust just by looking at it, they would feel that they were looking at something wrong.

If one were to have time to observe the smoke for a bit longer, they would discover that the smoke was seeping into the ground. The ground would absorb it, be polluted by it, and then proceed to spread the corruption further, on and on.

But nobody would be able to discover this normally.

Observing the black smoke meant having to look at the abominable creature, after all.

When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you.

It was a very fitting anecdote, for the creature.

Observing the creature meant being in view of it as well. No matter what method one used.

That was the type of creature it was.

If someone were to call it a Deity, they would not necessarily be wrong.

A Deity of Plagues, perhaps.

This was the type of creature in front of Ken and the others right now.