... There was nothing else he could do. Kyousuke swallowed thickly, trying to dispel the contents that risen to his throat, and squeezed his eyes shut, prepared for the inevitable. All that was left was to be ripped apart, and while he was resigned to it, he didn't accept it; even knowing what was to come didn't stop the waves of panic and dread and the voice in the back of his mind screaming at him to move. ... But it was over. He was already lost.

Yet that final blow, the source of all his dread, never came, and wondering why, he risked opening his eyes. The black creature remained over him, claws still poised over its head, but he was less focused on that than the steel tip now protruding from its chest. He could only stare it at as black rose out from where it had penetrated, stare more as the blade was removed. He watched helplessly as the body fell at his side, looked up the man standing over him, and back to the dark mass that had fallen on him, in a state of pure shock.

...What...? What just happened...? The pieces were all right there, but they didn't add up, no matter how much he looked at them, he couldn't begin to comprehend them. He just... He didn't understand. Even the pain and heavy bleeding from injuries was forgotten, as he lay frozen in bewilderment.