Before Dawn

As far as the eye could see, everything was shrouded in torrential rain.

Yet though the earth was covered by rainwater, the pale gray clouds were dyed red by firelight.

Cries and thunderous explosions kept erupting in the distance. Huai Shi stood amid the wreckage-strewn streets, wearily staring at everything before him.

The entire Tanba Inner Circle was gradually collapsing in the flames. Even after exhausting all his strength and unleashing the entire Hell Swarm, all he could protect were a few small blocks behind him.

Fewer than five thousand people...

There were still more places he could no longer attend to.

And now, on the blood-soaked street before him after the fighting, only wails remained.

Suppressed sobs constantly rose from beneath the rubble and collapsed ruins.

"Doctor! Where's the doctor?"

A disheveled woman walked barefoot through the street, looking around blankly as she desperately carried her husband on her back. Crying herself hoarse, she saw Huai Shi as though she had found hope and rushed toward him, stumbling, falling, then climbing back up.

"Save him, please save him... Mr. Huai Shi, I'm begging you..."

She knelt on the ground and desperately kowtowed, heedless of the stones cutting her lovely face. "I'll spend the rest of my life repaying you, Mr. Huai Shi. Please, please..."

But the man in her arms had long since died.

He had stopped breathing.

As her pleas gradually lost their strength, Huai Shi closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said. "There's nothing I can do."

The woman froze where she stood, staring at him blankly. After a long, long time, the hopeful look on her face fell apart.

Little by little, she hunched over.

Holding her dead husband, she let out a grief-stricken cry.

"Why? I brought out all my money... I'll do anything... Why