Most went quietly into the night. With mere minutes between the onset of symptoms and the fatal “point of no return”, that was to be expected.
There were a few that struggled and screamed, fighting with all of their strength to stay alive despite the agonizing pain they suffered as blood poured from every orifice of their faces.
Thomas Andre, for one, was said to have survived for nearly a week simply by channeling his mana into combat with his symptoms. Liu Zhigang survived for five days, sitting in silent meditation until a witness reported that he had fallen over dead, seeming almost peaceful in the moment.
The longest reported survival from the onset of symptoms, however, was that of Alicia Blanche. After the death of Emma Laurent, Antoine Martinez sought her out in order to heal her, to save who he could—if anyone at all.
But eventually, his mana ran low, and no amount of prayer kept the mysterious disease from taking her as well. It is unclear whether his patient or the man himself survived longer, but in honor of his sacrifice to keep her alive, most choose to believe he managed to give Ms. Blanche even one second longer in his final breath.
The shortest reported survival, on the other hand, was Lennart Niermann. It’s highly likely that several victims died much quicker, given his known strength, but due to the circumstances surrounding his death, his had many witnesses to tell the tale.
At the time, he had been in a meeting with several of the commanding officers of the Richter Guild, all of whom were there to watch as their Guildmaster collapsed onto to floor. He struggled in a pool of his own blood for all of ten minutes before ceasing movement entirely, and there was nothing that could be done to save him.
But not everyone had the luxury of merely witnessing a death. Tawana Kanae of the Blade Guild had been on a raid inside an A-Rank gate when she contracted the disease. All but two of her raid team was annihilated, and the gate broke open before another party could be amassed to clear it, causing even more carnage.
And of course, the deceased and those who bore witness to their deaths are not the only ones who were affected. Several loved ones of S-Ranks around the world, including Elena Renault and Bjorn Niermann, went missing in the days following the deaths of Alicia Blanche and Lennart Niermann respectively. In the case of Ms. Renault, her disappearance furthered the instability of the Justitia Guild, eventually causing its total collapse and disbandment.
In the months following the very first instance of this disease, many doctors and medical specialists could not agree on a name for it. It was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, following no pattern of infection—except for being limited to S-Ranks.
What gave the disease its name was not a study done in a lab or even a discovery made by an intern—it was a colloquialism that was born from several group hallucinations in South Korea—the home to the only two surviving S-Ranks in the world.
Many, including Cha Hae-In herself, who decided to retire following the death of her friend and Guildmaster, privately and publicly claimed to see shadowy figures dancing in the streets of Seoul at night. Members of the Hunters Guild—now lead by Son Kihoon—and the White Tiger Guild claimed that the shadows resembled that of their late Guildmasters, Choi Jong-In and Baek Yoon-Ho.
Though the phenomenon was never explained, many others from across the globe came forward to talk about similar circumstances—such as Laura Walker of the Scavenger Guild, former secretary of Thomas Andre. Thus, the disease has since been dubbed “The Shadow Disease” for its inexplicable ability to turn S-Rank Hunters into Living Shadows.
And as such, all eyes once again turned to Sung Jin-Woo, the very man known for his shadowy summons.
