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Levi walked through the impossible architecture of the Library, his posture relaxed, hands clasped behind his back like a tour guide showing off a museum.
Behind him, the three inquisitors followed with weapons drawn. Their eyes kept darting to the shelves, the staircases, the walls that seemed to breathe.
The Library of Noctis was not designed for human comprehension.
Staircases spiraled upward and downward simultaneously, defying gravity. Shelves stretched into infinity, their books whispering in languages that predated written word. The air tasted like old parchment and copper.
"This violates every law of physics," Kern said, staring at a bookshelf that existed on three walls at once. His sword was raised defensively. "Every law of reality."
"Does it?" Levi asked, still not looking back. "Or does it just operate under different rules than the ones you learned?"
Dravos had stopped walking. He was staring at a staircase that spiraled up into darkness while simultaneously descending into light. "This entire place is an abomination."
"That's harsh," Levi said. "I prefer 'architecturally ambitious.'"
Maren's artifact pulsed so rapidly the green light looked almost solid. She kept glancing at it, then at the shelves, then back at her subordinates.
"Stay close," she ordered. "Don't touch anything. Don't look at the books too long."
"Why not?" Kern asked.
"Because I don't know what they'll do." Maren's voice was tight, professional, but fear bled through underneath. "I've never seen anything like this. Not in any church records. Not in any heretic's lair we've raided."
"The corruption signature is everywhere," Dravos said. His holy symbol glowed brighter, trying to ward off the ambient wrongness. "We're surrounded by it."
"Of course you are," Levi said, gesturing at the shelves. "The Library preserves knowledge. All knowledge. Including texts written by gods your church declared heretical."
He led them up a staircase that curved at impossible angles, somehow depositing them on a higher level despite feeling like they'd walked horizontally.
Maren paused at the first step. "This staircase goes up and down at the same time."
"Yep."
"That's not possible."
"And yet." Levi started climbing. "Coming? Or would you rather stand there debating physics?"
When Dravos looked back, the staircase was gone. In its place was a wall of books whispering in unison.
"Where's the exit?" His voice rose. "Where's the way back?"
"Behind you. In front of you. Above and below." Levi gestured vaguely. "The Library's geography is subjective."
"That's not an answer!"
"Sure it is. Just not a helpful one."
Maren's hand tightened on her sword. "You're deliberately disorienting us. Leading us deeper. Cutting off our escape."
"Am I?" Levi smiled. "Or are you just realizing you walked into something you don't understand?"
They continued through corridors where the walls breathed, rooms where gravity pointed sideways, archives where time moved at different speeds.
Kern kept swiveling his head, trying to watch every direction. "The books are watching us."
"Some of them are sentient," Levi said casually. "Most are just curious."
"You're insane," Dravos said. "This entire place is insane."
"Probably. But we're almost there."
"Almost where?" Maren demanded.
"You'll see."
They emerged into a vast chamber with vaulted ceilings that disappeared into darkness. The floor was a mosaic of black and white tiles forming patterns that hurt to look at directly.
Shelves lined the distant walls, creating an arena-like clearing in the center.
Maren stopped at the threshold. Her eyes scanned the space. "An open area. Away from cover." Her voice hardened. "This is a killing floor."
"Very perceptive," Levi said, walking toward the center.
"Don't follow him," Maren ordered her subordinates. "This is a trap."
"Finally catching on?" Levi turned to face them. "Took you long enough. I was starting to think the church only hired people who couldn't recognize obvious danger."
Kern raised his sword. "You admit you lured us here to kill us."
"Oh, I'm not going to kill you." Levi's smile widened. "I'm outsourcing. Management, you know? Delegation is key."
"What are you—"
Levi's hand shot to his inventory.
The Divine Hammer of Pangu materialized mid-sentence.
He swung.
The hammer connected with Maren's face.
The sound was catastrophic. Thunder that shook reality. The shockwave rippled outward, visible as distortion in the air, and Maren launched backward like she'd been fired from a cannon.
She flew across the chamber, tumbling, and slammed into a bookshelf with a sound like a car crash. Books rained down. Blood sprayed across ancient texts.
She didn't move.
Kern and Dravos stared for half a second.
Then they drew their weapons.
"YOU FUCKING HERETIC—"
A klaxon blared through the Library. Loud. Mechanical. Wrong.
WARNING. FIGHTING DETECTED. THREAT IDENTIFIED. ELIMINATION PROCESS BEGIN.
The voice came from everywhere, flat and emotionless.
Levi grinned and flipped them off with both hands.
"GG EZ, bitches!"
The darkness above moved.
Two figures descended, landing with impacts that cracked the tiles.
Death Knights.
Seven feet tall. Black armor that absorbed light. Featureless helmets except for narrow slits glowing with cold blue fire. Each carried a greatsword taller than Levi.
The air around them felt cold. Wrong. Like standing near an open grave.
Three more shapes emerged from the walls, solidifying from shadow and stone.
Combat Golems. Eight feet tall, obsidian and steel, with joints that bent at unnatural angles. Smooth eyeless heads. Hands ending in blades.
Kern and Dravos backed up, swords raised, faces pale.
"What are those?" Dravos whispered.
"Security!" Levi called out cheerfully. "The Library doesn't like people fighting in here. Very strict policy about violence!"
"The Eternal Sun will protect us!" Kern raised his holy symbol. It blazed with golden light, creating a barrier of radiant energy around him and Dravos.
"By divine authority, I command you to stand down!"
The Death Knights paused.
Then one tilted its head, as if considering the holy light.
And walked straight through it.
The barrier shattered like glass.
Kern's eyes went wide. "Impossible—"
The Death Knight moved.
Fast.
Its sword came down in a vertical slash. Kern brought his blade up to block. The impact drove him to his knees. Tile cracked beneath his feet. His arms shook with the force of holding the block.
The Death Knight pressed down harder. Kern's sword began to bend.
"KERN!" Dravos lunged forward, his blade aimed at the Death Knight's exposed side.
One of the Golems intercepted him mid-lunge. Its blade-hand swept up, deflecting Dravos's sword with a spray of sparks. The construct's other hand shot out, grabbing Dravos by the throat and lifting him off the ground.
Dravos choked, legs kicking, his sword clattering to the floor.
"OH SHIT!" Levi shouted.
Kern's sword shattered under the Death Knight's pressure. Fragments of steel scattered across the tiles.
Kern threw himself backward, rolling away from the follow-up strike that carved a groove in the floor where he'd been kneeling.
He came up in a crouch, one hand on his holy symbol, the other pulling a dagger from his belt.
"Eternal Sun, grant me strength!" His holy symbol flared brighter, and golden light coalesced around the dagger, transforming it into a blade of pure radiance.
He lunged at the Death Knight.
The Death Knight blocked with its sword. The radiant blade met dark steel with a sound like a bell tolling.
For a moment, they were locked together, the golden light of divine magic struggling against the cold darkness of the Death Knight's blade.
Then the second Death Knight moved.
It came from Kern's blind side, sword raised high.
Kern sensed it at the last second. Tried to disengage. Too slow.
The greatsword came down and took his right arm off at the shoulder.
Kern screamed. Blood sprayed. The radiant dagger clattered to the ground and faded.
"WHO'S THE BAD BOY?!" Levi yelled. "I'M THE BAD BOY!"
The first Death Knight's sword pierced through Kern's chest. The blade emerged from his back, blood running down the dark metal.
Kern coughed blood. His remaining hand clutched weakly at the blade.
The Death Knight pulled the sword free.
Kern collapsed.
Meanwhile, Dravos was still struggling in the Golem's grip. His face was turning purple, veins standing out on his forehead. He managed to grab the construct's wrist with both hands, holy light flaring from his palms, trying to burn through the obsidian.
The Golem's grip didn't loosen.
Two more Golems approached from different angles, their movements synchronized with mechanical precision.
Dravos's eyes widened. He kicked out desperately, catching one Golem in what would have been its midsection. His boot clanged off solid stone. The construct didn't even flinch.
The two approaching Golems reached him simultaneously.
Their blade-hands came up in perfect unison.
And drove into Dravos from both sides.
The blades punched through armor, through flesh, through bone. They crossed inside his torso like scissors closing.
The Golem holding his throat released him.
Dravos collapsed to his knees, blood pouring from the massive wounds in his sides. He tried to speak. Blood bubbled from his mouth instead.
Then he fell face-first onto the tiles.
Across the chamber, Maren was stirring.
She pushed herself up with shaking arms. Her face was a ruin. Her nose clearly broken, bent at a horrible angle. One cheekbone was caved in. Blood streamed from her mouth and nose, pooling on the floor beneath her.
But she was alive. And she was moving.
Her hand found her sword. She used it as a crutch, leveraging herself upright, swaying on her feet.
"You..." she gasped, looking at Levi through eyes that were already swelling shut. "You fucking... heretic..."
She raised her free hand. Her holy symbol blazed with desperate, furious light.
"DIVINE JUDGMENT!"
A pillar of golden fire erupted from her symbol, roaring across the chamber toward Levi.
Levi's eyes went wide. "Oh fu—"
One of the Death Knights stepped in front of him.
The divine fire washed over the Death Knight's armor. The construct stood unmoved, absorbing the blast with its body. The flames parted around it, scorching the tiles on either side but leaving Levi untouched.
The fire cut off.
Maren swayed. Her hand dropped. The holy symbol's light flickered and died.
"That... should have worked," she whispered. Blood poured faster from her mouth. "How..."
The second Death Knight walked toward her slowly. Deliberately.
Not rushing. It had time.
"Wait," Maren gasped. She tried to raise her sword. Her arms wouldn't obey. The Death Knight's sword took her through the chest.
Clean. The blade punched through her armor like paper, through her body, and emerged from her back. The tip scraped against the bookshelf behind her.
"SIT DOWN!" Levi shouted. "SIT THE FUCK DOWN!"
Maren stared down at the blade protruding from her sternum. Her mouth worked. No sound came out.
She tried to grab the blade with both hands, as if she could pull it out herself. Her fingers slipped on the blood-slick metal.
The Death Knight pulled the sword free with a slight twist.
Maren's legs gave out. She collapsed forward onto her hands and knees. Blood poured from her mouth in a steady stream, forming a spreading pool beneath her.
She tried to crawl. One hand reached out, grasping at nothing, pulling her forward an inch.
Then another inch.
Then she stopped moving.
Her hand slowly relaxed, fingers uncurling on the white tiles.
The chamber fell silent except for Levi's heavy breathing.
Three corpses. Blood spreading across the mosaic floor, following the grooves between tiles, finding the drainage grates.
The Death Knights turned their helmets toward Levi.
One nodded once.
"Yeah," Levi said, his voice suddenly much quieter. "Yeah. Good work."
The Death Knights walked back into darkness and vanished.
The Golems retreated into the walls, melting into stone.
The klaxon stopped.
The Library returned to whisper-quiet.
Levi dismissed the hammer and looked at the carnage.
Three bodies. Blood everywhere. Scorch marks from Maren's last desperate attack. Fragments of Kern's shattered sword. The groove in the floor from the Death Knight's strike.
The adrenaline was draining out of him now. His hands started shaking.
A notification appeared.
[MISSION COMPLETE]
Deal with the Invaders
Method: Tactical Elimination via Library Security Systems
Reward: 500 Dimensional Crystals