Sherry's body began trembling uncontrollably. A bone-chilling cold had spread from her heart to her limbs and internal organs, even though by this point she no longer had a heart.
Then, as the figure slowly approached, the elegant houses scattered along the hillsides on either side of the street seemed to answer a summons. One by one, their front doors slowly swung inward and slammed shut, as if shutting Sherry out. Then, right after that, the houses and the green hills and clear waters surrounding them began to crumble. The fairy-tale world was collapsing, and Sherry's mental defenses were about to collapse with it.
The "girl's" form began to change. As if she'd seen an indescribable predator from some higher dimension, she completely lost her sanity. Her body convulsed, twisted, swelled, and transformed. Sturdy carapace and razor-sharp blades grew from her torso, tearing through her white dress and covering every inch of her pale skin. Ugly, terrifying insect limbs unfolded from her back, forming sharp blades. Her long hair began to gather together, each strand twisting into a shifting serpent shape, wreathed in dark toxins and murderous energy.
In barely an instant, she had gone from a frail, pitiful young girl to a three-meter-tall alien monstrosity. Only the faintest hint of human features remained; everything else was unmistakably vicious and savage, as if every cell had evolved for battle.
Even in this form, however, she continued to inch backward, as if she had seen a natural enemy capable of awakening her greatest fear.
She hadn't transformed into this form to fight, but to protect herself—or, more accurately, simply to feel a little safer.
At that moment, her eyes changed from pure azure blue to vertical pupils like boiling sulfur. But what burned in those narrow slits wasn't fighting spirit. It