Izumi's eyes snapped open.
The first thing he felt wasn't pain, it was fullness. Something thick and warm coursed through his veins, foreign, like fire had replaced his blood. His chest puffed, but the air tasted different now. Metallic and Hungry.
The cave glowed with that same green light, but now he could see more veins of energy threading through the stone like a nervous system. His vision had sharpened impossibly; every shadow held detail, every drop of water caught light like crystal. It was like time slowed down a foreign feeling.
"What?" His voice came out wrong. Deeper. Something lurked beneath it.
He pressed his hand to his chest, to the scar that still burned. The power was there. The Elena-creature's, absorbed when it killed him, now writhing beneath his skin like a living thing. He could feel it: the hunger, the rage, the twisted love that had driven the monster.
"Thanatophagic Rebirth: Integration complete. The host has fully absorbed Necrotic and Illusion abilities."
"I... I have its power..." The words came out as barely a whisper. He flexed his fingers and dark energy flickered something that wanted to devour.
A sound echoed from the tunnel entrance. Wet dragging. Getting closer.
Izumi's blood turned to ice. It was coming back. The thing that wore Elena's face, drawn by some instinct or perhaps simply to kill him again. He could hear it now—the scraping of claws against stone, the wheeze of breath through a ruined throat.
"Izumi..."
That voice, sweet and broken, moved from the darkness. But this time, Izumi could feel the creature's approach. The stolen power in his chest resonated with its source. The sensation made him nauseous.
He scrambled to his feet as the Elena-thing emerged from the tunnel, its malformed silhouette lit by the faint green glow. Half-sister, half-nightmare, it moved with predatory grace despite its twisted limbs. When it saw him standing—alive, again—its remaining human features contorted with rage.
it hissed, the words bubbling through black saliva. "I can smell it. My power. My hunger."
Izumi backed away, his new senses screaming danger. "I didn't ask for this! I didn't want—"
"This is amusing"
The creature lunged with inhuman speed. Izumi's body moved on instinct—the dark power surging through him as he raised his hands defensively. Energy erupted from his palms, meeting the monster's charge with devastating force.
The blast sent the Elena-thing flying backward into the cave wall. The stone exploded. Fractures raced up the surface like lightning, and chunks of ceiling began raining down. But instead of retreating, the creature's fury only intensified.
"You don't deserve her face!" Izumi screamed, the words tearing from his throat as the stolen hunger mixed with his own grief and rage.
The monster launched itself forward again, but this time its claws struck the cave wall in its frenzy. Each impact sent shockwaves through the stone. The green veins flickered wildly as the walls' integrity began to fall.
"No, no, NO!" Izumi dodged falling debris as the creature's attacks grew more savage. It had lost all semblance of Elena now—just pure, mindless violence.
A boulder the size of a car broke free from the ceiling, crashing between them. But the Elena-thing simply leaped over it, its claws raking across Izumi's chest, tearing cloth and flesh. Blood sprayed, but the dark power inside him surged higher, feeding on the violence.
The creature's next attack wasn't aimed at Izumi—it slammed both fists into the cave floor with earth-shattering force.
The ground split.
A massive crack opened like a hungry mouth across the cavern floor. Water from the underground stream poured into the fissure with a roar as the entire cave system collapsed
Izumi felt the floor tilt beneath him.
The cave floor collapsed.
He plummeted into absolute darkness, the Elena-creature's final shriek echoing above him as tons of stone crashed down. He struck something—a ledge or outcropping—and his left arm folded beneath him with a sickening crack. Pain exploded through his shoulder.
Then he was falling again, tumbling through empty air past unseen walls. His broken arm flopped uselessly, each impact against stone sending fresh agony through his nervous system. The dark power writhed in his chest, confused by the trauma, hungry for something to consume.
He hit bottom with a bone-jarring crash that knocked the wind from his lungs and sent the necrotic energy flaring wildly. For long moments, he lay there in the absolute blackness, listening to debris settle far above and his own breathing echoing off invisible walls.
Slowly, Izumi pushed himself upright with his good arm. His left hung at an unnatural angle, useless and screaming with pain. But he was alive. The stolen power had cushioned some of the impact, though it demanded feeding in return.
"New location Labyrinth Sub-Level 2."
Izumi's blood ran cold as he heard them moving in the darkness around him. Not the dragging sounds of the Elena-creature, but something else. Multiple somethings, their breathing wet and eager, drawn by the scent of his blood and the dark energy radiating from his broken form.
And somewhere far above, echoing down through the collapsed passage, came a familiar voice calling his name. The thing that wore his sister's face had survived the cave-in. It was coming for him.
Izumi cradled his broken arm and stumbled forward into the hungry dark, the stolen necrotic power writhing beneath his skin like a parasite demanding to be fed.
The labyrinth had deeper levels.
The whispers started first hungry, unintelligible sounds that seemed to come from the walls themselves. Izumi pressed forward, terror clawing at his throat with each step that sent lightning through his shattered arm.
"Feed us..." The voice was paper-thin, barely human.
Shapes moved in the darkness, shambling forms with too many joints circling just beyond his vision. Izumi's heart hammered against his ribs as he stumbled backward, cradling his broken arm.
But the necrotic energy had other plans. A shadow erupted from his skin unbidden, forming a writhing barrier around him. The stolen power glowed protectively, lashing out at anything that drew too close. Elena's hunger had become his shield.
The creatures retreated with frustrated hisses, kept at bay by the very darkness Izumi feared. He was trapped, protected by the monster's powers he'd absorbed.