When Noah screamed, and the sound of his voice—once so inaudible—rang throughout the place, those who were deeply asleep were startled awake by the distant cry, and even the already-awake were left dumbfounded by the sheer intensity of that anguished shout.
Immediately after that scream, the soldiers who had been standing guard all night in front of the room where Sophia and Noah were staying burst abruptly into the chamber, exclaiming:
— Miss, are you all right?!
As they hurried in, desperately searching for Sophia, the soldiers relaxed slightly upon seeing that she was still in the room; however, they couldn't understand why she was crouched beside the bed, crying, while clutching the hand of the man she had brought home only hours earlier.
Not even a minute passed after the men's entry before Sophia's parents appeared, terrified and still dressed in their sleepwear. They cried out in succession as they stormed into the room:
— Where's my baby!?
— What happened here!? And where's my daughter!?
Shortly thereafter, Sophia's mother immediately began searching for her daughter, scouring every corner as tears of despair streamed down her face. When she finally saw her daughter sobbing, crouched beside the bed where the young man lay, Mrs. Radiance hurried over and, drawing near, said:
— Daughter, it's all right, my...
Almost at the very moment she was about to touch Sophia's shoulder, Mrs. Radiance suddenly lifted her eyes in bewilderment, slowly pulled her arm back, and covered her mouth with her right hand.
Unlike his wife—who paid little heed to the guards—Mr. Radiance was the first to question them as he entered the room, demanding to know what had happened. His face showed deep concern and irritation, for the fear that someone had invaded his home and stolen his most precious treasure—right from beneath his roof—consumed him inside.
However, when he glanced at the space between the two guards before him and saw his daughter crying, crouched beside the bed and a little behind his wife, Mr. Radiance, bewildered, murmured:
— We don't know what... either.
Ignoring the guards' attempted explanations, Mr. Radiance pushed his way past them and rushed toward his daughter, determined to find out why she was crying.
When he reached his wife and looked toward the bed, he finally understood: Noah was drenched in blood—to the point where the entire bed was stained red—and yet the blood continued to pour from his wounds, far more than had already pooled on the surface.
"Someone, bring a compress!" Mr. Radiance shouted as he realized that the bleeding hadn't stopped.
While they searched for something to staunch the flow, Noah's bones—which had already pierced his skin to create a ghastly sight—shook with tremors. No one had noticed until a maid arrived holding a white cloth, saying, "Here you are, sir!" Mr. Radiance quickly grabbed the cloth and wrapped one portion around Noah's body, arranging it in a way that, it seemed, might help stem the bleeding, while another part he used to compress the deepest wound on his chest, praying that eventually the flow of blood would cease.
While Mr. Radiance was bandaging Noah's body, his bones began to tremble gradually without anyone noticing. But just a few seconds after he started applying pressure to Noah's wound, the cloths proved useless as even more bones burst forth from Noah's body. The moment that happened, Mr. Radiance was startled and quickly withdrew his hand from where he had been pressing.
"Sir!"
"Get away from that boy, sir—this could be dangerous!"
Upon seeing those strange bones erupt, the two guards almost immediately reached for their swords, confused—after all, how the hell could that boy still be alive?
"Lower your swords—this isn't..."
Before Mr. Radiance could finish speaking, the bones—which had until then been attached to Noah—shot out from his limbs like arrows, piercing even through walls. As soon as it started, he swiftly pulled his wife and daughter back and used his own body to shield them.
Thanks to those bizarre projectiles, everyone except Sophia and her father cleared away from the bed. But, realizing that the relentless barrage was far from over, Mr. Radiance decided that the best option was to leave the area—as everyone else had already done. He looked at Noah with sorrow and confusion, for the scene before him was beyond anything his mind could comprehend.
Seeing that she clearly did not want to abandon him, Mr. Radiance hoisted Sophia onto his shoulders and shouted,
"Get out of here!"
As he ran toward the door, Sophia patted his back and cried out for the unknown man who had saved her.
Just a few seconds after they cleared the door, Mr. Radiance ordered everyone to lie down on the floor; he had noticed the number of bones emerging from Noah's skin increasing, and he predicted their next move.
For about three long hours, those strange bones continued to be flung about, and that section of the Radiance residence was cordoned off from access to anyone. Throughout that time, Sophia wept in her mother's arms, blaming herself and believing that it had all happened because of her—suffering over a stranger.
Just like her mother, her father stayed by her side the entire time, though questions buzzed through everyone's mind as they witnessed this surreal incident:
Why didn't the bones hit the people, even those present in the room during the event?
And why did they stop at the second wall they encountered when they clearly could have gone much further?
After all, practically the entire house was made of wood—a fact those bones demonstrated they could easily penetrate.
And finally:
Could that boy really still be alive...?
The next morning, besides Sophia and her parents, many others gathered outside the room, eager to learn what had transpired inside. The bones were gradually being collected—the ones that clung to the walls were the easiest to find, while others lay scattered amongst the grass.
"What happened in there..?" whispered one employee.
"I don't know. Ask them—they were both here when all this chaos began," replied a guard who had just arrived.
"Why are you all crying so much?" asked a maid.
"It's because the young man they brought in yesterday was still in there when it all started..." replied the maid who had earlier delivered a cloth to Mr. Radiance, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Really?! Poor thing... she never got close to anyone before, and when that happens..."
"Hey... do you think the man who was lying on the bed is still alive?" asked one guard—he had been hearing Noah's pained moans from behind the door the previous night.
The other soldier, also stationed at the door, looked at the holes made by the bones and said,
"... I don't think that's possible..."