Snore... Snore... in the Heart of Hell
Planet F-33 - Nourishing meal snore... snore...
Peaceful breathing echoed from the very center of hell.
Delta leaned against the door, staring at the scene before her in disbelief. The room was entirely covered in white mucus. The walls pulsed like the inner lining of some living creature, and sticky fluid dangled from the ceiling in thick threads. In the midst of this repulsive organic nest, a girl lay sleeping on a white bed.
That girl...
Delta's pupils trembled. The target the Apex board had desperately hunted. Eve. She'd thought it was just an experimental subject. At worst, some unethical test on a child. But the moment she saw this room's horrors, her instincts screamed a warning. That wasn't some ordinary lab rat. It was connected to the white nightmare outside. Otherwise, no one could sleep so peacefully in what was essentially a monster's stomach.
That child is deeply tied to the monster...
Then it happened.
Bang! Bang! The metal door behind her buckled with a deafening groan.
Delta jolted in terror and braced against it. It was here. That white monster had chased her all the way.
What do I do? Am I dying here?
Most of her weapons were spent, her suit half-destroyed. No place to run. Her gaze flicked back to the girl on the bed.
Hostage.
If the monster outside was guarding that girl, using her as a shield might open a path to survival.
Delta spun desperately toward the bed—but froze.
"!"
She gasped. The girl was gone. Vanished from the bed where she should have been lying.
"Who are you, sis?"
A chill raced up her spine at the voice. Delta creakily turned her head. The girl was there now. Right beside her. No footsteps, no rustle of clothing—nothing. Like a ghost that had been standing there from the start.
"......"
She looked like an ordinary, pretty ten-year-old. Big red eyes. Pale skin. But that normalcy clashed with the grotesque surroundings, birthing an indescribable terror.
Yet the girl radiated no malice or hostility like the monster outside. Just pure curiosity in her gaze.
Delta forced her trembling lips into a smile. She had to survive. Fool this child.
"Hi... um, sis came to this ship to find you."
Delta squeezed out the gentlest voice she could muster, lowering herself to eye level.
"Me? Why?"
The girl tilted her head.
Delta's mind raced. If she said Apex? The kid might remember being a test subject and turn hostile. What was the safest lie?
"Oh? Are you... Kal's friend?"
"Huh?"
Kal—the ship's captain, right? Delta clung to the name like a lifeline.
"Y-yeah! That's right. Kal asked me to come get you..."
"Eve! My name's Eve!"
"Right, Eve. Kal asked me to bring you..."
Eve's face lit up at the lie.
"Whoa! Kal's friend! Then Malangi comes too!"
"Malangi... who's that?"
"Hmm~ Malangi's super soft and squishy, and listens to everything I say! The best kid ever!"
The best kid?
Another lifeform on this junker ship? Not another monster like the one outside, please. Delta shook off the horrifying thought and refocused. Didn't matter. Secure the girl first.
White tentacles began prying through the door's seams. Time was up.
"Got it. But Eve, there's a really scary monster out there right now... so hold sis's hand tight, okay?"
Delta extended her hand.
"Scary monster...?"
Eve shrank back at the word, then grabbed Delta's hand. Small and warm.
Got her.
Delta inwardly cheered. Success. Get out with the girl, and the monster outside wouldn't dare attack.
"Yeah, so be careful..."
Then the door ripped away like paper.
KABOOM!
"Eek!"
Delta screamed, clutching Eve and stumbling back. Through the shattered doorframe surged a white tsunami. Dozens of red eyes gleamed within, glaring at her.
"A monster, you say."
The voice echoed grotesquely.
"Bold words for an intruder."
"Ah... ah...!"
Delta shook like a leaf. It was inside. The nightmare.
But then—
"Malangi!"
Eve cried out in delight.
Delta's mind blanked. Malangi? That abomination? The 'best kid'?
The monster's red eyes softened as one, curving toward Eve.
"Yes, Lady Eve. Did you sleep well?"
Utter deference. The demon that had just devoured her squad now bowed like a loyal servant before this tiny girl.
"I'm clearing out the pests infesting the ship. Please step away from that one at once."
Delta realized it then. Who this girl truly was. And how catastrophically she'd touched the dragon's reverse scale.
But survival instinct overrode terror. Use it. If the monster couldn't touch the girl, this was her only way out.
Click.
Delta drew her hidden backup pistol and jammed it against Eve's temple.
"Don't move!!!"
Nahibi froze. Dozens of red eyes locked not on Delta, but the gun barrel.
It works.
Delta yanked Eve tighter against her.
"Move and I shoot! I'll blow her head off!"
Tension thickened the air. But Eve, the hostage, just peered up at Delta innocently, oblivious.
"Sis? What game is this?"
"Shut up!!"
Delta snapped. Her nerves were frayed to the breaking point. The monster's expansion was unnaturally fast—one blink, and her throat would be gone. Couldn't look away for a second.
But—
"Aha? Just gotta be quiet? Like this? Mmph!"
Eve clapped her hands over her mouth, giggling mischievously. The distraction shook Delta's focus.
"Lady Eve."
Nahibi's voice dropped low.
"No need to heed that pest."
"Pfft! Nah, Malangi, sis isn't a pest! She's Kal's friend. Right, sis?"
Eve beamed at Delta. That innocence hit like a death sentence.
Nahibi replied coldly.
"No, Lady Eve. That pest isn't Kal's friend... it's the enemy."
In that instant, the room's atmosphere shifted. Not temperature or humidity—just the vibe filling the space.
Eve's innocent expression vanished. Her hands slowly dropped from her mouth.
Delta's hand began shaking wildly. No feeling in her trigger finger.
The being she aimed at. The 'child' she'd mistaken for human. Don't judge by appearances. It was a monster.
Every instinct, every cell screamed.
Run. That's not human. That's... a calamity.
"Sis..."
Eve called to her. Childlike voice, but toneless, flat.
Eve grasped Delta's wrist. A light push, and Delta's arm flopped like a ragdoll's. The hold broke.
But Delta couldn't move. Frog before a giant serpent.
Eve turned slowly to face her.
"I... trusted you."
Eve's eyes blazed red. Not anger or sorrow. Regret. Pity.
"Said you were Kal's friend..."
A grotesque sound. Below Eve's chest, at her solar plexus, it split open. Clothes parted, white flesh tore, revealing not organs but a deep, dark maw.
A monster's jaw, clashing with her sad face. It advanced on Delta.
"D-die!!!"
Terror seized Delta; she pulled the trigger.
"How dare you aim at Her Majesty's sacred form."
The laser bolt was blocked by Nahibi's body, never reaching Eve. Delta kept firing uselessly. Futile thrashing.
"Ahh. Perfectly ripened."
Nahibi muttered mockingly.
Eve closed in, right to Delta's face. Delta toppled back, scooting away on her butt.
"You shot at me... to kill me. You're different, sis."
Eve tilted her head. Steam rose from the gaping abdomen.
"Please... spare me... I was wrong... sorry..."
Delta sobbed, begging. Hot liquid soaked her pants. Apex elite pride had long been crushed into the white floor.
Eve gazed down.
Then quietly passed sentence.
"You're not family."
The deep, dark abyss yawned wide.
"Aaaahhh—!!!"
Crunch.
The scream cut short.
Crunch. Crunch.
For a while, only the wet sounds of chewing flesh and snapping bone echoed silently through Eve's bedroom.
Nahibi watched contentedly, standing silently by. Not to disturb Her Majesty's mealtime.
Just that. Mute vigil.