Void Cultivation

"Father..."

As soon as the word drifted out from the straw doll that was still staring sinisterly at Grey, his heart trembled. For a brief moment, Grey felt as though something had struck the deepest part of his soul.

Violet fell silent. Even the shadow beneath Grey’s feet seemed to tremble slightly. This was incredibly strange.

Bizarre existences were called bizarre precisely because of their strange and unpredictable nature. It was not unusual for them to behave in ways that ordinary creatures could never comprehend.

However, the series of events that had led them to this exact moment made Grey feel that something was terribly wrong.

The straw doll had appeared several times despite Grey constantly changing his direction. It had moved without producing the slightest fluctuation.

It had appeared directly in front of him without him sensing anything. And now... it had called him "Father." Grey’s brows furrowed deeply.

Just as he was about to think more deeply about the matter, his entire body suddenly trembled. A strange sensation spread through his mind.

Then, a scene suddenly appeared before his eyes. It was not an ordinary memory.

It felt as though he had been forcibly dragged into a scene that had happened countless years ago.

In that scene, a small straw doll lay on the ground. It was torn and battered, its body seemingly on the verge of completely falling apart.

The straw doll was lying face-down against the dirty and hardened soil. Its posture made it look as though it had been broken by a mischievous child before being carelessly discarded somewhere.

Its thin limbs were twisted unnaturally, while several strands of straw had already fallen out of its body. The button eyes attached to its straw face were dull and lifeless.

Yet there was something strangely pitiful about them. Anyone who saw the straw doll in that state would probably feel a trace of pity.

The doll had been lying in that exact position for close to ten days. It had not moved, it had not been picked up.

It had simply remained there. As though even mutated creatures did not pay any attention to it. Around it were countless ruined buildings and collapsed structures. The once-familiar streets had been reduced to piles of broken stone and twisted metal.

Roars belonging to strange creatures could be heard from every corner of the ruined city. Occasionally, the ground would tremble violently as enormous mutated creatures passed nearby.

The sky above was gradually becoming darker and darker with each passing day. It was as though an enormous veil was slowly being drawn across the heavens, swallowing the light that remained.

This was the Corroded Zone that had been created after God’s blinding radiance struck the land ten days ago.

The catastrophe had changed everything. Countless life forms had suddenly died.

Others had undergone terrifying mutations and transformed into monstrous creatures that no longer possessed anything resembling their former appearance.

Even the child who had once owned this straw doll had died. His small body had dissolved into a pool of blood shortly after God’s radiance descended.

The straw doll had fallen face-down onto the ground afterward. And it had remained there for more than ten days. Perhaps it would continue to remain there forever.

Until the passage of time caused its body to completely decompose, leaving behind nothing but a pile of dry straw and dust.

But on this particular day... A pair of feet suddenly stopped before the straw doll. The person wearing the black robe stood silently in the ruined street.

He did not immediately move. Instead, he raised his head and looked toward the gradually transforming surroundings.

His eyes slowly swept across the ruined buildings. At the darkening sky, the distant mutated creatures and the strange veil of corruption that was gradually spreading across the land.

His gaze remained calm and apathetic. There was no fear or panic. It was almost as though the terrifying scene before him was nothing more than an ordinary sight.

Several seconds later, his attention finally shifted and landed on the small straw doll lying brokenly on the ground.

He stared at it for a second. Two seconds... then three seconds. The black-robed figure could have simply walked away.

He could have stepped over the doll and continued on his path. Yet, for some unknown reason, he did not. Instead, he slowly bent down and His hand reached toward the ground.

And with surprising gentleness, he picked up the broken straw doll.

The moment his fingers touched its body, the black-robed figure was silent for several seconds. Then a calm and gentle voice echoed through the ruined street.

"Why... are you lying down here all alone?"

His voice was peaceful. Anyone who heard it would instinctively feel a strange sense of tranquility. There was no killing intent in his voice. Neither was there any arrogance or indifference that his previous apathetic expression had caused him to have.

There was only a faint gentleness that seemed completely out of place within the Corroded Zone.

Yet... that voice was strangely familiar. Even Grey, who was merely witnessing this scene, felt his heart tremble when he heard it.

He knew that voice. At least somewhere deep within his soul, he knew it. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember where he had heard it before.

The black-robed figure gently examined the straw doll in his hand The doll was already severely damaged. Its body was practically falling apart from every seem and corner.

The black-robed figure remained silent for several moments. Then he slowly raised his hand and a single strand of gray hair fell between his fingers.

He plucked it from his head. A faint sigh escaped his lips.

Then, under Grey’s stunned gaze, the black-robed figure carefully wrapped the strand of gray hair around the body of the straw doll. He tied it gently, almost as though he were afraid of hurting it.

"Don’t worry."

The black-robed figure’s voice remained gentle.

"From this moment onward..."

He paused.

"...you will not be lonely anymore."

After saying those words, he tied the strand of gray hair around the straw doll. Then he sighed once more. This time, however, something different happened.

A faint trace of his breath escaped from his lips. It drifted through the air before silently entering the body of the straw doll. Nothing happened at first. The ruined city remained silent and empty.

The black-robed figure simply held the doll in his hand. Then... twitch. The straw doll moved slightly. The black-robed figure’s eyes flickered.

Its tiny fingers slowly curled into a ball. Its broken body trembled and it slowly lifted. And for the first time since it had been abandoned...

The straw doll moved by itself. Its button eyes shifted and within the reflection of those tiny black buttons, a figure could be seen.

A black-robed man. He was smiling softly at the straw doll. There was no malice in that smile. There was only warmth at the creation of life Only kindness.

The straw doll stared at him. For the first time... It was no longer alone.

The scene suddenly cracked. A spiderweb-like fracture spread across Grey’s vision.

Crack!

The entire scene shattered and Grey’s consciousness violently returned to reality. By the time he realized that what he had just witnessed was nothing more than a memory, the straw doll had already moved.

It was standing directly before him. Its tiny hand reached toward his clothes. Its sinister-looking button eyes stared upward at Grey.

"Father..."

The word came once again and Grey’s pupils contracted. His body instinctively tensed.

"Grey!"

Violet’s voice suddenly resounded in his mind.

"We have to leave now! I can feel an extremely powerful presence coming from this straw doll. It is not something we can afford to provoke!"

Grey immediately snapped out of his reverie.

Without a second thought, he twisted his body and shrugged off the straw doll’s hand before retreating several meters backward.

His expression was solemn. Violet’s tone was unusually serious. Even the shadow beneath his feet had become restless. However, Grey’s eyes remained fixed on the straw doll.

’Something is wrong.’

He could not explain it. He did not understand the scene he had just witnessed. He did not know who that black-robed figure was.

He did not know why the figure’s voice felt so familiar. And he certainly did not understand why the straw doll was calling him Father.

But his instincts were screaming at him to leave. Now.

And Grey did not hesitate. ’I have to leave this place.’ His instincts to flee had never been this intense.

Grey was not surprised that Violet had not commented on the strange scene he had witnessed.

From her reaction, it was obvious that she had not seen it. The Captain was also completely oblivious to what had happened. Only Grey had perceived the strange memory.

Yet instead of feeling special because of this, Grey felt an indescribable uneasiness. It was as though he had accidentally touched something that he was never supposed to see.

Something that existed far beyond his current understanding. Grey slowly stepped backward.

The straw doll remained motionless.

Its tiny hand, which had been reaching toward Grey, slowly stopped.

It watched him.

Its sinister expression remained unchanged.

But something within those button eyes seemed to shift.

Grey took another step backward.

Then another.

The distance between them gradually increased.

The straw doll still did not move.

Even when Grey suddenly turned around and began running at full speed, the straw doll remained exactly where it was.

It did not chase him.

It did not attack.

It simply watched.

If Grey had been able to see the straw doll clearly at that moment, he would have noticed something strange. The sinister intent that had previously filled its eyes had faded considerably.

There was no longer the same eerie excitement. Instead... there was loneliness. A faint and indescribable loneliness.

The straw doll slowly lowered its arm. Its tiny fingers curled slightly before falling limply to its side. It remained standing there for several seconds.

Then its body suddenly twisted. Its legs buckled and the small figure slowly collapsed onto the ruined ground.

Thud. Just like it had done more than ten days ago.

Face down, completely alone and broken.

The straw doll did not move, a cold wind swept through the ruined streets. Several strands of straw were carried away by the wind and drifted in all directions.

Its tiny body remained motionless against the hard soil. Its button eyes stared blankly toward the direction Grey had disappeared.

A faint glimmer appeared within one of its button eyes. A single drop of liquid slowly gathered at the edge.

It slid down its tiny face. It was a single teardrop.

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