Talon ran through the dark hallway.
His breathing was erratic, fearing there would never be an end.
Then he saw a light.
Immediately, he knew he had arrived.
"The skeletons regenerated!" he shouted as he arrived. "I need your help to—"
He stopped dead.
Everyone was there. Motionless. Staring at something.
Edward was kneeling next to a body on the ground. A body covered in blood. Pressing two fingers against its neck, he searched for a pulse.
Talon took a step forward.
And he saw her.
It was Roxanne.
His sister.
Motionless. Pale. Bathed in blood.
'What...? Is it really her...?'
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Edward exploded, turning toward them with fury. "I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!"
"Isn't that...?" Sarah whispered, pointing at the body.
"Yes... Talon's sister," Beth completed, incredulous.
"And how did she end up like this?" Eryndor asked.
'No way. That can't be Roxanne.'
Talon denied it mentally. It couldn't be real.
"Professor, how is she supposed to have gotten here?" Leander took a step forward. "She was in another group."
"And in a completely different rift," Eryndor added.
"Could there be... some connection between the rifts?" Aurora asked.
"But he only said it was a double boss," Ludwig responded to her.
"Then why is she here?" Sarah joined in.
"And where is her group?" Beth continued. "What happened to them?"
"Only the professor knows..." Aurora murmured. "So he must answer!" Then she raised her voice, addressing him.
The questions overlapped one another. Without pause. Without respite. Edward stepped back, overwhelmed.
"And the other professor?" Ludwig asked. "Is he dead too?"
"How dangerous is this really?" Sarah asked.
"Well, Roxanne is dead... And she was practically a prodigy. I think that says enough," Beth responded, trembling.
"Yes... But where's the boss? There's absolutely nothing here, not even monsters," Eryndor said.
"She probably just died against simple monsters that appeared, and the professor is just exaggerating the matter..." Leander said this showing himself unconcerned about the situation. "Roxanne probably just died because she's useless, just like her brother."
"Yeah... You're right. The truth is I think the Thornveils are just a lie," Eryndor joined in.
'What nonsense are they saying...?'
Talon looked at them angrily but could only clench his teeth tightly to vent.
"ANSWER AT ONCE, PROFESSOR! WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?!" Aurora shouted.
"PROFESSOR!"
"YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO US!"
"TELL US WHAT'S HAPPENING!"
"YOU MUST ALSO TELL US HOW SERIOUS ALL THIS IS!"
The voices rose. Louder. More desperate. Edward brought his hands to his head.
"I DON'T KNOW!"
Silence fell instantly. Everyone froze.
Edward was breathing heavily, his face showing something they had never seen—fear.
"I understood that double rift bosses existed," his voice came out trembling. "But never... never this." Running a hand through his hair, he continued, "It's possibly two rifts that merged. But I've never seen anything like this before. The electromagnetic readings don't make sense. The spatial structure is collapsed. I simply don't understand it."
Looking at everyone with desperation, he shouted, "THAT'S WHY I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT! BUT YOU DIDN'T OBE—!"
WHOOSH.
Suddenly, dozens of torches burst into flames behind Edward.
An instant before, everything had been an absolute void, a mass of impenetrable darkness. Now, the burning light tore through the shadows, illuminating terrain that hadn't existed to sight before, revealing a coliseum.
Small. Circular.
In the center was a star carved into the floor. Candles surrounding it. Like a ritual.
And around...
Bodies.
Clearly they were the members of Roxanne's group, along with their group's professor. All dead. Mutilated.
"My God..." Beth covered her mouth.
One by one they began to approach, drawn by the horror, thus entering the coliseum.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T YOU DARE GO IN THERE!" Edward shouted at them to stop, but no one listened, forcing him to enter as well.
Talon seized the moment. Running toward Roxanne's body, he knelt beside her.
'It's not her. It can't be her.'
Something told him it wasn't true. Something inside him screamed that this was wrong.
"CHARLES!"
Ludwig's voice echoed from inside the coliseum. Talon looked up and approached the group, staying just a few meters behind.
In the center, above the star, a boy floated in the air. Elevated. With arms extended. As if he were a puppet. His face showed absolute terror.
"YOU'RE INSANE!" he screamed, his voice breaking. "YOU CAN'T FACE THEM!"
"Charles...? What are you talking about...?" Ludwig took a step forward, not understanding what was happening.
"THEY'RE TOO POWERFUL! YOU'LL DIE!"
And then it began. His body started to twist. As if invisible hands were crushing him.
"ARGHHHHHHHHH!"
His bones cracked. His skin compressed. Blood gushed from his pores like a towel being wrung out.
"NOOOOO!" Ludwig ran toward him.
"LUDWIG, STOP!" Edward shouted, grabbing his arm. "IT'S DANGEROUS!"
"HE'S LIKE A BROTHER TO ME!" Ludwig forced himself free and kept running.
Talon watched in horror.
'T-this is... madness... Can the lower floors really do something like this? No... it doesn't make sense. This rift... I can't even tell what color it is... it could be any, or even the same gray color we were already in, or none... Roxanne... if she's dead... no, no, no... she was strong, very strong, nothing should be able to kill her... how... how is it possible? If something like this tore her apart... what would have become of me? No... I can't... I can't, I have to run, I have to do whatever it takes to escape.'
Taking a few steps back, he had an obvious panic attack. Even his heart rate had increased.
And then he heard it. A voice. A woman's. Familiar, but distant. Like a buried memory.
"And then the skinwalker took the form of the mother, and the children never knew the truth..."
Who had told him that story? He didn't remember. But the words resonated.
"They can pass themselves off as anyone..."
It seemed like a simple children's tale, but for him it was enough to give him a clue. His eyes moved backward toward Roxanne's body. Toward her hand. Toward her ring.
And he stopped.
'That's not her ring.'
The lightning ring of the Thornveil family had a specific design. This one was different. A simple detail. But it was enough.
"LUDWIG!" Talon turned his head aggressively. "IT'S NOT REALLY HIM! YOU MUST GET OUT OF THERE!"
"WE ALL MUST RUN! QUICK!" Then he addressed the others.
But Ludwig was already next to Charles's body on the ground. And none of the others had paid him any attention.
"Charles...?" Ludwig knelt. "How could this happen...?"
"Well, how clever you are..."
A voice whispered directly in Talon's ear. A hand covered his mouth. And something cold and sharp pressed against his neck.
It was his own sister.
"But unfortunately you realized too late, and it doesn't seem the others pay you much attention, does it?"
SPLASH.
Blood spikes exploded from Charles's body. They pierced through Ludwig—chest, abdomen, neck, head. His body jerked once and fell. Dead instantly.
"HAAAAAAA!" Beth screamed, petrified with fright.
Talon tried to scream, but the hand over his mouth silenced him.
The voice in his ear whispered again. "Calm down. Don't move. It's not in your best interest."
His sister's skin began to bubble. To change. Her form melted like wax. And in its place appeared something else. Someone else.
A man.
Tall. Very thin. With skin pale as ash. His eyes had deep dark circles. And a psychotic smile stretched across his face.
"Good thing you accepted my invitation to the ritual," he said in a soft voice.
And he pressed the blood blade against Talon's neck.
"This is going to be very fun..."
Charles's body began to move. To writhe. To change. His skin turned gray. His limbs elongated unnaturally. His face sank, leaving only empty sockets and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
A puppet. Grotesque. Eerie. Inhuman.
And then it spoke.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Its voice was high-pitched, screeching. "YOU REALLY THOUGHT IT WAS CHARLES?!"
It began to laugh. A hysterical laugh that echoed throughout the coliseum.
"YOU'RE AN IDIOT! AN IDIOT! A TRUE IDIOT!"
Grabbing Ludwig's corpse by the neck, still pierced by the spikes, it shouted, "NO WONDER YOU DIED!"
"What the fuck is that thing?!" Leander stepped back, his face pale.
"It's horrible!" Eryndor gripped his sword tightly.
The puppet turned its head impossibly, looking at them directly.
"I'M GOING TO CONTINUE FOR A WHILE LONGER IF YOU DON'T MIND, OKAY?!"
And then, from its own body, a sharp blood spike sprouted. It plunged it into Ludwig's abdomen. Once. Twice. Three times.
"HA HA HA HA HA!"
The puppet's laughter filled the air as it kept stabbing the corpse over and over.
"What kind of monster is that?!" Leander shouted.
"And why can it talk?!" Eryndor added, horrified.
Edward didn't even have to assess the situation. Knowing this was extremely dangerous, he began running toward the puppet without hesitation.
The creature turned its head toward him.
"HUH?! DO YOU ALSO WANT ME TO PLAY WITH YOU?!"
And it threw Ludwig's corpse away as if it were trash.
Leander and Eryndor didn't stay behind. They ran too, following Edward.
As he ran, Edward tore off his jacket. Underneath he wore a tight shirt. And attached to his body were metallic devices. The devices began to glow. The metal liquefied instantly.
It flowed through his body like living mercury, sliding down his arms until concentrating on his right forearm. The metal took shape. A long, sharp blade emerged from his arm.
Edward jumped, unleashing the attack with force.
The puppet reacted instantly. Its blood exploded from its body, forming an identical structure—a blade of solidified blood.
CLANG.
Both weapons clashed. The puppet laughed.
"WHAT A SURPRISE! WE'RE SO SIMILAR!"
On the other hand, Talon tried to scream louder, seeing how Eryndor and Leander threw themselves into combat.
"MMMPH! MMMPH!"
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT SCREAMING?!" The man pressed the blood blade harder against his neck, making him bleed. "DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU?!"
But the noise was enough. They all turned—Beth, Sarah, Aurora. Their eyes fell on the man holding Talon.
"SEE WHAT YOU DID?!" The man shouted at Talon. "THEY ALREADY NOTICED I'M HERE!"
Beth took a step forward, confused. "It's... a human..." she murmured. "What is a human doing here?"
Sarah was the first to move. Summoning an arcane shield around her fist, she ran toward the man.
"LET HIM GO!"
The man looked at her. And slowly, brought his index finger to his mouth. Biting it, blood gushed. Raising his free hand, he formed a gun with his fingers and aimed.
"Bang."
WHOOSH.
A blast of blood shot from his index finger. It crossed the air at impossible speed. Sarah tried to dodge. It wasn't enough. The blood pierced just beside her chest, completely ignoring her sacred mantle as if it didn't exist.
"AGHH!"
She fell to the ground instantly, bleeding profusely.
"Now it's your turn." He aimed at Aurora.
"Bang."
Another blood blast. Aurora threw herself to the ground, dodging it by centimeters. Without wasting time, she loaded an arrow in her bow and fired.
The man caught it with his free hand as if it were a toy. Touching his blood from the bitten finger against the arrow's tip, he threw it back.
THUNK.
The arrow embedded itself in Aurora's shoulder.
"AHHH!"
Her bow fell from her hands. She tried to reach it, but the man spoke first.
"On the ground."
SNAP.
Aurora fell instantly. Her body crashed against the floor. Her face hit the stone. She tried to move. She couldn't. Her body didn't respond. Not her arms. Not her legs. Nothing.
The man turned toward Beth. She was trembling violently. Her sword fell from her hands with a metallic clink.
"And what about you?" he asked with a mocking voice.
Beth fell to her knees with her eyes wide open, clutching her head.
"It's... human... like us..." she babbled. "Why are you attacking us?! And how can you do that with your blood without having a ring?!"
"Seems like you've already gone quite crazy." The man laughed. "How fun!"
Talon seized the distraction. With a quick movement, he drew his dagger and turned, attacking the man by surprise.
"ISN'T THAT RIGHT?!"
The man turned just in time to look at Talon. The dagger crashed against his extended hand.
CLANG.
As if he had struck pure metal. The man didn't have a scratch. With a casual movement, he snatched the dagger from Talon's hand and threw it away.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" he shouted with false indignation. "I LIKED YOU! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS ALREADY!"
Talon stepped back, terrified.
'I'm an idiot... Now he'll kill me.'
"On the ground."
SNAP.
Talon's body fell. His face hit the stone. Nothing moved. It was as if his body no longer belonged to him.
'What...? What did he do to me?'
The man walked away, casually strolling toward the center of the coliseum.
Just at that moment, Leander and Eryndor were about to reach the combat between Edward and the puppet. But then they felt it—movement around them.
It was the corpses. All those scattered throughout the coliseum began to move, giving way to more puppets.