Two Fangs stood in the center of carnage.
Vampires lay scattered across the marble floor—some beheaded, some crushed, all very dead. The skeletons were reduced to piles of bone fragments, their animating energy snuffed out.
And Axe stood among them, completely unharmed. Not even breathing hard. His massive axe rested on his shoulder, a few drops of black blood dripping from the blade.
"That all of them?" Axe asked Jade, who was catching his breath near one of the ballroom's grand windows.
"I think so," Jade replied, blue sparks still flickering weakly around his fingers.
Two Fangs tilted his head, surveying the destruction of his army with what might have been mild annoyance.
"Impressive," he said to Axe. "You're stronger than you look."
"I get that a lot," Axe replied.
One vampire remained—a female, missing an arm but still mobile. She hissed and charged at Axe with desperate speed, claws extended.
Two Fangs's communicator crackled. Widow's voice, urgent: "Two Fangs, we need to retreat. NOW. They have a spatial manipulator. We're in his domain."
The man in white didn't hesitate. "Understood. Extraction point?"
"South entrance. Two minutes."
Two Fangs turned toward where a door had materialized—Axe's exit, the way back to the real world.
The charging vampire was almost on Axe—
The floor beneath it opened. Not broke. Not collapsed. Just opened, like a trapdoor appearing out of nowhere.
The vampire fell through with a startled shriek, dropping into darkness below. The door in the floor slammed shut, becoming solid marble again like it had never existed.
Axe looked down at where the vampire had been, then back at Two Fangs. His massive axe rested comfortably on his shoulder.
Two Fangs stood perfectly still, surveying the destroyed army around him. When he spoke, his voice carried easily across the ballroom.
"Your spatial manipulation is impressive. This pocket dimension—Herbert Hotel, was it?" He tilted his head. "Can you hold it forever?"
Axe's expression didn't change. "Yes."
"Truly?" Two Fangs sounded genuinely curious. "No strain? No limit to how long you can maintain this space?"
"I can hold it," Axe said simply. His tone was matter-of-fact, like he was discussing the weather. "For as long as I need to."
"You're boast is telling" hissed Two Fangs.
"Huh fine" said a frustrated Axe.
He whispers a few word as he tapped his axe on the ground the runes lit up like Christmas light as bright as day and quickly what followed quicker then the lights them selves was a wave a wave oh raw power and force.
That felt as if it took up space it self. The energy around them suffocated him.
"That's only a portion of my energy" said Axe.
Two Fangs was quiet for a moment. Then he reached into his pristine white suit and pulled out a device—small, red, cylindrical.
A button sat on top.
"Interesting," Two Fangs said. "Then let's test that claim."
He pressed it.
Nothing happened. No explosion. No alarm. Just a faint electronic beep.
But Jade's eyes widened behind his visor. His neural link—the technology woven into his suit that connected him to various systems—lit up with alerts.
A transmission. Broadcasting outward. Strong signal. Military-grade encryption.
A distress call.
"Huh," Jade breathed. He immediately activated his suit's assistant. "ARIA, I need you to crack that transmission. Shut it down. Now."
A calm female voice responded in his ear, synthesized but with surprising warmth.
"Analyzing transmission… encryption detected. Fifth-level intelligence encryption."
Jade's blood went cold. "What?"
"Fifth-level intelligence," ARIA repeated. "Two grades higher than my architecture. I cannot crack it within any reasonable timeframe. Estimated time to break encryption: forty-seven hours."
"Forty-seven—" Jade stared at Two Fangs.
"What was that?" Asked Jade
Two Fangs pocketed the device. "Called for reinforcements. My employer is very interested in people with paradox abilities." He looked between Jade and Axe. "And now they know exactly where you are."
The ballroom shuddered—not from Axe's power faltering, but from something else. Something approaching.
"Warning," ARIA said. "Detecting multiple high-speed aircraft approaching your location. ETA: six minutes."
Jade's jaw tightened. "We'll capture him before then."
Axe nodded, a grim smile crossing his bearded face. "Alright then."
He hefted his massive axe, purple energy beginning to crackle along the blade. His boots took one heavy step forward toward Two Fangs—
And stopped.
Axe's entire body went rigid. His eyes widened, pupils dilating. His breathing became shallow, rapid.
Dread.
Not fear. Not worry. Something deeper. Something primal. An overwhelming sense of wrongness that bypassed rational thought and struck directly at the survival instinct buried in his hindbrain.
Something was coming.
Something that made every fiber of his being scream to run, to hide, to be anywhere but here.
"Axe?" Jade took a step toward him. "What's wrong?"
Axe couldn't speak. His knuckles were white around the axe handle, his entire massive frame trembling.
ARIA's voice cut through the tension, but now there was something off about it. A slight distortion. Like she was struggling to process the information.
"Correction. Objects have arrived."
Jade's head snapped up. "What? They were six minutes out—"
"Unidentified flying objects. Above. Current position: directly overhead."
The ballroom's ceiling—which shouldn't exist, which was just part of Axe's pocket dimension—suddenly felt very thin. Very fragile.
Two Fangs hadn't moved. But now, behind his white mask, Jade could feel him smiling.
"You should have run when you had the chance," Two Fangs said quietly.
The ceiling cracked. Not from physical force. From presence. Something so heavy, so overwhelming, that even Axe's pocket dimension couldn't fully contain it.
Jade looked up at the spreading cracks, his enhanced eyes trying to see through to whatever was above—
A single eye looked back. Massive. Inhuman. Glowing with intelligence that made ARIA's fifth-level encryption seem like a child's play.
Jade stumbled backward. "What the hell is that?"
"Unknown," ARIA said, and for the first time ever, Jade heard something like fear in the AI's synthesized voice. "Entity does not match any known classification. Recommending immediate evacuation."
Axe finally found his voice, though it came out as a strangled whisper. "Jade… we need to go. NOW."
Two Fangs spread his hands, casual, relaxed. "Too late for that, I'm afraid."
The ceiling shattered.