Hounds of the Abyss: The Last Choice to Protect Paradise
At the very bottom of the Abyss, there is a door that nobody knows about. It leads to the 'bottom' of the world. Guarding this door are twin hounds with fluffy white hair: Fuwawa and Mococo. Fuwawa, the elder sister, has calm aqua eyes; Mococo, the younger, has sparkling pink eyes and boundless energy. Every day, they drive away 'those who wander in' from outside the Abyss. That was their job. That was their mission. One day, a girl named Lily is found collapsed at the entrance of the Abyss. She
Hounds of the Abyss: The Last Choice to Protect Paradise - The Indestructible Cage: The Spearpoint Points to the Little Sister, the Key Girl, and the Old Watchdog's Declaration
The pale blue glow of the luminous moss cast a quiet light across the cave walls.
Narva's Gate — the White Hollow, one of the caverns sprawling at the entrance to the Abyss. The home base of Fuwawa Abyssgard and Mococo Abyssgard. The light from the moss growing on the walls was the only illumination in this underground realm where day and night blurred into one.
Fuwawa stood over the two sleeping forms on the bed.
Mococo lay with Lily in her arms. Her sister's short white hair mingled with Lily's pale blonde, shimmering faintly beneath the glowing moss. Mococo's sleeping face was utterly unguarded, her lips slightly parted. Lily, too, breathed softly and peacefully within Mococo's embrace.
(Three days...)
Gran Duskwalker's decree sat heavy in the depths of Fuwawa's chest.
*Dispose of the Key Vessel. Otherwise, you are unfit to be a Hound.*
Fuwawa gripped her Spear of Light. A weapon generated from a Hound's soul. When she held it, a faint aquamarine glow leaked between her fingers. That light, for just a moment, illuminated the faces of the two sleeping girls.
(Mococo... Lily...)
A sharp ache pricked the back of her left hand. The Brand of the Contract Fang. The mark of a Hound, inherited from her mother.
Fuwawa exhaled softly.
Then she turned her steps toward the depths of the cavern.
—To the lowest layer of the Abyss. To the Terminal Door.
The darkness of the Abyss was deeper and heavier than any night on the surface.
With only the faint glow of her Spear of Light to guide her, Fuwawa descended through the layers of Narva Grandis. The first layer, the second, the third — the paths she walked on patrol were empty now. Goblins and orcs alike held their breath, sensing the presence of a Hound.
When she reached the fourth layer, the air changed.
Cold. And sweet. Like rotting flowers — yet tinged with something like the smell of blood. The presence of the Void.
Fuwawa's long white hair swayed gently in the windless cavern.
(Close.)
She stopped and readied her spear.
As she descended through the fifth and sixth layers, the ancient patterns carved into the walls began to flicker faintly. They were warnings linked to the seal on the Terminal Door — legible only to the Hound clan.
—*Seal, unstable. Corruption, spreading.*
Fuwawa's aquamarine eyes glittered cold as ice.
"...Faster than I expected."
She stood at the entrance to the seventh layer.
The deepest chamber, where the Terminal Door resided. The place only Hounds were permitted to enter.
Fuwawa took a single step forward.
The seventh layer bore not even luminous moss.
There was only darkness. And the Terminal Door.
Three meters tall, a meter and a half wide. A door of unknown material stood alone in the deepest reaches of the Abyss. Countless patterns were carved into its surface, each one emitting a faint, pale blue light.
But that light had clearly weakened.
Fuwawa stood before the door.
The brand on the back of her left hand burned — past pain, into something searing.
"...Lily's influence reaches even here."
She regripped her Spear of Light with both hands. The weapon generated from a Hound's soul. With this spear, she would reinforce the seal. That was her duty.
—But.
That was when it happened.
*Gogogo...*
A sound came from beyond the door.
Something was pounding on it from the inside.
Fuwawa's breath stopped for an instant.
*Gogogo... Gogogo...*
The sound grew steadily louder. The patterns on the door's surface flickered violently. The pale blue light turned a dark, bloody red.
"It's coming...!"
Fuwawa thrust her Spear of Light toward the door.
"—Seal it!"
From the spear's tip, aquamarine light poured forth, flowing into the door's patterns. The light of reinforcement. A power to push the seal back from within.
But.
*Crack.*
A fissure ran across the Abyss's wall.
Fuwawa turned toward the sound.
*Crack, crack, crack!*
Countless fractures spidered across the wall's surface. And from the gaps in those fissures—
Black tentacles oozed out.
The Hands of the Void.
Black, tentacle-like entities that seeped from the bottom of the Abyss. Formless, they devoured the memories and existence of all they touched. The enemy the Hounds fought against for eternity.
Fuwawa pulled her Spear of Light from the door and leveled it at the tentacles.
"...So you've come out."
Her voice was quiet. But her fingertips trembled faintly.
The more she used the Spear of Light in battle, the weaker the seal became. If she sealed, she could not fight.
—*Fight, and the seal weakens. Seal, and you cannot fight.*
Fuwawa now faced that structural contradiction head-on.
The tentacles stretched slowly toward her.
One, two, three—
They poured from the cracks in the wall, one after another. Every tip was aimed at Fuwawa.
"...Come, then."
Fuwawa swung her Spear of Light.
Aquamarine light split the darkness.
*Slash!*
One tentacle was severed. Black mist sprayed from the cut. The mist dissolved into the void in an instant.
But the tentacles did not diminish.
No matter how many she cut, new tentacles poured from the cracks in the wall.
"...There's no end to this."
Fuwawa exhaled. Sweat beaded on her forehead.
(If I use the Contract Fang...)
The thought flickered through her mind for an instant.
The Contract Fang. A special ability usable only by Hounds — it devoured the memories of a target's existence, returning them to the Void.
But the price was her own memories.
For her, who had already lost some of her mother's memories, any further loss was unbearable.
(I don't want to forget any more of my mother's face.)
Fuwawa gritted her teeth.
She readied her Spear of Light once more.
—That was when.
One of the tentacles stretched past Fuwawa, toward the passage leading to the caverns.
Toward the White Hollow. Toward where Mococo and Lily slept.
"—!"
Fuwawa broke into a sprint.
She raced up the passage at full speed.
The light of her spear streamed across the cave walls, illuminating them in a flowing wave.
The tentacles pursued from behind.
Countless black hands crawled along the walls, across the ceiling, spreading until they seemed about to fill the entire passage.
"Mococo...!"
Fuwawa called her sister's name.
The entrance to the White Hollow came into view.
The pale blue glow of the luminous moss spilled from the cavern.
—But.
One tentacle overtook Fuwawa, stretching straight toward the entrance of the White Hollow.
Its tip aimed precisely at the bed where Mococo slept.
"—I won't let you!"
Fuwawa threw down her Spear of Light.
And she slid her own body between the tentacle and Mococo.
—She thrust her left arm in front of the tentacle.
*Sizzle.*
The tentacle coiled around Fuwawa's left arm.
"—Aaaaaah!"
Pain shot through her.
A burning, freezing agony — both at once. The tentacle was trying to devour the skin of her left arm, memories and all.
Fuwawa grabbed the tentacle with her right hand and tore it away.
*Snap.*
The tentacle ripped apart.
Black mist sprayed from the severed end.
Fuwawa dropped to one knee.
Blood streamed from her left arm.
—From the same place as that day.
The old wound carved when she had pulled eight-year-old Mococo up from the frozen cliff. Across that scar, a new gash now ran, deep and raw.
Fresh blood dripped onto the cavern floor.
Fuwawa pressed her hand to the wound and rose.
The tentacles still flooded the passage.
"...We have no choice but to retreat."
She picked up her Spear of Light and ran into the White Hollow.
The tentacles pressed toward the cavern's entrance.
Fuwawa looked for a single moment at Mococo and Lily, sleeping in the depths of the cave.
They were still asleep.
Defenseless, nestled together.
(I have to protect them.)
Fuwawa drove her Spear of Light into the cavern's entrance.
"—Barrier!"
From the spear, aquamarine light spread like a wall, sealing the entrance.
The tentacles struck the barrier again and again.
*Thud. Thud. Thud.*
The barrier shook.
But it held. For now.
Keeping the barrier in place, Fuwawa looked at the wound on her left arm.
The bleeding wouldn't stop.
(...My arm always aches on rainy days.)
The memory of that day surged back, vivid and sharp.
—Eight-year-old Mococo fell from the frozen cliff.
That day, too, it had been raining.
No — snowing. Mountain weather changed without warning.
Mococo's foot slipped at the cliff's edge.
"Big Sister—!"
A small hand grasped at empty air.
Fuwawa dove off the cliff without hesitation.
She dug her nails into the rock face, let herself slide, and caught Mococo's hand.
—She caught it.
But Fuwawa's left arm had been deeply slashed by a sharp outcrop of rock.
Blood mixed with the rain and streamed down.
Even so, Fuwawa did not let go of Mococo's hand.
"...I will never let go."
That was what Fuwawa had said.
Mococo, crying, had nodded.
Fuwawa hadn't felt the pain in her left arm.
No — she hadn't had the luxury of feeling it.
The terror of losing her sister had drowned out the pain.
—From that day on, Fuwawa's left arm ached on rainy days.
And now.
The same arm had been wounded again, protecting Mococo.
Still pressing the wound, Fuwawa exhaled quietly.
(...I'm not fighting to protect my sister.)
(I'm just being controlled by the fear of losing her.)
For the first time, Fuwawa saw clearly into the depths of her own heart.
That truth pierced her chest far deeper than the pain in her left arm.
The tentacles withdrew with the dawn.
They retreated slowly, back to the bottom of the Abyss.
Fuwawa released the barrier and sank down at the entrance of the White Hollow, strengthless.
The wound on her left arm had begun to close, thanks to a Hound's healing power.
But it would take days to fully heal.
Fuwawa looked into the depths of the cavern.
Mococo and Lily were still asleep.
Morning light streamed in from the cavern's entrance.
It illuminated their sleeping faces, soft and gentle.
Mococo slept with Lily still in her arms.
Lily had her face buried against Mococo's chest.
—Just like real sisters.
Fuwawa gazed at the scene without moving.
(...Mococo. You already think of this girl as family, don't you.)
(Lily. You trust Mococo, too.)
(Then I...)
Fuwawa gripped her Spear of Light.
(I have to dispose of Lily.)
The law echoed coldly within her heart.
*If you find a Key Vessel, dispose of it.*
*Show no mercy to outsiders.*
*Protecting the Terminal Door comes first.*
(If I dispose of Lily, the seal will stabilize.)
(Mococo will be safe.)
(The world will be safe.)
Fuwawa rose slowly.
The wound on her left arm throbbed.
That old scar that ached on rainy days.
Fuwawa pressed her hand firmly against the wound.
(...I've decided.)
That night.
Fuwawa dreamed.
—The day she was fourteen.
The day she had disposed of a Key Vessel for the first time.
The edge of the Abyss.
A boy was crying.
"I want to go home... I want to go home..."
The boy clung to Fuwawa's leg.
"Please... I didn't do anything... I just want to go home..."
Fuwawa pointed the Contract Fang at the boy.
"...It's the law."
Fuwawa's voice was cold.
"A Key Vessel must be disposed of."
The boy looked up at Fuwawa, trembling.
"Stop... please... don't kill me..."
Fuwawa closed her eyes.
And she drove the Contract Fang into the boy.
—Memories flooded in.
The boy's memories.
His family's faces. Promises made with friends. The girl he had loved.
All of it, all of it, poured into Fuwawa.
And then faded away.
The memory of the boy's existence vanished from the world.
"—Aaaaaah!"
Fuwawa screamed.
She had killed the boy by her own will.
That truth shattered fourteen-year-old Fuwawa's heart into pieces.
—She woke.
Fuwawa realized tears were running down her cheeks.
Her pillow was wet.
(...That dream again.)
Fuwawa rose quietly.
The cavern was silent.
The pale blue glow of the luminous moss lit the walls softly.
Mococo and Lily were still asleep.
Fuwawa gazed at Lily's sleeping face.
Pale blonde hair, close to silv
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