Hana screamed.
A fireball, small but vicious, shot past her face, close enough that she felt the heat sear her eyelashes. She jerked her head aside, heart pounding, and the fireball dissolved harmlessly against the radioactive aura that pulsed around her.
She clutched her chest, panting.
Right…
She almost forgot about her radioactivity, despite it being literally a part of her. It reacted before she even thought.
Another fireball streaked toward her, and she vaporized it with a flick of her fingers.
Maybe if I kill the hoard of miniature dragons, this will be easier, she thought.
Then immediately grimaced.
Why am I listening to a piece of paper?
This room was enormous, far bigger than the Terror Bear room. It was a full jungle: towering trees, thick vines, glowing flowers, and the constant rustle of wings. The moment she'd stepped inside, the door had vanished behind her.
So she had two options:
One, die.
Or two, survive long enough to magically teleport back to the Castle of Contortions.
Which had to be a thing.
A swarm of miniature dragons swooped overhead, their tiny jaws blazing with fire. Flames erupted around her, scorching the trees and lighting the jungle in a blinding orange glow.
Hana shielded her eyes.
"Seriously?!"
Surely five minutes had passed already.
Something dropped from the sky and bonked her on the head.
"Ugh-!"
She rubbed the sore spot and snatched the parchment before it could flutter away. The words shifted as she read.
[Objective: Find the door of the room and escape!]
She flared with frustration.
"What?!"
Her radioactivity burst outward. The nearest trees dissolved into dust. The closest little dragons evaporated mid‑screech.
"Come on!"
She altered the atoms in the air beneath her feet, lifting herself upward with a leap, and hovered above the treetops. From this height, she scanned the jungle…
There.
A door.
At the far edge of the room.
So this was just a giant room.
Ridiculous.
But she'd take it.
She twisted the atoms around her into reflective mirrors, redirecting the dragons' fire back at them. They shrieked as their own flames consumed them, falling like burning leaves.
Hana laughed, half‑hysterical, half‑thrilled.
She really was going crazy.
But if insanity helped her survive, so be it.
She shifted the air beneath her feet and sprinted forward, radioactivity propelling her like a rocket. The tiny dragons roared behind her, furious and utterly outmatched as she barreled through their swarm.
As she ran, a thought struck her.
The Castle of Contortions is immune to my radioactivity.
But that made no sense.
Radioactivity was the instability of atoms.
If the castle resisted it…
Does that mean the castle is already unstable?
Or worse,
Is someone stronger controlling it?
She didn't have time to finish the thought.
The door loomed ahead.
She crashed through it, skidding across the stone floor and landing flat on her back. The door vanished behind her, leaving her in the dim, ancient halls of the castle.
The Terror Bear room's door was gone too.
"Hm…" she muttered.
Another parchment dropped onto her head.
She snatched it, groaning.
[You survived an encounter with Dragonets!]
[You survived skill 'Flamebreather']
[You have killed 56 Dragonets!]
She sighed heavily.
"Enough with the skills and killing… This isn't a game-"
Her voice cut off.
Her throat seized.
She grabbed her neck, eyes widening. She tried to speak again- But no sound came out. Her airway constricted, panic flooding her veins.
"Mmmmf-! MMMMMMMMM-!"
Tears welled in her eyes.
She couldn't breathe.
She couldn't speak.
She was choking on nothing.
Miyu leapt onto her shoulder, chirping frantically. Hana looked up, vision blurring.
The parchment darkened.
The ink bled.
Words carved themselves across the page with a threateningly scratchy calligraphy.
[THIS]
[IS]
[NOT]
[A]
[GAME.]
Hana's eyes shook violently.
More words appeared.
[Don't comply,]
Tears streamed down her face.
[And you die.]